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adds.
    â€œYou can’t be sure of anything on Island Alpha,” I point out, although secretly I don’t think Dr. Barrett has any chance of getting better.
    â€œCome back to order!” Dr. Vargas-Ruiz calls out.
    The crowd starts quieting down.
    â€œThe planes leave today in roughly two hours, as you already know,” Dr. Vargas-Ruiz continues loudly. “You should say any final good-byes while you have the time.”
    â€œAnd while we’re still alive,” Gadya adds.
    She means it as a joke, but a few people shoot her dirty looks and hiss at her to be quiet.
    I look out at the crowd. So many lives depend on us.
    â€œYou are dismissed until launch time,” Dr. Vargas-Ruiz intones. “We will reassemble then.”
    I look from Liam to Gadya and back again. My boyfriend and my best friend. “I’m ready to leave the wheel behind forever, and go back home,” I say to them. “How about you guys?”
    â€œDefinitely,” Liam replies.
    Gadya nods. “Sounds like a plan I can get behind.”
    I feel nervous. The pressure and stress is hitting me, but I work hard to hide it. I take a deep breath. Soon we will be in the air, and heading back into the dark heart of the UNA.

3 FROM THE SKY
    T EN HOURS LATER , I’ M leaning back against the rattling hull of an airplane. We are gliding high in the night sky above the continental UNA. Somewhere above New Texas. I gaze out the window at the earth beneath me. I can see the lighted dots of cities and towns. They look so small. Spectral and multicolored. I should feel tired, but nervous energy and adrenaline keep me awake.
    The airplane is one of the old UNA aircraft that transported pods off the island. The scientists have reconfigured it and coated it with radar-resistant material. There are no seats inside. It’s just a large, loud canister.
    The journey across the ocean has been uneventful, just as the scientists predicted that it would be. We took off from the bumpy dirt runway on Island Alpha and were soon cutting a path through the cloudless sky. Compared to the journey on the submarine to Southern Arc, and then the voyage on the airships back to the island, this is oddly peaceful.
    It’s hard to conceive that by airplane, we were only half a day away from the UNA. Island Alpha felt much farther away—like an entirely separate world. I glance out the window again and see nothing but stars in the darkness.
    Soon the peacefulness will come to an end. I wish we were landing on a runway at a real airport, but of course we aren’t.
    We will be jumping out of this airplane, and skydiving straight down into the UNA. Our landing site will be a field on the outskirts of New Dallas. It’s one of the few safe places to land, according to the rebels and the scientists. The planes will be returning to Island Alpha—assuming they don’t get shot down.
    I remember how afraid I was of heights when I had to climb up and down those ropes back at the travelers’ camp with Gadya. I thought I’d gotten over that particular fear, until now.
    â€œHow high up are we?” I hear Gadya ask.
    â€œToo high?” I murmur, gazing down.
    â€œThree thousand feet!” someone else shouts back.
    â€œI need to double-check your pack,” Liam says to me.
    â€œI’m fine,” I tell him. “I already checked three times.” But secretly I don’t mind. “I’ll check yours.”
    â€œDeal.”
    I turn so he can inspect my parachute.
    My heart is in my throat. I felt eager to get into the air, but now I almost wish I could go back to the island for a little longer. I try not to think about Dr. Barrett’s words—that we’re doomed for returning to the UNA. Does he know something that we don’t? I wish we were taking guns with us, but it’s too dangerous. If we get spotted with guns, the UNA police will instantly know that we’re rebels and will kill