were stocked and had all our equipment on the planet, the freighter left. Heftner estimated that it would take us seven months to complete phase one. That’s when we were going to be picked up, and the secondary phase workers would have relieved us.” Her voice broke and she swallowed hard. “We had less than five months to go.”
“Heftner?”
“Gary Heftner is our project manager.”
“He was on the surface?”
“No. Heftner is our boss. He’d never want to be stuck on some planet for that length of time while we’re doing the initial survey. He’s the one we send updates to, or who yells at us if we fall behind schedule.”
“Schedule to do what?”
“New Worlds won the bid on Biter. That’s what we’ve dubbed the planet. All the animals, and even some of the plants we discovered, want to bite us. Most of these types of planets don’t get registered with an official name until after the initial survey is completed and we’re already being sent somewhere else. At that point, the claim is established.”
Roth kept stroking her back. “I don’t understand. Bid? What phases? And what claim?”
She inhaled and lifted her face away from his shirt to peer up at him. “If alien life isn’t present on a planet that gets found by Earth ships, companies like the one I work for can bid to send teams down to survey them. The first phase is to gather information on the wildlife, the terrain, vegetation, and minerals. I’m always assigned to phase one, since I fly drones to map and record the surface. Once we finish, phase two teams take what we’ve learned and begin to resource what they can.”
“Resource?”
Vera hesitated. “Two jobs ago, our mineralogist on our survey team discovered something that excited him. Don’t ask me what it was, thought I saw some of the samples he kept hauling into his workspace. He must have collected three dozen large crates of those rocks. They looked like chunks of green metal. All he’d tell us was that New Worlds was going to give him a raise and they’d easily make their money back on that project.
“Phase two teams are sent in to collect and ship whatever excites the bosses back to Earth, or to whoever my company can sell stuff to. As long as whatever they take doesn’t damage the planet, it’s fair game to resource green metal rocks or whatever. That’s how companies like New Worlds make money, if we find good stuff. They get to claim the rights for three years, to sell what they can after we complete our initial survey, and they register it with Earth and any allied alien races in that sector of space. Once the claim ends, Earth sometimes opens colonies on those planets.”
She took a deep breath and blew it out. “You never answered me. Did anyone else survive?”
Roth stopped stroking her back and cupped her face. He leaned in closer, his gazed locked with hers. “You need to focus on getting better. We will talk once you are fully recovered.”
Tears filled her eyes and she didn’t bother to blink them back. “I’m the only survivor. You just don’t want to say it. They all died.”
A monitor beeped, making her startle. Something creaked, and she gasped, twisting her head.
A man and a woman wearing dark blue uniforms with medical patches on them had entered the room. The man spoke.
“I’m Doctor Mead. I see you’re awake, Miss Wade. Please try to slow your heart rate.” He moved to the top of the bed, shutting off the alarm. He stepped back and studied her. “I can see that you are upset, but it’s imperative to avoid stress right now.” His gaze moved to Roth. “Did Mr. Roth say or do something to you? I can have security remove him.”
“No.” Vera didn’t like the doctor for assuming she was upset over something Roth had done. She was upset because she suspected all her coworkers were dead. “Roth stays.”
“I’ll get you some water.” The woman rushed to a large cabinet door and opened it, exposing what looked like a sink with shelves above it. She filled a cup and offered it to Vera.
It meant having to sit up and letting go of Roth if she accepted the cup. Vera wasn’t sure she was willing to do that yet but her throat felt dry. “I’m seeing and hearing two people in this room with us. I’m not imagining them, am I?” She looked at Roth.
“They are real,” he