Johns unstrapped himself and shook off the nausea that always hit after a burn. He was officially on his way to Earth. It was time to give the old gal a call. First things first, though. He needed another dose of those mushrooms he’d worked so hard to get off Mars.

  Johns floated toward the secure locker where he’d stowed the sample case. He entered the code into the adjacent keypad, only to be greeted by a short, angry buzz. He tried the code again, slower this time, carefully confirming all eight digits. The result was the same.

  He frowned and stared at the thick metal door that stood between him and his very survival. Another chime played, this one more cheerful. He had received a message. Without even looking, he knew it had to be from Jarra. After all, she was the only one who knew he was here. Since being so far from Earth didn’t allow for real-time communications, electronic snail mail had to suffice.

  Johns floated to the nearest monitor and navigated to his messages. It was hard to go back to standard controls and hardware after getting used to everything being CIG-based. It was a video clip message. Johns opened it, and the striking face of Jarra Gunnardóttir filled his screen.

  He called her the old gal—only in his head, of course—but there was an aura of youth and vigor about her that always caught Johns off guard. She was older than him. Quite a bit older. She had to be. Recluse or not, there were photos of her out there. Based on how old she appeared during the height of her activity in the Three Hell Thirties, she had to be in her 70s at the very least. But looking at the vitality in those sharp eyes and youthful, striking face, he felt like a sluggish geriatric.

  “Hello, Ethan. I gather that you made it out. Alone," Jarra said.

  Johns averted his eyes, then admonished himself for doing so for a mere recording. How could she know already? He should know better than to underestimate Jarra’s reach, but it still made him nervous. Johns fought the urge to glance over his shoulder down the empty passage.

  “I suppose I should be upset that you let Andy fall into their hands, but it was always a risk letting him be involved. A mother’s weakness, I suppose. His own weakness will no doubt expose my involvement. That can’t be helped now. Preparations had already been made for such an eventuality. The important thing is, you got it. You delivered Mars’s fruit, and that will not be forgotten.”

  She paused and looked into the camera in unblinking silence for a moment. Was that a hint of sadness? Johns felt a chill of adrenaline. He’d have preferred her anger over whatever this was.

  “I’m sure by now you’ve attempted to access the sample container. You would, of course, have put it into secure storage for the burn. I won’t drag this out. I can’t let you access it. Or rather, I won’t. At one a week, you would burn through far too much of the supply, I’m afraid. Then, if we couldn’t find a way to grow it quickly enough upon your return, you’d have to go without anyway.”

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “Bloody hell,” Johns said through clenched teeth.

  “With that in mind, forcing withdrawals, whatever they may be, after a single dose is the best option for all. The maximum number of samples will be saved, and you will have the best chance of survival. You are free to hate me, but I’m true to my word. You’ll get everything I promised, assuming you are alive when we come knocking. I sincerely hope you are.”

  The video ended, leaving Johns staring at a reflection of his own rage in the dark screen. As if on command, the first seizure hit. Johns felt every fiber of his being trying to rip itself apart. Something about weightlessness made it even worse. In all the torment and twisting, there wasn’t even the comfort of a solid floor. He was just floating in a sea of agony that he would likely drown in.

  No, he couldn’t accept that. He’d seen too much. Done too much. He knew what it was to really see now. He’d eaten an alien plant. He’d been more than human, if only for a moment. Whatever it cost, he was coming out the other side of this. Then the next wave hit him.

  ***

  It felt like days before Johns was able to pull a coherent string of thoughts together. He could feel it right away. The silence. That thing that had been in the back of his mind for the last week was gone now. Something surged through him that he hadn’t felt in years. A dire sadness and mourning expressed themselves as a tear that floated away.

  Johns rubbed at his eyes in angry defiance of his own weakness. He pushed it all down. At least he could do that now. As much as he mourned the loss, he wouldn’t miss the spotlight the thing in the back of his mind had constantly tried to shine on his own interior.

  When he’d brushed the last of the tears from his eyes, Johns was met with a new revelation. Darkness.

  Ah, so that was the price of leaving Martian Eden, he thought. He’d escaped that Martian miracle with his life, but the price had been his eyes. He hated Jarra for being right. Also, he just hated Jarra.

  “Millions of miles yet to go, and here I am, blind as a mole rat,” Johns said to the empty ship. He sighed. It wasn’t a question of survival. If he had survived the detox from the plant, he could survive the rest. But if this blindness was permanent, it wasn’t going to be easy. And if he was lucky, as a reward, he’d get to hear the woman who let this happen to him float in, enter the correct code into the sample locker, and just carry on with her glorious visions of the future.

  Johns’ mind drifted to Zed and those final moments. He tried to push away the expression on the boy's face as Johns broke his arm, but it was harder to do when he couldn’t even open his eyes to fill his mind with a new image. He wouldn’t waste time on guilt or regret. He’d made the decisions he had, and just because they didn’t work out quite as well as he’d hoped didn’t mean they weren’t smart calls. Still, he hoped the boy survived and didn’t have to go through what he just had.

  Jarra might think she was ten steps ahead of everyone else, but something told him there was a young man on Mars who might just give her a run for the solar system.