Free Paradox by A. J. Paquette Page A

takes a sharp turn up. This is a mountain cave, going in and up the mountain, so it seems clear that going down will lead back to the exit. Ana heaves the pack onto her back, with a wince of pain for her still-aching shoulder. She aims the map ahead and turns down the gently sloping path.
    The way narrows pretty quickly and the ceiling grows steadily lower. She follows the winding corridor until finally she sees a circle of daylight near the floor—the entrance! She switches off the map and, pushing her pack before her, emerges, blinking, into the sunlight of the woodsy copse. The air is fresh and cool compared to the dank mustiness inside the cave and, best of all, there is absolutely no worm noise.
    Of course, Todd is nowhere in sight.
    It’s not as if she expected him to be hovering outside thecave, waiting for her, but she still can’t help feeling left behind. Unexpectedly there’s a flash in her mind: the image of an open grave with a cascade of dirt pouring down onto a polished wooden casket. A quaking emptiness and tangible sense of isolation punches her in the gut.
    What was that?
A reclaimed memory, obviously, or some fragment of one. She considers suddenly the benefit there might be in the complete loss of one’s past. Just a sliver of that scene was almost enough to send her to her knees. What would it feel like to carry the weight of the whole experience?
    With effort, Ana pulls herself back to the present and sets off for the first cave opening. As she navigates the slope, she remembers the food packets Todd had pressed on her back in the cave. She finds them in one of her front pockets, suddenly ravenous. In short order she tosses down three water capsules, a packet of dried fruit, and two tabs of desiccated bran muffins. A full-sized energy bar rounds off the meal.
    The silence holds as she makes her way down the slope. Once she clears the trees in front of the first cave, though, her heart sinks.
    This is no longer an entryway: it’s a burial site. The worm is gone, but it’s taken half the mountain face with it. All that’s left is a rockslide of rubble, boulders bigger than she is heaped in a pile twenty or thirty feet high.
    No one is getting out of this cave.
    Something inside Ana shrivels to a tiny point of focused light. In desperation she touches her circlet, pulls up the map,and holds it out in front of her. The blinking red-dotted line is still there, steady as ever.
    What now?
Todd came into her life out of nowhere, and Ysa and Chen were around for only a few minutes before the worm appeared. What scares her, what truly terrifies her, is how much she suddenly feels like she needs them in order to go on. For a moment she actually considers just pitching her tent and waiting here for Todd to find her. Waiting until they can move forward together, as a team, conducting their joint mystery-mission.
    And that thought, that terrible, desperate need, is enough to galvanize her to action. In less time than it takes her to formulate the thought, Ana has decided. Nothing has changed since she first set foot on Paradox. She has the map; she knows the final destination.
    She can’t wait around for anyone. She doesn’t need anyone else. She can’t afford to.
    She’s going on alone.

First Wave of Space Colonists Departs for Paradox

    National News Network
    To much fanfare, the first expedition of scientist-explorers heading for the planet Cyclid-Bf, popularly known as Paradox, departed Monday from the Austin Space Launch Facility. The launch follows nearly two decades of coordinated research, preparation, and planning across four continents.
    The group of eight colonists that comprises the first Paradox expedition—or APEX1—includes leading botanists, geologists, and astrobiologists specializing in space-related applications. “We can’t wait to see what’s out there,” said Savitech lead geologist James Ortez. “This is hands down the biggest astronomical opportunity of the