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“No! Damn it, we owe it to them to do something. We cannot abandon them!”

“Who do we owe more to—astronauts in orbit, or the entire planet? This isn't just about eight people. It’s about eightbillion. Imagine if that virus broke out in New York City. Or London. Or Moscow. Or Delhi. Imagine the carnage in just one day. There’s ten million people in New York. If everyone is infected, and every one of them infects twenty-five others? You’re looking at two hundred fifty million infected in days. Three-quarters of the United States. And that’s just one city. So I have to ask: are eight lives worth eight billion? To save everyone—”

“They deserve a chance!” Jack cried. “They deserve our best!”

“So does the world. So do eight billion people.”

Jack spun away, gripping the back of the Oval Office sofa. His fingers mashed the cushions, trying to murder the stuffing. “Sasha is up there.”

“I know,” she said quietly. “I’m sorry.”

“You’re not talking to Sergey.”

“The Russian government is in a state of crisis. President Puchkov assured us he would maintain control of the nuclear warhead our people took off the Soviet satellite. Now dissidents have taken over Yamantau Mountain and the Russian nuclear complex. We don’t know who to communicate with in Russia at the moment, or who is in control there. Now, on top of everything, Russia’s nuclear arsenal is in unstable hands. Right now, our focus is on preventing a pandemic that could wipe out our species. I don’t have time to talk to Sergey about his boyfriend on the ISS.”

Jack threw her a glare. “Have some compassion. That’s the love of his life.”

“You’ve been in this job. You know it’s never about right and wrong. It’s about being able to see things through, and to do as much right aspossiblefor your country, for your people, and for the world. Sometimes that means we have to be the bad guys. Sometimes it’s just about numbers. Sometimes it’s all about the ends.” She shook her head. “Rescuing those astronauts might mean the end of the world. They stay in orbit.”

“You don’t know that they’re all infected. Or that we can’t find a cure.”

“I’m not willing to gamble the entire world on that risk.”

“Is that why you’ve declared martial law over NASA?”

“NASA is not prepared for an emergency of this magnitude. And I cannot trust that they won’t try some kind of heroics to save their friends.” She peered at him. “Your connection to Sasha is clouding your judgment, the same as Sergey. You both are seeing this through too personal a lens. Remember being here? Remember sitting in that chair? You know the price of this office.”

“What now?” Jack asked. “What’s your plan?”

“We estimate in a few days the entire crew of the ISS will be dead. At that point we’ll declare a disaster on the station and move it to a graveyard orbit. She’ll rot in deep space, and without power and life support, the virus will go dormant again. We’ll leave instructions for some future generation to destroy it when technology has advanced enough. In the meantime, we’re monitoring the Russian situation. Frankly, if the Russian dissidents destroy the ISS, they will destroy the virus, too. We are looking into containment procedures for any potential detonation in orbit, including how to mitigate secondary damage to our satellite network.”

“Jesus, Elizabeth…”

“The bottom line is, if we need to launch against the station to keepanythingfrom returning to Earth, we will.”

“The Russian dissident that took over Yamantau, Zeytsev? He knows about Lazarus and about the satellite. Elizabeth, he must want that virus. There’s too much for this be a coincidence.”

Elizabeth faced him, her shoulders square, arms crossed over her chest. “That isexactlyour concern. If anyone gets their hands on this virus and weaponizes it, that’s theendof humanity. The world cannot take that risk. I’ve ordered Space Command and the Fourteenth Air Force to assume control of all NASA operations until further notice. The Marine Corps Chemical Biological Incident Response Force is in charge of our strategic response.”

“Are you ready to pull the trigger?” Jack asked.

“I already have. My orders are clear: if anything leaves that station and heads for Earth, we blow it out of the sky. Nothing from the ISS will be allowed back on the planet. Nothing.”

* * *

34

ISS

Tumbling in Earth’s Orbit

The seconds Markand Sasha waited for the airlock integrity check cycle to complete seemed to dilate, stretch toward infinity. Their breaths filled the cramped space, too fast, too loud.

There was athunk, then gears grinding, and the cycle completed. Mark undogged the door and swung it open, swimming into the ISS and leaving his EMU suit floating loose in the airlock.

Sasha followed, kicking out of his suit’s legs and pushing intoUnity. They’d left Sarah there, monitoring their progress from the main command station.

But now they couldn't raise her on the space-to-space radio. They couldn’t raise anyone.