Disclaimer: The following chapter is the non-edited draft of what was written during NaNoWriMo 2018. My apologies in advance for plot holes and other inconsistencies. I know they're there.

~~~

Lincoln considered waking Marie up for a moment but changed his mind as his eyes drifted towards the empty wrappers strewn across the table. A rumbling from his mid-section told him something he had tried to suppress since getting out of his hospital bed. His body was desperate for nutrition and with reinforcements more than three hours away, this could be the break he desperately needed.

With the snoring continuing unabated from the bed, Lincoln opened the cabinets and pulled out a few random cartons of rations. Beef and chicken. Salmon with vegetables. Turkey and gravy. Naturally flavored, it said on the packages. Farm raised. Sure they are.

He ripped open the beef and chicken, ignoring the odor the bar emitted and the questionable flavor of the chewy substance. With a sigh, he sat down at the table, chewing slowly. He glanced at the sleeping figure mere feet away. His body desperately craved rest, yet he had a feeling it might be a while before that would happen. Three more hours, then who knew how many more hours until they were back at base. Maybe he'd be able to catch a few minutes of sleep on the way there.

As the final pieces of the ration slid down his throat, his eyelids began to feel impossibly heavy. He felt himself nodding off when a voice across the room startled him.

"Lincoln?"

He looked up, wide awake. Marie was sitting on the edge of the bed, her hair going everywhere, her eyes squinting.

"Marie."

"Where are we? What are you doing here?"

Lincoln looked at her. Was she confused? Did she really not remember the ride to the surface?

"Marie, we're on the surface."

"Surface of what?"

"Earth."

Marie furrowed her brows and tilted her head. "What do you mean, Earth? Where were we before?"

Lincoln blinked, taken aback by the question. The obvious answer was that they were in orbit. Had she not realized that? Did she not know that Earth was not inhabitable. Or, so he had thought.

"Marie," he started, then hesitated briefly before continuing. "We were in orbit around the planet."

The color of her face turned white as if someone had flipped a switch. She gasped and her hands went up to her mouth. "You mean, the orbital colonies survived?"

Lincoln nodded. "They did. Everything on the surface perished."

"Wha-" Marie started then shut her mouth as she leaned forward, her head in her hands.

"I'm sorry, Marie, you're not even supposed to be here."

"Yeah, I know," she snapped and glared at him. "I heard you two talking about me, back in the hospital room. Or whatever it was."

Lincoln felt the color of his face drain as he realized the implications of what Marie had just said.

"You, you heard everything?"

Marie nodded and crossed her arms across her chest. "Every word."

"Listen, Marie," Lincolns started but stopped when Marie held up a finger in the air. He sighed.

"It was all a charade, wasn't it?"

"What was?"

Marie stepped forward and put a finger on Lincoln's chest. "You can me. It was all a game, a means to an end."

"Marie-"

"Don't, ok? Just don't," she said and leaned in closer. "I thought you cared for me. Loved me even." She turned around and let out a laugh, then turned back around. "I can't believe I fell for it, you know?"

"It wasn't like that."

"Oh yeah? Tell me then, what were you doing in a restricted area on the second floor of my home, my father's home, with a sniper rifle aimed directly at my father? Lincoln, I'm not stupid!" Marie yelled and slammed a fist on the table.

Lincoln held up two hands as he leaned away from the outburst happening in front of him. "Marie, I'm serious. It was real. You and me-"

"That's not what you told your Commander."

"What?"

"I heard you, remember? Every single word. You denied it, to his face."

Lincoln looked down. She was right. He had denied having a relationship with her to save face."

"You're right, you're right, I did. But, that doesn't change what we had."

Marie laughed again.

"Then you're kidding yourself, Lincoln. What are you anyway, huh? Some secret agent? An assassin? A liar for sure."

Lincoln sighed. He had to change the topic of the conversation somehow.

"What difference does it make anyway? You've other problems right now."

"Oh yeah?" Marie said, her hands on her hips. "No kidding, genius. I'm stuck in the middle of who knows where with a guy I thought I knew but clearly don't. Yeah, I've got problems."

"They want to kill you," he said, his eyes locking with hers.

Marie froze. "What did you say?"

"Do you remember my Commander asked what should be done with you?"

Marie just looked at Lincoln and nodded, barely.

"After we left, the council decided that your termination is the best course forward."

"Termin-"

"That's right, Marie. It's been decided that you need to die before you screw up the timelines. I'm here to bring you back."

"I won't let you. You can't force me," Marie said defiantly and took a step back.

"It doesn't matter," Lincoln said and sighed. "There are reinforcements enroute as we speak. Once they get here, it doesn't matter whether you can outsmart me, they'll get you and they will take you back."

Marie looked at Lincoln, the defiance in her face melting away, replaced with concern.

"And you'd let them do that?" she whispered.

"Like I said, that's why I'm here," Lincoln said with a shrug. "It's my mission."

Marie sat down on the bed, her eyes on the floor, then glanced up at Lincoln.

"If you do that, Lincoln, you prove that our time together wasn't real."

"I don't have much of a choice."

"Sure you do. You can help me get out of here," Marie said, suddenly animated, as if she had received an infusion of energy.

Lincoln looked up, a surprised look on his face. "Get you out of here?"

"Yes. Or, would you rather have me...terminated?"

"It's not that simple, Marie. If I disobey orders-"

"You already did, Lincoln, remember?"

He felt his cheeks flush as he admitted to himself that she was right. He had violated the parameters of the failed mission, he had intentionally lied to his commanding officer. This mission was an opportunity for him to redeem himself, to try to make things right. If this mission was successful, life could go back to normal. No-one would ever know of his failures.

"Even if I wanted to, I don't know the area. I have never been to Earth. I have no idea what to expect. I don't have a choice, Marie, I'll have to bring you in."

Marie stepped closer and kneeled in front of Lincoln, put a hand on his arm and looked him straight in the eye. "If you let them bring me back to be terminated, as you say, I'll be sure to share all the details of our encounters, ok? All of it. Every. Single. Details." She deliberate annunciated the last three words very slowly.

Lincoln felt his face flush again as he leaned back. He squeezed his fists tightly and gritted his teeth as he realized that he now found himself in an impossible situation. If he completed his mission as assigned, his secret would be revealed. His standing in the armed forces would be diminished and he would likely be court-martialed. If he went along with her escape attempt, he'd likely face the exact same result.

He ran a hand through his hair and sighed as he glanced at Marie. Which option would give him the highest chance of surviving with his life at least somewhat intact? Could he convince Commander Hamil that he acted under duress, that she forced him to help her escape? Perhaps. Marie wanted to evade capture. If he played along, maybe she would be more likely to play along with him when he needed it, when the time came.

"Ok, you win, Marie," he said, stood up and threw his hands out. "I'll give it a shot."

"You'll help me?" she said, her eyebrows raised.

"Yes, I'll do what I can. Remember, though, I've never been on the surface of Earth in our timeline. I've always been told it's inhabitable. I didn't even know this place was here. What I'm saying, Marie, is that I don't know what's out there and I can't guarantee we'll make it far."

Marie looked at him for a few moments, then nodded. "That's fair. Ok, so how do we get out of here?"

"First things first. We need to figure out where we are and if there's even a way to get out of here. Let's go back to the communications center. We can access facility data from there and hopefully environmental information for the immediate area."

"Lead the way," Marie said and gestured towards the door.

A few minutes later, they were staring at one of the screens in the communications center while Lincoln navigated through the various menus.

"Here, this looks like a map of the immediate area," he said and opened an app that displayed various map data. He gasped as the details of the map became clear and pointed to various labeled spots on the screen. "I can't believe all of this is out there," he said. "For an uninhabitable planet, there sure are a lot of structures down here still in use. Here," he said and point towards a black dot to their north, "That must be the base my reinforcements are coming from."

"So we need to go in the opposite direction?"

"To get away, yes, perhaps, but is that the end goal? Even if we go here," Lincoln said and pointed at a black spot on the map with a label indicating it was a supply depot, "The question remains where we go from there. It's unlikely we can survive there for any length of time, not to mention I'm sure they'll come looking for us when they find we're not here."

Marie looked at Lincoln and then back at the screen. "Your council, or whatever it is, seem determined to get rid of me. Is there any way you can get me home?"

"Home? To your timeline?"

"Yes, to my Earth."

Lincoln shrugged. "I honestly don't know. I'm pretty sure we can't make it happen from here. The portal is in orbit, as is everything else."

Marie looked up at the ceiling and leaned back in her chair. "So we need to return to space?"

"That's the only way I can think of. Commander Hamil did say there's a shuttle that flies back into orbit on a regular schedule. If we can get there and hitch a ride without anyone noticing, we may have a chance."

"Ok, so we know reinforcements are on their way here. Can we leave a different way and get back to their base while they try to find us here?"

"That's one question I don't have the answer to. In theory, it sounds like a good plan but we need transportation to do anything at all. Let's see what's available."

Lincoln opened up the facility map on the terminal and located the garage. A few clicks later, they had learned that the garage contained two fully equipped all-terrain vehicles and a variety of personal transportation vehicles.

"That may be our way out of here," Lincoln said and stabbed the screen with his finger, pointing at the all-terrain vehicles."

"What are we waiting for? Let's go check them out," Marie said and bounced out of the chair.

Lincoln shut down the terminal and followed. The garage was on the other side of the facility. On their way there, they passed a dining area, the associated kitchen and a variety of shared common areas, whether it be for entertainment or physical activity. Together with the well-rounded stocks on hand within the twelve arrival modules, those that escaped orbit to take sanctuary here could survive in comfort for quite a while.

Just like the rest of the facility, the garage looked like it hadn't been used in ages. Everything was clean and neat, nothing was out of place. Lincoln ignored the various workbenches and walked straight up to the all-terrain vehicles. They were both covered by a white tarp of some sort, likely to protect them from dust. With Marie's help, he pulled the cover off of the first one, revealing a high-riding six-wheel vehicle that appeared to be some sort of hybrid between a truck and a large SUV.

"Woah," Marie said and walked around the front of the vehicle, "I've never seen anything like this before."

"Me neither. Obviously, we don't have these in orbit but they don't look too different from what you have in your timeline. Let's see what's inside." Lincoln stepped up to the door. It opened easily and he climbed up into the driver's seat.

The keys were still in the ignition. A look towards the back revealed a variety of supplies, likely enough for six people. Marie opened the passenger door and climbed in.

"So?"

"Looks well stocked," he said.

"That's not what I meant. Is it working?"

"Oh, right. Let's find out." Lincoln checked that the gears were in neutral as good as he could, then turned the key. After turning over a few times, the engine came to life with a roar that bounced off the walls of the garage. Lincoln looked over at Marie and grinned. She smiled back and they gave each other a high five.

Lincoln returned his attention to the gauges, flipped a few switches on the dashboard and then cut the engine. "Looks like she's fully fueled and ready to go. Let's get back to the comms center. The fuel gauge tells me the range of this thing, we just need to plan our route so that we don't end up running out of fuel on our way to the base."

"Alright, I'm going to check the supplies and see if I can find anything else useful we may need to bring."

Lincoln left Marie in the garage and hurried back to the communications center. As he sat down and powered up the terminal, a flashing envelope icon began flashing in the upper right corner. He reached for the icon and waited as a video loaded. A white-haired man with sunglasses appeared on the screen in front of him.

"Captain Graber, this is Colonel Hastings. I'm the commanding officer of Task Force Alpha. We have been tasked to retrieve you and your prisoner. Be advised, our arrival time will be sooner than expected. A storm is approaching and in order to avoid further delay, we have increased our speed and skipped several mandatory breaks. We sho~~~uld arrive within half an hour. I expect a full debriefing upon arrival. Over and out."

Lincoln felt his heart skip a beat as he glanced at the time stamp of the message and then the system clock. The message had been left ten minutes ago. That meant that they no longer had three hours to plan their escape. They had less than twenty minutes.

~~~

Change of plans. Instead of taking Marie in, he's now helping her. What does that make him? Thoughts so far?