We have a lot of work to do.

First, I get Eve to show me where the battery goes in the tracer's engine compartment. In the vehicle's rear-end, a hood opens up, exposing the central hub that connects to the jet turbines on the wings. The hub is the core component that links everything, even the turbines to the dashboard controls inside the clear polycarbonate fuselage—which is shaped like a ball big enough for two—a pilot and copilot.

It helps that Eve and I have something to do together. She hasn't renounced our divorce or declared her undying love for me. She's keeping everything practical yet cordial. So that's a start, since we're not arguing. I worked hard to win her over the first time after we touched down on Earth, and I suspect I'll have to work even harder to do it a second time, especially considering the traffic-jam emotional battlefield that was our relationship in our life before the flood.

For now, our mission takes center stage.

We meet outside the habitat at the place where Jinx's drone died on us. He's as big around as a boulder, but he's not as heavy. Pits mark the outer surface of the sphere where it banged around like a pinball when it crashed. Weeks ago, we decided not to move him inside because the weather here is so dry. It hasn't rained since we arrived, and we had no hope of charging him up, anyway. Of course, now we have the tracer's power cell, which means we can charge the drone's battery. With that in mind, we dig our heels in and push him forward, rolling him over the rocks scattered across the bumpy canyon floor.

"Put your backside into it," I say to Eve as we make progress toward the cargo bay at the rear of the habitat. The maintenance area at our hab is identical to this one, but ours doesn't have a tracer craft in it. Not sure why.

"Worry about your own backside."

After a good bit of rolling, we stop to rest, and I sit back on Jinx. I wipe sweat from my brow because the air in the canyon doesn't move. With the sun beaming down, it's hotter and drier here than it was back at our habitat.

Eve drops onto the drone beside me and swivels herself, facing away from me at an angle.

A thought pops in my mind, and I chance it because I have to break the tension between us. "You didn't mind me worrying about your backside the other night."

Her eyes widen, and she scoots further away from me, folding her arms in on herself.

"I'm just saying that I remember everything too, Eve. I remember the pool, we were so..."

"Foolish."

"I was going to say innocent."

She huffs. "Maybe, but we're not anymore."

"No, we're not." I wiggle my way closer to her. She notes my new position and doesn't make any adjustments. "Do you remember, before we escaped the habitat the first time, how you were against using the transmitters? You didn't want it to change us because you were afraid it would make us into something that we're not. You wanted us to learn how to become who we could be. Who we might be. Not who someone else, like Abraham, wanted us to be."

"But you couldn't leave it alone, could you? You had to go get those transmitters, didn't you? Now look where it got us. We remember everything, the good and the bad."

"My point is, the revelation about our past hurt me, too. To begin with, it made me feel the same way I felt before the flood. I was mad at you for giving up, and I was also mad at you for shutting me out."

"And I was mad at you for leaving me to bear my pain alone."

I frown. "Eve, I get it. I understand what went wrong, and I know why we did what we did. It hurt... the both of us, and we took the loss of our little girl hard, as anyone would. You blamed me and I blamed you for the way we reacted, and because of it all, we wanted a divorce. We didn't want to be around each other anymore because of how it played out."

"And why should that change now? Because I'm pregnant?"

"You think you're pregnant." A statement, not a question.

"I know I'm pregnant."

I twist to look at her, our eyes meeting and holding each other's gaze. "But we could verify it."

"How?"

I slap the sphere-shaped drone on its metal rump. "Jinx can do a lot of things."

"You think he can give me a pregnancy test?"

"I do." I push off the drone and stand next to Eve. "We'll see, but here's what I know."

Eve blinks and looks up at me. "What do you know?"

"I know we've been through a lot. Heck, I cleaned up your puke, and I also killed a vile wolf for you."

"Uh, you did that for both of us."

"Agreed, but think about everything we've been through since we've been back on Earth. I remember it all, even everything we went through before the flood, but despite it all, I've come to this conclusion." Pausing, I let my gaze linger on hers. "I forgive you for shutting me out, for giving up on trying to get pregnant again, and I hope you can forgive me for being such an egghead and making you suffer alone. I was an idiot, and for that, I'm sorry. I should have understood it frightened you to consider trying for another baby, and I should have been okay with whatever decision you made."

I inhale a shaky breath and exhale. "Now, will you forgive me?"

I laid it all out there, and stand here, waiting for her to say something. She folds her arms, arching a brow, her teeth gnawing on her bottom lip for what seems like an hour, but it's only a few seconds.

"We'll see."

I sigh and nod solemnly, not sure what to make of her even tone. "Back to work, it is."

With that, we resume rolling the drone over to the open garage door where the tracer craft awaits us. I had to remove the motor from the track so I could raise the door manually. When we get Jinx maneuvered behind the rear engine compartment, huffing and puffing, we summon the strength and lift him up and onto the back tray where a round cutout holds his body as intended by the designers.

I spin Jinx around until a port on his backside meets up with a charging plug. With the connection made and the drone locked in place, I step back and observe our handiwork.

"Shouldn't he turn on?" Eve asks.

I cock my head to the side. "Maybe we have to start the tracer?"

"Or maybe his battery was so dead, it'll take a while for him to come back online? It could be both scenarios."

I open the side door and slide across a bucket seat to sit in the other chair. In a hurry, I had entered the wrong side to access the pilot's seat, but once I'm in position, I press the start button.

The tracer rumbles, spits and jerks, but the engine starts and idles, just like a car with wings. Lights on the dashboard blink on and off while some remain lit up.

That's when Eve says, "Noah, hurry. Come here, it's working!"