The first time she sat in the rear of the shuttle on one of these climbs, she buckled herself into a captain’s chair and dug her fingernails into the arm cushions, anxious that if they hit an air pocket, she’d bounce out of the back of the ship. That nervous girl was long gone now, and even though she wouldn’t consider herself a daredevil, she found it relaxing to imagine herself floating on that feather, caught up in that warm breeze, taking in the view of Earth from miles above.
Jane knew her dad would be at the back of the ship too, waiting for her. It was kind of their thing to enjoy the ride up together, even though they didn’t often talk a whole lot. Today may be different, she figured, given the seriousness of the day’s events to that point—for him, anyway. Jane was right, on both accounts.
“Jane,” her dad said, noticing that she had joined him. He also had gotten a little more comfortable, but for him it was by removing the jacket and tie he was wearing, and rolling up his shirtsleeves. “I was beginning to wonder if you’d make it. I’m glad you did, though. There’s a tropical storm brewing over the Gulf. It should be quite a sight … You know, we might not see another one for a long time.”
Jane curled up in the captain’s chair next to her dad. They were well above the clouds now and high enough that she could distinctly see the curvature of Earth, but they weren’t yet high enough to see the outlines of continents or the definition of a storm cell, if there was indeed a hurricane brewing off the southern coast. It amazed her how safe she could feel hanging in the stratosphere on the verge of outer space and how terrifying it could be at times to be standing on the ground of the world below.
Given her father’s business, Jane had spent most of her life in the beautiful city centers, at their home near Atlanta and around the CP Interstellar campus. She had rarely set foot outside of the places reserved for the wealthy and powerful—that is, until she had gone to visit her brother in the slums just beyond the perimeter of the city. In an uncommon act of selflessness, he had given up his life in the rarified air of the city, choosing instead to live and serve among the poor and destitute. She had visited Tate a few times, and what she had seen of the world he had chosen changed her perspective forever.
Up here, Jane couldn’t see the crumbling buildings of his village, which seemed lost in a time long ago, neglected and forgotten since. She couldn’t see the smoke-belching factories, which both gave people work and took away their hope of a life they may have dreamed of as a child. She couldn’t see the stone-faced people, who had been devastated by poverty and disease and who had become hardened and stoic. She couldn’t see the abandoned freeways, the monuments destroyed by rioting citizens, and the devastation and wastelands created by a government trying to maintain order. She couldn’t see the once thriving civilization, which had been brought to the brink of extinction by just a few people who were insatiably hungry and fighting for power. Up here, Jane couldn’t see everything that was wrong with the world and the schism between those with power and those at its mercy. It may have just been an illusion in the thin air at one hundred thousand feet, but up here, Jane felt like she was seeing Earth as God had intended it to be for people, not as the mess people had made of it—and themselves.
Jane sat quietly and stared out the window at the shrinking world below.
“You okay, honey?” her dad asked, looking quizzically at her.
“Yeah, Dad, I’m fine,” she replied. “I was just thinking about Mom.”
“Oh? What about?”
“Nothing in particular. Just lots of little things I liked about her.”
“Well,” her dad began, “there was a lot to like.” He paused for a second and then added, “You know, you remind me more and more of her every day.”
“Thanks, Dad,” Jane replied, turning to give him a tired smile.
They were high enough now that they could distinctly make out the eye of the hurricane below, the storm clouds covering a significant part of the Gulf. It really was something to see from the edge of space.
A few more minutes passed, and then Jane broke the silence. “Have you heard from Tate, Dad?” she asked.
“Not yet,” her dad replied, looking away from the view out of the window and toward his daughter.
“Does he know we’re getting ready to leave?”
“He does, honey,” her dad replied, trying to sound comforting. “But he’s not all that easy to get ahold of. You know I can’t just call him up. There isn’t a way to do that without running the risk of having the call traced by the authorities. We can’t risk anyone finding out who he is. If the government finds out about the tech in Tate’s head, who knows what they’ll do. And since he seems determined to stay behind, we need to make sure he’s safe.”
Jane couldn’t help but hope that Tate would change his mind about coming with them, but she knew her dad was right. Even so, she planned to make one more appeal to her brother to convince him to go. Jane knew her dad wouldn’t approve of it, but what was he going to do—ground her? She wasn’t a kid anymore.
“I know, I know,” Jane repeated. “I just really want Tate to change his mind about coming. I … we … already lost Mom … I don’t want us to lose him too.”
“Well,” her dad began, now with a twinkle in his eye and the hint of a grin, “even if your brother doesn’t come with us on this trip, you might see him on another one.”
“What are you talking about, Dad?” she asked.
“Well, we’re not just going to abandon everyone here on Earth, Jane.”
Jane’s patience had worn thin. She was confused and tired from a long day. It was funny to watch her dad string people along—he always seemed to know more than everyone else—but she didn’t have any interest in playing along right now.
“I’m getting really tired of what you’re not telling me, Dad,” Jane blurted.
“Okay, okay,” he said, leaning over to pat her knee. “Despite what I led you to believe, my plan never was to just leave Earth and never come back. There are too many people suffering down there. They have lost hope and faith. They have little to look forward to, and the leadership … Well, our government is corrupt, to say the least.”
“Ya think?” Jane agreed.
Jane’s dad continued. “My plan was always to find a new world. One for us to colonize. One where people could start over with a new society and where people could have new opportunities … One which promised people the hope of a new and better life.”
“Right,” Jane stated, lingering on the word as if to add, “But what else?”
“Once we are settled, though,” her dad continued, “I fully expect to send shuttles back and forth between Earth and our new world, bringing anyone there who wants a chance at a new life.”
“You sound like you’re trying to save the world, Dad,” Jane said with a smirk.
“Okay, fine, joke about it if you want,” her dad replied with a grin, clearly taking her teasing in stride.
Jane looked out the window. The whole of Earth could be seen in the window now. “‘To those who have been given much, much will be required,’” she quoted, almost to herself, the same thing she had heard her dad say thousands of times over her life.
“I knew you would understand.”
A moment passed.
“So, how did your meeting go with the senator?” Jane asked, thinking about his meeting earlier and the reason for their trip in the first place.
Jane had never met the senator, but she knew him to be a large, loud man, and one with a long and sordid history. Her dad never said much about him—at least nothing favorable—but from what she gathered, the senator had been in business before his life in public service, and he had worked for a competitor to her dad’s aerospace company. Politics didn’t interest her much, especially the politics of business, but the relationship her dad had with Senator Biggs was caustic—anyone could see that. And the senator forcing her dad to attend a face-to-face meeting on such short notice meant nothing but trouble.
“Well,” her dad began, bringing her back to the conversation and stroking his chin with a thoughtful expression on his face, “I suppose it went about as you might expect. The senator called me in for a meeting because he found out about Evelyn, and the Factory … you know, the team that developed her?”
“Yeah,” Jane said in a long and loopy tone, unconcerned with hiding the worry in her voice.
“Well, he said it was all classified now … told me I have a week to hand over everything related to our artificial intelligence project.”
“What?”
“Too bad for the senator I terminated the Factory and all the projects they were working on late last night,” he said.
“You did what?” Jane asked, turning in her seat to face her dad, her surprise elevating her tone.
“Oh, don’t worry, Jane … I reassigned everyone to other divisions. You know, you really should check your messages more often,” he said, looking out of the corner of his eye at her.
Jane’s thoughts whirled. The more her dad talked, the more trouble it seemed they were getting in, but he sat there as if he hadn’t a care in the world. She was silent again.
“Of course, before any of them checked out for the night, I had them destroy everything they had been working on. You know, national security and all.”
At this, her dad brought his hand up to stroke his chin again, a thinker’s expression on his face. “And since the Factory isn’t working on anything, there’s nothing for me to give the senator, now is there?”
“Dad!” Jane said, feeling a flush of heat across her face as she realized exactly what was happening. With an ultimatum from the senator to deliver Evelyn in a week, she had less time than she thought to convince Tate to come with them. “If they find out what you did, they’re gonna take you to prison … You don’t think that’s a problem?”
Jane’s squirmed a little in her seat, feeling even more agitated at her dad’s coolness.
“Actually,” she continued, “you’ll be lucky if you’re in a prison where we can find you. You’ve heard the rumors. People disappear for less than what you did. If they find out you destroyed everything and they take you to one of those mysterious government detention facilities, I may never see you again. Evelyn is pretty amazing, but there’s not much she or any of the rest of us can do if you’re dead!”
Jane felt her eyes burning. The more she spoke her mind, the angrier she became, and her voice grew louder as she teetered between fear and rage. Losing what little control she had, she seethed through clenched teeth, “What the hell were you thinking, Dad?”
Feeling her eyes start to water, Jane quickly turned away and casually brushed the back of her index finger across the bottom of her eyelid, rescuing a salty tear and her composure at the same time. “It’s like you have to pick a fight with everyone. You could have been quiet. We could have just left, and nobody would have known until we were gone,” she murmured, still not turning to look at him.
Carson placed his hand on Jane’s knee with the firmness of one of the world’s most powerful and confident businessmen and the gentleness of a father comforting his daughter. Jane reluctantly relaxed under his touch.
“Trust me, Jane, I still have a few things up my sleeve,” he said, leaning closer to her ear.
Without turning to look at him, Jane tilted her head toward him and put her hand close to his, allowing him to take her hand in his.
“You know I’ll keep you safe,” he said in a half-questioning tone. Jane wanted to believe him, but she wasn’t sure he believed it himself.
“I know,” Jane said, the emotion of a very long day wearing away at her.
They sat quietly for a moment, and then Jane remembered something.
“You said the Factory destroyed everything, but not Evelyn, right?” Jane asked, concerned. “You didn’t terminate her, along with all of the other projects … did you?”
“No, of course not,” he replied. “I hired her. She’s your assistant now.”
“How can you hire a program, Dad?” Jane asked, now less worried and more confused.
Her dad smiled. “Well, Jane, there’s a lot more to Evelyn than even you know.”
The knot in Jane’s chest relaxed at her dad’s smile, and she thought again about her brother.
“I’m sorry, Dad. It’s just the more people in Washington you piss off, the more … well … I just think you’re in danger. Tate may be hidden, but you’re not. Everyone knows who you are. You have to promise me you’re not going to go back down to Earth. Promise me you’ll stay up here.”
Her dad looked at her as if to say, “I don’t want to disappoint you, but I am going to anyway.” Patting her knee again, he said with as much compassion as he could, “Honey, I can’t make that promise. I may have to go back down—there are people who need us—but I promise I will do everything I can to keep us all safe.”
Jane didn’t want to push the conversation any further than she had. Her dad hadn’t given her the answer she had hoped for, but she wasn’t planning on staying on the space station either. Though she dreaded going back down to the surface under the circumstances, she didn’t want him asking too many questions of her. She hated lying to him, so the less he knew, the better.
The shuttle pulled into the docking bay at the space station, and the locks clamped onto the sides of the ship, indicating they had arrived safely. The breezeway attached itself to the door on the hull of the shuttle, and Jane’s ears popped as the air compressed.
“We have arrived at Vista,” Evelyn announced over the intercom. “You’re free to disembark at your pleasure.”
“Thanks, Evelyn,” Jane’s dad said, standing, holding his hand out to his daughter.
Jane took his hand and stood. They both turned and walked toward the door to the breezeway, holding hands.
I still don't understand how you hired Evelyn, Dad. What was that all about?” Jane asked, still confused and not wanting to drop the subject.
“Well, I had to give her something to do. I figured if I made her seem more like a real person—you know, gave her a job and a title—then maybe it would throw people off. Maybe it would make it harder for Senator Biggs to find her … or take her.”
Jane stopped in the breezeway, still holding her dad’s hand. She looked at him with a disapproving look. “Why do I get the feeling there’s still a lot you aren’t telling me?”
“Not a lot, honey,” her dad said with a smile. “Just a little.” With that, he tucked his daughter’s hand under his arm and escorted her into the station.
“I know you’re going to do your best to keep us safe, Dad,” Jane began as an afterthought. “You always have. What I need is for you to not do anything stupid.”
“Duly noted,” her dad responded, and given that he didn’t make eye contact with her, Jane realized that stupid may be the only way to describe whatever it was he was going to do next.
&nb
sp; EXPLORER
Jane pounded out another mile on the treadmill. She had less than a week to get to Tate. She needed more time to think and to decompress, and running a lot of miles while going nowhere seemed both helpful and fitting.
Sometimes, when she really needed time to herself, she would come to the exercise facility and would run for hours. The facility was almost always empty, and while her quarters gave her complete privacy, space on a space station was at a premium. Given her quarters on Vista weren’t much bigger than those she had on the shuttle, it never took long before she got stir-crazy and just had to get out.
The thing she liked the most about the exercise facility, though, was the window. There weren’t many on the space station—a few windows located in the command center and a few others scattered about Vista in various places—but the exercise facility had one.
Vista had been originally designed as a laboratory where scientists and researchers could run experiments in orbit around Earth. For decades, a dozen or so researchers at a time would rocket to the station, conduct their research, and then would return to Earth, leaving Vista mostly abandoned most of the time.
That all changed when CP Interstellar reinvented the rocket. As soon as they had a shuttle that could fly into outer space and return in a controlled decent, sporadic trips to Vista became monthly trips, monthly became weekly, weekly became daily, and now shuttles flew back and forth every few hours. With all the traffic back and forth, and the scientific experimentation on Vista that ensued, the space station had grown in size and scope. It was still a laboratory, but it had also become a community of people living in what had developed into a biodome, two hundred miles above the clouds, and every aspect of it—from the life support systems to the navigation—was controlled by Evelyn.
Jane and the Exodus (Stargazer Series Book 1) Page 2
