by Jocelyn Han
Tori chuckled. “I feel like I’m doing something wrong, showing up for a work meeting like this,” she complained. “But it seems you were right – even the commander is dressed like he’s going for a walk in the woods.”
At that moment, the doors swished open and Alen Novak stepped into the meeting room. The bottom dropped out of Tori’s stomach. She hadn’t expected him here – which was stupid, actually, given the fact he was a senior officer and the Head of Security. In all probability, she was going to see a lot more of him during work.
He was wearing a tight, black T-shirt that fit snugly around his athletic upper body, showing off his lightly tanned, strong arms. His pants were also black. Not a very casual dresser, then. He still looked rather official.
When he came up to the coffee counter, she grabbed Anna’s arm and tried to scuttle away, but Alen had already locked eyes with her. Tori swallowed and decided to stay put – she didn’t want to flee the scene again after last night’s awkward exchange. If anything, she wouldn’t let him ‘win’ a second time.
“Good morning,” he said pleasantly. God, his voice was sexy. It sounded like he’d just gotten out of bed after a rough night – it was low, gravelly and at the same time, somehow smooth like honey.
“Hi,” she mumbled back.
“Nice shirt,” he commented, pointing at her clothes.
“Thanks. Liking this better than my fancy-shmancy business outfit?” she couldn’t help sniding.
Alen was silent for a moment, then raised an eyebrow. “Right. It’s cute that you’re trying to give off this I-don’t-want-to-be-rich vibe, really.”
Tori took a deep breath. “I’m not trying to do anything. Except demonstrating my taste in music.”
“Oh, come on,” he scoffed, the same condescending tone he’d used before creeping into his voice. “Do you even know who the guy is?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“Because I can’t imagine Ambassador Weiss supporting that kind of rebellious, gender-bending music being played in his Martian mansion,” Alen threw back.
So he knew who she was. Maybe he’d already known when she met him in the cargo hold yesterday. Did this guy have some bone to pick with her father? Was that why he seemed to be on her case all the time?
“Well, that’s why they invented headphones,” Tori shrugged. “I know we’re supposed to play the Ziggy Stardust album at maximum volume, as per the instructions on the back of the record sleeve, but hey, you gotta make do with what you have.”
Alen blinked. For just a split second, she seemed to have surprised him. “You do know his music,” he conceded.
“Yeah, I do. Want me to come over to your place and sing you a few Bowie songs to prove it?”
Slowly, he cracked the same lazy, lopsided smile that had made her realize how sexy he was yesterday. “You want to sing for me? Well, I don’t know what my wife would think of that.”
She froze. He was married?
Alen’s blue eyes turned darker as he carefully observed her reaction. “You’re disappointed,” he said calmly.
“I’m not,” she replied as contemptuous as she could.
He smiled down at her. “Talk to you later, Tori,” he said before strolling off to the table.
Utterly confused, she stared at his broad shoulders, taking in his easy demeanor as he sat down next to Commander Kelso. What was wrong with this guy?
“Hey!” Anna shook her out of her stupor. “What was that? Why were you flirting with him?!”
Tori turned around to face her friend, her mouth agape. “Me? I wasn’t flirting with him.”
“Yeah, you so were. And he was doing it back. You like him?”
“I don’t.” Tori sighed. “I mean, I kind of do – I think he’s hot. And intense. But he’s also an arrogant asshole, and he hates me.”
Anna shook her head. “No, he doesn’t. I guess he just hates the Elite. He’s from a very poor part of Great Germany. He knows you’re cream of the crop, but it’s not keeping him away. You’ve made him curious.”
“Yeah, right. I don’t care.”
“Well, he’s not married, FYI,” Anna continued. “He was just bullshitting you. Not that you care, but I wanted to let you know anyway.”
Tori rolled her eyes. “Shut up, you nasty Floridian.”
They picked seats on the far end of the table, next to Mr. LaFleur and Mr. Yoruka, Anna’s boss.
“I would like to start this meeting by welcoming two new members on the moon-mapping team,” Commander Kelso’s booming voice announced. “There’s Tim Hasselt, our new IT man in Cartography,” he gestured at a skinny guy with black hair and brown eyes, “and there’s Victoria Weiss from the German part of Mars, who’s going to be an intern in Astrobiology during the remainder of her studies.”
Everyone around the table applauded. Tori smiled coyly, looking around the circle of faces.
“To my right is my Chief of Security, Alen Novak,” Commander Kelso continued, his gaze landing on Tori once more. “Your team will be working with him whenever there’s a mission to one of the moons bringing back samples to the station.”
Oh, joy. Tori cringed a little as she tried to smile at Alen for Commander Kelso’s sake.
Alen shot a smile back. “Yeah, we’ve met,” he mumbled to Kelso, his wavy, blond hair partly obscuring the look in his blue eyes.
LaFleur, her new boss, got up to stand next to the screen on one side of the room, fumbling with a remote control to switch on a presentation he’d apparently prepared. “Enceladus,” he intoned, when a crisp-clear image of the moon popped up on-screen. “This is the first time we’ll attempt to land there with a team. The previous three assignments were done by robots.” He showed them some graphs and details about surface temperature, atmospheric conditions and rotation period.
Alen raised his hand. “I have strong objections against taking more than two people to the surface on this mission,” he said. “Why not carry out the assignment with two senior officers instead of an entire team of interns?”
LaFleur frowned, his black eyebrows knitting together. “Conditions on Enceladus are low-risk, according to our previous studies.”
“Yes, but conditions can change, plus they’re unpredictable on a geologically-active celestial body.”
“Well, if we took that kind of stance, nothing new would ever be discovered,” LaFleur replied sourly. “What do you suggest we do, send in another million robot explorers?”
Alen gave Tori’s boss a dark look. “I suggest you don’t take first-timers to the south polar region and expose them to possibly lethal vapor plumes caused by tidal heating of the moon’s interior. That subsurface liquid water isn’t going anywhere, you know.”
“Gentlemen,” Kelso interrupted the heated discussion. “Let’s play nice, shall we? I agree with Mr. LaFleur when he says that sending in more robots isn’t going to advance our cause, but Mr. Novak is right about the team we’re assigning to do the job. Let’s stick with Mr. LaFleur himself and two assistants for the time being.”
“No mapping crew?” Mr. Yoruka interjected, a look of disappointment crossing his face.
“Not this time around,” Commander Kelso decided. “You can ask your colleagues to take pictures so you have some points of reference later when you do fly out there.”
LaFleur turned to Tori. “Can I count on your presence?” he said with a bright smile.
“Uhm…” Tori blinked at him nervously. “I’d love to go, but…”
“Don’t worry,” he cut her off. “I won’t ask you to do anything dangerous, of course. It’s perfectly safe.”
Not according to Alen, but she didn’t want to object. He and Mr. LaFleur didn’t strike her as best buds, and she’d hate to ruffle her boss’s feathers on the very first day on the job. Her gaze swerved to Alen, whose mouth formed a grim line.
“I’ll be coming along as well,” he said. “Just to make sure you follow procedure.”
“What’s that supposed to me
an?” LaFleur exploded.
Alen stared at him with narrowed eyes. “I know you’re dying to get those water samples on board the station, but there are a few quarantine measures we’re going to discuss between the two of us. Unless you think it’s a good idea to let unknown exo-bacteria roam free on Desida Two.”
“Well, I want to start examining the samples as soon as I can.”
“By ignoring the week-long quarantine regulations.”
“We have a lab,” LaFleur grumbled.
“Wow, an air-tight lab? With a direct link to the spacecraft’s docking point?”
“Gentlemen,” Commander Kelso rumbled again. “A bit more reason and a bit less testosterone wouldn’t hurt.”
Tori’s gaze was volleying between Kelso, Alen, LaFleur and Anna, shooting the last one a what-the-fuck look. Anna shrugged, mouthing ‘we’ll talk later’ at her.
LaFleur finished the rest of his presentation without interruptions. After that, Mr. Yoruka showed them some maps that the flyby satellites had compiled during earlier assignments. It would help them when they picked a spot to land.
Tori’s head hurt by the time the meeting was over. It was cluttered with details, names, procedures, not to mention smarting from all the arguments between LaFleur and Alen. She got up to get another cup of coffee and a cookie from the refreshment table when Alen marched up to her and pulled her aside.
“You’re going on this mission?” he asked.
“Yeah, I guess so.”
He stared at her, the hard lines around his mouth softening. “Just keep in mind that LaFleur craves attention. He’d rather skip a few protocols and get famous sooner. It’s no coincidence he only takes on rich interns of outstanding academic aptitude. He wants to shine – at any cost.”
Tori nodded. “Thanks for telling me,” she said softly. “I’ll be careful.”
He stalked off without looking back at her or LaFleur, but she could sense he wasn’t angry with her. In fact, his warning had been rather kind.
5.
Tori had a one-hour lunch break after the meeting, which she spent with Anna and Shirley.
“It’s a shame we won’t be going on our first mission together,” Shirley moped when Anna told her Cartography was banned from tagging along to Enceladus. She put her hand on Tori’s arm. “But at least you’ll get to go and tell us all about it.”
“Yeah, thanks to my boss, I will.” Tori turned to Anna. “Are you gonna tell me what that was all about? That cockfight between LaFleur and Novak?”
“They’ve been like that around each other ever since we turned up here,” Anna explained. “Novak has worked his way to the top by excelling in just about every subject they value in his job, and he feels LaFleur has bought his way to the top because he’s Elite and he doesn’t need to work to get what he wants.”
“I can see why that makes it difficult for them to be friends,” Tori mused. “Anyway, Alen will be joining the mission to keep an eye on his adversary, I suppose.”
Anna giggled. “No, he’s joining to keep an eye on you, darling. I bet he’s hoping for more flirtatious bickering en route to that frozen moon.”
Shirley looked from Anna to Tori. “Wait, what? You flirted with him? Why would you do that?”
“Because she thinks he’s sizzling hot,” Anna said in a husky voice, waggling her eyebrows.
“No,” Shirley exclaimed. “No, no, no, girlfriend! Bad idea! He’s an ex-con. You can do better than that.”
Strangely enough, Shirley’s remark was rubbing Tori the wrong way. She couldn’t deny Alen was kind of a jerk, despite his genuine attempt at helping her after the meeting, but she didn’t look down on him. If anything, he struck her as very intelligent and honest – nothing to be ashamed of.
“Look, he doesn’t like me,” she said in a cranky voice. “Just forget about it, okay?”
She stuffed the last bit of cream cheese bagel in her mouth and got up to go back to Astrobiology. LaFleur had asked her to work on a shipment of Earth bacteria samples with Jari, the other intern who would be part of the expedition to Enceladus. The samples would be inside the second probe that was to be launched through the wormhole one week from now. A kind of: ‘We’re from Earth, and these are our most famous diseases’ greeting card.
“Hey there,” she greeted Jari, whom she’d briefly met before heading out for lunch. “Ready to slave away?”
Jari shot her a mischievous grin. “Always. Let’s show LaFleur what we’re capable of.”
Tori took care not to let out an irritated sigh. In the all but two minutes she’d talked to the Finnish intern before lunch, he had done nothing but ramble on about resume building and impressing his superiors. Jari was her parents’ wet dream.
LaFleur walked past their lab table every now and then, but he didn’t hover. She couldn’t figure out if Alen was right about the man being solely focused on attaining fame and glory – he seemed interested enough in them personally, taking them each aside for a quick chat about their college grades and work experience by the end of the day.
“I hope I didn’t give you the wrong impression about the mission,” LaFleur said after they’d chatted about life at Uni for a few minutes. “It’s really a low-risk expedition. Novak was just blowing the whole thing out of proportion.”
Tori bit her lip. “Well, he seemed to know what he was talking about,” she half-heartedly objected.
“Sure, there are some risks.” Her boss beamed at her. “But that’s always the case at the forefront of scientific research. I guess Novak’s got a sort of fight-or-flight mentality, being an ex-prisoner and all. You did know that, right?”
Yes, she did – it seemed as if people were making sure she wouldn’t forget. That had to be hard for Alen. Even higher-ups were gossiping behind his back. Commander Kelso didn’t seem to have a problem with him, though. Maybe Kelso had been among the ‘people who knew people’ who got Alen this job.
“Well, that’ll be all,” LaFleur said, getting up from his chair. “I will see you at Airlock Seven tomorrow at oh-nine hundred hours sharp. Bring a lunchbox.” He winked at her.
Tori couldn’t help but laugh. The guy was funny, she had to give him that.
“The Chief of Security said he wants to talk to us,” Jari said as she left LaFleur’s office, beckoning her over to their research station.
“He does?” Tori frowned. Both she and Jari would be on board the spacecraft going to Enceladus tomorrow – could it be Alen had to discuss safety protocol with them beforehand? “What about?”
Jari shrugged. “No idea. He was just here and he asked us to wait.”
While they were waiting for Alen to show up, Tori took out her pad and typed out some messages to her friends back on Mars, sending them pictures of what the station looked like. One of her friends was going to do an internship at Desida One soon, which wasn’t too far away from her – it was orbiting Jupiter. Svetlana would be assisting as trade liaison between the two Russian Jupiterian moons and the English-speaking station. Hopefully, she would also make it to Saturn some time.
She saved her parents for last. After much debate, Tori thought her mother would appreciate some pictures of her work station and the laboratory, so she walked around taking photos of the room and her new colleagues. By the time she got back to where Jari was sitting, he was talking to Alen. She pricked up her ears when she heard them speak in a foreign language.
“You can speak Finnish?” she blurted out to Alen after Jari had packed up and walked away.
Alen swiveled around to face her. “Obviously.”
“Cool. How come?” She’d learned how to speak Russian from her nannies, but that was the only language she spoke besides German and English, the two languages of Mars.
He smiled wanly. “Guess I was just bored bumming around in my prison cell all the time. Gotta keep your mind sharp, right?”
“Right.” She didn’t know how to react to that. Part of her was surprised he was so open about his past. Then ag
ain, maybe he figured since she already knew, there was no point keeping quiet about it. “So… what did you want to see me about?”
“A birthday bash,” he replied, gauging her reaction with an almost-twinkle in his blue eyes.
“Why? You need people to blow up balloons?”
He snickered, and for a single, silly moment, she felt proud for getting a genuine chuckle out of him. “No, that’s being taken care of. We’re organizing a surprise party for Commander Kelso, because his birthday coincides with his fifth-year anniversary of running the station. Everybody in the various science departments is chipping in.”
Tori smiled. “Sounds great. Uhm...” She dug around in her bag, hesitating when she realized she didn’t know how much he was expecting.
“Well?” he said with arched eyebrows when she looked up helplessly.
“What – what’s everyone else giving?” she stuttered.
He frowned. “Why does it matter?”
“Because…” Her shoulders slumped. “Because I don’t want to make a mistake,” she mumbled quietly.
Alen still stared at her. “Color me puzzled.”
Tori exhaled deeply. “Okay. If I give you too little, you’re gonna think I’m a tight-fisted Elite bitch. If I give you too much, you’re gonna think I’m showing off. I just…” She cringed when she heard how desperate she sounded. “I just want to do things right.” Despite her nervousness, she met his gaze full-on.
For a moment, he looked at her intently, almost seeming surprised. And then, his eyes softened and the ghost of a smile crossed his face. “Just give me twenty Marks,” he said. “That will do the trick.”
Tori pulled a twenty note from her wallet. “Thanks,” she whispered gratefully.
“No problem.”
She could still feel his eyes on her when she exited the Astrobiology Lab, hoping it wasn’t a look of disapproval following her down the hallway this time.
6.
“Aren’t you excited?” Anna squealed when they all sat down at the small dinner table in her quarters, digging into the pan of macaroni and cheese she’d prepared. “You’re going where no man – or woman – has ever gone before!”
