“How is it better for us to go back to an Earth that doesn’t want us there—that spent all this money sending us to a whole other place in the solar system so we could save them?” Beckett counters. “You really think we’ll be welcomed with open arms? Besides, we still have more resources on our ship than most people back home. Especially now that . . . well, now that we unfortunately have one less person to feed.”
I flinch. It hurts to admit, but Beckett is right.
“We were always planning to start growing food in the solar greenhouse anyway,” I point out. “We’ll just have to start earlier. The real thing we have to worry about is what we saw today. Extraterrestrials.” I give Beckett a sharp look. “You obviously knew about that thing on the supply ship and didn’t warn us. So now’s your chance to explain—and tell us what you know about Europa.”
Beckett shifts uncomfortably in his seat, and I wonder if the expression on his face has something to do with guilt.
“I only knew about the Mars cover-up—that alien life was found on the planet, and its touch was deadly to humans. Dr. Takumi and General Sokolov were the ones who figured it out, and they went to my uncle to report the news before getting NASA involved. But he . . . let’s just say, he convinced them not to say anything. My uncle was only halfway through his first term, and he was the one who pushed Congress and NASA to rush the Mars mission, all so we could beat China to it and take the planet as ours. If the American people found out he was responsible for the most dangerous screwup in space-travel history . . .” He raises his eyebrows.
“Anyway, Takumi and Sokolov had good incentive for keeping his secret. He offered them what they always wanted: Europa, and all the glory and riches that would come their way for being at the helm of the mission.”
“And your prize for keeping the secret was a spot among the Final Six,” I say bitterly. If it hadn’t been for Beckett, Leo would be sitting across from me instead.
“Maybe I had an edge, but I still earned my place here,” he says evenly. “Same as all of you.”
Before I can blow up at him for that obvious lie, Jian quickly changes the subject.
“Why would they tell you, anyway?” he asks. “Who shares that type of confidential info with a kid?”
“Well, the three of them weren’t exactly happy when they found me eavesdropping,” Beckett says flatly. “I still have the scars from my dad to prove it. But when he found out later what I overheard, he realized the leverage it gave him over his brother.” His face darkens. “You’re probably getting the picture right about now that being in my family isn’t the winning lottery ticket everyone likes to pretend it is. I’ve lived with humans who are rotten to the core. Why do you think I was so willing to leave Earth behind?”
“Something still doesn’t make sense. Obviously, the Athena proved there’s life beyond Earth, and dangerous life at that. Why would any of these people who knew that still insist on the Europa Mission?” I wonder. “Why would President Wolfe still sign off on it? And how in the world could they include a Mars stopover after what they knew was there?”
“Because no one ever thought the supply ship was compromised. Who would have predicted the astronauts would try escaping up to orbit, and that alien life would follow them up to the capsule?” Beckett shakes his head. “And there was nothing to say that Earth would stay ET-free. One of the things I remember Dr. Takumi warning my uncle about was that the missions we’d already taken to and from Mars exposed us to Martian microbes—which could grow into that thing we just saw.”
“Panspermia,” I murmur.
“Huh?”
“It’s the theory that life throughout the universe is distributed through space dust, meteoroids—and spacecraft unknowingly carrying microorganisms,” I explain.
“Interesting.” Beckett says, more to himself than me. “Dr. Takumi once told my uncle that it was just as likely that the earliest forms of like originated on Europa as on Earth.” He pauses. “Maybe that’s why our DNA analysis was part of the scouting and selection process.
I stare at him.
“It was?”
Before he can tell us any more, our radio transmitter pings with an unfamiliar signal. The five of us hold a collective breath, our hope charging the capsule with an energy of its own. Is it Earth?
And then Jian shoots upright.
“The other ship—it’s back.”
Twenty
LEO
MY PANIC ESCALATES WITH EVERY MINUTE IT TAKES TO regain my velocity and altitude. At this point, each millisecond means the difference between life and death. If I don’t manage to catch up to the Pontus before the ship slingshots to Jupiter, it’s game over. Not just for my mission and reunion with Naomi—but for my life.
My eyes dart between the window shield and the touch-screen panel, where two green targets representing the Pontus and the Mars supply ship are drawing closer and closer together. When I see them merge on-screen, I let out an agonized yell. It’s over.
There’s no way I can make up the speed and distance between us in the short time it’ll take for them to patch the fuel leak. The Final Six will slingshot out of Mars orbit, without ever knowing I was here.
“We’re done,” I whisper to Kitt.
I take my hand off the joystick, letting the ship run on cruise control, not bothering to course correct anymore. My mind starts racing with numbers: how many days’ worth of fuel and propulsion our ship has left, how many more hours left to live.
I turn on the Interior Cam to start recording good-bye messages, one for Lark and Asher and another for Naomi. I’m just pressing Record when Kitt’s mechanical arm taps my shoulder.
“Commander Danieli. Look.”
I glance at the screen, and then I do a double take. For some strange reason, the Pontus is undocking from the supply ship. But I don’t have time to wonder why they’d make such an antithetical move—I see my split-second chance and slam my hand down on the thruster, going for it.
As we zoom forward at supersonic speed, Kitt reminds me, “We have to make sure they know that it’s you, so they don’t fire again when they see our ship.”
I think quickly. The radio signal didn’t work last time—what else can I possibly try?
“Kitt . . . do you know how to beam music to a neighboring spacecraft?”
If Kitt finds the request strange, he doesn’t let on. It helps that robots have notoriously good poker faces. Instead, he shows me how to uplink the song I’m thinking of directly to the Pontus. And then the strains of “L’Italiano,” the song that played as I first stepped off the jet in Houston and met my fellow finalists, starts to echo through the capsule speakers.
With a little luck, right now Naomi is hearing the same thing. . . .
Twenty-One
NAOMI
TIME SLOWS TO A STOP AS THE EXUBERANT MELODY BREAKS through the silent ship, bringing the Pontus and its passengers back to life. My first thought is that we’ve somehow managed to resume transmissions with Earth, that Leo is sending me a message from home—but then I glance at the Message Origin data. And suddenly my heart is flying out of its chest, my mind dizzy with hope.
“I know who’s in that ship.”
I take off, diving into the elevator pod, my teammates hot on my heels. I sprint ahead of them, from the Communications Bay to the hatch, and float as fast as humanly possible till I reach the command module. As I push through the hatch door, I remember with a flash how Cyb already fired laser weapons at the “enemy” ship once before. If he does it again—
“Jian!” I point at Cyb, and he manages to restrain the AI just long enough for me to dash to the cockpit’s touch screen.
DOCKING REQUEST FROM NEIGHBORING SPACECRAFT, the screen flashes. My whole body trembles as I press Accept.
Every second feels like an eternity as the spacecraft draws closer, the miles between us narrowing . . . until we’re close enough for me to see the face in the window.
I’m living a dream as the astronaut looks up, and i
t’s really him. Leo.
The miracle I never dared imagine.
I race to the airlock, ignoring the shouted questions from my dumbfounded crewmates. It feels like my heart is about to fly out of my chest as I wait for him to open the hatch.
It takes longer than it should for him to float through the door, and for one terrible moment, I wonder if this is all a stress-induced hallucination. Am I about to be crushed with disappointment, forced to relive our separation all over again? I mean, how is it even possible that this is real?
But then the hatch swings open. There he is.
All I can feel is my heartbeat, thundering to a crescendo, as we run to each other. We are close enough to touch now, and my skin shivers in anticipation.
Leo reaches his own shaking hand to my cheek, gazing at me as if unsure that I am real. And then my lips are on his, my hands pressing against his back, his fingers running through my hair. He leans his forehead against mine, and as we hold each other close, I feel like I’m flying, free of the ship, free of anything holding me down. That’s when I realize we are, in fact, floating in air, our intertwined bodies rising above the floor. And as we gaze at each other, I know one thing for sure: if love can bring Leo halfway across the universe to me, then anything is possible.
I’ll never lose hope again.
Twenty-Two
LEO
“HALT!”
“Step away from the crew!”
Naomi and I break apart, flushed and confused. And then two heavy steel arms grip my shoulders, yanking me away from her and cuffing my wrists behind my back before I even realize what’s happening.
“Cyb.” I look up into his empty eyes. “It’s Leo Danieli, from Space Training Camp. Don’t you remember me?”
But he’s not listening. Cyb must have activated his AI Defense Mode, and now he’s dragging me across the capsule floor to the airlock.
“You’re going back where you came from,” he says, his voice cold as ice.
“No! It’s safe, it’s Leo!” Naomi screams, rushing at Cyb. He tosses her to the side in one effortless motion, and I look around wildly, trying to make eye contact with the rest of the crew gaping at the scene.”
“I swear, I’m here for a good reason. Please, you guys—don’t let him do this!”
If the others could back us up, if it’s not just up to Naomi and me to fend off the raging AI, then I could be free. But they’re all just standing there, until—
I gasp as my body slips from Cyb’s grip. The handcuffs come off, floating up into the air as my body rises with them, just in time to see Jian pinning the AI to the wall. I stare at him in surprise. I had no clue the dude was that strong—or that he’d care enough to help me. But then I see Naomi beside him, and I realize it wasn’t me Jian was trying to help.
I rush forward to join them, and the next few moments are a blur of metal scraping against flesh as we struggle to keep the thrashing robot’s arms in place. Naomi’s hands shake as she reaches for Cyb’s AIOS screen. And then, after pressing a series of buttons on-screen—
“Defense mode cleared.”
When Cyb’s eyes blink open again, he’s like a deflated balloon, all the fight out of him. I drop his arm, while Naomi reaches for mine.
“Come with me,” she says. “I’m not letting you get away again.”
“Wait.” Jian holds up a hand to stop her. “We need a crew meeting. We have to decide as a team what to do about . . .” He glances at me. “Him.”
I realize something is wrong as soon as we’re all gathered on the first floor of what Naomi tells me is the Astronauts’ Residence. It is dizzying in its bells and whistles, a stark contrast from my utilitarian solo capsule. But something is missing. Someone.
“Where’s Dev?”
As the faces around me fall, I feel a pang of fear.
“What? What happened?”
Naomi starts to explain, tears spilling from her cheeks as she recounts what happened on the supply ship. As she speaks, Sydney Pearle’s body shudders with sobs, and Naomi wraps a tight arm around her. I stare at the two of them, not wanting to believe it.
“He was my friend,” I whisper. “I thought we were all going to be together here.”
“What made you so certain you’d be joining up with us, anyway?” Beckett snaps. Clearly he’s still the same old jerk as before.
“I wasn’t certain. But I hoped.”
“I mean, it’s a little . . . convenient for Leo to appear right after we lost Dev, isn’t it?” Beckett looks around at Sydney, Jian, and Minka. “What reason do we have to trust him?”
“Are you serious?” I sputter. This is a new low, even for Beckett. “Are you actually suggesting—”
“I know you had nothing to do with what happened to Dev,” Sydney says, her eyes devoid of emotion as she looks at me. “But that doesn’t mean I want you taking Dev’s place, sleeping in his compartment, wearing his uniform . . .” Her voice cracks, and she turns away, covering her face.
“I wouldn’t be doing any of that,” I tell her gently. “I have my own ship. I would just be joining yours for the trip to Europa so I can help you there . . . if you’ll have me.”
Jian stares at me like I’m a ghost.
“But how? How are you even here?”
I take a deep breath and begin telling my story. I explain how Greta found me, and I tell them about the map she decoded of Europa’s surface ridges and her plan to help the Final Six survive.
“Oh. My. God.” Naomi’s eyes fill with tears as she stares at me. “It’s—it’s too incredible to believe. Dr. Wagner’s discoveries, and the fact that—that the woman I’ve looked up to all my life is the one who brought you back to me. . . .” Her voice falters. “I only wish I could have known her, and thanked her for all that she did.”
“Me too. She would have loved you.”
“Well, it’s a nice story and all, but Dr. Takumi and General Sokolov would never sign off on allowing him in,” Beckett says, talking about me like I’m not even there. “Leo was cut, remember? And as the person they left in charge, I have to say no. It’s our job to put the mission above any one person.” He looks me dead in the eye. “You need to go back to Earth, Danieli.”
I ignore him, keeping my focus on the other four.
“Dr. Wagner told me from the beginning that my spacecraft had only enough propulsion for a one-way trip, so there’s no chance of me going back to Earth. But I was always prepared for the possibility that I might not catch up to you guys, and that I’d remain out here until . . . until my ship couldn’t support me anymore. That’s my only other option, and I—I’ll accept it, if that’s what’s right for you all. But I believe in everything Greta taught me, and I know I can help the mission.”
I glance from one face to the next, trying to gauge which way they’re leaning. I won’t push myself on them; I can’t be that person. But every part of me is desperate for them to say yes.
“There is no scenario where I leave you to flounder in space.” Naomi’s dark eyes flash with intensity. “I’ll die with you here, or we’ll travel together to Europa, but I’m never abandoning you. Not after I already left you once.”
I don’t trust myself to speak. Instead I hold her hand up to my lips, hoping she can feel everything I want to say in my kiss. Jian’s face falls.
“Don’t do this,” he says quietly, looking at Naomi, and I can’t tell whether he’s talking about us leaving—or her being with me.
“It’s crazy,” Sydney argues. “You can’t just leave—”
“Look what he’s doing already,” Beckett says, cocking an eyebrow. “He hasn’t even been here a full hour and he’s already using Naomi as a shield, getting between our crew and dividing us—”
“That’s not true.” Rage burns under my skin at his words, and I look pleadingly from Minka to Jian and Sydney. “You don’t understand what I can bring to the table. You need an underwater specialist who can guide you through Europa’s ocean to the Habitable Zone,
and I’m the only one who can.”
“Let’s not forget the whole Habitable Zone theory comes straight from Dr. Wagner, who was taken off the mission,” Beckett scoffs.
Naomi turns to the rest of the group, ignoring him.
“This isn’t a unilateral decision. Let’s take a vote. Should Leo and I leave you to continue on to Europa without us, with more resources to share among the four of you? Or should we work as a new team, utilizing Leo’s skills and knowledge from Dr. Wagner, and see if we can succeed in the mission together?”
There’s an awkward pause, until Sydney raises her hand.
“All else in favor?”
I hold my breath. Jian lifts his hand, followed by Minka. Beckett is the only holdout.
I release the air from my lungs as relief sinks in. Naomi pulls Sydney, Minka, and Jian toward us for a group hug, while Beckett slinks off to the side. I glance at him out of the corner of my eye, curious how he’s taking this loss—but he doesn’t look as disgruntled as I expected. I wonder if maybe some small part of him didn’t want to be responsible for our deaths, after all.
“Um. Guys.” Naomi stops still, a smile spreading across her face. “I just thought of the obvious. Leo . . . I’m guessing your ship has a working X-band antenna?”
“Of course it does,” I tell her. “Lark and Asher have been guiding me most of the way.”
Naomi slowly turns around, facing the rest of the crew. And to my surprise, they begin cheering at the top of their lungs.
I lead the way through the hatch back to my ship, Naomi’s hand in mine the entire time. Even if we weren’t already floating in zero g, my feet still wouldn’t touch the ground. I’m on the high of my life from achieving the impossible and making it all the way to her, a victory made so much sweeter by the discovery that they actually need me and my ship.
But as soon as we crawl into the capsule, my stomach plummets. Cyb is standing at the helm of my ship—and Kitt is nowhere to be seen. Beside me, Naomi draws in a sharp breath.
“What are you doing here, Cyb?”
The Life Below Page 14
