Make You See Stars (5 page)

“
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
again, 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 bi
rthday 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!”

“
I
am
excited,” Tori replied with a grin. “I
tried writing a good speech for when I set foot on Enceladus, but
Captain Kirk and Neil Armstrong have already beaten me to it. I
don’t think I can come up with anything as good.”

“
I bet LaFleur thought of
something.” Shirley rolled her eyes. “That guy put the
P
s in
pompous. Maybe he’ll give you and Jari confetti to throw when he
steps out of the shuttle.”

“
Well, it’s going to take
ages
falling on his
head,” Tori said. “Low gravity and all. Not likely.” She lifted her
fork and stared unseeingly at the macaroni skewered on the tines.
“I’m a bit nervous, though. I’ve never been the first to do
anything. Usually I let someone else take the lead.”

“
Well, you’re gonna be the first
woman on Enceladus, like it or not,” Anna commented. “Actually, I
think it’s cool LaFleur invited you. Otherwise it would
all
be men going on the
first expedition.”

Tori sat back in her chair. “I
wish I could go for a walk in the forest,” she sighed. “For me,
that’s the best way to unwind.” Back in New Berlin, they’d had a
colossal Earth-themed forest under the dome of the North Mars
Capital, and part of that forest belonged to the Weiss family. Tori
had spent countless hours there, wandering between the trees and
plants that used to grow on Earth in abundance before the bombs
dropped.

“
Well, why don’t you book
yourself a spot in the Hydroponics Experience tonight?” Shirley
said, referring to the giant hall with real trees and overhead 3D
cinema. It was a kind of a cross-over between an indoor nature
reserve and a dome-shaped projector screen, accessible for all
Desida Two citizens.

“
I’m not sure I can.
Shouldn’t I have booked that days ago?”

“
Take mine,” Anna offered
generously. “I was going to use the HE at eight, but I can also go
squashing with Shirley. Just book me a spot a few days from now
when you get there tonight.”

“
Really?
Thanks!”

“
You’re welcome.” Anna
pointed at the macaroni on Tori’s plate. “Now eat.”

“
Yes, mom,” Tori
teased.

That evening, she decided to
leave a bit early so she could take a stroll down Saturn Boulevard.
So far, she hadn’t really had the chance yet to look around
unhurriedly, because she’d been
trying to avoid news reporters – which was
a shame, because Anna and Shirley couldn’t stop raving about the
cute little clothes shops and Japanese supermarket that were
located at the far end of the walkway, close to the Main Docking
Point.

Before she went there, Tori
walked up to the Hydroponics Experience booking
desk. There was no-one around,
but she spotted a self-service terminal next to the main entrance,
so she whipped out her ID access card and started to make a booking
for Anna. The first available date was two days from
now.

W
hile she was typing in some details, she
abruptly became aware of someone watching her. Cautiously, she
glanced over her shoulder and saw a guy who looked familiar –
hadn’t he been on board the cruiser taking her to the station? Was
he a reporter?

Her heart skipped a beat
when he made eye-contact with her and crossed the boulevard. “Hey,”
he started to say. “Excuse me.”

“
I’m sorry, I don’t have
time,” she replied breathlessly, jabbing a thumb at the HE. “I’m
supposed to go in now.”

“
Wait!” the man called after her
when she slipped through the doors leading to the waiting
area.
Tori
looked around frantically. Wasn’t there a room available where she
could hide till it was her turn? The HE was divided into four
sections, all four of them occupied according to the schedule
projected on the wall. HE3 wasn’t locked, though – the sensor next
to the door showed green, not red.

In a split-second decision,
Tori pushed open the door to HE3 and secured it from the inside.
Now she would have to find the person using this cinema and explain
why the door was locked – that would be the polite thing to do, at
least. She checked her watch: quarter to eight. She was supposed to
be in HE3 in fifteen minutes, anyway.

Tori started up the hill. The
person using this cinema had projected a beautiful night sky onto
the ceiling. She recognized some of the constellations from her
nights stargazing with her grandpa, so this was probably
somewhere
on
the Earth Northern Hemisphere. As she climbed higher and higher,
the view from the hill took her breath away. Now that she’d broken
out of the tree line, she could see all the way to the artificial
horizon. Far away in the distance, she could make out a town, its
twinkling lights looking warm and friendly in the dark night. Maybe
she’d find a girl at the top of the hill; some like-minded nature
lover from Earth, who had projected the environment of her hometown
onto the walls and ceiling of the Hydroponics
Experience.

Tori was out of breath when she
reached the top, peering into the darkness
illuminated by the full moon to see
who was sitting on the bench a few yards away from her.

“
Hello?” she called out
gingerly. “Who’s there?”

“
Someone who actually
booked
this cinema,” came
a voice from the darkness.

Oh, shit – it was Alen.
Her life had just reached new levels of suckiness.

“
It wasn’t locked,” she
said, grudgingly making her way to the bench.