Genesis (14 page)

Pip said nothing for a moment as he and Riley looked at each other. Finally, he glanced at Rosie and his lips tightened.

“Fine, no worries, boss.” He gave Riley a mock salute. “See you ’round.” He left the cafe, his dreadlocks bouncing as he loped off.

“Let’s go wait in the lounge,” Riley said.

Rosie followed them out of the cafe. She was relieved Pip wasn’t coming; he was annoying and unsettling and she had enough to deal with already. Aunt Essie put an arm around her as Riley took their ident cards and swiped them through the auto check-in.

“We’re a step closer, kid,” she whispered. “Keep your head down.”

The air in the waiting lounge smelled of vomit, fuel and air freshener, and all around them people were talking or laughing and kids were complaining. Rosie sat next to Aunt Essie and Riley sat on her other side. It felt like they were light years apart from the happy people here.

“How much longer?” she said.

Aunt Essie looked at her watch. “’Bout ten minutes. They should call it soon.” She was sitting very straight, her eyes constantly roving over the crowd.

Rosie watched a boy playing with a hover-yo. Another kid, a little girl, was standing at the window with her face pressed against the glass watching the ship, which was clearly visible through the floor to ceiling windows.

A D-class sonic cruiser, the ship held 150 passengers and twenty crew and was shaped like a gigantic pill with a pointy end. It had long arms, retracted now, that would extend once they breached the atmosphere and start the rotation that would give the interior a low level of gravity. It was a classic people mover and was in her book on space travel at home. Rosie had studied it, just as she’d studied all the other ships in her hope of getting into the Academy. So much had happened, she had forgotten that this was the first time she was going off-world; she was actually going into space. Rosie got up off the chair and joined the little girl at the window to watch the ship. Soon she would be in it and far up above the Earth. For a moment a sense of wonder eclipsed her fear and she felt as small as the girl beside her – a tiny part of the universe.

“She’s a big one.” Aunt Essie came up behind her. “Thousands of pounds of fuel in her.”

“But not enough for light speed,” Rosie said. She recited what she’d learned by heart in her studies. “It’s got a fusion cell core that will reach speeds of up to 10 000 kilometres per hour, zero point eight of Earth’s gravity – enough to keep us from bouncing up to the ceiling.”

“Top of the class,” Aunt Essie said.

Rosie looked up and her aunt smiled, but it was forced and the lines of tension were deep around her eyes. Rosie’s elation evaporated. She’d never dreamed her first trip to space would be to save her father’s life.

A woman’s voice announced their flight was ready for boarding and the three of them joined the queue that took them down the long connection tube to the ship’s hatch.

Their seats were next to a small window in the main cabin. Behind them a sealed hatch led to the sleeping chambers for trips to Genesis, or further, and in the front another hatch led into the central viewing port where a third of the ship’s hull slid back to give a view of the stars and Earth far below.

Rosie gazed out the window as the seat harness automatically fit itself over her shoulders and around her middle. The ground staff looked like ants as they zoomed off the tarmac in baggage carts. The screen on the back of the seat in front of her lit up with a Space Islands ad, bright 3-D fireworks exploding silently out towards her. She used the keypad on her chair to switch it off. Beside her, her aunt was staring straight ahead and Riley was watching his screen.

Her mind was filled with worry about her dad and what they would find when they made it to Mars.

“Aunt Essie,” she whispered, nudging her. “What do you think Riley’s going to offer them?”

“Not here,” her aunt replied.

“What did you say?” Riley turned to them.

“Nothing,” Aunt Essie said quickly. “Rosie just needs to use the toilet.”

Riley looked silently from her to Rosie but didn’t say anything.

Rosie turned back to the window. If the diary and key weren’t enough to get her dad back, what was he going to trade? There was more to everything, a lot more. What was the secret the Shores died for? If Helios had killed them for it, what else could he possibly give them?

There was a sudden roar and the lights dimmed. She lost her train of her thought as the cabin began to vibrate.

Her seat screen lit up automatically. “Ladies and gentlemen,” said a pleasant female voice, “we are now preparing for take-off. For those who haven’t travelled with us before, oxygen inhalers will soon be released from your seats to assist with your comfort during the preliminary breach. Please attach these like so–” An image of a woman clipping a tubular breathing device to her nose and mouth appeared on the screen.

“Please keep these in place until we have breached atmosphere. Your restraints will remain locked for the breach. After that, you are free to move around and join us in the recreation cabin for refreshments and to view the stars. As gravity will be reduced, please take care not to move too quickly. The estimated time to our destination is three hours and seventeen minutes. Thank you and have an enjoyable flight.” A chime sounded and the screen went dark.

She glanced at her aunt, nerves playing with her insides. Aunt Essie smiled. “The first time is always the best, kid,” she said.

Rosie tried to smile and stared out of the window as, with a shot of steam, the ship lurched up into the sky.

It took ten minutes to exit Earth’s atmosphere. Clouds slid past her window like fog. The oxygen made her head feel clear and light, and the vibrations from the force of their lifting travelled through her body, massaging the muscles in her back. Her heart was pounding with anticipation and her vision was shaky, the curved roof of the cabin oscillating, and then suddenly they were out; gravity loosened its grip and the ship burst through into the blackness of space.

For a moment there was no gravity. Rosie lifted slightly off her chair, straining against the straps of her harness, and wisps of hair drifted around her head like strange tentacles. Her aunt’s spiky hair was hardly any different but Riley’s dark hair was a nimbus around his head, making him look much younger. He was trying to catch a pen which had floated out of the pocket of his shirt. He smiled wryly but then a dull mechanical sound filled the cabin and Rosie looked outside and saw the edge of a long arm extending into space. Moments later a low level of gravity started forming in the cabin as the ship began to rotate. Rosie settled back on the seat and her hair dropped to float lightly around her jaw.

Rosie smiled. “We’re in space.”

“Uh, yeah.” Aunt Essie rolled her eyes.

Riley put his pen away and pushed the slowly retracting harness off his shoulders. “Let’s go to the viewing station.”

“Now?” Aunt Essie said.

“I thought Rosie had to go to the toilet?” Riley said.

“Right, yes, I do,” Rosie said quickly, shrugging off her harness.

They followed him up the aisle to the recreation hatch. Around them other passengers laughed and exclaimed as they acclimatised to the lower gravity, bumping into each other and the chairs. Rosie couldn’t help feeling as though she’d come to a party to which she wasn’t invited. The people around her were going to Space Islands for a holiday; she was going to stop someone killing her dad.

The viewing port in the recreation chamber had been opened and the whole curved wall of one side of the ship was a window out to space. Rosie stared out at the endless black vista, sparkling with faraway points of light and the blue orb of Earth. The ring of atmosphere was dense with cloud and pollution but it was still a beautiful sight – almost unreal.

“This way.” Aunt Essie shook her arm and Rosie tore her gaze away. They crossed the wide expanse of the ship, leaving Riley standing alone in the crowd.

“Careful,” he whispered to her as she passed him.

His words immediately made her regard the other passengers around her with suspicion. But none of them seemed remotely like they were here for any other purpose than to have fun. A couple in a corner weren’t smiling though, they were … She stopped and stared. She couldn’t believe it. How had he got on? Standing with his back to her, half hidden behind a group of people, was Pip.

She pulled free of her aunt’s grip and, moving awkwardly in the low gravity, went towards him. It was difficult to move quickly as, with each step, her feet seemed to arrive in a slightly different place to where she intended. So it was more of a hopping, skipping motion. Pip turned and saw her when she was still an arm’s length away.

“Rosie.” He didn’t appear surprised and she noticed he’d managed to clean himself up. He had on a clean white T-shirt and jeans with only a few patches and even a pair of boots. The white shirt made his brown skin and blue eyes stand out even more. To her irritation, Rosie’s heart beat faster. He stepped forward and yanked her towards him, causing her to slam into his chest.

“Ow!” She pulled out of his grip, crossing an arm across her chest.

“Sorry.”

“What’re you doing here?” She glared at him.

“Told you I got a cousin in baggage.” He grinned, then lost his smile. Her aunt was right behind her.

“Hey, Aunty,” he said.

“Pipsqueak. You just turn up everywhere, don’t you?” Aunt Essie looked at him with narrow eyes. “How did you get on?”

Pip shrugged. “Just talented, I guess.”

“Or stupid.” Riley joined them. “I told you to stay.”

Pip’s expression became defiant. “I came to warn you, boss,” he said in a low voice. “I saw some people getting on who looked suspect. A guy and a girl – I’m sure they’re not right. I thought they must be some of you-know-who.”

“I saw them,” Riley said.

Aunt Essie turned on him. “Why didn’t you say something?”

“And have you all watching over your shoulders? Besides, Pip’s wrong. They’re not with Helios. I haven’t seen anyone on board who might be. It’s odd.”

Aunt Essie poked him in the chest. “This lone ranger crusade has to stop, Riley. In case you’ve forgotten, we’re all in danger here.”

“I haven’t forgotten.”

“Oh, really? You could have fooled me. I need to know what’s going on. And I mean everything. What if something happens to you or me? What the hell are Rosie and Pip going to do?”

“I can take care of myself,” Pip said.

“Well, Rosie’s not a Feral, Pipsqueak,” Aunt Essie said. “And you overestimate your ability.”

“I’m not helpless,” Rosie said, feeling irritated.

“I know you’re not,” said her aunt. “That’s not what I meant. I think it’s time we found out what all of this is about, don’t you?” She turned back to Riley.

“I’ve told you all you need to know.”

“You mean all you want to tell us.” Aunt Essie leaned towards him. “Why should we keep following you if you’re going to keep us in the dark?”

Riley’s mouth twitched. “All right, but only you. You two go sit over there and wait.” He indicated a set of empty chairs a few metres away.

Rosie was about to protest but her aunt stopped her.

“It’s okay, Rosie,” she said. “I’ll fill you in after, hon.”

“You might change your mind about that,” Riley said.

“We’ll see.” She put a hand briefly on Rosie’s shoulder then walked a few paces away with Riley.

Pip didn’t appear to care. He just rolled his eyes and slouched over to the seats and sat down. Rosie joined him but kept an empty seat between them. He smirked and, annoyed, she watched her aunt and Riley standing close together. Riley had a hand on Aunt Essie’s shoulder and was talking close to her ear.

Her insides were stretched taut as wire.

“Typical,” Pip said. “Mr Mystery strikes again.”

Rosie ignored him. She couldn’t see her aunt’s face, but she was standing very still as she listened. Every so often she nodded and said something back. What was it that he didn’t want her to know?

She could feel Pip watching her. It made her uncomfortable and she tried to pretend he wasn’t there, but then he moved into the seat next to hers.

“What do you think he’s saying?” She could feel the warmth of his breath near her ear.

“Don’t know.” She didn’t look at him.

“Your aunt thinks he’s hot,” he said.

“What?” She turned to him. “She does not. She was going to stab him.”

Pip shrugged. “Girls always do weird things like that when they like a guy.” He smiled and put his hands behind his head. “I’ve had girls try to beat me up, throw things at me, even call me names,” he winked at her, “but they’re all just after the same thing.”

Rosie stared at him in amazement. His T-shirt was riding up, exposing a line of tanned stomach and the muscles in his arms bunched as he leaned his head in his clasped hands. “You’re deluded,” she said and got up. “I’m going to check out the view.”

She tried to move too quickly, almost stumbling as her feet failed to make proper contact with the floor.

“Careful.” Pip grabbed her arm and stopped her from tumbling. “I’ll come with you, leave the lovebirds alone.”