Genesis (15 page)

“No, thanks.” Rosie tried to pull away but succeeded only in pulling herself closer to him.

“Oh, come on, Rosie. Don’t be like that. I was just teasing.” He tried to put an arm around her waist but she pushed him away.

“Stop it, Pip. Can’t you be serious about anything?” She was suddenly angry. “What are you even doing here? You don’t care about me or my family. You’re just here to get more money out of Riley or something. Why don’t you just piss off!”

He looked at her like she’d hit him.

“What?” she said savagely.

His smile was gone and there was emptiness in his eyes now. The brightness had gone and there was a bleak desperation in his gaze, a sadness. Rosie felt as though she’d got a glimpse of the real Pip and he looked older, worn.

“You know,” he said quietly, “I wish I could. I’m really sorry about your dad, Rosie. I didn’t–” He clenched his lips together as if he’d been about to say something he shouldn’t.

“What?” She reached out to him, trying to take his hand, but he shook his head and walked away.

She stared after him. What had just happened? She watched his tall frame disappear from view as a chattering family swarmed towards the viewing window. He didn’t seem to have any trouble moving in the lower gravity.

“Where’s he going?” Aunt Essie came up beside her.

“Don’t know.”

“He won’t go far.” Riley had followed her aunt. “Come on, let’s get some food.”

“As long as you’re buying,” Aunt Essie replied.

Apprehension filled Rosie. The tone of her aunt’s voice had changed: she sounded friendly towards him now. What had he told her to make her change?

Unsettled, she fingered the pendant as she followed them to the ship’s restaurant. Would her aunt tell her what he’d said? She was getting a feeling she might not and it made her feel very alone.

Pip didn’t show up again for the rest of the trip and Aunt Essie didn’t tell Rosie what Riley had said. They’d sat in the recreation area and watched everyone else and at no time had her aunt made any move to get her alone to speak to her.

Rosie began to wish she hadn’t chased Pip off – at least if he was there, they could have been in the dark about everything together. She felt ill about what she’d said to him and couldn’t get the look of hurt on his face out of her head, or what he’d said. Despite what he’d done, he’d been doing it under orders from Riley – and he’d saved their skins in the city with the car. They could have been caught if it wasn’t for Pip and she’d treated him like he was nothing. Was he off somewhere now feeling as alone as she was?

She needn’t have worried though. They docked at Space Islands ten minutes ahead of schedule and he was waiting for them in the disembarkation chamber, the nonchalant grin back on his face. “Here I am, boss.” He winked at Aunt Essie. “Aunty, having fun?”

“Pipsqueak, what a pleasant surprise,” her aunt said.

“You miss me, Aunty?”

“Like the black plague.” She smiled in exasperation.

Pip’s eyes went to Rosie briefly but she could have been anybody. His smile was easy, as though he had no problems in the world.

Rosie watched the hatch that was slowly opening and felt stupid. Idiot. Why had she thought she’d upset him? Clearly, he was fine.

A voice was announcing their arrival over the intercom and telling them that people would disembark in groups of ten at a time and be picked up in the hotel’s transports.

Rosie had studied the Space Islands complex almost as closely as she had studied the spaceships. It was built like an enormous wheel. At its core was a long tube of docking bays – the gravity maintained at Earth levels – topped by the hub, a transparent-roofed zero-G dome where you could play sling ball, ride the catapult or even don wings and “fly”. Extending out from the central core were seven spokes, each one a long tube connecting to the outer wheel of the hotel proper, where normal gravity was maintained along with the rooms, gardens, a water park and restaurants.

Their ship had docked at level eight, two floors above the spoke entries. Aunt Essie was twitching with impatience as they waited to leave the ship. Finally, she turned to Rosie and said, “I’m not waiting for this.” She nudged Riley. “If I use my own ID, we can get out of here faster. They know me here anyway.”

Riley nodded.

“This way.” Her aunt began pushing through to the front of the queue, ignoring the protests. Rosie kept her head down and followed, conscious of Pip right behind her. Her aunt spoke to a man in uniform at the front and handed him her original ident. He waved them through.

“Check it out,” Pip said as they emerged onto a wide walkway.

The docking bay was a massive circular open space, about as large as two football fields, crisscrossed with connecting metal walkways and platforms that seemed to float in midair. Looking over the chest-high balustrade, Rosie could see all the way down to the other floors, and above them, all the way to the curved base of the zero-G dome hundreds of metres overhead. It made her dizzy. Spaced around the inner walls were more airlocks that allowed passengers to enter the hub from the ships docked outside. Next to each airlock were smaller hatches which gave maintenance crews and robotic repair systems access to the outer airlocks.

An open-sided cart sat whirring quietly on the walkway near their hatch, waiting for its passengers. The sides flashed colourful images of Space Islands’ attractions and a small pod-shaped robot hovered in the air nearby, a spiel of information sounding from its microphone as the other passengers climbed into the cart.

“Follow me.” Aunt Essie turned to a narrower walkway that led to the centre of the hub. People in white uniforms were moving back and forth along the various walkways, many accompanied by buzzing robotic pods. Far across the other side and a level down, a long line of passengers in carts were rolling up and waiting to enter another ship.

They reached a central platform and turned left, heading for a smaller hatch, which turned out to be a lift. They all filed in and after pressing a button, her aunt said, “We should go straight to my room. I can request my pod be cleared for launch from there and the service kiosk isn’t too far away. We’ll be able to stock up on oxy tubes and some food for the trip. If we do it that way, no one will know there’s anyone else but me going.”

“Doesn’t security check on your ship before it leaves?” Riley said.

She shook her head. “I get easy clearance because of my job. I’m always coming and going, same as other staffers on Genesis and the station. They only check the cruisers and colonists now. We’re all just assumed to have clearance.”

“No wonder it’s so easy for Helios,” Riley said.

The lift chimed and the doors opened into one of the spokes. Fifty metres of walkway led to the outer wheel of the hotel. The roof was curved and set with long clear panels so you could see the stars, and there was no gravity. Rosie knew the spokes were a zero-G zone but she wasn’t prepared for the reality. As soon as the lift doors opened, they all drifted up from the floor, floating out into the spoke. She couldn’t suppress her gasp of surprise as the weight left her body. Wisps of hair floated around her face and her pack suddenly weighed little more than a feather.

Pip let out a loud whoop and tumbled out of the lift, knocking Rosie as he floated up towards the roof. She bounced off him with a shriek and her aunt grabbed her foot.

“Sorry,” Aunt Essie said, “I forgot none of you have been here before. Riley, do you need a hand?” Riley was slowly tumbling end over end.

“No, no.” He stretched himself out, putting a hand on the roof and stopping his tumbling. “I’m fine.”

Aunt Essie pulled Rosie back down to the floor, trying not to laugh.

“Hey, Rosie,” Pip called as he drifted down, “bet I could toss you like a ball!”

“What, no!” she protested but it was too late. Before her aunt could stop him, Pip had picked her up and pushed her away from him down the spoke.

“I’m going to kill you!” Rosie yelled as she somersaulted away. But in truth, it was fun. The stars whirled above her, then below her, then above again as she rolled around and around down the spoke, bumping harmlessly into the padded walls.

“Rosie, stretch out,” Aunt Essie called after her.

She could see them floating behind but she didn’t want them to catch up. It was wonderful, like swimming underwater, the weightlessness, the freedom of it, and all about her, the stars, brilliant in the black. She laughed and then gasped as hands grabbed her waist and legs wrapped around her. Pip had caught her from behind. For a brief moment he tumbled with her and she felt his body warm and bumping against her back, an arm about her waist.

“Slow down,” he said softly in her ear, stretching her out, his hand on her thigh. Her stomach lurched and she thrust him away from her. Then Aunt Essie and Riley were beside them and her aunt was glaring at him.

“Enough, Pipsqueak,” she said, but he only shrugged.

“What? I was just having fun.”

“We’re not here for fun,” Riley said and grabbed the neck of his shirt. “Come on.” He floated ahead towards the hotel hatch. Pip gave Rosie a smile and a wink as Riley towed him away.

Aunt Essie cast her a knowing glance. Embarrassed, Rosie trailed her aunt through the hotel hatch into an airy vestibule. The hatch sucked shut and she took a sudden short breath as full gravity hit her.

“Just give yourselves a minute to get used it,” her aunt said, but Rosie barely heard her as she saw Pip leaning against the wall next to Riley waiting for them. He gave her a slow smile. She looked away, her cheeks warm.

“This way.” Aunt Essie led them out of the vestibule.

Rosie kept pace with her aunt as they crossed some kind of garden or relaxation area. There were plants everywhere and people strolling around dressed in light clothing. The air was warm and moist and the sound of water falling and birds twittering blended with the hum of talk and laughter.

“How far is it to your room?” Riley said.

“Not far. There’s an inner wheel shuttle up ahead.”

“Good. This has all been too easy – it’s making me nervous.” His voice was low and tense and Rosie followed his gaze as he checked behind them. Pip looked back at her, his expression unreadable. She quickly turned around as Aunt Essie stopped at a grey door.

“Here.” She swiped her ident through a lock and the door slid into the wall to reveal a narrow car with four seats buzzing above a flat track.

Her aunt and Riley sat in the two front seats. Rosie climbed into the back, Pip close behind. The door to the corridor closed and they were moving forward, the car whooshing along through a white tube that followed the circular curve of the wheel. The seats were close together and she swayed into Pip as the car zipped around a corner. He barely seemed to notice; he was distracted, his body tense.

“Pip?” she said softly. “I’m sorry, you know, for what I said before, on the ship.”

He shook his head. “Forget it.” His fingers drummed on the armrest between them.

It was as though he hadn’t really heard her. She put her hand on his. “I mean it – I’m really sorry.”

For a second she thought he was going to give one of his smart-arse replies, but he glanced down at their hands instead, then lifted his gaze to hers. Her heart suddenly beat faster and she started to move her hand.

“Don’t.” He put his other hand over hers and slipped his fingers between hers. “Rosie,” he said then stopped.

She swallowed, barely noticing if they were still moving or not. “What?”

“It’s just,” he kept looking down at their hands, “if something happens–”

“Like what?”

He paused, took a breath and then seemed to change his mind. “Nothing.” He let her hand go. “It’s nothing – don’t worry about it.”

Rosie willed him to look back at her, but he kept staring ahead and then Aunt Essie said, “We’re here.” The car began to lose pace and the moment was gone.

They stopped in front of another door that opened to a corridor and a clear wall through which Earth was like a giant Christmas bauble in space. But Rosie’s stomach was in too many knots for her to enjoy the view. What had Pip been about to tell her? She wanted to ask him, to touch his arm as he stood so close to her, but he had gone very quiet. He stared at the floor and waited for her aunt to open the door.

The apartment was compact and neat. In the sitting room was an oval window with a view to the stars.

Riley went straight over to the comnet patched into the wall near the bedroom door, and Pip strolled to the window. She hoped now she could get Aunt Essie to tell her what Riley had said. Rosie grabbed her arm as she was going past her to Riley.

“Aunt Essie,” she whispered. “Can I talk to you?”

Her aunt paused, watching Riley who was busy linking up to the hotel’s net hub.

“We don’t have time right now,” she said. “Can it wait?”

Rosie sighed. “Yeah, okay. Where’s the bathroom?”

“Off the bedroom.” Her aunt called to Pip as she went to help Riley, “Hey, Pipsqueak, make yourself useful. There’s some food in the kitchen, fix us something to eat.”

“What do I look like, a chef?” He turned from the window.

“Just do it.”

Rosie went into the bedroom, shutting the door, then went to use the toilet. When she came out she crossed to the door and was about to open it, when the sound of her name made her pause. She could hear her aunt and Riley speaking in low, barely discernible voices. They were sitting at the comnet just outside the door. A trickle of unease ran down her spine. They were talking about her.

She pressed an ear to the door. They were arguing, Aunt Essie disagreeing with something he’d said.

“We can’t tell her about the Genesis Project,” she said. “It’s too much for her. She already feels guilty enough.”

“She deserves to know,” Riley said. Then his voice became inaudible. Rosie strained to hear.

Her aunt spoke again, anger plain in her tone. “No! She’s been through enough already. Her friend is dead; her dad’s gone. How much more do you think she can take? I won’t tell her hundreds will die because of that damn beacon.”