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Naomi watched as I brought up the data feeds for the mice. “Everything looks good,” I said. The mice were fine, vitals strong, and the vessel was approaching the warp launch point. I realized I was holding my breath, and exhaled slowly, trying to force my rigid body to relax, though without much success.
“They are in position,” said Marta. “The warp bubble is being generated now.”
And then they were gone.
I don’t know how I made it through the rest of the day. I went through the motions, but my mind was not present. I was at the staff meeting, but afterward, couldn’t even remember what had been discussed. I spent the social staring out the window at the Moon. My life was on hold, like one of Raven’s bees in suspended animation. Finally, I went to my quarters and crawled into my sleeping bag, exhausted. I slept a dreamless sleep.
◆◆◆
By eight a.m. the next morning, I was at the dock. We had programmed the vessel to return at eleven a.m., so it was senseless for me to wait for three hours, but I was too anxious to be anywhere else. At nine, Naomi showed up. We both stared out the bay window, lost in our own private thoughts. By nine-twenty, the entire team was there.
We waited, mostly in silence, and when anyone spoke, it was in a near whisper. At ten forty-five Naomi took my hand, and I squeezed hers gratefully, my tablet in my other hand. I alternated between staring out the window and looking at the tablet. The screen was completely blank.
“There it is!” said Rika, breaking the silence.
We peered out through the shuttle bay door window. The outer door of the airlock 180
was open, waiting. I squinted, staring into the darkness, trying to catch a glimpse of Soteria.
“No, I’m talking about the data feed on my tablet,” said Rika.
I looked at my own tablet, which now showed a pulsing green blip approaching the schematic of the station, right on time. And then we could see it—a tiny speck of light, growing brighter by the moment. Naomi’s eyes were fixed on that glowing dot, as if her gaze alone would be powerful enough to bring Soteria home.
Then Soteria was in the airlock! The outer door closed, cutting off our view of the immensity of space. We waited for what seemed like an eternity for the airlock to repressurize, then for the sterilization sequence to finish. Finally, the bay door opened, and we all rushed in, surrounding the tiny spacecraft.
I pulled up the biosignal data on my computer tablet, my gut tightly clenched. “Naomi, look!” There they were, two heartbeats, strong and steady.
She peeked at the tablet. “Oh, thank god!”
Marta opened the hatch, and Aster and Hera poked their beautiful heads out, noses and whiskers twitching. Aster spotted me, and with a powerful thrust of her hind legs against the hatch opening, she propelled herself through the air and into my arms.
“Hi, Aster.” My eyes filled with tears as I stroked her tiny head with my fingertip.
“How was your trip?” I said, voice catching in my throat.
Naomi had picked up Hera and was holding her against her cheek. “They’ve done it, Calli! They made it home.”
◆◆◆
Later, Naomi and I took the mice to the clinic so Gamon could evaluate them, to determine if they had suffered any physiological damage during their adventure.
“And how are our courageous travelers?” asked Gamon.
“They seem alright,” said Naomi. She was holding Hera, and I had Aster. “Heartbeats were strong for the entire journey, according to the biosignal data.”
“Let’s see what the scans show. Calli, step inside the scanner with Aster. I’ll do a complete scan of both of you, then subtract your data.” She opened the door, and I pulled myself inside, holding Aster close to my chest. Next, Naomi went in with Hera.
We waited as Gamon examined the readings. “They’re both healthy and happy,” said Gamon.
“Happy? Does the scan show that, too?” I asked.
“Uh-huh. I can see their serotonin and oxytocin levels are elevated, which I’m sure is because they’re being held by their favorite humans.”
I stroked Aster’s head with my finger. She looked up at me, nose twitching.
“We’ll need to repeat the scans in a few weeks to see if there are any repercussions that aren’t yet visible, but as of today, I give both mice a clean bill of health.”
Naomi looked at me. “Never another Laika.”
181
I stared at her, my eyes wide, and tightened my hold on Asteria. I had no idea Naomi was familiar with the Soviet experiment, almost a hundred and fifty years ago. “Never again,” I whispered.
182
I was sitting at my console on Friday morning, a week and a half after the successful return of Soteria, when Annie contacted me, telling me Diana had scheduled a meeting with me, Hadley, and Elena at eleven a.m.
“What’s the meeting about?” I asked.
“I’m sorry, Callisto, but you will have to wait for Diana to tell you,” said Annie.
I touched my implant, ending the transmission, then looked over at Hadley. “Did you get the message?”
“Uh-huh. I wonder what’s going on.”
“Yeah, me too, and Annie’s no help.”
“I guess we’ll all find out—” she glanced at her wrist computer, “an hour from now.”
◆◆◆
At ten-fifty a.m. the three of us were gathered outside Diana’s office in the ops module, all equally baffled. No one had any idea why Diana had called the meeting, or why we were the only ones invited. My stomach was in knots—what if she had decided to let us go, terminate our employment? No, that was crazy. I mentally shook my head.
At eleven Diana opened the door and invited us inside with a smile. Hadley and I sat on the couch, and Elena stood near the door, her hand grasping the back of the couch for stability. Diana sat down at her desk and said, “Undoubtedly you’re wondering why I called you here today.”
Out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of Hadley’s expression—face drawn, lips pressed together tightly. She was a little worried, too.
Diana continued. “You’ve all made stellar scientific advances these past few months, and I’m so proud of each of you.”
Hadley shifted slightly on the couch, and Elena was still, her eyes trained on Diana’s face. Hadley and I exchanged glances. Where was Diana going with this?
“Let me get straight to the point. I trust you’re all eager to get your work out to the scientific community, and I would never explicitly prohibit you from publishing. But there are extenuating circumstances I can’t go into, which would make it, well, inconvenient, for lack of a better word, for the Foundation if you publish your findings right now. I know it’s unfair to make this request without a full disclosure of the facts, but I’m asking that you trust me, and hold off publishing for a couple of months or so.
But ultimately I will respect whatever decision you make.”
I looked again at Hadley. She shrugged. “We still have a few calculations to work out, right Calli?”
“Uh-huh.”
“I’d like to continue analyzing the data from my candidate planets before I share my 183
findings.” Elena met Diana’s eyes. “It could take a while.”
Diana gave a curt nod. “Good,” she said. “Thank you, all of you.” She smiled, but it looked a little forced.
“That was weird,” said Hadley after we shut Diana’s office door behind us.
“I don’t know what’s going on,” said Elena, “but both Diana and Izumi have seemed distracted lately.”
“Now that you mention it,” said Hadley as we made our way down the corridor,
“I’ve noticed the same thing. They seem like they’re under a lot of pressure.”
We stopped in the middle of the hub, and Elena said, “Well, ladies, back to work for me. See you at the social later.” She pushed her way toward the lab corridor.
“What about you, Calli, are you heading back to the lab?” asked Hadley.
“No, I think I’ll go hang out with the mice. And you?”
“I’m on my way to the gym.”
When I reached Naomi’s lab, I went straight to the mouse condo, where Aster was waiting for me. I took her out and then settled on the couch. Naomi had been working at her console but came to sit beside us. I told her about our meeting with Diana.
“That’s strange. I’ve never heard of her asking someone to delay publishing. We simply run our papers by Annie, she approves them—with an occasional copyedit note or suggestion for improvements—and that’s all.”
“Something strange is going on. Both Hadley and Elena said Izumi and Diana seem to be stressed out.”
“Financial worries?” said Naomi. “I’ve always been curious as to where they get their funding. I’ve tried looking it up online, but can never find anything, just superficial stuff.
So weird their electronic footprint is almost nonexistent.”
“In this day and age, too, it’s bizarre.”
“They are both private people, perhaps that’s why.” said Naomi. “I don’t know.
Annie is of no help either on that topic.”
“I always figured it was better not to look a gift horse in the mouth.”
Naomi burst out laughing. “How absurd are the things you say, Calli, it’s like you’re living in another century sometimes.”
“Lots and lots of reading as a kid. Not everyone had a brother to keep her entertained when growing up.”
“Oh, Monty was entertaining, all right, never a dull moment, and never a moment’s peace, either.”
“I imagine he would say the same about you.”
She laughed again. “You’re probably right.”
184
I spent the whole weekend in the lab. Even though Diana had requested that we hold off publishing, Hadley and I decided to go ahead and write a paper on our findings, to be ready when Diana gave us the go-ahead. Hadley had offered to write the bulk of the article. It would be her first time publishing, and she was both excited and nervous at the prospect. I was also busy working on a how-to manual
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