by Lara Morgan
“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.”
Rosie went hot then cold. She backed away from the door and sat on the bed.
She couldn’t have heard them right. She put her elbows on her knees and rested her head in her hands. The pendant swung out from under her shirt and she watched it dangling. Hundreds will die.
She wasn’t sure how long she’d been sitting there when her aunt called out to her. Her heart leaped in her chest. The door opened and her aunt poked her head in.
“There you are. What’re …” she trailed off as she saw the expression on her face. “I’ll just be a minute,” she said over her shoulder. She came into the room and shut the door behind her. “Rosie, what is it?”
Rosie’s voice shook as she said, “Why didn’t you tell me?” For a moment she thought her aunt would deny it, but then a defeated expression came over her face.
“You were listening?”
Rosie nodded and Aunt Essie let out a long breath and sat on the bed beside her. “Rosie–” She got up again and began pacing back and forth before her. “I’m not good at this,” she said. “How much did you hear?”
“Hundreds of peop
le. You said hundreds of people were going to die because of what I did.”
“They might die – might,” she said. “There’s a difference.”
“That’s not what you said to Riley. You said will die. Is that what Riley told you on the ship? That it’s my fault, that I’ve–”
“No. This is why I didn’t want to tell you. You’re blaming yourself.”
“But it is my fault. I found the box. I let Juli put the code key into the comnet.”
Her aunt sat back down again, rubbing her face with her hands. “Hon, these people – Helios – they started all this, not you.”
“Yeah, but it wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t found the box. Now Juli’s dead and Dad’s gone. He could be dead too. I just …” She felt like she wanted to cry but she pushed back the tears. There’s no use crying, Rosie Black. She felt a sudden aching hollowness inside. “I deserve to know, Aunt Essie, I’m not a little kid any more.”
“No, I guess not.” Her aunt sighed. “All right, do you remember Riley saying Helios had built a base on Mars called the Enclave?” Rosie nodded. “Okay, well what the Shores were working on was part of something Helios is still doing there. They call it the Genesis Project. They’ve been doing experiments – tests. If the Senate found out they were doing it, they would not be happy.”
“But what is the Genesis Project?” Rosie said. “What were the Shores doing?”
“I don’t know, but Riley thinks it’s a new generation of experiments built on what the Shores did – and since the beacon was turned on Helios has become very nervous.”
“Because they think Riley will expose them with what I found in the box?”
“Yes. And because of that he says they issued an order to clean Genesis.”
“What does that mean? Are they going to attack the colony?”
Aunt Essie didn’t answer right away. “No, not the colony. It means they’re going to destroy their labs, the Enclave – with everyone who works for them inside.”
For a second Rosie felt nothing. “Hundreds of people,” she whispered.
“Yes,” her aunt said softly.
She stared at her hands. “What’s Riley going to do?”
“Try to stop them.”
“How?”
“I’m not sure. He keeps saying that what he has to trade will save your dad and allow him access to Helios. That he’ll get to them that way. He has a plan but he won’t tell me what it is.”
“He doesn’t want us involved,” Rosie said. She felt strange; along with the fear had come a profound sense of clarity. Consequence. She remembered one of her first science classes. For every action there is an equal, or opposite, reaction. Who had said that? She couldn’t remember but it didn’t matter. This was the consequence of what she and Juli had done.
“We should help him,” she said. “After we get Dad back, we should help him.”
Her aunt didn’t reply as sadness filled her face. Rosie felt a leap of fear and realisation. Something caught in her throat. “You don’t think we can save Dad.”
Aunt Essie looked away. “These people …” She shook her head. “If they will kill hundreds to protect themselves …”
Rosie knew what she left unsaid. Why wouldn’t they kill one man? It made the well of pain inside swell, threatening to spill over, to immobilise her with grief as it had done when her mum died. But she refused to believe it. They had to have some hope.
She grabbed her hand. “Aunt Essie, we–” Her words were cut off by a loud crash from the other room. They stared at each other.
“That didn’t sound good.” Her aunt moved swiftly to open the door. Riley was holding a hand to the side of his head while behind him the outer door was sliding shut. Shards of thick glass lay scattered on the floor.
“What the hell happened?” Aunt Essie rushed to his side. “You’re bleeding.”
“Yeah, I guessed that,” Riley said.
“Sit down.” Aunt Essie pointed to the sofa. “I’ll get my medikit.” She went back into the bedroom.
Riley moved awkwardly to sit. Blood was trickling down the side of his face and a bruise was forming near his temple. Rosie looked around. “Where’s Pip?”
“Gone to his master like all good dogs, I expect.”
“What?”
Riley gave her a bitter smile. “Seems Helios had an inside man after all. We really were being followed.”
Aunt Essie came back and sat beside him. “Let me see it,” she demanded. He lifted his hand. A long jagged cut ran from under his hairline down one cheek. He screwed up his face as her aunt wiped it clean and mopped up the blood.
Rosie sat down on the sofa. She felt as though she’d been punched in the stomach. Pip was one of them. He’d been working for Helios all along.
“He took the code key,” Riley said.
“What?” Her aunt stopped swabbing. “How the hell did he get that off you?”
“I was careless.” He flinched as she spread skin repair foam over the cut.
“What about the diary?” Rosie said.
“No.” He shook his head and patted a fastened pocket on his shirt. “Here.”
She was relieved. “Well that’s okay then, isn’t it?” Rosie said.
“Without the key the information in the diary is useless. It only has the codes for the Enclave’s internal labs. It will get us through the complex but we need the key to get the Shores’ information from their system.” He stopped. “There could be a back door in, another way to break their computer hub.” But he didn’t sound certain.
Aunt Essie packed up her kit and handed it to Rosie. “Put this away.”
Rosie took it automatically and went to the bathroom. She couldn’t believe Pip had betrayed them. She shoved the kit back into the cupboard and slammed the door. How could she have been so stupid as to think he cared about her? Idiot. She kicked the cabinet then caught a look at herself in the mirror.
She was a mess. Her face was pale and dirty, her hair tangled. She brushed it out with her aunt’s comb, pulling the strands down savagely again and again, getting more furious at herself as she began to cry while she did it. When it hung unknotted about her face, she pulled it back into a single ponytail and wiped her tears away. She splashed her face with cold water.
“Rosie?” Aunt Essie appeared in the doorway. “We have to go.”
She nodded and wiped her face. Her aunt watched her.
“Hurry,” she said quietly, “we need to get to the pod.”
Rosie went back into the lounge room. Her head was throbbing as she swung her pack onto her shoulders. Aunt Essie and Riley picked up their own gear, their faces hard and set. She kept seeing Pip smiling at her – that slow smile. It was like a spike going through her heart. At least now she knew what he’d been about to tell her. Oh, by the way, Rosie, if I happen to betray you all, don’t get mad. It’s not personal, or some crap like that. He’d probably been putting on all that hand-holding stuff.
Her aunt went to the sofa and reached underneath. She pulled out two guns. She handed one to Riley. “In case.”
He put it in the waistband of his trousers.
“Come on.” Her aunt led the way. Rosie followed, thinking of how she wanted to slap Pip’s handsome, lying face.
CHAPTER 20
The hallway was empty but Aunt Essie was taking no chances. She pushed Rosie between her and Riley and led them at a jog towards the end of the corridor, then stopped. “Wait,” she whispered. “Did you hear that?”
Rosie heard a faint thudding vibration coming from around the corner.
“Sounds like heavy boots,” Riley said.
“Follow me to the corner.” Her aunt’s face was grim.
They crept quietly along the corridor until she put her hand up again. Rosie flattened herself against the wall next to Riley.
Aunt Essie peeped around the corner. “They’re here already,” she said.
“How far is it to your pod?” Riley whispered.
“
Around the corner, where the corridor turns right, there’s an access door that goes under the spoke to the docking bay. The pod is on level three, bay five.”
“On the other side of those men,” Rosie said. Her stomach was in knots at the thought.
“Yep.” Aunt Essie dropped to the floor and risked another glance. She pulled back quickly. “There’re three of them. We’re going to need a distraction to get past. It’s the only way to the pod from here.” She chewed on her bottom lip. “Rosie, you remember my lessons in how to fly the pod?”
Rosie’s heart contracted. “Yes.” What was she planning?
“Good, just remember not to give her too much juice or she’ll fly uneven, and watch the cells, they’re getting old.”
“Essie,” Riley said, “what are you doing?”
She gave him a hard smile. “Getting you to Genesis, Riley. I’m the most expendable – if they get you, my brother doesn’t have a hope.”
Rosie suddenly understood what she was going to do. “No!” She gripped her arm but her aunt pulled her hand off.
“Cowards don’t make the Academy, Rosie,” she said sharply. “I’ll be okay. Don’t worry.”
Dread filled Rosie as she stared at her aunt. Wasn’t Riley going to stop her? But he wasn’t moving and Aunt Essie pulled the docking pass key from her pocket and pressed it into her hand. “This will open the accessway doors and the hatch. The password’s 563. Now you run like hell when you hear me shout, okay?” Rosie nodded and saw a blink of fear in her aunt’s eyes as she met her own. “You’ll be okay, Rosie. You can do this.” Then she was straightening up and looking over her head at Riley.
“You keep her safe or I’ll break your neck.” She pulled out her gun, drew a breath and was gone. Rosie’s heart was hammering and she didn’t know she’d moved until Riley pushed her back against the wall. She couldn’t see what was happening but she could hear. There was a man’s grunt of surprise, followed by the concussive whump of a pulse weapon.
“Go!” her aunt shouted.
Rosie and Riley ran down the corridor. Ahead of them a man lay on the floor, another was on his knees, blood dripping from a cut on his head, and Aunt Essie was grappling with a third.