There were so many unknowns. So many things that needed to happen for our plan to work and that could have gone wrong. “But do you think Production believes we’re dead?” I asked.
“I certainly believed you were going to kill us,” Ty said. “And I was privy to the scheme from the beginning.”
I had brought up the self-destruct while we were freezing our butts off on the shuttle. It was, it seemed, one system Production didn’t control, and one we could exploit to our advantage. I suggested using it as leverage, but it was Jenny who came up with the idea to use it as means to take control of Qriosity and fake our deaths. Ty and DJ helped fill in the details.
Honestly, I was surprised it had worked.
“So we have full control over navigation?” I asked. “Communications? We won’t be skipping randomly through space?”
DJ was leaning over a console, tapping the screen. “It does seem that way. We can go where we want.”
“What about the other stuff?” I asked, glancing at Ty.
“I downloaded that information from Production’s ship myself,” Ty said. “Not only do we have a functional map of this section of space, but we also know the location of every transition school Production operates.”
Jenny pulled out a Nutreesh bar. “So, what? We’re going to zip around space, attacking space schools, and freeing the students?”
“Have you got a better idea?” Retrieving the locations of the schools had been done at my request. We had escaped, and that was great, but I wasn’t comfortable taking our success and running away with it. If we didn’t hold the door open for others to escape, we weren’t really any better than Production. Only, I didn’t plan on just holding the door. I was going to blow the damn door off the hinges.
“We could go home?” DJ said. “We know Earth’s location now. We could fire up the fold drive and be there in ten minutes.”
I looked around at the three of them and then shook my head. Even if we reached Earth, and even if the people I had memories of were still alive, they wouldn’t know who I was. No one could tell me who I was but me. My name was Noa North. I was in love with DJ Storm. My best friend was Jenny Price. I still wasn’t sure about Ty, but I had plenty of time to figure it out.
“I’m already home.”
“Barf,” Jenny said.
“We’re going to ensure that Production can’t do to anyone else what it did to us,” I said. “Then I want to find Programming and take them down too. We’re not going to stop until we’ve dismantled the entire system.”
Jenny cleared her throat. “Cool. Can we wait until after lunch, though? I’m starving.”
DJ laughed. “You just finished eating a Nutreesh bar.”
Ty took Jenny’s hand and led her toward the door. “Personally, I would like to finish the conversation we were having before we were interrupted.”
“It’s called kissing, Ty. We were kissing.” Jenny shoved him into the passageway.
I stood in front of the viewport and watched the stars. There was more out there than I had ever imagined, and I was going to get to explore it with someone I loved. With someone who loved me. This was not the life I had expected, it wasn’t the one I’d wanted, but it was the one I had, and I was okay with that.
DJ hugged me from behind. “Do you think we’re really free?” he asked. “Do you think this is the end?”
“I think we’re free,” I said. “But this definitely isn’t the end. Our story is just beginning, and this time we’re going to tell it our way.”
It turned out that Jenny was right. We always have a choice. I chose DJ. I chose to live. I chose to fight.
But that’s a story for next season.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
When I started this book, I was calling it Gays in Space, and all I had was this nebulous idea that it would be about—surprise!—gays in space. Getting from that initial idea to this finished book was a journey of a million steps, and I couldn’t have done it alone.
My agent, Katie Shea Boutillier, has been Noa and DJ’s champion since day one, just as she’s been mine.
Everyone at Donald Maass Literary is a rock star, and none of this would be possible without them.
Liesa Abrams, my tireless editor, kept me going in the right direction even when I felt a bit lost.
The entire team at Simon & Schuster and Simon Pulse and Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers are simply incredible. I wrote the words, but they made sure the words made sense; they gave this book a beautiful cover, designed the layout, packaged it, promoted it, got it into bookstores so you could read it. There are so many people who work their butts off to make a book happen, and I’m grateful to all of you every day.
Julian Winters, who was the first person aside from my agent I told about this wild idea, for encouraging me every time we spoke. His excitement for this book kept me going during the times when I thought I’d never finish writing it.
My friends and family continue to be an unending source of material for future books. Keep being weird; I love you all.
The librarians and teachers and booksellers are out there working their butts off to put books into the hands of readers. None of us would be here without them. You are my favorite people. Thank you.
Thank you to all the gays in space out there who make me proud to be part of the community. We are legion, and we are fabulous.
Finally, thank you, readers, for giving me a little home in your heart.
More from the Author
Brave Face
The Past and Other Things That Should Stay Buried
The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza
Feral Youth
At the Edge of the Universe
We Are the Ants
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
SHAUN DAVID HUTCHINSON is the author of numerous books for young adults, including The Past and Other Things That Should Stay Buried, The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza, At the Edge of the Universe, and We Are the Ants. He also edited the anthologies Violent Ends and Feral Youth and wrote the memoir Brave Face, which chronicles his struggles with depression and coming out during his teenage years. He lives in Seattle, where he enjoys drinking coffee, baking, and eating cake. Visit him at ShaunDavidHutchinson.com or on Twitter @shauniedarko.
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ALSO BY SHAUN DAVID HUTCHINSON
Brave Face: A Memoir
The Past and Other Things That Should Stay Buried
The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza
Feral Youth
At the Edge of the Universe
We Are the Ants
Violent Ends
The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley
fml
The Deathday Letter
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Hutchinson, Shaun David, author.
Title: A complicated love story set in space / by Shaun David Hutchinson.
Description: First Simon & Schuster BFYR hardcover edition. | New York : Simon & Schuster BFYR, 2021. |
Summary: Sixteen-year-olds Noa, DJ, and Jenny awake on a spaceship, unaware of how they got there or what is coming, but soon Noa and DJ are falling in love.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020014569 (print) | LCCN 2020014570 (ebook) | ISBN 9781534448537 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781534448551 (ebook)
Subjects: CYAC: Space ships—Fiction. | Love—Fiction. | Gays—Fiction. | Science fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.H96183 Com 2021 (print) | LCC PZ7.H96183 (ebook) | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020014569
LC eBook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020014570
A Complicated Love Story Set in Space Page 31