Page 7

I went back to the common area, where Frank was standing by the screen, aiming a device at a conduit on the hull wall. I didn’t need to know what he was doing to understand he was scanning for something.

I stopped by the couch and crouched down to look at a stack of thin boxes on the floor. I couldn’t understand any of the writing, but they seemed to be games, although one was definitely a puzzle. “How big do you think this craft is?”

I stood up. “There’s no way that’s possible. If this ship can hold thirty crew members, they must be the size of ants.”

His brow furrowed.

I explained further. “I’ve opened every door down that corridor. Four bedrooms, one bathroom, and one storage area. I didn’t go into the storage area, so it’s possible there’s access to more space through there, but it didn’t seem that way.”

He looked past me, toward the corridor. “That’s odd.”

“Very odd. How easy is it for a craft to be miscategorized?”

“Not easy. The categories are universally accepted and based on size, which is easily read by any ship’s monitoring system. That’s how the Athos’s computer identified it. There’s no logical reason the Athos would read this ship as larger than it genuinely is.”

“So?” I held up my hands. “Where’s the rest of the ship? And what did you find, by the way?”

He glanced at the monitor on the device in his hand. “I need to analyze the results before I can answer that. Let’s go have a look at this storage room.”

“Okay.” I led him down the corridor to that door. I pressed on it so that it slid back.

Frank tucked the device away in his messenger bag, then activated the light on his wristband and held it up as he went through.

Cautiously, I stepped in after him.

The space, which I’d only had a brief look into, was larger than I’d thought, but it still wasn’t big enough to hold twenty-six more crew members. Maybe it could have housed two big yellow school buses, side by side, but not much more than that.

What filled it wasn’t buses, however. It was more shelving, made of the same kind of bonelike structure as the walls, but none of them were covered with the membrane that everything else was.

The shelves held nonperishable food, medical supplies, bundles of fabric, spools of wiring and rope, a variety of tools, canvas sacks filled with seeds, building materials, water purifying kits—all the sorts of things you’d need to survive and possibly start a new life on another planet.

“Nothing about this seems strange,” I said. “What do you think?”

But Frank wasn’t looking at what was on the shelves. He was touching the wall behind one of the shelves. “There shouldn’t be a wall here.”

I wasn’t quite sure what to do with that. “What should be there?”

“More room. Crew space. More storage.” He looked at me. “You know what’s missing, right?”

I shook my head because I didn’t. “No, sorry.”

“There’s no engine room. No access panel for one, either, not that I could find.”

I looked around, confirming that I didn’t see anything like that. “But there has to be one, doesn’t there?”

Frank took his hand off the wall and stepped back. “I’m not so sure.”

“What does that mean?”

He exhaled, staring at the wall as if he might suddenly be able to see through it. “I wish I knew.” He looked at me. “Ready to get out of here?”

“Yes.”

“Good.” He started toward me. “Let’s go watch a sunset.”

We held hands on the walk to the simdeck he’d reserved, both of us unusually quiet, but I knew that was because we were both thinking about what we’d seen on that ship. And maybe, in Frank’s case, what we hadn’t seen.

I really didn’t know what to make of there not being an engine room. That was much more his department. I was sure he’d figure it out. Or maybe the crew Hazel was sending in would.

“Hey,” I said. “Do you want to talk to Hazel about what you found?”

“I do,” he said. “But I want to run a few analyses first. I don’t want to give her information I can’t back up. But don’t worry. I will.”

I smiled at him, trying to reassure him. “I’m not worried.”

We reached the simdeck Frank had reserved. He tapped out his code on the keypad, and the door opened. “I went with Montana. I hope that’s okay with you.”

“Sounds great.” We went inside, and I was immediately overwhelmed by the beauty of what lay before us. I knew it was a simulation, but I didn’t care. The real Montana was years away, if I ever even got back to Earth. I wasn’t going to downplay this moment in the slightest.

“Wow,” I breathed. “Frank Kitson, you did good.”

He was all smiles. “Thanks.”

I stared at the mountainous horizon as the breeze washed over me, carrying the scents of wildflowers, pine trees, and green earth.

I could feel the sun on my face as it beamed its last rays over us.

I closed my eyes for a second, just to absorb the warmth.

“I don’t think I realized how much I’ve needed this until right now. ”

When I opened my eyes, Frank had a blanket spread out on the grass. We sat down, leaning into one another, and watched as the golden orb of our sun sank lower. The vast, forever sky erupted in a brilliant pink and shocking orange that no painter could ever hope to capture.

Each passing second shifted the colors ever so slightly, spreading them further, deepening them or changing the hue to a shade impossibly brighter.

It was spectacular to watch, but the feeling of being there, on that grassy hillside, with those mountains in the distance and the breeze that carried the perfume of the wild outdoors, it was soul-cleansing.

“You know,” I said softly, “it’s been a long time since I’ve been on a simdeck. I think I forgot just how nice it could be.”

Frank didn’t say anything, just turned away from me and dug into his messenger bag again. When he twisted back around, he was holding a small box from La Patisserie. “This might make it even nicer.”

“Are you kidding me?” I kissed him. “I feel so spoiled.”

He laughed. “You don’t even know what’s in the box.”

“True, but I’m sure it’ll be something good.”

He opened it and showed me the contents. Four huge, perfect, chocolate-covered strawberries. “Since we didn’t have dessert at Luna’s.”

“Oh, my stars, those look amazing.”

“Take one.”

I did, picking up the strawberry by the paper cup holding it. The smell of chocolate and the ripe berry made my mouth water.

He took one, too, taking it out of its cup and lifting it toward mine. “Here’s to us and whatever comes next.”

I touched my strawberry to his, then we ate them. The fruit was sweet and juicy, and the chocolate was the perfect accompaniment.

Stars began to twinkle as the sky darkened to a deep, velvety blue, leaving only the faintest hint of orange at the horizon. Crickets chirped, and the breeze died down. “If you leave out our visit to that weird starcraft, this has been a pretty spectacular evening.”

He laughed. “I’ll give you that. Still not sure what to think about that vessel.”

“It was strange. Well, the good news is we don’t have to think about it because it’s not our job. I’m sure Hazel has her team on it.”

He held out the box of strawberries to me again. “I don’t doubt that she does. She’s smart and exceptionally capable. But those people are now on the Athos, and I can’t help but want to know more about them.”

I took a second berry. “They really have you worried, don’t they?”

He helped himself to the last strawberry. “I wouldn’t say worried, exactly, but there’s nothing wrong with exercising some caution. Not to mention they have a ship that defies all standard conventions.”

“You’re a hundred percent right. I’ll check in with Hazel in the morning and see if she has anything new about them to share, and I promise you that I will research the Ohuli as soon as I get into the library tomorrow.

I’ll have time. It’s bound to be a slow day, other than the class that’s coming in to watch a presentation on molecular physics, but all I have to do is make sure the room is ready and the video is queued. ”

He nodded as he chewed, finally swallowing. “If there’s a book or articles or whatever about the Ohuli, would you put them on my card so I can access them after work? And text me to let me know?”

“Absolutely.” I went back to my strawberry. I had a feeling Frank wasn’t telling me something. Not because he was deliberately holding something back but more like he wasn’t sure about it, so he didn’t want to worry me unnecessarily.

I appreciated that, but it was having the opposite effect. In fact, I was thinking about calling Hazel as soon as I got the chance.

I wiped a bit of strawberry juice off the corner of my mouth. “Those berries were so good. Almost as good as that amazing sunset. Going back to my place for coffee and a movie seems a little anticlimactic now.”

He gave a little snort. “The simdeck does a pretty good job, doesn’t it?” He took my hand. “Today was a good day.”

“Yes, it was.” I leaned forward to see him better and decided to find out if I was right about him holding something back.

The moon had risen now, and in its silvery light, Frank looked even more handsome than usual.

“Is there something you’re not telling me?

Something you suspect about our visitors? ”

He sighed. “I have some suspicions, but I also think I might be confusing them with another race of people. I’m sure it’s nothing. I don’t want to worry you.”

“I know you don’t. But if you’re worried, so am I. That’s how these things work.”

He lifted my hand and kissed my knuckles. “I promise, the first true thing I figure out about them, I will let you know.”

“Good.” He wouldn’t lie to me about that. Frank wouldn’t lie to me about anything. That just wasn’t who he was.

It was one of the many reasons I’d fallen for him.

“We have almost two hours left on our reservation,” he said. “You want to just lie back and watch the stars? I know we can pretty much do that every day on the Athos , but this is … different. This is the sky from home.”

“Yeah, it is. And I can’t think of anything else I’d rather do.” I kissed him, then we reclined on the blanket, holding hands, and watched the night sky.

It might have been the best date I was ever on.