‘Ohh, is that a threat?’ Harry wriggled his fingers in mock horror.
‘I bet you’re happy now.’ Eliot’s eyes narrowed. ‘You never liked her anyway.’
‘Eliot,’ Poppy pleaded.
‘It’s all right,’ he said, slamming his fork down. ‘I’m done.’ He stood up and left the room, the squeak of his soles echoing off the walls in the silence that followed.
‘You can be kind of mean sometimes,’ Astrid said to Harry as the door slammed shut.
‘It was only a joke,’ Harry said, glancing down at Eliot’s abandoned plate of food.
‘I’m not sure he knows that,’ Poppy said. ‘He gets really sick in the simulated launches. And I think he’s a little embarrassed about it.’
‘It’s not true, anyway.’ Harry lowered his eyes. ‘About me never liking Ara.’
‘You were always competing,’ Juno said. ‘You were the only two of us who made it to Command School, and then… you know, you were picked to be pilot over her. I don’t think she ever got over that.’
‘Well, I did.’ Harry shrugged. ‘And Eliot’s just upset because flying is something he’s not the best at. It’s not robotics or computing. The guy needs to be put in his place sometimes. He got it easy, and I know you all think so too. It’s never been fair with him. He just waltzed onto this programme and then he gets into the Beta. He doesn’t have to really work, not like the rest of us.’
‘Is that jealousy I hear?’ Juno teased.
‘No.’
‘He was chosen because he’s talented. Even though he’s younger than us. And when we get to Terra, he’ll design and programme robots that we’ll depend on,’ Astrid said.
‘It doesn’t really matter anyway,’ Juno added, ‘how anyone got in. Not anymore.’
‘Damn right it matters,’ said Harry, ‘and now more than ever.’ He took a long drag from his glass and slammed it down. ‘Am I the only one who thinks it’s weird that Eliot wasn’t suspended yesterday too?’ Juno and Poppy wrinkled their brows in confusion. Harry leant forward. ‘He’s lying about something. He and Ara went everywhere together, did everything together. They’re like conjoined twins for God’s sake, and you’re telling me that he has no idea that she’s planning to jump into a river? And yet, he’s “conveniently” close by and finds her body?’
‘You weren’t there,’ Astrid reminded him. Her stomach twisted at the memory of Ara limp as a doll in Eliot’s arms.
‘I didn’t need to be,’ Harry continued. ‘They barely questioned him. He’s lying about something and even if it doesn’t matter down here, with everyone else and space to breathe, up there—’ he glanced at the ceiling. ‘I mean, think about it, except for the seniors there will be no one but the six – I mean, the five – of us for the next twenty odd years. We’ve got to rely on each other. Trust each other. I couldn’t trust a loner like Eliot Liston.’
‘His parents are dead, you know,’ said Poppy. ‘Both of them.’
‘How does that change anything?’ asked Harry. ‘It’s not like any of us can go home for the holidays anymore.’
‘It’s not true, that they’re both dead,’ Juno corrected. ‘His mother died, I heard. And his father walked out on him.’
‘No I heard it was cancer and a car accident.’ Poppy lowered her voice. ‘He’s lost literally everyone he loves.’
There was a moment of silence and then Juno took a sharp breath, as if she’d suddenly recalled a dream. ‘Someone new is coming. To replace Ara.’
‘Are you sure?’ Astrid asked.
‘Well, they’ve got to replace her, haven’t they?’
‘Do they?’
‘I guess…’ She sounded less sure. ‘I mean, someone’s got to take her position, you know, do the job she was meant to do… hydroponics. We’ll need to grow food still.’
‘Someone will have to replace Maggie, too,’ Poppy reminded them. And it was true, they would need a flight surgeon in case they were sick and to perform all the medical examinations that had already become routine. Astrid wondered if the new person would also count down, five, four, three, two… before taking their blood, but sometimes stick the needle in on four or two so it came as a surprise and was over a few seconds sooner.
‘But who…?’ Astrid asked. ‘It’s not like they can train someone up in a night.’ What Astrid really meant was who would have Ara’s magic eyes, or smell as sweet and welcoming as Maggie?
‘Someone from the backup crew, obviously.’
It always made Astrid uneasy to think about the other six candidates who had almost made it. It was a reminder of how lucky she was, because the difference between herself and her Earthbound alternates probably had less to do with points in test scores and more with an alignment of stars.
The door creaked open and they all turned, expecting to find Eliot striding in, returning for his breakfast. But instead Professor Stenton walked briskly in, and at the sight of her they all began to stand. ‘No, no, don’t stand up.’ She waved a hand dismissively. Dr Golinsky was in tow, and to Astrid, the two adults appeared just as tense as they had when she spied them earlier. ‘Finish your breakfast in five minutes. I expect to see you all— Where’s Eliot Liston?’
‘He wasn’t hungry, Professor,’ said Harry, who had climbed out of his seat anyway and straightened his back.
‘Well… I can imagine.’ She examined them all with her hawk-like eyes and then clapped her hands together and said, ‘Right, right. The cars are scheduled to leave in one hundred and twenty minutes. I need you dressed and ready to go in ninety. Just a note of reminder, they are bound to ask about the tragic accident in the press conference today. We’ve prepared some answers for you to read over in the cars but feel free to say that you are not prepared to comment if they ask anything too personal. It’s understandable – you’re all grieving. Before the launch we’ll have a minute of silence. But in the meantime, I expect to see you all in the council room in five minutes for an emergency meeting.’
THE BETA TOOK THE lift up to the council room together, and by the time they arrived everyone was already there. The provost and Dalton’s other directors, along with the president of the British Interplanetary Society and some executives from the UKSA. Doctors, technicians and press officers too, maybe forty people in all. Astrid shuddered with something like stage fright as she and the rest of the crew entered and a silence fell over the assembled party.
Commander Solomon stood in front of the projector screen, so the interlocking rings of the Off-World Colonization Programme strobed across his cheekbone. Next to him was the flight engineer, Igor Bovarin, but Maggie Millburrow was nowhere to be seen.
‘You can sit here.’ One of the directors indicated five seats that had been vacated for them at the front of the room, near the podium, which was draped in the Union Jack.
Astrid felt as if she was attending a wake. Most of the people in the room were suited in black, eyes bloodshot and grief-stricken. Several of the governors patted her shoulder as she shuffled past towards her seat, and whispered consolations.
The provost took the podium. ‘Thank you, thank you.’ She raised her hands to silence the room. ‘Lord Davidson—’ she nodded towards the president of the society. ‘It’s been a difficult night for us all. As I’m sure you know, Dr Millburrow has asked to step down from her post.’
‘You mean she’s been asked to step down,’ Harry muttered to Astrid.
‘But I’m relieved to say that Doctor Friederike Golinsky, our senior medical officer, has volunteered to take her place.’ A round of applause exploded across the room, and the five members of the Beta looked up to see a thin woman by the provost’s side. The woman Astrid had seen crying downstairs only half an hour ago.