“Here we go,” Tal said. He pushed a button and Sully felt the Soyuz slip away from the docking port, a gentle release, ending one journey and beginning another. Tal fired up the engine for a short burn, to move them away from the space station and set them on a parallel orbit. Then he initiated a longer burn, to take them around the planet and distance themselves farther from the station, sinking lower and lower until finally they hit the atmosphere at a sloping angle. It all took place more slowly than Sully remembered, and she kept looking out the small window to make sure they were in fact moving. Finally Tal shed the orbital module and instrument panel components of the Soyuz. From within the descent pod they could feel the bolts exploding above and below them, sending the other pieces of the Soyuz spinning away. A few minutes later they began to pass through the denser layers of the atmosphere. Outside the window a molten stream of plasma covered the glass, and the heat darkened the window. Gravity took hold of them, slowly at first, then exerting a greater and greater force as they plummeted through the atmosphere. Sully began to worry that they wouldn’t make it—that the Soyuz had sat unused for too long, that the heat shield was faulty, that the parachute wouldn’t open. She wanted to make it so badly, wanted to see what came next. Without thinking she reached out and grabbed Harper’s arm. Tal was concentrating on keeping the descent pod on target, but Harper was watching her. He flipped open his visor and put his gloved hand over hers.
“Are you all right?” he asked. The first parachute opened and the violence of it jerked the little pod back and forth. After the silence of space, the sound of the wind shrieking around them was deafening. By then the pull of gravity had grown so strong she could barely nod. After a moment the turbulence evened out and the second parachute opened, a gentler tug and a smoother descent. She felt held, nestled in the cup of an immense cosmic palm as they plummeted toward the surface of the earth. The sound of the wind abated as they descended through the layers of the atmosphere, and the terror finally seeped from her muscles. She was ready to survive—to hit the ground and open the pod—and even though she had no idea what kind of world they were arriving in, she was ready to find out. The pod kept falling, and through the mostly blackened window she glimpsed a piece of sky, clear and blue. Even if this was the end, even if they had come all this way only to die now, that piece of sky made everything worth it. They were home. She looked over at Harper, who was still watching her, and in that second she loved him more than she would have thought was possible. A thousand doors, wide open now.
“Iris,” he said. No one had called her that in a long time, but she liked the way it sounded when he said it. “I’m glad you came.”
She closed her eyes and prepared for impact, hoping there would be time to hear him say it again. But even if there wasn’t—
“Me too.”
DEDICATION
For Gordon Brooks
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I’M GRATEFUL FOR my agent, Jen Gates, who listened to an outlandish, unformed idea and was excited by it, who was patient and supportive, and who did so much incredible work ensuring this book found the right home.
I’m grateful for Anna Pitoniak, who is that home, and who shaped this story with her intuition for what it could be, her understanding of what it was, and her meticulous attention to detail.
I’m grateful for each and every person at Random House and Zachary Shuster Harmsworth whose hands have touched this novel.
I’m grateful for my foreign publishers, in particular my UK editor, Kirsty Dunseath at Orion Books.
I’m grateful for Lisa Brooks, always my first reader.
I’m grateful for Michael Belt, my skywatching companion.
I’m grateful for Chuck Dube, who entertained my curiosity about radio engineering, which is where the idea for all this began.
And I’m grateful for all the friends and family who inspire me, support me, and keep me sane.
Thank you all.
BY LILY BROOKS-DALTON
Motorcycles I’ve Loved
Good Morning, Midnight
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
LILY BROOKS-DALTON is also the author of the memoir Motorcycles I’ve Loved. She lives in Portland, Oregon.
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Copyright
Copyright © 2016 by Lily Brooks-Dalton
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Random House, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.
RANDOM HOUSE and the HOUSE colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Brooks-Dalton, Lily.
Good morning, midnight : a novel / Lily Brooks-Dalton.—First edition.
pages ; cm
ISBN 978-0-8129-9889-4
ebook ISBN 978-0-8129-9890-0
I. Title.
PS3602.R64557G66 2016
813'.6—dc23 2015030493
ebook ISBN 9780812998900
Title page: Image iss006-e-5132 courtesy of the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, NASA Johnson Space Center
Book design by Simon M. Sullivan, adapted for ebook
Cover design: Scott Biel
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