Ishraq often joined her on the bridge. “I’d love to do this when I grow up,” she said.
“Keep going the way you are, Ishraq, and I suspect you’ll be able to do anything you please.”
“It’s very nice of you to say that.”
“You’ve already done pretty well. You’ve won a science prize. You’ve been off-world.”
“That’s not exactly the same as operating an interstellar.” She squeezed her hands together. “I’m just not sure—”
“You can do it. All you have to do is make it happen.”
“You really think so?”
“Of course.”
The hatch opened behind them. Ishraq turned to see who had come in. It was Jake. Escorted by Tawny. “Hello, Captain Loomis,” she said.
“Hello, Ishraq. You keeping Priscilla out of trouble?”
She smiled. “Oh, yes.” Then back to Priscilla: “You know the ship I’d really like to have?”
“No. What?”
“The Excelsior.” She got out of the chair to make room for Jake.
“From Deep Skies?” Jake said.
“You watch it, too?” Her eyes shone.
“I’ve always been a big fan.” That was hard to buy.
Ishraq turned back to Priscilla. “May I ask a favor?”
“Sure.”
“In a few years, when I start training, would you be willing to teach me?”
“Of course. I’d love to. By the way, that’s what Captain Loomis has been doing for me.”
Ishraq gave Jake a shy smile but continued speaking to Priscilla: “I think you’re very lucky.”
“I’m the one who got lucky,” said Jake.
Ishraq’s smile widened. “Yes,” she said. “She is very pretty.”
* * *
PRISCILLA HAD NOT known Jake before the qualification flight. But when you spend three weeks alone with someone, especially when the nearest other human being is light-years away, you get to know him pretty well. Jake had been easygoing, patient, amiable, a guy who did not take himself seriously, and who seemed able to adjust readily to setbacks. But the experience with the Gremlin had changed him.
It wasn’t that he’d become angry, or that he spent a lot of time staring at bulkheads. He didn’t retire to his cabin and remain there. In fact, he spent as much time on the bridge and in the passenger cabin as he ever had. But he didn’t laugh easily anymore, and when he did, the laughter was forced. His voice and, indeed, his entire bearing had leveled off into a monotone. The vitality was gone.
It would have been difficult in any case to join in games with the girls because of the language difference. But Priscilla sensed that the Jake who’d been with her originally would have found a way. He didn’t even try, however, and because he didn’t, she also abstained. Instead, they sat on the bridge, talking about trivia, or rerunning the same dialogues, about the bright futures that surely awaited their passengers, or grumbling one more time about the kind of maniac who’d put a bomb on an interstellar.
The conversations were marked by long pauses, uncomfortable moments when no one could think of anything to say. When the best she could come up with was how much she’d enjoyed the scrambled eggs that morning.
She just wanted it to be over.
* * *
TWO OF THE girls, Karida and Layla, had become competitive with each other. It wasn’t about anything in particular, Ishraq explained. They’d decided they didn’t like one another much. “If you want the truth,” she said, “I think they’re just tired. They want to get home.”
“I don’t guess,” said Priscilla, “you can put a bunch of kids into a tin can and keep them there for a couple of weeks and not expect them to get tired of it.”
“I think you’re right, Priscilla,” said Jake. “Even if there’d been no bomb, I’d have suggested a different kind of award next year. No more long-range space journeys. Or maybe—”
“What?”
“We could take them to the one in the solar system. The monument on Iapetus.”
She shrugged. “It would take a couple of days to get there, too. Anything like that, for teens, is maybe too much. What we need is a more precise long-range drive. Something that could really take you in close to the target instead of just getting into the general area. Something faster than the Hazeltine would help, too.”
“Yes, Priscilla, it would. So what kind of award do you think we should give the prizewinners next year?”
“If I were running it—”
“Yes?”
“I’d take them to Moonbase and throw a party.”
* * *
LAYLA WAS SITTING on the bridge with her when they arrived in the solar system. By then they’d learned enough of each other’s language to be able to communicate reasonably well. She looked at the navigation screen and saw the distant sun. “How much longer,” she asked, “before we get back home?”
Priscilla hated to answer the question. “Three days. We’re kind of far out.”
Layla groaned.
But a flood of messages took some of the sting out of the wait: They began arriving within an hour after they’d surfaced, coming from family, friends, teachers, and even from groups of schoolkids who had no direct connection with the girls. “Welcome home,” said the third grade at St. Gabriel’s elementary school in Kansas City. And West Park High, in Nottingham, promised that chocolates would be waiting when the Copperhead docked. Greetings came in from Jerusalem, Cairo, Belfast, Tokyo, Bangalore, Port Blair, Morocco, and several dozen other places.
“How do they know we’re back in the solar system already?” Layla asked.
“I suspect,” said Priscilla, “we’ve been making news, so a lot of people are tracking us. Even if they weren’t, ship arrivals get posted online as soon as Ops picks them up.”
“Well,” she said, “I certainly didn’t expect anything like this. It’s great to be back.”
* * *
NEWSDESK
SIX DEAD AFTER ATTACK BY GUNMAN AT CORNINE UNIVERSITY
Killer Angry at Cornine Support for Terraforming
Statewide Search Under Way
MCDERMOTT BILL PASSES BY WIDE MARGIN
All Federal Elections Will Be Financed by Government
UNEMPLOYMENT RATES DROP SEVENTH STRAIGHT MONTH
GDP Hits New High; Stocks Soar
NEW CLAIMS FOR INTELLIGENCE DRUG
Can a Daily Pill Really Make Us Smarter?
EVIDENCE MOUNTS THAT INCREASED IQ LEADS
TO SOCIAL DYSFUNCTION
Research Indicates There’s a Reason It’s Set Where It Is
RUSSIA MAY DEFUND UNION ORBITER
Cites Growing Debt Problems
India May Be Next
TANK NOBE MAY BOYCOTT SEASON
Baseball Fans Outraged; Ticket Prices Rise Across All Four Leagues
RESEARCH DESCRIBES BASEBALL FANS AS ADDICTS
“They Need to Back Off, but They’re Helpless.”
STARSHIP CAPTAIN DIES DURING RESCUE
Joshua Miller Sacrifices Life for Passengers
Memorial Ceremony Planned
JENNIFER HOPKINS ARRESTED AGAIN
Drunk and Disorderly after Hollywood Party