The Life Below by Alexandra Monir

Author:Alexandra Monir
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2019-12-10T00:00:00+00:00

Thirteen

LEO

THE CRINKLE OF STATIC AND THE SOUND OF MUFFLED BREATHING in my earpiece send me hurtling out of my chair in relief. It’s been three days since I had any human contact—three interminable days of staring out at the dark universe while time turned in on itself, stretching on forever and threatening to suck me into the void. There was nothing for me to do but wait, my mind stuck on an endless replay of our harrowing launch. Greta might have called me brave before I left, but if I’d known what that first hour would be like, when our capsule went into an uncontrollable spin—I’m not sure if I still would have had the guts to go.

It was twenty-seven minutes of roll, at the most excruciating speed you can imagine. According to Greta and Asher, by minute twenty-nine, I would have been dead. No human organs can survive that many revolutions per second. Their directions saved my life, with only two minutes to spare. It’s the inverse of what happened to Johannes, and I can’t tell what I feel more of: gratitude or guilt.

After disabling the maneuvering thruster and activating the control system engines instead, we righted our course and, thankfully, it’s been smooth flying since. But that doesn’t stop the cold brick of fear from filling my chest every time I feel the ship pitch or accelerate—a fear made that much worse when there’s no other human to talk to.

Now, finally, it seems I’m getting an answer to the dozens of messages I’ve been radioing down to Earth. I wait for the person on the other end to speak, jittery with anticipation.

“Leo.” It’s Lark. Her voice sounds different, muffled. It must be the long distance.

“There you are!” I exclaim. “I’ve been waiting forever up here. I was starting to think something was wrong.”

“I know. I’m sorry. We’ve been dealing with back-to-back storms since the tornado, plus managing the fallout from the ISTC learning about your launch.” She lets out a weary laugh. “Space sounds a lot more chill than home right about now.”

“Oh.” My stomach tightens with guilt. “Are you guys okay?”

“We will be. It’s a good thing Greta has a bang-up security team. Anyway, I have to run, but just wanted to let you know not to worry if it gets quiet on our end. We have a satellite tracking your ship at all times, so even when we’re not in direct contact, we’ll always be checking on you and making sure everything is running smoothly.”

“Um, okay, but why—”

“I’m so sorry, I really do need to run. I’ll touch base again as soon as I can, but in the meantime, try to enjoy the calm before the chaos. These couple months before Mars will go by faster than you think!”

With that, the radio receiver turns silent. I stare at it in disbelief. If I didn’t know better, I’d think Lark was avoiding me. What was up with that rushed, strange conversation?

I float aimlessly through the capsule trying to calm my spinning mind.

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