Vessel by Lisa A. Nichols

Author:Lisa A. Nichols
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atria/Emily Bestler Books/Alloy Entertainment

Sagittarius I Mission

DAY 1134, THREE DAYS BEFORE THE EVENT

TRAPPIST-1F, TWILIGHT LANDING AREA HABITAT

“You have to stop beating yourself up, Wells.” Ava pushed a cup of what passed for tea into the air-lock slot. “None of this is your fault.”

“I knew he was acting weird, though.” Catherine waited until Ava had sealed the far side before extracting the molded plastic cup, cradling it in her hands, staring into it. The tea was murky and smelled only faintly of tannins, like a memory of real tea from the ancient tea bags they’d brought with them. “I should have been paying attention.”

“By that logic, I’m the one at fault,” Ava said. “I’m the commander; it’s my job to keep track of each of you, and Tom slipped under my radar.”

“Do you really think he did all this?”

“We have him on video . . .” Ava paused, considering another possibility. “The only other alternative is that we’ve got someone else messing around with us, too.”

“The oxygenator was months ago . . .” Catherine could barely stand to look at all the pieces laid out in front of them.

“I know.” Ava sighed and lowered her forehead to her hands. “I should search his quarters, make sure he hasn’t managed to get his hands on anything dangerous.”

“Let me come with you and talk to him again.”

“Cath, you’re in quarantine.”

“I know. I’ll suit up, go through decontamination again.” Regardless of what Ava had to say about it, Catherine couldn’t help feeling guilty. “Come on. You know he might talk to me.”

“All right. I don’t like it, but all right.”

That was how Catherine wound up moving through the Habitat in a full decontamination suit as if she were going on an EVA. She knocked on Tom’s door. “Tom, it’s Catherine. I have Ava and Richie with me. I’m going to open the door, is that all right?”

“Yeah.” Tom’s reply was faint, sullen. When she opened the door, he looked up at them with dull eyes, giving a small snort at the sight of Catherine. “Whatever this is, it’s important enough to drag you out of quarantine, huh?”

“Tom, I’d like to search your quarters,” Ava said, without preamble. “I just want to make sure that everyone, including you, is safe.”

Richie stood by the door. He was the biggest guy on the crew, so if Tom tried to bolt or, God forbid, fight back . . .

Tom didn’t show any signs of fighting back. His shoulders slumped and he stood up, moving away from his bunk. “Sure. Whatever you want.”

While Ava searched, Catherine pulled him aside. “I’m sorry about all this,” she said. It was hard to radiate sympathy through a pressure suit, but she tried. And Tom looked so utterly lost that the sympathy wasn’t a lie.

“Catherine . . . I didn’t do this,” he said quietly. “I swear to you.”

“Son of a bitch,” Richie said. “You’re on video.”

Tom grew more agitated. “I don’t know why I’m on that tape! I didn’t do any of this! You have to believe me!”

The look Richie gave him was one of disgust.

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