Our cafeteria was in a building with gray concrete floors and long yellow tables. Sometimes there was decent food, and sometimes there wasn’t. At lunchtime after my first session at the dive pool the grilled cheese sandwiches were burnt, and only the baked potatoes were edible. I stood in line. Water was trapped in my right ear; I shook my head to the right trying to dislodge it, and then to the left.
At least a hundred kids packed the room. Their voices were a great murmur behind me, and their clacking utensils echoed against the walls. After I got my potato I walked to the table where Carla and Lion and Nico were sitting, along with some other kids I didn’t know. I hovered behind Lion. There weren’t enough tables. Everyone was already squeezed together on the bench, and I hesitated, holding my tray tightly in my two hands. Then Lion pushed in and everyone groaned. But I was so grateful to sit down I didn’t care.
People were complaining about the potatoes. I cut mine open and it steamed. At home my aunt put bits of bacon on top of our potatoes. I didn’t have any bacon now, but there was butter. I put a small pat on top and watched it melt.
I wish this was a sandwich, Nico said.
Across the table Carla hadn’t touched her food; she was writing on her notepad. Lion was trying to talk to her about going to the airfields on Saturday to watch the test rockets take off. It’s an hour walk, tops, he said.
I’d like to go, I said.
I just want to get out of here for a few hours, Lion said. What’s wrong with that?
It’ll be freezing, Carla said. We should use that time to work on the hand.
A TV bolted to the wall played a news channel. The woman on the screen began talking about Inquiry and everyone at the table turned to the TV and went quiet, and the wind buffeted the walls of the building with a tunk tunk, tunk tunk. The explorer had been dark for three weeks, the woman said, with no communication from the crew and no definitive proof they were still alive. A task force had been formed by NSP to investigate what happened but they had not yet reported their findings. Then the screen split in half and James Banovic’s face appeared. His hair was shorter, his angular face thinner, but other than that he looked the same.
Can you tell us now if a rescue mission is planned and who will crew it? the woman asked him.
A rescue mission would be led by four of NSP’s most talented astronauts.
And this mission would utilize NSP’s second explorer, Endurance.
Correct.
Which means launching not from Earth but from the Pink Planet—
All future explorer missions will take advantage of the optimal launch windows on the Pink Planet.
Is Endurance ready?
It is.
And when will the task force make their decision?
His eyes shifted slightly. Soon.
Isn’t it true that you yourself were slated to lead the second explorer mission and would be the logical choice to command the rescue?
I can’t comment beyond saying there are at least three teams qualified to man Endurance and that yes, one of the teams is mine—
Do you think they’re still alive? a girl named Brianne asked.
Who knows, Nico said. He stabbed his potato with a fork.
Someone from Peter Reed is commander of that crew, another kid at the table said. He had hair that stuck up on one side and he was in Materials at the same time as us—his group was doing something with microscopes and adhesive tape.
Anu, I said.
A girl from math class, Netty, made a face. Not from the Trainee Group there isn’t. It’s a crew of four on Inquiry, she said. They clean their own toilets. They replace their own light bulbs.
I didn’t understand what she meant.
Brianne had eaten her whole potato, skin and all. If they aren’t dead already they will be soon, she said.
They’re not! I said this loudly and Nico snorted.
They’re stuck, Brianne said. They’re going in circles—she rotated her spoon slowly through the air—until they either freeze or starve to death.
Carla’s sister’s going to be on the rescue crew, Lion interrupted. She’s going to be its pilot—
We’re not supposed to talk about it, Carla said.
Netty looked skeptical. Who’s your sister?
Amelia Silva.
I turned in my seat. Amelia Silva was my uncle’s student, one of the four who helped to develop the fuel cell. She’s your sister? I asked.
You don’t have the same last name, Netty prompted.
Half sister, Carla said.
Netty sat back in her chair. If they think they’re dead already they’re not going to send a rescue crew.
What do you know about it? Nico asked Netty. Your brother works on trash transport—
So does yours!
The bell rang and everyone got up from the table.
My potato was still in front of me. It had gone cold. Do you think they’re going to die? I asked.
Only Nico was left at the table to answer. They’re going to send Endurance after them.
What happens if they don’t?
If they’re smart enough to fix the problem, he said, they’ll live. If they aren’t they’ll die.
They are smart enough.
He picked up his tray. His potato skin was in shreds. I guess we’ll find out.
During study period I looked for Carla and found her on her bed, reading a large textbook. She was wearing a thin T-shirt despite the drafty room, and large headphones over her ears. I had been working on my math equation. I motioned to her, and she glanced at the paper without taking off the headphones.
This is the right answer. Did you copy it?
I figured it out.
You have to show your work.
I did.
She pulled her headphones off. There’s ten lines here.
I found a faster way.
She looked at me and frowned. Then she shrugged. Okay.
Wind rattled the walls of the dormitory and little gusts of cold air came from the cracks and corners in the walls. I sat on my bed and wrapped my blanket around my shoulders.
That girl at lunch said we’re being trained to clean toilets—
I’m not cleaning any toilets.
But what did she mean?
Carla glanced at my paper one more time and then handed it back. There are two tracks at Peter Reed, she said. Trainee Group and Candidate Group. Candidate is better.
And we’re in Trainee?
I won’t be for long. We’re going to move up, the three of us. Lion and Nico and me. She held up her book, Physics Today and Tomorrow. I’m already auditing Candidate Group physics.
We’re doing things I already know in physics, I said. Maybe I can switch too—
They only let me sit in because we won the Materials competition last year, she said.
Then I’m glad I’m on your team this year.
She laughed. Then she looked doubtful. You have to pass a fitness test to get into Candidate Group. Most people stay in Trainee.
What kind of fitness test?
You don’t have anyone to talk to, do you?
I did. My uncle. But he died.
Her face softened a little. Your uncle who started this school.
I nodded.
My parents are dead too. But I have my brother—he’s in year six—and my sister.
Amelia, I said. She used to come to my house. Does she teach here like Theresa?
No. She’s in orbit.
Do you get to talk to her?
Sometimes. Not as much as I want.
Is it true she’s going to pilot the rescue mission?
Lion shouldn’t have said that—
But she is, right?
A strong buffet of wind hit the walls and I flinched.
She shook her head. You’re too young to be here, you know. Who sent you?
My aunt.
Did she know what this place was like?
I think so.
Okay June, she said. I’m going back to my book. But you can sit with me if you want. If you stay quiet.
But I had one more thing I wanted to say. Carla, about the hand—
You’ve only just joined the group. No one expects anything.
I do have an idea.
And it will turn out to be an idea we’ve already had, she said.
It has to do with— I hesitated, then reached across the space between our two beds and opened my palm —what a hand is.
She looked at me.
Take it, I said.
She did and I squeezed. Do you know what I mean?
She turned her head to one side; there was a strange expression on her face. Then she laughed and reached for her headphones. Did you do the extra equations for math? If you haven’t you should.
I got my equations out, but I didn’t do them. I turned the piece of paper over and drew hands instead. I liked being close to Carla. I wanted to show her my drawings and to ask her what she thought. I wanted to try again to explain what was in my mind. But I didn’t. I stayed quiet because she asked me to.