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Areina slammed the door behind her and fell back against it, heart pounding, world spinning out of control.
Everything was falling apart.
She slid to the ground and forced herself to take a few deep breaths, to ground herself in the reality of where she was. She was home, in the hab. The air was cold, but not as frigid as outside. There was still no power.
Her skin glowed with the same sickly yellow as when the first icequake struck.
She closed her eyes, shaking her head lightly. One thing at a time, and that one thing had to be Terrance now.
So what did she actually know? Well, one, Terrance and the scavenging party had fallen out of contact with the station. But it hadn’t been that long yet. Two, the commander would send another party soon to try to find them. Three, it was dangerous out there, and no one really knew what existed beyond the dome, even after living here for twenty years.
Wasn’t that always part of Terrance’s research? Figuring out if life existed here, somewhere deep below the ice, in the great brine ocean? Or even out among the ice. From the stars. Anything.
And what had he found in all that time? Nothing, that she knew of. And she’d never know, not while all the field notes were classified and returned to Earth without distributing them around the station. Maybe more of the adults knew, but it certainly wasn’t a lesson at any time in her last fifteen years.
What if he had found something? What if there were creatures beyond the dome, and what if those creatures were responsible for the disappearance?
She shook her head again. No. Occam’s razor, right? The simplest answer was probably the right one.
And that simplest answer, at least the way she could see it now, was that the ice had opened beneath the party and swallowed them whole.
Tears pricked her eyes, and she collapsed forward on her knees, burying her face in her arms. Had she lost everything?
***
EVENTUALLY, AREINA’S stomach grumbled, and she forced herself to uncurl from where she’d collapsed at the door. Her eyes had mostly adjusted by now, and she could make out every line of the furniture, every small emergency light reminding her the power was down. Those small lights were the only electricity they’d been able to restore to the habs.
Including a light next to the door where they received station messages. It must be on the emergency circuits.
Sniffling, she turned to the small amber light and felt for the button. But even as her fingers explored the panel, her eyes grew sharper, the outlines of the panel brighter.
She could... see? In this dark?
She froze, fingers poised over the message replay button. She’d been glowing as long as she could remember, but this was new. Now she could see in the dark?
She touched one luminescent hand to her temple. All this mystery and uncertainty was really giving her a headache. Trying not to give it another thought, she stabbed the message button.
“This is a message for all residents,” the commander’s tinny, recorded voice said over the speaker. “You may know by now that the station power is still down. To ensure everyone is properly cared for during this dangerous time, hot food will be served at the station command’s all-purpose room, and social games will be provided. Students are encouraged to bring their electronics to charge so that lessons may resume as soon as possible. Solar generators will be available for this purpose. I request all residents to check in before Phase 2 and 1500 hours Europa time. Thank you.”
Areina flipped her wrist over to see her station-issued watch. It flashed both the Earth hour and the Europa hour, a system the station had implemented to keep up with mission command on Earth and to regulate the station time regardless of Europa’s day, which was much longer than Earth’s, something the human body hadn’t adapted to. They’d split the Europa day into multiple phases to accommodate the eighty-five-hour day, but the station still functioned on a twenty-four-hour cycle. Even the kids had to know Earth times for their eventual communications with their home planet.
She had fifteen minutes left to check in. With a sigh, she grabbed her tablet and turned back to the door to yank it open. All her gear was still on, since she’d never made it more than a few steps past the door.
As she made her way toward station command for the second time that day, Areina scrubbed at her face, trying to remove all traces of her tears. If Bryce or the others caught on to how upset she’d been, she could only imagine the teasing.
Outside was still just as quiet as it had been earlier, the hum of the power banks too silent, though now she could at least hear the smaller, lower buzz of the solar generators. They weren’t providing quite as much as the geothermal generators did, but as the commander had said, it was enough to get them charged up and serve everyone a hot meal.
A few other residents were still trickling toward the all-purpose room, and Areina let out a relieved breath. She wasn’t last, and she wouldn’t be going in alone, at the mercy of whichever of her classmates might be there.
As she approached the door, she offered some of her neighbors a tight, forced smile and followed them straight for the check-in station. Then, following her nose, she headed for the small buffet that had been set up at one end of the room. Someone had provided plenty of staples and warm, filling dishes, like oatmeal and pasta and dough filled with potatoes and spices they’d been able to grow in the dome. There was even some macaroni and cheese left, one of her favorites.
Much better fare than what she’d have had in her own hab: cold grains or bread.
As she piled food onto her plate and poured herself a glass of water—purified from the station’s desalinators, which apparently were still up and running, thankfully—she surveyed the room. People were clustered around small tables or on cushions on the floor, many of them scientists gesturing to their tablets or notebooks, deep in conversation and debate.
And then her eyes fell on her peers, all of them gathered around Bryce as he told them a story, gesturing wildly with his arms. As if he could feel her gaze on him, he met her eyes and smirked, like he already knew about Terrance.
Maybe he did. Maybe everyone already knew. Maybe they were all just too nice or felt too awkward to say anything to her.
But that certainly wouldn’t apply to Bryce.
“Areina,” came a voice behind her. She turned to see her teacher. “Glad you made it out. I was beginning to wonder... Never mind.” He gestured toward her grouped peers. “The charging station for students is set up over there. Why don’t you go join the others? We can get a game going soon or something.”
Leave it to Mr. Carmichael to try to make them get along. Still, she found herself nodding and taking her food and her tablet to the grouped students. Hopefully all traces of her tears were long gone by now. She took a place on the edge of the circle, trying to stay out of anyone’s attention, and set her tablet on the charging station. The battery symbol flashed to life, telling her it was eating just like she was about to.
“Well, well,” came a cold voice. “If it isn’t the resident freak.”
Areina raised her eyes slowly to meet Bryce’s icy blue eyes. A chill slithered down her spine, but she forced herself to sit up straighter despite the waves in her stomach. He still hadn’t gotten her back after she’d frozen his boots.
“If it isn’t the resident earthworm. Go eat dirt, Bryce.” Her words were bold, but could he hear the tremor in her voice?
He narrowed his eyes at her, but she picked up her fork and started eating. Maybe he’d leave her alone this time.
She hesitated a moment, fork halfway to her mouth. Would he really just go away?
To be safe, she scanned the room for adults. Their teacher was nowhere in sight, likely fetching whatever game he had mentioned, and none of the other adults were paying attention to the students.
Her stomach dropped.
She took another bite of her dinner without looking at her classmates, still stupidly optimistic. But before she’d gotten more than a few bites in, Bryce was suddenly in her face.
“What are you doing here, freak?” he snarled. “No one wants you here. Why don’t you go eat in the barns with the cows? They aren’t so picky.”
Areina paused. That was it? Some name calling? She shouldn’t respond, shouldn’t respond, shouldn’t... “Who needs to go to the barns when there’s a cow right here?”
So much for lying low.
Bryce leaned even closer, almost nose to nose with her now, and she forced her eyes up to his. “What did you just say to me?”
Don’t say it. Don’t say it. “What, didn’t you hear me the first time?” Stop, don’t do it! “I called you a cow.”
Bryce pulled back so suddenly that she flinched. His face was calm. Too calm.
Stupid big mouth. Why couldn’t she just shut up once in a while?
The next thing she knew, Bryce was yanking her plate out of her hands and dropping it to the floor with a clatter. She sat completely still, fork still in hand, heart pounding furiously like the pumps on the desalinators.
“Oops,” Bryce said so softly that only she could hear. Then, louder, as the others in the room looked in their direction, “Oh, Areina! You’re so clumsy.”
The rest of the room, with varying reactions ranging from nothing to rolling eyes at children’s antics, went back to their conversations.
Bryce leaned back in, lowering his voice again. “Watch how you speak to me, or it won’t be so clean next time. And maybe think about being a little less obnoxious. After all...” He smirked. “You won’t have Terrance to protect you forever.”
Her heart thudded harder, blood roaring in her ears. Maybe she had deserved that one. But it was still a low blow. Terrance was out there, somewhere, and who knew what kind of trouble he was in?
Bryce went on, oblivious to the cold settling into her bones. “For all we know, he might already be gone. It’s been, what, ten hours since they lost contact? He’s probably dead below the ice, drowned in the brine.”
She caught her breath, hot tears pricking her eyes. Why’d he have to be so blunt about it?
“Of course,” he went on, “there’s always the possibility they just had an equipment failure. But how long do you really think they could survive out there, alone and lost? You might as well pack your bags now. You’re as good as orphaned. Again.”
Areina leapt to her feet. No, no, no! Terrance was fine. Would be fine. She wouldn’t be alone. Couldn’t be.
But what if Bryce was even a little bit right? And what if the commander didn’t act in time?
Maybe Areina could do something. Maybe she could find them. Bring them back. Could she risk waiting? Could she risk losing the only person who’d ever accepted her?
She spun on her heel and bolted toward the door, flying past the shocked silence of scientists and laborers and even her teacher, finally returning now that the bullying was already over. But none of it mattered.
She had to get home. Had to make a plan.
Had to save her father.
