“Evy! El!” She hugged each of them in turn, as if after a long separation and not a mere twenty-four hours. Less than, in fact. Evgenia cast me a look as Carina held Elliot for a beat longer than was strictly friendly, and I tried to appear contrite. I’d tried, but apparently Carina wasn’t giving up on Elliot just yet. She monopolized his attentions all the way up to the top deck, asking him questions about his travels and whiskey, and responding to everything he said with “That’s so interesting!”
Distracted by them, I almost forgot I wasn’t actually invited to the evening’s activities, but my cousin’s face was a quick reminder as she greeted us.
“Leo . . . hi?” I offered a tepid wave. She didn’t say anything else or turn me away, instead ushering us all inside to the bridge. We found her mother at the console. The ship mostly ran itself, so I knew she wasn’t piloting us, and the silence told me the captain wasn’t fielding communication from other ships. Freja looked up, blinking at us in confusion.
“Klara? What is the meaning of this? You know I use Sunday evenings to catch up on paperwork.”
“We’d like to go for a space walk.” From Klara, it was a statement, not a question.
“When I said I wanted you to take an interest in the ship, this isn’t what I had in mind,” Captain Lind said, rising from her chair and removing her spectacles. But she also didn’t say no. “I’m surprised to see you here, Leonie.”
I was the resident wuss, called out. Or maybe Klara had told her mother how strained things were between us. The captain eyed our large party. “Only two of you can go out at a time.”
Finally, I did the math. Klara, Evgenia, Elliot, Carina . . . and me. Five. That’s why Klara hadn’t invited me. I was the fifth wheel.
“Thank you, Mummy,” Klara said, seemingly oblivious.
“Language,” Captain Lind scolded. She could serve terms of endearment like a pro but didn’t like Klara being so informal with her in public.
Freja returned to the console, tapping and swiping for a minute. “All right, I’ve given Leonie temporary bio-scan access to the maintenance airlock and storage room. It will expire at midnight.”
“Leo?” Klara parroted back, incredulous. “Why would you give her access? I’m your apprentice.”
“Because you’re always swanning off, indulging your fancy, and Leonie is unfailingly reliable.”
Klara glared but did not protest further. Captain Lind was not a woman with whom you argued. We left the bridge and walked the short distance to our destination, Klara fuming all the way. The captain had now made me essential to the evening’s activities. Bully for me.
“The suits are in here.” Klara grabbed Elliot by the hand and pulled him to the storage room, stopping at the bio-lock and waiting for me to open it. I found myself so close to the two of them that I could smell Klara’s perfume, so sweet it tickled my nose hairs. Underneath was Elliot, the new musky scent fast becoming familiar to me. I took a deep inhale. Hastily, I mashed my fingers against the bio-lock.
Dunk-dunk.
Attempt failed. Klara huffed noisily, and my eyes flicked over to catch Elliot’s reaction. He dug his incisor into his bottom lip, eyes laser-focused at the door. Avoiding my gaze. I thought about kissing him, how long it had been. I wiped my sweaty hand against my dress and tried again. This time, the door whooshed open.
We all filed inside, availing ourselves of a bench that ran along the far wall.
“Guests first,” Klara said, standing before us like a drill sergeant with her brigade. “Evgenia and Carina, I insist you go.”
The way Carina’s face fell, opportunity lost to go out with Elliot, made my heart ache a little. Yet I felt the slightest swell of happiness for my own agenda, then promptly became filled with self-loathing. Carina dutifully rose and started climbing into one of the twin spacesuits.
“Leo, help me, would you?” Evgenia called me over to her side, then pulled me close as I held her arms so she could step in.
“So Elliot will go out with Klara, obviously, but that’s your window,” Evgenia husked into my ear. “Ask him to go again, with you, for your turn.”
“Oh, no, I couldn’t—”
“Yes”—Evgenia cut me off, then turned so I could zip her up—“you can.”
“Carina, you want zipper help, too?” I asked, to which she halfheartedly nodded. I followed her eyeline to Elliot and Klara having a lively chat in the corner. Oh, boy.
After I’d zipped her up, I gave her shoulder a squeeze, though I wasn’t sure she could feel it through the layers of insulation. And, feeling a misplaced sense of obligation for the future heartbreak I would be dealing her once I told her the full truth, I hefted her helmet underneath one arm, as if playing valet. In that spirit, plus as the so-called keeper of the keys, I escorted the fully suited-up ladies to the maintenance airlock, a sharp right turn and ten-foot walk from the storage room. Hands dry this time, my fingers unlocked the door on the first try.
“I’ll tether you in, since I’ve done this before,” I explained as we entered the forward airlock, where the controls were. Evgenia and Carina moved past a bulkhead, which would soon separate us, to the outer door, beyond which lay wide-open space.
“Here.” I handed Carina her helmet and moved to either side, unhooking a springy tether wire, which I wound through loops at their waists and then pressure-sealed into a twist opening on each of their backs.
“You’re sure this is safe?” Carina asked nervously, in a strange reversal of position. Usually I was the worrywart, second-guessing the safety and prudence of a situation. But I’d done this enough times to speak with confidence.
“The maintenance crews do this all the time. You’ll be tethered to the ship, and I can pull you back if you get scared.”
“I’m not scared,” she bristled. There was the little sister I knew.
“How long do we get out there?” Evgenia jumped in, voice thrumming with excitement. She bounced up and down as best she could in her heavy suit.
There were no set rules, so it seemed it was up to me. “Ten minutes?”
It seemed like enough time for a thrill but not so much that Klara and Elliot, the next pair to go, would have extra time to bond. Was that terrible? I put it out of my mind.
“Yes, ten minutes,” I repeated, surer this time.
I snapped a small can of compressed air into their suits, then showed them where the release buttons were located on either arm to use it.
“Use this to direct yourselves, but use it conservatively. Small can, and all that.”
They both nodded, and with that, I retreated behind the separating bulkhead, depressing a button to shuttle a quadruple-paned glass partition that would keep me safe from space’s harsh clime while they were outside.
I counted them down from ten while I fiddled with the control panel, which, like the door, was keyed to my bio-signature. So I’d definitely have to oversee Klara and Elliot’s turn, too. I released the outer doors.
The girls didn’t actually need me to keep watch—it was a fully automated system, and they could pull themselves back anytime, should they wish. But watch them I did, for a solid three minutes before they drifted from view. With the press of a button on the control console, I could hear them, too, but I listened for only a minute. Just enough time to hear their twin squeals of delight and Evgenia dare Carina to do a backflip.