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.But the desert has so much color, Jessamyn.Every shade of tan and brown and pink that you can imagine, all there in the dirt.Close-up, at your feet, it only looks sand-colored.But when you look out, there are these little hills and they look like someone’s been trying different paints, figuring out what color would look best.”Jess’s eyes drifted shut and she imagined Mars at sunrise, looking just like Pavel described the North American desert.“Am I boring you?” asked Pavel.Jess’s eyes flew open.“No,” she said.“I’ve seen pictures of that desert, but it looked like everything was brown.”“They do that to discourage tourism, I think,” said Pavel, laughing.“Keep going,” said Jess.“I’m closing my eyes so I can imagine it.”Pavel sighed and continued.“So, yeah, a million shades of tans and golds, like the colors at the heart of Budapest.”“Mmm,” Jess murmured.“I saw cactus for the first time on that trip.I had no idea what it was.It looked like a cluster of pipes sticking out of the ground.I asked my Dad what it could be and he said what he always said.” Pavel laughed softly.“‘Let’s go find out.’ So we took off and when we got close, something very weird happened: I swear I could smell the moisture collected deep inside.”Pavel looked over at Jess.“I am boring you to death.”“No,” mumbled Jess, her eyes closed.“The desert sounds beautiful the way you describe it.”“Yeah.It’s so pure.The worst part was always coming home and trying to sleep—it was like there were too many smells at home.I would grab one of my shirts from camping and sleep with it pressed into my face every night until finally it would lose that clean desert smell.”Pavel looked over at Jessamyn.Her mouth had parted slightly and she looked like she was sleeping.Stretching out on the sand beside her, he placed himself so he could see the next time the New Terra Space Station passed by.Jess slept, dreaming of home: the deserts of frozen sand and soil in a thousand shades of orange-y brown, until, just before dawn, her brother’s voice, terror-filled, awakened her.Chapter SeventeenTHE YOU I MET LAST NIGHTInside her ear-implant, Jessamyn recognized her brother’s voice.“Orbitals down! Orbitals down!”As he uttered the code phrase selected to indicate mission failure, Jess heard the fear in her brother’s voice.“Follow your tattoo!” Ethan whispered.“Now!” He cut the connection.Jessamyn found she was already sitting upright beside a sleeping Pavel.To the east, the sky remained dark, but the stars had nearly all vanished.Morning was near.Her tattoo glowed a deep purple and she tapped it to get directions.Ethan was over eight kilometers away.She needed to find transport, now.Remembering the row of hover-bikes for rent, Jess rose, shedding her sari.As the fabric slipped into a pile of burnt-orange, a few grains of sand spilled across Pavel.His hands twitched and he opened his eyes.“Hey,” he said, a lazy smile upon his face.“My brother’s in trouble,” said Jessamyn.“I need to go.”“Go where? Testing starts in five hours.”“Yeah,” said Jess, walking briskly toward the front of the building.Left hand family, right hand escape, she repeated to herself.“Jessamyn.Wait up, Jessamyn!” Pavel jogged alongside her.It irked her to see how much more quickly he could run.The Terran gravity felt as if it were trying to draw her down inside the Earth’s core.“Did you hear me? Five hours, Jessamyn.If you no-show, you get a manual labor sentence.In, like, Antarctica!”“Doesn’t matter.” Jess was so done pretending she was here for an exam.“You’re telling me you don’t care if you spend the next eighteen years of your life swinging an ice pick in an arthritis-ridden body?”“Exactly,” she said.“Goodbye, Pavel.”She stared at the row of rental bikes, looking for anything that resembled a place to scan her wrist-chip.“Jessamyn, don’t be crazy.Message your parents.Let them deal with it.”Hades, thought Jessamyn.Ethan hadn’t said anything about the rest of the crew.Were they all in danger?Pavel placed himself before a box with writing on it, and Jess glimpsed the rental instructions she’d been looking for.“Message your parents.”“I can’t.Move out of my way.”Pavel stood his ground, arms crossed.“I said, move!” Jess thrust her arms at his chest with a force that would have toppled most Marsians.On Mars, at least.“Why can’t you let someone else deal with your brother?” asked Pavel, laughing at her clumsy attempt.“I can’t tell you,” said Jess, swiping her left wrist.The box made a buzzing noise and a panel flashed a “CHIP DENIED” message.“Holy Ares,” muttered Jess, swiping her right wrist instead.“PLEASE CHOOSE A TRANSPORT” flashed across the panel this time and Jess ran down the row looking for something fast.None of them looked like great candidates.Maybe Pavel would know.“Which one’s the fastest?” she asked.“Please.My parents can’t help.They’re too far away.”Pavel’s mouth shrank into a frown.“Take my bike.It’s faster than any of those.”“Really? Where is it?”Pavel walked away from the motor pool row to another, smaller group of bikes.Placing his thumb over a scanner, he started the engine.Jess hopped aboard.“Thank you,” she murmured, scrutinizing the dash for gears, braking, acceleration.“I’m going with you,” said Pavel.“No.Absolutely not.”“Jessamyn, tell me what’s going on.It’s like you’re a totally different person all of a sudden.” His grip, as he placed a hand on her forearm, felt strong.“I’ve told you everything.My brother’s in danger.Now let me go,” she said, trying to shake his hand off her.“It’s my bike—I’m going with you.”I don’t have time for this, Jess thought.“Fine,” she heard herself agreeing, “But I drive.”He shrugged, hopped on behind her, and linked his arms around her waist.“Careful,” he said.“It’s been modified to be faster than most Series 400s.”Jessamyn accelerated and turned onto the main street, following her chrono-tattoo.The hover-bike was fast.“When we get to my brother,” she hollered over her shoulder, “You have to promise to leave.Take your bike and get out of there [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.But the desert has so much color, Jessamyn.Every shade of tan and brown and pink that you can imagine, all there in the dirt.Close-up, at your feet, it only looks sand-colored.But when you look out, there are these little hills and they look like someone’s been trying different paints, figuring out what color would look best.”Jess’s eyes drifted shut and she imagined Mars at sunrise, looking just like Pavel described the North American desert.“Am I boring you?” asked Pavel.Jess’s eyes flew open.“No,” she said.“I’ve seen pictures of that desert, but it looked like everything was brown.”“They do that to discourage tourism, I think,” said Pavel, laughing.“Keep going,” said Jess.“I’m closing my eyes so I can imagine it.”Pavel sighed and continued.“So, yeah, a million shades of tans and golds, like the colors at the heart of Budapest.”“Mmm,” Jess murmured.“I saw cactus for the first time on that trip.I had no idea what it was.It looked like a cluster of pipes sticking out of the ground.I asked my Dad what it could be and he said what he always said.” Pavel laughed softly.“‘Let’s go find out.’ So we took off and when we got close, something very weird happened: I swear I could smell the moisture collected deep inside.”Pavel looked over at Jess.“I am boring you to death.”“No,” mumbled Jess, her eyes closed.“The desert sounds beautiful the way you describe it.”“Yeah.It’s so pure.The worst part was always coming home and trying to sleep—it was like there were too many smells at home.I would grab one of my shirts from camping and sleep with it pressed into my face every night until finally it would lose that clean desert smell.”Pavel looked over at Jessamyn.Her mouth had parted slightly and she looked like she was sleeping.Stretching out on the sand beside her, he placed himself so he could see the next time the New Terra Space Station passed by.Jess slept, dreaming of home: the deserts of frozen sand and soil in a thousand shades of orange-y brown, until, just before dawn, her brother’s voice, terror-filled, awakened her.Chapter SeventeenTHE YOU I MET LAST NIGHTInside her ear-implant, Jessamyn recognized her brother’s voice.“Orbitals down! Orbitals down!”As he uttered the code phrase selected to indicate mission failure, Jess heard the fear in her brother’s voice.“Follow your tattoo!” Ethan whispered.“Now!” He cut the connection.Jessamyn found she was already sitting upright beside a sleeping Pavel.To the east, the sky remained dark, but the stars had nearly all vanished.Morning was near.Her tattoo glowed a deep purple and she tapped it to get directions.Ethan was over eight kilometers away.She needed to find transport, now.Remembering the row of hover-bikes for rent, Jess rose, shedding her sari.As the fabric slipped into a pile of burnt-orange, a few grains of sand spilled across Pavel.His hands twitched and he opened his eyes.“Hey,” he said, a lazy smile upon his face.“My brother’s in trouble,” said Jessamyn.“I need to go.”“Go where? Testing starts in five hours.”“Yeah,” said Jess, walking briskly toward the front of the building.Left hand family, right hand escape, she repeated to herself.“Jessamyn.Wait up, Jessamyn!” Pavel jogged alongside her.It irked her to see how much more quickly he could run.The Terran gravity felt as if it were trying to draw her down inside the Earth’s core.“Did you hear me? Five hours, Jessamyn.If you no-show, you get a manual labor sentence.In, like, Antarctica!”“Doesn’t matter.” Jess was so done pretending she was here for an exam.“You’re telling me you don’t care if you spend the next eighteen years of your life swinging an ice pick in an arthritis-ridden body?”“Exactly,” she said.“Goodbye, Pavel.”She stared at the row of rental bikes, looking for anything that resembled a place to scan her wrist-chip.“Jessamyn, don’t be crazy.Message your parents.Let them deal with it.”Hades, thought Jessamyn.Ethan hadn’t said anything about the rest of the crew.Were they all in danger?Pavel placed himself before a box with writing on it, and Jess glimpsed the rental instructions she’d been looking for.“Message your parents.”“I can’t.Move out of my way.”Pavel stood his ground, arms crossed.“I said, move!” Jess thrust her arms at his chest with a force that would have toppled most Marsians.On Mars, at least.“Why can’t you let someone else deal with your brother?” asked Pavel, laughing at her clumsy attempt.“I can’t tell you,” said Jess, swiping her left wrist.The box made a buzzing noise and a panel flashed a “CHIP DENIED” message.“Holy Ares,” muttered Jess, swiping her right wrist instead.“PLEASE CHOOSE A TRANSPORT” flashed across the panel this time and Jess ran down the row looking for something fast.None of them looked like great candidates.Maybe Pavel would know.“Which one’s the fastest?” she asked.“Please.My parents can’t help.They’re too far away.”Pavel’s mouth shrank into a frown.“Take my bike.It’s faster than any of those.”“Really? Where is it?”Pavel walked away from the motor pool row to another, smaller group of bikes.Placing his thumb over a scanner, he started the engine.Jess hopped aboard.“Thank you,” she murmured, scrutinizing the dash for gears, braking, acceleration.“I’m going with you,” said Pavel.“No.Absolutely not.”“Jessamyn, tell me what’s going on.It’s like you’re a totally different person all of a sudden.” His grip, as he placed a hand on her forearm, felt strong.“I’ve told you everything.My brother’s in danger.Now let me go,” she said, trying to shake his hand off her.“It’s my bike—I’m going with you.”I don’t have time for this, Jess thought.“Fine,” she heard herself agreeing, “But I drive.”He shrugged, hopped on behind her, and linked his arms around her waist.“Careful,” he said.“It’s been modified to be faster than most Series 400s.”Jessamyn accelerated and turned onto the main street, following her chrono-tattoo.The hover-bike was fast.“When we get to my brother,” she hollered over her shoulder, “You have to promise to leave.Take your bike and get out of there [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]