Chapter 18

When her alarm woke her the next morning, it took Anita a few moments to remember why the bed at the end of the room was occupied. Herschel was lying face down on the bed, limbs splayed under the weighted blanket. His hair was spread over the pillow, wavier than it had been the day before, and Anita couldn’t help but notice that he looked very attractive, at least when he was asleep and not posing an immediate danger.

I need to find a way to get a message out, she thought. Jay needs to know that someone else knows. And that he’s probably the one with the satellite we found. But I can’t risk sending anything from here without Perses picking up on it. If only she were sure she could trust Amundsen, she could send a message through him, or at least ask him to relay it from his ship. But there was too much risk in that.

Anita checked the suit components under her bed to make sure they were still out of sight. Everything secure. She went into the kitchen and made a larger than usual breakfast. Herschel might have enough of his bars to survive, but it seemed rude to make him chew those while she enjoyed a full meal.

He padded into the kitchen in sock feet as she finished up her own plate, and Anita shoved the other plate of food toward him. “Breakfast!” he exclaimed, sitting down and grabbing the plate. “I tell you, it’s always good to get real food, especially when it’s hot. My bars are damn good at keeping people alive, but they’re just not that satisfying in terms of sense experience, you know?” He shoved a forkful of eggs into his mouth, and Anita could see his breath steam in the air with the heat from the food.

“It’s a little hard to make breakfast table conversation with someone who won’t say a word out loud,” he said around a second large mouthful of food. “You sure you won’t say something? Not even ‘Good morning, Hersch, you handsome devil?’ No? Fine.” He shrugged. “I can do enough talking for two.”

“Signing is talking, asshole.”

He pointed his fork at her. “Point taken. Ok, so talk. I know you’re not going to tell me what you’re up to out here, but surely you can tell me something about yourself. Tell me a story about when you were growing up.”

She thought for a moment, then began. “I grew up on Mars.” That was safe enough, almost everyone on Titan had been born and raised there. “When I was really little, like maybe two or three, my parents decided to take me on a day trip to the botanical gardens in Spirit City. They’re a little more accessible now, but back then, you had to get tickets because only so many people could get in every day without upsetting the carbon dioxide balance. It was a big deal, but they were celebrating something, so we all went. They were born on Earth, so they really liked seeing green plants, and they stopped watching me.”

She glanced over at her guest. He was watching intently, and motioned for her to continue.

“Now, I don’t remember all of this, so I’m going off what they told me. I got away from them somehow, and there was this one little patch of soil that no one was really watching. There were docents everywhere to protect the plants, but this was just an empty box of soil that no one thought to protect. And I climbed into it and began to just get dirt all over myself. When they found me, I was completely covered in it. It was in my clothes, my hair, everywhere. I had never touched soil before, you know, so I was fascinated by it. My mom says that’s when she knew I was destined to end up on some other world, because I wouldn’t be happy unless I was exploring something new.”

“Cute,” Hersch responded, wiping his mouth on his sleeve. “I never got to do much of anything supervised. Always nannies around. Well, ok, so I started to get away from them when I was older, but you get the picture.”

“Poor little rich boy.”

“Hey. Not my fault. I’ve been trying to get out from under them and do my own thing for years.”

“While still taking their money.”

He shrugged. “Money makes things easier. Smooths over a lot of things. You can’t tell me that money wouldn’t help your situation, whatever it is, if it was offered in the right amount.”

Well, it certainly got me into it, she thought. If Perses hadn’t funded Themis for an amount they couldn’t refuse, none of this would have happened, and I’d still be back at Kerguelen, living my old life.

Anita tried to go about her usual day, but without the freedom to work on the suit, she found herself exercising more than usual, and Hershel kept popping up when she least expected him. He tended to find her no matter which room she went to, and always wanted to talk about something, hoping to coax more information out of her. He’s not rude about it, Anita thought as she walked from the kitchen to the computer room for the third time that day, but he’s certainly persistent. He must be used to getting what he wants just by wearing everyone down. I’ll have to be careful about that.

When dinner came around, Hersch insisted on eating his nutrition bars for his meal. “There’s no way you have enough food for two people for a week without running into problems. I’m not going to ask about your supply chain, but you obviously have one and I’m not going to burden you more than I already have.”

Anita changed into her sleeping clothes this time, though she insisted on doing it in another room. Hershel was already in his bed by the time she came in and turned out the main light. The light from the other room remained on so she would be be able to sign to Herschel if she needed to.

“Hey, Christine,” he called across the room. It took Anita a moment to remember that that was the name she had given him. “I should probably tell you, I think you’re kind of gorgeous.” Anita started, sitting straight up in her bed. “I’m not trying anything, I’m not going to try to come on to you if you’re not interested, I just thought you should know. In the name of full disclosure.”

What the hell, she thought. Why would he say something like that? He knows nothing about me. She felt the familiar stir in her belly, and quickly swallowed another suppressor. Nothing about a relationship like that would be safe.

She heard his breathing become even and quiet within a few minutes, but it was an hour before she could sleep.