We do know our distance and heading now. We never got to finish that project together, finding out theCoordinated Endeavor’s destination. Maybe the answer will be enough to pop Kodiak out of his delusion—if it is a delusion. I scan through the offline tablet, to see what I can suss out. The ray from Earth to theCoordinated Endeavorextends out into broad emptiness. I follow it, follow it, beyond and between the stars at the sparse edge of the Milky Way, until one comes close, or really it’s two, a binary solar system, and here’s a little planet between them—our courseintersects its orbit perfectly. It’s the only celestial body the ship hits before leaving the galaxy entirely.
I look the planet up in the tablet. Spectroscopy reveals its atmosphere to be 20 percent oxygen, less than 1 percent carbon dioxide. Its nearness to the two stars should give it an earthlike temperature.
It’s an exoplanet. An inhabitable exoplanet.
We’re heading to a new home.
_-* Tasks Remaining: 1797 *-_
I dash into theAurora, only slowing as I approach the room where I last saw Kodiak. My eyes take in the legs of a knocked-over chair, a screwdriver rolled into a corner, shards of poly reflecting fluorescent light back at the ceiling. An unconscious body in the center, breathing deeply.
Kodiak is sprawled facedown on the floor, arms and legs akimbo, like he plummeted from a great height. He’s peed in his suit; yellow pools on the white floor. There’s a bitter odor to the air, like someone’s burned a skillet of eggs.
Rover is parked beside him. “OS, may I approach?” I call out.
“Of course,” my mother’s voice responds.
I warily circle Rover. I take Kodiak’s pulse at his wrist.His eyes dart beneath his lids as his breathing deepens. If it weren’t for the pair of livid welts on his arm where Rover’s electrodes must have contacted him, it would look like Kodiak was having an amazing sleep.
I fetch a blanket and pillows. After a quick debate, I change him out of his urine-soaked suit and wrap his naked body in the blanket, terrified he’ll wake up halfway through the process. I place the soiled suit in theAurora’s cleaner. Kodiak never needs to know he peed in it, if he’s still asleep once the suit’s clean. I can just put it right back on him.
“How long do you think he’s going to be out?” I ask OS.
“It is difficult to predict the length of time that human bodies are incapacitated by electrical shocks.”
“Then maybe you shouldn’t shock them,” I respond tartly.
“You know precisely why I did what I did,” my mother’s voice says. “As long as Spacefarer Celius doesn’t try to compromise the ship again, I’ll have no need to take such extreme measures.”
I suddenly feel very tired.
Kodiak groans, turning his head. I take it into my lap, stroke his surprisingly soft hair. Rover hovers nearby, making menacing little zaps with its electrodes. “Back the fuck off,” I tell it. Of course, it doesn’t move.
“May I give you some advice on how best to pacify Spacefarer Celius once he wakes up?” OS asks.
“No.”
“At least consider—”
“No, OS! Be silent for half an hour.”
Above the hum of the ship I can hear Kodiak’s breathing, can almost sense the blood sloshing through his veins, and through my own. I can hear my own breathing. As I concentrate on the sound of it, I become separate from it. Separate from myself. It feels strangely honest.
I leave time. My legs hurt for a while, and then they stop. Even the pain travels to the middle distance.
Home. We’re traveling to a new home.
I return to myself when the head in my lap takes in a deep breath. The eyes flutter open. I’m arrested by the sudden sight of them, by their tan depths. “Shh,” I tell Kodiak.
His eyes focus in on me and he startles, body going rigid. He smashes his elbows into the floor so he can sit straight up, eyes gleaming. The blanket falls from his torso, draping over his lap, like he’s a sculptor’s model.
“Hey,” I say gently. “It’s okay. You’ve been unconscious. You’re fine. Don’t panic.”
His eyes scan around, and he makes quick and shallow breaths as he looks for enemies. Rover is still here, but inactive, its arms motionless on the floor. The sight of Rover standing down doesn’t calm Kodiak. His enemies aren’t outside him. They’ve never been outside him.
His eyes finally lock with mine, and something passesbetween us. I don’t know what he’s getting from seeing my face, but it does seem to be the thing that finally calms his panic. “Try not to think about anything for a while,” I whisper.
Not the best advice, I guess. His breathing goes quick again. He brings his hand to the welts on his side, where Rover shocked him.
