Callisto 2.0, Susan English [i love reading .TXT] 📗

I followed Diana out the door and down the corridor, through the hub, and into the ops/engineering corridor. The yellow lining was cheerful, the color of sunflower petals.

Diana opened the door to a small office, and we went inside. She sat down on the couch next to the door, and I sat beside her, waiting. Reaching over to her desk, she picked up a tablet which was tucked under an elastic band attached to the surface. “I was able to finish my administrative work early, so I wanted to get this to you as soon as possible. No need to wait till dinnertime.” She smiled, and my heart melted. “What do you think?” She looked at me expectantly.

I realized I had no idea what she was talking about. Was she asking me what I thought about her? About us? About the possibility of …? I stared, trying to rein in my wild thoughts.

“About the job,” Diana added. “Are you interested?”

The job, of course. I was such an idiot! “It would be an honor to work here.”

“Excellent!”

Oh god, another one of those radiant smiles.

Diana handed me the tablet. On the screen was my contract, with my salary, a startlingly high figure. “No, no,” I stammered, “it’s too much money.” To be a part of this, all this—I would do it for free. “You are too generous,” I whispered, staring at the screen, not wanting Diana to see my tear-filled eyes.

“The contract is for three years, renewable. With the usual non-disclosure clauses and all that.” She waved a dismissive hand at the tablet. “All we ask that you don’t talk in detail about the Foundation’s business or publish your work without first running your papers by the AI, Annie.”

“The AI is on the station, too?” I asked.

“Yes, she’s a network unto herself. The quantum computer hardware is here in the ops module, in Kamana’s office. That’s also where the mainframe computer is located.

Here and on Arcadia we have both classical and quantum computer systems. Like I said before, our engineers like redundancy.”

Scrolling through the document, I read quickly. At the end of the contract I placed my thumb against the screen in the signature box.

“Welcome to the team,” said Diana, smiling broadly. She pushed herself off the couch, her foot still hooked under the bar on the floor. I stood and she reached out to give me a hug. I hugged her back, relishing the feel of her firm, shapely body pressed against mine. My heart was pounding furiously in my chest, and I was afraid that Diana could feel it. She relaxed her hold, and I let go reluctantly.

Right then, I knew without a doubt that Naomi was correct. Diana had been so kind to me, so attentive, and her smile when she looked at me—it was like living in a cave for years, and she the first glimpse of sunlight. My mind was a whirlwind of confusion.

45

I liked her. Maybe I was even a little bit in love with her. It had been years since I’d felt this way—I was giddy as a schoolgirl. I should tell her. Or at the very least, say something.

“Um, I’m happy to be working with you, I mean, the team, everyone. Thank you.”

“We expect extraordinary things from you, Calli.” Diana caressed my upper arm affectionately.

As I opened my mouth to say more, the door slid open, and a woman put her head inside.

“Marta, come in,” said Diana. “Calli is the newest member of the team! Calli, this is Marta, she’s the chief engineer on the station.”

“Nice to meet you,” Marta said, shaking my hand.

“You, too,” I managed, not sure whether to curse Martha’s timing or thank her for the interruption. I had wanted to tell Diana how I felt, it had been on the tip of my tongue, but even the thought made my stomach do somersaults. And besides being completely inappropriate—she was my boss—I had always been inept at this kind of thing, never knowing what to do or say, or even if the other person was attracted to me. Was it possible that Diana felt the same for me? Obviously, I couldn’t say anything.

Or could I? No, of course not! I had just signed a three-year contract! My thoughts were a jumble, my emotions a storm.

Trying to calm my mind, I studied Marta as she handed Diana a tablet. She was of medium height, with honey-brown hair and eyes, and strong, even features. She looked to be in her mid-forties, a strikingly beautiful woman, though I barely noticed—my thoughts were consumed with Diana.

“Here’s the shipment manifest you asked for.”

“Everything’s accounted for?” asked Diana, taking the tablet from Marta’s outstretched hand and glancing at the screen.

“Yes, Quinn and Mei Xing took care of it. Per your instructions, they didn’t open the crates, just checked the bar codes. Everything’s in cold storage.”

“Good,” said Diana.

“Are you positive you don’t want us to review the contents, Boss?” Marta compressed her lips into a thin line.

“No need, Marta. I helped pack the crates when I was on Earth.” Diana looked at Marta, her gaze steady. “Supplies for a few future experiments I have planned.”

Marta shrugged. “Okay. It’s only that there were a lot of them.”

Diana smiled enigmatically. Clearly, Marta would get no more information from her.

“Oh,” said Diana brightly, “can you be a sweetheart and show Calli her room? It’s fourteen-alpha.” She flicked her eyes to me, “So you can rest if you want to.” She turned her attention to the tablet for a moment, lips pursed, then looked at Marta and added,

“And show her the gym, too, if you don’t mind.”

“I’m on it,” said Marta.

Diana smiled at me. “I’m thinking you might like to spend the next couple of nights here on the station, to get a feel for the place, and you can take the shuttle back to the 46

lunar surface on Sunday. Or would you rather go this evening? The regular Friday shuttle leaves at six-thirty.”

“No, I would love to stay, that sounds great.” Maybe I could find Diana later, maybe we could have dinner together …. My mind was racing, my stomach in knots.

“Excellent. I’ll see you later. And now, I have an important matter to attend to.”

Marta snorted. “I’ll bet I can guess what that is, or rather, who.”

My eyes darted from one to the other, completely lost.

“Come on, Calli,” said Marta. I followed her into the corridor and the door closed behind us with a definitive click.

Marta led me back to the hub and down a pleasant, light blue corridor. We passed two hallways as we continued to the center of the module.

“Cabins are down the hallways,” Marta said. She opened the door at the end of the corridor and ushered me into a large, cylindrical room full of exercise equipment. The walls were lined with vegetation, much like the parks, and I could see four ladders attached to the walls, each extending up to a doorway. Marta followed my gaze. “There’s a second level of living quarters, and those are the entrances to the gym. Though, at the moment, we aren’t enough people to even fill the alpha level.” She pointed to a door on the far side of the room. “The dressing room and showers are through that door. If you get lost or have any questions, you can always ask Annie. Come on, I’ll show you to your cabin.” I followed her to the outer ring of living quarters. Marta indicated a door, fourteen-alpha. “This is yours.”

“Thanks, Marta.”

Marta gave a quick nod and propelled herself down the hallway.

I opened the door to my new quarters, expecting to see a space similar to the cabin on the Terra-Luna express, and my jaw dropped—this was bigger than my apartment in Los Angeles! A huge virtual window occupied one entire wall, the scene a spectacular, snow-capped mountain range, and the furnishings included a couch, a table with four chairs, and a bed. The whole room was bright and cheerful, filled with artificial sunlight.

There was also a small bathroom with a toilet and sink—the sink just two tubes, an influx tube supplying water and a suction tube. For showers, I would need to go to the gym.

My backpack was waiting for me in the cubby next to the door, and I took my notebook and pen out, then put them back again, too agitated to concentrate. My brain was on overdrive, swirling with thoughts of Diana. I knew almost nothing about her.

In all our hours together, she never once divulged anything intimate about her personal life. Why had she been so