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

of her face.

“What can I do to help?” I caught a floating blob with my hand and popped it in my mouth. “Yum.”

“Do you really like it?” asked Mei Xing.

“Yeah, it’s delicious.”

“We need to get this place cleaned up,” said Fae. “Calli, if you can round up the floating bits, I’ll start wiping down the walls, and Mei Xing, you can use the vacuum hose.”

We worked for an hour, cleaning the kitchen. I used a cloth bag like a net to gather the floating globs, eating half of them in the process. I was starving! Finally, when the kitchen was clean, we made a beeline to the gym to shower and change jumpsuits.

Luckily no one was in the corridors to see us—we were a sight!

“Calli, you have quite an arm,” said Fae as we were putting on clean jumpsuits.

“And don’t you forget it,” I said.

“Okay, I guess it’s back to work, right, Fae?” said Mei Xing.

“Yeah, probably a good idea.”

“Thanks for the distraction,” I said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever laughed so hard.”

“Always glad to brighten someone’s day,” said Fae, “but hopefully next time we can find something less explosive to entertain us!”

◆◆◆

At noon I stopped by Naomi’s lab and poked my head through the doorway. “Are you going to lunch?” Usually I ate lunch in the lab, but every once in a while I would join Naomi and Raven for their biology power lunches. Raven was the only other biologist on the station. Her specialty was in the field of suspended animation, which included cryptobiosis, hibernation, and therapeutic hypothermia, and her lab was next to Naomi’s, down the hall from the physics lab. Even though their specialties were different, they enjoyed bouncing ideas off one another and collectively brainstorming.

I didn’t have much to contribute, but I enjoyed listening. It was part of my “cultural exchange,” Naomi would say.

“Oh, hey, Calli.” She rubbed her eyes. “I wasn’t aware it was already lunchtime. I 86

think I want to figure this out.” She gestured toward her computer screen with one hand, the motion languid and half-hearted.

“Trouble in paradise?” I asked.

“Oh, the usual, trying to make sense of this part.” She looked again at her screen.

“Could you inform Raven of my absence?” As I opened my mouth to respond, she said, “I know! I hereby delegate you to be my official representative to the biology power lunch.” Her tired face lit up at the thought.

I laughed. “You’re too much sometimes, do you know that?”

“Aw, and that makes you love me.” She gave me a big smile.

“So true, so true.” It always amazed me how Naomi would brighten at the slightest provocation. “Want me to bring you something?”

“I’m good, thank you. I’ll grab an energy bar in a bit.”

“Okay, good luck.” I closed the door and headed down the corridor.

In the dining room, Raven was already seated at her usual table. With her jet-black hair and piercing dark eyes, she resembled her namesake, and her thick Russian accent was delightful. I put a pile of food blobs in a bowl, Szechuan noodles with veggies, grabbed chopsticks, and pushed myself toward the table, grabbing the back of a chair with my free hand and sitting down.

“Hi, Calli. I don’t know what happened with Naomi.”

“Oh, she’s working.” I opened the lid of my bowl and began eating. “How are things going with your research?” I asked between mouthfuls.

“Things are moving along. I’ve been working with bees.”

“Really? Are there bees on the station? Because I was under the impression that Yasmin decided it was too stressful for them, being in microgravity.”

“That’s a fact, she’s very protective of her bees. They didn’t exactly thrive in the micro-g environment.”

“So Zoe told me.”

“I have a few here in my lab, a few queens, queen cells, some worker bees and drones, and a couple combs of brood. They’re in a state of suspended animation at the moment, and I’ve been monitoring their vital signs. The idea is to transport them in micro-g without undue stress. Let them sleep through it.”

“That’s very thoughtful of you.”

Raven laughed. “Diana suggested it.”

“Is it common for Diana to suggest directions of investigation?” She had never said anything to me, though our research goal for the warp drive was clear.

“Not very, no.” Raven said. “I was surprised, but agreed it would be a nice experiment.” She paused for a minute, looking thoughtful. “The problem with any type of suspended animation is time. A few days, no problem, even a couple of months is straightforward, but longer than, say, six months, cells start to deteriorate, and there’s the risk of losing neurological functions. It was unexpected, but this work I’m doing with bees has given me ideas on how to suspend animals, too, and based on my 87

computer simulations I’m fairly confident I have solved the longevity issue.”

“Raven, that’s great news!”

“We’ll see how it goes, I’ll still need to do lots more sims, but so far my protocol looks good.”

“You know, there’s something amazing about this station. Everyone is doing such incredible research, on the forefront of scientific discovery.”

“I know! I’ve been working on this issue for all of my scientific career, and now, after a little over a year on the station, it looks like I’ve solved the biggest problem in suspended animation.”

“And Hadley and I are closer than anyone in history to creating a stable warp bubble.”

By then we had finished our food. “Thanks for joining me for lunch,” said Raven.

“It was nice talking one-on-one for a change.”

◆◆◆

That afternoon, for my second staff meeting, Zoe talked about her algae farming.

Despite a slow start, things were going well, she said. After Zoe’s presentation, Izumi stood up and asked if there were any announcements or any issues which needed to be addressed.

“I have an announcement,” said Fae, turning to face us. “Tuesday Kamana and I will be upgrading the software for the fusion reactor in the lab module, so we’ll be switching to one hundred percent solar power for a few hours, starting at ten a.m. There shouldn’t be any interruptions in power, but if there’s a flicker of lights or a slight delay in the computer systems, don’t be alarmed. I’ll have Annie send a reminder on Tuesday morning, and if you’re planning to run any sensitive experiments that require uninterrupted power, better wait till the afternoon. We’ve already finished the upgrades for the fusion reactors in the other five modules. Once the software for the lab module reactor is updated, then each of the modules can be completely powered using fusion.”

“Marvelous news,” said Diana, beaming.

“Thanks, Fae,” said Izumi. “Anyone else?” She scanned the room.

Zoe stood back up. “I wanted to mention there are a lot of orchids in bloom in both parks at the moment, it’s worth stopping by if you haven’t visited in a while.”

“Are these your first orchids?” asked Rika.

Zoe gave Rika a radiant smile. “Yeah, I’m so happy.”

“A real accomplishment,” said Izumi. “I’m going to head over to the ops park as soon as the meeting’s over.” She glanced at Diana, who smiled up at her. “Anything else?” Several of the women shook their heads. “Okay, thanks everyone. Excellent job with the algae, Zoe. Hope to see everyone at the social tonight.”

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