Sean smiled. ‘Yes, it is.’
Then it hit him, all at once. Novitskiy was on TMA Eight with Gardner, when Gardner almost killed everyone on board. Novitskiy continued going into space, but Gardner didn’t. Why? Because Gardner was a liability. Yet he had been sent up again seven years later on TMA Ten M, with Sally Fisher riding shotgun. It would have been Bales’ decision, but why pick Gardner? Why not someone else? Because last time Gardner went into space, he saw something. God. Or at least that’s what he thought he saw. And Bales knew as David knew that people who didn’t believe in god got killed, so he was getting in early and killing god first. But not before he sent his messenger, Sally Fisher. What was the message? That’s where Sean’s mind hit yet another dead end.
Something in his pocket vibrated, making him jump.
‘Shit!’ he yelped, dropping his laptop in shock. It was his phone. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at the number: Aleks. He answered the call.
‘Hello?’ he said.
‘Hello, Sean.’
‘Who’s this?’
‘You don’t know me, but thanks to a mutual friend, I know you. He says you have something of mine, some information. I want it back.’
‘I don’t know what you’re—’
‘Listen,’ the voice cut in. ‘You need to know there is nowhere on this planet I can’t find you, nowhere you’ll be safe from me. But I’m willing to cut you a deal.’
Sean could feel a cold sweat beading on his forehead. His worst fears had come true: they had found him. ‘Go on.’
‘Come to the RFSA headquarters tomorrow morning. Bring this phone.’
‘And what do I get in return?’
The voice laughed a slow, deep laugh.
‘Let’s just say you’ll have a guilt-free conscience.’
Sean tried to think of a way out, but he knew he didn’t have much choice. ‘Okay, okay. I’ll be there.’
‘Good. And one more thing: if I discover the information you have has been leaked, then, well — I’m sure I don’t have to explain what would happen.’
The line went dead. Sean lowered the phone from his ear.
‘Is everything okay?’ David asked.
‘No…’
‘Can I do anything to help?’
Sean looked at him. Beneath his scruffy hair and permanent layer of dirt, David was a good man. He shouldn’t have got him involved in the first place. ‘Look, David — no matter what happens, you mustn’t tell anyone I was here, or what we’ve spoken about. Do you understand?’
‘Sure,’ David said, nodding.
‘And keep your door locked.’
David invigorated his nodding.
Picking his bag up off the floor, Sean headed for the exit with David following. Before he left, he turned back to David and held out his hand. David looked at it, then took it. They shook.
‘Take care, David.’
‘You too.’
Sean marched off down the long drive and didn’t look back.
Sally awoke after six dreamless hours. After trying to get back to sleep, she gave up, got dressed, and worked her way free of her tiny cocoon. Outside, Gardner was still affixed to the wall, clear tubes winding from his arms to the IVGEN unit mounted to one side. His elated expression hadn’t changed; it creeped Sally out. He was like a giant toy, a glass-eyed puppet hanging from the wall, pulling a playful gurn at nothing in particular. As Sally propelled herself past him she got a horrible feeling that his eyes were following her. What made her skin crawl wasn’t the thought of Gardner himself watching her, but something else watching her through him.
She shook the thought from her mind and continued along the station. Novitskiy, if he was up, would be in the Russian section, so she headed over in that direction. He wasn’t there, but Chris was.
‘I — I’m sorry I shouted at you yesterday,’ he mumbled.
‘That’s okay,’ Sally said, giving him a reassuring smile. She helped herself to a yoghurt pouch from the fridge.
‘No, I really am. Since I’ve been here I’ve realised that I do have a bit of a propensity to, well — snap.’
‘Really, don’t worry about it,’ Sally said, sucking yogurt from the pouch.
‘I’m learning more about myself every day. Before, I would stop at nothing to be the best. I would trample on people just to get that bit higher. But now I realise that I can achieve more by using my strengths to help others.’
Sally stopped eating. She was getting a strange feeling that she couldn’t pinpoint. ‘What made you figure that out?’
Chris shrugged. ‘Our situation, I suppose. Being so close to thinking there was no way out, that I was going to die up here.’
Sally resumed eating her yoghurt. She couldn’t be sure, but she felt certain that Chris was leaving a particular detail out of his story. ‘Do you think it — UV One I mean — has been communicating with us?’ she asked.
Chris frowned, as if the thought hadn’t already crossed his mind. ‘I don’t know. I mean, you’re the communications expert. What do you think?’
‘I think it has. At least I think it’s trying. Perhaps it doesn’t know how.’
‘Perhaps. Maybe that’s why Gardner ended up like… you know.’
Sally didn’t say anything.
‘Look,’ Chris said, ‘Novitskiy wants me to check Soyuz out and I need someone to give me a hand.’
‘I’m not really qualified to do—’
‘It’ll be fine. Novitskiy’s looking after Gardner, so that leaves you free to help me.’
Sally could sense an energy building around Chris, the source of her strange feeling. The way his nostrils flared, the creases forming in his brow — something wasn’t right. She backed away under the guise of putting her yogurt pouch in the disposal. ‘I’ll check with Novitskiy first—’
‘No!’ Chris yelled, slamming his fist on the table. ‘You’re going help me so we can get off this god-forsaken hell-hole and go home!’ His eyes flashed with anger and his chest swelled.
‘Okay,’ Sally said, trying to maintain calm. She was backed up flat against the wall. ‘I’ll help you. Let’s just keep it together, shall we?’
Chris watched her, and she watched him as his breathing returned to normal. He blinked his savage expression away. ‘Okay,’ he said.
They suited up in silence, except for the odd word as they helped each other check zips and seals. Chris had already explained it was just a precaution in case Soyuz hadn’t maintained pressure, but still Sally felt sick with nerves. The list of worries was long, topped by a fear of being sucked into empty space, finding Mikhail’s corpse — which was a given — or finding something… worse. Worse how? She didn’t know, and she didn’t want to know, either.
The MRM Two module where Soyuz was docked was right above the dining table, so as another precaution they closed and sealed all the hatches in the service module. It was something of a relief to shut the hatch that led down into the MLM. Module secured, Chris waved Sally after him, and they negotiated the tight funnel to the airlock. With a raised palm he told her to hold position, then unsealed the airlock to Soyuz. Sally held her breath, waiting for a horrible rush of wind to suck her out, but none came. Chris pulled the station’s hatch inward, then unlocked Soyuz’s hatch and pushed it outward. Sally looked past him into the cramped spacecraft, a feeling of dread creeping up inside her. Soyuz, however, was empty.
Chapter 17
Aleks had never been in so much pain in his life. His eyes, his lips, his ribs — all at once they pulsed with white hot agony in time to his palpitating heart. The taste of blood was strong in his mouth, but his jaw ached too much to spit it out. All he could do was swallow, making his face burn twice as much under the fire of his tenderised skin and his stomach roil with the metallic-tasting fluid.