Chapter Text
It was shocking, really, how quickly one’s future could be upended.
Beatrice swallowed past the lump in her throat and took a moment to breathe deeply through her nose, willing her heart rate to slow back down to a more manageable pace.
Dr. Vincent Toras waited patiently across his old and rather worn desk for her to regain her composure. He himself looked quite far removed from his usual calm and reassuring demeanor.
“Okay,” she breathed out finally. “Okay. So Shannon is…”
“Gone,” he supplied gently.
Beatrice nodded and blinked past the wetness in her eyes. She hadn’t known Shannon for very long, but the rather notoriously intensive NASA training program tended to create fast and strong bonds. She had been preparing to spend a considerable amount of time with Shannon in a very small space and the idea that she might simply not be able to do that now seemed ludicrous.
She pushed on, past her disbelief, “This happened last night?”
“Yes,” he said softly, “An accident on the 401. I found out this morning, around 3am. I’ve been dealing with the Director and ArqTech ever since.”
Beatrice found herself nodding. “Does Mary know?”
“Not yet.” Vincent sighed deeply and removed his glasses in order to rub tiredly at the dark circles beneath his eyes. “I thought perhaps it would be best if she heard that news from a friend."
“I’ll do it.” The response was automatic and Beatrice braced against the stab of grief that accompanied it. Poor Mary. A world away and forced to hear something like that from the bustle of a control room.
Yes, Beatrice would deliver the news. Better her than whatever operator happened to be on shift this morning. Relationships between pilots were naturally discouraged in the program, but even Beatrice couldn’t ignore that there was something more between the Gliese Station Captain and her almost mission partner than mere friendship.
“Thank you, Beatrice.” Vincent sighed and paused briefly before continuing, “Unfortunately, I have more to ask of you.”
Beatrice frowned. “I understand that the mission must now be delayed. You know I’m willing to wait, to do whatever we need to in order to make it to Gliese.”
Gliese, or more properly Gliese 667Cc, was one of a number of exoplanets orbiting a rather impressive red dwarf star in the Scorpius constellation approximately 23.62 light years from Earth. It was also the planet Beatrice has been training for the last 12 months to reach.
“Ahh, but the mission won’t be delayed.”
Vincent held up a finger just as Beatrice opened her mouth to interject. She shut it quickly, unease now waring with grief over control of her battered nervous system.
“It won’t be delayed,” he continued with a slight edge to his voice, “because our gracious partners over at ArqTech just happen to have a secondary pilot on standby who can take Shannon’s place at launch tomorrow.”
Beatrice scoffed and felt anger win out momentarily over her bid for composure. “What, they happen to have a pilot familiar with a G17 Voyager-class spacecraft available and willing to take on this mission? One who also happens to be a geologist and who also happens to be fully trained to traverse a highly unique and hereto barely explored exoplanet?”
“Apparently,” Vincent replied with a rather disdainful twist to his mouth.
“Unbelievable,” Beatrice muttered. “They’ve been sniffing around ever since this collaboration started, just waiting for a chance to jump in. And now, I mean Shannon hasn’t been…gone for more than a few hours and already they’ve got a replacement?”
“You and I both know they were never really happy with having no personnel on Astra.” Vincent ran a weathered hand through his salt and pepper hair. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve been copying our training program, prepping their own team in the hopes of getting one of them on the mission. The Director is rather thrilled with the development.”
Beatrice took yet another deep breath and said, “I’m not surprised Duretti is happy with more ArqTech involvement. He may be the head of NASA, but I feel like he’d rather ArqTech ran the whole show.”
It was her turn to rub tiredly at her eyes, propriety forgotten for the moment. 6am was simply too early to lose a friend and deal with the rather unsavory politics of government lackeys and private company CEOs.
“So,” she said as evenly as she could manage, “I’m continuing on with the mission – this two year long mission – with an ArqTech pilot whom I’ve never met, never trained with, and whose credentials I’ve not seen. And I’m meant to take off at 0800 tomorrow?”
“That is my ask, yes,” said Vincent.
“Ask?” Beatrice repeated. “I hardly see what choice there is.”
“Well, the choice is to stay in the mission or to turn things over completely to ArqTech, because their liaison officer insists they can meet the trajectory window with or without NASA personnel on Astra.”
Beatrice felt her hand move unconsciously to the blue and red circular patch on her chest. It meant more to her than the UK flag patch on her shoulder or even the ‘Mission Commander” pin below her name on her uniform. “Like I said,” she repeated. “I don’t see what choice there is.”
She stood slowly and placed her hands in their familiar position behind her back. “Our ship is half ArqTech technology, there’s ArqTech personnel already on Gliese Station, the means to get to Gliese is entirely ArchTech’s creation. We cannot allow them to run the first ground mission with no NASA personnel too, or we’ll never be able to wrestle back control after that. And if we don’t have a stake in the control of Gliese, then this becomes a billionaires’ tourist attraction and not the start of a new home for future generations.”
“I agree,” said Vincent simply.
Beatrice nodded, decision made, grief and uncertainly be damned. “Then we continue on as planned. I still maintain command position and I trust in mission control, in you, to ensure this ArqTech pilot doesn’t accidentally destroy my ship before we reach the Arc.”
Vincent managed a small smile and rose from his desk to extend his hand out to Beatrice. “Your ship, is it?”
“Ours,” Beatrice amended, as she shook his hand. “But definitely not ArqTech’s.”
“Most certainly not, Dr. Young.”
***
Beatrice expected the mission control room to be slightly more subdued than normal. She didn’t expect silence, of course – that was only ever accomplished during a launch countdown – but she had expected some indication that an astronaut had been lost only hours before.
Instead she and Vincent were met with the usual cacophony of voices, radio static, and computerized tones as they exited the office and made their way toward the main hub of the Johnson Space Center. It was 6:27am, hardly more than 24 hours until a planned launch and mission control was in full swing.
“Does no one know, Doctor?” Beatrice couldn’t keep the confusion out of her voice as they came to a stop near the rear of the control room to await the start of the morning meeting.
“Not everyone, no,” he replied, just as quietly. “Duretti will make an announcement during the stand up. Then I’ll make sure you have some privacy to message Mary at the station.”
She nodded but still found her brow furrowed in confusion. “Seems odd not to let the mission crew know right away, though, doesn’t it?”
Vincent cleared his throat and looked around before answering. “Not if the unfortunate loss of a respected astronaut ties in nicely to the arrival of new ArqTech personnel.”
Beatrice found herself scowling. “More politics then.”
“Naturally,” came the reply.
“Dr. Toras, Dr. Young, good morning!”
Both Beatrice and Vincent turned towards the excited and rather high-pitched voice behind them.
“Camila,” Beatrice managed a slight smile. “Good morning to you too.”
“Good morning,” Vincent echoed.
Camila flashed them both a warm smile before sinking into the chair in front of the console nearest them.
“Almost time!” She chimed happily, “I can’t imagine how excited you both are! Oh and I’m excited too, of course. Did I tell you, this will be my first mission overseeing altitude control? Rest easy, Dr. Young, I’ll make sure you’ll headed in the right direction! I’m using Mars as my frame of reference after all. Useful planet, isn’t it? Oh, but what’s this about an urgent announcement during this morning’s meeting? Surely they’re not making a change to the scheduled launch?”
Camila had managed most of that in one breath and while removing her jacket, typing furiously into what appeared to be a few different programs, and adding in a quick twirl of her chair. No matter how many times Beatrice was subject to a Camile ‘good morning’, she still found herself perplexed at the woman’s startling knack for talking while doing literally everything else at a breakneck speed.
“Umm,” Beatrice replied. “I’m quite happy for you to lead altitude control, I feel quite safe in your hands, yes, Mars is useful, and no, I can fairly confidently that the launch schedule will not be changing.”
Camile’s smile managed to widen. “Thank you, Beatrice – I can call you Beatrice, right? – you always have such thorough answers.”
Vincent laid a gentle hand on Beatrice’s shoulder. “She certainly does, doesn’t she?”
Beatrice more grimaced than smiled and replied, “Beatrice is fine, but Doctor or Mission Commander over the lines, yes?”
“Of course,” Camila replied with a wink.
Beatrice didn’t know whether to be relieved or further angered when Director Duretti finally made his appearance a few moments later, walking towards the front of the room with a trail of NASA and ArqTech personnel following in his wake.
She was eager to send her message to Mary, to move on to the final preparations for her flight, and to begrudgingly meet the stranger who would be sharing a very small space with her for the next two years. What she wasn’t eager for, however, was the announcement of Shannon’s death or the introduction of said new ArqTech pilot to the mission crew. The smug smirk of the ArqTech Liasion Officer behind Duretti made her jaw clench painfully and she had to squeeze her hands together tightly to keep her own expression neutral.
“Good morning everyone,” Duretti intoned from the front of the room. He had at least schooled his features into an approximation of solemnity.
“Although I must announce it is far from a good morning for NASA.” He paused a moment, just long enough for a sense of unease to ripple through the gathered engineers and scientists. “I am sorry to say that last night we lost Mission Pilot Shannon Orrson in a tragic car accident. This is a horribly sad day, not just for Shannon’s family and for her friends here at NASA, but for the entire nation – indeed, for the entire world. Her expertise was instrumental in the success of the Astra mission which, after years of preparation, was set to launch tomorrow.”
Duretti paused once again, seemingly at a loss himself, though Beatrice suspected he felt very little loss indeed. She startled slightly at small hand on her shoulder. She looked down to see Camila had risen out of her chair and placed a gentle hand on both her and Vincent. Beatrice nodded at Camila’s mouthed “I’m so sorry” before looking back up at Duretti.
“But,” he continued, “Despite this terrible loss of life, the Astra Mission is thankfully not also lost. Our partners at ArqTech have agreed to step in and volunteer one of their own talented pilots to take Dr. Orrson’s place onboard Astra. Assuming all checks proceed successfully today, we will still continue with our mission launch to Gliese Station and then onto the surface of the planet at 0800 tomorrow.”
There were some confused glances around the control room and a slight smattering of applause, mostly from the ArqTech engineers already stationed within the mission crew.
“Now before I introduce our new pilot, I want to say that I understand how deeply we all feel this sudden loss. If anyone needs to take time to speak with someone, we have grief counselors available. If you feel that you cannot adequately preform your duties during tomorrow’s launch, we have ArqTech engineers who can step in as well.”
Beatrice bit back a scoff. The idea that a NASA mission control officer would step down in favor of an ArqTech replacement was comical, despite the challenge of a lost colleague. There wasn’t much of a chance to regain that spot once conceded and the rivalry between NASA scientists and their ArqTech counterparts ran deep.
“Now let me introduce Ava Silva, our newest Astra Mission Pilot.” Duretti waved a hand towards the group of ArqTech employees behind him as a rather short woman stepped out of line and towards his side.
Beatrice was surprised to see that she seemed to look slightly uncomfortable. Her brow was furrowed in what appeared to be concern and her mouth was pursed into a small frown rather than the smile Beatrice assumed any ArqTech interloper would have. Despite her expression, she still radiated a smooth confidence Beatrice had long ago associated with capable pilots. And to Beatrice’s utter dismay she was also strikingly beautiful.
She thought that that might complicate matters.
Ava stood still and grim next to Duretti as mission control clapped half-hearted for a few moments and to Beatrice surprise, she found that she couldn’t focus on either her own frustration or even on Duretti’s words once he began to continue his speech.
Instead her eyes kept sliding to the new pilot stationed at Duretti’s side. She was indeed small -short and compact - but nonetheless Beatrice thought she spied strength hidden beneath her pilot’s jumpsuit. Her hair was short, just a little past her chin, and pulled half up to keep wayward strands away from her face.
Beatrice had a difficult time looking away from that face. Clear and unadorned, it reminded Beatrice oddly of the stone statutes of saints which had been scattered around the gardens of her boarding school. The thought made her feel the familiar mix of comfort and shame which was a token of her time at St. Teresa’s.
This development could indeed complicate matters.
Ava’s posture remained stiff while Duretti droned on and Beatrice could all but swear the pilot suppressed a roll of her eyes as Duretti once again lauded ArqTech’s timely intervention. Beatrice found that interesting and nearly endearing.
She finally shook out of her reprieve in time to hear Duretti announce the day’s pilot checks. One last physical, an interview with the mission psychologist, and in-ship review of controls…and a ‘meet and greet’ for the two Astro pilots and mission crew following the morning meeting.
“Alright,” Vincent sighed once Durretti and his acolytes began to leave the front of the room. “Lets get this over with.”
“Lets,” Beatrice agreed. She took a breath to steel herself for the day and to remind herself that, despite whatever else Dr. Silva might be, she was above all, ArqTech, and thus not to be trusted.
The alleged ‘meet and greet’ took place in the Astra mission hanger nearly 30 minutes later. Vincent had managed, as promised, to allocate 10 minutes or so in mission control for her to send a message to Mary. She wasn’t alone when she recorded the message – that was all but impossible in the hub that was mission control, but he had managed to clear out the personnel from her row. Still, she kept the message professional, mindful of the fact that in all likelihood Mary would not be the only one to hear it. It took data, including recorded messages, nearly 30 minutes to reach Gliese Station, which was itself a miracle. The Arc - ArqTech’s name for it’s patented temporal ring – had been built and stationed around midway between the Earth and Mars nearly two years ago. It managed to bend time and space in a manner which allowed for travel between two very distant points to occur rapidly, but even so, it took time for radio waves to reach the Arc, travel through the ring, and reach the station.
Beatrice guessed that Mary would hear her message shortly, and likely her fellow stationers would hear as well.
She had kept her voice as even as she could manage when she’d spoken into the mic. “Station Commander Turner, this is Astra Mission Commander Young, hailing from Mission Control. Your morning briefing will commence shortly but first I…have an urgent message.” She’d taken a moment to swallow past the sudden difficulty in her throat. “I am deeply sorry to inform you that Astra Mission Pilot Shannon Orrson passed way last night. She was in a car accident on the 401…I am so sorry, Mary.”
Here Beatrice had had to pause to take regain her composure. “I am still on schedule to meet you at Gliese Station. An ArqTech Pilot will be joining me instead of Shannon. We can…we can talk more once I’m on station. Astra Mission Commander signing off.”
Although she’d felt she’d done the best she could considering the situation, now she felt a measure of guilt as she walked past the many rows of equipment and testing apparatus towards the hanger’s seating area. It had nearly been a relief to lean on professionalism in her message – she had never been particularly good at comforting others. If there was no immediate solution to offer she often felt at a loss. But as she neared the sound of conversation she felt a stab of regret. Perhaps she should have been less professional and more like a friend, perhaps she should have shirked propriety and apologized for Mary’s personal loss in more clear terms.
But she was never very good at shirking propriety.
She shook her head, recentering herself as she paused outside of the open door of the hanger’s lounge. She could speak more personally to Mary once she reached the station. For now, she had to maintain the professionalism her colleagues had come to expect from her.
With one last steadying breath she stepped through the door and into the interior of the lounge. It was a small space, with a few couches in the center and tables towards the back wall where an overly used kitchenette had been built.
Vincent saw her first where she lingered by the door and motioned for her to join him, Duretti, Ava and, to Beatrice’s surprise, the ArqTech CEO, Jillian Salvius near the kitchenette. She was a tall and rather striking woman, with intelligent eyes and a certain set to her shoulders which clearly stated, ‘I am in control here and I will get what I ask for’. She reminded Beatrice uncomfortably of her own mother and it did not endear Jillian to Beatrice in the slightest.
“Here we go,” Beatrice muttered to herself and then she straightened herself up to her full height and joined Vincent and the others in a few quick strides, coming to a stop directly across from Ava and Duretti with her arms behind her back.
“Commander Young,” Duretti said pleasantly, pulling his eyes off of Jillian and settling them on Beatrice. “How nice of you to join us.”
“Director,” Beatrice paused before nodding towards Jillian. “Dr. Salvius.”
“I take it the message has been sent,” Vincent said solemnly.
“It has,” Beatrice confirmed.
Jillian furrowed her brow, “Message?”
Beatrice replied quickly, “Informing the Gliese Station Commander of the…change in the Astra Mission personnel.”
“Ahh,” Duretti hummed, “Good. Thank you for that, Beatrice.”
“Yes, thank you, Mission Commander, for your reliability during this morning’s difficulties.” Julian’s tone suggested that she had perhaps hoped for less reliability from Beatrice. What had Vincent said about there likely being two ArqTech secondary pilots awaiting in the wings?
Beatrice simply nodded and did her level best to keep her eyes on Duretti in favor of the pilot to his left.
“Umm, hi,” muttered said pilot and Beatrice was forced to move her gaze away from Duretti and to a pair of soft brown eyes. “I’m Ava, your new mission mate. And I’m sorry, too. For your loss, I mean.”
“Hello,” Beatrice said evenly, “and thank you.” Ava’s accent was not what Beatrice had expected. It reminded her a bit of Vincent’s – perhaps Portuguese? But seemed to have hints of a variety of countries hidden in its tone. “It’ nice to meet you, Dr. Silva.”
“Not Doctor,” Ava quickly corrected. “No PhD for me.”
Beatrice quirked an eyebrow “Oh?”
Jillian interjected just as Ava opened her mouth to speak. “Don’t let her fool you,” she said smoothly. “She may not have a PhD yet, but she does have a Masters in Geological Sciences from the University of Madrid and she has a B.A. in Engineering and Astrophysics as well.”
“I see,” Beatrice replied.
“Yes,” Duretti chimed in, “Overall a great candidate for the Astra Mission. We’ll very lucky to have her.”
Once again Ava looked slightly uncomfortable at Duretti’s attention but none-the-less nodded her head. “I’m lucky to be here,” she replied, keeping her eyes on Beatrice. “Thank you for welcoming me into your crew.”
Vincent cleared his throat. “You’re very welcome. Now, why don’t you two take a few minutes and enjoy a coffee? I need to speak with the Director and Dr. Salvius in my office.”
Beatrice nodded, “Sure.”
She and Vincent shared a look while Jillian and Ava appeared to do the same. There was a slightly awkward shaking of hands before Vincent and Jillian headed towards the door, Duretti close behind them.
“So,” Beatrice said slowly, “I’m afraid we don’t have many options here but I can bring you a cup and perhaps some cream and sugar if you’d like?”
“Um, sure.” Ava motioned towards the nearest table. “I’ll just...wait here then?”
“Please do.”
Beatrice took perhaps more time than was necessary to fill two chipped mugs with slightly old smelling coffee from the communal carafe before snagging a few cream and sugar packets and heading back to the table. She hadn’t expected to be left alone with her new co-pilot quite so soon and she found she felt a little unmoored around her.
She’d better rein that in quickly.
“Here you go,” she said as she placed the mugs and accruements on the table and slid into the chair opposite Ava. “The best and only coffee available in Hanger B9.”
“Thank you,” was Ava’s soft reply. Her hands reached for the pile of pre-packaged creamer and sugar and she kept her eyes downcast as she added one after another to her mug.
“You take it quite sugary, huh?” Beatrice said before taking a small sip from her black coffee.
Ava shook her head as she vigorously stirred her own. “I don’t so much take it sugary as I don’t take it burnt.”
Beatrice felt her eyebrows rise, along with a tendril of annoyance in her chest. That was her coffee, the coffee she had every day, that seemed so unbearable to Ava. Perhaps it was a bit burnt, but it was there to fuel real work, not take the place of an overpriced latte.
“Where we’re going,” she said coolly, “I’m afraid you won’t have access to the type of coffee that you’re probably used to. I’m sure ArqTech has its own baristas on staff at their labs and hangers but it’s instant for us when we get into space.”
Ava waved a dismissive hand in the air and finally met Beatrice’s eyes. They were still soft, but now contained a bit of an edge as well. “I’m not used to anything in particular, but I have had enough petrol station coffees to know that sometimes the only way to make it drinkable is to add an unhealthy amount of milk and sugar.” She tilted her cup to Beatrice as if to demonstrate her point.
“I see,” Beatrice replied.
Now Ava quirked an eyebrow, “Do you?”
Beatrice narrowed her eyes just slightly. “I believe I do.”
“Great.” Ava breathed out heavily and took a small sip of coffee. “So,” she hedged. “This is uncomfortable, clearly, but can we at least agree to try to be civil? This will be a very long two years if not. And I’m not personally looking forward to two years of tension and grumpiness.”
Beatrice felt herself taken aback despite her best efforts. Grumpiness? She wasn’t grumpy.
“Of course, Silva,” she replied lightly, “I didn’t mean to offend. Or to appear…grumpy.”
Ava nodded and offered a small smile. “You can call me Ava, if that’s okay.”
Beatrice swallowed past her discomfort. “Okay…Ava.” She straightened further in her chair. If they were to be on a first name basis, then they very well could try for honesty too. “Tell me why you’re here. I’ve heard you’ve been preparing for this mission for some time, but I’m unclear as to how or why.”
Ava took another sip of her coffee before answering. “I wasn’t secreting preparing to barge in on your mission, if that’s what you’re thinking. Jillian was preparing us for a future mission. After Astra completed its work, of course, and assuming it was successful, well then, this one mission is only the beginning, isn’t it?”
Beatrice frowned. “Us? You weren’t alone in your training?”
Ava shook her head. “No, I wasn’t. Me and my brother, Diego. We were slotted to lead the next mission after Astra and have been in training for some time.”
Beatrice thought once more of Vincent’s earlier guess as to the number of available ArqTech pilots and felt her suspicion slot further into place. She said casually, “I didn’t realize NASA was already preparing a follow up crewed mission.”
Ava sighed. “NASA isn’t, but ArqTech is, or rather was? Look, if the idea is to establish a permanent human presence on Gliese then it’ll take more than one crew to do that.”
Beatrice shook her head. “Of course, but we’re far from establishing a permanent colony. We haven’t even had a manned crew touch down, only rovers and AIUs. For all we know colonization isn’t possible.”
To Beatrice’s surprise Ava chuckled. “Isn’t possible? Listen, I’m not sure if you’ve met Jillian, but impossible really isn’t in her vocabulary. She will find a way – if not on Gliese than on another exoplanet. There really is no shortage of options with the Arc.”
“I find myself surprised that you know so much about Jillian’s plans, or that you’re on a first name basis with the founder and CEO of ArqTech.”
Ava leaned back in her chair and blew a rather impressive breath out through her mouth. “Well this is going great, isn’t it?”
Before Beatrice could respond Ava held up a hand and barreled on. “Yes, I know Jillian – she’s almost a…surrogate mother to me and no I will not be sharing those details with you today, but that relationship does allow me to be in the know a bit.”
“Right,” said Beatrice sharply. She knew she was being a bit unfair, but in all honesty, the situation wasn’t fair to her. either She thought she was allowed a little bit of, as Ava had described it, grumpiness. In any regard, she reasoned that it was better to get her frustration out now before they were stuck in a 12ft by 10ft living area, hurling through space towards nothing and everything.
“So,” Beatrice continued, “you just happened to have been training for a future Gliese mission and you also just happened to be ready to agree to a two-year mission with me, a stranger, on a few hours notice?” She let her disbelief bleed into her tone just slightly.
Ava sighed and stared for a moment into her coffee. “Yes, that’s essentially it,” she looked up, meeting Beatrice’s gaze across the table. “I was made aware of your mission when I first started my training, I won’t deny that. I figured there was a slight, small, tiny chance that something might happen to make one of us necessary for Astra, but really, I didn’t think it was a possibility. Then I got a call, oh two hours ago? – and suddenly it wasn’t a tiny chance, but a thing that was really happening. It was either me or Diego and so,” Ava took a large breath, “it had to be me.”
Realization dawned on Beatrice and with it yet another twist of guilt. Twice in one morning, that was quite a bit, even for her.
“So, you’re here to keep your brother safe then?”
Ava nodded. “He’s not ready to take on this sort of mission, not yet, but he wouldn’t say no, and the only other option was me.”
Beatrice found herself nodding back, perhaps even thawing a bit. “I can understand a little something of familial obligation.”
“Makes sense,” Ava replied.
“Does it?”
Ava smiled, perhaps the first real smile Beatrice had seen on her since their meeting that morning. It made her stomach do the sorts of things that only 7g force usually caused.
“Yeah,” Ava said easily. “In my experience there’s a clear correlation between a sense of obligation and a sense of…uptightness.”
Beatrice was readying herself to be offended when Ava let out a delightful laugh that forced Beatrice to smile instead. Incredulously, she found herself saying, “Perhaps you’re not too far off the mark.”
Ava smiled even wider, and Beatrice found herself feeling quite the opposite of suspicious and grumpy.
“So,” Beatrice continued, “now that I’ve interrogated you a bit, I suppose I should let you ask me a few questions before we had to our evaluations.”
Ava quirked an eyebrow as she rested her chin in one hand, elbow on the table next to her forgotten coffee.
The pose made Ava look so comfortable that Beatrice found herself leaning in too.
“Hmm,” Ava toned. “I suppose I’ll save my more interesting questions for when we’re stuck in a metal box and you can’t run away…” - Beatrice found herself blinking rapidly at that - “And I’ll just ask two questions. Number 1, what brought you to the Astra mission? It’s a pretty insane mission after all.”
Beatrice bit back a smile. “Well,” she said slowly, “besides the chance to be the first person to walk on a planet outside our solar system –“
“One of the first people,” Ava quipped.
Beatrice narrowed her eyes good-naturedly. “Okay, one of the first people,” she allowed. “Besides that…well it’s Vincent really.”
At Ava’s confused look Beatrice amended, “You’d know him as Dr. Toras. He’s the Mission Leader here at MC. I’ve known him ever since my time at MIT. This is sort of his dream, and I guess it became mine too.”
Ava nodded, “Ahh, I see. Perhaps we’re back to that sense of obligation already?”
Beatrice shook her head. “In this case, I don’t think so. I think I just caught the bug, so to speak. That drive to go and see and help build something brand new out there beyond anything we’ve ever known.”
“Ad astra?” Ava asked.
Beatrice frowned even while she felt her stomach flutter. “Just so,” she said. “To the stars, indeed.”
“Well,” Ava said gently, “I’m glad we’re going together.”
Beatrice couldn’t help in that moment but to agree and she allowed herself to say so. “Yes, I suppose I’m glad we’re in this together as well.”
Before she could spend too much time staring into the soft brown eyes opposite hers Beatrice cleared her throat. “And your second question?”
Ava smiled yet again and quirked an eyebrow. “Yes, the most important one! What’s your favorite type of coffee? I don’t mean what you usually have, I mean if all the options are available to you.”
Beatrice found herself biting back a smile. This was not the sort of question she’d expected. “If I have all the options available to me?”
Ava nodded.
“Well in that case,” she said matter-of-factly, “I’ll take a cup of black tea with a bit of sugar and milk any day.”
Ava snorted, actually snorted, and said laughingly, “I knew it! You Brits are all the same!”
Beatrice let out an offended gasp. “That’s quite narrowminded, Ava!”
“Not if I’m right,” was the teasing reply. “And by the way, how are you NASA if you’re not American? I’ve been wondering ever since you said ‘hello’ to me in that sexy accent.”
Beatrice felt her breath catch and managed to spit out, “That’s a third question and I’m afraid we’re out of time.”
Ava winked. “Alright, another time then. We’ll have plenty of it, after all.”
Beatrice cleared her throat, hoping the heat at the back of her neck hadn’t reached the tips of her ears. ‘Sexy’ was not a word she’d expected to hear during this conversation, but then again, it seemed Ava was all about defying Beatrice’s expectations.
“I suppose we do,” Beatrice managed. With a slight sigh and quick glance at her wristwatch, she gestured towards the door. “Shall we go get poked and prodded and let someone try to make us pass out in the G-force simulator?”
Ava smiled that real smile again and nodded. “Let’s go. I haven’t passed out once, but I’m always up for a challenge.”
Beatrice had a sinking feeling that Ava wasn’t lying in the slightest.