The craft began its downward pitch. Hixon adjusted the controls, pulling the nose up at the bottom. Naomi floated back down to the ground, not gracefully, and Hixon immediately began another upward trajectory. Naomi swallowed down the nausea.

“What did you do?” Naomi called back as she rose again.

“Went backpacking around the Andes and yelled really loudly at the top of mountains. Startled the shit out of some llamas. I screamed until I lost my voice. Then I came back and got back to work.”

Naomi had to admit running away to mountains sounded very tempting.

Valerie floated closer to her.

“This is only the beginning,” Valerie said. “In two years, you try again. You’ll have more knowledge, more experience. Tomorrow, you’ll get back to it, find another way. You have so much at your fingertips to help make this happen.”

They entered another brief period of anti-gravity. Valerie’s hair was around her, her eyes unblinking and dark. “They did you a favour, saying no.”

Naomi’s head jerked back as they fell.

“You’ve had less rejection than most. I’m partially at fault for that, I’ll admit it. You work hard, but my money’s opened doors you never even realised were locked.”

That hurt. But Naomi knew it was the truth.

“This is your first big setback. How are you going to react to it? That’s what’ll show your mettle. Not the failure, but what you do next.”

Naomi’s shame twisted into something different. Here was a woman who had been told no over and over again. Who had been raised in abject poverty in a small, dusty little town in Texas.

Valerie had been knocked up at sixteen by the son of an oil tycoon. He’d stuck by her, much to the surprise of many, and Valerie had access to money that got her into university. Catherine Lovelace had been Valerie’s robotics teacher.

On the first day, Valerie had proclaimed in her white-trash drawl, six months pregnant, that she was going to make spaceships. A few people had exchanged incredulous looks. But Catherine had leaned forward and said, “Yes, you will.”

They fell again, and Valerie grabbed Naomi’s hand in a vice-like grip.

“Success will never be linear. Success is illusive, it’s a mirage. What you learn, what you do, how you react—that’s what matters. Are you actually sad about the decision, or are you angry that they turned you down?”

Naomi’s lips pressed together. She was angry. Yes, she’d been young, yes, others had more experience, but she had proved herself. “I’m mad at myself, and I’m mad at them. I want to prove them wrong.”

“Good. Don’t be afraid of your rage. It doesn’t have to be weakness. It’ll make you do anything. Get angry. Channel it.”

As they rose again, Valerie’s chin turned up in a silent dare.