I beat the back of my skull against the tile wall, more for effect than pain. “That’s some computer. It takes the damn thing two years to figure out the moon’s helium-3 is no good, but boy can it run an astronaut dating service.”

“I understand you’re angry.”

“I’m not angry. Okay, I’m angry, but I’m also hurt. I love you, Andie. I can change.”

“Stop. I’m really sorry, Ike. I handled this all wrong. But let’s be clear, I’m going to be gone for six years and that’s not going to change. Now I want to know the truth: Why are you here? And don’t tell me you’re prepared to spend the next six years on Europa.”

I hesitated. This was not the scenario I had rehearsed with my uncle.

I opted for an edited version of the truth. “There was a series of psychological exams administered by the Space Agency … all candidates submitted to the protocol before being admitted to the academy. SEA discovered that one of the male Omega crew may have sociopathic tendencies.”

“Who?”

“All I know is that it’s one of the men. Don’t ask me which one, they wouldn’t tell me.”

Andria shook her head in disbelief. “How could the Space Agency wait so long to figure that out?”

“It’s borderline.”

“There’s no such thing as borderline, not when it comes to living in isolation. Biosphere 2 had eight subjects sequestered in a huge habitat for less than two years when they started losing it. We’ll be on Europa forty-two months. You deal with an egg that’s already cracked and the entire crew’s in danger.”

“Then don’t go.”

“I’m going, so don’t even start. The question is, why were you selected as a backup?”

“Hell if I know. GOLEM selected me. The Space Agency asked me to accept the assignment; they felt my background in psychology qualified me to observe the crew in action. To make sure my evaluation remained unbiased, they refused to tell me who the suspected sociopath is.”

Her eyes become dark lasers. “You’re already biased! You know I’ve been with Kevin. You’d portray him as the next Hannibal Lecter if it meant keeping us apart.”

The voice of the man atop my shit list crackled across the intercom. “All crew: Report to the galley at once.”

Andria looked at me, unsure. “Ike, what are you going to do?”

“My job. See you in the galley.” I stood to leave. “Oh yeah … don’t even think about leaving orbit with my Rolling Stones CDs.”

Chapter 9

9

Everybody, sooner or later, sits down to a banquet of consequences.

—ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON