Neither did the moment between her and Atlas. Romy was attracted to him. She was in no doubt after Houston’s unsubtle explanation. It was uncomfortable. To feel like that for someone who was nothing but a mystery.

“Why the frown, Ro?”

Romy smiled at the sound of Thrym’s warm voice from the doorway. “Just thinking about all the things I don’t know.”

She peeked around a precariously tilted pile of boxes at her friend. The constant heat here had darkened his skin even more. And it might be Romy’s imagination, but she thought he smiled a lot more on Earth.

Thrym whistled as he ambled through the room, sucking in to move around the littered chaos. “Bit of a job in here.” He grinned over to her corner. “How much are you enjoying this? Be honest.”

Hair tickled her nose and she scrunched it, tossing the hair back. Romy gave him a bored look. “It’s okay.”

Her knot mate eyed her with such disbelief that Romy’s expression cracked and laughter burst from her lips.

“All right. I love it.” She beamed.

Thrym pulled up short, gaping at her, his breath coming faster.

Romy frowned. “Thrym?” She squeezed between two piles. “Are you well?”

But he backed away from her in a hurry, throwing an arm out towards her. “I’m fine!” He swallowed, looking towards the floor. “I’m fine,” he repeated. “I just saw Houston through the window. I think he needs me.”

“O–kay,” Romy drew out. What was up with him? He hadn’t been facing the window; she was sure of it. Romy certainly knew him well enough to know when he was lying. Well, actually, Thrym didn’t lie. He hadn’t on the orbitos, anyway.

“See you for lunch.” His voice cracked. Thrym dodged between piles, upsetting a stack, which hit the ground with a slap.

Hands on hips, Romy watched from the door as he ran across the very empty, Houston-free clearing, back to the surgery. She’d never seen him so flustered.

Thrym’s odd behaviour receded to the back of her mind as Romy moved methodically through the archives. She was finally getting the hang of the e-storage system and noticed the information scanned here had the label “Jimboomba”. Was this the name of the settlement? It was a strange word to get her mouth around. “Jim-boom-bah.” She grimaced. She’d ask Houston what it meant later.

Scrolling down through the list, Romy could see there were many other uploaded scans from other places: Wagga Wagga, Christchurch, Colorado, Edinburgh, Nepal, Reykjavík. She looked at the dusty room. It made sense there would be more information to scan than what was in this room. But her mind boggled as she continued her search. There were hundreds and hundreds of location tags. Just how much information did Earth contain? And how could she ever read it all?