Page 27 of The Love Simulation

We get as much of our suits on as we can by ourselves before turning to one another. I was the last one to grab mine, so I stand by and wait for Simone and Angie to finish helping each other before they can get to me.

“Brianna,” Roman says.

He gives me a slow once-over, and I can’t believe he’s checking me out right here, until he makes a motion with his glove-covered finger for me to turn around. I realize thatlookwas actually him inspecting my suit. Of course that’s what he was doing. I immediately turn around. There’s a tug on my back as Roman adjusts the oxygen tank.

“You’re good,” he says at my back, so close I force down a shiver.

I turn back around so I can check him out now.Over. Check him over. I give his suit a thorough glance thenmake the motion with my hand for him to spin, and he does so. I look at his oxygen tank, and there’s that temptation again to go ahead and sabotage him now. I quash the impulse way down into the tiniest corner of my mind. I won’t stoop down to Principal Major’s level.

Next we get our helmets on and test the mics.

“Testing, testing, one-two-three,” I say.

Everyone else does the same, but when Roman’s simple “testing” resounds, the chill I’ve been suppressing races down my spine.

“Has anyone ever told you that you have a voice for radio, Roman?” Simone says. “It’s very soothing.”

I couldn’t agree more. Roman’s voice is deep and smooth. I’ve always thought it would be perfect for storytelling. Or, I don’t know, whispering dirty things.

Jordan’s voice says through the headset, “As I’m sure you all remember, our antenna was destroyed by a meteor.”

“Yes, Jordan, we do remember the big thing that went boom and scared us half to death,” Angie says sarcastically.

Jordan clears his throat. “Right. Well, today it’s our mission to gather the scattered pieces and hopefully find the rover!” When he gets to the part about the rover, he can barely contain himself. “I know we can do it. Ready, team? Leggo!”

We stand back as Jordan opens the first door, then we go through the tunnel, unlatch the hatch, and step out onto the Martian terrain.

“This is so cool,” Jordan breathes.

Angie sighs. “I could have been in Cancún.”

Chapter Twelve

“I. Am. So. Tired,” Angie says over the microphone. I can’t see her, though I imagine each word mirrors her footsteps.

She’s on the opposite side of the Hab, with Simone and Jordan, but she comes over loud and clear in my ear. After hefting as many large pieces of metal and cables from the antenna as we could, most of us were ready to go back inside. However, Jordan wouldn’t give up on finding the missing rover.

We spent all morning clearing the debris outside, and we’re still not done. While most of the things we picked up weren’t heavy, it did take some getting used to, moving around in the space suits and having to see through a helmet. Not to mention, we worked out prior to coming out here.

Now that we’re going on our second hour of searching for the robot, I’m not even sure if it’s here. We have little handheld scanners that should pick up its signal, yet we’ve been wandering around like we’re searching for the promised land and nothing has popped up.

“Isanythingshowing up on the scanner at all?” I ask Roman, pleading that he says yes. “This is taking forever.”

“No.” He shakes his head—his whole body, really—then hits the side of the scanner like that will make it work.

“Be careful! If you break that thing, we’ll be out here forever looking for the rover.”

“I’m not about to break it,” he grumbles. “I don’t think it’s working anyway. We should have foundsomethingby now.”

“I want to go inside,” Simone whines.

“Come on, team, let’s keep going for a little longer,” Jordan encourages. “We’re getting close to finding it.”

“I am seriously getting sick of this,” comes Angie’s voice. “Why are we even listening to him? It’s four against one. We should be going by majority rules.”

This feels like the makings of a mass mutiny. Jordan lets out a deep scream, and I wonder if Angie made some kind of lunge for him.

“Please, guys, just fifteen more minutes,” Jordan pleads. “If we don’t find it, we’ll head back in and try again later. Ahhh! I mean try again tomorrow.”

---