Page 21 of The Love Simulation

I sigh and shake my head.

Another ping comes through the speakers.

“Oh, maybe that’s your message,” Jordan says to Roman. He takes a moment to read the screen and grimaces. “Never mind. We got another message from Mission Control. It’s a list of the daily tasks and experiments we need to perform. It reiterates what we went over in training.”

Simone leans forward to read over Jordan’s shoulder. “ ‘We believe you’ll help foster a way for future humankind to survive on the Martian surface and handle everything thrown your way with grace, integrity, and ingenuity.’ ”

Thrown your way. I know we’ll face a few challenges, but that sounds especially ominous.

And that’s when we hear it. A loud bang, what sounds like a mini explosion followed by the unmistakable sound of bending metal, and finally a loud thud I feel from the ground all the way up my legs.

“What was that?” I ask, and my voice comes out shaky with nerves.

We all stare at one another with wide eyes, but no one has any answers.

“Cameras,” Roman says. “We need to turn the cameras on.”

Jordan fumbles with some of the switches, eventually finding the correct one for the cameras. A few seconds later, four screens show us a feed of the outside. Dust is still settling, but it’s glaringly obvious what the whole commotion was. Something struck and knocked down the antenna.

“That can’t be good, right?” Simone asks, surveying the screen.

Part of the antenna is bent in half, with scattered pieces of metal and snapped cables lying on the ground.

“I’m certain it’s not good,” I say.

“It looks like we just lost our way to communicate,” Roman says, and my heart sinks.

“All right, who’s hungry?” Jordanasks. Like an integral part of our mission didn’t just fall apart.

“Are you serious?” I ask him. “We need to do something about the antenna.”

“I agree with Brianna,” Roman says, which is a new tune. He never agreed with me on anything in front of his dad. Instantly suspicious, I turn to glare at him while Roman frowns, confused. During our little exchange, Jordan walks to the kitchen and begins rummaging through the cabinets. He sets to work on a stove that’s little more than the width of his body, while Angie and Simone go to the living room to see what movies and shows we’ll be able to watch. I stand in the middle of the common area, watching them. It’s like no one is taking this simulation seriously. Food? Movies? We need to be worried about what just happened outside. If the antenna is down, what’s to come next?

From the corner of my eye, I see Roman moving around at the comms station. I don’t know what he’s up to, but I’m going to make sure he doesn’t add on to our trouble.

There are two laminated papers posted on the wall near the comms. I walk up and act like I’m studying them, turning my body so Roman is easily in my field of vision.

He clicks around on the monitors for a while, then opens a drawer I didn’t see there beforehand. He pulls out a pamphlet similar to the one he had earlier and begins leafing through it. He’s so focused on the words in front of him, he doesn’t even notice me staring.

After a while it’s obvious that all he’s doing is reading and I’m probably safe to go find something else to do, but I can’t look away from his strong profile. As much as I want to turn off my attraction to him, I’m mesmerized the same way I always am when evaluating his class at school.

Without warning, Roman turns in my direction. I jerk my head back to the papers and try to appear like I waslooking there the whole time. It’s an emergency evacuation plan, which, actually, is something I need to become familiar with.

I can see Roman looking at me from the corner of my eye. He watches me like I did him, like he’s daring me to look back. I don’t give him what he wants and eventually he gives up and calls me. “Brianna.”

I try to act unaffected by the way he says my name as I turn to him and raise my eyebrows.

He waves the paper he’s holding. “Got some good news.”

I may melt at the smile he sends my way, but I don’t dare trust it. “What’s going on?” I ask.

“There’s a satellite that orbits our site about every two hours. I ran some tests on the antenna, and it looks like it can still pick up data whenever the satellite is overhead. It will take hours to receive a full message, but it’s something.”

My muscles loosen a fraction. I’m glad to hear we’re not starting this whole thing completely without contact. I could kiss Roman for the relief he’s brought me. Which would be a horrible, horrible idea. I settle for a tentative smile. “That’s great to hear.”

“What’s going on?” Angie asks.

“Rom—Mr. Major found out we can still get messages from Mission Control, but they’ll come through slowly,” I say.

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