Page 40 of The Love Simulation

That’s concerning. What will happen if we’re still out here when it hits? How strong will the winds be? Thankfully, with the helmet, my braids won’t be full of dust (a vain concern, but water rationing won’t allow me to spend more than two minutes washing them), but will there be enough dust flying around to get us lost and off course? Will we get eliminated and have to leave it up to Jordan and Angie to win the library money?

“How long do we have?” I ask.

“About twelve minutes,” Jordan replies.

Riding side by side, Roman and I look at each other. I gulp, trying to do some mental calculations in my head. It took us about fifteen minutes to drive out to the spot. We must have been driving for at least ten minutes now. Unfortunately it’s been slow going, and with the added weight of the rocks, it feels like we’re moving at a crawl.

“What if we just leave the rovers and make a run for it?” Roman asks.

I nod. “Yeah. That sounds good to me. I’m pretty sure we can run to the Hab in half the time it would take to get there on wheels, even in sand and these big suits.”

“You can’t,” Jordan says. “Anything is liable to happen to the rovers and our specimens if left unattended. The dust could cause the wheels to stop working altogether. Or maybe they’d be buried in the dust. Without the rovers we’d have no hope of trying to complete this task again, and it’s one of the big four we have to finish. We must get the rovers back to the Hab, then cover them before the storm hits. But don’t worry,” he tries to soothe. “You two have plenty of time to make it.”

I would not put it past whoever was running the simulation to take the rovers out of commission if we left them. I take a deep breath. Okay. Slog over the red ground with an additional twelve pounds of rocks to slow us down, get the rovers covered so the dust doesn’t get into all the nooks and crannies and make them stop, then make it back inside the Hab before we get caught up in the dust storm ourselves. No biggie. Mission:NotImpossible. We got this.

I tighten my grip on the steering wheel, pushing my shoulders back. No, it doesn’t make the rover move faster, but it makes me feel like I’m moving with more purpose. I may have on a large space suit in lieu of some leather pants and kick-ass boots, but I’m a woman on a mission.

“Are you humming theMission: Impossibletheme?” Roman asks.

“Uh, what?”

I’m glad I’m not facing him. I forgot he could hear every sound I make. Anyone tuning in to our live stream can.Why didn’t I choose a Beyoncé song to hum?

“You don’t have to stop,” Roman says with a slight chuckle, but I ignore him. I don’t need the world to know I’m totally and utterly lame.

We finally make it back to the Hab. Roman and I park the rovers. I look around, trying to see if I can tell just when the dust storm will hit and how they’ll do it in the dome.

“Jordan, how are we on time?” I ask.

“Y’all are doing great. Three minutes left.”

A surge of victory begins welling up in my chest as I grab the box full of rocks and affix the tarp over my rover.

“How about I take that and you get the door?” Roman says as he grabs for my box. Knowing that now is not the time to argue, I give it freely and move to the hatch. I open it, and just as Roman is ten feet away, part of the tarp blows off my rover as if it were never secured.

“Oh no!” I yell. “I need to fix the tarp. I’ll be right back.” Before Roman can get out anything other than a “What?” I take off back to the rovers. In ten seconds, I manage to get it on, this time ensuring it won’t come off.

But when I turn to head back inside, everything goes black.

I don’t panic. I blink, my breath sawing in and out, loud to my ears in the confines of my helmet.

“There’s something wrong with my helmet,” I announce as calmly as I can. “I think the sun visor or whatever is messing up. I can’t see anything. I don’t know how to make it back to the Hab.”

“Roman, can you get her? We’re down to one minute,” Jordan says.

“I’m already on it,” Roman says.

Knowing that this part of the ground has loose rocks, some big and some small, I stand perfectly in place so I don’t fall over anything.

I feel cut off from the world. With my helmet so dark, it’s hard to tell if my eyes are even open, so I continuously blink. In the space suit, I can’t feel any wind blowing against my skin or playing with my braids. I’m not afraid of the dark, haven’t been for years, but it’s lonely and vulnerable as I stand there.

The last time I was in the dark this long has to have been when I was a little girl. There was a storm, and my parents weren’t home. Maybe they were on a date, I can’t remember. But it was just me and my siblings at our home in the woods. A storm had come, knocking out all the power, but I wasn’t scared. My brothers came to check on Camille and me, my oldest brother, Tay, marching in with a flashlight and shining it on us. Once everyone’s good health was confirmed, Tay had the idea to play tag. I loved all my siblings, but I especially looked up to Tay and the way he could turn the worst circumstances around.

I feel a tug on my hand.

“Come on, we need to hurry,” Roman says, pulling me along.

I have no choice but to blindly follow, taking smaller steps than normal in case I accidentally slip on a rock. After a few seconds, I feel the shift from the hard ground to the thin flooring of the Hab as Roman directs me with his hand on my back. I hear the clang to let me know the hatch has been shut, and I let out a sigh of relief. Roman removes my helmet, and I look up into his handsome face, which is marred by a slight frown.

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