LEO
I WAKE TO THE SOUND OF A SICKENING CRACK—THE SOUND A tree might make if it snapped its neck. I struggle to sit up, but my bed is shaking, the ground rumbling and sliding beneath it.
“Earthquake!” Asher shouts. “Cover your head!”
I duck under the sheets, shoving my pillow over my head as the walls convulse around us. I brace myself for the shards of shattered glass to come flying, for the furniture to smash to the ground, just like the day the waves crashed through the windows of Rome. But then I remember—there are no windows in this room. Our furniture is bolted to the floor. NASA prepared for everything.
Just as I’m convincing myself that it’s merely an earthquake, that it won’t be like Rome all over again, a clap of thunder breaks through the noise—followed by a growing roar. It sounds like a freight train is speeding straight toward us. That can only mean one thing.
“Tsunami,” I try to yell, but my voice is garbled and barely makes a sound. “Tsunami!”
The water lashes at the walls, the floor rocking from the earthquake’s aftershocks. I hear Asher begin to pray in Hebrew, his voice rising in panic, and I squeeze my eyes shut, seeing my mother’s face. Her skin was blue when I finally found her in the water, a sight that caused me to throw up for days. But now I am joining her. I thought I had more time left—time to tell Naomi how I feel, to be one of the first humans to set foot on Europa—but I can feel the hand of Earth, reaching down to take me.
And then the door flies open. I pull the covers from my eyes and see the outline of a body swaying in the doorway.
“Get dressed as fast as you can and meet me at the foot of the stairs!” Lark’s voice shouts. “Don’t forget shoes and flashlights.”
She disappears to the next door, and I struggle out of bed, feeling my way to the dresser in the darkness. We throw on clothes, and then bolt out of the room and into the dorm corridor. The floor beneath us seems to have solidified, but the wind howls like a threat, warning us that the danger hasn’t passed. The high-pitched wail of an alarm follows us through the halls as we reach the crowd of disheveled finalists and staff at the foot of the stairs. Dr. Takumi and General Sokolov stand before us, their expressions strained as they scan our faces in the glow of flashlights, taking a head count. And then Dr. Takumi leads us forward to the wall opposite the stairs.
“What’s happening?” someone cries in my ear, and I shake my head, watching as Takumi presses a button on his watch—and a camouflaged door swings open within the wall.
It looks like some kind of emergency tunnel, with sandbags lining the space and a water dispenser and row of canned food in the corner. As Dr. Takumi herds us all inside, a hand finds my arm in the dark. I know without looking that it’s Naomi.
We make our way deeper into the passage, and I hear the general’s voice over my shoulder.
“Dot and Cyb! What about—”
“They’re fine,” Dr. Takumi interrupts. “Safe in their charging pods.”
“And the power?”
“It should be back on once we’re out of here,” he answers.
That’s when Naomi’s hand slips out of my grasp. I turn and whisper her name, but she’s already gone, her sweater flapping behind her as she disappears out of the tunnel. And the tunnel door starts sliding to a close.
My heart is in my throat, my palms sweating as I make the split-second decision. Do I stay in the safety of the emergency tunnel or follow her? The obvious choice is to stay put—the combination of earthquake aftershocks and a nearby tsunami are a lethal pair—but the thought of anything happening to Naomi springs me into action.
I back away from the crowd, flattening my body as I approach the tunnel opening. When I’m somewhat confident no one is looking, I jump out of the tunnel—making it a second before the door closes.
I watch as the bunker seals shut, leaving me exposed to the elements. And then I run to the stairs, stumbling down the last few steps as the angry earth shudders with aftershocks. Once I reach the fourth floor, I find the shattered windowpanes I was expecting, and I weave around the thick broken shards until I spot a lithe figure up ahead.
“What the hell are you doing?” I yell as I catch up to her.
Naomi spins around and shines her flashlight on me. But then she keeps moving. “This is my shot,” she pants. “The robots are alone. I’ll never get a chance like this again.”
“Are you out of your mind? How could you risk your life for this—this experiment?” I sputter.
“If I get the proof I suspect, I’ll be saving lives—six of them,” she shoots back. “Don’t worry about me, please. Just go back to the others.”
I shake my head in frustration. “I’m not leaving you now.”
I follow as she races to the robotics lab, barely able to hear myself think through the rumble of thunder and the shrieking wind outside. We reach the blue-painted door, and I’m just about to remind Naomi that we can’t get in without a pass—until she turns the handle and it swings open.
“How did that happen?”
“It’s an electronic lock,” she explains, pulling me inside with her. “When the power went out, the locks were disabled. Same with the cameras.”
“So then aren’t the robots shut down, too? In which case, what are we doing here?”
“The AIs run on solar power, since they were built specifically for the spacecraft,” Naomi says. “So the blackout doesn’t affect them—it only affects their surroundings.”
We step into the lab, which looks eerier than usual under the pale glow of our flashlights. I bump straight into a robot under construction, and I cover my mouth as its dismembered head sways on its stand, toppling to the floor with a thud.
“Oh, no,” I moan.
Naomi shushes me, pulling me toward the two glowing sleep pods in the center of the room.
“I’m going into Dot’s,” she tells me, pointing at the pod on the right. “Can you keep watch and make sure Cyb doesn’t come out of Sleep Mode—and that no one comes in?”
“Um. What exactly are you planning to do?”
“You’ll see,” she says grimly. “Wish me luck.”
“This is crazy,” I mumble, positioning myself between Cyb’s pod and the door. I watch as Naomi takes a deep breath and lifts the lid on Dot’s pod. Dot’s artificial eyes snap open, and my stomach jumps—but Naomi murmurs something to the machine while quickly turning two of the knobs inside the pod. Suddenly Dot’s eyes are closed again, her chassis lifeless.
“Can you hand me a screwdriver?” she calls out.
“What? Where?” I can’t stop staring at Dot. What did Naomi do to her?
“We’re in a robotics lab. There should be a screwdriver on every desk. While you’re at it, you might want to grab a stun gun, too . . . just to be safe.”
“Excuse me?”
Naomi pauses. “Don’t look at me like that. It’s just a precaution, in case Cyb wakes up while I’m in here. The electric shock will disable the AI and freeze his memory for three minutes, giving us enough time to get away—and then he’ll be fine.”
I reluctantly leave my guard position and make my way to the first desk I see, rummaging through the mess of tools until I find a screwdriver—and a small metal stun gun, the size of one of my father’s old fountain pens. I shove it in my pocket, and as I hand the screwdriver to Naomi, I can’t help saying, “I love how you thought you could do this without any help.”
“Well, I could have,” she replies. “It just would have taken me longer. But . . . thank you.”
I return to my watch as Naomi uses the screwdriver to pry open a recessed compartment in the robot’s back—leaving Dot with a gaping hole. I’m slightly horrified and yet also fascinated by the sight. And then Naomi pulls something small and shiny from her pocket . . . and plugs it into a port in Dot’s back. She fiddles with the dials and sensors on the robot’s arm until a small screen on Dot’s chest lights up, flashing with symbols and numbers.
I wait for what feels like an eternity as Naomi’s hands move across the screen, typing and swiping on the robot’s chest, while each sound and creak in the room sets me more on edge. Finally, she removes the flash drive and screws Dot’s recessed compartment back on, returning the robot to its normal appearance—all while it remains in Sleep Mode.
“Okay, let’s go, now!” She tosses the screwdriver on one of the desks and returns to my side, looking nervous for the first time.
She doesn’t need to tell me twice. I grab her hand and we break into a run, slamming the door shut behind us.
“What were you doing exactly?” I ask as we race down the corridor, sidestepping fallen shelves and broken glass.
Naomi hesitates before answering. “I have my own hacking software on a flash drive. And before you say anything, I’m not a criminal . . . not really. This is only the second time I’ve used it. The first time was to get my brother’s medical records when the hospital was taking too long to release his results.”
I stop in my tracks. “So you really did it. You hacked the robot?”
“Yeah. I basically used my malware to access Dot’s SSH connection, and I reconfigured the AI operating system to connect to my own tablet. Once I plug the drive into my tablet, I’ll be able to program and direct Dot just like the ISTC leaders do from their computers—so Dot will think it’s them giving commands. That’s step one of how I’m going to get the truth about Europa.” She turns to me with a steely look. “And no one but you will ever know.”
I stare at her. “Do you even realize how scary you can be?”
But something in the way I say it makes Naomi burst into unexpected laughter. I try to shush her as we flee the scene, but now she has a case of uncontrollable nervous giggles, and I can’t help laughing too.
“At least if this storm kills us—or Dr. Takumi finds us and does the job himself—we’ll literally die laughing,” I remark.
Suddenly, the smile slips off her face. She switches off her flashlight and grabs my arm, yanking me around a corner. That’s when I hear the unmistakable sound of footsteps.
We’re not alone.