Read Offworld for Free Online Page B

Looks like a few
upgrades to the system were made while we were away. It saved
our lives."
    "So there's no one on the island, and we can't communicate with
the outside world," said Chris, referring to the fact that Kennedy Space
Center was completely isolated on an island separate from the Florida
mainland. "What about the security video?"
    `Just about to take a look," Trisha replied.

    All right, pull that up and I'll be right back."
    Trisha watched him turn to go. "You sure you're okay?"
    `Just need to hit the head," he answered. "Haven't been since we
smelled pavement."

    Truthfully, Chris did need to visit the bathroom, but he also
wanted a minute to himself.
    How could any of this be real? How could this be happening to
the four of them, of all people? Two and a half years alone with no
one but each other for company, and they finally get home ... to be
stuck in the same situation.
    I was off the hook. No more team leader. It was done. It was
over.
    Okay, Chris. Get it together
    No time for rest. No relief. Not yet.
    Game on. Again.
    He detoured to a sink, ran cold water, taking time to splash it
on his face. It felt good, nice and cool, a contrast to the bruises that
colored his still-dirty visage. He couldn't let the others see him tired
and hesitant.
    He leaned over and splashed water once more, then looked in
the mirror.
    It was right behind him. A swirling black mass. A deep, dark
abyss from which no light entered or escaped.
    It was the same thing he'd seen when the Ares went dark above
the Earth and entered its descent. This thing had been just beyond
the nose of the ship the first time he saw it. Here in this bathroom it
was huge, right behind him in the mirror's reflection, obscuring his
view of the entire room.
    Chris was unable to move at the sight of it.
    What was it? And was he the only one seeing it?
    He spun around.

    The stark dividers of the restroom stalls were right where they
were supposed to be. The swirling mass-that blue-black void-was
gone.
    His heart protested against his rib cage. His palms were clammy,
and a trickle of cold sweat slowly skimmed down his back.
    What was happening to him? Was this what it felt like to lose
one's mind?

    "Chris, take a look," Terry called out as Chris reentered the Firing
Room. He was standing over a console, Owen doing the same. Trisha
sat in front of it, staring at the screen.
    "Found something?"
    Trisha nodded from the console where she sat, and he noticed for
the first time how she looked. Aside from the bumps and scrapes, the
dark circles under her eyes were painfully obvious. She sat hunched
over, neck and back knotted in tension. He stepped into their little
circle and placed a hand on her shoulder, and at his touch she forced
herself to relax. It was a subtle signal that had developed during their
mission, a quiet reminder from him to her. Relaxing her muscles
didn't come naturally and required focus and concentration on her
part to make happen.
    "We can only access the last three months of security feeds from
here," Trisha explained. "Everything before that has been archived.
But it looks like what we have is more than enough. Watch."
    She keyed in a sequence of strokes on the keyboard and the
monitor came to life. A view of the hallway just outside the Firing
Room was displayed, with people coming and going in both directions. There was nothing remarkable about it at all.
    Chris blinked when every person on the screen vanished.
    Trisha froze the tape-now showing a barren hallway-and swiveled in her chair. Her eyebrows popped up.
    "Again," he said, and nodded at the screen.

    She rewound and played the footage one more time. Just as
before, the busy hallway full of NASA employees became instantaneously empty. All dozen or so of the people in the video frame
disappeared like a camera trick, leaving nothing behind, not a watch,
a shoe, nothing.
    "Can you verify that this tape hasn't been tampered with?" he