"The technological developments of the Deathless are truly all incredible in the definition sense of the word. They are all unbelievable. The only trouble with all of the advances we create as scientists is that depending on who has their hands on them, they could mean the advancement or the ruin of us all."

-Dr. Phoebe Clark

TEMPEST

The door of my room closes behind Neo and I, and I just barely hear him tell my parents that he'll take care of me over the white noise of my panic.

"I don't want to talk to you," I say, hunching over to brace myself on the window.

"Ok," he says from the doorway. "But I will be right here if you change your mind."

I take a deep breath, and between the fresh oxygen and the determination not to mix business with pleasure with Neo, I find the strength to turn around and stand tall.

"Look, I appreciate you wanting to help me, but I'm not backing down on what I said earlier about Yuri, especially given the new information I was told."

He scoffs. "What? Your cousin call you again."

I narrow my eyes at him. "No... my parents called hers, and it's not a conspiracy. It's real. You should probably call your sister too, to make sure she is safe in Hicksmon, what with all these exploding teens running around."

His smile drops. "So if I go into the hall and ask your mom and dad...—"

"—They will tell you it's true." He stares blankly at me. "Yeah, now you know why I was freaking out just now. Why I'm still freaking out a bit. We are actually on a ship traveling through space—maybe for thirteen years, maybe for less—with however many Perfects on board, armed to explode with the shift of an emotion. And if that happens—"

"—We will all explode," he says, completing my sentence with shock in his voice. He lets his gaze fall to the floor. "We have to get that FTL drive going."

"Ya think?"

He doesn't respond to my sarcasm like he normally would, and even though that's what I asked of him—to stop the playful banter and, really, all banter, period—I don't like it.

"Sorry," I say. "Sarcasm is my go to response."

"Well," he replies after a long exhale. "At least it's not an explosion."

"That's the other thing that made me freak out earlier...."

"What?"

"Some of us Perfects won't just spontaneously combust. Some of us have nuclear explosives, so that any one of us could cause mass casualties. Even on Earth."

"Awesome," he responds, throwing his hands up.

"Right? Good thing you missed being a member of the exploding Frankenstein generation," I say.

He cracks a smile and tilts his head to lean it against the doorway wall. He's looking at me like he wants to say something about us, about our kiss or about any one of the reasons he and I should kiss again. But then the phone rings.

"These still work out here?" I ask.

He nods. "We are all state of the art out here."

The phone rings again, and I dive across the bed to answer it. "Hello?"

The quality is terrible, as the only thing I hear as soon as I pick up the phone are loud crackles. Esther's voice breaks through. "Tempest?"

"Esther, oh my god, I can't believe I can actually talk to you from space."

"What?" she asks, and the crackling makes it hard to tell if she is asking out of curiosity—does she know I'm in space?—or because she can't hear me.

"I said," I start again, louder, "I can't believe I can actually talk to you from space."

"You're in space?" she replies through the crackle. "I thought you were in Japan!"

"Nope, the Mayflower took us, and my parents made sure we were on it. What a great surprise for me, right?"

"No! I hate that, you can't be serious."

I sigh. "I am, unfortunately. Which makes everything a million times worse, because any one of the Perfects on the ship could kill us all any second now."

All I hear is crackle. "Esther. You there?"

"Yeah," she says finally. "Some of you may not have it. We have tests here at the World Alliance to see."

"You already made it to the World Alliance? Wow, girl, you are determined."

She chuckles. "Yeah, well, I had help. I was captured, mid-escape."

"Did they test you?"

"Yep. Just now."

"And?"

"I have the explosives, like I expected. I felt myself getting hot earlier, and I knew it was from that."

"I'm sorry, Es. This all sucks."

"What is she saying?" Neo asks, but I wave him away. "Ok, fine. I will go, but I will be back."

"Who is that in the background?" Esther asks.

Once he's out of the room, I respond.

"Tempest?"

"Yeah, sorry I'm here. That was Neo Sanders. Do you remember him? Dr. Sanders nephew. He has a sister named Oriana."

"Oh my—didn't they used to babysit us and stuff?"

"You more so, but yeah." I cup my hand over the receiving end of the phone, though I'm not sure who I'm hiding my voice from. "He and I kissed."

"What? Ew! He's like... an old family friend person."

"I know, I know. I've gotten myself into a bit of a pickle up here with boys."

"As if your worries weren't complex enough."

"Right? Yuri Oshiro insisted I be on this flight, that's why I'm here. But Neo is... distracting."

"Yuri Oshiro? Soon-to-be emperor of Japan? Oh, Tempest, get together with him. He is so cute!"

We laugh together, like there isn't all this space between us. Like we are just carefree, explosives-free girls again.

"It feels good to laugh," Esther says.

"Yeah. It's been a pretty heavy day or so."

"Seriously." She pauses and the crackling starts again. "I'm going to find a way to get to you Tempest." Her tone is much more serious now. "You're the only real family I trust."

"You and Milo are welcome here, as soon as you figure out a way. We are floating in the universe, so... there's that obstacle."

"I don't know about Milo. I might have ruined things there."

I want to say something like 'what? Fight for him, girl,' but I'm up here doing wacky stuff with love left and right, so... instead I just say, "I get that. Well, you are always welcome here when you find your way, and if there's a stowaway with you, awesome. And if not, it will be Tempest and Esther exploring the universe together."

"Sounds good. I will figure it out. There has to be a way, right?"

What about the FTL drive? I wonder. "There actually might be some way... the scientists here are developing a Faster Than Light drive to get us to Janus faster. If they do, I could figure out a way to get the schematics to you. It actually might not be impossible."

"Yes, please. I can't stay on this planet any more."

"And all I wanted was to stay on that planet. We always want what we can't have, right?"

"No... well... you might be right. Whatever. Keep the lines of communication open. Always answer this phone, got it? I don't know where I will be, but I know that I will always need you."

"I promise. When I am in my room, I will answer my phone."

"And I promise that I will keep calling. But I have to go now. The World Alliance is planning something for Kay, and as much as I hate her right now, I have to go. She was my best friend once."

"I get it. Fill me in on all of that next call."

"Will do. I love you, Tempest."

"I love you too. Keep your chin up."

"Okay. Bye."

"Bye," I say, and hang up.

I roll over on the bed and look out the window into the galaxy. It would be amazing to close all the space between Esther and I, but right now, the only space I need to close is between me and whoever wrote that note to me: Meet me in the observation room after the social.

If I listened to my brain, I'd stay here. But my curiosity pushes me off the bed and out the door, where Neo and my parents are waiting for me with concerned looks on their faces.

"You spoke with Esther?" Dad asks.

"Yeah," I say, passing him. "She wants to come here, so I need to go talk to Yuri about whether or not that's possible," I lie. Maybe... it may be a lie, it may not be, depending on who wrote the note. "I'm okay," I start again, walking away from them, "I promise. Go back to the social, I caught my breath."

"Okay," my mom responds, though it sort of sounds like a question. "We are going to take care of this Perfects issue."

"Okay Mom," I call behind me.

"See you later, Ms. Becker," Neo says.

Did he write the note? I suppose only time will tell, I think, as I pass the main hall where the social is taking place. I decide to head to the observation room early. Might as well explore the ship before it all blows up, right?

I smile to myself at my own sarcasm, but the thought makes my stomach turn. Not only is it a gory possibility, but I also feel uneasy at the realization that right now, the only person I want to talk to to share my dark humor with is Neo.

I shake the thought from my head. Nothing an evening with Yuri can't fix, right?

Right?

I hate that I still can't convince myself to believe that.