The Aftermath Read Online Free Page A

as he dared. “Get into suits, you and Mom!”
    â€œAttacked? By who? What for?”
    The lights flickered and went out. The dim emergency lights came on.
    â€œGet into the goddamned suits!” Theo roared.
    Angie began backing toward the hatch. “No need to swear, Theo.”
    â€œThe hell there isn’t,” he muttered to himself.
    He clambered down the rungs and dropped the final couple of meters through the open hatch and onto the bare metal deck of the auxiliary airlock. Long habit—backed by his father’s stern discipline—made him reach overhead to close the hatch and make certain it was properly sealed. Then he pushed through the inner hatch and entered the family’s living quarters.
    The accommodations were spare, almost spartan, but they were all the home that Theo remembered. A small communications center, crammed with electronics equipment; its deck was polished plastic tiles, its overhead decorated with a fanciful ancient star map that showed the constellations as the beasts and legendary heroes of old. When he was a little kid Theo loved to sneak in here at night and gaze at the glow of the fluorescent figures.
    No time for stargazing now. The next hatch led into the main living area, with its wide glassteel port that looked out into the depths of space. Well-worn comfortable sofas and cushioned chairs. Through the port Theo saw a jumble of rocks spinning off into the distance, flashes of light glinting off them.
    Dad’s jettisoned our cargo, he realized. And that bastard’s shooting at us, whoever he is.
    The lighting was normal here. Theo hurried through the living area and into the equipment bay that fronted the main airlock. His mother was helping Angie into her space suit, sliding the hard-shell torso over his sister’s head and upraised arms. Angie’s head popped out of the collar ring; she looked as if she’d been swallowed by a robotic monster.
    Angie glared at Theo, more nettled than scared, he thought. She thinks this is all my fault, as usual, he said to himself.
    It was hard to tell if his mother was worried or frightened. Pauline Zacharias seemed calm, unruffled. Theo couldn’t imagine anything that would rattle his mother. She knows Dad wouldn’t tell us to get into the suits unless we were in deep spit, but she seems totally in control of herself.
    Angela was tucking her thick dark hair inside her suit’s collar, looking thoroughly annoyed. Funny, Theo thought, how Angie got Dad’s height and coloring and I got Mom’s light hair and long legs. Genes can be peculiar.
    His mother reached for the gloves resting on the locker shelf beside Angie’s helmet.
    â€œYou can put these on yourself,” she said in a low, cool voice. “Quickly now. I’ve got to help Theo.”
    Angie took the gloves, her eyes still on Theo. “You sure that Dad wants us in the suits, Thee, or is this just one of your little stunts?”
    â€œDidn’t you feel the ship lurch?” he answered hotly. “We’re being attacked, for god’s sake!”
    â€œThat’s stupid,” Angie said as she tugged on her gloves. “This old boat is always shaking and groaning. Besides, who’d want to attack us?” But she sealed her gloves to the cuffs of her suit’s arms and reached for her helmet.
    â€œWho’s attacking us?” his mother asked. “And why?”
    Pauline was a handsome woman with the steady gray eyes and firm jaw of someone who had weathered her share of troubles. She was slightly taller than Theo; he had always measured his height against her, not his stubby father. She wore her sandy blonde hair cropped short, not the stylish shoulder length that she allowed her daughter to flaunt.
    â€œI don’t know who’s attacking us,” Theo said, “but he’s smashed up Chrysalis pretty awful.”
    â€œBut Ceres is neutral territory!”
    â€œNot