Planetfall Read Online Free Page B

from Earth.
    Sung-Soo watches the walls change color as they react to the carbon dioxide we’re exhaling, shifting from pale blue to a warm peach.
    â€œHouse: privacy,” Mack says and the inner glass of the aquariums turns opaque.
    â€œHave you got a health kit handy or shall I print one?” I ask as Mack guides Sung-Soo to one of the chairs.
    â€œI’ve got one in the other room.”
    â€œI’ll make your chair dirty,” Sung-Soo says and Mack shakes his head at him.
    â€œIt cleans itself; it’s fine. Don’t worry about a thing.” He goes off to his bedroom and I note he takes Sung-Soo’s pack with him.
    â€œWhat’s that for?” Sung-Soo asks, pointing at the large bowl-shaped impression at the center of the room.
    â€œIt’s a fire pit,” I say and he nods.
    â€œThat I understand.”
    â€œWe don’t need them for warmth; the house maintains whatever temperature we want. Lots of us feel comforted by a fire, that’s all. Would you like me to light one?”
    He shakes his head. “I’m warm enough, thanks.” He reaches down to brush the carpet. “Is this a plant?”
    I nod. “A kind of moss. It’s part of the house’s ecosystem.”
    Mack returns with the small case and I reach for it. He passes it over after a moment’s pause, realizing that I want to do the assessment. It’s not that I don’t trust Mack. I just want to be sure it’s done properly.
    I run the roller over Sung-Soo’s forehead and down the right side of his cheek. Normal temperature so no infection. A good start.
    â€œI’m going to take a blood sample. It won’t hurt. It’s the fastest way to see how well you are.”
    He just nods and rolls up his sleeve. “I’ve had them before.”
    I take the penlike syringe from the case and press the blunt tip against his arm. The display at the end of the “pen” helps me locate the vein and numbs the skin there. I click the button at the side and the needle goes in, filling the internal vial with his blood. When it’s full, the needle withdraws and the device deposits a tiny bit of skin sealant. When the display goes green, I lift it off his skin and place the pen into the analyzer part of the case.
    â€œI’d like to extract your DNA,” I say, adhering to ethics even though Mack is standing behind him with his finger over his mouth. “I’m sorry . . . You do know what that is, don’t you?”
    Sung-Soo raises an eyebrow. “Of course I do.”
    â€œSorry.” It’s hard to know what they taught him.
    â€œWhat do you want with my DNA?”
    â€œWell, everyone in the colony has their genome on file, so it’s easy for the colony medical program to recommend treatment or referral to a specialist.” I glance up at Mack, who’s frowning at me now. He’s too tense and he’ll give something away if he’s not careful. He’s lucky I know how to put on a show. “I’m curious too. I don’t understand how you survived, to be honest. Did your . . . group develop anything to help you adapt to the environment here?”
    He shakes his head. “No. A lot of us died. My father thought it was because of allergens, but none of them knew enough to be able to do anything about it.”
    His father was a linguist. That was why he was with us thatday. I can’t look at Sung-Soo, so I busy myself with the analyzer even though it’s already doing what it should.
    â€œAnd I don’t mind about the DNA,” he adds with a smile. “Thank you for asking me first.”
    I add the command to do a full genome extraction from the sample. “It’ll take a little while for the information to compile and for me to have a proper look at it.”
    â€œAre you a geneticist?”
    I nod. “And an engineer. That’s what I trained in first. They work well