“What’s going on, Lane? What on earth is so blasted sensitive about studying Jupiter?”
For long moments she was silent. Then, in the starlit shadows, she reached up and removed the long cascade of hair that had draped down her back. Grant saw that her scalp was completely bald.
Even in the dimmed lighting she saw his shocked expression. “It’s the depilation treatments, don’t you know. We’ve got to be completely hairless, all over.”
“Hairless? Why?”
“For the immersion,” Lane said. “Once we’re in the ship.”
“What ship?”
“The submersible that’s being repaired for the deep mission.”
Grant felt an electric jolt of alarm flash through him. Then he asked, very deliberately, “What in the name of the Living God are you talking about?”
O’Hara took a deep breath. “It’s just not fair to keep you totally in the dark. Now that you’re a scooter, you’d think Dr. Wo would tell you about it.”
“Why don’t you tell me?”
“I will. I am. But don’t let anyone know I told you. Not a word to anyone! Promise?”
Grant nodded. “I promise.”
She drew in another breath. Then, in a hushed voice, a faint whisper, as if she were afraid of being overheard, she began, “There was a mission below the clouds, into the ocean, but we had an accident. A scooter was killed. Poor Dr. Wo and his second-in-command were both terribly injured.”
“You too?” And Zeb?”
“All of us were battered. We asked Selene for medical help—nanomachines to inject into the injured bodies and repair the damage.”
“But what about tissue regeneration? You don’t need nano—”
“The damage was too severe.”
“Too severe even for stem cell regeneration?”
She nodded in the dim light of the stars. “As I said, a man was killed. They had to put poor Dr. Wo’s legs in frozen stasis until the experts from Selene arrived. By the time they came, most of his injuries were beyond repair. The spinal cord neurons had degenerated too far even for the nanomachines to rebuild them properly.”
Grant sank back into the couch’s cushiony softness. “So that’s why he’s in a powerchair.”
“Yes. And they had to send Dr. Krebs back to Selene for microsurgery.”
“Who’s Dr. Krebs?”
“She was second-in-command of the mission.”
“And this all happened more than a year ago?” Grant asked.
“It did.”
Grant thought a moment, then asked, “So what’s that got to do with that saucer thing stuck on the far side of the station?”
“That’s the ship they were in.”
“Oh, for the love of God.”
“They had entered Jupiter’s ocean. That’s when the accident happened.”
“In the Jovian ocean,” Grant muttered. “And Wo wants to go back.”
“They’re rebuilding the submersible.”
“But Wo’s in no physical condition to go.”
He heard the clink of her spoon on the dish she was holding. “It’s melting,” she said.
“Wo can’t go on the next mission into the ocean. Zeb told me it’s supposed to be a deep probe.”
“He told you that?”
“Yes.”
“You’re right, I suppose. Although I don’t really know. Wo is a very determined man. He’s taking all kinds of nanotherapies and stem cell injections. He still thinks he can rebuild his body, regenerate the spinal cord neurons or replace them with biochip circuitry.”
“He’s crazy!”
“Of course,” she said calmly. “Aren’t we all? But he’s in charge here, and he’s determined to find out what those things in the ocean are.”
Grant’s head was starting to spin. He dipped his spoon into the ice cream. It was soupy.
“Zeb and I are going to start training for the next mission,” O’Hara said. “That’s why Zeb needs you to take over some of his load in the fluid dynamics program.”
“You’re going?”
“Oh, yes,” she said in a flat, resigned tone. “All the survivors of the first mission have been assigned to the new one.”
“Is that why you wear those leggings?”
“That’s for the implants. They wired our legs with biochips. It’s the first step in the mission adaptation.”
“Wired…?”
With a struggle, O’Hara pushed herself up from the couch. Grant heard her spoon clatter to the floor.
“Oh, dear. I’ve spilled the ice cream.”
Grant said, “I’ll help you clean it up.” But it wasn’t easy to get out of the couch. He put his plate on the floor, yet it still took two tries before he could stand up.
“I’m afraid some of it got onto your slacks,” she said, heading for the kitchenette.
“That’s all right. It’ll wash out.”
“Here’s a washcloth,” she said, coming back toward him and handing him the damp cloth.
Grant couldn’t see very well in the starlight. The glow from the floor simply threw most of his slacks into a soft shadow. He dabbed at the stain.
“I’m terribly sorry to be so clumsy,” O’Hara said, sounding genuinely upset about it.
“It’s all right. Accidents ha—” He didn’t finish the thought, remembering what she’d just told him about Wo’s disastrous mission into the Jovian ocean.
“It’s my legs, you see,” she went on. “I haven’t been able to work them right since they implanted the biochips. They tell us not to worry, that legs are pretty useless anyway when you’re floating around in the ship, but that doesn’t make it any easier here and now, not at all.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Grant thought it sounded inane, but he didn’t know what else to say.
They were standing together in the starlit dimness, so close that he could feel her breath on his cheek. Grant wanted to hold her, clasp her close and kiss her and lift her off her feet and carry her back to the couch. He could feel the electricity crackling between them.
Lane stood before him, silent now, unmoving, as if waiting for him to do something, make a move, speak a word.
“I’d better be going now,” he heard himself say, his voice shaky.
“I suppose so,” she responded.
“Thanks for telling me,” he said. Then, trying to lighten the moment, he added, “And for the ice cream.”
She smiled sadly. “You’re wearing it on your slacks, I’m afraid.”
He made a shrug. “Not a problem.”
They walked to the door together and she slid it open. On impulse, he kissed her swiftly, lightly on the lips.
She rested one hand on his shoulder but whispered, “It doesn’t work that way, Grant. Not anymore. It’s the biochips, you see … it’s like being neutered.”
Grant stumbled back from her, shocked.
“Maybe after the mission,” O’Hara said, sounding bleak and hopeless as an orphaned child. “Maybe then, when they remove the biochips …”
Not knowing what to say, not knowing if there was anything he
Neutered! The word echoed in his mind. Wo did this to her. To Zeb and everyone else who’s assigned to the mission. No wonder she got so boiled at Egon; he knows damned well she wouldn’t… she can’t…
