Free Red Desert - Point of No Return by Rita Carla Francesca Monticelli

happened to Liang? Why has
he opted out? Is he ill? I didn’t even know you could opt out.”
    “He is very well, I
dare say,” he exclaimed with a laugh. “He met a woman, a couple of
months ago, and now he says she’s the love of his life, so he
decided not to leave.”
    I was dismayed. A
professional like Liang, who had dedicated all his working life to
NASA and who could finally participate in the most important space
mission ever, had he really decided to put his dreams aside for a
woman he met two months earlier? It was nonsense.
    “But has he realised
that just now, when we’re about to leave?” It wasn’t really a
question. Mostly, I just couldn’t comprehend such a situation.
    “He’d already informed
me during the past week. Luckily, Hassan is prepared. He just has
to review a few things, but I don’t believe there will be any delay
in the launch. At any rate he hasn’t waited until the last—”
    “But he signed a
contract,” I insisted, preventing him from completing his sentence.
“We all signed it. You cannot withdraw like this!” I tried to
appear indignant about the unreliability of my colleague, but the
point was that I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life side by
side with Hassan. With someone who reminded me of my father. I
wanted to leave my past behind. How could I do that with him in
front of me every day? It was intolerable.
    “If you had carefully
read the contract, you’d know that isn’t really so,” Dennis replied
with a serious note. My complaints were clearly beginning to annoy
him. “This isn’t a stroll in space, or a short stay on the lunar
station. We’re talking about moving forever to another planet. You
need to be really sure that you wanna do it. If someone’s got the
slightest doubt, they should stay home. That’s why the contract
includes a waiver clause that can be applied any time.”
    I looked at him,
perplexed. It had never occurred to me that you could change your
mind. How can you withdraw from such a commitment? It was something
I didn’t believe in at all, but, while Dennis was speaking, I
suddenly caught all its logicality.
    “If you don’t need
anything else, I have a lot to do,” he said, breaking my
thoughts.
    I watched him for a
moment, then I realised again where I was. I saw once more the
empty shelves, the open crates bulging with stuff. “Sorry,” I
murmured, with a hint of shame for the scene I had just made. And,
without adding a word, I turned back and went out to the
corridor.
    I started wandering
around.
    Liang had abandoned
the mission without hesitation for a woman he met two months
earlier. I had been with Jan for three years, but I had never
seriously thought about abstaining from going to Mars. I had never
considered that as a real possibility.
    Could it be that it
was really easier for me to leave than to stay with him?
    It was then that I
understood for the first time that Jan was right about me.
    I reached into my
jacket pocket and took out my mobile phone. My heart was racing. I
might still do it, yes. It wasn’t too late. With trembling hands, I
searched the contacts in the phonebook, until I reached his name. I
tapped it, and his photograph was displayed. I had taken that one
the first evening we went out together. He was wearing a fine,
elegant suit and had a smile of pure joy printed on his face. I
smiled as well, while recalling the moment.
    I tapped the green
icon.
    There was silence for
a second while the number was dialled. I waited with bated breath,
fearing the voice that would tell me that the user was unreachable.
And what if he had changed his number? But then I heard it ringing.
An answering click followed.
    He had surely seen
that it was me calling and I was afraid he might hang up. Without
waiting for him to talk, I breathed in, anticipating his voice.
    “Allô?” a female voice
said.
    The words died in my
mouth. I knew that voice. It was Milja, his wife.
    “Who’s that?” the
woman insisted, in