Free Space Hostages by Sophia McDougall

except for Th saaa , who couldn’t get a handle on anyone’s facial expression.
    â€œ Helloooooo ,” said Th saaa as Christa glowered at us across her tablet.
    Christa shrugged. “I saw your little toy bobbing past the window,” she remarked.
    â€œI have no association with it,” said Th saaa. “Also, it is an educational device. Albeit a most annoying one. Josephine has adjusted it to operate in space.”
    â€œSpace,” sneered Christa. “I guess it’s pretty exciting for kids .”
    â€œThere are many adult astronauts in human history,” said Th saaa , going increasingly confused shades of orange. “I thought they liked it.”
    â€œPurple, black,” I hissed, gesturing at her.
    â€œOhhhh,” said Th saaa , shutting up.
    â€œDon’t you have your own deck, Christa?” asked Josephine. “Or is this thing where you barge into places no one wants you pathological?”
    (Josephine and I had to sleep in the supply closet at Beagle Base after Christa drove us out of our room,and we didn’t even get to keep the supply closet very long.)
    â€œThis is my dad’s ship,” said Christa, sitting up. “That makes it mine too, all of it, and that means I can go wherever I like .”
    â€œAll right,” said Josephine levelly. “Stay.”
    And then we all stood around in silence for a bit and looked at her.
    Christa bounced to her feet and stalked out, muttering, “Like I want to hang around here .”
    â€œCome on, Th saaa , you read Alice’s book, you know what Christa did,” Carl said once she’d gone.
    â€œI thought, as this is a voyage of reconciliation, perhaps she had made amends,” said Th saaa .
    â€œWell, she hasn’t.”
    â€œShe is here on the ship with you. We are all former enemies.”
    â€œShe was even worse than you guys,” said Carl, which was neither diplomatic nor true, seeing as to the best of my knowledge Christa had never blown anything up or killed anyone. But at least at that moment, it felt kind of true.
    Then the Goldfish came sailing past the window like a kite, and so we all decided not to bother about Christa anymore.
    I actually felt jealous of the Goldfish getting to fly about in space, which is pretty ironic considering what happened to me later.
    But of course if I could have known about that, I’d have been banging on Rasmus Trommler’s door, begging him to take us home.

5
    S o we were plunging farther and farther into the deep reaches of space, and none of us had anything much to do. Except for Josephine. Who apparently had everything to do.
    â€œDo you think Mr. Trommler’s ever going to let me fly you?” Carl asked the Helen while we played an idle game of Space Ping-Pong. We’d rigged up a net across the lounge and were floating on either side of it, lunging off the walls and ceiling after the ball. We’d come out of hyperspace into Alpha Centauri’s planetary system. There was a new sun far ahead and, much closer, a pale turquoise gas giant, looming within a band of silvery rings. And somewhere behind that was the distant dot that wasAushalawa-Mo raaa .
    We were twenty-five trillion miles from Earth. I supposed there really was no chance Mum would ever be able to catch up.
    Meanwhile, Noel was being helpful by taking Ormerod for her morning walk around the Helen and Th saaa was probably writing up their extended essay.
    â€œMaybe, like, the last thousand miles?” suggested Carl without much hope. We hadn’t seen Mr. Trommler in over a week.
    â€œHe is so busy, and his work is so important,” said the Helen apologetically . “I don’t like to bother him.”
    â€œMaybe on the way back,” I said as cheerfully as I could, which wasn’t very cheerfully.
    Carl looked at me. “You okay, Alice?” he asked.
    The fact was, I wasn’t okay. The fact was, I’d been crying.