Free Space Case by Stuart Gibbs Page B

to say a quick hello to Katya and Buster, and finally found Kira by the air lock. She was standing with her father, Dr. Maxwell Howard. Both had removed their helmets but still wore the rest of their space suits. Dr. Marquez, who was Dr. Howard’s official greeter, was talking to them animatedly, though Dr. Howard wasn’t paying much attention to him. Instead hewas looking all around MBA, taking in his surroundings. He didn’t seem to be either amazed or disappointed. His gaze was very clinical, like he was studying the place.
    Kira, on the other hand, seemed a bit overwhelmed. Her eyes were nervously darting back and forth. She didn’t look very much like her father, who was tall and black. She looked far more like her mother, who’d been Asian. (According to Kira’s bio, her mother had died from cancer four years earlier.)
    â€œHi,” I said, trying to sound as cheerful and friendly as possible. “I’m Dashiell. Welcome to Moon Base Alpha.”
    Kira didn’t appear surprised that I had replaced Cesar. In fact, she seemed relieved there was someone her age to talk to. “Hey, Dash. Nice to meet you.”
    â€œI know Cesar was supposed to greet you, but—”
    â€œOh, they let me know about the change as we were landing. It’s probably better this way. I know all about you. I’ve seen all your video logs.”
    â€œReally?” All Moonies have to post videos to the MBA website once a week so people back on earth can follow our lives. It’s a big public-relations deal. I do my best to make mine interesting, but since NASA policy states I can’t say anything bad about the moon base, there isn’t much to talk about. So I usually goof around, making up stories that are obviously ridiculous, about meeting martians and fightingmoondragons and such. I knew I had followers, but I’d never met one before.
    â€œYeah,” Kira said. “Well, I haven’t seen all of them. But most of them. They’re more fun than anyone else’s. Although your sister’s can be pretty hilarious.”
    That was true. Violet has no idea what the point of the video logs is. The week before, she had simply danced around with a pair of underpants on her head while singing the Squirrel Force theme song.
    â€œNeed any help getting out of your suit?” I asked.
    â€œDefinitely.” Kira turned to her father. “Hey, Dad, this is Dash. He’s gonna help me get settled.”
    Dr. Howard turned to her, still somewhat distracted, as though he’d forgotten she was even there. “Oh. All right, hon. Have fun.”
    He didn’t even bother introducing himself to me. I’d stuck out my arm to shake hands, but he didn’t seem to notice.
    â€œDaddy’s a bit monofocused,” Kira explained. “He’s probably already thinking of ways to improve the base.”
    â€œIf he needs any help, I have a few thousand suggestions,” I said, then winced. I probably wasn’t supposed to bad-mouth the station to the newbies. Not right away, anyhow. I tried to cover. “Not that this place isn’t great, of course.”
    Kira laughed. “I know it isn’t exactly paradise,” she whispered.“Dad’s always going off about all the mistakes they’ve made.”
    I looked at her, surprised. “And you still wanted to come?”
    â€œIt’s not like I had any more choice than you did.” Kira spun around, exposing the back of her suit to me. “Can you undo this?”
    Space suits are really more like suits of armor than clothing; they’re designed to protect you from danger rather than provide any comfort at all. And like suits of armor, they’re very hard to put on or take off without help. There were several Velcro strips and latches in the back of Kira’s suit. I undid everything and Kira wriggled backward out of it, emerging like a butterfly from a cocoon.
    Without her suit