“That would be bad,” I said.
“Very bad,” DJ agreed.
“There’s a fractionally higher possibility,” Jenny Perez continued, “that rebooting the Nexus Systems Quantum Cluster Advanced Logic Engine will result in the system reverting to its default operating parameters. However, the likeliest scenario is that the Nexus Systems Quantum Cluster Advanced Logic Engine will reboot without issue, allowing you to reinitialize your Cordova Exotic Particle Reactor.”
Finally. I waved my hand dismissively at the hologram. “Good. Go away.” Only, Jenny Perez didn’t disperse. She remained standing at the table with her hands on her hips like she was waiting for one of us to ask her for an autograph.
“Did either of you understand anything she said?” Jenny asked. “I consider myself an extremely intelligent person, and that was like, ‘What are you even saying?’ ”
“It means we can restart the reactor.” I looked at DJ, who was drawing on the table with his finger. “Right, DJ?”
DJ coughed nervously. “Well, I mean, she also said rebooting the computer could break it and the ship.”
“But the odds were like one-in-five-million-something. That’s a really low percent, right?” I held out my hand, palm up. “Who’s got a calculator?”
“Point-zero-zero-zero-zero-one-eight-six-nine percent,” DJ said.
My eyes grew wide. “Did you do that in your head?”
DJ shrugged. “Told you I was good at math.”
I was impressed, seeing as I could barely do simple multiplication without help. “The point is that the chance is small.”
“But it’s not zero,” DJ said, surprising me.
“Wait, you’re saying we shouldn’t reboot the computer?” I thought I had to have misunderstood him because there was no way that could be what he’d meant.
“I know you want hot water and food that isn’t bar-shaped,” DJ said. “But if there’s a chance rebooting Qriosity’s computer could kill us, I don’t think we should risk it.”
“You’re actually serious,” I said. I turned to Jenny. “What about you?”
Jenny said, “I’m way too invested in finding out who did this to us—so that I can slowly torture and then brutally murder them—to die for a hot shower.”
“Who cares about the shower?!” I yelled. “I’m talking about going home! We reboot the computer, get the reactor online, and then figure out a way to return to Earth!” I felt like they were pranking me. Like this was an elaborate hoax they were playing. This decision should have been easy, and I didn’t understand why they were making it so difficult.
DJ folded his hands on the table, his voice calm and diplomatic like he was debating with a toddler. “Right now, we’re safe. We’ve got air and water and food—”
“Nutreesh isn’t food!”
“And we shouldn’t risk doing anything to jeopardize that.”
Jenny chimed in, making me feel like they were ganging up on me. “We literally woke up on this ship a few hours ago, and before that I didn’t even know ships like this existed. I want to go home as badly as you do, but I don’t want to die in the process because I was messing with stuff I didn’t understand.”
It wasn’t even about going home. Mom was back home, and Mrs. Blum and Becca. But Billy was there too, and I didn’t care if I ever saw him again. It was that I refused to sit on Qriosity, where I’d been brought against my will, and accept my fate. I had to do something, and I was baffled by how easily Jenny and DJ were willing to give up.
“You think if we do nothing that we’ll be safe?” I asked. “Bad things happen all the time. We could do everything we’ve been told to do, sit around and wait for rescue, and we still might die because of some danger we never anticipated.”
“Exactly,” DJ said. “So why risk making the situation worse by messing with stuff we don’t understand?”
“Jenny?” I said, pleading with her. “Come on. Nothing bad is going to happen. Your odds of being killed by a shark are one in four million. Being killed by a tornado, one in five million.”
“What about a shark in a tornado?” Jenny asked.
“I don’t know, but it’s still probably more likely than the odds that rebooting the computer will fry it.”
For a second, I thought I was getting through to her. I could see the wheels turning behind her hazel eyes, and I thought she was finally willing to listen to reason. But then she said, “The only thing I know about computers is that they can catch fire if too much cat hair gets trapped inside them, so…” She shrugged. “Sorry, Noa.”
“I should’ve left you locked in the restroom.”
“Don’t be like this,” DJ said.
I rounded on him. “And you should’ve left me to die in space. At least it would’ve been quicker and less painful than being here with the both of you.” I stormed out of the galley, ignoring their calls to return.
FIVE
I STOOD AMONG THE TREES and looked up at the clear blue sky. A cool breeze danced across my skin, carrying the scents of a hundred different plants and flowers that I didn’t recognize. I closed my eyes and tilted my face toward the sun, letting its warmth embrace me.
Of course, it wasn’t real.
The garden was real. I’d passed rosebushes and gardenias and palm trees and flowering plants in a thousand different colors, some of which might not even have originated on Earth, but the sky overhead was an illusion. A dome made to look like the sky.
I’d stumbled upon the oxygen garden after leaving DJ and Jenny. I hadn’t known where I was going, only that I needed to go. The ship, which had seemed so massive before, had already begun to feel too small. I had barely been trapped on Qriosity for a day—how was I going to survive six months or more?
The thought expanded within me like a toxic cloud, and just when I thought I would explode, I stopped in front of the door tagged “O2 Garden.” It was exactly what I needed, right when I needed it. Even if it was a lie.
Once inside, I’d followed a stone path carved through the dense flora, which led me on a circuitous trail to a small pond ringed with benches. As I sat, a bee zipped around in front of my face. I tried to swat it away, but it darted out of my reach and then hovered near my nose. In actuality, it was a tiny machine that looked like a bee. I’d never seen anything like it, but instead of being fascinated by the miraculous tech, it only served to remind me that we were in so deep that we couldn’t even see the surface anymore.
“Hey, loser.” Jenny exited the bushes at the other side of the pond, and seemed surprised to see me. “I guess you found my secret hideout. I had hoped to keep it to myself for longer than an hour, but…”
I stood. “Sorry.”
Jenny rolled her eyes. “Sit down. Unless you think I’m going to give you cooties.”
“I got my cootie shot in third grade.” I moved to the end of the bench to make room for her.
“That’s a relief.” Jenny flopped down beside me unceremoniously, spreading out to take up as much of the bench as she could. She already seemed more at home here than I did. More relaxed. “Just so you know, Noa; I want to go home too.”