Page 84 of Bound By Stars

I press my lips to his forehead and say through a breath, “Jupiter, please.”

He cups my jaw, tilting my face so I’m looking at him.

I can barely make out his eyes, but my imagination fills in the details.

“As long as you want to be lost…with me.” His voice is rough and unsure.

“Forever.”

Two sets of casual footsteps and voices echo through the cargo bay, breaking the illusion. The door slides open wider and two figures step inside.

I slip off Jupiter’s lap and we scoot back, deeper into the row, farther from the dim hall light.

“Why is the door open?”

I know that voice.

Jupiter stiffens beside me.

“I was only away for a moment.” The fake confidence in the second, unfamiliar voice wavers.

Lights burst on in sections overhead. We separate, each sliding behind one of the pods.

I press my eyes shut tightly.

“Sabine would have you, and possibly me, thrown off this ship if she knew you left the cargo hold open and unattended. Let’s exercise more caution.”

Where have I heard that voice?

Jupiter’s grip tightens on my fingers.

“Yes, sir,” the other man says.

“Now, where are we with the prototypes?”

The memory of a face takes shape behind my closed eyes. A man in a tuxedo, holding a half-eaten lemon tart. It’s Jupiter’s dad.

“We’ve managed to conduct the necessary rounds of safety testing since we were able to access the plans and finish building them, but they won’t be fully operational until we get the complete code.”

“Good. Let’s run one more round before we arrive. You can never be too careful with bots.”

Bots?

My eyes fly open. ILSA stands in front of me, powered down in the middle of the sea of pods.

No. Not pods. ILSAs. Rows of them. A hundred lifeless screen faces. Faces of the bot I designed.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Jupiter

Eight days to Mars

The clacking of my dad’s dress shoes fades. The lights go out and the door shuts, enveloping us in pitch-dark silence. Far-off starlight outside the tall window between exterior docking doors doesn’t reach into the ship. Weslie yanks her hand out of mine.

Aclankfarther down the row sends my heart into my throat.

“Ouch.” Weslie’s voice is far away. Her bare feet hardly make a sound against the floor, but I try to follow.

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