Make You See Stars Read Online Free PDF

assistants
for the time being.”
    “ No mapping crew?” Mr. Yoruka
interjected, a look of disappointment crossing his face.
    “ Not this time around,”
Commander Kelso decided. “You can ask your colleagues to take
pictures so you have some points of reference later when you do fly
out there.”
    LaFleur turned to Tori.
“Can I count on your presence?” he said with a bright
smile.
    “ Uhm…” Tori blinked at him
nervously. “I’d love to go, but…”
    “ Don’t worry,” he cut her
off. “I won’t ask you to do anything dangerous, of course. It’s
perfectly safe.”
    Not according to Alen, but she
didn’t want to object. He and Mr . LaFleur didn’t strike her as best buds,
and she’d hate to ruffle her boss’s feathers on the very first day
on the job. Her gaze swerved to Alen, whose mouth formed a grim
line.
    “ I’ll be coming along as
well,” he said. “Just to make sure you follow
procedure.”
    “ What’s that supposed to
mean?” LaFleur exploded.
    Alen stared at him with
narrowed eyes. “I know you’re dying to get those water samples on
board the station, but there are a few quarantine measures we’re going to
discuss between the two of us. Unless you think it’s a good idea to
let unknown exo-bacteria roam free on Desida Two.”
    “ Well, I want to start
examining the samples as soon as I can.”
    “ By ignoring the week-long
quarantine regulations.”
    “ We have a lab,” LaFleur
grumbled.
    “ Wow, an air-tight lab? With a
direct link to the spacecraft’s docking point?”
    “ Gentlemen,” Commander Kelso
rumbled again. “A bit more reason and a bit less testosterone
wouldn’t hurt .”
    Tori’s gaze was volleying
between Kelso, Alen, LaFleur and Anna, shooting the last one a
what-the-fuck look. Anna shrugged, mouthing ‘we’ll talk later’ at
her.
    LaFleur finished the rest of
his presentation without interruptions. After that,
Mr . Yoruka
showed them some maps that the flyby satellites had compiled during
earlier assignments. It would help them when they picked a spot to
land.
    Tori’s head hurt by the time
the meeting was over. It was cluttered with details, names,
procedures, not to mention smarting from all the arguments between
LaFleur and Alen. She got up to get another cup of coffee and a cookie from
the refreshment table when Alen marched up to her and pulled her
aside.
    “ You’re going on this
mission?” he asked.
    “ Yeah, I guess
so.”
    He stared at her, the hard
lines around his mouth softening. “Just keep in mind that LaFleur
craves attention. He’d rather skip a few protocols and get famous
sooner. It’s no coincidence he only takes on rich interns of
outstanding academic aptitude. He wants to shine – at any
cost.”
    Tori nodded. “Thanks for
telling me,” she said softly. “I’ll be careful.”
    He stalked off without
looking back at her or LaFleur, but she could sense he wasn’t angry
with her. In fact, his warning had been rather kind.

5.
     
    Tori had a one-hour lunch
break after the meeting, which she spent with Anna and
Shirley.
    “ It’s a shame we won’t be
going on our first mission together,” Shirley moped when Anna told
her Cartography was banned from tagging along to Enceladus. She put
her hand on Tori’s arm. “But at least you’ll get to go and tell us
all about it.”
    “ Yeah, thanks to my boss, I
will.” Tori turned to Anna. “Are you gonna tell me what that was
all about? That cockfight between LaFleur and Novak?”
    “ They’ve been like that around
each other ever since we turned up here,” Anna explained. “Novak
has worked his way to the top by excelling in just about every
subject they value in his job, and he feels LaFleur has bought
h is way to
the top because he’s Elite and he doesn’t need to work to get what
he wants.”
    “ I can see why that makes it
difficult for them to be friends,” Tori mused. “Anyway, Alen will be joining
the mission to keep an eye on his adversary, I