Item: a dingy postcard with a photo of beds of roses with a white capped mountain visible in the distance, labeled ‘Come visit the International Rose Test Garden in beautiful Portland, Oregon’.

 

Message: Smelling roses always makes me think of you. I might retire in Oregon, what do you think? Not that you get to have an opinion since you have such questionable taste in living situations. Miss you always, wish you were here. XOXO April

* * *

What I remember most about my first glimpse inside New Mexico Prime was how unnaturally natural the landscape was. Because it was a landscape, despite being an artificial space built inside a doughnut-like tube, a bubble of improbable life adrift in the frozen sea of space.

Despite that, it was the most Earth-like place I’d been since leaving home, with live plants growing wild in the maze of tan and pink buildings that we emerged into from the docking hub. Rather than smooth metal panels underfoot, the ground was real soil in some places and stone-like panels in others. The curved ceiling that loomed above us was painted a brilliant turquoise blue, punctuated by dark patches where clear panels afforded glimpses of space beyond, and beautifully painted murals lined the lower segments with images of mesas, forests, and desert.

It was a movie set version of the southwest, painstakingly recreated and set into orbit around an alien star. I wondered, not for the first time, what whimsy of fate led Rosetta here.

I closed my eyes and inhaled, savoring the scent of soil and the feel of warmth on my skin. All the ships and stations we’d traveled through had been kept just on the cool side of comfortable, but the temperature here was like a warm spring day. I could even hear a few birds and a buzzing that was either insects or a malfunctioning air vent.

Emiliano murmured something under his breath in what sounded like Spanish, and when I opened my eyes I saw his face was wet with tears. After nine years on the Diamond Kiss and who knew what before that, I was surprised he didn’t throw himself to the ground to kiss the dirt. I patted his shoulder and we beamed moistly at each other, then back out at the view.

Dove cleared her throat and gestured at the customs official who waited patiently for us to follow, and we crept along in a daze as the big, quiet man led us along a wide road that ran the length of the station.

I heard the tinkling of water first, then saw a small waterway that bisected the lowest part of the narrow valley-like landscape. Scrubby thickets of willow arched overhead, and rickety bridges crossed the flow periodically to connect with footpaths on the other side. Tiered rectangular buildings squatted on either side, pushing up into the sides of the station and sometimes rising like a layer cake to connect with the high curved ceiling above.

We turned away from the creek to climb a narrow path that wound nonsensically through small buildings and walled compounds. I was glad that Thomas, the man who’d checked us in to the station, had stayed to guide us. He stopped in front of a high adobe wall with a bright red door and handed me a key.

It was a simple metal key just like the sort we used at home, and it felt incongruous out here in space. I fit it into the lock and opened the gate, then cried out in pleasure at the tiny but exquisite walled garden that waited on the other side.

“Here’s the condo key,” Thomas murmured as he held out a second key and nodded at the compact two-story salmon pink building that took up the right-hand side of the courtyard. It was leagues roomier than my tiny house, but much smaller than mom’s rambling farmhouse. “Damon has been taking care of the garden since Rosetta passed. Nice guy, big beard, one eye, you’ll see. Ah, and Mabel said she already turned on your comm access. Need anything else?”

I stared at him blankly. We needed a great many things, and somehow when I’d pictured this moment I’d felt sure that future Rose would have it all worked out. I’d imagined something similar to Octavia’s Point, an orderly station with signs and safety equipment and people who made sure tourists knew where they were going. Here, I wasn’t even sure I’d be able to find my way back to the main road.

It was Emiliano who spoke up. “How does food and water work?” he asked, then rattled off other sensible questions like what do the emergency sirens sound like? Thomas answered each briefly but at least gave us some basics.

The most important, he emphasized, was to visit the homeowner’s association office and also some place called the plaza. He ambled away as soon as we thanked him, clearly relieved to be finished with questions and determined to escape before we thought of more to ask.

“Talkative guy,” Dove muttered, then gave the special look that meant she had training homework for us. “Close the gate. Then scatter and search, but don’t touch anything.”

I groaned because all I wanted to do was unlock the condo and see what waited inside, but making sure everything was safe first was important to Dove so we might as well speed the process along. We dropped our packs in a corner, then moved to help.

Dove walked about slowly, consulting her scanner and poking things cautiously with a stick she’d picked up down by the water.

The job she gave us was more elementary – scatter and search meant manually checking every nook and cranny we could get to for anything that seemed out of place. Without touching, instead relying on sight, sound, and smell to catch anything unusual. I wandered slowly and noticed what looked like sprinkler heads poking out of the rocks and ferns, tiny devices that looked like cameras, and a mysterious black box buried in the bottom portion of the fountain that sat next to a dwarf apple tree. I also saw an herb garden growing in a window box, a discovery that was even more exciting than the apples.

I reported my findings and listened as Emiliano pointed out other cameras and something that might be a trigger for a security alarm, and we waited while she scanned and poked what we’d seen.

Finally, she turned and said, “Might as well open it. These devices are part of the condo’s network, so it looks like Rosetta took some precautions.”

My fingers were sweaty against the metal of the key as I fit it into the lock, my heart racing as I turned it and pressed my finger to the latch. I paused, irrationally nervous about what I might find on the other side. Nothing but a dusty, abandoned condo, I reminded myself, and forced a chuckle out of my throat as I pulled the door open.

It was dark inside, and a musty scent slapped me in the face. Dove nudged me gently aside, then pulled out a flashlight and peered at the walls nearest the door. She poked her stick around the corner to fidget with something, and the room filled with warm yellow light. She became absorbed in her scanner, and I peered over her shoulder at the room beyond.

“Not a hoarder, my ass,” I whispered feelingly at the waist-high piles of papers and household objects, already composing a scathing message to Ahn McConnell in my mind. “We can’t do scatter and search in this.”

Dove lowered her scanner and turned to meet my eyes. “You’re right, but that’s fine. The readings indicate this place has been closed up for a while. Give me five minutes to check the security system, then you can come in.”

I nudged her aside and stepped into the condo ahead of her. “We’re going in together,” I told her. “This is overkill. The Rossis haven’t been here – if they were, they’d already have what they need and wouldn’t have any reason to mess with us. And Rosetta wanted me here, so she wouldn’t leave anything dangerous.”

That was when the security system started screaming, and Dove spared a moment to throw me an I told you so look before hurrying to the source of the sound. I followed her to a panel that was lit up red and flashing angrily.

“It won’t take my guild override code,” she yelled. “I can’t shut it down. We’re going to have to wait for station security.” She turned to go and gestured for me to follow, but I walked up to the panel and looked at it curiously. Most of the screen blinked red, but a small green box on the bottom said verify identity.

“I tried that,” Dove shouted. “Entered my code and it wouldn’t take it. Guild codes override most standard security systems, but she must have made her own. Come on.”

I frowned and touched the button. A number field popped up, and I didn’t even have to think about it. 14, I typed, and watched as the screen went yellow and an arrow pointed to a smooth black panel that hung next to the alarm station. It lit up with the image of a thumbprint, and I remembered the personal security codes at the Raspberry Castle.

I pressed my thumb to the panel.

Match, the screen flashed, and the alarm died abruptly. The screen shifted to something like a home page, with tiny rectangles of video in a grid showing the yard as well as the front door and several black screens that I guessed were unlit rooms.

“How the hell does she have your fingerprints,” Dove asked flatly, “and what number did you enter?”

I turned. “I’m the fourteenth of my name,” I reminded her. “She probably fingerprinted me at the daycare. Do fingerprints change as you age?” It was hard to decide whether to be impressed or frightened by that level of planning. Maybe both?

“Her ex could have stolen your fingerprints at the store,” Dove countered. “Oh, Rose, could you reach that can of tomatoes for me? Something like that. I’m not sure which is worse.”

Now that the noise had quieted, I turned around to survey the condo. We were in what – in better times – might have been a cozy living room, with fat sofas buried under heaps of clothing and other detritus. I was pretty sure there were tables somewhere beneath the piles, and the corner of something that was either a TV or a fireplace poked out from behind framed artwork that was piled against the wall.

Behind us was a shadowy room that I guessed was the kitchen and a dining nook. I recognized the hood of a stove and saw tall latching cabinets built into the wall, but every other surface was covered with belongings and trash. Kitchen appliances sat on the counters, crusted with dry bits of food and half covered with empty packaging, kitchen towels, and other odds and ends. I saw what looked like a swimming suit draped over a stand mixer, and a winter coat hanging from one of the cabinets.

A thick coating of dust covered it all, visible even in the half light. I swallowed against the lump in my throat as I pictured Rosetta living in this place alone, weaving her way between piles and unable even to cook a decent meal in the mess she’d made for herself.

I felt a light touch on my shoulder and turned to see Emiliano, his deep-set eyes full of sympathy. “Could this have been your family?” he asked, “Breaking in to find what they wanted?”

“I don’t think so,” Dove called, still inching her way around piles of junk to scan the room. She made a pleased noise at the sight of a light switch, and the kitchen lit up in bright and merciless detail when she flipped it on. “This place has been like this for a while, and the dust is undisturbed. It was probably the asterimania – people get hyper-obsessive and everything else falls apart.”

I wandered back through the living room to the hallway I’d noticed when we first entered, following it to find a bathroom and three tiny rooms that could have been bedrooms or offices.

The bathroom was the cleanest of all the rooms so far with only a few piles of used toiletries and towels spilling out of a laundry unit marring the tidiness of the space, and I was relieved that we’d be able to use the toilet and wash up. At the end of the hall a narrow spiral staircase – more of a glorified ladder, really – climbed into a shadowy space above.

Looking up into that gloom sent shivers down my spine and I stepped back instinctively. Apparently I’d been so lost in thought that I’d missed Dove following me, because I stepped right into her and nearly lost my balance.

She braced me from behind, then slipped her arms around me in what was almost the bear hug practice position except instead of fighting it, I relaxed and leaned against her, hoping she’d give me just a moment before reasserting her professional boundaries. I felt the deep breath she let out against my cheek as she nestled her chin against me.

“That kitchen’s going to be fantastic once Emiliano is done,” she whispered, and moved closer to press her cheek against mine for one brief moment before pulling away. “He started cleaning, but I told him to set anything interesting aside so you can look at it later. Who knows where she left the important stuff in this mess. Mind if I check upstairs?”

I let out a strangled laugh. “Please do. Scream if you need me.”

“I always need you,” she said maddeningly, then pulled out her flashlight and inched her way up the staircase, scanner in one hand and light in the other. I stood below and waited till she found a light switch and turned it on. The dark area resolved itself into a compact landing with two doors opening off it.

“Everything okay?” I called. I heard the squeak of a door and tread of footsteps and then Dove stuck her head back out and gestured to me excitedly. Both the doors hung open when I made it to the top of the stairs, and I saw that one led to a bathroom and the other opened into an open, airy space that was dark on one side and bright on the other. Dove grabbed my hand and pulled me in, then released me and stood back with an expectant look.

The room was large, as big as the house was downstairs except for the space taken for the stairs and the bathroom on one end. I saw a balcony through French doors at the end of the room and a workspace with long tables covered in equipment and papers, shelves full of books, and latching cabinets similar to those in the kitchen. More bookshelves and a walk-in closet lined the wall on our side of the room, and a vast four-poster bed and a few armchairs took up the rest of the space. There were piles on the floor and furniture here as well, but the mess felt livable and almost organized compared to what we’d seen downstairs.

That wasn’t the best part, though. The two long sides of the room were paneled with huge, thick windows. One side looked out on the artificial brightness of the station and the other was a window… directly into space.

The condo was built right into the wall of the station, I realized, and I stood there speechlessly looking back and forth from trees and a fake turquoise sky to stars and endless dark, trying to decide whether I loved or hated the effect. It was undeniably exotic, but the stark dichotomy made me feel a little off-balance.

“Kind of makes me dizzy,” I finally managed. “It’s amazing, though. She must have lived up here and barely used the downstairs.”

“I think so. There’s a fridge in the work area. This won’t be so hard to clean – think we can sleep here till the rest of the house is finished? The bed is huge, we could all fit.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at the idea, and even more so at the fact that Dove seemed to think it was a real possibility. “Not going to happen,” I told her. “Have you seen how Emiliano tosses and turns? Though I’d rather sleep with him than you, right now. Unless you’re ready to talk?”

I was grateful that she didn’t play dumb about what I meant. She gazed at me silently for a long minute, then cleared her throat.

“Soon,” she said, softly. “Let me make sure this place is safe, and then we’ll talk. Okay?” I nodded reluctantly, and she went on. “What do you want to focus on today?”

I’d been thinking about this since opening the front door and realizing what we had to deal with, so I was ready with an answer. “Tonight, we do the bare minimum to make this place livable – kitchen, bathroom, a place to sleep. We’ll go to the plaza and HOA office tomorrow, and then just keep working on – this,” I gestured to the piles and dust that surrounded us, “till it’s done.”

“I’ll see if I can get the computer up and running,” Dove added. “Your mom will want an update.”

I brightened at the thought of messages. It was almost enough to make me change my mind and head downstairs to use the computer right away, but as my eye fell on blankets that were dingy with dust I pushed the temptation away and headed to the bed to strip it bare.