She nodded. He opened his mouth to respond, then changed his mind and reached for the gloves, which he pulled, one at a time, over Glass’s hands.
Only the helmet was left. “I should’ve put my hair up first,” Glass said, holding up her gloves.
“I’ll do it.” He reached into her pocket to remove the elastic band for her, then stepped behind her and smoothed her hair back into a ponytail, gently tucking a few stray strands behind her ears and wrapping the band around it tight.
Luke smiled shakily as he stepped back. “I guess it’s go time.” He wrapped his arms around her, and even though she couldn’t feel the pressure through the suit, Glass felt warmer inside. “Be very, very careful out there, okay?” he said, his voice muffled. “If anything happens, come straight back. Don’t take any risks.”
Glass nodded. “I love you.” She couldn’t count the number of times she’d said those words, but they seemed different now. She could hear the echo of every past I love you in them, and the promise of a lifetime more.
Luke lowered his head and kissed her. For a moment, Glass closed her eyes and allowed herself to pretend that this was just a normal kiss, that she was a regular seventeen-year-old kissing the boy she loved. She leaned forward eagerly—and felt the weight of the bulky space suit jar her back to reality.
Luke pulled away and picked up the helmet. “Good luck,” he said, bending down to kiss her forehead. Then he lowered the helmet over her head and locked it into place.
Glass gasped as the world became dark and suffocating. She was back in Confinement. She couldn’t see, couldn’t breathe. But then she felt Luke squeeze her hand through her glove, and she relaxed, taking a deep breath as air from her tank streamed directly into her nose.
After days of oxygen deprivation, being able to breathe like this felt euphoric. She was suddenly wide awake, able to do anything. She gave Luke a thumbs-up sign to let him know that she was ready, and he walked over to the control panel. There was a crackling sound in her helmet, and then Luke’s voice was in her ear. “How you doing in there, spacewalker?”
“I’m okay,” she said, not sure where she was supposed to speak. “Can you hear me?”
“Loud and clear,” he said. “Radio’s all set. Feel like a stroll?”
Glass nodded, and he led her to the airlock. The suit was lighter than she’d expected, but walking still required a great deal of thought, almost like she was a toddler, experimenting with each limb before she tried to move it. Luke punched a code into the panel next to the heavy metal door, and it opened, revealing the tiny airlock chamber. On the other side was the door that led outside, to a minus-270-degree vacuum.
He fastened a cable to the front of her suit, then checked again to make sure it was secure. Luke showed her where it attached to the ship, and how it extended and retracted to follow Glass’s movements. “Okay,” he said, his voice coming from somewhere behind her right ear. “I’m going back inside to close the first door. Then I’ll let you know when it’s safe to open the second door. You’ll have ten seconds to make it through before it closes automatically. Just grab on to the first handhold and swing yourself out.”
“Sounds like a breeze.”
Luke gave her gear a final check, then squeezed her hand. “You’ll be great.” He tapped the front of her helmet. “See you soon.”
“See you soon,” she echoed.
He disappeared back through the door, leaving her alone, with nothing between her and the vast emptiness of space except a metal door and a three-hundred-year-old space suit.
“Okay,” Luke’s voice came from the speaker again. “Get ready. I’m going to open the second door.”
Glass dragged herself forward, her legs suddenly heavy. After the longest eight steps of her life, she reached the door. “I’m ready.”
“All right. I’m entering the code now.” There was a loud beep, and the door in front of Glass slid open.
For a moment, all she could do was stand there and stare as she got a clear view of space for the first time. Now she understood what Luke meant, when he said that it was beautiful. The darkness was rich, like the velvet her mother had made into a skirt once, and the stars sparkled against it, so much brighter than she’d ever seen them through a window. For once, the hazy gray sweep of Earth looked more mysterious than frightening. It was incredible to think that Wells was down there, walking around, breathing… if he’s still alive, the cynical part of her brain added.
“Go for it,” Luke’s voice whispered in her ear.
She took a deep breath and reached out for the first handle, forcing her gloved fingers to wrap around it and pulling herself through the door.
And then she was in space, grasping a single handhold while she stared into the dizzying sea of stars and gas just waiting to swallow her whole. Behind her, the door closed with a thud.
Glass swung herself around, briefly reveling in the thrill of weightlessness. Then she saw the path to Phoenix, and her mouth felt suddenly dry. It had never seemed that long when she was running to see Luke, but from this perspective, it looked endless. She would have to make her way around the entire side of Walden before she could even see the skybridge.
You can do this, she reminded herself, gritting her teeth. You have to do this. One at a time. She moved her left hand to the next rung, then pulled her body across. In the absence of gravity, it required minimal effort, but her heart was pounding at an unsustainable rate.
“How are you doing out there?” Luke’s voice echoed in her helmet.
“It’s beautiful,” Glass said quietly. “Now I understand why you were always so quick to volunteer for this.”
“It’s not as beautiful as you.”
Glass swung from handhold to handhold, falling into a rhythm. “I bet you say that to all the girls from mission control.”
“Actually, if I remember correctly, I’ve used that line on you before,” Luke said. Glass smiled. Back when they used to sneak to the solar fields, they would look at the stars through the window, and Luke would always tell Glass that she was prettier.
“Hmm. It sounds like you need some new material, my friend.” She swung to the next handle and risked a glance back. She couldn’t see the release door anymore. “How much farther?” she asked.
“You’re coming up on the skybridge, which means you’ll have to be careful not to let anyone see you. There’s a second set of handles under the bridge. Use those, just to be safe.”
“Got it.”
She moved steadily along, trying not to think about what would happen if something went wrong with her suit, which suddenly felt very fragile, a flimsy protection from the vacuum of space.
The skybridge appeared in the corner of her eye. It was still barricaded, with an airtight barrier between the Walden and Phoenix sections. Crowds of people still swarmed the barrier from the Walden side, helplessly pounding on it, hoping to break through. As she got closer, Glass saw the second set of handholds Luke had mentioned, the ones that led under the bridge instead of along the side. There was a significant gap between the last rung of the set she was on and the first rung of the next set—much too far for her to reach.
Glass paused. If she pushed off the side of Walden with enough force, she could throw herself in the direction of the handhold. Even if she missed, the worst that could happen was that she’d float for a few seconds until Luke retracted the wire and pulled her back toward the ship.
“Okay, I’ve got to jump to the next handhold,” Glass said. She twisted her body so both feet were against the side of the ship and stretched her left arm out so she’d be ready. She took a deep breath, tensed her muscles, and pushed off, grinning at the brief sensation of soaring through space.
But she’d apparently overestimated the force she’d needed, because she flew right past the handhold, her fingers grasping at nothing but empty space.
“Luke, I missed it. Can you pull me back in?” She’d started to spin and was losing her sense of direction. “Luke?”
His voice never came.
All Glass could hear was the sound of her own breath. She kept spinning, farther and farther from the ship, the wire rapidly uncoiling behind her. “Luke!” she screamed, flailing her arms.