Excerpt

As Setia Zees stepped into the lift to begin her journey to a new life on a new world, she nervously checked over her shoulder. People crowded behind her, waiting to travel up to the spaceport. Men and women, young and old, no faces looked familiar. It was a great relief.

She turned to face the closing doors, squeezing into the remaining space with her single suitcase, and took a final scan of the crowd. There seemed to be no sign of Arief. Now she was on the emigrants side of the admissions area he should not be able to follow. She was safe.

The doors closed, the elevator announced the destination, and the ascent began. Almost imperceptibly, it rose smoothly upward to the passenger processing section.

This elevator and its partner were the only ways to reach the section other than from the air. The extremely limited accessibility was designed to deter people from sneaking in illegally. A berth on any of the three colony ships finally ready to depart after decades of preparation was worth a fortune on the black market. Desperate and crafty would-be stowaways had been discovered within engine housing, supply containers, animal crates, and even furniture—someone had hollowed out a bed about to be flown up to a ship and hidden inside it. One particularly foolhardy individual had fashioned a makeshift spacesuit and tried to strap himself to a shuttle's hull, unsuccessfully. The image of the small figure plummeting to the ground had made all the news channels.

The elevator slowed to a stop and disgorged its passengers. Clutching her case, Setia was carried along in the flow. Only when the crush dissipated was she able to take in her surroundings. The long, wide concourse was enclosed above and to one side by a transparent shell and filled with hurrying travellers, the noise of their chatter and footsteps echoing.

She was not in any particular rush. She'd left plenty of time to make her appointment. But the general excitement coursed through her too. Everyone here was about to embark on a life-changing, historic voyage, a voyage from which there would be no return.

A man bumped into her. She moved out of the flow of traffic and walked to the outward-facing wall. The processing centre was a bubble protruding from the mountainside. Resting her hands on the rail, she took in the view of the valley, lush and green as it spread to a far horizon under a clear, sunny sky. Unless she changed her mind within the next hour or so, this would be her last sight of Earth.

She had no intention of turning aside from her path. She had to leave this world, and participating in humanity's first deep space colonisation expedition was her only means. Remaining on her home planet meant living a life she'd grown to hate yet couldn't otherwise abandon. It meant living a life that wasn't hers.

At the end of the concourse, double doors led to a small balcony where a few fellow travellers stood. Dragging her case, she went to join them. It would be a long time before she would breathe fresh air again.

A stiff, chilly breeze hit her as she walked out, taking her breath away. Here, the mountainside was visible. She hadn't realised she was so high up. Fine, powdery snow clung to the rocky slopes, and ice coated the handrail. She blinked as her eyes watered, squinting in the now-unfiltered brilliant sunshine.

"Mommy! Mommy! Look! There's another one."

The small child with her two parents was pointing at the sky. A shuttle was arriving. Setia had never seen one in real life. Slim-nosed and snub-winged, the giant, red Antarctic Project logo emblazoned on its tail, the silver craft slipped noiselessly through the atmosphere and disappeared over the shoulder of the mountain. The shuttles had been flying for weeks, ferrying passengers and cargo to the starships as they prepared for departure. In a couple of hours, she would be on one of them.

"We have to go now, honey," the child's father urged. "We mustn't miss our slot."

"But I want to see another plane!"

"We don't have time," said the mother.

When further cajoling didn't work, the parents picked up the little girl, now in full meltdown, kicking and screaming. The woman rolled her eyes at Setia. She smiled back indulgently, secretly hoping her cabin wouldn't be anywhere near the family. The parents carried the child out and Setia had the viewing area to herself.

She breathed deeply, savouring the clean, icy air. What would it be like living on a starship? She'd never been on one. Though she'd watched the vids she'd been sent after paying the final instalment of the fee, she found it hard to imagine the actuality. She guessed it was something like being on an aeroplane, only with more room to move around. Hopefully, a lot more room. She'd only been able to afford the smallest, lowest class of living accommodation, barely more than a bunk. She would be spending most of her days in communal areas.

At least there was no need to enter cryosleep anymore, not since the skein mappers had discovered—

"Setia. How nice to see you again."

She started and turned. "How did you…?" She hadn't heard the doors to the viewing area open. Neither had she heard any footsteps.

Arief smirked. "I am capable of many things. I'm surprised, after all these years, you aren't aware of that."

"I'm fully aware what you're capable of," she muttered. She'd almost forgotten how, when they'd first met, Arief had seemed to appear from nowhere. He had appeared from nowhere. She'd racked her brains afterwards, wondering if she'd been mistaken that the alley she'd run down to escape her intended murderer had really been a dead end. But she was sure she was right. Arief had stepped out of thin air, and now he'd done it again.

Scowling, she told him, "You want to persuade me to go back. Forget it. I've paid my passage with my own money that I earned through honest work, fair and square. I don't owe you anything."

"But Elek needs you." His tone was light and teasing. He wasn't even trying to pretend he meant what he said. "And, I might add, you signed a contract."

"Elek has a whole security team to protect him, fully trained by me. And I don't even remember signing a contract." Yet she didn't doubt that one existed—a contract signed in a moment of 'forgetfulness'. Such moments always occurred when she refused one of Arief's requests.

"Irrelevant. You need to come back with me, my dear. Forget all this nonsense. Your place is here, not on some godforsaken planet." Arief gazed out across the landscape, the wind lifting his silver-grey hair, his long, sharp nose turning pink. He'd spoken lightly, as if not fully convinced of his own words. He seemed to be looking at something in the middle distance, though she could see nothing.

She should leave. She should walk away, return to the warmth of the inner building and the safety of the crowd, but she couldn't. Her feet were fixed in concrete. He'd fixed them, somehow. "Let me go."

He faced her. "I have plans that remain unfulfilled. Plans for you and Elek. You must…" His head swivelled forward and his eyes lost their focus.

She tried to move. Yet though something was distracting him, his hold on her remained firm. Hopelessness invaded her heart. She'd thought she'd made it. After sneaking out this morning and travelling to the launch site, paying her fare with cash so it couldn't be traced, she'd felt confident that she'd successfully pulled the wool over Arief's eyes. How had he known she was here? Had he discovered she'd applied to the colonisation project months ago, and he'd known about her escape attempt all along? Had Elek spilled the beans? She'd thought he'd forgotten about her proposal to come with her.

"Let me go," she repeated in a whisper.