A Galaxy Unknown by Thomas DePrima Read Free Book Online Page B

would be strong when such news arrived. She'd steeled herself many times when she'd heard that there had been a death aboard a ship to which her husband or one of her children was posted, but it had always been someone else's spouse, or someone else's child. Space was a dangerous place, and life in the military made it ten times more likely that death or serious injury would occur, but even knowing the dangers didn't help you accept the fact when it happened.
    Quinton held his wife until she was able to stand on her own again, then walked with her to the living-room sofa. As they sat together, he tried to comfort her, all the while working to keep his own emotions in check. He felt that he had to remain strong for her sake.
    They sat like that for almost twenty minutes as Annette wept. Finally, she was able to ask, in between sobs, "What happened?"
    "Her ship exploded," he said when he could find his voice. "They either don't know why yet, or haven't released that information. A rescue ship picked up all the escape pods, but apparently, Jenetta never got out. They searched the area out as far as a pod could have traveled in the event of a retrorocket malfunction, but they didn't find any sign of her. She's been officially listed as ‘missing and presumed lost.' The search has been called off."
    "My poor baby," Annette sobbed, as she began weeping again.
    * * *
    Over the following weeks, Annette spent most of her time sitting alone in Jenetta's bedroom, looking through the mementos and personal items that her daughter had valued enough to save, and in some cases, prize. There were scholastic awards, souvenirs of trips and events, and dozens of data rings containing anything and everything about space outside Earth's solar system. There were even a few personal log rings in a small acrylic box marked ‘diary,' but being encrypted, Annette couldn't view their contents when she tried them in the computer.
    The room was more remarkable for the things that it didn't contain. There wasn't a single skirt or dress in the closet, or a pair of shoes with heels over one and a quarter centimeters, and the contemporary dresser yielded neither stockings nor makeup. Annette had tried to raise her daughter as she'd been raised, but Jenetta had resisted strongly, rejecting anything frilly, delicate, or feminine from an early age. No doubt, the influences from living in a military household with four older brothers were responsible in large part, but it was Jenetta's fascination with outer space that finally defeated Annette's efforts. All of Jenetta's being had been focused towards her goal, and she had agreed to put on a dress and short heels for her senior prom only because, if she did, Annette promised never to ask her again. Annette had kept her promise, and her pictures of Jenetta in her prom dress were among her most prized personal possessions. An animated enlargement of what she considered the best picture was hanging in the living room alongside the pictures of her sons, each taken on the night of their own senior prom.
    Annette remembered with fondness the shopping trip to get the prom gown for Jenetta. They must have looked at two hundred dresses before Jenetta found one that she would wear, and that Annette would agree to. If it was to be the last time that Jenetta ever wore a skirt or dress, then Annette was determined that it be a memorable one. Finally selecting a lovely creation of pink silk and taffeta, after having rejected similar gowns earlier, there was either something special about this one, or Jenetta was simply tired of looking and gave in, hoping to get it over with more quickly.
    After selecting the dress, it was another battle finding appropriate shoes. Jenetta wanted low heels, no more than two centimeters, while her mother wanted eight centimeters to give her five-foot four-inch daughter some height. Compromising on five centimeters, Jenetta spent hours afterward, practicing with the shoes so that she could walk,