Earth Bound by Emma Barry & Genevieve Turner Read Free Book Online Page A

“How secure is this cage?”
    “Um, pretty secure.”
    Parsons leaned back. “The Soviets send a dog, so we’ve got to send a monkey, of course.”
    “Ape,” the keeper corrected. “Not a monkey.”
    “Right.” Parsons slapped his clipboard against his hand. “Well, nice meeting you, Shem,” he said to the monkey.
    “We’re going to meet the astronauts next. Give Shem a chance to say hello to his fellow space travelers.”
    Parsons almost laughed. Oh, those flyboys were going to love being compared to an ape. If he didn’t have so much to do before launch, he’d go along just to see their faces.
    The chimp showed his teeth again.
    “Yes,” he muttered under his breath. “Do exactly that when you meet them.”
    He went back to his office, mentally going through his pre-flight checklist. The computing department was supposed to be calculating the estimated flight path of the capsule carrying the monkey. The mission couldn’t proceed without those numbers, and Dr. Eason had promised he’d have them this morning.
    He passed by his secretary Peg at her desk without a word, which was probably a relief to her. Slamming his office door behind him, he savored the brief moment of solitude. The tension was only going to get worse the closer they got to launch, so he might as well take half a heartbeat to breathe.
    Tossing the clipboard onto his desk, he scanned the desktop for the numbers he’d been waiting for. But there was nothing there. No papers, no file folder, nothing.
    He crouched to search under the desk, in case they’d somehow fallen. Still nothing. He straightened and braced his palm against the edge of the desk, the corner biting into the heel of his hand.
    There were no numbers. She’d promised him, and they weren’t here. Dr. Eason had never once missed her deadlines. She’d never once let him down.
    Without those calculations, the mission would have to be scrapped. Again.
    His fingers curled tight into his palm, his hand transforming into a fist.
    “Peg,” he called.
    She poked her head through the door. “Did you… did you need something?”
    He spoke very carefully. “Did someone from computing drop off those calculations?”
    It took her a moment to answer, but he already knew what she would say from the way her eyes widened. “No,” she said, barely above a whisper.
    Parsons closed his eyes for half a moment, before pushing past her.
    He said nothing as he marched through the halls, letting his expression clear everyone out of his path.
    When he reached it, he wrenched open the door to the computing department, scanning for his target within.
    There. There was Hal. Parsons raised his clipboard and aimed at the man. “Why aren’t those calculations done?” he asked with deadly quiet.
    Hal’s mouth fell open. “Well, um… There was—”
    “The electronic computer is down.”
    Parsons pivoted toward her voice. He hadn’t seen Dr. Eason, but of course she was here. She stood at a workbench, painstakingly soldering something together, her elbows tucked in tight against the curve of her waist, her hands gliding in practiced arcs. She didn’t bother to look at him, simply kept melting solder and carefully dabbing it into place.
    She’d personally told him the calculations would be done in time. This shouldn’t feel like a betrayal—yet it did.
    “You’re telling me twenty-four hours before we’re about to launch a capsule with a live animal, our computer has gone down?” Parsons couldn’t hold back the rage erupting in his voice—it was too powerful to stop. Of all the goddamn things to go wrong…
    Hal didn’t answer. He just shut his mouth and stared.  
    “Yes.” If Dr. Eason was fazed by his anger, she didn’t show it. She never did. He could throw this clipboard at her head—not that he ever would—and she’d merely give him a bored look.
    “What happened?”
    “There was a power surge. Some of the circuits burned out.” Another dab of the solder, as slow and