The Lady Astronaut of Mars by Mary Robinette Kowal Read Free Book Online Page B

unidentified frying object."
    Nathaniel laughed, and there was only a little bit of a wheeze. I slid my shoes off in the dustroom to keep out the ever present Martian grit, and came into the kitchen to lean against the bedroom door. Time was, it used to be his office but we needed a bedroom on the ground floor. "That's a pretty good one." 
    He sat on a towel at the edge of the bed as Genevieve washed him. With his shirt off, the ribs were starkly visible under his skin. Each bone in his arms poked at the surface and slid under the slack flesh. His hands shook, even just resting beside him on the bed. He grinned at me. 
    The same grin. The same bright blue eyes that had flashed over the punchcards as he'd worked out the plans for the launch. It was as though someone had pasted his features onto the body of a stranger. "How'd the doctor's visit go?"
    "The usual. Only... Only it turns out our doctor grew up next to the launch facility in Kansas."
    "Dr. Williams?"
    "The same. Apparently I met her when she was little."  
    "Is that right?"  Genevieve wrung the sponge out in the wash basin. "Doesn't that just go to show that it's a small solar system?"
    "Not that small."  Nathaniel reached for his shirt, which lay on the bed next to him. His hands tremored over the fabric.
    "I'll get it. You just give me a minute to get this put away."  Genevieve bustled out of the room. 
    [I called after her.] "Don't worry. I can help him."
    Nathaniel dipped his head, hiding those beautiful eyes, as I drew a sleeve up over one arm. He favored flannel now. He'd always hated it in the past. Preferred starched white shirts and a nice tie to work in, and a short sleeved aloha shirt on his days off. At first, I thought that the flannel was because he was cold all the time. Later I realized that the thicker fabric hid some of his frailty. Leaning behind him to pull the shirt around his back, I could count vertebra in his spine.
    [Nathaniel cleared his throat.] "So, you met her, hm? Or she met you? There were a lot of little kids watching us."
    "Both. I gave her one of my paper eagles."
    That made him lift his head. "Really?"
    "She was on the Williams farm when the Orion 27 came down."
    He winced. Even after all these years, Nathaniel still felt responsible. He had not programmed the rocket. They'd asked him to, but he'd been too busy with the First Mars Expedition and turned the assignment down. It was just a supply rocket for the moon, and there had been no reason to think it needed anything special.
    I buttoned the shirt under his chin. The soft wattle of skin hanging from his jaw brushed the back of my hand.  "I think she was too shy to mention it at my last visit."
    "But she gave you a clean bill of health?"
    "There's still some test results to get back." I avoided his gaze, hating the fact that I was healthy and he was... Not.
    "It must be pretty good. Sheldon called."
    A bubble of adrenalin made my heart skip. Sheldon Spender called. The director of operations at the Bradbury Space Center on Mars had not called since-- No, that wasn't true. He hadn't called me in years, using silence to let me know I wasn't flying anymore. Nathaniel still got called for work. Becoming old didn't stop a programmer from working, but it sure as heck stopped an astronaut from flying. And yet I still had that moment of hope every single time Sheldon called, that this time it would be for me. I smoothed the flannel over Nathaniel's shoulders. "Do they have a new project for you?"
    "He called for you. Message is on the counter."
    Genevieve breezed back into the room, a bubble of idle chatter preceeding her. Something about her cousin and meeting their neighbors on Venus. I stood up and let her finish getting Nathaniel dressed while I went into the kitchen. 
    Sheldon had called for me? I picked up the note on the counter. It just had Genevieve's round handwriting and a request to meet for lunch. The location told me a lot though. He'd picked a bar next to the space