Chapter one
Anna
The only normal part of baking on a spaceship was the oven set to three hundred and seventy-five degrees.
Anna rested against a crisp white counter, apron tied comically tight over her seven-month pregnant belly. Her curly brown hair was tied behind her head in a ponytail. “What’s this . . . cu-min?” She held up one of the spices in front of her, took a sniff, and immediately recoiled, coughing. “Woah, that’s strong.” She put down the cumin jar in the pile of spices to try later.
The androids who owned this ship had so many spices that she’d never heard of before. She was still sifting through them now, even weeks later, deciding what she could bake with.
“Anna.” Tilly waved a spoon in the air. “Can I have some more?”
Anna looked up to see a little girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, and a face already dotted with chocolate frosting.
“More of what? Batter? If you eat any more, Tilly, we won’t have any to bake.”
Tilly had a spoon loaded up with chocolate that was dripping back into the bowl. “It tastes better like this.”
“You are a cake explosion!” Anna tugged the bowl out of the little girl’s hands. “There’s so much batter on your face, maybe we should put you in the pan too!”
“No!” Tilly jumped back, laughing.
Anna spooned the batter into a tin and handed it over. “Here, now you can finish the rest. Take that bowl with you to Nora. I want to clean up some.”
“Okay.” Tilly took the bowl in her hands and headed off, unsteady on her pink walking cast. The little girl had limped for years, ever since she was injured while scavenging in Earth’s ruins. In one afternoon, the limp was fixed. Like magic. This ship, everything on it, was a mind-bending miracle of advanced technology. Or was it really advanced? Humans used to have medicine like that, but in the past. Maybe it was all normal, and Anna was just the one behind.
Once Tilly had left, Anna methodically scrubbed down the table. Jars were put back, label side outlike they were before.The cumin was put in last, at the front.
Her hand lingered on the label, fingers yellow from a different spice she’d tried earlier, turmeric. Not all her experiments with the spices had gone that well.
But the cumin . . . she tapped the container. “I’ll try you later.”
Back on Earth, the ovens in her bakery were always lit, and that was basically all she had to work with. This ship’s kitchen design was the opposite. Here they had the standard instruments: an oven, stove, and fridge. But there were other oddities, like a microwave and a tool that mixed batter for her. Those she left alone, choosing to use only the ones she knew.
After everything was reorganized, she wiped the tile countertop. The kitchen was smaller than the one she had back home, but the androids had been kind enough to give Anna full access to bake. She stepped back, holding the rag. Cleaning and baking. The two things Anna could do by heart. If anyone knew how to work hard, she did. The countertop shone, but she still polished it again. She glanced up at the cameras. If there was any sort of job trial or secret assessment going on, she wanted to ace it.
She picked up a few finished crackers, brushing flour off her pregnant belly. Why was she still nauseous? Some people felt sick only in the beginning of pregnancy, but not her. Only the crackers seemed to help.
“Calm down in there,” she whispered to her belly. “I’m eating. I’m eating.”
She slid over to sit on the bench by the window that looked out into space. Stars were barely visible over the sun’s glare as she squinted outside.Damn, the sun is bright right now.The ship must be angled differently than earlier. At least the sunlight felt the same as it did in her backyard on Earth.
Anna framed a sliver of sunshine between her fingers. She had been on this ship now for two weeks. How many baked goods could one fit into two weeks? She counted on her fingers and looked at the dwindling supply of ingredients.
“A shitton.” She chuckled, leaning back. “Enough to feed all these androids every day.”
That was good. Her contribution was baked goods. The perfect reason for these androids to keep her on board. At least all those years in the bakery weren’t wasted.
Anna crossed her legs, looking at a control panel across the kitchen.I’m on a spaceship. Surrounded by androids.Her eyes went to the industrial ovens that lined the wall.Baking cookies nonstop.She snorted.If only Paul could see me now.
She reached up and pulled on some of the hair in her ponytail, hard.Don’t think about that.But how could she not, sometimes? How long did it take for a ghost’s voice to disappear?
She frowned.Too long.
She rubbed on her belly, humming a children’s melody from back home. Twinkle, twinkle, little star. Her fingers paused. This was what mattered. Her coming here, getting a fresh start for her and her baby, and learning what she could do to keep herself useful.
The door opened, making her startle.Who is it now?Of around the thirty androids on board, most didn’t actively speak with her. They mostly stared, seeming as unsure as she was about what the humans were doing on the ship. The main androids she interacted with were Stella, the one who had brought them on the ship to begin with, and Atlas, the medical android who was always asking for more tests.
She turned to see who came in. “Oh. It’s you, Nory.”
