Below Zero (The STEMinist Novellas #3) by Ali Hazelwood

            “The Curiosity rover?”

            “Yes! Maybe?”

            I put my sandwich down. Swallow my bite. Clear my throat. “Your cousin or something was on the Curiosity rover team.”

            “I think so. Do the dates add up? Maybe it was some kind of summer internship? But honestly, it might just be Floyd family lore. I have an aunt who insists that we’re related to the Finnish royals, and according to Wikipedia there are no Finnish royals. So.” She shrugs and pops another handful of Cheez-Its in her mouth. “Would you like me to ask around, though? For the assignment?”

            I nod. And I don’t think much about it until a month or so later. By then, through means that I am still unable to divine, Mara and Sadie have managed to worm their way into my heart, causing me to amend my previous I did not come here to make friends stance to a slightly altered I did not come here to make friends, but hurt my weird Cheez-It friend or my other weird soccer friend and I will beat you up with a lead pipe till you piss blood for the rest of your life. Truculent? Perhaps. I feel little, but surprisingly deeply.

            “By the way, I sent you my cousin-or-something’s contact info a while ago,” Mara tells me one night. We’re at the cheapest grad bar we’ve been able to find. She’s on her second Midori sour of the night. “Did you get it?”

            I raise my eyebrow. “Is that the random string of numbers you emailed me three days ago? With no subject line, no text, no explanations? The one I figured was just you tracking your lottery dream numbers?”

            “Sounds like it, yeah.”

            Sadie and I exchange a long look.

            “Hey, you ungrateful goblin, I had to call about fifteen people I’d sworn never to talk to again to get Ian’s number. And, I had to have my evil great-aunt Delphina promise to blackmail him into saying yes once you reach out to ask for a meeting. So you better use that number, and you better play the Mega Millions.”

            “If you win,” Sadie added, “we split three ways.”

            “Of course.” I hide my smile in my glass. “What’s he like, anyway?”

            “Who?”

            “The cousin-or-something. Ian, you said?”

            “Yup. Ian Floyd.” Mara thinks about it for a second. “Can’t really say, because I’ve met him at like, two Thanksgivings fifteen years ago, before his parents split. Then his mom moved him to Canada and . . . I don’t even know, honestly. The only thing I remember is that he was tall. But he was also a few years older than me? So maybe he’s actually three feet. Oh, also, his hair is more brown? Which is kind of rare for a Floyd. I know it’s scientifically unsound, but our brand of ginger is not recessive.”

            Great-Aunt Delphina’s emotional manipulation game is clearly on point, because when my assignment’s deadline approaches and I text Ian Floyd in a panic, asking for an informational interview—whatever the hell that is—he replies within hours with an enthusiastic:


Ian: Sure.


Hannah: Thanks. I’m assuming you’re in Houston. Should we do virtual? Skype? Zoom? FaceTime?


Ian: I’m in Pasadena at JPL for the next three days, but virtual works.



            The Jet Propulsion Lab. Hmm.

            I drum my fingers on my mattress, pondering. Virtual would be so much easier. And it would be shorter. But as much as I hate the idea of writing a report for Helena’s class, I do want to ask this guy a million questions about Curiosity. Plus, he’s Mara’s mysterious relative, and my curiosity is piqued.

            No pun intended.


Hannah: Let’s meet in person. The least I can do is buy you coffee. Sound good?



            No reply for a few minutes. And then, a very succinct That works. For some reason, it makes me smile.



* * *



            • • •

            My first thought upon entering the coffee shop is that Mara is full of shit.

            To the brim.

            The second: I should really double-check the text Ian sent me. Make sure that he really said I’ll be wearing jeans and a gray t-shirt like I seem to remember. Of course, it would be a little redundant, especially considering that the coffee shop where he asked to meet is currently populated by only three people: a barista, busy doing a pen-and-paper sudoku like it’s 2007; me, standing in the entrance and looking around, confused; and a man, sitting at the table closest to the entrance, gazing pensively through the glass windows.