Page 2 of When Eden Falls

Cora huffed. “Yes!”

“Does Rooke know?”

She shook her head. “I wanted to pass it by you first.”

I rolled my eyes. “I am not the commanding officer.”

Cora shrugged her shoulders. “Close enough. Besides, he’s asleep. Never wake a sleeping baby and all that.” She grinned, catching Troy’s eye as he laughed.

“He’s a twenty-eight-year-old man,” I said. “He’s not a baby.”

“Yeah, yeah. He just likes his sleep.”

A gruff voice rumbled from the corridor. “I can hear you, you know?”

Watching Cora squeeze her eyes together with a grimace, I chuckled. She leant into me and whispered, “I’ll leave you to tell him the news.” She fled to the doorway, only to be met by Rooke’s commanding form as he emerged from the kitchen area opposite. Holding a metal bowl in one hand and a spoon in the other, he scooped in a mouthful of porridge before saying, “Tell me what?”

Cora gaped at him. “How did you hear that?”

“I hear everything.” He flashed her a teasing glance. “Even when I’m asleep.”

Cora tsked, shooting an awkward look at Troy, before scurrying out the door. Rooke watched her go, taking another spoonful of breakfast.

I eyed him as he wandered fully onto the bridge. He was on the tall side of average; lean but strong. His white skin was mildly tanned, and his dark hair was short and tidy, joining up with a neat line of stubble around his jaw. His eyes were a dark shade of green. They looked almost black in some lights, and I would know. I had lost myself in those mesmerising eyes more times than I would ever willingly admit. Although, unbeknown to Rooke, himself. Thankfully.

He met my gaze and sniffed, swallowing down his mouthful. “Did I hear that correctly?”

“Which part?” Troy joked.

“The part,” Rooke shot Troy a playfully disapproving look, “about our location.”

I nodded. “Apparently. What are your thoughts?”

“Believe it or not, I had come to the same conclusion yesterday.”

“What? Why didn’t you tell me?”

Rooke downed the last traces of porridge directly from his bowl and placed it on the side, spoon on top. Wiping the corner of his mouth with his fingers, he said, “I was going to. I wasn’t entirely convinced at first. It was a farfetched possibility. But hearing the resident astrogeologist voice the same opinion, I feel certain about it now.”

“So, we’re going to Earth?”

“Theoretically, yes.” Rooke searched my face. A frown formed on his brow. “You look petrified, Eden.”

“Aren’t you?”

Rooke shrugged permissively, glancing at the multitude of data screens around us.

“I thought Earth was a myth,” I said softly, walking over to the driving screen.

“Clearly, it isn’t.”

“But…what are the chances that a scouting ship goes missing, only to be potentially found on mythical Earth? It seems too…too convenient.”

Rooke appeared next to me. He was half a head taller and far broader. Together, we gazed out the driving window, pensively watching the endless darkness.

“So, what’s the mission objective?” I asked tentatively.

“The same as it’s always been. We find the missing ship. If the crew are alive, we escort them back home.”