Termina felt conspicuously empty as Jove walked with Aster, heading for his mother's office. It was somewhat large in comparison to what he'd been expecting, clearly designed for more people than the number currently in residence, though not many more.
"Director Faremont's office is the next door on your left," said Andi.
"Thanks," said Jove.
The AI's cheery helpfulness was one of the main things that kept the station from being quite as unnerving as it might otherwise had been. He imagined what it would be like to weather a blizzard at Termina alone or with only one other person, knowing that equipment failure or a major power outage might mean only having a few hours of warmth before the cold seeped in.
His experience on the ice had already made it abundantly clear to him that Antarctica was ruthless and unforgiving. The line of thinking made him feel cold, despite the base's current warmth. Moreover, it made him wonder about how distant and removed his mother had seemed from the family over the past few years.
How much of that was a reaction to this environment?
They found her at her desk in her office, which was the size of a full module, double the square footage of each of the dormitories. She smiled as they came in and looked up from the computer she was working at.
"Jove. Aster," she said. "What is it?"
"We're not interrupting, are we?" asked Jove.
"Not really. Just going over some notes and watching Ryan's progress on his way out to the crashed snow machine."
"Right," said Jove. "I heard from Andromeda that it's just been the two of you out here for the past little while."
He felt strange pointing it out to her, stranger still as he realized that it held an implied question which he hadn't meant it to.
"Andi, as well," said his mother. "She's always here."
"I am," said Andromeda. "Perhaps I should have emphasized that during our earlier conversation, Jovian. You should add one to each of my estimates for the number of people on this station if you feel as though it's fair to qualify me in that regard."
"I'm still not sure whether I find her fascinating or disconcerting," muttered Aster.
"I would expect you to lean toward the latter," said Kira.
"I'm sure you would," said Aster, with a touch of annoyance. "Anyway, I need moisturizer. My face feels like sandpaper."
"I'm not sure if there's any here on the station right now, unless Eve brought some," said Kira.
"Right." Aster let out a biting chuckle. "I should have guessed that you wouldn't have something like that."
"I'm the director of a research facility, not an actress, so no, it's not something I really care about."
"Good to see nothing's changed," said Aster.
"Is that my fault or yours?" snapped Kira.
"You know, I do blame you, personally. At least I make an effort."
"And I don't? Do you think it's easy for me to take time off work and host the three of you out here?"
"I have no idea," shouted Aster. "You never talk to us about your work, Kira. For all I know, it could have involved changing the bedsheets and calling it a day. You… did at least change the bedsheets for us, right?"
Kira was openly glaring across the room. Aster had her arms crossed, chin jutting out with a level of defiance that mirrored the rebellious character she played on TV.
"Uh, so, about that Wi-Fi password?" said Jove. He gently set a hand on his aunt's shoulders and aimed her for the door.
"Dangerous pangolin fifty-five," said his mother, with a sigh. "The connection is somewhat slow and limited compared to what you're used to. Andromeda monitors all activity and will prompt you if you stream or download too much."
"I should say I generally only monitor the usage!" said Andi, in a cheery voice. "You're still free to look at whatever you normally would without judgment!"
"Good to know." Jove nodded, but didn't buy it. Any previous intention he might have had of looking at porn later that night was completely obliterated.
A knock came at the door, and Eve shouldered her way into the already mostly full room.
"I want to go skiing," said Eve. "The door to the facility won't open for me."
"You need a keycard to open it," said Kira.
"Can I borrow the card?" Eve flashed a sweet smile that made Jove want to throw up. "I'll only go out for a little while, I swear. Be back by sunset."
"The sun doesn't set until ten at night during this time of year," said Kira, with a knowing smile. "Not that it matters much when the weather picks up. It's harder to see during whiteout than it would be in the pitch black."
"Mother, please. This is why I organized this trip to begin with! It's even started snowing outside. Let me ski that virgin powder."
"Wait," said Jove. "You organized this trip?"
Eve and Kira shared a moment of eye contact that stung as much as the knowledge that his mother hadn't turned over a new leaf, at least not of her own volition.
"It was Eve's idea," said Kira. "But I thought it was a good idea. I… know I've been absent these past few years."
Aster let out a mocking laugh.
"Don't be a bitch, Aunt Aster!" snapped Eve.
"I'm being realistic, darling," said Aster. "It's already abundantly clear that I misinterpreted what this whole shebang was supposed to be about."
"I hate to interrupt," said Andromeda, sounding jarringly peppy. "I was going to begin dinner preparations, Director Faremont, and I know you mentioned you wanted me to check with you before cooking from the usual menu."
"Yes, sorry, I'm juggling ten things at once," muttered Kira. "I'll be there in a second. I just need to check in with Ryan."
"Ah, right," said Jove. "Will Ryan be coming to family dinner tonight?"
"Enough!" snapped Kira. "I'm happy to see all of you, even if it might not seem like it. But we can't do this now. Please, just give me some space for a minute."
"Apparently two years and seven thousand miles wasn't enough," Aster muttered to Jove.
"Would you shut the fuck up?" shouted Eve.
Jove maneuvered his way out of his mother's office, incapable of enduring even a second more of the painfully familiar dynamic.