The Calculating Stars (Lady Astronaut Universe, #1)

by Mary Robinette Kowal

What truly aggravated me was that he was right. I wanted to help, but the skills I had were largely useless. Without a plane, what was I supposed to do? Math the problem to death?

But if I didn’t know, then I could still hope. And hope would kill me.

My husband was a good man. He believed in me. And he also had a huge blind spot, because he didn’t see how people would ignore what I said until he repeated it.

If you told me four years ago that I was going to be one of only two white women in my group of closest friends, I would have laughed. I’m ashamed of that now.

Well … the Meteor had changed everything. But having a Quaker for president did a lot to alter hiring practices all the way down the line.

No men paid any attention to the women’s magazines. I know—shocking.

“Still. You make math seem interesting.” “Well, it is.” I shrugged. “Oh, I know it isn’t for most folks, but I think they’ve just been put off by people who taught them to be afraid of numbers.”

“I can’t yell when I go out on the floor. I want to. I want to scream and gnash my teeth. So thank you for giving me a place where I can be awful, and find my way back again.”

In the control room, no one was breathing, as if we were all trying to conserve air for Benkoski and Malouf.

Two elevator repairmen ride down with us, just in case. It would be an inauspicious start if we all got stuck in an elevator on the way to the moon.