WHEN CANDACE MOONEY walked into space station Courage’s Penguin Research Lab, Dejario Reynas had a penguin in his lap and two at his knees. “What are you doing?” she exclaimed. Dejario stood up quickly, sliding the penguin to the floor. “I’m not playing with them,” he said, a guilty look on his face. “I’m collecting data.”
The PRL was an inner ring lab of Courage. Emperors were adapted to extreme temperatures and pressures, and scientists studied how they could go from deep ocean water to the surface like little submarines. Finding out how emperors stored oxygen in muscle tissue and survived sudden pressure drops might keep people alive longer during loss-of-pressure emergencies.
Candace rolled her eyes. “What kind of data?”
“Um, how wing length can be used to predict diving speed . . .”
Candace shook her head. “You were trying to be a penguin whisperer again.” She tugged on her gloves, grabbed a squeegee, and started pushing frigidly cold salt water across the floor to the
