I repeated myself.
“He’s not coming? Why not?” Her voice trembled.
I explained what he had told me. “It’s a good choice. He’s going to make a terrific doctor, and he needs to concentrate on that.”
She crossed her arms and stared down the path like she was hoping to see him. “I suppose,” she said. “But he is my little brother.”
“By a grand total of two minutes,” Decker said. “You know he hates it when you call him that.”
“I know.” She gave me a weak smile.
“We shouldn’t go without him,” Javen said.
“Why do you care?” I asked. Javen barely knew Saunder. “He made his choice.”
“You need him. He seems to be the voice of reason for all of you.” He looked over at Decker. “You can’t just punch your way out of problems, especially when you don’t have any training.”
“We managed that botched trip to the gorge just fine,” Decker said. “Without any specialized Fosaanian so-called ‘training.’”
I didn’t have time for an argument to break out between Decker and Javen. “Saunder’s made up his mind. It’s the best choice for him. You still have the MI, right?” I said to Lainie.
She patted her bag. “Yes, it’s in here. It’s so chaotic, I don’t know who to give it to. I can’t just give it to a random soldier.”
I felt a surge of relief. “Don’t give it to anyone. If we can’t get it back to my father right now, we’ll need to keep it until we can.” I explained what my father had said.
“I don’t like this,” Decker said. “We already talked about how dangerous it is for Lainie to keep it, and it sounds worse now. I can’t believe they’ve taken your mother off the project.”
“At least not many people even know this particular one exists, besides Ansun and his men,” I said. “Everyone in the Combined Forces thinks he has all the MIs. He’s not going to make it known that he lost one. We just have to keep it a secret.”
“Nic knows, and she’s working for your grandfather,” Decker said. “She’ll have to make a report if she hasn’t already.”
I’d forgotten about Nic.
“I can’t believe your mother is okay with keeping this out of the hands of the military,” Decker added. “She is an officer.”
Decker didn’t understand my mom at all. “She’s a scientist first. She’s only in the military so she can do the research she wants. It means she is really, really worried about what’s going on.”
I wasn’t sure what kind of political beliefs my mother had. She never talked about politics. She was so totally focused on her work we’d sometimes have to remind her to eat and sleep.
“So we take it with us?” Lainie asked.
“We’ll have to since Saunder isn’t here. It’s too risky to take it back to the hospital.”
“We may not be going anywhere.” Decker pointed to the spaceport entrance. “We can’t get in. They’ve closed the port to all civilians except tourists who were stuck here during the coup and have secured passage out. We’re not on any list. We’re off to a great start.”
I was already missing Saunder’s positive attitude. “Are we sure there is no other way in?” I asked Javen. He’d been on the planet far longer than we had. “We could use another tunnel at this point.”
“There are some tunnels, but they lead to some offices that are sure to have people in them.”
“Quinn, look,” Decker said, pointing behind me. “There’s Riley. And he’s got Mags with him.”
The boy and the parrot both looked terrible. I could tell Riley had been crying. His eyes were red, and tear tracks streaked his grubby face. He held up Mags’s cage. I took it from him, feeling sick at the state Mags was in. Saunder had warned me about the feathers, but it was even more upsetting to see her swinging her head back and forth with her eyes closed. She never did that.
“She hates me!” Riley cried. “She won’t eat or drink, and I’m afraid she’s going to die.”
“Mags,” I said softly. The bird didn’t respond. “Mags, are you hungry?” Still nothing. It was a bad sign. Parrots could go into a real decline if they were subjected to too much trauma. She’d seemed all right when I got her back, but it had been stupid of me to immediately give her to someone she didn’t know. She must have thought she was being abandoned again.
Riley let out a sob. “You have to take her, Quinn. I don’t want her to die!”
I didn’t know what to do. I looked around, hoping to see Saunder. Mags liked him. If anyone could bring her back to her old self, it was Saunder. I didn’t want to say it in front of Lainie, but I feared Ronti might have found Saunder too, knowing he was part of our group and wanting information about me.
“Quinn,” Decker said, leaning over and speaking into my ear. “You two are attracting a lot of attention, and we’ve got more trouble coming. I hoped we could get out of here without seeing Nic SooSenk again.”
Too late. Nic spotted us. “I thought I’d never find you,” she said as she approached.
“Nic!” Lainie cried. “We didn’t know what happened to you. I looked for you in the plaza last night but didn’t see you.”
“I had things to do,” Nic said. She was wearing a different Combined Forces uniform. This one had some silver markings I didn’t recognize.
“What do you want?” I asked. I don’t know why I asked. I wasn’t sure I’d believe whatever she told us. She’d lied to us all along, not telling us she was working for my grandfather.
“I’m going to get you into the port. Follow me and don’t say anything.”
“Wait!”
She didn’t.
“Quinn, we have to go now if we are going to do this,” Lainie said.
I had to make a choice. Riley was still snuffling. Once again I cursed myself for even taking Mags with us when we left Earth. “Okay, Riley, don’t cry anymore. I’ll take her with me.” This whole plan was turning into a circus. What had seemed relatively simple the night before was anything but simple now.
Riley wiped his face and smiled. “You’ll make her better, I know.”
“I will. Listen, Riley, keep an eye out for Saunder. He’s staying behind. Tell him we’re fine. We’ll be in touch. Can you do that for me?”
Riley nodded.
“Okay, you should go. Stay off the streets until everything calms down. Why don’t you visit my father at the hospital?” I thought the hospital would be a safe place for him.
“Quinn!” Lainie called. They were almost at the entrance.
“Go,” I said again. Riley ran off, turning to wave at us.
“Who is that girl?” Javen asked me, gesturing towards Nic.
“Long story, and I’m not sure I know all the parts to it. Knowing Nic, she might have some way to actually get us in. I suppose we should let her try. She’ll probably want something from us, though. Be prepared.”
We caught up to the others in time to hear one of the soldiers say, “The port is closed to civilians. You need authorization to enter.”
“They are with me,” Nic said. “I’m not a civilian.”
“Who are you, and who are they?”
“Soldier!” she snapped. She moved forward and held up her forearm to show him a silvery patch on her sleeve. “Do you know what this is?”
He shook his head.
“Scan it. It means I’m part of Admiral Neen’s fast action team. We have complete access anywhere we need to go, and I need to get these people inside the port.”
“I … I don’t have a scanner,” the man stammered.
“You what?” She sounded outraged. “You are in violation of code X46B. Everyone manning a critical access point must have a scanner. That is a severe dereliction of duty.”
He looked around, as if hoping a scanner would appear out of nowhere. “I can get one.”
“There isn’t time. I have to get these people to safety right away.”
&n
bsp; She took another step toward him. He moved aside. I’d forgotten exactly how fierce Nic could get.
We filed past him. There were more soldiers inside, but they ignored us.
“Thanks,” I said to Nic as soon as we were out of earshot. “Why did you do that? Are you working with Ronti?”
“Ronti? I don’t know who that is. I’m not working for anyone.”
“As I recall, just yesterday you were working for my grandfather. All of a sudden you aren’t?”
“That was yesterday. Let’s just say I’m taking a break from the military.”
I pointed at her uniform. “Oh, really?”
“You can’t take a break,” Decker said. “You’ll be listed as AWOL.”
“That’s my problem, not yours. Don’t worry about me. Right now, we need to get off Reyet.”
“We?” I asked.
“Yes. Come on. I know you have passage on the Paradox. It’s over here.”
“You’re coming with us? Don’t tell me Fade recruited you too?” Decker asked.
“No. This is not a good time for you to keep asking questions. There’s the ship. Let’s get on before someone else tries to stop us. Act like you belong here.”
We followed her across the port to the far side. I expected some flashy ship, like a few other raider ships I’d seen, not the rundown one Nic led us to. I must have been really hungry, because all I could think was that it resembled an old Earth pastry I loved, one my grandfather used to make. Not the admiral grandfather, but my mother’s father, who was as far from an admiral as could be imagined, though he ran his restaurant as efficiently as the admiral ran his ship.
The pastry started out as a diamond, and then two sides were folded over the top. The ship looked exactly like that, except the cylindrical storage pods attached to the bottom looked like wheels had been added to the pastry.
A face appeared in a viewport and then the gangplank came down.
As I looked up at the ship, it occurred to me there might be another reason the raider had agreed to take us. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it before. “Nic, wait,” I said.
Chapter Five
“What now?” she snapped, waving the others on.
“The raider captain doesn’t know who I am. I mean, she doesn’t know my grandfather is Admiral Neen, and I want to keep it that way. Don’t use my last name, okay?” Raiders had been known to kidnap the relatives of well-known people and hold them for ransom. If the captain didn’t already know who I was, I couldn’t trust her to learn my name. Was I walking straight into a trap?
Nic shook her head and rolled her eyes. “You have quite an ego. What do you think I’m going to do? Sit around and gossip with her about you?”
I wished she’d spare me her sarcasm. “No. Just don’t use my last name. People recognize it, and then they start asking questions.”
“Fine, though I don’t think I’ll be saying your name at all. Now can we get on?”
I looked back at the entrance, not sure what to do. If I didn’t get on, there was no hope of finding Mira. If I did, it might not be what I expected at all.
A soldier ran out of an office door near the entrance. A warning siren came on and then cut off abruptly.
“We’ve gone to high alert,” the man shouted. “No more departures until we do a passenger check. We’ve had a prisoner escape.”
I felt a jolt of fear. Had Ronti listed me as a prisoner?
“Let’s speed this up,” Nic said. “I hope Divana paid out enough in bribes to get us out of here fast.”
“Divana? Is that the captain?” I realized I’d never heard the captain’s name.
“Yes, let’s move.”
We ran up the ramp and joined the others in a small passage that was blocked at the other end. The ramp came up behind us, sealing us in a space barely big enough for two people, let alone five.
“What’s going on?” Decker said, pushing on the sealed door that led into the ship. It wouldn’t open.
“Just stand still for a minute,” Nic said. “It’s decontamination protocol.” Suddenly she gasped and grabbed the Reyetan scarf I wore around my neck. “I need this,” she said, pulling it off me. It happened so fast I let her take it. She threw it over Mags’s cage. “Close your eyes,” she ordered, just as a fine mist sprayed down on us. It had a floral scent, just like I’d smelled on the man in the plaza. I didn’t like the implications of that. Who was aboard this ship?
The mist stopped just as quickly as it started.
Nic pulled the scarf off the cage. Mags was still in her almost catatonic state. “Raiders don’t like germs, and they don’t want anyone coming aboard who might be infested with any kind of vermin. That was a disinfectant. It doesn’t hurt humans, but I don’t know what it would do to birds”
“Disinfectant? That’s excellent,” Decker said, smiling for the first time that day. Decker had a phobia of anything insect-like.
After a few seconds the inner door opened onto a seating area behind the cockpit. My father’s freighter had the same layout, though this idle area was much bigger. If you were traveling with a minimal crew, a seat could be turned into a bed so the pilot could get some sleep while still being close enough to respond to any warning signals.
The interior was more up-to-date than the exterior, but it was all done in a beige color, one you normally didn’t see on a ship. The whole place smelled strongly of the disinfectant. There were four women in the cockpit, three seated at stations and the captain who was leaning over the main console.
“We’re already cleared to leave,” the captain said into the comm. “You know we don’t have an escapee aboard. If you want a nice bonus next time we visit Reyet, you’ll tell your new friends you’ll vouch for me.”
I didn’t hear the reply, but the captain then spoke to an old woman manning the pilot station. “Okay, we’re clear. Take us out of here.”
She glanced back at us and then yelled at the old woman. “Wait! Hold that order!”
Her gaze turned back to us. “What are you doing here?” she asked, her eyes narrowing.
“Um … I was told Fade arranged for all of us to go with you,” I said, trying to hold Mags’s cage behind my back. It was a futile gesture. I couldn’t exactly hide a large parrot.
“I’m not talking to you,” she snarled. “Care to explain, Nic? And make it fast. We need to get out of here.”
Nic? The captain said it like the two knew each other. I looked over at Nic. She stood up very straight and stuck her jaw out. I saw her fists clench. “I need to go along with you,” she said.
“Why?” The captain straightened up as well. I’d forgotten how tall she was.
“I just do. Quinn and his friends need some help.”
I wanted the captain to say “no.” Even though I was grateful Nic had gotten us into the spaceport, the last thing we needed was her along spying on us.
“I hate to interrupt,” Lainie said, “but I think we should take off. We’re attracting some interest.” She pointed out the viewport. Three officers had gathered in the center of the landing area and were looking around at all the ships. One of them pointed to the Paradox.
The captain and Nic ignored Lainie and the officers outside. “Aren’t you over your hero complex yet?” the woman asked Nic. “Why do you always want to save the world?”
“Why do you always want to break the rules?” Nic shot back.
The captain shrugged. “You’re joking, right? You know I don’t do deep philosophical conversations.”
“You started it.”
A voice came over the comm. “Paradox, hold in place.”
“Take us out of here,” the captain said again to the old woman. I saw some of the tension in Nic drain away.
The ship rose out of the port. The engines were loud and rough sounding.
“She’s sluggish,” the old woman said.
“What happens if ground control relays to orbitin
g patrol ships that you ignored an order?” Decker asked. “I don’t want to be blown to bits before this trip even begins.”
“They won’t do anything. It’s too chaotic down there at the moment. Besides, we may look like a freighter but we have some firepower.”
I looked out the viewport at the men below who were shouting and pointing at us. The captain went back to glaring at Nic. No one spoke until Lainie said, “So, I guess you two know each other?”
“We go way back,” Nic replied.
“No need to keep it a secret. We’re sisters,” the captain said. “Don’t you see the resemblance?”
I glanced around. From the expressions on Lainie’s and Decker’s faces, they were as stunned as me. Nic shot the captain a furious look. The old woman at the pilot station cackled, her face so covered in space lines it looked like it would crack apart if she kept laughing.
At first glance I didn’t see any resemblance between Nic and the captain. The first thing you noticed about the captain were her baldness and the deep space lines on her face. But as I continued to look at them, I did start to see it. Both were tall, and they had a similar way of standing, their heads held up high and their chins sticking out. It emphasized their height and made them seem like they were ready to take on a fight at any time.
I knew with Nic it was more than just a look. The best word I could use to describe Nic was prickly. She was a lot like Decker in that sense. She didn’t like many people, and she made it clear she wanted to be left alone. I suspected the captain was the same way. I’d gotten so used to Lainie referring to the captain as Baldy that Divana struck me as an odd name.
“My little sister doesn’t like to acknowledge her less-than-stellar roots,” Divana said. “She comes from a long line of lawbreakers.”
“You’re exaggerating to sound tough,” Nic snarled. “Our grandfather was a shopkeeper. He sold cookware. Hardly the menacing sort.”
Now they sounded exactly like siblings. Suddenly, neither one seemed as tough as before. We’d all been terrified of the raider woman on Fosaan when we’d seen her negotiating with Ansun. She’d been fierce. Now she looked more worn down than frightening.
Paradox Hunt Page 5