by Adam Holt
“You practiced martial arts with him? Nice!” said Sunjay, looking over at the equipment again.
“Why did Sawyer keep your secrets?” asked Tabitha.
“Because he likes me. He says I have nerve.”
“What a creeptastic Android,” said Tabitha. “I never want to talk to him—his eyes are so bright and hollow at the same time. He looks possessed.”
“Yeah, Androids have that freaky look, but he also saved me from the Harper Device. Just because he’s unusual doesn’t mean he’s dangerous.” I could have told them he also appeared in my Red Vision, but what would that do for us?
The scarf around Tabitha’s neck finally shifted from bright red to faint pink. “Ha! Maybe Sawyer thinks we are dangerous. I don’t blame him. We sneaked—or snuck or however you say that—on board. Anyway, they decided to keep us on board. I guess we’ll wait and see what happens.”
We all let that sink in for a moment.
“Never trust the Android,” said Sunjay, thoughtfully. “In the old science fiction movies, the Android always goes crazy. He always saves you early on but then turns on you and pushes you out into space or he pulls off your helmet and you suffocate. Or! Or he tries to smother you in your bed with a pillow or twist your head sideways like this.”
Sunjay grabbed Tabitha’s scarf and twisted it like he was wringing out a wet towel.
“Horror movie neck-wringing crazy fanboy!” Tabitha said. “Easy on the accessories. I only have one lucky scarf. So, Tully, Sunjay says we can’t trust the Android. But can we trust you?”
“You can trust us both,” I said, offended by her question.
“I don’t know. There’s one thing you haven’t said,” she told me. “One phrase in Queen Envy’s room you said was important.”
“What phrase?”
Before she had time to answer, the portal to the Hamster Wheel opened again. In came Redshirt Anderson. He was as surprised to see us as we were to see him. He was on a break and looking for some peace and quiet. Man, he’s in the wrong place at the wrong time, I thought. He could tell we were in an argument because he didn’t interrupt us. He nodded toward us and walked toward the basketball court. He picked up a ball and dribbled between his legs a few times. I remembered that he played college basketball and turned down a professional career to go into the space program. He started sinking free throws—one after another, never missing. His presence pulled us out of our intense conversation. I was glad because I couldn’t remember any phrase. What did I say in Queen Envy’s room? Sunjay sighed and flopped his hair out of his eyes.
“Guys, can you continue your argument later? I want to play basketball in space before my prison sentence begins.”
Sunjay hopped up and walked over to Redshirt. They started shooting. Tabitha wouldn’t look at me, and after an uncomfortable silence, I decided to shoot some baskets, too. Redshirt tossed me the ball and pretended to guard me, so I passed the ball to Sunjay, who missed a lay-up. We played a game of 2-on-1 for a while and started to work up a sweat. Redshirt gave us enough space to shoot, but he also swatted a few of our shots. We lost track of the score after a while and just shot around.
“Is your friend okay?” he asked, nodding to Tabitha.
“We’re in an argument,” said Sunjay.
“Hmmmm,” said Redshirt.
We played a little longer. At first my hands ached, but they loosened up the more we played. After a while Redshirt swatted one of my shots in Tabitha’s direction. She passed the ball back to Redshirt, but he smiled and threw it right back to her.
“That wasn’t a bad pass,” he said.
“I haven’t played since I was in kindergarten,” she said.
“Perfect. These guys have never played before.”
“Hey,” said Sunjay, “we’re not that bad!”
“Oh, no?” Redshirt smiled again and motioned for her to come over. He put Tabitha on the free throw line. He nodded toward the rim. She shot the ball two-handed and threw it over the backboard. Sunjay and I laughed. Tabitha could dance and sing, but she wasn’t a baller. Redshirt frowned at us. “Hmmmm,” he said. He repositioned the ball in her hands. Then he put his hand on her head and pushed down to make her knees flex.
“Don’t let these boys make you feel small,” said Redshirt. “Now shoot again, and leave your right hand up in the air at the end, like you’re reaching into a cookie jar on the top shelf.” She tried another free throw. It hit the rim. And another. Swish.
“Wow, that works!” she said.
“Form, focus, and confidence.” Redshirt spun the ball on his finger. “You think we can take these two boys to school now?”
“Bring it on!” yelled Sunjay, so we started a game. I guarded Redshirt. He still gave me enough space to shoot, but I missed. He never even needed to shoot to beat us either. He dribbled, faked, and nodded to open spots. Then he would set a pick on Sunjay, and Tabitha would be wide open. Every time she hit a shot, she would say a different kind of cookie. “Macadamia nut…chocolate chip…oatmeal raisin…chocolate covered almond biscotti…”
“Hmmm, biscotti,” said Redshirt. They beat us so easily that she nearly ran out of cookie names. By the end they were high-fiving like old pals.
“I guess we are that bad,” said Sunjay. “Or you’re like a pro.”
“When I’m back home my daughter and I always play my two sons. She and I always win, but I gotta say, Tabitha shoots better than my daughter. We may need to print some cookies on the 3D printer after this. I’m hungry.”
Tabitha’s scarf turned a warm yellow. I smiled, even though they crushed us. Sunjay needed to get out some frustration though. He left the basketball court for a moment and returned with a bo staff for both of us. Tabitha and Redshirt were our audience, but they were pretty distracted talking about basketball and baking cookies.
I walked over and turned the knob to 1/2G. Moments later, Sunjay jumped and touched the ceiling with his staff.
“This is awesome! Who cares if we’re going to prison! You ready to feel the wrath of Sunjay?” he asked, spinning his staff.
Oh, I was ready. We faced off on the free throw line. On Earth Sunjay always beat me with a bo staff, but Sawyer taught me some things. Sunjay flew into attack mode. He held his staff with both hands and threw attacks at my chest, head, and legs. Our weapons clanked together loudly. I blocked everything.
“Whoa, not bad,” he said, backing away. “But I’m just warming up.” He came at me again—this time more ferociously. He somersaulted over my head and continued his attack from the other side, pushing me back under the basketball goal. I blocked most of his strokes, but one of them caught me on the hand. That’s when everything changed.
Pain bloomed in my mind. A red haze blinded me for a moment. My ears rang. My hands felt like they were on fire again. Sunjay kept attacking though, pushing me almost to the wall, not realizing he had hit me so hard on my injured hands. I remembered Rule #2—no pain, no gain.
I ignored the pain. The red haze still filled my mind, and as I focused, it seemed like time slowed down. I could see all the details of his movements. Is this how Sawyer feels when he looks at me? A bead of sweat flew from Sunjay’s black hair and I watched it suspended in front of his face. He glanced at my right leg, giving away his next attack. His muscles tensed in his right hand, and I knew he was about to swing his staff. Instead of blocking, I raised my leg. His strike missed completely, spinning himself around and almost falling on the floor. Sunjay prepared for another attack. His left hand tensed, and I dodged again.
“You never dodge,” he said. He looked angry and confused, so he threw a roundhouse kick at my head. I saw it coming from a mile away. I dodged, swept his leg with my own kick, and before I knew what was happening, Sunjay was on the floor and I was perched on the basketball rim, holding both of our staffs and looking down on my defeated opponent.
“Rule #1: never let your guard down,” I said.
“I didn’t! You broke through my guard. You
cracked my staff!” he said, pointing. I looked at his staff and there was a split in the wood. “What was all that? Dude, my head!” Sunjay pulled back his hair, and there was a red whelp on his forehead with a dab of blood. I must have hit him without even noticing. Redshirt and Tabitha seemed interested now. I hopped down from my basketball goal perch.
“Sorry, just a few new tricks,” I said, stretching my hands.
“You were so fast, and your hands, your hands…” Sunjay stammered. I dropped the staffs and crammed my hands in my pockets. They felt hot but didn’t hurt anymore. “They were glowing—“
“How hard did I hit you? You’re seeing things,” I said, but he was right. Something happened when Sunjay attacked me that second time—that red mist had filled my mind and done something to me. Had our audience noticed? Redshirt just shook his head, looking relaxed, but Tabitha looked stressed, like she had the night before we left. Maybe she noticed. Maybe not.
That’s when I realized that Redshirt and Tabitha weren’t the only people in our audience. We had an uninvited guest of our own in the Hamster Wheel. Behind them, walking briskly on a treadmill, someone else had appeared without notice. Gallant Trackman.
“Yeah, your hands looked like they were on fire—“ Sunjay stammered on. I didn’t know how to quiet him, but I didn’t have long to worry about that. A loud alarm sounded, like a tornado alert. The lights in the Hamster Wheel flashed. Redshirt sprang to his feet immediately.
“That’s an emergency call from the Flight Deck. You should come with me.”
The four of us left the Hamster Wheel together. But not Trackman. Like a phantom he vanished before anyone else saw him. So did my opportunity to check in with Tabitha.
NO SUCH THING
The moment we appeared in the Flight Deck, Redshirt took his place beside my dad. The crewmembers stood in a semi-circle. The three of us stood behind them. In the middle of the room a holographic image of the Moon held their attention. Out the window the real Moon loomed. In both cases, there was a tiny white speck in the distance, with a long wispy tail that trailed into the deep black of space. Anderson took in the scene.
“Hmmm, that is what I think it is,” he said.
“Yes, it’s rogue,” Buckshot said. “Came out of nowhere. We just plotted its course. And you won’t believe it.” Buckshot pointed to a spot beyond the Moon labeled LG Alpha. “First no one can contact LG Alpha. Now there’s a rogue comet headed directly for it. Unbelievable. It’s like the perfect storm out here.”
“It is a perfect storm,” said my dad, “but we won’t see this storm make landfall. You see what’s happening here? The comet may intersect the space station, but we won’t know.”
“We won’t see if there’s an explosion?” Sunjay asked.
“If there is an explosion, the Moon will block our view. DORIS, run Scenario One.”
The image in the middle of the room sprang to life. The Moon rotated slowly. On one side we saw The Adversity slowly approaching the Moon. In the distance, quite far away, we saw the small space station LG Alpha sitting in space like a speck of dust. Then the bright white comet sailed into the picture, its tail flaring. It was like watching a bullet fly through the air in slow motion. Tabitha grabbed my shoulder as it approached LG Alpha. Sunjay stared wide-eyed. It gave me a queasy feeling, just like the animation that the media did with my dad getting hit by an asteroid on Mars.
However, the comet passed right by LG Alpha, so close that the images blurred together. Moments later it appeared on the other side of the Moon. “That’s the best case scenario—the comet reappears in thirty minutes. That much we can see. Now here’s Scenario Two.”
The image reversed. This time the white bullet of the comet hit the space station. It was a glancing blow, and pieces of the space station flew in all directions. The comet also split into chunks, which appeared on the other side of the Moon.
“If that comet hits anything, we’ll know it alright,” said Buckshot. “In thirty-four minutes.”
Tabitha tugged on my shirt. She motioned to the Observation Deck.
“This is getting crazy,” said Sunjay. “Hey, why does your dad always answer my questions but not yours?”
“I don’t know, Sunjay. Look, that’s not important right now. Tabitha, what is it? Is it Trackman?”
“No, well, kind of. What about him?”
“Well, I just thought he might have freaked you out earlier?”
“When?”
“When he was on the treadmill behind you in the Hamster Wheel.”
“He was? Stars, no. It’s something else.”
“What?” I pleaded.
We were on the Observation Deck, just the three of us, but not for long. When the portal opened again, Trackman descended into the room. He kept popping up everywhere. He hardly acknowledged us and drifted over to the far side of the room. Still, we couldn’t talk with him there. We needed privacy. I nudged Tabitha and said, “Hey, weren’t we supposed to check on Queen Envy?”
Sunjay piped up. “Oh, great idea!”
We drifted through the ship until we arrived at her door. It was strangely quiet. Only a faint guitar played inside. I knocked. She opened the door. I would not have recognized her if it wasn’t her room. She wore no makeup, a pair of jeans, and an ancient Rolling Stones t-shirt.
“Hey, Baby Bear, what brings you to my room?”
“Uh, we needed a place to talk.”
She scrunched up her nose at us. “I’m not recording, just messing around and trying to not to think about those poor people on board LG Alpha. Come on in. Would you like some chai tea or a scone?”
Tabitha and I didn’t want to take tea with Queen Envy. Sunjay did. The Queen brought us tea and scones, and we sat there making small talk and sipping tea through straws for a few minutes. We told her about the comet as we batted away all the celebrity space junk that kept floating into our faces. Finally Tabitha floated up to the ceiling and I followed her, leaving Sunjay to entertain the Queen.
“Now, what did you find out? I bet it’s about—“
“The Conspiracy Game,” she said. “First, tell me what you know.” I told her about Trackman and Sawyer’s strange conversation and how it seemed suspicious. Then she filled me in. “Redshirt and I talked while you were beating up on Sunjay. He told me all about his family and his first two missions with your dad. He really admires your dad. Anyway, I asked him what other games the crew played in space. That’s when I remembered the name. He listed off sports. Then I asked him about The Conspiracy Game.”
“And?”
“There’s no such thing.”
My heart accelerated. “What do you mean?”
“He’s never heard of it. The Android is lying to you. You know, the same one that saved you? Sawyer and Trackman may be playing a game, but nobody else knows the rules.”
“What if they’re trying to take over the ship, Tabitha?”
“They sound sketchy, but I don’t know about that. What if they’re just messing with you? Maybe we should just tell your dad.”
“He’s got enough problems right now. I can’t tell him some stupid thing about a Conspiracy Game while he’s trying to save a space station. He’ll think I’m crazy.”
“Tully, nobody thinks you’re crazy, but maybe you’re right. We don’t know enough to say something right now.”
“Exactly. So let’s just play it cool and see what happens.”
We pulled Sunjay away from tea with the Queen. That wasn’t easy. She was in the middle of some story about being on tour in India, riding an elephant and bathing in a river. Sunjay’s mouth was open, he was shaking his head and grinning like a hyena at the zoo, like someone just told him the secrets of the universe. Tabitha grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the door.
“Sorry, Queen Envy. The comet should almost be visible,” I said.
“Ooh, Baby Bear, I almost forgot. Your friend Sunjay is such a sweetie for listening to me. Tell Papa Bear I’ll be up there in a while. I j
ust need a costume change first.”
On the way back to the Flight Deck, we told a distracted Sunjay about The Conspiracy Game. He was surprised.
Not nearly as surprised by what happened next.
Back on the Flight Deck, everyone gathered around the hologram. It showed the “progress” of the comet behind the Moon. The comet—or what remained of it—would soon be visible.
“Three minutes to go,” said Redshirt. He gave us an update every thirty seconds. Everyone watched quietly.
I looked at my hands and thought about my Red Vision again. If The Conspiracy Game wasn’t real, Sawyer might just be messing with my mind like Tabitha said. He’s an Android though. People program Androids to follow instructions. Androids obey. They’re not like humans. They don’t make or break the rules. They follow them. So why does he always break the rules? He kept me in hiding and called me his “secret friend.” He betrayed my dad, but he was loyal to me. And Trackman? Maybe that’s who makes the rules for Sawyer’s game.
“Two minutes.”
Then there was the fish and jellyfish thing. It was weird that ocean creatures appeared in the Red Vision. A perfect storm. Maybe the vision makes some kind of sense. There was a fish gasping for air in space. It was scared. That could be the space station. The people on board don’t have enough air. Then there was the jellyfish with the deadly tentacles. That would be the comet about to destroy them. Maybe it’s a prophecy. But what’s the purpose of seeing this stuff if I can’t do anything about it? What did the Harper Device do to me?
“One minute now.” Anderson watched the seconds tick down. “You can ignore the hologram.” We all looked out the window at the horizon of the Moon. In moments we would see a whole comet or its fragments.
I should just explain the Visions. At least to Tabitha. She won’t think I’m crazy. She always listens to me, and right now she doesn’t trust me because I haven’t told her everything. Sunjay will listen, too. If I cry ‘Wolf,’ they’ll listen. They have to. Then we can get to the bottom of The Conspiracy Game.