by Kate Moretti
I roll my eyes. “I know, the four Keeper factions manage all the traffic through the wormholes in the galaxy, and the Blessed Ones use their sensitivity to electromagnetic fields to help the Keepers find good wormholes.”
Mr. Mendes raises his hands in the air and shouts, “The Keepers are part of the problem. They exploit the Blessed Ones until they’re shells of human beings. It’s like this rock we’re mining and all the planets they encounter. They take them for all they’re worth and leave when they’re useless.”
I stare at him, not knowing what to say.
“People need to know about the injustices.” His voice becomes calmer. “Unless something big happens, no one will listen.”
“I guess I never thought of it that way.”
Mr. Mendes looks at his comm-tile. “I think this is as good as any time to break for the day. We’ll continue tomorrow.”
As we walk down the hall, I turn to Naisyn. “So what are your plans tonight?”
She rubs her head. “I need to buckle down on schoolwork. I start the assessment cycle in a couple of months. Mom and Dad will kill me if I test low.”
Gauge gives her a little chuck on the arm. “As long as you put all your effort forth, I’m sure your parents won’t be disappointed. They’re good people, unlike my pa.”
If Gauge’s dad isn’t strung out on Torx or down on the rock, then he’s roughing up Gauge. He never got over the death of Gauge’s mom a few years back. Gauge just wants to get the hell out of here, but he can’t leave until next year, when he turns seventeen, the age of majority.
Naisyn puts her hand on Gauge’s shoulder. “They are.” She stops at a portal and turns to us. “Thanks for the pep talk, guys.”
I smile. “No problem. Hey, if you’re bored, send me a vidLink later.”
“Okay, I’ll chat with you tonight.”
Gauge and I walk on. I’ll never admit it to my dads, but this is the first outpost where I’ve found real friends.
I elbow Gauge in the ribs to break the awkward silence. “So, uh, you have any more problems with, well, you know?”
He stops and looks down. “Yeah, I think it’s getting worse.” He glances around the hall to be sure no one is around. “But watch this.”
He stares at the comm-tile on my wrist. It starts to buzz, and the display flickers. I look back at him. “Was that you?”
His face is damp with sweat, and he winces. “Yeah. It hurts like hell, though.”
I smack him on the arm. “Well, stop doing it, dummy!”
I’m the only one Gauge has trusted with his secret. He said he was first able to sense electromagnetic fields at ten. Then, as he got older, he was able to manipulate those fields, and soon, that progressed into being able to manipulate things sensitive to electromagnetism, like metal or electronics. Since wormholes spit out a broad spectrum of EM fields, and since the Keepers use those wormholes as a primary way of transporting goods, the Blessed are a pretty hot commodity. The first Keeper faction to find a wormhole gets all the rights to it. If Gauge’s dad finds out that Gauge is Blessed, he’ll sell Gauge to the Keeper with the highest bid. The Blessed have, at the most, five years before their synapses burn out or they go completely insane from being overworked.
I put my hand on his shoulder. “I’ll do anything you need me to do.”
He gives me an awkward smile. “Thanks. I might just take you up on that.”
We stop when we see Mr. and Mrs. Jones standing in front of my portal. I look to Gauge, who shrugs.
I walk up to the controllers. “My dads won’t be back for a while.” Both of them frown—not the usual I’m-disappointed-in-your-life-choices frowns but more sad frowns. Something isn’t right. “What’s wrong?”
Mrs. Jones looks at Gauge. “Mr. Jaso, can you please excuse us?”
“Um, yeah sure.” As he walks away, he says to me, “VidLink me later.”
I nod, then look back at the Joneses. “I said I was sorry about the door.”
Mr. Jones shakes his head. “No, dear. It’s not that. Can we talk to you inside, please?”
My stomach twists as I punch in the code to open the door. The Joneses have never been nice to me. I enter the quarters and point to the small kitchen table. “You can sit or whatever.” They both sit, and I plop down on a seat across from them. They look at each other, as if neither wants to break the silence.
I say, “Do you want a drink?”
Mrs. Jones holds up her hand. “No. Thank you, Lyvia. I… we… have to tell you, there’s been an accident down on the rock, and your parents were involved. The scrubbers encountered a fatal error, and Ian Bax and Marc Dupree were instantly killed. Operations down on the rock have been halted until the inspectors get here.”
My head buzzes at her words. I’m barely able to hear what she’s saying. I shake my head. “No! There’s some kind of mistake! They said they’d be back tonight.” My heart races, and my head throbs. I keep thinking of ways around this, how they can be mistaken. My dads can’t be gone! They’re the only family I have in this great big empty galaxy.
A soft digital voice coos, “Can I help you? What is going on?”
I look up at Heidi, wiping tears from my eyes. “They said that my dads are—” I can’t do it. I can’t say it. If I do, then it really happened.
“I’m glad to see you have a Heidi Bot.” Mr. Jones turns to Heidi and says without a trace of emotion, “Miss Bax-Dupree’s parents have been in a fatal accident. Since her parents were her only living relatives, LPL will be taking custody, and she will attend finishing school on the inner planets.” He turns to me. “Don’t worry. Your parents have planned for your financial future, and LPL has many great training opportunities.”
The words are a garbled mess. My tears flow involuntarily, and my body shakes; there’s nothing I can do now.
“Do you want to stay with our family until the transport comes for you?” Mrs. Jones stands over me with a saccharine smile.
I want to punch that look off her face. I wipe my nose and shake my head. “No, thank you. I want to be here.”
“Surely you don’t want to be in this dreadful place all alone.”
I stand, giving them both a firm look. “It’s not a dreadful place. It’s my home.”
Mr. Jones says, “Well, you know where to find us if you need us. Your transport should be here in a few days. You will only be allowed two transport boxes. The rest of the items will be sold and put into your estate.”
After that, they leave, going out the door and back to their posh quarters and bratty kids. They’ll probably forget all about me and my problems, but with a few words, they’ve turned my life upside down.
I plop down on our ratty couch and have a good cry.
“Lyvia, are you okay?” I look up at Heidi. “You’ve been sleeping for quite some time.” I sit up and wipe my eyes. For a brief second, I hold out hope everything that happened was just a nightmare, but then Heidi coos, “Everyone is worried about you.” And all my hopes are dashed.
They’re really gone.
I hug my knees and croak out, “What am I going to do, Heidi?”
She hovers close to me and touches her smooth metallic arm to my hand. “Sweetie, there’s not much you can do other than go where they send you. I’m sure your dads made provisions for your future.”
“I don’t care about that! I just want… them back.”
“I was just trying to make you feel a little better.” Her eyes turn green again. “Besides, kiddo, you can’t get rid of me. I’ll be with you wherever you go.”
I sniff up the snot and give a small smile. “Thanks, Heidi.”
The doorbell rings, and I grumble, “I don’t want to talk to anyone.”
More ringing, then a voice comes over the comms. “It’s Gauge. I h
eard what happened.”
“Go away!”
“I’m not leaving.”
Heidi says, “I think a little company will do you some good. Let him in.”
I huff. “Fine.” I shuffle to the door and open it.
Gauge is standing in hall, frowning. “I don’t know what to say.”
In that instant, all my defenses drop, and I start sobbing. “They’re gone. They’re really gone.”
He takes my hand and leads me to the couch. We sink into the cushions, and I put my head on his shoulder.
Gauge takes a deep breath. “Let’s leave. There’s nothing left for us here. LPL is going to send you to some academy to become a corporate zombie like the Joneses. But if we leave, you can train to be a pilot, and I’ll sniff out wormholes no one else knows about.”
I pull away. “You’re not joking, are you?”
“No. It’s only a matter of time before Dad figures out what’s going on with me.”
I laugh. “Okay, let’s say we do it. Who’s going to teach me to fly? Even if I got into LPL’s pilot school, there’s no way my dads left me enough to buy my independence. And without that, how long do you think it’d before they discover your secret? So, do you have an independent pilot buddy willing to sign off on my certs who can keep their mouth shut?”
He flips his hair out of his eyes and squirms. “Okay, maybe I don’t have all the bugs worked out.”
Heidi floats over and wedges herself between us. Her eyes glow red, and she turns to Gauge. “Listen, lover boy, Lyvia has a lot of potential, and she doesn’t need you screwing it up. She’ll go to a great academy and be something important. She’s emotional now and doesn’t need the likes of you taking advantage of that. Pilots don’t live to see thirty, and—”
The echoes of my dads’ words in Heidi’s make my stomach turn. I miss them so much. My head feels as though it’s going to explode. “Enough! I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’d like to take the rest of tonight to remember my dads.”
They reply in unison, “Sorry.”
Heidi removes herself from between us then faces Gauge. “No funny business, mister. I’m equipped with two Class 3B lasers, and I’ll use them on you if you get too familiar with my girl.”
He holds his hands up. “Fine, fine.”
She floats away, and I smile at Gauge. “She’s a little protective.”
“Yeah, I sensed that. You know, I never knew anyone that kept their Heidi Bot past ten—”
“Stop right there. She’s been the only consistent thing in my life for years. She’s more than an educational bot to me.”
He takes my hand and whispers, “You know, I’m not kidding about leaving here. We can bring Heidi.”
A lump forms in my throat. “I know. It’s just that—”
“You need some time to think about it.” He looks up at the console on the wall. “Hey, it looks like you have a message. When did you get that?”
“I don’t know. I’ve been a little preoccupied.” I press a couple of buttons on my all-in-one, and a holographic image of Marc appears. I gasp. Then the tears flow again. Gauge squeezes my hand. The hologram begins to speak:
“Hello, angel. I want to let you know that Ian and I are going to be working really late.” He gives a big smile. “I hate leaving you alone like this, but I think you’ll forgive us. We found something really big, honey. We might’ve discovered a life-form no one has ever seen before. Make yourself dinner, get your homework done, and then you can go to the rec area. See ya soon.”
I stare at Gauge. It feels as if all the oxygen has been sucked from my lungs. This message on any other day would’ve annoyed me, but now, it holds so much more significance. “Oh, my…”
He nods. “I don’t think it was a simple scrubber accident.”
Heidi floats into the room carrying two steaming bowls and places them on the table in front of us. “What are you two talking about?”
I replay the holo-message for her. When it ends, she turns to us. “You’re not thinking—?”
“Heidi, it’s way too convenient,” Gauge interrupts. “They discover an unknown life form and end up dead. If it got out that LPL didn’t stop production to investigate a possible new life form, then all those activist groups would be stirring crap on LPL’s planets. Lots of riots, lots of production lost, all because of some single-celled organism.”
I rub my head, barely able to take all of this in. “The Joneses would sell their grandma if it meant more status for them, but I’m not sure if I believe there’s a conspiracy afoot. But one thing I do know is that LPL’s crappy equipment killed my dads, and I owe it to them to find out what really happened. What do we do?”
Gauge says, “We make LPL pay. We find evidence of what really happened, and we blackmail them. They’ll give you enough money to buy your independence after you get your pilot license.”
Heidi narrows her digital eyes. “I know you’re going through a lot now, Lyvia, but don’t go making up issues where there are none. What happened to your dads was horrible, but it was just an accident. You don’t need to be chasing this.”
I take a breath. Perhaps Heidi is right, but I have to know. “It just seems so convenient. Ian said he fixed the scrubbers last night. He said they were running great now, and you know as well as I do, he’s the best at what he does. Why would there be a fatal malfunction when he just fixed them?”
If Heidi had a breath to draw, she’d be doing it now. “Lyvia—”
“Give me a day to check out some of details. If I hit a dead end, I’ll stop.”
Heidi counters, “What if you find something? What then?”
Gauge pipes up, “Then we’ll go to the Joneses and tell them—”
Heidi cuts him off. “LPL industries is in league with the Liu-Khatri Keeper Faction? That’s one of the biggest, baddest factions in the galaxy. You two will end up in your own ‘equipment accident’ if you’re not careful.”
We’re both silent for a while, then Gauge says, “I didn’t think about that.”
“We’re not stopping,” I say. “But Heidi’s right. They won’t listen to us. If we find out LPL had anything to do with their deaths, we keep it under our hats. No one will really care anyway. But I have to know.”
Gauge nods. “I’ll do anything you need me to do. And I’ll bet Naisyn will, too.”
I give a little smile. “Okay then. Let’s go see Naisyn.”
As we turn toward the door, Heidi shouts out, “Lyvia! I know I can’t stop you from doing this, but I beg you—be careful.”
I turn from the door. “I will, Heidi.”
Her eyes turn up. “You know, if something were to happen to you, my positronic nets might register something close to sadness for two whole nanoseconds.”
I smile. “Perish the thought.”
A few minutes later, we arrive at the portal to Naisyn’s quarters. I push the call button, and almost immediately, the door slides open. My petite redheaded friend attacks me with hugs, then she pulls away and brushes the tears from her eyes. “I’m so, so sorry. I loved your dads.”
Her quarters are even more cramped than mine are. Her mother, who was standing at a tiny island in their kitchen, rushes over to give me a hug. “Lyvia, I’m so sorry. Why don’t you stay here tonight?”
Despite getting crap rations and quarters from LPL, Mr. and Mrs. Rose have been nothing but generous to me. I give her a squeeze then pull away. “Thank you, Mrs. Rose. Did you see what happened? Where’s Mr. Rose?”
She pats my shoulder. “Mr. Rose is getting washed up. We didn’t see anything; our shifts hadn’t even started yet. They’ve shut down operations. No one’s allowed down on the rock until the investigators come.”
My stomach sinks as I think about my future. “Do you mind if we all hang
out in Naisyn’s room?”
“Of course, you go ahead. I’m making dinner now. It’s no big deal for me to make two extra plates.”
“Thanks!”
We cram into Naisyn’s tiny quarters in between the whirling computers and e-junk. As I flop on Naisyn’s bed, Gauge relays everything we learned. When Gauge finishes, Naisyn leans back in her chair and puts her hand on her mouth. “Oh, my. What do we do?”
I say, “Do you think you can hack into LPL’s data logs and see if my dads made a report about their findings and who got the message?”
“I think so. I’ll have to be careful LPL doesn’t track me, though.”
Suddenly, I feel guilty for asking my friend to take on such a risk. “Look, Naisyn, don’t worry about it.”
“No, Lyvia, I’m going to help you. If I can’t cover my tracks, then I’ll just hang it up.”
Gauge adds, “Seriously, we don’t want you to get in trouble.”
She shakes her head. “Nope, you can’t stop me now. It won’t even take me an hour to get in and out. So, what are you two going to do?”
I smile, once again taken aback by the generosity of the Roses. “Well, I think Gauge and I are going to take a little trip down to the rock to check out the scrubbers for ourselves.”
Gauge’s eyes widen. “Wait. Flying? With you?”
After dinner, we leave the Roses’s quarters, telling Mrs. Rose we were going the common area to hang out for a while.
As Gauge and I run down the halls to the hangar bay, he says, “Why did you tell Mrs. Rose you’d come back and stay the night? Now we don’t have as much time to poke around on the rock.”
“Yeah, I know, but if I kept refusing, she’d get suspicious. She might even think we’re at my place and you’re taking advantage of me in my highly emotional state. Either way, she’d be snooping around to make sure I was okay. Now I have them out of my hair for a few hours.”