“I have one, too. It won’t take that long, and then we can get back to the Labyrinth. It’s not far from there.”
“Fine,” she agreed.
“Tuck your vest away, though. We’re not allowed to go there without a Citizen.”
That got her attention. Max was always one for a good adventure. I wanted to ask Riis for directions, but since she was nowhere to be found, I tried to retrace my steps from the Labyrinth.
Max didn’t say much, but then neither did I. I was afraid to say anything stupid, but the silence between us was beginning to worry me. I liked having Max alone again. In fact, I hadn’t realized just how much I liked it until now. Where was this place?
I stole a quick glance at Max every time I slowed to check my bearings. Her faced remained unchanged, which wasn’t good. She only looked annoyed.
“Where are we going, JT?” Max demanded to know.
“It’s not far. Riis showed me the place.”
Max stopped. “You came here with Riis?”
“Yeah, why?”
Her remark felt like an accusation, as if I had done something wrong.
Max grunted, threw her arms up, and spun on her heels.
“Max! Wait! What’s wrong?”
My heart was working faster than my mind, and I felt a surge of anxiety pulse through my body. This was not going as I had planned.
I ran up to her and grabbed her shoulder.
“Max, please. Just a little farther.”
“I’m going to be late for my match.”
“Just a little farther. Trust me.”
Max’s gaze darted everywhere but on me. “Fine, but make it quick,” she snapped.
I backtracked once more before I finally found the concave plaza with the huge crystal bowl standing on its lip. Silently, I let out a deep breath when I saw the plaza. I knew I could start to breathe again.
“What is this place?” she whispered just as the artist stepped in front of the crystal. The annoyed look on her face was already gone. I knew that Max loved to discover new things, and I was right to assume that this place would intrigue her. I only hoped the music had the same effect on her as it did on me.
“Shhh, it’s about to start.” I was thrilled that we hadn’t missed it.
I stood next to Max, tucked near one of the stone pillars circling the plaza. The alien lifted his hand of glass bowls and struck them softly. The sound echoed off the concave crystal and vibrated right through me again. I instantly knew I had done the right thing. The alien began to sing, a haunting melody layered with smooth tones that breathed wonderment throughout the plaza. I glanced at Max. Her eyes welled up as the sound filled her body. She was close to me, almost touching. I could smell her, and it was intoxicating. I reached down to take her hand, but Max pulled it away. I felt a flush of panic race through my body. I can’t do this, I thought. My confidence drained quickly. Max lowered her hand again, and I saw it was wet with tears. I took her hand in mine. At first, I was terrified that she would resist, but Max squeezed my hand in return, almost as if she were using me to hold on.
With Max’s hand resting safely in mine, I breathed in the music and allowed the sounds to control me. Instead of expelling my emotions of anger and resentment, as had happened the first time I was here, my heart now swelled with unbelievable happiness. I loved everyone and everything. The universe, at that moment, was a perfect place. The music picked me up and held me, caressing my soul and making my insides glow.
I felt Max’s fingers locked around mine, and my mind was entangled with perplexing and new emotions. My heart surged against my ribs as if it were trying to escape. I turned to Max and with my other hand I brushed away the tears streaking her face. She was trembling — or was that me? Max opened her eyes. I leaned toward her and met her lips with mine.
The music intensified, swirling around us as Max wrapped her arms around me. The moment lasted an eternity, but it was over long before I wanted it to end. I opened my eyes to look at her.
“I’m never going to be a Space Jumper,” I told her.
She let out a sob as the tension gushed from her body. “But what if —”
“I’m not. I promise you.”
And then she kissed me back, and I let her tears fall on my face. When the music faded, I held her as we watched the artist walk away.
“Who is he?” Max sighed.
“A friend of someone.”
Max turned to me. “I’m sorry for being so mean,” she whispered.
“I was the split-screen. I didn’t know . . . I mean I still don’t —” Max cut me off. I wasn’t good at saying the right thing.
“I don’t want us to ever be apart,” she said. “And not just you and me, either. I mean everyone, even Nugget. Can’t we have it that way?”
“Absolutely,” I promised her.
On the walk back, it was as if we wanted to tell each other everything — all the things we hadn’t been talking about for cycles and cycles. Max and I conspired about the wormhole pirates and their attack on our shuttle. We wondered out loud if Buzz was a real wormhole pirate. Max said that she thought he was just another kid looking for attention by pretending to be a criminal. I wasn’t so sure. We talked about Theodore and his obsession with the tetrascope, and we even discussed the strange spells Ketheria had been experiencing. It felt like we hadn’t seen each other in phases. It was golden to have Max back again. We were still talking by the time we entered the Labyrinth.
My match was scheduled first, but Theodore was nowhere to be found. I could only assume he had wandered back to the shed. Max offered to be my partner, and I quickly accepted. While I was getting ready, though, I wondered if Theodore had gone back to the shed. I’d need to enlist others if I was going to help him. Charlie seemed liked a good choice, but I knew Theodore would see my actions as a betrayal.
Max and I won our match easily, working as a team and never missing a beat. Everything felt perfect. I was the same person I had been just the spoke before, but everything had changed.
When Max and I left the ready room, Athooyi stood waiting in the lower arena. He was alone, clutching his speaking device against the hole in his chest. The frail-looking creatures I normally saw around him were absent. Who is he waiting for? I wondered.
It surprised me when Athooyi stepped out and spoke to us. “You kids play well, very well.” His metallic voice was amplified through the tiny box.
“Thank you,” Max said.
“I have a proposition for you,” he continued.
That did not sound good. Citizens never spoke of propositions; they only spoke of orders whenever knudniks were concerned.
“I think you should speak with our Guarantor,” I offered politely, and swayed slowly to the right of the alien, ready to make our escape.
His thick lips sucked in the arena air, and he bellowed through the hole in his chest. “I am not finished speaking! Be still.”
We didn’t move.
“I apologize for my outburst. That is not like me,” he said, but somehow I doubted that. “My proposition requires your understanding of its magnitude, as I have already spoken to Mr. Norton.”
“You know our Guarantor?” Max frowned.
The alien closed his eyes and swallowed with difficulty. I elbowed Max. I didn’t think talking while he was talking was a wise thing to do.
“I do, and we have conversed, but unfortunately he was unable to see the value in my offer.”
“Offer? What offer?”
“I’ve been watching you play Quest-Nest since you first started here at the Labyrinth. It is my belief that the two of you have the skills required to win the Chancellor’s Challenge. It is a great honor to play in such an esteemed event.”
“Don’t the players die in that game?” I asked, even though I already knew the answer.
“But with more honor than anyone in your situation can ever attain,” he said.
“When did you speak with Charlie . . . I mean Mr. Norton?” I said.
Charlie had never mentioned anything to me about this offer. Maybe this was why Charlie didn’t want me in the Citizens’ League.
“Just this last phase,” he said. That was too recent. Charlie forbade me to play in the Citizens’ League way before last phase. “But he refused to sell you to me. I was hoping —”
“Sell us!” Max exclaimed.
Athooyi jabbed his thick finger in the air, cutting Max off. “I was hoping I might shed some light on the situation and gain your support in convincing your Guarantor to complete the sale.”
Max stood there with her mouth open.
“Never,” I said.
“Do not be so hasty. I am willing to offer you a portion of the Chancellor’s award. This is unheard of in the history of the Rings of Orbis. You understand I have the right, as a Citizen, to purchase you, and force you to play in the Chancellor’s Challenge?”
“How kind of you,” Max muttered.
Athooyi bowed slightly, closed his eyes, and smiled, oblivious to Max’s sarcasm. The image of the Citizen registering her naked knudniks with Tinker flashed in my head. This one should place well in the Chancellor’s match, she had said. I remembered the look in their eyes when Tinker lifted one of the hoods. I would not want to be that person.
Max put her hands on her hips and said, “You’re crazy if you think we would ever convince our Guarantor to let you —” But I clamped my hand over Max’s mouth before she made our situation any worse. Despite the severity of the situation, I was acutely aware of Max’s lips against the palm of my hand.
“Please excuse her,” I said calmly to Athooyi. Athooyi’s pupils pulsed as he glared at Max. I could tell when someone was getting angry. I don’t think he was used to being spoken to like that, especially by a knudnik. “We are honored that you believe we could win such an event, and I will discuss your proposition with my partner, as well as my Guarantor. Immediately.” My hand was still over Max’s mouth as I dragged her away from Athooyi.
When we were far enough away, I removed my hand and glanced back at Athooyi.
“Of all the stup —” I shushed Max before she finished and pulled her farther to the side, never taking my eyes off Athooyi.
“Look,” I whispered.
I glanced up and saw Ceesar emerging from the shadows. He was shaking his head and arguing with Athooyi. Ceesar must have been listening to our entire conversation.
“What’s he doing with Athooyi?” she wondered.
I didn’t have a clue, but for some reason it scared me.
“We need to get out of here. When is your match?” I asked her.
“After the next one, I think.”
“Let’s find Ketheria.”
I sat in the lower stands, waiting for their match to start. I was tucked behind a support column and a group of Trefaldoors, and I watched Athooyi’s every move up in the Citizen seats. What was Ceesar up to? I needed to know. There was something about Ceesar that rubbed me the wrong way. Ceesar wasn’t a Citizen; I knew that much, but he seemed to have a lot of power just the same. Did he have anything to do with Athooyi’s offer? Of course, Charlie would say no even if Athooyi offered him a lot of money. I was glad that neither Weegin nor Odran were our Guarantors any longer. Either of them would have sold us in a parsec. I made a mental note to be nicer to Charlie when I got home.
I turned back toward the arena and saw that Max and Ketheria were having trouble in their match. I was worried that Max might be distracted, but it was Ketheria who started the game off slow. Was she getting sick again? I couldn’t tell, but Max picked up the slack once she was outside the goal. A skilled toss of an immobility cube by Ketheria at the last nanosecond helped them squeak ahead at the finish.
“Good toss,” I told Ketheria when she came out.
“Lucky,” she mumbled.
“You feel all right?”
“I’m fine now.”
“Athooyi still here?” Max whispered.
“Yeah, but Ceesar left when your match started.”
“Do you want to stay and watch the other kids play?” Ketheria asked. “I think Grace is up next.”
“I want to speak to Charlie,” Max replied.
“Me too,” I agreed.
“Help! Help me, somebody!”
That was the first thing I heard when I stepped through the light chute. Max and Ketheria were already running toward Theodore’s cries.
“Theodore!” I shouted.
“What’s wrong?” Max yelled from the front hall.
I hadn’t expected him to be home. I thought he was at the shed, scoping someone. I raced through the house, following the sound of his voice.
“Where are you?” I called.
“Out here!”
All three of us tore for the garden.
Theodore was standing on the stone path, leaning over Charlie’s body.
“Please, wake up. Wake up,” he pleaded.
“Charlie!” Ketheria screamed.
“It wasn’t my fault,” Theodore wailed, his faced streaked with tears. “I didn’t know! I really didn’t know!”
“Know what?” Max cried, and knelt next to Charlie.
“No!” Theodore screamed. “Don’t touch him!”
Max pushed back from Charlie.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” Theodore sobbed.
Charlie’s body convulsed as a small white spot moved out of his nose and across his upper lip. It was followed by another and then another. Soon, every crevice of Charlie’s body was filled with these tiny white creatures nestling into any warm spot they could find on our friend.
“Charlie!” Ketheria yelled, but he did not respond. His eyes glowed yellow, and his mouth was now stuffed with the silky creatures. They gathered around his ears, in his armpits, and traveled over his body.
Ketheria looked at me, and I did the only thing I could think of. I called Vairocina.
“Yes, JT?” she said.
“Charlie’s hurt. Can you call someone?”
“Absolutely.” Vairocina only paused shortly before saying, “Someone will be here shortly.”
“What’s wrong with him?” Ketheria pleaded.
Vairocina floated over Charlie’s body.
“He has been infected with a parasite. I have seen it before. It was quite common in my star system, but the parasite is found only on plants. I do not know the effect it has on humans, but I know it is quite fatal to some plant species,” she informed us grimly. “I’ll inform Health Services of his condition.”
“How did Charlie get it?” I said.
“Cala did it,” Theodore confessed.
“Who’s Cala?” Max asked.
“He pulled a spike from one of the plants in the garden,” Theodore said. “Then he stabbed Charlie with it.” There was shame in his voice.
“Theodore, what was Cala doing here?”
“Where’s Nugget?” Ketheria cried.
“I’m sorry, Ketheria. He tried to help. He tried to save Charlie, but he got in the way.”
“Where is he?” she screamed at him.
Theodore pointed down the path. Nugget’s big feet poked out of the bushes.
“Nugget!” Ketheria cried with every muscle in her body, and ran toward him.
“Don’t let her touch him, JT,” Vairocina warned. “The parasite is very contagious.”
I raced toward Ketheria and grabbed her before she flung herself onto Nugget.
“Let me go! He needs me!”
“No, Ketheria. Help is on the way. They’ll make him better. You can’t touch him.”
“Nugget!” she cried, falling limp in my arms. “Nugget! No!”
The dome over the garden crackled and separated to allow a small craft to enter the estate. The wingless vessel hovered a meter above the ground and dispatched a medical lift, which dropped to the ground. Three people emerged, dressed in skin-tight protective gear, and immediately descended upon Charlie and Nugget. Two other emergency team members exited the craft and corralled the four
of us inside the house. We were quarantined while they administered tests on us to see if we, too, were infected.
“Why did you bring Cala to the house, Theodore?” I demanded as the emergency crew removed a plasma censor from my head. I rubbed my fingers in my hair, trying to remove the awful tingling sensation.
“He wanted to see where I lived. I thought he was my friend. I didn’t think he would do this,” he replied.
They pulled the same device off Max’s head, and she said, “Well, you thought wrong.”
“I said I’m sorry.”
I asked the attendant, “What are they going to do with Charlie and Nugget?”
He — or she; I could not tell because the outfit completely molded the alien’s body — mumbled through the material that blanked out the attendant’s face. “They will be placed in stasis under quarantine as we attempt to remove the parasite.”
“How long will it take?” Ketheria croaked.
“That depends on how strong the victim is,” the attendant replied, and stuck another sensor in my ear.
“Ow!”
“Sorry.”
“But they will survive, right?” Max asked.
“I can’t say. This is a very nasty parasite. We should have been notified sooner.”
Ketheria swallowed hard, fighting back her tears. Max took her hand, and I glared at Theodore.
“What? We have no way to notify anyone about anything. All this technology, and we can’t even contact someone. We’re knudniks. What are we supposed to do?” he snapped.
“Where’s your pob?” I said, looking for the device.
Theodore covered his ear where the device should have been. He wouldn’t answer me.
“You sold it, didn’t you?”
“I traded it,” he argued.
“To whom?”
“To Cala.”
“That’s how you could go to the shed, isn’t it?”
“What’s the shed?” Max whispered.
“It’s where Theodore goes to use the tetrascope,” I informed her.
Theodore held his head in his hands. I was furious with him. He wasn’t thinking when he brought Cala home. But something in Theodore’s eyes made my heart jump.
“There’s more, isn’t there?” I said.
The Softwire: Wormhole Pirates on Orbis 3 Page 17