by LM. Preston
“Screw you!” Damien said, and he grabbed her ankle and threw her off him. Eirena growled in frustration because she was so close to ending this. She hopped up into a squat.
“I’m tired of playing with you now. Time for the butt whipping I promised you!” Damien said while he breathed hard from the exertion. They both moved side-to-side while they sized each other up. Then Damien yelled, charged at Eirena, grabbed her by the neck, and body slammed her to the ground. Eirena’s head throbbed, and her lungs burned from the impact. Damien didn’t waste any time before he landed the fatal punch to the side of her head, which took her out of the simulation. Eirena saw darkness and felt pain on the side of her head as she tumbled to reality.
“Cough, cough… ugh,” Eirena said. Someone gently moved her face side to side, and she grunted in pain.
“Eirena… wake up! Wake up!” said Aadi. Aadi gave up on her awakening on her own. He lifted her into his arms and carried her over to where the others watched Tacitus and Damien on the screen. Then, he gently put her down as she adjusted her head to get re-oriented to the real world. Aadi spied the angry frown on her face and smiled, thinking It’s just like her to be so competitive. She stood and walked away from him to turn her frowning face toward the screen to watch Damien shake off her attack.
Damien heaved a sigh, leaned his head to the side, and cracked his neck. “Man, that was fun”, he said while shaking off the attack. He slowly stood up and looked around the rugged terrain to see the sun starting to set.
Chapter 24
“I gotta hustle!” he said, then ran to get his supply packs from their hiding place behind a boulder a few yards from where he attacked Eirena. He picked up the packs, secured them on his body, and took off at high speed to meet Tacitus.
He came upon Tacitus, who pulled out the supply pack when he heard Damien approach. “About time, partner,” Tacitus said in a low, steady voice.
“Well, Eirena proved to be a lot of fun,” Damien said. He bent as he helped Tacitus pull the last pack out of the hard-packed ground.
“I got this,” Tacitus said. Then he swung the pack over his shoulder, and they ran at top speed in the direction of the Communication Center. Damien breathed hard with the exertion, but Tacitus ran with quiet calmness. Damien took notice of the difference in Tacitus and nodded in respect.
“Almost there. Go straight in, no hesitation!” Damien yelled as he picked up the pace. They knew there was little time to spare if they wanted to beat the other teams. They slid to a stop and made it to the Communication Center, which was a glowing white globe. It protruded from the ground with a rounded see-through door. Tacitus quickly put in the code on the door. The door opened, and the voice said, “You are the victor! Congratulations Team Explorer X! You will lead the first adventure! Damien and Tacitus, you will lead the group on our first expedition!”
Damien and Tacitus where thrown into darkness, and Damien stretched his neck and blinked. He opened his eyes to see Mr. Faulkner standing in front of him.
“Congratulations, boys! Not only did you win the simulation, but you also beat the other teams’ times in doing so. You especially crushed our top competitors, Team Fire Six. I am proud of you,” Mr. Faulkner said. Then, he reached over and put his hand on their shoulders.
“Thank you, sir,” Tacitus said and bent his head.
“There was no doubt I was going to win,” Damien said, staring directly at Aadi and Eirena. He shrugged Mr. Faulkner’s hand off his shoulder arrogantly and walked to his simulation station. He picked up his bag and walked out the door without a backward glance.
They all watched him leave and then turned to Mr. Faulkner.
“Class dismissed. You all may go to your rooms and have the rest of the day off,” he said, then crossed his arms in front of him. He frowned as if in thought, staring at the exit door through which Damien had just left.
They all looked at around at each other and then to Aadi. Aadi quietly walked toward the exit, and the rest followed.
Chapter 25
Eirena couldn’t sleep. She had the nightmares again. She got up and went to her computer, unable to shake the memories of what she found on their sneak adventure into the labs. “Experiment X,” they were called. Why would she and her team be in the database as test subjects? Were all of the kids on this trip being evaluated and researched on how well they did in the space camp so that the company could perfect the camp? All these questions, and she had no reasonable answers. She and Raiko had talked about their theories, and the boys seemed to forget all about what had happened. But Eirena would not forget, and she had to get to the bottom of this. They only had two days before their first expedition, and she would figure some things out before then.
Eirena started the series of hacking sequences she used to break into the many systems she had worked on while helping her dad in his shop. However, she had brought a great device from home that would make her work a lot easier. She programmed it herself in order to help finish her work with her dad a lot faster. He didn’t know she created this because he would consider it cheating. He always felt that hacking a system of a vehicle or device he was fixing for his company was like doing a puzzle. The true art of it required him to do each and every keystroke himself. She mainly used the blank key when he left her to work on items alone, since she did not inherit patience from him. The device emitted a virus into any system and would silently collect all the passwords for the system it was infiltrating. She connected the device to her computer, knowing it would only take a few minutes to get what she wanted.
“You are in,” the device read, and Eirena went to the ship database to get a copy of a map of the entire ship. She tried to do this without hacking in, but the map she was given was only of the campers’ areas that she knew about already, so she would have to dig a bit deeper.
“Eureka! I got it!” she said, then printed out a copy of the confidential ship plans and saved it on her tip drive. She stuck the small, round tab on the bottom of her desktop so it could collect data undetected.
Eirena most hoped to unlock the files that contained the information about the experiment they stumbled upon while in the labs.
“What? That can’t be!” she said in frustration. Her blank key couldn’t get past the locks to break in this deep.
“Dang, dang, dang!” She figured they must have found out that she had hacked into those files and put several layers of protection on them.
“Well, you may be tricky, but my key will work. It will just take a little time,” she said, running her hands over the keyboard. She programmed her key to work tirelessly until it broke in, and then she leaned back in her chair to watch it for a moment. She figured by the time they got back from their first expedition, the door would be unlocked for her, and she could access the file. Taking the flat, flexible, rectangular, sticky disk, she attached it under her desk so it would work undetected.
“Hey, what are you doing up so late?” Raiko asked as she sat up in her top bunk and rubbed her eyes.
“Homework. If you are not too sleepy, can you come down on my bunk?” Eirena said, and then grabbed the map from the printer. She made the pretense of shutting down her computer while her hack device did its covert work.
“Sure. Give me a minute,” Raiko said while she tried to wake herself up. Then, she yanked the blankets off and jumped off the bed with her pink pajama top flapping in the draft. She landed silently on the floor with a slap on her back from her long black braid.
“Show off!” Eirena laughed as she looked back at her from her seat at the desk. Eirena got up and went to the bunk, reached under the bed, and pulled a finger light from her bag. She pushed the button on the top of it, and it crawled away from her to attach to the top bunk. Raiko got on Eirena’s bed, crossed her legs, and waited quietly for Eirena to join her.
Eirena sat across from Raiko with the light dimly lit between them and then frowned her face in thought. She got up and made a fortress of her bed by covering it on both s
ides with Raiko’s blankets.
“Oh, it’s one of those moments,” Raiko said quietly. She and Eirena had a routine of enclosing themselves when they didn’t want to be overheard, even though no one else was in the room.
Eirena sat down across from Raiko and tapped her lips with her forefinger. It was her signal to Raiko that she wanted to read lips. Over the weeks, Raiko had been teaching Eirena the skill, and although Eirena was not as proficient as Raiko, when a person spoke slowly, Eirena could pick up a few sentences pretty accurately.
Raiko watched intently as Eirena began to move her lips without sound. “Raiko, I can’t seem to forget what we stumbled on while in the labs. I have a map of the ship and some places we should investigate further,” Eirena voiced while she paused to catch her breath.
“I am with you. What do you want to do?” Raiko replied, moving her lips silently.
“Here… look at the map with me. See here? That is the infirmary. I remember talking to Jacob from Team Fire Six, our most furious competitors, only to find out that they only have five members. They originally had six kids on their team, but apparently, one of them took seriously ill after the immunizations were given out. Jacob said he hadn’t seen the boy since. Also, look here… This place is called ‘the caves.’ What is it for? Why is it in the belly of the ship but was never mentioned to us? See here… these are the staff quarters, which sit directly between the infirmary, the labs, and that place called The Caves. Why is that? Also, why is the staff area so large for a ship this size, and where are all of them? We only see a few staff compared to the amount of lodging in their staffing quarters,” Eirena said and pointed at the triangle on the map.
“What do you want to do?” asked Raiko, looking to Eirena for answers.
“What do you think we should do? Oh, I know what we should do, I just don’t know if I want to deal with the consequences of finding out the answers to the questions I have. My dad always said, ‘Don’t go opening Pandora’s box, or you just may find more than you bargained for,’” Eirena said to Raiko, who bit her lip and tugged at her ponytail.
“We may need to ask some more questions before we proceed, but we only have two days before the first expedition, and we should try to get as many answers as we can before then,” Raiko mouthed.
“Okay, you and I can ask around today. It’s our free day before the Mars expedition. Then we can decide where we want to go and where we need to send the boys,” said Eirena.
“All right. I am going back up to my bed. You okay? I heard you crying out in your sleep,” Raiko mouthed.
“Yeah, I’m okay. I just really, really miss my brothers. Being a triplet kind of makes you a bit more attached to your siblings in a different way, you know?” Eirena replied quietly.
“I would guess so. You want to talk about them?” Raiko offered. She settled down on her knees and sensed that Eirena didn’t want to be left alone just yet.
“Yes, I would love to! I am the oldest by about two minutes, and Paul came after me. However, Casey… well, he and I are connected more than Paul and me. Casey is truly my baby brother and best friend. We do most everything together. Paul always wants to be separate - you know, act like he isn’t a twin of Casey’s or my triplet brother. In the end, he can’t leave us alone, so he always comes around,” Eirena spoke out loud. She was so excited to be able to talk about her brothers that she forgot to speak quietly.
“Well, my brothers are all younger than me. Tony is about four years younger, and Gabe is six years younger, and my annoying younger brother Kenneth is ten months younger than Gabe. They are all really tall. Tony is almost my height, but he’s still got a lot of growing to do. I take more after my mom’s side of the family as far as height is concerned,” Raiko replied.
The girls talked until about two a.m., and Raiko was too tired to climb up to her bed, so she curled up at the foot of Eirena’s bed, and they fell asleep.
Chapter 26
Eirena and Raiko woke up early, despite the fact that they fell asleep so late exchanging sibling stories. They had decided that they would go talk to some of the Team Fire Six Cadets to find out about their missing team member. Eirena had already talked to Jacob, who was the heartthrob of the camp, and Raiko couldn’t wait to meet him. Eirena knew they hung out mostly in the video room, where you could tag in to play simulated videogames. Jacob seemed to like talking about just about anything, so she knew he would be very useful in getting to the bottom of this mystery. However, she told Raiko that under no circumstances was she to tell any of Team Fire Six about what they did or what they knew.
The girls walked down the hallway toward the video room and ran into Jacob and Neema en route. Neema was also on Team Fire Six and was known to be a really difficult person to be around if she didn’t like you. Jacob was as tall as Aadi and had gorgeous hazel brown eyes, honey blond hair, and humongous dimples.
“Hello, Jacob and Neema. I was just heading to the video room to ask you some questions. I am doing sort of an article for my school at home about my adventures at space camp and really wanted your view of things,” Eirena said with an innocent smile. She even decided to put on the coy act for him and lowered her eyes. She glanced over at Raiko, only to see Raiko staring at Jacob with a dreamy look on her face. Even though lots of girls couldn’t help but stare at Jacob like that, Eirena wasn’t having it. She elbowed Raiko, who then lowered her eyes but kept a goofy smile on her face.
“Sure thing, sweetness. For you, I’ll answer anything, but we’ve got to hurry to the video room. We are meeting our other teammates for a game of Speed and Fire. Want to join us?” he invited, smiling with all the charm in the world.
“Yes, do join us, Eirena,” Neema said as she glared at Eirena. Neema was rather easy on the eyes and exotically beautiful, although a bit prickly. She stood the same height as Jacob, with jet black long tiny braids down her back and the smoothest dark skin that reminded Eirena of the darkest, richest chocolate. Neema also had wide almond-shaped eyes, and full, rounded lips. She had a sleek, athletic build with a feminine shape that made her every move seem graceful.
Eirena couldn’t help but frown at her observation of Neema in instant dislike, but she tried to maintain her composure. “Well, if you insist, we will.”
“Oh, that would be great! Wow! I would love to play Speed and Fire. I play it all the time with my brothers. Hey, can we play?” Raiko rushed out in a nervous blabbering. Eirena turned to look at Raiko as if she had four heads. Eirena shook her head from side to side in denial, trying to douse Raiko’s obvious crush on Jacob just a little.
“Raiko! Get a grip of your dignity before I slap you,” Eirena whispered into Raiko’s ear. Raiko responded quickly and wiped the goofy grin off her face.
“That’s great. I can introduce you to the rest of the team, and we can split you up onto our teams. We get pretty competitive. Don’t take it personal, though, because I don’t want you to run off crying and not play with us anymore,” Jacob said, then touched Eirena’s arm to urge her to follow.
“So, Ra-leek-ee - um, that is your name, right?” Neema said, glancing at Raiko as though she was a worthless bug.
“Um, no. it’s Ray-ee-koh… Ray-ee-koh,” Raiko snapped back, irritated.
“Whatever. So, you guys won the challenge, and from what I hear, you will be leading us on our first expedition?” said Neema with a smirk as she glanced at Raiko.
“Yes, we will. What of it?” Eirena replied for Raiko. She put her hands on her hips and forgot her pretense to appear agreeable again.
“Nothing. I was just asking,” Neema replied with a smug look on her face.
Aadi looked down the hall to see Eirena and Raiko while he casually played with his yo-yo gasid. Carter was talking to him about the virtual action movie that he wanted to go see later that evening. Aadi ignored his constant chatter as he noticed the members of Team Fire Six with Eirena and Raiko.
“Hello, Aadi! Aadi!” Neema said with a big grin on her face. Aadi saw Eire
na as she stood next to Neema. He noticed that Eirena took a double look at Neema and then followed Neema’s gaze to him. He laughed to himself as he finally realized that Eirena had a bit of a crush on him. Then, he looked at Neema, who granted him a stunning smile on his arrival.
“Hey, Neema! How are you?” Aadi replied. He decided to test his theory and flashed Neema a wide smile.
“Fine. You boys want to come join us in a game of Speed and Fire? Eirena and Raiko are coming,” Neema said while she put her hand on his arm. Although he found Neema very attractive, he was more concerned with Eirena’s reaction. He noticed that she looked seething angry, and he could have sworn she said, “How dare she.”
“Um, Aadi, I know you and Carter were going somewhere, so don’t let us stop you. We’ll see you later,” Eirena rushed to say.
Aadi noticed that she kept sliding her glance to where Neema’s hand was on his arm. He smiled at the thought.
“Well, we do need one more player. We’d love to have you,” Jacob added.
“Well, sure. Hey, Carter, I’ll catch up with you later,” Aadi said, turning to Carter. He put the code into his yo-yo gasid to flatten it and shoved it in his pocket.
“No problem. I’ll see you at dinner,” Carter said and headed down the hall.
“Well, Aadi, I guess you will have to be on my team. I am recruiting winners today,” Neema said and took Aadi’s hand as though they were best friends. Aadi allowed Neema to get comfortable as he observed Eirena. She looked like she wanted to scratch Neema’s eyes out. The thought caused a small laugh to slip out of the corner of his mouth. Then, Eirena’s angry eyes slide to his, and he figured that now she wanted to scratch his eyes out.
“Oh, I am not a winner all the time, but if you choose me for your team, I will do my best,” Aadi replied while he looked at Neema and smiled just to irk Eirena off even more. The truth was, her jealousy was flattering him and tickling his sense of humor.