by Sarah Noffke
Bailey’s mouth popped open without her permission. “Me? I-I-I’m not.” She couldn’t believe she was stuttering.
“Really?” he challenged. “You were recruited against your will for a secret mission, and you hardly even questioned it. Notice that everyone on board Ricky Bobby all have one thing in common, Lieutenant: we’ve all been uprooted. Yet none of us look homesick—you, especially.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, trying to keep her voice steady, covering the fact that Lewis might have detected something in her. “I’m here because this mission is worthy of my attention.”
“Yeah, that’s true,” Lewis stated. “However, you can call from the ship to anyone in the other galaxy and yet you don’t seem to have anyone to ring.”
Bailey studied him. Does he know?
He might have been good, but some secrets are buried deep enough that no one, not even the best can find them.
“Fine, don’t tell me why you quit the business,” she said flippantly.
Lewis nodded, looking victorious. “Then don’t tell me why you’re an island, Lieutenant Tennant.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Hatch’s Lab, Ricky Bobby, Cacama System
Harley ran over, a welcome interruption from the intense staredown that Bailey and Lewis were having. The dog was followed by Dejoure and Liesel, who was resting her arm thoughtfully across the young girl’s shoulders.
“Is everything okay?” Bailey asked, giving Harley some attention.
“Everything is fine, but as Jack requested, DJ has been logging her dreams,” Liesel explained, pulling her arm away.
“Why are you lot clogging up my lab?” Hatch asked, waddling over, holding a socket wrench in one tentacle. “Isn’t there somewhere else you can braid each other’s hair?”
Liesel smiled, though she still looked a little green from her sickness. Bailey took a step back, not wanting to catch whatever bug the chief engineer had.
“DJ had another premonition last night, and I thought it might be of interest,” Liesel stated. “Jack is away on business, so I brought her to you.”
DJ looked to be trying to swallow. Her black hair was pinned behind her large ears, and she’d replaced the white uniform from Starboards Corp with ripped jeans and a baggy T-shirt. “It’s nothing,” she said dismissively. “Really, the dream doesn’t make sense. I don’t want to waste any of your time.”
“That makes two of us, kid,” Hatch grumbled.
Liesel patted the young girl’s shoulder. “Go on, then. Let them decide what to do with the information.”
“Well, I dreamed that I was with you two, prowling around Starbaords Corp,” she began, gesturing to Bailey and Lewis.
They looked at each other.
“What were we doing there?” Lewis asked.
“It’s silly.” Dejoure shook her head, her hair hitting her in the face. “It might have been a regular dream.”
“How can you tell the difference?” Hatch asked.
“Well, sometimes I can’t,” she admitted. “But usually, a premonition is the last dream I have before I wake up.”
Hatch rolled his eyes and groaned. “Oh, this is ridiculous. That’s like saying a lost object was found in the last place you looked. When you wake up is relative. What if you went back to sleep? Would the next dream be the last one, and therefore the premonition?”
Dejoure shook her head stubbornly. “No, it’s not like that. I know it sounds weird, but the premonition dreams wake me up. There’s like a loud bang that goes off after I have them. I can never go back to sleep after that, no matter what time it is.”
“So in this dream you had,” Lewis spoke, trying to get them back on track. “The three of us went back to Starboards Corp?”
She nodded shyly. “And usually my premonitions happen soon after the dreams, like the next day.”
“Tell them why you went to Starboards Corp,” Liesel encouraged.
The girl cleared her throat. “Well, that was the weird part. We were looking for codes for something.”
The socket wrench fell out of Hatch’s tentacle, clattering to the ground and startling Harley. He pressed in closer to Bailey’s leg.
“Did you tell her about the codes?” Hatch demanded of Liesel.
She shook her head. “Of course not. DJ came to me with this dream, since Jack is out. He’s been logging the other dreams.”
“What else happened in the dream? Did we find the codes?” Bailey pressed.
“I’m not sure,” Dejoure responded.
“Did you see where we looked?” Lewis asked.
DJ blushed the way she usually did when talking to Lewis, pink spreading over her freckled cheeks and the bridge of her nose. “It was a level I’ve never been on before.”
Two of Hatch’s tentacles wound together like a braid. “Finally a lead! We have a breakthrough. About damn time.”
“Wait.” The detective looked sideways at Hatch. “You think we should go to Starboards Corp to find the codes?”
Hatch shrugged. “I think it’s worth looking into. DJ saw it in a premonition without having prior knowledge of the codes.”
“But how can we take a clue from something that hasn’t happened yet?” Bailey questioned. “How did we know to go to Starboards Corp in the first place? From a premonition?”
Lewis agreed with a nod. “The initial idea had to come from somewhere.”
“It occurred right now,” Hatch said, pointing down at the deck. “The premonition told you to go to Starboards Corp, so that’s where you go to find the codes.”
“But that doesn’t make any sense,” Bailey said. “What if it’s wrong?”
“It does make sense,” the mechanic reasoned. “In relativity of simultaneity, things can happen in a different order, depending on the position you’re observing them from. That means two different events can be seen three ways: X comes first, and then Y, or X and Y happen at the same time, or—as in this case—Y occurs first, and then X. Simply put, the future can precede the present and the past.”
“Is this, like, space-time continuum stuff?” Lewis asked, scratching his head.
Hatch huffed. “Let’s just say it’s physics. You don’t have to understand it for it to be at work in your life. Honestly, most don’t comprehend it because it explains the true magic in our lives.”
“So you’re saying that DJ had the dream, and that led us to Starboards Corp? There was no other lead?” Bailey asked.
“Who’s to say.” Hatch shrugged. “It’s a chicken-or-the-egg paradox.”
“Does that mean you two are going?” Dejoure asked.
Liesel adjusted a too-tight bracelet, that sat above her wrist. She had a matching one on the other arm. “Actually, in the premonition, you said you were there too, DJ.”
“You do have the chip that can get us in there,” Bailey reasoned, her eyes still on Liesel.
Dejoure pressed her fingertips to her temples, closing her eyes. “Yeah, but I can’t really remember what all happened in the dream.”
Liesel pulled a thick piece of parchment from the front pocket of her overalls. “Which is why I copied down the dream. They are slippery fish that will get away from you the moment you catch them.”
She handed the piece of paper to Hatch, who eyed her skeptically. “Are you feeling better, or are you still sick?”
She smiled. “I’m fine. No contagion. I’m only wearing these sea bands to help with nausea.”
Hatch hesitated, not taking the paper. “I thought you said you were better?”
“I am, but it appears I’ve got a little motion sickness. The sea bands use acupressure to help relieve that.”
Hatch took the paper, his lips pursed. “The fact that I’ve hired a chief engineer who gets motion sickness on a spaceship and relies on acupuncture to relieve it really makes me question my own credibility.”
“It’s nothing, I assure you,” Liesel said. “It’s my feminine nature making me a bit mor
e sensitive right now.”
“Yeah, well, your types are quite complicated. Can’t be as robust as us males,” Hatch said, looking over the paper.
“Actually, I was reading that females of every species outlive the males due to their XY chromosomes,” Dejoure stated.
Hatch lowered the paper, peering over it at the child. “You mean men don’t live as long due to ex-wives,” He handed the paper to Bailey. “Looks like you have to sneak into a high-security area. Unfortunately, I don’t have all of the cloaking belts working, so I advise you go undercover.”
Bailey took the paper, looking at Dejoure. “Can you help us with that?”
She nodded proudly. “I can totally give you makeovers. The key is you have to act robotic and soulless.”
Lewis lifted his arm at the elbow like it was on a hinge, and pivoted mechanically, while speaking in a monotone. “We can do that.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Q-Ship, Enroute to Starboards Corp, Kai, Tangki System
“So…Liesel, eh?” Bailey said, giving Lewis a wink.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said in a hush. “Can you be more specific?”
Bailey looked over her shoulder toward the back of the ship, where Dejoure was rubbing Harley’s head and telling him a story about some chipmunk fairies. “I was only alluding to her new condition,” she said discreetly.
“You know?” Lewis asked.
Her mouth popped open. “Of course I know. I’m not a detective, but I can put a few things together.”
“Right. Well, Jack hasn’t come to terms with it yet. But he will,” he explained in a whisper.
“Oh, I love gossip! I have been a bit sheltered, stuck in Hatch’s lab,” Pip said overhead. “Tell me more. What’s going on with Liesel Diesel?”
“Nothing,” Lewis said quickly.
“Come on, guys!” Pip complained. “Don’t leave me in the dark.”
“Hey, how about we play a game,” Bailey suggested, steering the cloaked ship toward the seemingly invisible Starboards headquarters.
“I’m in!” Pip sang. “I love games.”
She shot Lewis a clever smile. She knew how to distract someone.
“Your choice then, buddy,” Lewis offered.
“Okay, we’re playing two truths and a lie,” Pip stated. “You figure out my lie in order to win a bajillion points.”
“Dammit, I really want to win now,” Bailey said.
Pip made a sound like clearing his throat. “Here they are: I’m sort of a card shark. I once wrecked a car into a nuclear weapon. And I speak twenty languages.”
“The second one is a lie,” Bailey answered.
“Egghhh!” Pip said, sounding like a buzzer. “Incorrect. It’s the third one; I speak way more than twenty languages. You see what I did there? I hid the lie in a truth.”
“So, you really wrecked a car into a nuke?” Lewis asked.
“Oh yeah,” Pip said. “Hatch was pissed! It was his car.”
Bailey laughed. “Okay, Harlowe. Your turn.”
Lewis narrowed his eyes at her. He knew what she was playing at. She’d be after him for information on Melanie from now on. “Fine. Here’s mine: I’m the youngest of five children. I play the violin. A monkey once stole my wallet.”
“You don’t play the violin,” Pip answered with finality.
“Come on,” Lewis said, shaking his head in disappointment. “I used your trick. I’m an only child.”
“It’s all about the details,” Bailey chirped. “DJ, you want to play this game?”
Dejoure poked her head forward. “Sure, but it might take me a second to think of some stuff. Let’s see…. Okay, here’s mine: I once delivered a baby on top of a mountain. I was the reason that bitcoin went under. And I had a pet otter that saved my life from a deadly snake.”
Lewis gave Bailey a look of disbelief. “Wow. Those are all pretty good. I almost don’t know which one is the lie.”
“Lie…?” Dejoure asked. “I didn’t know we were supposed to make something up. I thought it was three incredible facts about ourselves.”
Starboards Corp, Kai, Tangki System
It was strange for Dejoure to be returning to Starboards Corp. She kept thinking that she’d wake up and realize her time on Ricky Bobby was a dream. Since her honest admissions on the Q-Ship, she was getting weird stares from Lewis and Bailey; she hoped they wouldn’t change their mind about her and leave her behind.
“Ladybug, you’re walking with too much pep in your step,” Dejoure muttered over the comm as the trio strode out of the Q-Ship, and joined the mass of scientists and administrative employees filing out of the shuttle.
She’d helped the team plan for this visit to the floating headquarters over the Kai Ocean, telling them when the first, second and third shift would arrive. She only knew that because of the rotation she’d seen from the wing where they kept the children. Once she’d been “adopted” by Starboards, she’d never been permitted to leave, unlike the employees who were flown in daily.
Bailey looked over her shoulder, but couldn’t see Dejoure next to her, since she was the only one wearing a cloaking belt. Finally, her dream had come true. She was invisible.
“Less pep,” Bailey whispered. “Got it.”
“And don’t have your shoulders back so much,” Dejoure stated in a whisper. “Hunch them like you’re dejected and about to go into your soul-sucking job at Suck Butt.”
Bailey nodded. She didn’t look like herself, dressed in the white lab coat and slacks. Her normally flowing blonde hair was fashioned into a tight bun. Lewis looked even stranger in his white lab coat and glasses. His hair was parted down the middle and slicked back with too much gel, taking away from its normal body.
The two filed into line with the others, acting the part brilliantly. When they got to the front, Dejoure slipped beside them, running her wrist over the scanner twice, once for Bailey’s access, and another for Lewis’s. They were in, but there were so many more obstacles ahead of them.
Dejoure was unsurprised that the people around Bailey and Lewis were silent as they huddled into the elevator right off the entrance. She hadn’t missed the stale personalities at SB. It was like their unique traits had been dissected and removed from them and replaced with Styrofoam.
Dejoure much preferred Ricky Bobby, where there was always an adventure and no one told her what to do. Now she had a cool new alien, Vitos, she could ask questions of and learn from. And she couldn’t wait until the baby was born—but no one knew about that yet. She only did because of the premonition she’d had the other day, before they made her start logging dreams. It was one of those rare premonitions that looked a long way into the future. She’d only had those a couple of times, and they were always of importance.
Bailey and Lewis’s elevator arrived as Dejoure was exiting the stairwell. She had to be careful, making sure she waited to open the door when she knew only they were around.
The codes she’d seen them get in the dream were through a double set of doors on the far side of the hallway. However, the problem was that her access wasn’t going to get them into the restricted area. That hadn’t worried Hatch, though. He’d said, ‘if they got in there in the dream, it meant they found a way in reality’.
This stuff hurt Dejoure’s brain, but she trusted the scientist, so she went along with it.
“We’ll just walk that way,” Lewis said from his place in front of Dejoure, looking all around. “I’m sure something will happen soon.”
He’s probably looking for a clue. Hoping for the way into the department.
“Yep, just walking,” Bailey said, her tone growing tense. “Getting closer. No magic keys yet.”
Trust Hatch, Dejoure thought.
He’d said that time wasn’t linear. The idea fascinated her, but before he could elaborate, he’d been interrupted by Ricky Bobby with an update about the monster. That took precedence, obviously.
She liked the word ‘
precedence’, but not as much as she liked the word ‘dichotomy’. Most words didn’t sound like what they were, but the good ones did.
The door to the restricted area opened, and Dejoure sucked in a breath. That man.
She’d hoped she’d never again see Dr. Lukas—or Dr. Ass, as she called him—or hear his condescending voice. Yet there he was.
He hurried out the door, letting it close behind him, and froze. His gaze looked past Bailey and Lewis; maybe she was being crazy, but it seemed to be directed straight at her.
“What are you doing here?” he barked.
Dejoure nearly squeaked with fear, but kept the noise locked inside herself. She peered down. She was still cloaked, but worried that maybe he could somehow see her.
“We are here for our shift,” Bailey said, her tone different from how Dejoure had ever heard her sound. It was sweet, flirtatious.
“I haven’t assigned any new members to this team,” Dr. Ass said.
DJ didn’t know why, but she decided to move forward, getting closer to the jerk who had ordered her around, ordered everyone around, was always barking orders.
“It’s a new reassignment,” Lewis stated with confidence. “It’s just come through to cover some project modifications.”
“Your superior approved this?” Dr. Ass asked.
Dejoure drew so close to the uptight administrative jerk that she could feel his body heat.
“Yes, you can see for yourself,” Bailey said, again with that soothing tone. “It’s all in the project notes.”
“I’m going back to my office now,” Dr. Ass said. “Why don’t you two follow me, and we’ll look into this matter? I can’t have any unauthorized personnel on this project. If you’ve been reassigned, I need proof.”
A knot tied itself in Dejoure’s throat. She could feel Bailey and Lewis fumbling, but she had to block them out, so she didn’t pay attention to Bailey’s reply which came next. Instead, she reached out, her hand shaking. Her fingers hesitated an inch away from the badge clipped to Dr. Ass’s pants pocket. She had to be careful, precise. With a quick movement, she unclipped the badge, but held it where it was.