Chapter Ten
Hope
I stood before the portal to the science labs, scraping the plastic screen of my wrist locator with my fingernails. How was I going to sneak back in without Dr. Catcher seeing me? Her name didn’t bode well for my predicament.
Crophaven had given me a reprieve by not reporting me to the authorities, but if I couldn’t get past Dr. Catcher, then his uncharacteristically generous oversight would be for naught.
Using my wrist locator, I texted Alcor. Need a diversion to get back in.
Two seconds later, my wrist beeped. I’m on it.
Not much to go on. I leaned against the wall and squished my rubber sole into the chrome until it squeaked. Guilt soiled my conscience. Crophaven had let me off easy because of my pairing with Tauren. Even if I still wanted to be with him, I couldn’t use my connections to get myself out of trouble. That was just plain sleazy. I had to break it off with Tauren, pronto.
The portal dematerialized beside me, and I jerked to attention, not knowing what to expect.
Alcor stepped out, holding a blinking device. “I’m getting better reception out here.”
“What?” I whispered before I realized he wasn’t talking to me.
Once Alcor walked past the frame, he signaled to me to follow him back in. “Oh, wait. Maybe not. Guess I’ll have to try the lab again.”
I snuck into the lab behind him and darted behind a container. Peering around the side, I looked for a clear path to the back room where I should have been doing experiments all day.
Dr. Catcher sat at a table, her eyes glued to the microscope. “Any luck?”
“I have what I need.” Alcor pressed the panel, and the portal to our private lab dematerialized. Crawling on all fours, I slipped in ahead of him.
The doctor’s voice followed me in. “Ms. Bryan’s been in there all day. When’s she coming out to report?”
I winced.
“My guess is very soon, ma’am.” Alcor couldn’t hide the irony tingeing his voice.
The portal materialized behind us, and I breathed with relief, collapsing against a storage container. “Thanks, man. I couldn’t have done it without you.”
Alcor threw the device he’d been holding on the table. “Geez, you’ve been gone for five hours. What were you doing? Conjugating verbs?”
I held up my hand. “Don’t even ask. It involved an unscheduled private meeting with Crophaven.”
He plopped onto a stool and shuffled through a bunch of slides. “So, you got yourself into more trouble, eh?”
I winked. It was too tempting not to. “The adventure’s just starting.”
Alcor ran his hands through his thin bangs. “Oh no. What do you want me to do for you now?”
I stood, brushing the dust off my knees. “You said you figured out how to drive the arachnid ship, right?”
“Yes, but you’re not actually thinking about—”
I held up a finger. “The less you know, the less likely you’ll get into trouble. All I can tell you is I need the logistics of how to drive that ship and a way to put down the arachnid mother brain for good. Either that, or our colony is supernova toast.”
Alcor sighed as though I’d just unloaded the cosmic weight of the galaxy on his shoulders, which I had. “It’s that bad, huh?”
“Worse than you can imagine.”
He scratched his head. “Okay. You’re asking for a lot, but I’ve had a very productive day.” He glanced at me, and his pale blue eyes gleamed. “I took your advice, and I isolated every ion in the metallic serum. I believe I can reproduce it. Not only that, but I’ve found a way to capsulize the microbes in the pod plants. If you give me a day or two, I can create a device that sprays a burst of microbes, and a gun that shoots the metallic webs.”
“I don’t have a day or two. Those arachnid ships are preparing an attack, and I have no idea how long it takes to fly to their home world and stop them. If Asteran hadn’t suggested we go, then I’d think we were already too late.”
Alcor rubbed his eyes. “All right, but that means I’m gonna pull an all-nighter, and you’ll have to help me.”
I nodded, already wanting to collapse in my sleep pod. Who knew when I’d ever sleep in it again? “I’m in.”
Never had I been so interested in science. Using empty aerosol cans from disinfectant cleaners, we loaded the capsulized microbes into the tubes and tested the spray radius.
Alcor insisted we wear masks. His mask covered most of the scars on his face, so only a few crescent marks curved around his eyes. The filter muffled his words, “They can stay alive in these capsules for up to three months, which should give you enough time to reach the arachnid home planet, if what you’re telling me is true.”
“Asteran said if we had a ship he could help us take the arachnids out before they launched their attack on Paradise 21, which he thinks will reach us in sixty-six days.” I had to believe in him. If not, we were all doomed.
“Sixty-six days?” Alcor shook his head. “Let’s hope this arachnid ship is faster than the New Dawn.”
The New Dawn had taken more than three hundred years to reach Paradise 21. We were the lucky ones born to witness the completion of the journey—or the unlucky ones, depending on how this arachnid business turned out.
“It has to be, if they sent reinforcements to Asteran’s planet sixty-six days later.”
Alcor held up his hand to calm me. “I’m sure your friend is right. It’s just hard for me to believe these primitive bugs found the key to light-speed travel before we did.”
“They do have ginormous brains.”
Alcor rolled his eyes. “You know brain size has nothing to do with—”
“It was a joke.”
My locator beeped. Locking eyes with Alcor, I hesitated before glancing down. If Leo’d had one of his episodes, I’d have to choose between saving him or saving the colony.
Alcor grabbed my arm and read the text for me. “It’s from Nova.”
“Nova?” I glanced down. Med bay: 2200. Bring your gear.
She must have figured out how to break Asteran out! Twenty-two-hundred gave us about nine hours, which wasn’t much time.
Alcor hovered over my wrist locator like a nosy gossip. “What does it mean?”
I snapped my wrist away. Enough shooting the breeze. “It means we have to finish this ASAP.”
By the early morning, we had three sets of two working weapons for me, Asteran, and Nova to use against the arachnids. One of the guns sprayed microbes, which wouldn’t necessarily down them right away, but it would kill them in time, and the other gun shot the metal webs, which weren’t lethal but would hold them back effectively. Not perfect, but we had to work with what we had.
“Are you sure you can kill this mother brain with only a spray of microbes?” Alcor handed me the last set of weapons.
Their weight reassured me as I stuffed them into a backpack. “We killed an entire ship with this stuff. What’s one more?”
Alcor shrugged and helped me zip the fabric over the barrels. “Remember, three months, and then the microbes start to die.”
I clapped his shoulder. “I’ll be there and back before then.”
“Aim the metal webs at their legs. You don’t need to kill them, just take them down so you can get to the mother brain.”
“I know. I know.” He was starting to sound like Mom. “I’ll make sure to take my vitamin, too, and bring an extra pair of warm socks.” I walked toward the portal. Dr. Catcher had gone home long ago, so my exit route was free and no one would question why I had a pack full of dangerous weapons.
Alcor placed a hand on my shoulder, stalling me. “Hey, be careful out there.”
I turned to face him. Before our first mission together, I’d thought he was just a brainy geek who cared more about test results than people. After two missions together, and now this, I knew differently. The scars on his face reminded me of how much he’d sacrificed for our team. Sure, they were ugly, but they
also gave him a gravity and maturity he hadn’t had before. “Just hold the fort down while I’m gone, okay? Keep an eye on those buggers locked up in the back cells. I have a feeling they’re already planning an escape.”
He nodded. “I will. Now that I’ve unlocked their biological code, there’s no use in keeping them alive. I’ll ask Dr. Catcher to terminate them immediately,” he leaned in and whispered. His eyes grazed my backpack. “Do you think this will be enough?”
I wished I could have reassured him more. “We can only hope.”
Chapter Eleven
Volunteer
I flashed my locator in front of the panel to my family unit, hoping my parents wouldn’t be awake. Unlike Leo and me, they were early risers, buzzing the coffee machine and running the showers before the purple light of Paradise 21 crested the far ridge. While the rest of us had adjusted to the planetary cycle, they were still on New Dawn time, like it had been ingrained in their bones from all those years living on the ship.
The lights were off. I checked the wallscreen in the living room as I passed. Their alarms wouldn’t go off for another thirty minutes. I had time to pack.
As I turned the corner, Leo’s portal came into view and I froze. I have a feeling something big is coming, Lyra. You’re gonna have to choose whether to stay or go. You choose to go.
He had been right. In order to save our colony, I’d have to leave him alone and vulnerable. If I stayed, I could protect him, but for how long?
Could Nova go without me?
No. This was my idea, my mission. Making her go alone with Asteran was childish and unfair. Leo would have to get by without my help for a little while. Could he make it through? Or would the authorities find out about his condition?
Indecision wracked my body. I dropped my backpack and placed a hand on the portal to his room. I’m so sorry. If it was anything else, I wouldn’t go.
The particles stirred under my fingertips. I snapped my hand back, wondering how I could have triggered the portal panel.
Leo stood before me, rubbing his eyes. His hair stuck up on one side of his head in a sleep mohawk. The sight of him all drowsy and defenseless almost brought me to my knees. How could I leave him? “Lyra, what are you doing up so early?”
He must have opened the portal. How could he have heard my footsteps? “I just got back from working in the labs all night. Go back to sleep.”
I turned away, but his voice held me still. “No, it’s something else. Something more.”
Damn his crazy psychic abilities. Was there some truth to our suspicions?
I shook my head, trying not to meet his big, glossy eyes. “It’s nothing, really. Go back to bed.” I picked up the backpack and headed toward my room.
“You’re going away, aren’t you?” His voice came back at me, loud enough to wake Mom and Dad.
I froze. So much for a clandestine exit. I dropped the pack and pushed Leo into his room before the parental units overheard. I whispered, “Listen, I have to go away for a while, but I’ll be back. I promise.”
There. That was all he needed to know. I turned to leave.
Leo extended his arm and braced himself against the wall, blocking my exit. His eyes had brightened. He reacted swiftly, as though he’d fully waken up. “Why don’t I go with you?”
“It’s dangerous, Leo, and...” I stopped before I stuffed my boot in my mouth.
“And what?”
I shrugged. I wasn’t going to say how I feared he’d spaz out on me. That was just plain cruel. He was better than that. He could contribute to this colony and maintain an important job. We just had to figure out how to manage his problems. During the one mission where we attempted to save the lives of everyone in the colony wasn’t the best time to try.
“You think I can’t go because of my mental illness?”
I sucked my lips in and sighed. “It’s not like that. Someone has to stay here with Mom and Dad.”
“Like they’re so old and feeble in middle age. Come on, Lyra. I want to do something with my life. I’m sick of being cooped up in this room. It’s making me crazier than I am.”
I hadn’t ever seen a burst of confidence from him like this. Usually he just got down on himself and whined. By rejecting him, I only contributed to more self-pity.
He leaned in. He was a whole foot taller than me now, and he grew more muscular every day. He was far from a weakling. “Take me with you.”
If he did come, then at least I could keep him in sight and help him if he fell into madness. By abandoning him here, I left him naked, with no one to bring him back should he fall off the edge.
“We’re taking the arachnid ship into deep space.” My tone dripped with warning.
He tapped the chrome wall. “Well, it’s not like I’ve never been there before.”
“We’re landing on their home planet and sneaking right into the middle of their civilization to kill their mother brain.”
He grinned. “Sounds like fun.”
Seconds ticked by while I stood in indecision. If I left him now, he’d have to lie to Mom and Dad until I got back, which I wasn’t sure he could accomplish, considering he couldn’t even hide his C in quantum physics.
“Okay, pack your bags. We’re leaving in five minutes.”
He patted my head. “I knew you’d cave.”
I jabbed my finger into his chest as I pushed past him. “No name-calling on the ship.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
While Leo basked in the glory of his new renegade mission, I loaded another backpack with supplies. When I teased Alcor about bringing warm socks, I wasn’t kidding. I threw those in along with a whole pack of soy bean wafers, two light sticks, and my strawberry perfume. You can’t save the world and reek, at least not in my book.
Luckily, the corridors outside our family cell were still empty. Two teens with loaded packs sneaking around in the early morning hours was about as suspicious as you could get. We made our way to the elevator and pressed the floor for the med bay. I kept thinking Tauren would show up like he’d done with Gavin and me, but no one else hailed the elevator as it coasted down.
Leo bounced on his feet, his backpack strapped tightly against his chest. He’d smoothed down his wild mess of hair, so now it only stood about three inches from his face, not seven. Would Nova see how crazy he was? Somehow, I doubted she’d report him, even if she saw him regress to an imaginary Old Earth life.
The elevator beeped and the door dematerialized. We checked the corridor before leaving the platform.
“All clear.” Leo stepped off first.
I followed him and immediately jumped back as a cleaning droid zipped by my feet. “By the Guide!”
“Calm down, sis. It’s more interested in the dust bunnies than us.”
The blinking box on wheels circled me, beeped, then sucked up a hairball clinging to my leg. The tiny vacuum retracted, and the droid skittered away.
We tiptoed toward the med bay. The portal loomed in a giant sheet of unyielding chrome, and the panel blinked, waiting for the correct locator to flash by, which wasn’t mine or Leo’s.
Leo stared at the blank screen. “Does Nova have clearance?”
“I’m not sure. She’s a lieutenant-in-training, but her job doesn’t have anything to do with medical procedures.” I checked my wrist locator and a twist of panic shot through my chest. “She’s late.”
Leo slumped against the wall and crossed his legs. “She’s Nova Williams, student extraordinaire with grades more perfect than an equiangular polygon. She’ll be here.”
What if she changed her mind? Leaving on this mission would risk her lieutenant promotion. It might destroy everything she’d worked for. Paranoia crawled across my shoulders and I shivered, clutching my sides. Would she turn me in?
Not if she thought this mission would save the colony. She’d told me the mother brain had taunted her, promising more to come. She wouldn’t ignore that, no matter how strange it sounded. Calming myself, I lowered th
e two packs from my back to the floor.
Leo’s head slumped forward. His arms drooped on either side, the tips of his fingers twitching as if eager to play his imaginary piano.
No, not now. Please, Queen of the Celestial Universe, not now. “Leo!” I hissed, shaking his upper arm. “Wake up.”
He’d endanger the mission. Guilt tingled through me, weakening my knees. I shouldn’t have brought him.
His head jerked up. “What?”
I didn’t know which reality he’d awoken to, so I had to play it cool. “You were drifting off to sleep.”
“That’s what happens when you wake up at three in the morning.” He rubbed his eyes. “Geez, I’m fine.”
“You remember what we’re doing, right?”
He gave me a dumb, desert-cow, bleary-eyed look. Compassion overcame me. He has no clue.
“Duh, Lyra. Who do you think I am? I may be crazy sometimes, but I’m not stupid.”
My legs trembled and I almost collapsed to the floor. Lyra. He used my real name. “Sorry.” I’d have to be less jumpy when the rest of the team was around, or I’d embarrass both of us and expose his illness. “It’s just nerves, that’s all.”
Leo crossed his arms. “Get a grip.”
Out of the two of us, he really needed the better grip—on reality that was—but I wasn’t about to go there. We couldn’t start this mission by bickering. Instead, I leaned my head on the wall beside him and closed my eyes. Asteran was only a few steps away, but it seemed as though the entire world stood between us. Even if we managed to break him out, fly to Cavernia, defeat the mother brain, and fly back to Paradise 21, could I help him heal from such immense loss and sorrow?
“Sorry, I had some trouble coming by this.” Nova’s voice echoed down the corridor and both Leo and I whirled around. She came alone, holding an ID tag. I breathed with relief.
“No problem. Alcor and I worked on a bunch of weapons.” I hefted my bags to my shoulders. “And I have food.”
“So do I.” She turned to the side, showing her backpack stuffed to bursting on her shoulders. “I raided my fridge.” She eyed Leo with a mix of surprise and distrust. “Is he coming too?”
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