by Jamie Zakian
***
Twenty-seven tiles. There were twenty-seven tiles on the ceiling. Kami knew, because she counted five times. With a loud groan, she rose from her pillow. Jesse was right. It was just silly tech. Her silly tech, with all her thoughts and pictures since childhood.
“No!” she shouted, rolling off her bed. She had to quit dwelling before a heaping mass of wallow came to claim her.
Her arms swung as she moseyed into the bathroom. The lights flickered on, and puffy eyes stared back at her from the mirror. “Stupid cry-baby face,” she sneered.
Her hand waved beneath the faucet, and cool water flowed between her fingers. She splashed her face twice. The chill quenched the burn left by tears, granting her enough nerve to look in the mirror again. Strength reflected in her glare this time, leaving a grin on her lips.
Towel in hand, she strolled back into the room. While wiping the droplets from her neck, she leaned against Joey’s desk. The drawer slid open, and there sat Joey’s notebook, practically calling her name. Curiosity spiked, so much it hurt. Her gaze zoomed to the door, back to the book, then to her hand as it drifted outward.
She wrapped her fingers around the thin metal binder, and lifted. A beep echoed from across the room, triggering her brain to scream out twenty different instructions. Let go won out, and her fingers unclenched. The book fell back into place, and she crashed the drawer shut just as her bedroom door slid open.
The sight of her brother, strutting into her locked room, caused fists to form. “Knock much.” She tossed the damp towel, which he caught midair. “You can’t just hack your way in here any—”
“We’re in trouble.” Rai scowled, pitching the towel into a corner.
“What? Why?”
Jesse poked his head into the room. “Where’s Joey?”
“She went off exploring.”
“Great,” Jesse muttered, slipping from sight.
The door sealed shut, and Kami slumped back against the desk. “So how’d you get us in trouble this time?”
“What were you doing when I came in here?”
“Nothing.” She inched over, blocking the drawer. “Quit changing the subject.”
“What are you hiding?” Rai stepped closer, pushing her aside. She shoved back, and he elbowed her, until an all-out shoving match erupted.
“Stop it, Rai.”
“Show me what you’re hiding.”
“I’m not hiding anything.” Kami hurled her fist, and Rai jumped aside. Balance betrayed her, and she stumbled, crashing against the wall. By the time she looked back at Rai, the notebook was in his hand.
“Wow. It hasn’t even been a day and you resort to paper!”
“It’s not mine.” She reached for the book, and Rai lifted it higher. “That’s Joey’s! It’s, like, her journal or something.”
“Really?” Rai turned his back to Kami, opening the first page. “I wonder if she wrote about me.”
“Give it.” While tugging on Rai’s ear, Kami sprung forward and snatched the book. “You know, we’re not home anymore. I don’t see a flock of skanky groupies hovering around you. Those two are our only friends now. So maybe we can, I don’t know, stop getting them in trouble and invading their privacy.”
Rai backed off, and Kami exhaled. She tucked the notebook back into the drawer, leering at Rai over her shoulder. “So what happened this time?”
***
After wandering endless halls and hitting two dead ends, Jesse caught the clamor of high-pitched voices. He cut a sharp corner and followed the sounds to a gray door marked Café.
His steps slowed to a stop once inside. First, the heavenly aromas trapped his feet, but the mess of people all around firmly cemented him in place. He scanned the crowd. So many girls with long brown hair, just like Joey.
A squeaky cackle filled his ears, and he veered toward it. He’d know that laugh anywhere. He maneuvered between two tables, his gaze connecting with Joey’s surprised eyes. Her smile dropped, jaw paused midchew.
Jesse’s brow wrinkled. Just the sight of his sister snuggled beneath some dude’s arm turned his stomach.
“Hey, Jesse. What’s up?” Joey said while mouthing the words, go away.
“Ah, the twin. Hey. I’m Chuck.”
The guy removed the hand that pawed his sister long enough to hold it out, and Jesse felt compelled to shake it. He bit his tongue. The way Chuck freely groped Joey, with a smug look on his face, made Jesse want to flip the table.
“Why don’t you grab some food and join us?” Chuck said, gesturing to the buffet across the room.
“I wish I could.” Jesse snatched a piece of bacon from Joey’s tray, cramming it into his mouth. “We gotta be somewhere though,” he mumbled between chomps.
“We do?” Joey lightly shook her head, eyes wide.
“Yeah!” After snagging a half-eaten piece of toast, Jesse leaned on the table in front of Joey. “It’s important. Like, almost explosive important.” He nodded, trying his hardest to convey his thoughts through grave stares. She wasn’t really getting it. The wheels were spinning, just very slowly.
“Oh?” Joey squinted, her head tilting to the side. Her eyes brightened, and she sat up straight. “Oh!” she piped, jumping to her feet. “I’m sorry, Chuck. I forgot about this thing.”
“That’s cool.” Chuck pushed back a leery glare, smiling at Joey. “I’m in D-1. Stop by sometime.”
“I will.” Joey walked to the end of the table. Her shoulder bumped into Jesse’s arm as they hustled toward the exit. “Is there another … you know what?” she whispered.
“No, but the lady who diffused the … you know what is on to us.”
“What do you mean?”
Her tone rose above the other voices in the noisy room. He tossed a glare; she shrugged, and he picked up the pace.
“It’s like she just knew.” Jesse rubbed his neck, though he couldn’t massage away the stress. “And I think she knows Rai and Kami from back home. Now she wants to drill us. All.”
“You probably dorked out in front of her. Just play cool and deny everything.”
Jesse pushed open the cafeteria door, glancing at the clock on the wall. “Crap. We were supposed to be there five minutes ago.” He seized Joey by the wrist, then pulled her across the landing. “Come on. Let’s hurry.”
***
“It’s an easy plan, a good plan. Pure genius one could say.” He strolled through the tunnels toward the belly of the ship. “I would have never thought of it, but that’s why I’m only the hand of God. Not the voice.”
The thud of heavy boots shuffled in the distance, echoing over his hushed rants. He backed against the wall. His frenzied eyes scanned the corridor. Too far to run, nowhere to hide.
His hand brushed a pipe, its heat searing his skin. He held back a yelp. The stench of burned flesh invaded his nostrils, and the thump of footsteps grew nearer.
He wedged himself behind the scalding pipes. Every graze felt like burning needles. His skin sizzled, howls bunched in his throat, and he squeezed closer to the wall. Hidden in shadow, he held his breath as two men walked by.
“You smell something?”
They stopped only inches from the pipes and leaned close to him. His hand moved to the hilt of the knife clipped to his belt. Not one breath left his lungs. He stood completely still with his eyes locked on the man closest to him, and that soft spot between a neck and a collarbone.
“It’s probably coming from the kitchen.” The man backed away, slipping from view. “Did you see that hot blond running around with Reyes?”
“Oh yeah! I wish she had a special task for me.”
Chuckles faded down the hall, and he slid out from behind the pipes. Voices trailed off, yet he waited. Only the creak of a settling hull and the hum of electronics remained. A grin parted his cracked lips. “Alone again. Just me and this masterful plan.”
With light steps, he hurried down the passage. He stopp
ed at a corner, peeking his head out. “Not a soul in sight. Perfect.” His nails glided along the shining wall as he snaked toward a ladder.
He gripped the handle, creeping down. Cool metal pressed against his seared wrist, and he sighed. “Thank you, God. A bit of relief to prove I’m on the right path.”
The grumble of machinery grew. His fingertips vibrated against the rungs, chipped nails clinking. Once his feet hit the steel-grate below, the whirl of motors and the clunk of gears replaced all his thoughts.
“No more playtime.” His words barely rose above the magnetic core spinning in the machine beside him.
A bright red axe, fixed upon the wall, called to him. Its edge shimmered, like a divine rod. The handle fit just right within his palm when he pulled it from its fixture. “Just right. Destiny.” He turned to glare at the room of crucial equipment, lifting the axe high.
Chapter Nine
Winslow tugged at the cuff of his airman’s shirt. A streak of blood stained his crisp, white sleeve. The reminder of his crewmates’ agony captured his stare, thoroughly disrupting any hope of concentration.
A green light flashed on his screen, and he peered over, thankful for the distraction. “We’re approaching the next series of wormholes.” He glanced at Natalia, receiving an eyeful of concern. “I’m fine.”
“Why don’t you go get cleaned up? I can handle this bus until the night crew shows up.”
“I’d like to, but …” He opened applications he didn’t need, checking stats he already knew were clear. “This next chain of wormholes is especially tricky. I have to be here to ensure the—”
A loud, forced huff from the copilot’s seat cut off his words, and he turned to eye its owner.
“I studied these charts a billion times.” Natalia pulled up an overhead map of the intergalactic pipeline on the ship’s main display.
The tubes ran like the subway systems of the old days. Winding jumbles of short throughways, meeting in pockets of empty space, with hundreds of entries. A broken labyrinth hidden behind stars, only visible from within. Although, their route was highlighted by a dark blue line.
She switched the monitor back to the ship’s current position, just beyond Earth’s moon. “You programmed the nav unit yourself. Honestly, someone just has to sit here, flip switches, and stare at a computer screen.”
“Do you still have Chuck on your feed?”
“Of course.” Natalia moved her display, showing him an overhead view of his son. “He’s with Lena now, in the cafeteria.”
“Why are you so good to me?” he teased, unlatching his safety harness.
Natalia didn’t get the joke. A hint of sadness clouded her eyes, and she looked away. “I always felt like you got a raw deal.”
He spun his chair to face her, but she didn’t so much as glance his way.
“It’s just,” she said, removing her headset, “your dad always seemed so …”
“Cold.”
“I was gonna go with scary, but cold works.”
His chuckle pulled her gaze, and once he got it, it was locked on.
“Then there was that whole mess with your wife, running off and leaving you with a kid. I don’t know, I just … think you deserve better, and I’m sorry.”
“My dad really isn’t that bad. He was actually a great father.” He rested his arm on Natalia’s chair, staring past her smooth skin to his son on the small screen. “I can understand why Gwen left me. She was right; my work always came first. But I thank God every day that she left Chuck with me. You know what’s going to happen. He would have died on Earth with all those others.”
“I don’t believe that.” Natalia shook her head, keeping her gaze on the instrument panel. “People are living underground now, and solar flares have been erupting for eons. I think Earth will survive this. Humanity will survive this.”
“I hope you’re right. I would like to go back some day; I’m already homesick.”
Finally, Natalia turned toward him. Her lips skated dangerously close to his own, and he slanted in. Warm breath ran over his skin, those soft lips taunting him.
Natalia leaned back, gesturing to the control room and the sets of eyes now following their every move. “Why don’t you get straightened up? When the relief crew gets here, I’ll bring a tray of food to your quarters. Maybe we can stream an old vid or something.”
“You better watch it. That kind of sounds like a date to me.” Winslow grinned, his palm gliding along her arm as he stood.
A smirk crept across Natalia’s lips. She turned back to her monitor and flipped a blinking switch.
***
Jesse spotted Kami’s glower from the end of the hall. He was already jogging, practically dragging Joey behind him, yet Kami still pointed to her watch-less wrist.
“You’re late,” Kami said in a grumble.
“I know.” He stopped beside Kami, Rai and Joey huddling around. “Did Rai fill you in?”
“Yeah.” Kami glanced down the corridor, eyeing the few stray passengers. “So what’s the plan?”
Joey lifted her hand, stopping Jesse before he could speak. “We don’t know nothing, we didn’t do nothing, and we were in our own rooms the whole time.”
Everyone nodded, except Jesse. He groaned, yet Joey kept talking.
“If we stick to our story, then—”
“I’ll never know you’re a bunch of schemers.” Sabrina stood in front of an open door, pretty much right beside them, and Jesse almost whacked his own forehead. “Let’s go,” she said in a rumble, pointing to her room.
Jesse grabbed onto Joey’s hand. He gazed into Sabrina’s eyes as he walked by, catching a chill from her hard stare. His grasp on Joey tightened, and they shuffled inside.
The large man stationed in the corner and the four chairs lined in a row should’ve triggered a run-and-hide moment. It was definitely enough to stop his legs from walking. Joey’s hand slipped from his clutch, and he looked at her. She, Kami, even Rai stared at him, silently begging for him to stay cool.
His eyes narrowed, arms crossing. He plopped into the last empty seat, gaze steering to Rai’s tapping foot. They should be glaring at Rai not him; that guy hadn’t stopped squirming since medical.
“So,” Sabrina dragged a chair in front of them, standing beside it. “I’m assuming you kids know who we are.” She spoke to them all, but her glare remained on Kami and Rai.
Jesse opened his mouth, and Joey gripped his knee. He glanced over to see three poorly slapped on naive stares.
“Right,” Sabrina said with a light sneer. “That’s Mr. Reyes, head of security, and I’m Captain Sabrina Stone of the Unified Nations of Earth.” She took a seat, studying their every reaction. “I was sent here to stop a terrorist attack.” After a moment of silence, she leaned back and smirked. “None of you seem very surprised by that.”
“Oh!” Kami busted out, “that’s crazy.”
“Yeah. Are we in danger?” Rai said, not even bothering to sound concerned.
“Insane, just insane,” Joey muttered.
“Right.” Sabrina glanced at Mr. Reyes, who struggled to keep a tough face. Overexaggerated remarks flowed louder, and the captain lady’s fists clenched.
“And you,” Sabrina said, pointing at Joey. “I was expecting a boy.”
“I get that a lot,” Joey said, flashing a smile.
“But Joey’s not your real name, is it?” Sabrina grabbed a handheld from the desk beside her, scrolling down on its screen.
“No,” Joey said softly, her grin fading.
“Well, what is it?”
Joey gawked at Sabrina, her shoulders tight. “What?”
“Your name, girl. What’s your real first name?”
“Oh, Josephine. But I really don’t like that, so everyone just calls me—”
“See, that’s not listed on your profile. Don’t you think that’s strange, Josephine?” Sabrina set the handheld back on the desk, glaring
.
Joey looked at Kami, then Rai, getting two blank stares. Her head rolled back to Sabrina, and she applied a heavy layer of charm. “It must’ve been some sorta typo at intake. We only just got our letter yesterday.”
“Also strange, isn’t it, Mr. Reyes?” Sabrina asked over her shoulder. When Kami and Rai sank lower in their seats, Sabrina shifted her glower to them.
“Yes,” Mr. Reyes said, crossing his large arms. “This flight was booked over a month ago.”
“Plus,” Sabrina leaned toward Kami, whose foot swung at the ankle, “there are no Westens on the original handwritten manifest.”
“Weird,” Rai broke in, attempting to draw the attention from his sister. “Oversights happen all the time. Humans—they make mistakes. That’s why God created computers.”
Sabrina veered her scowl to Rai. “I know who your parents are.” Rai challenged her with a firm glare, but she wasn’t backing down. “I know your mother very well.”
“Then you know you shouldn’t be interrogating us,” Rai said through gritted teeth, holding a venomous glare.
Jesse’s eyes grew wide. This was a side of Rai he hadn’t seen yet and didn’t suspect would exist inside the mellow person he knew. The parts of him that weren’t impressed were somewhat frightened.
“This isn’t an interrogation.” Sabrina threw her hands in the air. “Just a friendly chat. One could almost say, a warning. You see” —she clasped her fingers behind her head and softened her stare, which only made her look more intimidating— “I got a friendly warning earlier, over the loudspeakers. More strange, right?”
This time Joey squirmed, and Sabrina zeroed in. “Your voice sounds awfully familiar, Josephine.”
“It’s Joey.”
“Were you playing with the audio, Josephine?”
Joey shook her head, slanting as far back as her chair would allow.
“Did you and your brother hack your way onto this spacebus, Josephine?”