“I told you, he owns a tech corporation. That’s all I know. Why?” Parker frowned.
“What’s he like?”
Parker looked out the window. “Actually, I’ve never met him.”
“What?” Parker had already told him that Asa didn’t live in the compound, but wouldn’t he at least want to see his ward, to check in on how he was doing? “But he’s your guardian.”
“He funds my existence and makes the rules, but I don’t know anything about him—where he lives, what he does, what he looks like. I know he’s got a lot of money, but that’s it.”
“So you grew up with…?”
“Just Mina, yes. I was raised by a robot.” Parker said this like it was funny, but there was an underlying bitterness. “Dr. Silvestri only comes by every once in a while.”
Chase considered what this must have been like, and wondered whether he’d grown up in similar circumstances. “Why did you tell me you lived alone?”
“Because she’s not alive.”
Chase opened his mouth to argue, but at that moment the waitress reappeared and set two glasses of foamy red liquid on the table. She turned and began to walk away.
“Hey!” Parker shouted. “What is this?”
She stopped and turned, placing her hands on her hips. “Two Nevnas.”
“I didn’t order this. Bring me a Lyolian ale!” Parker commanded. A deep flush was rising in his face.
“You can order Lyolian ale when you’re of age to order Lyolian ale. Until then, you get a Nevna.”
“This is ridiculous!” Parker rose to his feet, puffing out his chest indignantly. “Do you have any idea who I am?”
“Sure, you’re the kid who’s about to get thrown out of my pub,” she snapped.
“I’m sorry, is he giving you trouble?” said a polite and familiar voice on the right. Chase looked over with surprise. Mina stood beside him, a calm smile on her face.
Parker roared in frustration and swept both glasses to the floor with a crash. Red liquid spread out on the floor and ran under the waitress’s feet.
“Parker!” Mina stepped forward, placing herself between Parker and the waitress. “Please take this with our apologies,” she said, extending a handful of chips.
“Get him out of here,” said the waitress, shoving the money into an apron pocket.
Mina seized Parker by the arm and dragged him out into the street. Chase rushed after them, feeling every pair of eyes in the pub follow him. Parker tried to jerk his arm away from her, but she kept her grip on his wrist.
“Let me go, let me go, let me go,” he hissed through gritted teeth.
“Bravo, Parker.” She released his arm. “This was your best escape yet. All the way to Mircona—very nice! I knew you’d figure out how to hack the cruiser eventually.”
“Stupid robot!” he spat, rubbing his wrist. “I can’t even get five minutes without you breathing down my neck!”
Mina smiled at him and turned to Chase, who stood off to the side, embarrassed by the scene. “Dr. Silvestri’s been trying to contact you,” she informed him. “I’ll take you to see him, and then I’m going to place you in a different facility. After this incident it’s apparent you need to be in solitary confinement.”
Chase glared at Parker, who kept his eyes trained on the ground. This was all his fault—he’d wanted to take Chase on his stupid joyride, and now it was Chase who was going to pay for it. He lunged forward, shoving Parker in the chest. “Idiot!”
“Hey!” cried Parker, although he still avoided making eye contact.
“You stupid, selfish jerk!” Chase shouted.
“Alright, let’s—” Mina stopped abruptly and her eyes widened the tiniest bit. She turned her back on both boys. “Can I help you?”
The two soldiers in dark gray materialized out of the crowd, wearing matching grim expressions.
“ID check, ma’am,” said one of the men. The other looked past her and examined both boys, staring intently at their faces.
“We don’t need any problems here, officer, just a disagreement between friends. I’ve got the situation under control,” Mina said.
“I’m afraid we’re going to need to see your papers,” the man insisted.
“The Fleet doesn’t need to get involved in this,” said Mina. “We’ll be—”
“Do you know a Dr. David Silvestri?” the other officer interrupted.
Mina cocked her head. “What?”
What took place next went so fast, it seemed like it all happened at once. The man on the left began to reach for his sidearm. Mina leapt forward, grabbing one of the soldiers around his waist and swinging him into his partner. Chase barely dodged getting hit as the soldiers collided and tumbled to the ground.
Mina seized one of the men by the collar and swung her leg across the other’s chest, pinning them both to the ground. The crowd around them rippled as people turned to stare.
“Mina?” Parker stood at the edge of the fight, eyes wide with shock.
She looked up at them, her long hair hanging in her face. “Both of you, get out of here!” she yelled. “Run!”
CHAPTER SIX
Parker grabbed Chase by the arm and pushed him into motion. They took off up the street, weaving through the crowd and shoving aside the people who got in their way. Angry shouts followed them as they ran.
“There!” Parker dashed through a brick doorway into a dark tunnel, yelling a warning to the people ahead of them. They ran so fast on the transway there wasn’t time to check the signs for directions. When the path began to split, Chase followed Parker blindly.
They emerged from the tunnels minutes later into a forest thick with tall, straight trees. Chase took a deep breath of humid air and glanced up at the dappled green canopy. “Wait! This isn’t where we came from.”
“Keep moving,” panted Parker. Chase jogged after him down a path that twisted through the trees to a small creek. They ran along the water for several minutes, until finally Parker slowed to a walk. Only the sound of rushing water and their hard breathing filled the air.
Chase looked back over his shoulder. “Are we clear?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. That was crazy!” He gave Chase a friendly slap on the back, but Chase pushed his arm away. “Come on, we got away. Lighten up, will you?”
“Is this all funny to you?”
“Well, it’s kind of funny—” Parker began to say.
Chase rounded on him, pushing him against a tree. “What is wrong with you?”
“I’m sorry,” Parker said, flinching back against the tree trunk. “You’re right, I’m a jerk, okay?”
“Yes, you are! This is all your fault. I never should have left the house.”
Parker narrowed his eyes. “Oh, whatever. Maybe I switched up the destination on you, but you were more than happy to leave when I offered you the chance.”
He was right. Chase had been so eager to get away and figure out some answers himself, he’d blown off the idea of consequences. Now instead of memories, he’d found more problems. He dropped his hands and let Parker go. “What’s going to happen to Mina?”
Parker didn’t look Chase in the eyes as he brushed bits of bark from his shirt. “She’ll be fine. She can take care of herself.”
“How do you know they didn’t arrest her? Why were they asking her about Dr. Silvestri?”
“I don’t know. Don’t worry, everything’s fine.”
“Everything is not fine!” Chase grabbed a small branch and ripped it off the tree, throwing it at the ground. “Nothing is fine! I still don’t know anything about myself!”
Parker stared at the torn branch for a moment, and he spoke in a cautious tone. “Aren’t you afraid that maybe what happened to you is so horrible, once you find out, you’ll wish you never knew?”
Chase froze. Of course he’d thought something like that, a possibility he shoved in some dark corner of his mind, but he’d never let himself believe it could be true. “Just leave me alone,” he
said, pushing Parker aside to speed ahead.
Behind him, Parker muttered something.
“What did you say?” Chase asked.
“I said I forgot that badge on the table when Mina dragged us out of the pub.”
“Well, you stole it anyway. Serves you right.”
Parker didn’t respond, and Chase stomped ahead on the path, fuming. They’d nearly been arrested, and Parker cared more about the stupid badge than about what was happening to Mina. After a few more minutes, they reached a point where the creek ran into a concrete tunnel on a sheer slope and the path curved up over a hill. Parker jogged up beside Chase as they climbed.
“We’re home free,” Parker said when they reached the top. Before them lay a wide park, and far on the other side was the small brick building where they had exited the first transway. Only a few more minutes and they’d be safely in the cruiser and on their way back home. Chase felt a strong urge to run the whole way to the cruiser, but restrained himself to avoid attracting attention.
“See, I told you everything would be fine,” Parker said.
Chase turned to tell him that he could take his fine and shove it, but before he could get a word out, Parker dashed away. Maybe he thought Chase was going to take a swing at him. Chase shook his head, scoffing, and from the other side of the field, a flash of movement caught his eye.
The two soldiers raced toward them, blasters drawn. Without a second thought, Chase took off after Parker, sprinting toward the entrance of the transway. The relief he felt when Mina emerged from the tunnel in front of them evaporated as a flash of bright light exploded on the ground.
“They’re shooting at us?” Parker shouted in surprise.
Even Mina looked confused. Summoning an extra burst of speed, the boys caught up to her and raced inside the transway.
“Is this because I hacked the cruiser?” asked Parker as they dodged around a young couple.
“This isn’t about the cruiser,” said Mina. “This is bad.”
“Is it about me?” gasped Chase, but his question was drowned out by shouting that echoed behind them as the soldiers entered the tunnel.
Parker led the way toward a side passage, and they ran into the narrow corridor toward their docking compartment. When they reached the door, Mina stood in back to shield them while Parker fumbled with the lock screen. The door slid open, and Chase dashed inside.
“Get in, Parker!” Mina ordered.
Parker stayed in the hall, fingers flying over the screen. “I’m making sure they can’t get through.”
“Don’t bother, just get in the—”
Chase turned around as another explosion of light filled the corridor. The beam hit Mina directly in the chest. Without making a noise, she flew violently against the door frame and crumpled to the floor. “Mina!” Chase ran to her side.
Parker stepped over her body and ran to the cruiser. “Clear her out of the door!”
Chase grabbed Mina by the feet and pulled, but it felt like he was trying to pull the cruiser, or possibly a small house. Was she made of solid lead? Straining every muscle in his back, he dragged her slender frame into the docking compartment.
The door barely slid closed in time. A second later someone pounded on it from the outside, and a burst of explosions erupted as the soldiers tried to blast their way through.
“Get in!” shouted Parker, once he had situated himself in the front seat of the cruiser.
Chase paused to get a better grip on Mina’s feet. “Help me!”
“Just leave her!”
“What? No!” Chase yelled over the loud shooting from outside. “We can’t!”
“She’ll be fine!” Parker tore his attention from the piloting console and looked back through the door, his eyes blazing. “She’ll find me again. She always finds me. Get in!”
“No!” Chase ran around to Mina’s shoulders and hoisted her up. The door rattled behind him as the blasts continued. With a roar, he pulled her around and heaved her up into the cruiser.
“Unable to access CFC network,” said the neutral voice of the cruiser.
“Why isn’t this working? I can’t access the pathways!” Parker pounded his fists against the console.
Chase climbed over Mina and into his seat. “They’re almost in!”
“Close the door, open the gate,” Parker mumbled to himself, his trembling fingers carrying out the commands manually. As the gate rolled back to reveal the horizon of Mircona, a steering yoke and throttle levers emerged from a panel on the dashboard.
A final explosion and a loud clatter told them that the men had finally blown off the door of the docking compartment. Seconds later another blast shook the entire cruiser.
“Go! Go! Go!” screamed Chase.
Parker seized the controls and yanked hard. The cruiser shot out of the gate, ricocheting off the edge of the portal with a crash. They hurtled over the enclosed city, but there was much more air traffic than there had been when they arrived. Dozens of other vehicles careened wildly through the sky, following no particular path or trajectory.
“I think they’re all offline!” said Parker. He jerked their Starjumper out of the way of the oncoming vehicles. “Is the entire CFC system down? I’ve never seen anything like…”
They both gasped as another cruiser shot up from below, narrowly missing their vehicle. A shock wave traveled through the thin atmosphere and sent them rocking backward. The pilot of the other cruiser reacted with a sharp turn and clipped the tail of a second vehicle whizzing by, sending it into a spin.
“Get us away from here!” said Chase, clutching onto the console.
With a white-knuckled grip on the controls, Parker yanked them upward and jerked the vehicle around. They sped toward the outer limits of the enclosed city, where congestion was thinner. Finally they passed the last buildings and cruised for a minute over the rocky brown surface of the moon. Only a few other vehicles traveled within view.
“Can we please contact Dr. Silvestri now?” asked Chase.
“Yes.” Keeping one hand on the yoke, Parker scrolled through a number of screens on the console, tapping in information. A silvery panel at the top of the console lit up, and after a minute, Dr. Silvestri’s face appeared.
“Parker, where have you been?” he barked. He looked exhausted and sweaty, and sounded out of breath. His glasses were missing. “Where’s Chase?”
“He’s right here,” said Parker. Chase tried to lean in toward the doctor’s face.
“I’m sorry, I can’t find my glasses right now,” mumbled Dr. Silvestri. “Listen, Chase—something’s happened. I think I made a mistake. I contacted a former colleague about that DNA sample I’d taken from you, and within five minutes my entire system was locked. Fleet transport vehicles are pulling up outside the lab right now. I’m sorry, Chase, I had to destroy your microchip.”
There was a loud crash in the background, and Dr. Silvestri jumped. “I have to go. Parker, can you find Mina?”
“She’s here with us, but—” said Parker.
“Have her get in contact with Asa—he’ll know what to do next.” He glanced over his shoulder as more crashes rang out. “I have to go.”
Parker waved his hand at the screen. “Wait, Doc, it’s not that easy. We just got chased by a bunch of Fleet soldiers, and they were firing at us and, well, Mina’s actually out of commission right now.”
“What?” The horrified look on Dr. Silvestri’s face sent tendrils of dread through Chase’s stomach. “They must have been following Mina already. Look, whatever you do, don’t go home. Don’t go to any authorities—and do not go to the Fleet, not under any circumstances. Oh, Parker, I was afraid this would happen to us someday. Listen to me, you have to find Asa. Look for him at—”
An extremely loud roar drowned out the rest of his sentence, and a woman’s screams filled the background. “Anna!” shouted Dr. Silvestri, turning. He rose from his seat, and the screen went blank.
The boys sat in shocked silence.
The cabin gradually darkened as they cruised away from sunlight into the dark side of the moon. Lights from the console illuminated their faces.
“What on Taras is going on?” Parker turned and looked at Chase. “Who are you?”
The scream still echoed in Chase’s mind. “Are they going to be okay?”
“The doc and his wife?” Parker shook his head. “I have no idea.”
Chase stared at the console. “It’s all because of me. Maybe I should turn myself in to the authorities.”
“Are you stupid? Dr. Silvestri just told you not to.”
“But they were looking for me, weren’t they? Why is the Fleet looking for me?”
“You don’t know for sure if they were looking for you. The doc sounded like he’s been expecting something like this to happen for a long time. He might have been doing illegal stuff in his lab.”
Chase gave him a skeptical look. “You think that’s why they were shooting at us?”
Parker opened his mouth to speak, but no answer came out, and instead he shrugged.
“So how are you supposed to get in touch with Asa?”
“Yeah, so, there’s a problem with that. I don’t have the first clue how to find him. Mina’s the only one who’s ever been able to contact him.”
“Why?” For being Parker’s guardian, it sure seemed like the guy made a huge effort to ensure Parker had as little to do with him as possible.
“To keep me safe? To keep himself safe? I don’t know if you’d noticed, Chase, but the guy’s kind of obsessed with safety. That much I know about him.” Parker looked down at the console and made a few adjustments to their path as they soared over the dark terrain. “This is so stupid.”
“What are we going to do?” asked Chase.
“We can’t go home. I guess we find a place to hide out on Trucon for a while, and I’ll take Mina into Rother City and try to get her fixed.”
Chase looked out at the moon and watched it roll away underneath them as they cruised onward. Why would the Fleet be after him—who was he? He might never know, now that the chip had been destroyed. He rested his head on his hand, wishing he could rewind back to the morning, when the only thing he had to worry about was how soon Mina could contact Asa Kaplan.
Lost Planet 01 - The Lost Planet Page 5