I jump in to explain so he doesn’t think they’re heartless. “After working at dig sites for years, they have plenty of experience with cave-ins. Once the pits have been excavated by the robotic diggers, a total collapse is very rare. Mostly they’re minor and Pit 4 is pretty far from the base. Plus if I had enough time I could have gone down into the factory. Those walls are sturdy.”
“Oh. Your dad organized a bunch of the techs to clear the sand without causing more cave-ins. I stayed to help. Word spread that you were trapped and a flood of scientists arrived.”
My chest warms. They care.
“When there was a break in the storm, we heard the noise from the looters’ machines and finally figured it out. Dad took Alpha team outside to stop them, Beta team joined us in removing the blockade. Once we had an opening big enough for us to fit, Officer Morgan took point and we entered the pits.”
“It must have been a mess.”
Niall gives me a you-got-to-be-kidding-me look. “I wasn’t focused on the Warriors. Or the looters for that matter. Although I would have been more than happy to shoot the bastards if we encountered them. My main concern was finding you. And I did.” He closes his eyes as if enduring a wave of pain. “You were lying among the rubble, broken, bleeding. I thought you were dead.”
His anguish is clear. Despite his previous actions and words, he cares for me. And I feel bad for causing him pain. Logically, I know the Warrior hearts were not worth the massive amount of worry my parents and Niall endured. Yet, I don’t believe I did the wrong thing.
I’m an awful person.
I put my hand over his. “Niall, I’m sorry.”
His eyes snap open. “You have no reason to apologize.”
“But I knew what was going on and still returned to hide the hatch.”
“Like you told your mother, it was a panic response. Many people do things they’re convinced is the right thing when under extreme stress. Plus you’re a civilian. You don’t have the experience to handle a stressful situation. Why do you think we train so much?”
“’Cause you have nothing else to do?”
“Funny. It’s so certain responses become automatic. So when you don’t have time to think, your body is already reacting properly.”
“Oh.” A tightness around my chest eases. And that explains why Officer Radcliff didn’t yell at me.
A nurse enters to check on my vitals. Niall lets go of my hand. Huh? When did that happen? Must have been one of those automatic responses. Tingles dance on my palm as he returns to his post outside my door.
After a few torture sessions…sorry, physical therapy… and visits from the doctors, I’m declared… well… not healed, but good enough to ease back into my life. Officer Radcliff ends my security detail, but that doesn’t stop Niall from escorting me back to my housing unit.
Of course my parents notice this. When I’m tucked into my own bed, Dad leans forward and says, “I think a certain officer will not be dismissed so easily.” He tilts his head toward the entrance to our unit. “One who has worked extra shifts.”
My insides do a strange little twirly thing.
“Niall is just feeling guilty,” Mom says. “The boy will get over it soon.”
Gee, thanks, Mom.
Before they retreat to their offices to get some work done, but be within hearing distance should I need anything, I ask about the Warriors. “How bad is it? Are all the Warriors smashed to pieces?”
“Pretty much. We’re concentrating our efforts on reconstruction and analyzing the factory, but we’re not reporting everything to DES,” Mom says.
“You think the looters wormed into DES’s data clusters?” I ask. I was able to get to classified files and I’m not near as skilled as many others.
“It’s a possibility. And, there’s just something…off about their responses to us.”
Another thing I can help with, searching for signs that someone wormed into the Q-net. Once I can read more than a couple paragraphs without a headache.
“And we found evidence that the Warriors do have those hearts.” Mom’s face lights with excitement.
I sit up straighter. “Did one survive?”
“No, but we found particles of that black substance in the chest cavity of a few of them. Not as much as we’d hoped. It breaks down very quickly once it’s broken.”
“Have you figured out what that material is?”
“Not yet. The chemists are working on it, but we do know it absorbs X-rays and a number of other rays so it doesn’t show up on any of our scanning equipment. Once the diggers excavate another pit, we can examine an intact Warrior and confirm it.”
Sounds like a lot of work.
“When you’re feeling better, we’d like you to finish reconstructing the General,” Dad says.
His comment reminds me that I haven’t dreamt of the General since he was attacked by those shadow creatures. Irrational grief floods through me.
“Lyra, are you okay? Should we call the doctor?” Mom asks in concern. “I told you it was too soon, Spencer.”
“She’s going to have to face-”
“I’m fine,” I assure them. “Just tired.”
They hurry to leave so I can rest. Except, I lie there wondering why I’m so upset about the first quiet night of sleep since I touched that heart.
I return to soch-time on the tenth day after the attack. Niall is waiting for me at the end of soch-time. I’m not surprised to see him. He’d escorted me to soch-time two hours earlier. Even though he’s off duty, he’s taken this whole protection thing pretty seriously. And I’m torn between touched, annoyed, and suspicious.
Niall falls into step beside me and he laces his fingers in mine. A pulse of surprise skewers me, and, amazingly, I don’t trip over my feet. I try matching Niall’s nonchalant attitude even though my lungs struggle to draw in enough air. Will he kiss me again? Do I want him to? The response from my body is a resounding yes, but my battered synapses are signaling a warning. I’ve seen his mood change as fast as a heartbeat. And my mom’s voice sounds in my head, Niall is just feeling guilty. The boy will get over it soon.
“Are you going to the pits today?” he asks a little too casually.
Soch-time has drained all my energy. The doctors warned me that recovering from a concussion takes much longer than all my other injuries. “No.”
Niall relaxes. I wonder why he didn’t want me to go. When we arrive, Niall releases me and goes in first to ensure there’s no one waiting to ambush me.
“It’s safe,” he says in his authoritative tone.
I can’t resist a sarcastic comment. “Are you sure? Did you check under the bed for dust bunnies?”
He shakes his head as if disappointed. “That’s a rookie mistake, Mouse. They might be cute and fluffy, but those dust bunnies can be killers.”
“Duly noted,” I say, trying to keep my smile from going too wide. He called me Mouse!
“Good. Now get some rest.”
“But I have to catch up on my school assignments.” Just the thought of all that work makes my temples throb.
“Wrong answer.” He steps behind me and grabs my shoulders. Pushing so I either have to walk forward or fall flat on my face, he steers me into my room.
Niall points to my bed. “Sleep.” He stands in the threshold with his arms crossed.
“You’re not going to leave until I lie down, are you?”
A mulish stiffening of his jaw is the only answer I receive.
“All right. All right.” I yank the blanket down and climb in. “I’m in bed.”
“Right answer.”
“You’re obnoxious, Toad.”
He pushes me down so I’m horizontal. “Sleep well.” Niall pulls the blanket up to my chin, then leaves.
Of course I plan to get up right after I’m sure he’s gone. But warmth envelops me as the mattress molds to my body. I’ll just close my eyes for a minute.
I wake up a couple hours later. Damn it. I’d blame Nia
ll, but I do feel better. Mom knocks on my door and announces dinner. What?
I join my parents in the dining area. We haven’t had a family meal since the discovery of the factory. But there’s my favorite pasta dish—manicotti—with bread sticks in the middle of the table. No doubt this is Mom’s way to counter her guilt over not being the best mother in the universe. She’s a better cook than the chefs at the canteen, so I’m not going to complain. Might as well enjoy it while it lasts.
The food has restored me and I return with the intention of doing my school assignments. Except, I bypass my school files and worm deeper into the Q-net. It feels different, as if someone had rearranged the furniture. Maybe it’s the concussion or the fact I haven’t wormed since we found the hearts. At least the shortcuts Chief Hoshi taught me are still available. Remembering that I could be arrested if caught worming, I’m extra careful. Lyra Daniels, ghost wormer.
For the looters to get all the way out here on the edge of Explored Space, they had to use a Crinkler engine. In order to not kill everyone in the Galaxy, they needed to avoid all the other areas of crinkled space, suns, black holes, and any massive planets. They had to worm deep into the Q-net to see the star roads. Plus they’d have to input their route. There should be some evidence of that tampering. And the fact DES didn’t notice is terrifying. Or they did pick up on it and are keeping it a secret? If the looters tried again, perhaps DES will ambush them. Maybe that’s why they’re acting odd.
Either way, I might find something that will help. Except I can’t access it from my terminal. After three hours of being blocked—even through the shortcuts—I figure I need a better terminal. One of my parents’? I consider the risks. Perhaps Jarren would be up to the challenge of finding the looters. I message him.
As I cover my tracks on my way out of the Q-net, I’m…detoured—that’s the best word I can come up with to describe it—to another cluster. Lan’s symbols fill this area and it takes me a few minutes to realize that the Q-net has continued to organize her research notes despite the fact I didn’t request it—I’ve been too busy to return to the project. Not only did it organize the remaining symbols, but it interpreted them. I read through the results.
Oh. My. Stars.
Thirteen
2522:150
Niall rushes into the game room. “I got your message, are you all right?” His feet are bare and he’s wearing a T-shirt, black jeans, and his holster. His hair is adorably sleep-tousled.
“Mouse?”
I stop staring at his hair. “I’m fine.” I point to the game’s screen which shows Lan’s symbols. It’s just after midnight so no one else is here. And I hope my parents don’t check on me and freak out when they discover an empty bed.
“Is that—”
“Yes. The Q-net has continued to organize the symbols.”
A pause as Niall puts it together. “Did you—”
“No. I didn’t ask it to.”
“It could have been inadvertent. You weren’t exactly going through the proper channels at that time.”
A polite way to say I was doing it illegally. “Regardless, it figured out another part of the code.”
“And?”
“It grouped eight different symbols together and matched it to a Warrior planet. These…” I wave my hand at the screen, “are the ones for Taishan.”
“So when those symbols are together they’re referring to the planet Taishan?”
“Yes.”
“But Earthlings named it Taishan.”
“The Q-net used the astral coordinates of the planets then matched it to our designations. The important thing is that the aliens had their own designations for all the Warrior planets.”
“I just woke up, you’re going to have to explain why that’s worth getting out of bed for.” He yawns.
I pull up a list. It has all the names of the Warrior planets, followed by a list of coordinates. “Those numbers represent a Warrior planet that is unnamed.”
“Unnamed?”
“Because it’s undiscovered.”
“You mean there’s another Warrior planet out there that DES hasn’t found yet?”
I draw in a breath. “No.”
“But you said—”
Holding up a hand, I stop him. “Look closer. There’s more than one that is undiscovered.”
He pales. “How many?”
“There are a total of sixty-four Warrior planets.”
“You mean…”
“Yup. There are forty-two others out there and we have the coordinates of where they are.”
We stare at each other. I’m still in shock, but it’s a relief to share the news.
“Wait,” Niall says. “Why are you telling me? Shouldn’t you let your parents know this right away?”
“Before that, I was…er…worming.” His expression hardens so I add, “I was trying to figure out how the looters got here.”
“Lyra, my dad already talked to your parents about asking you to help us with that. They said he has to wait until you’re recovered from the concussion.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. Oh.”
Suddenly tired, I sink into a chair.
Niall crouches next to me. “This is too big to keep to yourself. You’re going to have to fess up.”
“I know. Guess I was hoping you’d have some grand plan on how I could do it without getting into trouble.”
“It’s not like you’re a stranger to being in trouble.”
“Hey.” I try for outrage, but it’s a token gesture.
He smiles. “I’ll visit you every day in the detention center and bring you candy.”
That’s it. I can’t stand it anymore. Standing up, I take a few strides to put some distance between us. “Stop it.”
“Stop what?”
“Being nice. You’re only doing it because you’re feeling guilty.”
Niall straightens. All his humor is gone.
“Once you realize that it’s not your fault I was hurt— because it isn’t—you’re going to be a jerk again and tell me to leave you alone.” Now that I’ve started talking, I can’t seem to stop. “And you’ll spend the rest of your time on Yulin avoiding me. Then that Protector Class ship will arrive and you’ll be gone.” And so will the remains of my heart.
“So you have the future all figured out.” His tone is emotionless, but his hands are balled into fists and pressed against his legs.
“What else could it be?”
He meets my gaze and I’m facing the man who sat across from me in the shuttle—the confident, capable soldier. My heart picks up its pace. I’ve no idea what’s next.
“All the stuff you said to me before about why I was being such a jerk was right. You nailed it. I was beyond furious at my dad and Captain Harrison for dumping me on this planet. That hatred just consumed me.” He taps his chest. “Your heart crumbled, but mine burned. I couldn’t get rid of it. It poisoned everything—even drawing. Then when I couldn’t find your pulse after the attack, all that anger and hate—” Niall snaps his fingers. “Gone. You were dead. Nothing else mattered. It put everything in perspective.”
Wow. I don’t know what to say to that even though my heart thumps its approval so hard I think it’s going to crack my ribs.
Niall steps close and takes both my hands. “That jerk is not coming back. And I want to spend more time with you.”
“But I annoy you.”
“Part of the appeal.”
“And I have a habit of breaking rules.”
“Nobody’s perfect.” He cocks his head to the side. “Are you trying to talk me out of it? If you don’t want—”
“That’s not it. It’s just…are you talking about being friends or more? I can’t do more with your plans to leave. Signing up for the Protectorate is not on my career list.” Well, nothing is on my list at the moment, but he didn’t need to know that.
“I’m not signing up,” Niall says. “Captain Harrison was right, I’m needed here. I
t’s what I trained for. Plus my dad…well, it’s only been two A-years since my mother died, he still needs family around.” Niall moves so he’s centimeters from me. “And there’s this girl, she’s like a comet—makes the rest of the Galaxy seem dull in comparison.”
Heat flushes through me. “A comet.” I raise an eyebrow. “They can be pretty dangerous.”
“Don’t I know it. Guess I’m just one of those adrenaline junkies.” He meets my gaze. “And I’m willing to take the chance. Are you?”
My heart yells YES, but my brain is being more cautious—not like a comet at all. “It’s going to take me a while to get used to…” I hold up our intertwined hands. “All this.”
“We can take it slow.”
“And I don’t think I could handle too much niceness.”
“Duly noted.”
“All right.”
His grip tightens as he grins at me. A happy Niall is quite the sight, causing my head to spin and excitement to beat in my veins. And I won’t even go into what it’s doing to the rest of me. I didn’t expect this tonight when I messaged him. And that thought grounds me as I remember the reason I contacted him. I tilt my head at the screen. “You might have to visit me in the detention center in order to spend time with me.”
He glances at the symbols. “Your parents might be so ecstatic over the news of those other planets that they’ll probably forgive you for illegally worming.”
I look at him.
“Will it help if I’m with you when you tell your parents?”
The moral support would be welcome, but there’s no reason to involve Niall. After all, I did the deed. “No. It’ll go better if I’m by myself. When do you think is a good time to tell them?”
“First thing in the morning.”
“Ugh. How about-”
“No sense putting it off.”
I try to look on the bright side. No school work or soch-time while in detention.
Navigating the Stars Page 17