Morrow felt at ease because of her relaxed manner. He allowed himself to relax a bit. He nodded to Dr. Silver.
“If you don’t mind, could you ask her for some of the chemicals? I’ll tell you what to do with them later.”
Andrea went over to her new co-worker and spouted what Morrow thought was a greeting in Bleepspeak. After about five minutes, she returned with a basin full of yellow chemicals. Morrow was both impressed and annoyed that it seemed so effortless for her.
“Something wrong?”
He hesitated for a moment to pick the right words.
“N-no, nothing.”
Andrea passed by him silently. He was beginning to wonder whether her presence here
would be a blessing or a curse.
Chapter Ten
“Kids? Please tell me you’re okay.”
“We’re fine, Mom. What’s wrong?”
“It’s Mr. Howell. He disappeared last night.”
Centara froze for a second. Mr. Howell, their neighbor, had been like a second father to her after their dad was killed during the Starlight Follies years ago. What could have happened to him?
“He wrote me a letter telling me Enigma Corp was up to something. Something bad…anyway, you need to come home now. I’m worried about you.”
Arlen sighed. He wondered if it was worth it to tell his mother they weren’t were they said they were going, but decided there was no need to worry her further. Besides, if they flew fast, they could make the trip in about the same time it took to get their Aunt and Uncle’s house.
“Alright. We’ll be home soon.”
“Okay, love you. If you run into any problems, just call me.”
“Love you too.”
Centara hung up the OmniLink and glared at her big brother.
“I told you this was a bad idea.”
“Hey, you didn’t have to go along with it.”
“Whatever. Just get us home.”
Arlen fished the ship’s keycard out of his pocket and motioned for his sister to follow him out of the Starbase. When he and Centara reached the parking lot, they stopped dead.
Chapter Ten
Out in the parking lot, Arlen saw two men and one woman surrounding their ship, trying to break in. Space Pirates, Arlen thought. The woman in the group was using a thin silver rod to silently pry the window open.
“Hey, get outta here!”
One of the men, a short pudgy individual with a red bandanna turned around to face Arlen.
“Oh, you don’t wanna be messin’ with us, lad.”
The man who’d spoken to Arlen removed something small and silver from his pocket.
“Arlen, he’s got a knife!”
Centara jumped behind Arlen for protection.
“What do you want? We don’t have any creds to give you.”
Arlen tried his hardest to look fierce while on the inside being terrified and outnumbered. They hadn’t exactly covered Self-Defense in his high school.
“We’re in need of big time cash. Now, I have a crazy idea, but it’s kinda risky,
So we’re gonna have you try it out first.”
“Leave us alone!”
Arlen kicked the knife out of the pudgy man’s hands in one swift motion. The girl was closing in on him. Wasn’t he supposed refrain from hitting her? Before Arlen could decide, she made the decision for him, laying him out on the hard pavement. Arlen felt dizzy. When his vision did return, the entire gang was standing over him. Arlen opened his eyes just in time to see Centara tackling the girl. Although still not feeling strong, Arlen got up and fought the two remaining men.
The pudgy man recovered his knife from the ground while his accomplice pressed Arlen against the ship. Checkmate. Arlen couldn’t move; the knife was in front of him, the ship hull behind him. He wondered if Centara would make it out okay.
“Now, we’re gonna take a little detour to Polaris.”
Arlen gasped. He’d heard of Polaris as being the center of the Lowlands, and had been forbidden to go there as a child.
“Cent!”
The female pirate had Centara held up at knifepoint. What are we gonna tell mom? We both failed her, Centara thought.
“I’m not going anywhere with you scumbags,” Arlen protested.
“Better hurry….wouldn’t want you to miss the Opening Ceremonies.”
Opening ceremonies? They’re taking us to the Starlight Follies! Arlen realized. The games were likely to get them killed before they ever reached home.
Chapter Eleven:
The inside of the Pirate Ship was more spacious than Arlen would’ve thought by looking at it from the outside. It seemed like a standard ship except for the fact that a small grey box sat in the far right corner in front of them. Is that…Arlen slowly moved towards the box, unable to believe what was right in front of his eyes. Before he could learn any more about it, the ship’s Captain approached them.
“Interesting little bugger, ain’t it?”
Arlen noted the Lowland influence in his voice. He was surprised the man was making small talk after having just kidnapped them.
“What is it?”
“Cloaking device.”
Arlen gasped. I knew it! If he could somehow get his hands on it, they could sneak into Enigma Corp. completely undetected. Arlen fished into his pocket for his OmniLink to see how many credits he had left.
“I’ll buy it from you for 100 Creds,” he blurted.
Centara glared at him. True, it was a little hypocritical of him to be blowing every credit they had left when he’d been yelling at Centara to save money, but he had a good reason.
“Sure, why not. Gotta get what we can nowadays.”
“I don’t have a good feeling about this,” Centara whispered.
Arlen ignored his sister, something he would later come to regret. The captain brought his own OmniLink out so Arlen could exchange the credits. Arlen was amazed to see that the Pirates had over 1,000,000 credits to their name. When the exchange was complete, the devices beeped.
“Done. You want me to get the cloaking device?”
The Captain chuckled and Centara wanted to hit Arlen for being so naïve; they were, after all, dealing with pirates.
“Silly kids. You didn’t really think I’d give it to you, did you?”
Arlen suddenly filled with rage.
“Give us what we paid for, noob!”
But the Captain shook his head. Arlen looked at his sister. Perhaps he should have listened to her this one time.
Chapter Twelve
Morrow was hesitant to even knock on Eric Sibelius’ door at this hour of night, but it was something that had to be done. Andrea had fallen asleep a few hours ago, much to Morrow’s relief. He finally knocked on The Director’s door.
“Come in,” Sibelius said without sounding the least bit inviting.
Morrow entered slowly, carrying an electronic tablet with him. Sibelius seemed confused; usually only his Security department had any need for the outdated tablets.
“Sorry to interrupt, sir.”
“Not at all. What’s going on?”
Morrow brought the tablet closer so his superior could see.
“Surveillance team found this about twenty minutes ago.”
Morrow looked down at the tablet and gasped. On it was the letter Mr. Howell had sent to Arlen’s mother.
“This isn’t good…”
“I figured it was something you’d want to see.”
“Good work, Morrow. I’ll have my men take care of this immediately.”
Sibelius pushed a button on his desk to activate the intercom. A bored-sounding woman answered.
“Yes, Mr. Sibelius?”
“Karen, can you have Surveillance check on where the letter we just found came from?”
“Right away, sir.”
&n
bsp; The intercom clicked off. Sibelius looked up at Morrow with a grin.
“Whoever wrote this won’t be a problem soon…”
Chapter Thirteen
When Arlen judged it to be nighttime, he snuck away from his quarters and into the tiny room that Centara inhabited. Normally, Centara was a heavy sleeper, but Arlen managed to get her attention merely by opening the door.
“Sorry to wake you up, but I have an idea.”
“It’s fine; I couldn’t sleep anyway. Too worried about getting back home.”
“That’s kinda why I wanted to talk to you…”
“What’s up?”
Arlen pointed back outside to the main room where they’d first seen the cloaking device.
“You’re obsessed with that thing, Arlen. I mean…”
“Listen. It’s all part of my plan.”
Arlen reflected on the words his mother had used: Enigma Corp. is up to something…something bad. Knowing his former employer, Arlen didn’t doubt the letter’s truth. Centara moved closer so Arlen would hopefully speak quieter and not wake the pirates up.
“Okay. We steal the device, get outta here, and use the cloaking to get into Enigma Corp.”
Centara squinted at him and Arlen could tell she was skeptical. In his heart, he knew it was an ambitious set of goals, but didn’t see any other way to escape.
“So, what do you say?”
“Well, it’s a bit of a long shot…but okay.”
Chapter Fourteen:
Arlen and Centara moved quickly and quietly to the door of Centara’s bedroom. So far, so good, Centara thought. The ship had been put onto autopilot, and now all they needed was for the captain to stay asleep. Centara led her brother out onto the main deck. On any other day, she would’ve admired the beauty of the stars and dark sky, but there was no time for it now. Arlen eyed the cloaking device, and Centara silently hoped he wouldn’t move too fast too soon.
Centara surged forward, grabbing hold of the small grey box. Perfect! She thought. All of a sudden, an alarm rang.
“We need to get outta here,” Arlen whispered.
No shit, Centara wanted to say back. Instead of arguing, she quickly began calculating an escape route.
“Follow me!”
She led Arlen to a massive closed vault door labeled “Airlock”. Before they could make their way across the ship, a large form was standing in front of them. Could it be the captain?
The figure pushed a button that lit up the immediate area so Arlen could finally see one of the female pirates standing over him, her reddish hair messy and frizzy. She didn’t look pleased.
“Where do you two think you’re going?”
Centara nodded to the button next to the airlock, which Arlen caught onto. He grabbed a pair of space suits hanging on the wall, tossed one to Centara, and pressed the button. The massive door opened, sucking them and the cloaking device into space. The woman pirate jumped, but missed them narrowly. Arlen took a long moment to comprehend what he’d just done; they’d been launched into deep space with no cash, no ship, and no direction.
Chapter Fifteen:
“So, now what?”
“For Axion’s sake, Arlen, can’t you just trust me for once? I’m thinking…”
Arlen sighed. He did have to admit that two of their three goals had been reached; they had the cloaking device and had escaped the pirate ship. A ship whizzed by them, too fast to even see, let alone hitch a ride with.
Arlen eyed a planet in the distance. He thought he saw red dirt, but wasn’t ready to assume anything.
“We must be near a settlement,” Centara offered.
“Maybe we can hitch a ride somewhere.”
Arlen tried to use his OmniLink to see if any radio signals were nearby. Nothing. They wouldn’t be able to call for help, then. Arlen tucked the device back into his pocket and noticed Centara was checking hers for a radio signal as well.
“You got anything?”
“I think so…”
Centara adjusted her device slightly more and a faint signal came into range:
“Helloooo, Mars! I’m Katherine C. and here’s the news for today. The Opening Ceremonies of the Starlight Follies went especially well, with three male and four female tributes being offered from Venus, Saturn, Mars, and Jupiter…”
“So we’re near Mars…I guess.”
Arlen nodded slowly. He couldn’t remember if residents of Mars were generally friendly with citizens of the Moon, but perhaps it was worth a shot.
“So now what?”
Centara was about to say she didn’t know when she spotted a Royal Martian Air Patrol (RMAP) craft cruising casually by. Maybe I can get their attention. Centara fiddled with her OmniLink’s radio.
“Excuse me, if you can hear us, we’re looking for the RMAP…”
“This is a private line, kid.”
Centara looked at her suit’s oxygen tank to check how much time she had left against how long an RMAP craft would likely take to get there. She began fishing around for someone that would either rescue them or get them in touch with the Air Patrol. Each time she changed the radio station, her hope fell slightly.
“…Need a wireless plan that works for you? Try Crescent Mobile…”
“President Shortlidge simply doesn’t know what she’s doing. Putting healthcare for the whole solar system on Jupiter is more than irrational, it’s incredibly expensive…”
Finally, Centara caught a faint signal that appeared to be far away.
“Hello? Is this the RMAP?”
“This is Martian Air Patrol Sgt. O’Toole. Can I help you?”
“My name’s Centara. My brother Arlen and I are stranded near Mars. Can you bring us to Mars, please?”
“Will do, ma’am. Please hold tight and we’ll send someone ASAP.”
“Thanks.”
Centara looked at Arlen, and he got the faint sense she was bragging about her plan having worked out thus far.
“Okay, this was a good plan…”
“Thank you!”
Centara grinned smugly. Arlen ignored her gloating and stuffed his OmniLink away so he could look for the patrol ship. Finally, a small merchant ship with red RMAP letters and the Air Force Patrol’s logo, a massive hawk, pulled up near them. Arlen decided to stuff the cloaking device away so he wouldn’t have to explain that he bought it from pirates.
A small hatch in back of the ship opened up, deploying a man and woman dressed in Red petticoats and wearing space suits. Arlen noticed the wide array of medals on the Soldiers’ uniforms and felt suddenly at ease. We’re in good hands, he thought.
“Hello. I’m Col. Rodgers and this is Staff Sgt. Miller. Can I see your ID’s, please?”
Centara hesitated for a moment. Would the Colonel still help them if he knew they weren’t Martian citizens? She supposed it didn’t matter, because Arlen was showing his ID already.
“Earthlings, eh? We’re not really supposed to do this, but we’ll take you back. It’ll be our little secret. Get onboard.”
Arlen noticed there were two others piloting the ship in the absence of Miller and Rodgers. The side of the ship facing them extended a small ramp for them to walk into the ship’s bay. The inside looked like what Arlen thought a typical military ship might, decorated with pins and medals from past missions, along with portraits of famous Martian Generals.
“Thanks so much. We weren’t sure we’d ever get back,” Centara said.
Arlen was silent for a long time, still lost in the grandeur of the ship as it flew back to the surface.
“Can’t leave you kids stranded out there in the wilds of space, now can I? Might be pirates or something.”
Arlen snapped back to reality upon hearing the word “pirates” and felt a sudden urge to confess about the Cloaking Device. Instead, however, he simply shifted his posture to better cover it.
“What’s going on down here?”
Centara pointed to the surface, where a huge crowd of screaming people with signs were jumping up and down, cheering and yelling.
“Gamma Ray’s in town. At least, they will be for about another hour. Then they’re going back to the Moon.”
Centara smiled and Arlen knew exactly what she was thinking; she’d just found them a ride home.
*
Mrs. Burns was tending to her garden when a knock at the door interrupted her. That’s odd, she thought, Nobody’s supposed to be coming by. She eyed the house suspiciously for a minute before leaving her gardening.
“Arlen? Centara?”
No reply. Before opening the door, Mrs. Burns grabbed the baseball bat she kept by the door for protection. Opening the door only slightly, she saw two men standing there, neither of whom she recognized.
“Can I help you?”
The men flashed badges in front of her.
“I’m Lt. Sparks, and this is Col. Smith. We’re from Enigma Corp security. Mr. Sibelius would like to speak with you,” the taller of the two explained.
Mrs. Burns hesitated. If Sibelius had gone through the trouble of sending two of his top men to get her, she suspected he was intending on doing far more than just talking.
“What’s this about?”
Mrs. Burns tried not to look at the letter from Ted Howell on the table, but her eyes involuntarily went there.
“That’s classified. Mr. Sibelius will explain everything when you get there. And bring the letter as well, please.”
She bit her lip. Was it worth trying to play dumb? She decided against it and grabbed the letter off the table. As the guards led her out the door, she discreetly sent an O-Message to Arlen:
They’re taking me to Enigma. Please get here soon.
Mrs. Burns tucked the device away far too quickly to see it display a short yet important warning: Unable to send Message. Try Again?