Lost Planet 02 - The Stolen Moon (8 page)

Chase had no idea what she was talking about, but Analora pointed down the hall toward the elevator and told her, “Utility office is on the sixth floor.”

“Ah, there's the problem—I always mix up six and seven. They sound so similar to me.” She smiled, but Chase felt like her dark eyes were examining the two of them. He glanced away, uncomfortable. She waved a graceful hand at the panel that still hung half open on the wall. “We can keep your little adventure to ourselves. Thank you for your help.”

As Ksenia strolled back down the hall, Analora lifted the panel again, and Chase helped her fit it back in its place. “Well, that was embarrassing,” she said. “I didn't even hear her footsteps.”

“Do you think she was really looking for the utility office?” asked Chase.

Analora frowned. “What else would she be doing?”

They walked back toward the staircase that Analora would take down to her quarters. Chase kept his voice low as they passed his room, and didn't point out that that was where he lived. They had nearly made it to the stairs when the door to the officers' lounge slid open, and Parker stepped out. Chase clenched his teeth and uttered one of Maurus's curses in his mind.

“Hey, I was looking for you! I think I found—oh, who's your friend?” A smile curling across his face, he extended his hand toward Analora. “I don't think I've seen you around here before?”

“You must be Parker,” she said, smiling sweetly as she shook his hand. “I've heard about you.”

Parker frowned. “Unfortunately, I can't say the same.”

“Well, I'm Analora and I need to get home to dinner.” She stepped backward out the door.

“Nice to meet you, Analora who needs to get home to dinner.”

“Same to you!” She stopped before she headed into the stairwell. “See you tomorrow, Chase!”

“You bet!” he called in a cheery voice, not looking over at Parker until the door closed.

“Found a new friend?” asked Parker, leaning against the hallway wall.

“I met her a few days ago.”

“Huh. Interesting.”

“You've made some friends on the ship too.”

“Never said I hadn't. I was looking for you so I could tell you I finally got a pingback on my chip this morning. I wasn't able to trace the location, but it's something.”

Excitement immediately washed out Chase's irritation. “Really? That's awesome.”

“Yeah, well, don't get too excited just yet. It's still not enough to find Asa.”

“But you're closer now.”

Parker nodded. “He's out there somewhere. We'll find him.”

They started back down the hall toward their room. “Oh hey,” said Chase. “I just saw Parri Dietz upstairs.”

This caught Parker's full attention. “What? She's on board?”

“Yeah, I guess she's here covering the peace talks.”

“I can't believe she got permission to come on the ship. She's the top news anchor in the galaxy—not to mention the best looking.” Parker waggled his eyebrows. “Did you talk to her?”

Chase gave him an incredulous look. “What do you think? Would this face look good on the five o'clock news?”

“I didn't mean interview, geez. What would she want with a skinny thirteen-year-old like you?”

Chase pressed his lips together and stopped speaking. Parker had decided that the best way to show Chase he didn't care about him being a year younger than they'd thought was to make fun of Chase's age constantly—which only made it worse. Parker nudged his arm. “Come on, buddy, I'm just joking. You know I don't care if you're one or two or ten years younger than me.”

Says the guy who's turning fifteen in a few months
, thought Chase. He hit the entry button and went straight to his bunk, ignoring Parker's apologies.

“Well, maybe not ten years. I can't really see myself hanging out with a four-year-old. But seriously, get over it. It's not like knowing your real age means—”

Parker went silent. After a few moments, Chase looked up at him standing in the middle of the room with a look of frozen shock on his face. “What?”

Parker dashed to his desk, ruffling through papers and equipment, overturning files and keypads.

Chase walked up beside him, catching a circuit board that was about to tip onto the floor. “What is it?”

Parker turned to him, pale. “My microchip. It's gone.”

 

CHAPTER SEVEN

Chase watched numbly as Parker tore apart his desk, shoving wires and equipment to the floor as he searched for the missing microchip. “How long were you out of the room?” he asked.

“I just went over to the canteen for something quick to eat, but I ran into Cutty there and ended up going to the lounge with him to play cards for a while. When were
you
last here?”

Chase sat on his bunk, trying to remember. “I … I don't know. I left the room before lunch, when you were still down in the engine room.”

“Was this error message scrolling?” Parker asked, pointing at the screen.

“Um. Something was scrolling.”

Parker rolled his eyes. “You're no help. I'm going to the armory to report it stolen.” He turned and charged from the room before Chase could say another word.

Chase started sorting through the mess that was left on the desk, sliding wires and boards into little piles. Who would have wanted Parker's chip? Had Parker stumbled onto something chasing after this imaginary blackout hacker and made himself an enemy on the ship? Or was it someone from outside the ship who'd snuck on board with the crew preparing for the peace talks? Could it have been the reason Ksenia was down on the soldiers' level? But what would a Federation employee want with Parker's microchip—was he a target?

Out of habit, Chase turned on the video screen and flipped through to the bridge. The captain wasn't there—probably busy with the preparations on the conference level.

The door slid open, and Parker walked in with Colonel Forquera, speaking rapid-fire as they entered. Parker looked up and froze, his eyes going wide.

“What?” asked Chase. As soon as the word passed his lips, he knew. Parker was looking past him, at the video screen. At the bridge.

“What is that?” asked Forquera, his voice dangerously low.

“It was like that when we moved in,” said Parker quickly. “I figured it was standard.”

“That's a lie.” The colonel's eyes traveled over the messy desk and scattered equipment. “What are you building in here?”

“You know all this.” Parker swept his arm around the room in frustration. “I've been working on reverse tracking my microchip. You know, the one that was just stolen.”

But Forquera was already on his communicator, calling the master-at-arms for MPs and a software specialist. Parker's eyes were angry laser beams, fixed on Chase.

Master-at-arms Poliski, a brutish man with a tiny nose and floppy blond hair, showed up personally with three members of his crew. Feeling ill about what he'd caused, Chase watched them standing tight-lipped around Parker's desk as the specialist went through his files, uncovering just how much Parker had hacked into.

“Do you think his hacking might have caused the blackout?” murmured Poliski to the specialist.

The specialist nodded. “Most definitely. He got into nearly every system.”

“Oh, that is such garbage!” shouted Parker. “I'm the only one on the ship who was investigating the blackout!”

“How did you break into the mainframe of the ship?” asked the specialist. “Who was helping you?”

“Helping me?” asked Parker indignantly. “I knew more about hacking by the time I was five than you ever will.”

Shut up, shut up!
thought Chase. Did Parker really need to brag about how easily he was able to break the rules?

“You're completely oblivious to what's really going on,” Parker continued. “There's a hacker on the ship, a really good one—almost as good as me. That's who caused the blackout. Ask Chief Kobes, I've been helping him. I'm the only one who can help you find who it is.”

“I'm supposed to believe a kid is the best hacker on this ship?” asked the specialist, smirking, as the MPs swept everything from the desk into boxes.

Parker whirled around on him. “You learned about software code, what, from teachers, from books? I learned from an android. When I was two. I
think
in code.” He stepped up in Poliski's face. “Aren't you even going to do anything about my stolen chip?”

The master-at-arms gave him a sardonic nod. “We'll look into it.”

Forquera, standing at the back of the room, shook his head as the crew carted away their boxes full of Parker's equipment. “I'll take this news to the captain. He'll decide what to do.” The door closed behind Forquera as he left, and Parker looked back at his empty desk, clenching his fists.

“You'll get it all back,” Chase reassured him. “The captain will—”

“Will what?” snapped Parker. “Will take time out of organizing the peace talks between two planets to make sure I get my way? Why did you have the bridge on the screen? You knew I was going to look for help!”

“I just … forgot,” Chase admitted.

Parker ran his hands through his hair and squeezed his skull, groaning. “Chief Kobes won't even let me in the engine room after he finds out about this. I need to go talk to him before someone else does.” He dropped his hands and turned on Chase. “You're coming with me this time.”

Chase had to hurry to follow Parker's swift march to the elevators, and when they'd taken them down to the bottom floor, Parker walked so quickly on his long legs that Chase practically had to run to keep up. In the engine room, a group of green-badged ensigns sat gathered at a cluster of consoles. Chief Kobes paced behind them, hands clasped behind his back, and watched them work with his standard dissatisfied expression.

“I have to talk to you,” said Parker in unnaturally loud, strident tones. “I need your help.”

Chief Kobes glanced up at him. “I haven't got time for you right now, Parker. We're doing trainings all day here. Stow it ‘til after tomorrow.”

“Please.” The strained quality in Parker's voice made Kobes look over at him again. “The MPs have taken all my stuff. They're accusing me of all kinds of things I didn't do. You know I didn't cause the blackout. I've been helping you investigate it!”

With frightening alacrity, the chief engineer crossed the room and grabbed Parker by the arm. He pushed him into an empty corner, and Chase was close enough behind them to see the real fear that flashed through Parker's eyes.

“Helping me investigate?” growled Kobes. “Getting underfoot is what you've been doing, and I've been tolerating it because the captain told me to give you some leeway. Whatever you've been up to with all the junk you've been taking from my engine room, you'd better hope to the high-handed heavens that you didn't cause the blackout, or I personally will make sure that you are removed from this ship.”

“I was helping you,” said Parker. The surprised hurt on his face moved Chase to anger. No wonder Dany Kobes defied the rules, if this jerk was the father he'd grown up answering to.

“Parker didn't cause the blackout. Someone on your team probably did, and you don't even know who it was.” As soon as he'd blurted the words out, Chase regretted them.

Kobes turned on him, his eyes wide and threatening. “Both of you. Out. Don't come back.”

Parker tore free and stormed out of the engine room, his face flushed. Chase hurried after him. “Hey, we'll go talk to the captain. He'll fix this.”

“Leave me alone, Chase. Don't try to help.” Parker stormed toward the stairs, slamming the door behind him as he left.

He couldn't talk to Captain Lennard now, but after the peace talks were over, he was sure the captain would make sure that Parker got his equipment back, especially if he was able to show that he hadn't caused the blackout. That still didn't answer the question of who had taken the microchip. On his way back to their room, he took a detour to pass by the conference room and check if Ksenia was still on the ship.

The conference room door was open, and he could hear voices inside. He pressed himself against the wall to listen, ready to phase through and hide if need be.

“I won't allow it,” came Captain Lennard's voice. “I gave you permission to cover the peace negotiations, that's all.”

“But, Captain, the galaxy wants to hear his side of the story. And yours.” Chase recognized the smooth, well-modulated voice—it was Parri Dietz. What was she still doing on the ship? “You made yourselves inaccessible immediately after the situation was resolved, and we never got to hear the story in Lieutenant Maurus's own words.”

“It will turn into a witch hunt,” said Lennard. “I won't expose my soldier to those kinds of risks.”

“Captain, it's been months now—the galaxy has moved on from the Trucon disaster. I'll make it a short interview. Five minutes—ten, tops.”

“Permission not granted, Ms. Dietz. Now kindly remove yourself from my ship and let me get back to work.” Lennard left the room, speaking into a commlink on his wrist. “Poliski, send someone down to the conference room to escort Ms. Dietz off the ship.” He didn't even notice Chase standing by the door.

Parri Dietz stayed in the room, but Chase could hear her speaking in a low voice. He knew he should leave, but he kept listening, trying to figure out what she was saying. It surprised him when she stepped out a moment later and quickly turned to face him.

“Hello,” she said with a pleasant smile. Her cool blue eyes sparkled. “What's your name?”

He'd learned better than to give his real name to strangers. “Corbin.”

“Say, Corbin, do you know where I could find Lieutenant Maurus?”