Vai

I woke up late the next morning. It didn't really matter since I didn't have to be at the shuttle bay until 1:00 p.m. I got out of bed and wondered if my father was home or if he had left. He had arrived at our quarters later than usual last night, but I also knew that the ship would be doing tests on the local solar storm and my father was the Chief Science Officer. He'd be expected to be there.

"Good morning, sir," Warpaint greeted me. He had a breakfast shake ready in his mechanical hand, the hand that looked more like metal claws.

"Morning." I took the shake from him and drank it quickly. The thick, green liquid fell slowly down the back of my throat. "Is this thicker today?"

"I'm glad you noticed, sir. Since we will be on an alien planet, I filled it with extra algae."

"Great," I said.

"It is great, sir. Thank you for noticing my efforts. The algae has a lot of nutrients you know."

"I know. Thanks." Mechatronics had a hard time detecting sarcasm. I kept forgetting.

I got ready for the day, but before I headed out I decided to contact Owen. I wouldn't be able to speak with him about the house on Mars or Thrissko once the school field trip started. I had to be careful on that trip not to let anything slip that would get back to my father as he would be monitoring both through Warpaint and through my Volo. I sat at my desk and called.

"Hello, my friend," Owen said. His image was projected through my volo.

"Hi. Any word on Thrissko?"

"I'll contact my people after the trip."

I nodded, but was impatient. I hoped Thrissko's parents had found a way to get him away from Papa's gang and get the zek out of his system.

"Did you see the video of my house?"

Owen looked behind him and then said to me, "Hold on." Then louder and with his head tilted behind him, he said, "I'm ready, dad. Don't pressure me."

Owen turned back to me and said, "My dad is really excited for me to go on this trip."

"That must be nice," I said. "My father woke me up after 1 a.m. to tell me I couldn't go."

Owen's expression immediately changed. "You're not going? But Warpaint was supposed to go with us."

I fought the urge to roll my eyes at him. "Don't worry. I convinced my father to let me go, but he is going to look at my volo recordings when I get back so don't say anything about the house or Mars or Thrissko while we're down there."

Owen nodded. "Okay. I did watch the video. Do you know who those people were?"

I shook my head. "I can't ask my father about it because then he'll know I've been looking into Mars. Warpaint said that my dad had removed everything important already though."

"Like your dad knew something like this was going to happen," Owen said.

"Yeah."

"Warpaint was okay giving you this information? Your dad didn't restrict him?"

"Warpaint said he was told he couldn't bring it up, but he didn't bring it up. I asked so I guess it was okay to tell me according to his program. That reminds me." I turned to Warpaint, but left the communication with Owen open. "When father took you into his room last night, did you tell him about the house and our conversation about it?"

"No, sir," Warpaint said. "He didn't ask me about it. He only checked to make sure all my programs were functioning properly and...that is all."

My lips turned up into a smile. I guess the communication - or lack thereof - with Warpaint worked for my father the same way it did with me.

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"I've got news though," Owen said.

"About what?" I turned my attention back to him.

"That girl. I saw her last night."

"You saw her again? Where?"

"On the same level. In the Museum Delectables. I tried to greet her, but she left the restaurant."

"That's it?"

"No. I followed her."

I leaned in closer to the projection.

"I caught up to her just outside the museum. You were right. She's not a ghost. You can't touch ghosts and I grabbed her arm."

I leaned back. "I knew she wasn't a ghost. Ghosts don't exist."

Owen's blue eyes rolled to the ceiling in a clear disagreement to my statement. "No. She's not a ghost." I noted he didn't say that ghosts don't exist. "She's a wizard."

A low laugh escaped me. I hadn't meant to laugh. But before I could stop it, it was out in the air between us.

"Hear me out before you scoff," Owen said.

"You're right. I'm sorry. Tell me."

"She told me to let go of her arm and I just did it. Without thinking about it."

"That doesn't mean she's a wizard. It just means she has great command presence."

Owen sighed out exaggeratedly.

"Okay. I'm sorry," I said. "Finish."

"She was going to the elevators, but she turned back to me and said...and said . . ." Owen blinked at me.

"Said what?" I encouraged.

His blonde brows furrowed together. "I can't remember. Something about...about...K'thaktra...and . . ." He held his forehead in his hands. "Why can't I remember? It was important."

"Too excited about the field trip?" I smiled.

"No." Owen said. "It's right here." He pinched the middle of his forehead. "It's right here, but I can't pull it out." He moved his hand away from his forehead with his fingers still pinched as if physically trying to pull it out.

"Is that it?" I asked.

"No. Then she touched my forehead." He touched the spot he had just pinched. Then his blue eyes flashed when he realized it was the same spot. "Did she make me forget? Why tell me something if you're just going to make me forget?"

"She can't make you forget by touching your forehead," I said.

"But that's the weird thing. When she touched my forehead I lost ten minutes. My parents found me staring at nothing in the corridor ten minutes later."

"That is weird," I said.

"She's a wizard."

"Wizards don't exist."

"She exists."

"Okay," I said. "That I will agree on. She exists."

"Guess that's good enough for now," Owen said.

"One last thing," I said. "You know those black studs Shel was wearing in his ear?" Owen nodded. "My father said Shel's mom asked him to make them."

"Your dad's the Chief Science Officer, right?"

I nodded.

"That's strange."

"That's what I thought," I said. "Could you ask Shel about the earrings but make it look natural so when my father watches my volo recordings he doesn't think I was the one asking. He wouldn't tell me much about it."

"Okay," Owen said. "I can do that."

"Ready to go? Want to meet me at the elevators?"

Owen nodded and our call ended.

Warpaint and I met Owen at the elevators. It didn't take us long to reach the shuttle bay.

A female Bundu-jo stood by the shuttle doors. She saw us approaching and waved us to be quicker. I looked at my okulus which told me we still had ten minutes until 13:00, but we quickened our step anyway which meant Owen's little legs worked four times as much as mine.

"I am Lieutenant Tanpo." the Bundu-jo woman said. "As you step past the yellow line you will be scanned. If your identity is not as you have thus far represented it, you will not be admitted onto the transport," this sounded more like a set of instructions she had reiterated for all sorts of occasions and hadn't modified it for a school trip. Her voice was loud too as if speaking to 50 people and not the two humans and one mechatronic in front of her. "If you are carrying a serious communicable disease, you will not be admitted onto the transport. If you are carrying anything you have not been authorized to carry, such as weapons, illicit technology, unapproved pets, exotic fruit, your leftovers from lunch . . ." Lunch. I should have eaten more than the shake before we left. "...or anything else I may not have mentioned, you will not be admitted onto the transport, and may be subject to immediate expulsion from the Gathering Exploration Fleet, and arrest."

"It's just a school trip," Owen said.

She held up a long blue finger to silence him.

"The line will proceed in an orderly fashion," said Lieutenant Tanpo. "You will step up to be scanned one at a time. If you pass the scan, this light will turn green. When this light turns green, I will let you onto the transport, and you will quickly find your seat. Let me stress again quickly."

"It's just us three though," Owen said.

"After everyone has boarded the transport," she continued without looking at us, "the door will close and we will depart. There will be no departure notices or warnings. You all know how to sit in a seat. I assume you do not need special instructions for that. When the door closes, be in your seat."

Lieutenant Tanpo's body language changed, and she smiled warmly as she finally looked at us. She stuck out her tongue goofily. "Blecchhh. Now that's out of the way . . ." she said. "Let's go planetside." She waved us in. Owen went first. The green light came on almost instantly. I went next. I wasn't sure why I held my breath as if I feared the light would be anything other than green. It was green and I went up and sat in an empty seat next to Owen. Warpaint sat behind us.

Lieutenant Tanpo entered the shuttle and closed the door behind her.

"Your teacher is already on the surface. She'll meet you and the others when you land. I'm kind of jealous. I want to see the Slpsis too. Instead I have to wait at the shuttle and make sure everything is ready for your return."

She stepped into the pilot seat and then we were moving to exit the Shadow.

For the second time in my life I was in a shuttle flying through space. Only this time I wasn't screaming.