The Arctic Code (13 page)

“You hungry, Ellie?” Julian asked. “Mind if I call you Ellie?”

“Nope, that's what all my friends call me. And yes, I'm hungry.”

“Well, you've got a whole two flavors of instant ramen to choose from,” he said. “They make dinners in the evening, but during the day we're on our own, and everything here is dehydrated. Want me to boil you some water?”

“Sure,” she said, but before the kettle whistled, Dr. Skinner came up the stairs.

“Miss Perry, may I speak with you a moment?”

Eleanor's appetite fled, and her stomach turned on her. It was about the Sync—she knew it. Finn and Julian watched as she got up from the table and followed Dr. Skinner down the stairs. They reached the living quarters, and he gave them a look around.

“Are you satisfied with your room?” he asked.

That wasn't what he had come to ask, but the question was unexpected, so it tipped her a bit off balance. “Uh, sure. Yeah, it's great.”

“I'm pleased.” But then he sighed. “We had someone go to your school.”

Silence followed. She wondered if he expected her to fill it.

“They could not locate your Sync,” he said.

“WHAT?” Eleanor had wanted her shock to sound genuine, but even to her own ear, it sounded forced. “What do you mean? That's where I left it!”

“My people tell me the location was not at all secure,” Dr. Skinner said. “Honestly, I can't imagine what you must have been thinking to hide it there.”

“I don't know, I didn't have a lot of time, I just had to—”

“You are
certain
that is where you placed it?”

She nodded. “Yes, sir.” She meant it to be convincing, but Dr. Skinner's stare hardened. “I'm certain,” Eleanor added.

“Then we must consider that asset lost. Miss Perry, I must tell you, without your Sync, our chances of locating your mother have diminished greatly.”

Eleanor restrained her anger. Was he trying to make her feel guilty? Was it a ploy? Was he trying to flush out her deception? Did he expect her to just cave and whip it out?

“I'm sorry,” she whispered.

“Don't apologize to me. Apologize to your mother.” He turned away. “
If
we find her, that is.”

I
F
?
T
HAT WORD CUT RIGHT TO THE CENTER OF
E
LEANOR
'
S
chest as cleanly as the icy air, and she nearly gasped.

“Hey, Skinner!” Luke charged out of his room. “What's your problem, talking to her like that?”

Dr. Skinner looked back. “I said nothing untrue.”

“That ain't the point!” Luke shouted. “You got no call to speak to her that way!”

“May I remind you that I am—”

“I don't care who you are! She's just a kid!”

Eleanor appreciated that Luke was defending her, but she was afraid of what Dr. Skinner could do to his cargo business. Besides, she was the one who was hiding something.

“Mr. Fournier,” Dr. Skinner said, “feelings do not matter, not even those of Miss Perry, young as she is. What is important right now is finding Dr. Perry and Dr. Powers. What is important is the continued health and success of my company. What is important is the continued health and success of our species.
Those
are things that matter.” He glanced at Eleanor. “She may indulge whatever emotions she chooses. I won't waste my time and energy on such concerns. Now if you'll excuse me, I have two missing scientists to locate.”

He walked away toward the tunnel to the command module.

“I really don't like that guy,” Luke said.

Eleanor was angry, too, but this was all because of her lie, and she didn't like to see Luke so worked up on behalf of it. “It's okay,” she said. “I don't care what he says.”

“Good,” he said. “Because your mom will turn up. No matter what that corporate TV personality says.”

Eleanor smiled. “Thanks, Luke. And thanks for coming out here to the station with me.”

“Beats sleeping on Felipe's floor,” he said.

“Ellie?” Julian called down the staircase.

“Yeah?”

“Ramen's done.”

Eleanor and Luke climbed back up to the dining area. Eleanor sat down to a steaming bowl, and Luke slid into the booth next to her. Julian and Finn sat across from them, each with a bowl as well. The underdone noodles were a little crunchy, but the salty broth tasted good.

“We overheard some of what Skinner was saying to you,” Finn said.

“Yeah.” Julian slurped up a mouthful of noodles and then spoke through them as he chewed. “That guy sucks. That's our dad out there, too.”

Julian didn't sound as concerned for his dad as Eleanor felt for her mom. “How worried are you guys?” she asked. “Really?”

Finn and Julian looked at each other. Julian pushed his nearly empty bowl aside.

“I'm worried,” Julian said. “We're worried. We just try not to think about it, you know?”

Finn poked at his noodles with his fork. “
Julian
tries not to think about it.”

“There's just no point in getting all worked up about it,” Julian said. “There's nothing we can do. We're stuck in here. We just have to wait.”

Eleanor didn't feel that way, and she didn't think she could just not think about her mom being lost out there. There
was
something she could do. With the
information her mom had sent. She just needed to find out what it meant without revealing the Sync to anyone.

L
ater that evening, Dr. Marcus returned to invite them all over to the next pod for dinner. When Eleanor reached the dining room, she found it crowded with what must have been every scientist and crew member of Polaris Station. Now that everyone was gathered here in one place, Eleanor tried to see if she recognized any of her mother's previous coworkers. She had seen photos, and even met a few of them, but so far everyone in that mess hall looked unfamiliar.

She took a table with Luke and the Powers brothers, plates of reconstituted beef stroganoff in front of them, while Dr. Skinner addressed the room.

“Good work today,” Dr. Skinner said over the clattering of utensils against plastic bowls. “Tomorrow, we'll concentrate our efforts on sector H9-11. After we're done here, let's recalibrate and set our new parameters. Enjoy your dinner.” He sat down.

Eleanor finally spotted a man she recognized, over in a corner, eating by himself. She thought he was Dr. Grant, the one Uncle Jack had called a few days ago.

“Be right back,” she whispered to Luke, and left her seat. She ducked across the room, weaving between
chairs and tables, until she reached the corner. He looked up from his food as she approached and wiped his mouth with a crinkly paper napkin.

“Oh,” he said. “Eleanor, isn't it?”

“Yes, Dr. Grant. You work with my mom—”

“Yes, yes, of course, I remember you. I'm so glad you're safe and sound.” He pointed to an empty chair. “Please, sit down.”

Eleanor took the seat he offered. “Did you find anything today?”

“Um . . .” He shook his head. “Not today, no. I'm so sorry. But we'll keep looking, don't you worry.”

Eleanor hadn't really expected him to tell her anything new. “Where is everyone else from Sohn International?”

He looked around. “I'm all that's left of the old gang, I'm afraid. Everyone else has been reassigned. We're part of the Global Energy Trust now.”

“Yeah, my uncle Jack mentioned some big project. When you talked with him—”

“That's right, Jack called the old satellite phone.” Dr. Grant wiped his mouth again. “You know, I found out later I wasn't even supposed to have that old thing.” He leaned in, a conspiratorial hand shielding his mouth. “Truth be told, I actually got in a bit of trouble for talking with your uncle. All these new
protocols and procedures. But I'm lucky to have my job, and it's always that way working for a new company, I suppose.”

“Uh, I guess.”

“Well, it's good to see you alive and well. We were worried, you know. But I, uh, see your friends over there. Julian, Finn. They're probably missing you, so . . .” He glanced across the room, and his voice just trailed off.

Missing her? No, Dr. Grant was trying to get rid of her. Maybe he was afraid to talk to her after getting in trouble over Uncle Jack. Regardless, she had to ask one more question.

“What was the big project?”

Dr. Grant opened his mouth as if to speak. A moment went by. “It, uh—” He glanced over Eleanor's shoulder, and in a flash his whole demeanor shriveled. “Hello, Dr. Skinner,” he said.

Eleanor looked behind her as Dr. Skinner walked up to their table. Whatever Dr. Grant was about to say, he wouldn't say it now.

“Dr. Grant,” Skinner said. “I see you're acquainted with Miss Perry.”

“Yes.” Dr. Grant nodded toward Eleanor. “I was just telling her how grateful we all are that she's safe.”

“Very grateful, indeed,” Dr. Skinner said. “Miss
Perry, would you mind joining me in the command module? I would like your assistance.”

“Um, okay.” Eleanor didn't want to go anywhere with him, at least not alone. Not after the way he had treated her last time. “Can Finn come?”

Dr. Skinner's face remained impassive. “I suppose, if you feel it necessary.” He walked away between the tables.

Dr. Grant smiled at Eleanor as she left him alone at his table. She crossed the kitchen, and on her way past Finn, she tapped him on the shoulder. “Come on.”

He got up and followed her without asking for an explanation. Julian looked a bit puzzled but stayed seated. Luke dug back into his meal.

Eleanor and Finn met Dr. Skinner by the staircase, and down they went to the command module, where the giant screens blinked with their changing maps and charts.

“After your failure to produce the Sync”—Dr. Skinner led them over to a desk—“I hope you'll be willing to assist me in another way.”

“How?” Every time Dr. Skinner mentioned the Sync, Eleanor worried that he somehow knew it was there, in her pocket.

Dr. Skinner pulled a laptop out of a drawer and set it on the desk. He lifted its screen open to reveal
a log-in. Eleanor recognized the profile picture, a cat with a tiny pirate patch over one eye.

“That's my mom's computer,” she said.

“Yes, it is,” Dr. Skinner said.

“Her
personal
computer.” That was her mom's private property. But perhaps, if Eleanor could get a look at what it contained, she might find something that would make sense of all this.

“Yes, her personal computer,” Dr. Skinner said. “And as such, I have no way to access it. My people have tried and failed to break the security, but I wondered if you—”

“Isn't that illegal?” Finn asked. “Hacking someone's computer?”

Dr. Skinner looked down at him. “When that someone has gone missing, young man, exigent circumstances prevail over privacy.”

Eleanor actually remembered the password, unless her mom had changed it, but she wasn't just going to give it to Skinner. “Why do you need to break into her laptop?”

Dr. Skinner sighed. “Miss Perry, though I cannot fathom why, I'm starting to believe that you are being deliberately oppositional. I am trying to find your mother.” He pointed at the laptop. “To that end, I am pursuing every lead available to me.”

Eleanor swallowed. No matter what he said, or how rational he made it sound, she had no intention of giving him what he wanted. Her mother's last message flashed in her mind:
Show no one.

But she said, “Okay,” and placed her hands on the keyboard.

She typed in several random words, quickly, so Dr. Skinner wouldn't see what they were.

“Rock Canyon?” he asked.

Okay, so he was fast. “It was a password she used back at home.”

“It didn't work. Try something else.”

Eleanor moved on, faking her way through half a dozen attempts. She noticed Finn had moved away and was studying one of the giant screens. After a few tries, she finally said, “I'm sorry, Dr. Skinner. I don't think I know it.”

He slammed the lid closed on the laptop, almost catching her fingers. “You continue to disappoint, Miss Perry. We are running out of time and options. If by chance some inspiration strikes you, let us try again. For now, you are free to return to your pod.”

“Yes, sir.”

“You too, Mr. Powers.” Dr. Skinner looked at Finn.

“Yes, sir.”

The two of them left Skinner in the command
module and climbed back up to the dining area. Most of the scientists and crew members had left, Eleanor assumed to their sleeping quarters in the first pod. Luke and Julian were gone, too, so Eleanor and Finn climbed through the tunnel to the third pod and found them waiting at a table in their kitchen.

“What was that all about?” Julian asked as Finn and Eleanor took a seat.

“He wanted the password to break into my mom's laptop,” Eleanor said.

“Did you give it to him?” Julian asked.

“She faked it,” Finn said. “Even I could tell.”

“Listen, kid.” Luke dragged both his hands down his stubbly face. “These guys are corporate suits, I'll give you that, and I don't trust Skinner any further than I can throw him. But he's not some evil mastermind. He's just trying to keep you and your uncle from suing the pants off his company. He's in damage control here. If you know something, you might want to help them out.”

“I can't,” Eleanor said. “
We
have to do something.”

“Like what?” Julian asked.

Eleanor leaned toward them across the table and lowered her voice. “What if we could find information about where they were, and we went out to search for them on our own?”

“Out on the ice sheet?” Julian asked. “You're crazy.”

“I'll see your crazy and raise you a stupid,” Luke said.

Finn gave Eleanor a nod. “I'll go.”

“What?” Julian swiveled to his younger brother. “No way. Mom would kill us!”

“Then don't come,” Finn said. “I don't care. They're not doing anything to find Dad.”

“Sure they are,” Luke said. “They're sending out search parties, and right now there's a whole lot of people in the next”—he flapped his hand toward the tunnel—“pod thing, and they're all working—”

“They're not searching for our parents,” Finn said.

Julian leaned back in his seat, away from his brother. “This again.”

“What do you mean, Finn?” Eleanor asked.

“It's just—” Finn dropped his voice low. “I don't think—okay, they
are
searching for our parents, but they're not trying to find them.”

“I'm confused,” Luke said. “Doesn't that amount to the same thing?”

Finn shook his head. “I think they're really just trying to find what our parents were working on.” He pressed his index finger into the table, as if marking the spot on a map. “But the only way to do that is to find our parents.”

Julian and Luke both wore competing scowls, but they seemed to be listening. When Eleanor thought about all the secret files her mom had sent her, and added that to what Finn had just said, it started to make sense why Skinner seemed so desperate to get her Sync, and now her laptop. It was as Eleanor had suspected. It wasn't about finding her mom. The G.E.T. wanted those files.

“All right, for the sake of argument,” Luke said, “where'd you get this idea?”

“While Eleanor was typing fake passwords,” Finn said, “I got a closer look at one of the computer screens. They're searching for energy signatures.”

Julian tipped his head up toward the ceiling. “Of course they are—”

“No,” Finn said. “Not an energy signature like what our parents would make. They're looking for something bigger than that. Much bigger. A telluric signature.”

Telluric.
That word sat Eleanor upright in her seat. “Luke, your plane was full of telluric equipment.”