Lost Planet 02 - The Stolen Moon (14 page)

“Which Rostanna, the capitol building or the hotel?” she asked. “You'll have a hard time getting to either. This square has been the focus of all the protesting after the occupation began. Until the Fleet showed up, early negotiations were being held at the capital building.” She gestured out at the arching blue walls. “Do you need help getting somewhere? My driver's docked right outside the city—we can give you a lift.”

“No thanks,” said Chase quickly. As cool as it was to be talking with an intergalactic newscaster, he was still wary of her camera and the trillions of people it reached. Chase looked over at Analora and Lilli, who had both sat down on the floor. “Do you two want to stay here while I go out and look around?”

“No, we'll come,” said Analora, getting to her feet. “We should stick together.”

Chase glanced out the window one last time. A dark movement caught his attention: a black-haired Earthan slipping out a side door of the capital building and into the crowd of protesters. He had to lean forward and squint to make sure, but it was definitely Ksenia.

“It was nice to meet you,” he said quickly to Parri Dietz. “We have to go now. Come on!” He rushed down the ramp and out into the street, the others close behind him. The top of Ksenia's dark head was visible over the crowds—she was much taller than the Storrians. “Hey!” he shouted. “Over here!”

Just in time Ksenia's face came into full view. Her eyes locked onto him with frightful intensity, and swiftly she began to work her way over toward him.

A Storrian stepped between them, blocking his view. Chase looked up in annoyance as he moved to step around, but then he realized who it was.

Border patrol.

They were surrounded.

 

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Rigid with frustration, Chase looked out into the crowd as a Storrian border guard placed an electrocuff on his left wrist with the warning that he would be stunned if he tried to escape. Ksenia had vanished. If he had been on his own, he could easily have slipped away into the crowd of protesters and gone after her. These guards couldn't hold him. But looking over at Lilli's wide, frightened eyes as the guard cuffed her, he shook his head and stood there with the sinking feeling that once again he had missed the opportunity to find some answers.

The woman who owned the restaurant they'd been at stood outside its doors, her eyebrow stalks cocked suspiciously as she watched them get taken away. The protesters, once they realized that the guards weren't going to disturb their activities, mostly ignored them. Parri Dietz was there too—filming them, of all things.

Chase turned away, raising his hands to shield his face from the camera. “We came down from the
Kuyddestor
,” Parker called out. “Can you let someone know what's happened?”

Chase didn't hear if Parri Dietz replied. The guards led them in a tight group out of the square and down a gleaming boulevard to where their black hovercraft was parked.

Analora and Lilli climbed into the boxlike rear compartment of the hovercraft, taking seats on benches facing each other. Parker slid in next to Analora. One solitary guard sat in the back with them, his blaster resting on his knees.

They didn't speak a word on the short ride. Chase looked at everyone's drawn faces, knowing he wore the same frightened expression. Alternating waves of dread and anger washed over him: dread, because he didn't know what happened to children who were arrested by an alien government, and anger, once again, at Parker, Analora, and Lilli for wanting to take this risky trip in the first place. And along with that came frustration with himself, of course, for not having the guts to stop them rather than going along. Nothing good had come of the journey, and now the captain was going to be interrupted in the middle of the peace negotiations and forced to deal with the mess they'd created.

The hovercraft came to a gliding stop, and the guards hustled them into an immense steel and glass structure that looked entirely different from the rest of the buildings in Lumos. Almost immediately inside the building they were taken into a large holding cell with no windows and stale air. A thick metal door slid closed behind them.

The cell was full of benches, but when Chase went to sit on one, he realized that the seat was stained with oily patches of a blue-greenish substance. He leaned over and examined it, frowning.

“Werikosa have been here,” said Analora, crossing her arms. “A lot of them, by the looks of it. Their skin secretes this oil that protects them from high UV rays and a bunch of other harsh climate factors. I guess it gets everywhere too.”

Lilli stood before one of the stained benches in her overlong sweater, looking it over as if she were seeking the cleanest place to sit. She glanced at Chase, and he saw violet crescents of exhaustion under her eyes like he hadn't seen in months.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“I'm just really tired.”

“Take a nap. Who knows how long we'll be here.”

She shook her choppy blond head and looked at an open door in the corner of the cell. “Is that a bathroom?” Excusing herself, she crossed the room and went inside.

Analora gave him a funny look. “What
is
she?” she whispered, once Lilli was no longer in the room.

“What do you mean?”

“I saw what happened. When that guard was chasing us, there were two of her for a few seconds. How did she do that?”

Chase froze, uncertain how to proceed.

Parker snorted. “That's crazy. Whatever you think you saw, it must have been a hallucination. Lilli's just a normal kid.”

“Don't treat me like I'm stupid,” said Analora sharply. “I know what I saw.” She turned back to Chase. “That's why you're on the
Kuyddestor
, isn't it? Because of her. Is she some kind of science experiment?”

“No.” Lilli stood on the side of the holding cell, glaring at Analora. Chase hadn't even heard her come out of the bathroom. “I'm just a normal kid, like Parker said.” She sat down hard on one of the benches, right in the middle of a grease spot.

Analora frowned at Chase, and he knew she wasn't convinced. It was silly to feel jealous, but despite all the effort Chase had made to seem normal around Analora, he had a sudden urge to show her that Lilli wasn't the only special one. He squashed the foolish thought immediately. What she'd seen was how Lilli used her ability to get the guard off their cart. But what she'd missed was how Chase's phasing had hampered him from being able to kick the guard's hands, or stop the forest creatures, or do just about anything when it really mattered.

He motioned for Parker to join him on the other side of the cell. “Did you see Ksenia at the protest?” he asked.

“See who? The tall Earthan lady with the dark hair?”

“That was Ksenia. She came over with the ambassador yesterday. I saw her on the soldiers' level right before we realized your chip was stolen—she must be the one who took it and left the note.”

Parker raised his eyebrows. “Why would she make you come all the way down here to talk? She could have told you this stuff on the ship.”

“And she could have asked you permission to take your microchip, but she didn't. Maybe she's worried about eavesdroppers, or maybe she thinks the ship is bugged.”

“There are ways to get around a bug other than traveling all the way to the next available planet,” said Parker. “Like a jammer.”

Chase huffed impatiently. “I don't know what her reasons are!”

Parker raised his hands. “Lords, I'm not saying it wasn't her! Right now I agree—it sounds like it was. I just wonder why she wanted to get you so far away from the captain if it was only to talk.”

Chase ran his fist along the edge of a bench. “I guess we'll never know. By the time we get out of here, everything will be over.”

The door to the holding room slid open, and an officer stepped inside. “Time for processing.” He looked around the room, his gaze falling on Chase, who stood closest to him. “You first.”

Taking a deep breath and glancing back at the others, Chase stepped into the hall. The officer waddled beside him, indicating where he should turn. There were signs on the wall, but they were all written in a round script he couldn't read. Eventually they came out to a big open area sectioned off into little round cubbies, where dozens of Storrian workers sat at consoles. The Storrian beside Chase gestured toward the rear of the room. “My colleague is waiting for you back there.”

As they crossed the open space, Chase glanced over at a long counter, behind which sat a Storrian arguing with, or rather being argued at by, a human. A human in a gray Fleet uniform.

Chase stopped in his tracks. “Hey!” The soldier turned, and to Chase's surprise, it was the sharp face of Lieutenant Vidal. She blanched when she saw Chase, and her mouth fell open.

“Keep moving,” said the officer beside Chase.

“Wait!” Vidal rushed toward him, dodging around cubicles. “What are you doing here?”

Flushing with both embarrassment and relief, Chase told her, “We, uh, got picked up for entering the planet illegally.”

“What do you mean?”

The Storrian on his left had placed a hand on his arm, and so his words came out in a rush. “I came down with Parker and my sister and Analora Bishallany. We were following you.”

Vidal's face creased with confusion. “But how did you even
get
here?” Before Chase could reply, the Storrian officer began pulling him away, and he had to step along with him to keep himself from phasing. Vidal reached out toward him with one hand. “Just sit tight! I'll get you all out once I get Maurus free!”

Get Maurus free?
Chase didn't have much time to question this information, because he found himself in one of the cubbies, being offered a chair opposite another Storrian immigration officer. She scarcely glanced at him, using one long finger to pick something from her soft, droopy mouth, and placed her hands on her console.

“Name and origin,” she droned.

“Um, Corbin Mason,” he said, using the fake name Parker had chosen for him months ago. “I'm, uh, Earthan.”

“Mr. Mason, what was your purpose in illegally entering the borders of Storros?”

Should he explain everything that had led him to this point? “Somebody left a note in my room—I live on the
Kuyddestor
, the Fleet ship orbiting around here. And in the note, the person told me to meet her on Lumos, and I tried to come down with some Fleet officers, but when I tried to teleport…” He trailed off, trying to think of a way to explain his inability to teleport.

The officer slowly raised her eyes from the console. “A short answer will suffice, Mr. Mason.”

He froze a moment, racking his brain for a simpler explanation. “I came to meet a friend.”

The officer typed his response. “Did you come to Storros intending to take up illegal residence on this planet?”

“No. I just told you why I came here.”

“Were you planning to bring assistance to any illegal aliens currently residing on Storros?”

Chase stared at her. Was she for real? “No.”

“Do you know the location of any illegal aliens currently residing on Storros?”

“Of course not,” he snapped.

The Storrian smoothed back her eyebrow stalks and placed her hands on her lap. “Mr. Mason, are you aware that illegally entering Storros is punishable by up to ten years in prison and a five-million intercurrency fine?”

His irritation quickly gave way to a racing pulse. “I'm just a kid,” he said in a weak voice. “You can't put me in prison.”

The Storrian pushed herself away from her desk and motioned for him to rise. “Don't be so sure about that. We're done. Please accompany Officer Squoda back to the holding room.”

*   *   *

Chase had been staring for what felt like hours at an unintelligible script carved into the back of one of the holding room benches, nerves twisting his stomach. Parker and Analora were both convinced that the captain would be able to get them free, and Chase agreed that that made the most sense. They were dumb kids who'd made a mistake, not refugees or criminals. But still, until they were safe and sound back on the
Kuyddestor
, ten years in a Storrian prison seemed like a very real possibility.

The door to the holding cell opened, and Lieutenant Vidal stepped inside. The stress and surprise was gone from her face, and in its place was blazing fury. “
You stole a jump pod?
What on Taras were you kids thinking?”

“We're so sorry, Lieutenant,” blurted Analora.

“Captain Lennard has been informed and has claimed responsibility for your actions, including the
astronomical
fine. The Storrians are releasing you into my custody. Analora, this is for you.” Vidal twisted the teleport return ring from her own finger and handed it over. “Your father wants you back immediately.”

“Like, right now?” asked Analora in a voice so timid Chase barely recognized it.

“Like right now. I wouldn't want to be in your boots. Go. The rest of us have to wait for the
Kuyddestor
to send down a transport vehicle.”

Analora ducked her head in shame as she put on the ring. She glanced at Chase and Parker. “Good luck. See you when you get back … I hope.” Vidal punched something into her communicator, and a moment later, Analora faded out of the room.

“The rest of you come with me,” said Vidal brusquely, leading them out of the holding cell.

Chase rushed ahead to talk to her. “What did the captain say?”

Vidal shook her head as they walked. “He's not happy. People get kicked off the ship for what you kids did. I have no idea what you thought was so important down here that you had to go and do something like that.” Chase began to turn back toward the central processing area, but she stopped him. “No, go this way. We have to pick up Lieutenant Maurus from a different holding area.”