The Incredible Space Raiders from Space! (12 page)

They walked by one double door with a button next
to it on the wall and a little blank screen over the doorway. Jonah knew what that was. An elevator shaft.

“Have you ever—”

“It's broken,” Sally said, not even bothering to look back.

She stopped in front of a yellow door, which had faded and was exposing some of the rusted gray metal beneath it. Sally quickly pulled the door open and gestured for him to get inside. It was pitch black.

“Go,” she said sharply.

Jonah hurried inside, and she shut the door behind them. Jonah couldn't see an inch in front of his face. He heard Sally's quiet footsteps move around him.

“You're not going to bonk me, are you?” he whispered.

She snorted. “You'd already be bonked.”

There was a click, and a portable light flicked on and bathed the small room in a white glow. Jonah blinked against the sudden glare. They were in some sort of storage room, and it was filled with cleaning supplies and spare lights and tools and other odds and ends stacked on metal shelves. There was also a chair in the corner with some food bars and a bottle of water tucked beneath it.

“Welcome to my secret lair,” Sally said, plunking down in the chair.

“It's nice,” Jonah said hesitantly. “You sleep here?”

She frowned. “Of course not, bucket head. Do you see a bed in here? I have a little cot tucked in a service
shaft near the back of the ship. In the Unknown Zone.”

“You live in the Unknown Zone?” Jonah asked incredulously.

Sally nodded. “As long as you avoid the Shrieker, it's the safest place on the ship. The crew doesn't go there very much. Once in a while to fix engine problems, but you can always tell when that's going to happen. We stop moving.”

Jonah found an old container of what looked like floor cleaner and sat down on it.

“How long have you been on the
Squirrel
?” Jonah asked.

Sally scooped up a food bar, opened the wrapper, and took a bite. She chewed a bit loudly, and she was still chewing as she replied. Definitely not a princess, he decided. “Must be two years by now,” she said thoughtfully. “Or close to that. Hard to keep track of time on this old tub. It was the first batch, anyway. Want one?”

Jonah shook his head. “You were a Space Raider?”

“Once,” she said, picking her teeth. “But I ran away.”

“You what?”

She glanced at him. “I ran. I didn't want to fight Entirely Evil Things. I didn't even want to be a Space Raider. So I left, and I've been hiding in the ship ever since.”

She finished her food bar and threw the wrapper in a bucket beside her.

“The commander tried to find me for a while. She and I were close. I was one of the first recruits. From Earth. Even after the first mission, she still sent adventurers after me. But it's hard to find a space rat. I thought someone had finally pulled it off today.” She gave him a toothy grin. “But I guess it takes a rat to find one.”

Jonah didn't particularly like being called a rat, especially after having the name Jonah the Now Incredible, but he supposed that was the least of his problems.

“So what do you do?” he asked.

She gestured around the room. “Hide. Eat. Sometimes I hang out in Home Sweet Home. I crawl around air ducts. Sleep in my room. Hide from the Shrieker and the crew. And mostly I sit up in the Bubble, staring at the stars. The one good thing about the
Fantastically Awful Flying Squirrel
.”

“The Bubble?”

“I'll show you sometime . . . . if we meet up again.”

Jonah frowned. “If?”

“I work alone,” Sally Malik said. “Secret of my success.”

She stood up, brushing some crumbs off her thick sweater.

“On that note, you should probably get moving. There's a main staircase farther down the hall, but watch out for crew members. The service shafts might be a better choice.” She walked right past Jonah and opened the door. “See you, space rat. Maybe.”

Jonah looked at her. He was slightly hurt that even a space rat didn't want him around. Sally seemed a bit rude and probably wouldn't have been the nicest companion, but it certainly beat sneaking through the
Squirrel
alone. But there was something she'd said that bothered him even more. Something he definitely didn't want to hear: She'd been here for two years.

“Why haven't you gone home?” he asked quietly.

“Home?” she said. Her dark eyes tightened and her voice lowered. “Home is a London street. But you're right. I would love to go back. I would love to feel the cold rain on my face and summer nights and hard stone and even those stiff little beds in the shelter when it's too cold to stay outside. But I can't. Once you're on the
Squirrel
, you're stuck. Maybe Space Raiders go home. I don't know. None of my friends did. They went off to the Dark Zone and never came back. Do yourself a favor—don't go back to the sectors. You're better off finding yourself a bed. The
Squirrel
is your home now.”

Jonah thought of his mom and dad and Mara. He thought of his own bed and his own room. That was his home. And now she was telling him he could never go back.

Jonah felt his eyes water. He wasn't supposed to cry in front of the person who hurt him. But what did it matter now?

“Oh, here we go,” Sally muttered. “Listen, it's not all bad. I mean, it's pretty bad. Actually, it's terrible. It's
cold and dark and it sounds like a haunted house.” She paused. “I'm not very good at this. Do you want a hug or something?”

Jonah shook his head and wiped his eyes with his sleeve. Then he stood up and nodded at her. “See you around,” he said. “Maybe.”

He walked slowly past her into the corridor.

“Ugh, you are annoying,” Sally muttered. “You look like a lost puppy. Just sadder and less cute. All right, I'll take you to the engine room. You can sneak up to the top level a lot easier through there. But that's it.”

Jonah looked back. “Thanks—”

“Shut it,” she said, pushing him out the rest of the way and sliding the door shut. “I'm only doing this because I'm picturing a lost puppy. Don't ruin it by talking. And follow my lead. If you get me eaten by the Shrieker, I'm going to be very upset.”

She started down the Haunted Passage.

“I like your sweater,” Jonah said hopefully.

She glanced back. “My sweater?” she asked. “It's a purple rag, pinhead. I take it back: You're too daft to be a puppy. My sweater. You could have at least said my jeans.”

“Is it too late?” Jonah asked.

“Yes.”

Jonah smiled and hurried after her. He already felt a bit better. Maybe Sally was stuck. But Jonah wouldn't
be. He would save Martin and the others and go back to the ISR. Then he'd figure out a new plan. One way or another, Jonah was going home.

“Hurry up, rat boy,” Sally called. “Don't push your luck.”

Jonah picked up his pace. He just had to make sure Sally didn't kill him first.

S
ALLY LED JONAH ALONG AT
a brisk pace until the Haunted Passage came to a sudden halt at a set of big yellow-and-black steel doors. The faded words
RESTRICTED: CREW MEMBERS ONLY
were written across them in black letters.

“The Unknown Zone?” Jonah guessed.

Sally just nodded and punched 111 into the control panel. The big doors slid open.

“How'd you know—”

“Found the training manual,” Sally said. “They're not very creative.” She waved a hand over the hall. “Welcome to the Unknown Zone. Or, as I call it, Moaning Manor.”

It was easy to see why she'd picked that name. The groaning of the ship's engine filled the hallway, as if the ghosts had gathered in the walls here. The hallway itself was made of the same gray metal as the rest of the ship, but it was shorter and wider, and faded yellow and black paint ran along the walls like a warning stripe. Moaning Manor was even scarier than the Haunted Passage, Jonah decided.

It was the perfect home for the Shrieker.

“Where does it live?” Jonah asked quietly.

Sally shrugged. “Who knows? There are service shafts and back hallways and other places where it probably crawls into. I don't think it knows how to use doors.”

“Have you seen it?”

She laughed. “If I did, do you think I'd still be here? A word to the wise. Don't try. I've never seen it. But I've heard kids who have. I've heard them scream.”

Jonah blanched. “Let's keep moving.”

“Good idea.”

She pointed out a few doors as they went. “That's the door I'd like to get into. I think it leads to the shuttle bay. Only way off this ship. But that code isn't 111. And they only go there for two reasons: to pick up new Space Raiders or drop them off in the Dark Zone.”

Jonah made a mental note to inspect that control panel.

She pointed at a very wide gray steel door. “And here we have the storeroom. That's a 111. I suggest grabbing a few extra food bars—”

She suddenly stopped.

Jonah frowned. “What?”

For a moment, she didn't say anything. Then she turned to Jonah.

“They're coming,” she said quickly. “Inside!”

She punched the code in, and she and Jonah ran inside the storeroom. Sally slapped the door panel, shutting
the door behind them. The room was about five times the size of the cafeteria, and it was stacked high with big cardboard boxes labeled
RATIONS.

“Get behind the stacks,” Sally said. “Go!”

She and Jonah squeezed through the stacks of boxes and cowered down near the back of the room. Jonah had a narrow view of the door from his position.

“The Shrieker will come in here?” Jonah asked, confused. “I thought it can't use doors.”

“Not the Shrieker,” Sally murmured.

The storeroom door slid open, and two men walked inside. Jonah hadn't gotten a very good look at the two men who had taken Martin, but he knew these men were different. One had skin as black as space, a shaved head, and a thick, puckered scar running from his left eyebrow down to his chin. One of his eyes was missing. In its place was a circular metallic replacement with a red lens. He wore a holstered gun on his right hip.

The second man was a contrast in every way. His skin was pale, almost as pale as the commander's, and he had long straggly white hair and a beard that still had a few streaks of black. His skin was wrinkled and worn and slightly yellowed from age, and he was at least six inches shorter than the man beside him.

The only similarity was the gun.

The two men walked over to the boxes, and each grabbed one.

“I'm sick of these bloody rations,” the older man snarled. “The captain is the cheapest guy I ever met. I don't believe we're running short on the real food. I think the captain wants to make sure he doesn't run short, so he's switching us over to the rations.”

“We still have three weeks there and four back,” the other man said. His voice was deep and intimidating. “We might even run out of the rations.”

“So we take them from the kids,” the older man said, wrapping his hands around the box and starting for the door. “Easy enough.”

“If they don't make it, we don't get paid.”

“How would they know?” the older man sneered. “We should fire Leppy out into space, if you ask me. Save some food. Not to mention the bloody shouter. If I catch that bugger, I'll burn 'im down on the spot.”

“Good luck,” the other man said. “Drop a box at the brig. Let them fight over it.”

The door slid shut behind them, and Sally stood up again. “Pleasant bunch,” she said. “You might want to avoid them, too. Especially Red Eye. He's a scary one. Wrinkles is mean, but he's also slow and doesn't hear too well. I wouldn't worry about him.”

She walked over to an open box.

“Stuff your pockets, rat boy. We need to get going—”

“How did you know they were coming?” Jonah asked.

She shrugged. “I'm used to listening for footsteps. They echo in the walls.”

She tossed him a food bar, and he shoved it in his pocket. None of it made sense to Jonah. Why did the crew have weapons and the Space Raiders didn't? Why were the Space Raiders not allowed to go anywhere on the ship, if they were heroes chosen to save the universe?

Sally must have seen him frowning. “Sometimes it's better not to ask,” she said.

“No,” Jonah said. “I want to know what's going on.”

Sally shrugged and stuffed some food bars in her pockets. “Suit yourself. But you're on your own. There's only one place to go for answers, and you just saw who lives there. Time to go. If you really want to save your friends, you'll want to take the engine room. I'll show you the door—”

“Attention,” a commanding, cruel-sounding voice boomed over the PA. “I have just been informed that the boy who attacked First Mate Grouter has gone on the run in my ship. The rules are being broken of late, and I'm tired of it. I know you can hear me, Jonah Hillcrest. Turn yourself in today, and I will lessen your punishment. Continue running and I will lock you up in a cell and throw away the key, if I don't decide to just throw you out the air lock first.”

Jonah's eyes widened. He saw Sally staring at him in wonder.

“To everyone else on this ship—and I mean
everyone—if anyone helps the guilty party, they will be punished as well. And to my crew: Whoever captures the attacker and brings him to me wins double pay. Think fast, boy. The hunt is on.”

The announcement finished, and Jonah just stood there, trying not to tremble. Things just kept getting worse. Now he had Red Eye hunting for him.

Sally smiled and shook her head. “You are one dead space rat.”