“That’s just the symbol of the FRX,” I say. “It was in the Feeder Level too. But that’s not what—”
“It was in the Feeder Level?” Amy interrupts. “I never saw it. ”
“There was a little stone and metal marker in the exact center of the ship. It had a plaque; it was called Point Zero. ” I shrug. “It was in the middle of one of the cow fields. ”
Amy suppresses a shudder; she never liked the cows on Godspeed.
“But that’s not what I was looking at,” I say, pointing to the right of the steel plate, to the area that is nearly hidden behind the ramp. “Look. ”
Two huge dark marks scar the underbelly and side of the shuttle. They look like the after-effects of blasts—twin deep dents with black marks radiating around them.
“What is that?” Amy asks, reaching toward the dent. It’s easily the size of her entire arm but too far above her to touch.
“I don’t know,” I mutter. “But I’m willing to bet this is what knocked us off course. ” I frown. I can’t tell if the dents were made by our own rockets malfunctioning or if we hit something.
Or if something hit us.
“Do you think I was right?” I whisper. “That it was one of those bird-things? Or could it have been—”
“Everyone inside!” Colonel Martin barks. Lieutenant Colonel Bledsoe and her men quickly shuffle everyone up the glass walkway, all blissfully unaware of our suspicions.
Amy’s mother calls to her, motioning her to the side of the shuttle. Amy shoots me an apologetic smile as she veers away from me toward her mother, who is standing near the edge of the burnt ground. When Amy approaches, she gathers her up in an excited hug. “Isn’t this place fascinating?” her mother says in a rush. “I’ve been collecting specimens. I couldn’t wait. Your father’s furious that it’s taken me so long, but he’ll get over it. ”
“Inside!” Colonel Martin bellows again. Bledsoe waits for the three of us at the bottom of the glass ramp; we’re the only civilians still outside.
The young soldier we met earlier approaches us. “Time to go in,” he says. “It’s not safe out here. ”
Amy blinks at him. “You didn’t introduce yourself before,” she says. There’s something in her voice that makes me narrow my eyes at this intruder.
He holds his hand out to help her up the ramp, and her fingers linger on his elbow. “Private Chris Smith at your service,” he says with a grin that puts me inexplicably on edge. “I report to your father. ”
“So does everyone else,” she answers, her own smile lighting up her face.
“Except me. ”
My words make both Chris and Amy stop in their tracks. There is appraisal in Chris’s gaze now as he looks me over, and I find myself scowling even more angrily that this person thinks he has the right to judge me.
“Let’s go,” I say, reaching for Amy’s hand.
She deftly dodges me, new interest in her eyes as she stares at Chris. “I’m surprised anyone my age qualified for the mission,” she says.
“I’m twenty. ” Chris’s voice is deep. “Barely made the cutoff. ”
“You were with the group that went to find the probe, right?” Amy continues.
Before Chris can answer, Amy’s mother shoves a jar of sand she collected into Amy’s hands, completely oblivious to the smile Chris shoots Amy. “There must be some sort of phosphorescence,” she says excitedly. “Of co
urse,” she continues on as they head up the ramp, “what I want to know is if there’s a source of bioluminescence in the sand. ” Chris catches my gaze and rolls his eyes as Amy’s mother rambles on, but I just glower back at him. “You know, maybe it was caused by a chemical reaction, perhaps the heat from the shuttle’s landing. . . . ” She shakes another small jar of the sand, and the glowing bits of it remind me of the stars in the sky.
Her voice trails off as she reaches the top of the ramp and sees Colonel Martin, his dark, angry eyes flicking to me, then back to his wife. Amy doesn’t notice as her mother shoots a suspicious glance at me and clutches the jar closer to her as she draws her daughter into a tight, one-armed hug and leads her through the bridge to the inside of the shuttle.
Their looks were clear.
I am not to be trusted, even with samples of sand.
Lieutenant Colonel Bledsoe lingers at the door with Colonel Martin and Chris.
“I want talk more about the technology issues we’ve been having,” Colonel Martin mutters to Chris, drawing him closer to the control panel on the bridge.