I lead them both in the direction of the probe, not bothering to sneak through the tall grass of the meadow. Two guards are on patrol on this side of the colony, but they don’t dare stop us. We are the leader of the shipborns, the daughter of the colonel, and a soldier—they have no reason to doubt us. We walk straight toward the compound as if we’ve been ordered there, and the guards don’t even stop to ask questions.
I let out a sigh of relief when I see the outline of the giant auto-shuttle on the compound—and no guards. I glance at Amy. Her eyes are glass, her face slack as she stares at the rows of boxes, each carrying a person, one holding her mother. I touch the back of her hand, and her watery eyes focus on me. “I’m okay,” she lies.
We may have made it through the colony without arousing suspicion, but if Colonel Martin or any of his people were to see us here under the shadow of nearly five hundred dead people, they wouldn’t let us pass just because we pretended to have confidence.
“What’s the plan?” Chris whispers. I pull out the glass cube Amy gave me earlier and use it to light our way to the communication room, covering it so only a dim glow escapes. I hold it so tightly my fingers ache, trying not to imagine just how much damage it could cause if I dropped it against the cement floor.
Chris stands back, looking around us nervously as if expecting Colonel Martin—or worse, the aliens—to show up. Amy presses her thumb over the biometric scanner. It flashes HUMAN and unlocks. It’s not until the door is shut again that I feel safe to speak in a normal volume.
“Here’s what we know,” I say. Our faces are lit eerily by the glass cube on the floor between us. “We know that the aliens are smart, and they have better weapons and technology than us. ”
Amy stares over my shoulder toward the auto-shuttle. Chris just watches me.
“But we don’t know what they are. We’ve never seen one. We don’t know what their weaknesses are. And while the FRX has promised us a weapon that can kill them, we don’t know what the weapon is. ”
“Which is why it’s so dangerous,” Chris adds.
“I agree,” I say. “A weapon that can wipe out an entire alien species? Why wouldn’t it wipe us out too? Or destroy the whole planet? It’s not safe to use something that powerful that we don’t understand. ”
“So—what? What are we going to do?” Amy asks.
“Not ‘we. ’ Me. I’m going back to Godspeed. ”
Amy’s eyes widen and her mouth drops open. Chris just stares blankly at me. “How can going back to the ship do anything?” he asks.
“I have very good reason to think that the ship holds the answers we need. First, the drug that was used to kill . . . ” My voice trails off as I glance at Amy.
“The drug used to kill my mother,” she states flatly.
“And the others, yes. I want to know how we have that same drug on the ship. And Orion’s last clue that makes me think the answer to everything is still on Godspeed. ” I pause. Outside the window, the auto-shuttle looks huge and dark. I try not to look at the hundreds of dead bodies still strapped inside the transport boxes.
I turn to Chris. I don’t want to confess this to him, but I have to. “Also, I left some of my people on the ship. ” I think about the video feed we saw before. I hope I’m not too late. I hope Bartie’s kept the black patches to himself. “I can bring them back here, along with more supplies. We need their help. We barely have any food left. ”
All of that was stored on the shuttle.
“You’re going to take the auto-shuttle?” Amy asks. “What about . . . ” She swallows, and when she speaks, there’s an odd tremor to her voice. “What about the people in it now?”
“I thought . . . ” I force myself to look her in the eyes, to recognize the pain I find within them. I know of no way to make her feel better about what’s happened, but at least I can give her some peace. “I thought I’d release them to the stars. ”
Amy bites her lip and looks down, then nods.
“But . . . how can you take the auto-shuttle?” Chris asks.
“I
t’s automatic, right? I don’t have to actually fly it. ”
“Yeah,” Chris says, “but it’s designed to go between here and the space station. Nowhere else. ”
I nod. “I’m hoping I’ll be able to reprogram it,” I say. “There is—we found live video feed of Godspeed being sent here. If we can manipulate the signals to reprogram the auto-shuttle to go to Godspeed rather than to the space station—”
“Then you can fly there, get the information you need, and return with your people,” Chris says, excitement rising in his voice. “Yeah, I think that could work!”
“And Dad won’t set off the weapon, not when there’s a chance your information could stop the aliens without resorting to it,” Amy adds. She pauses, determination flashing in her eyes. “We won’t let him set off the weapon, not till you’re back. ”
“Let me work on the programming,” Chris says, striding toward the control panel. In a few minutes, he has the screens lit up and is typing rapidly.
“Wow, you’re good at this,” Amy comments.