“This one is empty of data,” she explains, turning it over in her hand. “My old one is … well … I had to leave it on Earth.” She scrolls through some settings and then holds up the tip of the pen. It’s glowing white-hot!
“Mine definitely doesn’t do that!” I exclaim. Shane has some tools at the garage that heat up, but I hadn’t thought of using them to melt the lock. It’s a brilliant idea. “Can you show me how to use it?”
Marian adjusts the temperature setting until I can actually see waves of heat rising from the tip of the pen. Careful to face it away from us, she holds the pen up to the box and traces a circle around the lock. Whatever material the box is made of sizzles. A few seconds later the lock falls off, right into my hand.
We lock eyes and beam at each other. I throw open the lid, and we bend our heads to look inside.
Well. I certainly didn’t expect that!
Sitting on a bench in the middle of outer space and talking to a boy I only met this morning is already strange enough. Doing it while draped in three shimmering gold chains is a whole other level of bizarre. No gold has existed in Earth’s crust for hundreds of years, nor on any other planet known to us. This is a treasure beyond measure.
Robin hasn’t spoken in the last ten minutes. I’m not even certain he has blinked. He just keeps staring back and forth between the necklaces, the now-empty box, and the data chip in his palm. I’m pretty sure he’s in shock, and I can’t say I blame him. I reluctantly return the chains to him before anyone else comes into the observation deck. He stuffs them in his pockets.
Before opening the box, he was much easier to talk to than I would have expected due to my utter lack of experience. I suppose all those etiquette classes on “how to make conversation in various social situations” have paid off. I should probably see if I can help him recover his wits.
I move my hand toward him, pull it back, then reach forward again until my fingertips are gently resting on his forearm. “Um, Robin? Do you want me to use my digi-pen to read the chip? Maybe it’s a letter explaining this. Or maybe you want to do it alone, in private? I’d understand. You hardly know me.”
Wordlessly, he hands me the tiny chip. I guess I proved my trustworthiness by not running off with the gold. Not that there’s anywhere to run in a spaceport!
I slide the chip into the slot on the side of the pen, and face the tip away from us. Instantly a holo-screen appears, filling with words and images of items I’ve only seen in classroom videos of the past. Much of it I’ve never seen before at all. More jewelry, cups, bowls, clothing, a folding chair, drawings, coins, a pocket-sized golden statue of a large-bellied man, two swords, a dagger, a pair of sky-blue elbow-length gloves, clear and brown glass bottles labeled OINTMENT and CREAM, and on and on.
“It’s an inventory,” I say, stating the obvious. I point to the left side of the screen. “I think it’s telling us what objects are in each box.”
He nods in agreement, but he still isn’t speaking. I turn off the pen and the screen disappears with it. Then Robin is on his feet, his words tumbling out.
“What am I supposed to do with this? First, my parents totally disappear from my life, then they — or possibly someone else — sends me all this after they die? How did they possibly get all this stuff? What good does it do me? How am I supposed to feel?” He throws up his arms and takes a breath. Then he sits back down. “Sorry. Got a little carried away there.”
“It’s a lot to process,” I assure him. “What are you going to do with it all?”
He stares down at the box, then shakes his head. “I have no idea. I could sell or barter it, I guess, but there’s nothing I need up here that I don’t already have. How about I just don’t think about it? That’s worked for me in the past.”
“Me, too,” I admit. “Although it catches up with you sooner or later. At least you know your parents were thinking of you, right? I mean, better late than never?”
“I guess so. I’ll never get a chance to thank them, though.” He runs his fingers through his hair, knocking his hat to the floor. “Ugh, forgot I was still wearing that.”
I pick up the hat and place it back on his head, adjusting the feather so it sticks out at an angle. “It suits you.”
He smiles gratefully. I smile back. We sit there like that and I wait for it to feel awkward, but it doesn’t. Finally, I clear my throat. “Now that you’ve shared this treasure with me, I feel like it’s only fair if I show you something. It isn’t made of gold, but it’s a treasure, nonetheless.”
“You don’t have to,” he says. “Not if it’s something you want to keep private.”
“I want to.”
He stands up and waits for me to join him. When I remain seated, he says, “Isn’t it in your suitcase? You seemed very attached to that.”
I shake my head and reach for my boot. I wiggle my finger down far enough until I feel the folded piece of paper, then slide it out and hand it to Robin.
“What is this?” he asks, rubbing it between his fingers. “I’ve never felt anything exactly like it before.”
“It’s paper,” I whisper. “Real paper.”
His eyes widen. Slowly, he unfolds it and spreads it out on his palm. “What do these letters and numbers mean? It looks like some sort of code.”
I hadn’t planned what to say about it; I’d just wanted to show him. But of course he’d want to know. “I think — but don’t know for sure — that if we can figure out the code it will tell us what happened to King Richard.”
His eyes widen again. “King Richard? Didn’t he leave Earth years ago on some kind of mission?”
“That’s what everyone thinks. But he may never have left at all.” I do my best to recite the confusing conversation I’d overheard. I tell him I stole the code after scanning it into my old digi-pen and writing a fake one in the notebook. I run my finger over the middle of my palm. If that accident happened now, without the medi-bots, I’d have a painful blister. What a strange thought.
Robin tilts his head at me, his eyes twinkling. “Well, well, Marian. Aren’t you the little sneak? It seems there’s more to you than just a pretty face.”
I punch him on the arm and he laughs. Okay, so it was my first punch and he probably barely felt it.
“Have you tried to decipher it yet?” he asks.
I shake my head. “I hadn’t even thought of that.”
“Isn’t that why you took it?” he asks.
I realize this is a reasonable question, but I shrug. “I just wanted the paper.” It sounds lame, even to my ears. I wait for him to express some kind of disappointment that I hadn’t tried to help somehow, but Robin only says, “I don’t blame you. You don’t want to mess with Prince John. He’s not a good guy from what we hear up here. Why get involved with other people’s troubles?”
So now I’m the one left with the vague sense of disappointment.
“Sorry to interrupt you beating up my cousin,” a voice says from behind us. It’s the boy who introduced himself earlier as Will. “I punch him a lot, too.” He turns to Robin. “You should have seen their airship! That kid Asher who likes to hear himself talk gave us a tour. It was unreal! There were fifteen floors and —” He breaks off when he sees the paper in Robin’s hand. “What is that?”
Robin glances at me, and I nod permission. Will snatches the paper and I wince, but it doesn’t rip.
“It’s a code,” I tell him. “Before you ask, I have no idea how to break it. I couldn’t, even if I wanted to. We are not taught those kinds of skills where I’m from.”
“We are,” Will says. “But you don’t need code-breaking skills to read this. It’s not a code.”
“What do you mean?” I ask, taking the paper from him and looking harder at what’s written there.
“These are coordinates,” Will says. “Sometimes the pilots let me and Robin hang around in their cockpits when they come to the station.” He points down at each line as he speaks. “It pinpoints a place relative t
o the celestial equator. This number shows you the right ascension, this is the declination, and the third number marks the distance from the sun, or the horizon center — I’m not certain which one.”
“So what you’re saying is that I could use this to find someone back on Earth?”
He nods. “The pilot would put these coordinates into the ship’s navigation system, and they would take you right to him or her. Who’s missing? Does this have something to do with Robin’s parents?”
Robin stands up. “No, of course not. Thanks for actually paying attention when we went on those ships. I was always distracted by the knobs and levers and shiny bits. Forget Elan — I’m going to have to start cheating off you in class!”
Will looks disappointed, but Robin is right to keep the truth from him. And he was right about Prince John. He is dangerous, and I can’t risk anyone else getting involved. I have a lot to figure out, starting with how I’m going to convince PJ to turn the airship around without telling him why.
King Richard was my friend. And I need to help him. I wouldn’t have thought I needed to go into outer space to figure that out.
“Never going to happen,” PJ tells us when we find him in the back of Shane’s garage. When the nurse told Marian and me that Captain Pratchett was sleeping soundly, this was the next place I suggested we look for PJ. Sooner or later, every visitor finds his way back here. Usually sooner.
“But it wouldn’t take hardly any time at all,” Marian argues. “You could drop me off and be back here in less than a day.”
PJ shakes his head. “It doesn’t work like that. I could explain about escape velocities and hyperbolic orbits and the fact that we are on autopilot to Earth Beta, but that would be the long way of simply saying no. So … no. Sorry, kid.”
Marian’s shoulders sag. PJ steps toward the card table, sees the buy-in amount, and backs away to watch the game instead. I glance over at Shane, who must have just come from working on the Royal Horizon, a few feet of rubber tubing slung over his shoulder. He tosses it in the recycling pile and then catches my eye. I raise my eyebrow toward PJ, and Shane gives me a nearly imperceptible nod in reply. This is where Shane shines. He approaches PJ and casually puts his arm around his shoulder.
“PJ, good buddy who I only met five minutes ago … it’s your first time here, so how about you join in for free?”
PJ doesn’t protest. They never do. He grabs a seat. “Deal me in!”
Fifteen minutes later, when he loses (they almost always lose) and can’t pay, Shane works his magic. “That’ll be six hundred quid.”
PJ’s eyes widen. “But I don’t have that.”
Shane shrugs. “What’ve you got, then?”
“I can, um, show you around the ship? Give you the private tour?”
“Nah,” Shane says. “Seen a lot of airships.”
PJ fumbles in his pockets but comes up empty.
“How about this?” Shane proposes. “How about you drop this young lady back off on Earth before going on your way? We’ll call it even.”
“I truly can’t,” PJ insists. “It’s just not possible.”
I glance at Marian. She’s watching the whole exchange with a mixture of horror and concern. Shane’s methods aren’t exactly on the up-and-up, but this is how he gets half of the stuff he owns. I think he even won his beat-up old shuttlecraft this way. That poor sap must have owed a ton of money.
“What if instead of taking Marian home,” I suggest, “you let her stay here with us until a ship can take her back to Earth?”
PJ considers this for a minute, then asks, “But what would I tell the folks on Earth Beta who are expecting her?”
That’s a tricky one. To my surprise, Marian speaks up. “Tell them I caught a cold on Delta Z and you didn’t want to risk spreading it.”
Shane looks impressed, and I admit, I am, too. It’s a brilliant solution. PJ sighs. “This must be very important to you.”
“It is,” Marian says.
“You’ll be giving up the opportunity of a lifetime to visit another planet.”
She nods. “I know. But at least I got here, right?” She glances at me, and I feel a warmth spread through my chest. I’m a goner with this one.
PJ stabs his finger at Shane and me. “You are both responsible for her from this moment on. If I hear you harmed one hair on her head, this little gambling ring you’ve got going on will come crashing down. And that’s just for starters.”
“You can count on us,” Shane says. “Right, Robin?”
“You bet,” I reply.
“My betting days might be over,” PJ mutters. “Now scram before I change my mind.”
“Just one more thing, PJ,” Marian says. “Please don’t tell anyone at school. Or my parents. They’ll see me soon enough, so I don’t want them to worry.”
“I’ll give you two days,” he says. “Once we get to Earth Beta, it will be out of my control.”
“Thank you,” Marian says. “And, PJ, I’m glad your grandfather is going to be okay.”
“Me, too,” he says. “Now scram.”
So we scram.
“Can’t say I approve of his methods,” Marian says when we reach the Central Plaza. “First let them play, then make them pay? But I admit it was effective. So now what?”
“Now we find the commander and ask if any ships are heading our way with enough room for a passenger.”
“Can you do that while I find my classmates? I’ll need to explain why I’m not going with them. I guess I’ll say I’m homesick.”
“Are you?”
She pauses for a few seconds, then shakes her head. “I miss my grandmother, and my maid, Ivy, but my parents were so quick to get rid of me I think they’ll be disappointed when I show up tomorrow.”
“Might not be tomorrow,” I tell her.
“Well, the next day, then. Either way, they were expecting three months off.”
She says good night before I can explain that it might not be the next day, either. Sometimes we go weeks without getting any ships, and they could be going in any of a number of directions. Guess I should have mentioned that when I suggested the idea. Should I explain it now?
Nah. I’ll see her in the morning.
I double back to Shane’s. He’s about to head back out to the Horizon when I stop him and explain the problem. “Yeah,” he says, “I just figured you were trying to keep her here longer by promising another ship could take her. It’s clear you’re sweet on her.”
“Sweet on her?” I repeat with a grimace. “Who says that anymore?”
He grins. “May be corny, doesn’t mean it’s not true.”
I gesture behind me. “Any chance we can take the shuttlecraft? I can program in the coordinates and put it on auto. We wouldn’t need a pilot.”
Shane chuckles. “That old craft can barely make it around the station and back, let alone half a light-year away. The corrosion component fan and the photon stabilizer still need replacing, and the pressure clamp is — wait, did you say we? We are going? Like you and her both?”
That catches me off guard. Did I say we? I think I did! I grin. “Guess I’m going to Earth!” I still shudder a little, out of habit.
“Not so fast there, little buddy. Have you told your uncle?”
“I only knew myself about ten seconds ago. Plus, he’s not my real uncle, you know.”
Shane steps back and studies me. “He’s as much your uncle as the nose on your face.”
“Huh?”
“You know what I mean. That man took you in and raised you as his own.”
“Did you know all this time? About my parents? Did you also know that all records of them have been erased?”
Shane nods. “Your uncle told me about the boxes arriving, and we all saw the teacher’s report about the records. I’m sorry, Robin.” He puts his hand on my shoulder, leaving a nice grease stain behind. “They were good people doing important work. I hope you’ll always remember that.”
I sta
re at him, hard. “What do you mean? What important work?”
Shane holds up his hands. “Hey, I really don’t know, honest. That’s just what I remember hearing when your uncle brought you here.”
I have no reason to doubt him. And anyway, I don’t want to be mad at Shane, I don’t even want to be mad at my parents. After all, I never even thought to miss them until they were gone. I’ve had a great life on Delta Z. They must have had very important reasons to go, and someone must have had an equally important reason for wiping out the trail they left behind, including the part of their trail that is me. And that’s only in some database; the real me is just fine.
I take a deep breath and smile at my old friend. “Guess I’m off on my own adventure, then.”
He squeezes my shoulder again, then lets go.
“Hey, I have something for you.” I fish around in my pocket and pull out one of the gold chains. “This was in one of the boxes — which, yes, I know I wasn’t supposed to open. But it’s my way of saying thank you. For everything.” He takes the chain and almost falls over in surprise. He’s still speechless as I dash out.
Uncle Kent doesn’t take the news as easily when I find him back at our home unit. He crosses his arms. “I know you’re upset about everything with your parents, but running away isn’t the answer. You’re going to leave your home to go to a dying planet with a strange girl you just met? You, who — no offense — isn’t known for his selflessness?”
“Um, I guess so?”
Uncle Kent begins to pace around our small living space. “I knew Delta Z wouldn’t hold you forever. I just thought it would be a few more years.”
“I’m coming back, Uncle Kent, don’t worry.”
“I’ve heard that before,” he says.
“I know. But I’m not them.”
“I know you’re not.” He gives a long, rattling sigh. “All right. Next ship in that direction. If they’ll take you, that is.”
I hold up one of the other gold chains and then stuff it back in my pocket. “I think they’ll take us.”