“Can you imagine? Letting your archaic religion affect your space travel.” Varn let out a laugh.
“Is it that different than the Board’s trepidation about releasing the technology to us?” I wondered.
“Not that much, I suppose,” Varn said. “Either way, we lucked out.”
“Speaking of which, have we broken through and contacted Earth yet?” I asked Jade.
“Nope. We’ve tried Bryson’s access point into R11 and left a message,” Jade told us. “We’ve also asked Stin to check our program, and he did manage a few updates to my processes. It still didn’t work.”
“What did Stin think was the cause?” Trid leaned forward, his large forehead glistening with a sheen of sweat.
Jade fidgeted with her cup, not making eye contact with the Darlor man. “He says it’s pointless, because no one is there to receive it.”
The room went silent. We were deep inside Stin, hundreds of kilometers from the surface of the AI’s computerized planet.
“Stin thinks Earth has been ambushed?” I struggled to even ask it.
“There might be another reason,” R11 offered. “Bryson feared the Velibar would intercept our messages.”
“You’re saying someone might have shut them off entirely. To avoid being compromised,” Zonrial said. Her horns reflected the bright white light.
“That’s my assumption. Stin corroborated the possibility,” R11 said. “But we cannot know for sure. I am surprised Bryson has not contacted me, because this method is on a private line, encrypted a thousand times over.”
“Keep trying,” I ordered the robot. “We’re leaving tomorrow. Even if we make contact, we have a mission that takes priority.” I turned to face the Darlor leader. “Trid, I want your assurance you will do everything possible to help us defeat the Velibar, and the Hidan.”
Zonrial locked gazes with me. She bared her teeth. “You’ll have our people. I’ll see to it. We have shared interests.”
“Then it’s settled.” We’d strike the outpost at Biks and return home with our allies. Next we’d target Dutis, their home planet. I couldn’t think about the estimated twenty billion lives, or the fact that it wouldn’t be completed until the very last outpost was destroyed.
Everyone broke apart from the table, and Varn paced the room nervously. I went up to him, standing in his path. “Will you cut that out? It’s driving me crazy.”
Varn stopped. “Hawk, this was supposed to be a ‘reach out and touch someone’ kind of mission. I didn’t sign up for this version.”
“Are you having second thoughts?” I asked him.
“Second? That was so last week. I’m up to fourth and fifth thoughts about it now.” Varn ran his fingers through his hair and puffed his cheeks out. “What if this is it? My teammates were right to stay home.”
“Is that so?” I poked him square in the chest. “You’d rather wait on Earth for a dozen Squids to arrive at your doorstep?”
“No.”
“Then suit up. You’re a damned racer, Wallish. You wanted some adventure, you got it. Isn’t this what you dreamed about while you were flying Sage Industries supplies around the solar system? You were Frank Under’s grunt boy for years. Is this not better?” I asked.
Varn frowned but stuck his hand out. I shook it firmly. “You have a delightful way of making me feel inferior, you know that?”
I smirked at him. “It’s a gift.”
The others had exited the room, and I held Varn back for a moment. “Hey, do you think there’s a chance your boss has sided with the Velibar?”
Varn crossed his arms defensively. “Under? How would that even work?”
I grabbed my PersaTab, showing him the video of Preston. “We found something embedded in this message.”
Varn listened as my grandfather spoke of the power of the Velibar, and the deciphered veiled communication scrolled across the bottom. “I am sorry. Arlo, forgive me. There was no choice. Do not trust…”
“Hawk. Is this real?” Varn grabbed the Tab, viewing the feed again.
“It’s real.”
“Then…” His eyes went wide. “Someone knew you were going to be present. This was premeditated. There’s a chance they were picking up the feeds, though. They could have known you were in Space Race from the endless coverage,” Varn suggested.
“It’s possible, but they couldn’t have picked up the transmissions that soon. And if they were examining the drone clips, there was nothing about the SeaTech Racer that said I was piloting it,” I told him.
“Do you think your grandfather would recognize your flight patterns?” Varn relaxed a bit and handed my Tab over.
“Maybe. It’s been almost twenty years, and he watched me in Pod Sprinters, not Racers. I think it has to be someone on the inside. One of the Primaries has betrayed us.” I turned the program off and pocketed my PersaTab.
“And you think Frank Under is the obvious choice?” Varn asked.
“We overheard him at Luna Corp before we left. He’s pissed about disbanding the Corporations. He’s also determined to stay in control…”
“If he’s so upset at the changes, why would he be the mole? Under wants power. Status quo. Not to usher in an alien overlord. I know the guy’s a jerk, but this? I don’t buy it.” It was good to hear Varn’s point of view on the topic, because he voiced a lot of solid arguments.
“If it’s not Sage, then who?” We stared at one another, knowing we wouldn’t get the answer today.
“Let’s call it a night. Tomorrow’s a big day.” Varn led me out of the room, and I was awestruck by the structure Stin had created for us. Considering nothing organic lived on Stin, he’d done a great job of accommodating our people. We walked through a bright corridor that took us to our sleeping quarters. Luther was on his bunk, reading his Tab. Jade was already under her blankets, facing the wall.
Jinx and Aster talked quietly at the corner of the room. She was showing Jinx how to operate a Widowmaker. Varn stared at them and nudged me with his elbow. “She’s not my usual type, but I’m kind of digging the mohawk and anger.
