This might not be the best time to talk about this, but if Channy really knows where the translator is located, then I’d like to reserve some time to speak with the Cassini myself. There are a handful of questions that are begging to be asked.
Like, how long did it take for your web to spread over the surface of Titan? And what is the source of your power? Is it the internal core heat of the moon itself? Is it the radiation from Saturn?
And what about that power beam? If it’s such a force for good, why hasn’t Bon done something about that hair of his?
Without another sound Channy turned and sprinted toward the door that led out of the Spider bay and into the corridor. She yelled back over her shoulder, “C’mon!”
The other Council members, and Hannah, exchanged confused looks, watching Channy’s bright yellow T-shirt streak toward the door. Triana looked at the others and said, “Well, let’s go.” She pointed a finger at Bon. “Especially you. If she really does know where it is, we have no time to waste.” That time had dwindled to thirty-nine minutes.
By the time the group reached the door, they could hear Channy’s pounding steps up around the curve of the corridor, closing in on the lift door. Gap yelled ahead to her, “Hold up!” He looked over at Hannah. “You know, I’m fast, but I don’t think I could catch her in a race. That girl is a blur.” Hannah only smiled in return as they raced toward the lift.
Rounding the corner, they found Channy leaning out of the open lift door, a look of urgency on her face. “C’mon,” she said. The group, huffing and puffing, piled in with her. As soon as the doors sealed, Triana exhaled loudly and put her hand on Channy’s shoulder. “Okay, detective, wanna clue us in?”
Channy’s face broke into a wide smile. “Of course, I could be wrong—”
“Oh, great,” Gap said, leaning his good arm against the side of the lift.
“But I don’t think so,” Channy finished. “It makes sense. As soon as you said it’s something that you could hold in your hand. I’ve already held it several times.”
Hannah seemed beside herself. “So tell us. What is it?”
But Channy was enjoying the attention. She beamed at Hannah, then playfully raised her eyebrows and flexed her bicep like a bodybuilder. “See, just because you have muscles doesn’t mean you can’t be brainy, too.”
Lita turned to Triana. “I’m going to deck her before we ever get off the lift.” Then to Channy she said, “And just where are we getting off this thing?”
“The Domes.”
“The Domes?” the group said in chorus.
Channy was just about to answer as the lift came to a stop and the door opened to reveal the lush vegetation sprawled before them. “This way,” Channy said, turning to her left and heading toward the short passage that led from the first dome to the second.
“Listen, we have—” Triana consulted her watch again. “We have a little more than thirty-five minutes. Is it okay if we walk and talk?”
The group clustered around Channy as she walked briskly toward the second of Galahad’s domes. In a moment they left the sterile confines of the passageway and found themselves under the glistening starlight of Dome 2. Not for the first time, Triana relished the scent that accompanied the flourishing plant life: smells of rich soil, flowering plants, fruits and vegetables coming into their prime. She inhaled deeply; the scents automatically triggered thoughts of home.
“You know what made me think of it?” Channy said. “Iris.”
“How come?” Lita said, right on her heels.
“Because I’ve been trying like crazy to get her to play with it. She won’t, of course, because she’s a cat, and it has to be her idea.”
It suddenly clicked with Triana. “That ball,” she said. “It was a small, metal ball.”
“Uh-huh.” Channy pushed a large, leafy branch out of the way as she hurried down the path. “It was in the bag with Iris’s stuff, and I just thought it was one of her toys. She kinda likes the stuffed mouse, but this ball did nothing for her.”
“And since Nina was in a hurry and had to pack light, she just threw it in the bag with the cat’s collar and stuff,” Gap said.
“And, since she thought she would be here with us,” Lita reminded them, “it was no big deal to her. She probably didn’t give it a second thought to just toss it in with the other things.”
Channy slowed to a stop. She looked back and forth, then dropped to one knee and scanned beneath a row of tomato plants. Gap squatted next to her.
“Well?” he said.
“I know it’s around here somewhere. This is where I was when I tossed it to her. Right there,” Channy said, pointing to a spot about ten feet off the trail.
The group fanned out and began pushing leaves and vines out of the way. Hannah fell to her hands and knees and crawled in a semi circle between two rows of plants. Bon moved off to one side, using his foot to push plant life aside, a scowl of frustration back on his face.
After almost two minutes of searching, Channy looked exasperated. “Listen, I know it was right here. I brought Iris up here a few hours ago, and I kicked the ball right over there.”
“Well, it’s not here now,” Gap said. “Maybe the cat picked it up and carried it somewhere.”
“No, I’m telling you she doesn’t like it,” Channy said. She squatted again and peered under the same set of leaves she had already examined twice. “It has to be here.”
Triana peered behind a row of dirt that had been overturned recently, then looked to her right. A small gray metal box with plastic tubes sprouting from one side sat quietly by itself, a bright blue tag attached to it. She dropped to one knee and read the hastily scrawled information on the tag.
“Bon, come take a look at this,” she said.
Bon and the others gathered next to Triana, looking down at the water recycling pump. She pointed to the blue tag.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but this is a record of the pump’s service history, right?”
Bon nodded. “With all the trouble they’ve had recently, we’ve doubled the inspection schedule. Even though Gap’s department worked out the chip problem in them, I still want to keep a pretty close watch.” He nodded a quick thanks to Gap, then read the date and time on the tag. “This was about two hours ago.”
Triana straightened up. “Well, there you go. One of the farm techs must have come through here, inspected the pump, and seen the ball. It would be so out of place here that they’d be bound to pick it up.”
Bon didn’t say a word. He immediately took off, back up the path they had just traveled, headed toward his office. Channy looked ready to cry.
“I’m so sorry,” she said. “I shouldn’t have left it here.”
Lita patted her on the shoulder. “C’mon, how could you have known? Besides, the tech might have just taken it to the office. Let’s go.”
Triana took a stealthy glance at her watch, not wanting the others to think about their deadline.
Twenty-nine minutes.
She quickly caught up with the group as they scurried along the path. By the time they reached Bon’s office, they found him on the intercom.
“Well, where is he?” he yelled.
The voice on the speaker was tentative. “He went on dinner break about fifteen minutes ago. He should be back in less than an hour. Do you want me to—”
Bon snapped off the connection and punched in the ship-wide intercom. “Javier Serati. Javier Serati. Emergency. Please connect. Javier Serati.”
Channy wrung her fingers, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. Gap looked out the window into Dome 1, running a hand through his hair. Lita stood by the door, her arms folded, staring at the floor. Hannah, her eyes wide, sat down in one of the chairs across from Bon’s desk.
Triana walked a few feet out of the office and looked up through the clear dome into the star field above. In twenty-six minutes Titan would come roaring back, and the Cassini would continue its repair project. She wondered if this was her last chance to witness the beauty of the cosmos. She steadied her breathing and felt a sense of calm flow back through her body. Scanning the broad expanse of flickering stars, she slowly smiled and closed her eyes.
She felt the presence next to her before she heard the voice.
“Uh, Tree?” Gap said. She looked into his face and felt an odd sensation.
“I should probably head down to Engineering,” he said. “Not that there’s anything I can do, I guess, but . . .”
“No, you’re right,” she said. “We’ll need to know that it’s working. I mean, when Bon uses the translator, we’ll need to know.”
Gap just stared at her, shifting his gaze from one of her green eyes to the other. He finally nodded, his voice sounding resigned. “Yeah.”
For a split second Triana had a flashback to a moment when they were alone in the Conference Room, months ago, during the crisis that had nearly destroyed them. She had been sure that Gap was on the brink of kissing her then. But now, the look he gave her was different, an almost melancholy air, as if there were still things that he wanted to say to her. His feelings had changed, she realized.
“Hannah’s going to come with me,” he said softly. “Unless you need her here.”
Triana was startled. Through all of the months of their tension, it had never dawned on her that Gap might begin to look elsewhere. She had noticed the smiles and the glances he had shared with Hannah, but had somehow failed to make the connection.
And how did she feel about that? How should she feel?
She realized that the silence between them was growing longer and longer. She snapped out of her spell. “Uh, sure. I mean, no, she should go with you. Absolutely.”
Why “absolutely?” Now she just sounded flustered. She smiled at Gap and reached out to touch his face. Before she knew what was happening, he leaned in and kissed her on the cheek.
“I’ll see you in a little bit,” he said with the sound of a final good-bye.
He turned and walked away. Hannah came out of the office, and together they disappeared down the path toward the lift.