Chapter 55
Aryl
The room bursts into chaos, the ExSapiens crowd losing their cool all at once.
“Quiet!” shouts Detective Xenon, cutting through the protests of Yuan’s associates. “Mr. Kepler, tell us more.”
“Yuan promised me the funding to start my own lab as soon as I completed my apprenticeship,” Kricket says. “And I accepted. All I had to do was create a distraction. Did Yuan tell me why he needed the alarm to go off? No. Did I suspect that Cal would be targeted? Again, no.”
Detective Card is furiously scrawling on her flexitab.
“You’re lying,” I say. Kricket’s too calculating to do whatever’s asked of him without at least wondering why. “Claiming ignorance to protect yourself.”
“Shut your mouth, Fielding,” Kricket says.
I laugh, throwing my shoulders back, even though it hurts. “Ohhh, I’ve made you angry. I’m so scared.”
“Quiet, both of you,” says Detective Card. “Mr. Kepler, how did you create the distraction?”
“Benzoyl peroxide,” Ver says. She mimics an explosion with her hands. Always the first one with the answer, I think, my heart warming.
There’s no guilt in Kricket’s expression—if anything, he seems proud of his biggest, final trick. “I altered the code of one of the custodial robots. A little after midnight, it slammed into the chemicals cart with the BP on it. Earlier, I’d swiped Ford’s DNA from his lab coat, and I copied it, smeared it inside a glove, and left it near the explosion site so that his genetic material would be found there. My small contribution to make things even between us, Ford.”
Ford glares at Kricket. “You tried to take all of us down in one go.”
“It nearly worked,” Kricket says, breezy as ever.
I lean over the table, and Kricket shrinks back. “You ruined our lives. Took Cal’s from him. And for what? Money? You worked next to us for years, and still you sold us out.”
Kricket holds up his hands. “I didn’t mean for you or Ver to get hurt.”
I lean back in my hoverchair. “If I were like you, Kricket, I’d want to kill you for this. But I don’t. I hope you live for a long time and think about what you did every single day.”
“Enough. This is all we need for now,” Card says, putting her flexitab on her wrist. “Krick Kepler, you’re under arrest. Pauling Yuan, do you confirm or deny Kepler’s testimony that you were responsible for the murder of Calyx Eppi?”
All eyes turn to Yuan. I can see his mind flipping through so many useless words.
One of his lackeys tries to answer for him. “Excuse me, my employer does not—”
“I’m sorry,” Yuan interrupts her. “I’m sorry it’s come to this. I’m even sorrier that despite my greatest efforts, these moons will devolve into chaos and One will be overrun by offworlders. I was only trying to protect the order that makes life here so precious.”
“At least you won’t be around to see things break down,” I say dryly.
Next to me, Ver laughs. My arms reach out to hold her, but our chairs aren’t angled properly for a hug.
“Pauling Yuan, you’re under arrest,” declares Detective Card. “And we’ll be dropping the charges against Ver Yun and Aryl Fielding.”
Ver’s face is slick with tears of relief. I start crying too. For the first time in a week, I can breathe. My family will be free. I’m free. I’m going to do science and dance and live. My future is truly mine.
And Ver! She’s been released from a death sentence, and now we have so many days together to look forward to.
As for Pauling Yuan, Cal’s killer—it’s clear that he’s convinced himself he did the right thing.
Everyone thinks they know what’s best for the moons. Schoolkids, senators, farmers, factory workers. But so many of them disagree in their answer to one question: Who’s human, to you?
Pauling Yuan can’t accept that people from one moon are just as important as others. And with that in mind, I now understand everyone in my life—Rhea, Senator Mercure, Yuan—who’s hurt me the most.