Chapter 4

Past the opening was a ramp spiraling around to a lower floor. Lobo pressed against the inside wall and peered around the edge. There was the aerovator dock Spec had told him about: an area with four sets of yellow doors that whooshed open and closed to reveal individual capsules. There were clear panes above the doors, looking out into space. He could see the capsules being whisked off through tubes to other parts of the station.

So they’re like elevators, he realized, but they don’t just go up and down. They go every direction. Why don’t real buildings have those?

Aliens marched out of one set of doors, turned, and entered another. They didn’t glance at phones or make small talk. They always stared straight ahead and marched promptly to their capsules when it was time.

You have cool stuff, but your lives seem pretty boring, he thought. Or maybe I’m just saying that because I can’t seem to go anywhere without being sidetracked.

Past the aerovator tubes he could see an entire side of the space station. It looked like a city block of tall buildings wrapped around a sphere. How much of it would he explore in this game?

“This is cool,” he whispered to Spec. “I’ve always wanted to live on a space station.”

“Solo_Lobo, you do live on a space station. Even before you were captured. An Earth outpost three light-days away.”

“Oh. Right.” I forgot I’m not a high school kid to her—I’m a space explorer. “I meant a space station like this one. It’s amazing.”

“Indeed,” she agreed. “Our progress in space colonization is far ahead of yours. But you should get back to the task at hand and find a data port.”

‘Back to the task at hand’ . . . Maybe she doesn’t know I’m a student, but she sure sounds like a teacher.

He studied the display over the doors. There were rows of cryptic symbols, lighting up and going dark again. He could see which symbols lit up just before a capsule arrived and which lit up just after they zoomed off. He guessed they showed the departure point and destination of each capsule, like floor numbers over an elevator.

There was a rare moment where the dock was empty. An aerovator chimed. Lobo sprinted for the door. Spec yelled something and hurried after him. The door started to open on a capsule full of Orionans.

Lobo flattened his body next to the doorway. As the aliens stepped out, he slipped behind them and into the capsule. Spec flew in as the doors closed.

“That was risky,” she said.

“I knew they wouldn’t see me.”

“It was impressive,” she admitted. “How did you know you would not be seen?”

“Have you noticed those guys are always looking straight ahead? They’re like robots—um, you know what I mean. As long as I don’t get in front of them or make a noise, they don’t notice me.”

“I see,” Spec said, clearly ignoring his remark about robots. “Next time you make a quick decision, it would help if you warn me.”

“Got it.”

“Now, in order to understand the aerovator transport system, I suggest—”

Lobo pushed a button and the aerovator car started to move.

“I was not going to suggest pushing buttons at random.”

“It’s not random,” he said. “I watched the display. Whatever this symbol is—the three vertical lines—nobody ever came from there or went there. So it must be deserted.”

“Also consider the possibility—” Spec started to say, but the capsule lurched as it kicked into high speed. The jolt flung the robot through the air. She made a series of surprised bleeps. A few seconds later, the capsule slowed, and the doors opened on an empty hallway.

“Are you all right?” Lobo asked Spec.

“Yes. I should have anchored myself,” she answered. “I rarely use this transport system and forgot the dangers.”

“It sure got us here fast, though,” Lobo said, peering out into the hall. “And see? I was right. Nobody around.” He stepped out of the car and immediately set off an alarm. Red and yellow lights flashed and a siren wailed.

“I was going to suggest that the less-visited areas might be high-security zones,” Spec blared over the noise.

“Yeah, thanks!” he shouted back. “Are you good for anything?”

The robot answered by humming noisily. A moment later the sirens quieted and the lights stopped flashing.

“I am good for that,” she said. “I can talk to the alarm system using sonic signals. I told it that the alarm was falsely triggered. I also opened the door at the end of the hallway.”

“Oh. Thanks.”

“However, they will send someone to check on the disturbance,” she said.

“All right.” He started down the hall. Like everything else he’d seen, it was a sandy brown color with rounded walls. “Hey, I didn’t mean that about not being good for anything. Actually, you’ve been pretty helpful.”

“Appliances do tend to be helpful,” the robot said, hovering beside him as he walked.

“Yeah. Sorry about that crack too.” Why am I apologizing to an NPC—and a robot to boot?

“It is not accurate to call me an appliance, since I am not designed for specific tasks.”

I said I was sorry. Sheesh.

They entered a large room lined with shelves. They were filled with canister-shaped cases, each labeled in alien writing.

“What is this place?” Lobo asked.

“Perhaps you should have determined that before taking us here,” Spec said. He didn’t think he was imagining the sarcasm in her voice.

He couldn’t hold back a small smile. “I hear you. I just wanted to go somewhere that wasn’t packed with aliens.”

He took a step and almost touched one of the cases, then remembered the alarm. He didn’t want to set it off again.

“To answer your question,” Spec said, “this is a storage facility for processing cores from failed robots.”

“Like a library?”

“More like what you would call a morgue,” Spec said.

He turned to her in confusion. “Huh?”

“Your instincts were correct in one way, however; this is a data center, so I can complete your map. I just need to talk to the database.” Spec made a humming noise, mixed in with beeps and whistles. “Or at least I can almost complete your map.”

“Almost?” He stepped out of the doorway and stood between two shelves to stay hidden, just in case. Looking at the map screen, he saw that a lot of the space station was now diagrammed in detail. But big patches of it were unlabeled. The parts that were labeled were done in alien code. He saw they were now at the very tip of one the station’s longest branches, far away from everything.

“Can you tell me where I can get a ship out of here?” He studied the map. It showed neon blue lines connecting different parts of the station, which he guessed were aerovator routes. There were a dozen places he could go from this area.

“The Orionan ships are closely guarded and take training to pilot. However, you may be able to send signals from the control room. The Orionans have received your signals for a long time. That’s how I was able to learn your language.”

He looked up. “What do you mean, send signals?”

“Arrange for a rescue. There is a loading bay where a craft can dock and get us without being detected.”

Us? He raised his eyebrows. I guess she’s planning on coming with me, if I get out of here.

“Is that control room marked on the map? I don’t read Orionan.”

“Unfortunately, no. It is a secure area and requires additional clearance.”

“Well, in that case, at least I know I need to move toward one of the unlabeled areas.”

He heard a chime down the hall and quickly looked around the room. “Um, is there any other way out of here?”

“There is not,” Spec answered. Footsteps sounded from the hallway outside. “As I warned, there seem to be Orionan soldiers coming to investigate.”