CHAPTER TEN

Chase’s mind spun as Parker led him back through the café. Nothing the girl had said made sense. Perfect copy. Can’t be Chase. He’s dead. Her wild eyes were burned into his mind. She’d known who he was—or at least, she knew another Chase who she believed was dead. But she was wrong about that. Wasn’t she?

They stepped out onto the street, and Chase finally found his voice. “Parker. There was a girl. In the bathroom.”

“Um, what?” Parker cut him a sideways glance before starting down the sidewalk. “You were alone in the bathroom, Chase.”

“No, I wasn’t. She vanished right before you opened the door.”

“Uh-huh.”

Chase rushed around Parker and stood in front of him, blocking his way. “I’m serious! She tried to stab me with your knife, but it didn’t work, and then she said I was a perfect copy, and that Chase was dead.”

“Dead,” repeated Parker. He squinted at Chase, inspecting him. “And the knife ‘didn’t work.’ Buddy, did you fall and hit your head in there? Because this sounds crazy.”

“I’m not crazy! She even said ‘guide the star.’” Surely that would convince Parker she was real.

Parker gazed down the street for a moment, looking thoughtful. “Maybe you’re having a weird reaction to the food.” He stepped around Chase and started walking again. “Now which way is the Shank?”

Chase grabbed at Parker’s sleeve, yanking it with such force it nearly tore at the shoulder. “Will you listen to me?” he shouted. “It happened! She was really there, and then she just disappeared. I’m not making it up!”

Parker looked down at Chase’s hand. “Okay,” he said slowly. “I believe you.” His expression said otherwise.

Chase released Parker’s shirt. “Whatever. You’re not listening to me. Someone recognized me. Someone who knows who I am.” Or was. A knot had formed in his chest.

Parker squeezed his eyes shut for several seconds and snapped them back open. “Alright. I’m sorry. I get that this could be huge. But whatever happened to you back there is not going to help us get Mina back, and we don’t have much time left. Once Maurus splits from this planet, he’ll disappear forever. While you were in the bathroom, you missed the breaking news flash. The Fleet’s already discovered that Maurus is alive and made it here to Qesaris.”

Parker’s chatter flowed past Chase’s ears, not sinking in. If only he’d had enough time to ask the girl what “guide the star” meant.

“Hey!” said Parker. “Did you hear me? The Fleet found out where Maurus went.”

“Yeah. What?” Chase forced himself to absorb what Parker was saying. Maurus. Mina. Girl or no girl, they still needed to find Asa Kaplan. “How do they know he’s here?”

“Because there’s surveillance footage of him heading into the Shank with a ‘mysterious bundle’ over his shoulder.”

“Heading into the what?”

“The Shank. It’s some sort of district—I’m guessing fairly nearby.”

“So how does that mean—” Chase began to ask, but a sudden roar drowned him out.

A fleet of hoverbikes, at least thirty or forty, zoomed overhead, with gray-uniformed soldiers atop. Every person on the street stopped to stare as they roared past and vanished around a corner.

“What was that?” Chase asked.

“That would be the Fleet, heading to the Shank to look for our friend, the saboteur.” Parker headed down the street in the same direction the bikes had gone. “We just have to follow them and we’ll find him.”

Chase grabbed his shoulder. “Wait. If they’re looking for Maurus, that place is going to be crawling with Fleet soldiers. This isn’t a good plan.”

“It’s the only plan!” said Parker, jerking his shoulder away. “We know this is where he took Mina—how else are we supposed to find her?”

“We’ll get caught!”

“We’ll be careful.”

Chase rolled his eyes. When was Parker ever careful? “How do you expect to find Mina?”

Parker didn’t answer. He stopped a woman in a blue dress who was walking in the opposite direction and asked her, “Is this the right way to the Shank?”

The woman made a face and hurried away.

“Rude,” muttered Parker.

“Do you even have a plan for how to look for her?” Chase asked. They knew Mina was in a particular district, but what was that? A few streets? A few blocks? A quarter of the planet?

“Mina’s a very sophisticated android,” said Parker. “You saw those andies at the registration, right? Plastic skin, glass eyes, brainpower of a calculator? Most of them are like that.”

“So?”

“Head down.” Parker stuck out his arm to stop Chase. A moment later, another flock of hoverbikes rushed past, turning left in the distance. “Mina’s very special,” he continued. “I don’t know why Maurus took her to this district—maybe to fix her, maybe to sell her. Either way, someone there is going to have heard about her. We just have to ask around.”

Chase waited for the rest of Parker’s plan, but he seemed to have said everything he was going to say. “Ask around? That’s the best you’ve got?”

Parker ignored him, cupping his hands to his mouth as he shouted to a man across the street. “Hey, mister, is this the way to the Shank?” He pointed down a street that led to their left.

The man squinted at them and shook his head. “You boys trying to get yourselves killed? Stay outta the Shank!”

Uneasiness crept into Chase’s stomach. “What is this place we’re heading into, Parker?”

Parker grimaced. “My guess is that it’s a gray sector.”

“What’s a gray sector?”

“You’ll see. Hey, check that guy out.”

It was easy to see who Parker was talking about. The people walking on the street around them looked fairly normal to Chase, but one extremely tall man in a wide-brimmed hat stood out, weaving through the crowd with his collar turned up and his hands in his pockets.

“What about him?”

“He doesn’t belong here—Epsilons aren’t supposed to be in an area like this. Let’s follow him. I bet he’ll lead us to the Shank.”

“Epsilons?”

“Epsilon-level species, one grade down from Alphas, like us.”

“Why aren’t they supposed to be here?”

“Because this is a blue sector—Alpha only. Don’t you see the blue lights on the street corners?”

The more Parker explained, the less sense it made, so Chase stopped asking questions. The man turned onto a narrow side street, and they followed him for several blocks, when suddenly he ducked into a narrow space between the buildings, an alley so dark that it looked like they were stepping into nighttime. Chase’s pulse quickened as they followed the man into the black corridor, but after a few meters it widened into a dirty street.

The people on these back streets were a world apart from those they had left behind. From the corner of his eye Chase caught glimpses of strange features—a pair of pointed, hairy ears, a shimmer of translucent skin. The man they were following stopped to join a group clustered outside a doorway, and the boys kept walking. A few steps away, a figure wrapped in a dirty blanket lay huddled on the ground.

“What is this place?” Chase whispered. A hulking creature with a wide, vicious mouth burst through a door beside them. Chase jumped away with a gasp.

“Calm down,” muttered Parker.

They squeezed through a narrow alley and came out into a small, busy plaza ringed with vendor stalls. A strange variety of people did business here—some looked almost human, but others were too tall, too wide, their features placed wrongly on their faces.

“This is a gray sector,” Parker finally said. “There are no restrictions on which species can come here.”

“Why would there be restrictions?” asked Chase.

Parker pressed his lips together. “Because not everybody gets along very well.” He headed for a stall in the back corner of the plaza. A small, battered yellow sign that read Mama T: Lyolli Nodel hung from the top of the stall, and beneath it was an open counter with a few stools.

“More food?” asked Chase, frowning. Parker shook his head.

A squat little woman worked at a stovetop behind the counter. Her round face was dominated by a long, pointy nose that stretched down toward her equally long, pointy chin, and Chase wondered if it was the dim lighting of her stall that made her skin appear to be such a strange, dusky green-gold hue. As she cooked, a long, bronze limb unfolded from behind her shoulders and reached up to take another pot down from its hook on the ceiling.

Chase stopped and took a step backward.

“What’s wrong?” asked Parker, following his gaze to the multitasking cook. He looked back at Chase and shook his head with a sigh.

Chase could not take his eyes off the strange woman as another long, bony limb extended from her back to keep stirring the pot. With human-like arms at the front of her body, the woman began chopping a pile of nubby black vegetables.

Parker leaned over the counter. “Excuse me, I have a question.”

The woman stayed bent over her chopping and ignored him. She wore a loose sort of pants, but instead of human-type legs, her saggy, bulbous midsection rested on a pair of folded haunches.

“Just one question,” Parker repeated.

“No food, no answer,” the woman snapped.

Parker sighed and sat on one of the stools.

“We’ll take two of whatever you’ve got,” said Chase. He didn’t expect a food-stall cook to know much, but at least it was a start. “Can you tell us if you’ve heard anything about a very special android that’s shown up in your district today? A broken android?”

Parker looked at Chase in disgust and rolled his eyes. “Way to be subtle.”

The woman still didn’t look up, and Chase racked his brain for something that would catch her attention. “She was brought here by the guy that’s on the news, the Fleet soldier who helped the Karsha Ven destroy Trucon.”

Parker jumped off his stool and punched Chase in the arm, hard. “How stupid are you? We need to get out of here now.”

With a juicy slap, two packages landed in front of the boys, thick rolls wrapped in brown paper already blooming with grease spots. “Pay now!” screeched the woman behind the counter.

Parker tossed a handful of currency chips on the counter and pulled Chase away, leaving the greasy packages behind.

“What?” asked Chase.

“Don’t you ever mention Maurus or the Karsha Ven again in this district, not unless you want to get killed.”

“But people must know he’s here!” In fact, Chase realized, it was more likely that people would be able to answer questions about Maurus than about Mina.

“That doesn’t mean—”

“Excuse me, boys?” A strange man with bone-white skin and an oddly flat face had walked up behind them. “I couldn’t help overhearing your questions at the noodle bar.”

“It was nothing,” said Parker quickly. “My friend’s an idiot.”

“Of course, nothing, I understand,” said the man with a gracious nod. “I just, you know, may have heard a thing or two about a very special android. If, you know…” He coughed and lowered his beady eyes, set so far apart they were almost on the sides of his head.

Parker paused and reached into his pocket. “This is all I’ve got.” He opened his palm to show four plastic chips.

The man stared at the money and sniffed. “Well. I guess it’s a good day to be charitable.” He swept up the chips with one smooth gesture. How many fingers were there on his hand? “There’s word going around that a certain, um, gentleman has been trying to sell a high-ticket item on the black market.”

“Did someone buy her?” asked Chase. Parker jabbed him in the side with an elbow.

“That part isn’t known,” said the pale man, looking over his shoulder. “But word is that the item in question is broken and will need to be fixed. You’ll probably learn more if you check with a local electrostruct.”

“Where’s the best electrostruct in the district?” asked Parker.

The man paused and coughed gently. He looked back and forth at each boy.

“I don’t have any more money!” Parker said, patting his pockets.

The man shrugged. “And I don’t have any more answers.” He turned and walked away.

“Great, thank you!” Parker called after him. “Thanks a lot!”

“So all we have to do now is ask around until we find—” began Chase.

“If you open your mouth here again, I swear to God I will strangle you. You can’t just say anything to anyone. Not here in the gray sector.”

“What is it with the gray sector?” Chase asked. “I don’t get it.”

Parker pulled him back against a wall, looking around. “This is an alien ghetto,” he said softly. “You have to know which species you can talk to, and which ones would rather tear your limbs off. You clearly don’t.”

“But I’ve never seen any of these things before,” said Chase, gesturing at a pair of creatures with bullet-shaped, aquamarine heads who chatted at a table, their webbed feet swinging from tall chairs.

“Never steal puckered grapes. Does that ring a bell?” Parker asked.

“What in the world are you talking about?”

“Never. Steal. Puckered. Grapes,” repeated Parker. “N-S-P-G. The planets in the Epsilon grade.”

Chase shook his head.

“Namat, Sharto, Pranatine, Gox. The woman back there in the noodle booth, she’s from Sharto. The Shartese are easy to bargain with, because they’re parasites. Namatans are creepy-looking, but they’re harmless, so they don’t really matter. And if you see a Goxar, stay far, far away.”

Chase looked around the plaza, confused. Which was a Namatan? Which was a Goxar? “What was the guy who just spoke to us?”

“Wow,” muttered Parker, shaking his head. “Of course you don’t know the Alphas. That guy was Ambessitari. Every. Living. Animal. Feels. Kingly—those are the Alpha civs. Earth, Lyolia, Ambessitar, Falas, Kekilly. None of this sounds familiar?”

Chase shook his head. He barely recognized a couple of the names spilling out of Parker’s mouth and knew he wouldn’t remember the others.

Parker sighed. “You’re hopeless. Let’s go look for an electrostruct. But keep your mouth shut. I’ll do the talking.”

A commotion started down the street, and Parker froze. As the shouts quickly drew closer, a group of gray-uniformed soldiers burst into the plaza, shouting orders and pointing their weapons. Half of the people lay obediently on the ground, but the Shartese woman behind the noodle bar started to scream, a high-pitched keening that made Chase clap his hands over his ears. A soldier raised his weapon. There was a flash of red, and the woman collapsed, her screams cut short. The rest of the plaza broke into complete pandemonium, creating an excellent distraction.

“Go!” snapped Parker. They bolted into an alley, but they only ran a short distance before he grabbed Chase by the arm and switched to a quick walk. “Slower. Head down. Don’t attract too much attention.”

Chase matched Parker’s pace on legs stiff with panic. The soldiers were everywhere, searching businesses, ransacking homes. The motley residents of the Shank stood in small clusters, watching the soldiers with expressions of anger and fear.

How many different kinds of alien species were there? Parker seemed to know every type, while he felt like he’d fallen into some kind of freakish nightmare. A pair of women with identical maroon hair walked past, clutching each other’s hands. One glanced at Chase and her large eyes flashed silver. Feeling chilly, he pulled his jacket closer around him.

They walked farther into the Shank until they made it to an area the soldiers hadn’t reached yet. Outside one of the buildings, a tall, broad creature with a tapered snout and an extremely wide mouth stood guard. A roar of shouting and cheers poured out of the open doorway behind him, but the creature remained perfectly still.

They couldn’t keep walking aimlessly forever, not with the soldiers so close by. Chase turned before Parker could stop him and approached the tall creature. “Sorry, can you help us find an electrostruct?”

The creature glared down at him with beady eyes and grunted.

“I’m sorry, my friend is new around here,” said Parker, running up beside Chase. “And we don’t speak Horga. Sorry to bother you.” He started to walk away, but the creature grunted again and pointed down the street.

“I’m sorry,” said Chase, who hadn’t moved. “I don’t know what you mean.” The creature glared at him for a moment and then crossed its arms and resumed its vacant gaze.

“Did I not tell you to keep your mouth shut?” said Parker, pulling him away.

“He didn’t seem so bad,” said Chase. “And he told us to go this way.”

“Oh yeah, clearly he understood what we were talking about,” scoffed Parker. “Clearly he knows exactly what…” He paused, looking up, and mumbled, “an electrostruct is.”

A jagged blue lightning-bolt symbol was painted on the sign above the shop before them. “Is this it?” asked Chase.

Without answering, Parker walked into the shop. The room was long and brightly lit, lined with benches covered in tools and devices. Shards of plastic chips and metal wires covered the floor. There was no one in sight.

“Hello? Anyone here? I’m looking for the best electrostruct in town,” Parker called as he picked his way across the shop floor. “I don’t suppose anyone would know where I could find him?”

A broad figure wearing a heavy protective mask and gloves rose from behind one of the benches at the back of the room. “I do, in fact,” the person said in a muffled voice, and pulled off the mask to reveal the same sort of icy white, flattened face as the man from the plaza—but this one appeared to be a woman. An Ambessitari, Chase reminded himself, an Alpha, like him. She grinned at the boys with small, stubby teeth that ended in dull points. “I’m the only electrostruct in town.”

“You’re the only electrostruct in the entire Shank?” Parker asked.

She shrugged. “The only one worth knowing. What are you boys doing in this part of town?”

Chase started to open his mouth, but Parker gave him a warning look and he stopped himself. The woman seemed friendly, but he didn’t want to say the wrong thing.

“I’m looking for something,” Parker said slowly. “Something nice.”

The electrostruct took off her gloves and set them on the workbench. “That’s rather vague. Care to specify?”

“It used to belong to me, but someone took it. I’m hoping you can help me find it.” Parker paused, making his way over to her bench.

She narrowed her wide-set eyes. “I don’t know anything about any stolen goods. You boys should probably leave.”

“I think you might, actually. It’s a very special thing, and it’s broken.”

The electrostruct looked past the boys at the alley outside her shop. “You boys need to leave my shop right now, or I will pull out a blaster and shoot you dead. You’re in over your heads, Earthies. Do yourselves a favor and get out of the Shank.”

“Happily, once I get my an—”

A scuffling noise sounded behind them. Chase looked back at the shop door as three Ambessitari men entered, each one larger, filthier, and more unfriendly looking than the last. They filled the front of the shop with their bulky frames, blocking the exit.

“Parker!” Chase said.

Parker whipped around and froze.

The largest of the three men squinted at the boys with one beady eye, a mass of gnarled tissue where the other should have been. “What’s this? Earthies in the Shank? You boys part of this Fleet interference?”

“We’ve got nothing to do with that,” blurted Chase, squeezing his sweaty palms against his legs. These men looked like exactly the kind of creatures who would tear his limbs off.

“These boys were just on their way out of here,” said the electrostruct. “They were asking for directions. What did you come here for, Gorma?”

“The Rezer needs to see you immediately,” growled the one-eyed man. He added something else in a choppy, harsh-sounding language.

“Understood. I’ll be right there,” the electrostruct said in a tight voice. Under her breath, she muttered, “You boys get out of the Shank. Get back to where you belong.”

Chase grabbed Parker’s arm and took a step toward the front door, where the thugs stood and waited. “Thanks so much for your help,” Parker chirped, too brightly, as he twisted around to the electrostruct. “I don’t suppose you have a back exit?”

“Don’t be so hasty, boys,” rumbled Gorma. Eyeing them with frightful interest, he grinned, revealing his small teeth, which, unlike the woman’s, were filed to sharp points. “Wouldn’t you like to meet the Rezer?”

“The what?” asked Chase.

“Uh, sorry, we really have to be going,” said Parker, pulling Chase back toward the workbench.

“The Rezer,” said Gorma, a sly expression unfolding across his wide face. “Rezer Bennin. He’s our leader—why, here in the Shank, he’s everyone’s leader. I think he’d very much like to meet you.” He took a step closer, his companions flanking him. “We can give you a hand with those directions, and maybe you can help us resolve some of the … misunderstandings … stirred up by today’s Fleet intrusion.”

Chase shook his head. “I don’t think we—”

“Don’t do this, Gorma,” said the electrostruct sharply. “You’re just bringing more trouble on the Shank.”

The one-eyed man’s smile vanished, and he shot her an ugly glare. “You will not tell me what to do. These boys are coming with us.” His hand slid to the blaster at his waist. “Now.”