CHAPTER TWENTY

They reappeared in a quiet segment of space, and after a tense second, Maurus released the breath he had been holding. “We did it!” he said, sounding fiercely pleased. “Hang on a minute while I plot out our course.”

Parker leaned toward the front, unintentionally jamming his arm into Chase’s side. “Where are we going now? What’s the plan?” He was ghostly pale, and the occasional deep wheeze made it sound like he still had some difficulty breathing.

“Are you sure you’re up for this?” Chase asked.

“Of course,” Parker scoffed.

“Because you look terrible.”

Parker made a face. “It’ll take a lot more than a full dose of Goxar poison to keep me down. So what’s the plan?”

As Chase twisted away from Parker’s sharp elbow, he realized he hadn’t given much thought to where he might find his sister. Qesaris was the only place he had seen her, so it seemed only natural to go back and look for her there. When Maurus didn’t answer, he spoke up. “I have to go to Qesaris to find my sister.”

Parker shifted to look at Chase. “Your what?”

“Don’t worry,” came Maurus’s low mutter from the front. “Qesaris is where we’re headed.”

Chase paused. He had expected Maurus to want to go straight to the safety of his homeworld. “You’re not planning to go after the case, are you?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“You heard what Vo said. Rezer Bennin is out for revenge—he’ll kill you. You’ll never get the case. Just leave us on Qesaris and go back to your people.”

“Go back to my people? Is that an order?” Irritation crept into Maurus’s voice. “If I can get that case, I still have a chance to clear my name. And not just that—I can expose whoever it was in Fleet command that orchestrated the destruction of Trucon. This is my duty as a soldier of the Fleet.”

Chase shook his head. How could Maurus still think of himself as a Fleet soldier after all that had happened?

Parker jabbed him in the shoulder. “I’m sorry, your what? Can you say that again? Sister?”

It was useless to argue with Maurus, so instead Chase turned to Parker. “Yes, my sister. You remember when I told you about that girl in the bathroom, when you told me I was crazy?” He proceeded to repeat what Lennard had said to him about Lilli Garrety. “That must have been my sister—that’s why she was so upset when she saw me,” he finished, trying to contort himself into a more comfortable position against Mina, who sat as still and inflexible as a statue.

“Because she thinks you’re dead, just like the captain said.” Parker was silent for a moment. “How do you think she found you in the first place?”

“I don’t know.” Chase had gone over the memory so many times in his head that he was able to recite their entire conversation to himself. “Wait, there was one thing. She mentioned a name, something like, ‘Dornan didn’t see you, but I did.’”

“Dornan?” Maurus’s voice rang out sharply. “As in, Colonel Eileen Dornan?”

“You know who that is?” Chase asked.

“She’s the chief medical officer of the Naxos Vector Command. What does she have to do with you?”

“I have no idea—” Chase began to say.

“Of course! Don’t you remember, dummy?” Parker interrupted. “She was the officer running things at the medical center. She put the lasobind on my forehead after I split it open.”

The older female officer with the baby-doll face! Chase gaped at Parker. “Do you tinik—?”

“Hold that thought, Chase,” Maurus said, sitting up from the console. “I’ve got our course entered. Lennard’s going to be right on our tail, so I’m giving it the full push. Things might get a little rough—we’re going to get to Qesaris in record time. Prepare for fold.”

Before Chase could utter another word, the universe collapsed around them, and the fighter tore across the galaxy in a dizzying rush, completing each fold nearly on top of the last. Bright objects flashed in the windshield, nearby planets and colored swirls of distant nebula. After an hour or so, Chase began to get a tight headache from all the folding, and his entire body ached from being cramped up for so long. It was still infinitely better than riding in Vo’s decrepit shuttle.

Then the flashing images stopped, and they were enveloped in darkness again, with only the glow of the console to see by. The vehicle’s gravity generator kept them seated, but Chase could feel that the Khatra was zooming downward. Gray light filtered in through the front window as they entered the atmosphere of Qesaris.

“I’m sure Lennard put an alert out on this fighter, so I can’t land in any standard docking stations,” said Maurus. “I’m going to land us at the port in the Shank. This will put us close to Rezer Bennin’s lair, so we can get in and out with the case in a hurry.”

We? Chase pushed the question out of his head, and instead tried to think of how he would go about finding his sister. Her final clue, I’m being held by the one who led the end, was not terribly helpful, and a planet was a very large place to be hidden on. Was it possible that she was still in the café where she’d jumped him? Unlikely, but maybe it was the best place to start.

Maurus slowed the vehicle, and after a few gentle turns, they settled to a stop. Almost immediately the hatch popped open. “Alright, everybody out—quick, quick,” said Maurus, exiting the Khatra with a fluid jump and leaving Chase and Parker to pull themselves out of their cramped positions and scramble after him. Mina landed beside them with a heavy thump.

They walked swiftly through the hectic port, weaving through the tangle of parked vehicles and steaming vents and drawing stares from the raggedy men and creatures who worked there. Fortunately, the contingent of Fleet soldiers who’d been monitoring the port when they left was no longer there. Maurus rested one hand near his hip, where he carried the black baton he’d taken from the brig. They took a lift up to the street level of the Shank, and Maurus began to lead the way down a dark alley.

Chase stopped. “Hang on. Where are we going?”

Maurus glanced back at him with an impatient frown and ushered the group into a recessed doorway. He scanned the three of them. “Okay, we need a plan. Mina, you should take Parker out of the Shank, somewhere safe.”

“Don’t you—” Parker began to protest.

Maurus turned to Chase. “You come with me. We’ll deal with Rezer Bennin.”

“What?” asked Chase, raising his voice over Parker’s noisy objections. “No, I came here to look for my sister.”

Impatience crossed Maurus’s face. “Lennard is already on his way here, and it’s only a matter of time before Vo cracks and tells him about the case. I have to get to it before he does.”

“But I need to find her,” said Chase, wrinkling his brow.

Maurus’s voice dropped low. “I don’t know if I can do this without you. We’ll go look for the girl once we’ve taken back my case.”

“You mean if we’re still alive. If we’re not being chased halfway across the galaxy.” Chase’s temper began to rise. “This may be the only chance I have to save her.”

“You don’t even know if she’s really your sister!” Maurus said through gritted teeth.

“Captain Lennard said—”

“You told us he said Chase Garrety had a sister, and he also said Chase Garrety is dead. Look at you! You’re not human, you pass through solid objects! How can you think you’re really that boy?”

Chase felt his face growing hot as a tight, angry feeling knit together in his chest. “I am. I know it.”

“You realize it’s possible you never even saw the girl? Nobody else did, did they? Parker, did you see her? Her image could have been implanted in your memory as a way to control you.”

Chase paused, uncertain. Could that be possible?

“Shut up!” Parker stepped forward and shoved Maurus in the chest. “Stop trying to manipulate him. We saved your life once already, or did you forget that?”

Maurus knocked Parker’s hands away. “And I’d be back with my people by now if it weren’t for you!”

Parker snorted. “You still can—go back and get the Khatra. Get out of here.”

“Don’t tell me what to do.” Maurus grabbed Parker’s shirt, and instantly Mina’s hand was clamped on his shoulder. He let go, hissing in pain.

“Stop!” Chase shook his head at all three of them, fighting over what was his decision. “Parker, I can take care of this.”

Maurus shook Mina off and turned all his attention on Chase. “I’m asking you to trust your gut. Yes, you’re special. There’s no one like you in the universe. But you have to realize that you can’t really be that boy. You’re probably walking into a trap.” He placed his hands on Chase’s shoulders, his dark eyes blazing with purpose. “Let’s go get that case and tell the universe who was really behind the Trucon attack.”

Chase put his head down to avoid Maurus’s fervent gaze. On the Kuyddestor, he’d been so certain he needed to save his sister, but now Maurus was messing with his head and that certainty was crumbling. It felt incredibly selfish to ignore Maurus’s noble goal in favor of his own possibly imagined one, and for a moment it seemed almost like he had no choice.

But he was so close to getting the answers he needed. How could he reach them if Maurus made him change his plans? He closed his eyes, and the girl’s terrified face flashed before him. Anger pulsed in his veins. Chase raised his head and squared his shoulders. “Maybe I’m not Chase Garrety,” he said. “But I know what I saw, and that girl needs me. If you wait, I promise I’ll help you afterward.”

Maurus’s face tightened, and with an angry huff he dropped his hands, backing away. “I won’t make it to afterward. But I won’t waste any more time trying to convince you. Good-bye, Chase.” He turned and stalked down the alley, shoulders taut, quickly disappearing into the gloom.

Chase turned to Parker. “Did I do the right thing?”

“Do you really believe you have a sister out there?” Parker asked.

Chase bit his lip. Maurus had told him to go with his gut on this, and his gut told him that the frantic, desperate girl he’d seen needed his help. He nodded, and then asked, “Do you really think I’m Chase Garrety?”

“Pssht, of course! Did you not have a Chase Garrety chip in your head when I first met you?” Parker smiled. “So, how are we going to find this sister of yours? Tell me exactly what she said to you, every word.”

“Parker,” said Mina. He ignored her.

Chase racked his brain. “She said … I should know the safe place, and I should go there and ask for help.”

“And I don’t suppose you remember this safe place, do you?” Parker looked at him hopefully. “No. That would be too easy. What else?”

Chase dug deeper into his memory. “She said ‘guide the star,’ like I did—”

“Would be useful if we knew what that meant.” Parker squinted. “So I guess we go look for this Colonel Dornan?”

“Parker,” Mina repeated.

He turned to her. “How do we find the Fleet medical center again?”

Mina shook her head. “It’s time for us to go. I’m going to contact Asa now so he can come and pick us up.”

“Absolutely not.” Parker narrowed his eyes. “You can tell him to come and get us afterward, but first we get Chase’s sister. Then we can all go live happily ever after with Asa.”

Mina frowned. “This is not up for debate. We have to leave now.”

“No!” Parker raised his hands as if he were about to shove her, but he stopped himself. “Look, I’m giving you an order. My life isn’t in any danger, so you can’t override me. I know you have a map of Qesaris somewhere in that positronic brain of yours, so let’s go find this Dornan lady and see what she can tell us about Chase’s sister. Or tell Asa to come join us, if you think he’d like to help.”

Mina shook her head. “He won’t come to Qesaris himself. It’s too dangerous for him.”

“Of course it is!” shouted Parker. “And we all saw for ourselves on the Kuyddestor that Asa Kaplan puts Asa Kaplan first.”

There was an awkward pause.

“Parker, they were going to arrest him,” said Chase. “He had to get out of there.”

“Oh, he had to, huh?” snapped Parker. “He had to abandon me there, then, did he? Just like he’s abandoned me my whole life? Why did he even agree to be my guardian? Why didn’t he just throw me in an orphanage?”

“He wanted to keep you safe,” said Mina quietly. “You’re very important to him.”

“And he shows that by leaving me stranded on a Fleet ship in the hands of a madman. Come on, Mina, you’re going to have to try harder to sell me on that one.” Parker turned and threw his arm around Chase’s shoulders. “Let’s go find your sister.” Without a glance back at Mina, he raised his voice and added, “You’re welcome to come along. But you’re not stopping me.”

Parker started to lead Chase down the alley, and when Chase looked over, Mina was already walking at his side. “The Fleet medical center is in the Meolon District,” she said calmly. “We can take a jettaxi.”

*   *   *

Chase, Parker, and Mina stood in the shadow of a warehouse across the street from the looming hulk of the Fleet medical center, watching the soldiers that marched in and out of the main entrance. “So, that’s a pretty big place,” said Parker. “How on Taras are we going to find Colonel Dornan in there?”

Chase considered this. “She’s a doctor. Pretend that we’re sick?”

“You’ll end up in an exam room,” said Mina. “And in deep trouble when they realize you’re faking.”

Parker looked around at the ground. “Find something to hit me in the head with. I’ll tell her the lasobind didn’t hold.”

Chase rolled his eyes. “She said something about wanting to send you over to recruiting.”

“That’s right!” Parker snapped his fingers. “She wanted to recruit all the orphans into the Fleet.”

Chase flinched at the word orphan, thinking of what Lennard had said about his parents, but a sly smile had spread across Parker’s face. “We’ll go in and tell them we’re new recruits, here for our physical exams. And we’ll tell them we were instructed specifically to ask for Colonel Dornan.”

“What about Mina?” Chase asked.

“What about you?” Parker turned to face her. “What’s your story?”

Mina shrugged. “I’m your personal property.”

“Good enough.” Parker started to walk toward the entrance.

“And once we’re inside, how do we get back out?” Chase asked, jogging after him.

Parker flashed him a grin. “I’m counting on you to figure that part out. Hey, so your sister—she can do what you do? Jump through walls?”

Recalling how she’d vanished right in front of him, Chase shook his head. “I don’t think so. She was just there, and then she wasn’t.”

Parker gave him a strange look as he pulled open the main entrance door. “Whatever, mystery man. Let’s do this.”

The first thing that hit Chase when they walked through the entrance was the noise: chattering, shouting, wailing. The lobby was even more packed than it had been a few days earlier. The majority of the crowd was still humanoid, but now mixed in was the occasional glimpse of dangling tentacles or glossy black fur. Stressed mothers chased bawling children while scowling seniors hunched on chairs, giving everyone the evil eye.

Parker edged his way through the crush to the front desk, where the soldier on duty looked up and narrowed his eyes. Following on jittery legs, Chase didn’t know how he was going to pull off lying to the guard. Luckily, he didn’t have to.

“Brother, we are so late! You’ve gotta help us,” trilled Parker in a high, funny accent.

Chase had to stop himself from turning to stare at him.

The soldier shook his head. “I’m sorry, I don’t—”

“Your old lady officer, I can’t remember her name—Dobbin? Domain?—she helped us out with some wound control back on T-day and said we had to come here and report to her—I guess it was yesterday? Day before? I don’t know, brother, time has gotten so mixed up since this whole thing went down, and today somebody found my android—can you believe it? My freaking android, in all this! But, man, we’re so done because we totally missed the appointment for our physical, and your lady Doskin seemed really interested in recruiting us, and—”

“Shut up,” snapped the soldier. Chase blanched as the man whipped out a handheld console and scrolled through the screen. He was probably calling for security to come and take them into custody. He nudged Parker on the arm, preparing to turn and race for the doors.

The soldier looked up again with a sour expression. “Physicals are taking place on the eighth floor. Elevators are over there. You can find the way yourselves.”

“Oh, brother, thank you so much!” said Parker, taking a step away from the desk. “And this officer lady, Dalton—”

“Dornan,” said the soldier.

“Yes! Where can we find her to apologize?”

“If she wants to see you, she’ll find you.” The soldier turned to the next group and started barking orders.

They backed away and headed for the elevators. “This place is a mess,” said Parker in a low voice.

“Are all these people refugees from Trucon?” asked Chase.

“The news said three million people were displaced.” Parker shook his head. “And Qesaris isn’t big enough to handle them all.”

They took an elevator up to the eighth floor, where Chase approached a tired-looking orderly and asked where they could find Colonel Dornan. The orderly told them her facilities were on the twentieth floor before heaving himself to his feet and plodding away.

The elevator would only take them as far as the sixteenth floor, but they had Mina break open a stairwell door and climbed the last four floors. They hung back by the stairwell, scoping out the situation. The halls on the twentieth floor were white and sterile, and only a few hospital staff patrolled this level.

“Stay here,” whispered Chase, stepping out into the hallway.

“Forget it,” said Parker. They slipped down the hall with Mina following like a guard dog, pressing themselves into doorways to avoid crossing paths with any of the hospital staff. In the end, Colonel Dornan’s office wasn’t hard to find.

It was the one she was standing outside of.

Chase recognized her broad, rosy face and bobbed blond hair from their brief interaction at the refugee registration. She was discussing something with another officer, waving her hand around as though she were describing something large. Another soldier approached them and said something in a low murmur.

“What?” Dornan’s sharp voice echoed down the hall, carrying her evident displeasure with it. Chase pulled his head back slightly, his heart pounding. Had someone spotted them? A moment later, she led the two officers away and they vanished around a corner.

Chase waited for a few moments and turned back to Parker and Mina. “Come on!” he whispered, and ran down the hall to Dornan’s office. The door was locked.

Without a word, Chase lowered his head and jumped through, shaking off the tingling sensation with a shudder. It was a sleek room, lined with tall cabinets and a console-topped desk square in the middle. He unlocked the door for Mina and Parker, who stared at him in awe.

“Just start looking for anything you can find about a girl,” Chase urged. “Her name is Lilli Garrety.”

Chase began sifting through all the cabinets, finding mostly books and medical supplies. He wasn’t even sure what he was looking for. Mina sorted through objects in a storage room in the back of the office, while Parker tried to hack into the desk console.

“Shh!” Mina stepped out of the supply closet, her head cocked. A second later Chase heard the voices approaching in the hallway.

“Hide!” he whispered.

Mina pulled Parker into the storage room, but there was no room for Chase. He climbed inside a cabinet, leaving the sliding door cracked just enough so that he could see out.

The hallway door opened and Colonel Dornan entered, her face twisted into a furious scowl. “How dare you come here! What were you thinking?”

Chase frowned when he saw the towering man-beast who entered behind Dornan. Tawny, ratty knots of hair hung around a face that was covered with a jumble of tattoos. Chase’s mind raced, trying to remember where he’d seen the man before. A heavy musk scent filled Chase’s nose. He’d smelled this somewhere else, he was certain.

“I told you, he couldn’t be reached and I had nowhere else to bring this. I’m not carrying it around any longer.” With an animal snarl, the man pulled something from a satchel slung across his chest and slapped it down on Dornan’s desk with a crack.

“Drad it, Fersad, would you be careful?” said Dornan. She picked up the object and rubbed her sleek desktop. “Tell me you at least found the Lyolian.”

A rushing sound filled Chase’s ears as he stared at the slim silver object in her hand.

Vo had lied. Rezer Bennin didn’t have Maurus’s case.

The Fleet did.