Children of the Void: Book One of the Aionian Saga (5 page)

“But I....”

“It’s not a suggestion, Cadet. Your orders are to complete your training to the best of your ability. If you hear anything else, you report it to me. I’ll deal with the investigation. Do I make myself clear?”

Gideon gritted his teeth. “Yes, sir.”

“That goes for you too, Takomi.”

“Yes, sir,” she said.

“Very well. You have your orders.” The admiral’s shoulders relaxed. “I know she was your mother, Gideon, but she was also my wife. If someone murdered her, I will find them. You can count on that.”

A lump was forming in Gideon’s throat, so he simply nodded.

The admiral put a hand on Gideon’s shoulder. “I’ll see you at home tonight. I’ve been admiral so long I sometimes forget I need to be a father as well. I’ll try to do better.” The admiral let go of Gideon and his arm dropped to his side. “You’re dismissed.”

Gideon and Takomi saluted. Before he turned to leave, Gideon stole one last glance at the book with the strange symbol. He wanted to ask about it, but it wasn’t the right time. They left the office and walked down the corridor to the exit.

Soon they were descending in one of the lifts. Gideon stared straight ahead at the metal wall. Takomi took a step toward him and rubbed his arm. “It’ll get better, Gid.”

He blinked and looked at her, roused from his thoughts. “What’s that?”

“I know it’s hard now, but it’ll start to get better. Don’t let yourself start drowning.”

He shook his head. “Thanks for saying so, Takomi, but I was actually thinking about something else.”

She frowned. “Like what?”

He folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the wall. “Did it seem like my dad was surprised at all?”

Her eyes rolled up to look at the ceiling. “No. Not really.”

“That’s what I thought. Almost as if he knew, or at least suspected it.”

Takomi looked at him, eyebrow raised. “What are you saying?”

The lift stopped and the door opened. The two of them walked out, and Gideon leaned in close and spoke into Takomi’s ear. “There’s something else going on here, and I’m pretty sure my dad knows what it is.”

G
IDEON
AND
T
AKOMI
didn’t talk much on the autopod as buildings, fields, and trees zipped by while Gideon stared out the window. The last thing he wanted to do was go back to his empty house and spend the rest of the day trying to make sense of everything. His mind searched for an alternative, but none presented itself.

The autopod was quickly approaching a small brick home sitting by itself, surrounded by aspens. Gideon pointed at it.

“That’s Doctor Marcus’ house, isn’t it?”

Takomi peered out his window. “Yeah, I think so.”

Gideon punched a button on his armrest and spoke into the mic. “Stop at the next station.”

A robotic voice confirmed the command, and the autopod slowed down.

“Gideon, what are you doing?”

He’d already unclipped the seatbelt. “I’m going to check out Doctor Marcus’s house.”

“You’re not serious. You do remember your dad ordering us to leave it alone, like, five minutes ago, right?”

The station came into view as the autopod continued to slow down. Gideon stood and moved to the door, gripping the handrails. “He ordered us to focus on our training. We don’t have any training scheduled for the rest of the day.”

“He doesn’t want us involved.”

Gideon didn’t respond as the pod came to a halt. The door slid open, and Gideon stepped out onto the platform. He turned to say goodbye to Takomi, but she was already exiting the pod.

“If we get thrown in the brig, I’m going to be pissed.”

Gideon smiled, and she rolled her eyes at him. The autopod zipped away as they descended the stairs to the ground.

The lane was empty all the way to Doctor Marcus’s house. Agriculture was the main priority aboard the
Leviathan
, so houses were usually spaced out between fields and pastures. The doctor’s house had been especially isolated.

As they reached the privets in front of the house, Gideon paused. Back over his shoulder, the autopod was still sitting at the station. The two of them shared a look, but just as Takomi opened her mouth to speak, Gideon sucked in a deep breath and strode up to the porch.

The wooden steps creaked as the approached the door. “Do we knock first?” asked Takomi.

Gideon shrugged, then reached out and knocked on the wooden door. The sound was louder than he’d anticipated, and he nearly jumped back. Seconds passed, and Takomi let out a nervous laugh.

“Guess nobody’s home,” she said.

Gideon straightened up, then reached out and turned the doorknob.

The door squeaked as he pushed it open. He wasn’t surprised that it was unlocked—he couldn’t remember ever locking his own door—but breaking in by just opening the front door seemed too easy. After a moment’s hesitation, he stepped over the threshold.

The front room smelled like Doctor Marcus, like a pile of old books at a hospital. Sunlight spilled through the open door and blinds to illuminate dark carpet and beige walls. The room was empty, but indents in the carpet showed where furniture had sat not long ago, and dark rectangles revealed where pictures had hung on the walls.
 

“It’s empty,” said Takomi in a voice just above a whisper.

“Someone must have cleaned it out.” Gideon continued through a short hallway into the back of the house. On his left, the kitchen was bare, its cupboards wide open. To his right lay a large room similarly devoid of furniture.

“They didn’t wait long to take all his stuff,” said Takomi.

“Yeah. Nothing here.”

“Should we go?” Takomi took a step in the direction of the door.

Gideon held up a hand. “Let’s check upstairs first. We might as well.”

She frowned but followed Gideon up the carpeted stairs.

The second story had three doors. The first led to an empty bathroom, which they didn’t spend any time searching. The second door led to an equally empty bedroom. They poked their heads into the closet to see if anything had been left behind. It seemed to be empty, but as Gideon felt along the shelf above his head, he ran into something sharp.

“Ouch,” he said as he pulled his hand back. A red speck of blood formed on the side of his finger.

“What is it?” asked Takomi.

Gideon sucked on his finger, embarrassed at his reaction to the tiny wound. “I don’t know. There’s something up there.”

Carefully this time, he passed his fingers along the shelf until he found the object that’d jabbed him. When he pulled it down, he walked out of the dark closet and held it out.

A tiny likeness of a person looked up at him from the palm of his hand. A pin stuck out from the back so that it could be fastened to a tie or lapel.

“Where have I seen that before?” asked Takomi.

“I don’t know, but this is the third time I’ve seen it this week. My mom had a picture of my grandpa wearing this same pin, and today in my dad’s office, I saw it on one of his books.”

“You know, I think my mom has a pin like this. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen it though. What do you think it is?”

“No idea. My mom said she didn’t know either, but I could have sworn she recognized it.” Gideon slipped the pin into his pocket.

“You’re going to take it?” asked Takomi.

“For now. I’ll put it back when we figure out what it is.”

Takomi looked sideways at Gideon but didn’t say anything as they went back into the hall. The third room had a hardwood floor and built-in shelving surrounding a wood-burning fireplace. Shafts of sunlight revealed specks of dust suspended in the air. A quick inspection of the shelves turned up nothing, and they were about to leave when Gideon paused.

“What’s that there?” he asked, pointing at the ash in the fireplace.

Takomi stooped down and picked up a small corner of paper. It was mostly burned, but a few lines of handwriting were still visible.

“What’s it say?” asked Gideon.

Takomi turned it over and held it close to her face. “There’s only a piece of it, but it says ‘Byron,’ then the first line says, ‘The code’s definitely malicious...’ and then it cuts off. This next line says ‘...writing something like this.’ The next line is too badly burned to read.”

“I wonder what it’s talking about,” said Gideon. “And why write a handwritten note? Who does that anymore?”

“I don’t know why they wrote it, but I can definitely tell you who wrote it.”

Gideon blinked. “Who?”

“That’s my mom’s handwriting, for sure.”

“Your mom? Seems like a weird note for your mom to write.”

“Do you think it has something to do with the saboteur?”

He frowned. “I don’t know. I guess it could.”

“We should go ask my mom about it.”

Gideon smiled. “I thought you didn’t want to get involved.”

She sighed. “Too late for that. I want to know what’s going on.”

☥

After another short autopod ride, Takomi and Gideon stopped at the laboratory where Diana Tsukamoto did her research. The utilitarian building was two stories tall with long, thin windows that stretched from top to bottom like a set of ribs. They made their way to the entrance and stepped inside.

When they came to a security gate, Takomi pressed a button next to the door. A few seconds later, a man’s voice came over the intercom. “Yes? Who is it?”

“Hi, this is Takomi Tsukamoto. I was wondering if my mom is here?”

“Let me see.”

There was silence from the other end for a while, then Diana’s voice came over the intercom. “What’s up, Takomi?”

“Hey, mom, sorry to bug you. Gideon and I have something we wanted to show you. Is this a bad time?”

“No, no. Come on in. I’ll meet you in the cafeteria.”

The intercom buzzed, and the door next to it clicked. Gideon followed Takomi through.

Gideon had never been in this particular building, but it was identical to a dozen other research facilities dotting the biosphere. He knew that Diana was a material engineer, but nobody ever knew what project she was working on until after it was completed. She had been a major part of developing everything from the touchscreen windows on the observation deck to the Sentinel Armor.

The lights of the spartan cafeteria came on automatically as they entered. They hadn’t even made it to the middle of the room when Diana came through another door. “How’s it going, you two?”

“Good,” said Takomi. “We wanted to ask you about something.”

“Sure. What is it?”

Takomi pulled the scrap of paper from her pocket.

“We found this in Doctor Marcus’s house. It’s your handwriting, isn’t it?”

Diana scowled and snatched the paper out of Takomi’s hand. “What were you doing in Byron’s house?”

“It was my idea, Mrs. Tsukamoto,” said Gideon. “I made Takomi come with me.”

“Do you make a habit of breaking into other people’s houses?”

“No. I mean, it’s just an empty house now.” He stole a quick glance at Takomi. “Doctor Marcus and my mom were working on something before they died. I wanted to know what it was. We found this note, and thought you might know.”

Diana looked down at the scrap of paper in her hand. It trembled slightly as she pursed her lips in concentration. “I don’t know what this is,” she said as she crumpled up the paper and stuffed it in a pocket. “I can’t remember writing it. Must have been a long time ago.”

“It said something about malicious code,” said Takomi. “You don’t know what it’s talking about?”

“Could be anything. Byron and I worked on lots of projects over the years. I wouldn’t worry about it too much.”

“Well, maybe you could tell us what this is?” Gideon pulled the metal pin out of his pocket and held it up for Diana to see. She squinted, then her eyes went wide. “Where did you get that?”

“Doctor Marcus’s closet,” said Gideon.

Diana held out her hand. “Give it to me, please.”

Gideon did as he was told. Diana pushed the pin into the same pocket as the slip of paper.

“Hiro’s been looking all over for that,” she said. “Byron must have borrowed it at some point. He’ll be happy to have it back. Thanks.”

Diana straightened the front of her lab coat and looked at the two teenagers. “Now. Is there anything else you two have pilfered from someone’s house?”

Takomi and Gideon both shook their heads.

“Good to know. Next time you want to go looking through things that don’t belong to you, ask somebody first, okay?”

They each muttered a reply, and Diana reached out to squeeze Takomi’s hand. “I’m sorry, but I’ve got work to do. Gideon, why don’t you come over for dinner tonight? We’d love to have you.”

Gideon was about to say that his father said he’d be coming home for dinner tonight, but he realized he didn’t expect the admiral to remember. “Thanks, Mrs. Tsukamoto. Sounds good.”

She smiled and turned to walk away. Takomi and Gideon walked the opposite direction. Gideon leaned in close to Takomi. “I expected her to be angrier than that.”
 

Takomi said nothing as she threw him a sideways glance. When Diana was out of the room, Takomi grabbed Gideon’s arm and brought him to a halt. “She’s lying. I can tell.”

“Why would she lie?”

“I don’t know.” She pressed her fingers to her lips and motioned for Gideon to follow with her other hand. They crept back toward the door Diana had exited. At the door, Takomi pushed it open a crack and peeked through, then froze, letting it close again. She turned to Gideon, mouthing the words
she’s right there
and pointed at the door.

Diana’s voice drifted down to them. “Call Admiral Killdeer.”

In the seconds of silence that followed, Gideon was sure Diana would hear his heartbeat. Finally, Diana spoke again, though they couldn’t hear the reply. She spoke quietly, and was apparently wearing an earpiece. “Yes, Ethan? It’s Diana. I need to talk to you. Takomi and your son have been meddling in things they shouldn’t. No, not over the com. I’ll be up there in ten minutes.”

Her footsteps receded down the hall. Gideon realized he’d been holding his breath.