Explorer X Alpha (8 page)

“Get up!” Damien said to Carter and pulled him up by his collar.

“Hey, guys, come over here! This is some strange stuff,” Scott said. Aadi looked over to see Scott, Eirena, Raiko, and Dakota reading the screen in front of them. Tacitus came over to help Carter up as Damien told Tacitus and Carter to follow him to the other side of the lab. Aadi looked back at Tacitus as Tacitus stared at him and the others. He looked indecisive about which direction to go. Aadi said, “Tacitus, go keep an eye on those two! We don't want them to give us away, do we?”

“No, we don't,” Tacitus replied as he turned to follow Carter and Damien. Aadi had a feeling that he didn't want Tacitus to see what he was about to see. His mother always told him to follow his gut, and today, he was going to do just that. He turned and went over to where Eirena stood.

“Look! Here are all of our names. It's part of some experiment. Wait… I don't see Tacitus's or Carter's name,” she said, her sentence cut off by a loud bang.

“Oh, my God! Move!” and they all looked around to see Carter, Damien, and Tacitus in a high-speed run toward them.

“Let's get out of here now!” said Damien. He ran ahead of Carter with Tacitus in the rear.

“What is it?” screamed Aadi, then watched as Carter sped up and passed Damien and Tacitus. He was stunned, as he never would have expected Carter to be able to move so fast. Dakota didn't hesitate. He took off and ran behind Damien.

“Now! Guards are coming!” said Damien as he yelled back. Aadi then spied Eirena, while the others took off behind Tacitus, and saw that she cleared the screen. Scott grabbed Raiko by the top of her shirt. She ran around Eirena and took off behind the boys. Raiko ran so fast that she was on Damien's heels. She left Scott behind. He slowed down and yelled at Aadi, “Let's get out of dodge, now, Aadi!”

“Ebu, let's go,” Aadi said, as Ebu shot past him in box form. Eirena grabbed his hand, and they ran through the door where they came in. Carter was waiting just outside the door as the others made it to the entrance near the elevator. Carter closed the door when Aadi came out. They ran down the hall and passed Tacitus, who seemed a bit disoriented. Aadi looked back at Tacitus, but Eirena dropped his hand and picked up speed to follow Carter out the door. They continued to run to the entrance near the elevator.

“Tacitus, hurry up!” Aadi called back as he kept running and turned around to make it through the elevator door.

They all ran out the door, past the elevators, down the corridor, and around the corner. Aadi looked back to see if Tacitus was behind him, but Tacitus had barely made it out of the elevator hall when he was snatched back by a guard dressed in a gray and black uniform.

Aadi didn't remember seeing any guards before and wondered where this one came from. He figured he must have come through the labs. Aadi hesitated a moment, thinking he should go back to help Tacitus, but then decided against it and caught up to the others. The girls ran so fast that he lost sight of them completely. He figured they made it to their room undetected.

Aadi picked up speed and got to the room just as Scott closed the door. For a moment, he thought about using the telenex to see if Eirena and Raiko made it to their room, but his mom had told him to never tell anyone about this device. So, he figured he would just have to wait it out until the morning.

Hmm… maybe I should just put out a feeler to see what she is doing?
Aadi wondered, and then put that thought away as he started to open his bedroom door. After he entered his room, he noticed everyone was there except Tacitus. They were all agitated with worried and angry expressions on their faces.

“Man, oh man. Did they get Tacitus?” asked Dakota, who was pacing the room in front of Aadi.

“Yeah, they got him. Why didn't he keep up? Dang, he was acting like he wanted to get caught. He just sort of slowed down and got disoriented,” said Aadi. He walked around Dakota, who was pacing.

“Freaking dweeb. I knew we shouldn't have taken him with us. How did he ever past the test to get on this ship? He acts like a retard sometimes,” said Damien, and then punched the top bunk and kicked the bedpost.

“Well, hopefully he won't talk. My father finds out about this, and I am dead meat in so many ways,” said Carter. He sat down on the floor and hung his head. He then crossed his arms and laid his head on his hands. “I gotta get rid of this key,” Carter said.

“Where did you get it from in the first place?” asked Scott. He pushed against the top of Carter's head.

“I got it from my dad when he volunteered to help make the key cards for the staff. It's a card not assigned to anyone. I don't know… I just don't want to be the one caught with it,” Carter said and rubbed his arms while he rocked back and forth.

“Give it to Dakota. He seems to be a collector of keys and things,” Aadi said. Then he took the key from Carter's shaking hand and gave it to Dakota.

“Yeah, I'll keep it safe,” said Dakota. Then he put the key in his pocket as he leaned against Scott's loft bed and crossed his leg and arms.

“Carter, get out now! Before, I decide I don't like you anymore and I seriously hurt you,” said Damien and hit his fist on his bed.

“Yeah, I think that would be best. They may do a room check,” said Aadi.

“Fine. My room is right across the hall anyway,” Carter said. Then he opened the door and looked side to side. “The coast is clear. I'm out,” Carter said and left.

“Whew. So, what's the plan?” said Dakota.

“The plan is to sit tight and come up with a good story,” said Aadi. He leaned on the bed and scratched the back of his head.

“Do you think they are interrogating Tacitus?” asked Scott, and then he hopped up onto Tacitus's bed.

“I hope not. He doesn't seem strong enough to keep his mouth shut and not sell us all out,” said Aadi.

“Okay, so what's our story? Ideas, anyone,” said Dakota.

“I say we tell them that we left the gym late and went to the bathroom. While one of us was waiting for the elevator, that door in the wall opened up, and we went to check it out. Then we heard a noise and headed back out the door,” said Damien and scratched his chin.

“Why do we even have to admit to being the ones in the lab?” said Dakota.

Just then, the door opened, and Tacitus entered. They all looked over at him. Aadi waited for him to say something. Damien only scowled.

Tacitus stood there for a moment, as if he was thinking of what to say, then bent his head. “Um, they just asked me what I had been up to. I told them that I fell against the wall, and this door opened up. They asked me what I saw in the door, and I told them I was too scared to investigate and was running to my room when they grabbed me,” said Tacitus with his head held low.

“Hmph, likely story,” replied Damien, then looked Tacitus up and down. He mumbled to Dakota, “I don't trust this fool.” Damien walked close to Tacitus and sniffed him, pushed at him, and walked back to the front of his bed and re-crossed his arms. Tacitus stood extremely still during Damien's intimidation tactic.

They all seemed to relax a little.

“Well, it's lights out for me. Now, I am definitely tired,” said Aadi. They all seemed to follow his lead and got dressed and into bed. Aadi took off his backpack, placed it under the bed, and tapped it to make sure Ebu would know it was open. He figured Ebu made it to the room before any of them and was just hiding out before he would crawl into the backpack.

The girls ran as hard as they could back to their room. Eirena opened the door and then slammed it shut. She yanked Raiko onto her bed and mouthed to her “I saw some weird crap in that database. Let's put the blankets down, and I will tell you what I am freaked out about.” Raiko looked intently at Eirena as she read her lips and nodded. Eirena and Raiko worked together to create their fort, which would allow them to hide out on the bottom bunk.

After that night, all seemed calm at space camp. They never mentioned that night again, thinking that maybe, if they didn't talk about it, the memory of it would disappear. Eirena and Raiko kept the knowledge about what they read in the database between the two of them, but they hadn't completely stopped thinking about the pieces to the puzzle that they couldn't figure out.

 

 

The camp had a routine set where campers woke up, went to breakfast, then to the Simulation Class, where they simulated the piloting experience and defensive and offensive techniques in virtual environments. Aadi and the team were running a bit late for their lesson after breakfast.

“Today, Aadi, I am going to beat your sorry tail in the simulation race,” said Damien. He pushed Aadi's shoulder on their way to Simulation Class.

“Every day you say that, and then I school your butt by beating you again and again. Give it up, Damien. You suck, and I don't,” Aadi replied, looking back at Damien.

“Hey, cut it out, all right? Today is the day I wipe both of your butts on the floor,” said Carter. Everyone looked at him and laughed. Carter hadn't won a simulation test yet.

“Naw, I am betting on Eirena and Raiko. We have to find away to get our respect back from those girls,” said Scott. He jogged up and smacked Carter on the back of his neck.

‘Oh, I have my respect. It's the rest of you all that need to pay attention,” said Aadi with a crackled laugh.

“Hey, Tacitus, you seem to have learned a lot of my maneuvers, but you seem like you are holding back. This time, just go for it! We need to pull a rabbit out of the hat on these girls,” said Aadi.

“Hey, boys, plotting again? It's not going to help, because we are just better than you at… well, um, at everything,” Eirena said and walked up alongside Aadi. Raiko was close behind Eirena and pushed passed Damien to get beside her.

Damien pushed her back as she passed. She looked back at him with a scowl while he smiled and then tripped her.

“Eww, you are asking for it creep!” Raiko said to Damien and put her fist up to her eye.

“Yeah, right! Midget girl with the ugly hair and ghost skin. What are you going to do, say ‘boo' and scare me to death?” Damien said cruelly.

“Do you have to be such a pain in our… beep!” they all said as they looked at Damien. It had become a group reply to Damien's constantly surly nature that seemed to get worse as the days of camp continued.

“Hey, here we are. You know, today we find out who we pair up with for the excursions,” said Eirena.

“If there is a God in heaven, I will not - must not - get Carter or Tacitus. Please, oh please, give me Damien or Scott. Have mercy,” pleaded Dakota. He closed his eyes tightly, bent down on both knees, and held up two fists to his head.

“You better start praying harder,” said Scott as he passed by Dakota to smack him on the back of the head and raced to the simulation room. Dakota got up quickly to try to grab Scott's shirt but just missed as Scott sidestepped him.

 

 

The simulation area was a large black room which looked out to the stars with a large window horizontally in the front of the room with several smaller rooms within. The larger room was for class instruction, but the smaller simulation pod rooms were for team practice and personalized instruction. Their instructor, Mr. Faulkner, was usually always waiting for them, and today was no different.

“Hello, Cadets. Today, we will simulate a race and challenge between each of the partner teams formed today. This contest is to win the lead place in the Mars expedition. The lead driver is the one in control of the front of the ship and the steering. Remember, each craft is outfitted with a filadinum power supply that will never go out. It's what powers the mother ship and is not an easy commodity. We have two days to prepare for our first excursion. Lastly, I know our team is the best trained and most motivated team here at camp. If you use all means necessary to take your opponents out of the game, I know we will win. Got that?” asked Mr. Faulkner with a nod.

“Um, aren't we going in virtual mode today?” asked Raiko with a gleam in her eyes and a big smile.

“Yes. I know you all love that and have been bored with the last three days of lessons where we went over the repair and maintenance of your cruisers. However, I must say that some of you really needed the time spent to get to know your vehicles. Others were born to it. You that were capable of forgoing the maintenance and repair lessons know who you are,” he said as he pointedly looked at Aadi, Eirena, Damien, Tacitus, and Raiko.

“And we all know who the flunky is that needed more than one lesson,” Damien replied, looking at Carter.

“Okay, now let's get you all paired up. Group One is Aadi and Eirena. Group Two is Dakota and Carter,” said Mr. Faulkner.

“You have got to be freaking kidding me! Can I have Scott instead?” pleaded Dakota. He balled up his fist and punched down in frustration.

“Watch it, young man. Group Three is Scott and Raiko, and lastly, Group Four is Damien and Tacitus,” said Mr. Faulkner.

“Well, fluke. Could my day get any worse? Now I have to spend it with the weirdo,” said Damien under his breath.

“I heard that. Foul language is not allowed, and it definitely won't change your situation,” said Mr. Faulkner, crossing his arms and glaring down at Damien.

“Well, maybe not, but I feel so flukin… er, I mean darn good when I say it,” said Damien, and bawled up a fist and then hit his hand with it. He rolled his eyes at Tacitus, who stood there unaffected.

“Okay. Everyone, go put on the simulation tabs,” said Mr. Faulkner. Aadi grabbed his rounded tags and placed them all over on his body in preparation for the simulation. He was more than ready to be thrown into a computer-generated environment in which he could feel the impact of the virtual surroundings.

“You and me, ink head,” Damien said to Aadi, as he pointed two fingers at his eyes then back to Aadi.