Lost Planet 01 - The Lost Planet (32 page)

“Do you think my parents could have had the same ability as me? Maybe they just reappeared somewhere else, the same as me?”

Lennard shook his head. “I really wouldn't hold out any hope for that idea, Chase. They were special, but they weren't like you. You're a completely new evolution.”

Chase nodded, but resisted this answer all the same. He knew the chance his parents were alive somewhere was basically nonexistent, but it made him feel better to imagine that one day he still might find them. And maybe that would unlock his memory, and everything could just go back the way it was supposed to be. He looked around at the metal walls of his room. “What happens now?”

“Right now we're headed to a mining colony in the Movala system. We need to lie low for a while, so in advance I grabbed an assignment that would take us as far into deep space as possible. We're essentially going to hide out there until we can figure out who's behind this.”

Suddenly Chase realized he had potentially helpful information. “It was Colonel Dornan. I saw her talking with Fersad, and she destroyed the disks—”

“I've already talked with Parker about that. She mentioned someone else, didn't she?”

Chase thought back to what he'd heard Dornan say.
It was his foolish idea to make a hard copy in the first place.
At the time, he'd assumed she was talking about Lennard. He nodded.

“There's a bigger conspiracy behind this. Right now, I can't fathom what possible end could have been served by destroying an entire planet. I'll be investigating that along with my team, but while we do, I have to make sure I'm protecting the crew of the
Kuyddestor
.”

Hearing the ship's name again, Chase looked up. “‘Guide the star.' It's the only thing I remembered when I woke up on Trucon.”

Lennard leaned toward him. “And that's a testament to how diligently your parents trained you for what to do in case of an emergency. I can't tell you how many times they repeated, ‘If anything ever happens, get to the
Kuyddestor
.'”

“But, ‘guide the star'?”

“Is what Lilli called it when she was a toddler. It was a family joke. So, in a way, you remembered her too.” Lennard smiled, letting his gaze rest on Chase for a moment. “Well, I should let you get some rest. I know it'll take some time for you to adjust, but I'll do anything I can to help. You have no idea how glad I am—”

A low beep from the door interrupted him, and it opened on a soldier Chase didn't at first recognize. In the gray uniform of the Fleet, Maurus looked like a different person. His nose had been mended, and his hair was secured in a tight knot at the base of his skull. More noticeable, though, was that the hunted, desperate look was gone from his face. He stood tall and confident, eyes gleaming with energy.

“Captain,” he said, snapping to attention.

“Lieutenant Maurus, how can I help you?” said Lennard. Chase stared in disbelief at the respectful exchange.

Maurus dropped his salute. “I came to see if Chase wanted to come down to the officer quarters for supper this evening, so I can introduce him to some of the crew. If that's alright with you, Captain?”

“I think that's a fine idea, as long as Chase wants to.”

The idea of sitting down with a roomful of soldiers sounded intimidating, but Chase knew Maurus's intent was to help him get settled on the ship. “Yeah, thanks. That sounds good.”

“I was just leaving,” said Lennard, rising from his chair. “I'll let you two have some time together.” At the door he stopped and turned back to Chase. “Not many of the crew know the real details of who you are. I'm telling everyone that the three of you were orphaned after Trucon and the Fleet is taking you in as future cadets. If anyone starts asking a lot of questions about who you are or where you came from, you have to tell me.”

Chase nodded assent. “When can I see my sister?”

“Maybe tomorrow.” Lennard furrowed his eyebrows. “We need to take it slow, okay? Lilli's had a very traumatic experience.”

“But if I can just—” Chase began.

“I know you want to see her, and I understand. But you don't remember Lilli. She was a difficult child before any of this happened. I just want to make sure she's … ready for you.”

Biting back the protest that rose to his lips, Chase nodded, but his thoughts swirled with fresh worry. What did the captain mean,
a difficult child
? Did she not want to see him?

Maurus saluted as Captain Lennard left. When the door slid closed behind him, he grinned at Chase. “Well, just look at us.”

Chase returned the smile shyly. Maurus was still the same guy who'd traveled with him from one end of the galaxy to the other, who'd saved his life and whose life he'd saved, but things felt different now. He was a soldier again, and Chase was just a boy. “So everything's … okay?”

Maurus nodded. “The captain and I had a very long discussion. We've worked out the details of the story that I was operating deep undercover—everyone on the crew believes it now. I've been returned to active duty on the expeditionary squad, and the captain and I will be working together to figure out who set us up.”

“You talked about everything? Even…?” Chase was hesitant to repeat Maurus's jail cell confession.

“You mean my connection with the Karsha Ven?” Maurus smiled. “Yes, we talked about that too. He was very upset about my deception, but I think he believes that my intentions were only good. He's agreed to keep it secret, but he had me re-swear allegiance to the Fleet, and I agreed to a little additional surveillance for a while. It's only fair, given what I kept from him.”

“You re-swore allegiance to the
Fleet
?” Chase asked in surprise. After everything that had happened, he'd almost expected Maurus to be on the next flight home to Lyolia, not recommitting to the organization that had tried to kill him.

Maurus placed a hand on Chase's shoulder. “Despite what's happened, there are still many good people in the Fleet. Captain Lennard is one of them. Just like there are bad members of the Karsha Ven, those who would happily claim responsibility for what happened to Trucon, and others, like me, who only want the conflict on my homeworld to end. I still believe I can do good for both sides.”

The elliptical badge on Maurus's uniform flashed red, and Maurus raised a hand to his ear. “Yes, right away,” he said, answering a voice only he could hear. “Sorry, Chase, that was the chief of the exped squad—she'll have my hide if I don't attend debriefing. See you at seventeen-hundred hours, okay?” He gave Chase a squeeze on the arm before leaving.

Chase lay on his bed for a while, allowing the ocean of information to wash over him. So many things made sense now—his amnesia, his ability, Captain Lennard's first reaction to him. But he still had as many questions, and not just about Asa Kaplan. Colonel Dornan, for one: She admitted she'd been present when his family was attacked, but she was also involved in setting up Maurus to take the fall for Trucon. He felt crazy for even thinking it, but he wondered if the two attacks were somehow related. Maurus and Captain Lennard were planning to hunt down whoever had set them up, but if Chase was going to be living aboard the
Kuyddestor
for a while, he'd have to take every opportunity to do his own investigating as well.

It occurred to him that Dr. Silvestri had sent him down the wrong path—if he'd managed to stay far away from the Fleet like the doctor had warned him to, he never would have learned what “guide the star” meant. He didn't think the doctor had led him astray on purpose—he worked for Asa, after all. Avoiding the Fleet was part of his job. But what if Maurus hadn't stolen Mina on Qesaris? Would they have just called Asa for help and let him imprison them both in another comfortable compound? Chase would never have learned the truth from Captain Lennard, never would have found his sister.

Lilli. He turned the name around in his mind, examined it, but it brought up no memories. He wanted to go seek her out. At the same time he was afraid to finally talk to her. Who was this strange little person, this girl who had spent her whole life being different? What could she tell him about his life, their parents, about their deaths?

Chase climbed out of bed and padded barefoot to the door. Before he got there, it slid open. Parker pushed past him and sat down on his bed.

“Chase, this place is amazing,” he sang. “I was just down on the flight deck, and I think I persuaded one of the pilots to let me have a go in the Khatra simulator.”

Chase shook his head, smiling. “Settling in pretty quickly, are we?”

Parker grinned, kicking at a bedpost. “I already feel at home here, like this is where I'm meant to be. Not locked up in some remote compound with an android.”

For the first time, Chase could appreciate how lonely Parker must have been when he first met him. “It was wrong of Asa to keep you isolated like that. Even if he was just trying to keep you safe.”

Parker's grin vanished. “Safe? He didn't want to keep me safe, he wanted to keep me his prisoner.” He planted his feet on the ground, suddenly agitated. “All my life I was told he was the owner of a tech corporation, and it turns out he deals weapons to criminals? What else was a lie? Did my parents really work for him? Were they criminals too? I may not have lost my memory, but I know just as little about my past as you do. Maybe less. Asa stole it all from me.”

Chase frowned. “I still think he cared about you, even if he didn't always do the right thing.” The terror on Asa's face when Rezer Bennin aimed his blaster at Parker had been unmistakable. “He tried to protect you—he took a blaster hit for you.”

Parker raised an eyebrow. “Are you sticking up for him?” His tone grew aggressive. “He never even looked me in the eyes, not once. Maybe some criminal code obligated him to keep me alive after my parents died, but don't you dare say that he cared about me.”

Chase dropped his head, nodding. He knew he wouldn't change Parker's mind about Asa—Parker was too angry. But he needed to share the suspicions that were brewing in his mind, and so he continued in a low voice, “I think he might have known my parents. I haven't told Captain Lennard, but Asa knew about my … ability.”

“Are you sure?” Parker gave him a doubtful expression. “I don't know how he could have.
You
didn't even know about your ability.”

“Well, maybe he didn't know about the phasing exactly, but you heard what he said to me. ‘I know you're different.'” Chase hesitated, fearing the reaction Parker might have to his next confession. “There's something else I never told you about my microchip. When Mina took me to Dr. Silvestri's home, he told me it was the same as yours. He said Asa designed it. I think maybe it's why I rematerialized at your compound.”

Parker was quiet, and for a moment Chase was afraid he'd angered him by withholding this information. Then Parker looked up with a grim smile. “I guess we both have a good reason to hunt him down, don't we?”

“I need to know how my parents got that microchip from him, and what he knows about them,” said Chase. “Maybe he can tell me why the Fleet sent people to kill my family.”

Parker's eyes took on the faraway look of deep thought. “The ship's doctor is removing my microchip tomorrow. There might be a way for me to reverse it, to use the trace ping…” He looked at Chase with a fierce expression. “We'll find him, and we'll take him down. Him and his stupid android.”

Chase felt an unexpected twinge of sadness when he thought of calm, reliable Mina. “Don't you miss her though? You spent your whole life with her.”

“Her?” Parker rolled his eyes. “You don't get it, Chase—you never got it. There is no
her
, she's an
it
.”

“She saved your life.”

“A program saved my life,” said Parker. “She was never my mother, never my friend. She's just a machine.”

Chase was silent, considering this. Despite what Parker said, he still sort of missed Mina. “Do you think Dr. Silvestri died on Trucon?”

“Didn't seem like he had much of a chance, did it?” Parker looked solemn for a moment. “It's a shame. He was a pretty okay guy.”

Something in the corner of the room caught Chase's eye. Standing against the wall and staring at him was a blond girl in blue pajamas.

It took a second to get past his shock. “Hey,” he said softly.

She vanished, blinking out like a light.

“Whoa,” whispered Parker. “I think she wants you to come visit her.”

Chase lifted his hands, frustrated. “Captain Lennard won't let me. I don't even know where they're keeping her.”

“Oh, I can show you.” Parker slid off the bed and headed for the door.

“How do you know where she is?”

“I've been doing a little exploring.” One side of Parker's mouth tilted up.

A jealous twinge rose in Chase's chest. “Did you see her?”

“No, they've been keeping the door locked.” Parker gave him a theatrical wink. “Not that that'll be a problem for you.”

They slipped into the hallway, and Parker led the way down a maze of corridors and stairs. Soldiers passed by, most preoccupied by their own business, but some smiled at them or nodded acknowledgment. By the time they'd traveled at least three floors down, Chase was completely disoriented. He wondered how long it would take him to feel at home on the
Kuyddestor
, or if he ever would.

Halfway down a long, white hallway, Parker stopped and gestured at a closed door. Chase hung back a few feet.

“What is it?” Parker asked.

“I don't even know her,” whispered Chase. “I don't remember anything.”

Parker gave him a smile. “It'll be okay,” he said. “Just go in and talk to her.”