Wormhole Pirates on Orbis (27 page)

Max looked at me and whispered, “Don’t do this, JT.”

But that was not a choice for me. Of course I would do this.

“What if he dies?” Theodore asked. “How will you get his treasure? I’m sure you need him to open it.”

Ceesar held up the glass tomb containing my arm. “I just need a team,” he said. “I have everything else I need.”

“But why do it this way?” I asked him.

“C’mon. This is so much more fun, don’t you think? Besides, Athooyi believes I’m in it to win, and he believes you imbeciles are his only salvation. He has no idea I’m there for the bigger prize.”

That’s why they wanted Charlie out of the way. He refused to sell us to Athooyi, and now
Charlie
had paid the price.

“When does the Chancellor’s Challenge start?” I said.

“No, JT,” Max pleaded.

“The last cycle of next phase. If you speak to anyone about this, if you breathe a word to the Keepers, Dumbwire, I swear by all the energy in the Universe that you will never see Maxine Bennett again. Do you understand me?”

No one spoke. I looked at Max. She shook her head at me. How could I not do this? Everyone was here because of me. Everyone was always getting hurt because of me. I needed to fix things once and for all. “Listen, Ceesar, Switzer, whatever you want to be called,” I said. “When I do this, we’re done. You return Max and you leave the Rings of Orbis. I never want to see you again. I will play your stupid game, but if you do not keep your end of the bargain, I will hunt you down to the end of the universe and I
will
kill you.”

Switzer snickered. “It’s a big universe,” he said. “And such a big threat for a runt.”

“Do we have a deal?”

“Don’t, JT,” Max said.

“Deal,” Switzer said.

This was the second time in my life that I had made a deal with Switzer. The first time hadn’t gone too well, either.

Switzer waved the crystal again, and Max was gone.

“Max!” Ketheria cried.

The wormhole pirates created a clear passage to the chute for their leader. “Not a word,” Ceesar breathed as he passed. “Or she dies.”

“What do I do now?” I asked.

“Prepare for your end,” Cala hissed as he strolled past.

I stared at the empty light chute for a long time after Switzer left. What I felt most was shock, as if I had stood in the center of a meteor shower and I was the only one who hadn’t gotten wiped out. I had Cala right in front of me, but now he felt insignificant. How did this happen? How did things get so bad? I did not ask to be the Scion, if what Switzer said was even true. I simply wanted a place for my sister and me to live, a place to call home.
What did my parents do?
The words echoed in my brain.
Did they know? Did they pick this for me? When do I get to choose? When do I get to say what
I
want?

“What are we going to do?” Theodore mumbled.

“
We’re
going to prepare for the toughest Quest-Nest match we’ve ever played,” I told him. “Can you contact Sul-sah about scoping some of the other challengers?”

“Are you sure, JT?”

“I’m very sure.”

I wouldn’t dare risk telling Theylor about Switzer. I thought about telling Charlie before I corrected myself:
He’s dead.
But would I even have told him? I could not risk Max’s life in any way. I tried not to think about the outcome of the match — I only thought of rescuing Max. Several of the other kids were glancing at me as if I were already dead. Ketheria told me to ignore them and added, “You don’t have to do this.”

“Yes, I do,” I calmly told her.

“Do you really think he will return Max to us?”

“Why? What are you not telling me? Do you read something in his mind?”

“I didn’t read anything. He’s using something that won’t let me in. It’s really more of a feeling I have when I’m around him. It’s very difficult to explain, but we don’t know him anymore, JT. It’s been a long time — for Switzer, anyway.”

“I can’t forget Max,” I told her. “It just isn’t an option.”

Ketheria smiled. “Then we must prepare. Maybe we can win this.”

“Whoa, whoa, there. What’s all this
we
stuff? It’s just gonna be me and maybe Theodore.”

Ketheria shook her head. “You know yourself it’s a team, a team of four. That’s how they play the Chancellor’s Challenge. There are four rounds plus the championship match. Two players could never last that long.”

“I’ll get someone else, Ketheria. No way.”

“You can’t win without me,” she insisted. “You know that, so contact Vairocina.
We
need all the help we can get.”

This was already out of hand, and we weren’t even close to the match, but I couldn’t think of another way. I agreed with Ketheria (for now, anyway) and contacted Vairocina. I could tell her. I could trust Vairocina. I
needed
to trust her, and I made Vairocina promise not to tell a soul. Max’s life was at stake.

“This is very serious,” Vairocina said as we whispered in a dark corner of Charlie’s room. Everyone was asleep, and I wanted no one to hear us.

“That’s why I need your help.”

“Tromaine, the area where the Challenge is played, is bubbled from the central computer. I cannot help you once you are inside. In fact, all of the information concerning the Chancellor’s Challenge is stored on their computer inside the city.”

“Why would such a valuable treasure be located in a city outside the Keepers’ control?”

“I can’t answer that,” she said.

“You can’t or you won’t?”

Vairocina slumped slightly. “That is unnecessary, JT,” she said. “I may function inside the central computer, but I owe my life to you. The central computer has absolutely no contact with the computer of Inner Tromaine. It is a sacred place. That is why the treasure is kept there, outside of the Keepers’ reach. I would answer your questions if I could. Always.”

“I’m sorry. It’s getting very hard for me to trust people on Orbis.”

“I understand. That’s why I’m coming with you,” she said.

“What?”

“There is enough memory space inside your arm for me to fit quite comfortably. I may not have all of the same functions I have inside the central computer, but I can compress myself to fit inside your arm. I will be a valuable asset once inside.”

I saw nothing wrong with her idea except for one thing. “What if I don’t make it out of there?”

“You will.”

“And if I don’t?”

“I have traveled from the end of the universe, jumping from computer to computer. Do not worry about me.”

“How are you going to get into my arm?”

“Your softwire cannot facilitate the transfer. You must make some sort of hardwire connection.”

Max could do it. I knew she could, but she wasn’t here.

“Do you have anyone to assist you?” she asked me.

Who could wire my arm so Vairocina could hop in for a ride? I needed someone who wouldn’t ask any questions, either.

“What if he won’t do it?” Ketheria asked me as I held the pod door open for her.

“That’s why I brought you along. I think he likes you.”

The pod slid effortlessly up one of the sloped supports beneath the Labyrinth. It was a gamble to seek Tinker’s help, and I knew it. But I remembered the way he had helped Ketheria. I needed to exploit every advantage available to me if I was going to survive the Chancellor’s Challenge. Losing was not an option.

“Of all the buildings on Orbis, why doesn’t the Labyrinth use a light chute?” I asked Ketheria.

“Why do you care?”

I didn’t, actually. I was trying to think about anything except Max. I didn’t want to think about where they were holding her. I didn’t want to think about what Ceesar might be doing to her, or if she was scared. I didn’t want to think about any of it, but I realized I wasn’t doing a very good job.

“Stop thinking about Max,” she said.

“Get out of my head.”

“I don’t have to read your mind. It’s written all over your face,” she whispered. “Don’t worry — we’ll get her.”

“And then what?”

“You’ll think of something.”

I saw two Citizens registering contestants at Tinker’s booth.
How many players are there?
I wondered. We lingered behind a sculpture of some nameless Citizen, cautiously waiting for the opportunity to speak with Tinker. A large vid-screen floated past us, flashing an image of the last champion from the Chancellor’s Challenge. The thick, fleshy alien with four gold-covered spikes sprouting from his head glared down at us. A large blue emblem scarred his ample belly.

“Was the helmet unsatisfactory?” Tinker called to us from his booth.

“No, it was fine, thank you,” Ketheria said, and we ventured out from the shadows.

“Why are you hiding?” he asked.

“Can we talk?” I whispered.

“Aren’t we talking now?” He frowned.

“Privately,” Ketheria said.

Tinker led us into the same room where he had given us the Quest-Nest helmets. The young female we met before was kneeling before a shallow stone bowl, muttering something I couldn’t hear. I saw a thin blue stream of smoke rise from the bowl, illuminated only by the light streaming through the three arched windows cut in the wall. Tinker struck his metal appendages against the stone without warning. The female jumped, gathered her simple cloth robe, and scurried out the door.

“Please sit if you’d like,” Tinker offered. “I can tell by the way you’re looking at me that this might take a while.”

He cleared a bench for us under the windows.

“Thank you,” Ketheria said.

But I couldn’t sit still. I needed Tinker’s help, yet I was troubled by the fact that he knew Ceesar as well. It was essential for me to identify Tinker’s loyalties first. I pointed at the etchings on his windows, the ones that were the same as those carved into the walls of our own estate, and said, “Aren’t those OIO streams?”

Tinker moved toward the door, glancing at me from the corner of his eye. I continued to admire the glass while he continued to size me up and make sure no one else was near. He tapped a wall control with his cumbersome fingers. The door appeared to lock us in, or everyone else out. It didn’t really matter.

“Why do you speak of OIO?” he asked me from the other side of the room.

“Are you a believer, too?” I replied.

For an awkward-looking alien, Tinker moved very fast, towering over me in an instant. “Who are you?” he wanted to know.

“We’re knudniks that need your help,” Ketheria replied.

Tinker sniffed at the air as if he was hunting for something rotten. “I’ve already helped you,” he said.

“This is different,” she told him.

“Trefaldoors refer to them as cosmic winds, and Samirans call them cosmic rivers. Is that right? Or is it the other way around? I can never remember,” I said.

“It’s all energy,” he mumbled.

“So not only are we both knudniks, but we also both like this OIO stuff.”

“Stuff!” Tinker shouted, standing tall and stretching out his hands. “A true believer would never refer to it as
stuff.
”

“Is Ceesar a believer, like
us
?” I questioned, ignoring his comment.

“Why do you speak of him? Is he paying for this?”

“Have you spoken to him recently?”

“What are these games?” Tinker demanded, and drove the steely point of his index finger into the workbench. “I am no more aware of
his
dealings than I am of yours. He pays for my services and I fulfill his requests, nothing more.”

That was enough for me. “I need a hardwire uplink port,” I told him. “Capable of transferring a lot of data.”

“But you are a softwire. What do you need one for?”

“I just need one.”

“Come here,” he demanded.

I looked at Ketheria.

“Come here!” he repeated.

With small steps, I moved toward the workbench. Tinker extended a metallic arm toward the wall. “Stand there,” he said, and kicked away a small wooden stool. “Assume the Circle of Life.”

This was a test, and I was about to fail.
The Circle of Life?
I knew he was talking about OIO, but I did not know the reference.

“Human or Nagool?” Ketheria called out.

Tinker squinted at Ketheria, grinding his teeth together. They were metal, too. “Nagool. Humans are still ignorant,” he hissed.

Nagool? Ketheria was sending me a clue. Each time I observed Nagool masters, they were shuffling about with their arms stretched out to their sides.
Floaters,
I remembered someone calling them. I extended my arms, with my feet shoulder-width apart, and raised my chin. I hoped this was the Circle of Life.

Tinker kicked my feet together. “Close the node,” he demanded, and then scrounged through his workbench as I glanced at Ketheria. She smiled at me and nodded. Apparently I had passed the test.

Tinker returned with a small device suspended by a chain. It consisted of two concave crystal receptors attached by a spiraling wire. It bore an uncanny resemblance to the doodles Ketheria had been scribbling when she was sick.

Tinker raised the device over my head. Afraid to expose my ignorance, I didn’t dare ask what it was. When he moved the gadget out in front of my face, I could see the small crystal scoops begin to rotate around the spiral. Tinker never took his weary eyes off the tool, almost as if he were willing an answer out of it, some sort of signal from the thing. He moved it in front of my chest and it stopped, reversed its motion, and began spinning in the opposite direction. Tinker lifted his head, his eyes widening. He repeated the movement, starting above my head, once more. The device did the same thing. Then Tinker moved it farther out, and it reversed direction once more. He moved it out over each hand and around my body; each time, the tool switched direction.