Instead, I did the only thing I could do. I started randomly tapping the icons on the screen. One of the buttons turned on the stereo, blasting some strange alien pop music throughout the craft. Another opened a comm channel, possibly broadcasting the party out to other transports. A third started the seat shivering against my back, trying to massage me. I hit that one again to turn it off quickly, but the button that had turned on the music inexplicably didn’t turn it back off.

  The fourth button did the trick. The engines wound up, whining to life.

  “I’m so glad we only needed to find the start button,” Matt shouted over the music.

  “You’d think they would have put it separate from these others,” I replied. “Here goes nothing.”

  We lurched forward before I’d even fully figured out the steering mechanism, leaving the small landing skids scraping the tarmac as we angled toward the edge of the garage.

  “I don’t think we’re supposed to go out this way,” Matt cried.

  I jerked the stick, a sharp groan from underneath warning that the skids didn’t want to take the strain. I wasn’t about to hit more buttons to find the one that would retract them. Only blind luck prevented a disastrous collision with the surrounding vehicles; my steering nearly rammed us into an expensive-looking transport as I maneuvered toward the exit.

  “Maybe you should have let me drive.”

  “Probably,” I agreed too late. Getting us straightened out, I pushed the throttle open, sending the transport shooting across the tarmac faster than expected. The acceleration shoved us back in our seats, sparks flying from the skids until we finally reached the end of the building and launched out into the air.

  “Watch out!” Matt cried, pointing out other flying transports dead ahead. At Matt's panicked shout I twisted the stick, flinging us into a wild turn that tossed me and my reluctant passengers against our harnesses while successfully avoiding the traffic.

  "Oops, sorry guys! This thing handles way different than Head Case.” I blew out a tense breath, slowly easing back on the throttle and readjusting our course. Once I had clear skies ahead, I pushed the throttle open again, gradually this time, gaining speed I could only hope would be enough to catch up to the cargo shuttle carrying Nyree. We didn’t need to overtake them; it would be enough to keep them in sight.

  I wove drunkenly through the maze of interconnected towers and soaring walkways above Cacitrus’ gleaming expanse. Most vehicles zipped past us in neatly ordered traffic streams, save those moving out of line to land on one of the surrounding rooftops. We were the only fools with no idea how to follow proper traffic etiquette. As a result, I kept checking the skies around us, waiting for the police to close in and order us to land.

  Despite my erratic maneuvering, I somehow managed to gain on the cargo shuttle, keeping it in the distance. At least until it dropped out of the airspace, vanishing beneath the clouds. If I could have worked the other controls for the ship, I might have discovered sensors that could easily track our quarry, but as it was, I couldn’t even turn the damn music off. Cursing, I tugged the stick to pursue.

  "Hang on!” I warned.

  We dropped faster than I intended, my stomach falling as the transport dove downward. Tyler cried out in complaint from the cabin, while I had a feeling Ally was doing her best not to puke. Matt’s pained expression held fast, though it probably wasn’t all due to his regret over not kicking me out of the pilot seat.

  We plunged through the clouds, right toward another stream of traffic. “Crap!” I screamed, pulling back on the stick to bring us out of the dive. We straightened out with nearly a hundred feet to spare, which was still way too close. “Sorry!” I called out again in apology. My head whipped back and forth, searching for the cargo shuttle.

  Matt hunted for it, too, leaning forward to look up. “I don’t see them anywhere.”

  “They can’t have gone far,” I replied, reaching for the throttle. I refused to give up. Nyree had offered a spark of hope that we might be able to get Tee and Ally back where they belonged. And me, too, I supposed.

  I wouldn’t let that spark be extinguished.

  “Noah, don’t,” Matt warned, his voice sharp enough to make me hesitate. “We lost them. Or they lost us. Either way, after the way you’ve been flying, I’m sure we attracted all the wrong kind of attention. We need to land. ASAP.”

  “How are we ever going to find her?” I asked, defeated.

  “We’ll find a way,” Matt answered. “We have her transport. That’s a start.” He gestured out the window to flashing lights in the distance. “We don’t want to be airborne when they get here.”

  I quickly found what looked like public parking. A number of transports moved in and out of the structure in an organized procession. “There,” I said, pointing it out to Matt, gripping the stick to steady the transport. “I think you should fly now.”

  CHAPTER 18

  Favoring his injured right shoulder, Matt guided us smoothly into the traffic pattern for the public garage I had spotted. His confident handling of the transport, even with one hand, couldn't have contrasted more sharply with my white-knuckled flailing around like a fish out of water. I sagged back in the passenger seat, adrenaline bleeding away to leave me drained and despondent.

  We'd come agonizingly close to answers only to have them snatched away yet again. If not for Zariv's ambush, we might already be planning our trip to Levain’s station and the crippled Wardenship we hoped would finally reveal a way home.

  Instead, we were back at square one. Or worse.

  Matt maneuvered deftly between orderly rows of parked transports, settling our commandeered transport into an open space and killing the engine. We sat in defeated silence for several moments but for the muffled thump of closing hatches and whines from incoming and outgoing vehicles.

  Finally, from where he sat in the back, Tyler's loud frustration bled through our individual thoughts. "I don’t get it!” He lurched up the aisle until he could look us straight in the eyes. “How can we keep getting so close to making progress,” he asked, planting his hands on his hips, “only to constantly have defeat snatched from the jaws of victory? Nobody’s luck can be this bad. I mean, how the hell…” His hands came off his hips and waved around. “...did Zariv know where we were to ambush us? How could he possibly know we would leave from the rooftop when we don’t have a freaking flying car of our own?”

  “It has to be the Warden,” Matt said. “Nothing else makes sense.”

  "I can't believe I lost them,” I replied miserably.

  "It's not your fault, Noah," Matt soothed, though his own expression remained stormy. “You did the best you could. Considering you’ve never piloted anything like this, you did really well."

  Alyssa's harsh exhale announced her arrival at the flight deck. “I’m not convinced Little Miss Mafia didn’t have something to do with it.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, looking up to where she stood beside Tee. “Zariv’s bots abducted her.”

  “Or maybe that’s what they all wanted us to think. Pretend to be kidnapped to avoid suspicion, just in case we make it out of there alive.”

  “She has a point,” Tyler agreed. “It does seem kind of fishy.”

  “Who knows if she was even telling the truth about knowing where Levain took the Warden's ship."

  “Who knows if Nyree is even her real name,” Tee added.

  "You think she lied?" I asked.

  "I think she told us what we wanted to hear when it suited her,” Ally shot back. “We know nothing about her, but we were ready to believe whatever she said just because she has a pretty face. It’s pretty obvious she's playing her own game here.”

  “Yeah, I don’t know if you guys noticed, but her aim was pretty damn good for someone who claimed she doesn't know how to fire a plasma rifle," Tyler agreed, though he sounded more impressed than suspicious.

  “She definitely caught me off guard with that move,” Matt said. “It didn’t quite track when she opened fire on the robots. On the other hand, survival instincts can trigger unpredictable results under extreme stress.”

  "No argument there.” Tyler laughed without humor. “I sprouted a metal fist. That's about as unpredictable as it gets!"

  “It seems like when I’m under stress, I fold like Kenny Rogers,” I said.

  “Who?” Tee asked.

  “Kenny Rogers. Country singer. The Gambler?” When no one reacted, I sighed. “Well, my father liked his music, and I thought it was a good simile.” I sighed again. I couldn’t even get my humor right.

  “You’re too hard on yourself.” Matt's hand settled on my shoulder as he turned toward me in his seat, his tone gentling further. "We'll figure this out."

  I nodded, trying to make myself believe that we could recover from this. It seemed like everyone was against us. Even those who claimed to be on our side. It only made it harder to believe the Warden’s influence wasn’t guiding this sequence of events. Goloran claimed his style didn’t include getting so directly involved in the affairs of others. But I couldn’t help feeling like he had taken a particular interest in moving us around his little chessboard.

  However, if that were true, the only reasonable question was why.

  Did it have anything to do with Levain sending Jaffie to Earth?

  “It can’t be a coincidence that every time we move half a step closer to learning more about the Warden and a possible way home, we’re knocked another step back,” I said. “I agree that Nyree is sus as hell, but since we left without the documents, she’s also our only lead.”

  “If I may,” Meg said, her chipmunk voice, muffled in Matt’s pocket, chirped through the RFD.

  He removed the device, as well as Head Case, placing the shrunken ship on the dashboard. “What do you have, Meg?” he asked.

  “I took the liberty of recording as many of the documents as possible while you put them in chronological order. Leo is separating them from the feed into individual images as we speak.”

  “Meg, you’re a lifesaver,” Ally said.

  “I do my best,” she replied. “We aim to have everything organized by the time we’re ready to go.”

  “Fantastic. See? We don’t need the Mafia Princess.”

  “If you recall, the papers didn’t mention coordinates,” I said. “If Nyree knows them, then we need Nyree back.”

  “What if she doesn’t know them?”

  “We have no idea if she does or doesn’t. And there’s only one way to find out. Besides, we agreed to help her deal with Zariv in exchange for her guidance. In that regard, nothing’s really changed. She’s already at Zariv’s place, waiting for us to arrive.”

  “And possibly laughing all the way to a cell,” Ally said. “Knowing we’ll probably show up and make a desperate attempt to rescue her when she doesn’t really need rescuing.”

  “I don’t know,” Tyler said. “She did seem to have a pretty good plan for beating Zariv by taking out his bots. And she did seem sincere.”

  “Weren’t you agreeing that she couldn’t be trusted five seconds ago?” Ally asked.

  “I was playing Devil’s Advocate.”

  “Are you calling me the Devil?”

  “What? Of course not. But you are Red.” He grinned stupidly.

  “You aren’t funny, Tee.”

  “I’m just trying to keep things loose. Relieve the tension. You never had a problem with it in Call of Duty.”

  “That’s because CoD is a game. This is real life.”

  “I repeat. I have a rocket fist for a hand.”

  Ally looked across the cabin at him, stone-faced and silent. “Point made,” she finally said.

  “Let’s say we decide to proceed with our agreement,” Matt said. “That means we need to take out Zariv’s bots. How would we do that without Nyree to assist? Meg? Do you think you can hack it?”

  “At a minimum, we would need access to a terminal on the network,” Meg replied. “Then it’s a matter of understanding the defenses and being able to read the code. I doubt it’s in English.”

  “And the Warden’s pill seems flakey when it comes to translating,” I said. “Unless he’s picking and choosing when we can and can’t read things.”

  “I wouldn’t put it past him,” Ben said, joining the conversation.

  “Hey, where have you been?” Matt asked.

  “All that bouncing around made me sick,” he replied. “I went to lie down.”

  Matt’s face stiffened, but he didn’t press the issue. Knowing Ben’s concerns about his cancer, I couldn’t help worrying, too.

  “Let's assume we can’t rely on being able to read alien code,” Matt said. “Then what?”

  “Then we need local help,” Ben said. “There’s no two ways around it.”

  “What kind of help?” Ally asked.

  “An engineer who knows the language and can get us into Zariv’s systems,” Meg answered. “Someone who can help us figure out how to upload the corrupt firmware to the bots. And write the corrupt firmware, I suppose.”

  “That’s a tall order for a single engineer,” I said. “Software and firmware are two very different things.”

  “Then we need two engineers,” Ben said.

  “We only have forty-six thousand quark,” Matt said. “I don’t know if that will be enough.”

  “I bet Princess Goloran would help foot the bill,” Tee said. “She wants to know more about the Warden, too. This is her chance.”

  “Which means going back to the Portus Spaceport,” Matt said. “I feel like we’re running in circles.”

  “More like spirals,” Ben said. “Do we trust Goloran enough to let her pick the engineers?”

  “Not a chance,” Matt replied without hesitation. “Fortunately, I think we know someone who can help.”

  CHAPTER 19

  We left Nyree’s transport in the garage and returned to the Cacitrus maglev station. Tyler had tossed his mask during the firefight, so he comically tried to keep his hand over the lower half of his face whenever we crossed paths with any kind of automaton, which was pretty often. Fortunately, none of the other passengers paid much attention as we bought our tickets and boarded a train bound for Portus.

  “Why did you toss your mask again?” I asked teasingly as he covered his mouth and nose, pretending he had to sneeze while the train car’s security bot marched past.

  “I got over-excited. Heat of the moment. You know? I don’t know why Matt wouldn’t let me duck into one of those fancy clothing places we passed to pick out something else.”

  “Sure you do. The bots inside would be too close and have too much time to get a look at us, especially you. At least you actually did something back there. I managed another goose egg on downed enemy bots while you, Ally, and Matt smashed them left and right. If this were a video game, I would be on the bench by now.”

  “Maybe combat just isn’t your thing,” Tee suggested. “It was your idea to grab the transport to follow them. Just because it didn’t work out doesn’t make it a bad tactic.”

  “Except if Nyree hadn’t left it unlocked and flyable, we never would have gotten that far.”

  “Your run to the transport also pulled them out from behind cover.”

  “Not on purpose.”

  “Would you like a violin, or a trombone?” Tyler joked, drawing a restrained smile from me though I sensed the hint of frustration in his tone. “Maybe we can pick up some chips and soda for your pity party on our way back to the motel.”

  My brow wrinkled in chagrin. “Yeah, I hear you. I just want to feel like I’m a useful member of the crew.”

  “Hey, even if you aren’t, Archie is. And he only listens to you.”

  “Thanks so much,” I replied sarcastically.

  “Any time, man,” he shot back with a grin.

  We fell into a tired silence. My gaze drifted out the window, watching the landscape roll past. I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew, Tee was jostling me awake with an elbow to my side. The train had stopped moving, and Mat and Ally were up and waiting in line to exit. We followed them off the train and left the station, once more making the trek across town. None of us said much, each dealing with our individual thoughts and lethargy.

  When we arrived back at the motel near the shipyard, we headed directly for Hzzt's room. Matt rapped sharply on the door. After a lengthy delay, it cracked open, spilling dim light into the hallway.

  "You again!" Hzzt seemed much more excited to see us this time. "Do you need another errand run?" He was barely able to contain his greedy grin.

  "We do," Matt confirmed. "May we come in?"

  Hzzt's large eyes narrowed fractionally. "This isn't going to get me killed, is it?"

  "Not by us."

  "Well that's reassuring." Hzzt frowned but nevertheless swung the door open wider. “Danger to my health and wellbeing will cost you more.”

  “Not surprising,” Matt said as Hzzt opened the door wider and stepped back for Matt to lead us into his room. My nose wrinkled against lingering sour notes of something likely alcoholic the alien had been drinking and had stashed away before answering the door.

  Hzzt turned up the lights and waved us toward his unmade bed. I settled on the edge of the rumpled blankets with Tee while Matt leaned against the wall with arms crossed. Ally remained just outside the open door, apparently deciding we needed a guard.

  "So what suicide mission do you need me for this time?" our reluctant host asked, eyeing us warily.

  I gave Matt a questioning look. He nodded for me to take the lead, perhaps to help bolster my confidence. I cleared my throat before meeting Hzzt's nervous stare.

  “It’s nothing dangerous,” I started, hoping to stem the no doubt astronomical amount of quark he would request for the simple job. “We need engineers. Individuals familiar with complex software and firmware, specifically in robotics. Bonus points if they know how to hack into highly secure networks.”

  When Hzzt blinked, it seemed as if his head might explode. He laughed nervously. “And what isn’t dangerous about that? The only reason you would need that combination of skills would be if you intend to do something underhanded to either Levain or Zariv. If that trouble were to find its way back to me…” He shrugged. “...I might as well kill myself right now.”