“Is figuring out where we’re supposed to go a puzzle, then?” Tyler asked.

  “It wouldn’t surprise me,” I answered. “Everything seems like a game to the Warden.”

  “Levi, how many populated systems are within range?” Ben asked.

  “Seventy-one,” the AI replied, highlighting each of them in blue. Of course, they were scattered all over the map.

  We all stared at them. Nobody spoke.

  “What now?” Ally asked, first to voice the question on everyone’s mind.

  “If this is a puzzle, we need to work out the next piece,” I said. “Any ideas?”

  We passed around a lot of questioning glances without any solid answers. Meanwhile, Head Case punched through Goldhaven’s atmosphere. “Captain, should I keep us in orbit, or just fly out into deep space?” Leo asked.

  “Don’t you mean sail out into deep space?” Tyler asked.

  “Are you really going back to that now?” I countered.

  Tee shrugged. “Seemed like as good a time as any.”

  “Going back to what?” Ben questioned, having missed the initial conversation two weeks earlier.

  “Let’s settle this once and for all,” I said. “The ship that fired on us in Earth’s orbit before we went through the rift,did it shoot missiles or torpedoes?”

  “Torpedoes,” Ben replied.

  “Missiles,” Matt said.

  Shaq buzzed what sounded like “torpedoes.”

  “Hah!” Tyler said. “See?”

  “You’re just agreeing with Ben,” I said to Shaq.

  “So?” Shaq replied, to my chagrin.

  “Fine. Ixy said missiles. Meg? Leo?”

  “We don’t want to get involved in this,” Meg said.

  “We’ve seen people have this argument before,” Leo agreed. “It’s destroyed friendships.”

  “Better to just let it go,” Meg finished. “Maybe call them projectiles?”

  “But that’s so vague,” I complained.

  “Why does it have to be a binary choice?” Leo asked. “Why can’t it be interchangeable?”

  “I don’t believe we’re even having this discussion right now,” Ally said. “Of all the dumb things to⁠—“

  “Wait,” I cried excitedly. “Leo, I think you’re onto something.”

  “I am?”

  “Levi, are any of the planetary populations composed solely of ones and zeroes?”

  All of the highlights vanished except one. We all stared at it in shock.

  “Bingo bango boingo,” Ben exclaimed. “Give the kid a prize!”

  “How the hell did you do that?” Tyler asked.

  “I don’t know,” I answered, ignoring the wave of heat washing through my cheeks from all the attention. “It just kind of popped into my head.”

  “I bet you’re great at those escape room games,” Ally said.

  I shrugged. “I’m okay at them.”

  “Levi, convert the binary to English,” Ben said.

  “It might not be a name that can be converted to English,” Meg warned.

  “The binary code translates to Levain,” Levi said.

  “Le Vain,” Tyler repeated in a bad French accent. “Sounds like a bakery.”

  “Ooh la la,” Ally added.

  “Interesting name for a contact,” Matt agreed. “Like Madonna, or Ye.”

  “What planet is Levain on?” I asked.

  “The name of the planet is Cacitrum. Population 011011000110010101110110011000010110100101101110.” The AI read the binary as individual ones and zeroes, instead of converting it to a count.

  “Levi, locate and highlight Nocturne in red,” Ben said.

  The AI highlighted the Gemmen planet, putting it in the opposite direction from Cacitrum.

  “Levi, what’s the hyperspace distance from Cacitrum to Nocturne?”

  “Eight days, fourteen hours, thirty-one minutes.”

  “And the distance from our current position to Cacitrum?”

  “Five days, twelve hours, forty-nine minutes.”

  “Too far by a little over three hours,” Ally said, surprising me with her quick estimate.

  “Why am I not surprised?” Matt said. “Do you think maybe the Warden doesn’t want us to pay the Gemmen a visit?”

  “He knew the Oron were on Goldhaven,” Ben said. “He must know the Gemmen helped them get there. If they were a threat, you’d think he would have dealt with them already.”

  “I bet it’s all part of the game,” I said. “We obviously can’t visit both locations inside of two weeks.”

  “Barely,” Alyssa said. “Is there any way we can increase our hyperspace velocity?”

  “No,” Meg answered. “It’s not really a matter of velocity, it’s compression levels. The equation is logarithmic, which means it would take immensely more power to go even a fraction faster. Three hours might as well be three weeks.”

  “Unless we can find an impossibly dense power supply in the next two hours and fifty-nine minutes,” Leo added.

  “I doubt the Oron have anything like that,” Matt said.

  “So we have to make a choice,” Ben said. His eyes shifted from the star map, dancing from me to Tyler to Alyssa. “Or rather, you three need to make a choice.”

  “What?” the three of us said at once, joined by Matt and Shaq in the question.

  “You’re renting Head Case. It’s your call.”

  “Nocturne,” Tyler said.

  “Cacitrum,” I simultaneously countered.

  “Cacitrum,” Ally said.

  “Sorry, Tee,” I followed up. “You lose.”

  He thrust his finger at Alyssa. “She doesn’t get a vote. She never signed the agreement.”

  “I’m stuck out here, too,” Ally complained. “And I paid for your ticket. I think that earns me a vote.”

  “Agreed,” I said. “At least half a vote, in which case you still lose, Tee.”

  “You’re only agreeing because she voted for Cacitrum,” he complained.

  “So?” I replied. I heard Shaq’s amused buzzing in response to my answer.

  “So that’s bull,” he replied.

  “What’s bull is picking a fight with an entity that fits certain characteristics of a god,” I snapped back. “An entity that pwned us once already. All the Warden asked us to do is deliver a message, not destroy a civilization. This should be an easy call.”

  “I don’t trust the Warden.”

  “And I do?”

  “I also don’t like being told what to do. I’m not a freaking delivery boy.”

  “You are today.” I turned to Ben. “Cacitrum.”

  He gave Tyler a couple of seconds to continue bitching. When he glowered silently instead, Ben nodded.

  “Matt, make it so.”

  CHAPTER 36

  The next three days were relatively uneventful. Our training continued, as did our work with the various weapons available in the armory. We even had our first session with the powered armor. Tyler mastered the bulkier suit quickly, while Ally and I struggled to get a feel for the enhanced strength it provided at the cost of overall agility. I mostly preferred the lighter feel of the environmental underlay Matt had shown me on Goldhaven, which offered some protection from plasma, bullets, and blades. My only problem with the base layer was its skin-tight fit. Asshole had nailed it when he called me a scrawny chicken, especially compared to Matt and Tee. The underlay accentuated their muscular builds. It only served to advertise everything I lacked. Even so, Matt stressed the benefits of getting comfortable around one another in the tight-fitting armor, so that we could get over our discomfort in a controlled environment. Not that he had anything to be embarrassed about. While Ally initially felt self-conscious about her body too, it had only taken some positive encouragement from Sensei Matt about the benefits of her athletic build to see her through the crisis. He couldn’t do the same for me. I had to solve the equation for myself, and putting the situation in perspective came to the conclusion that I had two choices. Live with it, or do something about it. The training area included free weights and Tyler was happy to start torturing me with them, especially after our disagreement on our next destination.

  Finishing my first weight training session, I hit the showers, changed into a pair of sweats and a plain white t-shirt, and headed for my room. Tyler had invited me to watch an action movie with him, but I wasn’t in the mood to spend an hour finding something in the datastore we could agree on and two more watching it. Mindless entertainment had its place, but with so much to learn, I felt like I could make better use of my time. Without him around, I lay sprawled on my bed, slab in hand, browsing the technical manual for Matt’s hop racer. He’d promised to let me fly it one day, but only if I at least knew the basic maintenance procedures. I knew distraction was part of his motive for the promise, hoping to keep my mind from drifting into dark places. I appreciated the effort, but no matter how hard I stared at the schematics, my thoughts kept drifting back to our bizarre encounters with the Warden, mixed with memory snippets of Mom and Dad.

  A knock at the door made me jump. I didn’t need to ask who it was. Tyler would just come in. Ben and Matt would use the comms. Ixy would wait for me to exit and sneak up behind me. Meg, Leo, and Shaq tended to keep more to themselves, the twins because they were always busy fixing or fiddling with something, and the Jagger because he was always either with Ben or in Ben’s room.

  “Levi, open the door,” I said, glancing up to find Alyssa hovering in the passageway wearing a sheepish expression. "Hey, Noah. Mind if I come in?"

  I sat up, setting the slab aside. "No problem. What's up?"

  She entered hesitantly, remaining at the threshold, her eyes drifting to take in our decor. We’d recently had Asshole make a few posters of video game characters and added RGB lights in strategic places to cast the space in colorful glows. "I just needed someone to talk to. You’re the lucky target.”

  Her tone worried me. We’d all been stretched to our emotional limits over the last couple of weeks, and while I had noticed the strain in her face and behind her eyes—and had checked in on her a few times—she’d always claimed to be okay. Now fatigue shadowed her eyes, and her shoulders sagged beneath some unseen weight.

  “I’ve always got time for a teammate,” I said gently before adding, “and a friend. Did you want to talk here or maybe go for a walk?"

  "A walk would be great if you don't mind. I know every inch of this ship by now, but at least moving makes me feel like I'm getting somewhere."

  I turned off the slab and followed Alyssa from the room. We headed through the lounge unnoticed by Tyler, his gaze fixed on a scene from The Fifth Element. We meandered aimlessly through Head Case’s passageways with no particular destination in mind, sticking to the lower decks so as not to discharge the elevator’s batteries.

  "Sorry if I'm being mopey,” she said after a few minutes of silence. “I’m trying to keep it together, I swear. It’s just harder some days than others, you know?"

  "Believe me, I get it. Some days are definitely harder than others." I thought of my own struggle to maintain composure in the aftermath of my parent’s death. Most days I succeeded, but sometimes emotions ambushed me when least expected. “But I’d rather be here than in a foster home or something.”

  "I wish I had your optimism," she admitted quietly. "You’ve rolled with all this craziness way better than me or Tyler." She stopped abruptly, turning troubled eyes my way. "Don't get me wrong, I’m glad one of us is holding it together. It can’t have been easy losing your parents right before getting swept halfway across the universe."

  "It's been...an adjustment," I hedged, discomfort crawling beneath my skin. Talking about my loss still felt like it would never get any easier. Especially when she and Tyler viewed me as the emotionally strong one. "Honestly, I try not to think about it too much, or I'll fall apart.”

  “I’m sorry to bring it up. I guess I just…I don’t know how you do it. I’m looking for some advice, I suppose.”

  “How do I do what?”

  “Not fall apart. I’m trying, but it’s getting harder with every day that goes by. I can’t stop thinking about my responsibilities. Kaiju, my bills, my parents. I’m sure they know I’m missing by now.” Tears rolled down her cheeks, though her face strained to remain composed. “I know there’s a part of you that enjoys all of this, but I’m scared to death we’re going to die out here. The Warden is going to kill us.”

  She lost it completely, falling into my chest and sobbing. We were alone in this part of the ship, out of earshot of anyone else. I had the sense she’d come looking for a shoulder to cry on, someone to comfort her, when she stopped by my room. She just held out until she knew we would be alone.

  I took her in my arms. It felt awkward at first, like it had when I walked into the training room in the armor underlay. But when I stopped making it about the awkwardness and more about her pain, the strangeness of holding her faded away. We’d become friends over the last few weeks. Real friends, not just online gaming teammates, and she needed me.

  We stayed like that for a good ten minutes, her tears wetting me through the t-shirt, her nose running onto it, too. I held her close, stroked her hair, and offered soft words of encouragement. I couldn’t change the situation. And I understood her upset. I still had responsibilities back home, too. I had no idea if my parents had had a funeral, and if they did, if anyone had come. If the police were looking for me or thought maybe I was dead. If anyone cared to find me. If anyone cared that I had disappeared.

  I had to stop myself from traveling that road, or I’d wind up like Ally. Frayed loose ends could unravel me if I let them. I focused on her instead, and eventually the tidal wave of worry, guilt, and frustration subsided to a more gentle lapping at the shores.

  “We aren’t going to die out here,” I said once she’d calmed a bit. I held her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes. “We’ll find a way back to Earth. I won’t give up until we do. Neither will Ben, Matt, or the others. In the meantime, we continue looking out for one another. That’s all we can do. What we have to do.”

  She nodded, offering a meek smile. “When we first met, I thought of you like a little brother. But the way you handle everything, the maturity you’ve shown. You’re more like a big brother to me now. And I appreciate that.”

  “I had good teachers,” I replied, thinking of my folks.

  “I’m sure they were amazing,” she agreed. “I’m sorry I never got to meet them. I’m sorry we never really talked offline. I didn’t know what I was missing, even with Tee. He’s a goof, but he’s generally a kind-hearted goof, and it’s not like you lived so far away. In any case, I think they would be proud of you.”

  “I hope so,” I replied. “That’s what I’m aiming for.”

  “Well, you’re off to a great start.”

  “Do you want to go back to the lounge, finish off the movie with T-Bone?” I asked.

  “Not really,” she said, threading her arm through mine. “I’m kind of enjoying our moment, and like I said, Tee can be a bit too eager to lighten the mood sometimes. Do you have any other ideas?”

  “I was looking at the technical manual for the hop racer when you knocked. Maybe we can go down to the hangar and see if I can locate the components on the real thing. It’s not a party, but⁠—”

  “It sounds perfect,” she interrupted. “I don’t want to be alone, but I don’t want a lot of noise either.”

  We resumed walking in silence, each of us finding our own comfort in the company of the other. Eventually, we reached the hangar deck where Matt’s racer sat on the port side, next to where the Hunter’s fist was planted. I'd pored eagerly over every byte of data on the sport I could access through the datastore and had picked Matt’s brain as much as possible. No amount of study had conveyed the thrill I knew awaited me once he made good on his promise to let me fly her. Imagining the gut-wrenching sensation of popping in and out of hyperspace, through obstacle courses and other challenges served as the best distraction I had.

  Kneeling beside the craft, I pointed out various components, explaining their purpose to a semi-attentive Alyssa. She didn’t share my enthusiasm for the sport, but she seemed to enjoy how much I enjoyed talking about it. At least up to a point. I was in the middle of explaining the intricacies of the hop timing mechanisms and the importance of an AI trained to the specific pilot when I noticed she had stopped listening and had turned her head away from me.

  “Red, are you okay?”

  Her eyes snapped back to me. “Huh? Yeah. Sorry, Noah.” She pointed to the only shadowy corner in the hangar. “I was just looking at that deck plate.”

  I followed the direction of her finger. At first, I didn’t understand what had caused her such distraction, but the longer I stared, the more I realized that something was off with the deck plate. “Let’s check it out.”

  We went straight to the plate. The light barely penetrated the area, so it wasn’t until I leaned over the plating that I realized it was dented in. That didn’t seem right considering the location, but I reasoned it could be easily explained away. Maybe it had somehow taken damage during one of Head Case’s prior adventures. It could have simply resulted from Meg or Leo dropping a heavy wrench on the deck, but looking closer, a glint of something caught my eye.

  “Do you see that?” I asked. Normally, only wires, pipes, and other infrastructure hid beneath the grillwork. “There’s something down there.”

  “What do you think it is?” Ally replied. “A dropped screw?”

  “I wish I had a flashlight. It looks too big to have fallen through the grating.”

  “Should we move the plate and get a closer look?”

  I figured whatever the object’s purpose, it was probably supposed to be there, but some of the life had returned to Ally’s sad eyes, and I didn’t want to dismiss the therapeutic effect of a good mystery. I tried shoving my fingertips into the narrow crevice between the plates to pry up the damaged one. I didn’t stand a chance. “I think we need to call for backup.”

  She hesitated before nodding. “Go for it.”