The Conspiracy Game: A Tully Harper Novel: A Tully Harper Novel (The Tully Harper Series Book 1)

by Adam Holt

  We saw a faint trembling in the 3D model, and the model switched off.

  “Shoot, more tech problems,” said Buckshot.

  We all looked out the window. Nothing appeared to be happening, but I looked over at Trackman. He looked nervous or excited, beads of sweat on his forehead, clutching the arms of his chair.

  Drilling continued in the distance.

  And then, very slowly, the dirty snowball began to turn. The Flight Deck went completely silent. We all sat forward in our seats.

  “Mike, come in,” said Buckshot. “We’ve got rotation. Repeat, rotation.” The away team didn’t seem to notice, but it was clear to everyone on board that the comet was moving.

  “Ah, we got a problem here, folks,” Buckshot explained. “I won’t try to explain it—just see for yourselves. I’ve still got a visual on the away team, but not for long. They will be out of sight in a few minutes.”

  “Oh, stars, what if it takes off ? We’ll lose them,” Queen Envy said.

  “No, no,” said Trackman, grinning at her naïveté and tapping his ring. “It doesn’t appear to be moving anywhere, just rotating. I guarantee the away team will notice when we lose visual contact. They’ll also lose the light of the sun.”

  Sure enough, a few moments passed and my dad looked up, tapped Moreline on the shoulder, and pointed in our direction. No sooner had he done this than the three of them disappeared over the horizon of the dirty snowball. They were on its dark side. They were gone.

  This is it. Trackman’s going to start killing us all right now, I thought, getting ready to tackle him again, but something made me hold back. You did something crazy once. Don’t overreact, Tully. Swim the avalanche. Your dad’s going to be fine.

  Sunjay and Tabitha watched me with fear in their eyes. When I didn’t freak out, they looked at each other and breathed a quick sigh of relief.

  Buckshot wasn’t in relief mode though. He was in crisis mode, but I’ve never seen anyone look calmer in a crisis. “Listen up, folks. We may be facing a life-threatening situation here. This object is putting itself in motion. I need everyone to sit tight and stay quiet.”

  “They are in danger! Why did it rotate like that?” Queen Envy said. “Do something, Buckshot!”

  Buckshot sat motionless, deep in thought.

  “You can stay on deck but stay quiet, Ursula,” he said. “We wait three minutes and then I take Adversity around the backside of the comet. If it spins again, we approach. If no contact, I will arm laser cannons and weigh my options. We need to assume the worst. We may be dealing with hostile forces here. Then again, we may not.”

  Tabitha looked at me and mouthed something. I didn’t understand at first, but she did it again: “Trackman. Watch Trackman.”

  “Yes,” I mouthed back. A wave of triumph washed over me. Finally she believed me! Tabitha nudged Sunjay and whispered the same thing. It took a moment to dawn on him, but I could tell he understood.

  At long last we were all on the same page. That’s when the wave of triumph became a rogue wave and washed the book straight out of our hands.

  Something big, bright, and purple exploded out of the surface of the comet. Chunks of rock shot toward The Adversity, pelting the ship and bouncing off the Flight Deck windows. It sounded like a hailstorm. Alarms sounded. Warning lights flashed.

  “Hang on!” Buckshot yelled.

  Then the streak of purple shot toward us. The Adversity lurched sideways. On the screen we saw something latch on to the ship, yanking her forward. We all flew forward in our seats and crashed into each other—everyone except Trackman, who had fastened himself to his chair.

  The 3D model suddenly sprang back to life. On the far side of the comet we saw a red dot on the map...the away team. They were falling through a crack in the skin of the dirty snowball. The snowball was opening up.

  “Dad, no!” I shouted. Our eyes fixed onto the model as we watched the red dot disappear.

  In that moment I saw a gold flash out of the corner of my eye. I turned and saw Trackman’s signet ring. He raised his hand and brought it down quickly on Buckshot’s neck. Whack!

  “Ah! What was—,” Buckshot didn’t finish. He slumped over in his chair.

  Trackman raised his hand again, and we all saw a small needle on the bottom of his ring. All of us scrambled away from Trackman sitting in the commander’s chair. He sucked air through his teeth and smiled.

  A pause.

  Trackman held Buckshot close to him. “Feelin’ sleepy there, cowboy?” he said, mocking Buckshot’s Texas accent. “That’s okay, old friend. I’ll take over from here.”

  Then he turned to us. His beady eyes shined like his teeth. “Tully, you expected something, didn’t you? Probably not this. Operation Close Encounter is now at a close. I didn’t expect them to disguise the ship as a comet, but bravo to my good friends. Commander Harper and the rest will be captives—oh, don’t worry, they’re not dead—not yet.”

  “Who do you think you are?” I yelled.

  “I’m so glad you asked. I’ve been waiting to say this for a long time. I am Gallant Trackman, Commander of The Adversity, Arch Spy of the Ascendant.”

  “Arch Spy for who?”

  He pointed toward the comet. “For whom, you mean. The Ascendant. You’ll meet them soon enough, but I don’t want to waste any more time on you at the moment. I have only one word for you, Tully Harper—checkmate.”

  Trackman laughed long and loud. Angry and humiliated: that’s how I felt. Sunjay and Tabitha both looked the same. Queen Envy started crying.

  “Stop sobbing, you ridiculous, loud-mouthed diva! Don’t give me a reason to launch you into space. You’d make a much better popsicle than pop star. I’ve only put this idiot to sleep. We may still need a pilot. And you children, stop plotting. I don’t know what you actually believed about all this, but that doesn’t matter now. There’s plenty of poison left in this ring, but I would prefer to keep all of you alive for now. I want you to see this.”

  On the 3D model, a long purple tentacle now held on to The Adversity. The snowball opened into two halves. I expected it would be empty, but it wasn’t. Each half was shiny and black on the inside, with glowing purple letters and designs. We could make out a dark shape in the center.

  “That’s not a comet. That’s a space ship,” said Sunjay.

  “Oh, bravo, Commander Conspicuous,” said Trackman.

  I looked out the Flight Deck window and watched the shell open even more. The center was now visible. It was a purple and black sphere about half a mile across. The tentacle was attached to us from the black surface.

  “Who’s on board that thing, Trackman?” I asked.

  “You’ll address me as Commander Trackman,” he said.

  “Where are you taking us?” Queen Envy shouted.

  Trackman laughed and shook his head. “So many questions and me with no interest in answering them. Lady and children, I give you the Lion’s Mane. It may be the first and last Ascendant ship you ever see.”

  UNBREAKABLE GAZE

  “If any of you makes a move, Buckshot never wakes up.” Trackman held his signet ring at Buckshot’s neck as we stared out the window of the Flight Deck at the massive black ship in front of us. A lengthy purple tube stretched between the ships where the escape pods once were. It glowed with a purple light, and there seemed to be dark figures moving toward us from the other ship.

  “It looks like we’ll have visitors soon,” said Trackman. “Splendid.”

  My fury began to boil. I wanted to lunge at Trackman, but he held the signet ring closer to Buckshot’s neck.

  “So it was you who launched the escape pods,” I said.

  “That was part of the plan. I didn’t want anyone to escape, and we needed a spacebridge to the Lion’s Mane.”

  “And you killed Redshirt.”

  “Oh, I wouldn’t say that. Accidents happen in space. Redshirt was a bit too curious about some of my activities during the mission. In the end, he simply found hi
mself in the wrong place at the wrong time. Just like you. Now, before we proceed, I would like to say that it has been a pleasure working with each one of you. I’m terribly honored to be your new Commander. If you want to continue breathing, you will follow my orders without hesitation from now on. Understood?” No one responded. Trackman took a deep breath through his teeth. “I would have preferred a ‘Yes, Commander Trackman. We live to serve you,’ but I will accept your silence as an assent. It’s probably best for now. Just remember. When you see him, do not break his gaze. The Lord Ascendant would take it as an insult.”

  “Who is that?” said Sunjay.

  “Really?” said Trackman. “You can’t shut that mouth for ten seconds? Make that your last question for a long time, boy.”

  Trackman produced the black cube from his pocket again. He threw it into the middle of the room. Immediately all the instruments blacked out. A glow surrounded the cube, and in a few moments it began to brighten into a ball of blue static. We all shielded our faces. So this is how we die, I thought, watching the ball of static expand to fill the room. Then it morphed into an image. A black room with three purple thrones. On each throne sat a muscular figure. The room was so dim we could hardly see their faces. Behind the thrones was an image of our ship trapped by the Lion’s Mane.

  “Go along with whatever they say,” whispered Queen Envy. “No anger, no questions. Baby Bear, you hear me?”

  I nodded. She was right.

  The center throne towered above the other two, and in it sat a cruel-faced giant. He extended his index finger and motioned toward us. The image of his face filled the Flight Deck. I wanted to look away, but I couldn’t. He held us in his gaze, and his gaze was unbreakable. He had a deep crease between his eyes, which had purple irises. His face swam with moving images. They were animated tattoos—sea creatures scuttled across his tanned skin. A jellyfish grappled with some sort of fish on his narrow forehead. A crab with twenty claws crept across his cheek and attacked the jellyfish from behind. It was a war in some alien ocean, projected on the stone face of the Ascendant Lord.

  It would have been a distraction, but his eyes locked onto us. The deep crease between his eyebrows hardened. Trackman put both his hands across his chest and bowed at the waist. He nodded at us to do the same and we followed his lead. Without a word, the Ascendant Lord had silenced the room.

  “This is the son of Harper then,” said the lord, speaking to Trackman. His voice was hollow and deep. “This runt of a boy survived an encounter?”

  “Yes, Lord,” he said.

  Who are you calling a runt, aquarium face? And how do you know English? I thought, but before the thought had left my mind, he narrowed his eyes. He looked from my face to my hands. I could feel the weight of his stare running up and down my body. Did he just read my mind, or maybe my face? A shark swam from his chin to his forehead, chasing a school of fish. He was like that shark, trying to hunt down my thoughts, to read my body language. I let my hands loose at my side and kept my calm. Don’t give him anything, Tully. Not a thing.

  He sneered. “Hmph. Sometimes it’s the smallest thing that creates the greatest problem. But I have an eye for such things. Commander Trackman, cause him to suffer,” said the figure, tapping the back of his hand. “I will watch.”

  What? I had only a second to think about his words. I remembered what happened when Sunjay hit my hand in the space lab. My hands had glowed. If he sees my reaction, he will know something. I can’t let that happen. I focused all my energy on one thing. Feel no pain, I said. Feel nothing at all.

  “To me,” Trackman said. I floated toward him. Sunjay and Tabitha grabbed at me, but I pushed them away. “Stick out your hands.” Trackman looked at the backs of my hands, reared back, and slapped them hard. I focused. Feel nothing. Do not flinch.

  “Again,” said the Lord Ascendant.

  Feel nothing, I thought. Trackman slapped again, but I didn’t flinch. It was like a weird prank—Trackman playing slaps with me on the Flight Deck. It didn’t seem funny for long.

  “Now dig,” said the Lord Ascendant in a growling voice. This time Trackman gripped my palm and dug his thumb into the back of my hand. The Ascendant tried to sense my feelings. The pain bloomed in my hands. In the edge of my vision I could see the red mist begin to form and grow. But I pushed back. No, feel nothing. Stay in control. The pain is a million miles away. The pain was there, but it felt far away, as if I was watching someone else hurt. This is nothing, I thought. Trackman pressed harder and harder. He’s trying to prove something. He’s not going to win this game. The scars ached and itched, but I did not look at the frustrated Trackman. I locked my eyes onto the Ascendant Lord’s. Underwater landscapes scrawled across his face. A tentacle reached out for a fish, but at the last second the fish hid itself behind a glowing chunk of coral. I buried my secrets deep down inside my mind. They couldn’t make me reveal a thing. He thinks I can’t take this. I can take anything. For my friends, this crew, my dad, Redshirt, he can squeeze the blood out of my hands, but I won’t let them glow. I’m in control. After a moment, Trackman threw my hand back toward me. I let my throbbing hands hang at my sides and pretended they weren’t even there.

  “Lord, earlier I saw his hands, his movements. I saw the glow—“ started Trackman, but the Ascendant Lord stopped him.

  “This one does not concern us for now,” proclaimed the Ascendant Lord, snapping his staff on the ground. “We will give him full trial when we return to the Chaos. Until then, carry on with your operation, Commander.”

  “Thank you, sir,” said Trackman. He crossed his arms once more, extended his hand, and the image disappeared. Trackman turned to me and whispered, “You won’t hold your secrets forever, boy, but I’ve wasted enough time on you. On to bigger and better things.”

  Trackman grabbed Buckshot and motioned toward the hatch.

  “Where are you taking us?” said Queen Envy.

  “Ice skating,” said Trackman. “Wait, no, that’s not right. How about the orangutan cage?”

  JUMPER

  Trackman stayed behind us with his ring on Buckshot’s neck. We left the Flight Deck and walked down the magnetic hallway where I had seen Redshirt’s body. In place of the escape pods was a glowing portal about five feet high. There seemed to be some dark figure moving toward us.

  We floated through the cargo hold. Back to the space lab. Back to the orangutan cage. Back to square one. Trackman changed the code, locked the five of us in, and said, “There’s no need to panic. Just sit tight like a bunch of frightened little mice for a while. That’s an order.” He glanced in the direction of the Harper Device, which faintly glowed through the jungle that had grown toward its storage area. “Soon,” he said. With that, he exited the space lab, leaving us in dismay. Queen Envy laid Buckshot in the corner and stroked his hair.

  “Stars, I have no idea what’s going on,” said Queen Envy. “One minute we’re watching a comet in space and the next minute a maniac has taken over the ship.”

  “Who was that guy?” said Sunjay.

  “You mean the monster with the purple eyes and the fish swimming on his face?” asked Queen Envy. “I have no idea. That could be the devil, for all I know, but I’m talking about the maniac that crushed Tully’s hands and knocked out Buckshot.”

  “How is he?” asked Tabitha, floating toward them.

  “I think he’s just in a deep sleep.” She stroked his hair for a moment. “What just happened? None of this makes sense.”

  I squeezed the bars of the cage so tight that my fingers hurt. Yes, it did make sense! If only Sunjay and Tabitha had listened we wouldn’t be here, we would have found some way to stop this whole thing before it started! All the emotions and pain I had hidden earlier came bursting out. Tears welled up in my eyes.

  “Tully, you, you saw it coming. We were just too late,” said Tabitha.

  “Do you really think we could have stopped this, Tully? If only we had seen some real proof,” muttered Sunjay.

&
nbsp; “If only we had proof! Yes, that would have been great,” I yelled. “Yeah, if only Trackman had talked about the conspiracy in front of one of us. If only they threatened to murder someone and then actually did it. If only we suspiciously lost communication right before we reached LG Alpha. Boy, then we would have had proof, right?”

  “It just wasn’t ever clear—“

  “—Oh, not clear,” I said, throwing up my hands. “One of them should have written you a nice letter, Sunjay: ‘Dear annoying kid, we are evil genius murderers who want to take over The Adversity. Please don’t try to stops us. Oh, and PS—You’ll love our friends. They have moving facial tattoos and a ship named after a jellyfish. Hugs and kisses, Trackman and Sawyer.’ You didn’t get that letter, huh? And now we’re all doomed and who knows what will happen with the ship and the Device in their hands?”

  Nobody had anything to say to that.

  I floated to the skylight and stretched my hands. The Lion’s Mane dominated my view, blocking the Moon and stars. The exterior of the ship was covered with glowing purple letters, an alien language I could not read. No, the letters look red. Now they’re purple again. I took a few deep breaths and realized the red mist had returned.

  “Well, we’re swimming through the avalanche now.”

  “What’s that, baby bear?” asked Queen Envy.

  “Swimming through the avalanche. My dad said we would have to swim through a few more…before…the mission was over.” I repeated his words.

  “Do you think he saw this avalanche coming?”

  I closed my eyes. Through the red mist I could picture us trapped in the cage, Trackman on his way through the tentacle to the other ship. It was a spacebridge. My dad couldn’t have seen any of this coming. He would have done something. As stressful as the situation was, something was calming me down from the inside out. I wanted to rage at my friends, but I knew it wouldn’t do us any good. If only Buckshot was awake. He was so good in a crisis like this.