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

by Adam Holt

  About that time I bumped into Sunjay. Well, he grabbed me around the waist and held on to me as I pulled the glowing net toward us. My arms were burning by the time she finally reached us. The red beams disappeared. The three of us clumped together in a giant group hug after the scariest ten minutes of our lives. Nobody was floating away again.

  Tabitha stayed cool. She tapped us both on our helmets. “Get us in,” she mouthed. We looked at the enormous black ship. There was one red band around the middle…a walkway. We saw an Ascendant warrior walk past us there. Getting on board there would mean capture for sure.

  “No, not there! Lower.” Sunjay pointed just below the walkway to a row of hatches on the side of the ship. Most had windows. He took my hand and pointed it toward a hatch with no windows. I had to guide us there. What were we going to do? Kick it down?

  Wait, I thought, a portal! Why not make a way? It was worth a try. “Hold on,” I mouthed.

  “Stay together!” said Sunjay.

  My arms felt weakened, but I brought both my hands together overhead as if I was diving into a pool and aimed them at the windowless hatch. A red glowing circle appeared right where my hands pointed. The circle expanded.

  I spread my hands, as if I was diving into the ocean. Portal, I said, portal, portal. The glowing circle on the ship became a hole.

  We dove right through the black skin of the ship and landed in a heap in our spacesuits. I looked up, expecting to see an Ascendant warrior with a black staff pointed at my face. Instead, I flipped open my visor to see a dark cell. On the far side sat my dad.

  TWO AND TWO TOGETHER

  I spend more time locked up than anyone else in the universe, and I’ve never even been convicted of a crime. At the moment, I was in a new cell—small, dark, and alien—that also contained my two friends and my dad. The whole room was lit with a black light. Everything white shined brightly, like eyeballs and teeth and my spacesuit.

  My dad didn’t seem surprised to see us, but he did seem injured. It was hard to see well in the black light, but he had a gash above his right eye. His uniform was ripped in several places, and he limped out of our way when we landed in the middle of his cell. I’m glad he moved. Our suits were so cold from outer space that they would have given him serious freezer burn on top of all the other problems.

  We pulled off our helmets and looked at each other. Tabitha looked calm, but Sunjay punched me in the mouth.

  “What was that for?” I yelled.

  “You let go of my hand, you idiot! I was floating out there all alone and you and Tabitha—“

  “Yeah, me and Tabitha were floating to our deaths!” I yelled back, rubbing my jaw.

  “You left me! And then you came back. You and your crazy powers—Tully, why didn’t you tell me you had a plan to get in?”

  “I didn’t! That just happened. How did you know that this was the right hatch?”

  “It was a good guess. I was making an imaginary map of the Lion’s Mane in my head right before you let me go. If I were an evil alien pirate, I would put the prisoner’s quarters just below a main walkway for easy access. My prisoners wouldn’t get windows. I had it all figured out like you asked, but then you let me go and I hyperventilated and I might have peed in this spacesuit!”

  “Stars, I’m sorry. What about all that stuff about being brave?” I said. “It all worked out.”

  “Only because Tabitha pushed you toward me. I saw that much.”

  We stopped arguing and turned toward Tabitha. She was waiting patiently for us to stop bickering, and the revelations that she saved us was enough to get us back on track. “If you hadn’t pushed me toward Sunjay, I would be dead. You pushed me to safety. You saved me—“

  “—Us,” she said, “You saved us. Sometimes Baby Bear needs a nudge, but he comes out of hibernation and flies just right.” She smiled again, like she knew things I didn’t know. It usually frustrated me, but this time I was in awe of her.

  “If I’d lost you, I’d, I couldn’t—“ I stuttered. I grabbed her gloved hands.

  “How did you know he could save us?” asked Sunjay.

  “I didn’t. I just had hope,” she explained.

  “And hope does not fail.” We all turned toward the soft, low voice of my dad. He sat with his arms resting on his knees. We were still a big tangle of spacesuits on the floor. I jumped up and gave him a big hug. Fortunately my spacesuit had warmed up.

  “We’re here to save you!” I said.

  “Careful, Tully. I’ve got some pretty deep bruises,” he said. “Did you consider using the door?”

  “Aren’t you surprised we’re here?”

  “My crew always gets the job done when I need them, and you’re part of that crew. It looks like you had a successful spacewalk.”

  “It was more of a jump, but that doesn’t matter right now. Did you hide the Device?”

  “Of course.”

  “Where?” I asked. “Trackman is coming for it.”

  “He’s not here yet and probably won’t find the Device.”

  “But he’ll find you! I can’t believe he’s not here yet. He’s furious. I think he might—“

  My dad put his hand on my shoulder. He seemed calm and sure of himself, just like he was sitting in his commander’s chair—only he was in a jail cell with some evil conspirators coming to beat the truth out of him.

  “Let’s all slow down for a moment. The three of you just went on quite a journey. Tully, apparently you opened that portal into the room. Whatever powers you used, whatever Tabitha did to get you here, whatever Sunjay is upset about, those things we need to set aside for a moment. You accomplished your goal. That’s all that matters, right?” We nodded in agreement. “Now, I need to gather some information from you. First, give me an update about The Adversity.”

  We told him everything that happened. His crew was locked in the orangutan cage. Buckshot and Moreline were in bad shape. The Ascendant warrior literally scared the living daylight out of the space lab. Trackman freaked out when he didn’t find the Device.

  “They’re searching the ship now,” I said. “Will they find it?”

  “No,” my dad said.

  “I hope not,” said Sunjay. “And I hope we don’t run into one of those warriors on our way back.”

  “Better than Sawyer,” said Tabitha. “He has icebergs for eyes.”

  “I’d rather face an Android than a giant with an glowing bo staff. Who are they, Commander?”

  “Well, they’re about 6’5”, muscular, and aggressive. So is their captain. He interrogated me on their Flight Deck. He speaks English. He seemed to know all of our plans. They knew we had the Device. Trackman must have been—”

  “—Their spy on board the ship,” I interjected. “He called himself the Arch Spy. What did they ask you, dad?”

  “A lot about you. He knew that you interacted with the Device. He wanted to know how you survived and what powers you had. I told him you didn’t have any, and that’s when he sent us away and started beating us. He thought I was lying. Well, I guess I was.

  “So, tell me about these powers, Tully. Tell me what you’ve done so far. Give me a list and I will ask for details if needed. This may be useful for later.”

  I described everything—the Visions, the escape from the cage, the net, the portals. My dad ran his hand across his hair as I spoke. He asked for more details about the melting the bars and nodded his head.

  “So, you’re learning to control them. And if you focus and remain calm you can accomplish the most?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Well, that’s a good lesson,” he said.

  “This isn’t the time for lessons, dad.”

  “But using these powers also makes you tired, correct?”

  “Yes, a little.”

  “I’d say a lot, judging from how you look. Use them only as needed. I’m telling you this as your Commander, not your father.”

  “Okay,” I said, annoyed, “if you put it that way. Now
you know what we know. If we are your crew, tell us what you know.”

  My dad nodded. “I can tell you some now and hopefully more later. Most of their plan I learned while Trackman and the Ascendant Lord were interrogating me on their Flight Deck. From the moment I started talking to them, it was clear that they came for the Harper Device and didn’t care about anything else.

  “First of all, this was all carefully planned. Operation Close Encounter, as Trackman called it, was meant to recapture the Harper Device. They lost it—maybe it escaped from them. I’m not sure. So the Ascendant disguised their ship as a comet. They knew the Alliance would notice a comet headed toward their space station and send us as quickly as possible. Therefore, we could not drop the Harper Device on the Moon.”

  “And they could capture us here in deep space with no one else to see,” said Tabitha. “When the comet didn’t reappear from behind the Moon, we might assume that a collision had occurred.”

  “But where is the space station? The crew we were coming to save?” asked Sunjay.

  “The space station is in the belly of this ship. There never was a crew.”

  “So Trackman is a liar and a spy,” I said, “and this whole mission was a way to recapture the Harper Device.”

  “Trackman called it ‘the Sacred,’” said Tabitha.

  My dad nodded.

  “And it’s a weapon?” asked Sunjay.

  “It’s more than that!” I said.

  “Well, whatever it is,” Tabitha said, “the Ascendant are planning an invasion. They want to rule the Earth. Remember what Trackman said to me about having the Statue of Liberty for a lawn ornament?”

  “They need the Harper Device so they can attack,” explained my dad. “Their plans must depend on it. Now you know what I know.” He sat for a moment and considered our situation and my powers. “Before I say anything else, I should thank you for coming. You weren’t the three crewmembers I expected, but you were the three that I needed. Whatever happens next, remember that. You’ve earned my trust. We’ve got a chance to get out of this thing alive, but we have to make a plan.

  “We need to get you three back on board The Adversity as soon as possible. You can help me on board that ship…not this one. After you free me, go back and free the others. Use your powers as best you can, Tully. It sounds like Tabitha gave you good direction on that.”

  “Why can’t we help you here, dad?” He ignored my question.

  “They probably left someone on board to guard you. We need to get you back there as soon as we can to avoid suspicion. That will give me a chance to do my job. They have a reason to keep me alive. They don’t need a reason to do away with the three of you. So break me out of this cell. I need to get to the Cerberus. Tully, this door leads to a walkway. Give me a portal. Now let’s get moving.”

  “What are you going to do, Commander?” asked Sunjay.

  “Good question, Sunjay,” he said, in the same easy tone he used for all his other orders. “I intend to blow up this ship.”

  SEVER

  I was speechless. Sunjay’s eyes almost popped out of his head. Tabitha’s mouth dropped. My dad sat there waiting.

  “So, can you get me out of this cell?” He felt along the wall, looking for the seams of a door.

  “Oh, yeah, one minute.” I lifted my hands and tried to focus. Then I dropped them. My dad didn’t notice. He was staring at the wall, probably planning how to blow up the Lion’s Mane without being killed by aliens with electric bo staffs. How did he stay that cool?

  “Dad, it’s almost like you expected to see us here,” I said, “like this was part of your plan.”

  He leaned toward me. I could see the red streak in his hair, that strange red light in his eyes. He didn’t respond, just tousled my hair and patted Sunjay and Tabitha on the shoulders.

  “Let’s hope that we can discuss that someday,” he said. “Now can you make me a portal about halfway up the wall?”

  “I can try,” I said.

  “Oh, just like getting to the next level in Cave-In!, Tully!” said Tabitha.

  Huh, great point, Tabitha. It was like Cave-In! A few deep breaths and I pictured us all inside the room. Then I imagined the empty walkway behind the wall. This not a wall anymore, not a wall, not a wall. I could picture the metal disappearing. Portal, I thought, portal. I opened my eyes this time to watch the wall sizzle and melt away. In the middle of the wall was a perfectly round portal. I stood aside. My dad poked out his head slowly and scanned for the enemy. “Now back to the ship the way you came, the three of you,” he whispered, crawling out of the cell. I raised my hands and shut the portal like it was a heavy door.

  Sunjay and Tabitha both turned toward the other wall. They didn’t want to stick around, especially if my dad fulfilled his mission and blew it into space dust. None of us wanted to run into an Ascendant warrior armed with a black staff with no reason to keep us alive.

  At the same time, I felt like there was something else I needed to do. We helped my dad escape his cell. Was that enough? Hopefully he could escape back to The Adversity, but it seemed like the odds were stacked against him.

  “Guys, what if my dad runs into one of those warriors?” I said. “We need to create a distraction.”

  “We need to leave,” said Tabitha.

  “We need to live!” said Sunjay. “Your dad gave us a command.”

  “I know that, but something tells me we need to stay.”

  “How can we create a distraction that doesn’t draw attention to us?” asked Sunjay. “That’s not the right word. We need to create a diversion.”

  We sat there under the black light, looking at the incredibly bright whites of each other’s eyes. Tabitha hopped up.

  “Oh! Chop off the hydra’s head! Gigantic fantastic diversion!” She chopped her hand through the air. “Tully, chop chop the noodle!”

  It only took me a moment to realize what she meant. “Uh, I can try, but I think I need to see it to cut it.”

  “Oh!” said Sunjay. “That tentacle thing! If you need to see it, we should follow your dad. There is a window that runs down the length of the hallway. We’ll have a great view of the spacebridge and The Adversity. You guys didn’t notice that on our way in?”

  “No, but thanks, Sir Maps-A-Lot,” said Tabitha.

  “Grab your helmets,” I said, “and follow me.”

  I reopened the portal and we emerged into the hallway, my suit and eyes shining white in the black light. We looked left. No one was there. We looked right. My dad was carefully making his way forward. Out the window loomed the spacebridge.

  “Keep a lookout both ways. Let me see if I can create that diversion,” I told them, closing my eyes. I couldn’t imagine chopping the spacebridge in half, so I had to get creative. I thought of an image that would help me cut the spacebridge. A picture came to me—a jellyfish held onto a fish with one long tentacle. It was just like in my Red Vision. I imagined diving into the ocean and swimming toward the jellyfish. I focused on that tentacle and raised my right hand—my hand held a glowing red sword. Sever, I thought, sever. Sever.

  This was harder than creating the portal. The jellyfish somehow knew my plan and fought me. A second tentacle shot toward me and grabbed my arm. My arm seared with pain, but I lunged with my sword and cut that tentacle in half. I was free again, but the fish still struggled to escape. I swam forward. Then I swung my sword overhead and brought it down on the first tentacle. Again and again. Sweat dripped into my eyes. My heartbeat quickened and lungs worked overtime. Sever, sever, sever, I said.

  “It’s working,” Tabitha said. “Keep going!”

  A few minutes passed, or maybe a few seconds. I lost track of time. My heart beat like mad and sweat fell into my eyes. In my mind the sword slashed again and again. My arm felt like it was on fire. Finally, my arm snapped forward all by itself, like I had thrown a thunderbolt. I opened my eyes in time to see a red flash shoot across space and chop the tentacle in half. The Adversity was free.
/>   “Stars!” Sunjay said. “I think you burned my eyebrows off!”

  I was exhausted. Sunjay grabbed me before I fell over. Tabitha scooped up my helmet, looked down the hallway, and hushed him.

  “Tully, someone is coming. Get us out of here!” she said.

  The red haze blurred my vision, but not enough to miss a tall, muscular shape with a glowing staff turning into the hallway. He had not noticed us yet, and we didn’t need to give him the chance. I was still breathing heavily.

  “Make a portal. Get us out!” whispered Sunjay.

  “Never mind the portal,” said Tabitha. “Helmets on. Now.”

  She shoved on my helmet. Without a moment’s notice, Tabitha grabbed us both by the arm and threw us out the window! But it wasn’t a window—there was no glass there at all—it was just a hole in the side of the ship. We were outside the ship in a moment, hanging onto a thin ledge.

  The Ascendant warrior in the hallway approached. I could only see the top of his black staff and his purple eyes. We pressed ourselves tight against the ship. The warrior clicked the staff with each step, but when he made it to where we had been standing, the clicking stopped. We edged farther down the ship, looking for any handhold we could find. We could have launched ourselves on another spacejump, but if the warrior saw us, we were captured.

  A few seconds passed. I peeked over the ledge to see if the warrior was still there. He was, but he was looking over our heads. He yelled something loudly in a deep voice. His staff started to glow purple, and the warrior sprinted down the hallway out of our view. That was a close call, I thought, looking at the others.

  BOOOM!

  It wasn’t a sound but a vibration that almost knocked us off the side of the Lion’s Mane. Oh, no! The tentacle whipped against the side of the ship a few feet from us. The second thud made me lose my grip. Sunjay grabbed my arm and pulled me back. Clearly it was time for us to move.