by Tina Chan
Some sort of creature snuffling outside the tent woke Troop up. He peeked outside and spotted a deer bounding out of sight. Kristi, Finn and Chelsa were still fast asleep; Ghost raised his head and met Troop’s eyes.
“I won’t wake them up,” he whispered. Then he felt foolish for talking to a cat.
Ghost twitched his whiskers and lay back down, deeming him unworthy of his attention. Troop crawled outside and started preparing some breakfast foods, waiting for the others to wake up. The smell of hot chocolate must’ve been pretty delicious since Finn and Chelsa emerged from the tent in a few minutes.
“Kristi still sleeping?” Troop asked.
“Yeah,” said Chelsa. “She’s so tired I wouldn’t be surprised if she slept through a devil-dog attack.”
“I would not!” came Kristi’s voice from inside the tent.
Troop grinned to himself, imagining her forehead creased with indignation.
“How was Stevey doing after I left?” Kristi joined them outside, her hair slightly tousled and looking sleepy.
“Better,” he said. “He purged heavily for a good fifteen minutes. We got him cleaned up a bit and left him sleeping on the couch.”
The sound of a body falling onto a hard surface interrupted their conversation. Troop looked up in time to see Stevey picking himself up from the front steps of his cabin.
“Good morning, Stevey,” Troop said.
“Good morning,” Stevey replied, massaging his temples. “Stevey made a bad mistake yesterday.”
“What did you think you were doing, polishing off seven bottles of beer?” Finn asked.
“How did you know about Stevey’s secret?” Stevey’s eyes widened in surprise.
“We found empty bottles near your cabin.”
“Are you feeling better?” Chelsa asked.
“Yes. Do you have food?”
Chelsa handed Stevey a slice of bread and some hot chocolate. Stevey wolfed down the food and let out a belch. After draining the last dregs of hot chocolate, he asked, “Why are you here?” Stevey handed the empty cup back to Chelsa and scanned their faces. “I remember you and you,” he said, pointing to Chelsa and Kristi. “You guys are bad. You make Stevey say things Stevey cannot say.”
Troop noticed Kristi cringe.
She leaned over and whispered to him, “Stevey’s memory is better than I anticipated. Hopefully he won’t hold a grudge against Chelsa and me; however, if necessary Chelsa and I will leave if Stevey refuses to answer any questions in our presence.”
“Stevey doesn’t know you and you.” Stevey pointed to Troop and Finn.
They briefly introduced themselves to Stevey then got down to business.
“So Stevey, I heard you’re very smart,” Finn said, trying to ease Stevey into a talkative mood.
Stevey nodded enthusiastically. “Oh yes, Stevey knows tons! Did you know that a tarantula can survive without food for over a year? Did you know manatees have vocal chords that give them the ability to speak the human language? Did you know that elephants can’t jump? Did you know the last wild elephant died fourteen years ago?”
They allowed Stevey to ramble on a bit more before attempting to steer him back on track to the list of questions they had in store for him.
“You sure know a lot,” Kristi said.
Stevey smugly nodded in agreement.
“I heard you were a scientist,” Troop said. “Is that true?”
Once again, Stevey nodded. “Stevey was a scientist. Stevey was a brilliant scientist who discovered many things. Stevey was the first person to successfully create a touch recorder.”
“What company did you work for?”
“Stevey worked for Universal Science until the United Regions government recruited Stevey…” Stevey trailed off, lost in thought.
“And?” Chelsa prompted him.
“Stevey liked working for the government sponsored organization; there were always a lot of points to be spent on new machines. But later on, Stevey didn’t like working there anymore.”
“Is there any reason why?” Finn asked. “What made you dislike your job?”
“It was wrong,” Stevey said forcefully. “The government used science in a bad way. They wanted to improve things that shouldn’t be improved.”
Troop furrowed his brows. “How is improving something bad?”
Stevey pierced him with an intense stare. “The price outweighed the reward in Stevey’s job.”
Troop felt like the answer they were looking for was so close he could snatch it out of thin air.
“Did your job have any involvement with Accidents?” he gently asked, not wanting to bring up bad memories to Stevey.
“My work was involved with many things.” Stevey abruptly stopped referring to himself in third person.
“Look,” Kristi said. “We’re trying to solve a mystery my parents left behind. They suspect that the government has a darker motive for confiscating Accidents.”
“Kyle and Shelly were on the right track.” Stevey picked at his fingernails.
“So are you confirming what they suspected?”
“Yes. However, if I were you, I would drop the case and try to live as normally as possible. If the government catches even the slightest whiff that you are looking into the disappearance of Accidents, your life will become miserable,” Stevey warned.
“Thanks for the advice, but I feel like I can never rest at ease without completing the cases my parents left behind for me.”
Stevey shrugged. “Do what you want, but don’t blame me for the consequences.”
“Do you know why the government is abolishing the Accidents?” Finn asked.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Chelsa said. “The government doesn’t want a bunch of genetically inferior kids corrupting the Perfect kids.”
“Fair enough,” Finn replied. “But what does the government do to the Accidents then? Surely they don’t kill them…do they?”
“No, the government doesn’t kill the Accidents,” Stevey said.
“Then what do they do with them?”
Stevey didn’t reply right away. When he spoke again, his tone was of a child’s. “Stevey is tired. Stevey is going to take a nap.”
Bi-polar personality much? Troop thought, watching Stevey drop the empty thermos onto the ground and stagger towards his shack.
“Perhaps we should go.” Chelsa dusted some dirt off her pants.
“Alright,” Troop said. “But I want to ask Stevey one more question. I have a feeling something important happened at the last lab Stevey worked at.”
He left the others collapsing the tent and extinguishing the fire.
“Stevey!” Troop called out to the man’s back.
Stevey paused at the doorway. “Yeah?”
“What was the last place you worked at?”
“New Genes Lab. Now can Stevey take a nap?”
“Yeah, sure. Thanks.”
Troop helped clean up their mess and looked up New Genes Lab on his electro-slate; it was located in Klisbury, East Region, which wasn’t too far away from here. If they could catch an air-train to Klisbury, they would be able to find the lab today. He voiced this idea out loud.
“How much are the train tickets though?” Chelsa said.
“A bit over forty points per person. We have enough points to purchase tickets for everyone, but there is considerable risk for using the public transportation.”
“I’ll run the risk,” Kristi said. “Is everyone okay with that?” No one answered. “I’ll take that as a yes.” She proceeded to buy tickets via her electro-slate.
Troop wondered if he would regret suggesting that they take the air-train.
chapter thirty-four
[ Kristi ]
