Chasing the Shadows (Sentinels of the Galaxy Book 2)

by Maria V. Snyder

  Breaking away, he stares at me. “You’re…not wearing…”

  “My ribs are sore.”

  Niall closes his eyes. “You’re making it very difficult for me to be the sensible one. My father…”

  We both glance at Radcliff’s bedroom door. I sigh and sit next to him.

  He takes my hand. “On my next day off, we’ll have another proper date.”

  I squeeze his fingers. “That would be lovely.” I wait a beat. “What are the chances of you getting a day off?”

  “Ah…well, what’s that expression…? It’s the thought that counts.”

  It does. But it’s too bad that the eleven people comprising the security force are not enough. Then again, no one expected shadow-blobs and murdering looters at a scientific research base on the edge of Explored Space. A Protector Class ship is enroute, but it’s going to take another year and a half for it to arrive.

  “How are the techs doing?” I ask. Since the pits are closed, Mom lent Radcliff her idle techs to help with security.

  “About what you’d expect from a group of people who have no interest in anything other than archeology.”

  “That good, eh?”

  “We set up another monitoring station on the other side of the base. All the guys have to do is watch the camera feeds. I found them both asleep. It was the middle of the day. And none of them want to guard the entrance to the pits.”

  “You can’t blame them. That’s ground zero if the shadow-blobs escape. Plus in the pits they were…er…”

  “Useless when we were attacked?”

  “I wouldn’t say that. They did help carry Beau. It saved his life.”

  “I guess,” he grudgingly admits.

  “Then let’s hope the astrophysicists can develop a weapon to counter the blobs and everyone can go back to normal.” Except me. I’ll have to find a new normal.

  Niall yawns.

  “You better go. You have to be up at oh-so-early.”

  He groans, but stands. I walk with him to the door.

  Facing me, he says, “And you have an early day as well.”

  That’s right. I do. “I’m actually looking forward to it.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah.” The truth. “New faces. Something to think about other than keeping up my guard. A change.”

  His gaze grows distant. “I never thought about it that way.”

  “About what?”

  “You had more freedom when you were on probation.”

  True. I shrug. “I’m not going to complain. I like having a heartbeat.”

  A slow smile softens the angles of Niall’s face. “And I enjoy affecting the pace of that heartbeat.”

  “Oh?”

  He draws me in for a kiss. A deep passionate kiss that sends bolts of heat all the way to my feet. Pushing me against the wall, he rakes his fingers through my hair as his other hand strokes the side of my breast through the T-shirt. All sensations increase by an order of magnitude.

  Way too soon Niall slows then stops. Good thing he’s supporting me or I’d topple over.

  He presses his fingertips to my neck for ten seconds. “Pulse rate one-twenty.” Then he whispers in my ear, “I’ll do better next time.”

  Oh my stars.

  “Good night, Mouse.”

  “Night.” My voice is rough, which earns me a smug grin. I lean on the wall for a long while after he leaves.

  I enter Radcliff’s office at oh-seven-hundred. Two familiar women wearing science chic—lab coats over nerdy jumpsuits—sit in front of his desk. But Officer Morgan and not Radcliff is behind it. Morgan’s the same age as my mother, about my height and has super short blond hair. I noticed that all four female security officers have short hair, although none as…buzzed as Morgan’s. Good for them. I remember Niall’s fingers entwined in my hair and there’s no way I’m cutting mine no matter how unruly it gets during training.

  Instead of wearing my training uniform, I dressed in the everyday security uniform—a light gray long-sleeved polo shirt with black tactical pants and black boots. I’ve a belt and holster. Except for a flashlight, I don’t have a weapon. Not yet. However, I have Lawrence embroidered over my left breast right under the word security. ’Cause the uniform might not be obvious enough. Sheesh.

  Morgan introduces me to the lady with her hair pulled into a messy bun. “This is Dr. Roberta Carson.”

  She extends her hand. “Call me Bertie.” There’s a spark of amusement in her brown eyes.

  I shake it as if I’ve just met her.

  “And this is Dr. Zhang Yenay.” Morgan nods to the woman whose shoulder length black hair is thick and glossy. I’m so gonna ask her what shampoo she uses.

  “Yenay,” she says, pumping my hand once before letting go.

  “And this is Junior Officer Ara Lawrence,” Morgan says.

  “Uh…call me Ara,” I say. This is weird. I’ve nodded hello to both these women dozens of times in the hallways of the base. They’re in their early thirties—I think.

  “All right, let’s get started,” Bertie says. She sits at the visitor terminal—my name for it since Radcliff has another terminal at his desk, which Morgan accesses. Yenay stands behind Bertie.

  The terminal is a plain plate made of a rare metal and built into a desk. Rather underwhelming considering it’s the gateway to the Quantum net or Q-net for short.

  I press my hands to my sides. The desire to insert my entanglers pulses through me. It’s been twenty days since I accessed the vast scientific wonder that is the Q-net. Invented back in 2066, it changed our world. New technology developed, including the Bucherer-Plank Crinkler engine that allows us to travel across immense distances in space in seconds, giving all the countries on Earth a reason to unite and they formed the Department of Explored Space (DES) which uses the Q-net for…everything.

  Bertie brings up a file on the screen above the desk. It’s labeled HoLFs and there’s not much data. “Please describe the alien creatures,” she says to me.

  This ought to be interesting. “They resemble shadows. But they move as if they’re made of liquid and they’re…translucent. They float and seem to have no mass. I call them blobs because they remind me of those amoebas. They can grow as big as two meters and will form…appendages—lots of them that solidify into sharp blades.” I rub my left hip, thinking of the one that stabbed me. But it wasn’t as bad as when they attacked Beau.

  My description appears in the file. Alarmed, I ask, “How safe is it? Wormers can get to the file and might be able to connect it to me.”

  “Officer Dorey assured us it’s well protected,” Bertie said.

  Beau is good, but I’m better.

  “And Jarren already knows we’ll be trying to figure out a way to stop the HoLFs,” Morgan says.

  Still. “Mind if I take a look?”

  Yenay glances at Morgan. “Is Ara authorized?”

  I almost laugh. “I can go in without the Q-net recording my identity.”

  “Really? That’s possible?” Yenay seems impressed.

  “It’s possible for Ara,” Morgan says, giving the woman a pointed look. “But there’s no need, Officer Dorey has established your new identity, Ara.”

  Swell. “I’d feel better skipping that part.”

  “All right.”

  Excited, I insert my tangs. The little round plugs fit right into my ears. They, along with the sensors implanted in my brain, allow me to access the Q-net. You have to be next to a terminal, though. To entangle with the Q-net for more than twelve-hours can lead to insanity. Nice, huh? So everyone must be able to completely disentangle.

  My consciousness flows into the Q-net. To me, it’s like a universe-sized ball of yarn with zillions of layers. And I’ve learned how to squeeze and wiggle between those layers, entering data clusters and other secure areas. It’s called worming and it’s illegal unless you’re doing it for a good reason—like hunting down murdering looters.

  But this time, it feels like home.
I ease into deeper layers as if sinking into a tub of hot water. Ahhh.

  “Well?” Morgan asks.

  Ignoring the temptation to descend to the star roads, I check Beau’s protective measures. They’ll do.

  “Let’s continue,” Bertie says. “How does the light affect these beings?”

  “They shied away from the beam or vanished.”

  “How close were they at that point?”

  “About a meter to a meter and a half. When they closed in, I could make them disappear with the light.”

  “Disappear? Is that different than vanishing?” Bertie asks.

  “Yes. Vanishing is like they moved out of the way too fast for me to see where they went. Disappearing is when I shone the light right into their core and they…poofed. It seemed more…drastic. And I don’t know if it’s permanent either. They could have reformed in the darkness.”

  “I see.”

  Too bad Bertie still sounds confused.

  “What type of light?” Yenay asks.

  I pull the flashlight from my belt and hand it to her.

  She clicks it on. “It’s not very powerful.”

  “Which is probably why they were able to get through our defenses. That and the fact we only had three.”

  “Do you know how they were able to turn off all the lights?”

  “No, but I can guess they used their sharp blades to cut the wires.”

  “Including the emergency lights,” Morgan adds.

  Quiet descends as the fact that the HoLFs showed signs of intention sinks in. It shouldn’t be a surprise to me as I was there, but at the time it seemed as though I fought mindless shadow-zombies.

  “We have the video of when you first saw them,” Bertie says, breaking the tension. “Can I show it to you?”

  There’s that caution again. Morgan must have said something to them. I ignore it. “Sure.”

  The video plays. It’s only a minute long, but Bertie stops it when I take a step toward the back wall of the pit. “Can you point out where the HoLF is?”

  “Which one?”

  She glances at me. “There’s more than one?”

  “There’s five.”

  Stunned silence. Clearing her throat, she says, “Okay. Can you point them out?”

  Yes, but what good would it do? They can’t see them. I consider the problem. Maybe I could outline them, but I’d need to go deeper. Various possibilities pop into my head.

  “I’ve seen that look before,” Morgan says. “I’m not going to like this, am I?”

  I explain. “I’ll keep everything…quiet. It’s low risk.”

  “On one condition.”

  I wait.

  “That Officer Dorey trails you.”

  “Fine.”

  Beau is summoned and Bertie relinquishes her seat to me when he arrives.

  “Keep everything on the screen,” Morgan orders. “And if Dorey tells you to back off, you listen.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  I meet Beau’s gaze.

  His brown hair is spiked and the ends are dyed yellow, which is the reason everyone calls him Hedgehog. Mischief sparks in his amber eyes, but he inserts his tangs and says, “Let’s go.”

  I worm through a few layers, easing into the gaps without causing ripples that would alert others. It’s easier than I remember. And the intricacies of the Q-net are sharper, brighter, and bigger. Odd. Perhaps it’s because I haven’t entangled with the Q-net in twenty days. I’ve accessed it at least once every day since my sensors were implanted when I was ten A-years old.

  Beau stays close to me as I navigate. A pang vibrates in my chest. It’s just like old times, when we worked together plugging DES’s security holes. I missed it. Who knew?

  Taking the video file, I drag it down to my Q-cluster. It’s hard to explain—nothing is anyone’s in the Q-net. As long as you have the proper clearance, you can go as deep as the star roads. But this particular cluster responds to me. I know, sounds crazy and I did have a concussion when I discovered it. Time to see if it still recognizes me.

  I’ve woven a tight security net around it and it appears intact. Once inside, I stretch the video like taffy around me, pulling it until each second is visible. The effect is similar to a panorama photo. The entire sequence of events can now be seen.

  “Damn, girl,” Beau whispers.

  Pride swells. It’s hard to impress him. Focusing on the task at hand, I concentrate on one shadow-blob at the beginning of the clip and think about outlining it. The Q-net follows my instructions and a shape forms. Still a blob. Then I move to the next second and repeat. It’s tedious. And perhaps stretching the time into sixty seconds wasn’t my best idea. I finally finish and start on blob two.

  Except after I outline the second one, the Q-net takes over and does the remaining fifty-nine seconds.

  “Stars, girl,” Beau says. “What the fu—”

  “This cluster likes me,” I say.

  I pick out number three and whoosh. Same with four and five. Both finished in a blink of an eye. Astonished, I’m speechless.

  Beau gapes at me. “Was that real? Did I just see that?”

  “Yeah.” My voice is rough.

  “See what?” Morgan demands.

  I turn toward her. “The Q-net…” Still overwhelmed, words fail me.

  “The Q-net,” she prompts.

  “Recognized the shadow-blobs.”

  Two

  2522:191

  Morgan grabs my shoulder and turns my swivel chair toward her. “Recognized as in…?”

  I draw in a deep breath and clasp my hands together to stop the tremors. “As in, the Q-net can see the shadow-blobs.”

  “See how?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe there’s a visual element on the video that only the Q-net can sense. Does it matter? Think about the implications.”

  Beau straightens in his chair. “We can use the Q-net to pinpoint their locations.”

  “Exactly.” We grin at each other.

  He flashes his teeth, which seem bright compared to his bronze skin. Handsome and he knows it, he enjoys goading Niall, making him jealous.

  Bertie taps the screen. “Can you have the Q-net scan for other wavelengths besides visible light?”

  “You think they’re emitting X-rays or microwaves or something?” I ask.

  “Nice to know your education included physics,” Bertie says. “Yes. And if they do, then we can learn more about them. Since there are no terminals in the pits, it would also make it easier for us to develop a way to see them without having to rely on the Q-net.”

  “And invent a weapon to kill them?” Morgan asks.

  “One thing at a time, Officer,” Yenay says. “Ara, can you do the scan?”

  I consider the problem, but then realize why it won’t work.

  “Wait,” Bertie says, figuring it out at the same time. “It’s a video feed. The camera only records visible light.”

  “Then we need to get a sensor in the pits to record the full electromagnetic spectrum,” Yenay says.

  Both astrophysicists turn to Morgan.

  “Too dangerous,” she says.

  “We can provide hand-held lasers to the security team,” Bertie says. “If the HoLFs…poof…when the flashlight’s beam hits them straight on, then the amplified light of a laser should work as well. And with a laser, the beam goes much further than a flashlight’s and that should keep them away from us long enough to install a sensor.”

  “We can use floodlights as well,” Beau says. “Plus we don’t have to go in far. Pit 1 is right across from the archeology lab. I’ll volunteer for the mission.”

  And I’d have to go as well to spot the shadow-blobs or I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something happened to Beau or the scientists. “Me, too.”

  Morgan shakes her head, muttering something about idiots. “Officer Radcliff would have to approve it. How many people do you need to set up a sensor, Bertie?”

  Color drains from poor Bertie�
�s face. “Uh…we’d need…” She glances at Yenay, who crosses her arms over her lab coat as if that would protect her.

  But then Yenay’s spine stiffens and her hesitation transforms into determination. At the moment she resembles my mom. She gestures, indicating Bertie and herself. “Us,” she says. “We’re supposed to keep all this under wraps, right? So it’s the two of us.”

  “How long to install it?” Morgan asks Yenay.

  “Five minutes.”

  “Make sure the sensors have a battery and a way to connect to the Q-net without wires,” I say, remembering the lights.

  “How far into the pits do you need to go?” Morgan asks.

  Now Bertie and Yenay do a silent communication thing. And I guess they’ve worked together before. Maybe as partners like me and Beau.

  “Ara, did you see HoLFs in all the Warrior pits?” Yenay asks.

  “Yes. I saw the most in Pit 4, but that’s where I spent all my time.” Reconstructing the General, which I also miss doing, which I’ll never admit to my parents.

  “Then we only need to install the sensor in Pit 1. A couple of meters from the entrance should work.”

  “I’ll discuss this with the boss,” Morgan says.

  A shudder rips through me. The looters referred to Jarren as The Boss. And I’d be happy never to see him again. No. That’s not entirely accurate. I’d love to see him locked in a cell. Plus he has answers that I desperately want to know—like what do those alien symbols on the Warriors mean? And why are they so important? Why kill over them? My curiosity is going to get me into trouble—actually, more trouble since it was my involvement that brought Jarren back to Planet Yulin. He said I was too clever and would figure it out. I think he overestimated my abilities.

  Beau touches my right arm. I’m hugging it to my body as if I’m about to lose it. Relaxing, I smile thanks.

  “Disentangle from the Q-net, Lawrence. I believe you need to report to training with Officer Keir soon,” Morgan says.

  Ah, rub it in. I slip from my Q-cluster and check that my web of security remains undisturbed before I exit.