Chasing the Shadows (Sentinels of the Galaxy Book 2)

by Maria V. Snyder

  “All right.” Then I get an idea. “We could send a bunch of panicked messages to DES to distract him during that time. Have you contacted them since Jarren found our escape tunnel?”

  “No.”

  “You might not be able to.”

  “You think Jarren closed the tunnel.”

  “Yes, and that’s probably why he’s trying to get the HoLFs to kill us, so we don’t find another way to contact DES. The timing makes sense.”

  Beau shows up. “Did you tell him?” he asks me.

  “Yes. He knows about the four days.”

  “What about the file?”

  “I forgot.” And when they both look at me, I say, “I’m sorry but only having four days to live has me quite distracted.” I fill Radcliff in on the Q-net file. “I’ll send it to my parents through their portables, they’re the best ones to read through it and see if there’s anything useful.” Of course I plan to examine a copy as well, but no need to mention that.

  “Good. I’ll go update your parents and discuss options,” Radcliff says, but makes no signs of leaving. Instead, he’s gazing at his son.

  Oh. I release Niall’s hand and slide off the edge of the bed. Then I hook my arm in Beau’s and tow him to the hallway.

  “What are you doing?” Beau asks.

  I point my chin through the glass window. Radcliff is standing next to Niall’s bed, resting his hand on his son’s head.

  “Oh.” Beau stops resisting. “Any improvement in his condition?”

  “No.”

  We go further down the hall and stop. I fill him in on the part of the conversation he missed.

  “I hate that guy,” Beau just about growls. “Jarren has balls to threaten us. I can’t wait to see Radcliff cut them off and feed them to him.”

  “Actually, after learning Jarren’s responsible for Niall’s injuries, I’d like to be the one to feed him his balls.”

  Beau claps me on the back. “That’s my partner.”

  “Are you two conspiring?” Radcliff asks, joining us.

  “Always, sir,” Beau says.

  “Should I be worried, Officer Dorey?”

  “Not you, sir.” Beau and I share an evil little grin.

  “I’m not going to ask. Dorey, you’re with me. Lawrence, check if we still have our connection to DES and take a closer look at Jarren’s worm. I want to know how much time it will take for you to disable it.”

  “Yes, sir. Should I try to reach DES again if we don’t have contact?”

  “No. Hold off on doing anything for now. Message me as soon as you find out.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  They continue down the hall and I return to Niall’s room. He hasn’t moved and he still looks like he’s one step away from death. Feeding Jarren his own balls is going too easy on him. I check the screen, but Niall’s vitals are the same. I kick off my boots and lie next to Niall.

  “How about a bribe?” I ask him. “You can help me castrate Jarren, but only if you wake up.” Nothing. Not even a twitch. “Think about it, but not too long or you’ll miss all the action.” I reclaim his hand. “All right, I’m going into the Q-net.” Keeping up a running commentary, I explain everything I’m doing as I first send Lan’s file to my parents’ portables and erase all evidence of it in the Q-net. Then I take a closer look at Jarren’s worm.

  Complex just doesn’t do it justice. And it doesn’t feel…right. There’s layers here that are like one of those optical illusions. They appear to do one thing, but then it switches to another. Confusing. It’s going to take me hours to figure out how it works before I can even start unraveling it.

  Unless I embrace the crazy and ask the Q-net for help. Why not? I might get a “not here” but I might get a “here.” So I do.

  HERE.

  A red line snakes through the worm, then a green one. I study them. Assuming red means danger or stop and green is go, I see the solution. It will still be very difficult and time consuming, but it’s now doable. The tightness around my chest eases a fraction and I move on to my next task, checking on the escape tunnel to DES.

  It’s still there. Except there’s a misdirect worm on it, which means all our messages are being sent to Jarren. I’m beginning to hate when I’m right. Because it usually means we’re screwed.

  My parents, Radcliff, and I are all sitting around Niall’s room eating Niall’s favorite dinner—roast beef and mashed potatoes covered in gravy. The hope is that he’ll smell the delicious food his father cooked and wake up. I steal glances at him. Come on, Niall, yummy food. Better than that IV solution you’ve been on for the last thirty-eight hours. Dr. Edwards said he needed to wake within the first seventy-two hours after the attack.

  I fill them in on what I discovered that afternoon. Because of Yulin’s spin, we have another six hours of sunlight, which should be enough time for me.

  “At this point, we’d rather you keep the lights on even if that means alerting Jarren,” Radcliff says to me.

  “Even if I don’t tip him off, eventually he’s going to find out we survived.”

  “We know and we’re making plans for Jarren.” Radcliff’s grin could be described as almost criminal. “And we’re going to need your help.”

  I glance at Niall.

  “Don’t worry,” Mom says. “I’ll stay with him when you can’t be here.”

  “Thanks. What are your plans?”

  “They’re based on a number of assumptions and things I learned from your file, Li-Li,” Dad says.

  “It’s not mine. That’s twenty-eight years of Lan’s research.”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “What did you learn?” I ask.

  Dad reads from his portable. “She confirmed that the Warriors are protectors against a dangerous predator. I’m assuming they’re the HoLFs even though Lan refers to them as demons. The Warrior planets were chosen carefully. Besides being habitable by humans, the planets are also located at an entanglement point in the Galaxy.”

  “Entangled like when you connect to the Q-net?”

  “Not quite. It’s called quantum entanglement. Basically you have two particles that are entangled—if one particle jumps, then the other jumps at the same time—they’re in the same quantum state. These entangled particles can then be moved far apart and if you manipulate one, say make it turn blue, then the other will turn blue as well. Einstein called it ‘spooky action at a distance.’ It’s one of the reasons we can communicate to other planets without our messages being affected by the time dilation.”

  Wow.

  “Lan also says it could be translated as a crossing point as well,” Dad adds.

  “Crossing as in a portal to another planet or into another dimension?” I ask. Lan also speculated the demons came from an alternate universe.

  “It’s not clear.”

  “Maybe the aliens figured out how to entangle the Warrior planets with each other.”

  “Unfortunately, the translations don’t go into that much detail.”

  I recall Pit 21 and feeling the presence of shadow-blobs, but then the green lights from the Warriors pulsed as if pushing back the HoLFs. “Maybe in order to cross to another Warrior planet you have to go through some alternate dimension. But that dimension has HoLFs so they built the Warriors to protect against the HoLFs when crossing.”

  “We’ve no idea if there are portals, Ara,” Mom says.

  “Then where did the HoLFs come from?” No answer. So I forge ahead. “If you assume that there are portals, everything else makes sense.”

  “She has a point,” Radcliff says.

  An unexpected ally. Nice.

  “The file also mentioned the factory for the Warrior hearts,” Dad says. “According to the symbols, only a few planets have these factories and that a person ‘must claim the heart of a Warrior’ in order to cross over.”

  “That’s more proof of my theory,” I say.

  Mom scowls at me, but asks Dad, “Did she say which planets?”

&nbs
p; “Yulin, of course, Xi’an, Dongguan, Kaiping, Suzhou, and three planets we haven’t reached yet. Eight total.” Dad gives us a wry smile. The alien builders have a thing for the number eight.

  “Jarren was on Planet Suzhou for ten years,” Radcliff says thoughtfully. “He had access to Lan’s notes prior to when she cracked the code; he may have discovered the hidden factory before she did.”

  I gasp as a memory hits me. It was something Jarren said when he caught me.

  “Don’t keep us in suspense, Ara,” Radcliff prompts.

  “Jarren said that shadow-blobs was ‘a rather accurate name.’ How would he know that if he can’t see them?”

  “Then we need to assume he and his people can see them,” Radcliff says.

  “Does that change any of our plans?” Dad asks.

  “No. Actually, if it’s true, it’ll work in our favor.”

  “Great,” Dad says, then he turns to me. “Li-Li, except for the Warrior hearts and the factories, most of Lan’s translations have not been proven and we don’t have the luxury to test her theories. Like I said before, we’re taking a few things on faith and will need your help.”

  In other words, it’s dangerous and might not work. “I’m in.”

  As soon as everyone leaves, I entangle with the Q-net and worm to the programs for the base’s power. The red and green guidelines are still there. I carefully untangle Jarren’s worm, fiber by fiber. I thought escaping Jarren’s blockade was difficult. That was easy in comparison. It takes me over five hours, but I separate the instructions to knock out the power from the grid’s main programming. Then I sever it without removing it. If Jarren checks on his worm, it will appear as if it’s working as intended. Unless he picks it apart, then he’ll see where I disconnected it. But he might be too busy.

  Beau’s been tasked with transmitting panicked messages to DES about losing power and the HoLFs attacking and killing people. They’ll get more desperate before we go “silent.” This will hopefully convince Jarren his plan worked and give us a few more days.

  I send messages to Radcliff, Beau, and my parents that I was successful. They’re all waiting with the security team near the stairwell just in case I failed. Glad I don’t have to race to join them to sizzle-zap shadow-blobs, I change into my bunny pajamas and collapse next to Niall. Sleep is instant.

  By the end of the next day, my head aches from the delicate work of worming around Jarren’s…er…worms. Now that the threat of losing power has been mitigated Radcliff gave me a list of tasks to do for his grand plan. Most of it is with the satellite. No, I don’t know all the details and I suspect there’s a reason for it.

  After dinner, I crawl into bed with Niall. It’s been sixty-seven hours and he’s still unconscious. Worry and fear for him are my constant companions. Come on, Niall. You can’t do this to me. Or to your father. Not after what happened to your mother. That’s cruel.

  Of course I don’t voice those thoughts out loud. Instead, I settle next to him, dig his hand out from underneath his blankets, and lace my fingers in his.

  “I spent the entire day worming,” I say. “Don’t worry, my brain didn’t turn to mush. I took breaks.” I did. “I can’t believe an Actual year ago, I never would have thought I’d be worming legally and be part of a security team. I thought I’d be still on Xinji, hanging with my best friend, Lan, and waiting to go to university on Planet Rho. That girl was so young and innocent.” I laugh. “Okay not so innocent, but she was definitely a brat. And her worming skills were rudimentary. Now I’m worming to save everyone’s lives. No pressure there.” Another memory bubbles to the surface. “Maybe you should have arrested me for worming. Remember when you were still acting like a jerk and threatened to throw me into detention? My antics drew Jarren’s attention so maybe if I stopped sooner… No, Jarren planned to attack the Warrior planets before I meddled. He only came back for me after he destroyed the Warriors.” Small comfort. But still…

  My thoughts turn to Jarren’s plans and I mull it over, voicing it out loud for Niall. “So if I’m right, and the Warriors can open portals to other planets without causing the time dilation, then those that control the…technology—for lack of a better word—will not only be obscenely rich, but extremely powerful. DES will have no way to stop them because of the time dilation. They’d have no choice but to relinquish space travel to Jarren and his partners. And then what?

  “Let’s assume we live through the takeover—I know, a big assumption since we’re trying to stop Jarren—then all our lives will change. I could take the…Warrior Express to zip over to Earth and visit my brother. Except he’s still in a time jump so I have to wait twenty-five years for him to show up. Imagine his surprise, though. It’d be worth waiting to see the shock on his face.” I pause. “That is if I can afford the fee. Right now DES doesn’t charge colonists or scientists to travel from planet to planet because we’re all basically working for them. No tourists in space. Unless you count the people who keep volunteering to colonize the newest planet. And what about the people who like time jumping? Like Captain Harrison and the Interstellar Class space ship crews. I suppose that will always be an option unless Jarren completely takes over DES. No, that would be too hard—he’d have to control the Q-net as well. Better to just steal the Warrior technology from DES and then offer it to everyone to use at an exorbitant price.

  “Which wouldn’t be that bad, except removing and destroying Warriors has a high cost—the shadow-blobs. Of course he could just abandon the Warrior planets and let the shadow-blobs have them. But why do I think it’s not that simple? Probably because of the aliens who went to a considerable amount of trouble to build and place those six million plus Warriors at entanglement points on sixty-four planets throughout the Milky Way Galaxy. Too bad we don’t know exactly what an entanglement point means. I’d bet Jarren does, though.” And I wasn’t going to figure it all out right now.

  I tell Niall what Beau and I have been doing. “And we could really use you right now, Toad.” No response. Swallowing a sigh, I switch topics, telling him about my brother, Phoenix. “…constantly driving me crazy, picking on me, but if someone else tried to give me a hard time, he’d be right in that kid’s face. You would get along with him. Although he’d have yelled at you about being a jerk way before I did.”

  Sadness swells, closing my throat. I miss him and I miss Niall. And I just want…all this to stop. For Jarren to just…poof and be gone. Or to sizzle-zap out of existence. For my greatest worries to be making it to training on time and shooting Mr. Orange Light before he shoots me.

  My tight control over my emotions slips. Sobs bully past my defenses. Burying my face against Niall’s shoulder to muffle the noise, I let loose, crying and gasping until my back muscles and throat are sore. Then I fall into an exhausted sleep.

  But my worries follow me, disturbing my rest. Soon, I’m flying in the Q-net, desperate and alone, searching for Niall. His mind is shattered and I need to find the fragments and bits of him. Once I have them all, I can reconstruct him. As I seek the shards of Niall’s consciousness, Jarren intercepts me and I’m no longer dreaming. Cold fear sweeps through me for two reasons. One, he knows I’m alive, and two, his skills with the Q-net are also freakishly good as I’ve only ever been able to “converse” in the Q-net with those who I entangle with, like Beau. Unless it’s my own super power that’s allowed me to reach Jarren.

  Do you know you’re dangling on a hook, Little Worm? Jarren asks. Every time you’re worming in the Q-net I know you’re there, squirming helplessly. You can’t bypass my measures. It’s only a matter of time before a big fish comes along and snatches you up for a nice little snack.

  Real cute, I say, suppressing the terrible thought that Jarren figured out what we’re doing. Did it take you all day to come up with that metaphor?

  Ah, that teenage snark. I missed it. How about this? Since we have a history, if you stop worming, I’ll let you, your parents, and a couple friends live. I’ll send all of you b
ack to Earth. Promise.

  It’s tempting for about a nanosecond. I’m not going to abandon my team or the scientists on the base. No. You want me to stop, because you’re scared of what I can do. And, no offense…actually with lots of offense, you’re nothing but a murdering looter. You’re the scum of the universe and I’m not stupid enough to trust your word.

  Laughter. Gotta love your spunk, Little Worm. I wonder if you’ll still be so fiery when your boyfriend dies. I read his medical file, he’s in a vegetative state. There’s no chance he’ll wake. No one wants to tell you because they need you, Little Worm. Need you to dangle on your hook and bait me to swim closer.

  You’re lying. And how does he know Niall’s my boyfriend? If he’s guessing, then my reaction just confirmed his guess. Argh.

  That’s right, tell yourself that. You’ve always been good at denial. Good night, Little Worm. Enjoy your last days.

  He’s gone before I can counter. Anger over his comments surges through me. Niall is not in a vegetative state. Or is he? That held a ring of truth. No. Jarren’s just trying to goad me. I’m scaring him, which means he doesn’t know what I’m doing. But now I have to worm into Dr. Edward’s files. Or do I? Ignorance is bliss. Not in this case. Nothing is bliss. Argh!

  Now a helpless fury heaves through my core, creating a primal scream that rips from me. How do I fix Niall?

  The Q-net answers: HERE.

  A schematic glows before me. It’s a jumble of pathways with tangles, loops, swirls, branches, dips, and spirals. Star roads? No. This is a map of the Q-net. How is this supposed to help?

  HERE.

  Light pulses along various routes. Am I supposed to follow them? Then the schematic shrinks until it’s—oh my stars! It’s a map of a human brain. The lights tracing neural pathways. And some appear to be damaged. Is this Niall’s brain? Send this to Dr. Edwards! Maybe he can repair them.

  NOT.

  After an impressive light show, the diagram disappears. What does that mean? Is Niall beyond repair? No answer. Nothing else happens. I disentangle from the Q-net and glance around the darkened room. One of the nurses must have come in and dimmed the lights. It’s oh-three-hundred. I glance at Niall’s vitals on the screen. They’re the same. He hasn’t moved and it’s been seventy-two hours.