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 back 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.