the good doctor so he can do his work.
Radcliff, my parents, and the techs go to touch the hearts just in case the HoLFs invade again. I follow them down to the factory along with Morgan. We turn on our flashlights as we enter the big cavern.
“I hate to ruin these, but I’d rather see the enemy,” Mom says as she picks one up. She winces. “Stabbed by an icicle is an apt description.”
My dad and the techs follow.
“Yikes, that’s cold.” Dad rubs his hands together.
Morgan reaches for one and I say, “Don’t—”
“Don’t what?” Morgan is holding a heart in her bare hand and it hasn’t disintegrated.
“I was going to say not to touch it because you already destroyed one.”
Morgan stills. “Maybe it’s a dud?”
“Give it to me,” Radcliff says. It turns to dust as soon as he grasps it. “I felt the pain, does that mean it worked?”
Only one way to find out. “Turn off the flashlights.”
The gasps are like music to my ears as I’m sure all the techs believed I was lying about the ghosts. Vindication is mine! I’d chuckle evilly, but that would probably put a few techs over the edge. It wouldn’t do to have them running away screaming. Or would it?
We experiment and it appears that since we’ve already touched a heart, we can now pick one up. Which means we can move the hearts to a safer location and we can distribute them to other key personnel, like the rest of the security team.
“I guess once you have a ghost, you can’t get another,” I say.
My mother rounds on me. “Don’t say that.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s…”
I wait, but my mother is at a loss for words. Wow.
“It’s scary,” Dad says. “To think we’re hosts for an alien spirit.”
“Spencer,” Mom admonishes.
“It’s true, though,” I say.
“We don’t know that for sure.” She’s wiping her hands over her chest and arms as if brushing away crumbs.
Talk about denial. “Think of it as a super power, Mom. Now you have X-ray vision…well, you have radio wave vision, but that doesn’t sound as cool. And you might be better at accessing the Q-net.”
“Did you get better after touching a heart?” Radcliff asks.
Figures he would ask that. “No, but it could have been a contributing factor.”
“Guess time will tell,” Dad says, looking thoughtful.
We all carry a heart up from the factory. I plan to give mine to Niall. A giddy warmth spreads through me as I realize I’ve already given him my heart. Yes, it’s sappy, but hey, we’re in love.
As soon as I enter the archeology lab, the Q-net sounds a strident warning in my head. My happy thoughts sizzle-zap away. Another missile? I concentrate and connect to the Q-net.
Yes! And it’s not coming at us.
My parents and Radcliff turn around when they realize I stopped.
Then where? The trajectory shows it heading straight to—
“Lawrence?” Radcliff barks.
“The satellite!”
“What about it?”
“A missile is on its way to the satellite.”
Nineteen
2522:245
Cursing, Radcliff strides over to a terminal. He shoves his tangs in and accesses the satellite’s defensive controls. The screen shows the hash marks of the missile’s projected path. My parents stand behind Radcliff. I monitor what’s going on through the Q-net.
Radcliff targets the weapon as it closes in. Suddenly he’s blocked from the controls. “Sonovabitch. Jarren took over. Lawrence, can you get me back?”
I try. But Jarren has set up a convoluted program. A helpful green line glows. I follow it as fast as— Everything goes black as the satellite is destroyed.
“Sorry,” I say. “I wasn’t quick enough.”
“Not your fault,” Radcliff says. “Jarren had it timed out perfectly.”
The Q-net sends me a second warning. I squeak in surprise.
Radcliff asks, “Another missile?”
“No. Four military shuttles.” I do the math. Forty-eight invaders are flying toward our base.
“Four shuttles?” Dad asks. “Is that bad?”
“It’s better than a missile,” Radcliff says. “It means he plans to invade instead of just killing us all.” He pauses as if in thought.
Things are really screwed up when an attack is considered the lesser of two evils.
“Lawrence, is Jarren aware that you can track his shuttles without the satellite?” Radcliff asks.
“He shouldn’t be. I wasn’t able to get past his defenses around his base,” I say.
“Plus the timing of waiting until the satellite was destroyed might mean he’s not aware,” Dad says.
“Regardless, we have six hours until they arrive, people. Time for Operation Looter Attack.” Radcliff starts barking orders.
A part of me is relieved. Strange, I know. But the threat of Jarren’s return has been hanging over my head for