my gaze. “Then my dad’s an idiot.”
“Is that so? I wonder what he would say to that?”
“Mouse.” He mock growls.
“Oh, look at the time. I better get to my unit since I’m being on my best behavior and all.” I smirk.
He raises his hands, bending his fingers into claws. “Don’t make me resort to tickling you into submission.”
“An empty threat. Remember what happened last time you tried?” I did. His touch had been far from ticklish.
Dropping his hands, he says, “Ah, hell.”
“Later, Toad.”
After a long shower, I help myself to leftovers. When Radcliff arrives, I brace for…I’ve no idea. However, he doesn’t say a word as he heats up a dish. I’m almost done with my meal and I gauge the distance to my room.
He grabs his meal and pauses. “You’re to report to training with Keir tomorrow morning and then a meeting with the astrophysicists at thirteen hundred hours in the conference room.”
“Yes, sir.” The words pop out of my mouth automatically.
Nodding, he heads into his bedroom, leaving me wondering what the meeting is going to be about. Did he consider my idea? Will my parents be there? Have the astrophysicists discovered anything about the shadow-blobs? I hope we’ll actually get some answers this time and not a lecture.
I can’t believe I’m admitting this, but after two days of doing nothing but guarding the workers at Pit 21, I miss the physical activity. Who knew? Don’t worry, I’m not going to turn into one of those exercise nuts. It’s just nice to stretch my muscles. Also, so far, my experience as a security officer is not what I expected. At all.
“Pay attention, Recruit,” Elese says as she sweeps my feet out from under me.
I land on my back with an oomph. Obviously, I still have much to learn.
Elese grabs my hand and pulls me to my feet. “Again.”
Then it hits me. Not Elese, but the realization that being a security officer is all about again. Training is life-long. There’s never going to be a point when I can say, yup, I’m done. But I guess that’s true of any career—learning never stops.
Elese counters my jab with ease. She sidesteps my kick, grabs my leg, and slams me to the mat again. “What’s going on, Rookie? Two days away and you forgot everything I taught you.”
“Sorry, just thinking about my future.”
“You keep fighting like that, and you won’t have a future,” she teases.
Except she’s right. Like I told Radcliff, Jarren’s coming and I need to be ready. I focus on my training.
By the end of our session Elese gives me a grudging, “Better.”
I hurry back to my unit for a quick shower and an even quicker lunch. Shoving the last bite of the sandwich into my mouth, I wipe crumbs off my hands and shirt, swallow, square my shoulders, and enter the conference room.
My parents are sitting at the table with Drs. Carson and Zhang. Way over on the opposite side are Radcliff and Morgan. The tension is palpable. My mom is describing the light show the Warriors put on to the astrophysicists. I debate where I should sit—near my parents, near Radcliff, or in the middle. Sheesh, you’d think this wouldn’t be so difficult. In the end, I pick a chair closer to Radcliff. I am a security officer.
When Mom explains about the black rectangle, she defers to me. I tell them about the person inside.
“Probably an optical illusion. Or a reflection of one of the others in the pit,” Yenay says.
“No,” I respond. “The blackness had depth.”
“There are no alternate dimensions,” Bertie says rather gruffly.
“What about a portal to another planet? A shortcut,” I suggest. Like some of my worming tunnels. Where did that come from?
“The laws of physics—”
“Don’t apply to crinkling space.”
“Of course they do,” Yenay says. “Or we wouldn’t be able to do it.”
Strangely that makes sense.
“Wait,” Dad says. “Are you saying that the black rectangle is crinkled space?”
“No, but maybe it acts like it,” I say. “If it’s a portal, then that might explain how it works.”
“There’s no engine, Ara,” Mom says.
“How do you know?” I ask. “You found alien equipment in the factory. Maybe one is a crinkle space…er…crinkler.”
“Except when you crinkle space to bring two points together, you warp the space around it. Which is why the ships do it far away from other planets and suns.” Mom flares her hands out in a V to demonstrate.
I appeal to my parents. “You saw the wave of lights. Maybe the Warriors can smooth things