Lost Planet 02 - The Stolen Moon Read Free Page A

it.” He hoped Lilli couldn’t hear how nervous he was. What if this was the retaliation he’d feared all these months? Was this the precursor to an attack? “I’m sure the engine room’s already figuring it out.”
    â€œI’ll go check,” came Lilli’s voice.
    Chase started shaking his head before he realized she wouldn’t see it. “No, wait—”
    She didn’t make a sound, but Chase could feel her absence and knew that she’d disappeared again. He cursed under his breath.
    â€œLords, I almost wet my pants when she showed up like that,” whispered Parker.
    â€œYeah, it’s a great party trick,” said Chase sourly.
    Another minute ticked by as they waited, and then the sound of Lilli’s breathing filled the air beside them again. “All the power systems shut down,” she announced. “The mainframe’s rebooting.”
    â€œWhat?” asked Parker. “They just shut down? Impossible. There are backups, and backups for the backups. On top of it the mainframe has its own local power unit.”
    But what if someone was messing with the mainframe? Chase didn’t share the thought. Parker’s hack job couldn’t have caused a blackout on the whole ship … could it?
    â€œWell, Chief Kobes didn’t say that exactly. Something about an upgrade and a glitch—”
    â€œThere’s no ‘glitch’ big enough to take out the entire power system on a starship, including the emergency lights,” Parker interrupted. “It’s impossible, there are too many redundancy measures.”
    â€œWell, I didn’t investigate the problem myself!” snapped Lilli. “Take it up with the engineers if you’re so sure of yourself.”
    As much as Lilli fought with Chase, she was even quicker to butt heads with Parker—which was why Chase usually tried to keep them away from each other. “Calm down, you guys. Whatever happened, they’ll figure—”
    A door crashed open somewhere down the hall, followed by the rapid pounding of boots against metal. Someone was running toward them.
    â€œHey!” shouted Chase. “Slow down!”
    Whoever it was didn’t stop running, and Chase jumped to the side of the hallway as the runner blew past, heaving for air. The footsteps quickly faded out down the hall. Was there some kind of emergency? Chase rubbed his sweaty palms against his pants.
    â€œJeez, panic much?” growled Parker. “What an idiot. You guys okay? Still here, Lilli?”
    Lilli muttered a wordless reply, and again Chase felt the impulse to reach out and squeeze her arm to reassure her that they would be okay. On some level, it made him happy that she’d sought him out in the blackout. But what if she pulled away or snapped at him? It almost felt as though he were reaching out to touch a spiky Goxar alien. “Let’s keep going,” he said instead.
    They were getting closer to the canteen when they heard the tap of footsteps coming up from behind them, walking swiftly but not running. A light swung around the corner of the hall, and a lilting voice called out.
    â€œChase? Parker? Is that you?” Maurus’s face emerged from the darkness, illuminated by a glow of light. The Lyolian soldier held a short white rod that lit the immediate space a few feet around him. His expression was pinched. “Lilli too? Cursed suns of Hesta, what are you all doing out in the hall? You should stay in your quarters when something like that happens.”
    â€œIf I could tell my orifice from my elbow right now, maybe I’d be there already,” said Parker. “What happened to the power?”
    Maurus ignored his question. “The captain sent me to find you and take you somewhere safe.”
    â€œWhy?” asked Chase. “What’s going on?”
    â€œWe don’t know yet. It’s just a precaution.”
    â€œIn case of