The Softwire: Betrayal on Orbis 2 Read Free Page B

just stared back at him. He was serious. Theodore had never spoken like that before. He always just did as he was told. He had never once talked about escaping.
    “Do you think I could do that?” he asked.
    “If anyone could just jump, why doesn’t everyone do it, then?” I said.
    “I think you just need practice.”
    “I don’t know, Theodore. They have to be illegal for more reasons than that. And besides, you know what the penalty is for trying to escape.”
    “If you were a Space Jumper . . .”
    “I’m not, Theodore.”
    “But Madame Lee said your father . . .”
    “She was lying,” I told him.
    Theodore didn’t say anything else about the belt. He just looked out the window at the holographic garden. We sat in silence, and I caught Switzer staring at us. He must have listened to our entire conversation.
    That night the dream-enhancement equipment of my sleeper steered me toward the crystal moons of Orbis, glowing bright purple and orange against the empty void of space. But just as I was about to touch down on Ki, I was ripped from my dream. I awoke to find Weegin standing over me, thumping his fist on the lid of my sleeper. His beady red eyes glowed brighter than the moons in my dream, and his raspy breath stank of burnt hair.
    “Weegin, what’s the matter?” I asked him, trying to focus.
    “It doesn’t work,” he growled. The crevices in his face appeared deeper than normal, and there were dark crimson circles around his eyes.
    “What doesn’t work?” I whispered.
    “It doesn’t work. Get up.”
    “Weegin, are you all right?”
    “Get up now. You must make it work,” Weegin pleaded, almost out of breath as he shoved the lid of my sleeper back into the wall.
    I did as I was told and slid off my sleeper.
    I followed my Guarantor through the darkened sorting bay in my plastic pajamas. The robot cranes slouched over us as I trudged behind Weegin toward his private lift. It was the same lift I’d taken with Ketheria, Max, and Theodore the night Madame Lee stole my sister and forced me into the central computer to destroy the Keepers’ security devices.
    “Weegin, have you slept?” I asked the alien after he stumbled into the lift. He was having trouble keeping his eyes open.
    “No time. No time,” he mumbled.
    The door to the lift disappeared, and Weegin paused for me to exit. A trail of stench led me to his glass cubicle. We had left the
Renaissance
in complete disorder, but then
we
were kids. Weegin’s office was littered with unanswered screen scrolls piled everywhere, and it looked as if Nugget had clawed or chewed every single item in the place. I was shocked at the mess and searched for the smell that was coaxing the dinner tablet from my stomach. Then, in the far corner I saw it. It was another larva that Weegin must have been nursing. Only this one was dead.
    In the center of all the garbage sat the replicator. It looked simple enough: a shiny metallic cone inverted over a small, black circular base. On the base sat a glowing blue dish. The whole thing stood just taller than my knees. Weegin stumbled next to it and placed a small crystal on the dish.
    “Make it work,” he ordered.
    “I don’t know, Weegin. Maybe Max should . . .”
    “Make it work!” He screamed so loud I jumped back. Weegin dropped to his knees and caressed the peculiar piece of metal.
    I moved closer and knelt next to Weegin. I scanned the device for a chip or any computer device I might be able to manipulate. But there was nothing — just some simple circuits that worked the lights. Basically the inside was empty. Weegin had been scammed. He’d purchased a dud.
    “Weegin, I don’t . . .”
    “You’re all I have. You have to make it work.” The alien was begging now.
    “But . . .”
    “I’ll give you ten percent of everything I replicate. You must!”
    “Weegin, it’s not . . .”
    “Fine, then, half! Half of everything,” Weegin said spitefully.
    “It doesn’t work, Weegin. The