“Keep talking,” Chuckie said. He was staring at the ceiling but he didn’t look like he had a good idea yet.
“What about our other A-Cs?” I asked, always happy to oblige my besties. “Why did you all stay on board?”
“I didn’t feel able to leave the ship,” White said. “Not as if I was ill, but as if leaving was a terrible idea.”
“Me too,” Gower said.
Raj nodded. “But I wasn’t going to leave without you and Jeff anyway, Kitty.”
“Right. And, let’s face it, neither would Nadine, Colette, or my entire A-C security team, all of whom are mysteriously not on board. Jamie loves Nadine and Colette—if she was choosing, I feel confident she’d have chosen them. And she also loves Keith, the head of her Secret Service detail, and he’s not here, either.”
“I got all Secret Service off, Kitty,” Christopher said. “Remember?”
“I do. But I think you got them off because, again, whoever planned this didn’t want them along.”
“Mother’s choice of who’s doing what job also doesn’t seem random,” Tito said. “Tim’s suddenly somehow the Commander? I mean, he’s a Commander in Centaurion Division, but if we’re talking a military action, then Jeff should have been chosen.”
“But he’s assigned to Weapons,” Tim pointed out, “and, as we’ve seen, Mother tends to enforce her rules.”
“And I’m Communications and while that does actually make sense, why does it matter? I think it clearly matters to Mother, but why?” Waited. Mother said nothing. Which was interesting.
“I did not program the ship for any of this,” Drax said miserably. “None of this should be happening.”
“It won’t affect your relationship with the military,” Reader reassured. “We’re clear this isn’t what you wanted.”
“I don’t think it was Ixtha,” Rahmi said thoughtfully. “When we were all in the enforced sleep, she was speaking to us. She was quite . . . grateful . . . that we were coming. She wanted warriors far more than the children. I believe that Charlie and Jamie made her feel that the warriors could not come without the children.”
“The kids’ part in this I get, mostly. Charlie wanted to go on a vacation and my guess is that Ixtha reached him in the DreamScape before she ever talked to me.” Plus, ACE had pretty much confirmed this. “So, I can see him and Jamie ensuring that Ixtha felt they needed to come along. It’s the fact that Ixtha chose people who are not obviously warriors or security that’s the real hundred-thousand-dollar question.”
“So,” Chuckie said slowly, “maybe whoever chose the personnel isn’t Ixtha.”
We all nodded. “That makes sense,” Reader said. “But if so, then who chose the personnel? And how did they make, convince, or fool Jamie into doing it?”
“And that’s our next hundred-thousand-dollar question.” Waited. Mother still wasn’t chiming in. Which was, for how she’d been prior, out of character.
Tim noticed it, too. “Mother, who actually chose the ship’s crew? As in, why are some of us here and others not?”
Silence.
“Mother, don’t play coy,” I said sternly. “Answer the Commander.”
Instead of answers, however, were interrupted by the sounds of alarms going off.
“Everyone to stations, all personnel strap in,” Mother said calmly. “We are leaving warp unexpectedly.”
CHAPTER 21
HAD TO GIVE IT to everyone—no one panicked. All the A-Cs we had here, other than Jeff, went into Evacuation Mode, grabbing humans and racing them to, I assumed, the nearest crash couch room, while Jeff, Tim, Tito, and I flung ourselves into our assigned seats. I, personally, was getting really good at getting into my seat and getting the safety harness locked in with my purse in tow, practice making perfect and all that jazz. Hughes and Walker took the remaining open spots at the controls before Christopher could grab them.
“That’s everyone,” he called to us as he raced off, presumably to strap in himself.
“Mother,” I shouted over the claxons, “are the kids all safe?”
“All personnel are strapped in,” Mother shared. “Prepare for a bumpy ride. I . . . might need assistance. This is not happening by my choice.”
“Oh my God,” Tim groaned. “It continues to get worse.”
“Mother, will you let Matt or Chip trade places with Tim?”
“No,” she said. And then we were spinning like I’d never spun before.
Would have screamed but I was too busy trying not to barf. I’d never been much for the Spinner and similar rides, and this was like those but amped up to way past eleven. To make it more “fun,” we were tumbling as well as spinning. Worried about the kids, the littler ones in particular, but I couldn’t help them right now, so had to just hope that the crash couches were doing their jobs.
Really hoped that everyone hiding out in the maintenance closet was strapped down somehow, because otherwise Team Tough Guys was going to be Team Infirmary Residents. Felt bad for the least weasels, likely tumbling around in the Royal Hatbox and wondering why they were being tortured. Kind of like the rest of us.
Had to figure everyone else was at least freaked out if not downright terrified. Meaning it was time for me to do my job on the ship. Prayed we weren’t heading into a star or a black hole or something, but couldn’t really pay attention since I was trying to communicate with the ship and the crew. Felt the ship kind of tell me it was okay to talk, so I went for it.
“We welcome you aboard Hostage Spacelines. You may be experiencing a . . . slight disturbance. The Commander wishes to inform you that we are in control and all is well.” This was a blatant lie, but with all the kids on board, saying it was time to kiss our butts good-bye seemed wrong.
“How is that helping?” Tim shouted. “I have no idea what we can do. I know we need to stabilize but I have no idea what to do about that.”
“Mother? Could the alarms stop? I think we’re all aware that we’re in trouble and, likely, all deaf by now, too.”
Thankfully, the alarms muted. They didn’t turn off, but now it was more the polite tones of someone trying not to rudely interrupt versus shrieking. Wished Drax was up here with us, but I could compliment him on his craftsmanship later.
And he deserved a compliment, because even though we were whirling like a dervish—whatever that actually was—nothing was coming loose. At least, nothing I could see or hear, and I was going to count that as good until told otherwise.
Hughes and Walker, miraculously, were at their actual assigned positions, and they were able to give instructions to the rest of us, since Hughes had been a backup for the Commander seat and Walker had backed up Tito’s position.
“Tim, you just concentrate on steering,” Hughes said. “Steers just like a jumbo jet.”
“Liar,” Tim said through clenched teeth.
“Close enough for government work. Chip and I will stabilize. Tito, ensure all shields are up at maximum.”
“That means hit all the green buttons on your right,” Walker shared. “If we need shields lowered it’s the yellow buttons next to the green set, and for down it’s the red buttons also on your right.”