“But if we’re right about her, then we get to have all of you freaking helping us do something other than sit here hoping that ACE’s parole officers show up to help us. And then to harm us.”
“Excuse me?” Algar said.
Heaved a sigh. “ACE houses in Jamie. ACE is not supposed to leave Earth. We’re stranded near the Eagle Nebula, where Sandy the Superconsciousness and his buddies, the Seven Meddling Superconsciousness Dwarfs live. I’m just spitballing here, but I think that if we don’t get moving, we’re going to get visitors that we might not want.”
“Or we might,” Tim said. “Because we’re dead in the water, so to speak, and we have the solution right here in the form of Mossy.”
Who nodded. “I, at least, need to go with them. No children should be working in the warp core.”
“Is it dangerous?” Had visions of everyone getting irradiated.
“Not in the way I’d assume you mean. There is no risk of exposure. However, the intricacy that’s demanded is beyond most children, even the talented ones on the ship with us. So it does fall to me to do this.”
“Keeping in mind that we’re going to have to share that we’re pretty sure that Mossy isn’t the one who set the bomb,” Tim added. “And before everyone glares at me or whatever, someone who had access to the warp core set that bomb, and Mossy had that access.”
“This is true,” Mossy said. “And I’ve already successfully tampered with the ship in what I’m willing to bet is the exact same way as the saboteur did.”
“You confessing?” Buchanan asked.
“Hardly. However, the Commander is right—I am in a position to look guilty. Which is all the more reason for me, at least, to come out of hiding.”
Looked right at Algar. “So, what’s the risk to reward ratio for all of you ‘exposing’ that you’ve stowed away?”
He snapped his fingers and time froze. “Acceptable.”
“You were on board in case Mother couldn’t contain that explosion, weren’t you? You can act even faster than ACE.”
“Among other reasons, yes.” He looked mildly worried, which was a rarity.
“Mother’s not wrong in her assessment of what could happen if we don’t help Ixtha, is she?”
“She’s only wrong in that she gave a tenth of a percentage chance that the galaxy wouldn’t be destroyed. And if this galaxy goes in the way that Mother, ACE, and I see it going, due to the situation you’ve been called upon to solve, then the entire universe is going to go with it.”
CHAPTER 24
WANTED TO LET THAT idea settle in, but had no idea how much time I was going to get with Algar in this way. “Well, that sounds like something we want to avoid. So, in order to speed all this saving of the universe along, can we trust Mother?”
“That’s not the correct question.”
Groaned. “Seriously? Fine. Do we have a traitor on board?”
“Still not quite right.”
Not quite right. So, that was a clue. Considered what he might mean. “Fine. Do we have a conscious traitor on board?”
“No.”
“Whee. So, does that mean we have someone who is unconsciously perpetrating traitorous actions?”
“Yes.”
Heaved a sigh. “Is it Mossy?”
“No.”
Pondered. There had to be a reason Algar was pussyfooting. Decided to take the wild guess that probably wasn’t all that wild. “It’s one of my kids, isn’t it? Or both of them.”
“Yes, and not just your children. All the children. Well, all the talented ones.”
“So most of them. How?”
“Ixtha is not the only person capable of using the DreamScape.”
“So good of you to mention that this thing existed to me before, oh, now.”
He shook his head. “You do remember how I’ve lived my life.”
“Free Will Forever or Free Willy, I can never keep it straight.” He shot me a dirty look. Ignored it. “So, who brought our bizarre assembly on board, Jamie?”
“With a little help from her friends, yes.”
“Seriously, now I want to hear the Sergeant Pepper’s album.”
“Put your headphones in.”
“Then I couldn’t hear the melodious sounds of your voice. Or was that a hint? If it was a hint, I have to mention that as the Chief Communications Officer, or whatever the hell Mother thinks I am, me listening to tunes will be frowned upon.”
“Not if it keeps you and the rest of the crew calm.”
“Great. I’ll see if I can get someone, anyone, else to agree to that. So, since I don’t want to be rude and listen to music when I’m speaking directly to you, who’s been influencing the kids and, more importantly, why? Aside from Ixtha, I mean. I don’t understand why we have the people we do on board, and why we have others still on Earth.”
“That’s for you to find out. You alone would be preferable. Unless you want the children cross-examined, you need to stop the others from worrying about the identity of the culprit.”
“Well, we have plenty to distract us from that right now.”
“You do, and more will be coming.”
“Look, I realize that you’re against overtly helping because Free Will is like your religion, but isn’t this a big enough of a deal for you to just snap your fingers and fix the ship and, even, get us where we’re going?”
“If I interfere directly the results could be disastrous.”
“Really? More disastrous than the end of all the worlds?”
“Yes.”
“To whom? To you or to the rest of us?”
“Both.”
“I feel that my King of the Elves is holding out on me.”
“I am the Ard Ri right now. Besides, the journey is more than a journey—it’s also the destination.”
“Excuse me?”
He shrugged. “Figure it out. I know you can.”
“Fine, fine, Mister Inscrutable. I realize you have a personal idiom and outlook to maintain. Just throw me a bone and tell me flat out, is Mother the culprit and can we trust her?”
“No and yes.”
“Finally, and thank you. So and therefore, can all of you come out of hiding or not? And if not, why not? And if yes, who? Everyone or just a select few?”
“Yes, we can. However, the gentlemen don’t really want to.”
“Wow, are they all confessing their true devotion to each other in here or something? I mean, if they are, fine, though I think Adrianna might have an issue with Malcolm tossing her over.”
Algar chuckled. “No. They are blood brothers by now, but not lovers.”
“Okay, so straight gals can rejoice and gay men can mourn. But this then leads right back to my ‘why don’t they want to leave the closet’ question. And, since the fate of the universe is at stake, just tell me, without the games.”
“Because they don’t know who I actually am, and so my word and suggestions mean nothing to them.”
“And yet they’re keeping you with them.”
He shrugged. “They appreciated the fact that I agreed with their suspicions.”
“They weren’t alone in those suspicions. As near as I could tell, you had those same suspicions. Which, all things considered, shouldn’t have been possible. I mean, you basically know everything.”