Troop was apprehensive. Jaiden had agreed to meet with him at the local coffee shop. Troop hadn’t seen Jaiden since he had told Troop to stop moping around and actually start living a life again.
The automatic revolving doors to Galaxy Café spun around, permitting a person to enter. It was Jaiden. Troop stood up to let Jaiden know where he was. Jaiden met his eyes and glided over.
“Long time no see,” he said to Troop.
“Same.”
Troop returned to his seat and tapped on the smart-glass table.
“Have you eaten lunch yet?” he asked.
“No,” said Jaiden.
They checked off their orders and submitted them to the kitchen via the smart-glass system. Troop exchanged some pleasantries with Jaiden for a few minutes. The server carried out their food from the kitchen then left.
“Alright, I know you didn’t call me over just to talk about the latest droid-horse race results,” said Jaiden. “What is that you really want to talk about?”
“It’s about Kristi.”
“Didn’t I tell you to get over the fact that she’s gone? I’m her brother and trust me, I miss her as much as you do, but there’s nothing you can do about it. What month is it now? September, right? Kristi’s been missing since July—that’s two months. You’ll just have to face the fact that she’s probably dead—”
“I heard Mason talking about her,” Troop cut in.
“Mason?”
Oh yeah, Troop remembered. Jaiden wasn’t at New Genes Lab when Mason dared to show his face. “Just a person I used to go to school with. He works for the government as part of the law enforcement. I guess he’s like an undercover agent or something.”
Jaiden’s posture took on a look of interest. “Go on. What did he say about Kristi?”
“I’m not quite sure. He was talking to some other woman and I heard Kristi’s name crop up a few times. Kristi must still be alive because why would they be talking about a dead girl?”
“Do you remember any of the words they said?”
“Something about Kristi and another girl named Pierce and some person called Dr. Spencer.” Troop’s eyes widened. “Dr. Spencer…Spencer….” That’s my dad’s last name! Troop thought. Hold on a second, I’m probably jumping to conclusions. Spencer isn’t an unusual last name. Yeah, there’s no way Dr. Spencer could be the same person as my father because I saw my father jump out sixty-story apartment window with my own eyes.
“What is it?” Jaiden asked. He broke a piece off a piece of the banana bread on his plate.
“Nothing important.” Troop lowered his voice, forcing Jaiden to lean forwards. “All of the Accidents from New Genes Lab survived the devil-dog attack. They’re being held hostage by the government though. I was wondering if you knew anything about that situation.”
“No,” said Jaiden. “And quite frankly, I don’t want to get involved. When I said I didn’t want to have anything to do with the Revealers, I meant it. Is there anything else you wanted to tell me?”
Troop shook his head.
“I’ll be off then,” said Jaiden.
He stood up and snagged his electro-slate off the table. Before leaving, he said, “Troop, don’t get your hopes up. I’m sure Kristi’s a common name; it’s very likely that Mason was talking about someone else.”
Troop leaned back against the booth, thinking, Well, that was a waste of my time. He watched kids maneuvering the roads on hydro-bikes, weaving in and out solar compressors, cars and pedestrians. Troop paid the bill and prepared to leave. As he did so, he noticed a woman observing him.
The woman had a kind face and was absently chatting with a man; but her attention was fixed on him. Troop smiled uncomfortably. She continued to stare at him. Do I know this woman? Troop wondered.
“You say were looking for a missing girl?” she asked him.
“Yeah,” said Troop. “About my age, dark brown hair, hazel eyes. Her name’s Kristi. You might have seen her picture on the public-news screens before.”
The woman appeared to be deep in thought. Troop held his breath, praying she knew some useful information. The moment stretched forever. At last, she spoke, “And she’s been missing since July, right?”
Troop nodded.
There seemed to be an internal struggle going on inside the woman’s head. She chewed on her bottom lip, eyes shifting from side to side as if she was afraid someone might over hear her words.
“Have you seen Kristi?” Troop asked.
She released her lower lip from her teeth and said, “No…I don’t think so. I’m sorry.”
But she didn’t sound sure.
“Oh,” said Troop. “That’s okay.”
He turned to head outside, but the woman grasped his arm, stopping him in his steps.
“I have a…friend that might be able to help you out though,” she said.
“Really? Who is it?”
“If you give me your name and contact number, I can have her correspond you if she’s able to assist you.”
Troop wavered between handing over his personal information to this stranger and turning down her offer. Is the risk worth it? He knew the Revealers had applied certain safeguards to his profile to keep out hackers. “My name’s Troop,” he said. “Number is 157-263-001.”
“Are you the Troop Mendax everyone’s talking about?”
“Yeah. Could you, like, not give away my contact number to anyone else other than your friend that might be able to help me though?”
“Of course.”
“Thank you.” Troop took a few steps away from her booth. “Wait, I didn’t catch your name.”
“Name’s Asha,” she said.
