P L A N B E T A

Chapter Twenty-Four

December 1st, 2042

Wagner

9:03 am

An alarm goes off in the GZU buildings. We think that it is an attack from ACA, but then we get a sudden report from NASA. Shannon comes into the security room where all Plan Beta members are standing shoulder to shoulder with our arms behind our backs.

"Okay kids," she says. "We have reports from NASA saying that something familiar is in orbit around earth, but they have no idea what it is. They think that it could belong to us. Don't get your hopes up but we think it might be Pe—Agent 43B." My heart flutters a little bit with hope and I force myself to keep a straight face, but I can still feel my eyes tearing up.

My mom speaks up. "We have a feeling that we need to do something to get this spacecraft back down to earth, but we don't know what."

I then realise what the letters from ACA meant. I actually had to find a common factor between each clue and enter that code somewhere. But where? I look around the computers, and then look over at the ACA files, then remembering what Jack Peter was doing the day he was captured, I just hoped dearly that I could remember what he did to find their security camera footage from long before.

"Hey mom," I say. "I have things to tell you." I spill everything. Everything about the day that Jack Peter got captured and our entire plan. What happened on the way back from Sleepy Hollow and meeting the woman who sexually assaulted my father.

When I finished my rant to her, she sighed, and asked to see the clues. The young ones were sent up to their rooms and told to stay there, but Jameson and Gwen were allowed to stay.

We layed all of the objects and letters in chronological order. I contemplate what to do, because any move could be the wrong one.

The lights turn off, and the largest screen turns on. We all look around, but see no one, so we look up. There is a black silhouette on the screen and the voice has obviously been tampered with. "Hello," hey start. "Maia, it's time. You either get him down or you don't. You have until six pm, or the pod explodes in space, and Jack Peter dies." The lights flicker back on and the screen turns to black.

"How do they know your name?" my mom asks.

"They've been listening, ma. They've been listening to everything," I respond. She does what she's not supposed to, and she embraces me. The warmth of her makes me feel safe, but the fact the safest place in the world could no longer hold that title got to my head, and I was back into the cold.

The pressure to get P back to me alive weighed on me like I was stuck under a rock. There was no time to cry, however. There was only time to get him back safely, and that's what I planned on doing.

An hour passes, and all we can come with so far is that it is indeed I, Maia Rho Wagner, who has to decode these clues to get some sort of password to get him back to earth. I took the guppy necklace in hand and remembered the night he said he would train me. It was recent, but one of my best memories.

I picked up the golden coin and wondered what the hell it had to do with this whole thing. I sigh and put the coin down. I examine the flashdrive and the rock, but nothing comes to mind. I close my eyes, but they burn, and it reminds me of the conference in June.

It frustrates me that I can't figure out what the password could be. I turn to Ara and Orren who are actively searching through files and websites, but then look over at Gwen and Jameson who are trying to find any codes. I finally sit and just think.