The Secret War - 1st novel in the Shadow Series

Chapter 16 .

Vai

I woke up late the next morning. It didn't really matter since I didn't have to be at the shuttle bay until 1:00 p.m. I got out of bed and wondered if my father was home or if he had left. He had arrived at our quarters later than usual last night, but I also knew that the ship would be doing tests on the local solar storm and my father was the Chief Science Officer. He'd be expected to be there.

"Good morning, sir," Warpaint greeted me. He had a breakfast shake ready in his mechanical hand, the hand that looked more like metal claws.

"Morning." I took the shake from him and drank it quickly. The thick, green liquid fell slowly down the back of my throat. "Is this thicker today?"

"I'm glad you noticed, sir. Since we will be on an alien planet, I filled it with extra algae."

"Great," I said.

"It is great, sir. Thank you for noticing my efforts. The algae has a lot of nutrients you know."

"I know. Thanks." Mechatronics had a hard time detecting sarcasm. I kept forgetting.

I got ready for the day, but before I headed out I decided to contact Owen. I wouldn't be able to speak with him about the house on Mars or Thrissko once the school field trip started. I had to be careful on that trip not to let anything slip that would get back to my father as he would be monitoring both through Warpaint and through my Volo. I sat at my desk and called.

"Hello, my friend," Owen said. His image was projected through my volo.

"Hi. Any word on Thrissko?"

"I'll contact my people after the trip."

I nodded, but was impatient. I hoped Thrissko's parents had found a way to get him away from Papa's gang and get the zek out of his system.

"Did you see the video of my house?"

Owen looked behind him and then said to me, "Hold on." Then louder and with his head tilted behind him, he said, "I'm ready, dad. Don't pressure me."

Owen turned back to me and said, "My dad is really excited for me to go on this trip."

"That must be nice," I said. "My father woke me up after 1 a.m. to tell me I couldn't go."

Owen's expression immediately changed. "You're not going? But Warpaint was supposed to go with us."

I fought the urge to roll my eyes at him. "Don't worry. I convinced my father to let me go, but he is going to look at my volo recordings when I get back so don't say anything about the house or Mars or Thrissko while we're down there."

Owen nodded. "Okay. I did watch the video. Do you know who those people were?"

I shook my head. "I can't ask my father about it because then he'll know I've been looking into Mars. Warpaint said that my dad had removed everything important already though."

"Like your dad knew something like this was going to happen," Owen said.

"Yeah."

"Warpaint was okay giving you this information? Your dad didn't restrict him?"

"Warpaint said he was told he couldn't bring it up, but he didn't bring it up. I asked so I guess it was okay to tell me according to his program. That reminds me." I turned to Warpaint, but left the communication with Owen open. "When father took you into his room last night, did you tell him about the house and our conversation about it?"