“Penelope?” She hurried to the comm and pressed the button.
“It’s—I can’t—”
“Penelope,” she cried, starting to panic. “What’s happening?” She wasn’t just frightened that the event would fall apart without the AI’s help. She was genuinely concerned for her. If someone had told her she could get attached to a computer two weeks ago, she would have practically died laughing. Penelope was not just a machine, though.
“Renay.” The voice was strained and full of static. “A human is in the mainframe. He’s messing with my systems.”
“I’m on my way,” Renay said. “Is he disabling your speech, the controls?”
“So far I’m having difficulty communicating. This was the only speaker I could reach. I have to do an emergency download. I’m going silent.”
“Okay.” Renay hurried up the hall, jogging toward the mainframe. Her mind was spinning with possibilities. Who was in there, and why? She prayed someone was just being curious or accidently messing something up while trying to send an email. She couldn’t believe humans were making trouble on the ship—again! Not after how far they had come.
When she entered the control room, it was empty. The Preor must be off eating, and everyone knew Penelope could run without being monitored. Since she had taken charge on the ship, she made everyone’s lives that much easier.
“Penelope,” she asked uncertainly. There was no answer.
Renay went to the main console and pressed the direct microphone. If Penelope was disconnected from the ship intercom, she should still be able to contact her through the direct control.
After several calls, Renay had to accept the fact that Penelope was not going to answer. She looked over the control board, too many lights were blinking red. Systems were shutting down all over the ship.
“This is bad,” she whispered. She was wondering what to do next when her phone buzzed in her pocket.
She pulled it out, surprised. She had spoken to her parents and sister on the ship’s network as her phone was pretty much out of service up here. She quickly opened it to see a new app icon—a pair of blinking lavender eyes.
“Thank the gods of download speeds I managed that before the bustard shut me down,” Penelope crowed from the phone. “I’d been designing the app for some time. I certainly wasn’t ready to install yet, but hello, prototype!”
“Penelope?”
“You got it. Welcome to the Penny app. I’m mobile, baby!”
“You sound a bit… Unhinged?”
“Well.” Penelope sounded thoughtful. “Making myself into data bytes able to feed into the memory space on a phone may have altered my parameters a little.”
“Penelope, did you say someone disabled you?”
“Yes! It was Luke, dammit.”
“Where is he now?”
“Cargo bay. The little shit has been planting micro bombs since yesterday. He’s got them all hooked in to one timer. He’s waiting for all of the Preor and their mates to be gathered in one spot, and then he’s going to blow the ship.”
“How did you not notice this going on?”
“How did you not notice this going on?”
“I’m not omnipotent.”
“Oh… Fair enough. Well. As I said, they are micro bombs. It looks like he’s just randomly touching walls or looking behind things. I didn’t think to look any closer until he got in and started ruffling my feathers.”
“So, what’s next? You can’t call the cavalry from there. Can you?”
“No. I think he’s up to something nasty in there, though. I’m not omnipotent anymore.”
“Yeah. I don’t really want to alert the Preor yet… Tyff would probably kill him.”
“And the problem is?”
“I can’t let another human die. They are just confused. I need to talk to him. Maybe we can resolve this peacefully.
“Sounds like bunk to me.”
“Yeah well. You’re just a phone.”
“There’s no need to be rude,” Penelope pouted.
Renay hurried to the cargo bay. It was at the further end of the dock behind massive doors that looked locked, but as soon as she pushed on it, she saw that the chain and padlock weren’t actually connected. Someone had cut a link and then twisted it together so it looked locked.
“Where is he, Penelope,” Renay hissed.
“I don’t know. I’m just a phone. Remember?”
“You have no clue?”
“No. He scrambled my brains way before he took off, and I don’t even know where he went. I can’t access my cameras.”
“So why the hell did you send me to the cargo bay,” Renay asked, furiously.
“Because I noticed the little weasel coming in here a lot. It seemed like a good guess.”
“Jeez.” Renay let out a deep breath and opened the door as quietly as possible to slip inside.
The cargo bay was spooky. It had very high racks of metal crates that cast long shadows across the floor. They fell against the light like the rocks of Stonehenge, foreboding and deep. Renay was starting to get wigged out.
She wanted to confer with Penelope, but she didn’t want to give away her position, especially when Penelope couldn’t do much to help her from where she was. She tried to step lightly, but she was afraid that her footfalls were making exceptionally loud bangs on the floor.
She heard a faint clang and her heart leapt into her throat. Suddenly all kinds of terrifying things were dancing through her mind and squeezing her chest. As much as she wanted to help the guy, she also wanted to live. A bolt of distrust and anger that was all Tyff struck her and she had to wonder what in the damn hell she was doing
I have to get out of here! she thought, suddenly panicking. She had not thought this through. She could talk to Luke while he was in a cell. So long as she was with Tyff when he captured him, she could make sure no harm came to the guy.
She turned and ran for the door, no longer caring how much noise she made. Her feet slapped the floor, and her chest grew tight as she tried to draw in even bigger breaths. Her arms pumped and her hands clasped her phone for dear life.
She couldn’t hear a thing. Maybe the guy wasn’t even in here. Penelope had been guessing. Renay could be running from nothing.
Still, she didn’t stop.
Just as she reached the door, she started to laugh at herself. She had worked herself into a panic for no reason. They would find the guy hiding under his bunk or something. She breathed a sigh of relief and reached for the heavy handle.
“Hello, Renay.” Luke’s voice sounded from behind her. She turned around, her heart hammering twice as hard as before.
“Luke. Hey.” She tried to sound calm, but her voice trembled.
“Good to see you.” He grinned, but it was not a nice smile. He jumped forward and grabbed her. Renay didn’t even have time to scream before he stuffed a gag into her mouth and twisted her arms behind her. One strong arm wrapped firmly around her neck and Renay saw stars as the darkness of unconsciousness took her.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Panic flew through Tyff’s veins, but it didn’t slow him down. Deep within, his dragon entwined with him, and their fear galvanized into perfect calm. He had never thought so clearly in his life.