“All right,” Lament tries, but the group is too wound up, everyone talking over everyone else. “Please, just hang—oh, for crying—” He sticks his thumb and forefinger between his lips and gives a shrill whistle. The chatter abruptly dies. “I can see you are all… excited. And that’s… what it is. But Hartman has been through a lot today, and he only just woke up. He is surely not ready to talk about the plan.”
“What plan?” I ask.
Lament makes the universal cringe face forwhoops, but Avi jumps in. “The plan where you finally speak to Ran Doc Min about his simulation and get to the bottom of his motives. I mean, you were invited to join his movement, right? He even offered to meet you personally!”
That, if nothing else, snaps everything into focus.
“Avi.” Lament is frowning. “What part ofHartman has been through a lotdid you not—?”
“Hang on, hang on.” Time to get off the floor. I scramble to my feet, though the sudden shift fromdown theretoup heresends spots across my vision. “You’re right, Avi.” I brace my hands on my thighs to send blood back to my brain. “Nina asked me to join the Determinist movement. She said Doc Min wanted to speak with me, which would probably happen on The Parallax, seeing as he never leaves it. And if that’s true…”
I trail off, catching their knowing looks. After weeks of searching, we’ve finally been handed an opening. I could question Ran Doc Min about Mount Kilmon and Trey Morton and the voroxide and his motives. I could sneak into the simulation room and see FPS for myself, figure out how it works, whether its data source is unethical or illegal or both.
“This is our chance,” I say. “I don’t—” I run a hand down my face, trying to wipe away the cobwebs of sleep and exhaustion and twenty-four hours of surprises. “I don’t know how I didn’t realize it sooner.”
Lament is frowning. “I might be able to name a few reasons.”
“I could contact Rivon,” I continue while the others nod eagerly. “Say I want to take Nina up on her offer.”
“For the record,” Lament says, frowning harder, “I do not like where this is going.”
“In all fairness”—Avi twirls a finger at Lament—“you’re the one who wanted to talk to Ran Doc Min in person and get to the bottom of the space mist.”
“Not if doing so means sending Keller on a suicide mission.”
“It’s not a suicide mission,” I say at the same moment the door opens again, admitting Jester and Vera who asks, “What’d we miss?”
“Keller just realized Nina’s invitation to speak with Ran Doc Min is the opportunity we’ve been waiting for,” Avi says in a rushed breath, “and Lament is going to try to stop him from risking himself because hecares,” (she brings her clasped hands to her cheek) “and Keller is going to do it anyway because, revenge,” (stabbing motions) “andthis is just like last season’s finale ofHippie Days!”
Vera makes a confounded motion. “Are we concerned for her? I’m concerned for her.”
“She’s just summarizing the situation,” Toph says in defense of his partner. Then, sheepishly, “Though we probably could have done without the pantomiming.”
“Thisisbasically the perfect opportunity to get some answers,” muses Youvu Hum.
“It’stooperfect,” says the other Youvu Hum, which makes everyone’s heads turn. The Youvu Hums never contradict each other.
“I just mean,” Youvu Hum continues, “doesn’t anyone else find it odd that the moment we need to get on Ran Doc Min’s ship, Hartman’s long-lost mother reappears offering him an outlandish opportunity toget on Ran Doc Min’s ship?”
“You think it’s a trap?” Toph asks.
“Doc Min could be stimulating us,” Vera says.
You mean simulating, Jester corrects, with typical nonchalance.
“So, like, what?” I ask. “Doc Min has us plugged into his simulation, and he knows we want to get onto his ship, and he’s just… giving us what we want?”
“When you put it like that,” Vera muses, “it doesn’t sound very plausible.”
“Two cats in a trench coat,” Caspen agrees.
“UnlessDoc Minhas an ulterior motive,” Avi adds.
“You’re making my head hurt,” Youvu Hum complains.
“Even if Doc Min wants to use our own plan against us,” Toph says, “an opportunity is an opportunity. We’ll just have to be smart about it.”
“IfKeller is up for the mission,” Vera corrects.
