“What’s going on, Professor?”
Mason stopped pacing, and looked
directly at him. “I don’t know if I should be the one to tell you this. I don’t
even know how to tell you this. My
God, I can’t process it myself.” He let
out a long, shaky breath. “The Pegasus
was attacked.”
Phoenix’s heart stopped. He couldn’t
breathe, couldn’t move a muscle. It felt like the wind had been knocked out of
him.
“At first I thought it was a ploy. A
way to get the keepers back in Olympus,” Mason continued. “But Vickard showed
me the data logs.”
He coughed, trying to find his voice. “He
must have forged them.”
“I wish he had, Phoenix, but they look
legitimate.”
No.
This had to be a mistake.
“There’s also Kennedy’s Series
Seven android, Matilda. Her feed is consistent with the data logs.”
He shook his head, unable to believe
it. “How—?”
“Sae-yers.”
Everything was spinning. “Don’t tell me
she’s dead. Don’t you dare tell me she’s dead. I won’t believe you.”
“One escape pod launched from the
vessel. According to android’s feed, Kennedy was on it. There’s a good chance
she might still be alive. Unfortunately, the android lost communication with
the pod after it launched so they don’t know for sure.”
Phoenix stood, and walked to the
window. He pressed his palms against the glass, taking a
shaky breath. It took everything he had to keep himself calm. He wanted to
shatter the glass with his bare hands. He wanted to destroy everything in this
room. He wanted to pummel Vickard until the general was barely recognizable. How could they let this happen?
His insides twisted, and he knew he
was about to be sick.
“And everyone else?”
“No one else survived.”
That was all he could handle.
He reached for the wastebasket, his
body heaving as emptied his stomach. He tried not to see their faces, but they
came to him anyway—Alanna. Colton. Bloody hell. Two keepers at once. Gone. He couldn’t believe they were gone.
Mason waited until he was done. When
he turned around, he saw the professor leaning against the wall, his hands
covering his haggard face. “It’s my fault,” he said in a broken voice. “I
convinced them to do the mission.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“I’m so sorry, Phoenix. Vickard said
he’s scrambling to put together a rescue mission to leave as soon as possible.”
At least they had a plan. “I want to
be on it.”
Mason sobered, and faced him. “Impossible.
You know you’re needed here.”
“I will
be on that ship, Professor.”
“We’ve already lost three keepers. The
world can’t afford to lose you, too.”
“My world is Kennedy. She’s out there somewhere, lost, afraid—who knows what
she’s thinking.”
“Look, I know this news doesn’t come
easy, but you really need to think about the implications of your actions. What
it will mean for you, the other keepers, and the entire planet. She can’t come
first—”
“She does come first.”
“Oh, come now. Be reasonable—”
“She comes first. Always.” Phoenix
said it point-blank, his voice deadly serious. “I know what I am, Professor; I
don’t take that responsibility lightly. But nothing you can say will change my
mind.”
Mason frowned, his brow furrowing into
deep lines. “I didn’t realize the two of you had gotten so close.” He sighed. “Vickard
is going to use this to his advantage. The U.S. government doesn’t have
explorer vessels at their disposal. They won’t be able to plan their own rescue
mission. It will all have to be done through DOE.”
Because let’s face it, they could use
this against him.
And he would let them.
“Vickard will probably make me sign
some contract binding me to DOE for the rest of my life—I don’t care. Whatever
it takes to get Kennedy back, I’ll do it.”
“Be smart about this, Phoenix. For
God’s sake, don’t go in there and show him all your cards.”
“He already knows he has me. I quit
for Kennedy, remember?”
Technically he quit because Sigly
tried to drown her. Back then he didn’t know what Kennedy would come to mean to
him; he was just sick of watching Sigly treat her and everyone else like a
science experiment.
“That was under extreme
circumstances,” Mason allowed. “Doesn’t mean Vickard knows everything.”
Phoenix doubted that. He and Kennedy
had broken into the general’s office once before. The guy kept files on all the
keepers. He made it his business to know everything there was to know about all
of them.
“He’s got me, and he knows it,” he said, squaring his jaw. The truth was, it didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was
finding Kennedy. If DOE was his only recourse, he’d do
whatever they wanted.
Mason joined him by the window,
staring outside into the clear blue sky. “Everything was going so well.”
Phoenix shook his head. “It was too
little, too late.”
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