Murder on a Moon Trek

Chapter 27: Not Chipped

I kept my fingers on my neck. The wound I'd felt last night had healed over and the skin felt like my normal Plunian skin: smooth but tough, like latex stretched over my musculature and bones. It seemed Pika was telling the truth.

"The session in Council Chambers happened yesterday" I said. "This morning, you were here. You tied me to the bed. You said Neptune told you to watch me."

"You were maaaaad." Pika drew out the word. "The giant was afraid you'd hurt yourself."

"Pika, how do you know Neptune?"

Her eyes grew wide and her ears popped up. "I told you, I'm not allowed to say."

All yesterday I'd operated under the assumption that Neptune had chipped me. The anger, the secrets, the threats. And the new evidence I'd uncovered.

Neptune didn't know about that. He didn't know about D'Nar's melted fingernail or the truth about Vaan's presence on Moon Unit 5.

"I have to talk to him. He said he was going on a mission. Where is he, surveillance? Is he in The Space Bar? Go into the closet and hand me the aqua chiffon dress. I'll meet him there."

"He's outside."

"Outside where? There is no outside. We're in the middle of the galaxy."

She pointed to the wall of the ship and nodded. "He went out there."

"He can't go out there. He'll die."

"That's why he told you to watch me. He's not coming back." Pika's eyes grew double the size they'd been. A giant tear dropped onto her cheek and ran down her round pink face.

I put my hands on Pika's narrow shoulders and made her face me. "Are you telling me Neptune is planning to leave the confines of the ship?" She nodded. "Do you know why?" She nodded again. "You have to tell me."

"I can't. I'll get in trouble."

"You have to."

"No."

I'd forgotten how quickly a Gremlon could move. Before I could stop her, she was at the door. The sudden motion caused them to open. I lost valuable chasing time maneuvering around the table. By the time I was out the door, she'd disappeared down the hallway.

I went back to my quarters and dropped into the chair. This had been the craziest week of my life and it wasn't over yet. An hour ago, I'd had a person to blame. As it turned out, that person had saved my life. Up was down. Black was white. My home planet had been destroyed. Everybody I knew was on this ship, and I couldn't trust any of them.

I sat up a little straighter when the reality of that thought hit me. There was one person who had risked his career to save my life, and if Pika was telling the truth, he was about to risk his own life next. If something—anything—happened to him, a killer would go free, and the ship still wouldn't be safe.

I had to find Neptune. If only Pika had told me more.

But something she'd said stayed with me. She was afraid she'd get in trouble for hiding. Hiding where? The where didn't matter as much as the why. Neptune already knew she was on the ship. She pretended to be scared of him, but she didn't hide from him. She'd been hiding from someone else. And she knew what Neptune was about to do.

I remembered the captain coming to the uniform ward and talking to Neptune. "There's a problem with the hull," he'd said. And I'd heard it repeated right here in my quarters because Cat had recorded it.

I put my magnification goggles back on and used the pointy end of my tool to trigger the playback mechanism on Cat. Static sounded, at first, and a shock coursed through the metal into my fingers. I dropped the tool, shook out my hand, and then picked it back up and tried again.