Explorer X Alpha by LM. Preston

World way of thinking, but it’s her way of making me feel better about it. Whoa… wait a minute, why am I telling you this?” Eirena said, shaking her head as if coming out of a daze.
    â€œHmm. I think I can trust you. I went on a journey out of my room. My friend is probably angry at me, but I was curious,” Ebu said, then leaned closer to Eirena.
    â€œI did a bad thing. I tapped into the database of the ship. I can do this, but my friend doesn’t know that yet,” Ebu said even lower.
    â€œWell, what did you find?” Eirena asked and inched a bit closer to him.
    â€œHey! Eirena, you will never guess who I talked to just now. The Captain! Personally!” Raiko said excitedly as she barged into the room. Raiko whirled around and did a double-take at the bed that looked like a fortress with the lower bunk completely closed in with blankets.
    â€œHey, why are you hiding? What’s up?” Raiko asked before she opened the flap. Eirena reached back and put her hand to Raiko’s mouth. Then, she put her finger up to her mouth.
    â€œShh,” Eirena said quietly. She took Raiko’s chin and turned it toward Ebu.
    Raiko’s dark, slanted eyes got wide with recognition, and she slowly crawled into the lower bunk. “What is that?” Raiko asked with a pointed finger.
    â€œI found him, and I am keeping him.”
    Raiko reached over and tried to poke Ebu. “Keep him for what? That thing is ugly!”
    â€œBecause I want him. He is interesting,” Eirena said.
    â€œHmm, let me check him out,” said Raiko, reaching over Eirena to grab Ebu. He was docile and let her pick him up to inspect him.
    â€œWow! Great workmanship. Is this titanium? And look… he even has one of those battery packs that is powered by the sun. Cool! His power pack’s non-removable, so no one can just shut him off. Hmm, I should get out and get my tools. You know, I am pretty good at fixing stuff. It helped to get away from my brothers and sisters,” Raiko said, and she turned Ebu over and sat him down.

 
Chapter 9
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    Scott, Aadi, and Dakota walked slowly toward the girls’ dorms and saw a tall, muscular woman with blue eyes, highlighted brown hair, and an angry expression.
    â€œWhere do you think you are going, gentlemen?” she said, then looked down at them.
    Scott flicked the device hidden in his hand and tapped his ear. With a flash of his hand, he flicked out of Aadi’s vision. Dakota was looking behind them to make sure no one else noticed them in the hallway.
    â€œUm, ma’am, what is your name? I have a question to ask you,” Scott said, a little nervously. At that moment, Aadi started to get worried that their plan wasn’t going to work.
    â€œMy name is Marianne, and you boys better get moving,” she said, then pointed opposite of the hallway.
    â€œWell, you don’t see us. You are going to let us pass and just forget we are here, Marianne,” Scott said to her in a melodic voice that Aadi never remembered Scott using before.
    â€œI don’t see you. I will forget,” she repeated and tued away in trance-like agreement. Scott walked forward and then pulled at Dakota’s sleeve. They made their way to the room without further hesitation. Aadi got in front and led the way.
    â€œOkay, now we are here, but how do we get through the security check for our eyes?” Scott asked Aadi.
    â€œMove out of the way, amateurs,” Dakota said, then took out a key card and punched in a code, which opened the door.
    â€œOkay… um, how did you do that?” Aadi asked Dakota.
    â€œYou know I have a good memory, and I saw one of the Counselors do it. However, he dropped his key card, so I just picked it up. Figured I may need it someday,” Dakota said with a smile, then Scott looked at him with something similar to a new respect.
    â€œWell, I am going to go in first and look around. You both stay out