Dark Star by Lara Morgan Page B

father would align himself with the story of a man who bested the gods. He gently slipped the copy of
The Odyssey
off the shelf. It had a hard cover and, when he opened it, the pages were soft and fine as old leaves. He flicked through page after page. Nothing but words. He began to put it back, when he noticed something between the spine and pages catching the light, a tiny glimmer. He held it up to his eye. Something was there. Dalton eased it out. It was a thin silver storage chit, the length of his forefinger and almost as thin as plaspaper. Excitement made his heart race. How to read it?
    He went to the desk, feeling along the narrow shelf underneath the desktop that held general office supplies. There were three ordinary readers there for various sized devices, no security coding on them. Dalton found one that fit and inserted the chit. The blue screen came to life and a line of numbers scrolled across. Code. Dalton swore, then froze as he heard sounds coming from downstairs. A deep voice. Pilar’s answering tone. His father was home.
    He slipped the chit and reader into his pocket, then shoved the book on the shelf and switched the shield back on, checking the room in case he’d left any trace. Nothing he could see.
    Chest tight with fear, he activated the door, ready to make up some excuse. All he saw though was Pilar’s back at the bottom of the stairs. She was facing towards the kitchen where his father must have gone. Dalton reactivated the security and locked the door again. When he turned back Pilar was looking straight up the stairs at him. They regarded each other, then with a quick glance in his father’s direction Pilar headed for the kitchen saying, “Let me make you something to eat, Mr Curtis.”
    Dalton jogged downstairs and headed straight to his room. That had been too close. He wondered what the hell his dad was doing back so early. He was supposed to be in the American Republic for another day at least. Had he seen the Rogue Wave he’d sent? He hadn’t counted on his dad being back in the city for it – but maybe that was a good thing. He could observe his reactions firsthand. But first he had to crack this code and get the chit back into the office. Dalton frowned at the numbers. It seemed simple enough, and he’d always been good at this sort of thing.
    He sat down on the floor and began to work out the system. It was surprisingly easy. Less than twenty minutes later he had it. It was simple, far too simple. Either his father hadn’t had time to do more, or he hadn’t been concerned about it being found. Dalton read through the short note his father must have written. It was addressed only to S. Could that be Sulawayo? Possibly, or a thousand other people.
    Keep applying pressure to gain information. We need those gate plans, the list and any other information she has, it’s paramount to our cause, as is the boy. Ensure she is protected from attempts to access the implant. Awaiting your report
.
    The gate plans must be the Equinox Gate, the instructions for building the wormhole gate to the outer planets that Rosie had in her implant. She had the only copy since they’d destroyed the base where Helios had been constructing it a few months ago. And the boy was probably Pip. It all read like his dad was part of the rebellion, even possibly leading it. Or did it? Was he making assumptions?
    Dalton ran his finger over the reader. He wanted to believe, but years of living with his father made it hard. Jebediah Curtis was not a man to do anything for altruistic reasons. Not that he’d seen anyway.
    He put down the reader and rubbed his eyes. He hadn’t been sleeping much since Rosie left and didn’t remember the last time he’d woken up feeling any good. His mind was fuzzy, confused.
Get it together, Dalton. She’s relying on you
. He took in a long breath and checked the time. Nearly two o’clock.
    The AI had probably informed his father he was home – what time he’d come in and that