Diggers: The Sharp Edge of the Universe by Shannon Heather, Jerrett James

torture—plain and simple.
    As he read about Colonel Beck, his great-great-great-great…great grandfather, Finn marveled at how expertly his mom could institute some of the worst punishments of all time.
    “Mr. Finnigan O’Reilly,” ELAINA cooed, “you have a call from the Security Breach Magistrate, Mr. Cha’an Chandelier.”
    “’Kay.”
    Mr. Chandelier’s puke-green head slowly glided up and down in the holoscreen. “Well, hello again, Finnigan. I just wanted to make sure you will be at the inquiry Monday morning, 0900.”
    Finn hated Mr. Chandelier’s voice. He'd hated it from the first time he came to “meet” the family, which turned out to be more of an interrogation.
    Mr. Chandelier blew out extra air with every word, which made him sound like he was lodged in a wind tunnel. He came from Charsinian, one of the windiest planets in the Universe, but that still didn’t explain why he sounded that way while living on a space station.
    “Yes, sir.” Finn avoided looking directly at him.
    “Good boy.” The wind sound hissed from his nose holes with each word. “Your mother’s inquiry will take place right afterward.”
    Finn slumped further in his chair. “Okay…sir.”
    Mr. Chandelier’s face disappeared, and Finn threw himself onto his bed. In four days the punishment his mom had given him would seem like a vacation. Visions of being hung up by his toes, or being forced to kiss the gruesome boils on Mr. Chandelier’s face, sent a shiver through him.
    Finn rolled onto his back and summoned Quigley. In seconds, the fish bowl bobbed up and down over his head. It was enough to garner a lazy yawn from Jasper, who’d taken up residence on Finn’s pillow.
    The only thing Finn was allowed to do besides become an expert in his family’s history was clean…or clean… or there was always…cleaning. His parents kept the Newspad locked with a parental control password that he figured out the first day, but the headlines were too depressing to read. The news reports either covered Lee Fishborne and another dozen discoveries, or hashed out updates on The Alleged Criminal Boy—and he already knew more about that story than he wanted.
    Finn yawned and gave the air next to Quigley a frustrated punch.
    Bam !
    The room shook, and Finn fell off his bed, rolling toward the side wall. The lights flickered, and the temporary loss of power caused Quigley to crash onto Jasper, who hissed and made a break for the door, which kept whooshing open and closed.
    “Hello, Mr. Finnigan O’Reilly. Goodbye, Mr. Finn…Hello…Good…Mr. F—” ELAINA cut in and out.
    Jasper had almost made it through the door when the entire room began to shift to one side. Finn tried to stand but couldn’t because the entire Space Station seemed to be tilting at a forty-five-degree angle. Items not attached to the floor hurtled toward Finn and Jasper. They barely dodged the desk chair that flew straight at them. Jasper hissed again, leapt onto the bed, and hung on with his claws.
    “N-no, no, no!” Finn’s dresser slid toward him, and all he could do was brace himself for the hit.
    Bam !
    Finn opened his eyes and gave a huge sigh of relief. The corner of the bed had caught the dresser just in time and sent it careening through the door and into the hallway. The hover light, along with Quigley’s fishbowl, leaned almost sideways— which made no sense because all hover-capable items used the electromagnetic pull of the Space Station’s power core to maintain an absolute vertical.
    Crawling on the wall, Finn pulled himself out of his room. Just as he made it over his dresser in the hallway, he tumbled to the floor with a thud. Vortex had righted itself, which sent everything crashing around again.
    “Ow,” He rubbed his head. “What the….”
    Inching his way to the ComPad, he pressed in his mom’s code.
    “Mom! Mom! The Space Station just went sideways,” Finn’s voice cracked.
    “I know! I’m on the Space Station too,”