Lyon's Legacy: Catalyst Chronicles, Book One by Sandra Ulbrich Almazan

chairs over and claimed one. I climbed into the other, glancing around to make sure the beeps and chimes from the instruments were part of their normal functions, not someone fiddling around with the m.
    “Do you want to talk about it?” she asked.
    I shook my head.
    She sighed. “How much do you know about George?”
    That was easier. “Well, he likes music, he’s sweet and thoughtful, he can be funny—when he’s not being stubborn.”
    “Because you never are.”
    “Guilty as charged.” I spoke lightly, but I could still feel my cheeks grow warm.
    “Did George ever tell you why he’s on the Sagan , not back on Earth?”
    “I always thought it was a great honor to be part of this mission.”
    Lizabeth grinned. “Yeah, I think so too. Who knows, someday we may discover something completely new, not just a copycat universe. That’s what I’m staking my Nobel hopes on. But George thinks if we make a major discovery, it would erase the problems he had back at his postdoc lab.”
    This was someth ing George had never even hinted at. “What problems?”
    She bit her lip. “Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything, but if you search his records, you’ll find it anyway. The professor he was working with took some of George’s data for a journal article and alter ed it without his permission.”
    I sucked in my breath. “No wonder he’s so worried about ethics.”
    Lizabeth raised a finely arched eyebrow. “You mean your argument wasn’t personal? It had something to do with the lab?”
    “Not exactly.”
    She stared at me, the expression in her green eyes neutral. “Then about your mission to clone your ancestor?”
    “You know about that?” My voice came out squeaky, making me wince.
    “Of course, Jo. All genetic samples come through here, so we get briefed on what to expect.”
    I worried f or a moment if she was going to think I’d purposely lied about mission instead of refusing to talk about it. But she simply shrugged. “Personally, I think it’s a waste of time trying to make another Sean Lyon, but if your rich uncle wants to throw a few million credits our way, I’m not going to complain. Why send you, though? You don’t seem to care about Sean.”
    “I don’t.” I got up to start the dishwasher. “But I’m a victim of Jackass’s credits too.”
    “Ah.”
    It was hard to read what she meant by that one sylla ble. Was she indifferent, or disappointed in me? I swallowed and wished I’d never set foot in the genetics lab. Sabotage was easier to contemplate when you didn’t know the people who would be affected by your actions.
    For a couple of minutes, the only sound in the lab was the dishwasher starting its cycle. Lizabeth put the chairs back and turned off all the equipment not in use. “Well, I hope you and George can work things out. Only a couple more weeks until you visit t he other Earth. Are you excited about that, at least?”
    I wasn’t in the mood to be excited over anything.
    After she left, I reviewed George’s biography on the Sagan’s personnel roster, then cross-checked records on the institutions where he’d studied. I did find a reference to a professor being dismissed from a university for falsifying data, but there were no mentions of George in the article. I’d have to wait until the return leg of the trip, when we were closer to Earth, to dig deeper.
    Or I could just as k George himself. I gritted my teeth. Why hadn’t he told me about this himself, if it was so important to him? But how could I approach him without revealing Lizabeth had shared his secret? And would this make any difference in how he viewed my mission—and me?
    My handheld dinged with a message. “Ms. Lyon, please report to the mess hall for a TwenCen presentation.”
    George and I were going to have to go a little longer without talking to each other, but we were due for a long conversation.
     
    * * *
     
    “Hurry up, Ms. Lyon,” Pluckenreck said as she grabbed my arm. Her spectacles