The Secrets of Star Whales

The Secrets of Star Whales — page 7 — Ugh India and I did not think this through But Mom was chatting with Kaito the space traffic controller I inhaled as they stepped into view but they were walking with purpose along the outer ring of this level and didn’t glance left to see me It worked Plus they saved me the time of checking every hangar for my target I crept to the outer circle peeked around the corner and watched them disappear into Hangar 42 The doors slid shut and silence fell I counted to ten then crept to the hangar It was sealed tight standard protocol for welcoming a foreign starship Not that that’d stop me My heart pounded as I knelt beside the tiny metal panel just left of the doors plucking my hydrodriver out of my back pocket The panel popped off with barely a nudge of the thin tool revealing a snarl of wires inside And past them the switch to override the

The Secrets of Star Whales — page 8 — locking mechanism In my head a theme song for my escapades was already forming a litany of swells and staggers that made me feel like I was the lead in an action holovid I nudged the wires aside carefully carefully to reveal the tiny black switch I moved to press it And the doors slid open to reveal Mom waiting with crossed arms I screamed Wait wait Ahem I didn’t scream Screaming was for little kids scared by old stories of flesh-eating sirens in space No I merely offered Mom a smirk and a cool two-fingered salute Yep That’s what happened At some point during my totally legit reaction I dropped my hydrodriver The skinny tool skittered across the floor knocking against Mom’s boot She plucked it off the ground and examined it as if she’d never seen one before Which was

The Secrets of Star Whales — page 9 — crazy considering it could switch between twelve different tools with the flick of a finger hydrodrivers were a staple in every engineer’s toolbox But let her look all she wanted I took advantage of the distraction subtly reattaching the metal panel in a last-ditch effort to hide my tampering It didn’t work The distinct snap gained Mom’s attention and with a huff she shot me The Look You know the one That stare all moms use pure derision that silently says You messed up I flinched Maxion Cameron Belmont She drew out my name forcing me to taste the disappointment in every syllable How did I know you’d be here Obviously someone had seen me sneak away and snitched With my list of usual suspects from my class from Nashira Robinson self-appointed communicator

The Secrets of Star Whales — page 10 — AKA gossiper to Tarynn Zhang stuffy class president to Rhett Resnik holier than-thou bully there were too many possibilities But snitching meant giving up the chance to bribe me for juicy gossip and Azurans loved to gossip That was the real reason India had plucked that smoke bomb from the recesses of her patchwork jacket Considering we hadn’t seen a tourist in three years a front-row seat to this event would make me king I mean come on But that snarky reply wouldn’t win favors with Mom So I tried something different my built-in defense these days Ah Mr Keller asked me to test the integrity of the hangar doors A lie but hopefully a convincing one Considering my job with Keller was the only thing financing a repair for Dad’s decivox it wasn’t so unbelievable The

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