“I, uh. I’d go with her if you want her to remember to show you the data, and not get distracted by hunting for an article she saw somewhere five years ago that will let her prove there’s life on Procyon Three,” he said. At our blank looks, he shrugged. “Toni sort of sets her own agenda.”

“I’m starting to get that,” said Graham slowly.

“We need to go after her,” I said.

He looked at me. I shook my head.

“Something about her … She knows what the signal really is,” I said. “She’s the answer.”

Graham nodded, and took my hand, and we walked, with David close behind us, down the scientific rabbit hole to a stranger’s Wonderland.

Chapter 6

Portland, Maine: July 20, 2031

Eighteen days pre-invasion

1.

David shouldered past us to take the lead, guiding us through an increasingly twisted maze of hallways that seemed to go on far longer than could be explained by the size of the observatory. After our third sharp left, he looked over his shoulder and said, “It’s bigger on the inside.”

“See, that’s funny when they do it on Doctor Who, but when we’ve just crossed the country to talk to a scientist who you’re now saying doesn’t exist, following a taxi driver to an unidentified location, it becomes creepy,” said Graham. He was still holding tightly to my hand. “This building is not bigger on the inside. The laws of physics say no.”

“True, but the laws of green architecture and fitting into the landscape say we have a lot more tunnels and underground labs than people would expect when they approach from the outside,” said David.

“Isn’t being underground sort of, I don’t know, contrary? When you’re supposed to be studying the sky?”

“Astrophysics doesn’t require an open window,” said David. “We like open windows, or we’d be geologists, but we can work pretty well in the dark.”

Graham squeezed my hand and said nothing.

I bit my lip. “Why did, um, Antonia lie about her name? Was it an accident?” That couldn’t be right. Whatever this was, it felt more like intentional deception than an accident.

“I’ll let her tell you.” David stopped at a half-open door, looking at the both of us gravely. He was still a bad liar. Nothing was going to change that. But seeing the expression on his face made me amend my first impression of him. He was a bad liar and a good friend. There were much worse things in this world.

Much worse.

“I’m going to sit in, if you don’t mind,” he said, tone clearly telegraphing how little he cared whether or not we minded. He was going to sit in no matter what we said. “Toni can get manic with strangers, and it’s best if I’m there to mediate.”

“Meaning…?” said Graham.