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Chapters (48)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Page
  3. Table of Contents
  4. Chapter One: Fender Bender
  5. Chapter Two: Bigfoot Burrito
  6. Chapter Three: Treasure Hunt
  7. Chapter Four: Open Sesame
  8. Chapter Five: Central Intelligence
  9. Chapter Six: First Flight
  10. Chapter Seven: Park It
  11. Chapter Eight: Next Steps
  12. Chapter Nine: Search Strategies
  13. Chapter Ten: Overflight
  14. Chapter Eleven: Barn Doors
  15. Chapter Twelve: Saturn Fly-By
  16. Chapter Thirteen: Getting a Clue
  17. Chapter Fourteen: Hacked
  18. Chapter Fifteen: The Spy Game
  19. Chapter Sixteen: Investigations
  20. Chapter Seventeen: Break-In
  21. Chapter Eighteen: Battening Down
  22. Chapter Nineteen: Shoring Up Defenses
  23. Chapter Twenty: Third Time’s the Charm
  24. Chapter Twenty-One: Proxy
  25. Chapter Twenty-Two: Rescue
  26. Chapter Twenty-Three: Chase
  27. Chapter Twenty-Four: Spies R Us
  28. Chapter Twenty-Five: Surveillance
  29. Chapter Twenty-Six: Making Plans
  30. Chapter Twenty-Seven: Going In
  31. Chapter Twenty-Eight: Infiltration
  32. Chapter Twenty-Nine: Accidental Captive
  33. Chapter Thirty: Interrogation
  34. Chapter Thirty-One: Reaction
  35. Chapter Thirty-Two: Kidnappings
  36. Chapter Thirty-Three: Reviewing Options
  37. Chapter Thirty-Four: Public Debut
  38. Chapter Thirty-Five: Distractions
  39. Chapter Thirty-Six: The Big Reveal
  40. Chapter Thirty-Seven: Regrouping
  41. Chapter Thirty-Eight: Waiting for Results
  42. Chapter Thirty-Nine: It Hits the Fan
  43. Chapter Forty: Disassembly
  44. Chapter Forty-One: Wrapping It Up
  45. Chapter Forty-Two: Negotiations
  46. Chapter Forty-Three: Coda
  47. About the Author
  48. About the Publisher

“During the Mars trip, I overheard a mention of an incident at MIT that has placed your tenure in doubt. My understanding is that you believe you were set up in some way?”

“That might not be the right term. I don’t think whoever did it was specifically targeting me. More likely they just needed a patsy—someone’s account to use. I still can’t figure out how they got my password, though. The problem, of course, is proving that it wasn’t me using my account.”

“Hmm. I have lots of free time while you humans eat, sleep, and defecate. Would you mind if I did some research into it?”

“Not at all. Anything you can dig up could be helpful.” I yawned, then yawned again. “So, I’m beat. It’s been, you know, a pretty exciting day. I’ll be turning in early. Will you be okay? Need anything?”

“No, but thanks for asking. I feel a lot safer being under cover.”

“And listen, as a general rule, if anyone but us comes in, you should float up as high as you can to get out of reach.”

“Eminently sensible. I’ll do that.”

“Good. See you tomorrow.”

Chapter Eight: Next Steps

Chapter Eight: Next Steps

Day 4. Monday

I got up early on Monday and drove the truck out to Duke’s Collision and Repair. My father hadn’t noticed the parking job, and I needed to keep the whole subject of the accident off his radar. Who knew what question or random thought could unravel everything?

Duke’s wouldn’t be open for a half hour yet, so I went to the McDonald’s drive-through and picked up a large coffee. As I sat parked in front of Duke’s shop, I opened the Notes app on my phone and added some questions to my list:

•What specifically does the ray gun do at the different color settings?

•What do the Loranna look like?

•How exactly are they planning to take over?

•Possibly related: What is that loophole in the Galactic Covenant?

•What is the Galactic Covenant?

•Is there a Federation or something similar?

•Are the Gen peaceful? Are they a better alternative than the Loranna?

•Is there anything we can do about the Loranna’s plans?

•What should we do with Alaric?

Nat would approve of this list. She’d probably think up several more questions. And that was the problem. Each one answered would probably generate more questions. It would be great if Sheldon would just sit us down and give us the whole story from beginning to end, but Sheldon seemed, well, unmotivated in that area. I couldn’t decide if that was because Sheldon had things to hide, or just didn’t want to confide in us, or literally lacked the initiative. Maybe he wasn’t as self-aware as he thought.