Lost Planet 02 - The Stolen Moon Read Online Free Page B

walking up the stairs. Chase stood behind him, still shaken from the blackout and trying to formulate the question he’d resisted asking in front of Maurus. “Is it possible … with all the hacking you’ve been doing, piggybacking on the mainframe…”
    That made Parker look up from his screen. “Are you serious? You think I caused the mainframe to crash?”
    â€œI know you’re good at what you do, but this isn’t a house or a cruiser, it’s a humongous complicated starship. Maybe you did something by accident.”
    Parker narrowed his eyes. “A starship’s core is nothing more than a great big computer. Sure, it’s a computer that makes engines fire and produces gravity and maintains life support, but at the basic level it’s still just a very complex computer. That’s all. And I know computers better than anyone.” He turned his back on Chase and tapped his finger on the desk, waiting for his console to start up.
    Chase paced in front of the bunk, restless. As usual, there didn’t seem to be much he could do to help. “So what should I do?”
    â€œI don’t know,” muttered Parker. “Do anything, for once.”
    Chase stopped. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    Parker turned around with the irritated expression that Chase knew meant he was being distracted from what he really wanted to do. “It means you spend every day sitting in this room or you mope around the ship, lurking in the officers’ lounge or mooning over a videofeed of the captain. You don’t actually do anything else.”
    Chase’s mouth dropped open slightly as Parker spoke. “What do you want me to do then, just forget about everything else and make a new life here while I wait either for you to find something on Asa or the Fleet to hunt us down and wipe us out? Should I find some buddies to play a dumb game with? This isn’t a home—it’s a refuge! And I’m not moping around all day. I have my sister to watch over.”
    Parker rolled his eyes and turned back to his computer. “Your sister is fine, let her be. Just relax and try to live your life for a while, okay? Find something you like to do and do it.”
    â€œI don’t even know what I like to do,” Chase muttered.
    â€œUgh, Chase, come on,” groaned Parker.
    But there really wasn’t anything Chase could think of that he wanted to do besides look for Asa and defend himself and the others against potential Fleet attacks. How could he possibly concentrate on anything else? “What can I do to help find the hacker?”
    Parker sighed. “Nothing, honestly. Just let me look into the blackout. You heard Maurus. It was probably just a ‘glitch’ anyway.”
    â€œYou don’t believe that,” said Chase.
    Parker didn’t turn around. “Nope. I’d bet my life on it. I just hope I don’t have to.”

 
    CHAPTER THREE
    Rather than sitting in his room pointlessly watching Parker click on a screen and stressing himself out more by looking for clues in computer code he had no hope of understanding, Chase went out to the hallway to walk off his nervous energy and see if he could learn anything from being out around the crew. The officers’ lounge was empty, but that came as no surprise. He’d been walking for fifteen minutes before he realized he’d completely forgotten about his appointment with the ship’s medical officer.
    Now he stood outside the empty quarters of Dr. Bishallany one floor down on the civilian level, apparently too late. Or maybe the appointment had been canceled—he hadn’t bothered to check his messages before leaving his room. After trying the notification key a second time, he stepped back to leave.
    The door slid open, but instead of the slight, balding form of Dr. Bishallany, standing before him in the doorway was a girl with long, honey-colored hair