Vai

"We'd better take this same elevator," Owen said. "Maybe there's a glitch with it."

"Maybe," I said.

We didn't wait long for the elevator to return. Owen stepped on first. Warpaint proceeded me into the elevator. The doors slid shut and Owen pushed for level 8. The computer's voice said, "This is a restricted area. Please enter the access code."

The level numbers on the elevator screen changed to a set of letters and numbers for us to select. Owen looked up at me as if I knew what the access code was. I shrugged my shoulders.

"Well," Owen said, "I could guess. Do you know how many characters it is supposed to be at least? 8? 12? 20?"

I shrugged again.

"You're no help. What about you?" he asked Warpaint. "You seem to have it more together than this guy."

"I do not know. Usually access codes to restricted areas are 20 characters, but it might be more in this case. The Shadow is a special ship after all."

"I'll just try something." Owen typed in 25 random numbers and letters and hit submit.

"The access code is incorrect," the computer said. "Please enter the correct code or cancel the request. Another incorrect access code will result in security being called."

There was something about the computer's voice that had given me chills the first time I had heard it. It imitated a woman's voice and it seemed oddly familiar, but I couldn't place where. But no one else seemed bothered by it so I assumed it was one of those generic voices used all the time slightly distorted by a mechanical hum and everyone but me was used to it.

"How'd she get there?" Owen asked. He hit the cancel key and the screen went back to the levels of the ship.

"She must have the access code," I said.

Owen looked up at me. "Really? A girl our age has access to the restricted areas? Who gave her permission? Why would she need to go there? Life support functions are...well, I don't think they are completely shut off, but they are highly minimal on those levels."

"Okay," I said just to get him to be quiet. Owen hit level 5 and there was the barest movement as the elevator lifted.

"Maybe she hacked it," I said mainly to myself.

The doors slid open and Owen stepped out first. I followed and Warpaint followed me.

"That's highly unlikely," Owen said as he started down the corridor on the right.

"I agree with your new friend," Warpaint said. "That is highly unlikely."

I started to walk down the left corridor, but stopped when Warpaint spoke. I looked back at Owen.

"My new friend?" I asked.

"That's right," Owen said. "What else would I be. An old friend?"

We stood in the opposite corridors staring at each other.

"Please, sir," Warpaint said to me, "you are much too old to be his lover like the last person."

"Lover? What? No," I said. "And I told you, Thrissko wasn't my lover."

"But you said he wasn't your friend," Warpaint said.

Owen stood in the right corridor laughing at our exchange. His shoulders lifted up and down as the laughter seemed to engulf his entire being.

"Not friend does not equal lover, Warpaint."

"Enemies?" Warpaint said. "But you were together a lot until that last incident. You seemed on good terms. I'm confused, sir, if he wasn't a friend or . . ."

"Fine," I said. "Thrissko was my friend."

"But," Warpaint said, "friends don't usually beat the other one up to where their eyeball hangs out." He pointed at my eye with his metal hand.

Owen stopped laughing at this. "Your friend did that to you? I thought you got into a gang fight or something. One person did that to you?"

"He is K'thaktra," I said, "and he was . . ." I was going to say he was high on zek, but maybe that was something I shouldn't let get around. Zek was supposed to have been destroyed after the K'thaktra war. Dr. Rags didn't seem to know anything about zek when I mentioned it to him and my father was quick to cut off discussion about it. "...he was angry."

Owen took two steps into the main corridor back towards us. "What did you do to him that made him so angry?"

I tried to think of something, but there was nothing.

"He left him on Mars to come on board the Shadow," Warpaint said.

"So he ripped you apart?"

"K'thaktra," I shrugged not knowing what else to say. There was also a tinge of guilt that formed in the back of my chest. I still wasn't used to the K'thaktra being part of the Gathering But before all this, there really hadn't been anything wrong with Thrissko. I cursed Papa and his tailor shop and zek.

"I guess," Owen said. Then his face lit up like it had in the museum and he said, "Maybe she's a ghost."

"What?" I asked.

"The girl that went to the 8th level, maybe she's a ghost," Owen said. "Maybe she was on the ship during the K'thaktra war and she died during one of the battles. Can you detect ghosts, Warpaint?"

"I . . ." Warpaint started.

"Nevermind," Owen said. "I guess we'll know when school starts. A ghost wouldn't attend school would she."

"I guess not," I said.

Owen's Okulus beeped. It was currently wrapped around his wrist. He looked down at it and frowned. He held it up towards me so that I could see he had a call coming from 'Dad'. "Parental stuff," he said to me.

I nodded. "Parental stuff."

"I better get going, Vai. I'll see you later. Bye, Warpaint. I hope we'll become close in the future." He turned and scampered down the corridor on the right.