Stargazer - Segregation

Chapter Twenty-Six - Mistrust

Logan walks through the hallway at night. His unease feeling about Michael just doesn't let him go. He thought about this for a while. For some reason, he doesn't believe his words. He feels a little odd to him. His thoughts follow Logan to the bridge where the twins work the night shift again after switching with Hermann.

"Have you ever thought of hacking someone?" Wylie looks at his sister.

"You mean like their computer or anything?" she asks back at him.

"Yeah. Like what if we can find a backdoor in their system and get all the information that we might need. For example, about their new weapons, their constructions, and their weaknesses. Wouldn't that benefit us in some ways?" he says, looking to her.

Rylie shortens her eyes. "Don't you think they know how to handle these kinds of attacks?"

He leans back, thinking. "Well, yeah, technically speaking, you're right. Isn't there something we might be able to do?"

"That would require a lot of work, dedication, and knowledge. I don't think it's really worth it, to be honest."

Logan steps in from behind, patting his legs with his fingers. "Hey," he says lightly.

"Hello, Logan. What are you doing here, at this hour?" questions Wylie.

His eyes roll over to the clock on the wall. Past two at night, he doesn't remember walking around the building at this time, ever.

"Well, actually. It's a bit complicated and morally indefensible."

"Just spit it out. We won't tell anyone," says Riley with an encouraging smile.

He steps up closer. Takes a chair and places it in the middle of the two, looking them in the eyes.

"It's about Michael," he says, looking down at his fingers that play with each other. "I think he might be some kind of—" he stops for a second to swallow. He doesn't want to say it now that he's in confrontation with it. He clears his throat. "I think he might not be who he pretends to be."

They look to each other, doubting.

"Are you saying he might be from Antares?"

"No, I don't know. But my question is or what I wanted to ask you, two guys, to do for me—well, could you find out some information about him? Like who is he?"

"Why do you think that?" she asks him.

"It's a feeling I have for quite a while now. But the last fight, he—" he shakes his head. "It's not easy to explain, alright. It's just the way he acts and talks, don't fit each other. They just," he tries to talk with his hand to make them understand. "They just don't work together."

Wylie remembers what he has seen during the fight, the face of Michael. It disturbed him to the degree that Logan might be on to something. "You know," he says and moves his head to Riley. "Could you please check the data?"

Riley starts to type, looking at the data from the last fight. They have to protocol everything for them to research. She can see if he got any stimulation shots.

"Well, this is weird," she looks at the number.

Logan and Wylie take their heads closer to the screen, watching.

"He doesn't have any. Meanwhile, Henry has about ten in addition to the overdose. He's on pair with you guys."

Wylie looks at Logan, surprised. "Either he has been piloting before, or he just doesn't care."

"His simulator was beyond bad. How could he?" Logan shortens his eyes.

"What if he pretended?"

"Are you saying that he might have pretended on the simulator to make him look like a beginner, Wylie?"