Murder on a Moon Trek

Chapter 23: Discovering the Truth

I woke with a headache that rivaled the one I'd had after drinking bootleg liquor from the chem lab at the space academy. It felt like someone had stapled my head to the carpet. I tried to sit up twice before realizing my head was, indeed, now attached to my bed. I reached up to free my hair when a pillow came down over my face.

"Stop it stop it stop it!" said Pika's soft voice. The pillow raised off me, and her pale pink face peeked over the top of it. "I'll untie your hair, but you have to be still."

"Why is my hair tied?"

Pika set the pillow aside and used her long skinny fingers to untangle my hair. I had no idea what she'd done to me, but unless I wanted to be bald like Vaan, I needed my hair.

"The giant told me to make sure you were safe. He said to make sure you put on your sleep uniform and to watch you all night. But you got boring, and I wanted to play with your cat, so I had to make sure you couldn't get away."

I looked down at my thermal pajamas. I only vaguely remembered changing into them and shoving my security uniform in the closet. I didn't remember Pika being in the room when I'd gone to sleep.

"Pika, what is my hair tied to?"

"The aluminum bed frame." She continued working. I couldn't see the damage, and I didn't know exactly how she'd done whatever she'd done, but the length of time it took her to work indicated she'd entertained herself with securing me before allowing herself to play with Cat. When she finished, she stood back and smiled widely, showing off all fifty of her teeth. It was a little creepy, to tell you the truth.

I sat up. "Okay, good. Now, I'm going to need your help getting off the ship. What is this, the fifth day of the trip? We should dock this afternoon. That's going to have to work." I thought about the ship's trek to Jupiter's largest moon, how Purser Frank had talked about the half day of sightseeing on Ganymede's vacation space station during our walk back to my quarters after I'd inhaled the gas in Engineering, and what I would need to survive on the space station once I escaped the Moon Unit. "I'll make a list of what I'll need. Will you help me get them? I'll need supplies. Maps. Oxygen tablets. And a distraction. I'm definitely going to need a distraction."

Pika picked up the pillow again and held it in front of her. "You can't escape the ship! You're my friend."

"You can come with me," I said.

"No, I can't. I belong to—I can't."

"Pika, how did you get on the ship?"

"I can't tell you."

"Can't or won't?"

"We don't have time. The giant is waiting for you in the uniform ward."

"You're right. I have to act like everything is normal and make a plan. We'll talk about this after my shift ends."

I dug my black security uniform out from my suitcase and changed into it. I'd trade it for a fresh magenta one to fit my new rank—my original rank—when I got to the uniform ward. I secured an oxygen canister to my thigh, and ran the tube underneath the fabric and out the collar. When that was done, I snapped on my bubble helmet. I no longer cared if the bubble made me stand out in a one-of-these-things-is-not-like-the-others way. This ship was teeming with bullies, criminals, and little green men. If they saw me as the freak, then so be it.

The hallways were empty. I arrived at the uniform ward and scanned myself in. It was as I'd last seen it: the BOP sitting out on the counter. My sleeve, torn from my original uniform, jutting out from under the bench where I'd sat and talked to Vaan. The only differences were the pile of uniforms that had been dumped on the floor and the presence of Neptune leaning on the far wall with his massive arms crossed in front of his fitted black T-shirt.