Intergalactic Affairs [FINAL CHAPTER OUT NOW!!]

Delays

Tess and Elisabeth found her hours after dinner was over, still tapping furiously away at the e-screen. They entered the room so quietly, and Michelle was so absorbed in what she was doing that she didn't notice them until Elisabeth said, "So, are you going to tell us your plan?" at which point she jumped half a foot into the air and spun around in shock.

"I- you guys- I mean- how'd you find me?"

Tess sniffed tetchily. "Well, after you abandoned us at lunch and didn't bother to show up to any training classes where we had to cover for you, we figured you probably went back to the dorm, so we checked before and after dinner, then searched every room in this compound that has an e-screen."

Michelle blinked at her. "Sorry, I just..." she sighed deeply, "got carried away. The good news is I have a plan now!"

"Really?" asked Tess sarcastically. "We hadn't noticed."

"She didn't eat much dinner," Elizabeth explained, seeing Michelle's puzzled expression. "Plus, she was worried sick that you'd been kidnapped or something."

From the icy look that Tess was shooting at Elisabeth, this information had not been willingly divulged. Michelle couldn't help being glad that she had mental protection against mind readers.

"D'you want to hear the plan or not?" Michelle asked a sulky Tess who nodded grudgingly.

Michelle took a deep breath. "It's a lot to explain. You might wanna sit down."

Elisabeth and Tess sat in the two empty chairs in the office, but Michelle remained standing.

"Where to begin?" she murmured, then, deciding to start with what had given her the idea, she began, first recounting the antics of the boys.

Elisabeth looked mildly impressed at the boys' ingenious ideas and methods. Tess, who seemed determined not to be interested, merely looked at Michelle.

"So, that gave me the idea to spring a trap on Maine," Michelle said excitedly. "Trick him into saying the wrong thing and giving himself up, in a similar way that those boys have been tricking the others into...being test subjects."

"How d'you plan to do that?" Elisabeth asked.

"We have to stage an attack. It'll require a lot of hacking - I've done most of that already - and Nikolas's help, of course." Tess shot her a disbelieving look, and Michelle remembered their banter from earlier in the afternoon. "We're not a couple," she said. "I just need someone on the inside is all, and Nikolas is the only person I can contact. And I want to hear his input on the plan, see if he thinks it'll work. Plus, it's his dad we're planning to take down. If anyone can help us, it's Nikolas. But basically, we have to lure Maine into a situation where he'll confess, but everyone'll hear. It won't be easy, that's for sure, but if we can control the circumstances, I think it's bound to work."

"You think?" Tess asked, finally speaking. "What happens if it doesn't work."

Michelle grimaced. "I'll probably die," she said matter-of-factly.

Elisabeth stared at her in horror, and even Tess looked upset now.

"How likely are you to succeed?" Elisabeth inquired.

"There's about a 58% chance I'll succeed," Michelle whispered. Elisabeth recoiled as though she'd been electric shocked, and Tess's brow creased, a sure sign of worry in her current state of unfed grumpiness. Michelle looked down. She hadn't told them all of the figures she'd worked out. There was only a 21% chance she'd meet her objective of getting General Maine to spill his secrets and walk away from it alive. Unharmed was even less likely. "Let's go talk to Nikolas," she said abruptly. "We can stop by the kitchen on the way."