Missing Among the Stars by Eddie Pittman

Author:Eddie Pittman [Eddie Pittman]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Eddie Pittman
Published: 2024-07-16T00:00:00+00:00

USERNAME: TSAVON

PASSWORD:

Kasey hummed for a second. That name sounds familiar. He tapped into his comms. “‘Tsavon,’ does that name sound familiar to anyone?”

Tsarena answered immediately from within the room. “That’s the name of Mahina’s friend on Porygar!”

Kasey snapped his head back at Tsarena. “What’s his pad doing here?”

“His pad?” Tsarena rushed over and tore the device from Kasey’s hands.

“What’s his pad doing there?” Falisto asked from the ship, his voice cut by static.

Kasey answered, “Not sure, it’s password protected. Heads’ up, you’re cutting in and out for me.”

“Pause,” Shamp commanded, from the other end of the room. “Tsavon is listed on it too.”

“Any way we can break into one?”

“I’ll try to get in,” Tsarena said. “Shame Amber isn’t here.”

Shamp walked over, holding two pads, each shattered beyond repair. “We’re certain Tsavon is an individual?”

“What else could it be?” Kasey asked.

“An alias?” Tsarena guessed. She placed the pad on a table, fiddling with some lock-picking software.

“I’ll look around some more.” Kasey headed to the other ensemble of equipment. Towards the corner of the room, a switchboard attracted Kasey, with glowing buttons and two joysticks like an old-school arcade game.

As if playing the piano, his fingers rested over the buttons in a claw shape, and his other hand grasped a joystick. There were far more buttons than Kasey expected. Two in red, three in blue, five in yellow, and seven in white like some children’s game.

Kasey’s fingers guided the joystick, cranking it back as if trying to levy a Navigator skyward. A small, originally unseen device crawled from underneath a table at the joystick’s command. Kasey quickly moved it another way and confirmed his finger was the puppeteer.

“What is this?” Shamp bent down to the device.

Kasey’s face lit up the second he got a good view. “I haven’t had one of these since I was a kid,” Kasey giggled. He maneuvered the remote control car around, running into support beams and encircling Shamp as if she were being preyed on by sharks.

“Look!” Shamp pointed with a tendril. Above Kasey, a live feed played from the car’s viewpoint.

Tsarena grunted, the sound of another failed passcode echoing in the chamber. “I can’t get in without tools.” She eyed the remote-controlled car Kasey played with but didn’t disengage from hacking into Tsavon’s pad.

“We can bring a pad back with us,” Kasey suggested, still watching the live feed as he crashed the car. Tempted by buttons, Kasey entertained the idea of pressing one, hoping it would do some trick that he never got to do with the donated toys during Christmas gift drives.

“Does it offer a password hint?” Shamp asked, turning to Tsarena.

“Nothing,” she sighed. “I’ve tried everything I can think of.”

“Enjoying yourself?” Shamp craned her long neck towards Kasey. “Do you want to investigate the actual evidence?”

“I’m just looking at these buttons now.”

Shamp waddled over, tripping over an uneven brick in the floor. Using two of her tendrils, she dug into the ground and saved herself from a faceplant, but her third tendril lost control and swiped at Kasey.

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