Pangu's Shadow by Karen Bao

Author:Karen Bao [Bao, Karen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction-Young Adult, Fiction, young adult fiction, science fiction, murder mystery, LGBTQIA+, space, biology, STEM, suspense, future, disability, neurodivergence, love story
ISBN: 9798765611814
Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group
Published: 2024-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 27

Aryl

Ford’s always been a good multitasker. As his family’s spaceliner zips between G-Moons One and Two, he’s drinking fizzy kiwi juice while monitoring our flight path and deflecting messages from Rhea demanding he return to campus. I’m strapped into one of the seats across from him, a chair covered in lab-grown snakeskin, waiting to hear from Ver.

My parents begged me to stay at home longer, but I hugged them goodbye and swore them to secrecy about where I was going. I think they were pleased that I’m finally visiting their homeland—even though we all wish the circumstances were different.

Inside the Mercenary, it feels like nothing can go wrong. The tastefully subdued beige walls and quartz cabinets contrast with the corner Ford’s turned into a machine shop. There’s a workbench, mounted high because he’s tall, a computer with a wraparound monitor, a sleek soldering gun, and labeled drawers filled with wires, nuts, bolts, and hand tools. Ford somehow squeezed an all-resolution microscope into one corner—a towering machine capable of imaging sheets of cells down to single protein molecules.

“Nice setup,” I say.

“Thanks,” Ford says. “Did you see the portable wave detector? I’m almost finished with it. Only have a few tweaks left.” He points at an unfamiliar piece of equipment. Wires hang off the contraption, and complicated-looking lenses surround a silicon core where I’m sure giga precious elements are housed.

“I bet Kricket’s way behind in building his detector,” Ford says. “Not that it matters now.”

“What?” I say, confused.

Ford explains, “A few months ago, Cal assigned Kricket and me the same project—building a portable antichronowave detector. It was a race. First person to finish would complete the research apprenticeship.”

I grimace at Cal’s casual cruelty. “But wouldn’t the loser have to start a new project from scratch? Like a first-year.” Wasting half a decade of apprenticeship.

Ford nods.

“That’s pretty vacked of Cal.”

“It is, but he’s the boss.”

“Ford, why didn’t you mention this competition earlier?” I say. Kricket never said anything about it either—probably out of embarrassment. He’s already been an apprentice for so long. Most people who aren’t on track to publish original research by their fifth year leave the Institute, whether by choice, by loss of their lab position, or by suicide.

“It’s not relevant to Cal’s death.” Ford’s nonchalance is so complete, I can’t help but groan.

“A portable antichronowave detector would be a huge breakthrough,” I note, as if he somehow might be unaware of that. It’d mean that we could measure these mysterious, time-defying waves as we travel across planets, not just in our specialized lab. Worth killing over? Possibly. “Does it work?”

“Only when I least expect it to,” Ford says. “Sometimes I get seemingly valid measurements in the weirdest places, like right over mountains, but—”

“Hold on,” I say as my burner flexitab lights up with a message.

They sacked Jaha, Ver’s written.

What?! I write back.

The investigators voted her out, comes the reply. They found horrible things she wrote about Cal. But I do not think she killed him. If she had, she would have covered her tracks better—left no evidence of any problems between her and Cal.

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