Stowaways by Matt Phillips

Author:Matt Phillips [Phillips, Matt]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781671471092
Published: 2019-12-14T22:00:00+00:00

Mildred's Anomaly

The kids sat back down on the floor a few feet from the wall and looked at each other.

"See," Daniel said. "This is perfect. Dad is gone. Mom is busy. This will work."

"What about my mom?" Ani said.

Daniel nodded. "Right, we still need to call both of our moms. Nathan, do you think we can do that?"

"I think even Ernie could do that," Nathan replied. Ernie snorted at the insult. "But what about Mildred?"

"Yeah, she's a problem," Ernie agreed.

"She must have a camera in Dad's cabin," Daniel said. "We need to disable it somehow."

Everyone thought quietly for a moment.

"If the camera is in the ceiling.... the wire for it might be one of these here," Ani said, pointing to nearly a dozen rows of cables that appeared to be coming from somewhere above Dad's cabin. The cables ran down the wall to some sort of junction box near the floor.

"Right," Daniel said. Everyone looked closer at the cables and junction boxes.

"But which one?" Nathan asked.

Every silver cable looked the same, except for a small label attached to each.

"One of these labels should match the label on the camera itself," Daniel said. "If we can see that number, we will know which one to unplug."

"But if we go in and read it, the ship's computer will see us," Ani said.

"Right," Daniel said.

"What if we just disconnect all of the cables?” Ernie asked.

"We don't know what they go to," Ani said.

"Yeah, the computer would definitely alert people to a major signal outage, and it wouldn't take them long to find us," Daniel agreed.

"If we can't call our moms, this is not going to work," Ani said dejectedly.

The four stowaways sat in silence for several minutes.

"I have an idea," Daniel said suddenly. "But it will take all four of us."

They leaned in closer.

"Ernie and I will open the access hatch," Daniel explained. "At the same time, Nathan and Ani will pull out all of the cables – all of them. Then I will run in, get the camera cable number, and run back out."

The group nodded their understanding.

"Then," Daniel continued. "When I get back through the hatch, Ernie closes it, and you guys plug the cables back in as fast as you can."

"What about calling home?" Ani persisted.

"One thing at a time," Daniel answered.

"I'm smaller, I can get through the hatch faster," Ernie offered.

"No, I'm the oldest. I will go," Daniel answered. An argument followed but Daniel was immovable. Going into Dad's cabin was the riskiest part, and he was the oldest. Ernie finally gave in and everyone took his or her place.

"Get ready," Daniel whispered. Nathan and Ani knelt by the silver cables. They put their hands on as many as they could, ready to yank them out when told, then turned to wait for the signal.

Daniel and Nathan began turning the connectors that held the access hatch in place. There were ten in total. When only two were left, Daniel moved back and positioned himself on the floor in front of the hatch.

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