The Far Horizon by Patty Jansen

Author:Patty Jansen
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: aliens, space opera, sf for young readers, books for boys, space station

Chapter 15

Cory clamped his sweaty hands behind his back and shifted his weight from one foot to the other and back again, staring at the pictures of past station directors behind his father's desk.

'You said what?' His father's eyes met his, stern.

Cory took a deep breath. Alma nodded at him. Cory wasn't sure this had been such a good idea, but there was no going back. 'I think the Terran League could have caused the accident with the Aurelian.'

'The Terran League.' His father's voice sounded unemotional, flat.

'Yes.'

Silence. His father folded his hands in his lap. 'On what knowledge do you base that statement?'

Cory hesitated. 'We . . . we visited the Terran League site.'

'You . . .' His father's mouth fell open. 'Cory—'

Alma interrupted. 'It wasn't his fault. I suggested it—'

'It was my fault. I wanted to know what the League was because you wouldn't tell me.' Cory met his father's gaze squarely.

His father cocked his head. 'So you didn't just hear about it at dinner.'

'No.' Cory looked at his feet, feeling heat rise to his cheeks. He continued, 'I saw these men in the docks . . .' His father raised an eyebrow, but Cory ignored it. 'They were attacking one of the maintenance crew, saying that he had to do something for the League or else. The thugs gave him a parcel. And on the Terran League site, they have this version of Doomland, where you have to do something to a ship that looks like the Aurelian and . . .' Cory stopped under his father's gaze. The explanation did sound rather lame when he said it out loud like this.

'Doomland?' His father's voice still sounded blank. 'The game?'

'Yes, but it's different from the official version. They changed the ship to look like the Aurelian and—'

'So you thought that because a game tells you to do these things, it must have happened in reality?'

'Yes.' Cory looked at his feet.

'Cory, tell me—why would anyone want to put explosives on the Aurelian?'

Cory said in a low voice, 'To practice, for when the Union delegation is here.'

His father stiffened briefly. For a moment, an expression of horror marked his eyes, but then he rose from his desk, his face set. 'Come. You, too, Alma. I want to show you something.'

He opened the door to his office.

As soon as they stepped into the reception area of the command centre, the secretary half-rose from his seat. 'Mr Wilson, Skye Millivan from StarTrans wants to speak to you, and the members of the agriculture branch are in the meeting room—'

His father silenced the man with a wave of his hand. 'Let them wait. I'll deal with it when I come back.' Without waiting for an answer, his father walked to the door. Cory and Alma had to run to keep up with him.

No one spoke a word in the lift. Alma just stared, her eyes wide. Cory clamped his jaws to stop his teeth clattering. He didn't dare ask his father where they were going, although he could guess.

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