Alien Minds by Christina Bauer

Author:Christina Bauer [Bauer, Christina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: science fiction, Young Adult, suspense
ISBN: 9781945723254
Google: K8Q0DwAAQBAJ
Amazon: B075FTNPF3
Goodreads: 36215661
Publisher: Monster House Books
Published: 2019-04-23T00:00:00+00:00

23 Meimi

I stand in the Underground lab alongside Chloe, Zoe, and Rakkie. Above our heads hangs the big board, which is the monitor where Chloe wanted to track stuff. Of course, we’re using fake names for all the milestones. Godwin is on a need-to-know basis and, turns out, he doesn’t need to know much. We’ve been disagreeing about how those milestones should be listed.

And we’ve been doing that for an hour now.

“It should go alphabetically,” declares Chloe. “The deadlines for my work should be listed first, then Meimi, and then Zoe.”

Zoe, as it turns out, has a real problem with being last. Why? Her name starts with a Z. Seems she always got last in line at school or whatever. And it also seems that if I had my memory back, I’d recall all this myself and wouldn’t need to be reminded.

More and more, I want my memories. Badly.

It’s a super frustrating conversation. Even Rakkie has given up. The little bot is lying on his spider back, waving his spindly legs in the air. It’s a very clear pantomime for how he feels about our conversation. Dead on arrival.

Fact: back at the hotel, I uploaded some artificial intelligence protocols into the little guy. I think he’s getting an attitude.

Smack!

The door bursts open; Thorne rushes in. He speeds across the lab and pulls me into his arms.

Not going to lie.

I have no idea what’s going on, but the hugging is nice.

Okay, more than nice.

Leaning back, he cups my face in his hands. “Are you okay?”

“Beyond the fact that we still don’t have a goals sign”—I make sure to glare at Chloe and Zoe for the last part—“I’m fine.”

“But I saw smoke in the vid feed from Rakkie. I thought there was a fire.” He looks over at Rakkie on the floor. “And is that bot all right?”

“Fine,” I reply. “Just displaying the finer points of physical sarcasm.”

At these words, Rakkie hops back to his feet and skitters around while making little tweeting noises. I’m pretty sure the little thing is laughing at us.

Zoe waves her hand dismissively. “Don’t worry about the smoke. It’s over now. I was working on a new hallucinogenic; something to fluster the audience while we swap out the Lacerator. My concoction was supposed to make a haze.”

Thorne frowns. “But shouldn’t you have some way to siphon off the smoke so everyone doesn’t choke to death?”

“Well, I should have that,” says Zoe. “But someone stole that equipment and dragged it to her side of the lab.”

Chloe lifts her chin. “I need it more than you do.”

I lean my head against Thorne’s chest. It’s a very comfortable spot. Maybe I’ll stay here forever.

“Ugh,” I sigh. “Getting the lab set up was supposed to be the easy part.”

Snick!

Two chains hold the big monitor above our heads. Now, one of those metal strands makes unsettling creaky noises.

“Your board is about to fall,” states Thorne.

“No, it’s not.” Chloe grabs a ladder that is most decidedly on Zoe’s side of the lab and jams it under the edge of the board.

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