Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee

Author:Yoon Ha Lee
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Disney Book Group
Published: 2019-01-14T16:00:00+00:00

I had to get into the captain’s quarters. For the next several days, I planned my approach. I glided by his door a couple times whenever I found an excuse to be on the senior officers’ deck. The door had a lock, of course. Could I pick it without tripping an alarm? While locks weren’t my specialty, they couldn’t be much more difficult than any other electronic system.

The cadets’ barracks only had simple locks that opened in response to passcodes. Many of the cadets didn’t bother covering their hands when they punched in their numbers, and most of the crew was similarly trusting. By simple observation I had learned a scattering of passcodes all around the ship, even to areas where a mere cadet shouldn’t have access.

The senior officers’ deck was another matter. Their locks didn’t just have passcodes—they also required fingerprint identification. Ironically, the fingerprint was going to be the easiest part for me to get around. I didn’t have a lot of practice making tiny, subtle changes to my body, but I thought I could manage it.

“What do you want with that litmus film?” Haneul asked me when she caught me with a small roll of the stuff in Hydroponics. Watching Sujin use it to check the acidity of a nutrient solution had given me the idea. I bet the film would take impressions of fingerprints just fine.

I grinned at her and stretched a piece of it back and forth, like thin taffy. “I like playing with it.”

Haneul rolled her eyes. “Do you ever take anything seriously? And don’t try eating that. Technically, it’s edible, but it’ll taste awful.”

I mimed putting it in my mouth, and she made a face and walked away. Once she’d turned her back, I pocketed the roll, smoothing my jacket over it so it wouldn’t stick out too obviously. One obstacle down.

I didn’t get much time to celebrate, however. A little while later, just as I’d stashed the roll with my—Jang’s—personal belongings, an alarm went off. The blaring siren made it almost impossible to think. For a heart-stopping moment I thought that someone had unmasked me, and I jumped.

Then my brain caught up with the rest of me. Stealing litmus film would look weird but not suspicious. Not in the way I was worried about, anyway.

I tore off a couple strips of film and stuffed them in my pocket, then shoved the rest of the roll back with my stash.

Just then, Sujin ran in. “Come on!” they cried. “We have to get to our assigned stations.”

It was a good thing Sujin had come to get me, because I’d blanked on where my assigned station was. It didn’t take long for me to figure out we were headed toward Engineering, along with a cluster of other crew members.

“What’s going on?” I asked breathlessly as we hurried toward the elevator.

“Shh!” Sujin hissed.

The alarms quieted for a moment. I relaxed, but only for a second, because an announcement followed over the loudspeakers. “This is Captain Hwan.”

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.