Waste of Space by Stuart Gibbs

Author:Stuart Gibbs
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

* * *

I. Such agents may include (but are not limited to): viruses, bacteria, mutated genes, and allergens.

II. If there are no local buildings anywhere nearby, tents or lean-tos will suffice.

11

STRONG ACCUSATIONS

Lunar day 252

T minus 21 hours to evacuation

“You can see Zan?” I asked Violet.

“Duh,” Violet said. “She’s right here with us.”

“I know she is,” I said. “But I didn’t know you knew. I, uh . . .” After a day of startling revelations, I was surprised how much this was throwing me. “How long have you known each other?”

“For a few weeks,” Zan answered. “Once Violet stumbled upon you and me talking to each other, I felt I should present myself to her.”

“And you didn’t tell me?” I asked.

“It was our little secret,” Zan said.

I looked to Violet. “You’ve never been able to keep a secret in your life!”

“Yes, I have,” Violet said. “I keep secrets all the time. I didn’t tell you that I ate your Skittles today.”

“You ate my Skittles?” I asked.

Violet flushed red, embarrassed. “Not all of them. And we’re going home soon, so it doesn’t matter.”

Normally, I would have been upset by this, but there were more pressing issues at the moment. I turned to Zan. “Have you two been talking regularly?”

“About as often as you and I have been talking,” Zan replied.

“Why?”

“Because I’m awesome!” Violet exclaimed.

“I thought she was an interesting representative of humanity,” Zan replied. “Given that you are closely related, your dispositions are surprisingly different.”

“No kidding,” I said.

“I showed Zan how I can burp the alphabet,” Violet said proudly.

“Great,” I muttered. “That’s exactly what humanity needs to prove its worth to the universe.”

“Zan was very impressed,” Violet told me.

“I’ll bet.” I turned to Zan, expecting her to back me up. Instead she shrugged apologetically.

“It might not have been a Beethoven symphony,” she said, “But it did require some talent.”

There was a knock at the door. “Dashiell!” Nina called from outside. “I need to talk to you. Now.”

I looked at Violet and put a finger to my lips, hoping to make Nina think we weren’t there. Violet nodded understanding.

“I know you’re in there,” Nina said. “I heard you talking through the wall. If you don’t come out on your own, I will drag you out.”

“All right,” I said. “I’m coming.” I turned to Zan and spoke in my thoughts. “Please stay here. I’ll try to make this quick.”

“I’ll do what I can,” Zan replied.

As I headed for the door, Violet turned her attention to Zan and said, “What would you like to learn about today? Turtles?”

“That sounds lovely,” Zan said.

I wasn’t sure why, but I felt upset that Zan had been secretly talking to Violet. A mixture of jealousy and betrayal. Which was odd, because up until that point I had felt like being the only person to stand trial for humanity was a burden. And even though my conversation with Zan had been taxing, I was still annoyed with both Violet and Nina for interrupting it.

So I was in a pretty bad mood when I stepped out onto the catwalk.

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.