Children of the Fleet (Fleet School #1)(80)

Maybe that’s what this meeting is really supposed to decide.

“This isn’t about the battleroom,” said Monkey. “Or anything inside the school. The whole station may be in serious danger from outside. From Earth, or at least from a conspiracy that has its roots on Earth.”

“And you learned about this from your last dirtside visit?” Ignazio asked her.

“I learned about it from the obvious source,” said Monkey. Then she outlined very briefly the threat to Dabeet’s mother, what the kidnappers had told Dabeet their plan was, and the action Dabeet had already taken to signal the potential raiders.

Then there was silence. A long silence, in which nobody looked at Dabeet.

Dabeet wanted to assure them, to convince them, that there had been no choice, that when he arrived at Fleet School, he hadn’t known anybody yet, so why should he have felt any loyalty? In other words, he wanted to persuade them not to be angry with him.

But what was the point of that? They should be angry and afraid, because Fleet School was in serious danger. Or might be. They had to plan as if it were. So their anger, even if it was temporarily directed at him, was still a positive. At least they hadn’t laughed at Monkey’s assessment of the threat. They were taking the problem seriously.

“What do you already have?” asked Zhang He.

That was his leadership, thought Dabeet. Zhang was asserting that Monkey was reporting to him, and through him, to the whole group.

“Dabeet and I went into the back passages.”

“The ducts?” asked Timeon. “Like Bean?”

Ragnar rolled his eyes. “The service corridor, right?”

“Easy to get into, on every level,” said Monkey.

“Easy to get trapped in,” said Ignazio.

“No more so than the public corridors,” said Monkey. “Also, lots of chemicals and solvents, as well as emergency atmo suits.”

“What, you think we should make bombs, blow up the station, and then float around in spacesuits until the grownups come to save us?” asked Timeon.

Monkey looked like she meant to respond angrily, but Zhang He intercepted her. “If need be,” said Zhang He. “She was listing our resources, not making plans, and it’s good to know that we have chemicals and what we could do with them.”

“Explosives, definitely,” said Monkey. “Some oxygen-dependent, some that could work without O-two. Not sure if anything would work as a rapid solvent, at least not on whatever suits the raiders might be wearing.”

“We’ll work out the chemistry later, when we have the full inventory,” said Zhang He. He glanced around the group. “Does that make sense?”

Dabeet assumed for a moment that what Zhang was really saying was, Anybody want to argue with me? But no, thought Dabeet. There was no anger or assertiveness in Zhang’s voice or face or body when he asked if it made sense to defer the discussion about explosives.

“What about just telling the teachers and letting the security forces take care of it?” asked Ignazio.

Monkey looked at Dabeet. So did Zhang. And then, finally, so did everybody.

“I told Robota Smirnova about the threat,” said Dabeet. “Before she was moved out of the station itself. If she isn’t part of the conspiracy, then I can only assume that she has alerted the appropriate people in the security force.”

Ignazio shrugged. “Well then, if they’ve got it in hand, what’s it to us?”

Dabeet wanted to retort that as anyone with half a brain would realize, assumptions about what Robota might or might not have done meant nothing. What guarantee did he have that she had believed his story? But he held his tongue.

“If we see signs that the security forces are ready, fine,” said Monkey. “But have there been any changes in routine? Has our brilliant military contingent been increased? Are they responding to the potential threat?”

She was referring to the two IF marines detailed to maintain discipline and security inside the station.

“They don’t seem any less lazy and stupid than usual,” said Ragnar.

“The real security needs to take place outside of the station,” said Zhang He. “So the raiders never get inside. We won’t see their preparations for that.”

“I have a pretty radical idea,” said Timeon. “What if Dabeet didn’t open the door?”

“His mother will be killed,” said Monkey. She looked at Zhang. “That was in the message you helped him decode.”

“Will my mother be killed?” asked Ragnar. He looked around the group.

Everybody except Dabeet avoided his gaze. Most of them looked down at the floor.

“Sorry,” said Ragnar. “I just don’t know how many people should die on this station to save one kid’s mother from what might be an empty threat.”

“This is all hypothetical,” said Zhang He. “It might all be kuso. But we’re navigating in unmapped space. So we can’t afford to assume anything. And we can’t just write off anybody. Or anybody’s mom. Not now.”

Dabeet knew he shouldn’t be resentful of Ragnar’s suggestion that Maria Rafaella Ochoa might be expendable—he had harbored the thought himself. But the crassness with which Ragnar asked, “Will my mother be killed?” rankled deeply.