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“Because now we know my machine works,” I said. “Now we can use it to triangulate where the tracking device sends its signal.”
“And that will be the Control Room?”
“Probably, yes,” I said.
“Only probably?”
“There’s no guarantee the tracker will communicate directly with the Control Room, but it’s where I would place my bet. You wouldn’t want the signal to get mixed up with the regular transmission signals.”
Stari nodded.
“That makes sense,” she said. “So what happens now?”
My stomach performed a backflip and I felt sick.
“Now I have to take the tracker up to the surface and open the box,” I said.
It meant revealing my location to the Changelings, who would make an immediate beeline for my position.
Stari shook her head.
“You’re too valuable for us to send to the surface,” she said. “If it doesn’t work, we’re going to need you to try again.”
I tried to argue that I was the most qualified person for the job but it was only half-hearted. I was unlikely to avoid the Changelings on this alien planet, and they knew that. Instead, they decided to send a female soldier from their ranks.
The soldier’s name was Cik-A. She was tall for a Yayora. She saluted to her superior officers—Grandpa and his three top generals. The salute involved her placing her hands together and pushing something invisible toward them. The superior officers performed the same action but in reverse.
“You’re doing a very brave thing today,” Grandpa said. “May you live forever in peace.”
Cik-A took the metal box containing the tracker in one hand and the device I’d made in the other. It would send a signal to its sister device on my desk along with information on the Control Room’s location.
“After you open the box,” I said, “you’ll need to leave as quickly as possible. The Changelings will be after you the moment they pick up the signal.”
Cik-A saluted and then left.
Stari, her Grandpa, and his three top generals sat watching me as we waited for Cik-A to get to the surface.
I was so nervous, I couldn’t sit still. Stari took my hand and held it between hers.
Grandpa’s radio hissed and made me jump.
“I’m in position,” Cik-A said.
Grandpa looked at me. I nodded.
“Open it,” Grandpa said.
“Mission complete, sir,” Cik-A said. “The explosive device has been installed. Now I’ll make my escape.”
The explosive device would blow up in five minutes, destroying the tracker and, more importantly, the machine I built to track the Control Room’s location. If the Changelings got their hands on it, it might be possible for them to backward engineer it and discover the base’s location.
I watched the machine and waited to receive the signal.
Any second now…
“Why aren’t we receiving the signal?” Grandpa said.
“My machine’s scanning for it,” I said. “The moment it finds it, we’ll get the information here.”
