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“Because it’s only when you’re close to death that you’re truly alive!” I said.
Emana brightened up.
She said, “We have a similar expression in Titan—”
“That’s great!” I said, shoving her forward. “Tell me tomorrow! When you’re still alive!”
Emana staggered down the hall, downing the last of the mojito as she went.
“Waste not, want not,” she said, hiccupping.
I bolted back up the hallway and glanced over my shoulder to make sure Emana had disappeared when I reached the study.
It didn’t matter either way. I had to complete the mission!
I felt sorry for Emana. She wouldn’t die but she was going to wish she had.
I was almost there. Now all I had to worry about was taking care of that damn Niik.
The bacon worked like a charm. Niik followed me as I placed one piece after another in a long trail down the hall. Niik whined and checked over his shoulder, glancing back in the direction of the study.
“Come on,” I said. “Just a little further… You like this dried bacon, don’t you? Well, I’ve got plenty more and it’s all got your name on it.”
I brought my hand out. Niik whined even louder. I opened the door of a room down the hall from the study and made sure it wasn’t occupied.
Lavish trophies, medals, and certificates adorned the walls and specially-made shelving units. I compared it to my paltry collection back home in my parents’ house.
Most were for sports. Badminton, basketball, athletics, I excelled at them all. But the one I was most proud of, the one that I’d worked hardest for, was my bronze chess medal. I was never going to be a world-class chess champion but I didn’t need to be. I just wanted to make my parents proud and show them I had some brains and wasn’t only good at sports. That was how I met my best friend, Bianca, the uninhibited party girl.
I shook my head at the idea of her being within a hundred yards of a chess club these days. She’d once been damn good at the ancient game. It was thanks to me she learned to socialize and party with the best of them. Sometimes I thought I might be a bad influence on her. She insisted she had a lot more fun after she met me than before, so I was pleased about that.
Soon, we’d be hurtling through space back to our homeworld where we belonged. It all depended on me plugging this little device in Kal’s computer.
And that depended on me convincing Niik to follow me into this room.
“Come on,” I said to Niik. “I’ll leave the door open. Don’t worry.”
Niik seemed to take some reassurance from that. The truth was, even if my life was on the line, there was a zero percent chance I could ever hurt an innocent animal. How dedicated was that to animal rights?
Niik wasn’t having any of it, so I had to play my last-ditch attempt to get him to move.
I tossed the two dozen bacon niblets across the room. They scattered and pinged against the walls and metal trophy frames.
“Go get ‘em!” I cried.
Niik yelped with joy and skidded on the hardwood floor as he took after the tiny pieces of meat.
It wouldn’t take him long to collect them all. I needed to hurry.
I backed out of the room and left the door wide open—I didn’t want him getting trapped and start barking and howling to be let out. He’d get everyone’s attention.
I checked over my shoulders as I hustled toward the study. I didn’t want to run. It would be too conspicuous.
Not that I could spare the time. I only had a handful of minutes left.
I entered the office, checked no one was there, before making a b-line for the desk.
I extracted the device from my clutch purse. There was a circle of metal protruding out the end like a standard USB drive. I assumed that was how I inserted it into the computer. I held it out and—
