The next day, Obaa-san and Ogii-san took us to their work site. I think they just wanted to show off. When they took us to the surface observation dome, I gasped in wonder, overwhelmed by my first unobstructed view of the Milky Way!
"Stars above!" I whispered; awed and feeling insignificant by the sight of so many.
From there, we retreated back underground to their work laboratory.
"We've been busy trying to locate a near Earth asteroid," Obaa-san explained, a series of images flashing up in the holoprojector. "So far, nothing."
The image series continued to play over and over as I walked around the display. I was just about to turn back to my grandparents when something caught my eye.
"What is it?" Ogii-san wondered, coming up beside me.
"I'm not sure," I remarked, moving a little closer to the display. "Something seems a little off… here."
I gestured at a small region of the images.
"Off? Off how?" Obaa-san asked, joining us.
"Well, see how the light of this star seems to flicker just a little at the edge here," I explained, pointing at the aberration.
"Then, here," I went on, pointing to another star. "It blinks… almost as though something passed in front of it."
"Can you mark those two points in the images?" I asked.
"Done," Papa replied, tiny red circles appearing around the spots in the images as he worked the computer controls.
"This is visible spectrum, right?" I asked, my eyes not leaving the image sequence.
"Yes," Ogii-san responded.
"What about infrared?" I wondered, glancing at my two grandparents. "Do you have that for this same sequence?"
"Why, yes, we do!" Obaa-san replied, her eyes suddenly lighting up.
"Can you overlay it on top of this sequence?"
"Coming up," Ogii-san replied, touching the right controls on the computer.
As the new sequence appeared overtop of the original, I cried out, "There! Look!"
I was pointing at a faint grey pinpoint of light. As we followed its motion, it passed just off the edge of the first star I'd pointed out… and directly over the second!
"Tarku…" Obaa-san whispered, clearly excited.
"On it, Neela" he responded, bringing up more image sequences.
One after another was added to the first two, and, as we watched the computer track out the anomaly I spotted, it drew a line all the way across the holodisplay!
"Whoo hoo!" Ogii-san exclaimed, slapping the console he was at. "Got the bugger!"
"Sweetie, that was awesome!" Obaa-san declared, giving me a warm hug. "We've been hunting that thing for months!"
"Well done, sweetling!" Ogii-san congratulated me. "I'm going to go let the PTBs know we found it!"
"PTBs?" Claru wondered, watching as his grandfather left the room.
"An abbreviation," I explained, giving my little brother a hug. "It means 'Powers That Be'… the people in charge here."
"We need to get you up here more often," Obaa-san gleefully declared, giving me a peck on the cheek.
Turning to the rest of her family, she asked, "Who's hungry? Lunch is on me!"
Mama raised her hand.
"Oooh, me, me!" Claru declared, waving and jumping up and down.
Yaru merely giggled as Papa waved his hand for him.
"You go ahead," I urged them, taking a seat at one of the computer consoles. "Obaa-san, would it be alright for me to use this terminal?"
"Something wrong, sweetie?" she wondered, noting the worry on my face.
"It's probably nothing," I assured her. "I just need to check out a few things. I'll catch up later."
"Alright," Obaa-san chuckled, giving me a pat on the shoulder. "Just remember, you're here on vacation. Got it?"
"I'll try not to break it," I chuckled, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze. "Thanks!"
The moment the door to the lab closed behind my family, I got right to work. The internet had grown a lot more complex in the thousands of years I'd been in cold sleep. Now it was just a matter of asking the right questions.
Hours passed as I worked the keyboard, pouring over a veritable Mount Everest of data. Who had been behind the sabotage of the shuttle? Why? Did I trust my instincts? They kept screaming at me with the answer, but I was determined to be absolutely thorough in my investigation.
I should've gone to eat lunch with my family. I consumed so much mental energy sifting through all the data I called up that I actually dozed off!
"Jayden?" someone asked as I felt my shoulder being shaken.
"Obaa-san?" I mumbled, blinking sleep from my eyes.
She wasn't alone. Ogii-san was there, too.
"Have you been in here all this time?" she asked.
I nodded, stretching as I did.
"What is it you're looking for?" she wondered, glancing past me at the computer screen.
"A clue to who was trying to kill everyone on the shuttle," I muttered, turning back to the screen.
"But it was just an accident!"
I shook my head. "I spoke at length with the captain and crew. Someone deliberately removed the manual shutoff handle from the vent valve. And the attack on the sensor system software came from outside the ship."
"Well, then, he's the one you should talk to," Ogii-san remarked, nodding towards the screen.
There was an image of Counselor Icaru in the upper left portion of the screen.
"Why him?" I asked.
"Icaru was the head design engineer during the construction of that class of shuttle," Ogii-san explained. "No one else could match his vision or creative genius. He was also their top systems programmer. He designed the sensor systems installed on all the shuttles."
"I see," I remarked.
"Of course, he was also very rough on the teams he led," Ogii-san went on, scratching his head as he tried to remember. "Very demanding, sometimes even ruthless in his quest for perfection."
"Ancestors!" I hissed.
"Jayden, what's wrong?" Obaa-san asked. "By the stars, you're white as a sheet! What is it?"
"The entire trip up here, I spoke with the crew and passengers," I whispered, trembling as I did, "trying to find some clue as to who was behind the attack. But now…"
"You think it was Icaru?!" Ogii-san exclaimed.
"Whoever was behind the attack was technologically savvy and intimately familiar with the ship's design," I explained, shaking my head. "If I hadn't recognized the symptoms of hypoxia, it might've ended up being ruled a simple but tragic accident."
"Why do you think it was Icaru?" Obaa-san wondered.
"The day we were celebrating my birthday," I went on, "the day your son and daughter-in-law adopted me as their own, Counselor Icaru tried to do the same thing."
"Icaru?" Ogii-san wondered. "Why?"
"I don't know," I replied, shaking my head. "He seemed to accept my decision, even offering his blessings. But as he was leaving, he looked at me. I thought it was just a look of disappointment, but now…"
"Something different?" Obaa-san prompted.
"He was upset," I whispered, "angry… with me."
"Madonna, no!" Obaa-san hissed.
"It all fits!" I wept, tears beginning to fall. "Means, Motive, Opportunity."
"What are you talking about?" Ogii-san asked.
"The three parts of a crime that must be proven," I replied, tears continuing to fall, "before guilt can be established."
"I still don't follow," Ogii-san complained.
"Means refers to a person's ability to commit a crime," I explained, trying hard to slow my tears. "You just told me that Icaru helped design the shuttle. He would've been intimately familiar with all its details and would know exactly how to cripple it in a way that would make it seem like an accident. So he had the means to commit the crime."
"My rejection of his adoption offer may have provided the motivation for him to commit the crime," I went on, shaking my head in disbelief.
"And the last part?" Obaa-san wondered, laying a hand on my trembling shoulder. "Opportunity?"
"Did he or someone who worked for him have direct access to the shuttle," I sighed, my head sagging. "Did they have the opportunity to commit the crime?"
"I may be able to help with that last one," Ogii-san remarked, taking a seat at another terminal.
"How?" I wondered, looking up.
"Some old friends of mine still work in the shuttle maintenance facilities back in Nova Tokyo," Ogii-san explained, opening up an FTL comm link back to the city. "I can ask around. See if anyone saw Icaru in the time leading up to the launch."
"Ogii-san, wait!"
"He tried to kill my family!"
"We don't know for certain yet if it was him," I cautioned. "Tell me, do they keep continuous visual records of activity at the maintenance facility?"
"Visual logs, you mean?"
I nodded.
"Yes, in the event of a mishap. Why?"
"Please be very cautious," I suggested. "Only speak with those you absolutely trust. If we can get the visual logs of the shuttle in the days leading up to the accident, we might find evidence of who messed with the vent valve."
"I'm on it!" Ogii-san responded, giving me a nod and a grin.
"I'm going to contact my friends back in the city," I went on, opening my own FTL link. "Maybe one of them can help us trace the ghost that was attacking the sensor systems through the shuttle's position transponder."
Moments later…
"Jayden!" Dara exclaimed, her image practically leaping out of the holo projector. "Are you okay? Is everything alright? What happened? Fill us in!"
"We're fine!" I chuckled, warmed by her concern.
"Stars, girlfriend," Zuna added, leaning into view, "we've been out of our minds with worry!"
"I need your help," I told them.
"With what?" Marcu wondered, coming up behind the girls.
"Wait, you're there, too?" I asked.
"We're all here, Jayden," Naru chimed in, joining the others. "We've been frantic wondering what happened!"
"So spill!" Dara demanded, her face lined with worry.
"What have you heard?" I asked.
"Only that the shuttle lost pressure," Naru replied.
"Yeah, and that the onboard sensors failed for some reason," Zuna added.
"The sensor controls were hacked," I told my friends.
"What?!" they all exclaimed.
"Wait, what's that mean?" Naru mumbled.
"They were tampered with," Dara explained. "Someone onboard?"
I shook my head. "The engineer traced the tampering back through the shuttle's positional transponder to somewhere in Nova Tokyo."
"Wait. That would mean…" Dara's face turned suddenly white. "Someone here in town was trying to kill everyone on the shuttle?!"
"No way!" Zuna exclaimed.
"That makes no sense!" Marcu added.
"Why?" Naru finished.
"To get to me."
"What?!" my friends all exclaimed.
"Jayden, have you lost your mind?!" Marcu growled. "That makes absolutely no sense!"
"I spoke with all the other passengers and crew after the incident," I explained. "Not one of them could come up with any reason why someone would want them dead."
"Jayden, you've barely been around Nova Tokyo for little more than a week!" Zuna argued. "How could you have possibly made anyone mad enough to want to kill you?"
"You were all at the party," I said, looking at each of them. "Remember what happened when I turned down Counselor Icaru's offer of adoption?"
"Well, he gave you a hug then walked out," Naru recalled.
"Sweet stellar nebulae!" Dara hissed, her eyes growing enormous. "Now I remember!"
"Remember what?" Marcu wondered.
"Just before he left the party," Dara replied, looking straight at me, "Icaru glanced back at you… and the look on his face…"
"I know," I assured her, wishing I could give Dara a hug through the holoprojector. "That's why I need your help."
"You think Counselor Icaru's behind this?!" Naru spluttered.
"How can we help?" Dara asked, recovering her composure.
"The system hack originated somewhere in Nova Tokyo," I explained. "A ghost was probably used to prevent anyone tracing the signal back to its origin."
"Ghost?" Zuna wondered.
"A dummy system that acts as the control," Marcu responded. "My dad works with the comm teams here in the city. He should be able to pull the comm logs that show where the hack signal came from."
"I have some friends who are whizzes with the nets around here," Dara added, grinning. "They shouldn't have any trouble backtracking the source once we know where the ghost is."
"Guys, be very careful," I urged my friends. "Whoever was behind the attempt on my life doesn't care who else gets hurt. Whatever you find, take it straight to the authorities. Understood?"
Silently, my Nova Tokyo friends all nodded.
A short time later, Ogii-san told me, "My friend, Tarmu, found the video records of the last five days for that shuttle. He's sending them via encrypted FTL link directly to us."
Ten minutes later, an alert chime sounded.
"Here they are," Ogii-san remarked, opening the video file. "Let's see what we can find."
"Jayden, sweetie?" Obaa-san. "Are you alright?"
She must've seen the worry on my face. "I'm praying that I'm wrong about this, but my gut keeps insisting otherwise."
"Wait! Here's something!" Ogii-san exclaimed, pausing the video. "We've got someone in maintenance overalls entering the shuttle."
"Can't really tell who it is from that angle," I remarked.
All we could make out was the back of the mystery intruder.
"I'll run it forward a little," Ogii-san spoke, tapping the keys on his keyboard.
The image flickered briefly as the video fast-forwarded, then an individual could be seen emerging from the shuttle.
"Freeze that!" I ordered.
Ogii-san hit the pause button.
"Stars above!" Obaa-san gasped.
My heart sank as I looked at the frozen image of Counselor Icaru emerging from the shuttle, dressed in maintenance coveralls, the missing blue vent valve manual override lever clearly clutched in his hand.
I was going to be sick.
"Alert the authorities, Ogii-san," I whispered, tears pouring down my cheeks.
Moments later, I received word from my Nova Tokyo friends. Marcu's father had indeed been able to successfully pull the comm logs that showed where the ghost was at. From there, one of Dara's net whiz friends had been able to back hack to its control source.
"The hack originated from a terminal in Counselor Icaru's quarters," Dara muttered. "Jayden, what do we do now?"
"Contact the Nova Tokyo law enforcement authorities, Dara," I wept. "Make copies of everything you found. Keep one set of files for safekeeping. Send the others to the authorities."
"Jayden, are you alright?" Zuna asked, noting my tears.
I shook my head. "My grandfather uncovered visual evidence linking Counselor Icaru to the shuttle's missing vent valve lever."
"Scarpers!" I heard Marcu hiss.
"We're sending the evidence now to the Nova Tokyo authorities," I wept, barely stifling a sob.
"Jayden, I'm so sorry!" Dara muttered, her own tears falling.
"Yeah, me, too," I sighed, wiping my eyes. "I'll let you know as soon as I get back to Nova Tokyo. TTYL!"
I broke the link.
"Obaa-san, Ogii-san, I'm so sorry," I whispered. "I have to get back to Nova Tokyo as soon as possible."
"We understand, sweetling," Obaa-san quietly replied, giving me a hug.