Chapter Six

Zenon listened to the rain, contemplating her dream and wondering if Zoa had made a huge mistake by talking to Numbar and arranging to arrange a meeting on the spay stay-her spay stay.

Speaking of huge mistakes, she wondered if she'd made one in giving Dasha the idea to check out Numbar's project in search of anything "suspicious extreme". She wondered if she'd accidentally put Dasha in danger, and with that thought came a sense of urgency. She walked into Proto Zoa's bedroom, where he was strumming on his guitar. "Zoa, I think we made a horrible major mistake," she said.

Zoa stopped strumming and sat up properly, leaning his guitar against one of the legs of the bed. "Are you sure?"

"I hope I'm wrong major, but if I'm not, I don't want to be too late."

Zoa shrugged on a jacket and pulled an umbrella out of his closet. He wrapped an arm around Zenon and led her to the front door. As soon as the door opened, he opened the umbrella and walked past the fence, pressing a button as he passed. The hum of the forcefield could barely be heard over the thunder, rain and wind.

He led her down the slope to a small town with a parking garage, where he'd left his pod. He helped Zenon inside and turned the pod on before maneuvering out of the parking garage. "Now," he said, "where do we begin to look?"

"Try contacting Lester," Zenon replied.

Zoa nodded and turned to head north. He pressed a button on the dashboard, and, as characteristic of him, his manager answered, "Lester."

"We need your help, again," Zoa replied. "We're trying to find Numbar."

"Again?"

"Look, we think we've made a horrible mistake, and we have to correct it before it's too late."

"Too late? Too late for what?"

"My cousin's in danger, again, and so help you if you stop me," Zenon said.

"Zoa, your girlfriend scares me."

"Good," Zenon and Zoa said at the same time.

"Okay, look. I know he has an apartment below me, but he hasn't been there for weeks. I can run a quick search for a hotel if you want me to."

"Please do, and get back to us when you have something."

"Okay." Lester signed off, and Zoa glanced at Zenon, who swallowed and then looked out the passenger window.

ZZZ

Dasha sat in the passenger seat of Numbar's pod, the kidnapping replaying itself over and over again, the thought that this time she'd gone willingly being of no consolation whatsoever.

She glanced at Numbar, whose attention was fixated on the conditions in front of him, and she tried to go over the plan in her mind, but her thoughts remained on the kidnapping. Dasha chewed her lip, trying to stifle the fear welling up inside her.

Then her thoughts exaggerated on the mental replays: It's happening again, her mental voice said. You're going to be taken hostage again, as leverage, and if you don't do what he says, he could kill you. You need to find a way out, fast.

Quickly, Dasha checked their altitude. Too high to jump, she concluded. She settled back in her seat, staring out the windshield. It occurred to her that she should start asking questions, so she started with something simple. "How's the project going?"

"Just fine. We're looking to finish right on schedule," Numbar replied.

"Did you pick a space station to piggy-back off of for transport?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, we did. I'm sure you'll recognize it, since you have family that live there."

Dasha nodded. Time to start broaching the subject. "Any special plans for this space station?"

Numbar smirked. "You'll see."

"So it's a surprise. You know, usually surprises are fun major."

"Maybe this one is, if you're a pyro."

Oh, this can't get any more viral extreme, Dasha thought, the feeling in her gut getting worse at the sound of his words. As inky as it seemed, though, she did the same thing she did when she was in trouble with her parents. Okay, Dash, you can do this. Zenon could handle this. What would she do?

Numbar parked the pod in the lot of a building, and she climbed out the first available chance she had. He led her into the facility and down a hall to his office, where he gestured for her to have a seat. "Now, is there anything particular you want to know about the Martian colony?"

"Well, there is one thing," Dasha began. "Why do you want me there?"

He went pale, and she could see shock and terror in his eyes. In that moment, she realized something. Either he didn't intend for her to remember that, or he didn't intend for her to live.

For a long while he was silent, and Dasha found herself seeking an opening to excuse herself to the restroom and never return. After a moment, with Numbar's silence becoming excruciating, she said, "I feel a little inky. Can I go to the bathroom?"

"Yeah, sure. Down the hall, first door on the left."

Dasha nodded and walked out of the office as quickly as possible. She reached the parking lot within minutes and found a booth, where she entered her code and zapped the first person she could think of: Zenon. When Zenon didn't answer, she zapped an operator and asked for Proto Zoa's pod.

"Well, I don't know if I can patch you through, but I can give it a shot," the opperator said. A second later, he heard Proto Zoa's distinctive voice, even though he was a little miffed. "Who is zapping me at a moment like this when I'm trying to find Dasha?"

"Well, news flash major, rock star, you just found her," Dasha replied.

"Oh, thank goodness. Where are you?"

She rattled off a location and offered to stay on until he got there unless something "viral extreme" should happen. He agreed to it, and she glanced out behind her. "He's going to find out I'm not in the bathroom, but I had to say something to get out of there."

"Tell him you zapped your cousin to help you find a place to stay for a little while while you got over your sickness."

"You think he'll buy it?"

"He'll have to if he wants to keep a low profile. You just wait there however long it takes; just hang in there and trust us."

"Okay."

ZZZ

Zenon sank back in her seat, her eyes closed. Proto Zoa took her hand and stroked it with his thumb. "You see, it's going to be alright," he said. "It's working out just fine. You don't have anything to worry about."

"Except the spay stay blowing up," she replied.

"We don't even know if that's a vision of the future yet, and if it is, we might've already changed it by now."

She looked over at him. "But what if we didn't?"

"We still have time. At most, we have five weeks to stop this." He maneuvered the pod effortlessly around others as it continued its ride north. "I told you, you have nothing to worry about. Everything's going to be just fine."

"Let's get to Dasha first, and then we can sweat minor."

ZZZ

Dasha slipped out of the booth and began to pace, ignoring the strange looks she'd gotten from a few of the passersby. She didn't know how long it would take Proto Zoa to get there, but she couldn't stand in one spot for too long. She couldn't leave the location altogether, though, so pacing seemed to be her only option.

Several pods rushed by, but for several minutes, none of them stopped, and then a silver pod descended to the old street and stopped in front of the booth. Dasha relaxed almost immediately and walked over to the pod just as the door popped open. The second the door closed, she said, almost completely breathless, "Numbar wants to blow up the spay stay."

Zenon looked from Proto Zoa to Dasha and then looked out over the street. "What now?" she asked.

"We've averted disaster major," Zoa replied. "Will you stop worrying?"

Zenon sank back in the passenger seat and rubbed her eyes. "Are you two dating now?" Dasha asked in an effort to break the somewhat awkward silence.

"Uh, well, sort of," Zoa replied. "She's spending the summer with me."

"Oh."