Part 2 (2/2)

”Do you think we're still on Earth? Or a different planet, or world, or alternate reality?”

Caleb scratched his head. ”Well, Max said 'Earth-to-Earth,' and the people seem to be human. The signs are in English and we haven't seen any strange beings or anything. I'm guessing Earth.”

Abbey was about to reply when Simon turned to them, holding out the navigation upgrade box, his face pallid in the glow of the screen. ”Look at the date,” he said, ”and the slogan.”

Abbey grabbed the box and looked at the small print along the bottom.

2036.

S Systems You won't even know we're here.

Chapter 3.

Operating Systems.

Abbey looked at her brothers. Simon's blue eyes bored into her, but he said nothing. She hunched her shoulders.

”Way cool,” said Caleb. ”We're in the future.”

”We don't know we're in the future,” Abbey said. ”We don't know anything. It could be a misprint. This could be a dream. We could be in 2036 in a different world. We don't know anything.” She thought of her room with the pink and orange flowered wallpaper and bedspread; her desk with all its science equipment; Wallace, her brown guinea pig; Farley, whom she loved, despite his tendency toward general harebrainedness; and, of course, her mom and dad. She might never see any of it again. She bit back tears. ”The important thing is that we get home.”

Max's voice came over the intercom. ”All done here, folks. Better strap yourselves back in for liftoff. How're the repairs going, anyway?”

Abbey held her breath, but Simon's voice crackled with authority. ”Max, just checking. Did you install any previous upgrades to the nav system?”

”Well now, I dunno. I don't think so. I'm pretty busy for that kind of stuff. But then my buddy told me I could save a ton of points by improving the accuracy of the Earth-to-s.p.a.ce jumps, landing me right at the docking station and saving all that coasting energy. So, I decided to give it a try.” The s.h.i.+p's humming intensified.

Simon was still strapped into the seat in front of the computer.

Abbey hustled over to her seat and glared at Caleb, who continued milling around the compartments.

”Right. So, no, then?” Simon asked. ”You haven't installed any other upgrades?”

Abbey could almost see Max hanging his head. ”No.”

”You know you have to install them, right? Later upgrades won't always work if you don't install the earlier ones,” Simon said.

”Sorry, mate. I didn't know. Can you fix it?”

”I'm not sure yet.”

Caleb spoke up. ”Max, I need to come up to the c.o.c.kpit for a little bit and take a look at the navigation system from up there. I'll head up your way after we take off.”

”Sure thing. We're heading off now.”

Abbey wanted to pinch Caleb's arm, but she was already strapped in. ”What are you thinking, Cale? You can't go up there.”

”Why not? He's not going to hurt me. And I need to figure out where we are.”

”No, you don't,” Abbey said. ”How are you going to figure out where we are? Or when we are? You need to stay here with us. We need to get off this s.h.i.+p and go home.” She could almost smell Wallace's soft fur. She had experiments to run and homework to do. Simon ignored her outburst, his eyes fixed on the lines of code on the screen.

Caleb affected his most earnest expression. ”Abs, what if we have a problem getting back? I need to collect all the data I can. Consider this important data collection. You know how important data is.”

Abbey frowned. ”You just want to go to the c.o.c.kpit.”

Caleb cracked a sheepish smile. ”Okay. But you have to admit, more information is better. There could be tons of clues up there-maps, more manuals. And I can ask questions.” The s.h.i.+p detached and began its upward glide. Caleb staggered across the floor in a drunken lurch.

”Aren't you going to sit down and put on your seat belt?”

”Nah, I'm going to hang on to this bar here. It wasn't too bad last time.”

Simon turned and glared at Caleb. ”Sit down and strap yourself in, you nimrod, or your head will slam against that wall and I'll have to deliver your brains home to Mom.”

A body experiencing a force undergoes acceleration. Abbey almost giggled as Caleb decided to accelerate to his seat. The s.h.i.+p launched into the air again. She felt the blood drain from her face and her eyeb.a.l.l.s press into the back of their sockets.

When the s.h.i.+p was stable again, she returned to the computer screen. There was no pattern to the code that she could discern. Geometry and algebra had an intuitive arc she could follow. But the lines of code were irritatingly nonsensical.

Caleb sidled over to the screen, the skritch of his bamboo sandals the only sound in the room. ”I'm heading to the c.o.c.kpit for a bit. Just to take a look around. Any questions I can ask while I'm up there to make me look like I know what I'm doing?”

”Not likely,” Simon grunted.

Caleb was nonplussed. He rocked back in his sandals. ”Very funny, big bro. Seriously, give me something. The more I figure out, the better off we all are.”

”Fine. Confirm that the problem started immediately on the first jump after the upgrade, and that he's getting no results, not inaccurate results.”

”Got it.” The skritching sound moved across the room toward the door.

Abbey felt a wave of concern for Caleb. ”Just don't ask any dumb questions,” she said.

He wiggled his eyebrows. ”Righto. No dumb questions. If I don't come back in fifteen minutes, come and get me.” Abbey gasped, but Caleb winked. ”I'm kidding, Abbey. I'll be back.” The door swooshed closed.

”I think I might have figured it out. See this?” Simon pointed at a line of code.

Abbey squinted at the screen.

”It's set to be an integer. That's what the computer was expecting. Maybe that's how accurate they could be when they first started doing Earth-to-s.p.a.ce jumps.”

Abbey could see the words on the screen reflected in her brother's eyes while he spoke.

”When the system upgrade was applied, it started calculating the coordinates with three decimal places, but the computer was still expecting an integer. I might just have to change this one line of code.”

Abbey was taken aback. Could it be that simple? They could actually fix the problem and leave, without being clapped in irons and never seeing their home again?

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