The Evaporation of Sofi Snow Read online

Sofi stiffened, and somehow Miguel must’ve caught it, because he put his hand on her back briefly—long enough for Sofi to pull from his strength. And even if it was his habit, she appreciated it this once.

  She inhaled. Come on, Sofi, what’s wrong with you? Stop spinning apart. If the aliens have Shilo, this is where your research begins. So get on it.

  She followed Heller through the door Ethos indicated and entered a private room of more white walls and flooring, full of Delonese medics who were apparently required to keep blank expressions and stay mute to every question she put to them. Even though Sofi knew they could hear—her testing of dropping random, inappropriate exclamations garnered widened eyes and frowns from a few.

  At least Heller was amused. He snickered as they watched the visitors prod and poke and run full-body scans over every inch of her and Heller. At one point, visions of Shilo in similar med rooms filled Sofi’s head and her panic about flared. Until she realized these tests were familiar. Like the scans they went through before stepping into the game stadium. In fact, it was the same tech for the most part.

  She spent the rest of the time taking in every detail of the Delonese faces and minimal equipment, noting how the comp-screen on the wall appeared to have a similar layout to the ones at the Games as well.

  Huh. Their tech offerings in the Games might make this a tad easier.

  A half hour of mouth probes and saliva swabs and more bone and muscle scans, and they were suddenly through and being ushered into the waiting area. Heller nodded as if to say it wasn’t so bad. But when Miguel looked at her she ignored him.

  “Come, I’ll show you to your room,” Ambassador Ethos said.

  “Room?” Heller coughed in her ear. “As in singular? Well, this oughta be interesting,” he whispered as the ambassador led them through a private hall that was a longer version of the space they’d just been in. And yet still no windows or glimpses of the planet or city they were settled on. They passed small pockets of Delonese visitors who paused and observed them walking by.

  “Why do they keep staring at her?” Heller mumbled to the ambassador.

  “They’re wondering if the rumors are true—if she set off the explosion,” Ethos said.

  Sofi snorted. “If they really believed that, they wouldn’t let me be here in the first place,” she said quietly to Miguel.

  He nodded. “Agreed.” And casually slipped back to walk behind her.

  Ethos stopped at a single door, which promptly slid up when he stepped in front of it.

  “I’ve put you together as usual,” he said. “Girl Sofi will have the room on the left. You three will have the room to the right.” He spread his hands out to welcome them into a long suite, set up like a hotel from Earth, with couches, a tele, table and chairs, and bedroom doors on either end of the room. “The restroom, as you call it, is there.” He indicated a door beside the guys’ bedroom. “Please refresh yourselves and we will call for you shortly.”

  Then he was gone.

  “You’ll find your bags with your tech supplies and clothes already on your beds,” Miguel said the instant the door skimmed shut. “We have about two hours, so if you’re willing . . .” He glanced at Claudius. Then handed them each a tiny earcom. “For your other ear—just in case we need them. I’d like to start in on getting results from this trip.”

  “And what exactly are those results?” Heller asked, slipping his com in.

  Sofi nodded. “And what does achieving them require?”

  Claudius glanced at Miguel. “We need you to hack into their system so we can access Earth links from here.”

  Sofi’s brow went up. “So nothing too hard, huh?” To which Heller snickered.

  “We need an internal layout of the planet and . . . certain rooms on it.” Claudius patted Heller’s shoulder. “Think you two can manage that?”

  Sofi let a grin pucker around her mouth. They’d just asked them to break about fifty different international laws and done it without a flinch.

  This she could live with.

  On the way to her room, she ran a hand along the lengthy white wall facing the door they’d walked through—the one without any teles or refreshment dispensers or anything at all. Then paused to press harder when the wall’s strange surface rippled. Without so much as a rumble, the white coating began to fade and dissipate until it’d turned into a floor-to-ceiling clear glass window looking out directly across the ice-planet.

  Sofi gasped and stepped back.

  She’d assumed they’d been at ground level, but . . .

  Heller let out a whistle. “Nice.”

  Sofi turned. “Where are we?”

  “This is their Main Station,” Claudius said, strolling over. “Sits three stories off the ground and holds about thirty rooms—some for meetings, others for council members and people like ourselves.”

  She placed her hand in front of her eyes to hide the buildings and took in just the view beyond them. The hills and divots and sparsely set forests. All freckled with snow. A picturesque scene of unfiltered, unfettered beauty. It was easy to see why they’d found a way to bring their entire planet with them into the Milky Way rather than just invade Earth on a spaceship. Who’d want to leave this behind? Even with their assistance in Earth’s environmental restoration, using massive fusion-fueled filters and reseeding, her home planet would never look anything like this.

  “The rest you’re seeing around us with those buildings is the majority of their capital.”

  Capital? She peered at him. She wasn’t sure what it was, but there was no way in any imagination it was a main city. “You’re joking, right?”

  He shook his head. “They prefer simple.”

  She wrinkled her brow and stared back at it. “Simple, yes, but this . . .” This wasn’t a capital. This was a baby industrial town.

  “Where’s the rest of it?” Heller asked.

  Claudius smiled. “Sorry to disappoint you, kids. But not all that glitters is gold.”

  Sofi studied the low, snow-covered metal buildings that were laid out in patterns akin to a military base. Few windows, few doors. Just row upon row of warehouses that looked eerily like barracks.

  The sense of panic came back, cascading through her veins. She swallowed and held herself in place just as Miguel nudged her arm and pointed. “There. Watch it.”

  She followed his gaze to the low foothills in the distance where a wave of fog was building above the outer tree line. Like a storm of smoke and ice. The next instant it came crashing in like the tide, pouring so fast and harsh that Heller jumped back and swore. It hit the window in front of them and cut off their vision in a sea of white.

  Sofi looked at Miguel. What the—?

  He nodded.

  “Soooo, I’m no genius, kids,” Claudius muttered. “But I’m gonna say it might be a good time to start with some hacking.”

  30

  MIGUEL

  MIGUEL SAT ON THE TABLE’S EDGE WATCHING SOFI AND HELLER type like fiends on their comp-screens while he fiddled with his handheld. “How’s it looking?” he finally asked. “Even remotely posible?”

  Heller tipped his head to Sofi. “We’ve managed to set up a minimal privacy shield for this room—meaning we can talk and work without them listening in. Other than that, there’s not much either of us can do that won’t alert their attention. I mean, my pride is wilting here, but most of this is impossible simply cuz it’s so far beyond our brain level. It’s like another plane entirely.”

  Sofi tugged down her headphones and rolled her eyes at him. “That said, using the translation code from the earcoms that Ambassador Ethos gave us, I’ve managed to patch together a similar translation idea. So, if I can find a program comparable to ones they’ve loaned for the FanFights, at least I’d have something to run it against. Because right now, I can read about half of what’s going on—and only understand a quarter of it.”

  “Although”—she swung around to face Miguel directly—“the good news is, Earth is using fa
r more of their tech than we realized.”

  Miguel took a sip of water. “Meaning?”

  “Meaning the Delonese are beyond my brain capacity, but Heller and I know far more of these codes than we probably should.”

  “Yeah, that’s not creepy.”

  She glanced at him. “You have no idea. If the gamers and citizens knew . . .” She bit her lip. “I’m starting to wonder what else their reach extends to.”

  “Then what would you need to get more complete access?”

  Sofi looked at Heller. When the tech nodded, she shrugged at Miguel. “Honestly? We’d need a Delonese.”

  Miguel tapped his earcom—like the one he’d given the group when they’d walked in—then spoke again. “And if that could be acquired? What would you need from them?”

  Sofi studied her comp. Then, slowly, “I’d need security clearance and a program to layer over it, so I could be certain everything translated correctly.”

  Miguel nodded and tapped his earcom again. “I’ll see what I can do. In the meantime—”

  “All right, you guys. Speak honestly.”

  Miguel turned to see Claudius strutting out of the changing room. “Too much? Too little?” He was wearing a suit that mirrored a character from the latest, all-the-rage K-anime. Black hat. Black cloak. Bright-red jumpsuit that V-necked down his bare chest all the way to his belly button.

  “Dude, I like it,” Heller said.

  “Extraño, but it works.” Claudius’s smile broadened until Miguel added, “I guess.”

  “Sofi. Come on, girl. You’ve gotta admit this is a lady-killer.”

  “I’m . . .” Sofi just stared, the look on her face saying exactly what she thought. “There are truly no words,” she finally admitted.

  Miguel laughed.

  “It’s the chest hair.” She logged off her comp. “And on that note, maybe I should change as well. Ahem.”

  “Safe plan,” Heller whispered. He turned toward the changing room as Claudius plopped on the couch, loudly complaining, “Don’t mind me—I’ll just be watching Earth news with my amazing chest hair while you all get on with your boring clothes.” He flipped on the tele.

  Miguel coughed and went to strip down in the bathroom before putting on an all-black suit with lavender bow tie to match his hair. Simple. Suave. It worked.

  It wasn’t until walking out to slide his shoes on that he realized Nadine was being highlighted on the large telescreen.

  “I’ll be right here tomorrow for another shot at our unveiling!” She looked at the camera. “We’ll be presenting Altered live as the players and gamers prepare their comeback. Then stay tuned for Sunday’s FanFight return!”

  Miguel straightened. “Wait, what?”

  Claudius was staring at the tele. “She’s saying they’re restarting the Games.”

  Miguel scowled. “Nada. Not until they’ve gotten the drama cleared up. There’s a reason this went down, and until they know what it is, they’d be fools to restart.”

  Claudius shrugged. “Yeah, you’d think—”

  “Corp teams of all races and preferences,” a female robotic voice announced on the tele, as the vid flickered to the nearly rebuilt Colinade, “I’m pleased to inform you the FanFight Games are scheduled to resume on Sunday. We’ll be showing the new replacements . . .”

  Miguel heard Sofi’s door open.

  He turned.

  “They’ve got to be kidding.” She shook her head. “Why would they restart them right now? How? With who?”

  Miguel’s entire body stalled. He didn’t answer—couldn’t answer. Sofi was dressed in a black slim-suit like Shilo wore at the FanFights—one that fit every curve of her body. Her long brown hair had been plaited into an updo, setting off her cheekbones and eyes, making her look more like her mother’s heritage than ever. His breath caught. He hadn’t meant to notice. Hadn’t even thought to notice. Now he couldn’t look away.

  “Well?”

  He blinked, his brain blank.

  She stood waiting, glaring as if working out a problem—or waiting for him to figure out what his was. Then swept a hand down her waist. “Does this work for the thing tonight?”

  Oh. Right. He looked away and cleared his throat. “Sí, I, uh, I believe it’ll be fine.”

  “Fine? Claudius, thoughts?”

  “Sofi, don’t hate me when I tell you that the only person more gorgeous than you tonight is me. Cuz, girl, you look hawt.”

  “Thanks. I think.” She glanced toward the changing room.

  “Is Heller ready?”

  Miguel inhaled and peeled his gaze from Sofi just as Heller walked out and the door to the entire suite slid open.

  Ambassador Ethos stood outside, characteristically expressionless until he saw Claudius’s outfit of awesome. Miguel watched the man’s unblinking eyes widen before his perfect face broke into a collage of emotion and admiration. “Ambassador, you honor us with your creativity.”

  Claudius turned and winked at them all. “And that’s how it’s done.”

  Miguel held back a chuckle and inhaled before shifting into his most elaborate personality. Here goes, amigos . . .

  They exited the room and followed Ethos down the short hall to an open lift made entirely of metal. Inside, the ambassador scanned his palm and the five of them shot up five stories.

  The lift spun the opposite direction and suddenly opened into a glass-domed room turning in a slow circle beneath the massive midnight sky, with the moon filling a third of the view. The pockmarked globe of beauty lit up the glass ceiling and, beyond them, the white, snow-tipped landscape far below.

  Miguel smiled and glanced over to inspect Sofi’s expression as her eyes widened in awe. The moon-filled ceiling was only one aspect. The room itself was a technological wonder—a virtual reality of stars and planets and suns floating through atmospheric swirls of colors and sparkling lights, in a replication of solar systems no human had ever seen, let alone knew existed.

  As if that wasn’t enough, the moment they stepped from the lift, the most perfect, operatic voice in the Milky Way broke into song and washed an aria over them.

  Even Ethos paused at the beauty of it.

  “This is rare,” Claudius whispered to Heller. “Only the second time they’ve allowed us to listen in.”

  “She’s well known and beloved in Delon,” Ethos agreed. “One of our few treasures we refuse to share with our Earth comrades.”

  Heller looked less than impressed as they made their way into the sea of Delonese. He was inspecting the room filled with the tall, gorgeous creatures and their perfect penchant for artistic expression. Like an opera house without seating, the room had layers of balconies and stages for the artists, musicians, dancers, and singer to perform all at once.

  Miguel caught Sofi’s expression again and felt his shoulders tighten. Dressed in black, with hair set off by colored galaxies, she stood soaking it in as if no one else existed.

  His chest softened and skipped a beat.

  For as many events as he had attended, he’d never seen anyone react with quite as much unjaded wonder as she was prone to. He chuckled. Though, in all fairness, in this case, no one could throw a party like the Delonese. The music, painting, sculpting, and elaborate floral trees made entirely of food all lent to the harmonious blend of communing spirit. It didn’t matter that the dishes were the blandest flavors he’d ever come in contact with in his life.

  “It almost takes your mind off their faults, doesn’t it?” he said, leaning into Sofi.

  She grinned. “Is it always like this?”

  “It is on welcoming night.”

  He held her gaze, releasing it only as one of their Delonese friends strolled up.

  “Claudius, once again your clothing choices are the envy of the room.”

  “Sofi, Heller, this is Lex,” Miguel said. “And he clearly has the worst taste here.”

  The guy tipped his head back and laughed dramatically while turning his unblinking eyes to
Sofi. “You know, he might be right,” he said once he’d caught his breath. He held out his hand. “But come, girl Sofi, let me show you around.”

  Two females joined them and put their arms around Miguel and Claudius. “We were wondering when you would show up.”

  “Ladies,” Claudius crooned. “We were just telling our guests about your many enjoyments here.”

  Miguel chuckled even as he casually disconnected from their arms. “And by that, he means your food.”

  They both laughed loudly, and Miguel kept his smile on, aware that Sofi was observing.

  “Ooh, our new guests must try it,” Lex agreed, hurrying them all to one of the food trees.

  Sofi peeked back at Miguel and lifted a brow.

  He grinned and leaned in, lips brushing her ear as he murmured, “Apparently the Delonese figured out a way to streamline meals long ago—making them the most nutritious for the smallest portions. But it’s the worst stuff you’ll ever taste. Pretend to chuckle, and then pretend to like it.”

  When he pulled back, she giggled as if he’d told her a joke. “And of course, you’d care.” She winked.

  Ha. Bien. He winked back. Dang right he cared. No matter how many times he’d tried to convince them, the Delonese saw no use for human food. They ate. They consumed cubed portions. But it was necessity, not enjoyment. Which, he’d informed them repeatedly, was an abomination.

  That had only made them laugh even more.

  He glanced down at his stomach as Sofi leaned back over. “Is that what the stash of chocolate and organic butter are for in the room?”

  He glared at her very seriously. “It’s for survival.” To which she only snickered louder. He studied her as it struck him that this time her amusement was genuine. And it was beautiful.

  Claudius’s sudden exclamation drew his attention to whomever Lex and the ladies were now speaking to.

  “Miguel. Claudius,” Ambassador Alis said.

  Miguel took her hand and then embraced Ambassador Danya who was standing over the ambassador. “You two made it.”

  Their huge smiles barely covered the blatant questioning in their eyes. Alis turned tight-lipped to Heller and Sofi while still eyeing Miguel. “I see you brought guests.”