Read Online Asteroid Crisis: Star Challengers Book 3 by Kevin J. Anderson, Rebecca Moesta, June Scobee Rodgers - Free Book Online
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Ansari filed detailed reports, you know. Aside from the impossible fact that you magically appear and disappear without using any sort of spacecraft, it’s also very curious that for people on a classified and highly skilled mission, you cadets don’t seem to know much of anything. You weren’t familiar with the moonbase. You arrived at the ISSC and didn’t know anything about current events. Now you’re back and still don’t know about any of our widely publicized preparations for dealing with the asteroids. In fact, you have no idea what’s happened since you were last here.”
Napali picked up the conversation; obviously, the two had discussed the questions beforehand. “On the other hand, you seem to know an awful lot about the Kylarn—details we haven’t even discovered yet. You know what they call themselves, and you claimed to know their intentions, long before we had any evidence.”
“Wait a minute!” Tony protested. “Are you implying that we’re squidbutt spies?”
“Mira might be, after all,” King said in a low voice. “She proved that.”
“But we’re the good guys!” Dyl piped up.
“When you keep arriving out of nowhere, you can’t expect people not to ask questions and press for answers,” Colonel Fox said. “We’ve given you the benefit of the doubt because you were so helpful—but Cadet Mira has made everyone more cautious.”
“I know,” King said in a low voice.
“No, I’m not accusing you of spying. I think the answer is stranger than that,” Kloor said, like a prosecuting attorney preparing to pounce. “You young people come from a different time! That’s why you don’t age. You don’t arrive by spaceship—you’re somehow transported through time. You arrived at the moonbase nearly three years ago, just before the Kylarn base was discovered, then you appeared on the ISSC almost two years ago, and now here you are again. I checked the images from your first visit—you haven’t changed at all since the beginning.”
JJ’s throat was dry, and she tried to think of a good answer.
“Uh, you’ve been watching too many movies,” Dyl said.
Kloor remained adamant. “I’ve been looking at evidence and drawing the most logical conclusions. Do you deny it?”
Ansari and Fox waited in wide-eyed silence to see how the young people would respond.
JJ looked at her fellow Star Challengers, wondering how they could still keep their mission secret, as Commander Zota had asked. And in those few seconds of hesitation, Dr. Kloor got all the answer he needed. “I knew it! Are you here to change history? Are you here to erase our timeline?”
“No! That’s not it,” JJ finally said. “We’re trying to save history! We’re trying to help humanity get prepared.” Even though Zota had insisted on secrecy, they were in a different version of the future now. When King and Song-Ye looked shocked at what she had revealed, JJ said defensively, “We have to trust someone.”
Tony followed JJ’s lead. “Now do you all understand why we couldn’t tell you anything?”
Ansari seemed to have trouble accepting what she heard. “So you come from the past to change what happens here? Or do you learn from the future, go back, and try to change things in the past?”
“We’re trying to help the human race prepare, to give us a head start before the Kylarn arrive,” JJ said. “If we focus on research and discovery, develop technology decades sooner, and keep the space program strong, maybe the Kylarn won’t bother us. We know now that the first alien scouts are going to spy on Earth in our lifetimes.”
“But if you change all that—our past—what if we’re never born?” Napali asked.
“If the invasion is as bad as we predict it could be, that might still save millions of lives,” Ansari said.
“Billions, actually,” King said in a low voice. Ansari looked at him in shock.
“Look.” JJ held onto a grab bar on the wall and turned to face the adults.
Napali picked up the conversation; obviously, the two had discussed the questions beforehand. “On the other hand, you seem to know an awful lot about the Kylarn—details we haven’t even discovered yet. You know what they call themselves, and you claimed to know their intentions, long before we had any evidence.”
“Wait a minute!” Tony protested. “Are you implying that we’re squidbutt spies?”
“Mira might be, after all,” King said in a low voice. “She proved that.”
“But we’re the good guys!” Dyl piped up.
“When you keep arriving out of nowhere, you can’t expect people not to ask questions and press for answers,” Colonel Fox said. “We’ve given you the benefit of the doubt because you were so helpful—but Cadet Mira has made everyone more cautious.”
“I know,” King said in a low voice.
“No, I’m not accusing you of spying. I think the answer is stranger than that,” Kloor said, like a prosecuting attorney preparing to pounce. “You young people come from a different time! That’s why you don’t age. You don’t arrive by spaceship—you’re somehow transported through time. You arrived at the moonbase nearly three years ago, just before the Kylarn base was discovered, then you appeared on the ISSC almost two years ago, and now here you are again. I checked the images from your first visit—you haven’t changed at all since the beginning.”
JJ’s throat was dry, and she tried to think of a good answer.
“Uh, you’ve been watching too many movies,” Dyl said.
Kloor remained adamant. “I’ve been looking at evidence and drawing the most logical conclusions. Do you deny it?”
Ansari and Fox waited in wide-eyed silence to see how the young people would respond.
JJ looked at her fellow Star Challengers, wondering how they could still keep their mission secret, as Commander Zota had asked. And in those few seconds of hesitation, Dr. Kloor got all the answer he needed. “I knew it! Are you here to change history? Are you here to erase our timeline?”
“No! That’s not it,” JJ finally said. “We’re trying to save history! We’re trying to help humanity get prepared.” Even though Zota had insisted on secrecy, they were in a different version of the future now. When King and Song-Ye looked shocked at what she had revealed, JJ said defensively, “We have to trust someone.”
Tony followed JJ’s lead. “Now do you all understand why we couldn’t tell you anything?”
Ansari seemed to have trouble accepting what she heard. “So you come from the past to change what happens here? Or do you learn from the future, go back, and try to change things in the past?”
“We’re trying to help the human race prepare, to give us a head start before the Kylarn arrive,” JJ said. “If we focus on research and discovery, develop technology decades sooner, and keep the space program strong, maybe the Kylarn won’t bother us. We know now that the first alien scouts are going to spy on Earth in our lifetimes.”
“But if you change all that—our past—what if we’re never born?” Napali asked.
“If the invasion is as bad as we predict it could be, that might still save millions of lives,” Ansari said.
“Billions, actually,” King said in a low voice. Ansari looked at him in shock.
“Look.” JJ held onto a grab bar on the wall and turned to face the adults.
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