Read Online Fixed by Beth Goobie - Free Book Online

giving him a quick shove. “Of course, I believe the Goddess’s story. Everyone knows the twin sons were sent by the Gods to show us the way to the stars. If we’re obedient and faithful, we’ll ride the light like They do when we die.”
    “D’you know that for sure?” asked Phillip.
    “Of course, I do,” Lierin snapped, her voice rising. “The Goddess said it.”
    “Oh yeah?” said Phillip. “And did She send a twinkling birdie out of the sky to tell you?”
    “I read the star charts every day,” Lierin shot back heatedly. “I know which stars to pray to so I can keep my heart pure. My faith is strong, so I know what’s true.”
    “And you?” Phillip glanced at Nellie, his eyes careful and heavy lidded. “Do you believe this stuff?”
    “Of course,” faltered Nellie. “It’s the way to eternal life among the stars. Don’t you?”
    “I dunno,” shrugged Phillip. “All I’m saying is you can’t know for sure it’s true. Even the books disagree on exactly what happened, so how are you supposed to know? ” He fidgeted again, shivering with an odd restlessness. “I’m not saying I believe it, and I’m not saying I don’t. But even if it is true, what do the twins have to do with us? They’re just two guys who lived a long time ago, and their story isn’t even all that interesting. So what if the Gods rewarded their great odyssey by giving them eternal life? They only got to become moons, not even stars, and for most of the year they’re nowhere near each other in the sky. It’s only during the month of Lulunar that they travel next to each other. Some reward that is. As far as I can see, the Gods screwed the twins when they were alive, then screwed them again eternally by forcing them to reunite as the Twin Moons and remember the whole mess for an entire month every year.”
    Nellie and Lierin stared at him, openmouthed. Uneasily, Phillip’s eyes flitted between them, then dropped. “Hey, don’t get uptight,” he muttered. “All I’m saying is, if it had been me, I would just want to be dead. Bye-bye twinnie, I don’t want to become a moon. Sorry I didn’t get to be best buds while we were alive but I’m dead now, so who cares?”
    “That’s blasphemy,” Lierin said flatly. “You can’t talk about the Goddess’s sons like that.”
    “I’m not talking about them ,” said Phillip quickly. “I’m saying if it was me .”
    “Well, it isn’t you,” snapped Lierin. “Since when have you been half-god?”
    Phillip shrugged, picked up the book in his lap and set it down again.
    Nellie finally found her voice. “You’re just lucky,” she whispered, “that it’s only us listening to you. What if—?” Shakily she pointed to the monitoring screen at the end of the room.
    Again Phillip shrugged. “No one was listening,” he said. “I checked first. Anyway, you don’t think Detta takes this Goddess crap seriously, do you? It’s just a story. You don’t have to believe in Her to be a functional cadet.”
    “Phillip Grennin Bolderveen?” said a voice, and a man in Detta uniform stepped around the end of the barricade that ran the middle of the room. Phillip gave a sudden wheeze, as if punched in the gut.
    “Yes, sir?” he whispered.
    “Come with me,” said the man, his gaze tightening on Phillip’s face. “Bring your books.”
    Nellie watched Phillip pale, then slide slowly from the bed and approach the end of the barricade. Without a word the man stepped aside, letting him pass, then glanced at the two girls.
    “You failed to report this,” he said, his voice clipped and neutral.
    “I was going to,” Lierin said immediately. “After we finished—”
    “Next time, walk immediately to the monitoring screen and press the alarm button,” continued the man, ignoring her interruption. “Now, full attention. This is Code SM9T. Bring up cabinet forty-seven. Have you got it?”
    The girls nodded silently as a filing cabinet with the number forty-seven stamped