Read Online Lost Planet 02 - The Stolen Moon by Rachel Searles - Free Book Online Page A

better about the mission—if the Kuyddestor was such an important part of the process, the Fleet really couldn’t do anything bad to them. “The captain ordered me to stay on the soldiers’ level the whole time. He thinks I’ll … get in the way or something. So I’m not going to get to see anything.”
    â€œOh. Well, that stinks.” Analora fiddled with his empty tray, looking like she was thinking hard. “There are ways around that, you know.”
    â€œWhat do you mean?” asked Chase.
    She gave him a sly grin. “I know every inch of this ship, and all its secrets. Trust me—there’s a way.”
    *   *   *
    Standing in a narrow back hallway on the soldiers’ level near the ship’s maintenance offices, Chase watched as Analora wedged a knife stolen from the canteen into a panel of the wall, popping it loose. Behind was a black crawlspace with a bracket of wires running overhead.
    Chase crouched and stuck his head through the opening, looking down the dark tunnel inside. “We’re going in there?”
    â€œBehind the walls there’s a whole other Kuyddestor ,” said Analora. “The maintenance corridors. You just have to know the right places to get to them.”
    â€œHow do we get out again?” In the back of his mind, a voice that sounded suspiciously like Parker’s said, You phase through it, dummy . But he couldn’t do that with Analora around. She thought he was normal—he didn’t want her to see that he was actually a freak.
    â€œWe can push this panel back out from the inside. This hall’s usually empty, so we just have to be sure to come back to the same spot. I’ve never been caught.” She held the panel steady with a knee as she looped her hair up on top of her head. “Get in and head to the right. I’ll be behind you.”
    Looking quickly up and down the hall, Chase crept inside the wall. The crawlspace was dark and dusty, but as he scuffled along, his eyes adjusted and he realized there were ventilation spots every so often that let a tiny amount of light through. Behind him, he heard Analora get inside and pull the panel shut. He glanced back at her once and she flapped a hand, waving him onward.
    After a few minutes, the crawlspace ended, but someone had cut a neat hole in the metal, and he crept out into an open space. As he waited for Analora to join him, he looked around. They were now in a tall, narrow corridor that curved and disappeared in the distance. Square utility lights sunk into the wall every few meters provided dim light, and the air was hot and smelled like wax and hair.
    Analora clambered out, rubbing the dust off her hands and grinning.
    â€œWhere are we?” he asked in a whisper.
    â€œWe’re in the maintenance area, beside the ship’s air filtration and climate control.” She placed a hand on the tall wall beside them. “This is the influx chamber.”
    â€œHow do you know all this?”
    â€œMy friend Dany knew the ship better than any of us. We used to come back here all the time, and he’d explain where we were and how everything worked.” Her voice sounded soft and happy describing these memories, and Chase felt a tiny twinge of jealousy toward this person he’d never met.
    They walked along the wall of the gigantic influx chamber. At one point the closed crawlspace beside them curved back into the wall, creating a little alcove. Chase squinted at something crumpled in the corner. “Hold on,” he said. He crouched in the corner and picked it up, shaking out what appeared to be a woolen Fleet standard-issue blanket.
    Chase squeezed the blanket, suddenly feeling ill. Could this be where Lilli spent her time hiding—in a dark corner inside the walls of the ship? He felt around on the floor and up around the pipes running along the wall, but there were no other clues as to who might have