Free Trouble in Warp Space by Franklin W. Dixon

you, Bruce,” Claudia said. She and the Hardys and Iola headed for the cafeteria.
    As they stood in line to get their food, Iola asked, “What was up with Geoff Gross there? He might have hurt Chet.”
    “Geoff’s always been a macho hothead,” Claudia replied. “He’s convinced that he should be the star of the show. Plus, he’s pretty sweet on Jerri. He’s probably a bit jealous of the time Chet’s been spending with her.”
    “Boy, the one time Chet does okay with a girl, it still messes up his life,” Joe said.
    “Everyone seems on edge,” Frank said. “Except maybe you.”
    Claudia shrugged. “I’ve been out of work before,” she said, “and I’ll be out of work again. Don’t get me wrong, I want this show to succeed, but my life doesn’t begin and end with it.” They sat down to eat.
    “Do you think someone could be trying to hurt the show on purpose?” Joe asked.
    “Like who?” Claudia replied.
    “We’re not sure,” Frank said, “but a lot of things have been going wrong lately.”
    “I think it’s just the pressure,” Claudia said. “That’s why I’m throwing a party tomorrow night, so everyone can let off some steam. You guys are welcome to come if you like.”
    “We’d love to,” Iola said, sipping her drink through a straw so as not to smudge her makeup.
    They finished their food and headed back toward the soundstage. The frantic shooting had eaten up much of the day. Already long, twilight shadows darkened the lot.
    As they passed by Bruce Reid’s trailer, he came out, looking distraught. “Have you seen the Web site today?” he asked Claudia. “Do you know anything about this?”
    “Know anything about what?” she asked.
    “Come in,” Reid said. “I’ll show you.” He ushered Claudia, the Hardys, and Iola into his trailer.The group huddled around a laptop on the trailer’s counter.
    “I was checking my mail on my fan site,” Reid explained, “and discovered a lot of sympathy notes. Some angry ones, too. At first I couldn’t figure out what it was all about. Finally, I tracked it back to the main Warp Space site.” His fingers flew over the keyboard, pulling up a new Web site. “Take a look!” he said forlornly.
    “I don’t see anything different,” Claudia said, checking the brightly colored front page of the Warp Space Web site.
    “It’s in the news items, near the bottom of the page—the bottom!” Reid said.
    The Hardys and Iola leaned closer as Claudia scrolled down.
    Near the bottom of the page, was a picture of Reid. Next to the picture, was a simple block of black and white text.
    “Captain Winter no more—Bruce Reid leaving series.”

9 Webs of Intrigue
    “You’re leaving the series?” Iola asked.
    “Not that I know of,” Reid said, wiping the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief.
    Frank reached over and clicked the link on the headline. “It says here that you’ve decided to move on because of creative differences,” he said.
    Reid rolled his eyes and moaned. “That’s a death knell for an actor!” he said. “‘Creative differences’ always means an actor is difficult to work with. But I haven’t been difficult. I’ve given my all for this show.”
    Claudia put her hand comfortingly on his shoulder. “Everyone knows that, Bruce,” she said.
    “It also says that the fate of your character remains up in the air,” Joe added.
    “It does,” Reid said, “but I read on a fan site that Captain Winter will be killed two episodes after the one we’re shooting now. Then Ensign Allura gets a field promotion and becomes captain for a while.”
    “How can that be true?” Claudia asked. “I don’t think Sandy has two episodes done beyond this one. We both know she’s still sweating over rewrites on this episode.”
    “But we also know she has a master plan for the series in her head,” Reid said. “If she is bumping my character off, she might have leaked the news to soften the blow—or put it up herself using a