Free A Crack in the Sky by Mark Peter Hughes Page A

have to finish, because that was when Sandra’s InfiniTalk howled. In the same moment that she turned to see who it was, she also let go of Tabitha’s wrist. Tabitha didn’t wait around. She shot away, but just before she reached the glass doors, Sandra called out to her one last time. “Uh … Tab? Everybody just got a general broadcast with your name on it.”
    Something about this news brought Tabitha to a halt despite herself. She looked back. Sandra was leaning over the side of her cube, holding up her InfiniTalk. “I guess the Director wants to see you upstairs right away. It’s marked Urgent. Wherever you’re going in such a hurry, hon, it’ll have to wait.” And then she added, “As if a make-out session and getting promoted weren’t enough good stuff for one twenty-four-hour period.” She smiled. “Perk on, girl!”
    Tabitha stepped quickly through the doors and into the elevator. She was sure of one thing: she wasn’t going up.
    Less than a minute later she was downstairs in her dorm suite. First, she needed her fake ID. If the Guardians were looking for her, she wouldn’t get very far using her own DNA. They’d pick her up the first time she had to ride a transport or buy anything. But the Friends had given her a set of fake finger pads, and if there was ever a time she needed them, this was it. Second, she needed an environment suit. There was no way around that either. If she was really going Outside, she’d be there awhile and would need protection. Unfortunately she didn’t have a suit of her own. But Sandra had one, and Tabitha knew where she kept it.
    Sorry, Sandra. You’ll have to forgive me
.
    First, the finger pads.
    Balancing herself on a chair, Tabitha lifted the ceiling tile above her poster of Aristotle the Cat, her favorite band. She felt around up there with her hand. A couple of weeks earlier she’d put the pads in a bag and hidden it up there, and yet now her fingers didn’t feel it. It wasn’t where she thought she’d put it. Her heart gave a lurch. Oh god, where was it? What was she going to do if she couldn’t find it?
    On the opposite edge of the tile her hand finally felt the textured surface she was looking for. Relieved, she snatched the bag, stuffed the pads into her pocket, and leapt back to the floor. Next she bolted down the hallway for the environment suit. She didn’t know how much time she had, but she knew it wasn’t a lot.
    Tabitha tried Sandra’s door. It wasn’t locked. Sandra never bothered to lock it. Hardly slowing at all, she shoved it open and burst inside. The last thing she expected was to find somebody in there.
    She nearly jumped out of her skin when she found herself face to face with a pair of green eyes.
    She screamed.
    “Good afternoon, Representative Bloomberg. This is an unexpected surprise.”
    Tabitha struggled to recover her composure. It was only Ophelia, the cleaning robot. Old and worn, she smelled like disinfectant and looked like a mess of tattered plastic tubing, with dusters and scrubbing brushes and appendages that seemed to hang from every part of her chassis. Even though she was just a machine, she looked tired.
    Tabitha had forgotten this was cleaning day.
    She took a step back and made an effort to act casual. “Ophelia, you scared me!” she said, attempting a laugh. “You shouldn’t sneak around like that!”
    But Ophelia didn’t seem to think it was funny. She angled her smooth plastic head to one side like a curious dog. Her mechanical arms paused in the middle of making Sandra’s bed, and her rubber fingers stopped picking up the socks and paperwork scattered across the rug. Her voice was soft and pleasant as always, but gave no hint of a sense of humor.
    “Representative Bloomberg, what are you doing in Representative Gates’s quarters in the middle of the school day?”
    “I just need to grab something I left in her trunk. No biggie.”
    She waited, but Ophelia didn’t move to let her past. Her optical