While the window closed behind Grace—the screen already placed back in its frame by Dax—she surveyed the small room the team had entered. It was packed with metal filing cabinets and illuminated only by a red exit sign.
Jasper leaned over Thea’s shoulder to study the floor plan she’d pulled up on her tablet. “I don’t think we’ll run into anyone,” Jasper said. “But keep it quiet just in case. Thea, lead the way.”
The five crossed a narrow hallway and passed through a few more rooms. Thea guided them to the back of an empty office, where she pointed to the ceiling. “Room above us. Map says there’s a vent we can access.”
“Sweet.” Jasper hopped onto a desk and lifted one of the ceiling tiles.
The team climbed into the space between floors, through a metal grate and a few feet of ventilation shaft, then emerged in a dark room filled with humming electronics and the soft glow of lights on machines. Thea led the way to the corner where a large printer waited. Five badges sat in a tray sticking out from the side.
“Learn your fake names,” Jasper said as she grabbed the badges, slipped them into plastic sleeves with clips, and handed them out. “In case anyone talks to you.”
The idea of interacting with anyone was nerve-racking. Still, Grace accepted her badge and examined it. Next to her photo was the name Wren Starwright. Jasper pinned her own badge to her shirt, displaying the name Seth Galax.
“Seth?” Thea questioned, raising an eyebrow.
“It’s short for Sethany.” Jasper started toward the door. “My backstory is that I—”
“Do we really need backstories?” Holly interrupted. “We aren’t going to be here that long.”
“What are you going to do if someone corners you by the water cooler and asks about your childhood pets, huh?”
“I’ll make something up.”
“Not all of us are good at coming up with lies on the spot.” Jasper opened the door and led the way into the hall. “Dax, where did you grow up?”
“Huh?” Dax asked. “Oh, um, Blue District. No, wait, Gold.”
“Dax does fine when he’s actually under cover,” Holly said. “And no one’s going to interrogate us about our lives.”
Jasper shrugged. “I’m just saying everyone should keep some ideas in the back of their mind.”
The conversation only served to make Grace more nervous. While they walked, she started mentally listing middle districts she could name if asked where she grew up. Or would an upper district be better?
“Now, keep your eyes peeled when we get into the Starchatter offices,” Jasper ordered. “Look for anything that could be a way up. Our analysis—”
“My analysis,” Thea corrected.
“—showed no direct vent routes. And there are galaxium panels surrounding the area. They’d take a week to get through with brute force, but Ringmaster must have some way of getting in and out.”
Distant chatter reached their ears. Jasper’s voice lowered. “We’re almost to the main office,” she said. “We should split up. Five new faces walking in at once might draw attention.”
Thea lifted a hand. “I’ll go in alone first and see if I can sense anything interesting on the computers.”
“Dax and I can scope out the offices,” Holly added. “Get a feel for who hangs around what parts.”
“Great,” Jasper said. “Angel, you’re with me.”
Grace nodded.
Jasper clapped her hands together. “All right, criminals and gentlethieves. It’s showtime.”
Thea headed toward the Starchatter offices, followed a minute later by Holly and Dax. Jasper gave them a few minutes more before gesturing for Grace to follow her down the hall.
The office was like a dream: surreal and strange, despite its ordinary appearance, and accompanied by a nagging sense that something bad was about to happen. Grace tried to reason her way out of her apprehension as she walked with Jasper through a lobby. They entered a maze of desks, a huge space filled with people and conversation and glowing screens and stacks of files and ringing communicators and—
“You good?” Jasper asked. “It’s a little chaotic.”
“Understatement,” Grace muttered. She sucked in a deep breath. “I’m okay.”
She had no idea what to look for but pretended to carefully examine desks as they passed. She didn’t notice the man approaching her and Jasper until she almost crashed into him. Jasper grabbed her arm and pulled her out of his path.
“Sorry about that,” Jasper said. “If we could just squeeze past you—”
The man—a pale green, amphibious guy—looked them up and down. “You two are with the intern wave?”
Jasper didn’t miss a beat. “Yes, Mr.—” Her gaze moved to his badge. “Omic Attom?”
“Attom will do just fine.” Attom reached out a webbed hand to shake one of Jasper’s. “You are?”
“Sethany Galax. My dog died when I was seven.”
“I—what?”
In a panic, Grace stuck her hand out to distract him. “Wren Starwright.”
Attom shook her hand. “You two should get to the conference room. I’m about to start the intro meeting.”
“We were just on our way,” Jasper said.
“Perfect. Why don’t you follow me, then?”
Grace shot Jasper a nervous look as they walked. “What about the plan?” she whispered.
Jasper shrugged. “Conference room’s as good a place to look as any,” she replied. After tapping her comm’s unmute button, she added, “Hey Thea, could you look up Omic Attom for me?” She spelled the name out.
After a few seconds, Thea answered over comms. “He’s the head editor of Starchatter.”
Grace and Jasper followed Attom into a room occupied by a long black table. The rest of the space was packed with people, none of whom looked much older than Grace and Jasper.
Attom moved to the front of the room. “I’ll keep this brief,” he said as the chatter died down. “Welcome to Starchatter. You’ll mostly be observing. Staff will be available to answer your questions or help you with whatever assignments you have from your professors. If you’re lucky, you might get asked to help out and even go into the field.”
“And,” he continued. “If you’re really lucky, and make a good impression on me, you’ll get invited to the staff party in a few days.”
A few days? As in the day of Ringmaster’s race? Grace threw Jasper a sideways glance.
Jasper raised her hand. “Excuse me, where is the staff party being held?”
“Here in one of the back offices,” Attom replied. “Room 72-7A. That might not mean much to you now, but those offices are usually off-limits to everyone but management, so this is a very exciting opportunity.”
“About as exciting as watching paint dry,” a boy to Grace’s left muttered. Her gaze flickered to him. He looked human, with a mess of blonde curls and the most bored expression Grace had ever seen.
“If any of you write something good, I’ll consider publishing it on our site,” Attom continued. “Now get going! You’re not getting paid to sit around.”
“Actually, we aren’t getting paid at all,” a girl near the door said.
“All the more reason to get moving! Experience is all you’re getting out of this.”
Grace and Jasper were swept up in the crowd rushing to get out of the room.
“We should try to get invited to that party,” Jasper told Grace as the interns around them dispersed. “If those rooms aren’t used much, they’d be the perfect entry point for Ringmaster.”
Grace glanced toward the work floor. Toward the chaos. “How are we going to do that?”
“All we have to do is impress Attom.” Jasper made it sound easy. “Thea, tell me about room 72-7A.”
“Let me pull up the readings I took earlier.” After a brief pause, Thea said, “There’s strong electrical signals coming from that spot. It could be an access point.”
“How difficult would it be for Ringmaster to get back there?” Jasper asked.
“He’s probably built his own entrance into the galaxium panels he set up, maybe with simple lock and key. To get to that point on this floor, he would need a Starchatter employee badge with access, or a way to bypass the locks. Not to mention dealing with building security.” Thea considered for a moment. “But there might be another way into that room, through vents or the ceiling. From there, he could enter the floor above.”
Jasper laughed. “I hope so. The mental image of Ringmaster crawling through a vent is hilarious.”
“The party starts about an hour before the first race,” Thea pointed out. “I’m not sure why Ringmaster would do that intentionally, or if he even knows about the party.”
“I’m going to work on getting an invite,” Jasper said. “Keep poking around in the meantime.”
“Excuse me, are you two interns?” a woman asked.
Grace and Jasper turned around. “Yes. Interns. Us.” Jasper folded her arms. “Can we help you?”
“I’m Karren Kassioson. You’ve probably heard of me—”
“We haven’t,” Jasper said.
“Oh.” A frown crossed Karren’s lavender face. “Well, one of my colleagues was going to help me with an article today, but he’s sick.”
“What, you want us to help?”
“Don’t worry, I only need one of you.” Karren’s gaze shifted to Grace, making her heart skip. “Oh, you’d be perfect.”
A flash of alarm crossed Jasper’s face. “We were actually going to—”
“It won’t take long.” Karren grabbed Grace’s arm. Before Grace could protest, she was dragged away from Jasper.
Jasper moved to follow but was cut off by a man carrying a stack of boxes. By the time he was out of the way, Karren had pulled Grace through a doorway, and Jasper was nowhere to be seen.
