Orion Colony Complete Series Boxed Set J.N. Chaney (books for new readers .txt) 📖

rise and shine,” I said, moving past Stacy. I swatted at the man’s polished dress shoes propped up on his desk.

His feet came off their resting place as he swung around in his chair. He grabbed at his mask as he lost balance, wobbling to try and stay seated.

“How awfully rude!” he said, finally removing his mask and staring at me defiantly. Reaching among the debris of packaged food wrappers and papers on his desk, he grabbed a pair of thin, wire-framed glasses and perched them on his small nose.

He glared at me, darting his eyes up and down, taking in my less than impressive clothing. He blinked a few times, turning to Stacy.

“What is it that you want? You are interrupting my personal time, and when Doctor Wong doesn’t get his nap, he gets angry.”

“Well, when you see Doctor Wong, tell him this will only take a few minutes of his time,” Stacy said, producing her magical holo card once more. “I have orders from the top to speak to you.”

“What are you? Civil Authority, here on the Orion? No, you’re not wearing uniforms.” Doctor Wong drummed perfectly manicured nails across his glass desk. “No, you’re something else, aren’t you?” He studied her for a long moment, narrowing his eyes before smacking the desk. “Consider my attention grabbed. What is it that I may do for you, Mr. and Mrs.…?”

“My name is Stacy Wilson, and this is my—associate, Mr. Slade,” she said. “We’re here on behalf of the Eternals, working on an issue they have.” She walked over to the desk and leaned down so she was eye level with Doctor Wong. “What do you know about personal cloaking devices?”

Doctor Wong’s eyes widened. He looked to Stacy and then at me.

“Hey, don’t give me that look. The lady asked you a question,” I said.

“Are you serious?” Doctor Wong asked Stacy.

“Dead serious,” Stacy replied.

“Well, well, well, the plot thickens.” Doctor Wong actually smiled. “Things here were starting to get boring. Sure, space travel was fun the first day, but now I’m stuck here for six weeks in a glass box.”

Stacy and I looked at each other.

“Back to the matter at hand,” I said, trying to reel the strange doctor back in. “Does tech with the ability to cloak someone exist?”

“Well, yes, of course it does. I’ve seen a cloaking mechanism before, but we don’t have one here or on the ship.” Doctor Wong studied my expression. “Or do we?”

13

I looked over at Stacy. I wasn’t sure how much of this she wanted to divulge to the doctor. He was a weirdo for sure, but he wasn’t stupid. He understood exactly what we were getting at.

“Who did you say you were again?” the doctor pushed.

“We didn’t,” Stacy answered back, going for her holo card yet again.

Man, that thing is like a magic ticket, I thought to myself.

She swiped it over Doctor Wong’s holographic-enhanced table. A decree signed by Arun, stating that we were sent by the Eternals and to be treated as officers of the ship, popped up.

“My, my, I thought I was going to nap all day again and then go out for drinks, but you have my interest piqued.” Doctor Wong rolled his head around his neck, stretching his muscles. He then waved his hand over his deck and brought up a screen and keyboard. His hand flew over the keyboard like a true professional.

“I appreciate the help,” Stacy said, taking a step back to let him do his work. “But you’re the head of Technology Advancements. Shouldn’t you be more interested in work and less sleep?”

“Trust me, I’ve been over the numbers a million times.” Doctor Wong’s eyes never left the holo-screen in front of him. “Barring a catastrophic event, we’ll make it to Kronos Five in one piece. Once we get there, we have all the tools necessary to begin a thriving colony. The fun part will be working on the fly as we encounter obstacles we never prepared for. Right now, I’ve just been bored. I spend most days napping and drinking. Ah, here we go.”

Doctor Wong pushed his spectacles up further on his nose and turned his holographic screen toward us. On the screen, there were two videos playing. One was of a woman holding what appeared to be a blanket made of some kind of translucent fabric. She placed it over herself and completely disappeared. The other screen showed a man with a heavy wristwatch. He pressed a few buttons on it and also disappeared.

“As of this moment, these are the two ways to do it,” Doctor Wong explained. “One projects images around it through thousands of tiny cameras showing what is behind the wearer. The other bends light. Of course, there is always the possibility that someone has created a third option we do not yet know about.”

“Is there any way to track it?” Stacy asked, trying to come up with a solution. “Does it leave a trace of any kind?”

“I’m afraid not.” The doctor swung his monitor around again. His fingers flew over his keyboard faster than I could track. “What I’m getting from this conversation is that there is someone on board you need to capture that has a cloaking device. I’m guessing it’s a Disciple, since they’re the ones with the strongest vendetta against the Eternals and this project.”

“We’re not at liberty to speak on the matter,” Stacy said calmly.

“Oh, a mystery.” Doctor Wong stood from his desk with a huge Cheshire cat smile. “My, my, how I do love a mystery. Sign me up.”

“Sign you up for what?” I asked.

“I’ll help,” he said as he began to pace back and forth behind his desk. “As of right now, there is no way to track someone using either type of these cloaking devices, but that doesn’t mean it would be impossible to create one. Give me a day or two, and I’ll figure it out.”

“Very good,” Stacy said, and walking forward, she extended her hand. “Thank