Read Lost Planet 01 - The Lost Planet for Free Online

grip that the gesture wasn’t meant to comfort. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m going to have to lock you in your room.”
    â€œWhat? Why? Dr. Silvestri said I wasn’t a threat.”
    â€œNo,” snapped Parker. “Come on, Mina. This is ridiculous.”
    â€œIt’s not personal, Chase. But both the teleport malfunction and your unharmed condition are unexplained anomalies. Your actions continue to create too many red-flag factors, and I can’t identify you as anything but a threat.”
    â€œBut what happened wasn’t my fault! Dr. Silvestri told you to protect me.”
    Mina nodded. “I am. But my primary directive is to protect Parker, and the only way for me to perform both of these tasks is to separate you and lock you in your room.”
    Her hand tightened on his arm, and Chase knew there was no use in arguing further with her programmed logic. He dropped his head and nodded. As Mina led him down the hall to his room with Parker’s angry protests behind them, he couldn’t help but feel like a guilty prisoner. But I didn’t do anything wrong! cried a voice in the back of his mind.
    After the snick of the lock confirmed that he wasn’t going anywhere, Chase sat on his bed. He examined his left arm, whole and unblemished. It was strange—he really had felt a sting when those blades of grass sliced into his arms as he fell, and when the Zinnjerha were slashing at him. He told himself he must have imagined it. Parker was right, he had some kind of wild luck. Except for the whole amnesia thing, of course.
    He lay back and stared at the ceiling for some time, reliving the attack over and over. Eventually the adrenaline began to wear off, and only weariness remained. He closed his eyes, visualizing the grass forest again, but this time his drowsy mind filled the forest with blank faces hiding between the blades. Sleep came like a tidal wave, crashing over and pulling him under.
    *   *   *
    Chase awoke with a jump. His windowless room was pitch-dark, but he sensed he wasn’t alone.
    â€œSorry, that was me,” came Parker’s whispered voice. “Hold on.”
    The overhead light flicked on and Chase winced, squinting in the brightness. “What are you doing here? I’m supposed to be locked in. I’m a threat to you.”
    Parker snorted. “Right. You’re so threatening. Come on, get up. I’ve come to spring you from prison.”
    â€œAre you crazy? Mina’s not going to let me go anywhere.”
    â€œTrue. But Mina’s not here.” Parker waggled his eyebrows. “She had to make a run to some warehouse on the other side of the planet, something to do with fixing her bio-molding.”
    â€œIsn’t she supposed to be here protecting you?”
    â€œYeah, but Asa’s got her running his affairs on this planet too, so she leaves all the time. If anything were to happen, she’d be able to find me anyway—I’ve got an ID microchip kind of like the one Dr. Silvestri found in you. Only mine’s got a tracker so that she can find me anywhere.” Parker made a wry face. “Lucky me, I’ll never be able to get rid of her.”
    Watching Parker’s goofy expression, Chase considered whether to tell him what he’d learned, how similar their microchips actually were. The eye contact lasted a moment too long, and Parker frowned.
    â€œWhat?”
    Chase redirected his gaze to the floor. A cautious part of him wasn’t ready to share this information yet. “Nothing.” He took a deep breath and realized that he felt pretty well rested. How long had he slept? “What time is it?”
    Parker sighed. “It’s leaving-the-house time. Are you coming with me, or did I just spend ten minutes breaking the code on your lock for nothing?”
    â€œGo where?”
    â€œWe can go to Rother City. It’s the only real city on