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away; I had no desire to talk to my father anymore. I needed to be alone.
    â€œI understand. I will go with you in the morning.” He waited for a response from me, but when none was forthcoming, he said, “Good night,” and left my room.
    I called Tata but he didn’t answer his com. Studying was out of the question, so I tried to sleep. My dreams made no sense—something about aliens, really weird aliens. And spaceships.
    The next morning, I had a quiet breakfast with my father, and then went to my room to pack my day bag. Much to my surprise, the outside pockets contained rocks, and the rocks looked remarkably like some I’d seen in the Space Museum. I started to shake.
    â€œDad!” I yelled, at the top of my voice.
    â€œWhat’s wrong?” he asked, after he burst through my door.
    â€œLook what I just found in the outside pockets of my bag!” I had to put them down on my table because my hands shook wildly.
    â€œWhere did you get those?” His voice filled with disbelief.
    â€œI don’t know. I’ve never touched them before, although they look like something I saw at the Space Museum. Someone must have put them in my bag, because I sure didn’t. I would never do anything like that.”
    â€œDo you think it was Tata?” he asked.
    â€œNo, I can’t see him doing it either. He’s too conservative. After all, his mother is an ambassador.”
    Dad shook his head at my obvious statement. “Well, we’ll have to ask him. The Tatas are meeting us at police headquarters.”
    â€œWhy aren’t we walking over together?”
    â€œI don’t know. Ilandus just said they would meet us there. So let’s go now and get to the bottom of this.”
    At least Dad sounded more supportive today.
    We met the Tatas in the foyer of police headquarters. And a solemn Officer Kikess installed the four of us in another interrogation room. It looked much like the first one, but this one somehow gave an impression of iciness. My imagination ran wild. It may have had something to do with lack of sleep.
    â€œTata and Nara, I have a few questions about your visit to the Space Museum yesterday,” he said.
    I interrupted, “Where’s Ruen?”
    â€œWhy?” Kikess stared at me—actually, everyone stared at me.
    â€œWell, she was with us at the museum, so shouldn’t she be here too?” Annoyed at her absence, I decided it was time to set the record straight.
    He rubbed a hand over his face. “I did not know she had accompanied you.”
    I frowned. “Ruen told you yesterday when you found the three of us at the park gathering stones.” Apparently, all parents only pay half attention to their offspring’s comments.
    â€œRuen?” asked Ambassador Tata.
    â€œFriend from school,” said Tata.
    â€œAnd she’s Officer Kikess’ daughter,” I added. “Who told you to ask us about the problem?”
    â€œWhen the theft of rocks was reported to the police yesterday, the museum staff were asked who they had seen. Your names came up,” he said.
    â€œDoesn’t the museum have security cameras?” I asked.
    â€œYes, they do. The coverage has not yet been looked at, but I decided to have a chat with you two while that was being done.”
    â€œWell, you need to take a look at the camera footage. You will see that we didn’t take anything. In fact, we can find out who put these rocks in my pack. I found them this morning when I gathered my stuff for school.” An awfully aggressive stance, but I had a mad coming on. Basilians needed to stop jumping to conclusions and blaming Tata and me for everything.
    Before anyone had a chance to comment, Tata started rummaging in his bag. Much to my surprise, he also had rocks.
    â€œFound morning,” he said.
    I interpreted the look on Officer Kikess’ face to be one of bewilderment. So I said, “Is this what’s