Page 57 of Shades of Earth (Across the Universe 3)

Mom doesn’t stop as she sets up the test. “I don’t believe anything I can’t prove. ”

A few minutes later, the immunoassay machine beeps, and I shift out of the way as Mom examines the report on the screen. “No . . . ” she says, frowning.

“What?” I ask as Chris hovers closer to us.

“This doesn’t make sense,” she says.

“What?”

Mom pushes a button, and a small paper readout spits out of the machine. She reads it again, disbelief written all over her face.

“Dr. Gupta had been injected with gen mod material,” she mutters. “Just before he died, recently enough that it was still in his blood. ”

“Gen mod . . . ?” Chris says, letting his voice trail off into a question.

“Genetic modification material,” Mom says. “Developed on Earth. ”

28: ELDER

I wait until dark.

“Elder?” Amy says. I adjust the rucksack on my shoulder—filled with gear I’ve gathered just for tonight as I stand on my tiptoes, peering through her window.

She’s made herself something of a cocoon, using strung-up tents to create walls inside the building. I wonder where the tents came from—probably more supplies from the Earthborns that they’re unwilling to share.

“What did you say, Amy?” a voice—Amy’s mother—calls through the tent walls.

Amy looks at me, eyes wide with surprise, then calls back, “Nothing, Mom!”

She kicks the sleeping bag off her legs and rushes to the window. “What are you doing here?” she whispers. “It’s curfew. ”

I know—the patrol Colonel Martin’s set up throughout the colony tried to cause me trouble as I snuck down here.

Amy sets down the book she was reading—The Little Prince.

“I’m going to the probe,” I whisper back. “Your father’s hiding something, and I intend to find out what. ”

She grabs my wrist. “Don’t,” she says, such worry in her voice that I’m afraid her mother will hear again.

“I have to. ”

“It’s dangerous. ” There’s a haunted look in her eyes now, and I’m reminded of the rumors I heard in the colony—that they found another body in the woods, one of the Earthborns.

“I have to,” I repeat. “I don’t think your father trusts me, and he’s not telling me the whole truth. ”

“Dad wouldn’t—”

I cut her off. “Did he show you the crystal scale I found?”

Amy frowns. “Scale?”

&nb

sp; I describe it for her, explaining about the tunnel. From her wide eyes, I can tell Colonel Martin has kept the discovery from her—from everyone.

“We can’t afford to be in the dark,” I say. “We have to know what’s going on. ”

Amy bites her lip, then nods. “I’m coming with you. ”