Within an hour, Captain Thorn had fully utilized the promise given to us by the Justices. He immediately sent Byrne and Peterson to the control and program rooms to track the attacker and gather as much information as possible. Edwards and Bird helped get Decker to Satov's medical wing. Then he and I found the engineering room of Satov's compound and interrogated some poor engineer.

    "What is this?" I set down the leg of the chair I'd used earlier. I tapped the metal foot. The engineer, a wiry kid with thin hair and large lenses with multiple layers, looked at it. He drew a screwdriver and scratched the edge. "I've never seen people who didn't recognize this stuff on sight..." He grunted. "It's sekrite."

   "Where does sekrite come from, exactly?" I inquired, my arms folded. It was the only stuff capable of touching that man when nothing else had.

    "It's mined from Satov," replied the engineer. "Something about this moon being held between two planets' gravity put so much pressure on the foreign material that it gained its own energy field. Once all of the energy has been used up, we use it for normal metal and leave it on Satov. It'll slowly regain the energy field."

    I shared a look with Captain Thorn. "A material that produces energy. And the only thing that could touch that man?"

    Captain Thorn examined the metal and asked, "What can sekrite do when fully energized?"

    The engineer blinked at him. "Are you not from around here?" He mused curiously. His thoughts echoed.

   "You could say that," Captain Thorn admitted.

    "Um, well, it's pretty flexible stuff." The engineer pointed at the blue lines in the wall. "Its' main use is power. We learned to harness the energy for ourselves. The blue stuff you see is oxidized sekrite in a gas form. It glows when in use."

    "What else?"

    He thought about it. "Lots of things, sir. The metal itself is incredibly dense and strong, so it's used for the hull of space vessels."

   Captain Thorn raised his eyebrows. I could see the gears in his head churning. "What I am about to tell you is in confidence. Do you understand?" The engineer nodded immediately. "We just witnessed a man walk through any substance. Bullets couldn't hit him. He went through walls. The only thing that could touch him was this." He tapped the foot of the leg. "This sekrite. Do you have any idea how this is possible?"

   "Walked through walls?" The engineer stared. His mind raced. "You'd have to ask an experimental scientist or a microbiologist or microphysicist, but there's a chance . . ." he hesitated slightly. "There's a theory that says sekrite destabilizes elements and substances. At least, highly oxidized sekrite. Some guy a while ago posted an article demanding the end of sekrite use because it would eventually liquidize everything near it."

   The pieces clicked in my head. "And a substance destabilized has no substance. It can't be touched."

   "Except by whatever matches the same stability," agreed the engineer. "Like only two magnets of the same pole can resist one another. They have to match. And the only known substance to be able to destabilize cells is sekrite. Which would explain why this was able to contact your guy." "They'd need a molecular biologist or microphysicist to know for sure..."

   "This guy," said Captain Thorn. "The one who posted the article about banning sekrite ... who is he?"

    "Oh, he'll be long since dead." The engineer blinked. "He published the article within weeks of landing on Satov. That was nearly a hundred years ago."

    "Where can we find the article?"

    "I'm sure it's available on the database."

    Captain Thorn nodded. "Excellent. Thank you." He turned and headed for the red doors. It slid open for him. I felt the engineer watch us leave as I went after him. His thought quieted once the doors closed. I opened my mouth to speak when Captain Thorn suddenly shook his head. Puzzled, I closed it.

    "If what he was saying is true, and this man managed all of this through destabilizing his cells, there is no reason he can't be lurking in the walls and listening to us."

    A bit of my surprise showed on my face as I tried to hide it. "You really think that it's possible?"

    "At this point, anything's possible." Captain Thorn's face was perfectly blank. "That man was waiting until the perfect moment to try and stop the vote in going in our favor. He either waited to see that it backfired or he doesn't know. If it's the first option, he's somewhere nearby. If it's the second option, he currently believes that we are imprisoned. Which is why we are going to go talk to Justice Cassana."

   "Maybe have her give a press release that says we were arrested? It'll keep the man from thinking we'll be after him any time soon."

    "Unless she can make sure every single law enforcement officer in the galaxy knows it's a lie, it will only slow us down. We'll be detained constantly."

    "What if she were to pretend to try and hush everything up? Make it seem like we escaped? Because I don't think there's a way to keep us under the radar without making us look like criminals."

    Captain Thorn nodded slightly. I suspected it was out of habit. "There's not. I'm just hoping to make sure she doesn't answer any questions about us. That way, it's up to the media to fill in the gaps. Law enforcement will know only what they've been told by the Court, and if the Court says nothing, then we're still a mystery while remaining somewhat hidden."

    "Excellent, Captain. I'm going to go check on Decker before heading to the program room to see what the other two have figured out."

   He nodded again. I turned down the different hall to go where I'd seen Edwards and Bird go, carrying Decker between them. I'd only glimpsed the burns on his chest but they didn't seen good. I followed the murmurs of people as they moved past until I located the medical facility of the compound. Edwards and Bird were sitting at the front. Neither looked good.

   "Any report on his condition?" I approached, mentally weighing my luck. The chances that the attacker was lurking in the walls wasn't exactly low. If he had followed me and the Captain, who would he have followed when we split? I supposed the Captain if he wanted to attack him – he was alone. But if he wanted information, he'd have followed me. I had to be careful.

    Officer Bird shook his head. "The doctor only said that he'd be in surgery for a little while."

    "I've been listening," said Edwards softer. "I don't think it's fatal. Just hampering on his abilities."

    I nodded slowly before focusing on the both of them. I could sense them, like Captain Thorn had pointed out earlier, and tried my first attempt to contact someone else first without there already being a channel. "Listen. The Captain and I aren't entirely sure that the attacker hasn't stayed behind. Right now the current theory is that he very well could be listening to us. Watch what you say and do. Understood?"

    Edwards blinked slowly. Bird nearly nodded before he caught himself. "Understood, First Officer." Edwards echoed him. They didn't question how. I mentally gave them points for that.

    After conferring with the head doctor I had all of the information I needed. I sat down with an exhale. "According to the doctor, it looks much worse than it is. Zodiac blasts have different levels of severity. Apparently, the blast was the most severe it could be when it contacted Decker's front. As soon as it hit him it dissipated. The doctor doesn't know why. Decker should be dead like Justice Flyx, but he's only a little scorched. In theory, with the blast level, his organs should be vaporized, but they're not."

    They looked at me blankly. "You mean that he was hit with the worst blast that weapon could deliver and he's almost perfectly unharmed?" Bird looked aghast.

    I nodded, almost in a daze myself. "They're trying to figure out why. They said that it's as if as soon as the blast hit him, it disappeared. Only his skin is damaged. Everything else is from getting thrown into the wall."

    "Maybe Byrne will have an explanation," muttered Edwards.

   I dearly hope so. The amount of inconsistences was getting far too large.