Space Plague by Zac Harrison Read Free Book Online Page A

half an hour turned into an hour, creeping worry grew in his mind. Unable to put his finger on why he was fretting, John sat back in his MorphSeat and cast his mind back to the last time he had seen her. She was fine, wasn’t she? Emmie had looked tired, but she had been perfectly healthy. Her skin even had a glow to it.
    Just like Kaal’s.
    * * *
    “Emmie left here over an hour ago,” said a confused Professor Dibali a few minutes later.
    John looked up into the maths teacher’s eyes, which weaved about at the end of long stalks. “Did she mention where she was going, sir?”
    “I’m sorry, no. But she looked a little tense. Perhaps she went to one of the sports halls to do some exercise.”
    Anxiety mounting, John sprinted down the corridor towards the TravelTube. Checking every sports hall on the ship took another twenty-five minutes. Still there was no sign of Emmie.
    It’s OK. Emmie’s OK. Her golden skin always looks like its glowing. John ran around the balconies of the Centre, asking every student he passed if they had seen her.
    “Sillaran girl? Silver hair?” said a third-year with patched, harlequin skin and a flickering forked tongue.
    “That’s her,” panted John.
    “Not sure,” said the third-year, “but I may have passed her a while ago on the way to the Chemistry labs.
    “Thanks!” John called over his shoulder, racing away again. They had a Chemistry exam after the Hyperspace History test the next day, and it was possible Emmie had gone to check an experiment or to get some extra help.
    “Chemistry laboratories,” said the TravelTube. John was out of the door before it had finished opening. Before him was one of the strangest corridors on the ship. Every wall, and the ceiling, was made from long glass tubes, each filled with a different-coloured, bubbling liquid. As Professor Shard, the Chemistry teacher, liked to remind the class, in her laboratories even the walls were part of the experiments.
    Taking no time to marvel over the strange sights, John peered into rooms filled with enormous crystal structures and laboratories where tiny suns burned in protective jars. A few students looked up from their work as he entered the labs, but there was no sign of Emmie.
    In the last room almost all the space was taken up by a fantastically complex arrangement of force fields, holding a single drop of antimatter securely in place. As John poked his head round the door, his heart leaped. Standing at a ThinScreen was a girl with silver hair. But when she turned around, his heart sank. This girl had turquoise skin as well as an extra pair of eyes.
    “Where is she?” he muttered to himself, as he raced back to the TravelTube. One after another, he checked Emmie’s favourite places. The cinema complex was closed until the flu scare had passed. The music rooms were empty, apart from Mistress Soo-See, who was playing a sad melody on an Operian harp on the floating stage of the concert hall. The ornately carved instrument stretched thirty metres above her head.
    Everywhere he went, John was met with blank looks. Finally, breathing heavily, he leaned against the wall. He mentally retraced his steps, wondering if there was anywhere he had missed. To the astonishment of two passing students, he suddenly slapped his own forehead. “I’m such an idiot,” he told them, running off again as they gawped. Diving into a TravelTube, he cried, “Dormitory level sixteen.”
    “Emmie!” John shouted, pressing the chime and banging on the door of her room. “Open up! It’s me, John.”
    There was no answer. John pressed his ear to the door. There was silence within.
    “ EMMIE ! ” he bellowed at the top of his lungs. Around the lobby, students turned to see what the fuss was about.
    Still no answer.
    “This is no time to worry about privacy,” he muttered to himself. Raising his voice again, he shouted, “ Emmie , I’m coming in!” He put his hand to a panel.
    The door slid open.
    John dropped to his