Half Life

Investigations

"Dude... now don't freak out and blast me with your freaky powers, but did you forget your project?"

A bolt of panic shot through Danny as he realized Tucker was right.

"Oh no, I did!"

"Hurry home and grab it!" Tucker urged, looking frantically for the Casper shuttle. "You might still have a few minutes."

"No Tuck... I completely forgot about it. As in I didn't do it. Augh, I'm such an idiot! Lancer is going to flunk me back to pre-cadet training!" he exclaimed. With a sinking heart, he saw the shuttle making its way towards them. He spotted Sam sitting in a window seat, her project ,a 3D render of the Atoll galaxy,  sitting on her lap. 

He slunk into the shuttle, collapsing into a seat behind Sam.

"What's up with you?" she asked, twisting to look at him.

"Danny forgot to do his midterm project," Tucker explained. Danny buried his face in his hands and moaned. Tucker gave him an uncertain pat on the back.

"Hey, it's the first term. Everybody has off days!"

"Things have just been so crazy lately," Danny groaned. "I was up half the night with my parents doing tests again. I barely have time to think anymore!"

"Sorry dude. You know you can always crash at my place if yours is getting crazy right?"

"Yeah, except yours isn't radiation proofed," Danny said with a hollow smile. 

"Can't deny that," Tucker conceded. 

"Well at least at school you don't have to worry about your... extracurricular activities," Sam reminded him. "A few hours away from the lab has got to feel pretty good."

Danny sighed, pressing his face against the window. Casper Institute was looming closer. At least he could always depend on it being the same. Same unyielding teachers, same food schedule, same... wait.

"Hey guys... is it just me, or do there seem to be way more Space Corps enforcement ships than a military compound?"

"What?"

Sam and Tucker leaned toward the window. 

Casper Institute was embedded in a large asteroid with infrastructure reaching over and around the outside. Usually the airspace around it was clear, and the docking ports were mostly empty. Now every docking port was attached to an imposing Space Corps enforcement ship. Smaller squad patrols were circling the air around the institute. The stylized star logo of Space Corps was now everywhere they looked. 

Danny felt a sick rush of fear as he looked at all the new security. There was no way this was about him. Casper was a top supplier of cadets. Surely they were just here recruiting. 

But Sam and Tucker's nervous glances let him know they had the same fears he did. 

As the shuttle pulled to a stop outside of the one available docking port, the driver announced over the intercom,

"Attention cadets. Space Corps security has heard rumors of a group of students that may be allied with extremist radicals. As you exit the craft you will all be scanned and questioned. This is all very routine and will be over soon. You are asked to behave with professionalism and answer the questions to the best of your ability. This is likely a drill or false alarm, but we have been asked to represent Casper. Exit the shuttle calmly and in single file."

Danny gave a strained smile.

"So it's a school threat. Nothing to do with me," he whispered to Sam and Tucker. 

"You'd better let your parents know though," Sam said quietly, eyeing the soldiers lined up beside the shuttle. 

"Yeah, I've got a feeling those scanners will show more than just what's in your backpack," Tucker muttered, focusing his goggles on the full body scanners that had been erected nearby. 

Danny nodded, sending a quick message to his parents. As the students filed out of the bus, Danny watched them get lead one by one through the scanners. About one in every five were then lead away by an armed guard into a separate room, presumably for questions.   

They stepped off the shuttle. Danny his heart pounding in growing fear as he was lead toward the large metal scanners. As he waited, another cadet was brought into the questioning room, looking nervous and shaky. 

"Go inside," a helmeted Space Corps enforcer told him, gesturing toward the scanner. Danny's mouth went very dry. He tried to think of an excuse, a reason to refuse. But before he knew it, his shaking legs had brought him into the metal box. He twisted around to look for Sam and Tucker, but the doors slid closed, leaving him in darkness. 

There was a click.

A beep.

A ring of light traveled up and down his body in the darkness. 

There was a moment of deafening silence. Danny felt a drop of sweat slide down his face. He took a long breath and closed his eyes. 

Please let it be nothing. Please don't let them find anything. Let me get out of here.

There was a whirring sound, and the doors slid open. Light spilled back into the scanner. Danny let out a huge breath and stepped outside. Space Corps officers immediately surrounded him.

"We're going to need you to come with us," one of them informed Danny. 

"Is... Is everything okay?" Danny asked.

"Everything is fine son." the helmeted officer replied.

"Just a few questions."