Tim's Arc

Chapter 4 of 11

The worker set his scanner face-down and gave Tim one hour. But when Tim reached the loading ramp, the man stepped in front of it. "Not yet," he said. "Three kids running loose near my ship. One of them panics during the sweep, points a finger, and I'm logged in their place. Prove they'll stay quiet. Then you get near the hold." Tim's stomach dropped. The hour was already running. He looked at Riley and Max pressed against a pallet, eyes wide, the baby asleep on his shoulder. He had no proof to give. He had three scared children and a worker ready to change his mind. "Tim." A voice came from behind the pallets. His older brother Jake stepped out, red flannel sleeves shoved to his elbows, a duffel over one shoulder. Tim's chest clenched. Jake was supposed to meet them off-world, not here, not now. Jake had argued against this plan from the start. "I followed the corridors," Jake said. "Figured you'd need hands." Tim wanted to be angry. Instead his shoulders loosened. Jake knelt in front of Riley and Max and spoke low. "You two listen to me. There's a small building by the far wall. A changing station. Clean, quiet, a door that locks. You wait inside with the baby while we load. Nobody sees you, nobody hears you." The worker frowned. "And if they bolt?" Jake stood. "They won't. Because they'll be locked in from the outside, and I keep the key." He turned to the children. "That's not a cage. That's cover. You trust me?" Max hugged the shaggy toy tighter. "The marbles," he whispered. "We hid before. We can hide again." Riley nodded. Tim held his breath. The worker studied Jake, then the small shelter near the wall. He weighed the risk the way Tim had watched men weigh cargo. "The baby's small," the worker said. "She cries, we're all logged." "She sleeps through engine noise," Tim said. "I've tested it in the crate for two weeks. She won't wake." Jake led Riley and Max to the changing station. He eased them inside, handed Max the toy, and turned the latch. Then he walked back and dropped the key into the worker's palm. "Now you hold it. We can't open that door without you. That's your proof." The worker closed his fist around the key. Something in his face settled. He stepped aside from the ramp. "You've got the hour," he said. "Load fast." Tim climbed the ramp with his sister. The hold was dark and cold, stacked with crates like his own. He set her in a hollow between two pallets and tucked his jacket around her. For the first time in two weeks, the plan was real. Then Jake's hand gripped his arm. "Tim," he said quietly. "Count the crates. The manifest already lists this hold as full. There's no slot left for her."