Page 126 of Press Play

“Yes,us. We’ve proven to ourselves time and time again that we are capable of anything.” Theo takes my hand and raises it to his lips. “And I wanted you to use that brain for something other than worrying.” He kisses my knuckles, and damn, did it just get thirty degrees hotter in here. “You’re so red right now.” He hums with a slight laugh.

I snatch my hand away and tug on my jacket. “Must be another flare-up.”

“Mhm, whatever you say.”

The game master appears, decked out in a rather official-looking captain’s uniform. “You must be my new recruits,” she says, standing tall.

“Yes, ma’am,” Theo says while taking my hand. “Reporting for duty.”

She leads us through a dark corridor. At the end of the hall, a red LED panel appears. The woman types in a code, and the steel door opens.

“This spaceship was heavily guarded when we found it. We figured it was of high importance, so we commandeered it. After some research, it was discovered that this ship alone can destroy the main hub. It’s your job to get into the locked room and take over the weapons system. We have sixty minutes before we’re all blown into space. Good luck.”

Our captain leaves without another word, locking Theo and me in. A TV in the corner of the room lights up, reminding us of our time limit.

Theo turns to me, giving me a mock salute. “All right, partner. Lead the way.”

I huff a laugh, glancing around the space. It’s all puzzles and patterns, and something inside me clicks into place.

“Look for clues,” I say, already moving toward a table stacked with files.

“Fuck, I love a bossy woman.” He teases me, leaning against the console. “Should I just stand back and let you do all the work?”

“If you want to be useful, start checking the panels for anything weird,” I reply, flipping through the documents.

His laugh is low and warm, filling the space. “Weird, huh? That narrows it down.”

I ignore him, focusing on the files. It doesn’t take long before I notice a series of alien symbols repeating on several pages. They’re familiar—too familiar to be random. My mind races, connecting the dots.

“These,” I say, pointing to the symbols and then to the buttons on the console. “They match. If we press them in this order, it might start something.”

Theo peers over my shoulder. His arm brushes mine, and I catch the faint scent of his cologne—rich, familiar. My heart skips a beat, but I push the distraction aside.

“You’re sure, Einstein?” His voice is teasing. “Wouldn’t want to summon the aliens by mistake.”

I can’t hide my grin. “Do you have a better idea?”

“Nope,” he says, tapping my nose lightly. “I trust you. Just don’t get us abducted, all right?”

Together, we input the sequence, and the console lights up green, and a robotic voice echoes overhead as we finish rebooting the device: “Communication re-established. Warning: Weapons system offline. Fuel insufficient.”

Theo’s eyes light up, and he laughs. “I forgot how smart you are.”

I glance at him and try to hide my smile. “It wasn’t that hard,” I say as I look at the reinforced door on the far side of the room.

A keypad glows beside it, taunting us.

Theo squints at the door and the wall around it. “Let me guess, there’s a secret code or something?”

“Maybe,” I murmur, scanning the room. My eyes land on a poster pinned to the wall—a diagram of the alien ship with numbers and symbols scrawled in the margins.

I grab the poster and hold it up. “These numbers might correspond to the keypad.”

Theo peers over my shoulder, his arm brushing mine again, and my stomach does a tiny flip. “All right, genius, what do we press?”

I study the numbers carefully. “It’s got to be these four,” I say, pointing to the sequence. “You press them. I don’t want to mess it up.”

“Oh no, you’re not putting that on me.” He nudges my side. “If we blow this, it’s your fault, not mine.”

---