Benny paused for a moment. He’d intended to talk to Vala about what they should do next, but they could definitely use an update about the possibility of tracking both Tull and the Orion. Trevone was part of the Pit Crew, though, and if the Moon Platoon was going to take matters in their own hands, he wasn’t sure where Elijah’s hand-picked favorites would side.
He reminded himself that it was Trevone who had helped them during the very first fight against Tull, despite Elijah’s wishes to let the asteroid storm destroy Earth. He’d always been there to assist them when needed, or at the very least never tried to stop them. And, besides, they could definitely use his smarts.
“Hey,” Benny said as they approached. “Um, listen, we’ve got great news . . .”
“I know,” Trevone said, turning to them. “Jazz sent the specs. This battery they’ve created . . . It’s incredible.”
“Right?” Hot Dog asked.
“Yeah,” Benny said. “The thing is, we talked to Elijah and he seems like he’s convinced we should stay here so he can—”
Trevone raised up a hand, cutting Benny off.
“Rude,” Hot Dog murmured as he typed something on his HoloTek screen as he spoke.
“I heard,” Trevone said. “Whatever happens next, Elijah will make sure Calam and Earth get saved.”
He held up his datapad. Four words filled the screen.
Turn off your comms.
Benny was confused for half a second before he realized what this meant—Pinky, the all-seeing, all-hearing spirit of the Taj could still be listening through their collars.
“You know what, guys?” Benny said. “Elijah’s right. We should let him do it himself. They’ll have more luck if they can get reinforcements from Earth anyway, and honestly, I could use a break.”
Then he clicked off his comm unit. The others followed suit.
“Could you have been more suspicious?” Trevone asked, relaxing a little. “How are you so bad at this?”
“Sorry we’re not secret agents,” Drue said.
“I’ve gotten so used to talking through the collars that I forgot they were even a thing,” Hot Dog said.
Trevone sighed. “I get that. But consider every microphone around you before deciding to have a secret meeting about saving the universe by yourself.”
“Wait,” Benny said. “How did you even know what we were here to talk about?”
The Pit Crew member put his hands on his hips. “Ricardo called me. It sounds like you weren’t exactly subtle about any of this back in the lab, either.”
Benny thought back to the HoloTek feed that would have been projecting them as holograms into Elijah’s office. He scowled. “Oh, yeah.”
Trevone raised his goggles to the top of his head. “So, Elijah wants to take matters into his own hands. Trying to make up for everything else you—we’ve—had to go through in the last few weeks.” He shook his head. “I can’t say I’m particularly surprised.”
“Shouldn’t that make him want our help?” Drue asked. “He knows how much we’ve done without him.”
“I think that’s likely the problem. He’s realizing exactly what dangers we’ve faced, how lucky it is that we’re even alive. He’s probably freaking out about it a little. Plus he’s back at the Taj. It’s been his everything for the last decade, his personal playground.”
“And he’s, what, feeling like a boss again?” Hot Dog asked. “Perfect timing.”
“At least this time he’s trying to save humanity.” Trevone rubbed the sides of his temples, as if warding off some kind of headache. “So. Let’s hear it. What’s your plan?”
“We . . . haven’t really gotten that far yet,” Benny admitted. “Actually, we’ve basically only agreed that we want to do something. And most of that was done in silence.”
“It’s simple,” Drue said. “We take the weapon and Vala’s ship and go find Dr. Bale. We take the Orion and warp-speed it out to Calam.”
“It won’t be that easy,” Benny said. “Elijah said it himself. There’s no way we’re going to talk Bale into giving us the ship.”
“What about the backup Elijah thinks he can get?” Trevone asked.
“I did the math on the way here,” Benny said, shaking his head. “Five hours for a Space Runner to get to the Moon.”
“Four if you’re gunning it,” Hot Dog corrected.
“Sure. Add on time for Elijah to get in touch with people in the government and then get them to agree to send them in the first place. A few hours for them to get the troops packed and in their cars . . . And that’s if they even agree to send people.”
“I know,” Trevone said. “I thought the same thing. We don’t have that kind of time to lose. Tull could be finished with those asteroids at any moment.”
“So you’re with us?” Drue asked.
“I’m not against Elijah. But I do think waiting for reinforcements or him going at this alone is a bad idea.”
“Uh, one big problem, guys,” Hot Dog said. “We don’t know where the Orion even is.”
From the side of the room, Ramona snickered, not looking up from her HoloTek. “You telling them, T-Vone? Or do I get to?”
“What?” Benny asked, his eyes going wide.
“We were about to contact you guys when Ricardo told us what happened and Jazz sent over the details, and by that time you were already on your way here,” he said, waving to the hologram of the Orion. “We think we might have found it.”
Hot Dog gasped. “What?”
“Where?” Benny asked.
“Define think,” Drue said.
“Don’t let goggles trash your joy drives,” Ramona said. “We found the legendary loot crate. Epic haxxor work.”
Trevone tapped on his HoloTek as she spoke. “Since Space Runners were first introduced, there’ve been hundreds of communications hubs launched by countries around the world. Satellites, things like that. They extend the range of someone’s radio capabilities, just in case anyone were to take an SR and get lost in space. Many of them were designed and launched from the Taj, actually. You couldn’t imagine what the wealthy would pay for a scenic day trip around Mars and Saturn.”
“Yeah, I could,” Drue said.
“And the last thing anyone wanted—Elijah or governments around the world—was to lose contact with a prime minister or internet celebrity. The satellites worked much the same way that phone towers did back in the first half of the century. If an SR was in trouble, they could connect to the nearest one and call for help.”
“I thought most of Earth’s satellites were knocked out in Tull’s first asteroid storm,” Benny said.
“The ones we used on the Moon to contact Earth were,” Trevone explained. “But the solar system is vast, Benny. And exists in three dimensions. The Alpha Maraudi strategically cut off the Taj, but there’s no way they could have taken out every comm hub in our solar system without sending a storm from every possible direction. Plus, there are permanent comm hubs installed on various planets and moons that are even more powerful than satellites, most of which have pretty strong force fields.” He turned his HoloTek to them. There was a series of half a dozen blinking dots on it, ranging from those near the Lunar Taj, all the way to . . .
“Mars?” Benny asked.
Trevone nodded. “These flashing points are the comm hubs that have been used since the Orion disappeared, trailing from the Moon to the red planet.” He zoomed in on Mars and its two moons like cratered, misshapen potatoes. “The ones that keep getting pinged most recently are on Phobos and Deimos. He’s somewhere close to them. He has to be.”
Benny sighed. “So this is another find-a-grain-of-sand-in-a desert sort of thing.”
“No,” Hot Dog said, grinning. “I get it. This is one of those missions where you have a blinking spot on the game map, and once you get there, you figure out where the Big Bad is.”
“Or it attacks you,” Drue said.
“Well,” Trevone said, “something like that. Once we’re
close, we should be able to pick up the Orion on Vala’s radars. Ramona’s hooked Dr. Bale’s scanner up to it.”
“Novice work,” Ramona said from across the bridge.
Drue’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “I’ve heard my dad talk about these comm satellites before,” he said. “I thought they were supersecret since some of them are owned by different countries.”
Trevone turned his attention to Ramona. “They are.”
She grinned, and then drained the last of an energy drink.
“This is our chance,” Benny said, to himself as much as to everyone else. “We can find him.”
“Hypothetically,” Trevone said. “But there are plenty of things that could go wrong. We want this ship because it can outrun all of us, but we’ll be flying through open space to get to it. Dr. Bale will see us coming from a light-year away.” He paused. “Metaphorically speaking.”
“Okay,” Benny said. “So how do we sneak up on him so he doesn’t see us coming and bolt before we ever get a chance to get close to him?”
“I believe I can help with that.” A voice came from behind Benny.
Benny turned to see Commander Vala standing at the entrance to the bridge. Her skin still hadn’t returned to the iridescent gray-blue he was used to, and she held a gold cane, which she leaned on slightly. Still, her tentacles looked more alive than they had when Benny saw her in the hologram feed, piled high on her head and slithering around the shining red ball of Zee’s as if it were a precious jewel. Benny was relieved to see her. The last time they were together in person, she’d been unconscious on the dark side of the Moon, sprawled out across the newly grown alien stone.
Zee stood beside the commander, shaking his head. “Elijah’s going to be so mad at you.”
“It’s good to see you in person,” Benny said. “We were all worried.”
“I’m told you were in a similar state of recuperation for a time,” Vala said, crossing to them in long, fluid strides. “It is a joy to see you are in good health as well. But we do not have time for pleasantries. Pito has updated me on this savior that he and Jasmine have created. I would like to move as quickly as possible.”
“Yeah,” Drue said. “That’s what we’re talking about.”
The commander nodded. “I am well aware what you are up to.” Her head turned toward Griida. “Your AI is not the only one who hears and reports.”
Griida made a low harmonic huff as he looked at Benny and the others, then turned back to the window.
“Oh,” Hot Dog said.
“The moons of Mars are well known to me, though I have never been to them myself,” the commander continued. “It is a short trip.” She kept her eyes on the hologram of the Orion floating slightly above Benny’s head. “If we’d only had the foresight, perhaps we might have taken the ship when it attacked us.”
“Kinda hard to have known we’d need it,” Drue said.
“It will be difficult, as you said, to approach this vessel unseen. But there are ways.” A tentacle reached down from her hair dropping Zee’s ball into her open palm. “You are familiar with how our stealth works, the ships made of purple minerals that can’t be seen by your normal radars.” The ball flashed with light, and then began to change. It was as though the red veneer melted away, flaking off and disappearing until only a purple sphere was left.
“Whoa,” Benny murmured.
“Space witch!” Hot Dog whispered.
“It is the most common way we use to go unseen,” Vala continued. “A ship made of minerals like this does not need any other power source to remain hidden.”
“Right,” Trevone said, his eyes wide and not moving from her hand. “But Dr. Bale figured out how to track them. And knowing what the Orion was created for, I’m positive there’s an upgraded version of that radar onboard.”
“Agreed. He would be a fool not to have taken such precautions, and despite the human’s many flaws, I do not take him to be stupid. But there are other methods.” The commander flexed her four long, spindly fingers slightly, and the ball began to change again, the purple growing deeper and deeper, seeming to swirl with ribbons of black. After a few seconds, it was so dark that Benny could barely see Zee’s toy anymore. It wasn’t that it was black or camouflaged: it was as though the ball was a spot in his vision, like he’d looked into the sun and could now no longer see things that were right in front of him.
“What the what?” Drue asked, his voice breathy.
“Same,” Hot Dog said.
“She’s kind of amazing,” Zee said, his face beaming.
The commander stopped flexing her fingers and suddenly the ball was shining red again. A tentacle swiped it up, returning it to her squirming headdress.
“There is a reason I command this ship,” Vala said. “It is not only due to my ability to lead. I built it myself from the stones of Calam. My crew can manipulate it, guide it, can control its doors and light its floors and ceilings, yes. But, if I concentrate, I can control its every molecule.”
Benny shook his head, astounded. “You can do that to the entire ship?”
Vala nodded. “It will be . . . taxing. I’ll likely be no help to you afterward. And the amount of time I can keep it up will be short. But it can be done.”
“We can get the drop on Dr. Bale,” Benny said.
“We’ll have to figure out a way to board his ship,” Trevone said. He looked to the hologram. “But, then, we know everything about it.”
“I’ll send my crew members to the dark side now,” Vala said. “The weapon will be ready as soon as we need it.” She raised her gold mask, her three eyes burning as she looked at Benny. “I suggest you make peace with your decisions. Gather up what you need from the Taj. It is a long way from your home that we must travel. But go quickly. We cannot wait. I will send word to Calam now of what we are doing. Perhaps it will sway their thoughts on giving Tull free rein, if it reaches them before we do.”
Benny nodded. “Right.”
“So, what do we do about Elijah?” Hot Dog asked. “Do we tell him we’re going no matter what and that he can come along if he wants, or do we just disappear?”
Benny looked out through the clear wall at the edge of the bridge. He could see the gold tip of Elijah’s tower, tarnished and battered. “If we can’t do this,” Benny said, “someone still has to protect Earth, right? The rest of the EW-SCABers are here. Maybe reinforcements, too. They’d be the last line of defense if Tull showed up.”
“Then he should stay,” Hot Dog said. “We’ll slip out.”
“He’ll chase us,” Trevone said. “It won’t take him long to figure out what we’re doing. An entire mother ship is going to take off from the courtyard. And I don’t want to lie to him.”
“Then we move fast,” Drue said. “This giant asteroid can outrun his SRs.”
“Ricardo will want to come,” Trevone said. “And Kira.”
“Um, Ricardo’s kind of benched right now,” Drue said. “Not exactly infiltration material.”
“He can hardly move,” Benny said. “He should stay and help Elijah.”
“Kira, too?” Hot Dog said.
“You’re the ones who have to tell her we left without her,” Trevone said. “And if she ever asks, I begged you to bring her along. But I get it. Earth still needs protecting. If Tull shows up, it’ll be defenseless without them. And two Pit Crew members are worth dozens of weaponized Space Runners. Besides, the Crew shouldn’t abandon Elijah. He needs us as much as we need him.” He paused. “I’m going with you, by the way.”
“Of course,” Hot Dog said.
“I guess we could use more brains,” Drue agreed.
They kept talking, but Benny’s thoughts were already several steps ahead. Part of him wondered if this was the right thing to do at all, but he didn’t see that they had much of a choice. What other options did they have?
“We’re doing this?” Benny asked the others.
Trevone nodded. Hot Dog smiled. Vala remained silent.<
br />
“Yeah!” Zee cried.
“I’m in,” Drue said.
“All right, then,” Benny said. And that settled any doubts. If his friends were behind him, no way was he going to let them down. This was their best chance of saving Earth—and everyone on it. “We need to get Jazz and Pito first.”
But that meant going back into the Taj, which presented its own unique set of problems.
Benny turned to the workstation where Ramona was digging through her duffel bag. “So, uh . . . Ramona.”
She looked up at him, a hint of annoyance on her face.
“Oy?” she said. “Yeah. I’m down. Can’t let Earth blow up. Space would get boring.”
“Great,” Benny said. “There’s something I need you to do for us.”
13.
Pinky was going to be the first to realize what was going on.
If she didn’t know already.
Trevone was right when he’d said they were acting suspiciously, and the fact that they’d turned off their comms probably put Pinky on high alert. From the moment they’d set foot on the Moon, she’d been there, always listening and watching. Even when they were on Vala’s ship and her abilities were limited, she seemed to constantly be around, popping up out of nowhere and walking out of walls—an all-seeing ghost in the machine.
When they powered their comms back on halfway down the stairs back to the courtyard, Benny half expected her voice to ring out in his helmet, asking them why they’d disappeared. But there was only silence, which was somehow even worse. It was like when his dad or grandmother had been upset with him and his brothers back in the Drylands and instead of yelling or explaining why you shouldn’t wander off into the desert at night or scare people with holographic spiders, they were quiet and disappointed.
Hot Dog and Drue didn’t speak either. They knew what they had to do: collect whatever they needed and meet in the garage. Benny would get Jasmine and Pito. Drue would stop in to say good-bye to his father. Hot Dog would grab supplies—first aid and extra food for the journey. They’d talk to basically no one else until they were back on Vala’s ship, when it was too late for Elijah or Ricardo or anyone else to stop them.
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