Once they were back aboard the Orion, Benny spread the word about Vala’s offer, and most of the New Apollo troops headed toward her ship, warily figuring that a half a day’s ride in an alien vessel would be better than a couple days stuck in the confines of a Space Runner, especially if the commander in chief had said they were allies. The few who didn’t take keenly to the idea left immediately, eager to get back to the Moon as soon as possible.
On the bridge, Ramona took Jasmine’s place and made herself at home, as if she’d been manning the terminals her entire life.
“Top-notch gear,” she said. “Pretty impress. Needs work.”
“I swear one day I will see you satisfied with an operating system,” Trevone said, taking a seat at the station beside her.
She turned to him and grinned, her eyes squeezed almost all the way shut. “Keep dreaming, goggles.”
“I’ll, uh, let you guys work,” Benny said.
“Shoo,” Ramona said, waving him away. “Mute.” And then her fingers were flying over the terminal keys and buttons.
Benny joined Hot Dog, Jasmine, and Drue at the front of the bridge, where huge windows looked out into space, glittering with countless worlds and galaxies—and species for all they knew.
“Think one of those is Calam’s expanding sun?” Hot Dog asked as he stopped by her side.
“I’m gonna be real honest and say I don’t know how distance and stars work,” Benny said.
“I’m happy to explain,” Jasmine offered.
“I don’t think my brain could take it right now, Jazz.”
“It’s a shame it’s not, like, one of the stars in Ursa Major or something,” Drue said.
“Let me guess,” Hot Dog said, rolling her eyes. “So you could tell everyone back home that you saved the north star?”
“Nah. It’d just be cool to see it from Earth, right? If we do this. To look up and know it was there because we somehow managed to save it together.”
“Awww!”
“Actually, yeah, that would be really nice,” Jasmine said.
“Totally,” Benny agreed, and he was suddenly overwhelmed by the fact that they’d all made it to this point. As a team. As the Moon Platoon.
They were quiet together for a moment before Zee piped up behind them. “Not to burst your stubble, but Calam is in the opposite direction.”
Drue let out a long groan as Hot Dog looked at the ceiling, shaking her head.
And with that, the moment had passed.
There was a whish behind them as Pito stepped onto the bridge.
“We’re all loaded up and ready,” he said. “I suggest we begin work as soon as possible.”
“Let’s get to it,” Jasmine said, starting for the door. She stopped for a moment by the main terminals and turned her attention to Trevone and Ramona. “You’re sure you can fly this?”
“With our powers combined, no doubt,” Trevone said.
“Meh,” Ramona piped up, tapping on her HoloTek. “I brought a crew with me.”
“You what?” Trevone asked.
“Ben-Ben,” Ramona yelled down to the front of the bridge. “Tap your magic bracelet.”
“Sure,” he said, a little concerned as to what this was about.
He signaled for the nanoprojectors to fire on. Without a preprogrammed image, a duplicate of Benny appeared beside him.
“Never not weird,” Hot Dog murmured.
“I smuggled in an old friend,” Ramona said with a grin. “A quick copy/paste I set up back at the Taj when I rebooted her.”
The hologram flickered, and then Pinky Weyve was standing in front of them.
“Hey, hologhost,” Ramona said.
“Pinky!” Hot Dog exclaimed.
“Oh my God,” the AI said, looking around, pausing a moment on each of their faces. “This is the Orion. You’re all here. You’re alive, and you actually—” She caught herself and crossed her arms, turning to the window. “I’m not speaking to any of you.”
Ramona made an exploding noise. “Guess I’ll just move you to the trash, then.”
“Wait!” Pinky exclaimed. “Don’t!”
“You want control of the fancy ship? Gotta play nice.”
Pinky looked around the room again and sighed, defeated. “You know I can’t let you do this without me if I have a choice. Fine, I’m happy to help.” She narrowed her eyes and pointed at Benny, who raised his hands to his chest. “You’re going to make up for what you did to me back at the Taj. Both you and that little hacker. Don’t think Ramona deleted that from my memory. I’m just not sure how you’ll get back on my good side again.”
“Whatever you say, Pinky,” he said.
“This chat log’s fun, but let’s sync you up,” Ramona said, pushing a button on the terminal in front of her.
Pinky’s eyes went wide for a moment, and then she silently cracked her knuckles. “There we go. It’s not the Taj’s servers, but it has its positive points. Now . . .” She waved a hand toward the great windows in front of them and a star map appeared. “Shall I plot the course to Calam, or do you have time to sit around and do it yourselves?”
Romana snickered. Trevone turned to her, mouth hanging open in shock.
“You are truly astounding,” he said.
She clicked her tongue. “Why do anything yourself when a program will do it for you?”
19.
Not long after that, the hyperdrive engines engaged, and the stars and planets and celestial bodies that filled the unfathomable expanse of space around them blurred as they shot toward Calam and its expanding sun. Benny stood at the front of the bridge, staring at the whirl of lights, frozen in awe. After what seemed like days of nonstop motion, planning, and fighting, he suddenly found himself without any idea how he could help going forward. Jazz and Pito had gone down to the bay where the superweapon had been stowed. Trevone and Ramona were handling the flight, or at least making sure Pinky kept them going in the right direction. Drue and Hot Dog had made a beeline for the hangar to see what kind of New Apollo vehicles were still there. The only thing that seemed left for him was to wait, which was the last thing he wanted to do, to be stuck worrying about all the ways things could go wrong.
So, trying to find some way to be useful, he excused himself from the bridge and explored the Orion. If nothing else, he could make sure he was familiar with the ship they’d be spending so much time on.
He wandered the empty halls for a while, trying to make a game out of going over the schematics in his head as he did so, until the enormity of this ship and the absolute lack of other people on it besides him and his friends began to make the unlit rooms he passed feel a little bit creepy. The dark had never bothered him—or at least, he had never allowed it to bother him since it definitely did scare his brothers—but he wasn’t used to being so alone. Certainly not in the RV, and usually not in the caravan. Even on treks out over the sand he usually had someone beside him. His father naming the brittle remains of plants or buildings the desert had mostly swallowed, or his brothers begging him to floor the accelerator. Being in this giant ship, where for all intents and purposes it seemed like he was the only one walking around, made him feel so small, and gave him too much time and space to be alone with his fears and concerns.
Fortunately, he stumbled upon Drue and Hot Dog in the mess hall, and he knew he could trust them to help ease his mind, or at the very least distract him.
The cafeteria could have easily sat the entirety of his caravan. The tables were littered with wrappers, cups, and half-eaten plates of food, abandoned when Vala’s ship was spotted and the alarms started to go off.
His grandmother would have been appalled by the state of it.
“There he is,” Drue said when Benny walked in. “We thought you might’ve gotten lost. Hot Dog was worried.”
“I was not!” Hot Dog said. And then she bobbed her head back and forth. “I just said that maybe we should call you and see what was up.”
Drue slid a few silve
r pouches toward Benny while shoving a hunk of chocolate into his mouth. “It’s not Pinky’s cooking, but the selection of food here isn’t bad. Better get to the good stuff quick, though. I saw Ramona roaming around in the refrigerated pantry earlier and I’m pretty sure she was stuffing her pockets.”
“Thanks,” Benny said, taking a seat and inspecting a couple of the wrappers. “What’s a mochi?” he asked.
“Oh, that you definitely have to eat,” Hot Dog said. “Trust me. I had, like, three bags already.”
They sat for a while, talking about desserts, which turned into a discussion about foods they absolutely wouldn’t eat and what they’d want stocked if they were stuck on a space station and could only have one food for a year. Benny and Hot Dog argued about what made for a good taco. Drue suggested lobster and they ignored him for a few minutes.
Eventually, they started talking about food they missed from Earth, and the conversation got a little quieter. Fortunately, another member of the Moon Platoon walked into the mess hall.
“Jazz!” Drue said. “Finally learning how to take a break?”
“Come sit with us!” Hot Dog said. “We’ve got food. Also, where do you stand on tacos? This is a very important question.”
Jasmine stood perplexed in the doorway for a moment before heading to the table and taking a seat.
“I’m not taking a break, exactly,” she said. “It’s just that Pito has to finish taking off the alien rock before I can start working on the missile and . . .” She shrugged. “I didn’t want to just stand around watching him. I’d go crazy. So I came up here to look around the pantries. I figured if all this works out, maybe I could bake something.”
“Wait,” Drue said. “We’re in the middle of an intergalactic crisis and you want to make cookies?”
“Baking helps me think! Besides, I’d wait until the sun was stabilized.”
“I for one would welcome congratulatory ‘we saved two worlds’ cookies,” Hot Dog said. “With chocolate chips, please.”
“And . . . tacos?” Jasmine asked. “Are there tacos here?”
“No. I wish. We were just talking about food we missed from Earth.”
Jasmine sighed. “Macarons. One hundred percent.”
“I don’t even know what that means,” Benny said.
Hot Dog shook her head. “You poor soul.”
“I almost envy you,” Jasmine said. “When we get back to Earth, I’m going to get you a dozen. Two.”
“Right.” Benny nodded. “When we get back to Earth.”
They were all four quiet then.
“What’s the first thing you’re going to do when we’re home again?” Hot Dog finally asked.
“Easy,” Benny said. “I’m gonna take my brothers out on a dune buggy ride. As fast as we can go. Maybe I can get my grandmother to go, too. But she hates stuff like that.”
Hot Dog smiled. “That sounds fun.” She looked at him for a moment. “You’re really lucky, you know that?”
“Agreed,” Jasmine said.
“Definitely,” Benny said reflexively. And then it sunk in, and he was reminded how true that was.
“It’s cool that’s what you want to do,” Drue said as he slid a bag of chocolate over to Jasmine. “I wish I had a brother or something I could hang with like that.” He was quiet for a second. “Wait, a dune buggy? Really? After everything we’ve gotten to drive, that’s what you’re picking?”
“I’m better with wheels, you know that,” Benny said. “Besides, after all these force field helmets, I’m kind of ready to get some sand in my hair from the desert wind. What about you?”
“You mean after the parade in our honor?” Drue grinned. “I don’t really know. It’s a while before school starts, I think. Man, that’s weird to imagine. Am I going to have to go back to school? I should just get handed some kind of degree. I’ve talked to aliens! Why do I need to know more about English?”
“This is the least surprising thing I’ve ever heard,” Jasmine said.
“Also, you only talked to aliens because the aliens knew our language,” Hot Dog said. “They’re multilingual.”
“Fine, I’ll take Alpha Maraudi classes.” He shrugged. “I actually kind of want to see your caravan?” It was more of a question than a statement.
“Seriously?” Benny asked. “No offense, but I don’t know that you’re made for the Drylands.”
“I feel like I’ve survived worse. Besides, you make it sound fun. I’ve never been to a bonfire before!”
Hot Dog’s eyes lit up. “Ooo! That does sound like a party. But, like, after I’ve spent a few days doing nothing but playing video games and shooting things that can’t shoot back at me in real life.”
Drue sighed. “You know, when I first met you, I would have challenged you to play me at whatever game you wanted and expected to win. But now?” He shook his head. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think I’m coming around to the fact that I have to accept second place.”
“And in contrast, this is the most surprising thing I’ve ever heard,” Jasmine said.
“I’m learning to accept that I may not be the best pilot, or the biggest brain—ahem, Jazz—but that it’s okay because I’m the best shot and have the most winning personality.”
Jasmine just stared at him, shaking her head.
“What about you, Jazz?” Benny asked. “What’s your go-to when you get home?”
She puzzled over this for a moment, eyebrows drawn together. “Honestly, I’d rather stay at the Taj, I think. That was my goal from the beginning. There’s not much for me on Earth. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I want to save it. But I’d rather be analyzing new elements or figuring out problems up in space.”
“I know Elijah could use you,” Benny said.
She smiled. “Thanks.”
“Sure,” Drue said. “But, come on, J. You at least need to take a few weeks of rest and relaxation on Earth. Especially since the Taj will have to be rebuilt. Like, you miss macarons, but have you ever had them in Neo Paris?”
Jasmine didn’t say anything, but her eyes lit up.
Hot Dog put her elbows on the table and rested her face in her hands. “You’re smarter than I thought you were, Lincoln.”
“Thanks!” Drue said. Then his mouth dropped open. “Hey! Wait. How smart did you think I was?”
“That’s it,” Jasmine said. “I’m going back to work on the battery.” She winked at Benny. “Good luck with those two,” she whispered.
Hot Dog and Drue kept sparring back and forth as Jasmine left. Benny stayed out of it. Hot Dog’s comment earlier was still circling through his mind. About how lucky he was. He knew she’d meant the fact that he was so close to his family, but watching the two of them squabble over a package of shared chocolate while hurtling through space at impossible speeds, he was reminded that he was lucky in many, many other ways.
When they left the mess hall, Hot Dog and Drue headed back to the hangar, fighting over which of the cars parked on the Orion would be the fastest, and both sure of the idea that they could prove they were right without actually racing one through space.
Benny headed down to the lower levels. If Dr. Bale’s weapon was going to save them, he wanted to see it for himself.
Jasmine was on top of the missile when he entered, huddled over a small open hatch with several datapads strewn around her, each one projecting holograms into the air. She had what looked to Benny like a soldering iron in her hand. Dr. Bale’s weapon was held up by several clamps that would eventually lower it below the deck, into the firing tube, according to what he’d seen—or, rather, been shown—in the schematics.
“Perfect,” Jasmine said. “Could you . . .” She stopped when she turned to him. “Oh.”
Benny raised his hands out to his side. “Hey.”
“Oh!” she said again. “Sorry. I had just called Trevone on the comms and asked if he’d come down here and look at something.”
“Ah,” Benny said. “I’m gue
ssing it’s nothing I can help with.”
Jasmine shrugged. “How good is your understanding of EMP shielding?”
He nodded. “You’re right. You should probably wait for him.”
She smiled a little, and then some readout on one of the datapads caught her attention and she narrowed her eyes at it, muttering to herself.
At the far end of the weapon, Pito melted the last bits of alien rock off the giant missile, compressing it down into a brick that he then carried over to one side of the docking bay. There, a veritable maze of stone had been built. The gold plate on Pito’s head seemed to glow as he worked.
“All this came from the weapon?” Benny asked.
“No, no,” Pito said. “Much of this was brought from the mother ship itself. It’s a specialized type of mineral that will serve as the outside of the battery.”
“Oh, cool,” Benny said running his fingers over a nearby brick of deep green.
“I wouldn’t!” Pito said, lunging toward him.
Benny jumped back. “Sorry!” he said.
Pito let out a sigh. “Forgive me. It’s just, with your glove . . . these are very important minerals.”
“Say no more,” Benny said, shoving his hands in his pockets. He looked around at the bay again, and then backed toward the door. “Uh, let me know if you guys need anything.”
“One hundred percent,” Jasmine said. “Pito, could you toss me a volt wand?”
And with that, Benny left them to it. Feeling helpless once again.
He went back to the bridge, where he checked in with Trevone, Zee, and Ramona. Eventually Drue and Hot Dog joined them there. Pinky spoke up on occasion, but mostly she stayed near the front windows, a small smile on her face. That’s how their trip to Calam went, not with action and adventure or lasers and Space Runners, but just their group hanging out, trying to pretend they weren’t all worried about what was to come, as if they were all back in the Mustang common room at the Taj. Benny eventually passed out in one of the chairs, drooling on a terminal devoted to some minor task that Pinky was taking care of; all the sugar he’d eaten with Drue and Hot Dog eventually led to an epic crash. He slept soundly, dreamlessly, for hours, until Jasmine and Pito came rushing into the room, shouting incoherently.
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