Jasmine and Hot Dog glanced at each other and nodded.
Drue didn’t look convinced, but he sighed and turned to Pito. “So, can we take a rain check on that invitation, or is this, like, a onetime kind of thing?”
“Of course,” the alien said. “I believe you will always be welcome on our planet. How could you not be?”
“This is perfect!” Zee said. “You can come back with me and Vala and we’ll all have a huge salutation!”
Benny and Hot Dog both glanced at Drue, waiting for an annoyed “celebration.”
All he said was: “Sounds like a plan, Zee.”
Hot Dog laughed once through her nose as Benny turned to Pinky. She’d hardly said anything since the battery was launched. Instead, she stood on the side of the bridge and positively beamed at them, glowing brighter than usual.
“Pinky,” Benny said. “Plot us a course for the Moon.”
“Aye, aye, captain,” she said. “I’ll have you home as fast as I can.”
21.
Benny and the others were on the bridge as they blasted through the Milky Way galaxy, staring at the blur of the planets and stars of their own solar system as the Orion shot through space, minutes away from the Moon. They lounged across the deck, leaning back in chairs held aloft by miniature hyperdrives, feet propped up on terminals. Benny ate what felt like the tenth cookie from the celebratory batch that Jasmine had made for them. They’d laughed and eaten and slept more than they had in weeks and explored the ship and eaten some more in the day it took them to get back home; and now they were restless, ready to dig their feet into the gravel of the Taj’s courtyard, and, later, the soil of their home planet.
Benny could almost smell the arid desert air.
“You know what?” Drue asked. “Intergalactic travel is not as exciting as it sounds.”
“I know what you mean,” Hot Dog said. “As impressive as this ship is, Dr. Bale really skimped when it came to entertainment.”
“You’re right,” Trevone said, rolling his eyes as he took a bite out of another cookie. “It’s only the most technologically advanced ship ever created by humans. It’s completely nap worthy.”
“Come on. Where’s the theater? Where’s the video game room?!” Drue sighed. “He could really use a few lessons about luxury from Elijah.”
“You would die in the Drylands,” Benny said. “Never come visit me.”
“Whatever. When we get back, we’re getting you moved to a city. Come to DC!” His eyes lit up. “Oh, man, this is the best idea. I’ll show you everything you need to know about the place.”
“Can you imagine this trip in a Space Runner?” Jasmine asked.
From behind the main terminal, Ramona made a gagging noise.
Drue shuddered. “I’d prefer not to. I never thought I’d say this, but I don’t think I would ever pilot another SR again.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Hot Dog said. “But I do dream of a time I can go a whole week without helmet hair.”
“Ugh,” Zee said, cupping his long fingers behind his head as he spun in a chair. “Have I mentioned how gross it is that you have dead stuff hanging off your heads?”
Hot Dog sucked her teeth. “Oh, do not get me started on your tentacles.”
“You mean the extra appendages we have that let us do way more than you humans?” Zee laughed once. “Sure. Not near as cool as . . . what did you call it earlier? A horsetail?”
Drue grinned. “A pony—”
Pinky appeared in the center of the bridge, whipping off her glasses, breath heaving silently.
Benny immediately knew it was bad news.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, his body going stiff in his seat.
“Something isn’t right,” the AI said. She turned to the window. “You can’t see because of how fast we’re going, but I can. There are things between Earth and the Moon that shouldn’t be there.” She was shaking her head, as if she was trying to make sense of it herself. “We’re still too far out of range for me to get a clear picture, but I’m detecting a lot of Alpha Maraudi rock.”
In seconds everyone was on their feet, all staring ahead, trying to make out what was happening through the giant windows at the front of the bridge despite the impossibility of doing so while traveling at hyperspeed.
“Could it be Vala?” Jasmine asked, attempting to find a reasonable explanation.
“Maybe but . . .” The AI inhaled sharply. “I’m detecting hyperdrive engines as well. Twenty, no . . . at least fifty. More than that.”
Benny took a deep breath.
“Get us as close as you can,” he said.
“We’ll fly well past the Moon,” Pinky warned.
“Just get us there,” Trevone half shouted.
Pinky nodded.
Benny turned to look at the others. No one needed to say a word. They were all thinking the same thing.
Tull.
“What ships do we have up here still?” Hot Dog asked.
“One Space Runner that Benny took from Vala’s ship,” Pinky said. “And three New Apollo SRs.”
“Wait,” Trevone said, whipping his head around to her. “That’s it?!”
“The New Apollo troops took most of the weaponized SRs with them,” Benny said, the reality of the situation dawning on them. “And we infiltrated on foot, basically. We didn’t fly anything over here.”
“We were just so happy to have the Orion . . .” Hot Dog said.
“And worried about getting the superweapon on board . . .” Jasmine added.
“We’re about to leave hyperspeed,” Pinky said. “It’s difficult to get an accurate radar reading at this velocity. I’m not sure what we’re going to find. But be careful.”
As the engines slowed, it became apparent to everyone very quickly that what they’d flown into was a battlefield.
New Apollo soldiers zoomed alongside what Benny recognized as Space Runners from the Taj, weaving through an asteroid storm that seemed to stretch on as far as Benny could see. They shot golden bolts of plasma and beams from modified mining lasers, the asteroids exploding every time they were hit—a flash of white-hot flame immediately snuffed out by the vacuum of space.
But those weren’t the only ships. Alpha Maraudi pilots rained silver shots of energy down on the humans, knocking them out into space or into asteroids, or sending them plummeting toward Earth. Other alien fighters were focused on the asteroids, though, or making defensive runs against their own kind—Vala’s soldiers. Her mother ship floated on the edge of the chaos, but in the very center was another alien crag, a chunk still missing from one side of it from when Elijah West had supercharged a hyperdrive and caused the engine to explode inside its hangar.
Tull was attacking.
“What do we do?” Benny yelled.
“On it, on it,” Ramona shouted, an edge to her voice that normally wasn’t there, her fingers a blur over the terminals.
In seconds, a face popped up on the huge screens at the front of the bridge.
Vala.
Zee cried out harmonically.
“You’re safe,” the commander said, but she allowed herself only a moment of relief. “The situation is dire.”
“Why is Tull here?” Benny shook his head. “I don’t understand. We saved Calam. They called off the attack. Doesn’t he know?”
“I assure you that he does,” Vala said. “This . . . this is not a command from the elders. This is madness. He is attacking of his own accord, betraying their orders to stand down. His entire storm is headed to your planet.”
“I’m mapping hundreds upon hundreds of asteroids,” Pinky said. “It’s difficult to get an accurate count with so many Alpha Maraudi ships around as well.”
Another face appeared beside Vala’s.
“Elijah!” Trevone shouted.
He was in a Space Runner, zipping through the maze of ships and asteroids. Benny tried to figure out which one was his car, but there was too much going on, too many players on the f
ield.
“You did it,” Elijah said, trading glances between the camera and whatever was happening in front of his windshield. “I don’t know what to say other than that I’m proud.” He paused. “And also, if you could point the Orion’s cannon at the giant enemy asteroid floating ominously in the center of this mess, that would be much appreciated.”
Vala turned, shouting something to Griida. Then she looked back to them. “I must lead my people. I’ll be here.”
Her face disappeared.
“Is the rest of the Pit Crew out there?” Trevone asked.
“They’ve gone for help,” Elijah said. “The American backup has formed a last line of defense near the atmosphere in case any of these asteroids slips by us and breaks for the planet. But there’s only a few dozen of them and they’re not well trained.” His face was lit up by an explosion, and there was a thunking sound that seemed to come from his windshield. “I should probably focus on driving for now. Talk soon.”
And then his feed cut out, too.
“Pinky,” Benny said. “Get us to where we can fire.”
“Aim for the damaged section,” Jasmine said. “No, wait. That might be reinforced if it’s been rebuilt lately.” She snapped her fingers a few times. “The upper quadrant. Even if we don’t hit the bridge, we’ll definitely rock it. Maybe even cause them to lose environmental systems.”
Hot Dog and Drue looked at each other, and then both of them turned to Benny.
“I want to be out there,” Hot Dog said.
“Me, too,” Drue said.
“I’m the best pilot. They need me.”
Drue nodded. “And I’m the best shot.”
The word that immediately came to Benny’s head was no. It seemed much safer inside the Orion, with its cannon and shielding and hyperdrives that could whisk them away if things got bad. But that was just selfishness, he knew. If any of those asteroids made it to Earth . . .
“Be careful,” Benny said.
“We always are,” Hot Dog replied. Then she ran after Drue, who was already sprinting for the hangar.
“Blast Tull’s ship an extra time for me, okay?” he called over his shoulder.
“You’re good without me, right, Ramona?” Trevone asked as he started down the ramp that led from the raised section of the bridge to the hallway.
“Don’t get exploded, T-Vone,” she said. “Why so slow, Pinky? Don’t tell me you need defragging.”
“I’m moving as fast as I can,” the AI said, not taking her eyes off Tull’s ship. “Almost . . .” The Orion came to a stop. “There, we’re in position.”
“Fire!” Benny said.
He waited, but there was no giant golden blast streaking across space. Tull’s ship was untouched.
“What’s the matter?” Benny asked.
“I can’t just shoot a cannon in the middle of a battlefield,” Pinky explained. “There are hundreds of moving parts to consider. Our own friends are about to be out there.”
“I thought you were the most sophisticated tech in the uni-v, hologhost,” Ramona said.
The AI turned her head slowly, until she was glaring at Ramona. “I am,” she said. “I’m also analyzing every aspect of this fight and—”
The ship rocked slightly as the cannon fired.
“See?” Pinky said, crossing her arms, and turning back to the window. “I found an opening.”
The bolt struck the top right of Tull’s ship, sending chunks of rock flying into space. If a hole was opened up in the hull, however, Tull had filled it almost instantaneously. Still, it looked like a crater had been blasted into the ship. They were at least damaging it, which is more than their mining lasers ever did.
“Again!” Benny said.
“It has to charge,” Pinky explained. “It takes a lot of energy to fire that thing.”
Benny raced up to the main terminals, Jasmine following him. They stood beside Ramona, staring out into the fray. He had no idea who was winning or who was losing—all he knew was that there were still more asteroids than he’d ever imagined being hurled toward Earth.
And his family.
“I should get out there,” Benny said. “We need all the help we can get.”
“You don’t have a ship,” Pinky asked. “And technically we are ‘out there.’”
“No, there’s another . . .” He paused. “Wait, where did Zee go?”
Pinky shook her head. “He followed them out of the hangar. I couldn’t stop him.”
Benny groaned in frustration, which grew into more of a shout as he began to pace back and forth. “Ramona, can you reach him? Which car is he in?”
“The SR you brought from Vala’s,” Pinky said.
“Oy,” Ramona chirped. “Got tentacle head on the line.”
A harmonic squeal of delight sounded around them. And then, “Woo! Die, die, die, die, die!”
“Zee!” Benny shouted.
“What? I’m just shooting asteroids. They’re not actually dying.”
“Bring that car back!” Benny said.
“Can’t talk now.” And then he whispered, “This thing is so fast! I gotta go, bye!”
The cannon fired again, but this time a smaller asteroid shot into its path, exploding. That was another potentially devastating hunk of rock gone, sure, but it wasn’t Tull’s ship.
“Is he . . .” Benny started, “defending himself with the asteroids?”
“He knows we’re here now.”
Benny looked around, trying to figure out their next step. “There has to be a way to take him down.”
“Pinky, try to position us above the main section of the asteroid storm,” Jasmine said. “We may get a better shot from there.”
The ship began to move.
“Blondie on the line,” Ramona said.
“Guys”—Hot Dog came over the comms—“there are too many asteroids out here.”
“Yeah,” Drue said. “Like, a lot more than it looked like on the Orion. This is bad.”
Benny flexed his fingers. “We’ve come this far. We can beat this. We just . . . .” He started going over different plans in his head. They could race back to the Taj, where there would be more cars. What difference would a few more make, though? They could try for Earth, but once there, what would they do? Defend the planet with the cannon? Try to save as many people as they could before an asteroid hit? By then it would be too late.
“Wait,” Pinky said, disappearing for a moment before reappearing beside Ramona. “That SR that’s trying to patch in. I think it’s . . .” She trailed off. And then she smiled. “Well, it’s about time you showed up.”
“What?” a voice said through the comms. “Maybe you should help design a faster Space Runner.”
“Ricardo!” Benny shouted.
“Nice ship you’ve got there,” the leader of the Pit Crew said. “Glad it’s not aiming at us this time.”
“We’re coming in hot,” Kira said.
“I don’t . . .” Pinky said. “Ah, there you are.”
“Where?” Jasmine asked.
Pinky shifted the ship. As they turned, Benny saw movement coming from the direction of Earth, shining specks flying toward them. He narrowed his eyes, trying to understand what was happening.
Ricardo Rocha’s red Space Runner was flying vanguard, the first one Benny could make out for certain. He was followed by three similar cars, one a vibrant yellow, the other two solid white, all rocketing toward the asteroid field. Sahar Hakimi, and Kira and Kai Miyamura.
Behind them was a veritable fleet of Space Runners Benny had never seen before. At least a hundred of them, every model and color imaginable. And they just kept coming, an army.
“What?” was all Benny could say.
“The cavalry’s here,” Ricardo said. “I told you I was looking into who could help us. And that I could still fly.”
“I hope we’re not late,” Kai said over the comms.
“Baka,” Kira replied. “We got here as fast as we could.”
Benny shook his head. “I don’t understand.”
“I was part of the first EW-SCAB class,” Ricardo said. “I’ve met a lot of scholarship winners in the last five years. Every one of them, in fact. All I had to say was that Elijah thought you guys were the best of the best, and they came running.”
“It’s the old EW-SCABers!” Jasmine shouted.
The reality of what was happening took a moment for Benny to process, but as soon as he realized that an army of the smartest, bravest, most adept SR pilots on Earth had shown up to help them, his body prickled with goose bumps.
“Holy whoa,” he whispered.
“They’ve had a few modifications made to their SRs by Bo and some of our mechanics back on Earth, of course,” Ricardo continued. “You’d be surprised how many lasers you can find lying around when the fate of the planet is at stake.”
The newly arrived fleet dove into the battlefield, taking out asteroids one after the other. Five years of EW-SCAB winners were now zooming across the battlefield; more and more chunks of Alpha Maraudi rock were exploding with every second that passed.
Lasers and mounted plasma rifles shot from each of the newly arrived Space Runners as they wove through the asteroids and sent enemy ships spiraling into space. They were a glittering spectacle of shapes and colors. Benny watched a matte-black oversized van spin over a thin, rose-gold coupe with holographic flames shooting out the back. An SR with a completely clear exterior took out four asteroids while flying in a single loop, its hyperdrive glowing in the hood.
Before, Benny hadn’t been able to tell who was winning, but now it was obvious. The additional humans had tipped the scale of the fight, and Tull’s storm was being obliterated.
They were defeating him.
And he must have known it.
“Tull’s ship is on the move,” Pinky said.
“He’s leaving?” Jasmine asked.
“I’m not sure. I can’t tell what his trajectory is yet. As soon as—”
Before their eyes, the internal thrusters in Tull’s ship kicked in, and the crag shot forward.
Not toward open space, but straight toward Earth.
In a sickening instant it dawned on Benny what Commander Tull was going to do.
“He’s using his ship as a giant asteroid,” Benny said. “He’s going to crash it into Earth.”
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