“I will be!” Falling Star said, smiling.
“Let’s go to bed. It’s going to be a long day tomorrow.”
James lay down on his pad, and Falling Star tried to do the same, but his legs hung over the end of it and onto the cold concrete. James got up, pulled a bedroll off another bunk, and put it under Falling Star’s feet.
“That better?”
“Yes,” Falling Star said.
James walked over and kneeled by Falling Star’s side. “Good-night kiss?”
“Yes, please!”
James leaned in and kissed Falling Star. His handlebar mustache tickled James’s upper lip. He tittered. Falling Star reached up to pull James onto him, but he was too fast. “None of that tonight. We’ve got to sleep.”
“But I’m not tired.”
“Well, I am,” James said as he crawled onto his bedroll. “Just go to sleep.”
“Okay, I’ll try.”
“Don’t try, just do it.”
“Good night, you guys,” Keira said.
“Good night,” Falling Star said and turned over and soon was snoring softly.
JAMES ROLLED over and felt a familiar weight on his wrists. The cuffs! his half-awake brain told him. He opened his eyes and, sure enough, there they were, highly polished silver and cold to the touch. James shifted immediately into panic mode. His heart raced. He touched the cuffs to be sure he wasn’t dreaming. But something was funny about them, something different. These are strange. James couldn’t feel them draining his power away. He tried a little experiment and pointed his finger toward the ceiling corner. A green flash filled the room with light as a full charge of electricity shot up and fried the concrete.
Lumen and Keira sat up at the same time, dislodging Tenzing, who slept on top of the two of them. Falling Star mumbled something and went back to snoring.
“They put cuffs on us last night while we were asleep!” James said as he showed Lumen and Kiera his wrists.
“We’ve got them too,” Keira said as she looked at her wrists and then Lumen’s. “Why are they doing this to us now?”
“This is just typical Paragon bullshit,” Lumen snapped.
“Wait. These cuffs don’t seem to drain our powers,” James said as he pointed to the burn mark on the ceiling. “See?”
“What are they for?” Lumen asked.
As if on cue, Dr. Albion stepped into the room and smiled. “Good morning. I see you’ve discovered your new adapters.”
“Adapters?”
“They’ll allow you to interface with all the modifications we’ve made to the Skipping Stone.”
The room fell silent except for Falling Star’s snoring.
“Surely you didn’t think we’d put those osmium cuffs on you again?” Dr. Albion asked. “Not after we’d come to our agreement.”
“I didn’t know what they were, but the thought did cross my mind,” James answered.
“O ye of little faith, James,” the doctor said sadly. “These adapters connect with the delivery system. You will use them when you deploy Darkfeather.”
“What’s Darkfeather?” Keira asked suspiciously.
“Why, it’s the name we’ve given to the device that your mother created. It’s what will destroy the Nibiru object. Quite an amazing thing. It literally dematerializes matter. A nuclear device would shatter the object into pieces that could still come hurtling down on earth. Darkfeather will completely atomize the object. It will be as if it never existed.”
“That sounds very tidy,” Lumen said skeptically.
“Oh, it is, indeed,” Dr. Albion said and changed her tone. “Now that you’ve all been briefed on your new hardware, I need you to get up. We’re moving up your launch time.”
“What?” James said.
Falling Star sat up and rubbed his eyes. “Did someone say, ‘lunchtime’?”
“No,” the three teenagers said in unison.
“Why are you moving up the launch?” Keira asked.
“The Skipping Stone is completely yours to control. It will do whatever you wish, not like our copy of it. You won’t need to wear your space suits in it either, although they’ll be on board, just in case. You just tell it to go find the Nibiru object and it will.”
“How do you know this?” James asked. “Your team couldn’t even get back inside of Y’Luc until we came back.”
“I have a copy of the Yellow Book that EBE wrote. It explains all about their ship’s technology and capabilities. Really, James, you should do your homework,” Dr. Albion said with a little grimace.
“When are we leaving?” Lumen asked.
“This afternoon.”
“So soon?” Keira said with some alarm.
“Why wait?” Dr. Albion asked. “You’re all here now, you have a powerful ship at your command, and you have the most devastating weapon ever created to destroy the object. Now is the time.”
James looked at Lumen and Keira. A silent resolve passed among them. They were really going to do this.
Cedric poked his head into the room and knocked on the open door.
“Cedric!” Lumen shouted and jumped up from the bed and ran over to hug him. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
“Yep. We all got out in time.”
“Is my mother with you?” Keira asked fearfully.
“Yeah, and your brother. They’re both here.”
Keira sighed loudly with tremendous relief.
Lumen noticed that Cedric was wearing the same cuffs as the rest of them. “What are you wearing these for?”
“Ah, that leads me to my next announcement,” Dr. Albion said. “Cedric and Alexander will be accompanying you on your mission.”
“What? Why?” James asked.
“They haven’t been training with us,” Keira said. “We’re the team.”
“And they are now part of that team,” Dr. Albion said. “Most of the training you received was for flying our Sun Stone. None of that training applies to the Skipping Stone. James already knows how to fly it.”
“Actually, I don’t,” James corrected the doctor. “Y’Luc fills me with that knowledge when I set foot inside him. He’ll do the same with all five of us.”
“Where is Alexander?” Keira asked. “Is he here now?”
“Alexander is with your mother,” Dr. Albion said. “But don’t worry, you’ll be seeing him shortly.”
Tenzing made his way over to Falling Star, who picked him up and held him. “What are we going to do while you’re in space?” Falling Star asked.
“You can observe along with us here at Paragon. We have a control room just like NASA’s. You’ll be able to see their every move.”
“How long will we be gone?” James asked. “No one told us that.”
“The Skipping Stone is much faster than the Sun Stone. You should be back here in less than twenty-four hours.”
“Is that all?” Lumen asked.
“That’s all,” Dr. Albion assured them.
Kiera and James smiled.
“Now please get ready, eat your breakfast, and meet me at the freight elevator. You remember where that is?”
“We just came down that way yesterday,” James said.
“See you in sixty minutes,” the doctor said and exited, her high heels clicking loudly along the hallway.
“Twenty-four hours isn’t so bad,” James said. “I thought we’d be gone for months.”
“And Albion’s right, the ship will do anything we ask him to do,” Lumen added. “He wants to help us and take care of us. He told me so yesterday when we first met.”
“I was so worried about some of the things we learned in basic training, but now, using Y’Luc as our ship, I’m not scared at all. It should be really easy.”
“It should be a piece of cake,” James said.
“It should be,” Lumen said cautiously.
17.
JAMES LAY on his belly in the captain’s spot on Y’Luc, his feet in the metal stirrups and his hands on the manual
controls. He could feel the ship breathing underneath him. It was like lying on the back of a large, friendly animal. James focused his energy and opened the front viewing panel. He could see out through the hangar doors to the recently constructed launchpad. Paragon workers scurried around beneath Y’Luc, completing their final modifications. Lumen had assured the ship he’d only be uncomfortable for a little while longer.
Y’Luc said he was fine with that.
James looked over his right shoulder at Keira, who was operating the navigational controls. She sat on her bench and pressed the soft flesh of the console. It lit up and displayed coordinates and directions. He looked over his left shoulder at Lumen, who similarly pressed the doughy flesh of the control panel that measured energy flow. Cedric sat to her right in a concavity Y’Luc created for him. He was in charge of repairs; Karen had taught him all about Zetan molecular biology. Alexander wasn’t on board yet for the preflight countdown. He was still with his mother.
Keira had already said her “See you later” to her mother, since it wasn’t going to be a “Goodbye.” Alexander would be loaded onto the ship in a special cryotube. He’d have to wait in the cryotube until they left earth’s atmosphere. Due to his young age, he was more susceptible to the radiation belts than the others were. Falling Star was a little sad about the whole thing, not just at James being away, but because he didn’t get to go on the adventure. James had promised him that as soon as this was all over, and they were free, Y’Luc would take them back to his home world, Hjärta, forty light-years away. They would spend time with EBE and UBE.
Falling Star was pleased with that.
James squirmed a little in the captain’s hollow. It felt funny to feel Y’Luc moving around under him. “How’s the preflight checklist, Lumen?”
“Y’Luc is telling me that he’s at full glucose level and holding. DNA replication and chromosome segregation are on track. Cytokinesis is happening. He’s got diploid cells in S-Phase. I’m also seeing lots of gametes and zygotes.” Y’Luc explained everything to her.
“How about our launch sequence, Keira?”
She turned in her seat to face James. “Everything is ready. Y’Luc knows what we’re looking for and knows where we’re heading. I’m using E = 1.2 for hyperbolic orbit, and for the deflection angle, D = 116.5ƒ on our current settings. That will put us in a trajectory for a Venus flyby. We’ll be right on top of Nibiru. Y’Luc can’t wait to get out of this old barn and fly.”
“Anything to add, Cedric?” James asked.
“It sounds like everything is under control.”
“Okay.” James brought his right cuff up to his mouth. “Paragon Mission Actual, we have cleared the preflight check list. We await your countdown.”
“Roger, that, Skipping Stone,” an unknown voice replied. “The clock is at T-minus twenty minutes and counting.”
James placed his hand back on Y’Luc’s controls. A shiver of excitement ran through him. I’m going into outer space! “I can’t believe we’re really doing this!”
“I know, right?” Keira replied. “This has got to be the coolest thing ever.”
“And it’s all thanks to Zetan technology,” Lumen said, gently caressing Y’Luc.
“I never thought in my wildest dreams this would be happening to me,” Cedric added. “I’ve always wanted to go into space.”
“Each of us has a special power to contribute to the mission,” Lumen said. “And together we’re an unstoppable team.”
James looked out the front panel and saw two Paragon techies in blue jumpsuits wheeling Alexander in his cryotube over to the ship. “Here comes Alexander.”
“Just in time too,” Cedric said. “We have like fifteen minutes left until launch.”
A moment later, Alexander’s cryotube was fastened on the wall to the right of Keira’s station, and the two techies exited. The hatch closed behind them, sealing the whole ship. Alexander’s cherubic face stared blankly from the cryotube window. He’d been sedated for the flight, but it would wear off when the cryotube opened. Keira stood up and walked to where Alexander waited. “I still haven’t properly met him,” she said and ran her hand over the pressurized glass window. “I’m so excited to talk to my baby brother.”
“You’re probably the only person in the history of the world who gets to meet their long-lost brother in outer space,” Lumen said.
“Isn’t that crazy?” Keira asked and started laughing.
“We were destined to have interesting lives,” Cedric said and joined in the laughter. “I mean, this whole thing is mind-blowing.”
James cleared his throat. “We need to focus, people. We’re on the most important mission the world has ever known. We must destroy the Nibiru object or die trying.”
A silence fell over the group. The gravity of their mission sank in again. They had to do this to save the planet. They had to do this for everyone counting on them back at Paragon and beyond. James thought about Falling Star. He’d been such a fool to wait to tell him about his feelings. It was just his fear of being hurt again that stopped him. But things would be different now. When he got back, he wasn’t going to waste another minute holding back any emotion. If it wasn’t possible to have their relationship on Earth, human and yeti, they’d just stay on Hjärta with EBE and UBE.
“Everyone take their positions.”
“Paragon Mission Control to Skipping Stone,” a voice at James’s wrist spoke up.
“This is the Skipping Stone.”
“Beginning countdown sequence on my mark.”
“Roger!”
“T-minus nine minutes and counting. Start automatic ground launch sequencer.”
“Roger,” Lumen said as she pressed a button on her left cuff.
“Retract orbiter access arm.”
“Roger,” James said.
“Start auxiliary power units.”
“Roger, that,” Lumen said as lights blinked on and off from the new equipment Paragon installed all around the ship.
“Start aerosurface profile test, followed by main engine gimbal profile test.”
“Roger,” Keira said as the numbers ran across the screen she was watching. “All in the green, Paragon.”
“We’re all set, Paragon Mission Control,” James said.
“Main Skipping Stone engine start.”
Y’Luc revved up beneath them with a trembling growl.
“T-minus five, four, three, two, one. Liftoff!”
James pressed the stirrups down with both feet and pulled the manual levers back at the same time. Y’Luc rose a few feet into the air and moved forward out of the hangar and into the open. James imagined the ship flying quickly over the redwood treetops. The ship responded by soaring up and over the Paragon Academy, and then increasing speed, bolting away from Los Angeles, higher and higher up, the clouds rushing past them. Y’Luc thrust forward with even more speed, and they passed the stratosphere, mesosphere, and troposphere in a matter of seconds. The light began to fade through the front viewing panel as they entered the exosphere, the black void of space.
“How do we look everyone?” James asked as he continued to press the ship upward.
“We’re on course for intercept,” Keira said. “Everything is green.”
“Y’Luc is doing really well considering he hasn’t flown in about seventy years,” Lumen said. “Artificial gravity is now active.”
“I’ll put Y’Luc on autopilot for the rest of the way,” James said.
James got up from his position as Keira and Lumen ran to meet him. All three hugged each other tightly. Lumen reached out and pulled Cedric into the fold.
“We did it! We made it to space!” James said, elated.
“Slow down, Cowboy,” Lumen replied.
“That’s Space Cowboy now,” James corrected her.
“Whatever! We’re not done yet,” Lumen continued. “We still have to deploy Darkfeather and get back home.”
“I know,” James said. “I’m just so happy t
o be here with you guys.”
“We’ll always be together,” Keira said and pulled away from the group and then hugged Cedric.
“We should let Alexander out, so Keira can meet him,” Lumen said. “Let’s flip the switch.”
The four of them hurried over to the cryotube. James located the silver lever and was about to pull it when Lumen interrupted him. “Keira should open it.”
“You’re right,” James said, stepping back from the cryotube.
Keira reached out and grasped the lever. She pulled it forward. A front panel hissed and popped open. The door unlocked and slid to the side, and Alexander opened his eyes. Before Keira could help him out of the cryotube, glass panels suddenly descended from the ceiling, separating Keira and Alexander from the others. Red lights began flashing all around them on the walls and ceiling.
“What the fuck!” James shouted and banged on the glass.
Inside the glass cage an additional panel slid into place keeping Keira and Alexander apart.
“What’s happening?” Keira shouted and pressed up against the glass that separated her from her brother.
Alexander staggered around confused, bumping into the walls.
“Y’Luc!” Lumen called out. “Retract the glass panels.”
A huge jolt of energy shot through their cuffs at the same time. Cedric collapsed in agony next to Lumen, who also dropped to the ground. James grabbed his wrists, doubled over, and fell to his knees. He looked up and saw both Keira and Alexander unconscious in the glass cage. James lifted his hand, trying to shoot a bolt of electricity to shatter the glass, but his cuffs began to glow red and absorb all his power.
The lights on the walls and ceiling stopped flashing.
“What’s happening?” Cedric shouted.
“Why are they doing this to us?” James yelled over at Lumen, who was trying to stand up.
“Take control of Y’Luc,” Lumen said. “Tell Paragon they need to stop this, or we won’t go through with the mission.”
James dragged himself into the captain’s spot and grabbed the manual controls. They wouldn’t budge. He pressed his feet into the stirrups with the same result. Nothing. He had no control of the ship. It was now stuck on autopilot on an intercept course with the Nibiru object. “The controls won’t budge!”
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