The Incredible Space Raiders from Space!

by Wesley King

  Willona had looked like she might cry.

  “I greeted him, you know,” she’d told a girl next to her.

  Jemma smiled. “I also wanted to give you this.”

  She took a blue bundle out from behind her back and handed it to him. It was Jonah’s school uniform, cut open and stitched into a square blanket. Jonah gingerly took it, blinking back an unexpected tear. It was strange to feel something from home again, and it made him realize just how far he’d come from the scared boy who used to put that blue uniform on and get pushed around at school. He put it close to his nose, smiling. It was comforting to smell his mom’s favorite fabric softener as he stared out into space.

  “Thanks, Jemma,” he whispered, putting down the blanket.

  “I’d thought I’d make you a special badge as well,” she said, “you know, because you’re the special recruit, but then I thought maybe that would be too much.”

  “Yeah,” Jonah said. He looked down at his badge. “I’m happy with this one.”

  She paused and glanced at him. “Are you sure?”

  Jonah frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “Are you sure you want to do all this? You have a home to get back to. You could hide like Sally Malik until the Squirrel goes back to Earth.”

  “She’s tried,” Jonah said. “You can’t get off the ship.”

  Jemma looked at him. “If anyone could, it would be you.”

  Jonah thought about that. There were probably ways. He could try to send a message to his family. Maybe sneak into the shuttle bay.

  But he didn’t want to run. He wanted answers.

  “Would you go back, if you could?” he asked her.

  “No,” she said. “Although, I didn’t mind Burbank Orphanage. There were about eighty kids there. A lot of their parents had died in the mines on Ganymede. That’s where most people work. Good money, but very unstable under the ground. That’s what happened to Martin’s parents. He didn’t like Burbank. He’s very independent, as you can tell.”

  Jonah glanced at Martin, who was fast asleep in the corner. As usual he was lying flat on his back, his slender little arms and legs sprawled out, just as he was when Jonah thought he’d been shot in the brig. He really was a strange boy.

  “I liked it, though,” Jemma continued, tucking her sewing supplies back into her pocket. “Some of them made fun of me because of my scars. I guess you can expect that.”

  “How did you get them?” Jonah asked quietly.

  She sighed and pulled back her sleeves. The scars ran all the way past her elbows. “When I was eight, we got in an accident. My parents and I. They crashed off the side of the highway, and the propulsion engine burst into flames. They came from below—burned most of my body.” She lifted her pant legs. There were more scars. “The first responders managed to pull me out before the flames got to my face, but they were too late to save my parents.” She looked out into space, the stars reflecting off her eyes. “That’s when they put me in the Burbank Orphanage.”

  She pulled her sleeves down again.

  “Like I said, some of the kids there were mean. But there was a worker there, a woman named Lolli, and she treated me like a daughter. She braided my hair and read me stories and did crafts. She was the one who always called me creative.” She smiled sadly. “They took me while I was sleeping, I guess. I remember lying down, and then I was here. I wish I could have said thank you. I miss her. I called myself Jemma the Creative for her.”

  She turned to Jonah.

  “But I would never go back. On Ganymede I was Jemma Main, another orphan. People don’t adopt much on Ganymede. They came sometimes, though, and they’d say, poor little girl. What a shame.” Her voice grew thick with emotion. “But here I’m a Space Raider. I have a mission. A uniform. No one says poor little girl, what a shame. They don’t pity me here. Because I’m special. They chose me because I’m special. And for that, I would go fight Entirely Evil Things from the Dark Zone. And I’ll definitely fight the crew.”

  Jonah nodded. “I understand.”

  “And what about you? Would you go back?”

  Jonah thought about that for a moment. “I do like my uniform here.”

  Jemma laughed. “Thanks. There are boxes and boxes of them, you know. All different sizes. There’s a big room in Sector One. We take boxes out and throw the old clothes in. There’s a huge pile of old clothes. Six trips’ worth, the most important uniform specialist said. That’s what the commander told him. One thousand Space Raiders. You can imagine the pile.”

  “I thought this was the seventh trip to the Dark Zone?” Jonah said.

  She paused. “I never thought about that. Must have made a mistake. Or maybe the first Space Raiders already had uniforms. Think we’ll meet them in the Dark Zone?”

  “I hope so,” Jonah murmured.

  Something was nagging at him. Sally Malik. Wearing her old purple sweater and ripped blue jeans and dirty shoes. Where was her uniform?

  “Everything all right?” Jemma asked.

  “Yeah,” he said. “Just thinking.”

  She smiled and stood up. “I’ll leave you alone. Try to get some sleep.”

  She crept back to her blanket and lay down, leaving Jonah to stare out the window again. He thought about what Jemma had said. About what this all meant to her. About what it meant to all of them. Without thinking, his hand found his badge, and he suddenly realized what it meant to him. Jonah the Now Incredible, Special Recruit and Adventurer of the Highest Order. He was a Space Raider. He wouldn’t let them down.

  But as he sat there, Jonah couldn’t shake the feeling that something else was going on. And for the first time, he wondered if the answer might lie with Sally Malik.

  • • •

  When the Space Raiders woke up, Jonah forgot all about his questions. The day had come. Space Raiders folded up their blankets and brushed off their uniforms and rested their bonkers on their shoulders like ancient soldiers with rifles. They fell into two parallel lines, with Lieutenant Gordon standing at the front, looking brave and grim.

  When the signal came, Sector Three was to meet up with Sector Two in the middle of Last Refuge Road, which ran just outside the Bubble, and together the two sectors would march on the main staircase to the crew’s quarters, singing and shouting war cries and banging their bonkers like a true invading army. Jonah figured the crew would be there almost immediately. That’s when things would get interesting.

  “Ready?” Jonah asked Martin.

  He nodded, wearing his typical grin. The gun they’d taken from Wrinkles was tucked into his belt, hanging down almost to his knee. “Ready.”

  They had their own mission. And everything relied on it.

  He turned to Lieutenant Gordon. “Remember: as loud as you can.”

  “Understood,” Lieutenant Gordon said. “Good luck.”

  “You too,” Jonah said.

  He looked out over the other Space Raiders. Willona and Jemma were huddled close together in line, looking nervous but determined. His eyes fell on Victoria. She was near the back with her brother, standing beside him. She looked at Jonah and managed a weak smile. He gave her a reassuring grin.

  “Oh, here we go,” Willona muttered to Jemma.

  Willona had taken off her broken glasses for the battle, though she’d still applied her bright red lipstick and tied her hair up in those wild porcupine bunches.

  “We’ll be back as soon as we can to help,” Jonah said to the group. “But I’m sure the battle will be over by then. You’re Space Raiders. They don’t have a chance.”

  That brought new smiles to the group, and Willona suddenly stepped out of line and gave Jonah a firm hug.

  “I can’t stay mad at you,” she said, her face pressed into his shoulder. “Try not to be killed, Jonah the Now Incredible. I can’t stand any more heartbreak.”

  She released him, blushing a little and looking around the room, where many Space Raiders were raising their eyebrows, including Lieutenant Gor
don.

  “Anyway,” she said, punching his arm, “have fun out there . . . buddy.”

  She hurried back into line.

  “Okay,” Jonah said awkwardly, “well, we should probably get going.”

  “Don’t mess this up, space gas,” Ben said.

  Jonah sighed. “Still not an insult. Let’s go, Martin.”

  He saluted. “Yes, sir!”

  “You don’t have to do that,” Jonah said.

  They slid open the door and hurried out, closing it behind them. Jonah had one last glimpse of the assembled Space Raiders waiting in formation. If he and Martin failed, they would all be imprisoned . . . or worse. He shut the door, trying not to think about it.

  He and Martin jogged down the short hallway to Last Refuge Road, taking a quick look in either direction. Then they ran across the hall to the closest service-shaft door and started for the engine room, their eyes on the power lines over their heads.

  “Think this is actually going to work?” Martin the Marvelous asked.

  Jonah looked at him. “I really hope so.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  * * *

  * * *

  JONAH AND MARTIN HURRIED DOWN the service shaft, listening carefully for shrieks and cackles. It occurred to him that the Shrieker had been strangely quiet lately.

  He had a feeling that was a bad thing.

  Of course, it was the Shrieker who had given him his plan. The only thing the crew hated more than Space Raiders was the Shrieker. He’d seen what had happened to Wrinkles and Weasel. The mere sound of the Shrieker had caused them to lose all sense and abandon their post, cursing and shouting and threatening. Weasel had eventually figured it out, of course, but it had served as a significant distraction.

  And so Jonah’s plan was an invasion of Shriekers. Fake ones.

  When the signal came, the Space Raiders would march down Last Refuge Road in a heroic last stand. Or so the crew would think. They would emerge with guns drawn and order the Space Raiders to halt. At that point a string of adventurers would send a signal to Jonah and Martin, who would simultaneously kill the power to both the fourth level and the quarters, plunging everyone into complete darkness. Then the shrieking would start.

  Sector One would sprint through both sections, shrieking and cackling, and while the crew was distracted, the rest of the Space Raiders would launch their assault, bonking knees and stomachs and whatever else they could get their hands on. The idea was that the crew couldn’t shoot what they couldn’t see.

  At least that’s how it was supposed to work.

  Martin glanced at Jonah as they hurried down the service shaft. According to Lieutenant Gordon’s chronometer, they only had about twenty minutes until the announcement. If they weren’t in position by then, the Space Raiders would march right into the crew’s hands. Jonah couldn’t let that happen.

  “What were you like at home?” Martin asked curiously, keeping his voice low. “You must have gone on lots of adventures. Were your parents adventurers?”

  “Actually, I was a bit of a coward.”

  Martin laughed and shook his head. “Yeah, right.”

  “What about you?” Jonah asked, his eyes on the power lines.

  Martin paused. “I was a bit of an adventurer, I guess,” he said, almost sheepishly. He sighed. “I was a criminal. A pickpocket. A classic bad kid. I didn’t want to tell you. I thought you might think of less me. I mean, you did meet me in prison.”

  “How come you were a pickpocket?” Jonah asked as they kept moving quickly through the dimly lit service shaft.

  “My parents died when I was five. I was an only child. I think I was always a bit . . . difficult. But when they died, I got put in Burbank, and I think maybe I got worse. I ran away eventually. Had no money or anything, obviously. So I started stealing.”

  He looked at Jonah, sounding embarrassed.

  “I didn’t think it was right. I was just good at it. That’s why I was so surprised they took me into the Space Raiders. I’ve been trying my best since then. Minus the food bar. I couldn’t help it—I like rats. We had a lot on Ganymede.” He hesitated. “Do you think I’m a bad kid now? I shouldn’t have said anything.”

  Jonah smiled. “I think you’re a great Space Raider.”

  “Thanks,” Martin said, standing a little straighter. “That means a lot coming from an Adventurer of the Highest Order. I won’t let you down, sir.”

  “Stop calling me sir.”

  “Yes, sir,” Martin said.

  Jonah sighed.

  They continued on in silence for a moment or two, and then Jonah heard it. Footsteps. He gestured for Martin to stop. The footsteps halted immediately.

  “You hear that?” he mouthed.

  Martin nodded. They both slowly turned but saw nothing behind them in the shadowy tunnel. They looked at each other and kept walking.

  “We’re being followed,” Jonah whispered. “And I doubt it’s a crew member. They’d just shoot us.”

  Martin’s eyes widened. “Shrieker?”

  “Maybe,” he said quietly. “Be ready.”

  Martin’s slender little fingers landed on the handle of the gun.

  Jonah and Martin made it safely to the engine room, though Jonah heard footsteps several more times. Whatever was following them was very quick. He kept trying to turn and catch it, but with no luck. Once he saw what might have been a shadow stepping into a little nook, but he couldn’t be sure. And they didn’t have time to check.

  They had to get into position. He just hoped the other adventurers didn’t run into the Shrieker when they delivered their signal. The whole operation would fall apart.

  They hurried out into the hanging walkway, and Jonah tried not to look down. The power line he had bonked the first time had been welded and fixed with a new steel casing. He’d have to do it all over again.

  The power line to Last Refuge Road, the one they’d been following, streamed out through open air to the engine core. Martin would have to go down a level to bonk it.

  They could shoot the power lines, of course, but Jonah was afraid they would permanently destroy them. Considering they hoped to take over the Squirrel when the attack was over, that would be a bad thing. Hopefully, if they just pierced the power lines, they could fix them like the crew members did.

  “Remember, don’t hold on to the bonker,” Jonah said. “If it doesn’t work . . . shoot it. We’ll worry about it later.”

  Martin nodded. “See you on the other side.”

  He scurried down a service ladder. He made a good space rat.

  “How long you think we have?” he called up.

  “Ten minutes, maybe,” Jonah said. “So be ready.”

  Jonah ran over to the other power line, bonker at the ready. He saw Martin reach his power line a level below him, and he nodded up at Jonah, holding the bonker with two hands. Now they just had to wait.

  He felt his hands sweating as they gripped the bonker.

  “I knew you’d come back,” a familiar deep voice said.

  Jonah slowly turned, his stomach knotting up. Red Eye walked around the walkway from the other side of the core, gun in hand. His bald head glinted in the stale light of the engine room, while his lips curled in a very evil-looking smile. But worst of all was that glowing red eye, fixed firmly on Jonah.

  “The others searched the ship, but I waited,” he said. “Wanted the double pay, you see. Make this trip a little more worthwhile. Now drop the pole. I could shoot you now, but I’d have to carry you all the way up. So just turn around and start walking.”

  Jonah hesitated. Where was Martin?

  “I said drop it!” Red Eye said, aiming the gun.

  Jonah was just letting it go when a blue flash whizzed by his head, missing Red Eye by at least five feet. But it was enough to cause Red Eye to turn sharply, extending his shooting arm and aiming below them. Jonah reacted instantly. He swung his bonker over his head and connected squarely with Red Eye’s forearm.


  The pirate howled and dropped his gun, which went clattering off the walkway and toward the distant engine-room floor.

  “Nice one!” Martin called.

  Red Eye clutched his right arm and stood up straight, causing Jonah to take a quick step backward. Why hadn’t he done more bonker training? What was that move that Alex used? A spin? Jonah took another step backward.

  “You just cost me some pay,” Red Eye growled. “Now I’m going to be unfriendly.” He snatched a comm unit off his belt. “Hilda. Engine room. Now.”

  He stepped toward Jonah, who quickly backed up again.

  “Martin?” he called.

  “I can’t get a good shot!” Martin said. “Can he step to the right a little?”

  “No,” Red Eye said quietly, “he can’t.”

  He suddenly lunged at Jonah, who tried to swing the bonker at Red Eye’s other arm. Red Eye reached out and caught it, his grip like iron. With a flick of his wrist, he yanked the bonker from Jonah’s hand and threw it off the walkway. Jonah heard it clang loudly off the floor a few seconds later.

  “Now what, you little rat?” he asked cruelly.

  “Uh-oh,” Martin said from below.

  Jonah looked down and saw Space Witch step out of the service shaft. Her pinched, flushed face was narrowed into a sneer.

  “Take the other one!” Red Eye said.

  “Run!” Jonah shouted.

  Martin fired a fizzling blue blast, causing Space Witch to duck out of the way, and then Jonah heard him sprint down the walkway. Jonah decided to do something unexpected. He ran directly at Red Eye, who spreads his arms and legs to catch him.

  But Jonah slid right through Red Eye’s legs, and though he vainly tried to grab Jonah as he went through, Jonah hopped back onto his feet and kept running. He wasn’t exactly sure where he could run to in the tangled spiderweb that was the engine room, but anything was better than letting Red Eye catch him.

  He heard Red Eye starting after him, his boots clanging off the metal walkway.