“Okay, I should check in with Pinky and Ricardo.” He laughed a little. “I wonder how long it’ll take Drue and Hot Dog to realize they need me or one of the Alpha Maraudi to open the hangar for them.”
Ramona looked up at him. “Mute,” she said.
“Right, sorry,” he said.
On the way out, he passed by Ash McGuyver, who flashed him a big smile before popping her gum and heading into the hangar.
Benny only got a few steps down the hall before he heard her scream.
“My baby!” Ash shouted. “What have you done to her?”
On the bridge, he found Pinky standing in front of the central hologram, which now showed the outside of the ship and its surrounding area.
“There are what we would call cameras all over the hull’s exterior,” the AI said as he approached. “The energies in the minerals record data and transmit it to this terminal.”
“Sounds like it would be good for scouting,” Benny said as he came to her side. “We could have used it when we were hunting for Hot Dog or Dr. Bale. Shoot a rock toward the dark side of the Moon and see what you can find.” He raised his eyebrows. “Hey, maybe we can use that to find the weapon!”
“The range appears to be quite short, so the mother ship would have to be very close by to pick up any transmissions,” Pinky said. “From what I can tell.”
Benny let out a long breath, but Pinky continued, nudging him, even though her elbow went straight through his. “That’s an innovator’s mindset. Elijah would be proud.” She looked sad for a moment before shaking her head and smiling.
“Are you . . . worried about him?” Benny asked.
The AI shrugged a little. “I learned a long time ago that Elijah West isn’t someone you can worry about. It would consume you. Take up all your time.”
“Oh. Yeah. I guess that makes sense.”
“Or,” Pinky continued, “maybe that’s just something Elijah implanted into my programming. I couldn’t say for certain.” Her brow furrowed, and when she spoke again, her voice was much softer as it came through the speakers in Benny’s collar. “I’m sure the real Pinky knows. She must still think of him. At least sometimes.”
As they stood together in silence staring at the hologram before them, Benny wondered what it must have been like to know that there was another version of you—a flesh-and-blood human—somewhere on Earth. It was hard for him to even fathom. Before he could figure out if it would be okay to ask about or not, he was distracted by two silver vehicles that shot out into space from one side of the holographic ship.
“Are those . . .” Pinky started, stepping around the image to get a better look.
“I guess Hot Dog and Drue got one of the Maraudi to open up the lower hangar for them,” Benny said, watching the two Space Runners race each other around the mother ship, weaving back and forth across its surface. “They wanted to take some SRs out.”
“Of course they did,” Pinky said with a slight smile. “And you didn’t join them?”
“I don’t think I’d have any fun behind the wheel right now.” He paused. “How are the others doing?”
“As well as can be expected. Ricardo and Kira have kept their eyes on everyone, helping to keep them calm.”
“That’s good,” Benny said. “What about you?”
“I’ve been observing,” The AI said. She raised a hand and pointed to a knot of green light slithering in the air. “Every movement—every thread of this has meaning. The way the patterns weave, how the ribbons unfold . . . It’s a lot to process, especially without any sense of how their vocabulary works.”
Benny stared up at the holograms, trying to figure out how someone would even begin to try to figure out what they meant. “My grandmother tried to teach me Spanish for a while, but I wasn’t a very good student.” He shook his head. “I kind of wish I’d spent more time learning from her instead of out on the sand in a dune buggy.”
“Griida was nice enough to explain a few things at first, but he said he had to focus on ship running diagnostics and couldn’t be bothered.” Pinky’s voice got quieter. “I think he was just annoyed, if I’m being honest.” She looked back to the hologram. “Oh, dear.”
Benny watched as one of the Space Runners flew across the ice surface of Ganymede well away from the ship, its laser on, carving into the surface of the moon. He didn’t have to wonder who was driving the craft—after a few passes, the laser turned off, leaving three letters behind, etched into the surface: DBL.
“I’m going to kill him,” Benny said. “If he doesn’t get us killed first.”
Pinky smirked a little, pointing to another part of the hologram.
“Careful,” she said, “or you’ll end up having to get rid of half your platoon.”
Benny watched the other silver Space Runner attempt to carve a jagged H into the surface of the moon. The connecting line in the middle was too long, a diagonal slash across the other marks. The SR jetted around in circles before finding a new spot and trying again.
“We’re doomed,” Benny said, though he couldn’t help but grin a little.
8.
Benny left the bridge to check in with Ricardo and Kira, who were doing their best to keep the other kids both calm and entertained in the mess hall. The room was, like the hangar, huge and made of stone. One wall was clear, looking out onto the cold expanse of Ganymede—thankfully, not the direction in which Hot Dog and Drue were flying. After spending so much time at the Lunar Taj where every surface was unnecessarily luxurious, Benny was actually starting to appreciate how utilitarian the Alpha Maraudi were. Even the gold-lined throne on the bridge seemed to have had purpose, aiding in the ship’s landing.
In the mess hall, he found row after row of tables and benches that had grown out of the floor. They were covered in boxes brought up from the Taj that contained resources like packaged food, water, first aid kits, and spare space suits—basically anything that could be grabbed once the evacuation began. Most of the kids in the room sat in little groups, sharing games on their datapads or munching snacks.
Benny spotted Kira and Ricardo unpacking a stash of fresh fruit at one of the middle tables.
“This’ll all go bad soon,” Ricardo said to Kira as Benny approached. “We should be eating it first.”
“Hai,” Kira agreed. “I’m already planning on swapping things out as soon as we’ve taken stock of what we have. We tried to be thorough when we were packing, but we left in a hurry.”
Ricardo paused as he saw Benny approach. “Finally,” he said, sounding annoyed. “You could have at least sent us an update.”
“Sorry,” Benny said. “The commander needed some time to rest. Right now we’re kind of at a standstill. We’re meeting up in a little bit, and you should be there to talk our next steps with us. Jazz and Trevone are doing science stuff. Ramona’s in the hangar working on comms. We’re doing what we can.”
Ricardo handed Benny a banana. “Good.”
“We’re not used to being out of the loop,” Kira said, going back to unpacking the container.
Ricardo nodded to something over Benny’s shoulder. “Actually, we’re not the only ones who want updates.”
Benny turned to see a dozen EW-SCABers all standing behind him. Even after the last several weeks, there were a few of them that he didn’t even recognize, which made him feel like a horrible excuse for a leader, given everything they’d been through together. Before he could say anything or awkwardly try for introductions, however, they began to speak at the same time.
“What’s going on down there?”
“Did someone say something about a superweapon?”
“How many ETs are here?”
“How long are we on the ship?”
“Where’s Elijah?”
“Did I see a tiny alien running through the hall earlier?”
“Uh,” Benny said. “Okay, let’s start with what we’re trying to get done right now.”
He answered as many questions as h
e could, anxiously glancing at a HoloTek on the nearby table every few minutes to see how much time had passed, not wanting to get too distracted and miss the meeting with Vala. Eventually, Hot Dog and Drue wandered in. They dashed for a few granola bars before joining Benny’s side.
“Whoa, whoa,” Drue said as he approached. “Let’s give the guy some space, huh?”
“Welcome back,” Benny muttered. He paused. “Wait, how did you get back in?”
“Oh . . .”
“We kinda didn’t plan for that,” Hot Dog said. “For a minute I thought I was gonna have to try to shoot through the hull.”
Benny’s eyes went wide.
“Don’t worry,” she continued, waving her granola bar through the air. “I just gave the wall a few love taps with the front of my SR and the Maraudi inside got the picture.” She sighed. “Thankfully. Anyway, it was a good session. We were both reminded that I’m the better pilot.”
Drue grinned. “And that I’m a better shot.”
“Yeah, I gotta work on that.”
“Wait,” Iyabo said. “You guys went flying. Hold up, I want to go, too. It’s starting to get boring around here.”
Several other kids started complaining as well. Drue and Hot Dog looked to Benny for help.
“Nuh-uh,” he said, shaking his head as he took a few steps back. “This is all you.” He held up the banana he still had in his hand. “I haven’t even gotten to eat yet.”
Benny hurried over to another table, taking a few deep breaths and relishing the fact that he was out of the spotlight for a moment. After digging around in a box full of drinks, he tried to poke a sharp straw through a silver pouch of water, only to end up spritzing himself in the face. There was a low, breathy giggle behind him, followed by the sound of an aluminum can opening.
He turned to find Ramona. “Oh,” he said. “Hey.”
“Satellite’s installed,” she said, taking a swig from her drink. “In the Star Runner. Max upgrades. Impressed even myself.”
“Wait,” he said, shaking his head in astonishment. “Really? It’s done?”
“Don’t ask for repeats, Benzo. You know I’m the master.” She took a long swig from her drink. “And Ash helped. Turns out she’s super leet. Nice to meet a worthy brain.”
“That’s amazing!” Benny said. He felt light—finally they had something to work with. “Okay. Can you get Pinky from the bridge and look at porting her into the SR? We can get this thing launched ASAP and reestablish comms with the Taj and Earth forces.”
Ramona clicked her tongue. “Sure thing, boss,” she said, turning away. “I’ve kinda missed that dumb holo-troll.”
As soon as Ramona finished a few last-minute tweaks and Ash cleared them for launch, the satellite Star Runner shot out of the side of the mother ship, auto-piloted on a course set by Pinky. Benny then gathered everyone down in the underground cavern—except Ramona, who decided she would much rather stay in the hangar and try to convince Ash to introduce an entirely new operating system to the SRs. Commander Vala took them to a room in one of the hallways that led deeper into the moon. Inside, egg-like chairs resembling the throne on the bridge sat around an oval table rimmed in gold.
“So,” the commander said, “you’ve launched a communications satellite. What do you do now?”
“Pinky estimates it’ll take several hours for the Star Runner to be close enough to contact the Taj,” Benny said. “Once in place, we should be able to talk to New Apollo and start trying to convince them not to use the weapon. And, you know, that we can all work together.”
“And if they refuse?” Vala asked.
He turned to Jasmine. “How’re the stealth drives going?”
Jasmine’s face fell. “We’re still trying to figure out exactly how they work,” she said. “Pito is testing a few of the components right now to see if there’s anything the Maraudi have that might be able to track them. If we can detect a stealth field, we can find that weapon.”
“Dr. Bale’s way of building things is complicated,” Trevone added. “It’s all very different from Elijah’s tech.”
“Now that Ramona is done with the satellite, we can use her help as well,” Jasmine said.
“What about the other Alpha Maraudi?” Ricardo asked Vala. “Have you been in contact with Tull or your home world?”
The commander leaned back in her chair, the tentacles on her head unraveling and reforming into a tightly coiled bun. “We still await word from Calam. As for Tull . . .” Vala sighed. “I have attempted to communicate with him, but my calls have gone unanswered.”
Ricardo clenched his jaw. In the chair beside him, Kira scoffed.
“Perfect,” Hot Dog said. “We’re being ghosted by an alien.”
“Okay, so we keep working,” Benny said. “We have some time before we’re in touch with the Taj, so let’s figure out a game plan for what we’re going to say when we do. I’m pretty sure Bale thinks all of you are bloodthirsty world conquerors. If we can get him to see that you’re open to coexisting, hopefully that’ll change his mind. But we’re going to need to be convincing.”
“Dr. Bale wasn’t too big on talking things out,” Hot Dog said. “You may be forgetting that whole threaten-us-with-a-gun thing.”
Benny shook his head. “No. But things are different now. And he’s not in charge anymore. Plus, I don’t think anyone wants to get to the point where we all end up dying because no one will sit down and talk.” He glanced at Drue. “Your dad has to be against that.”
Drue shrugged.
“As I mentioned to Benny before,” Vala said, “if this superweapon is used against our home planet, Calam, that will lead to the full force of the remaining Maraudi ships being directed against Earth.” She paused. “If I am being completely honest, I would likely not raise a hand to stop such a retaliation.”
Benny frowned, but he wondered, too, what he would do if they failed to stop the Maraudi from taking his planet. Would he have led a charge for revenge?
“I think the term we’re talking about is ‘mutually assured destruction,’” Jasmine said. “And as a senator, Drue’s father will definitely understand the concept. Although he hasn’t seemed too excited about listening to a bunch of kids from what I’ve seen.”
“No,” Benny said. “But what about listening to an alien commander? And once we’ve got the weapon out of the way, we can start actual peace talks.”
“Convincing the humans to save themselves by not killing us is one thing,” Vala said. “But ‘peace talks,’ as you call them, are another. I must admit that I hold little hope in them succeeding. Or, rather, in any lasting peace being upheld.”
The room went silent as everyone turned their attention to the commander. Benny was sure he hadn’t heard her right.
“What do you mean?” Ricardo asked. “Because your people would have to coexist with us? Or find another planet?”
“Or do you just not want to work together with the humans?” Kira wondered aloud.
“Guys,” Benny whispered.
“Allow me to put it this way,” Vala continued. “When you speak to me—be it earlier on the bridge, or now, sitting here—I think that what you say is true. But we have seen many broadcasts from your planet. The older your people get, the less their words mean.”
“Like, people lie more?” Hot Dog asked.
“It’s not only that,” Vala said. “I listen to you, and I believe that you believe what you are saying. You are . . . I think the word is earnest. Humanity tends to lose that as they age. Part of the problem is your system of communicating. Your languages have much margin for error.”
“What do you mean?” Trevone asked.
“You have so few means of expressing yourself. You say a word like peace and it is in a single tone. It’s a nebulous idea that could mean any number of things. So easily misunderstood. We say our word for peace and, using the multiple tones of our voices, we can say precisely what we mean.”
“I get it,” Jasmine said.
“We say a word and it’s a single instrument. You say it and there’s an entire orchestra playing a chord. You express so much in a single syllable. You can be exact, down to the smallest nuance.”
Vala nodded. “I believe you understand.”
“Even in the differences between human languages, there is plenty of room for error,” Kira said. “I definitely get that. There are words in Japanese that have no real translation to English. The meanings can be misinterpreted easily.”
“So,” Benny said. “How do we communicate in a way that you trust?”
Vala stood from her chair and slowly raised her mask with a tentacle. The blue third eye on her forehead cast an eerie glow around her head. “It is easier for us to know that you speak the truth and exactly what you mean if we can look at you, in person. There are shifts in energy, in pulse—in many tics we can detect with the eye that you do not have. It is the same for our own people. A way to gauge emotions and intent.”
“Then why do you keep your third eye covered?” Jasmine asked.
“Yeah,” Hot Dog agreed. “Wouldn’t you want to see everyone like that?”
Vala nodded slightly. “To see someone so purely is not without its drawbacks. It is . . . intimate. Something we reserve for those closest to us.”
“That makes sense,” Benny said. “I probably wouldn’t want people going around seeing the worst of me.”
“Please, I bet you’d have nothing to worry about,” Hot Dog said. “Others of us . . .”
“Yeah, I get it.” Drue groaned. “Go ahead and shoot me the look. I’m ready.”
“What?” she replied. “I was talking about me.”
“You want to meet with the other humans in person?” Ricardo asked. “You do realize you had that opportunity already, when you attacked the Taj.”
“Would you have lowered your shields for us?” the commander asked. “Would you have let us in without any threat of violence? Would this Dr. Bale of yours, the weapon creator, have thrown down his arms to talk of peace?”
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