Space Runners #3

by Jeramey Kraatz

  In a way, there was a symmetry between the two sides with lines of SRs in the sky, and only a few cars on the ground.

  Almost as if they were preparing for battle.

  “Where are my people?” Vala’s voice came through the comm on Benny’s collar.

  “Jazz?” Benny asked.

  “Um . . . That’s weird,” Jasmine said.

  “What?”

  “Well, I’m using Dr. Bale’s scanner that Ramona modified,” she said. “But I’m not picking up any Alpha Maraudi with them.”

  “Okay. Okay.” Benny stood in front of Ricardo’s Space Runner, his eyes on the vehicles still far above them. “Maybe they’re shielded from the radar? Or coming later?” He wanted to at least pretend that he was giving the senator the benefit of the doubt. “Maybe they’re even out of range? We didn’t get to test the lengths of that radar very well.”

  “Maybe. But that’s not what’s weird. I’m picking up two on our side. The commander and . . . one in your trunk, Drue?”

  “Huh?” Drue asked, his voice cracking.

  A spike of panic and confusion shot through Benny, and before he even knew what he was doing, he was bounding toward Drue’s car.

  “Pop the trunk!” he shouted.

  “I’m on it,” Drue said, as Benny made his way around to the back of the car.

  The trunk flew open, and there, staring up at him was a small Alpha Maraudi kid with four short tentacles. A red mask covered his face.

  “Zee?” Benny asked.

  The alien raised a hand as if in greeting.

  Vala’s voice roared over the comms, a flood of minor tones.

  “Take him back to my ship,” she said afterward. “Now.”

  “We can’t just leave,” Drue said “Not when there’s so much—”

  “It’s happening,” Trevone shouted over the comms. “They’re trying to hijack the SRs.”

  Benny looked through the back window of Drue’s car. Inside, there were red lights all over the dashboard. Drue tapped on several buttons, but it was obvious he was getting no response.

  “Already?” he asked. “Ramona? Pinky?”

  “Right now everyone is stalled,” Pinky said. “We’re working on regaining control.”

  “Ramona, get us back online!” Benny said.

  “Trying B-Man,” Ramona said. “Unknown virus. Smart hackers. Give me a second.”

  And then, across the yellow landscape, the doors to the New Apollo Space Runners from Earth opened.

  13.

  Benny looked from the figures stepping out of the weaponized Space Runners to Ricardo’s car and then back at Zee.

  Things were already not going as planned.

  “Stay here,” he shouted, glaring at the alien.

  Benny couldn’t tell if the Zee understood him since he didn’t have a radio connection, but before the alien could react, Benny slammed the trunk shut. The last thing they needed was an Alpha Maraudi kid running around and possibly causing huge problems for them.

  Drue and Ricardo both jumped out of their Space Runners. Vala stayed in the backseat, as they’d discussed before leaving the mother ship. If nothing else, this would give the three human boys a chance to address the forces from Earth first and provide an extra layer of safety for the alien commander. Space Runners weren’t built to withstand heavy attacks, but they did at least offer some protection thanks to the force fields that served as environmental shielding. Plus, Vala could still use her third eye to analyze the humans as she saw fit.

  Benny, Drue, and Ricardo gathered in front of the Space Runners and then walked toward the four figures making their way across the expanse between either side of vehicles. Benny recognized all of them. Senator Lincoln took the lead, several medals glinting on his sleek space suit. On his left side, Dr. Bale marched with his chin raised in the air, a HoloTek in his hand. His two assistants, Todd and Mae, followed him closely, tapping on their own datapads, no doubt behind whatever was happening to the Space Runners.

  “Jazz, Ramona, keep us posted on the status of the SRs,” Benny said. “I want to know as soon as we have control again. Pinky, connect our comms.”

  “You’ve got it,” the AI said. “Communications established in three, two . . .”

  His collar speaker beeped just as the four new arrivals came to a stop ten yards away from them.

  Drue stepped forward. “Hello, sir,” he said.

  “Son,” his father replied. “You look well.”

  “I could use a few fresh space suits, to be honest.”

  “Senator Lincoln,” Benny said. “Dr. Bale. Thanks for coming.”

  The senator looked around. “Where are the Maraudi? Did they send you as their ambassadors? I should be insulted, but this will make things easier I suppose.”

  “You’re unarmed?” Ricardo asked. “Like we agreed?”

  The senator held his hands out to his sides. “See for yourself.”

  “But you are trying to hijack our ships,” Benny said.

  Dr. Bale smirked. “Correction. We have hijacked your ships.”

  “They’re fighting it,” Mae said, not looking up from her HoloTek.

  Dr. Bale’s mustache twitched as his lips curved down into a deep frown. “Let them try.”

  “It’s a precautionary measure,” the senator said. “We’re simply making sure that you don’t try to pull some sort of attack on us. We’re all very exposed out here.”

  “So much for trust,” Ricardo muttered. “We’re not the ones with plasma guns on our Space Runners.”

  “No. Just lasers.”

  Benny was sure there was more to it than that—that the Earth representatives wouldn’t hesitate to force all of them to return to the Moon or their home planet. But he was getting ahead of himself.

  “We’re making progress,” Pinky said through Benny’s collar speakers. “We can beat this. We just need more time.”

  “This little rebellion against your own kind has gone on for long enough, don’t you think?” the senator continued. “I don’t blame you. I was a child once as well, and in those days I might have thought there was some way for all of us to live side by side in constant sunshine. But that’s not how the world—the universe works. This is real life. Sacrifices must be made.”

  “Are you forgetting what the commander said?” Benny asked. “If you attack the alien home world, Earth is still doomed. There’s literally no way for us to win if we don’t try to find another solution. Think about it logically.”

  The senator was quiet for a moment before glancing overhead. “You brought the rest of Elijah’s scholarship winners, yes?”

  “And you were supposed to bring the Alpha Maraudi,” Ricardo said. “So where are they?”

  “In these ships of course,” Drue’s father said, motioning to the Space Runners in the sky behind him.

  “Not true,” Jasmine whispered, the communication only going through to those on their side. “We’d be able to pick them up. I’m sure of it. And I’m still not seeing anyone but Commander Vala and Zee.”

  “It would be wise not to begin these discussions concerning the future of our peoples by lying to each other, Senator,” Vala’s voice came through the comms.

  Drue’s father grimaced.

  Benny clasped his hands behind his back as he looked over his shoulder to see the rear door of Ricardo’s Space Runner open. Commander Vala stepped out, rising slowly to her full height, her gemlike body armor shining and her third eye blazing blue. She walked slowly, deliberately forward, until she was standing a few feet away from Benny and the others.

  “Now,” Vala said, “shall we begin with where my crew really is?”

  Drue’s father raised his head a little, until he was looking at the commander over the bridge of his nose. “I deemed it necessary to keep them at the Lunar Taj. We have much to learn from them, especially considering your thinly veiled threat the last time we spoke. And, if these children are not hostages as you claim, then what is the advantage of
us turning your soldiers back over to you?”

  “Do they yet live?” Vala asked.

  The senator paused. “Most of them.”

  A low growl filtered through the collar speakers and made the hair on the back of Benny’s neck stand on end. He moved the thumb of his left hand over the trigger of his electromagnetic glove, hating that this was his first instinct, but at the same time ready to stop Vala if she decided to attack.

  “I’m sure you understand,” the senator continued. “You are willing to do whatever it takes to ensure your people’s survival. So are we.”

  “That’s why we’re here,” Benny said. “To make sure we all survive.”

  “And do you have any sort of plan?” Drue’s father asked. “Of course not. This is an adolescent fantasy. The Alpha Maraudi would destroy all of us to take our planet.”

  “And you would destroy us without a second thought,” Vala countered. “Even if it didn’t save your people in the end. That’s not strategy. That is spite.”

  “Hey,” Benny said. “Maybe stop arguing about how we’re all going to die and start talking about how we might not?”

  “Then tell us,” the senator said. “How do we all hold hands and keep on living in the same universe?”

  Benny’s thoughts shifted to all the things he’d witnessed since coming aboard Vala’s ship. “We start by understanding that we’re probably more alike than we are different. That the Alpha Maraudi have families and friends and dreams just like we do.” He shook his head. “They’re not whatever bloodthirsty invaders you think they are.”

  “Give them the superweapon,” Ricardo said. “Or dismantle it. Or just tell us where it is and let us guard it. Let that be a first step. Then we can work together to figure out how we can share the universe.”

  “And what is the benefit of that?” Dr. Bale asked. “It would be safer for us to exterminate them.”

  Vala growled.

  “The benefit is humanity surviving,” Benny said, exasperated. “How is that so hard to understand?”

  Drue took a step forward.

  “Guys, I’ve been living with a bunch of aliens for the past few days, and it’s pretty obvious that they’ve got crazy tech that we never even dreamed of,” he said. “But, there’s plenty of stuff they could really use. I mean, they sleep in rock tubes and, from what I can tell, there’s not a comfortable place in their entire mother ship to sit. And don’t get me started on the lack of video games and stuff. It’s like living in the most boring supercool flying asteroid ever.”

  “What does your boredom have anything to do with this, son?” his father asked.

  Drue raised a hand, dismissing his father. “I’m getting to a point. As much as the Alpha Maraudi know about space travel and making rocks move and stuff, they still have a lot to learn.” He turned to Vala. “Like, I know you don’t know much about electromagnetic fields. So I bet you guys don’t have nuclear bombs or anything like that, either.”

  Vala’s forehead creased. “We do not deal in such destructive sciences.”

  “Right,” Drue said. “I bet you haven’t done too much research into plasma weapons and stuff like that, either. Even if that tech isn’t used for ‘destructive sciences’ or whatever, it can still be superuseful.”

  “He’s right,” Benny said, stepping up beside him. “They’re very advanced, but there’s still stuff they don’t know.”

  Drue winked at him. “Thanks.”

  “And with our help—with all of us working together—who knows what we could accomplish?”

  “So you want us to give the aliens our own knowledge?” Dr. Bale asked. “That’s your solution? For us to abandon our weapons—to render ourselves defenseless—and hand over brand-new ways to obliterate us should their own methods fail?”

  “If we share what our civilizations know, maybe we can find another solution to this,” Benny said. “The commander was just telling us that they tried to cause an explosion in their expanding star that might stop it. That failed, but what if we could make it work? And that’s just one possibility.”

  “Why bother?” Dr. Bale asked. “We can stop whatever forces the Alpha Maraudi send against us once their home world is dealt with. You stopped them once. With mining lasers. I’m sure they wouldn’t be a problem for those of us who actually know what we’re doing.”

  “Sure,” Drue said. “Just like you were positive the Grand Dome wouldn’t collapse.”

  Dr. Bale snarled as Drue’s father turned to him.

  “Could something like an explosion actually stop a star?” the senator asked.

  “You aren’t actually thinking about working with them,” Dr. Bale scoffed. “I thought we were in agreement about this.”

  “I’m asking you a simple question,” the senator said. “You’ll answer it.”

  Dr. Bale looked away, shrugging slightly. “The likelihood of that scenario being effective is incredibly slim. I don’t even know that I could calculate it.”

  “Well, not without data from the Alpha Maraudi, duh,” Drue said.

  “But it’s possible?” Ricardo asked.

  “It’s science, boy,” Dr. Bale said. “Anything is possible.”

  “And there’s plenty of stuff we can learn from the aliens,” Benny said.

  “He speaks the truth,” Commander Vala said. “Have you considered what illnesses we have overcome? What science we have perfected?” The commander’s tentacles twisted into a long braid down her back. “The world you have is one that we would change to suit our needs, true. We could change it, too, to suit yours. It is not too late to heal the wounds you have opened up on your planet.”

  Benny inhaled sharply. With everything that had been going on, he hadn’t even dared hope that somehow the Alpha Maraudi technology might be able to save the Drylands, or at least turn it into a place where people could live comfortably again. He’d been too busy just making sure there were Drylands to go back to.

  “These are pretty thoughts,” Senator Lincoln said. “What makes you think we could be successful in helping you, though?”

  “I was . . . skeptical. But you have bright minds on Earth,” Vala said. “We have always known this, despite the admittedly low regard we hold for many of your people. In the last few sleep cycles, however, I have seen these minds at work myself. I have observed the intentions of the young humans being housed on my ship. They have shown me a resilience and hopefulness that I thought your people did not have.” She clasped her hands in front of her chest. “I do not wish to see these children—or those like them who are still on your planet—harmed. I have faith that if we did work together, we could find a new solution. Your scientists and ours. You have followed paths we did not.”

  “And even if we don’t,” Benny said, “at least we tried to find another way.”

  Vala looked at him and nodded. “Together.”

  Senator Lincoln stared at the alien for a moment that felt to Benny like a lifetime as he waited for the man to speak again. Eventually, Drue’s father let out a long breath.

  “All right, then,” he said. “You can consider this a temporary armistice. We will not attack you for the time being as we look into other possible solutions. If they exist.”

  “You can’t be serious,” Dr. Bale said.

  “Doctor, you will work with these aliens and their scientists or I will find someone else who knows how to follow orders and replace you. I already blame you for half our problems on the Moon. Do not give me another excuse to remove you from Project New Apollo completely.”

  Dr. Bale glared at Commander Vala.

  Senator Lincoln took a few steps forward, holding out a hand. “Are we in agreement, then?”

  Vala hesitated, glancing at Benny.

  “Uh, guys,” Jasmine said through the comms. “I’ve got something strange on the radar.”

  “What?” Benny asked.

  Across from him, Mae and Todd hurried to Dr. Bale. He glanced at their datapads, and then grabbed Senator Linc
oln’s shoulder, showing him the screen.

  “What’s going on?” Ricardo demanded.

  “I’m not sure,” Jasmine continued. “There’s activity on Jupiter. It’s coming in blips and static. We can’t get a read on what it is, but it looks like something big is coming from the planet.”

  “No, no, no,” Benny murmured. “We were finally getting somewhere.”

  “Maybe it’s just another storm?” Drue asked.

  “There!” Trevone shouted. “In the great red spot! That’s where it’s coming from.”

  Benny looked up at the massive planet above them, his eyes darting directly to the rust-colored whorl near its center. He squinted, but saw nothing.

  “You sure?” Drue asked. “All I see is a bunch of gas.”

  And then there it was. Just a pinprick at first, but growing larger with every second as it shot toward Io. A spherical chunk of alien rock, like a giant asteroid—though as it got closer, Benny could tell that it was missing a big piece out of one side.

  He recognized it, of course: Commander Tull’s mother ship.

  “That fool,” Vala seethed.

  “Oh, no,” Benny whispered. He turned to Ricardo and Drue, the three of them all looking at each other with bulging eyes, unsure of what to do.

  Suddenly everyone was shouting at once, each voice fighting to be heard.

  The senator whipped his head around to Benny and the others. “We agreed on no ships.”

  “That’s not ours!” Benny said. “It’s another one. The one we stopped with the asteroid storm.”

  Above them a steady stream of shard-like crafts began to pour out of Tull’s ship, shooting straight for the surface of Io.

  “You have to get out of here,” Vala said. “Now! You’re all in danger.”

  “I knew this was a trap,” Dr. Bale said, stepping forward.

  “What are you doing?” Senator Lincoln shouted.

  Benny was so distracted by what was happening in the sky that he saw the small weapon in the man’s hand too late. Benny smashed his finger against the side of his silver glove, activating an electromagnetic burst. The doctor’s gun flew out of his hand, flying far across the surface of the moon.