Benny stared up at the commander, trying to parse exactly what she was asking, his mind very thoroughly confused. Eventually, he shrugged, and tried to answer as best he could. “I don’t know. I guess I just try to do what feels right and to face the world . . . well, the universe head-on.”
Vala thought about this for a moment before nodding. “Perhaps that is a wise way of looking at life.”
“I think so,” Benny said. “It’s something the best person I ever knew taught me.”
18.
After speaking with the commander, Benny realized how hungry he was and headed down to the mess hall to grab a bite to eat. The room was so abuzz with EW-SCABers recounting the details of the space battle they’d just witnessed and Kira Miyamura catching them up on Elijah’s return and their flight to the asteroid belt that he managed to sneak in, grab an apple and some of the faux-meat jerky Hot Dog had told him about, and pop back out with only a few people noticing him. In the hallway, he let out a long sigh and began to do what was fast becoming second nature to him: go over a mental checklist of where everyone was, what they were doing, and how they were actively trying to save Earth.
He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t realize Pinky was in the hallway until he was walking right through her.
“Ahem,” the AI said.
Benny paused, part of his arm inside hers.
“Ah!” he yelped, jumping back and spitting flecks of fruit everywhere. “Whoa, sorry, I was just . . .”
“Think nothing of it. I was actually coming to find you.”
His eyes widened, chest thumping. “What’s wrong?”
She waved one hand a few times. “Nothing. At least, I don’t think so. Elijah wants to have a chat with you.”
“Oh,” Benny said, allowing himself to breathe again. “Yeah. Of course. Uh, can you show me the way to wherever he is?”
He followed her past the sleeping quarters he and the rest of the EW-SCABers had been using and to a different hallway, where he found Elijah and Ricardo in a more private room—albeit one much smaller than Elijah’s quarters at the Taj had been. The ceiling glowed with stubby stalactites, but for the most part, the place was bare. Ricardo sat on a stone bench that had grown out of the floor. Elijah wore a new blue space suit and inspected one of two large sleeping tubes in the wall.
“Those things are actually pretty comfortable,” Benny said.
Elijah turned to see him, a grin on his face. “Benny Love,” he said. “The dirt buggy king of the Drylands. A hologram connoisseur. The leader of the Moon Platoon, I believe you called yourself and your friends.” He raised both his eyebrows toward Pinky. “I see you’ve been putting that bracelet I gave you to good use.”
“I’ll leave you boys to it,” Pinky said. “If I’m not mistaken, I think I might be able to plot a course that will shave minutes off our travel time to the asteroid belt.” She smirked. “Griida is going to hate me.”
“It’s come in handy,” Benny said. “I think Commander Tull was actually scared when I made a giant holographic spider appear on his bridge. It’s the only way Hot Dog and I managed to get out.”
“I don’t believe that,” Ricardo said. “I’ve seen her fight a few times—and been on the receiving end of her anger. And you’ve managed to slip by more than one gang of Alpha Maraudi soldiers. My guess is the two of you would have found another way to escape.”
Benny bounced his head back and forth. “Well, she did headbutt an alien while we were trying to get back to our Space Runners.”
“That girl’s got moxie,” Elijah said.
“You should see her fly,” Ricardo added. “Speaking of which, I want to hear about this lava river you apparently jumped.”
“There’s not much else to say,” Benny said. He looked to Elijah. “But no one’s gonna be driving the Chevelle for a while.”
“If you’re concerned that that’s why I wanted to talk to you, there’s no need to worry,” Elijah said, crossing his arms. “Ricardo here has been filling me in on the finer details of everything that happened in my absence. You and your friends have taken a lot of risks.”
“Yeah,” Benny said. “I guess. We just tried to figure out how to fix things.” He exhaled a long breath. “And somehow managed to mess everything up even more.”
“No. Things were already a mess. You just got thrown into the middle of it all.” Elijah looked to Ricardo. “Both of you. I’m happy to hear that the two of you and your teams managed to find common ground. I regret that I left things in a place where that couldn’t happen immediately.”
“You sacrificed yourself for us,” Ricardo said. “You did more than enough.”
Elijah’s eyes went to the floor. “It never should have come to that.” He was quiet for a few moments before looking back at them. “The kids here—and those who flew back to Earth—look up to you both. This is not new information. But, if you’ll indulge someone who has recently been forced to come to terms with the fact that maybe he is more flawed than he ever realized, I have some advice to share.”
Benny looked at Ricardo. They nodded to each other.
Elijah continued, pacing around the room as he spoke. “You both exemplify what it means to be a leader. You’ve proven that already. I guess what I want to say is that no matter how high your status or large your following, never think that you are above them or that you know better. Because you aren’t, and you don’t. At the end of the day, we’re nothing but a cluster of cells and atoms. We’re all human. If we don’t look out for each other, then what are we here to do?” He sighed. “I realize how hypocritical that sounds, given the way I behaved at the Taj.”
In the words Elijah spoke was a glimmer of something Benny’s father had once told him about the importance of the caravan looking out for one another, and it made goose bumps form on Benny’s arms.
“Well,” Elijah said, “I guess not all of us are human.” He shrugged, poking a straw through a silver pouch of water he picked up from the sleeping tube. He seemed to relax a little. “That Zee seems like quite a handful.”
“I appreciate the advice,” Ricardo said, getting to his feet. “But I don’t think you have to worry. At least not about one part of what you said.” He looked at Benny and smiled just a little. “From what I’ve seen, we’ve been doing a pretty good job of watching each other’s backs.”
Benny smirked. “Yeah. Once you stopped acting like you were going to punch me every time I did something you didn’t like.”
“Hey,” Ricardo said, stepping forward. “I was just trying to make sure—”
“Kidding,” Benny said, raising his hands.
Elijah flashed a grin that was all gleaming white teeth. “I knew I was right to put you in the same team back at the Taj.” And then the smile faded. “I can’t imagine what the resort looks like right now. I feel like one of the great loves of my life has been taken from me, and there’s nothing I can do to get her back.”
“The resort can be rebuilt,” Benny said. “I mean, yeah, it looked pretty bad, but I think the New Apollo troops are still using it.” He paused. “Not that that probably makes you feel better.”
“The Taj is an incredible place,” Ricardo said. “But it’s not all the tech and fancy stuff inside that makes it wonderful. It’s the spirit. And the people.”
Benny didn’t look at him, but he knew Ricardo was referring to a conversation they’d had on the dark side of the Moon when they’d been waiting for Drue to come back to them with information about what would turn out to be Vala’s fleet.
“Yes,” Elijah said. “Of course.” His eyes went wide. “Ah, that reminds me.” After taking a big swig of water, he pulled his coat out of the sleeping tube and fished around in one of its inside pockets. “Before I flew from the Taj the last time, Ash told me you had something I’d be very interested in seeing for myself, Benny. So you can imagine my surprise when I found this aboard an alien ship.”
He held out a small silver object: the abstract figu
re of a human that looked as though it was flying through space, its arms stretching back like wings. One side of it was blackened, and the bottom still had stray bits of Benny’s Space Runner hood stuck to it—the car he’d been forced to leave behind when he’d escaped from Tull’s ship the first time.
Benny felt as though a piston had slipped in his chest.
“The hood ornament from a 2025 limited edition Rolls-Royce,” Elijah continued. “Fewer than ten produced in the world. A true collector’s item.” He sighed dramatically. “I would’ve loved to have driven one of those. I thought they were all gone. Pity about this scorching, but that’s easy enough to clean up.”
“My father gave it to me,” Benny said, not even trying to hide the wonder from his voice. “He found it in an abandoned garage out in the Drylands. In what used to be California.” He couldn’t stop shaking his head. “I didn’t think I’d ever see it again.”
Elijah held it out to him. “Stranger things have happened.”
“Where . . .” Benny said. “How?”
Elijah half smiled and shrugged. “One of the first things I was ordered to do on Tull’s ship, after a . . . long interrogation, was to clean up the mess I’d made. This was mixed in with the scraps of my Space Runner and what I assume was yours.”
Benny practically leaped forward, grabbing the little metal statue and cradling it in his hands. It felt so familiar there, and in an instant he was transported back to his family’s RV. A flood of memories coursed through him—his father bringing the ornament back to him, he and his brothers all silently choosing the items that reminded them of him once he was gone, the pride he’d felt when Ash McGuyver had glued it to the hood of his Space Runner before they flew out against the asteroid storm and the pain of having to leave it behind when he and Hot Dog escaped.
He couldn’t help but hold it close to his chest.
“Please, accept this as my apology,” Elijah said. He glanced at Ricardo. “I wish I had something for you, too.”
“You’re back,” Ricardo said. “That’s enough.”
“Apology for what?” Benny asked.
Elijah shook his head. “For my own hubris. I know you haven’t forgotten the events that occurred at the resort. My time as Tull’s prisoner may have been brief, but it felt much longer than it was. I had plenty of hours in the dark to think hard about everything I’ve done in my life—of what I’ve become.” He shook his head. “I think you and your friends were right. At some point, after spending so much time away from Earth, I forgot what it meant to be human.” He turned to Ricardo. “And what’s worse, I passed that on to others around me. Those who looked up to me.”
“Look up to you,” Ricardo corrected.
“Which, given these past few days of reflection, is perhaps even more proof of my failures.” He took a step forward, beckoning Ricardo to come closer. Then he placed a hand on each of the boys’ shoulders. “I couldn’t be prouder of the things you’ve done in my absence. The things you’ve accomplished in such a short time . . . I’m only beginning to see how blind I’ve been. It is . . . difficult to admit this. But we’ll find a way to overcome these obstacles. I’m sure of it. Not because I’m here to help you now, but because you—and all the others who have helped you—are still fighting. That was always the point of the EW-SCAB. To bring the best, bravest minds on the planet together. In that, at least, I believe I was successful.”
Ricardo nodded. Benny gripped the hood ornament tighter.
“Now,” Elijah said with a grin, “I want full reports on how the Star Runners and Chevelle handled. I never got to test out that muscle car, you know.” He winked at Benny. “And Ricardo told me you rode the Galaxicle? What was I thinking when I designed that? And you let the Lincoln boy drive you? If I ever needed more proof that you’re a brave soul . . .”
“He’s actually a pretty good pilot,” Benny said. “Not to mention a great shot.”
Ricardo sighed. “I hate to admit it, but he’s right.”
Elijah laughed a little. “More surprises at every curve of the track,” he murmured.
“Elijah!” Pinky shouted, materializing in the doorway. Her eyes were wide, her normally tight bun of blond hair slightly askew. All three of the people inside the room jumped.
“What’s wrong?” Elijah asked, voice full of concern.
“We need you on the bridge,” she said. “It all happened so fast. Ramona upgraded the satellite uplink, and Trevone realized the full capabilities . . .”
“What are you saying?” Ricardo asked. “What’s going on?”
“We’re in contact with the Lunar Taj. Ramona thinks it’s possible for us to hack the servers that New Apollo has taken over.” She smiled in a way that looked almost mischievous to Benny. “Care to see what we can find out about this superweapon?”
19.
“I travel faster without you,” Pinky said. And then she disappeared, her imperceptible nanoprojectors soaring through the halls.
Benny, Ricardo, and Elijah stood frozen for one beat before all three of them darted through the doorway. Benny shoved the hood ornament into his space suit pocket as he burst into the hall.
“Dr. Bale probably has control of everything at the Taj right now,” Benny said.
“You said you were able to overcome his reprogramming before, correct?” Elijah said as they raced through the ship. “I don’t remember him being the best coder.”
“Not us,” Benny said. “Ramona.”
“And that was by plugging her HoloTek directly into Pinky’s core servers,” Ricardo said.
“Ramona Robinson,” Elijah muttered. “Programming genius from Wales. Pinky complained about her several times while we were still at the Taj.” He smirked. “I guess she had good reason to.”
By the time they got to the bridge, Ramona, Trevone, and Pinky were standing around the hologram that showed the ship’s course to the asteroid belt. They were speaking to each other at a rapid-fire rate, but most everything Benny could make out went way over his head. Vala and Griida stood near the Alpha Maraudi terminal, Hot Dog and Drue nearby; all of them looked quite confused.
“She’s speaking in robot again,” Drue said.
Hot Dog’s eyes were bulging. “I’ve never seen someone’s fingers move so fast over a HoloTek. It’s like she’s possessed.” She shook her head. “And I thought I was good at messaging.”
Ricardo passed his HoloTek off to Elijah and then he and Benny joined the others.
“Can you catch me up?” Elijah asked as he came to a stop between Ramona and Trevone.
“Before, I didn’t think we’d have enough bandwidth to launch an assault on the Taj,” Trevone said. “But Ramona drastically improved our abilities to communicate with the satellite she launched.”
“Told you guys I’m always working on this thing,” she said, nodding to her HoloTek.
“I’m patching you into the satellite connection now,” Pinky said to Elijah. “They’re already assessing Dr. Bale’s security measures, looking for ways to bypass them. I’m following along as they work, investigating on my own but . . . Well, if I knew about weaknesses in the Taj’s servers I would have fixed them while I was still there.”
“Yeah,” Trevone said. “Same.”
Elijah glanced at the older HoloTek strapped to Ramona’s forearm. “You’re using that ancient thing?” he asked. “Someone get her a newer model.”
“I would trust her on this one,” Pinky said. “You do realize that’s what she used to undermine my systems previously. Right under my nose.” She frowned. “Both our noses.”
“Oh. Right.”
Elijah narrowed his eyes and tapped on his own screen, fingers flying.
Off to the side, Drue leaned in to Benny and Hot Dog. “I feel like we’re watching some kind of very nerdy fight take place.”
“Yeah,” Benny said. “But one that could help us keep humanity alive.”
Drue scoffed. “Hey, I didn’t say it wasn’t exciting. I just wish I h
ad any idea what was going on. My experience with trying to ‘bypass security’ measures pretty much ends with using facial recognition to unlock one of my old nanny’s HoloTeks while she was sleeping.”
“You are such a creep.” Hot Dog sighed.
“I’ve been studying the way the Alpha Maraudi create these holographic projections,” Pinky said, taking a step closer to the miniature version of the solar system floating in front of them. “Give me a second, and I should be able to port what’s happening on your screens to this projection so everyone can—”
The hologram of the flight path suddenly changed into a massive wall of scrolling text.
“Awesome,” Drue said. “Nice work, Pinks. Now we can see . . . whatever that is.”
“Um,” the AI said, “that wasn’t me.”
“Should’ve said something sooner, hologhost,” Ramona said with a smirk. “That’s a level-one job.”
“How did you . . .” The AI was at a loss for words.
“I was doing max research earlier. Earth systems. ET systems. It’s all coding.”
Griida barked across the bridge just as Jasmine darted through the doorway, running to the hologram. She stopped short a few feet away.
“Oh, wow,” she said slowly. “I think this is . . . way out of my realm of knowledge.”
Ramona took in a deep breath, and then made one long, explosion noise that eventually faded to nothing.
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