“That would be . . . superhelpful, actually.” Jasmine said.
“Then it is agreed,” Vala said.
“I can’t wait to fly out with you!” an alien voice shouted from behind them. Zee hopped up the steps, coming to a stop beside Vala and Benny, leaning on the throne. He crossed his arms and tentacles. “Our people will talk about this day for generations to come!”
Vala’s eyes narrowed for a moment, and then she turned to Zee, keeping her mask off. “You know that is not possible, young one. You have been placed in more danger than ever should have been allowed already.”
“That isn’t fair,” the little alien said. “I’m just as . . . as . . .” He groaned in frustration and then switched into the alien language.
Benny stood there while the two Alpha Maraudi spoke back and forth to each other in increasingly inharmonious tones, until it sounded like they were competing orchestras, both badly out of tune. The way they were positioned, he had a front row seat to their argument, feeling more and more awkward the longer it went on. Finally, he took a few slow steps backward and turned, ready to suggest to the others that they maybe go somewhere else to talk.
Only to find that everyone else had already skulked away and were relaying the new developments to Elijah.
He caught Hot Dog’s eye. She shrugged in apology.
Behind him, Vala’s tone seemed to change and grow quieter. Benny heard Zee gasp, and then the kid was running off the bridge.
Vala wheezed something of a whisper, her shoulders slumping.
Benny had no idea what to say or do. He was still standing there, trapped between wanting to leave and wanting to make sure nothing was wrong. Eventually, the latter won out.
“Um,” he said carefully. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes,” Vala said. “I simply worry about him.”
“Well, whatever you said at the end seemed to get the job done.”
Vala hesitated, and then let out a long breath. “I spoke the names of those who you would call his parents. Those who died when Tull’s life mate attempted to stop the expanding star.” The commander’s tentacles drooped, hanging to the middle of her back. “We do not speak the names of our dead without warrant. To invoke them is painful, but is one of the most meaningful things that we can do.”
“Oh,” Benny said. “Sure.”
He couldn’t help but think of Justin and Alejandro back on Earth. After their father died, they spoke of him often, but almost never in a way that was meant to punish or hurt one of the Love boys. It seemed almost forbidden. Benny could count on one hand the number of times he’d ever had to say something like “Dad wouldn’t have wanted you doing that”—and all but one of those occasions was directed at Justin, the older of his two brothers.
What were they doing now? he wondered.
“I think I get that,” Benny said. “Sort of.”
Vala nodded, but seemed distracted as she pulled the mask back down over her face.
“You should get some rest,” the commander said. “All of you. It is still many hours to your Moon, and we must all be in our best conditions for the trial to come.”
And with that, Vala descended the steps, leaving Benny alone in front of her throne, still thinking about his family so far away on Earth.
22.
Benny did sleep, eventually, worn out by the exhilaration and strain of the day combined with the strangeness of not having a sun and rotating planet to tell him when it was time to go to bed—something he definitely had not gotten used to. In his sleeping tube, he tossed and turned, dreaming of possible triumphs and, without fail, horrible intergalactic disasters.
By the time he sat up, sure that he would be getting no more rest, they were nearing the Moon.
“I was just about to wake you,” Pinky said, standing in front of the wall of circular alcoves in the sleeping chamber.
“I’m up,” Benny said through a yawn, stretching his aching muscles. “Ready to try to stop a secret weapon from killing a bajillion aliens and then having any remaining aliens blow up Earth.”
“Breakfast first.” She nodded to the tube above him. “I’ll leave Drue to you. Get him up for me, will you?”
She disappeared before he could protest.
After they were all awake, they congregated once more on the bridge of the ship, which was beginning to feel something like a home away from home to Benny. There was little else they could do in the way of planning, and so, not wanting to simply sit around, the Moon Platoon told jokes and recounted some of their adventures while downing whatever food they’d scrounged from the mess hall.
There was a strange feeling in the room that Benny couldn’t shake, like all of them were secretly afraid that something would go wrong very soon—that this might be the last time they all gathered on the bridge, or anywhere, together. Which made complete sense to Benny. There was so much riding on this. How could they not be worried?
Benny was still so restless from the nightmares and general anxiety about what lay ahead of them that he wanted a few minutes alone to collect his thoughts. And so, he excused himself and decided to walk the halls a little. He wasn’t sure where his feet were taking him until they were on the gravel in the great garden. It was humid inside, the air thick with scents he didn’t recognize. For all he knew, they might have been smells that most people on Earth would have been able to name, or at least had the words to describe. The Drylands had not given him much of a vocabulary for such things, though.
He shuffled down one of the brightly colored paths, not thinking much about anything—or at least trying not to. Eventually he came to the focal point of the chamber, the milky opal mushroom cap dripping gold.
Elijah West stood in front of it.
The man turned his head slightly when he heard the crunch of Benny’s boots behind him.
“Benny Love,” he said.
“Oh. Sorry. I didn’t realize you were here. I’ll let you—”
“No, no,” Elijah insisted. “By all means. Join me.”
And so he did, the two of them staring at the gossamer rainbow of wonders around them in silence, listening to the steady drips of moisture coming from throughout the garden.
“Have you ever seen anything like this?” Benny asked eventually.
“Never,” Elijah admitted. “I didn’t even know the ship had this kind of oasis in it. Have you spent much time here? I’m sure it must be quite something for you, given your background.”
“Well, this is where we cut through to get to the bridge when we broke in,” Benny said. “And . . .” He shook his head.
“What?”
“Nothing. This is where Commander Vala took me to talk to her when we were first aboard. Just the two of us.” Benny laughed a little. “I was kind of terrified. I don’t think I realized just how terrified at the time, but I was.”
“You like the commander?” Elijah asked.
“She’s been really good to us.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
The response surprised Benny a little, only because it reminded him of Hot Dog’s line of questioning just a few days before, when they had no idea what they were getting themselves into, not really, or how things would go with Vala and the rest of her crew. Before he’d stood on moons two planets away from his own.
“I do,” he finally said. He shrugged. “And I trust her. Anyone Tull wants to kill is probably on our side, I think. And believe me when I say his pilots were definitely trying to blow up your Chevelle when I was driving her around.”
Elijah nodded, and seemed to roll this around in his head for a few moments. “The only Alpha Maraudi I’d ever met in person until Tull and his guards dragged me out of the hangar were those Austin—Dr. Bale and I stumbled across in the secret base. All I knew of their kind was what we pieced together through the things they left behind. Tools. A few holograms. Those exploding asteroids. You can guess how strange it was to meet Vala. Or Zee. I never considered what their children would be l
ike. Never thought of their planet’s flora and fauna . . .” He trailed off, letting his eyes wander through the garden. “I would say something like this is worth trying to save. That people like this are worth it.”
“Yeah,” Benny said, and he couldn’t help but smile a little. “Me, too.”
There was a click somewhere above them, and then Vala’s voice came through on a sort of intercom system.
“As far as our sensors can tell, we’ve avoided detection by any human or Alpha Maraudi forces,” she said. “Jasmine has used the scanner to locate the weapon site. We’re nearing a suitable spot for the mother ship to wait while we work. Time is scarce. Meet in the hangar.”
Benny let out a long breath and then started down the path toward the door. “I guess we should go.”
“Benny . . .” Elijah said.
The boy stopped and turned to him.
“Earlier, when I was talking to you and Ricardo . . .” Elijah paused. “What I wanted to thank you for was having the courage to stand up to me back at the Taj. Even now, there’s a difference in the way you look at me compared to the way basically every other person in my life has for years. The Pit Crew, I think, still believes I’m infallible, despite all evidence to the contrary. I wasn’t sure how to phrase that in front of Ricardo without making it sound like I was reprimanding him. The Pit Crew is so loyal, so devoted. And that’s my fault. I love them. But what you and your friends have done . . . I can’t begin to repay you.”
Benny stared at him for a few long beats.
“A Mustang-red Space Runner,” he finally said.
“Pardon?” Elijah asked.
“A Mustang-red Space Runner and a top-of-the-line gaming system,” Benny continued. “That’s for Hot Dog. For starters.” He shook his head. “I don’t know what the rest of them will want, but you can bet Drue is going to make you wish you’d never met him.”
Elijah laughed once. “Done. Anything. What about you?”
“Once I’m back with my family and Earth is safe?” Benny asked. He shrugged. “I’m sure I’ll think of something.”
Benny found his friends and the Pit Crew already gathered in the hangar along with Ash McGuyver and Pinky. Pito and Vala inspected a few of the purple Alpha Maraudi ships near the entrance. Benny and Elijah joined the rest of the humans.
“How’re we looking, Jazz?” Benny asked.
She held up the scanner. “The weapon is buried near the center of the Jules Verne crater.”
“Ah.” Elijah stroked his beard. “Of course it is.”
“I’ve already uploaded the coordinates to Space Runner mainframes,” Pinky said. “And Griida’s . . . done whatever the alien equivalent of that is.”
“Jules Verne?” Drue asked. “Why does that sound familiar? Was she a celebrity or something? A two-D movie star?”
“He was an author,” Elijah said. “Nineteenth century. Fantastic adventures.”
“Sure. Right.” And then, something sparked in Drue’s eyes. “Hey, we should get spots on the Moon named after us. I’m a space hero! People should be burying their secret weapons in the Lincoln crater!”
Benny glanced at Elijah. “You have the first thing on his list now.”
Elijah just smiled and shook his head.
“They were about to divvy up cars,” Ash McGuyver said, wiping her hands on her sides. She pulled a pair of big, gold-rimmed sunglasses out of the pocket of her coveralls and handed them to Elijah. “Found these floating around in some of the stuff we brought up from the garage. Thought you might want ’em.”
Elijah’s face lit up. “I love this pair,” he said, sliding the frames on top of his head, into the nest of his auburn hair. “You are too good to me, Ash.”
“Remember that. Now, what’ll you be driving, boss?”
He shrugged. “I figured I’d take that mammoth over there,” he said, pointing to Ash’s oversized SR—the car that would be dragging the missile back to the mother ship.
Ash shook her head. “Never thought I’d see the day you picked the slowest thing on the floor, but with circumstances what they are, I guess it makes sense. I’ll get her ready for you.”
She hurried away as Kira started toward a white SR.
“I’ll take my car,” she said. “Obviously.”
“Mine’s still in the garage back home,” Trevone said. “Or at least, I hope it is. One of the training SRs with a laser mount will do fine, though. In case we need to carve into anything.”
“Star Runner” is all Ricardo said.
Hot Dog turned to Drue. “You want the other one? I had a good run with her already.”
Drue looked at the gold speed demon for a few moments and then let out a long sigh, shaking his head. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but no.” He turned slightly, eyeing the weaponized Space Runner Ricardo had driven back from Io. “I’ll drive my dad’s car.”
Benny raised his gold glove and made a fist. “I’m piloting one of the Alpha Maraudi ships.”
Everyone turned to look at him, a vacuum of silence settling over them.
“Uh, Benny, maybe—” Hot Dog started finally.
“Absolutely not,” Pinky interrupted. “First of all, I can’t—”
“Guys,” Benny said, holding his palms out in front of him. “It was a joke. I’ll take one of the laser SRs, too.”
“Phew.” Hot Dog sighed. “I did not wanna have to watch you crash and burn in that thing on, like, one of the most important days of our lives.”
Drue leaned in close to him. “But seriously,” he said quietly, “you think we could take one of those alien ships out with that glove?”
“If everything goes as planned today,” Benny said, “maybe we’ll find out.”
Pito and Vala walked over to them, fastening collars around their necks that would let them communicate with the group once they were in space.
“Elijah West,” Pito said. It looked to Benny as if the gold covering most of his head had been polished very recently. “I am Pito. We have not yet met, but I have looked at many of your designs with great interest over the years.” He held his palm out. “I believe this is customary in your culture?”
“A pleasure,” Elijah said, shaking the alien’s four-fingered hand.
“Were it not for the stakes before us, I would be thrilled right now. It has been cycles since I have flown with any purpose.” The alien paused, his single tentacle snaking around his neck. “But you will find that I am highly capable.”
“Once we return,” Vala said, “Pito can tell you everything we know about our expanding star.”
Elijah raised both his eyebrows. “I look forward to it.”
“Commander,” Jasmine said, stepping forward and holding out Dr. Bale’s radar. “You’ll need this if you’re going to dig out that weapon. It’s only so precise from up here, but it will lead you straight to the missile once you’re closer to the surface.” She paused. “It’s the only one we have, so . . .”
Vala took it, nodding to her. “I will bring it back as it is now.” She looked to the others. “We should be going with haste. Are you ready?”
“Just say the word,” Benny said.
Vala stared at him.
“Whenever you are,” Hot Dog clarified.
The commander bowed slightly to them. “Then let us be on our way. If you’ll follow me, I’ll open the wall for you.” She glanced at Jasmine. “I suggest you leave the room before that happens.”
“That’s our cue,” Jasmine said. “Ash. Ramona. Let’s head to the bridge.”
“Don’t crash,” Ramona said. “Major bummer.”
Pinky took a look around at them. “Be careful, everyone. I’m so proud of you.” Her eyes lingered on Elijah. “And if I see so much as one unnecessarily flashy move . . .”
“I’ll be good,” he said. “I promise.”
As those staying behind on the mother ship left the hangar, Benny spotted Zee in the corner. The alien walked up to Vala slowly, saying things Benny coul
dn’t hear and handing over an object he couldn’t make out at first. And then he realized what it was: the shiny red ball. Vala placed it in her tentacles and then drew Zee in close for a quick embrace, whispering something to him. The alien child hesitated for a moment, and then was gone. The entry to the hangar closed behind him.
Benny slid into one of the laser-mounted Space Runners painted with Mustang-red stripes. He settled in as best he could, and then pulled his father’s silver hood ornament out of his space suit pocket, placing it in one of the cup holders so that it was looking at him, watching over him. If something went wrong and he had to abandon his car, at least this way he’d be able to grab it easily.
“Are we ready?” Vala asked over the comms.
And when they all said yes, the purple ship rose above them, slowly drifting to the edge of the hangar. The entirety of the hull wall retracted in seconds, and one by one they took off, soaring out into the unfathomable vastness of space. Benny was the second to last, in front of Elijah; and once he was out of the hangar he caught his first glimpse of the Moon in days and, behind it, the spinning ball he called home. As they came into view, he could barely breathe.
23.
Benny kept his eyes on Earth the entire flight. At top speeds, it was a fairly short trip to the dark side for the nine pilots—or maybe he just lost track of time as he stared at his home planet. Either way, eventually it was blotted out by the Moon and his focus shifted to the crater-covered sea of gray.
“Seems like ages since I’ve been home,” Elijah said over the comms. “How I’ve missed this sight.”
“Jazz, how are we looking?” Benny asked.
“So far so good,” she said. “I can’t tell what’s happening at the Taj or on the other side, but I don’t see anything on the mother ship’s radar.”
“Let’s hope it stays that way,” Ricardo said.
Vala came over the comms. “Pito and I could try to excavate the weapon from our crafts, but it will be faster if we land and feel the ground and rock itself.”
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