by Erin Downing
Bradbury took a deep breath, turned on his camera, and looked right at Luna when he said, “You don’t actually use Solar Glow.”
Luna blinked at the camera. “What?”
“You can’t hide it from me,” Bradbury said, nodding. “It’s time to come clean.”
Juno grabbed the camera out of his hand and switched it off. “That’s your big secret?” she said.
Bradbury grinned. “It’s a doozy, isn’t it?”
There was a collective sigh of relief from the girls and Chamberlin. “Bradbury, you found me out,” Luna admitted, choking back a giggle. “I don’t use Solar Glow.”
“So you lied?!” Bradbury said, his voice a whisper. He squeaked, “I believed you, Luna. I bought a whole case of Solar Glow products because you told me to!”
Rhea was the first to laugh out loud. But the others joined her a moment later. Soon, even Chamberlin was chuckling. Rand peeked into the room and began to laugh, even though he didn’t know what anyone was laughing about—then he charged into the kitchen for a snack. The princesses’ pets bounced out of the girls’ bedroom, giggling and chittering joyfully.
“What is so funny?” Bradbury demanded, blinking quickly.
“Do you believe everything you hear on TV?” Rhea asked. “Or just Luna’s product endorsement?” Bradbury shrugged. Rhea arched an eyebrow at Luna and said, “Seems someone does believe commercials. Feel a little bad now, Luna?”
Luna groaned. “I obviously need to quit. I can’t use my hair to sell something I don’t believe in. Their products literally destroy hair—and here I am, convincing people to buy it?” She dropped her head into her hands and groaned again. “Chamberlin, please call the Solar Glow people later and tell them I’m out.”
“Bradbury, you know most of what’s on holo-viz is fake, right?” asked Hera, who had learned the hard way not to fall for strange things people had told her over the years. It seemed she wasn’t the only naturally naive one in the room.
“Holo-viz broadcasts don’t lie!” Bradbury said. He huffed and said, “I suppose next you’re going to try to tell me Geela doesn’t use Swish-M-Boots?”
Hera patted him on the shoulder. “Sorry, but no.”
Bradbury gasped.
“Also, The Empress is totally fake,” Luna told him. “You think Geela really will find true love in front of billions of galactic residents?”
“But—” Bradbury spluttered. “But she seemed so happy with her final two choices! I imagine them strolling into the sunset together.” He hung his head, crushed.
“Fight or Flight?” Juno said. “Is completely rigged. They know who the winner will be even before they begin filming each episode.”
“What!” Bradbury gasped. “No!”
Rhea nodded. “And the producers told me who I had to vote for on Galactic Fashion.”
“They didn’t!”
“It’s true,” Rhea said. “But you can’t tell anyone. This has to be our little secret. All of it.”
“My lips are sealed!” Bradbury promised. “Thank you for trusting me.”
“Can we trust you with one more thing?” Athena asked.
Bradbury nodded vigorously. “Of course! Anything.”
Athena asked, “If we play our newest song for you—the one we would debut at the Battle of the Bands—will you let us know what you think?”
“Me?!” Bradbury burst into tears. “Helping SPACEPOP perfect a new song would be my life’s greatest honor.”
* * *
When the space bus landed on Pluton in Sector Seven, it was long past midnight. As soon as Chamberlin blasted away from Tik-Tik, the girls had pulled their instruments into the living room and played their big new song for Bradbury. After their first run-through of “By My Side,” he gave them some really helpful suggestions and even pointed out a few places where it would make sense for their pets to jump in with beatboxing. They went through it again, and again, and again.
“I think it’s ready,” Hera said after their twentieth run-through.
Athena, always a perfectionist, cocked her head and drew in a deep breath. “I never thought I’d say this, but I actually think you might be right—it’s finished. We’re ready.”
“This is going to be the song that really makes you,” Bradbury said. “I just know it. And I feel like I’m part of history, since I got to see it come together.”
“See it?” Juno said, nudging him. “You helped. You didn’t just watch—you were a part of the action, Bradbury. We couldn’t have done this without you. Any of what we’ve done, actually.”
Bradbury blushed so deeply that he actually radiated heat from his face. “Thanks,” he whispered.
Chamberlin made a bed for Bradbury on the couch, then the girls headed to their room for a little sleep. Because she’d lost their bet, Rhea turned down Luna’s sheets for her before she climbed in—then she snuggled into her own bed and fell instantly asleep. But all five girls were woken up only a few hours later when Chamberlin tapped on their door and told them Captain Hansome had sent a messenger droid for them.
The girls crept through the living room, hoping not to wake Bradbury. The alien stirred as they passed, quietly muttering, “Save me, Juno…” in his sleep.
Juno spun around, a look of horror on her face. Meanwhile, the other girls struggled to keep themselves from laughing aloud. Tiptoeing, they continued past Bradbury and his dreams to the ship’s control room. As soon as each member of the band had pressed one hand on the droid to unlock the message from the captain, Hansome’s voice rang out: “SPACEPOP! Congratulations on securing clearance to land on Pluton. The Resistance wishes you all continued luck during your search for the Dungeon of Dark Doom.”
“Thanks, Captain Hansome,” Luna said sweetly to the tiny hologram.
The captain’s recorded message continued, “We wanted to be sure you are aware that … the Resistance … has received intelligence alerting us that additional security measures have been put into place on Pluton. The capital city has been walled off, and all residents are completely locked out of the city’s business district. The city center is, at present, inaccessible. The so-called empress’s team has built an impenetrable boundary around the capital.”
Chamberlin sunk down in a chair, draping one hand across his forehead. He was already exhausted, just thinking of the mission to come.
Captain Hansome flexed his muscles, grinning. “Our sources have told … the Resistance … that Geela has suffered a great loss recently. As a result, she has beefed up her security efforts. So this mission will not be easy. Pluton security will be difficult to breach. But…” Here, Captain Hansome swallowed and took a deep breath. In a blustery voice he said, “But SPACEPOP, I believe in you. The Resistance has faith that you will find the Dungeon of Dark Doom on Pluton and rescue the royal prisoners.”
The tiny hologram fizzled, then disappeared.
“A great loss, eh?” said Rhea. “Think she’s sad about her wigs … or the little jeweled box?”
“Could be either—or both,” said Juno. Luna chewed nervously at her lip.
Hera twisted a curl behind her ear and muttered, “I wish we had stolen that little kwub-kwub cub instead of all those ugly wigs. At least that would have done some good in the universe.”
Rhea giggled. “It won’t change lives, but we could have some fun with the wigs,” she said slowly. “What if we ask Rand to hand them out to the audience at the Battle of the Bands? Someone should get a little use out of them. And it would totally rock if a bunch of people in the crowd were wearing Geela’s hair!”
“I love that idea,” Juno said. “I just want them off this bus. If Skitter crawls into my bed wearing one of Geela’s wigs one more time, I’m gonna lose it. It’s terrifying.”
“Oh my Grock, Roxie has been doing the same thing!” Hera said.
“Springle, too,” Rhea said. “I hope our pets won’t be too sad if we take away their creepy little dress-up wigs.”
“We have a
plan for the wigs,” Luna said. “Are we ready for the rest?”
“We’re close,” Athena said after a long moment. “Knowing there are such extreme security measures in place on Pluton makes me think we’re on the right track.” She took a deep breath and smiled one of her rare smiles. “I think today is the day we will find our families and take back the galaxy.”
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
The air was still and quiet inside the deserted hangar. None of the SPACEPOP rebels said anything for a long time. They watched, devastated, as the ship carrying their parents—and their only remaining hope of overthrowing Geela—blasted out of Pluton’s atmosphere.
After a long silence, Athena whispered, “We lost them again.”
Juno swiped at her face to try to erase the tears that wouldn’t stop falling. “We should have fought,” she growled. “We could have saved them. We just let them go; we let Geela take them again!”
“There are only five of us,” Rhea said. From down on the floor, Springle meeped. She and the other space pets gathered around the girls to join the group. Rhea nodded and said, “Okay, yeah—so there were ten of us. But it would have been ten of us going up against dozens of guards and Geela. Your parents were right—it does no one any good if we are caught, too.”
Hera sniffled. “We came so close.” From inside her suit, the kwub-kwub purred. It nuzzled against Hera’s chest, providing a brief moment of comfort.
“Obviously, this is a setback,” Athena said, turning to lead the group out of the hangar. It was time to go. They had to get back to the ship and give Hansome and Chamberlin an update. “And a major disappointment. Today was not our victory. But I, for one, have renewed hope.”
“You watched Geela blast into space with our parents again, and you have renewed hope?” Juno snapped, dragging her feet as she tromped after the group.
“We know they’re all okay,” Athena explained. “We’ve seen them with our own eyes now, so we know that they’re still alive and well. And even better, they now know someone is trying to find them. We have given them hope! I dearly wish that knowledge will help keep our families’ spirits up through the next chapter of their journey. And if we don’t want them to lose hope—we must not, either.”
“That sounds like a lot of ridiculous, Hera-style optimism,” Rhea grumbled bitterly. “You’re usually more practical than that. Come on, Athena. We lost. Geela won. Can we all just face the facts?”
“No, no. Athena’s right,” Hera said quickly. “The worst thing we could do now is give up.” She rubbed the kwub-kwub’s head—the smell of its soft fur calmed her. “We got a second chance to save the kwub-kwub and get it away from Geela, didn’t we? The same thing could—will!—happen with our parents.”
Athena nodded. “We didn’t win the war today … but we haven’t lost yet, either. We can either see this as an opportunity for renewed focus on the mission, or we accept it as our stopping point.”
Luna linked her arm through Hera’s. “We found them once; we’ll find them again. There is absolutely no reason we can’t track Geela to her next hiding spot. And next time, we won’t let them slip away. Maybe today isn’t the day we conquer Geela, but that day will come.”
Juno and Rhea exchanged wary glances. “Okay,” Rhea said finally, sighing. “You’re right. No giving up now.”
“We carry on,” said Juno.
“We carry on,” repeated Athena.
* * *
When the girls and their pets finally got back to the space bus, Bradbury was pacing back and forth in front of the door, looking extremely agitated. “Where have you been?” he demanded. He gaped at the band and blurted out, “And what are you wearing?”
Rhea glanced down at her black rebel suit and thought fast. “These are our, uh, relaxing outfits,” she said, shrugging. “Like a robe. But jet-black and fitted and stretchy.”
“Oh,” Bradbury said, calming a bit. “They look nice.”
“Thanks,” Juno said. Rhea’s quick comebacks definitely served a useful purpose from time to time. Calling their rebel suits robes was a stretch, but Bradbury seemed to buy the lie. “Bradbury, these relaxing suits are yet another thing we should probably keep secret, okay? Don’t tell anyone about what we wear behind the curtain—deal? It just doesn’t fit our image.”
“Of course, of course! Anything for you, Juno,” Bradbury promised. He threw out his arms and asked again, “But where have you been? The party in Pluton has been over for half an hour! I was worried when I couldn’t find you anywhere! I lost you when the wall shattered, and then there were crowds everywhere, and—”
“Sorry, Bradbury.” Luna cut him off. The girls’ pets hopped past and scurried into the bus. After the day’s adventure, they were all eager to curl up for a much-needed nap. Luna watched them go, dreaming of the moment she would lay her own head on her pillow. “It’s—well, it’s kind of complicated.”
Bradbury pouted. “I get it.”
“It really is complicated,” Athena assured him. “I’m sorry, Bradbury. It’s been a long couple of nights. We’re all pretty eager to get out of here.”
“Yeah, I said I get it,” Bradbury said sadly. He hung his head. “I’ll just leave now. I met up with some friends after the Battle of the Bands. They can give me a ride back to Pallomo.”
“Hey,” Hera said, suddenly thinking of an idea of how to cheer him up. “I almost forgot—I have something for you.”
“For me?” Bradbury said, brightening.
“A special present,” Hera said, nodding happily. She pulled the kwub-kwub cub out of her rebel suit and dropped the little critter into Bradbury’s arms. “This little critter is very special to me—he’s one of my friends from the adoption event. It’s my duty to find the perfect home for him, and I think you can provide that.”
“A kwub-kwub!” Bradbury said, nuzzling the little pet. “Just like Geela has?!”
“Um,” Hera said, cringing. “Yeah, in a way it’s a little like Geela’s. But this kwub-kwub can be yours—if you’re willing to care for him and promise to bring him over to visit me every once in a while? I want you to be sure you can take care of him before I leave him with you.”
“I’ve always wanted a kwub-kwub!” Bradbury said, gushing. “I love him! Thank you!” He gazed lovingly at the kwub-kwub and then turned his starry eyes toward Hera.
“Uh-oh,” Luna muttered to Juno. “Looks like Bradbury might have a new crush now…”
“I’ll survive,” Juno whispered back.
“Can I take a picture of the two of you together?” Hera asked. “You look so cute!” She raced inside the space bus, returning a moment later with her camera. Bradbury snuggled his face into the kwub-kwub’s fur and smiled at the camera. As Hera snapped the picture, she hoped Geela had spent little enough time with the tiny pet that if she ever saw pictures of him anywhere online, she wouldn’t even recognize the fuzzball. It was worth the risk—the kwub-kwub would have a wonderful life with Bradbury, and Bradbury clearly had room in his life for someone to love.
“Thanks, Hera,” Bradbury said again. “This is the best gift ever.”
“Hearing you say that…” Hera said, tearing up, “is a gift to me.” She wrapped her arms around Bradbury and the kwub-kwub cub.
Rhea groaned—loudly—and rolled her eyes.
“Bradbury, thanks again for everything these past few days,” Athena said. “We appreciate everything you do for us so very much. I hope you know that.” Bradbury nodded quickly. “We’ll see you soon?”
“Very soon!” Bradbury said. “Thanks for the lift to Pluton. I hope you have a great trip to wherever you’re going next.” He began to walk away, then turned back. “Oh, and did you know you won the Battle of the Bands?”
“We did?” Rhea asked.
Bradbury grinned. “I heard someone say it was a unanimous decision. The judges all loved you and especially loved the end of your show—it was very exciting. And of course, I agree with the judges.” H
e held up the kwub-kwub and said in a silly voice, “So do I!” They all laughed. Then Bradbury switched back to his normal voice and asked, “So where is SPACEPOP off to next?”
The girls all glanced at one another. After a few seconds, Rhea shrugged. “Not sure yet,” she said. “Time to make a plan.”
Bradbury winked behind his lens-less glasses. “I’ll find you.”
* * *
When they got into the ship, Captain Hansome was already waiting for them on the Resistance’s secure holo-network. “Geela is on the move,” he announced.
“Yes,” Athena said. “We know.” The girls told the captain and Chamberlin every detail of their mission on Pluton. They told them about the wall, how they had used the Amp It Up, their successful infiltration into Geela’s headquarters, their brief conversation with the prisoners. “And then she led them into a ship and took them away—again.”
Hansome took a deep breath and scratched his stubbly chin. “I see.”
“We’re so, so sorry,” Luna sobbed. “They were right there, within our reach, and we let them go.”
“You had no other choice.” Hansome confirmed what the girls had already figured out for themselves. “You made the right decision. Geela has made it very clear that any rebel who is caught will be destroyed. Had you tried to fight, we would have lost you and the prisoners.”
“We’re not going to stop searching until they are safe,” Juno promised. “You have our word.”
Chamberlin let out a small groan when he realized what this meant.
Hansome nodded seriously. “All of us here at the Resistance appreciate your dedication very much. We will be in touch to discuss the next steps. Stay strong, and get some rest.”
“Captain Hansome?” Luna said, stepping forward so she was right in Hansome’s line of sight. “Before you go, we found something on Lud that we think may have been Geela’s. We didn’t have a chance to show you before now, but perhaps it could be of some use?” She held up the small, jewel-encrusted box they had found in Geela’s treasure room on Lud, keeping it still in the palm of her hand so Hansome could see it clearly through the hologram. “Do you know what this might be and if it has any meaning?”