“You killed it,” Mikayla screamed. “OhMyGosh. OhMyGosh. Holy asteroids! We’re dead. We’ve failed. This is our one chance to save our galaxy and you killed the first alien we meet.”
Finn turned to run for the bathroom, but Mikayla stood in his way.
“You killed it,” she screamed in his face.
Finn opened his mouth and, as Mikayla fell into tirade of accusations, Finn puked all over her.
Chapter 22: Greetings and Salutations
Finn didn’t move.
Neither did the alien.
Finn lay on the seat bench, curled up in a ball facing the view screen so he could torment himself more and more with each passing moment. Mikayla didn’t help him feel any better. It had only taken her a minute in the Insta-cleanse to completely clean herself and her uniform, and she’d used the rest of the past five minutes listing all of the interstellar laws Finn had broken.
“I figure you’ll be in jail for about five hundred twenty-three years unless you get time off for good behavior,” Mikayla said, “which I seriously doubt will happen.”
“Yeah?” Finn finally found his voice. “And how many years will you get for shoving the transmitter in his ear and for being a constant, irritating know-it-all?”
That shut her up, but being left with silence, and his own thoughts, felt much worse than anything Mikayla could say. No matter how irritating Mikayla could be, he had to admit she might be right.
Finn’s stomach tightened, and he forced back another wave of nausea as his thoughts took him to the worst possible punishments saved for truly terrible people. He’d be shackled alongside killers and live on the planet Alcatraz Major, an entire planet of interstellar criminals where only the worst villains went. Even more terrifying was the penal complex on the orbiting moon, Pelican Island. The pleasant name didn’t fool anyone. If criminals got shipped off to Pelican, they were never seen or heard from again.
“Movement.” Reggie pointed toward the alien’s head.
Sure enough, the giant removed its arm from atop its head and peeked around.
“No way.” Finn jumped to his feet. “It’s been faking dead this whole time.”
“Fainting goat trick,” Reggie said.
Finn couldn’t hide his relief. He even let out a small giggle when the alien slowly rose to its feet and took a long look around.
“ELAINA,” Finn said. “Translate my words again.”
“Please begin, Mr. Finnigan O’Reilly.”
“We’re still here…under the microscope.” The poor alien flew backward against the wall. “Since you’re not dead, you might as well come over and look at us so we can prove to you we aren’t figments of your imagination.”
The alien didn’t move at first, but after looking around the entire room to make sure no one else was there, it made its way over to the microscope. Finn noticed that, even though it definitely walked, its side-to-side sway resembled a fish swimming.
It looked around the room again before picking up the chair and taking a seat. Finn had never seen a alien so paranoid. Its eyes shifted around one more time before it finally peered into the microscope.
Finn, Mikayla, and Reggie stood in front of the view screen and waved at the massive alien. The alien gave a gurgled scream and fell back in the chair. Finn started to laugh.
“Well, how would you react if you’d just seen a microscopic spaceship with tiny people inside waving at you?” Mikayla tossed a wad of golden hair over her shoulder as if to say I'm going to ignore you, Finn. “ELAINA, translate for me please," she huffed.
“Whenever you are ready, Ms. Mikayla Fishborne.”
“We are so happy to finally meet you, uh, sir,” Mikayla said. “My name is Mikayla Fishborne and I’m the daughter of a scientist. We live on a Space Station that searches the galaxy, our galaxy—the Milky Way—for new discoveries. Our Space Station, Vortex, ran into a huge piece of glass in the middle of what seemed like the universe, and my friends and I decided to check it out. We dug a hole through the glass and found ourselves here. Please don’t be afraid of us. We don’t mean any harm. We put the transmitter in your ear so we could tell you we’re here. We have an urgent message for the…uh…alien in charge.”
The DUMP sat there under the microscope lens, and they watched the alien listen to ELAINA’s translation. The alien sat slumped in its chair for what seemed like ages, but finally straightened up and looked through the lens again. “Hel-lo-Mick-ail-yeah,” ELAINA translated.
“Hello,” Mikayla waved.
Finn moved forward. “Hi. I’m Finn O’Reilly, and I’m the one who tried to make first contact with you.”
The alien looked at Finn for a long time. “Are you the one who played that horrible beating sound in my ear?”
Finn had a sudden urge to study his shoes. “Well, um…yes. Just the second time. I wanted to find a way to communicate with you. I’m really sorry.”
The alien didn’t smile. “Please refrain from using that method of communication again.”
Finn nodded. "Sure thing."
Mikayla nudged Reggie forward. He stammered, “Hi. I’m Reggie. I dig and fly.”
“Hello,” the alien said. “I am Manuaar. I am a scientist on this world, Quiglar.”
Finn stifled a giggle. “Manure,” he said under his breath. He elbowed Reggie, who shot him a small grin.
“My people are great adventurers. We collect many things. Your galaxy, The Milky Way, is one of many things we have collected,” Manuaar said.
Mikayla threw the boys a scathing glare and pushed them aside. “That’s what we need to talk to you about, Manuaar. Our galaxy is in the box marked ‘Trash.’ What happens to the slides in the trash box? Are they put in storage?”
“Mikayla,” Manuaar said, “they will be destroyed because they are no longer useful.”
Mikayla gasped and the smiles on Finn’s and Reggie’s faces vanished.
“Manuaar, please. Isn’t there anything we can do to save our galaxy?” Mikayla began to tear up.
The alien paused so long Finn almost forgot the question.
Finally, he said, “Let me talk to the authorities, and I will be back in touch with you soon. Do not go far from the microscope. It will not take long.”
The alien pushed out of his chair and they watched through the view screen as he swayed back and forth toward the door at the far end of the room.
# # #
An hour later, a long line of enormous aliens all similar to Manuaar waited to greet the three new discoveries. After thirty or so greetings, with Manuaar speaking for them, Mikayla finally noticed the females had a very long stripe of flowing golden fin, much like hair, running down their spines. The female names also ended in “A,” just like her name. The males had either very short fin-like hair or none at all.
They all wore a type of clothing similar to human clothing, but the alien clothing shimmered, just like their skin. The clothes ranged in color from light lavender, a color the men seemed to prefer, to a peach color the women tended to wear. The most obvious difference between alien and human clothing seemed to be that the aliens never wore bright colors like Mikayla’s red uniform or earthy colors like Finn’s and Reggie’s brown uniforms.
“Greetings, Malva,” they said together to one of the female aliens who had stepped forward. “Thank you for the warm welcome, and we offer it back to you.”
Manuaar had been kind enough to explain this formal greeting before he started introducing the line of beings.
“Geesh,” Finn said under his breath. “How many more introductions are there?”
“Lots.” Reggie looked past Malva, who continued to go on about her family lineage.
They stood at the view screen greeting aliens until their backs were sore and their feet fell asleep. Finally, Manuaar stepped up to the microscope.
“Manuaar,” Finn said. “We, um, appreciate meeting all of your people, but what’s going to happen to our galaxy?”
“Finn.” Manuaar's wi
de eyes focused in on just him. “You have just met our world’s Leader Council. I summoned them here to meet you all so they could decide what should happen. They are good leaders and will make the wisest choice.”
“What choices do they have?” Finn asked. “Like, voting to destroy our galaxy? That kind of choice?”
“Finn.” Manuaar hesitated for a long moment. “It is certainly one choice.”
Finn’s heart raced. They’d done everything they could and had broken about a million laws in the process only to find that their galaxy might still be in jeopardy?
Finn’s thoughts wandered to his family. He’d love to have his brother call him Noodle just one more time. He wished he could sit at his kitchen table on a Tuesday spaghetti night and listen to Quinn joke about eating him for dinner. He wished he could tell his mom how really, truly sorry he felt for sneaking around the Space Station with a copy of her ID badge. He wondered what it would feel like to have his dad actually be proud of him for once in his life.
“What can we do,” Finn’s voice cracked, “to make them vote to save our galaxy?”
Manuaar fell silent for a very uncomfortable amount of time. “I think you will just have to wait for their decision.”
Reggie and Mikayla clasped each other’s hands and collapsed onto the seats. Finn slumped down into the Captain’s chair, but the seat felt suddenly awkward—uncomfortable.
Makes sense, Finn thought. I’m not right for this chair.
Chapter 23: Waiting Game
“Let’s try them out.” Mikayla slipped the ear buds into each ear. “Can you understand what I’m saying?”
“Nope,” Reggie said.
They’d spent the last three days working on personal communications and translation devices so they wouldn’t have to go through ELAINA every time they wanted to talk to Manuaar.
“Good. Now you talk to me,” Mikayla said.
“Don’t know what to say.” Reggie shrugged.
“Wow. It works,” Mikayla said.
“Can you hear me now?” Finn joked.
“Yep.” Reggie removed his headphones and smiled.
“ELAINA,” Mikayla said. “Now that you’ve downloaded all of the translations into our earphones, I need you to allow our voices to be heard instead of yours.”
“Okay, Ms. Mikayla Fishborne,” ELAINA said in her sultry voice.
Finn let them figure out the rest of the details about the ear buds while he played Galactic Solitaire for the second time—which said something because the game used over fifty thousand cards and it was always possible to win, if you played long enough. Most people found Galactic Solitaire maddening because they never had enough time to finish an entire game.
Five whole days had passed since the formal introductions, and the Leader Council still hadn’t made their decision. When Mikayla came up with the idea to implement their own communication systems, Finn had done his part by rewiring the headphones from their space helmets and projecting them through the DUMP communications system. He’d just finished the job and had started making suggestions about some other improvements when Mikayla blew up at him for no reason at all. That was why he sat playing solitaire instead of helping the others test the translation devices.
“You could put the king on the ace.” Mikayla pointed.
Finn sighed and dragged the king over to the ace.
“Listen, Finn,” Mikayla slouched into the navigator's chair. “I want to…well, say something. I’m still not sure why I insisted on coming with you on this…whatever…but I’m really happy I did. It’s been the scariest, coolest, craziest thing I’ve ever done.”
Finn looked up from the game he'd been using as an excuse to try to ignore Mikayla. “Wow. I mean…wow. If I didn’t know better, I’d say that sounded pretty close to an apology.”
Mikayla huffed. “What? I’m not apologizing for anything! I just wanted to say…what I was trying to say…holy space dust. You're the most irritating, pain in the—”
Finn laughed. Riling her was just too easy. “You’re welcome Mik.”
Mikayla ran one hand over her uniform and forced her blazing features into calm. “Yes, I wanted to say…thank you.”
Something Finn didn’t understand washed over him, and the words came out before he could stop them. “Thank you too, Mik. I’m not sure how far Reg and I would’ve gotten without you here.”
“I’m glad to have you as a friend, Mr. Finnigan O’Reilly.” Mikayla said in her best ELAINA impersonation.
Finn punched her lightly in the arm and they laughed together.
“I’m going to try the new translation system out on Manuaar…unless, well, if you want to try it first…I mean, we wouldn’t have the new system at all without your help,” she said.
“You go ahead,” Finn said.
“Manuaar?” Mikayla slid the mic close to her mouth. “Can you understand me this time?”
Manuaar smiled. “Yes, Mikayla. I can understood you perfectly. I must say, yours is a much better voice than the computer voice.”
“Yeah.” Finn said. “It’s nice to be able to talk in my own voice and not sound like a girl.”
For the first time since they'd met him, Manuaar laughed. “I was wondering what gender you were. What gender is the one called Reggie?”
“Male,” Reggie said through his mic.
“Ah,” Manuaar said. “I guessed female, but I must admit with your species, it is very difficult to tell the difference.”
“Yeah,” Mikayla said. “I can understand how you feel. It took me a while to figure out the differences for your species. The females have longer fins that run along their spines and their names all end in 'A,' right?”
Manuaar smiled. “You are a very observant alien, Mikayla. Do all female names of your species end in 'A' as well?”
“No,” Mikayla said. “Mostly it’s our hair and our…um…”
Finn snorted. He knew the most obvious difference and sure wasn’t going to help Mikayla find the proper word.
“Our, uh, chest area.” She quickly motioned to the area she tried to describe.
Manuaar nodded as if he understood, and Mikayla gave a little sigh of relief.
“How much longer do you think we’ll have to wait?” Finn asked, forcing most of the impatience out of his voice.
“Finn.” Manuaar gazed at him through the microscope, and Finn got the unmistakable feeling of being observed by an adult who found his impatience entertaining. He could almost hear his mom saying “when you get older you’ll understand.”
“The Leader Council is deciding the fate of an entire galaxy and all beings within it. This is something we cannot rush. Whatever choice they make for the Milky Way will surely affect all of the other galaxies. This is not a game.”
Reggie placed a hand on Finn’s shoulder before Finn could respond. “Nope. Not a game.”
Finn wanted to tell Manuaar what he thought anyway, but Manuaar had pulled his eyeball away from the microscope. Instead, the view screen showed the Leader Council making their way into the Science Lab and assembling in a cramped semi-circle.
They could only watch as Manuaar spoke with the Leader Council. Manuaar wasn’t an easy alien to read when it came to emotions. None of them were. The communication probe in Manuaar’s ear only allowed them to speak directly to him. They hadn't figured out a way to listen to…
“ELAINA!” Finn yelled. “Quick. Translate what they’re all saying to each other.”
“Okay, Mr. Finnigan O’Reilly,” ELAINA replied.
“And this is your final decision?” Manuaar said to the female standing in front of the group.
“It is the will of the entire Council,” she affirmed.
Manuaar seemed to want to say something else, but stopped himself. Slowly, he turned and faced the microscope.
“Uh-oh,” Reggie said.
Finn nodded.
It seemed to take Manuaar years to cross the room and finally sit in front of the microscope. And it seemed t
o take him centuries to peer into the microscope and begin talking. Finn felt the gloom descend even before Manuaar said a word. He wondered if they would go back to the Milky Way and meet their fate alongside everyone else, or if they would remain here and learn to call this immense world home.
Manuaar stared into the microscope and said nothing.
“It’s all right,” Mikayla’s shaky voice finally broke the silence. “You can tell us. We can take whatever happens.”
Finn didn’t want to think about having his entire galaxy destroyed, but he nodded and tried to stay brave.
“I am not sure where to start,” Manuaar said.
“Just…start at the beginning,” Finn said.
“The beginning,” Manuaar said. “Well, today…today has been officially named…”
“Named what?” Finn pressed when Manuaar hesitated. Many names came to mind. D-Day. War-of-the-Worlds Day, Dia de los Muertos.
“Today is named…Mikayla Day,” Manuaar said.
The silence felt as thick as the atmosphere outside the DUMP. Manuaar's words rushed into Finn's ears, and his brain took an incredibly long time to process them. He looked over at Mikayla, whose face nearly matched her crimson suit. She smiled shyly.
“NNNNNOOOOOOOOO!”
Chapter 24: Mikayla Day
“Is Finn all right?” Manuaar asked, massaging his ear hole. Finn’s sudden scream had sent Manuaar careening into the table behind him, which had caused him a considerable amount of embarrassment in front of the leaders of his world.
Finn sat sprawled out in the Captain’s chair, staring at nothing.
“Yep.” Reggie patted Finn on the head a little too hard.
Of all the names they could have chosen, the Leader Council had picked the absolute worst name possible. Mikayla had half their universe named after her. The only thing left was to name an entire day after her.
“Why…Mikayla Day?” Finn said without making eye contact with anyone.
“Finn,” Manuaar said in his patient adult tone. “Mikayla is the one who came up with the method for communication. She made first contact. She took a huge risk by inserting the communication transmitter into my ear. Also, in our world females are held in very high esteem. They are the…mothers, which makes them the leaders of every family unit and leaders of our world. They are our wisest, most revered—”
Diggers: The Sharp Edge of the Universe Page 11