“What we need,” April said, pointing her flashlight at her own determined face, “is a super-amazing PLAN-et.”
“HEY!” Mal snapped her fingers. “Isn’t Mars the god of war?”
“Amongst other things,” noted April, who had done her research.
“What’s the closest thing we have to weapons here?”
Molly squinted. “Are you thinking archery?”
Mal smiled. “I’m very much thinking archery.”
April raised an eyebrow at their mind-reading. This was a new couple-y thing.
“The archery targets are all the way on the other side of camp,” Jo said, taking off at a sprint.
“We can make it!” Molly knew the archery section of camp well, since discovering she was actually a pretty crack shot, something she never would have guessed about herself before becoming a Lumberjane.
Several minutes of sprinting later, April spotted their targets.
“I see it,” she squealed excitedly, reaching out to the glowing orb in the distance. “Come to me, you great glowing orb of triumph.”
Mal, in mid-run, looked over her shoulder. “Do you hear that?”
April’s eyes widened. “Did I just say all that out loud?”
Mal shook her head. “Not that. THAT!”
Everyone skidded to a stop.
Actually what Mal heard was several sounds: breaking branches. A thunderous thump thump thump. And a distinct, victorious yipping.
Jo frowned. “What the junk.”
With a glorious flash, the members of Zodiac, astride a massive majestic moose, leapt over the crouching members of Roanoke and gregariously galloped toward the targets, where Hes, balancing on her moose’s massive curved horns, reached down and plucked the glowing red orb from a set of crossed arrows embedded in the center of the target.
“WOOOT! WOOOOT!” Zodiac cheered collectively.
“THE ORB IS OURS!” Hes cheered.
“YAAAAS!” Wren cried.
And with that, Zodiac galloped off into the night.
“What the actual JUNK!” April growled, shaking her fists.
“Now that stings,” Molly added.
Bubbles growled.
“Exactly,” Jo said.
“COME ON! MOOSE POWER?!” April fumed. “They’re using MOOSE POWER now?! Is that even a thing?! Can you just randomly call upon the power of MOOSE just like that?”
“I don’t think there’s a rule that says you can’t use moose power,” Jo mused, knowing full well that there probably wasn’t, although there were a lot of rules for being a Lumberjane, most of which Jo knew, because that was kind of her thing.
There was a yip yipping from over by the kitchen, where Roswell found Earth in the garden. Because EARTH.
“Not aMOOSing,” April said, arms crossed crossly.
Jo tapped her chin. “So that’s two planets for Zodiac, one for us and . . . from the sounds of it, one for Roswell.”
“All right, Lumberjanes.” April stood up. “We’re in the thick of it now. Mooses on the left, unfound planets on the right . . .”
April clenched her fist and bowed her head slightly. “Now is a time for greatness . . . Now is the time for . . . PLANET B.”
Jo smiled. “Well punned my friend.”
April, fist still clenched, grinned. “I have SOOOOOO many planet puns left, you guys.”
CHAPTER 8
There was a rustling in the trees. An astronaut seemingly floated into the thicket to inform them, in a muffled, inside-a-fishbowl voice, that three other planets had been located.
Uranus, aka Herschel, was tucked into the tire swing hanging out behind Rosie’s cabin. Obviously someone in Woolpit, possibly Maxine P., remembered that Uranus is the only planet that spins up on its side.
Dartmoor found Jupiter, the largest of the planets, by the lake, possibly because Jupiter has the largest ocean in the solar system, although, as Jo pointed out, its ocean consisted mostly of helium and hydrogen.
The scouts of Dighton found Neptune in the ice box next to a stack of popsicles and a very large tub of frozen peanut butter (which was probably not part of the competition).
“Is it me,” Mal asked, “or are these some weird connections?”
“Well, it’s a lot of planets, and a lot of clues to figure out,” Molly said. “I’d give whoever had to make them up a break.”
“One planet left,” the astronaut said. “Get on it, scouts.”
“Come on, guys.” April slammed her fist into her open palm. “Are we SCOUTS? Or are we MICE?”
“We’re scouts,” Ripley said, “but mice are nice too.”
“Look!” Jo said, holding up her flashlight like a torch. “The only planet left is VENUS. Let’s all think really really hard about where that would be.”
Everyone thought. Very, very hard.
In mid Jo-think, Jo heard what she thought was a swishing sound over her left shoulder. Much smaller than a moose. She spun around to catch a glimpse of a flash of light darting between the trees. Like a flashlight but softer. Like a glow. Was it one of the counselors?
She swiveled her flashlight in the direction of the noise but all she got was a hole in the dark.
“Okay, idea,” Mal declared. “And I know how we can get there without anyone spotting us.”
“Creep across the ground like caterpillars?” Ripley offered. “Dig a tunnel?”
“Nope.” Mal held up her flashlight and—click—turned it off. “They can’t see us if they can’t see us.”
“Stealth mode!” April whispered excitedly.
“How are we not going to bump into trees?” Molly asked.
“Ooo,” Mal looked at her flashlight. “Good question.”
“If only we had a night vision magic kitty,” Ripley mused.
Night vision magic kitties, while a pain in the butt to have around when you’re trying to sleep, are incredibly useful things in the dark. Laser kitties, same thing.
“Oh!” Jo raised a finger and pointed it at Molly’s head. “But we do!”
“BUBBLES!” Ripley cheered.
“Raccoons have excellent night vision,” Jo noted. “And Bubbles knows his way around camp.”
Molly had used Bubbles for fetching supplies in past dinosaur emergencies, but not in the middle of the night.
Molly reached up and plucked the chirping Bubbles off her head. “Hey, buddy,” she whispered, “can you do us a little favor?”
Bubbles chirped an affirmative, and Mal told him where they needed to go.
In conga line formation, with Bubbles in the lead, the members of Roanoke cabin headed to what Mal figured out to be the hiding place of the last planet.
“The infirmary,” Ripley whispered, when they got closer.
“Of course,” April cheered . . . quietly.
Jo thought, but did not say, that it looked like they were the only ones to think of this spot for the last planet. (Jo was not a fan of saying things that just about anyone could look around and see were true. Oh, if only more people were like Jo.)
There were a lot of places the counselors could have hidden the planet associated with the goddess of love: the tennis courts, since “love” is a score in tennis. There was also a tree just past Jo’s favorite turtle-shaped rock stuffed with love letters, although only two scouts knew about that.
It was Vanessa, counselor for Zodiac, famous for her cast-iron hair spikes, who chose the defibrillator, a machine used to restart hearts, in part because it had an actual heart painted on the side.
“At least some of these planet clues,” Vanessa argued, “should be a LITTLE BIT obvious.”
Jen thought all the clues were obvious.
The orb representing Venus was painted to look like cracked amber.
Mal and Molly both reached for it at the same time. Both stepped back and smiled shyly.
“You take it,” Mal offered, blushing.
“No, it’s okay,” Molly smiled, “you grab it.”
“Nah,
it’s cool, you take it.”
“We could grab it together,” Molly whispered.
“GOT IT!” Ripley appeared in the middle, snatching the orb. “YOINK!”
Ripley had only just tucked the glowing orange orb into her pocket when there was a loud clanging.
Astronaut camp counselors ran through the camp calling out, “ALL THE PLANETS HAVE BEEN COLLECTED! ALL CABINS MUST NOW CONGREGATE AT THE LOCATION IN CAMP REPRESENTING THE SUN!”
“The sun is . . . hot!” Ripley said.
“It’s at the center of this solar system,” Jo added.
“The mess hall,” April said. “The oven in the mess hall!”
Outside the infirmary, the camp rumbled with the sound of many scout feet running toward the mess hall, pushing past trees and charging down the paths that led to the starry start of this whole thing, scouts whooping and hollering, their flashlights bobbing in the dark.
Just before the steps of the mess hall, Bubbles, who had been running alongside Molly, stopped and sniffed the air, curious.
“Come on, Bubbs!” Ripley called out, as she took the steps of the mess hall two by two.
Bubbles made a little clicking sound, like a nervous clock.
“What is it, Bubbs?” Jo asked, crouching next to him and peering into the dark. “You see something?”
Bubbles sniffed the night air.
“COME ON!” Mal called from the top of the steps.
Molly scooped up Bubbles and popped him onto her head.
Everyone clambered up the steps to the mess hall where Kzzyzy Koo, wearing a silver suit, and BunBun, in a green alien jumpsuit, waited along with the counselors.
“WELCOME TO THE PIZZA PARTY AT THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE!” Kzzyzy hollered.
With that, Kzzyzy stepped aside to reveal a giant sun-shaped pizza pie, fresh out of the oven, set up on the table.
Holding up her clipboard, Jen waited until the pizza cheer died down.
“CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL ON A SCAVENGER HUNT WELL SCAVENGED! And special congratulations to ROANOKE and ZODIAC for taking the lead with two orbs each. And three cheers to ALL the scouts who used their wits to find some well-hidden planets tonight!”
Hip hip!
“HOORAY!”
“TIED!” April shouted, looking at Jo with a look Jo interpreted as pleased but also incredibly determined to do better next time.
“And now,” Rosie declared, “A night of good hunting deserves a re—”
“Hey!” BunBun cried out, pointing at the pizza. “LOOK!”
The pizza, decorated with every possible topping, including healthy gobs of mozzarella, was missing a huge bite out of the side.
“AW, COME ON!” Kzzyzy growled. “Seriously? What the Mary Berry is going on here?!”
The bite was about the size of a salad plate.
“Hmmm,” Rosie said, as she peered. “Well at least we know it’s not a Karactopod.”
Barney, a member of Zodiac and a very well-read Lumberjane, stepped forward out of the crowd. “It’s not a big bite,” they observed, looking closely. “It’s lots and lots of little bites. Which means it was probably something small. These bite marks look almost . . .”
Jo peered over Barney’s shoulder. “Rodent?”
Barney nodded.
“All right!” Kzzyzy stormed into the kitchen, “it’s moon PB and J for everyone. Hold your horses.”
Mal looked at Molly looked at Ripley looked at April looked at Jo.
“Something in this camp likes cheese,” Jo said quietly. “A lot.”
CHAPTER 9
By the next morning, the mystery of the missing pizza was washed away by the many many many other things that Lumberjanes have to think about on an average day.
Which for Molly—sitting outside Drucilla Johnstone II’s music studio, a black box with no windows and a curiously skinny front door—were the notes:
C – D – E – C – C – D – E – C
“I’ve never taken a music test before,” Molly said, balancing her accordion on her right knee while her left knee shook with nerves.
Molly had never really liked tests. Molly had many nightmares about pencils breaking while she was taking a test. Once she had a dream where she was supposed to take a test but her only pencil was eight feet long and didn’t have an eraser.
Mal, with her accordion strapped to her chest, shoved playfully into Molly. “You’ll be great! Easy peasy!”
“I can’t believe you chose such a hard song,” Molly said. “I have like twelve notes and I’m freaking out! You have, like, a thousand notes.”
“It’s not THAT hard,” Mal said, chill. “At home I learn a new song every week.”
Inside the music studio, someone was trying for the Guitar It On badge with a plunky rendition of “Chelsea Morning.”
“What if I mess it up?” Molly wondered aloud.
“First of all,” Mal said with a soft smile, “you’re not going to mess up. Just think of something nice in your head.”
“Second of all,” Mal looped her arm around Molly’s shoulder and gave her a squeeze. “Even if you DO mess up, you’re still awesome.”
“Thanks,” Molly said, her cheeks getting pink.
At last there was a pause and a scooting of chairs. “Okay.” Mal pressed her forehead against Molly’s. “You can do this.”
Just around the corner, Jo was heading back to the cabin when she came across Rosie, who now, instead of a giant net, carried a brown sack labeled MAIL.
Of all of Rosie’s tasks as camp director, getting mail was the one she was most likely to describe as a “royal A-1 Megalosaurus pain in the tush.”
Very few people at camp knew who carried the mail from the outside world to camp, or could imagine the complexities involved in this task, which recently had gotten the better of Herman Opal Fluffy, the last mail carrier. Herman quit shortly after he was found up a tree in the woods just outside camp, looking white as a sheet, chanting, “SO many teeth. Such big eyes.”
Fortunately, the new mail carrier HAD lots of teeth and big eyes, which Rosie was sincerely hoping would remedy the situation.
“Good morning, Jo,” Rosie said with a quick nod as she passed.
“Good morning, Rosie!” Jo replied.
Rosie was about to charge off into the distance when she snapped her fingers.
“Oh! Jo!” She plonked the sack onto the ground, reached in, and pulled out a large, thick white envelope. So white it flashed in the sun. She handed it to Jo. “I almost forgot! This arrived for you.”
Jo flipped the letter over in her hands. The envelope had a fancy crest for a return address. It was forwarded from Jo’s home by her dads, who had scrawled the camp address over the original label in their cryptic scratch that even she found hard to read.
“Looks official,” Rosie said, slinging her bag over her shoulder again. “Have a productive day!”
And Rosie disappeared off to wherever it is people like Rosie disappear to, as they do frequently, with bags and bunches and buckets of things.
Jo looked down at the letter in her hands.
The sensation was not unlike standing on a distant lunar surface, alone and jarringly, suddenly, out of orbit.
CHAPTER 10
One of the most important messages ever received by a Lumberjane arrived by post after many moons’ journey.
It was a scroll, sealed with poppy-red beeswax and written in squid ink, which read:
World is not flat. World is round. Adjust plans accordingly.
For Jo, the letter she held in her hands felt similarly life changing.
Sitting on a rock in the middle of the woods, Jo stared at the text, wide eyed.
The Center for Scientific Advancement and Research is pleased to offer you an exclusive position in our Summer Theory and Advanced Astronomical Research Program, effective immediately.
Jo’s fingers started to sweat, leaving little circle smears on the very thick letterhead.
“I didn’t ap
ply for a Summer Theory and Advanced Astronomical Research Program,” Jo said, out loud, to the letter.
Admission to this program was based on your record of overall exemplary merit and achievement in the fields of mechanical engineering, quantum physics, and your recent first place in the “Reinvent the Wheel” Academic Olympics. It did not require an application.
“Oh,” Jo said.
It sounded like kind of a big opportunity.
This is actually a once-in-a-lifetime incredible opportunity, the letter confirmed.
Jo looked at the letter again.
“Holy Maryam Mirzakhani,” Jo gasped.
The program was being led by Professor Ellis Watters Stevenson Allen III.
That is correct.
Jo bit her lip. Professor Ellis Watters Stevenson Allen III produced some of the most dynamic theorems on space travel ever conceived. Two of her theories were published when she was seventeen years old.
Technically sixteen and a half, the letter added, somewhat smugly. I mean, if you want to get technical about it.
Working with someone like that could change your whole career. This kind of opportunity . . .
Could be life changing, the letter noted.
“Wait,” Jo asked, rescanning the top paragraph. “The program starts immediately?”
Admission to the program would require students to appear at the institute no later than . . .
In one week. That was very very very soon.
Jo had always imagined that someday she would do something like this—that she would work with famous scientists, that she could BE a famous scientist.
Both of her dads studied at the Center for Scientific Advancement and Research before going on to study at various other centers in various other programs.
Eventually, Jo knew, this kind of opportunity would come knocking.
And now, the letter said, here I am.
“Hey!” Ripley stepped out of the trees. “What are you doing?”
“Oh.” Jo stuffed the letter into one of her many coat pockets. “Nothing.”
“Okay, um.” Ripley stepped one sneaker on her other sneaker and twisted her arms behind her back. “I was hanging out with Barney but now Barney has to go help Zodiac with the cabin contest.”
Lumberjanes: The Moon Is Up Page 3