“Maybe for one person,” Benny said. “Let’s see what a few of these gloves can do.”
Jasmine and Hot Dog nodded and ran over to his side, targeting the rock themselves. It began to shake.
There were other Mustangs skulking through the trees, coming back out into the open to see what was causing the earth to tremble.
“Hey! Guys!” Benny yelled. “Help us out over here! I’ve got an idea!”
In a flash there were almost a dozen gloves trained on the rock. It began to rise, slowly at first, and then quickly as it was pulled from the ground. Meanwhile, flying robots continued to buzz around them.
“Someone cover us!” Jasmine shouted. “Watch our flanks!”
“I’ve got you!” Drue said. He crouched in the sand beside them and fired the weapon he’d pried from the downed robot, completely obliterating one of the enemies.
“We’ve got this,” Benny yelled. “Aim for the big glowing thing. Go, go!”
The crystal shot forward like a Space Runner, sailing through the air. It hit the giant’s chest, scratched it, and then fell into the river.
“Oops,” Drue said.
But Benny was already rallying. “Okay. We might have a better shot if we split up.” He pointed at Iyabo, who stood beside him. Based on the way she commanded conversation at dinner the night before, he figured she likely had no problem getting people to follow her. “Take five Mustangs and head upriver. Do the same thing again. Everyone else, with me!”
Iyabo’s team got to a piece of quartz first. The purple mineral was sailing through the air as Benny’s group was just getting their piece out of the ground.
It shot past the robot, missing it completely.
“There’s no way of controlling it once it gets that far away!” Iyabo shouted.
“So we get closer,” Hot Dog suggested.
Benny nodded as their yellow rock floated in the air. “Let’s go.”
The six of them ran alongside the riverbank, Benny taking the lead and guiding the point of their big, floating weapon. The closer they got, the more he had to clench his jaw to keep from shaking as the huge metal skeleton gnashed its teeth.
When they were just outside the thing’s reach, they stopped.
“Now!” Benny shouted.
He punched his fist into the air, trying his best to keep the quartz on track. It shot through the sky, a yellow missile.
And by some miracle, it hit its target almost dead center, sailing through the eye socket and crashing into the blue orb just as the giant was getting ready to unleash another wave of energy aimed at their side of the river. A low, bass-heavy electronic sound filled the air, and for a moment the giant robot was perfectly still. Then the entire front of its face exploded, showering the water with flaming shards of metal as Benny and his fellow Mustangs ran back toward safety. Its arms jerked forward, fingers clawing into the sand as it struggled to stay upright before collapsing face-first into the water, where it appeared to power down. All around them, the remaining robots fell out of the sky.
“Wahoo!” someone shouted, and then they were all yelling, Benny included.
“We destroyed a giant robot,” Benny said to himself, wondering how in the galaxy he’d gotten to a point in his life where this statement was true.
As they celebrated, a bridge appeared across the river, and the Mustangs regrouped in the center of it, the ghosts coming back into full view as the team caught their breaths, trying to figure out what would happen next.
The sound of clapping filled the sky.
Benny turned to see the giant robot smacking his clawlike hands together, only they were beginning to disintegrate now. The hologram fell apart, along with the rest of the artificial environment, until they were once again standing in the big gray room.
The sound continued, though, as Elijah West made his way toward them. Applauding.
“Impressive work, Mustangs,” he said. “The groups who went through this exercise this morning failed to defeat my robotic cyclops. The team remaining will have your performance as the standard to which they are compared.”
“He was here,” Drue said. “Watching. That monster was him!”
“Do you think he’s mad that we shoved a giant rock into his eye?” Benny murmured.
“It wasn’t luck that made you successful,” Elijah continued as he got closer to them. “You were able to do something the other groups couldn’t: you worked as a team.”
“Mostly,” Ricardo said from above. Benny had all but forgotten about their leader, who was now floating back down to their level.
“Yes,” Elijah said. “I watched this match closely. Many of you acted like heroes today. You showed wisdom, talent, and bravery. One of you more so than others.”
He turned his gaze to Benny, who suddenly forgot how to breathe.
“Benny Love,” Elijah continued, “you showed not only resourcefulness and ingenuity today—you also put your teammates before yourself. I think my friend here would agree.”
Ricardo nodded.
Elijah smiled. “Hold out your hand.”
Benny did as he was told. Elijah stepped forward and dropped a silver band into his palm.
“An advanced holographics bracelet. Something I’ve been working on lately. If I’m remembering correctly, you mentioned that you’re a big fan of this sort of technology in your application video. Something to do with spiders, I believe it was.”
“This is . . .” Benny started, but he was at a loss for words.
“Yours,” Elijah said. “Enjoy it. You earned it. You should be proud of yourself. I’m certainly proud of the work you did.”
Benny saw Drue tense up at his side, but he ignored him. Elijah smiled, and there was something about it that made Benny’s chest feel like it was full of carbonated soda. It wasn’t just that he’d somehow managed to impress the Elijah West, or that he’d apparently been the best kid on the battlefield—it wasn’t even because of the insane tech he’d just been given, a gift that he couldn’t wait to test out.
It was another reason entirely: there was something about Elijah’s expression that reminded Benny of the way his father used to look at him when he’d done something good.
“Try syncing it with your HoloTek. I guarantee you’ll get a kick out of it,” Elijah said. “Now, I’ve had Pinky on mute for a while and should really check in before she ends up locking me in my office or something.” He grinned and winked at the Mustangs, and then he was gone.
The rest of the kids congratulated Benny, a few patting him on the back, but everything felt like a blur to him. Even after leaving the video game room, Benny felt as though he were still floating. He’d always looked up to Elijah West—who wouldn’t?—but he hadn’t exactly gone to the Moon with the purpose of impressing the man. But now he wanted to cling to the feeling he had when Elijah was happy with his performance, to hold on to it as long as he could. Benny was beginning to understand the sort of drive he’d seen in Drue—a ferocious desire to make Elijah proud.
It was a feeling Benny recognized. He’d felt the same way about his father, always wanting to do his best so that he could in some way try to live up to the standard his dad set. Benny had assumed he’d never meet another person who he’d want to prove himself to outside his family.
But maybe he’d been wrong.
Back in his room, Benny stood in the kitchen area and stared down at the band Elijah had given him. With one tap, the top layer of the bracelet fell apart, drifting up into the air like a puff of smoke. Then, in the blink of an eye, there was another Benny standing in front of him, staring down at his own wrist.
Benny yelped and jumped back. His clone did the same thing. If it weren’t for a slight sheen of light around the other him, it would have been a perfect twin.
“This thing is incredible,” Benny whispered.
The mist of metal must have been nanotech hologram projectors, he guessed. Incredibly advanced. He reached out. His hand met his mirror’s but passed thr
ough it. Unlike the special constructs in the video game room, this was a normal hologram. Still, it was a billion times cooler than anything he’d ever seen back on Earth.
He pulled out his HoloTek and, with a few taps, Benny was able to control the hologram’s projections using pictures he had saved on the datapad. One second it was another Benny in front of him, the next it was his brother Alejandro, then Justin, and then his grandmother. But there was something slightly off about the vacant stares in their eyes that made him feel at once both homesick and a little creeped out.
He tapped his new bracelet again and the mist of nanoprojectors flew back, the hologram disappearing. He plopped down on the couch, staring at the metal around his wrist.
His brothers—the whole caravan—were going to flip out when he showed this to them and told them that Elijah West had singled him out. That he’d done his family proud.
15.
Thanks to the lingering threat of asteroids still floating above the Moon, all EW-SCAB flight training outside the Grand Dome was temporarily canceled. Ricardo assured his Mustangs that they’d still get plenty of time behind a flight yoke, only it would be concentrated in the second week of their stay.
To make up for this, the scholarship kids were gathered in the courtyard following another lavish dinner that night. Dozens of dessert trays floated around the Grand Dome. Benny stood in front of one, eating some kind of cotton candy that turned into ice cream when he put it in his mouth. Beside him, Ramona was alternating sips between a rainbow-colored milkshake and a canned energy drink. Benny was wondering if now would be a good time to test his bracelet and completely freak out Drue and the others when a girl he’d never met before came up to him.
“Are you Benny?” she asked.
He looked up at her, surprised. There were two boys behind her, both staring at him expectantly.
“Uh, yeah,” he said.
“I’m Kavita,” the girl said. “We’re with the Chargers. I was just wondering . . . I heard you guys stole one of Elijah’s cars and saved that girl who crashed. . . . Is that true?”
Benny blinked.
“Who told you that?” he asked.
“Um,” she said, looking around the courtyard. “Oh, him!”
Benny followed her gaze and saw Drue, surrounded by people from other groups, motioning wildly as he talked. Some of the EW-SCABers eyed him skeptically, but others seemed to be hanging on his every word.
“Of course,” Benny muttered. “Uh, excuse me.”
He started across the courtyard at a clip, passing Jasmine—who was biting into a brownie the size of her face—along the way.
“Hey!” she called to him through a mouth full of fudge. “Is everything okay?”
“Our friend over there is telling everyone about the Chevelle.”
“Drue,” Jasmine groaned, following him.
Drue was in mid-story when they got close enough to hear him.
“That’s when Elijah said ‘Drue, what you guys did today was so brave,’ and—Oh, hey! Here’s Benny and Jazz now!”
The eight or nine people in front of him all turned to look at them.
“Did Elijah really offer to give you guys his Chevelle as a reward for saving her?” one of them asked.
“What was it like to hurl on the Moon, Jazz?” another chimed in.
“What?” Jasmine frowned at Drue.
“Can we have a second alone with him?” Benny asked.
Reluctantly, the crowd walked away.
“Told you he was full of it,” someone said.
“What’s the deal?” Drue asked. “I’m just telling stories of our heroics. You should be thanking me. We’re practically famous up here now!”
“Why does this story involve me throwing up?” Jasmine asked.
Benny shook his head. “Did you ever think that maybe it doesn’t look good if everyone here is talking about how we stole one of Elijah’s cars? And hacked his security? He probably doesn’t want that getting around, and personally I don’t like people thinking I’m some kind of thief.” He had already gotten enough weird looks when he’d mentioned he was from a caravan.
Drue frowned. “Oh. You might have a point there.”
“Of course he does,” Jasmine said. “And why do I get the feeling you’re the hero of this story?”
“I gave credit to everyone!”
“That’s actually true,” Benny said. “Some girl just asked me about it.”
“See? You’re welcome.”
“Did you tell them about the asteroids?” Jasmine asked.
“No, I left that part out.”
She nodded and scrunched her brows together in thought. “Probably for the best. I wonder if Elijah’s found anything out.”
“You’re still thinking about it, too, huh?” Benny asked.
“Elijah’ll take care of whatever it is,” Drue said. “Look around you. The man can handle a few space rocks.”
“Still,” Jasmine said, her gaze drifting across the courtyard. “It would be nice to know what was going on.”
Her eyes settled on Ricardo, who stood talking to Trevone and Sahar near the garage door.
“We could go ask,” Benny suggested. “See if they’ll talk to Elijah for us.”
“I can’t talk to Trevone,” she said, turning her attention to the ground. “He’s just so smart.”
“Oh, I see what’s going on here,” Drue said. He motioned to Benny’s bracelet, frowning a little. “You go talk to them. Ricardo likes you.”
“Sure,” Benny said. After all, he wanted answers, too. What if there’d been more to the rock than Elijah had initially thought?
He left Drue and Jasmine behind and made his way to the front of the garage. As he approached, he caught the end of the Pit Crew’s conversation.
“Wasn’t it a little early to have them squaring off against each other?” Trevone asked Ricardo.
“He’s much more compliant after his loss.”
Trevone nodded, the goggle-like glasses sitting on top of his short, curly black hair bobbing a little. “Not a bad move, I guess. Especially putting him up against Hot Dog. She was bound to win.”
“That was the plan, but for a moment there I thought I was going to have to have Pinky step in and slow him down.”
“Still, your group’s got a lot of spirit. That could be . . . problematic.”
“Elijah estimates we still have almost a week before—”
Sahar cleared her throat, nodding her head.
“Benny,” Ricardo said as he noticed the Mustang. He raised one eyebrow.
“So this is Mr. Love,” Trevone said. He crossed his arms over the front of his dark blue space suit. “I’ve been hearing your name a lot lately.”
“You have?” Benny asked warily.
“Word travels fast around the resort. Once my group heard about your winning the robot simulation and that little rescue mission . . . well, let’s just say I’m having to keep an extra eye on my Chargers every time we go into the garage.”
“Do you have a question?” Ricardo asked.
“Actually, I was wondering if you could ask Elijah something for me,” Benny said. “When we were out on the Moon, we found a rock that hit Hot Dog’s Space Runner and—”
“Oh!” Ricardo interrupted him. “Right. I forgot. Elijah wanted me to let you know that he tested the rock himself and that it appeared to be a completely normal asteroid.”
“Huh?” Benny asked, confused. “But there was a weird pattern on it and wire sticking out.”
Sahar’s lips curved down a little, her dark eyes penetrating.
“Ah, that,” Trevone said. “Likely just part of the Space Runner that got embedded on impact. Do you know how quickly asteroids travel?”
Benny shrugged. “I mean, not really . . .”
“Well, I’ve read reports of hurricanes back on Earth driving straws through telephone poles. You can imagine what a falling celestial body can do.”
“I guess.”
/> Pinky walked out of the garage. “Crew members. We’re going to be behind schedule.”
“If you’ll excuse us,” Ricardo said. “We’re tonight’s entertainment.”
And before Benny could figure out if he’d gotten any answers, the three of them disappeared into the building.
Hot Dog had joined Drue and Jasmine by the time Benny returned and shared what Ricardo said.
“I guess that’s that,” Drue said.
“Yeah,” Jasmine said, though it sounded to Benny like she wasn’t sure. But if Elijah said it was normal, it had to be. Right?
“Well, if you still want, we can—” he started.
That’s when all the lights around the Lunar Taj went out, and the sky turned black, cloaking the Grand Dome in utter darkness.
Hot Dog screamed.
At least, Benny thought it was Hot Dog. He couldn’t see a thing, and it was impossible to tell where the sound had come from. And anyway, after that first scream, a roar surrounded him as the other EW-SCABers began to freak out. Benny’s heart kicked into a higher gear, pounding in his chest. He had never been someone who was afraid of the dark. But then, the night sky had never completely disappeared before. One nice thing about living in the Drylands was that he usually had an unobstructed view of the stars, as long as smog hadn’t rolled too far inland from the coast.
Just as his eyes started to get used to the darkness, there was light. Not from the Taj or the sky, but from neon rings appearing in the air throughout the Grand Dome. Fifty of them, at least, Benny guessed. The closest one to him was only a few yards overhead. If he tried hard enough, he might have been able to jump up and touch it.
“More holograms,” he murmured to himself.
“They’re . . . kinda beautiful,” Hot Dog said, her face lit up with the glow of an aquamarine circle.
Beside her, Drue was breathing heavily and looking around, his eyes wide.
“You okay?” Benny asked.
Drue nodded like the bobblehead Benny’s father had found on a supply run and stuck to the dash of their RV. “It was just, like . . . really dark there for a second.”
Around them the other EW-SCABers were trying to figure out what was going on, heads all tilted up to get a better look at the floating rings.