“What would your father say if he were still alive, Elijah?” Pinky motioned to one wall where an oversize photograph of a barrel-chested man in oil-stained coveralls held an auburn-haired boy under one arm. “How many years did he spend in Detroit working odd jobs, repairing cars, doing whatever it took to make sure you were cared for. How many others like that are you sacrificing to these aliens, huh? There are still good people on the planet.”
“Don’t you dare lecture me about my father,” Elijah said, taking thundering steps toward the hologram. “You have no right.”
“You’re going to let me die! I have every right!”
“Will you two stop fighting?” Benny shouted. “My family is on Earth. My two brothers have no idea what’s coming. Their names are Alejandro and Justin. They’re not even old enough to apply for the EW-SCAB. They just want to grow up. My grandmother is there, too. And the rest of my caravan. Pinky is right. My father may not be alive anymore, but there are still good people leading us through the Drylands. Now, are you going to listen to my plan or are you going to keep arguing with your fingers in your ears like some spoiled brat who’s so used to being right that he can’t see what an idiot he’s being?”
No one said anything. Drue’s mouth hung open, eyes so wide it looked like they might pop out of his skull. Elijah himself looked disarmed, his eyebrows slightly raised above sad eyes.
“Okay,” Elijah said. “You have my attention. But we’ve got maybe, maybe forty-eight hours. What would you have me do?”
Everyone turned to look at Benny, who froze up for a moment. He’d only had a chance to half formulate an idea as they’d gone running to find Elijah and the others. Still, he spoke calmly, collectedly, knowing that the room was looking to him for some sort of plan.
“The lasers you’ve got carving out rocks underneath us,” Benny said. “We attach them to Space Runners and meet this asteroid field head-on, breaking it apart, saving the planet. It’s simple, but it could work.”
“Dude,” Drue murmured.
“Hey,” Jasmine said, a smile creeping across her face. “Yeah! That could work. Those lasers looked powerful.”
“What about the asteroids still floating around the Moon?” Elijah asked. “You’d never make it out.”
“We could send up decoys,” Jasmine continued. “Unmanned drones or Space Runners. That would clear a path for us.”
“And then what?” Elijah asked, crossing his arms. “Even if you manage to remove this one threat, it’s a single attack you’ve stopped. A hostile alien empire remains. You want to buff out a knick in the paint job before your car crashes against a titanium wall.”
“We’ll figure out what to do after the asteroids are gone,” Benny said. “This will buy us some time.”
“I’ve been over all the possibilities. Plans like you’re suggesting. They’re temporary fixes. That’s all. I couldn’t come up with a way to save the Earth.”
“But you didn’t have us,” Hot Dog said, stepping forward.
“Exactly,” Benny said. “All the EW-SCABers. Maybe that’s what we’re really up here to do. To solve this problem you couldn’t.”
Elijah bit the insides of his cheeks and pursed his lips, head shaking slightly as he thought this over. “Even if you did equip the lasers, you’d have to stop the storm in deep space, before it ever came close to Earth or the Moon.”
“Okay. Fine.”
“The Space Runners were never meant to be weaponized. They don’t have targeting systems. Even if they did, the satellites in the storm’s path are all down. Pinky could maybe communicate with the Space Runners, but she wouldn’t be able to control many. You’d need a whole fleet. You’d have to pilot all of them yourself.”
“Duh,” Hot Dog said. “What? You thought we were going to sit back and trust your software to handle this? No way.” She glanced at the hologram standing a few feet away from her. “No offense.”
“None taken,” Pinky said. “I’ll aid you in any way I can.”
“This is madness,” Elijah said.
“Yeah?” Benny asked. “So is the idea of a car driving into outer space. So is a luxury resort on the Moon. You’ve spent your life doing things people thought were impossible, so why stop now? Help us.”
Elijah shook his head, staring out the big window overlooking the Grand Dome.
“You really think it’s worth trying to save?” he asked.
Benny looked at him for two very long seconds. “Of course it is.”
“Don’t be stupid,” Hot Dog added.
“Laser-armed Space Runners?” Drue said. He stuck his tongue out of the corner of his mouth. “I can totally get behind this plan.”
Elijah walked to the table of tiny Space Runner prototypes floating beneath the portrait of his father. He held out a finger, spinning the first model around in the air. It had almost stopped by the time he spoke again.
“All right,” he said. “I don’t suppose forcing you to live below the Taj would end up being the smartest move in the long run. Not when you’ve proven several times already that you’re not the best at following rules. But there are many EW-SCABers who will understand what I’m trying to do. They won’t want to risk their lives to save a corrupt world.”
“Then let them take shelter with you underground,” Benny said. “I’m not forcing anyone to fly into an asteroid field. We’ll give them a choice. I’m not you.”
Elijah turned to face the boy.
“Take whatever you want from the Taj, get the McGuyvers to build anything you need. I won’t get in your way. But I’ve made my decision, and I stand by it. I’ll even upload all the files from my closed server. Get Pinky to show them to you. Take a good hard look at what we’re up against. Maybe that will change your mind.”
“We’ll make the meeting room our base,” Jasmine said. “That holodesk will come in handy. Ramona, if you’re interested, I could likely use your help sorting information.”
“Roger, roger,” Ramona said.
“I’ll talk to the McGuyvers about getting the lasers attached,” Hot Dog added. “Maybe they’ve got some other ideas, too.”
“Oh, yes,” Drue said. “If we’re souping up Space Runners, I want to watch. I’m coming with.”
Benny took a deep breath. “No. Stay out of the garage for now. I need you.”
“For what?”
“To help me break the news to the rest of the kids up here and see who’ll help us.”
“Uh, why me?” Drue asked. “That sounds like the worst job ever. Can’t we just get Pinky to do an announcement over the speakers?”
“Yeah, that’s a great idea,” Hot Dog said. “Hey, everyone, just wanted to let you know Earth’s going to be destroyed.”
“Drue, you talked Jasmine and me into stealing one of Elijah’s cars, like, just a few hours after we’d met you,” Benny said. “You’ve been telling everyone stories about the Chevelle for days. If anyone can sell this mission to the rest of the EW-SCABers, it’s you.”
“Oh, I see.” Drue grinned. “You need my charm. Why didn’t you say that in the first place?”
“We’re burning moonlight,” Hot Dog said. “Let’s go.”
As they started for the door, Elijah spoke up. “Pinky?” he asked.
“Elijah,” she replied, not trying to hide the disdain from her computerized voice.
“Would you be so kind as to release my Pit Crew from wherever it is you’re holding them?” He turned and looked at Benny and the others as he continued. “Make sure they understand they’re not to interfere with what this group is trying to do. We have a bigger priority. We need to prepare for full-scale evacuations to the underground city.”
Jasmine stepped toward Elijah. For a moment, Benny thought she’d had a change of heart. But then she reached up and pulled the necklace Elijah had given her out of her space suit. With one hard tug, the chain broke. She didn’t even look at Elijah as she set it on the table by the door and walked out.
24.
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At Benny’s request, Pinky made an announcement and gathered all the scholarship winners in the theater on the east end of the Taj where special performances were sometimes held. It was late in the day by this point, and the kids were on the edge of their seats, likely expecting to be addressed by Elijah West, or maybe some special guest flown up from Earth.
Instead, they were going to get news that would forever change them. This terrified Benny, who stood backstage with Drue trying not to hyperventilate. Pinky—a Pinky—stood next to him, her face buried in a HoloTek.
“Why do you even have that?” Benny asked. “It’s not real, right?”
“Would you prefer I stare blankly into space?”
“HoloTek it is.”
Drue peeked through a curtain on the side of the stage. “You can hardly see everyone with the lights.”
“Good. Pinky, will you blind me as much as possible?” Benny asked.
“Can do,” she said. On the stage, the lights got brighter.
“What’s the matter?” Drue asked.
Benny wasn’t sure if he was trying to be helpful or actually didn’t realize how intense this situation was about to get. “All those EW-SCABers have no idea we’re about to ruin their lives. Can you imagine how they’re gonna react? I probably wouldn’t believe what you’re about to say if I hadn’t been standing in an alien base just a few hours ago.”
“The least Elijah could’ve done was tell everyone himself,” Drue muttered.
“It’s better this way. If he were the one here, he’d spin the truth somehow. Everyone would follow him blindly. At least this way they’ll get both sides of what’s going on.”
“Why don’t you send out a hologram of Elijah? Use your voice-changer thing! You could command them to help us!”
Benny shook his head. “No. We’re not tricking anyone. We’re going to be honest with them, like he should have been with us.”
“Fine.” Drue grinned a little. “At least I’ll be a better speaker than that Max guy. Where is he anyway?”
Pinky let out a single laugh.
“Elijah informed Max of the situation and he immediately packed and headed for his Space Runner. He took off eighteen minutes ago. I’m not sure where he was headed. I tried to warn him about the possibility of stray asteroids, but he was very insistent. He even pulled out part of the SR comm system so I couldn’t interfere. Frankly, I didn’t know he was that smart.”
“Okay, so, one less person to worry about getting in our way I guess.”
“What about the others?” Benny asked.
“Ramona and Jasmine are currently strategizing with me in the meeting room. The McGuyvers appear to be on board with Hot Dog’s suggestions and are in the process of collecting as many laser drills as they can. The Pit Crew and Elijah are discussing evacuation procedures. Apart from that, all scholarship recipients are present and accounted for,” Pinky continued. “The floor is all yours.”
“Anyone throws something at me and I’m leaving,” Drue said as he straightened his posture.
The auditorium fell silent as he and Benny walked onto the stage. Then, a murmur of confusion spread through the crowd.
Drue stepped up to a tall silver podium. Benny loitered a few feet behind him, where he immediately began sweating under the lights.
“Fellow EW-SCABers,” Drue began. His voice was confident, booming over the speaker system. It was easy for Benny to see that Drue had grown up around politicians and people doing a lot of persuasive public speaking. “Sorry to drag you away from your activities, but we’ve got important info that couldn’t wait. Uh, let’s see, where do I even start? So, remember that Space Runner that got shot down during the asteroid storm?”
Many people in the audience called out that they did. Drue smiled.
“Okay, great. So, here’s the thing about that . . .”
Drue began to recount everything they’d discovered about the asteroids and aliens, but Benny couldn’t concentrate on his speech—he was thinking about his brothers, and trying to figure out what else he could do from the Taj. He was only half aware of how the rest of the kids were reacting, first with shock, then fear, and then finally laughter as Drue explained that they were going to stop the asteroid storm with lasers welded onto the front of Space Runners.
They thought it was a joke.
When he finished, Drue looked back at Benny, his smile strained and full of worry.
“Uh, we didn’t happen to bring any proof of what we’re talking about, did we?”
Benny shook his head, then called off to the wings.
“Can you help us out a bit?”
Pinky walked onstage. The laughter stopped and was replaced by whispering.
“You all know who I am,” she said, her voice coming through the speakers. “So you can trust me when I tell you that everything Drue Lincoln just told you is unfortunately true. Mostly. The part about him saving Ms. Wilkinson’s life was a bit exaggerated.”
A giant screen dropped behind them and began displaying all sorts of maps, figures, and statistics. There were photographs of the alien base that had been pulled from Drue’s HoloTek—and even some of the workshop before it was so dusty, which must have come from Elijah’s personal files.
The audience went quiet again. Drue cleared his throat and then continued.
“So, we have two options. We can hide underground and let the Earth be taken over by evil ETs, or we can fight back. Right now, we’re getting a bunch of Space Runners fitted with weapons. We can fly them up and destroy the oncoming asteroid storm. We can save the world!”
There was a moment of silence before pandemonium swept the auditorium as everyone started shouting.
“Where’s Elijah?” one of the Mustangs, Iyabo, asked. “Where’s Ricardo?”
“Can I call my mom?” someone else shouted.
“I don’t want to shoot down asteroids!”
“How do I get to the underground city?”
“I’m not letting a bunch of aliens kill my friends!”
The kids were all standing now, surging toward the front of the auditorium, filling the aisles. Many were crying. Drue was beginning to get irritated.
“Calm down,” he yelled into the microphone.
But it was no use. No one was listening to him anymore.
Benny could tell they were losing the crowd. He tried to think of how he could convince them that they had to stop this storm. Of what had kept him on the Moon and ready to fight.
“Pinky,” Benny said. “You have access to their application vids, right? Can you bring them up?”
The maps and photos behind them blinked away, and in a flash there were dozens of videos playing silently across the screen. The roar of the audience died a little as the kids stared up at their own images.
“What’s the deal?” Drue whispered with his hand over the mic.
Benny took a deep breath, swallowing down his fear and nervousness, and stepped up to the podium.
“Look,” he said, “I know this is scary. I’m scared. But we can’t forget that we’re supposed to be some of the smartest, bravest kids on the planet. And right now, we’re the only people standing between a giant asteroid storm and the destruction of Earth. There’s no shame if you want to join Elijah underground. I get it. Really, I do. Some of you may not care what happens to Earth. But before you make that decision, remember why you came here in the first place.”
Audio from the videos began to filter out of the speakers as Pinky highlighted various application vids. A girl in Hong Kong, surrounded by smog, vowed to make her country safer. Alexi helped build houses on a crowded beach. Iyabo flew a ramshackle first-generation Space Runner carrying an injured gorilla to safety in Cameroon. More and more videos played, the words and mantras of the EW-SCABers filling the room.
“I’m meant for something more than this.”
“I wanna make my country better.”
“We have to look out for each other.”
“I w
ant to push my brain as hard as I can.”
Finally, Benny’s own video was on the screen, and his words rang out for the auditorium to hear.
“I’m going to change the world.”
Everyone was quiet, then, waiting for Benny to say something else. But he couldn’t. He suddenly felt so small, standing in front of all those people who were asking questions he had no answers to.
Drue stepped up beside him, taking over.
“The asteroids will be hitting Earth in the next few days. We don’t have a lot of time. You need to decide where you stand and let Pinky know so she can tell you where to go and what to do. Either you hide underground with Elijah or you join us and our . . .”
He covered the microphone again and turned to Benny.
“Space army?” he asked. “EW-SCAB marines?”
Benny thought for a second.
“How about ‘Moon Platoon’?” he asked.
Drue grinned. “Yeah, I liked that one.” He turned back to the microphone. “Or join our Moon Platoon!”
They fielded questions from the room for as long as they could. To Benny’s surprise, a couple of the Mustangs immediately joined their ranks. Iyabo in particular reminded every kid around her that Benny was the one who’d led their team to victory against the holographic giant and the kid who’d driven out onto the Moon’s surface to rescue a lost comrade. Before long, Benny and Drue were both hoarse from talking. As they made their escape backstage, Benny took one last look out at the other kids, who’d begun to cluster into their four assigned groups, all trying to figure out what to do next. Multiple Pinkys stayed behind, answering any questions they could.
Benny didn’t like leaving them that way, but there was no more time to talk. There was still so much to do as the storm continued to approach.
By the time they got to the garage it was nearing midnight, and Benny was shocked to see not only Hot Dog and the McGuyvers standing around a gleaming silver Space Runner but Trevone as well.
Benny immediately tensed up.
“Uh, hey,” he said.
“Hey!” Hot Dog said. “So, these guys have managed to attach one of those lasers to the front of this Space Runner, but Elijah was right. It’ll have to be controlled manually.”