Chapter 42: More Goodbyes
The next night, Nick was still sitting in the rollercoaster's cart with Cindy and Jimmy. They were both sleeping soundly, along with the majority of other kids on the three rockets. He braced his feet against the wall opposite him and glanced down at Jimmy's watch. Thirty-four hours since we left that planet. Can't be long now.
Nick was far too anxious to sleep. He had spent the better part of last night trying to succumb to unconsciousness, but had given up somewhere around midnight. He simply sat in his seat, continually ejecting and reinserting his pistol's fully loaded magazine.
"Nick, Jimmy, Cindy? Anyone in rollercoaster cart five reading me?" Betty asked.
Nick placed his gun back down on the seat and held his headset's microphone to his mouth. "Nick here. What's up, Betty?"
Betty pressed a few buttons on her dashboard and stared ahead of her. "I'm closing in on the mother ship, Nick. Got here a few minutes earlier than expected. Libby, if you're listening, can you give me an ETA?"
"Reading you loud and clear Pilot Two," Libby immediately answered. She got up off of her seat and strolled over to Carl's computer. He was monitoring the rocket's positions. She saw that the three rocket ships were indeed closing in on the Yolkians. "Give me a minute to process the data."
"Already on it!" Mike's voice shouted out from the other end of the lab. "ETA is nineteen minutes, plus or minus two. You guys better gear up!" He told Nick and Betty.
Nick nodded on his end. "Betty, Ike, Brittany, slow down the rockets. I want at least half an hour before we reach that mother ship. I've got to wake Jimmy and Cindy."
There was a short pause as all of the rockets noticeably slowed down. "Roger that, speed cut in half," Betty told Nick.
Ike tossed his nearly burnt up cigarette onto the floor of the rollercoaster's piloting cart and took a sip of the only soda he had managed to salvage from Little Boy. "General Dean, Ike here. Wake up the suicide team and get them ready. I'm landing on that mother ship in thirty minutes."
Nick was taking the cap off his, Cindy's, and Jimmy's water bottle. He took a small sip and splashed a few drops onto his face. He ran a hand through his disheveled hair and shook his head wildly, sending drops of water onto the sleeping Jimmy and Cindy. "Understood, Ike. Waking them up now."
Nick screwed the water bottle shut and rubbed his palms together. "Hope you two had a good night's sleep," he said while pausing over the sleeping Cindy and Jimmy. A hint of sadness crept into his voice. "Don't make it your last, alright?"
Cindy's long gone fantasy suddenly came true as she woke up to see Nick kneeling over her. "Wake up, sleeping beauty," he jokingly told her while gently shaking her shoulders. As she slowly opened her eyes, he shook her harder.
"Ugh," was all she moaned while rubbing her aching back. Three people sleeping in a single roller coaster cart hadn't exactly been five star accommodations.
"Scrambled eggs for breakfast," Nick told her while moving onto the task of waking up Jimmy. He turned back to Cindy and gave her a slight smile. "But you've got to kill them first."
Cindy felt around the floor for her pistol and pulled the slide back, making sure a round was chambered. "No problem," she said with an evil grin. At long last, her years of karate training were about to pay off.
As Cindy prepped her gun, Nick grabbed the half-dead Jimmy's hand and hoisted him up. "What time is it?" Jimmy mumbled while yanking his hand out of Nick's.
"Six o'clock in the evening," the general answered, "but does that really matter out in space?"
"Good evening," Cindy sweetly said as Jimmy eyed her. He gave a curt nod in response.
"Ike's dropping you two off in less than half an hour," Nick instructed them. "So get packing."
Good advice, Jimmy amusedly thought, but there's not too much to pack. He made sure his tattered clothes were on, holstered his pistol, and grabbed a piece of the alien fruit from sitting on the top of Nick's supply bag.
Jimmy tapped his headset's microphone and heard a hissing sound. Satisfied that it was working, he checked in with his pilot. "Ike, you reading me?"
"Loud and clear, chief," came the quick response. "Did General Dean fill you in?"
"He gave me the gist," Jimmy answered.
"Sleep well?" the pilot asked.
"Best hotel room since I stayed at the Hilton," he sarcastically muttered.
Ike let out a small smile, his first in many days. "I'm guessing you didn't just call to catch up on your correspondence. What do you need?"
"Ike, I need to give you the instructions on how to drop Cindy and me off. Listen carefully, take if down if you need to."
Ike pressed a few buttons on the rocket's dashboard. "Computer's recording your instructions. Shoot."
"Ike, I need you to fly the ship as slowly and stealthily as you can up to the mother ship. Then, cut acceleration and float above the ship. Turn the entire ship upside down and descend as close as you can get to the mother ship. I'll open the protective glass visor encasing this particular cart and Cindy and I will drop down onto the rocket."
"Roger that, instructions received. ETA is twenty minutes. I'll perform the operation then," Ike answered.
"Excellent. Neutron out," Jimmy said while sitting back down on his seat.
Nick stared at Jimmy for a minute. "Something wrong?" Jimmy finally asked.
"Well, um," Nick began, "I hate to nitpick, but wouldn't your plan mean that I'll fall onto the mother ship with you two?"
Cindy was standing in the corner of the cart, which was only a foot or two away. She was twisting her hair into a ponytail, listening to Jimmy's plan. She suddenly stopped adjusting her hair and turned around to face Jimmy and Nick.
Jimmy shook his head no. "Nick, you're going to have to find something to grab onto in this ship and hang on. The visor will only be open for a second. Ike will close it, and you can let go."
Nick hesitated, then nodded. "Sure. Good thing I've been working out," he mumbled while turning around and discreetly flexing one of his muscles.
Cindy snickered as she resumed fixing her hair. She then took a seat next to Jimmy and tried to think of what to talk about for their last few minutes before descending into the bowels of their enemy's ship. For once, she found nothing to say.
Neither could the two boys. Nick, Cindy, and Jimmy spent the next fifteen minutes in silence, the only sound coming from the steady smack! of Nick slamming his ejected magazine back into his Glock .22. The minutes quietly flew by, ticking away their last moments together. Just as the silence was about to drive Jimmy mad, Ike's voice interrupted their thoughts.
"We're about a minute away from the ship. Any last minute instructions?"
"Just close the glass screen once we've exited the cart for Nick. That's about it."
"Roger that," Ike responded. A few more seconds of silence passed, and the three children inside the cart looked through the transparent protective screen. The Yolkian mother ship seemed to be slowly gliding past them as Ike flew past it. It suddenly disappeared as Ike pulled above the ship and floated several dozen meters above it.
"The other ships are on their way to Ergo," Ike told Jimmy. "I'm above the ship. Want me to flip 'er over?"
Cindy was about to give her pilot the go ahead, but Jimmy lashed his right hand out in a signal for her to stay quiet.
"Not yet, Ike. Stay like this for another minute. Wait until I give you the order to roll over."
"Understood," Ike said while leaning back in his seat, keeping both of his hands steadily clasped onto the controls.
"Nick," Jimmy began, "there's one more thing that I have to go over about this plan. I've been debating about whether to talk about it, for it's rather…" he stopped speaking, struggling to find the right word. "It's rather…morbid," he finally finished.
"What is it?" Nick questioned.
Jimmy rubbed the back of his neck and cleared his throat. "If Cindy and I are captured, then you are to invade the Yolkian ship. We've already go
ne over that. You and your squad will have the element of surprise. But that advantage will not last forever. Obviously, the Yolkians will know that you are onboard soon enough. Once they realize that there was another part of the rescue team, they will use Cindy and myself as hostages."
Cindy and Nick both stared at Jimmy, more puzzled than anything. "What do you mean?" Nick asked.
Jimmy sadly continued. "I mean, Goobot will let you know that he has Cindy and myself under his control. He will use us as a bargaining chip. He'll do something like say that he'll kill Cindy and me unless you and your squad surrender."
"Oh," Nick dejectedly said. Things are not looking good for Jimmy.
Jimmy noticed Nick break his gaze and stare down at the floor. "General, listen to me," Jimmy sternly said as angrily as he could muster. It was extremely important that Nick listen to Jimmy's final order. Nick jumped a little at Jimmy's harsh tone, but immediately looked up and met his gaze.
"This is the most important order that I have ever given you," Jimmy solemnly explained. "I want you to obey it no matter what. Are you listening?" Nick nodded. "Good. No matter what Goobot or the Yolkians threaten to do to us, no matter what they do to us, you must not surrender. You must not give in to save Cindy and myself."
Nick stared at Jimmy. "I understand."
Jimmy immediately shook his head. "This isn't like in the movies, Nick. Don't surrender. In the movies, you would give up despite my orders. And then, due to some incredible strategizing, bravery, and teamwork, you would save Cindy and myself. But this isn't a movie. If you give up, they will kill all of us and our parents. There would be no way for you to save us. So, no matter what they threaten to do to the two of us, push on and leave us behind. Do you understand?" Jimmy asked. "Soldier?" he finished.
Nick stared admiringly at Cindy and Jimmy. Cindy had been intently listening to every word that Jimmy had just said, and showed no signs of disagreeing with him. In front of him stood two kids who were prepared to give anything for everyone else. "Understand, chief."
Jimmy nodded and gave a small, sad smile. "Good. Thank you."
The two boys stood in front of each other, Cindy once again watching and observing them. "Good luck, Jimmy," Nick said while extending his hand.
Jimmy grabbed Nick's outstretched palm and shook it. "Good luck, Nick."
Unbeknownst to them, they were still speaking into their headsets. The control team back on Earth and the soldiers in space were listening to this final exchange. Those who didn't have headsets were sharing the headphones with those who did. The bravery that Jimmy and Cindy were exhibiting bashed their fears and gave them hope. Surely people this brave, this pure, couldn't fail. And they would all do anything they could to help them.
Nick and Jimmy both smiled as they let go of each other's hands. Nick looked to Cindy, who seemed to be watching from the sidelines. "Good luck, valedictorian."
Cindy also smiled and shook Nick's hand. "Good luck, general."
The three kids stared at each other once more in silence. Jimmy finally looked away and wiped a tear from his eye. Damn goodbyes. Damn stupid goodbyes. Jimmy turned back around once his eyes were dry and cleared his throat. "Ike, roll this bastard over and let's get this party started."
"Damn right I will," Ike angrily answered while maneuvering the ship. His heart was filled with a new, intense hatred of the Yolkians. Sons of bitches. Making my friends form suicide teams, sacrificing their lives for the greater good, all of that crap. Let's see how you like it.
Everyone in the rocket who wasn't strapped down to their seats was flung onto the glass ceiling, which now became their floor. Nick grabbed onto the metal bar that kept the rollercoaster's riders into place as Cindy and Jimmy looked through the glass beneath them. The Yolkian ship was slowly coming up to meet them as Ike descended.
Jimmy was about to open the glass screen when Libby's voice swam through everyone's headsets. "Jimmy, Cindy," she tried to say, but ended up having to swallow several times before she could continue. "I…we…all of us will make sure everyone else knows about what you two did. Knows the sacrifice you made. If you don't…you know."
Cindy smiled at her best friend's words. She looked to Jimmy, and he nodded. "We know," she told Libby. "Thanks."
"We'll share that shake someday," Jimmy wretchedly told her. Libby sniffled and nodded at his words. Jimmy popped open the screen, and he and Cindy fell the seven feet down onto the rocket below.
As soon as they exited the ship, Ike closed the partition. Nick immediately pulled up his legs so that they wouldn't get caught as it closed. He let go of the steel bar and strapped himself into his seat. "Give 'em hell, you two."