“Thanks,” Dash said to Chris.
“You can control the Cloud Cat from up here?” Gabriel asked.
“I can,” Chris replied.
STEAM walked up, pushing along another air chair.
“Good thing we have spares, yes sir,” the robot said.
Dash gently lowered Piper onto the floating chair.
Several ZRKs flew by them and headed into the launch bay to give the Cloud Cat a once-over.
Chris said, “When daylight returns, I will fly down to the planet’s surface to retrieve the tooth and the hovercraft.”
“Need any help?” Gabriel asked.
“No.”
“Good, because I’m not going down there again.”
“Again, congratulations to you all,” Chris said. “I will allow you to celebrate.”
He turned to walk off.
“Wait!” Piper called. “You’re part of this crew too.”
Chris wasn’t sure of how to respond.
“C’mon, man,” Dash said. “If not for you, we’d still be down there and it wouldn’t be pretty.”
“You wish for me to join in your celebration?” Chris asked, surprised.
“Geez, don’t make it sound so exciting,” Gabriel said.
“Of course we do,” Piper replied.
“Very well,” Chris said with the slightest of smiles. “Meet me in the dining area in an hour. I will prepare a surprise.”
Chris headed off for the tube.
“I’m not so sure I want any more of his surprises,” Gabriel said uneasily.
Carly took a step back from the group and gave them a quick once-over.
“You guys are a mess,” she said, half laughing.
“Yeah,” Gabriel said. “But we are bad.”
“Yeah we are!” Piper exclaimed with joy.
Gabriel added, “And we’ve got a steely-eyed commander who pulled this thing out, along with a very big tooth. Awesome, man. Just awesome.”
He held up his fist and Dash gratefully bumped knuckles.
“It was a team effort,” Dash said modestly.
An hour later, the crew entered the dining area and were surprised to see that the table was covered with a colorful spread of cookies, cakes, and pies.
“Wow!” Piper exclaimed. “He wasn’t kidding!”
Chris entered in a rush from the galley with his uniform covered in flour.
“This was all I could manage in an hour,” he said.
“How is this possible?” Gabriel asked, stunned.
Chris said, “I work fast…and most of it was ready-made.”
“So you’re a genius and a great cook?” Carly exclaimed.
Chris shrugged. “I am.”
Gabriel jumped into a seat, scanning the array of sweets. “If you cook stuff like this the rest of the trip, I just might forgive you for everything. That’s a big if, so don’t coast.”
Everyone took spots at the table and dug in, grabbing towering slices of chocolate cake and steaming-hot slices of blueberry pie. Even Rocket got a slice of cake. Chris joined them and ate a single piece of pie as he listened to the group relive the adventure on J-16.
“So what happens now?” Dash asked Chris.
“I will bring back a section of the tooth that Carly will put into the Element Fuser to break down into Rapident Powder…the first element of the Source.”
“Rapident Powder?” Dash asked. “How did you figure this all out?”
Chris paused before answering, as if he’d hoped the question hadn’t been asked.
“It came after years of experimentation.”
“Yeah, but pulverized Raptogon tooth?” Gabriel said skeptically. “How random is that?”
“And it is only the first of six elements,” Chris said, ignoring the line of questioning.
The crew fell silent. Reality had returned.
“Where do we go next?” Carly asked.
Chris wiped his mouth with a napkin and stood up.
“Enjoy today,” he said. “There will be plenty of time to worry about tomorrow. Good night, and once again, congratulations on a job well done.”
He left with Rocket padding after him as the others wished him a good night.
—
Early the next morning, while the crew slept, Chris entered the Cloud Cat along with several ZRKs. He expertly guided the craft out of the launch bay and flew straight for the surface of J-16. He landed the craft on the newly cut cliff. The sun was up and spreading its golden warmth over the landscape. When the hatch opened, the ZRKs quickly went to work. They ran power lines from the Cloud Cat to the hovercraft to charge its batteries. Others swarmed the damaged air chair. They pried it loose and flew it into the Cloud Cat.
As the ZRKs worked, Chris went right to the massive Raptogon tooth that lay in the grass. It was the size of a washing machine, with an added point on the business end. Chris pulled off the metal clamp and went to work with a small power saw. He first removed the bulk of the root from the sharp end of the tooth. He then sawed the root in half. The root is what was needed to create the Rapident Powder. Knowing he had more than enough in a piece that was the size of a classroom desk, he left the remaining half of the root on the bluff.
Once the root was stowed safely aboard the Cloud Cat, Chris left the shuttle again and hopped aboard the hovercraft. After the ZRKs disengaged the charging cables, Chris floated it into the rain forest.
He sped over fallen logs and twisted vines, slowing as he passed the cavern where Dash, Piper, and Gabriel hid from the charging Raptogon. He settled the hovercraft down inside a massive footprint that was left by the beast the night before. He looked at the deep indentation and shuddered. If that monster had hurt the kids, he never would have forgiven himself.
He had to force that image out of his head for he was on a mission. He walked boldly into another nearby cavern as if he knew exactly where he was going. He used the flashlight on his Mobile Tech Band to show him the way. He kicked past several rocks and what looked like bones from some dinosaur’s previous meal until he came to three bowling-ball-sized rocks arranged in a triangle. They looked as though they hadn’t been touched in decades, which gave him a sigh of relief.
He pushed the rocks away and dug with his hands in the soft dirt. Six inches below the surface, he struck metal. He dug even faster and moments later pulled out a metal container the size of a shoe box. He brushed off the dirt, clutched the box under his arm, and started back for the hovercraft. He retraced his route to the cliff, loaded the hovercraft to the Cloud Cat, and lifted off.
He was back on board the Cloud Leopard before the rest of the crew had even woken up…with a precious souvenir from J-16 that nobody knew existed…except for Chris.
—
“It’s kind of gross,” Piper said.
They watched with fascination as Carly maneuvered the tooth root inside the oven-like receptacle of the Element Fuser.
Nobody was watching with more intensity than Chris. He wanted no mistakes.
Carly followed her checklist, sealing off every valve and vent while setting the proper levels. There were ten adjustments in all. Each controlled a different aspect of the fusing process. It had to be perfect: temperature, pressure, moisture, air quality, and time, along with five others that Carly had no idea what they meant. The gauges were marked: Klipton, Argonization, Fendehn, Upper (and Lower) Emplifier, and Hission. She figured she had no idea how the process worked, so why question? All she did was follow the instructions and hope she was operating the machine correctly.
When all was set, she glanced to the others and said, “Here goes nothing.”
She hit the button marked ENGAGE, and the machine went to work. There was some clattering and sounds of scraping coming from behind the solid steel doors, but it was no more dramatic than any of the dry runs she had done.
“What exactly is it doing?” Dash asked Chris.
“It’s breaking the tooth down to its base elemental form,” Chris replie
d. “Those chemicals will eventually fuse with the other five elements we collect to create the Source.”
The process took five minutes. The machine shut down and the green COMPLETE light illuminated.
“You going to take it out?” Gabriel asked.
“No,” Carly replied. “It stays in the Element Fuser until the other five elements are added. But we can see what it looks like.”
They stepped to the first of the smaller doors with the glass front. Everyone peered inside. A silver container moved forward on a conveyer belt until it stopped in front of the window.
“That’s it?” Gabriel asked skeptically. “All that for a bowl of dust?”
“I guess so,” Carly said, pointing to Chris.
Chris wore a big satisfied smile. He stared at the container of powder as if it held the most valuable gems to be found anywhere in the universe.
“That’s it,” Chris said. “Now on to step number two.”
Twenty minutes later, the Alpha crew were strapped into their flight seats on the navigation deck. On the monitor was Chris, who was in his own flight seat in his quarters. Next to Chris was Rocket in a custom-made flight cage.
STEAM was attached to the rear wall of the navigation deck.
Gabriel had on his flight glasses.
“When we break out of orbit, we should be able to reconnect with Earth,” Chris explained. “Shawn will be anxious to hear if we have been successful.”
“Shawn?” Carly asked.
“Commander Phillips,” Chris replied.
“I think our families would like to know too,” Dash said.
“So where are we going, chief?” Gabriel said. “Time to give it up.”
“The coordinates have been entered,” Chris replied. “The next planet on our journey is called Meta Prime.”
“Wait,” Carly said. “I’ve heard that name before.”
“Me too,” Piper said. “It was that challenge at Base Ten with the robots and the machinery and the moving floor panels. Is that what we’re going to face on Meta Prime?”
“Yes” was Chris’s simple answer.
The crew exchanged anxious looks. This was not comforting news.
“I think I’d rather deal with dinosaurs,” Gabriel said.
“We are approaching the orbital escape window,” Chris announced.
Gabriel clicked back into pilot mode.
“Okay. Gamma drive is primed. Maximum booster load is pinned. We are ready to roll. Is everybody go?”
“Go.”
“Go.”
“Go.”
“Steamer?” Gabriel called out.
“Let’s go, yes sir!”
“All right! Brace for Gamma Speed in five…four…three…two…one…IGNITION.”
Next stop, Meta Prime.
The tropical world of J-16 shrank in the rearview mirror of the Cloud Leopard, having been only momentarily disturbed by a visit from alien beings. Other than a Raptogon with a missing tooth, everything had returned to normal.
Almost.
The steady whir that was the sound of flying ZRKs broke the stillness of the tropical jungle. A swarm of six ZRKs flew in formation toward the new edge of the cliff that Chris had created with the Cloud Cat. Resting on the grass were the remains of the Raptogon tooth. The ZRKs circled the remnant, settled on top, observing.
They flew back to a sleek white craft that was perched on the cliff edge. It was the same size as the Cloud Cat, with a pointed nose and a tripod pedestal. Two doors on the top hinged open and the ZRKs entered.
There was a moment of total silence, and then an older boy emerged from the ship and made his way toward the Raptogon tooth.
Within an hour, the boy had returned, the engine whined to life, and the craft lifted off. It floated out over the cliff, hung there a moment, then shot up to the sky.
Miles above the planet’s surface, another spaceship was in orbit. It was a white ship, not unlike the smaller cargo craft. It looked like a flying wedge that began with a sharp nose and flared out into a triangle. It was at least as large as the Cloud Leopard. The smaller craft approached the giant ship and entered through an air lock in the stern.
On the navigation deck, a deck remarkably similar to the Cloud Leopard’s, four flight seats faced the center monitor. On the monitor was the same gray-haired man who had been observing the competition at Base Ten from deep inside the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
“I see the tooth has been secured,” the man said. “It should be treated in the Element Fuser as quickly as possible. But first, you must be on your way. We don’t want the Cloud Leopard to get too far ahead. Have you locked onto its Gamma trail?”
“Piece of cake,” the pilot replied. “It’ll be like following a trail of bread crumbs, just like we did to get here.”
“Don’t follow too closely,” the man cautioned. “We don’t want them to know they’ve got company…not yet, anyway. Bon voyage, Light Blade.”
The monitor went dark.
The pilot of the ship known as the Light Blade scanned the control panel on his seat, which was an exact duplicate of the control panel on the Cloud Leopard.
“Okay. Gamma drive is primed,” he said, all business. “Maximum booster load is pinned. Time to fly. Is everybody go?”
“Go,” replied Siena Moretti.
“Go,” Niko Rodriguez said.
“Get us out of here,” Anna Turner barked from the commander’s seat. “I’m already sick of this place.”
“All right!” Ravi Chavan said as he slipped on his flight glasses. “The Omega crew is outta here in four…three…two…one…IGNITION.”
Anna gave a sly smile. “Here we come, Dash Conroy.”
D. J. MacHale is the author of the bestselling series Pendragon: Journal of an Adventure Through Time and Space, the spooky Morpheus Road trilogy, and the sci-fi thriller trilogy The SYLO Chronicles. In addition to his published works, he has written, directed, and produced numerous award-winning television series and movies for young people, including Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Flight 29 Down, and Tower of Terror. D.J. lives with his family in Southern California. Visit him online at djmachalebooks.com.
Deep in the heart of an ancient jungle, hundreds of light-years from Earth, an engine roared to life. Moments later, a sleek silver ship lifted from the ground. It shot up over the towering trees and sliced through the clouds, a spear of light. The jungle growled and chittered and screeched at the unnatural sight. Raptogons threw back their heads, bared their teeth, and shrieked at the sky. The ship rocketed up and up, a rising star that blazed sharp and bright…and then was gone.
In its wake, a blanket of silence dropped over the jungle. Only the quiet chirping of birds and buzzing of insects disturbed the stillness.
Until…footsteps.
A boy stepped out of his hiding place in the trees.
A boy who did not belong on this planet, any more than the crew of the silver ship had.
A boy with a ship of his own.
He was dressed all in black, with an omega symbol emblazoned on his right shoulder. He tilted his head to the sky, as if to make sure that the ship was really gone. That he was finally alone.
He had watched from the shadows as the three humans wrestled the gigantic Raptogon. He had half expected the hundred-and-fifty-foot lizard to swallow them whole.
That would have been just fine with him.
Instead, they’d done the impossible. They had yanked a tooth from the furious creature and escaped with their lives. They had taken part of it back to their ship, where they would crush it into powder. Rapident Powder was one of six elements that, when put together, would create a clean, self-sustaining source of power. It would save the Earth, which had almost no power left.
This crew risked everything to scour the universe for all six elements. The boy had watched them celebrate finding the first one.
Of course, they didn’t know he was there.
There was so much they didn’t know.
&
nbsp; Whereas he knew everything.
Dash Conroy, Piper Williams, Gabriel Parker—those were their names. Carly Diamond had guided their movements from their home ship, the Cloud Leopard. And, finally, there was the one named Chris, who they thought they could trust.
The Voyagers.
The Alpha team, they proudly called themselves. As if being first made them special.
The boy knew this about them, along with everything else that mattered. While they knew nothing about him—they didn’t even know he existed. Or that he had followed them.
If they had known, surely they wouldn’t have left part of the Raptogon tooth behind.
The boy padded across the mossy jungle floor and stooped to examine the remaining piece of tooth. It was the size of a door and streaked with dried Raptogon spit. He allowed himself a small smile. Yes, this would work just fine. He raised his left hand and pressed the touch screen that fitted across the back of his hand like a claw. In the distance, another engine powered up, responding to his signal. He waited impatiently for his transport shuttle to speed its way through the jungle toward him. He was eager to get back to his home ship—there was no time to waste. At any moment, the Cloud Leopard might shift into Gamma Speed. When it did, he would be right behind them.
The boy had been hiding, waiting, following for a long time.
He was tired of it.
Soon, he thought, it would be time to show himself. To show these Alphas who they were up against. It didn’t matter anymore if they knew he was following them. They couldn’t stop him. Because he knew something else they didn’t: even when you were following someone, you could still be one step ahead.
Dash Conroy studied the touch screen beside the portal, tracing his finger along the route he’d mapped out. Each symbol marked a different junction in the vast, tangled nest of tubes that wove through the ship. A single wrong move, and everything would be lost. He was the Alpha team leader, responsible for everything that happened on board the Cloud Leopard and this mission—he couldn’t afford to make mistakes.