by Jeff Miller
Silence filled the air lock again as the group let this new information sink in.
“Listen, I know I messed up before by not telling you guys I didn’t play that game, but what have we got to lose?” Neil said to his crew. “I say we do what we can and try to find that ship. If we go back to Earth, it’s the same as giving up.”
“I propose a vote,” said Riley. “For his courage and skill, we once again raise the name of young Andertol to commandant.”
“Huh?” asked Jason 1.
“Commander Andertol is what he’s saying,” clarified Jason 2. “And I agree. Finch put Neil in charge; now we should, too. Who’s in?”
Jason 2 raised his hand, followed by Sam, Harris, and Biggs.
“I can’t raise a hand ’cause I think it’s wedged in somebody’s armpit, but I’m in,” said Jason 1.
“Same,” said Corinne and JP simultaneously.
“I’m with you, Neil. That’s a majority of eleven votes,” Dale said.
Trevor was the only person without a raised hand.
“All right, Commander Andertol. Show us what you got,” said Harris. “And sorry about earlier. Let me owe you one.”
“We hereby reinstate Commander Andertol,” Trevor said.
Neil looked at him, surprised by such a quick vote of confidence, but grateful for friends ready to stand by him.
“Thanks, guys,” Neil said. “I won’t let you down. I promise.”
Everyone scrambled to their seats, and Neil took his original position up front. He fastened himself in with a firm click.
“Where would we even go? In case you guys haven’t noticed, space is freaking huge,” said Waffles.
“Mars,” Sam whispered coolly.
“What was that?” asked Harris from the seat behind her.
“Mars,” she replied. “Their parents were on the first manned mission to Mars. They were supposed to set up a laboratory and return after a month, but NASA lost contact with them.”
“That seems to be a trend with these missions,” added Harris.
“I remember seeing the satellite image of their lab on Mars,” Sam said. “It got wiped out in a massive dust storm. There’s no way they survived. No way.”
“Plus it would take months to get there,” said Corinne. “Let’s not forget how far away Mars really is.”
Leave it to things like logic to really throw a wrench in a plan. Corinne’s point was valid, though. NASA had given the Minors a year just to get there, and Neil was certain his crew didn’t have enough clean space underwear for such a commitment.
“Well, we owe it to those astronauts to make sure the same thing doesn’t happen to their kids. And if Finch said that ship is our only hope, then we have to find a way to get it,” said Neil, aiming the nose of the craft toward Mars. “And don’t worry; I can get us there in no time.”
Without warning, Neil threw the ship into warp speed. The astronauts lurched backward in their seats and felt the pressure of g forces once again press down on their bodies.
“Learned some new tricks, have we?” asked JP.
“This next one’s my favorite,” Neil said, flipping four switches that looked like napping monkeys. The warp drive began drawing all the reserve power from the ship’s remaining systems. It wasn’t the double-warp drive that Lars had used, but he’d said it was the next best thing.
From below, Boris clanged on the pipes and gave a few yelps.
“Hang tight, Boris!”
It felt like a giant boot kicked the back of the ship as it effortlessly sliced through the vacuum of the galaxy. Neil stayed firm with his controls and kept the ship pointed toward the glowing red dot broadcast on radar. It crept closer and closer, and after only fifteen minutes at double-warp speed, the planet grew from the size of a pin to a big beach ball.
The Fossil flew closer to the red planet, nearly exhausting all its fuel. But a familiar beeping noise started up once again, gaining intensity. The Newt was close. And this time it wasn’t the fake radar beacon for a Canadian maritime province’s nudist colony.
“You can’t lose them again, Andertol!” shouted Trevor. Neil maintained his speed but gently guided the ship right, locking in on the blinking dot ahead.
The Whiptail approached Mars suddenly, and Neil disengaged the double-warp drive. It felt like seven sumo wrestlers finally got up from sitting on Neil’s chest. As the ship floated just outside of the planet’s atmosphere, Neil looked down at the surface below. It was filled with craters and pointy rock formations, and it looked a lot like the “before” picture for an industrial-strength acne cream commercial.
Neil realized the vast difference in planets. While the view down to Earth showcased the delicate life it contained, Mars was like a red snow globe of nastiness. Swirls of dark storms and space dust clouded the tinier planet.
“The radar’s showing they’re on the surface,” JP said, diagnosing the computer screens laid out in front of him. “I can set us on a trajectory to their location, but visibility could be limited on the way in.”
“What are we waiting for, cowboy? Let’s do this!” shouted Waffles. “Operation Mars Nosedive!”
On JP’s signal, Neil angled the craft toward Mars below. The nose of the ship sank down, and Neil could feel the controls begin to rumble. As their speed increased, the shaking grew more violent, jostling their helmets.
Neil did his best to hang on tight to the controls as debris and clouds enveloped the shuttle. He focused on the blue flashes of lightning and the sound of rocks pelting the Whiptail.
“Almost there,” said JP. Suddenly the craft broke into clearer skies, dropping beneath the layer of storm clouds. The ground, however, was much closer than expected.
“Whoa!” yelled Neil as he jerked back on the ship’s controls. They began decreasing speed but were still traveling too fast.
“Deploying emergency landing gears,” said Trevor, serving as copilot.
But with an explosion of space dust, the craft slammed into the red planet. The Fossil skidded to a halt, and Neil let out a grunt from the force. The beeping was now a mixture of the radar and the ship’s emergency warnings. He looked to the left and saw the stolen ship.
It was covered in a fine rust-colored dust, but it didn’t seem to be damaged, thankfully. The Newt looked ten times bigger than the chimp ship, and one hundred times more modern. Its angles were more contoured, and the barrels of the rear rockets fanned farther.
“Everybody okay?” Neil asked to his team.
Eleven groans confirmed they were.
As a group, the astronauts sprinted to their air lock, shuffling into their EVA suits while getting used to the gravity on Mars. Everyone made sure to pull down the shiny sun shield attached to his or her helmet.
Swinging the air lock door open to Mars, the group stormed out into the unknown.
Neil looked back at the Fossil to see that its left wing bent at an entirely new angle.
Neil and company trudged over craggy terrain to find the Newt’s air lock door, still shut tight.
“It’s smashin’ time!” shouted Waffles through his headset. He searched for a huge rock, ready to force his way inside, but the door’s circular metal handle suddenly twisted and swung open.
“Please, don’t hurt us!” shouted a voice. Stepping into the spooky light of Mars came two kids in space suits.
The Minors.
“YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT. ANYTHING YOU talk about can and will be brought up later in conversation,” hollered Biggs at the space bandits as Dale and Waffles tied them up. While it wasn’t exactly a by-the-book arrest, pretty much everyone got the gist of it.
The boy and girl were silent with fear, or the need to go to the bathroom . . . Neil had a tough time deciphering the two. Either way, they didn’t struggle.
“Please, we can explain,” the girl said, her hair in a long blond ponytail. She had a nose that pointed up and big round ears that stuck out from her head. “My name is Kip. And this is my brot
her, Edmond.”
She pointed to her brother, who had the rigid stance and thick neck of an athlete or soldier. Neil wondered if his nose had been broken.
“Weird names,” said the person named after breakfast food.
“We’re named after famous astronauts,” Edmond said.
“Actually, it’s great to see you,” Kip confessed. “We need your help. We’re not exactly sure how to fly this thing.”
“Obviously,” said JP.
“And did you guys really hack all of NASA’s system?” asked an intrigued Harris.
“Yeah. That was the fun part,” said Edmond, his voice deep like a linebacker’s.
“We’re just looking for our parents,” said Kip.
“Clint and Elle Minor,” Sam replied.
“Yeah,” the boy said. “What . . . what are all of you doing up here?”
They were probably expecting a squad of elite pilots and astronauts.
“It doesn’t matter who we are; what matters is that we’re taking that ship and you criminals back to Earth,” Trevor barked at the two strangers.
Neil was impressed by Trevor’s consistency. Friend or enemy, he was a jerk to all.
“Please,” the girl begged. “We know our parents are alive. They contacted us just last week.”
“What do you mean?” Neil asked, frowning. The Minors had been missing for months. “I hate to say it, but I saw the memorial for your parents before we left.”
“Oh, yeah,” Kip said. “We’ve seen a few of those. Dad never looks good with a bronze face.”
“Some people might think there’s no chance they’ve survived, but we know our parents,” said Edmond.
“So what are you doing?” Harris said. “You’ve stolen a spaceship. You think you’ll just go and find your parents somewhere on Mars? Not to be a party pooper, but nobody survives out in space that long.”
“Nobody but our parents. I know it sounds crazy,” Edmond said. “I was watching TV last week and the channel cut out. At first it was just that static, but then, underneath it, I realized I could hear my parents’ voices. They were asking me to come rescue them!”
“It’s true,” Kip said. “They’re out here somewhere, and they figured out a way to radio home!”
But didn’t NASA confirm they were lost? Weren’t they considered dead a long time ago?
“Please,” Edmond added. “We only want to look around here on Mars. Just help us, and then if they’re not here, you can take us and the spaceship back home. I’m sure there’s some reward you can claim.”
The nerds circled together to discuss, placing their arms over one another’s shoulders like a football team.
“Dudes, I think we head back. We get in that ship that probably doesn’t smell like a barnyard and let NASA deal with everything else,” said Biggs. “If an asteroid is coming, Finch can use the Newt for whatever he was going to use it for. Plus if I don’t water one of my cactus plants in twelve hours, it’s gonna die.”
He had a point, or at least a half point. The best thing for all of them to do now was probably head home and gather around loved ones, such as games like Chameleon and the newest edition of Unsupervised Science Experiment. Families, too.
“I think we’ve got to try and help them,” said Neil. “What if it were your parents who went missing up here?”
There was a moment of silence. It was clear the group agreed with Neil.
Slowly they walked back to the Minor twins.
“You’ve got a deal,” said Neil. “But we only have one hour. If we don’t find anything, we have to start on the trip back home.”
Kip and Edmond smiled, and for the second time since leaving Earth, the crew grew in size.
DUST SWIRLED AROUND THE CREW MEMBERS AS THEY wandered out into the desert of Mars. Their suits were quickly coated in red dirt.
“This is where they should be,” said Kip. “We found the coordinates from this photo.”
Kip held out the satellite image of her parents’ lab to Neil.
There’s no way anybody survived this.
He studied the photo of the ruined lab and dropped it to stare at the actual site in front of him. It looked even more uninhabitable than the picture promised. Sharp scraps of futuristic metal and lab supplies littered the ground, glinting in the murky sunlight.
“Let’s fan out,” said Neil. “Everybody start looking for clues or something. We can cover more ground this way. If their parents are alive, we have to find them.”
Starting from the rubble of their parents’ shelter, Kip and Edmond began frantically shouting the names of the lost astronauts. Neil knew this was all probably wishful thinking,
“No way!” yelled Dale and Waffles. Neil’s heart began to race, hoping the brothers had discovered something.
The gravity was more substantial than on the moon, leaving less hang time for major jumps or potential food tosses. Neil tried to remember what Lars had said about hobbling about in low gravity.
Run like a pony or something? Lars was unlike anyone Neil had ever met, for better or for worse. Despite trying to capture him and his crew, Lars was still just a kid looking for some buddies. Having gone by the name Neanderthal for at least half of middle school, Neil knew the prickly sting of isolation.
Neil approached a small ridge and saw Waffles and Dale in an exploration rover.
It was huge, with eight all-terrain tires. One wheel was punctured, and piles of dust gathered around the vehicle.
Harris came over and nudged the machine with his foot. “We can fix that flat in no time.”
The group propped up the vehicle on rocks and swapped out the faulty wheel with the spare on the back. In what seemed like seconds, they had successfully hot-wired millions of dollars in specialized NASA equipment. More miraculously, it started. The battery still worked! Waffles steered it off the ridge, landing with a crunch.
“Just like back home!” Waffles yelled.
“Well, don’t break it,” said Dale. “We’ll drive this puppy around and keep searching. Can cover way more ground this way.”
“We’ve got to be quick, guys. We’ve basically got twenty-two hours until Q-94 makes contact,” Neil said.
It was Sunday afternoon, and they’d need to double-warp drive the whole way back to Earth if they wanted to get the Newt back in time.
“Commander, an interesting development over here,” said JP through his helmet’s radio. “I think you’ll want to see this.”
Neil made his way to JP and stood next to him. So far, they’d barely covered much ground.
“Do you see these tracks?” JP asked, directing Neil’s eyes to three flat lines pressed into the ground.
“What about them? Probably just the rover taking rock samples before it died,” Neil said.
“That’s what I thought, but the measurements between them are identical to the landing gear for our Whiptail,” JP said. “The depth of these tracks into this top crust shows me it was a heavy craft. A Whiptail not flying but driving that way.”
Neil could see the deep grooves, and he agreed it had to be the tracks of a Whiptail, or something similar. His eyes followed the ruts as far as possible, but they continued toward a mountain that looked a mile away and was barely visible.
“Well, looks like we’re taking a road trip,” Neil said.
WAFFLES STEERED THROUGH THE MARS COUNTRYSIDE AND arrived at the base of the large mountain. The tracks in the ground continued upward.
“Got something on the starboard side,” said Corinne. Neil turned his glance the same way to see a giant roaming cloud in the distance. It was a dense mix of rock and dust, so thick Neil couldn’t see through it. It looked the size of seven tornadoes combined.
“Dust storm,” shouted JP. “We need to find cover!”
The storm was headed straight toward them, already pelting the group with hail and rocks.
“Should we turn back?” asked Waffles, unsure.
“I don’t think we have time!” answered
Neil. He scanned the mountain. “See that little group of rocks? Let’s try heading there.”
Waffles steered the rover toward a pile of boulders, which looked a bit different than the remainder of the Martian landscape, but not by much.
Neil could feel the wind getting stronger as it pushed against his chest. The sun began to slip away behind clouds of dust, and Neil turned on the lights attached to his backpack. They were useless, like his family car’s high beams in a snowstorm.
“Something’s moving!” shouted Corinne.
Neil turned to see a hatch opening from the ground, its exterior camouflaged. Two shadowy figures crept out.
“The aliens have finally come for us!” Biggs shouted. “If they start interrogating us, nobody tell them that pizza is a thing, okay?”
The two figures that approached wore similar outfits.
“Come with us!” shouted a man’s voice through his helmet, his face hidden by a sun shield. He held out a hand in Biggs’s direction. “You can trust us!”
As visibility went down to nothing, Biggs took hold. He reached back and grabbed on tightly to Corinne, who did the same for her nearest neighbor.
“Nobody let go! Follow me!” Biggs said.
The group formed a chain and cautiously followed Biggs into the hatch. Neil could hear pieces of rock collide with his helmet, and he grew worried as bigger sounds meant larger pieces.
Am I going to die with Martian mole people?
As Neil stepped down, an electronic lantern illuminated the small shelter. It was some kind of temporary structure, its walls covered with mathematic equations. The two people in grubby suits slid back their reflective sun shields.
“Mom!”
“Dad!”
“Kids!”
Kip and Edmond screamed in joy at the sight of the familiar faces. A year in space had left the astronauts looking untamed. Mr. Minor looked like a starved seventh-grade science teacher. He wore a bushy salt-and-pepper mustache that connected to a patchy beard. His wife’s curly blond hair was pulled back in an unruly ponytail. Her hair took up the lower third of her helmet, like straw spread out on a floor.
