by R. J. Ross
“We made it, Thelma,” he says. “We’re alive.” He stops, though, as he hears the sound of guns being cocked. He looks up and sees the barrels of several guns aimed at them. “For now, that is,” he finishes, getting to his feet slowly and lifting his hands.
***
“This ship is AMAZING!” I say a few minutes later, pressing my hand to the panel. I almost jerk away as I feel the strong response. Tiny flowers burst out of the walls, and there’s a strange little cooing sound that comes from the speakers.
“Awww, she likes you!” Skye says. “She didn’t do any of that for Mommy or me!”
“She has been very lonely under the ice, Solnyshko, but we do not want her overgrowing or going out of control,” Grandma says as I close my eyes. “You can keep that from happening!”
I nod as an image of me appears in my mind, and then it changes to a picture of the gigantic Petleaf ball on the ground, with a questioning sound accompanying it.
“That’s right, beautiful, I need your help with that,” I say, grinning. I blink as a hole in the wall opens and Adanna comes in a second later.
“I had to climb the Petleaf to get up here,” she says, looking irritated. “You disappeared for a bit, there, are you okay? It didn’t eat you, did it? You’ve got all your parts, still, right?”
I give her a grin, but I know I look tired. “All fingers and toes accounted for,” I say, absently patting the panel. “Meet our new pet, Adanna. I haven’t named her yet, though.”
“Where?” she asks, looking around.
“The ship,” I say. “She’s going to help me haul that Petleaf into space so it can be a planet… or at least a moon, I guess. It’s still too small to qualify as a real planet.”
“So you made a space ship your pet?” she asks.
“It’s a gift from Grandma and Grandpa!” I say, cheerfully. “But it’s a bit big to take for walkies, huh?”
“I said he should learn to drive a car, so he brings home a space ship,” she says, pressing a hand to her forehead as she talks to herself. “I’m pretty sure you can’t get a license for that.”
“We are supers, it is not needful!” Grandma says cheerfully.
“Okay, beautiful, do you have some sort of towing capacity?” I ask the ship. A button appears under my hand. “I take that as a yes. Is everything ready, out there?” I ask Adanna.
“Some of the capes around the states are still fighting the Petleaves,” she says, leaning against the wall and jumping a bit as she’s pulled down into a chair. “Does this thing grow?” she asks, looking around.
“It has grown a bit since our last trip, yes,” Grandma says. “It is now no longer the sitting on one another’s laps. That is a bit disappointing, of course.”
I don’t ask. A lot of the time it’s better not to, with Grandma. “And why should their fighting stop us?” I ask.
“Shouldn’t we add the other Petleaves to the planet?” Adanna says.
“Oh… that might be smart,” I say, hesitating. The ship rocks and I stumble, my hand pressing the button accidentally. “What did you do that for?” I ask the ship as a light flashes. I see an image of a light beam hitting the Petleaf on the wall. The Petleaf begins to float.
“Maybe it was turbulence?” Adanna offers.
“She did it on purpose,” I say, shaking my head. “Well, we’ll just take the other Petleaves up when we get the rest of Clay’s core,” I say with a sigh. “But you’re totally going to be disciplined for this, ship,” I say to the ship. “You can’t go doing whatever you want, understand? That’s why I’m shipping all of these Petleaves off into space, now.”
“He’s lecturing a space ship,” Adanna says to Skye, looking amused.
“I want to see how he disciplines it!” she says. “We have to ground Chooperic from the internet, all the time.”
“Does Chooperic misbehave?” Adanna asks. “Robo is always pushing the boundaries. Actually, Mama said something about getting the two together sometime, since they’re sort of related.”
“A play date! Yes!” Skye says.
“Are you doing anything this weekend?” Pan asks over the commlink. “We would love to have you all over for a barbecue.”
“Um, we’re about to head into space now,” I say. “Do you think we could talk about barbecues after we’re back?”
“Ah, right, of course,” Pan says. “I expect you home soon, then?”
“Dunno,” I say, “but we’ll try.” I look at the three. “Should we strap in?”
“Oh, yes, it is a good idea,” Grandma says. Chairs come out of the walls behind those not sitting, and we’re strapped in quickly. “Now, shall we?”
“Ship? Take us into outer space,” I say. “We need a good place to put a moon.”
The ship shoots into the air, fast enough to take my breath away.
“This is awesome!” Skye says excitedly. The ships stops, abruptly, and the only thing that keeps me from floating is the belt over my chest. “Wait, why are we stopping here?” Skye asks.
I reach back, touching the ship. An image of the moon appears in my mind. “Wait, no… I mean, yeah, I guess we have room for another moon, but…”
“That works for me,” I hear Clay say over the speaker. “I’ll fall into Earth’s gravity and start orbiting it as a second moon until I’m large enough to orbit the sun. We’ve got enough space debris that I should get larger in no time.”
“Dad? Do you hear me?” I ask, touching my commlink. “The ship thinks we should leave him orbiting Earth.”
“It’ll work, for now. We haven’t even talked to the Hall about this, yet,” he says. “If they want him back, it’ll be a quick trip. Besides, if he tries to come back on his own, the Petleaf should burn up in the atmosphere.”
“Got it,” I say. “Position it and let it go, okay?” I say to the ship. A second later I see the planet float past my window. “Bye, Clay. We’ll try and bring the rest of you soon,” I say to him.
“And don’t you dare keep bugging me!” Skye says, making a face out the window. “Home, space ship! We’ve got a barbecue to plan!” she orders, pointing a finger in the air, only to pause and point down, instead.
“This is amazing,” Adanna says, looking out the window. Before she can say anything else, the ship drops down as fast as it went up, heading back to Earth. We land with a thud and I let out a sigh of relief.
“Now… we just need to put this where the norms can’t stare at it,” I say as the strap comes up and I get to my feet. “We’re going to need you… um… what should we name her?”
“Don’t look at me, my newest brother is called ‘Robo,’” Adanna says. “He has a real, proper name! It’s Akoni Nathanial Panterus, but does anyone call him that? Of course they don’t. Cubby is just the same, but that’s traditional.”
“How about Princess Glitter Shine?” Skye offers.
“She’s not glittery,” I say. “We’ll call her Flora,” I decide.
“Sunshine, we’ve got a group of people that want to speak with you,” Dad says over the commlink. “I suggest you come out, now.”
“I don’t really feel up to giving interviews,” I say with a yawn.
“This is more of an… explanation, son,” Century says. I groan, stepping out the door and coming face to face with all five Hall leaders. I feel something strange happening in the ship, but when I glance backwards, all I get is a view of Grandma’s bright pink sweater.
Oh well, it can wait until later, I guess.
***
I’m sitting in the Central Hall, right now, listening to the Hall leaders argue about what should happen to Clay. They’re letting me off remarkably easy, but that’s because Dad’s showing pictures of the dead land that the Pet Kong thing left behind. I’m half asleep, but I keep glancing at the wall, where feeds of various supers fighting the remaining Petleaves are playing. It’s not that hard, since Grandpa and Grandma are using my spaceship to take them all that freezing foam stuff. I think they plan o
n gathering all the remaining plants and shipping them out to the new planet.
It stops as Mom shows up, all alone, facing the biggest of the small ones with her hands on her hips. I wake up, watching with interest as she steps forward and the Petleaf cowers before rolling onto its “back” and showing its “belly.” I scoff, shaking my head with disappointment in myself. “Of course it works that way for her,” I say, with reluctant amusement.
“Works what?” Isotonic asks, looking over at me. He’s been the quietest this meeting, since he was up north, so I think he’s bored.
“Mom,” I say, pointing at the screen where she’s patting the Petleaf’s head. “It rolled over for her. They kept trying to eat me.”
“Tell me… Sunshine, was it? Why did you decide to use Clay like that?” he asks me. The rest of the room goes quiet, looking at me.
“Well…” I say, thinking about it. “See, the reason Clay even snuck out of the Cape Cells was because we dropped the ball on getting Richard Penski tossed into prison, too. He still feels attached to Aunt Skye, and he wanted to do that for her. So… see, I figure that even though he’s a bad guy, he’s not… completely… a bad guy? I mean, he did poison Carla, didn’t he, so I guess he is a pretty bad guy, after all, but…” I frown, trying to work it out in my head. “He’s just going to keep getting bigger, right? I don’t think we can strip his powers, either, since he’s a planet, he’s not a super. And I needed someone that could control that thing, and hey, he was already there. He WAS controlling it, somewhat. I bet if we send the rest of him out there, he’ll control it with no problem.”
“I’ve been told that you have a spaceship,” Negatia says. “Do you?”
“Uh huh,” I say. “I’ve wanted a pet for a while, but my last attempt blew up on me… literally.”
“Then you can be his jailer,” she says.
“Wait, what?”
“We would need to go out on a regular basis to make sure he isn’t causing havoc in outer space. The Cosmic Fleet would not be happy about it. You have a convenient way to deal with it,” she says.
“I agree,” Mastermental says. “All in favor?” He looks around as each of the Hall leaders and even my dad nod in agreement. “It is best to have a Superior to guard creatures such as Clay.”
“Well, yeah, but I’m not… that’s… isn’t Zoe a better choice as a Superior?” I say, trying to get out of it.
“Zoe beat the spaceship up, last time,” Dad points out. “They don’t see eye to eye. Besides, you’re every bit the Superior that she is, kid. You’re just lazier than she is.”
“And since that is settled, we need to discuss the state of the legal issue,” Mastermental says.
“I thought they were trying to pay us off,” Century says.
“Oh, they are,” Mastermental says, “but that is hardly good enough. I want the entire world to see exactly how much of a… bigger man our Sunshine is. So, Sunny, would you be willing to do something for us?”
I look at him, I see an expression of wicked amusement on his face that reminds me SO much of Max that I can’t help but grin. “Sounds fun,” I say. “What do I need to do?”
***
“I am truly honored to be the one interviewing you, Sunshine,” Prisma says, giving me a brilliant smile as she leans against the armrest nearest me. “I’ve been following your new career closely. You’re the hero of the day, you know!”
“Ah, well, um… I don’t actually plan on being a hero,” I admit, glancing at the camera. I’m wearing the green uniform that Kim made me. It’s a new, formal, version, since she dragged me into her workroom before I came here and kitted me out. “I’m actually planning on country hopping, to help with all the rain forests and jungles around the world.”
“With your spaceship?” she asks.
“It’ll make it faster than going by plane? But it’s not very discreet… I’d have to ask the Hall to talk to their Halls, and all that… do the people overseas even HAVE Halls?” I ask, blankly.
“They have their own setups, but I’m sure our leaders can work things out easily enough,” she says. “But, of course, other than discussing your amazing fight against the plant monster—we have video of that, don’t we?” she asks. A video, straight from Dad’s drones, starts playing on the wall behind us. “So amazing,” she says with a brilliant smile. “Was it difficult?”
“Ah… yeah,” I admit. “It kept trying to eat me, since I guess I taste a little like a plant to it? I’m not sure, but Mom didn’t have that problem,” I complain. She laughs. “I guess Mom’s got more experience,” I admit.
“I’ve heard that you and your mother have been visiting the sites that were affected by the Petleaves,” she says. “Does that include the tunnel created by this monster?”
“Ah, for that one we’ve had a lot of help from contract workers,” I admit. “They’re bringing in dirt and alluvial soil from across the country to try and recover the nutrients. Once they’re finished, me and… Gargoyle Girl, I believe she’s called, now? We’re going to go in and adjust the PH balance. We want it to be the proper level for the area and plants that grow best there.”
“Amazing,” she says. “You truly are an exemplary super.” I blush, scratching the back of my head as I try to come up with a response.
“Dad says I’m just lazy,” I say, getting him in trouble.
“He didn’t!” she says, although there’s amusement in her “offended” tone.
“Well, I DID learn to fly in my sleep,” I admit. The audience starts laughing. I look over, since a portion of them are friends and family. “I’ve gotten better since then, but Voltdrain was helping me a little, and every time I fell, he would just sort of herd me in a direction so I would grow plants below me.”
“I wish I could have seen that,” she says, laughing. “But I’m also here to talk about something a bit more serious. Before all of this happened, you had a bad encounter with someone?”
“Ah… yeah,” I say, looking down. “It wasn’t fun.”
“Can you tell us about it?” she asks, gently.
“Well, me and my classmates from Cape High went to the Hall for a field trip, of sorts,” I start out. “We were going to get uniforms for the wedding, you know? Since Mom and Dad were finally getting married, and we were all invited. The problem was that we weren’t the only school there.” I launch into the story, telling her all about the bonsai trees, and how old they were, and then about how I got into a bit of an argument with a norm, who wouldn’t leave us alone.
“We have a short video of what happened,” she says to the camera, “unedited, save for a few things to protect identities, and we’d like to show it to you, now.” A video starts playing of my interaction with that Jeff guy, coming to a stop after Aubrey heals his arm. “Is there anything you’d like to say to this teen?” she asks me.
“Yeah,” I say. “Yeah, I’d like to say a few things, really.”
“Well, we’ve brought him today. Can we have Jeff come out, now?” she asks. We turn, watching the teen come out with a frown on his face. His mother is with him, pushing him forward whenever he pauses and looks at the audience. I stand, and he cringes, like I’m going to hit him.
“Ah, wait,” I say, turning and heading to the back part of the stage. I pick up a pot and bring it with me. He stares at it with a surly expression.
“What?” he demands.
“This is the last bit of the juniper tree that I had to replace. It got eaten by one of the rampaging Petleaves,” I say. There’s just a clipping planted there, so I reach into the moist dirt, and urge it, gently. Soon there’s a bonsai growing. “I know it’s not one of the older ones,” I admit as I hold it out to him. “But it’s still pretty, don’t you think?”
He stares at it. “What’s it for?” he asks.
“I want to apologize,” I say. “I honestly never meant to hurt you. I wish things had gone differently.”
“Oh, it’s beautiful,” Jeff’s mother says, soundi
ng awed. “You say it was eaten?”
“Yeah, I think they had that one on the local news,” I admit. “It was somewhere in Arizona.”
“Jeff,” she says, nudging him. “What do you say?”
“He broke my arm! He’s a super, and they’re all just pretending to be nice before they take over the world!” he says, angrily. “And they just put this together to make him look good! He probably didn’t even really fight that grass monster! He’s a sham!”
I hand the bonsai to his mother. “Here,” I say, “Since he doesn’t want it, you can have it.” I want to deck the guy so much that my hands clench at my sides as I take a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“Thank you,” she says before turning to her son to prompt him, “Jeff.”
“He’s just pretending to be a nice guy!” he says. “Can no one see them for what they really are? The Anti-Super-Society has it right! They’re all monsters! He’s a monster, and he’s just PRETENDING to be a nice guy, right now, so I look like the villain!”
I run a hand over my face, letting out a sigh as I dig into my pocket. I hold out my hand and a vine shoots out, wrapping around him in my favorite move. Of course, this time I don’t send him flying or leave him hanging upside down like I did the muggers. Once I’m certain he can’t get free, I take to the air, floating in front of him. His mother looks like she’s about to faint, but I ignore it. This isn’t hurting him, I made sure to be careful of that.
“There we go, now I’m the one that looks like the villain. Will you listen to me, this way?” I say as he starts to squirm. “I value life, ALL life, even the lives of people that hate me and my friends and family, like you do. I don’t WANT to take over the country, or even the school I go to. I just want to sleep in the sun and make plants grow. You’d be shocked to find out how much supers just want to live their lives peacefully. But we continue to deal with people that hate us, merely because we’re different. Well, you’re different from me, but I don’t hate you because of it.”
