All three of them were quiet for a moment. It felt to Benny as if the blue, glowing eye in Vala’s forehead was boring into him, and despite the fearsome mouth and inhuman proportions of the alien’s features, he almost felt like she was looking at him with respect.
It felt good.
The silence was broken by an alien call from the other side of the cavern. Vala stiffened up.
“I must go,” they said. “My people need me.”
“Yeah,” Benny said. “I should check in with my friends.”
Zee put his hands on his hips. “Good idea. I’ll help you out. Make sure the lasers are still working.”
“Your lessons, Zee,” the commander said.
“But—”
A tentacle whipped through the air, snapping in front of Zee’s face so quickly that were it not for the crack that echoed off the walls, Benny might not have noticed it at all.
Zee didn’t say anything, just groaned deeply and plodded away.
Benny bowed slightly to Vala. “Thanks for the info. I’ll try to keep it in mind.”
“Perhaps we will have a moment to test how well you can control rock in the future. To hone that,” Vala nodded to Benny’s glove. “Take care of the key. May it serve you well.”
“All of us,” Benny said. “Not just me.”
As Vala walked away, catching up to Zee in a few long strides, a tendril—maybe the same one that had whipped the air moments before—snaked down from her head and rubbed the kid’s back. One of the young alien’s four tentacles wrapped around Vala’s arm, squeezing it just for a moment.
Benny suddenly felt such an ache of longing for home, so far away from this cold cavern, this freezing lake. And he felt something else, like he had when he’d seen the hologram of the Alpha Maraudi back in his sleeping tube. The sinking reminder that the aliens had real lives and feelings. They had families and friends. They had people they cared about and wanted to protect.
Standing alone among the glowing stone, he felt as though two worlds were on his shoulders.
11.
On the long climb back up to the mother ship, worry again settled in Benny’s stomach: it felt as though everything now rested on a single meeting between the humans and the Alpha Maraudi. He decided to bring these concerns to Pinky, and found her on the bridge with Hot Dog, who was halfway through what looked like a big hunk of jerky.
“You should try this stuff,” she said, one of her cheeks bulging as she chewed. “I’ve had a lot of jerky in my day, and this is pretty good. Even if it is fake meat, I think.”
“I’ll get some later,” he said, stopping in front of the two of them. “How’re things in the hangar?”
“They’re going. I needed a breather. And some food. Protein’s important, Benny. Keeps your energy up.”
“You’ve been hanging out with Pinky too much. Next you’ll be reminding me to brush my teeth.”
She shrugged. “I’m not going to apologize for looking out for my friends.”
“Nor should you,” Pinky said, raising a single eyebrow while staring at Benny.
“Anyway,” Hot Dog said, “what about you? How are things downstairs?”
Benny took a long breath. “I’m kind of nervous about this meeting,” he admitted. “I mean, I’m glad we got it set up, but now that that part’s done . . . how’s it going to go?”
“You’re right to be anxious,” Pinky said. “In all likelihood, a gathering of this magnitude has never taken place before in our solar system.”
Benny frowned. “I know. But I wish you didn’t agree with me.”
Pinky shrugged. “It’s not technically against my programming to lie to you, but I don’t think it would be to anyone’s advantage if I did.”
“Thanks.” He sighed.
“Then let’s talk it out,” Hot Dog said. “That helps sometimes, right?”
“Sure,” Benny said.
“Okay, so, what are you worried about? Just things going smoothly?”
“Or what our next step will be if everything falls apart and they start fighting?” Pinky asked.
“Oh!” Hot Dog exclaimed. “You’re probably thinking about your family back on Earth, right?”
Benny just stared at them for a few seconds before nodding. “Uh, yeah,” he said. “All of that stuff.”
Hot Dog sucked in a breath through clenched teeth. “We’re . . . probably not helping.”
“Perhaps you’re thinking about things the wrong way,” the AI said.
“What do you mean?” Benny asked.
Pinky adjusted her glasses and looked at the ceiling far above them. “Maybe you should ask yourself if you’ve gone through every possible outcome in your head and what sorts of probabilities each outcome has of occurring, cross-referenced against what you hope to gain from the meeting.”
Benny blinked, trying to process what she was suggesting. “Yeah,” he said slowly. “I guess I could do that.”
“Hold on,” Hot Dog said, wrapping up the jerky and shoving it into her pocket. “I’ve got an easier way of looking at this maybe. Before I was super into flight sims, I was into fighting games.”
“Right,” Benny said. “I think you mentioned that when you were explaining how good you were at kicking alien butt.” He glanced over his shoulder at Griida, who sat at the controls. “Uh, no offense,” he murmured, but the Alpha Maraudi didn’t appear to care.
“Well, before that, I was super into role-playing games,” Hot Dog continued. “And I’m not talking about fluffy ‘oh, look at that cute little fairy’ ones. I mean, ‘take a wrong turn and you’re instantly dead and lose three hours of work and all your coin’ kinds of RPGs. I’m talking skeleton dragons breathing acid fire.”
“I’m afraid I don’t see the correlation,” Pinky said.
Hot Dog let out an exasperated breath. “I’m getting there. So, I’d be walking around as a totally powerful elf warrior or whatever, but I’d never know if the cave I was going into was going to have a bunch of free treasure in it or, like, a demon that would kill me with one shot. Or if the dwarf I was supposed to get an enchanted sword from was a friend or a foe who was going to sneak attack me. So, what did I do?”
Pinky and Benny both stared at her.
Hot Dog grinned. “Before I’d do anything, I’d ask myself ‘What’s the worst possible thing that could happen’ or ‘How could the thing inside that cave be trying to ruin everything I’ve worked for.’ Then I’d make sure I had the magic or potions or whatever to handle that.”
“So,” Benny said, furrowing his brow, “what you’re saying is we should make sure we have a bunch of healing potions in case someone gets hurt?”
“I’m saying that if we think about what the worst-case scenarios are, we can be equipped to deal with them before we get into trouble. Even if we don’t have magic potions.”
She nodded to the far side of the bridge and led Benny and Pinky to the see-through wall looking out onto the icy surface of Ganymede—far out of earshot of Griida, who remained at the controls.
Hot Dog’s voice was quiet when she spoke again. “Let’s look at this from both sides. First, what’s the worst thing the Alpha Maraudi could do?”
“Well, Vala and the others have all been pretty good to us so far.” Benny said.
Hot Dog shook her head. “Not what I asked.”
Benny stared out at the frozen moon. “I mean, they could try to kill all of us, but that’s not going to get them anywhere. It’s not like it would make a difference in the grand scheme of things.”
“You’re forgetting something important, though,” Pinky said. “What could the Alpha Maraudi gain from attacking the human forces?”
“Aside from getting their people back?” Hot Dog asked. “If Drue’s dad even brings them, that is.”
“Info,” Benny said, his ears pricking up. “About the superweapon!”
“Ahh!” Hot Dog half shouted. Then she covered her mouth and spoke through her fingers. “You’re right. We sh
ould think about what they’re afraid of! They could capture Drue’s dad or Dr. Bale and find out all about that electromagnetic bomb or whatever. They probably have all sorts of weird third-eye ways of interrogating humans.”
Benny’s lips twisted as he weighed this idea. “But if that were true, wouldn’t they have tried to do it to us?”
“Maybe they did,” Hot Dog said. “Maybe we just didn’t realize it.”
“You look doubtful, Benny,” Pinky said.
“It’s just . . .” He paused, thinking of the interaction he’d had with Vala downstairs in the cavern. How it had made him feel. But he knew he couldn’t let himself be swayed by that. So instead, he tried to look at things logically. “Vala doesn’t have the manpower—or alien power to pull something like that off right now, does she? Especially not if we’re all there in Space Runners and not Maraudi ships. There’s, like, only a dozen aliens here.”
“Yeah, but don’t forget that a dozen aliens could do some serious damage, even with our electro gloves,” Hot Dog said. “I know Vala’s taken a liking to you and all, but maybe don’t fall too much for the überchill alien commander. We don’t know her. Not really.”
Benny nodded.
“On the other hand,” Hot Dog continued, “I know what you mean. And this whole info thing can go both ways. Did you catch Drue’s dad talking about how Vala probably knew where all the mother ships were?”
“Oh, man. You’re right.” Benny shook his head. “If the New Apollo forces captured the commander, they could try to pump her for all sorts of info.”
“Strategically, the Alpha Maraudi are at a disadvantage given the terms,” Pinky said.
Benny bit his lip. For a second, he thought maybe they should call Jazz up to help talk things out. But of course, she and Trevone were working on another element of this interstellar problem. A backup if things did go poorly. Drue could have been there, too, offering up outlandish ideas on what to do. But, then, they were talking about his father. And the Pit Crew likely would only be concerned about how any of this would help them get Elijah back.
Everything suddenly felt very, very complicated.
“Okay, so we need to be prepared,” Benny said. “Whatever we can do. We could plant scout ships beforehand, so we have an idea of what to expect before we get there? Or send more of those rocks that relay info and video back?” He pointed to the hologram that showed the outside hull of the ship.
Pinky nodded. “I’ll discuss this with Griida and come up with a full report of capabilities.”
Benny glanced over at the alien manning the controls. “Is he being helpful?” he asked quietly, trying to get any sort of sense of how cooperative the rest of the alien crew had been so far.
“In his own way. I’m not sure if the grouchy tone is because he’s annoyed or just because he has to speak in another language. But, I’m learning.” She shouted a few alien words. Griida barked back.
“Whoa,” Hot Dog said. “That sounded just like them. What does it mean?”
Pinky shrugged. “I believe it’s how Griida refers to me, so I can only assume something like ‘friend.’”
“Yeeeaah,” Hot Dog said, drawing out the word. “I’m sure you’re right.”
Benny began to pace in little circles. “I feel like there’s something we’re missing.” He paused, turning to Pinky. “Let’s imagine the Earth forces tried to kidnap Vala. If you were you, but under Dr. Bale’s control again, how would you do it?” He set his jaw. “What would evil Pinky do?”
“I don’t particularly enjoy this line of thinking,” Pinky said. But then she smirked a little. “Let’s see. I’d suggest they bring weapons that didn’t have any metal elements so that your electromagnetic gloves would be useless, but on such short notice, they likely won’t have time to manufacture anything.”
“Well,” Benny said, “that’s good at least.”
“Score one for Elijah’s gloves!” Hot Dog said.
“Mmhmm,” the AI agreed. “But that’s likely the only good news. I would also suggest some sort of cloaked surprise attack—perhaps using Dr. Bale’s stealth shields.”
Benny nodded. “Another reason to figure out how they work.”
“Right. But most important, I’d figure out a way to take control of every Space Runner at that meeting. That would ensure that they retrieved not only the alien commander but the remaining EW-SCABers as well. They’d want you all back on Earth.” Pinky sighed.
“Crap,” Benny said. “We need to be ready for that.”
“Maybe Ash can help rewire them so it’s impossible for that to happen?” Hot Dog asked. “Is that a thing?”
“We can look into it,” Pinky said. “And we can have Ramona serve as a firewall. But I imagine that’s what they’ll try. And as ingenious as Ramona is, we don’t know what kind of tech gurus they may have with them in addition to Dr. Bale.”
“What about if Vala attempted something?” Hot Dog asked. “Like, taking out everyone in the hopes that it somehow keeps the superweapon from being launched?”
“We’ve got our gloves and the numbers,” Benny said. “If the aliens tried anything, we could stop them. I think Drue’s dad is who we need to keep an eye on. And Dr. Bale.”
“Ugggghhh,” Hot Dog groaned. “I really don’t want to put my money on the aliens being the good guys in this scenario, but . . .”
Pinky adjusted her glasses. “From what I’ve assessed and witnessed of the Alpha Maraudi and humanity—in particular Vala compared to Senator Lincoln and Dr. Bale—I think you’re on the right track.”
“This is so frustrating.” Benny groaned, shaking his head. “If something happens to Commander Vala at a meeting for peace talks that we set up, all our hope of getting the aliens to work with us goes out the airlock. There’s no way they’ll trust us again.” His heart was starting to thrum in his chest as he took a deep breath.
“Hey, hey, calm down, Benny Love,” the AI said. “I know you’re stressed out, but we can take this one step at a time.” She reached out and put an intangible hand on his shoulder. “If I had a body, I’d hug you right now.”
“Thanks,” he murmured. It was so easy for him to forget sometimes that Pinky was nothing more than an artificial intelligence. They relied on her so much, and even though she could walk through walls or appear out of nowhere—at least, at the Taj—she felt like a real person. In fact, if Benny had walked onto the bridge without knowing any better, he would have sworn that she was actually alive.
And that’s when a spark went off in his brain.
“Uh, oh,” Pinky said. “I recognize that look. Elijah used to get it right before he proposed something he knew I would think was ridiculous.”
“What is it?” Hot Dog asked.
“Just thinking of a way we might be able to stay one step ahead of the Earth forces,” Benny said. He turned to Pinky, then held his arms out at his sides and shrugged, giving her an apologetic smile. “Um . . . how mad would you be if we needed to take away your body again?”
12.
Senator Lincoln got back to them early the next morning. Slightly more familiar by then with the Alpha Maraudi technology, Pinky was able to use the big hologram on the bridge to take the call once everyone had raced there from their sleeping tubes. The senator was in a Space Runner, already closing in on the asteroid belt that lay between Mars and Jupiter. He was on the line for less than a minute, allowing them no chance to negotiate or ask questions: he and the envoy from Earth would be arriving on Io within a few hours.
“Not exactly giving us a lot of time to get ready,” Hot Dog said as she pulled her fingers through her hair, trying to work out a few tangles.
“Good thing we did all the heavy work yesterday,” Drue said.
“Heavy work? You spent most of your time buffing the exterior of the Star Runner you claimed.”
“And a Space Runner,” Drue said with a grin. “Don’t you forget that the shiniest ones are mine.”
Benny, his friends, a
nd the Pit Crew had all gathered on the bridge. Vala was there, too, along with Zee, who had been trailing the commander when the call came in. Now, all of them were abuzz. The meeting was happening. They just had to make sure everything went off without a hitch.
“We’ve got to wake everyone up and get them to the hangar,” Benny said. The other kids had already been briefed on what was going on. Though many of them—especially Iyabo—were less than thrilled when they heard it was possible the human forces might try to take them back to Earth, they seemed to understand that their presence was necessary. Plus, it meant they got to get out of the mother ship and fly around in open space, which everyone seemed excited about.
“We should get to Io before the Earth forces show up,” Trevone said. “It’ll give us time to assess the terrain ourselves.”
“Good idea,” Benny said. “But we don’t need the EW-SCABers landing on the surface. We can keep them in Space Runners floating above the moon. That way it’ll be easier for them to get out of there if they need to.”
“I want to be on the ground,” Ricardo said.
“I have some thoughts about formation strategy,” Jasmine said, pulling out her HoloTek. “Just something I’ve been thinking about while we worked downstairs.”
“Your brain is so freaky, Jazz,” Drue said. “I’m actually jealous.”
After presenting her ideas and a brief discussion, they agreed that it would be best to have as few people on Io’s surface as possible in the event that something went wrong. Vala, Benny, Drue, and Ricardo would talk with the senator and whoever else was with him. Hot Dog and Kira would pilot Star Runners, ready to swoop in and rescue the ground team if necessary. Meanwhile, Jasmine, Ramona, and Trevone would stay in the sky with the rest of the refugees from the Taj, combatting any technical interference and keeping an eye on radars and maps along with Pinky. Everyone had a role to play, and in that sense, at least, it felt like they had many of their bases covered.
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