by R. J. Ross
Zoe does NOT look happy. In fact, a tremble of fear races through Kaden and he doesn’t even know why—but this time he willingly jumps off the ship. “SHE’S GONNA BLOW!” he bellows at Flame. “RUN!”
“The ship?” Flame asks.
“No! ZOE!” he yells as he hits the ground running.
“What?”
A powerful burst of light explodes from the ship, rushing out in all directions.
***
“YOU KIDNAP ME, YOU ATTACK MY FRIENDS,” I bellow, totally losing it. The ship is shuddering like a whipped puppy after I let loose my rage. The plant has semi-protected the technology parts, but I still did a lot of damage, and I know it. It staggers, hitting the ground, but I feel no regret. “YOU COULD HAVE KILLED KADEN! HE CAN’T FLY YOU STUPID—STUPID SHIP! AND VINNY! YOU TOOK OUT HIS FLAMES!” I shove off the now limp seatbelt, getting to my feet so I can yell at it properly. “I told you, I didn’t want to go to space! I was going to fix you, so YOU could go, but I’m NOT GOING WITH YOU!” I yell, kicking a hole through the wall and climbing out.
I grab the thick green vines on the bottom of the ship, starting to spin. I’m going to toss the thing off the planet—it deserves it! It goes up, swinging through the air like a slingshot—
“Zoe! Please do not!” I hear someone say. I look up blankly as Voltdrain drops to the ground with Cisco in his arms. He puts the boy down as I slow and drop the ship to the ground. Wait—I’m not on the ground.
I look down, seeing a good ten feet between my feet and the ground. “Oh, hey, I’m flying,” I say, completely distracted. I drop like a rock, barely landing on my feet.
“What is that?” Voltdrain asks me, making me look over as he approaches the ship. “I have not seen such a thing before.”
“It’s a space ship,” I hear Vinny say from a distance. I look over, seeing our team leader lying on the ground, covered in this nasty green fluid. He looks rather disturbed, I notice as he sits up. But he doesn’t look hurt. “This is disgusting,” he says, trying to wipe the fluid off. “Your space ship peed on me, Zoe.”
“I don’t think it’s pee, exactly,” I say, feeling guilty. I glance over as the wreckage of the house shifts again and Rochester shoves free. Now I feel even MORE guilty, I think as he dusts himself off and heads to us. Cisco runs to him, throwing his arms around his waist.
“You’re alive!” Cisco says.
“Like that’d kill me,” Rochester says, patting him on the head before heading for the ship. For a second I think he’s going to attack it, but all he does is place a hand on the side. He pulls away a second later, turning to motion to me. “C’mere, would you?” he says.
I hesitate for all of a second before walking over. To my surprise he lifts one long fingered hand, pressing it to my forehead. His other hand goes to the ship.
The world shifts dramatically.
***
We’re standing in a strange plant nursery, of sorts. I look around, and then over at Rochester, who’s just floating a few feet over the seed ships that cover the ground as far as the eye can see. Each one has a wall enclosure around it, sort of like a seed tray on Earth, but far larger. I look down. I’m not touching the floor either—and I’m pretty sure that the seed ship beneath me is the one that Rochester had just been touching seconds before.
I look around, expecting people. There should be caretakers or workers here, right? But as far as the eye can see, there’s nothing but the ships. They’re starting to outgrow their little enclosures. “They should be moved,” Rochester says, motioning down. “That’s what it says—the ship knows it should be moved to a bigger spot, so it can grow. I… ain’t sure why a ship would need to grow, though,” he admits, looking confused.
“They’re alive,” I say, walking forward, my eyes on the ships below us. “I’m not sure what it is they’re made of, but—” The ships start reacting all of a sudden, shivering in anticipation as someone finally approaches us. It’s a female, I think as I turn to see her stumbling towards the field. She’s grasping her side, and she almost falls on her face for a moment. She has long silver hair that’s being tugged into her face by the wind, and eyes that remind me of— "Kaleidoscope eyes,” I hear myself say as I see the colors change in the light. Mother.
“Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds?” Rochester asks.
“What?” I ask blankly.
“The girl with kaleidoscope eyes—it’s a famous line from a Beatles song,” he explains, giving me a look that says clearly it’s MY education that’s lacking now. “Don’t you know your classics?”
“I’m not really a Beatles fan,” I admit, wondering why I feel guilty. My attention goes to the woman, who’s making her way over the seed ships, cursing as she tests one after another.
“Dead… dead… Too small to fly…” she says to herself, crawling over one after the other. “Have to—” she falls, turning and looking into the air. “Get away—” she whispers to herself.
I look in the direction she’s looking, but see nothing. She’s reached the ship beneath me by now, and I see it open at her touch. She falls inside and the green material closes again. I jerk as I feel electricity pulse from the direction she’d been looking—just as abruptly as I’d felt it, it dies. For some reason that sensation shocks me. It makes my heart hurt.
“Come on,” Rochester says, grabbing me. “The memories are movin’.”
Next thing I know, we’re standing inside the ship, where the silver haired woman is unconscious and strapped to the wall. I look at the walls, and then reach out, touching them. “Destination: nearest living Lerrestian,” I say. “Lerrestian?”
“Well… it might be a planet, but it sounds like a person,” Rochestersays, looking out the window curiously. “This thing really books it, huh?”
“A person… or a race,” I say, bringing up as much information as I can. “The planet we just left—it was Lerrestia,” I say. “She’s looking for another of her kind.” I look at him, shocked by just what that means. “That means—everyone on the planet is dead.”
“Except her.”
“And someone here--if she's got the same powers as Grandpa, like Dad thinks, maybe it's him?" I say.
“Looks like whatever it was that killed them did a bit of damage to her, too,” Rochester says, motioning to her. “Somethin’ musta wiped them all out. Hate to meet whatever that was,” he says, almost too casually. “But this is Superior’s home planet, right? I bet it was some sort of civil war.”
“A civil war that wipes out the entire race?” I ask, terrified by the very idea.
The ship jerks, slamming through some sort of barrier. I glance out the window, watching as the same green fluid that hit Vinny coats the outside. The ship is going through the atmosphere, I realize as I look closely. We’re landing on Earth. It had been so fast—or fast forwarded somehow. Either way, the woman strapped to the wall starts to wake. She looks confused at first, but quickly adapts and looks through us out the window.
The ship crashes to Earth, skidding for miles before stopping, and the woman shrugs off her belt and crosses the tiny ship floor, stepping through a hole that opens automatically. I only barely see another woman standing outside. She’s beautiful, with long golden brown hair and a uniform of white and gold. She reminds me of someone…
“Zoe,” I hear Dad say.
“Time to go back,” Rochester says. I feel his hand lift from my forehead and suddenly I’m back in the present.
“Dad?” I say, looking up to the right, where Dad is standing next to Voltdrain. “When did you get here?”
He hauls me into a hug.
***
So they’re surrounded by people, Nico thinks, picking his daughter off the ground in a bear hug, he doesn’t care. Whatever just happened with the bleach blonde guy made her cry. He hasn’t seen his daughter cry but once or twice in the time he’s known her, he thinks. This time it obviously isn’t over a boy or her mom, so—
“I’m fine,” she protests, s
quirming slightly in his hold. “What’s wrong?”
“You were crying,” Kaden says. “Didn’t you notice?”
She goes still, and then pulls away enough to wipe her face with her sleeve. “Oh,” she says. “Dad, we found a ship from Grandpa’s home planet,” she tells him. “I sort of um, damaged it more…” she turns, looking at the green, pulsating egg thing with a slight frown. “I think it’s how that ‘Mother’ lady got here.”
He looks at it, and she can actually see him bringing up the ship computer. He scans it thoughtfully, searching through information that has only started making sense to her in the past year. “This is… fascinating,” he admits, moving closer. He puts her down, touching the ship with one hand.
“Be careful—it kidnapped me already,” I warn him, only to feel like an idiot the second it comes out of my mouth. “I guess that won’t happen with you, huh?” I ask sheepishly.
“Not with that massive hole you kicked in it, it won’t,” he says.
“Your daughter flew for the first time, as well, Señor Nico,” Voltdrain says with pride.
“She did?” Nico asks, glancing up. “Her mother’s going to kill me for not having it recorded,” he complains, looking at his daughter.
“Sorry,” she says guiltily. “I didn’t realize I was doing it at first.”
“What had you flying?”
“I um…” the bright red cheeks makes his grin turn wicked. “I sort of… um… got angry at the ship,” she admits sheepishly. “So I was going to toss it off the planet?”
“She had that sucker spinning, too,” Vinny says. “You should have seen Kaden, he was running away like the house was on fire.”
“Well, she’s sort of scary when she’s mad,” Kaden admits openly. “And she shot out this huge wave of electricity—”
“Oh crap!” Zoe says, racing away to the building that was only half finished. “I killed them!” she wails. “Dad? Can you help me?”
Nico looks at the ship, noting the tendrils that have already sunk into the ground. “Voltdrain, I’m taking this with me,” he says to the other hero. “You can have Century take it up with Double M later.”
“Sí, but I will not let him argue much. I do not want it in my area, thank you,” Voltdrain says, looking at the ship. “It is… disturbing.”
“Yeah, it sort of is,” Nico admits before heading to his daughter. “What did you kill this time?” he asks.
“Um… everything?” she offers, shooting him the biggest green eyes he’s seen since he talked with her mother last.
“Then we’d better get started,” he says, smiling slightly.
“That one needs a new carburetor, while we’re at it!”
***
“Dad?” Cisco says, making Rochester look up. “What do we do about her?” he asks, motioning to the silent old woman sitting near the wreckage of her home. “It’s… sad.”
Rochester hesitates before dropping a hand on Cisco’s shoulder. “Wait here.”
“Can you help her?”
“Yeah,” he says before walking over to Amelia and crouching down in front of her. “Mrs. Feldkin,” he says, holding out a hand. “The ship will leave—you ain’t got a reason t’be here anymore.”
She looks up at him, her bright gold eyes clear and focused. Slowly she nods, looking down at her shaking hands again. “The ghost,” she whispers. “The ghost—”
“We have a mental healer,” Technico says from where he’s rebuilding one of the excavating machines. “We can bring her to her. Who are you, anyway?”
“He is a new South Hall member,” Voltdrain says. Rochester turns, looking over at him. “I will have you added to the docket soon, Senor Rochester. I can think of many things you will be able to help with.”
“Um—but doesn’t Century gotta—”
“I am qualified to say who can be in our Hall,” Voltdrain says with a hint of modesty. “It is not something I take advantage of, but I have a little authority.”
“Well—actually,” Rochester says, looking around before heading into the rubble of the fallen house, “we don’t need a healer,” he says, coming out a few moments later with a white uniform. It’s tattered and faded, with tattered looking feathered wings hanging from the back. He takes it over to Amelia, crouching down again in front of her and pressing his hand to her forehead.
“Now,” he says, smiling slightly, “time t’remember bein' an Angel.”
***
We’re standing in Century’s office. The ship’s been crated and taken away in a large truck heading to Central Hall, where it’ll wait for Dad to decide what to do with it—or Grandpa. There will be a very interesting conversation when we get back. But right now, Dad is trying to negotiate without Mastermental.
I’m not sure this is a smart idea.
“I told you that I would help you with your school—even though it’s my daughter’s inheritance I’m building up in Central,” Dad says, as if he’s making a grand sacrifice by letting Cape High South exist, “she has it in her heart to take over the school, and I’m the last person that’ll stand in her way—”
“You’ll still have your school,” Century says, looking over at me.
“But it won’t be impressive without ALL the cape kids coming to us,” Dad says. I dare to shoot him a look. We all know where he stands on this—the fewer kids he has to train, the better, if you ask him. “We’re making a huge sacrifice here. That’s why it’s only understandable that you give me Rochester, here, for my staff!” he finishes, dropping a hand on Rochester’s shoulder.
“Wait, what?” Rochester asks, shocked.
“No,” Century says simply.
“No?” Dad repeats. “Why not?”
“Because your leader is a psychic type. We don’t have any. Rochester is EXACTLY what I’ve been looking for.”
“He’d still be South Branch—officially,” Dad says. “We’d just have him up during the week—”
“I can’t fly,” Rochester says.
“You can’t fly,” Dad repeats, looking at him. After a second he pulls out his phone, doing EXACTLY what I did, and scanning him.
“His psychic abilities are really, really good,” I provide. “Besides, we can hook him up with a plane or something, right?”
“No,” Century says, giving me a dry look. “How about this,” he says, putting the folder he’s been looking at down. “You can have him as part of the staff—but it’ll be the staff of Cape High South.”
“What?” we all ask, even Rochester.
“Mastermental was right about you making the best training plans,” Century says. “Why do you think I was having you—or your daughter—set up the computer? I fully expect you to connect the two schools so you can oversee the procedures from Central. We’ll provide the staff and the hands-on work, you—both of you, I suppose, will be the ones outlining the training procedures.” He looks at me. “And when you’ve graduated, you’re welcome to come down and work here until your father’s worked off his debt to super society. We will, of course, give you both dual Hall memberships—which will let you come down south whenever you want.”
“I don’t remember agreeing to that,” Dad says.
“Mastermental did.” He leans back in his chair, grinning smugly. “Think of just how big a legacy you’ll be leaving your daughter, Technico. Not just one school, but two. And if the other leaders have any brains, possibly more.”
“I can’t be a teacher,” Rochester says, “I don’t got no high school degree.”
Dad looks at him. “We can deal with that. I've got a G.E.D. program set up, already. But that wasn’t what I wanted you for, anyway,” he says.
“Huh?” Rochester asks.
“I have a mental healer that needs a bit of training, but I also need to find out exactly where Senator Herold comes from--and why he’s doing what he’s doing. He covers his digital tracks really well, from what I've found. But the sort of stuff you can find isn't so easily hidden,” Dad says.
“Well if THAT’S what you want him for,” Century says, “I’ll give them both to you for the time it takes to finish the new school, for a small favor concerning my personal company.”
“I’ll do it,” Dad says, shaking Century’s hand. He hesitates, looking over my team with a thoughtful expression. His eyes stop on me.
“I want to help,” I say, stepping forward. “I can help find out about Herold better than anyone.”
“I can’t risk it,” Nico says. “I don’t want him learning about you, or your brother.”
“Dad, when we looked into the ship’s past, I felt someone die. When I felt it—it was like losing a family member. I think—I think there might have been technopaths that lived on Grandpa’s planet, just like us. That means that if Herold IS a technopath like you think he is—”
“Then we're right to think that he’s Mother’s actual son, huh?” Dad finishes for me. “We’ll argue whether you go on the mission later—right now we need to see your grandpa,” he says a bit reluctantly. “Boys, I’m going to send down Emily to take Zoe’s place, since her mission got cut off early, any problems with that?”
“No, sir,” Vinny says. “Can I get a shower?” he asks Century. I laugh as I realize he still has a green goo coating.
“Of course, son. The black suits will lead you to a locker room, if you ask them.”
I look at Century as Vinny walks away. “You’re offering us a lot of trust, you know,” I have to point out. “Do you think that’s smart?”
“Honey, Jimmi can’t shut up about you and Aubrey and the others,” Century says. “She’s very impressed.”
“Sí, with our powers we understand what you are doing,” Voltdrain says.
I’ve hardly talked with Jimmi, I think, feeling a bit stunned. She just fell in with the zoo kids so quickly that I felt a bit awkward… “She is?” I ask, feeling shy.
“She insists that we can trust you both, and from what I’ve seen of your school’s students, I have no reason to doubt it,” Century says, looking at Dad pointedly. “It’s not your past that matters to me—it’s what you do with your present. Besides, Mastermental brags too much about having all the Superior kids. The least he should have to do is share them. Although,” he says, standing and looking Dad in the eye, “if you risk the life of my Skye again, it’ll give me full authority to make you pay for it.”
