Space Runners #4 Page 4

  The doctor sighed. “The artificial intelligence told me that the scholarship winners who fled into space have finally returned. I would like to examine all of them, so since you two are the ones who’re here, I suppose this is where I can start.”

  “The thing is,” Benny said, “we’re here to see Drue? Drue Bob Lincoln, I mean. His dad—”

  “I’m well aware of who his father is,” she said. “I tried to convince Drue that the senator needed to rest, but I had other patients to take care of, and there is the possibility that seeing his son might have a positive effect on the man’s recovery. Not to mention the boy is quite—how should I put this? Insistent?”

  “Trust us,” Hot Dog said. “We get it.”

  Dr. Parsi narrowed her eyes and reached forward so quickly that Hot Dog flinched as the woman swept back her hair.

  “This bruise looks bad,” the woman said as Hot Dog took a few steps away from her. “I’ll do a few scans. We don’t want you walking around with a concussion, or worse.”

  “Oh, I’m fine,” Hot Dog said. “When we were on Vala’s ship, Pinky and Pito checked me out. And I just fought with a bunch of Alpha Maraudi downstairs and was totally firing on all cylinders.”

  A moment passed as the doctor simply looked at her.

  “I’m sorry,” Dr. Parsi finally said. “But—and I’m just going to ignore the last part you mentioned—you are saying that an artificial intelligence and . . . what, another child inspected this injury?”

  “An alien, actually,” Benny said.

  Hot Dog smacked her lips and then nodded a few times. “Yeah. So, um, about the scan. Maybe I should do that.”

  Dr. Parsi motioned up the hall from where they’d come. “There’s a neuroanalyzer in another room that would have every doctor on Earth weeping with envy. It’ll take only a few moments.”

  She was already a few steps away, dragging Hot Dog behind her, before Benny could say anything.

  “And Drue?” he asked.

  “The door at the end of the hall,” Dr. Parsi said over her shoulder. “He insisted I move him to the biggest room.” Then she turned sharply through an open doorway.

  Hot Dog yelped and gave one last glance to Benny before she disappeared inside.

  Benny waited for a moment to see if she’d pop out again before heading to the end of the hallway. He hesitated when he got to the senator’s room—they’d never actually heard what had happened to Drue’s dad, and he wasn’t sure what he was going to find inside, in terms of Drue’s father or Drue himself. Part of him wanted to run away, but he knew there was a good possibility Drue would be upset; and from what he’d seen in the past, Senator Lincoln probably wasn’t the best person to make him feel better.

  He really wished that Hot Dog was there with him—she was a lot better at this sort of thing. But he couldn’t just stand in the hall waiting for her to get back: time was something they never seemed to have enough of. So he took a deep breath and opened the door.

  The room was indeed larger than the others they’d passed in the hallway, all gleaming white and filled with shiny silver instruments. Various indecipherable pieces of technology lined one wall, full of flashing lights and digital readouts. Senator Lincoln lay dressed in dark scrubs in one of the capsule beds. The glass had retracted, leaving him uncovered, and holograms that seemed to be tracking his health floated over his stomach. Drue sat beside him on a black stool. As Benny entered, Drue pulled his hand back to his side, off his father’s upper arm.

  “Hey,” Benny said quietly. The senator’s eyes were closed, and he didn’t want to disturb him.

  Drue jerked his chin up in greeting as he stood, and then walked over to Benny.

  “Nice little hospital they’ve got down here, right?” he asked.

  “Sure,” Benny said. His gaze was still over Drue’s shoulder, on the senator. The man’s chest rose and fell in deep breaths. He didn’t look hurt, but Benny knew that didn’t really mean anything. “I’m so sorry,” he eventually whispered, because it was all he could think of.

  “It’s not as though I’m dead,” the senator said, cracking one eye open. “I’ve just got a few broken bones.”

  “Meaning a shattered femur, messed-up ribs, and several fractured arm bones, not to mention a couple of killer blows to the head. And a really stiff neck. But he’ll be fine. The Lincolns are resilient,” Drue said, with something like pride in his voice. Then shock flashed on his face. “Killer probably isn’t the word I should’ve used.” He leaned in closer to Benny. “He’s pretty loopy right now which is . . . kinda nice, to be honest.”

  “I’m glad to hear you’re okay, senator,” Benny said.

  The man motioned for Benny to come closer, which he did. His eyes were fully open now, though slightly glazed looking, like he was still partially asleep. He surveyed Benny up and down, his head never moving. Finally, he spoke again.

  “I asked you to keep my son safe.” His words came out slowly but deliberately, like it took a lot of effort to speak them. “You took him to Jupiter. You involved him in at least two different battles that I know of, likely more. And I won’t even begin to mention how dangerous it must have been to sneak aboard the alien ship that attacked us on Io.”

  Benny glanced at Drue, who’d obviously told his father all about their exploits. His friend had a slight smile on his face.

  “I don’t actually think I could’ve talked him out of any of it,” Benny murmured.

  Drue’s father’s lips curved down into a thin frown as he seemed to consider this. “Tell me something, Benny,” he said after a moment, his eyes narrowed.

  Benny mentally braced himself, ready for a verbal lashing.

  “Did he really carve our initials onto the surface of Ganymede?”

  Benny was so stunned for a second that this is what he’d ask that he was sure he’d misheard the senator. But then he sighed. “Yeah. He’s kind of obnoxiously good when it comes to lasers.”

  “Hey!” Drue exclaimed. “What do you mean obnoxiously? Let’s not forget I’m the one who took out the Orion’s plasma cannon when—”

  He stopped, looked at his father, concern in his eyes. Benny didn’t know how much he’d said about their fight against Dr. Bale, but this obviously hadn’t been a part of it.

  Senator Lincoln closed his eyes, a long, ragged breath escaping through his clenched teeth. Benny wasn’t sure if he was in pain, or if he was just trying to come to terms with what his son had just said.

  “The world is on the brink of destruction, and my son is vandalizing moons and billion-dollar starships,” the man said. “How did we get here?”

  Well, Benny thought, part of the reason is because you took over the Taj and had someone devise a weapon to blow up an alien species. But he kept his mouth shut. He had more pressing things on his mind.

  “The attack on Io . . .” he started. It was where Drue’s father had been injured, when Commander Tull’s forces went after both New Apollo and Benny and Vala’s group, right after the senator had agreed to consider alternatives to war with the Alpha Maraudi.

  “Yes,” Senator Lincoln said. “Drue told me over and over again. It was an ambush, but not of your doing.”

  “Then the truce. It can still stand, right?” Benny stepped closer to the bed. “Vala and her crew are here. So are we. We’re working on finding a way to save their planet, but in the meantime, you can . . . I don’t know, talk to the other aliens or something, right?”

  Drue’s father laughed breathily. It seemed to hurt him to do so. “Truce? Dr. Bale took a state-funded symbol of humanity’s hope and disappeared into deep space with it. For all we know, we’ll never see it again. You’ve buried our trump card. My son says another alien commander is building a new asteroid storm to wipe us out. Our fleets on Earth aren’t prepared for anything like that; and while you’ve been lucky so far, you can’t hold them back forever with your little platoon.” His eyes opened. “Besides, you said it yourself when you were trying to leverage
these peace talks. There are more of what you call mother ships out there. We’re outgunned. Outmanned. And the Alpha Maraudi are running out of options. Do you really think they’ll want to shake hands and talk over coffee? They have no reason to. They’ve got us cornered. No one in their right mind would hedge their bets on peace.”

  “That’s not true,” Benny said. “We’ve got Vala. She wants to help us.”

  “And where is she?” the senator asked. But it was obvious as he continued that he knew. “Trapped in a bed like me, but unconscious. Even more useless.” His head sunk farther back into his pillow. “Besides, one commander out of an entire fleet isn’t going to do us any good.” He laughed again, only once, and turned his head to his son. “Those initials are likely all that will be left of us in the near future. I always wanted you to leave your mark. That’s why we’ve pushed you so much. I just never expected it would be on a moon hundreds of millions of miles away.”

  There was something in the senator’s words that reminded Benny of the talks they’d had with Elijah when they’d confronted him about the aliens and the underground city, when he’d said humanity wasn’t worth saving. He tried to remind himself that they’d changed Elijah’s mind. Maybe they could change Drue’s father’s, too.

  “I thought you were a Lincoln,” Drue said before Benny could think of anything to say.

  His father scowled. “What’s that?”

  “A Lincoln never quits. A Lincoln wins no matter what the cost.” Drue crossed his arms. “How many times have you told me that? But it sounds to me like you’ve given up.”

  “I’m not giving up, I’m being realistic. One of us is going to wipe the other out. Peace is impossible.”

  “Impossible?” Drue asked. His eyebrows drew together. “You mean impossible like a meeting with an alien species on one of Jupiter’s moons?” Drue asked. “Or hijacking an alien ship? Or . . .” He looked to Benny, eyes urging him to step in.

  “Right,” Benny said. “Or rescuing a famous human from what was basically space prison?”

  “Oh, man.” Drue grinned. “I forgot to tell you how I went head-to-head with Commander Tull and survived! That dude should be scared of me now.”

  “Good with lasers and electro gloves,” Benny said. “And not bad on a Galaxicle.”

  “Too soon, Benny,” Drue said, raising a hand to his chest. “I miss her every day.”

  Senator Lincoln stared up at them, a puzzled expression on his face. “You kids,” he said grimly, “always thinking you know best. That you can save the world.” But as he spoke, his tone changed, from exasperation to something more like admiration.

  The door opened behind them, and Hot Dog bounced inside, a smile on her face.

  “All good,” she said before anyone could ask. “I’m a picture of perfect health.”

  “You have a large contusion at your hairline that could have been very serious had the impact been any worse,” Dr. Parsi said, following her in.

  Hot Dog grinned, tapping the uninjured side of her head. “Thick skull. Comes in handy.”

  “This one must be Hot Dog,” Senator Lincoln said.

  Hot Dog nodded, though she looked like she wasn’t sure if she was supposed to be nice to Drue’s dad or not, given everything they’d been through. She turned to Benny. “From what Mahsa said, Drue’s dad sounds a lot like Drue.”

  “Mahsa?” Benny asked.

  “The doc,” Hot Dog said. “Turns out she’s supercool. No wonder she gets along with Pinky so well, apparently. You should see her other tattoos.”

  “We’re staring at the end of the world,” the doctor said. “No need to be formal. How are you feeling, Senator?”

  “Like the room is suddenly very crowded,” Drue’s father said.

  “Well, perhaps you should have thought of that before you built a weapon capable of wiping out an entire people and then charged into space to fight them when they were apparently offering to negotiate with you.”

  “Wait . . .” Benny said, trying to understand where she was coming from. “But you’re part of New Apollo.”

  “I’m a doctor. A healer. I’m here because knowing what these men and women faced, I was aware of the help they would need.” She side-eyed the senator. “And because my orders weren’t exactly clear as to what the mission would be until I was already thousands of miles from home.”

  “Then why aren’t you with them now?” Drue asked. “With Dr. Bale.”

  “I turned in my resignation the moment I was told we were fighting children on the dark side of the Moon,” Mahsa said. “I’m sorry, but that was not in my job description. I slipped off the Orion when the battle started and made my way back here, where I can still be of use.” She shook her head a little. “Bless autopilot. I never had the time to learn to fly.”

  At the mention of the ship, Benny perked up.

  “Do you have any idea where the Orion might be now?”

  “No clue,” the doctor said. “Seems like it bolted out of our immediate orbit fairly quickly, though, honestly, it hasn’t been much of a concern to me.”

  “Great,” Drue said.

  “What about you?” Benny asked, turning to Drue’s father.

  “Unfortunately, I was still unconscious when this fight took place.” He paused. “Speaking of which, doctor, I’d like you to check out my son. I’ve just learned he faced down the Orion himself, which means he was likely incredibly reckless in doing so.”

  “He certainly doesn’t act like he’s injured, but I will,” Mahsa said. She turned to Benny and Drue. “Ms. Wilkinson tells me the EW-SCABers will be returning soon, so I’ll have Pinky send them down here to be examined according to her understanding of their needs. It’ll be a lot of work, but with the equipment we have here, it shouldn’t take too long.”

  “Consider it done, Mahsa . . .” Pinky’s voice filled the room.

  The doctor flinched. “I’ll never get used to that,” she muttered.

  “You’d be surprised,” Benny said.

  Pinky continued. “We’ve ensured that the EW-SCAB wing is safe to be reoccupied. Ricardo and Kira have sealed up a few holes in the exterior so the staircases can be used in the event of an emergency, but for the sake of keeping the environmental systems functioning correctly, I suggest everyone stick to using the elevators. I’ve sent word to the mother ship. They’ll be landing soon. Until then, I suggest you go back to your old rooms and . . . freshen up.”

  Drue stretched. “I for one am looking forward to having my old closet back.” His eyes flashed with worry. “Oh, man, all my bags still better be there.”

  Benny was pretty sure the senator sighed.

  Hot Dog closed her eyes and smiled. “Shampoo,” she whispered, and then looked to Mahsa. “You have no idea what it’s been like living on a spaceship with a bunch of aliens who don’t have hair to worry about.”

  “I’ll be fine,” Benny said. Surely there was something else he could be doing to help them out.

  “You’re covered in dust and dirt, and I wasn’t going to say anything, but you kind of smell,” Hot Dog said. “For once, you should listen to our AI mom when it comes to stuff like this.”

  “Hey, sorry if saving the world—” he started. But she was already chuckling at him, and he realized she must have been joking.

  At least, partly.

  5.

  If standing in the ruined courtyard had made it difficult for Benny to remember the excitement and grandeur of the Lunar Taj, walking back into his suite made all of those old feelings rush back to him. Nothing had changed since the last time he’d seen it. The furniture and electronics all gleamed; the kitchen was full of snacks; and the walls, painted with red racing stripes, were still soundly in place, unblemished. Suddenly, his body felt full of electricity, and the pressure and worry about the future that weighed on his shoulders was momentarily replaced by the same thrill he’d had when he’d first walked into this giant room, one that was several times larger than his RV back on Earth
. There was another feeling, too, one that was familiar but took him a few moments to place: that he was out of his element, so far away from home. He’d thought this on the first day, when the dirt from the Drylands was still falling out of his pockets and stuck beneath his fingernails. Now it wasn’t strange to be at the Taj because he’d come from the sprawling desert of the western United States but because he’d spent the last several days on alien ships and celestial bodies millions of miles away. The dust that matted his hair came from three different moons.

  He sighed, and the sound seemed to fill the entryway. It was so quiet inside, and he realized that this was probably because it was the first time he’d been alone in . . . well, he wasn’t certain how long. Since before the battle on the dark side, at least.

  He paused in front of the bed at the far end of the suite. Part of him wanted nothing more than to throw himself onto the marshmallow-like mattress, but he fought the urge, instead turning to the wall-size screen across from it. When he’d last been in this room, he was on a video call with his grandmother and his brothers, Alejandro and Justin. It was the only chance they’d had to talk since he’d climbed in a Space Runner and shot away from Earth. He had so much to tell them, to warn them about. But just as he’d convinced himself to admit to his grandmother what was actually going on in space, the call had been cut short by an alien rock growing over the Grand Dome, marking the beginning of Vala’s invasion. When she was still their enemy.

  How long ago had that been? he wondered. Without the sun setting, he found it impossible to keep track of the number of days that passed.

  He wondered if his family knew what was going on with the Alpha Maraudi, or if they were blissfully unaware, even though they must have been concerned about the fact that they hadn’t heard from him in so long. Were they trying to contact him? Trying to contact the Taj themselves? Was the entire caravan trying to comfort them? He hated to think of how worried his grandmother must be. And even his brothers.