He lifted his arm and typed up instructions for SUMI to pass on to the others. Then he called Chris’s MTB. As expected, Colin answered, his glasses off. “What is it?” he barked. Then, remembering he was supposed to be Chris, he softened his voice. “Sorry, long day up here. Have you been successful in collecting the dragon cinder?”
As exhausted as he was, Dash forced himself to smile as he would if talking to the real Chris. “It’s good to see you, Chris! Yes, we’ve almost got it! The elves have been very helpful, but they will only give the dragon cinder to you personally. Part of the agreement. I’m sorry for the trouble.”
Colin’s face twisted into an expression of supreme annoyance. “Fine. I’ll be there soon. Then we will load the horn onto the ship as planned and be done with Dargon.”
Dash nodded. “Sounds good. I’ll send you the coordinates of the meeting place.” He typed them in and sent them off.
As soon as Colin’s face disappeared, so did Dash’s smile. It was replaced by tight-lipped determination.
Niko and Carly waited on the other side of the docking bay for Ravi to finish shutting down the Clipper. They watched the clock nervously while SUMI hopped around repeating, “I’ve got the secret plan. I’ve got the secret plan.”
Anna came out first, followed by Ravi. “Is everything okay?” Anna asked first. “Did Colin find out we were gone?”
Niko shook his head. “No, but we have to hurry. He’s on his way down here now. Apparently, Dash has a whole plan to get Colin down to the planet and solve the problem of the ogres without putting them to sleep. He sent a message to SUMI with instructions for us. As soon as Colin leaves, we’ll explain everything.”
“So Chris isn’t awake?” Anna asked.
Niko shook his head. “But I think I found the antidote.”
“Okay, let’s get rid of Colin first,” Anna said. “I’ll head over to the fuser, but you guys should get out of the engine room now. Spread out across the ship. I don’t want him to see us all together and get suspicious.”
“How about we meet upstairs in the girls’ dorm in five minutes?” Carly said. “Colin would never look there.”
They all bumped fists, and Anna went to the fuser. The others swiped three different routes and jumped into the tube. SUMI followed Carly. Colin showed up less than a minute later. He marched over to Anna, who was pretending to check the level of Stinger spores.
“I will be back shortly,” he alerted her. “I will have the element with me. I will also retrieve the crew and the horn, so you can tell Ravi he will not be flying down to the planet to get the crew as planned.”
Before she could even nod, he stormed off toward the Cloud Cat. It occurred to her if he got too close to the Clipper, he might see the ZRKs working on the cracked windshield. She held her breath as he paused beside it. He took a step toward it, holding out his hand. Oh no! He must feel the heat coming off it! Then he checked his wrist for the time, scowled, gave the Clipper one last glance, and moved on.
As soon as the docking bay doors closed behind them, Anna ran the length of the engine room, calling out for every ZRK in the room to follow her into the tube. They would need all the help they could get.
—
Anna stood at Chris’s usual station on the flight deck and tracked the Cloud Cat’s journey to the surface. The small ship showed up as a red dot moving across her screen. When the dot turned blue, she knew the Cloud Cat had landed on Dargon. She could tell this landing spot was nowhere near where they’d dropped off the crew. She counted to ten, then hit the emergency shutdown switch.
The dot turned black.
—
Colin stepped out onto the desolate mountain peak and walked fully around the Cloud Cat. All he could see to the east were more mountains. To the west lay a vast ocean and the merest hint of another mountain range on the other side of it. He did not see the ground team, the king, any elves, ogres, or dragons. He especially did not see a sack of dragon cinder.
His hands clenched into fists. He had been tricked. Fuming, he stormed back into the ship. Those horrible children would live to regret this day. He would get the cinder himself, whatever it took. Then he would continue his plan to leave the Cloud Leopard—and all its inhabitants—in the cold, dark vastness of space forever.
He sat down, slipped on the flight glasses, put his hand over the control pad, and directed the ship to move.
Nothing happened.
He gave a frustrated groan and tried again.
Again nothing.
No matter how many times he tried, the ship did not move.
After using every troubleshooting trick in the book, Colin realized one thing: this ship wasn’t going anywhere.
And neither was he.
—
Niko had never treated an alien life-form before, and he’d certainly never created a concoction as strange as this. While Carly had managed to distract Colin by helping SUMI and STEAM try to engage (and annoy) the cloned alien in a game of hide-and-seek, Niko had been able to sneak into Chris’s room and search for the antidote.
Niko had found notes in Chris’s handwriting that described something called Moon Salt, a cure-all for most ailments from the minor to the deadly. There was a detailed description of the chemical makeup of the substance, and although Niko didn’t have “the core of a Florian moon pod” (whatever that was), he was confident he could re-create the substance.
Now he and Carly rushed to the Cloud Kitten, where Chris still lay, passed out.
“And you’re sure this will work?” she asked.
“Well, no,” Niko answered. “But we don’t have any other options at this point.”
When they reached Chris, Niko knelt by his side and pulled out a large jar of the replicated Moon Salt.
“Geez, how much of the stuff did you make?” Carly asked.
Niko shrugged. “Enough, I hope.” He sat for a moment beside Chris, gazing at his new patient.
“So what do you do now?”
“Well, that’s the thing. I’m not sure.” Niko scratched his head. Chris’s notes only explained what the Moon Salt was, not how it was used.
“Maybe it’s like smelling salts,” Carly guessed. “You know, to revive someone after they’ve fainted.”
Niko poured out a handful of the salt and held his cupped palm just in front of Chris’s nose. He waited. And nothing happened.
“Maybe aliens don’t inhale through their nose?” Carly guessed.
Niko brought his palm back, dumping the salt back into the jar. How was this stuff supposed to work?
“Chris,” Carly whispered. No response. “Chris!” she said louder, touching his shoulder. “Can you hear us?” A mumble escaped his lips this time but no words. “Chris, come back to us. We almost have the final element!”
Chris’s lips began quivering. Niko bent low, putting his ear over Chris’s mouth. “Muppet.”
Niko looked up at Carly. “Did he say Muppet? Like Kermit the Frog kind of Muppet?”
Carly tilted her head at him. “I’m pretty sure aliens don’t know Kermit the Frog.”
“Everyone knows Kermit. That guy’s awesome.”
“We need to be serious,” Carly said.
This time, Chris spoke slower when he responded. “Aaahket.”
“Locket?” Niko said.
“Pocket?” Carly replied.
“Which one, do you think?” Niko asked.
“I’m going to guess it’s the one he’s lying on top of because that would just be our luck.”
Sure enough, they had to roll him over, which they did while apologizing the whole time. Carly made Niko reach into the pocket and slip out a thin paper packet. It was filled with something that looked like white Tic Tacs.
“What is it?” Carly asked.
“I don’t know,” Niko said, taking out a piece and placing it on his palm. It was surprisingly slippery. He tried to keep it from rolling around, but between his cold hands and the lack of friction, it slid right of
f and landed on Chris’s forehead before bouncing off to the floor. Chris’s eyes flew open, and he sat bolt upright.
“Whoa,” Carly said, flying backward. “Whoa. Was that the Moon Salt?”
Chris reached over and threw his arms around her. Carly’s eyes opened in surprise. Chris had barely even shaken her hand before. He turned and hugged Niko next, then stood up on shaky legs. “What day is it? Is Dash okay?”
“It’s our last day on Dargon,” Carly said. “And Dash is okay.”
Chris looked past them, toward the open door of the Cloud Kitten. “Where is Colin?”
Carly and Niko exchanged looks. Carly took a deep breath. “Well, that’s kind of a funny story….”
—
Dash, Piper, a council of about a hundred official-seeming elves, Lythe, and a smelly group of ogres stood in the field near the burnt tree. Rounding up all the ogres proved to be a lot easier than Dash would have suspected. When the ones the elves had captured saw the tank, they could not stop staring at it and touching it. They literally followed it through the grassy fields like it was the Pied Piper, and they positively drooled. All that steel! All the weapons they could make out of it if it were theirs!
It had been Siena and Piper who guessed that the ogres would be lured by the steel of the tank. While guarding the horn and the sacred tree, they had watched the ogres run through the forest, swinging axes and clanging shields, not seeming to care much if their blades came in contact with anything. They’d treated their axes like their most prized possessions, stopping often to clean them. Siena could see why they were so attached to them. The weapons were incredibly well built, made of metals it must have taken decades to dig up and forge with their primitive technology.
Siena knew firsthand how solid the axes were. She’d borrowed a spear from Lythe and used it like a sword when a group came too close to the Horn Tree. She didn’t know if they knew about the horn or what it had done to them, and she didn’t want to find out. The elves had never seen sword fighting, so they were very impressed when she single-handedly chased away nine ogres (not counting the one who decided to run just because the others were running). In her air chair, Piper was even more of a celebrity. The ogres fell to their knees when they saw the gleaming metal chair that floated! The elves were so grateful that she’d distracted the ogres from their revenge that there was even some talk of adding her picture to the tree!
Piper turned to Dash. “So you had the idea to use the scent Anna and Carly created to lure the dragon toward the tree, and you came up with a way to get rid of Colin,” she said. “You’re a smart guy, Dash Conroy.”
He smiled at her. “You’re not too bad yourself.” Piper’s cheeks reddened. Fortunately, Gabriel, Siena, Lythe, and Tumar joined them before things got too awkward.
“Well, we’ve got it,” Gabriel said, holding up the sack of dragon cinder.
“Wait…the king let you have it?” Dash asked incredulously.
Gabriel shrugged. “You’re the one who said I was charming.”
Siena rolled her eyes. “Tumar was the one who finally convinced him.”
They all looked to Tumar. The elf tilted his head in a sign of respect. “You were as vigilant as some of my fellow elves in protecting our homes. And I explained your new plan to King Urelio. He liked the idea of the ogres being stranded in the mountains on the Wastes of the Misted Isles. Something about the land there being void of precious metals.”
Dash didn’t know what to say other than “Thank you, Tumar.”
Tumar nodded and turned to leave, Lythe following him. They’d only taken a few steps when Lythe stopped. She turned around and lightly stepped up to Gabriel, planting a kiss on his cheek. Then, without a word, she raced back to the rest of the elves, passing Tumar with her dark hair flowing behind her.
Gabriel opened his mouth to say something, but Piper cut him off. “We know, we know,” she said. “You’re so charming.”
—
After contacting the Clipper, the group huddled together to wait for Ravi to pick them up. His cheery voice burst through all their MTBs. “Clipper to ground team. Landing in one minute.”
They looked up to see the Clipper streaking toward them. They hadn’t seen the Cloud Cat go overhead, but those misted isles where Dash had sent Colin were over the horizon from where they stood, so they hadn’t expected to. Dash lifted his arm. “Did Colin land? Is he stuck there?”
Anna’s voice came across instead. “Yes and yes. Hope you don’t mind I came along. I left Carly in charge up there.”
Before Dash could tell her it was fine, Chris’s face came up on their screens.
“Greetings, Voyagers,” he said. It was the real Chris! From the echo, Dash could tell Anna and Ravi were hearing it too. “Thanks to your outstanding teamwork abilities, I hear we have a sack of dragon cinder?”
Gabriel held the small bag up. “Yup! It’s still warm.”
“I do not pretend to understand your resistance to eliminating the ogres once and for all,” Chris said, “but I respect your decision and applaud your creativity.”
“They still have to agree,” Dash pointed out.
“I’m certain they will when they see what you’re offering.”
The Clipper landed. Ravi and Anna climbed out, being sure to close the hatch quickly behind them. Even so, a few ZRKs flew out. The group of ogres gasped and backed away. They hadn’t seen a flying machine of this size up close before.
Dash felt strangely heavy as he walked to the front of the crowd, like each leg weighed five hundred pounds. He knew his announcement had to be quick, not only for his sake, but because the elves and ogres traded such angry looks that he knew the situation wouldn’t stay civilized for very long. He took a deep breath, then fainted.
After a moment of shock, the team leapt into action. Piper took Dash’s vitals while Niko dug through his medical pack, looking for anything that might revive their friend. Rocket laid his head on Dash’s chest, hoping his buddy would wake up soon. Gabriel secured the dragon cinder onto the ship.
“What can I do?” Ravi asked.
Piper turned and swiped a tear from her cheek as she said, “Dash would insist the mission continue. We have to get these ogres on board along with everybody else.”
“All right, I got this.” Ravi ran over to the ogres and started grunting and pointing at the ship, motioning for them to board. Captivated by the strange alien who seemed to speak their language, the ogres lowered their weapons and stared at him openmouthed. Still, they didn’t budge.
Siena watched Ravi for a moment while Gabriel, Anna, and Niko carried Dash into the Clipper, with Rocket following behind. “Maybe if we drive the tank onto the ship, they’ll follow it,” Siena suggested to Piper.
“Good call.” Piper relayed the idea to Ravi as Siena hopped into the tank. Siena drove while Ravi grunted at the ogres to follow them. They slowly led the ogres into the ship.
Meanwhile, Piper flew to the Clipper to help Niko secure Dash. Gabriel hit the navigation controls, and Anna made room on board.
Once everyone and everything was in the ship, Ravi joined Gabriel at the controls.
“Everybody buckle up!” Gabriel shouted. Ravi didn’t wait to see if they’d all strapped in before taking off at maximum speed.
—
Colin sat at the controls of the Cloud Cat, pounding out his frustration on the navigation panel. How could he have been deceived by a handful of privileged, snot-nosed children? He slammed his fist down once more and felt the whole ship shake. See? He was smart and strong! How could they not see that he should have been in power of the mission?
But then the ship shook again, and this time Colin hadn’t so much as sneezed. Something was pushing on the Cloud Cat.
Colin opened an emergency hatch and poked his head out to find a large group of the most hideous and slime-ridden creatures he’d ever laid eyes on. After the initial shock wore off, he saw their potential. Perfect, he thought. Minions.
Col
in cleared his throat. “Hello! I see you like my ship. How would you like to help me make it fly?”
One of the creatures turned to him and grinned. And then it ripped a part of the ship clean off.
—
Carly raced to the engine room. She wanted to wait to see that Dash was okay but needed to put the dragon cinder into the fuser. As Piper reminded her, the mission came first.
After all this time, the machine was so familiar to her that she could load the dragon cinder with her eyes closed. She didn’t, though, of course. She opened the airtight compartment and placed the bag inside, shutting the door firmly. Then she slipped her hands into the slots where built-in gloves would allow her to manipulate the bag without fear of contaminating it. Unlike some of the other elements, there had been no specific amount of cinder necessary. She poured the full bag into the funnel that led to the see-through tubes below. She spent some time calibrating the system, making sure all the levels were equal, before stepping back to judge her work.
The first five slots were completely full now. All that was left to do was to pour in the melted metal from TULIP’s belly, which Chris had said should be done at the very last minute so it didn’t burn through the machine. They must need a lot of that, because even though there were only six elements, there were seven slots.
At that moment, Gabriel walked in.
“How’s Dash?” Carly asked.
“No change,” he said. “At least his vital signs are steady.”
A very strong, very unfamiliar, very dank and moldy smell wafted from Gabriel’s uniform. Carly wrinkled her nose. “What’s that smell?”
“That,” Gabriel said, wiping his sweaty forehead with the sleeve of his uniform, “is what’s left behind when you transport fifty ogres across an ocean.”
“Wow,” she said, backing up.
“Yeah, it was pretty ripe in there,” Gabriel said, “but we got ’em all across. They were happy to go once we offered them the tank. And it was pretty cool dropping the horn to the bottom of the ocean. That thing’s probably still sinking.”
Just when Carly was about to tell Gabriel that she was glad he got back safely (even if he did smell like a herd of ogres), Chris walked in.