“Did you know Colin had been trying to get the Cloud Kitten to fly?” Carly asked him.
Chris stiffened. “Oh?” he said.
“We found flight plans. He was going to go back to your home planet! I bet he was going to pretend to be you!”
Chris stared straight ahead. His voice was even when he said, “Well, he won’t be doing that now.”
“Are we really going to leave him there on the mountaintop?” Gabriel asked.
“For now, yes. He’ll have plenty of company to boss around now that you’ve left him a group of ogres to contend with. When we’re back in radio range with Earth, I’ll send word for someone to rescue him.” He paused for a second, then added, “Eventually.”
Gabriel and Carly shared a small smile, but it was hard to feel anything but fear and worry when Dash was so sick.
Piper shouted as she soared into the room. “He just said something! I couldn’t understand him, but it was something about rotting butts.”
“I’m sorry,” Chris said, “did you say rotting butts?”
Thrilled to have had any progress at all, Piper stifled a giggle. “I’m sure I heard wrong.”
“Does rotting butts mean anything to either of you?” Chris asked. Gabriel and Carly shook their heads, also trying not to laugh. It was funny when Piper had said it, but even funnier out of Chris’s mouth since he was usually so proper.
Piper led them all to the med bay, where Niko was checking Dash’s vitals. Ravi, Anna, and Siena sat in a corner of the room, hopeful expressions on their faces.
Dash’s eyelids flickered. His lips quivered, and a whisper came out. “The cinder might not work…might be…diseased.”
Carly took Dash’s hand. “Dash, are you okay?” she said, ignoring the possible meaning behind his words.
He wanted to answer her, to tell her he didn’t feel any pain, but the effort was too much. He put his energy into moving his head up and down in a nod. It must have worked because Carly loosened her grip a little.
Chris cleared his throat. “I’m going to be really direct here. Dash doesn’t have much time, and neither do we.” He turned to Carly. “The cinder is in place, I trust?”
She nodded. “All that’s left is the liquid metal from TULIP. Is it time to put it in now?”
“Yes. But the metal is so hot I’ll be the one taking the risk. Once that is done, I will call you all to the Element Fuser. It will be time to make the Source.”
“Rot…,” Dash wheezed out. “Fungus.”
“Ah, I get it now,” Chris said. He rested his hand on Dash’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. The heat from the dragon’s breath will have killed off any fungus.”
Dash lifted his hand and attempted to give a thumbs-up.
“Chris,” Piper said, “you said you’ll need all of us at the fuser, but you don’t mean Dash too, right?”
“Everyone,” he said firmly. “Listen for my call.” He left the room without another word.
“Well,” Anna said. “Warm and fuzzy he’s not. How are we going to get Dash across the ship? It’s not like he can walk, and I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t want someone carrying him like a baby.”
Siena kicked Anna in the shin, hoping Piper wouldn’t notice. Sometimes Anna spoke before she thought.
“He can use one of my extra chairs,” Piper said softly.
“I’ll go get it from our room,” Siena said, hurrying out.
“I’ll help,” Anna added.
“Me too,” Gabriel said, followed by Ravi and Niko.
“Well,” Carly said. “That’s one way to clear a room!”
Piper laughed. “They should know by now I have a very thick skin. It takes a lot to bother me. In fact, after all the things I’ve done in this awesome chair, I’m starting to feel like a superhero.”
Carly grinned. “You’re totally a superhero.”
The others came back just as Chris called them to the engine room. Niko and Ravi lowered Dash into the chair and tightened the straps so he wouldn’t slip out. Piper switched the chair into manual mode, which would allow anyone to use it. Gabriel guided it through the corridor. Rocket followed close behind him.
When they arrived at the Element Fuser, everyone stopped short. “What’s that?” Gabriel asked, pointing at what looked like a large, see-through globe with eight bendy tentacle-like arms. A thin glass tube a few feet long ran between it and the Element Fuser.
“Are those Slinkies?” Ravi asked, reaching out a hand to touch one of them.
Chris stepped in front of him. “Please,” he said, “don’t touch. This is the Source machine, and those are very sensitive hoses.”
Gabriel knew machines, and even though he’d obviously never seen a Source machine before, he knew something wasn’t right about this one. The arms had clearly been added on once the device was completed. They were made of different material than the base and were of varying lengths. He was about to ask Chris about it when TULIP hopped in front of them and plopped down, head low.
“Poor TULIP,” Carly said. “Your belly’s all empty. You helped us so much, though. Right, guys?”
Everyone agreed that she’d done a stellar job protecting them from the fate the Light Blade had suffered due to their leaky slogger, and keeping them warm down on Tundra. TULIP gave a chirp of appreciation.
Carly glanced over at the Element Fuser, assuming she’d see the last two tubes full of molten metal. Only one had been filled, though. “Did we not have enough?” she asked Chris, pointing to the empty tube. “Or was that one always meant to be an overflow or something?”
Chris faced them and took a deep breath. “I haven’t always been honest with you,” he began.
His eyes still closed, Dash made a sound in his throat that was halfway between a laugh and a cry.
“And I’m sorry about that,” Chris continued. “But it was always for either your own good or the good of the mission.”
No one spoke.
“And, well, this is another of those times.” He walked over to the fuser. “This empty tube isn’t extra. We actually need one more element to make the Source.”
Seven jaws dropped open. Dash’s would have too if he’d been able to move it. Carly felt a cold sweat break out across her body. “So we’re not going home,” she said, her voice shaking.
Anna narrowed her eyes at Chris and shook her head.
“What about Dash?” Piper asked quietly.
Siena’s eyes stung. She had been quiet since returning to the ship. She’d done something huge down there by taking a stand about not blowing the horn, and didn’t think she had any more bravery left inside her.
“Everyone calm down,” Chris said, “and let me explain. We have everything we need for the seventh element right here.”
“We do?” Siena asked. “Where is it?”
Chris opened his arms wide. “It’s inside all of you.”
“So you harvested our skin cells without telling us?” Ravi asked after Chris revealed he had brought along their lab samples from the base. “That’s kinda shady, don’t you think?”
“It wasn’t like that,” Chris insisted. “We had to make sure everyone was healthy enough to withstand a year in artificial gravity. I knew one of the Source elements came from humans, so it made sense to take the samples when they were no longer needed.”
“I don’t mind that you took them,” Piper said. “But can you just put them in the fuser so we can get on with this?” She glanced worriedly over at Dash. She couldn’t tell if he was understanding what was going on or not.
Chris shook his head. “We didn’t foresee this, but the cells didn’t withstand the jumps to Gamma. They have deteriorated to the point where they will not work at all. I will need to collect new material to go directly into the Source machine.” He directed each of them to stand in front of one of the Slinky-like arms and hold one in their right hands. Gabriel set up Dash in front of his and then stood at the next station.
“All you’ll need to do, on my
count, is hold the tip of the hose against your left palm. You’ll feel a fairly strong suction for about ten seconds. I will hold Dash’s in place, if that’s okay?” He looked to Dash for confirmation.
Dash’s head bobbed the slightest bit forward.
The others got ready, putting their hoses into position. Chris pressed a few buttons on a small control panel attached to the bottom of the device. “When the new element is done processing, the elements from the fuser will enter into the round globe you see before you, one at a time. Once they are all inside, they will react with each other on a molecular level, creating the Source. I will then release the tiny amount you need to power the Cloud Leopard and deliver you back to your solar system, to the same location we left from.”
“You mean, deliver us back,” Carly said. “To our solar system. Earth’s your home now too.”
Chris shook his head. “Flora is my home. That’s where I’ll be going.”
They all dropped the hoses in surprise. Dash twitched and made a gurgling sound. “What?” Gabriel said. “You’re ditching us?”
“Please don’t look at it that way,” Chris said.
“So it wasn’t Colin who was planning on taking the Cloud Kitten to Flora,” Carly asked slowly. “It was you?”
He nodded. “I am not certain where Colin was planning to go.”
“Are you sure you want to go back to Flora?” Piper asked, putting her hand on Chris’s arm. “It’s been so long, maybe it won’t feel like home anymore.”
“For us, a hundred years is not so long,” he explained. “Explorers and researchers like myself have traveled even longer than that. No, I must go. But I wouldn’t trade my time with you—with any of you—for anything. Each of you has shown incredible bravery, creativity, and skill. Many of you discovered talents you didn’t even know you had.” He looked at Niko when he said that, and Niko blushed. “You’ve gone from a group of children to a team of heroes capable of working on your own, and together, for the greater good. Soon your entire world will know it.”
Gabriel stepped forward. “It’s no secret we weren’t so thrilled to meet you when you first showed up. But know I speak for all of us when I say thank you. Thank you for making us feel less alone up here, and for your confidence in us. We’ll never forget you.”
They took turns giving him hugs and handshakes. Dash managed to put his hand on Chris’s, and that was enough.
“Okay, let’s do this!” Ravi said. They all picked up the skinny hoses and held them in place. Chris counted down to one, and the suction began. It felt like their whole hand was being squeezed into the tiny opening!
A chorus of “Yowza!” and “Ohhhh!” and a few curses they’d picked up along their journey filled the air. It was all they could do not to yank the hose off their hand. When the ten seconds were up, the suction shut off, and the hoses fell away. They all instantly began rubbing the bright red circle on their palms.
“That was more than a fairly strong suction,” Anna said accusingly.
“Really?” Chris said. “I suppose I haven’t tried it on actual humans yet. I’m sorry if it was uncomfortable.”
“It’s okay,” Anna mumbled.
“Um, guys?” Siena said, pointing at the round ball in the center of the machine. “Is that our skin?” The ball, which had been empty, was now swirling with tiny flakes of all different colors. It looked like confetti.
“Yes,” Chris said. “The globe multiplies and magnifies the skin cells a thousandfold. The seventh element requires DNA from nonrelated humans. You eight are ideal because you come from all over the world. That means your DNA will be very different from each other.”
“Wait a second,” Anna said. “The mission was only supposed to include four humans. If Ike Phillips hadn’t sent the rest of us into space and we hadn’t joined you at the end, what were you planning to do?”
Chris sighed. “Honestly, I have no idea. I thought I had the DNA I needed. If you hadn’t joined us, I would have had to convince you that helping us was your only way home. But if you’d never been sent into space in the first place, well, I guess the rest of us would be living out our lives on Dargon and your planet would soon go dark.”
Anna grinned. “So basically what you’re saying is that Earth wouldn’t have been saved without me and Ravi and Siena and Niko?”
Chris gave a rare smile.
Anna and Ravi high-fived.
The original Alpha crew rolled their eyes. Even Dash groaned.
“If you guys are done congratulating yourselves on sneaking into space,” Carly said, “something’s happening over there.” She pointed to the fuser. The container with the liquid metal had begun to empty out into the tube that led to the globe. With the addition of each new element, the appearance of the mixture totally changed. It went from looking like confetti to a sloshy liquid that coated the inside walls of the globe, to multicolored gum balls with the addition of the zero crystals. The Stinger spores made the balls shatter and form new, smaller ones. The Pollen Slither turned everything silver. Finally, the Rapident powder flew through the tube, turning the Source into a shimmering blue mist. Dash put all his energy into keeping his eyes open to watch. His whole face ached with the effort, but he didn’t want to miss anything. This moment was what the whole mission had been about. After a full minute, the shimmering mist didn’t change into anything else.
“Um,” Gabriel said, looking from Chris to the Source and back. “I’m not sure what I expected, but I kinda thought the Source would look a little, I don’t know, cooler.”
The others murmured in agreement.
“Just wait,” Chris said.
Piper began to get antsy. “We don’t have time to wait, remem—” But she didn’t get to finish. A steady hum filled the room seconds before the top of the glass globe blew open. The swirling mist shot straight into the air. The Voyagers’ heads tilted back as the mist reached the high ceiling and fanned out in all directions. A second later, it rained down on them like tiny snowflakes hitting their upturned faces, their shoulders, their arms. They gasped with surprise, turning to each other in delight.
A shout from Dash made them all turn in his direction. He was standing up from his chair, eyes beaming, grinning from ear to ear. But he wasn’t grinning because the Source had given him energy. They followed his gaze across the room, and that’s when they saw it.
Piper wasn’t in her chair. Piper was next to her chair. And she was dancing.
“Well,” Chris said to himself as the crew whooped and ran across to her, “I didn’t see that coming.”
Piper held her arms wide, laughing and weeping as she kicked up her legs, then twirled around in a circle as the mist draped itself around her. She flicked the switch on her chair, and now flashing lights burst through the mist, adding to the otherworldly feel. Dance music blared out of hidden speakers. Dash took Piper’s hands, and they moved their legs in a way that was supposed to be dancing but looked more like they were trying to avoid a line of ants. They didn’t care.
“How is this happening?” Siena shouted to Chris over the music and the loud hum that still filled the air. They watched as Gabriel took Dash’s place, then Carly cut in, and then Dash circled back to dance with them both.
“The Source provides power to energy systems,” Chris explained. “The human body is an energy system. And remember, you all are a part of the Source. Your DNA helped create it. That’s a very special bond.”
Anna ran over. “Are we losing it? That big globe thingy is almost empty!”
Chris shook his head. “The elements need room to combine; that’s why the Element Fuser is in the biggest room on the ship. When the globe is empty, the Source will contract and will be sucked back in.” He paused. “As long as no one opens the door to outer space. Then we’d be in trouble.”
Piper stopped dancing and started running. She ran by them, a streak of blond hair through the mist. The others playfully ran after her. Piper had dreams where she could use her legs again
, and she still remembered what it was like before the accident. She didn’t want to stop and ask Chris if it would last. She knew it wouldn’t. As powerful as the Source clearly was, it hadn’t knit her severed spine back together.
Anna nudged Siena and pointed to the globe. The process had begun to reverse itself. The mist was flowing back in, gathering itself up from the floor, from the corners of the room, from their hair and clothes. The hum had gotten noticeably softer too. “We should tell them,” Siena said. Anna nodded.
Chris watched as the girls went over to Piper and Dash and put their arms around them and gently guided them back to their chairs. He would miss all of them. He had one last surprise that he thought they’d like, but he would save that for when he took his exit.
When the mist had seeped away from everything except the ceiling, Piper and Dash returned to their chairs. Piper switched off the music and the lights. Dash reached out and took her hand. “I’m sorry,” he said.
She knew what he meant, but she shook her head. “It’s okay. If I could walk, I wouldn’t get to fly.” With that, she took off in her chair and hovered by the ceiling until the last drop of mist had fallen back into the Source machine. Chris closed the lid, and the hum abruptly stopped.
Niko stared in awe at the swirling energy that had filled the enormous room and then shrunk to fill a space the size of a beach ball. “What now?” he asked.
“Now we all go home,” Chris said.
“Just like that?” Ravi asked.
Chris laughed. “Unless you’d like to travel across another galaxy and collect seven more elements first?”
Ravi put up his hand. “No thanks, dude. I’m good.”
“You all go up to the navigation deck,” Chris instructed. “I’ll take care of getting the Source into the system, and I’ll meet you up there.”
He watched them go and then got to work.
—
The ZRKs had brought everyone’s favorite snacks from the storerooms and spread it out on tables. Everyone dug in like they hadn’t eaten in a week. Dash was able to move his hand to his mouth, and Carly held his cup steady to his lips. Piper was quiet, lost in her own thoughts.