The fact that Dash needed an extra layer to keep warm was a reminder that no matter how much fun they were having in Gamma Speed, time was their enemy. Or rather, his enemy. He asked Anna to tell Ravi, Niko, and Siena about his condition a few days into the journey. He had run into Ravi first, who said, “Tough break, dude,” and gave him an awkward but affectionate pat on the arm. Siena had squeezed his hands and slid over her portion of dessert at dinner. Niko took it the hardest. He’d seemed almost stunned at the thought that their new leader might not live to see the end of their journey. Ever since learning the news, he and Piper had been spending a lot of time together in the medical bay. Dash caught them whispering at other times too. He pretended it didn’t bother him, but he hated having people feel sorry for him.
Carly cleared her throat. “I think we should all probably go to bed. Who wants to help me clean up?” She gestured to the array of snacks spread out on the table in front of them. Most of the popcorn bowls only had kernels left in them, and the only sign of the cupcakes Siena made were the crumbs on (and underneath) the table.
“I will,” the others all replied at the same time. They jumped up and began carrying bowls or plates or cups out of the rec room. Dash raised a brow at their sudden need for cleanliness and was about to point out that the ZRKs did all the cleaning for them, but the blanket and the darkened room made him yawn instead. Then he was out.
Anna glanced back into the room from the hall. “He’s asleep,” she whispered to the others.
“At least he made it all the way through the movie this time,” Piper said as they scurried down the hall to the kitchen.
“Let’s go over everyone’s job for tomorrow,” Carly said when they were safely out of earshot, in case Dash awoke. “Ravi and Gabe, you have the music lined up?”
Ravi gave a thumbs-up. “STEAM was able to access the list of Dash’s favorite songs. We’re all loaded up and ready to rock.”
“Siena, decorations?”
She nodded. “After lunch, I’ll start hanging the streamers. Piper’s going to help me reach the high corners.”
“Good,” Carly said. “Anna, you’re set with games?”
Anna nodded. She’d been the one to suggest they go old-school on the games—nothing electronic. Growing up without much money had meant that she’d gotten very good at making up games out of whatever they had lying around the house. Now that Dash’s party was getting closer, she was second-guessing it.
“Um, maybe we should just do the usual stuff,” she suggested.
“Why?” Carly asked.
Anna shrugged and mumbled, “Maybe my games are dumb and no one will like them.”
To her surprise, Gabriel slapped her on the back and said, “Look at you, caring about the enjoyment of others! You’re really coming along.”
At first, she was annoyed, but the truth of it was hard to ignore. She straightened up. “Hey, I’m Anna 2.0.”
They all laughed.
“We’re keeping the old-fashioned games,” Carly said firmly. “Moving on. Siena and Chris are going to make Dash’s favorite desserts. Niko and Piper, you still haven’t told us what you’re planning?”
The two of them exchanged a glance. “We’re putting some finishing touches on it,” Piper explained, scooping the last few pieces of popcorn out of the bowl she was clutching.
“Sorry for being secretive,” Niko added, but didn’t explain further.
Carly was very curious, but she didn’t push it. She’d find out soon enough. “And everyone’s pretty sure Dash doesn’t know about the party?”
“I’m sure Dash doesn’t know. He’s dreading turning fourteen,” Piper said.
Carly nodded. “That’s why this party is so important. We have to make it a celebration, not…” She trailed off. She’d been about to say, Not a reminder that every day after that is borrowed time. They all knew what she was thinking anyway.
Dash awoke the following morning in his own bed. It wasn’t the first time Chris had to carry him from the couch in the rec room. At first, Dash had been embarrassed about it. Then Chris said something about Piper that Dash couldn’t quite hear, but the point had been made. Piper knew when to ask for help. She may not have liked it, but she accepted this was a part of her life. She said thank you and moved on. He would try to do the same.
A glance across the room told him the other boys were already gone, probably halfway through with breakfast already. He knew he should get moving but couldn’t make himself pull off the covers. He felt pretty good—physically, at least. Mornings were always the best; nights the worst. He should get up and take advantage of having energy before he felt the inevitable weakening. He still exercised in the training room every morning. But it didn’t keep the weakness at bay. Nothing did. The shots kept him alive, but at this point, that was the extent of what they could do.
Fourteen. Such a big number. He didn’t expect to be awakened with a Happy Birthday banner stuck on the wall or anything, but somehow he thought the day would feel different. Maybe everyone had forgotten. Or maybe they thought he wouldn’t want to celebrate. He certainly hadn’t said anything about it.
A knock on the door finally got him to sit up. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and pushed his hair out of his eyes. He waited, expecting one of the boys to walk in. Instead, the knock came again. “Come in,” he said.
To his surprise, the door slid open to reveal Piper. The carpet under her chair bent and waved as she floated right above it. He couldn’t remember the last time one of the girls had been in the boys’ dorm. Piper had her eyes covered with one hand. “Everyone decent?” she asked.
He laughed. “Yup. I should warn you; it’s kinda messy in here. I think the ZRKs are trying to teach us a lesson.”
She dropped her hand and glanced around at crumpled uniforms, comic books, towels, and random sports equipment littering the floor. “Wow, I think you may be right.”
“So…,” Dash said. “Are you lost? There are maps of the ship posted in the hallways. I could give you a tour.”
She laughed. “Very funny.” Then she got serious. “I just came to check on you. It’s not like you to miss a meal.”
“I’m fine,” he said, and jumped up quickly to prove it. He almost whacked his head on Gabriel’s bed in the process, but neither of them mentioned it.
“Do you often sleep in your uniform?” she asked.
He looked down at his rumpled clothes. “Apparently I do. Anything else you want to say, or can you leave so I can get dressed?”
“Looks like you already are,” she said, stifling a grin. Then she got serious again. “Did you take your injection yet?”
“You’re worse than my mom!” Dash said. “I just woke up!”
Piper tapped her foot and crossed her arms. He sighed. Clearly, she wasn’t going anywhere until he took it. He had to admit it was nice being so well looked after. It made it easier to bear that they were too far away for Earth to get any messages. It was hard on all of them.
He reached under the bed and slid out the box of prefilled needles. Seeing how few were left was an unnecessary reminder that his time was running out fast. He grabbed one, flicked off the lid, and stuck the small needle into his thigh. When he’d first started taking the serum, he had expected to feel a whoosh of energy go through his body, but it didn’t feel like anything at all. If it weren’t for the fact that he was still alive on what should have been his last day to survive in space, he wouldn’t know the serum was working at all.
Satisfied, Piper turned her chair around and headed for the door.
“You’re sure there’s nothing else you want to tell me?” Dash called after her. “Nothing at all?” If anyone other than Anna and Chris would know about his birthday, it would be Piper. As the medic, she made it her business to know as much as possible about the crew.
She glanced back at him from the doorway. “Oh, right, there was something! I meant to tell you that you might want to hurry before Gabriel eats all t
he pancakes.”
She winked as she glided out to the hall. Dash threw a towel at her, but the door had already closed.
Everyone had cleared out of the dining room by the time Dash arrived. Only one plate remained on the table. Someone had covered it with a napkin and written his name on it in blue marker. He pulled the napkin off to reveal one small pancake and a pat of butter. He sighed and told himself it wasn’t good to have a full belly when he exercised anyway.
STEAM glided into the room with SUMI hopping in behind him. The two robots were never far apart.
“Hello, Dash,” STEAM said. “Would you like us to keep you company?”
Dash swallowed the last bite of pancake. “All done.” His stomach rumbled, and he patted it, slightly embarrassed. “Maybe I should ask the ZRKs for something else.” He tilted back his head to search the ceiling, which was where the ZRKs usually hung out if they weren’t busy cooking or cleaning up dishes. “Hmm, that’s weird. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the dining room empty.”
“The room is not empty,” SUMI said. “We are all in it.”
“Yes, SUMI,” Dash said patiently. “I meant all the ZRKs seem to be missing.”
“I know,” SUMI squeaked, and nodded, reminding Dash of the bobblehead baseball player he had on his desk at home. “The ZRKs are not here because they’re all in the—”
STEAM reached out one of his robot arms and bonked SUMI on the head before she could finish her sentence. Dash’s eyes widened in surprise, but before he could ask why STEAM did that, the robots hightailed it out of the room.
“That was weird,” Dash said to the empty room. He hunted down some juice and a prepackaged nutrition bar, which tasted like cardboard. He ate it anyway. Then he swiped the path on the pad outside the portal and swung himself into the tube. “Huh?” he said out loud as he flew past the curve that he knew would lead him to the training room. He was sure he’d programmed it correctly; he did it every morning. He could do it in his sleep.
The tunnels kept twisting and turning until his body was suddenly propelled out the end. He landed on his butt in a darkened room. He could hear a loud hum and could see three faint glowing spots in the distance, but that was all. Had he found some other hidden area on the ship? Just as he got to his feet, the lights blazed on. He blinked. He was in the rec room! The faint glows were from STEAM, SUMI, and TULIP, standing next to the video game tables.
Before he could ask them what was going on, his attention was drawn upward. A rainbow of streamers hung from the ceiling in large loops. His mouth fell open as he discovered the source of the steady hum. Hundreds—or maybe even thousands—of ZRKs buzzed in the air above him. Linked together by their tiny mechanical arms, they formed the words Happy Birthday, Dash.
“Wow!” he said, staring up at the amazing sight. He used his MTB to snap a picture of them. This was one image he never wanted to forget. A moment later, the formation disbanded, and the ZRKs went flying off in all directions, leaving only a small portion buzzing in the corners of the room. Dash looked back down and realized the tables were full of pizza and corn dogs and s’mores and basically all his favorite treats from home. The whole crew jumped out from behind the long couch and yelled, “Surprise!”
Dash groaned and leaned his head back against the couch cushion. At least this time, it was only a full belly that kept him there. “I can’t eat one more bite,” he said when Siena handed him the last mini cupcake. “Homemade,” she reminded him. “I’ve been taking lessons.”
“I’ve already eaten four,” he insisted.
“Fine,” she said, popping it in her mouth. She decided it could have used a pinch more salt and made a mental note to add that to the recipe. She found cooking relaxed her.
Carly came over and sat at the edge of the table. She had a pad and paper in her hand. “I’ve tallied the results of the games,” she announced, “and the winner is—”
At the same time, they all shouted, “Chris!” and turned to look at their alien friend. He had pinned the tail directly on the donkey while blindfolded, had gotten every beanbag in the hole, had gathered the most marbles with his toes, and sailed his paper airplane twice as far as anyone else.
“Me?” Chris said, surprised even though no one else was.
“You earned it, dude,” Ravi said. “No one could touch you.”
Chris shrugged, a little embarrassed. “I can’t help it if my race has uncanny accuracy.”
Anna walked over to Chris, reached up, and slipped a chain made out of paper clips over his neck. She’d hung a round cardboard medal from the chain with the word winner spelled out in gold stars. She was quite proud of her artwork. Everyone clapped.
Chris lifted the medal and examined it. Then he looked around at the kids’ happy faces. He realized that he was going to miss them.
“Are you all right?” Piper asked, peering closely at him.
Chris nodded. He and Shawn had agreed it would be better if he didn’t reveal his plans to return to Flora until the end of the mission, when they were certain the kids would make it back to Earth safely. And at this point, he was not the least bit certain of that. Still, he felt terrible not telling them the truth. He looked back down at the handmade medal around his neck and hoped they would forgive him when the time came.
Chris lifted the medal off his chest and slipped it over Dash’s head. “Here. A medal is for bravery. You’re the brave one; you should have this.”
When Dash began to pull it off in protest, Chris said, “I insist. Think of it as a birthday present.”
“Gifts!” Carly exclaimed, slapping her forehead. “That’s what we forgot!”
“Actually,” Piper said, floating forward, “Niko has one. A gift, I mean.”
“Totally not necessary,” Dash said. “Just being here is the best gift ever.”
“I think you’ll want this one,” Piper said, reaching out to pat Dash on the shoulder.
Niko sat down on the couch and took a deep breath. He glanced up at Piper, who nodded her encouragement. “Okay,” he said, then paused and took another deep breath. Then another.
“Um,” Dash said, “are you all right? You really don’t need to give me anything.”
When Niko still didn’t say anything, Piper swung herself out of her chair and sat down on Dash’s other side. “Niko’s gift,” she said. “It’s the gift of healing.”
Dash looked from Piper to Niko, then back again. “Say what now?”
“When I first got to the Light Blade, Niko was almost dead from the Stinger poison,” Piper told the group. “Anna had brought some antidote serum from the planet’s surface, but—”
“We saw that stuff,” Carly said. “Colonel Ramos said it was practically useless. Guess it would have been smart to take it just in case.” She glanced at Anna with what might have been the first sign of approval she’d ever given her.
“Anyway,” Piper continued, “the antidote did lower his fever a bit, but it wasn’t formulated for humans, so it wasn’t strong enough to knock out the poison on its own.”
Niko reached over and took Piper’s hand and squeezed it. He knew he should be the one telling the story now. “So Piper kept asking me questions about my childhood to keep me talking. I remember feeling so cold and talking about how my mother told me I had this healing power.” He paused to look at the skeptical looks on his friends’ faces. “It’s not like I can touch someone and they’re instantly well again,” he rushed to say. “Well, sort of. My great-great-grandmother was a healer of sorts—back then, the people in her village thought she used magic, but really it’s just acupressure.”
“Acupressure?” Dash asked. “What’s that?”
“It’s a form of therapy. Basically, we find a specific point on the body and apply pressure in order to treat pain or a specific ailment,” Niko explained. “The Japanese call it shiatsu.”
Chris pulled out his notebook and began scribbling madly.
Piper spoke up, her words coming in a rush. “Dash,
Niko can help you. I know it sounds crazy, but I swear Niko’s hands really are like magic.” Niko blushed.
“He can’t replace the shots you take,” Piper explained. “Or give you more time in general, but he can give you more energy. We’ve been experimenting together on my legs. I’ll never be able to move them, but the rest of my body is more energized, which means I can do more. The only downside is that it doesn’t last long. But we figured if he practices this acupressure on you each day until we reach Dargon, you’ll have enough energy to go with the ground team!”
Dash’s eyes grew wide. He turned to Niko. “You’re sure it will work?”
Niko nodded. “I’m sure. You’re our best hope for success; everyone knows it. Plus,” he continued, “as the captain, you should be there for the last adventure.” He glanced at the others. Everyone nodded in agreement, except for Anna. She hesitated a second longer than the others, but eventually gave a grunting nod.
Dash looked around the room at his friends—human, alien, and robot. He knew they felt sorry for him, but they’d made today a celebration—Carly had even played her guitar for them, which she never did—and now they’d actually given him something to celebrate. He grinned. “When do we start?”
The next few weeks sped by faster than anyone wanted. Niko poured all his energy into Dash’s healing treatments—and they were proving to be a great success!
Dash was very grateful for the extra energy, especially since Chris was making them train pretty hard for the conditions they’d face on Dargon. Chris’s notes from his visit to the planet were in the library, and Siena and Carly spent a lot of time researching the species the ground team would meet there. They’d taught the others a few customs and traditions to help make them seem more trustworthy when they first approached them. One of the weirder ones was that they’d have to approach the elves backward, while whistling, to prove their visit was peaceful. They’d all spent a lot of time practicing their best whistles, until Chris told them it was giving him a headache and they had to stop.