When are we going to find Dexter?” Sarah whispered to Mick. “How much longer do I have to sit through this?”

Mick shushed her, and Sarah turned her attention back to the Planet Valkyrie military demonstration. She had seen enough marching and warship flying and men jumping over walls and climbing ropes to last her several lifetimes. She tapped her foot impatiently as a group of a hundred men marched in order, their arms and legs moving together like identical synchronized robots. Their leader barked a command, and they immediately broke ranks and tumbled into somer-
saults and cartwheels before they began shooting indiscriminately into the grandstands where Sarah and Mick were sitting. Sarah dove for the floor as blaster shots pinged all around her.

She covered her head and screamed and looked up at Patrick Gravy, who was smiling down at her from his seat. “Isn’t it incredible how close they can come to shooting us and still miss?” He shouted, “Deadly marksmanship!”

She looked at Mick, who was smiling along with Patrick, but Sarah could tell he was a bit unsettled. “Good show, Gravy. Now listen, about that—”

“Oh, sir,” Patrick interrupted. “You haven’t seen the finale. You’re going to love this.”

Sarah gave Mick a worried look. He flared his eyes a little in understanding, but kept his fake smile plastered on his face.

Patrick pointed in the distance, and though it was daytime, a large moon shone in the Planet Valkyrie sky. There was a rumble nearby, and a giant missile launcher rolled into place on the platform where the Valkyrians had been performing their military exercises.

The missile slowly raised and pivoted until it was pointing directly at the moon.

Patrick offered his Telly to Mick. “Sir, would you like to do the honors?”

Mick cleared his throat and said, “There is nothing in the universe that would please me more than destroying a harmless space object that isn’t bothering anyone, but I should really decline, since—”

“Great, I’ll do it!” Patrick shouted. He quickly punched his Telly with a fat finger and the missile sailed into the sky with a flash of heat and a deafening hiss.

“Mick…” Sarah whispered, but he waved her off.

There was a blinding flash of light and Sarah shielded her eyes. When she looked back at the moon it had been replaced by a bright cloud of smoke. Just as the cloud started fading, a thousand shooting stars lit up the Valkyrian atmosphere and pieces of the moon rained down. There was a streak of light nearby and a meteor struck the ground with thundering force, throwing a shower of dust into the air. Sarah dove back down onto the floor and covered her head, praying that a meteor wouldn’t hit them.

“Ha-ha!!” Patrick shouted. “I always hated that moon!”

Sarah snuck a glance back up at the sky as the meteors began decreasing in frequency until she finally felt safe to stand up on shaky legs.

As they walked toward the Valkyrie bunker after the demonstration, Sarah grabbed Mick by the arm and whispered urgently, “These people are terrifying. What are we doing here?”

“We need their endorsement,” Mick whispered. “The Valkyrians are very popular. Astrals love explosions, and they’re terrified that… General Gravy!” he said in greeting as a taller version of Patrick appeared outside of the bunker.

“Candidate Cracken,” the man said with a gravelly voice. “I hope you enjoyed the demonstration.” He bowed slightly and gestured to the doorway. “Shall we?”

He led them into a dark room with an industrial metal table lit by a single lamp. There were space maps on the walls with military formations drawn in. They sat down around the table and Sarah was reminded of hostage negotiations she had seen in action movies.

“First things first,” Mick said. “Where is Dexter Goldstein?”

General Gravy sneered at Patrick, who looked away in embarrassment. “Goldstein has escaped with the space monkeys. They were too clever for my son. He can’t help it, he’s a very stupid boy.”

Patrick’s face brightened and he said, “Thanks, Dad!”

General Gravy smiled and patted him on the back proudly. “Takes after his old man.”

Mick spread his hands. “Let’s get down to business. As you know, I’m—”

“Wait,” Sarah interrupted. “What about Dexter? Where did the space monkeys take him?”

Mick pursed his lips and asked grudgingly, “What are we doing about Goldstein?”

“I have it on good authority that Mr. Goldstein is in police custody with Space Officers Bosendorfer and Erard,” General Gravy said.

“Thank goodness!” Sarah said. “How do we find him now?”

“Later,” Mick said.

“But…”

“First we talk business,” Mick said. Sarah thought about protesting, but she let it drop. The sooner Mick finished talking to the general, the sooner they’d get off this crazy planet.

“General Gravy,” Mick said, “do I have your endorsement?”

The general stood up and began pacing the room. He walked over to one of the space maps and peered at it for a moment, scratching his chin. He carefully moved a blue marker a few inches to the right. He nodded to himself and then turned back to face Sarah and Mick.

“I’ll need more weapons systems,” General Gravy said, tapping his fingers together in thought. “We’ve been operating on SEER donations up until this point, but I’ll need at least ten percent of the government’s budget and official Astral Military status.”

“What’s ‘seer’?” Sarah asked.

Patrick laughed. “The Earther doesn’t know what—” But a look from Mick cut him off.

“Ten percent is too much,” Mick said. “I need all the money I can spare for bribes. I’ll give you five percent and you can be an authorized militia. And I want your word that you will complete Operation Mousetrap. Successfully this time.”

General Gravy stared at Mick with his best intimidating glare, and Mick just smiled back.

“Fine,” General Gravy spat.

Mick stuck out his hand. “So we have a deal?”

General Gravy let Mick stand there with his hand outstretched for a few moments. He scratched his nose and stared at one of his fingernails. “Oh, there’s one last thing. I’m sure, given the value of the Valkyrian endorsement, you wouldn’t hesitate to accept this small request. I would hate for the Astral people to think you don’t have their safety in mind.”

“What do you want?” Mick said through his teeth.

“If you win, I want authorization to destroy the target of my choosing.”

Patrick pounded the table and gave his dad a gleeful fist pump. Mick glanced quickly at Sarah. She was baffled. What target were they talking about?

Mick swallowed and kept his hand outstretched. He gave a faint nod.

“Deal.”