Jacob tried to get some rest as they blasted off from Planet Veritas, but all he could do was stare at his Telly. He had successfully survived a Valkyrian kidnapping attempt, his debate was a disaster, and he was very, very tired. He thought about ending it all and just heading back to the tunnel through the space kapow and back home to the street where all the houses looked the same. Maybe being king of the seventh grade was really all he was cut out for.

Even still, he couldn’t quite give up on his dream. He wasn’t sure if his Telly would work back on Earth, and there was someone he needed to summon the courage to call before he decided to go home. He could find out once and for all if his dad really was in outer space and talk to him and—

There was a loud banging on his door. Jacob sat up quickly.

“Who is it?”

“Can I come in?” Catalina shouted from outside.

Jacob slumped back onto his pillow. “Fine.”

Catalina skipped into the room and thrust her Telly in his face. “Good news! Your poll numbers have finally moved. We’re at twenty percent! The debate didn’t hurt us too much, and people loved our escape on Planet Hermit.”

“Really?”

Catalina smiled with pride. “They thought you conducted yourself like a true Astral.”

Jacob wondered how running for your life and being saved by a spaceship constituted acting like an Astral. “I conducted myself like a human being,” he mumbled.

“Well, they didn’t know you could be so… exciting. This is exactly where we want to be heading into the Battles Supreme! Everyone loves a comeback, and if we could just get your poll numbers peaking at the right time, we’ll—”

“Wait. The Battles what?”

“The Battles Supreme,” Catalina said.

“Oh, right. What are those?”

“Oh… wow. Darling, do you even have news on Earth? The Battles Supreme. Three tests of intelligence and strength so everyone can make up their minds before voting day. The battles are judged by the Election Council, except for the third one, which is judged by my daddy. The first one involves corndogs.”

“Corndogs? Really?” Jacob had imagined himself swinging from ropes and jumping over logs like he had seen in military training scenes. He wasn’t sure how leaping across a muddy pond would make him qualified to be president, but he had stopped being surprised about anything Astral-related.

Jacob suddenly remembered that Catalina had been upset with him for being so rude about her hugging him and for lumping her in with the Valkyrians even though she wasn’t like them. And yet there she was standing before him looking rested and happy as if she didn’t have a care in the world. He admired that she never seemed to let anything get her down for long, and she appeared genuinely excited that they had made some progress on their campaign. But that didn’t change the fact that he had been rude.

“Hey,” Jacob said. “Catalina. Sorry about calling Astrals maniacs, I—”

“Shush!” Catalina said. She shook her head and beamed. “You don’t ever have to apologize to me.”

Jacob frowned. Whenever he crossed Sarah Daisy, things were never better until he had groveled out apologies until he couldn’t grovel any more and had thoroughly exhausted every drop of pride and patience he possessed, at which time she maybe, possibly found it in her better self to forgive him. It didn’t seem right that Catalina wouldn’t let him apologize, let alone expect him to try to make amends. “But that’s… I don’t think that’s how it’s supposed to work.”

Catalina waved her finger at him. “Shush, shush, shush. You just worry about winning this election.”

“But—”

“Ta, darling!”

Catalina skipped out of his room and closed the door behind her. Jacob wondered if he would someday come to understand the workings of the female mind.

“Oh my!” Praiseworthy shouted. “We have trouble.”

Jacob heard a noise at the rear of the ship. He jumped out of bed and ran toward the hold. He heard a galloping sound and suddenly a large gray-haired chimpanzee ran past him, slipped on the smooth floor, and crashed into a wall.

“No! Boris! Inside running, please!” Dexter shouted.

Jacob reached the hold and found Dexter surrounded by monkeys and a small one clinging to his back.

“We made it!” Dexter said.

Jacob walked over and high-fived Dexter. He was so glad they were finally back together.

“What did I miss?” Dexter asked.

Jacob felt many different emotions all at once when he thought back to the last week and all the things Dexter had missed. He tried to figure out what he should tell Dexter first. When he had last seen Dexter, Jacob thought he was a shoo-in and had assumed since the king nominated him that the election would just be a formality. But instead he had given poorly received speeches and had nearly been chased to his death and lost to Mick in a debate. “I don’t know, Dexter,” he said finally. “This has been hard.”

“Harder than surviving Numonia?”

Jacob thought back to eating space dust, and it made him smile a little. “Yeah. Even harder than that.”

Dexter peered at Jacob as if he had been replaced by a robot, and Jacob realized that he couldn’t remember a time when he was scared and Dexter was the confident one. He felt like the ground was shifting beneath him.

Dexter slapped Jacob on the back. “Cheer up, Wonderbar. If I can escape a bunch of crazy soldiers and rescue a clan of space monkeys, I’m pretty sure it means you can do anything. The king nominated you to save Earth. You have to win.”

Jacob felt some blood returning to his face. Dexter was right. Failure wasn’t an option.

“But don’t do it for me,” Dexter said. “Do it for the monkeys.”