Jacob, Dexter, and Catalina were sitting in a field eating lunch a few hours later when they saw the spaceship Lucy high up in the sky. After the last of the Valkyrians had blasted off and left them alone, the construction workers got to work repairing Praiseworthy and gave the children metal lunch pails full of sandwiches, potato chips, and milk in a thermos.

Jacob remembered the first time he had seen the spaceship Lucy, sitting in the forest near his house, and he smiled when he thought of how happy he had been to see her when he was stuck on Numonia. He really had come a long way and had so many adventures.

Lucy touched down nearby, and Sarah Daisy stepped out from the hold. She had her hands stuck nervously in her pockets, and she averted her eyes as she walked over.

There was an uncomfortable silence when she stood in front of them, and Jacob thought back to the time they had spoken over the Astral Telly, when she had refused to quit Mick Cracken’s campaign. Now that she had been forced to resign, a significant part of him was relieved she was finally away from Mick Cracken and that things had clearly taken a turn for the worse between them.

“So what are we going to do now, Jake?” Sarah said. “How are you doing?”

“I don’t know…” Jacob said.

The silence stretched on for a little while longer, as no one quite knew what to say. Jacob picked at a blade of grass and broke it into small pieces, staring at it intently.

Sarah tapped Catalina on the shoulder. “Hey. Sorry I called you an al…” Sarah said. “Well, you know.”

Catalina gave her a fake smile. “That’s all right, sweetie, I know you can’t help your terrible manners.”

Sarah fumed, but Jacob knew that if she could apologize to her worst enemy, they could all be friends again. He stood up and gave Sarah a hug. “It’s really good to see you,” he said, and he meant it.

Sarah nodded, and said, “You too.” She broke off the hug and gave Dexter a shove. “C’mere weirdo,” she said, and they hugged as well.

She sat down with them and ate some of Jacob’s potato chips. Catalina watched her every move.

“So… Seriously, what are you going to do now?” Sarah asked.

“Well,” Jacob said. “I need to get ready for the third Battle Supreme. And I was thinking maybe we could get a few last appearances in before the election. We don’t have much time.”

Sarah stopped chewing, and looked at Jacob with a panicked expression. She swallowed with difficulty and said very quietly, “Oh no, oh no… I asked you ‘What are you going to do,’ but you thought… Oh Jake, you haven’t heard.”

“Heard what?”

Sarah’s mouth quivered. “I’m really sorry, Jake. I saw it on my Telly right before I got here and I thought you knew. I’m so sorry, I know how badly you wanted to be president. This is all my fault.”

Jacob’s face felt fuzzy. He didn’t like the way she was talking about his campaign in the past tense. “What do you mean ‘wanted to be president’?”

Sarah stared at the ground. “Well, you know after I called Catalina an A-word, and after that stupid traitor dumped me from the campaign, Mick went and gave a speech talking about the ‘Earth Menace’ and how dangerous Earth is to Astrals. I know he doesn’t mean it and is just trying to get Astrals all riled up, but it worked. People got really upset, talking about how Earth is going to go to war with Astrals.

“And then…” She wiped her eyes and cleared her voice. “Then he announced a new rule, which he had pushed through the Election Council.”

Jacob’s heart was racing. “What rule?” he asked.

Sarah sighed. “Earthers aren’t allowed to run for president. No one is going to be allowed to vote for you. He stole the election.”

Jacob leaned back slowly and lay down on the ground, staring at the sky. It wasn’t happening. It couldn’t possibly be happening. He felt sick, exhausted, and drained. Everything he had worked for. All those campaign events and speeches and interviews. All for nothing. Mick had done it in just a few hours. He had outsmarted him, and all of Jacob’s efforts were in vain.

He had come so far. After Sarah’s gaffe he really thought he was going to win. He had pulled pranks and eaten corndogs and was about to win fair and square. He had made Astrals get to know him, and even made them think he was one of them.

Of course Mick would stack the deck against him. Mick couldn’t win on his own, so he had to cheat.

He felt Sarah’s hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry, Jake.”