Surprisingly, the morning temperature seemed a little warm to Maurice. As the others looked over the hill, they, too, saw the starjet, but there was no way to tell whose it was—Linda or Tony’s?
Maurice looked at the scanner. The radiation around them had dropped down to almost normal range, but they were still radioactive, especially Kimberly.
Maurice unfolded Merek. He wanted to take a chance and fly the rest of the way.
“Are you sure that thing is safe? We could walk,” said Robert.
Maurice hopped on with Kimberley. “Robert, you’re a magic machine. You need to trust what other magic can do,” said Maurice.
Tasha pulled him aboard and they were off.
A flying carpet . . . Wow . . . and he’d never even been on an airplane.
After about fifteen minutes or so, the view came into better focus. That was Joseph! Maurice thought. The closer they got, the madder he got. He was supposed to be looking after Steve, and there he is, dancing on the starjet’s wing! And there’s a stranger with him.
Merek descended gracefully. Maurice jumped off first. He grabbed Joseph and shook him, as Tasha turned the music off.
“Man, what’s wrong with you, Jo? You want to get us stranded on this rock?” shouted Maurice.
He wanted to strike him, but Robert grabbed Maurice’s one arm, and Tasha grabbed the other one.
“Calm down, everybody. This is Dena. She could be a great help to us,” Joseph exclaimed. “Thanks to her, I know where to go from here.”
Just then, Kimberley fell off the wing. She crawled to the strange purple plant that got Joseph’s attention. Something told her to reach and grab it. She did. Suddenly she felt better. Somehow, this plant reinvigorated her. Her mind was clear.
Everyone ran over to her. “Maurice, Dena, you’ve got to let me keep this plant,” she exclaimed. “It definitely has magical and healing properties. I want it.”
Maurice’s instrument analyzed the plant. No poisons, no toxins, no danger, he supposed.
“Okay, there’s a specimen sample container in this starjet. You can keep it,” Maurice said.
“Yay!” said Kim.
After, they used the radiation wand aboard the ship to pull some, if not most, of the bad radiation out of themselves. Maurice thought it was best to send Kimberley back to Starcutter with Joseph’s starjet.
He gave her Joseph’s helmet. “Go back there and take care of Steve,” Maurice said.
As she was about to board the starjet, she felt she had to hug Maurice. He hugged her back. She whispered in his ear, “Thanks for taking care of me. I thought I was a goner.”
Maurice replied, “Get back up there. I know Steve is missing you more than anyone else. Just keep the fires burning till we get back. Okay?”
“Yes, sire,” she said. The cockpit closed, and within a minute, all they could see was her contrail heading for home.
* * *
The starjet flew smoothly; her flight was peaceful. She sat at the controls for a pilot and put the plant on her lap. It reminded her of her stuffed animals on Earth. It was her first piece of comfort all day.
Kimberly gave the recognition signal. She wanted to verbally check in, but she wanted to surprise Steve.
Steve watched as the jet landed. With all the noise of the jet’s engines, the steam coming out of the jet, and the magnetic field, he spoke on the radio.
Kimberly heard him in her helmet.
“I take it, your mission was a bust,” Steve said disappointedly.
The cockpit opened. Kim stood up as it opened. “I wouldn’t say that, babe.”
He ran to her. They hugged. Kim thought about back home. In her neighborhood, a lot of people on her street didn’t like people of color. Tasha, Joseph, Robert, and Maurice were all black, and she was pretty sure Dena was a great person too. She thought. She was enjoying the best time of her life with people who cared more for her than her own relatives.