27

“You’ve traveled so far and now have nothing to say?”

What’s there to say? We’ve been caught. The flash of satisfaction I felt at Becka’s expense disappears. It doesn’t matter who was right and who was wrong. We’re all going down now.

But Becka quickly finds her nerve. “Oh please,” she says. “You’re not so tough. We managed to escape your prison and get back here and rescue everyone else.”

“Almost rescue,” the Minister clarifies. “And let me tell you a different story, shall I? A story of a primitive ship manned by three children and of an escape that was permitted to happen. Up to a point.”

And I’m listening to them. I am. But mostly, I’m staring at the screen, at the Minister, at what’s behind the Minister. Eight or ten other Elvidians standing in a semi-circle around her. Some kind of council? Military leaders? They’re dressed in these dark cloaks, with hoods pulled almost entirely over their eyes, so I can barely tell them apart. Except for one of them. Standing at the Minister’s right shoulder. Creases running down his cheeks. Eyes exposed. Looking right at me.

“I will confess,” the Minister goes on, “I had not anticipated your initial jailbreak. I still do not quite understand how you managed to convince the guard of your fabricated illness. But no matter. I quickly recognized it as an opportunity.”

The Elvidian behind the Minister—the one making eyes at me—lets his hood slip even further, which confirms it: Bale Kontra. The Elvidian who’s been helping us. He’s here. With her.

I share a quick look with Ari and Becka. They’ve both noticed too.

Which is when Bale Kontra lets his eyes go wide for just a moment, as if to tell us, Don’t say a word. And maybe also, Why would you come back here after all my warnings?

“You see,” the Minister continues. “I distrusted you humans from the start. First your little ship has the nerve to think it can travel the stars. Then you evaded the Quarantine and entered Elvidian space, which gave you certain”—she says this last word like it tastes like too much garlic—“rights.”

“I knew you were trouble. Unworthy. But we are a law-abiding people. And you had only managed to break one law: unauthorized parking. In order to assume jurisdiction over you and get rid of you permanently, I needed to wait for you to commit a more serious crime. Escaping from custody and staging a prison break will do nicely.”

I knew it was too easy.

“I assumed you would return for your fellow prisoners eventually. And here you are! In the wake of this violation, I can convince the others that the Quarantine is warranted again—to send you all away for good.”

I feel sick. We walked right into the Minister’s trap. And it was all for nothing.

I try to send a telepathic message through space and into Bale Kontra’s mind. (Hey, nothing’s impossible anymore, right?) Help us! Do something! But he doesn’t react. I can’t really blame him. He warned us, and we didn’t listen.

“Now,” the Minister concludes, “I’m afraid that your little adventure is over. Shut down your engines and wait. One of our tow ships will be along to link with your vessel in exactly eleven minutes. It will bring you to a secure location from which you will await the Quarantine.” When she says that last word, a chill runs down my spine. I wonder why she doesn’t just Quarantine us on the spot, but I remember what Bale Kontra said about the Minister’s committee being “secret.” I guess even her fellow Elvidians would think she’s off her rocket if they knew what she’s been up to.

The screen shuts off and we’re left with the view of the three suns and a tiny speck rising from the surface of the planet: the tow ship, heading toward us. I look over at Becka and regret my “I told you so.” We were all wrong. (Some more than others, but who’s counting?) She’s frozen, staring ahead out the window.

“So I assume that wasn’t part of the plan,” Principal Lochner says.

“Becka?” I ask, ignoring the principal for a second. “You okay?”

I stand up and she turns around to face me, wiping her cheeks with her palms.

“I—I thought we could help,” she says.

“I know.” I’m not mad at her anymore. How could I be? She was just trying to do the right thing.

She looks right at me, blinking hard to ward off any more tears. “I’m sorry.”

“Me too.” I take a deep breath. “But we’re still a team. And we can still get out of this. Together.”

She nods and presses her hand down onto one of the screens on the captain’s chair.

“WELCOME, BECKENHAM PIERCE.”

“Ship, give light speed access back to Jacksonville Graham.”

“ACCESS RESTORED,” the ship says. “BUT I DON’T THINK I’M GOING TO CALL HIM CAPTAIN, IF IT’S ALL THE SAME TO YOU.”

Principal Lochner raises an eyebrow and just asks, “Captain?”

Becka sighs, gets up from the leather chair, and nudges me away from her old station, her eyes puffy and red. “You can take all computer access away from me if you want,” she offers. “Totally shut me out of the system. I’d understand.”

It’s tempting. I mean, this is Becka: The girl who mercilessly humiliated me just a few hours ago. But she’s also the girl who turned our cafeteria’s digital paper into an epic diversion. The girl who pulled a stun gun on our alien prison guard. The girl who came charging back here to rescue everyone. I haven’t agreed with everything she’s done. But without her, we never would’ve made it this far.

It’s us against the galaxy. We need each other.

“No,” I say. “You keep computer access. But thanks. And you know what? The ship’s right.”

“ALWAYS,” it interjects.

“I’m not the captain,” I clarify. “From here on out—for however long we’re on this ship, anyway—let’s all take turns sitting in this seat. Deal?”

I extend a hand.

“Deal,” she agrees, shaking it.

Ari grins at me.

I take a deep breath, sit back down in the captain’s seat (for now), and think.

The Minister told us to stay put. But do we really have to listen? I don’t see any other ships out here. We can still make it. I mean, she doesn’t know everything, right? She told us herself: She didn’t expect us to get off Elvid IV in the first place. Which means she can’t see what happens inside our ship—so maybe she doesn’t know that we refueled the light speed engine.

If she still thinks we’re running on empty—

“Ari?” I ask. “Are we far enough away to use the light speed engine?”

He looks down at his console. “I don’t think so. We’re probably one or two minutes out still.”

“Becka?” I ask. “Any ships out there?”

“No.” Her voice is steadier—the confidence is coming back. “Nothing. It’s all clear.”

Almost there.

“Ari, take us straight out and away. Let me know the second we’re far enough from the planet.”

“Aye, aye,” he says.

The ship rumbles and we begin to move away from Elvid IV. The Minister can give whatever orders she wants, but she can’t shoot us down with her laser-red eyes alone. The tow ship is still ten minutes away, out of range, and there’s nothing else around. By the time even one ship blasts off from the surface of the planet and gets within firing range, we’ll be long gone.

As expected, our screen gets hijacked again.

“I believe I instructed you to stay put.”

“We just wanted to get one last look at your solar system before the Quarantine,” I tell her. “It’s just so beautiful.”

Behind her, Bale Kontra gives the tiniest shake of his head.

I ignore him. If he doesn’t want to help us anymore, we’re going to have to help ourselves.

The Minister eyes me suspiciously. “Shut down your engines and await the tow ship or I’ll give the order to have your ship destroyed. It will be an easy order to give, believe me.”

“Oh yeah?” Becka says, and she doesn’t sound shaken anymore. She’s back to being the T-Bex we all know and fear. “What’ll you shoot us with? There’s nothing out here.”

“Becka,” Principal Lochner warns quietly. He’s right. We don’t need to egg her on.

“Nothing out here,” the Minister echoes, flashing a toothy, yellow smile. “Ah, of course. How silly of me.”

The Minister leans backward and turns her head to the side, speaking directly to Bale Kontra. “Tell the defense squadrons to suspend cloaking.”

Bale Kontra leans forward and whispers a question into her ear, staring directly at me as he speaks.

“Yes,” she answers, turning back to face us. “All of them.”