Chapter 6

As Nash bundled along the hallway to the docking station, he ran into Raj and KC. KC’s parents gave her rushed hugs and kisses before she pulled out of their embrace, assuring them she would be fine. Captain Malik and his wife were also there to see Raj off. He hugged them both then waved goodbye.

Expeditions like this were a normal part of the Space Kids’ lives, it was almost as if they were taking a bus or going on a regular school excursion. Nothing phased veteran space families much.

‘Why didn’t you wait for us?’ Raj said, hurrying to catch up to Nash.

‘I didn’t realise I had to,’ Nash replied, feeling a pang of jealousy and self-pity that he hadn’t been able to say goodbye to his mum.

‘We always do everything together,’ Raj said.

Nash shrugged. He didn’t want to let on to Raj that he was missing his mum or that he was worried about the Mars mission. He didn’t want Raj to think he was scared. Besides, Nash did have his dad with him so he couldn’t complain too much.

‘Maybe I don’t want to do everything with you all the time,’ Nash said.

Raj looked hurt. He opened his mouth to say something then shook his head and stormed off towards V2’s open doors.

‘Nice going,’ KC said, brushing past Nash and calling for Raj to wait up.

Feeling even worse, Nash sighed and made his way into V2. He found Orson, Felix, Olga, and Commander Best running their final checks. ‘How’s everything looking?’ he asked.

‘All good,’ Orson said. ‘We’re still getting our head around some of the extra-tech, but V2 is an incredible machine.’

‘Why thank you, Mr Steele,’ V2’s smooth, female computer-generated voice sounded over the communications system. ‘I’ll take that as a compliment.’

Orson laughed. ‘It was definitely meant as one. You’re a gem.’

‘Now I’m blushing,’ V2 replied, causing everyone except Commander Best to laugh. They all knew V2 couldn’t blush.

Commander Best scowled, indicating she was not amused with the banter. ‘Let’s maintain a level of professionalism with the AI, shall we?’

‘Certainly,’ Orson agreed. ‘My apologies.’

‘Accepted,’ Commander Best said. ‘Now, five minutes to departure. Seats everyone.’ She glared at Nash. ‘That means you, too.’

‘What’s her problem?’ Nash whispered.

‘I don’t think she likes kids,’ KC replied.

‘Or adults,’ Raj said.

‘Or AI,’ Orson added.

They all laughed, but when Commander Best’s head whipped around at the sound, they stopped immediately.

‘She’s right,’ Orson said. ‘Seats now, kids.’

The Space Kids stowed their luggage in the lockers and prepared for take-off. The doors closed and V2 jettisoned away from Misty. Commander Best set the course for Mars. The crew were entering their sleep pods when Commander Best found a problem with V2’s auto-pilot function. ‘So much for extra-tech,’ she muttered.

‘I can’t believe there would be a problem with V2,’ Orson said. ‘Maybe you’re doing something wrong.’

The look Commander Best fixed Orson with sent a shiver down Nash’s spine.

Orson winced. ‘Let me run some diagnostics.’ He busied himself checking the computer system. Felix and Olga helped him, running through various protocols.

Nash thought he would use the time to go to the toilet. He unclipped his belt and tried to sneak out.

‘Where are you going?’ Commander Best quizzed him, her gaze was as cold and deadly as Thunderforce’s, the legendary killer robot in the video game he loved playing with Cole.

‘I, er, I’m going to the toilet,’ Nash stammered. ‘I won’t be long.’

Commander Best rolled her eyes. ‘You’d better not be. As soon as we work out what’s holding us up, we’re going into sleep mode.’

Nash hustled towards the door. ‘All good.’

‘Wait up!’ KC said as she hurried after Nash.

He eyed her warily. ‘Do you need to go too?’

‘Yeah, nerves.’

‘I didn’t realise you ever got nervous,’ Nash said.

‘Of course I get nervous, silly,’ KC said. ‘I just hide it. Like, I didn’t want to let on to Mum and Dad that I was nervous leaving them. I worry about them, though.’

Nash laughed. ‘You mean, you’re worried about them being on Misty rather than you being worried about going to Mars.’

‘Isn’t that obvious?’ She shrugged. ‘Anyway, I’m sure they’ll be fine. We’d better hurry up before Commander Best has us court-martialled.’

They went to the bathroom then met up again on the way back to the bridge.

‘Commander Best sure is full on,’ Nash said, continuing their conversation.

‘She comes from a long line of military personnel,’ KC said. ‘Her family has served in the defence force for centuries, so being serious and diligent is in her blood.’

‘Someone should tell her to relax,’ Nash said.

‘She’s a military hero on Earth,’ KC said. ‘Didn’t you know? She served three tours of duty in the Antarctic and another in Siberia.’

Nash whistled. ‘That’s impressive.’

‘And probably the reason she’s so uptight,’ KC said. ‘She hasn’t led a civilian life like us, so being 2IC on Misty is a change of pace for her. It’s clearly taking her a while to adjust.’

Nash’s ears pricked up. ‘What’s that noise?’

A hissing sound was coming from the wall near V2’s main entry door.

KC sniffed the air. ‘And what’s that smell?’

As they neared the door, blue sparks could be seen zapping inside the wall.

‘What is that?’ Nash said.

‘It looks dangerous.’ KC held him back. ‘Don’t get too close.’

The two friends ran to the bridge to inform Commander Best and Orson about the problem. Orson grabbed his toolkit and headed back along the corridor with Nash. ‘The circuit has overloaded,’ he said as he examined the wiring. He shut down the electricity and removed a panel then began fixing the damaged wiring. ‘Luckily, it’s nothing I can’t fix,’ he murmured. ‘But it’s probably what stopped us from going into sleep mode properly.’ He winked at Nash. ‘Good job finding this, by the way.’

Within minutes, Orson had repaired the circuit and V2 was back to normal. ‘System repaired,’ the shuttle’s computerised voice sounded over the comms system. ‘Ten minutes to sleep mode and hyperdrive.’

Nash’s sleep pod was beside Orson’s with Raj and KC on his left. They all said goodnight then pressed a button to close their capsule lids. Commander Best conducted a final check to ensure the pods were functioning properly then handed over to V2.

‘Safe to enter hyperdrive Ventura 2,’ she said.

‘Copy that,’ V2 replied.

As soothing music filtered into the headphones fitted over his ears, Nash glanced at Raj and KC, giving them the thumbs up signal. Grinning, KC waved back.

‘I’m bushed,’ she said. ‘Can’t wait to get a few much-needed zees.’

Nash yawned. ‘Me too.’ He turned to Raj.

‘You okay?’

‘I’m fine.’

Nash frowned, troubled by his friend’s attitude. His final thought as he drifted to sleep was, Have I done something wrong?