It took us a while to track him down, but we finally caught up to Lightyear in a nearby field.
“Well, he’s certainly having a marvelous time. Lightyear’s instinctual behavior appears unencumbered down here on the planet’s surface.”
It’s Brian. Big-brained Brian. I guess our field trip is more relaxing for him than thinking about designing a Zorb energy-neutralization beam.
“Uh… sure. I mean, I guess so.” I might know for sure if I had any idea what he was talking about.
We picked our exploring groups back on the bus. I’ve got Brian and Gil with me. Lightyear, too, who happens to be heading this way with a stick in his mouth. It looks like he wants to play fetch. He drops the stick at my feet, so I bend over to pick it up. And it crawls away and hides behind a log. And then the log gets up, on about twenty legs, and runs behind a big boulder. Well, I have to admit, that’s the strangest thing I’ve seen in a while. And that’s coming from somebody who’s standing next to a kid whose brain I can watch shrink and grow inside a Plexiglas dome.
“Well, that was… different,” says Mr. Plexi-Dome himself. The log thingy must have freaked him out a little bit, because his brain’s down to half size again. “Maybe we should go.”
“All right. Just let me grab Lightyear.” Too late. He darts behind the boulder, probably looking for his stick buddy.
“C’mon, Lightyear,” I call. “We should start heading back to the landing area.”
I’m about to attempt a whistle when Lightyear comes bounding out from behind the boulder. He has something in his mouth, but it’s not the stick.
“Heck if I know. Looks like a rock or something.”
A really cool glowing rock, that is. I pick it up. It’s hard and incredibly smooth. Kind of warm, too. And lighter than any rock this size I’ve ever held before. Rounder, too.
Mom would love this thing. Her birthday’s coming up, and it’s not like there are a ton of gift options on the space station. At least not in my price range.
Or, better yet, I could give it to Luna! She’d have to appreciate something this nice. And maybe the guy who gave it to her, too! I can always get Mom a new kitchen sponge or something. I stuff my glowing ticket to Luna Town into my travel pack.
“You better put that back, Kelvin. Remember what Mr. Jeddee said about not taking anything?”
“Yeah? Well, he also said to stay away from water, and look at Gil over there.”
“What is it with you guys? Didn’t you listen to anything Mr. Jeddee said?”
“Aw, relax, Brian. I live in the water, remember? If anything weird was going on, don’t you think I’d be the first to know?”