Explorer X Alpha (5 page)

“Eirena, a correction is in line here. Aadi is the Lead of this team. He had the highest scores on this simulation run and already knows how to use all of the navigation controls. He was doing that while you were proclaiming yourself the Team Leader. Now, all of you back to work. Carter, for now you can join Aadi over there, and maybe he will be up to speed enough for you,” he said and looked sternly at Eirena who had a guilty, then angry expression on her face.

“Great,” Eirena said under her breath and kicked the base of the console. “Well, I hope you are happy now, Aadi,” Eirena said, glaring at Aadi.

“What? You did it to yourself. I didn't say a thing,” Aadi said. He laughed a little while he watched the altitude of his cruiser rise higher on the screen.

“Yeah, you did do it to yourself,” said Raiko as she flung black braid behind her petite shoulder and laughed.

“Whatever,” said Eirena. She made jerky, angry moves on her flight sequences, which caused her cruiser to stagger.

“I don't care what Sam Faulkner said, you aren't leading me anywhere, Aadi! The day I follow your lead is the day your butt will fall when I flatten your face in the dirt behind me,” said Damien.

“Hey, I guess you are leading yourself, Damien, because I am going to follow the kid that has the best navigation skills,” said Scott smugly. “Hey, Aadi, can you show me how to use the manual control? I keep getting an error.” He waved for Aadi to come over to his console.

“Kiss up,” Dakota sneered with a laugh at Scott.

“Cadets, we will now go to the auditorium to meet our Captain and learn about your flight equipment. Then you will have free time and lights out,” came the call from the loudspeakers. All the campers ran out of the flight room to their cabins for a quick change. Aadi ran as fast as he could to get to the room before the others so he could check on Ebu. He ran to the door and scanned his eyes. Then, he took off his shoes and put them under the bed.

“Ebu, are you there?” he whispered, but there was no answer. Aadi got a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach that Ebu was out and up to no good. He reached his hand into his backpack and felt around for Ebu, but Ebu definitely was not in his backpack.

 

 

“Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap,” Aadi said. He punched his fist on the floor just as the door opened and Dakota walked through.

“I hope that new kid doesn't have to bunk with us. This room is already crowded,” Dakota said to Tacitus and Scott as they walked through the door.

“If they put him in this room, I am going to kick his butt. That kid reminds me of a snake,” said Damien, as he closed the door behind him.

“You are one to talk,” said Tacitus, who stood beside his bed, and they all turned and looked at him astonished, because that's pretty much the first time he ever commented on anything.

“It can talk! The weirdo can talk!” mocked Damien, and he walked past Tacitus and plucked him on the ear. Aadi observed that Tacitus's jump was delayed, as if he was
remembering
to move instead of reacting automatically to unexpected pain.
Strange,
he thought.

“Cadets, report to the auditorium. Report to the auditorium!” said the woman on the loudspeaker.

“This doesn't seem much like camp. This is like being in the military. ‘Report here… report there' is all they say. When do we get to have some fun?” complained Aadi.

“When we fly, fool. Or shall I say, our fearless leader?” said Dakota as he walked past Aadi and slapped him on the back of the head and then ran out the room.

Aadi waited for everyone to leave and then quickly looked around the room for Ebu. He heard the loudspeaker one last time and hoped that Ebu would stay hidden. Aadi closed the door and ran to the auditorium.

His team was sitting together. With a nod in their direction, he walked up and started to sit down. The new team member, Carter, waved at him to sit between him and Dakota. Aadi walked past Scott, Tacitus, Damien, and Dakota to sit next to Carter. “What's up, dude? I am in,” Carter whispered to Aadi.

“Cool! Welcome to the team,” Aadi said, looking straight ahead.

“Yeah, welcome aboard. You better make good on your promise, though,” warned Eirena from behind Aadi.

“Oh, I will. Tonight, we can sneak out of the rooms, and I will take you to the labs. You'll get a kick out of that,” Carter said and winked at Aadi.

“Shut up,” said Damien and then crossed his arms.

“No, you shut up,” Aadi replied.

“Hmph,” Damien through back, just as the Captain of the ship cleared his voice to speak.

“Hello, Cadets. I am Captain Joseph Manning. I will be leading this voyage, and I am excited to have you all aboard. We have some exciting planets we will be visiting and some new exciting space gear that has only ever been used on our own astronauts. Heather, can you bring up samples of the new suits, sustenance devices, and explorer equipment we have for our Cadets?” said Captain Manning to his assistant.

“I am not only the Captain of this glorious ship, but also the Coordinator for this exciting expedition. I am so excited that you all chose this camp over all the others for your summer vacation,” said Captain Manning with a huge smile as he glanced around the room overlooking all the Cadets.

A lady in a red, slightly shiny suit came forward with a display case. “Here we are, Captain Manning,” she said as she slid the large case to the right side of the Captain, who had silver at the temples of his dark blond hair. Although he was short in stature, he had wide shoulders and a deep and dominating voice.

“Cadets, this here is a sample of the suits you will be wearing on your excursions, which are made out of a special synthetic enzyme that allows them to form-fit to your bodies. These suits will protect you from debris or any external item that may cut you, burn you, or freeze you. The helmets are completely flexible, and if you were to crash, they will harden to protect the face. It expands while in space to a hard, rounded shell. When you land, it form-fits the face like a second skin; however, it will not tear. It's made out of the synthetic DNA of several creatures that will emit oxygen to you for up to thirty days. The suite is a thermo suit that will adjust to any temperature or climate,” he said and moved forward to the stand that held a big glass jar of what looked like candy bars.

“Here you go, Captain,” Heather said, handing him one of the candy-looking things from the jar.

“This is your sustenance while we are on each planet. This candy bar-like meal will be enough food for one week per square. Anyone want to try one?” He paused to look around the crowd, but there were no takers. “Okay, I see no volunteers. That's all right. You will have plenty of chances to taste these before you go on your first expedition,” he said and moved on to the next item.

Heather appeared from behind Captain Manning. “Thank you, Captain Manning. Now, Cadets, you may go to your cabins and enjoy free time in the gym, virtual movie room, virtual game room, or recreation center on Level B501,” she said with a smile.

“Let's meet in front of the gym at ten o'clock tonight… pass it on,” Carter whispered to Aadi. Aadi then passed on the message to Dakota.

“Umm, what are you whispering about?” asked Eirena suspiciously.

“They are planning to meet tonight, at ten o'clock in front of the gym,” Raiko whispered in Eirena's ear.

“How do you know that?” Eirena said quietly to Raiko.

“I learned how to read lips and do Sign Language because my brother is deaf,” Raiko whispered to Eirena. “But that is our secret because I find out stuff without people knowing it,” Raiko said with a wink.

“You have got to teach me. I am a quick study,” Eirena said and softly elbowed her.

“Okay, Cadets, file out and enjoy your evening. Lights out at ten,” Heather said from the stage. Aadi quickly passed his team to get to his room.

 

 

He was angry that Ebu didn't follow directions. Ebu was getting more and more difficult to control. He would have to adjust the android, but he hated to do it, because Ebu had developed into this personality. Every day, Ebu became more like the little brother he never had. Also, it would be hard for him to convince his dad to let him make another intelligence chip.

“Hey, what are you running for, Mr. Boss, Team Leader?” Eirena asked Aadi. She ran alongside him and poked his shoulder. He was shocked that she was able to keep up, but he did note that she wasn't much shorter than he was.

“Eirena, can you just go away?” requested Aadi in a gruff voice. He was angry and worried that Ebu was gone from his room.

“Fine. I'll see you tonight at ten,” she said and slowed down.

“What? No, you won't,” Aadi said as he looked back at her but kept running toward his room.

“Oh, yes I will,” she said and then turned to go to her room. On her way, she happened to look down and see a little square box with miniature legs sticking out of it slowly moving along the wall. She stopped, grabbed it, looked around the busy hallway, and noticed that no one was paying attention to her or the box, and then she ran toward her room.

Meanwhile, Aadi had made it to his room just before the others got there. He was looking frantically around the room and turned to look at Scott's bed and whispered Ebu's just as Scott walked in.

“Hey, dude, what's up with you? And who is Ebu?” Scott questioned as he tapped Aadi on the shoulder from behind.

“Where are the others?” Aadi asked, turning around.

“They are on their way but are talking to Carter now. Man, that boy can talk a mile a minute. He just never shuts up. He goes on and on, talking about how great he is and how he worships whoever happens to be around him at the time. That kid is definitely annoying,” said Scott, shaking shook his head.

“Hey, can you keep a secret?” Aadi asked and looked around. He reached over to close the door.

“You bet I can,” Scott said quietly with a heavy note to his voice. “Why?”

“Well, I lost my miniature robot, and I don't want the Counselors to find out and take him,” Aadi said quietly.

“What does he look like?” Scott asked and glanced around the room.

“Well, if he is on the move and doesn't want to be seen, he may look like a little box with legs coming out of it,” Aadi said.

“You know, I think I did see that thing, but it wasn't on the floor walking. Eirena was carrying a box like that. I thought it was funny that she was running with it,” Scott said. He scratched his head in bewilderment.

“You've got to be kidding me! Well, I got to go to her room,” said Aadi, hitting his fist on Tacitus's top bunk.

“What, are you insane? They don't let boys in the girls' section,” said Scott. He put his hands in his pocket to get his marble out.

“I've gotta figure out a way to get him back before everyone knows about him,” said Aadi and ran his hands through his hair in frustration.

“I am going with you, and I have something that will help,” said Scott, and he walked over to the small closet at the side of his bed. He pulled something out of his bag so quickly that Aadi couldn't see it. Then, he put it in his ear.

“What do you mean?” said Aadi.

“I have a hypnosis chip,” said Scott, quietly so that only Aadi could hear.

“A what?” asked Aadi, arching his eyebrows.

“It's something I've been working on with my mom who works for TEGRC. She is a scientist, and this was something she was working on at home. She knows I love magic and was working with me to make a device for my magic shows I do around town,” Scott said.

“Wow! You do magic shows?” asked Aadi, impressed.

“Yep. My aunt books my shows. I only do it in the summer, mainly for parties, but I am pretty good at it,” Scott said quietly.

“Well, how does it work?” asked Aadi on his way to the door.

“Well, I am not going to tell you that! It's my secret, but I will use it to get us past the Counselors,” said Scott. Aadi and Scott turned around as they heard the door open.

“Man, I finally got away! Why, why, why, did you all let that goofy girl get Carter on our team? He really irks my nerves. He is such a kiss-up. Problem is, I think Damien is starting to like him. The little twerp is probably trying to weasel his way into our room,” said Dakota, then he kicked the bed.

“Are you going with us to meet him tonight?” asked Aadi.

“You kidding me? Heck yeah! He is taking us to the labs. I didn't even know they had labs on this ship. Then, we are going to sneak over to see the cruisers we are going to be piloting to get to the planets. I must admit, the snake is good for something,” said Dakota as retrieved some gum from his bag on the lower bunk. He popped a piece in his mouth and looked up at Aadi and Scott.

“Well, we will meet you at the meeting place. We've got to go,” said Aadi as he touched Scott on the shoulder.

“Uh, heck no! You are not you leaving without me! That Carter kid may come in here and want to talk some more,” Dakota said as he stood up and walked up to Aadi.

“Hey, where is Tacitus?” said Aadi.

“He is with Damien and Carter. I am glad, ‘cause that kid is either weird or stupid. He rarely talks, he makes these stupid one-liners, and he follows us all over the place. I hope I don't have to be his partner for the simulation and the test run. I'd even choose Carter the snake over Tacitus the strange,” Dakota said and stood in front of Scott.

“Fine, then. Come on before they see us,” said Aadi. He motioned for them to follow as he sneaked out in the opposite direction of Tacitus, Carter, and Damien, who were talking loudly about some sport or another.

“Um, do we want to ditch Dakota?” suggested Scott in a whisper so just Aadi could hear.

“No. Although he is a bit rough, he is pretty loyal and can keep a secret,” Aadi replied.