She snorted. “You can’t get rid of us that easily.”
Team Tinman sorted out, now it was time for the tearful good-byes. The only saving grace was that, after the first excursion, the rest of our animals had had zero interest in Cradus and had remained in the Distant Voyager lounging around and whining at us whenever we came in to sleep at night. But it saved some time now. Not that much, though, since we had a hundred people and several hundred rabbits all saying good-bye to every Cradi we’d ever met.
Went as quickly as it could. It was really hard to say good-bye, though, in no small part because it had been so relaxing here. The Cradi gave us gifts—containers of each of the elements of their world, copies of their star maps, some Orange Scourge for the rabbits, although this was put into a lead container, and little works of metal art, including replicas of each of those we’d spent the most time with, like our own set of amazing metal action figures.
The nicest thing for me was that I didn’t feel guilty about having the ball of Cradus and Spehidon in our rooms, since the Cradi had given us some of their world anyway.
Mother had a cargo hold, so we were able to put all the gifts inside of that and have the hold do the airlocking stuff without any of us inside, which saved us a good hour at least. Then we went down the tunnel one last time.
Last hugs for Fathade, Feoren, Sciea, Serion, and Cavus. Into the airlock in groups so that the rabbits could get inside, too. As per Cradus’ promise, they didn’t need to remove their Moon Suits. As the air changed, the rabbits changed, too, and went back to their normal colors and fluffy fur.
We went into the airlock in the last group. “Thank you for the best family vacation we’ve ever had,” I said as I hugged the five of them one more time.
“Thank you for saving us and for the gift of your companions,” Fathade replied. “You have renewed our faith in others in the galaxy.”
“Oh, don’t be too trusting. There are a lot of bad people out there. There are a lot of good ones, too. We will be back, and I know Chuckie gave you guys a long sign-countersign procedure to follow to verify if someone’s really representing us, right?”
“Yes. Charles was quite clear.”
“Good. Follow that. We’ll be back and we’ll figure out how to really put protection onto this system so no one can come in and decide they want your world and just take it from you.”
“We await your return with great joy,” Fathade said formally. She extended her hands to me palms together.
By now, I knew what to do. Took her hands in mine. “You will always be in our hearts. And, should you need us, we will come.”
CHAPTER 71
JEFF, JAMIE, CHARLIE, AND LIZZIE all did the same formal good-bye with Fathade. Then we got into the airlock and closed the door. We waved at them through the outer window and they waved back.
We took off our Moon Suits and added our now round, gold balls of personal protection to the large pile. Then we went back inside Mother.
Did the airlock thing one more time. Cavus gathered up the Moon Suits and handed them off to the others. He took one, though, waved it at us, and put it back. The Cradi waved one last time, and left.
We closed the airlock and I went to retrieve the Moon Suit. “Wow, I can’t believe they gave us one of these to keep.”
“They gave it to you, Mommy,” Jamie said. “So that you can always come back.”
“But there are a hundred of us here, and five in our immediate family alone.”
“It’s sym-bol-ic.”
“Gotcha.” Tucked the Moon Suit into my purse and then we headed for stations.
Well, first we headed for the observation lounge, so that everyone could take one last look. We stayed there as the moon lifted us up to the top of the highest mountain, letting us see this beautiful world one last time: the metal deer frolicked, the metal birds flew by, and the earth shifted and reformed itself to accommodate us.
But the trip up didn’t take all that long, and now that we were high enough up it was time to get ready to leave for real, and that meant crash couches, not the observation lounge, unfortunately, because we were going to hit escape velocity and, per Hughes, had to hit it strong due to the gravitational pull from Spehidon and Cradus both.
Got the kids and noncommand crew all strapped in. Got the backup command crew strapped in as well, despite their whining. Did three different headcounts to ensure that we hadn’t actually left someone on the planet—no need to do Home Alone: Cradus, after all.
Reassured that everyone was present and accounted for, including all animals, it was time to go back to work.
Tim, Hughes, Walker, Tito, Jeff, and I trooped to the command deck. “Mother, any chance you’ll let Joe, Randy, and Jerry have our seats?” I asked when I arrived.
“No. The command crew stays as is.”
“Figures,” Jeff said, but good-naturedly.
“We have the right coordinates, we’re sure?” Tim asked as we all sat, strapped in, and put the helmets on.
“Yes. There are three solar systems in the area we now feel the distress call came from. We will warp to the nearest one, examine it, and then determine if we have found our goal or move on.”
“Lather, rinse, repeat, gotcha.”
Mother fired up her engines, or whatever she actually did to get moving, and we lifted off. Fast. Far faster than we had on Earth.
“Why are we moving so fast?” Tim asked, clearly reading my mind.
“Cradus gave us a push,” she shared. “It should be enough for us to reach escape velocity easily.”
Wondered for a moment if Mother knew that Cradus and Spehidon were sentient. Realized now wasn’t the time to ask.
“I do,” she said, but as far as I could tell, only in my headset. “We spoke at length.”
Wondered what they’d talked about, and why Mother wasn’t saying this stuff aloud, since everyone on the command deck knew.
“We spoke of many things. Their goals are the same as mine—to protect the life in their charge. Spehidon wants people, as I know you know. I promised to look for those who might live with her in our travels. And I’m not sharing this with the others because they are focused on flying and they already fear me too much.”
Mentioned mentally that Mother reading my mind could indeed be construed as scary.
“Only because you have the helmet on and you’re thinking at me. I understand the programming changes that were made. Privacy is important. Safety is, too. I am doing my best to walk that fine line.”
“Get ready,” Hughes said, breaking up my tête-à-tête with Mother.
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Tim said.