“See? Drax really does great work. How long to make the safe house or room or whatever?”
“We are already done,” Mother said. “This world is most . . . accommodating.”
Fathade nodded. “Cradus serves those who live upon it and we serve it in turn.”
“Hope this doesn’t end up with us being fed to a monster in the core of the world or something,” Reader said quietly to me.
Fathade heard him and she giggled. “We have no monsters, and the core of our moon is more metals. We have no religion—Jeff asked and Charles had to explain the concept. We are not in need of believing in a supernatural overseer.”
“Works for me. Do we want to do the SuperBun planet test now? Or just let everyone else experience the world?”
“Can we do both?” Fathade asked. “I know you are in a hurry and, frankly, so are we. The sooner the Orange Scourge is gone, the better. And if it turns out that the rabbits cannot save us, then the sooner we know that, the better as well. We have been formulating ideas for how to survive in space.”
“You’re doing okay in the Distant Voyager. Maybe you’re all adaptable enough to do it.”
She shook her head. “As long as we are close to Cradus, Spehidon, and Crion, all that we need we can achieve. But the farther we go from our world, the less . . . alive we are. Many years ago this was tested. Those who traveled off world were returned to us dead. We could not even rejoin their dead bodies with Cradus. We are limited to our world. But if the Orange Scourge cannot be stopped, or we cannot figure out how to take enough of Cradus with us if we must evacuate, then we may be facing extinction.”
“Not gonna let that happen, so let’s rock and roll. Do you somehow have enough Moon Suits for about a hundred people, several for various other animals, and enough for a massive amount of rabbits?”
She nodded. “We have a full storeroom of them, just in case. We don’t waste things, and they were created long ago, when we used to welcome visitors.”
“About that,” Reader said, “it really seems like you’re afraid of something.”
“Many things,” Fathade said sadly. “But mostly that others will come and try to steal our world from us.” She still sounded sad but now looked angry. “Our world is filled with what others consider precious metals and resources. But it is our home and the only place where we can survive.”
“I saw a lake of something pale and sort of a silvery purple that I couldn’t identify—was that rubidium?”
She nodded. “It was. We also have rivers of gold and copper, mountains of silver and pewter, beaches of platinum, oceans of mercury.”
“I can understand why you’re trying to keep people away,” Reader said.
Joe nodded. “Not just Earth values these things.”
“Then let’s stop jawing,” Randy said, “and listen to Kitty. It’s time to roll.”
CHAPTER 63
WE TRIED A MOON Suit on SuperBun. It worked on him just as it had on the rest of us. While we did so, he spoke with the other rabbits. All of them were willing to give the suits a go.
Naturally, as soon as the rabbits started heading for us, the others on board noticed. Donned my Recap Girl cape and explained what was going on.
Was somewhat surprised that everyone wanted to try on a Moon Suit and give the world a go. Was less surprised when Gadhavi explained that they’d found another observation lounge, this one that gave them a view of everything that the ship could “see.” So, they’d been watching Jeff, Jamie, and the others interact with the Cradi and, naturally, if it was safe for them, everyone else wanted in on the fun.
Christopher was the closest thing to a holdout, but only because he wanted the full explanation for how his children would be safe. Once he’d gotten that from Tito and Fathade, he was also all in on gearing up.
Realized that Team Tinman hadn’t exaggerated—the boredom levels had clearly been high. Maybe we’d hit this world just in time, for them and us.
To speed things up, anyone who could walk on their own took at least two rabbits with them as passengers. This included Ginger, Bruno, and Lola, all of whom were all about being able to go out with everyone else and see things, as well as protect everyone from the so-far nonexistent threats Cradus might have for us.
Shocking me to my core, though, was that Algar was also coming along. “You’re going Full Metal Jacket, my Ard Ri?” I asked him as Reader parceled out rabbits to various carriers.
“Of course I am, lassie. This is a beautiful place. I want to visit just like everyone else does.”
“Um, okay.” Maybe he was doing it for cover, though he really had no need.
“The weasels are coming, too,” he added, as he put Moon Suits on them as well. Then he handed me their carrier. “Would you take them out for me, lassie?”
Wanted to say no, but reminded myself that this would be a stupid thing do to. Instead I took the Royal Hatbox in one hand, put SuperBun on my shoulder and Peter in my purse, and headed off. Did check to see if I had Poofs On Board. I did not. Maybe they needed the Moon Suits here and that was why Algar was in one.
“Should I put protection onto the Poofs?” I asked casually.
“Oh, I doubt it,” Algar said. “This seems like a very peaceful place. They’re probably getting a bit of a rest.”
Now wasn’t the time and we weren’t in the place to ask him what the hell he meant. Instead, just went through the airlock with the last group of us. Serion was waiting at the exit from the tunnel.
“There you are,” she said pleasantly. “I have gathered the star charts for the galaxy.”
“That’s great, thank you.” Heard squeals of joy from the kids as the street started moving them. There were some squeals from the adults, too. Hacker International weren’t on the street—they were too busy trotting over to any Cradus native and asking them excited questions.
She nodded. “We thank you for doing what you can to help us. Not many would.”
“I’d argue that mindset, but I can’t—your world is filled with too much that the rest of us consider precious. If you had diamonds and other precious gems it would be even worse.”
“Oh, we do,” she said. “They surround the core of the moon. We have them inside of us, too—they allow our circuitry to run, our minds to think.”
“Wow.” Told her about the various robots, cyborgs, and androids we had on Earth, including the ones that had originally used diamonds in the brains. “We have to find a better way to protect you guys from unwanted visitors than what you currently have.”
“Why so? It’s already worked several times.”
“It didn’t work with us. For all we know, those who you think it worked on are coming back with reinforcements. Maybe it worked and they’re not. But statistically you’re not going to be ignored forever. Let me get some of us together and ponder the situation.”