“However, the plan is to remain within range of and close to Crion. That means that I should be fine, and if I’m not, I can be brought back quickly.”
“She has a point, Jeff,” I pointed out. “And you know that James won’t let her be harmed.”
Because we didn’t want to risk having to leave and no one being able to fly the saucer section—which could fly without the sports car portion—it was decided that all of Airborne would stay on Cradus.
Reader had pulled rank and put his foot down, so he was captaining the sports car. Wruck and Drax insisted on joining him. Interestingly enough, Hochberg also insisted on going, just in case. “I’m the Vice President, and I’m military. It’s me or Hammy.”
Hamlin shrugged. “I’d suggest both of us, Jeff.”
“I’m not going to concede authority,” Reader said.
Hamlin laughed. “Son, that’s not my plan. But I’m Air Force, meaning I can actually fly. I realize that Mister Drax makes ships that can almost fly themselves. But, just in case, you need backup.”
“I can agree with that,” Jeff said. “But James is in charge.” Both Hochberg and Hamlin nodded.
“So, with Fathade, that makes six. Do we need more than that for the away team?” Kind of felt like we did, but didn’t want to be a worrywart.
“I’d like Mister Buchanan,” Hamlin said. “I realize he’s your guardian, Kitty, but, honestly, this is the safest place I’ve seen in a long time, and we could use his observation skills.”
“I agree,” Jeff said, giving Buchanan the hairy eyeball.
Buchanan rolled his eyes. “God forbid I do my job, Mister Executive Chief.”
“Saving these people matters to Kitty, therefore, it’s part of your job.” Jeff seemed quite bristly. Maybe he’d forgotten that Buchanan and Adriana were an item.
“Send the boys, too.” Everyone looked at me.
“Who?” Hochberg asked. “Some of the children?”
“Dudes, seriously? No. Len and Kyle. They’re both smart, observant, and they work well with Malcolm. Plus, they’re young and Len has fantastic reflexes. They’ve both learned to think like me. Take them. Or Mister Joel Oliver. Or all three. But I want someone who absolutely can think like me along, and since Tim’s assigned to the saucer and I’m actually going to spend some time being a mother, that leaves Len, Kyle, and MJO.”
“All three,” Buchanan and Reader said in unison.
“See? Now that wasn’t so hard, was it?”
“A crew of nine should be sufficient,” Drax said.
“Pity,” Camilla said from behind me, “because it’s going to be ten. I’m going. I’m with Hammy—this planet is incredibly peaceful and the Moon Suits and rabbits are handling the only threats to our people and the Cradi. So, I’m going, too.”
“Agreed,” Jeff said quickly.
Drax nodded. “Ten is preferable.”
“Super and duper. Let’s get everyone rolling.”
Preparations were quickly made—Mother had ported a version of herself to the sports car, so everyone would be okay that way. Good-byes were said, the crew got into the lower section, and the spectacle began.
The ship’s separation was interesting in that it was normally supposed to happen only in space. But Cradus made it easy, by raising the ship up to the top of the highest mountain again, supporting both sections while separation happened, then lowering the saucer back to where it had been while lifting the sports car section higher. During all of this the Distant Voyager sparkled like it was part of Cradus and always had been. The sports car took off in what looked like a shower of fireworks but was just the turbothruster exhaust sparkling against Cradus’ atmosphere and Crion’s light.
We watched until they went far enough that we couldn’t see them anymore, not even gleaming against Spehidon. The gas giant was huge in the sky—larger than our moon or sun ever looked from Earth. It was beautiful, with bands in all the shades of red, yellow, gold, and orange. Really wondered if the Orange Scourge spores weren’t from the planet somehow, despite Fathade and her people thinking otherwise. Oh well, that was Reader and his team’s job.
Could have looked at Spehidon for a long time, but we had other things to do.
Chuckie, Hacker International, and Brian went to work with Serion, Sciea, and Cavus on the star charts. Jeff insisted on joining them, though I wasn’t sure why. Mother provided comm links for all of them so they could include her in all discussions, since this work was taking place in the building dedicated to this kind of research.
The rest of us, however, were now on vacation.
And what a vacation it was.
Feoren was our guide. He took us all over the city, named Pheo, which was considered their spaceport. Though, really, due to how the moon worked, anywhere was a spaceport for Cradus.
This was fun, in the sense that we got to see something different and riding on the streets literally never got old. But it wasn’t as much fun as it could be, since all the buildings looked alike. This was just how the Cradi liked it, though—they saw no reason to use anything but the most efficient form of housing, so to speak, and they had no interest in architecture at all. Who would, when you could architect your world into anything you wanted?
“Can we see the deer?” Lizzie asked. “The ones we saw on the mountain?”
“Of course,” Feoren said.
For this, we didn’t use a street. Feoren gathered some land under us and we zipped off that way. There was some concern about someone falling off the side, confirmed when Sidney Valentino, who was leaping around to impress Lizzie, lost his balance.
Thought he was going over for sure, but the metal under us expanded out and up, caught him, and placed him back on his feet. Then it created a three-foot wall around all of us, presumably under the correct impression that we were clumsy, foolhardy idiots.
Thusly protected, and little kids held in arms, we continued on to the forest.
It was even more beautiful in person. The wall lowered and we stepped off the platform, which instantly blended in with the rest of the topography, which was very like a typical mountain region on Earth, only all metal. But the metals were different—soft, malleable, and pretty. There were metal leaves on the ground that felt like soft silver, and metal dirt like iron filings. The kids all picked up and played with these, saying they felt like leaves and dirt did at home. They felt like dirt and leaves to me, too. Moon Suits were definitely the way to go.
“It smells a lot like pine,” Lizzie said. “But the leaves look more like oaks.”
“Different worlds, different things.”
“I’m amazed metal can have a scent,” Wasim said.
“As Kitty said, every world has something different and special,” Mossy said. “I’ve visited many worlds and they all surprise you.”
“I expected this world to smell like a foundry,” Gadhavi agreed, as he took Charlie from me and put him on his shoulders, while Siler did the same and lifted Jamie up onto his. The kids grabbed the tree branches nearest to them. One came off in Jamie’s hand.