He laughed heartily at his own joke, and my father gave me an apologetic look—the same look I used to give to my mom, when one of my friends came over and broke something. But I laughed politely in return, then turned to shake hands with Major Fogg, who appeared to be the tallest person on the moon.
“It is my distinct pleasure to meet you, Lieutenant Lightman,” he said brightly. He surprised me by speaking with a thick British accent. “Welcome to Moon Base Alpha!”
I glanced at the shoulder of his uniform and saw the Union Jack there, instead of US flag. I also noticed that the word Defence on his EDA insignia was spelled with a c instead of an s.
“It’s just the three of you?” I asked. “No one else is up here?”
“Just us,” Shin said. “A resupply shuttle comes up twice a month, but the rest of the time we’re all alone. Not counting all of the drones, of course.”
Graham nodded. “The Alliance used to have dozens of people stationed up here, to help keep all of the different systems running smoothly,” he said. “But once the QComm network came online, almost everything could be done remotely with drones, so they cut back to just a skeleton crew, made up of essential military personnel.”
“There used to be a few more pilots stationed up here,” my father added, “including Admiral Vance, but now it’s just us.”
“The Three Musketeers,” Graham said, smiling. “Lucky buggers that we are.”
A long folding wooden table and three folding metal chairs were arranged against the far wall. The table’s surface was covered with a variety of Dungeons and Dragons rulebooks, gaming screens, and dozens of oddly shaped dice.
“We play D and D four or five nights a week,” Graham explained when he saw me eying the setup. “Helps to pass the time. Shin is usually our dungeon master.” He smiled at me. “My character is twenty-seventh-level Elven archer.”
“Why don’t you show him your character sheet, Graham?” Shin said. “That will really impress the kid.”
Graham ignored him and continued to shadow me with an enthusiastic smile as I wandered around the control center, like a kid showing off his room. A short distance away, I spotted a large drum kit, two electric guitars, and three mic stands, flanked on either side by a stack of amplifiers. I wandered over to examine the gear.
“What, do you guys have a band or something?” I asked.
“Indeed, we do,” Graham said proudly. “We call ourselves ‘The Bishop of Battle.’ It’s the name of—”
“The short film starring Emilio Estevez?” I finished for him. “From the Nightmares horror anthology?”
My father and both his friends blinked at me in surprise as goofy grins spread across each of their faces.
I grinned back, then nodded at my father. “I saw it when I was working my way through all of your old VHS tapes. It—”
I cut myself off when I realized how revealing my last statement had been. But none of them noticed. They were all still beaming at me for getting their band name.
“I like this kid, Xavier,” Shin said.
My father nodded. “Yeah, so do I.”
“We can play some pretty decent Van Halen covers,” Graham continued. “Maybe we’ll jam for you guys later?”
“Sure,” I said uncertainly. “That would be cool.”
I glanced back over at my father, but he was staring at his feet and shaking his head in embarrassment. “We’re not going to play for them, Graham, I told you,” he muttered. “Aliens are invading in a few hours, remember?”
“What better reason to rock out one last time?” Graham replied, throwing up two sets of devil horns.
I stepped over to the edge of the nearest drone controller station pit and peeked in. There was an out of order sign Scotch-taped to its tactical display.
“What happened to this one?” I asked.
“Graham spilled Coke Zero on it, that’s what,” Shin said. “Cost the war effort millions.”
“Stop trying to pin that on me,” Graham grumbled back. “You left your sandals lying around and I tripped over them. Those millions are on you, Shin-bone.”
Graham laughed, but when I laughed, too, he scowled at me.
“What’s so bloody funny, kid?” he said. “I fried one drone pod—that’s nothing compared to the zillions of dollars in drones we lost this morning, thanks to your little stunt!”
Shin nodded, and they both continued to scowl at me for a few more seconds before they both burst into laughter.
“I’m joking, lad,” Graham said, still laughing. “I must’ve watched the video clip of you chasing that Glaive into the base fifty times so far today! Priceless, that was!”
Shin shook his head. “How did you stop Viper from murdering you for that?”
“Maybe he realized I’m already a dead man, so there was no point?”
My father frowned at me and seemed about to say something, but Shin changed the subject before he could.