Asteroid Crisis: Star Challengers Book 3 (13 page)

Twenty-Four

JJ came running out of Zota’s office. “Did it work? Are they gone?” As they all gathered outside the transport room, they found no trace whatsoever of the Kylarn attackers, or of Mentor Toowun.

Dyl and Song-Ye scrambled into the lobby jabbering with questions. “Where did they go?” Dyl asked. “Did we send them running back with their tentacles between their legs?”

JJ said, “I sent them far, far into the future where I hope they can’t cause any more harm.”

Zota smiled at her. “You did exactly what I counted on you to do, Cadet. It was the best way to take care of that problem without anyone else getting hurt.”

Song-Ye saw that the hamster cage had been smashed, the pieces strewn around the floor. “Newton—where did he go?”

“Probably hiding somewhere,” Tony said.

Song-Ye got down on her knees, crawling under the tables, calling out for the hamster. Outside, the sounds of sirens grew louder.

“Uhh, did I mention that Song-Ye called the Army, the National Guard, and the Secret Service?” Dyl said.

Song-Ye shot him a look. “As in, the police and fire department are responding. I thought we might need at least the cavalry.”

The hamster poked his pink nose out from where he had hidden under an overturned box of Challenger Center brochures. Song-Ye scooped up the rodent and cradled him to her chest.

JJ laughed. “You’d be happy to know how brave Newton was. When he got loose, the Kylarn were spooked. I’m surprised they didn’t jump on chairs and wave their tentacles in panic.”

“Hey, King, are you okay?” Tony said, “And what are we going to do with
her?”

“Uh-huh, I’m okay.” King moved aside.

Mira looked utterly crushed.

“I made so many mistakes. I thought I was saving lives, but I almost …” Her voice caught in her throat. “I—I could have gotten all of you killed.” She buried her face in King’s shoulder and sniffled. The Star Challengers surrounded her and King, drawing close in a group hug. They stayed that way for several minutes until Mira’s quiet sobs died down and she began to relax, leaning against King. It had been an exhausting, difficult day.

King broke the silence. “Mira says Mentor Toowun has other recruits. Who knows how many people are working against us?”

“We’ll have to keep our eyes open,” JJ said. “But we know we have to give humans the best chance to survive. We can tell people how important it is to plan for the future, to go into challenging careers, make new discoveries.”

King added, “We have to focus on what we can accomplish, how much we can achieve, rather than just relaxing and forgetting everything science can do. We’re going to win that argument.”

“We’re in this together,” Dyl said. “When the first Kylarn scouts are due to show up in ten years or so, we’ve got to make sure they see strong and imaginative humans that mean business when it comes to putting up space stations and moonbases and colonies on other planets. This is our neighborhood—no alien invaders allowed.”

Two police cars pulled up in front of the Challenger Center.

Commander Zota furrowed his brow. “It’s good that you called for help, Cadet Park. But remember, we cannot reveal our secret.”

Song-Ye nodded. “Yeah, a story about tentacled aliens trashing the place would probably make us sound crazy. What should we say?”

“Let me speak with them, cadets.” Zota looked around at the Challenger Center. “It’s obvious that something happened here.”

JJ was sorry to see the overturned chairs, the smashed hamster cage, the exhibits that had been tossed about, pictures knocked off the wall, bookshelves overturned—everything ruined in the alien mayhem. She raised her chin. “It’s a mess, but nothing we can’t fix.”

Zota met the police at the door. He offered them his identification and welcomed the officers, a man and a woman, inside. The six friends gathered around to show that they were unharmed.

Zota explained, “As you probably know, officers, this is a Challenger Learning Center that teaches young people about space. There were no class trips scheduled on the weekend. When my volunteers and I”—he indicated the Star Challengers—”returned this afternoon, vandals had broken in and were causing extensive damage. I’m afraid they are long gone now.”

The officers looked around.

“Who would want to do something like this?” the policewoman wondered aloud.

“Hey, my daughter came here with her class,” the other officer said. “She didn’t stop talking about it for a week after her field trip.”

“Did you see which way the vandals went?” the policewoman asked.

“None of us actually saw
where
they went,” Zota said. “Despite the damage done, it appears they are no longer a threat to us.”

“That’s good to hear. We’ll take a report, but I doubt we can catch the vandals now.”

Zota smiled. “We are safe, and that is the most important thing. This is nothing my staff and volunteers cannot fix.”

Out in the parking lot, a fire truck also rolled up with a blare of sirens.

“I guess some kids are just troublemakers,” said the officer as she righted a chair. “They think it’s more fun to wreck things than do something positive with their time.”

King and Mira worked together to straighten one of the tables that had tipped over. Song-Ye, while resting Newton on her shoulder, did her best to reassemble his cage and fit the cover back in place.

JJ spoke up. “It might be disheartening, officers, but people who work hard and look ahead will always have an advantage over those who just want to tear things down.”

“I like your attitude, young lady.”

Zota smiled proudly. “Yes, our volunteers are exceptional young people. If we can train more like these six, our future will be bright indeed.”

The firefighters came into the Center, looked around, and made certain the fires were completely out. The police officers told Zota to fill out a more complete report if he wanted to file a claim for the damage, and they departed.

“I hope you cadets don’t mind staying a little longer,” Zota said. “We have to get this place put back together and running again by Monday morning. I have several class field trips coming in.”

“I think Junior should clean up the root beer splatter on the wall,” Song-Ye teased. “I’ll start picking up the books.”

“We’ll stay as long as we need to,” Dyl said. “We wouldn’t want other classes to miss out on any of this.”

“Someone’s got to get this place back in shape,” JJ agreed. “Might as well be us.”

“You know,” King said with a glint in his eye, “if you find more students you want to recruit, we could help you train them. That is part of our mission as Star Challengers.”

Zota stooped to pick up some broken glass. He smiled to watch them work, putting the exhibits back together, hanging posters back up on the walls. “Are you sure I shouldn’t wait a bit before I try to find additional Star Challengers?”

JJ thought she heard a hint of humor in his voice.

“Pfft!
Why wait?” Holding Newton in one hand, Song-Ye stroked the top of the hamster’s furry head.

“We know we can’t sit around waiting for somebody else to make the world a better place,” Dyl said.

King said, “Like you told us, the future is
our
choice.” “We need to help other students make the right choices, too,” Mira added in a quiet voice.

Tony ran a hand through his curly hair. “Believe me, we know it’s going to be a lot of work. But we accept the responsibility.”

“Indeed?” Commander Zota said, surveying the Star Challengers with an expression of pride.

“I’m in,” JJ said. “We all are.” She looked around at her friends. She was so lucky to have them and Commander Zota and her family. Her heart felt as light as a cloud—a cloud with a silver lining—knowing that they would all work together to give Earth a future of hope. “We know better than anyone else. No time to lose. Today’s already the first day of the future.”

***