The Incredible Space Raiders from Space! (18 page)

“Uh, I don't know,” Jonah said. “I'm sure we'll find one.”

“Maybe I should go before we leave,” he said thoughtfully.

Lieutenant Gordon sighed. “I'm sure there will be a bathroom. Anyone else?”

Eric the Excellent put his hand up. “What if Jonah leads us to Captain White Shark?”

“He's not a spy, birdbrain,” Willona said. “Just a heartbreaker.”

“What's that?” Lieutenant Gordon asked.

“Nothing,” she muttered.

Lieutenant Gordon frowned. “Okay, then. Is that it?”

A young girl put her hand up. “Are we ever coming back?” she asked softly.

Lieutenant Gordon hesitated. “Probably not. So say your good-byes.”

That put a somber mood over the group again, and there were no more questions. Some looked back at Squirrel Street with sorrowful expressions. Others even whispered good-bye.

Daniel the Ninja patted the wall. “Good-bye, Death Alley,” he said quietly.

Lieutenant Gordon nodded at Jonah.

“All right, everyone,” Jonah said, trying to sound as commanding as he could. “Follow me. We'll move fast and silent. Ben, can you be the lead scout?”

Ben looked at him in surprise. “Yeah,” he said awkwardly. “Sure.”

“Good. Alex the Adventurer, you guard the rear. You're the weapons master.”

Alex smiled and nodded.

“Let's move,” Jonah said.

With that, he turned and started down the Haunted Passage. This time he wasn't following Alex or sneaking with Martin or running from a jailbreak. He was leading the Space Raiders, bonker in hand.

He wondered what was next.

He was still wondering that when the door next to him slid open. Wrinkles stepped out of the service shaft, his gun pointed directly at Jonah. He smiled cruelly.

“Drop your weapon, rat. It's time to meet the captain.”

I
T WAS BEN THE BRILLIANT
who reacted first. He was just a step or two behind Jonah—not quite doing his job as lead scout—and completely ignored by the grizzled old space pirate, who was aiming only for his precious double pay.

That was a mistake.

Ben shouted some sort of war cry and swung his bonker with surprising force, knocking the gun clean out of a very surprised Wrinkles's hands. The gun went clattering down the Haunted Passage, and Wrinkles turned to Ben in shock.

“You miserable—,” he growled, reaching out with his weathered old hands.

But the full might of the Space Raiders was upon him now. Lieutenant Gordon shouted, “Space Raiders . . . attack!” and the battle was on. Lieutenant Gordon stepped up and delivered a hard bonk to Wrinkle's shin, and Wrinkles yelped and grabbed his leg before toppling backward into the service shaft.

“I found the little bugger!” he shouted down the shaft, still grabbing at his ankle.

He was answered by an echoing shout. The crew was coming.

“Go!” Jonah said, waving the Space Raiders forward. “Leave him!”

He threw his bonker into his blanket and took off himself, scooping up Wrinkles's gun on the way. It felt heavy and awkward in his hand. He hoped he didn't have to use it.

Jonah sprinted down the Haunted Passage, sparing anxious looks behind them. The rest of Sector Three was close behind, with Alex taking the rear. They were about halfway down the hall when Red Eye stepped out of the service-shaft door where Wrinkles had been dispatched. There was no mistaking that fierce red eye or the gun that he aimed after the fleeing kids.

“Duck!” Jonah shouted, just as a blue blast fizzled down the hallway.

The beam shot straight over their heads and continued down the Haunted Passage.

“Keep going!” Jonah said.

Space Witch followed Red Eye out the door. They were in trouble now.

Jonah ran as fast as he could, whizzing past the air grates and the ripped-open gray door and Home Sweet Home. He ran past Sally's third most secret lair, and he spotted the ominous double steel doors of the Unknown Zone up ahead. What they would do when they got
there he had no idea. He still didn't know where the Bubble was.

He needed Sally Malik.

He reached the control panel and punched in 111. The doors slid open, and he gestured for the others to keep running through. He could see Red Eye and Space Witch approaching in the distance. They weren't running. They just walked with cool, menacing confidence. They figured the Space Raiders would be trapped at the end of the hallway.

But when they saw that Jonah had opened the door, they broke into a run.

“Where now?” Lieutenant Gordon called from inside the Unknown Zone.

“Into the engine room!” Jonah said. “One-one-one!”

The last Space Raiders ran through the door. Alex stopped beside him.

“Is there a lock?” he asked Jonah frantically, his eyes on the pirates.

Jonah checked the control panel. “I don't think so. Just get to the—”

Alex stepped outside the doorway, lifting his bonker. There was a grim, determined look on his face. “Close it!”

“What are you doing?” Jonah asked.

“Smashing the panel,” he said, looking back. Red Eye and Space Witch were almost there. “Close it!”

“Alex—”

“Close it!”

Jonah hesitated and then slapped the door panel. He saw a smile cross Alex's face as he pulled the bonker back and started to swing. The door slid shut just as a fizzling, smashing noise echoed down the Haunted Passage. He'd done it.

Jonah stood there for a moment. He thought about opening the door and trying to stun the two pirates. But if he did that, he would have wasted Alex's bravery.

Instead he turned and followed the other Space Raiders into the engine room. They were clumped together in a frightened heap, staring up at the tangled spiderweb of power lines and walkways and conduits, just as Jonah had done. But he knew they didn't have time to stand here. Red Eye and Space Witch would come in through the service shafts. And when they did, they would not be happy.

He looked around the engine room in desperation. There were so many openings and exits to the room, all bathed in shadows. He had no idea where to go.

“What did you do this time?” someone asked.

He looked up. Sally Malik was leaning over the walkway, shaking her head. Jonah had never been so happy to see someone in his life.

“We need your help,” he said. “Where is the Bubble?”

She frowned. “Let me guess: The crew is coming to get you?”

“Pretty much,” Jonah said.

“You're a real pain in my heinie,” Sally said. “But you do keep things interesting. Start climbing. We're heading up.”

“Of course,” Jonah muttered.

The Space Raiders started up the service ladder, tucking their bonkers into their blankets and then awkwardly climbing with the bundles. It was a slow process, and Jonah kept anxiously looking at the service-shaft openings, expecting the pirates to come out at any moment. He wondered if Alex was okay.

The others had yet to notice he was gone.

Jonah was the last one up the ladder. By the time he reached the top, half the Space Raiders were already onto the next level. Willona hurried up to him.

“Where is Alex?” she whispered.

Jonah paused. “They got him.”

Willona put her hand over her mouth.

“We'll rescue him,” Jonah said. “Don't worry. Keep climbing.”

She nodded and started up the ladder. Once again, Jonah was the last one up. He saw a few Space Raiders pointing down at the pile of bonkers and whispering as they waited to climb the next ladder.

“How much farther?” he called to Sally.

She poked her head over the next walkway. “This is it. If you Space Raiders could climb, we'd be there already.”

Lieutenant Gordon glanced at her sourly as he scaled the ladder.

Jonah was halfway up when he heard the first shouts from below. Red Eye, Wrinkles, and Space Witch had come in through the service shafts. He could see them below through openings in the spiderweb. Red Eye was talking on a comm unit.

“Hurry up, space rat!” Sally called.

Space Witch was starting for a service ladder below him. Jonah climbed the ladder as fast as he dared, the bundled blanket swinging around behind him. He finally scurried out onto the fourth level, and Sally led the group in a dash across the walkway, heading for a service-shaft opening.

Jonah glanced down and caught a glimpse of Red Eye. He met eyes with the space pirate, and then Jonah plunged into the darkness of the service shaft.

Sally just kept running. She suddenly turned right, flinging open a door. The Space Raiders flooded through it, and Jonah found himself in another hallway identical to Squirrel Street. He slammed the door shut behind them.

“Almost there!” Sally said, already running down the hall.

Jonah and the others ran after her, all looking around curiously at the identical hallway. But they soon found a notable difference. A short hallway opened up to the
right, which Sally turned and sprinted down. But instead of leading to another hallway, it only had one closed red door at the end with a smashed-in control panel on the wall beside it.

Jonah was just about to ask what they were doing here when Sally slid the door open with her hands and hurried inside. The Space Raiders followed her in, and then every single one of them stopped abruptly, their eyes wide. Jonah almost ran into them, and then he instantly saw why they had stopped.

The Bubble was a perfect name for the room. It extended out from the ship as a half circle. The floor was the same beaten gray metal as the rest of the
Squirrel
, but that was the only metal in the room. Thick glass extended from the edges of the floor back to the ship like a dome, revealing a magnificent view of space in front of and above them. Stars and nebulae and distant galaxies lit up the blackness like millions of candles.

Looking out, it was as if Jonah were floating in space. It was the most beautiful and terrifying thing he had ever seen. He took a quick step back, his hands finding the door. Many of the other Space Raiders did the same thing.

“Welcome to the Bubble,” Sally said quietly. “My second-best hiding spot.”

•  •  •

The Space Raiders took a while to settle in. They grouped
together in little clumps, sticking close to the ship and whispering to each other. Others just dropped their bundles and stood right next to the glass, staring out in silent amazement and barely listening to Lieutenants Gordon's orders to organize the supplies. Lyana the Forgotten was one of those. She just stood alone, less than a foot from the glass, and didn't move.

Jonah wondered what she was thinking about.

He made a little group with Willona, Jemma, Victoria, Matty, and Martin, laying out their blankets and sitting close for warmth. It was cold in the Bubble. He also informed Lieutenant Gordon of what had happened to Alex, and the lieutenant led the group in a memorial service.

“May he raid in peace,” echoed around the Bubble for what seemed like hours.

Sally Malik sat alone in the corner, pressed right against the glass, and Jonah noticed she had a little bed set up there with a few extra blankets and pillows.

He wandered over and sat down next to her.

“How long have you used this place?” Jonah asked.

“Over a year,” she said. “The door was open when I found it. The controls were already smashed, so I figured if I closed it, the crew would just assume they couldn't get in. Plus, I liked it here. It's one of my favorite sleeping spots.”

“I can see why,” Jonah said, watching the stars roll by. “I wonder why it's here.”

Sally shrugged. “A lot of ships have observation decks. The passengers need a break from the cramped rooms and hallways. Probably has a control panel to keep them from camping out in here.” She smiled. “Didn't work for me, I guess.”

“Thank you,” Jonah said. “You saved us.”

“For now,” she murmured, looking out at the group. “They're going to search the ship for you guys. They might not think to look here at first, but they will eventually.”

“Yeah,” Jonah said. “I know.”

“Where is the commander?” she asked.

“Hiding on the second floor,” Jonah said. “In the service shafts.”

Sally nodded. “Doesn't surprise me. There are a lot of side tunnels in that area.” She turned back to the window, hugging her knees to her chest. “What are you gonna do, Jonah the Now Incredible? How are you going to save your little friends?”

Jonah followed her gaze. “I have no idea.”

J
ONAH BARELY SLEPT THAT NIGHT.
He was huddled next to Willona, who informed him that it didn't mean anything and that she hadn't forgotten his little kiss with Victoria.

It seemed to get colder and colder in the Bubble, and Jonah found himself shivering beneath his blanket. But it wasn't the cold that kept him awake. It was worry. Worry about what they would do next. And that wasn't all.

The Space Raiders all had their own rooms in the sectors, and so Jonah had just assumed they all slept soundly on the ship. That wasn't the case. Many of them murmured and spoke in their sleep, tossing and turning. Others woke up and walked around or stared out the glass. Lieutenant Gordon didn't even lie down.

Finally, Jonah sat up too, sitting against the wall with his knees pulled up to his chest and the blanket draped over his shoulders. Willona was murmuring something beside him, though she was smiling. At least she was in a happy place.

He noticed Victoria stir and look over at him. She pulled her blanket off and crept over to sit beside him, her shoulder pressed against his. Jonah felt his skin warm a little.

“Can't sleep?” she whispered, glancing at him.

“No. You either?”

She smiled vaguely. “I don't sleep much. Not since Matty was taken. Now it's just a habit, I guess.” She brushed the hair from her eyes. “And if I couldn't sleep in my room, I definitely won't sleep in this place. It's beautiful, but even with all these people it feels lonely.”