“Basically,” Benny said, and for some reason he got the feeling in his gut that maybe that wasn’t the smartest thing to say to the man with a grudge against Elijah West. He tried to change the subject. “Plus, you know … We figured we should warn you. If there were aliens on this side of the Moon. We’d tracked some headed this way at the battle this morning.”
“As you saw, I’m more than capable of taking care of myself.”
“Right.” Benny looked at the gear lever again. “And, uh … where are we going?”
Dr Bale nodded at the giant, shallow crater they were shooting towards. “Home sweet home.”
Benny looked through the windshield, but there was nothing but empty space and rock ahead of them. “I don’t see any—”
There was a slight shimmer as they passed through some sort of hologram field, and then suddenly everything outside the Tank changed.
“Holy whoa,” Benny murmured as he tried to make sense of his surroundings, his eyes darting around.
“Holographic environmental mimicry equipped with sensor cloaks,” Dr Bale said. “The site’s invisible from the outside, obviously.”
Half a dozen boxy, dull metal sheds lined the right side of the camp, thick-looking canvas hanging over the doorways. Nearby, two older-model Space Runners were parked beside a row of trailers and what looked to Benny like some sort of missile launcher. The centre of the site was filled with tables and benches, most of which were piled high with gadgets and tools like something out of the Taj’s research labs. To the left, three tents made of shining silver fabric had been pitched.
All round the perimeter, Benny could make out a sheen of distortion in the air that must have signalled the boundaries of the hologram.
“This is the reason I don’t show up on radar,” Dr Bale continued. “We’re not seen unless we want to be seen. Our vehicles have it, too.” He pointed to a black box on the dashboard and touched a button in the centre. The box glowed red as a glimmer of light spread over the outside of the car, and then suddenly all Benny saw when he looked out at the bonnet was the surface of the Moon.
Benny shook his head and blinked several times. “This is insane,” he said. “This is the coolest use of holograms.”
Dr Bale grunted in approval and pulled the box off the dash. The Tank was visible again. He tapped the button on the box and its red glow disappeared. “Magnetically attached stealth drives. You should count yourself lucky that the aliens attacked. You never would have found me otherwise.”
Dr Bale parked near the tents and opened the door to his craft. Benny expected his helmet to power on, but it didn’t. He took a few deep breaths – there seemed to be plenty of oxygen.
“That shield includes an environmental system,” Dr Bale said. “Not unlike the Grand Dome around the Taj, only this one has a permeable shell. Think of it as a bubble, not a force field.”
“As long as it doesn’t pop,” Benny said to himself as he stepped out of the car, noting that the gravity felt like Earth’s.
Behind them, three Space Runners landed, the pilots jumping out as soon as they touched the ground.
“What the what?” Drue asked. “It looked like you guys had disappeared and then I almost crashed in surprise when I went through … whatever that was.”
“Yeah, same,” Hot Dog said, looking around with wide blue eyes. “Did we just, like, teleport somewhere?”
“Not at all,” Jasmine said, her voice breathy. “This is a mobile research lab hidden by some type of holographic field.”
“Precisely,” Dr Bale said, crossing his arms. “Welcome to the most important location in the solar system as far as humanity’s future is concerned.”
Benny looked at his friends as Dr Bale spread his arms wide, taking a few steps away from them. Hot Dog raised her eyebrows at him, while Jasmine squinted, trying to make out what was on the tables. Drue glanced around, curling up one side of his face like he’d just smelled something disgusting.
“He’s been living in a place like this all these years?” he whispered.
The cloth draped over the door of one of the sheds was pulled aside, and two figures stepped out, both wearing patched space suits that looked like they were a size too big on each of them. They were both in their late twenties, Benny guessed. One was a pale man with perfectly square glasses and blond hair tied back in a small bun. The other was a woman with dark skin and her hair shaved short, almost to the scalp. They both paused just outside the shed entrance, staring silently at the new arrivals.
“We have … guests?” the man asked.
“Children,” the woman pointed out.
“Ah, and these are my research assistants, Todd and Mae,” Dr Bale said. “They’ve brought news from the Lunar Taj. Elijah West is gone.” He glanced back at Benny and the others.
Mae and Todd looked at each other, obviously stunned by this news.
“Then he must have been involved in the attack on the asteroid field,” Mae said.
“If he’s gone,” Todd started, “then who—”
“I know we all have questions,” Dr Bale interrupted him. “But our guests have been through quite an ordeal. Why don’t you two dig up some refreshments.”
The two researchers nodded to him, stared at Benny and his friends for a beat, and then disappeared back inside.
“What are you doing out here?” Jasmine asked. “What is all this stuff? What was that explosion earlier?”
Dr Bale started for one of the nearby sheds and Benny and the others followed. “Why don’t I show you?” he asked. “If Pinky sent you, am I right in assuming she gave you some background on my history with Elijah?”
“A little,” Benny said.
“Yeah,” Drue agreed. “Sounded kind of … rough.”
Hot Dog smacked his arm.
“‘Rough’ indeed,” Dr Bale said. “Elijah and I … We were very different men. At one point in my life I considered myself a mentor to him. It took a long time for me to realise that in order for that to have been true, Elijah would’ve had to have viewed himself as a student. That was never the case, despite the difference in ages. He was always a visionary or a revolutionary. Never a student.” He stopped at the shed’s entrance and turned to them. “Though, when it came down to it, he was more than willing to take on the role of a god, wasn’t he? Allowing Earth to go out with a whimper while building his own civilisation up here. Picking and choosing who would live and who would die. He gave up on humanity, but I didn’t. Even when they laughed at me.” His voice was turning into a soft growl now, and he was looking around the campsite, not at any of the kids in front of him. “Even when Elijah made me look like a fool, I found those who would listen, like Todd and Mae. I kept preparing.”
He suddenly seemed lost in thought, like he’d forgotten what he was saying or that he had an audience of four in front of him.
“Um, preparing what?” Drue asked.
The man didn’t say anything.
“Uh, Mr – I mean Dr Bale?” Hot Dog asked.
Dr Bale took a deep breath and then looked at them, smiling.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “My mind works so much faster than my mouth that I’m usually several thoughts ahead of whatever it is I’m talking about.” He laughed a little. “And, let’s be frank, it’s been a while since we’ve had visitors. Let’s get to the point, shall we. Benny, you asked me