The Moon Platoon

“Well, yeah,” Benny said, the excitement fading from his voice. “But we’re not homeless. We just … camp a lot.”

Drue’s expression twisted for a moment. Then he shook his head and opened his mouth a few times like he was going to say something, but only air escaped. Benny reflexively wiped his hands across his space suit, trying to knock any extra dirt off it. He felt his cheeks burn, and another, different heat rising inside him. Drue was again staring at him with a mixture of pity and disgust. Benny had seen that look countless times, sometimes even from members of the caravan – newcomers who had been driven out of the cities because they couldn’t afford it any more, just like Benny’s family had been when he was a little kid. They’d hated the canned food or how they weren’t allowed to shower or take a bath because it wasted water, having to rely on old baby wipes instead. Mostly they complained about how boring caravan life was. Benny’s dad had been quick to tell him to be patient with these new recruits. He’d said their attitudes were just to hide how scared they were and that with time they’d come around. Not all of them did.

His dad had always looked for the good in people. It was something Benny had always loved about him. He’d never even heard him say an unkind word about his mother, even though she’d walked out of their apartment one morning when they were still living in the city and never come back.

Though, now, Benny couldn’t help but wonder if his dad maybe should have been more cautious around people. Then he might still be alive.

Benny glanced into the back seat to see if Ramona had anything to say about their conversation; she’d plugged her ears with wireless headphones and was sprawled out with one arm over her eyes. So he tried to follow his dad’s advice and give Drue a chance. He kept talking.

“Anyway, this kid, right? He got separated from the caravan. He was little, five or six, and you don’t survive out in the desert very long if you can’t take care of yourself or don’t have any water. I took an ATV out and found him. The GoCam caught all of it. Me picking him up in my buggy and everyone all excited when I got back and stuff. I think it made for a good vid. The aerial shots of us returning were pretty impressive.”

“Wow,” Drue said. “Lucky for you, I guess. Did they give you a medal or something?”

“No, it wasn’t about …” Benny started. “In the caravan we all try to look out for each other. It’s how we survive.”

There was more in the application that Benny was leaving out – things like him helping others fix up their trucks and trailers, and teaching his younger brothers how to accelerate in the desert sand without digging themselves into a rut – but he didn’t think Drue would be too impressed by all that. And there was another thing, too: the ending of the video, the last thing he filmed before sending it off to the EW-SCAB committee.

But that was personal.

Drue was quiet for a few seconds as he cracked his knuckles. Finally, he weighed in. “No offence or anything, but living in an RV in the Drylands sounds terrible. No wonder you’re so excited about space. Maybe you’ll luck out and get to stay at the Taj and then you can kiss the Drylands bye-bye.” He flashed a grin. “You can have a room next to mine. I’m going to be the newest member of Elijah’s Pit Crew.”

“Yeah,” Benny said, trying to keep his cool in front of someone who’d just called his entire life terrible. “You and every other EW-SCABer thinks that. Right?” He motioned back to Ramona, who hiccupped – though he wasn’t sure if this was a response or just a coincidence.

It was common knowledge that a few kids each year had been invited to stay at the Lunar Taj as permanent residents and pupils of Elijah West and his staff. Though no one really knew how these kids were chosen, it was rumoured that from the time you got into your Space Runner on Earth, you were being watched closely. And while a dozen EW-SCABers had stayed on the Moon since the scholarship was founded, only five were considered direct apprentices to Elijah himself: his elite Pit Crew. One person from each year had been given this honour – the exception being the previous year, when twins from Tokyo had accepted Elijah’s invitation.

“Come on,” Drue said. “Like you’re not trying for a spot on the Crew, too?”

“Nah,” Benny said. “What would I do when it’s just super-rich people at the resort all the time? Besides, my family’s back on Earth.”

Drue let out on laugh. “You’re nuts, man. But it’s probably for the best. I’ve got a lock on that spot.”

Benny leaned back in his seat, ignoring Drue. What would his family be doing without him, in their dirt-covered RV? His brothers were probably wrestling in one the bedroom in the back, that was barely big enough for a mattress, while his grandmother drove or worked on another of the multicoloured quilts she was always putting together in order to make their little home feel cosier. He hated to think of their cramped house on wheels while he was hurtling towards the most luxurious resort in the solar system, but he reminded himself for the hundredth time that day that he shouldn’t feel bad about it. After all, when he returned to Earth in two weeks, things would be different for all of them. They’d stop scavenging for water and resources and move into an apartment. They’d have space. They could have their own rooms. Maybe he’d even have enough money for an entire house. Maybe a place with enough land that the dozens of vehicles that made up their caravan could camp on the lawn.

Drue pressed more buttons on the Space Runner’s dash, changing the music. “This model does not have the upgraded sound package,” he muttered. “Weak.”

The Space Runner suddenly jerked and began to slow, causing a tingle to run from the top of Benny’s spine down into his gut and Ramona to pop up in the back seat, bracing herself as best she could.

“Error, error,” she murmured.

“What did you do?” Benny asked Drue.

“It’s so your first time in one of these.” Drue smirked. “We’re just slowing down for the final descent. You nervous?”

“Not at all,” Benny lied.

“It’s only the Moon,” Drue said, putting his hands behind his head. “Trust me: by the end of the second week you’ll be hoping for an alien invasion to keep things interesting.”

“Now that would be a story to take back to my brothers,” Benny said. “Maybe the news is wrong and there is intelligent life out there.”

It had been a decade since a deep space probe had found what scientists believed to be an abandoned alien outpost on Pluto. A few rock samples and tools were brought back to Earth by a collection bot, but it was widely believed by scientists that the place had been empty for millennia. Still, Benny reckoned that in the whole wide universe, there had to be other forms of life.

“Actually, I hope we’re the only smart species,” Drue said. “If not, then it’s only a matter of time before all the aliens out there on sad planets figure out that the Taj is the nicest place in the galaxy. Then it’ll be really hard to get into.”

Benny snorted. “True. I’ll be happy catching air in Moon buggies and exploring craters. And if I do somehow get bored, I’ll just pull some pranks with the voice modulator I brought with me from home.” At least his brothers hadn’t swiped that, too.

“Voice modulator, huh? Old school. But I can see where it could be fun.” Drue flashed a set of perfect white teeth. “Benny, I think you and I are going to get into a lot of trouble together.”

The Lunar Taj was a brilliant red palace adrift in a sea of grey. From space, the five-hundred-suite compound looked like a W, the top of which butted up to a dark section of the lunar surface that Benny had read was called the Sea of Tranquillity. A tower rose from the centre of the building – the middle peak of the W. Huge, scalloped sheets of gold topped it, all layered over one another, as if the building was crowned in a fireball frozen mid-explosion. It was a popular rumour that this was where Elijah West’s private quarters were located because the man refused to sleep at a lower elevation than anybody else, though Benny wasn’t sold on this particular story. He liked to think that Elijah was the same kind of person his father had been – just much, much richer. His father had slept on the floor of the RV or sometimes on the ground outside, letting his boys take the one big bed in the back and Benny’s grandmother have the mattress in the alcove above the driver’s seat. He was the kind of guy who wouldn’t close his eyes for days if it meant that other people in the caravan could get some rest, and would chase the wildest leads in search of water, never giving up hope that tomorrow would be better. Always looking for an oasis in the desert.

Benny tried to live his life in the same way, believing that the future held great things for him and his family if they just worked hard enough. The EW-SCAB was kind of like their own unexpected oasis, he reckoned.

Inside the Space Runner, Drue pointed to a long chrome tunnel jutting out from one side of the transparent dome that was barely visible around the Taj.

“That’s where we’re headed,” he said. “And there’s another, smaller entry tunnel coming out of the garage – that building.”

He motioned towards a shiny cube beside the Taj that looked like a full stop next to the W.

“You should maybe brace yourself,” he continued. “This part can get kind of bumpy.”

Benny glanced back at Ramona, who made a noise that was part gasp, part burp as she tightened her seat belt around her waist. He clenched his jaw and tried to put on a brave face, partly to make her feel less afraid and partly to trick himself into not being concerned about turbulence or what landing would be like. He was good at that. In his twelve years on Earth, he’d made sure that his little brothers had never seen him look frightened or worried, even once. Even when they were running short on water or having trouble finding a part to get their RV running again. He’d become pretty good at pretending everything was always OK. It was only after his family had gone to sleep that he’d let himself be afraid of anything.

Through his window, Benny watched as the fleet of Space Runners holding the other EW-SCAB winners began to drift towards one another. They were definitely the shiniest cars Benny had ever seen, the outside made of a silver metal so polished and reflective that it almost looked as though they were comets flying through space. They continued to slow in speed, until eventually they stopped moving completely about a mile above the Moon’s surface.

“Ugh,” Drue said, reclining. “This is the worst part.”

Benny had just enough time to wonder if they’d stalled before all the vehicles were diving forward, heading towards the silvery tunnel. Benny gasped, goosebumps prickling all over his body as they sped towards the Moon’s surface. It looked to him like they were going to plough right into the ground. Fortunately, the Space Runners were precision vehicles, and just when Benny was sure they’d crash, the cars all pulled up, changing flight patterns like a flock of silver birds, until they floated a mere metre above the rock below as they raced into the tunnel connecting them to the Lunar Taj.

From the outside, the entrance had looked like nothing more than a long, shining chrome hallway. Inside, however, the walls were awash with a rainbow of colour, casting a kaleidoscope of reflections all over the Space Runner and its interiors.

“This is incredible …” Benny murmured as he held out his hands and watched the colours run over them.

Suddenly Benny’s gut felt like it was twisting into knots. He wrapped his arms around his stomach and leaned forward. That’s when his ears popped, and the roar of the vehicles vibrated in his head, escalating until Benny thought he could actually feel the sound.

Ramona let out a worried gurgle from the back seat.

“We’re entering the pressurised zone,” Drue said, stretching his jaw. “Don’t worry. We’re almost through already.”

Suddenly the colours and the roar were gone, and the Space Runners sped into the Taj’s courtyard: the Grand Dome. One by one the cars circled in front of the resort, giving Benny his first real look at where he’d spend the next two weeks. His eyes darted about, trying, impossibly, to take in everything at once. The Lunar Taj had looked like a W from space, but up close it was something else entirely, a playground of light and colour and shiny surfaces. The building itself was built out of a dark, gleaming red metal. Gold stairs led up to the chrome front doors, which were three metres tall, at least. The windows, too, were outlined in glittering metals. In fact, it seemed to Benny as if everything was ablaze with light, from the tower roof with its blooming sheets of gold to the spotlights casting projections of star systems onto the sides of the building, as if the resort itself were a secret galaxy all its own. On the ground, plants of unnatural colours blossomed in bejewelled pots: palm trees with electric blue fronds, metallic roses, shrubs made of neon.

The sight of the Lunar Taj was enough to cause him to forget about the popping in his ears and spinning in his stomach. In the back seat, Ramona muttered a string of indecipherable exclamations as she stared out at the sparkling building.

“Impressive, right?” Drue asked as he watched Benny shove his face against the car’s window. “I want a resort of my own like this one day. Built like a big L. No, no. All my initials. DBL spelled out across Jupiter.”

“Isn’t Jupiter mostly gas?” Benny whispered, not taking his eyes off the Taj.

“You know what I mean.”

The Space Runners lined up in five neat rows in the centre of the courtyard, near a big chrome statue of a hand reaching out of a pool of water, its fingertips almost grazing a solar system of gemlike planets orbiting it. Benny’s vehicle parked itself in the back corner. Once it had stopped and the doors unlocked, he took a second to catch his breath and then climbed out onto the inky black gravel. Ramona spilled out of the back seat, basically throwing herself onto the ground.

“Eagle has landed,” she whispered. “Environment stabilised. Stand by for system diagnostics.”

“Uhh …” Benny started, but she waved for him to leave her alone as she climbed into a sitting position, leaning against the side of the vehicle.

The other kids were exiting their Space Runners and gathering near the fountain in front of the resort. Benny hadn’t really met any of them back on Earth. In fact, half the Space Runners had taken off from different parts of the world and joined his group once they were already in flight. The scholarship winners came from all over the globe, sporting everything from shaved heads to waist-length braids woven with metallic thread, but they were all united in their awe of the resort in front of them.

Except maybe Drue, who pushed his floating travel bag around to the passenger’s side, stepped over Ramona’s legs, and put his hands on his hips.

“All right, let’s see what they’ve got lined up for us. I hope I’m on the top floor or else …”

His mouth hung open like he had something else to say, but no words came out.

“Drue, what are you—”

“Shhh, shh, shh, Benny,” Drue said, shaking his head and nodding forward.

It was only then that Benny realised Drue was looking at two girls unloading their Space Runner a few metres away from them. One was petite, with black hair cut into a short bob. The other girl was hoisting an overstuffed piece of luggage out of the back seat. A mountain of blond curls fell over her shoulders and added a few centimetres to her already impressive height.

“It just seems really … fragile,” the blonde said. “Like, I’m a little freaked out that some idiot is going to throw one of these rocks at it and then it’s bye-bye life because I’m sucked out into space.”

“The glass is really a secondary defence against the outside elements,” the other girl said. “Mostly for show. It’s not even glass, but a practically indestructible polymer created by Elijah and his researchers. Besides, if something did happen and the dome was breached, you’d need to be much more worried about all the oxygen getting sucked out, not you.”

The blonde girl frowned. “You’re not making me feel any better.”

Drue poked Benny with his elbow. “I think we just met our first Moon friend.”

“Let me guess,” Benny said. “The girl with the bag that looks like it’s about to explode?”

“Psh,” Drue scoffed, heading towards the girls. “Dream bigger, Benny.”

“Huh?”

But Drue was already several steps ahead of him. Benny followed, half because he didn’t know what else to do, and half because he figured there was a high probability that Drue was about to embarrass himself, and that he kind of wanted to see.

“Hey, there,” Drue said when he was just a couple of metres away from the girls. Both turned and stared back at him, confused. “I’m Drue Bob Lincoln.”

“I’m Jas—” the shorter girl began.

“Jazz.” He shoved his hand out. “That’s a cool name.”

She started to protest but he ignored her, turning to the blonde girl. “You?”

“Hot Dog,” she said flatly, raising one eyebrow and pursing her lips. “And you interrupted my friend here.”

The other girl glanced at Hot Dog as if surprised for a second, before turning back to Drue, her eyes penetrating, sizing him up.

“I didn’t mean to!” Drue said, flashing a smile at her. “Please, tell me more. Where’re you from?”

“My name is Jasmine,” she said. “Jasmine Wu. And, I’m sorry, did you say ‘Drue Bob Lincoln’? As in, the senator?”

Drue shrugged.

“Technically I’m Drue Bob Lincoln the third. The senator’s my father.”

Benny wasn’t exactly surprised about this news. It at least explained a lot of what Drue had said in the car. Neither of the girls seemed impressed, though, and as Drue winked at Jasmine, Benny wondered if it would be best to just slink away and abandon his travel mate.

“I noticed your necklace,” Drue continued, pointing to the gleaming silver charm around her neck, a stylised W breaking out of a triangle, with a small black diamond in the centre. It was the same design as the hood ornaments on the original Space Runners. “That …” Drue laughed a little, shaking his head. “What am I thinking? It’s not real, right? Elijah only had one hundred of those made for the original Space Runner engineers. I’ve been trying to track one down for years.”

Jasmine’s hand went up to the necklace, gripping it as she stared at Drue. “A senator’s son …” Her eyes narrowed a little. “You must be the reason there are a hundred and one of us and not a hundred,” she said. The look she gave Drue wasn’t a glare, exactly. More a combination of disappointment and disgust.

Drue straightened his back.

“I deserve to be up here just as much as you do,” Drue said.

“Right.” Hot Dog looked him up and down, nodding at his suit and floating luggage. “So you’re some rich kid senator’s son who decided he wanted a holiday. I hope you at least had to pay for your ride.”

Drue’s mouth hung open, but he didn’t seem able to form any actual words. As much as Benny was enjoying this, he thought he should introduce himself and maybe save Drue some face.

“Uh, I’m Benny. I was in the same Space Runner as Drue.” He pointed a thumb over his shoulder. “That’s Ramona on the ground. I think. She’s … interesting. So, you’re Jasmine and … Hot Dog? That can’t be your real name, right?”

“Of course not,” Hot Dog said.

“Where’d you get the nickname?”

She tossed her hair.

“Get me behind the wheel of a Space Runner and you’ll find out for yourself.”

“Uh,” Jasmine said, gesturing behind Benny. “Guys?”

Benny turned to find a vehicle unlike any he’d ever seen shooting into the Grand Dome from the entrance tunnel. It was a deep, shiny crimson and had a body similar to that of the Space Runner he’d just been in, only thinner. There was something else weird about the car, too. None of the Space Runners Benny had ever seen used wheels. On Earth, they floated above the streets just as easily as they did through space. Since the hyperdrives inside altered gravity and provided propulsion, there was no reason to include tyres in the design, except those that stayed up inside the car’s body and were deployed only in emergencies. But the Space Runner speeding out of the entrance tunnel had three black spheres on the bottom – two in the back, one in the front – rolling over the ground.

And it was rocketing straight towards them.

“Look out,” Jasmine shouted, jumping back and almost knocking Benny down.

As fast as the car was going, there was very little chance they could get out of its way in time. Still, Benny moved on instinct. In one swift motion he had grabbed Jasmine and Hot Dog’s arms and was pulling them away as Drue yelped for help.

Just as the vehicle was within a few metres of Benny and the others, it turned sharply and slid sideways. In the second before it should have crashed into them, there was a low thumping sound and a flash of light from underneath the car, and then it was in the air, rotating. Benny could swear he heard screaming from inside as it spun over his head.

The car flipped a few more times, clearing the lined-up Space Runners. It landed, twisted back to face its original direction, and then finally came to a complete stop directly in front of the steps leading up to the Lunar Taj.

“Dude!” Drue said, bolting towards the new arrival and leaving the others behind.

“You OK?” Benny asked the girls. He realised he was still holding their arms, and quickly let go, shoving his hands into the pockets of his space suit. Jasmine nodded warily. And Hot Dog just laughed for a second before darting off herself.

By the time Benny pushed through the crowds to get to the car, he found Drue wedged halfway underneath its bumper, scoping out the undercarriage. Hot Dog stood a couple of metres away from it, eyes full of admiration.

“This is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” she said.

The passenger door opened, folding back and into the car as if the entire construction was an elaborate piece of metal origami.

“Ohmigosh,” Hot Dog whispered beside Benny, the syllables stringing together into one word.

A woman stepped out, wearing what appeared to be hundreds of draped layers of gauzy white fabric that made her look as if she was enveloped in a cloud.

“No way! Is that really her?” Hot Dog asked. Then she gasped, covering her mouth with both hands and muffling her voice. “Her hair’s metallic. And she’s got antigravity hair clips in! Look at it float! It’s like she’s underwater!”

The woman looked very, very unhappy.

“… drives like a maniac …” Benny heard her say as she stomped away from the car.

“Is she famous or something?” he asked.

“Uh, yeah.” Hot Dog’s eyes went wide. “She won the last season of Heart-throb or Hologram?!”

Benny looked back to the woman, who was now all smiles as she posed for pictures and holovids with some of the other kids who had definitely recognised her. In seconds, two fashionably dressed people darted out of the Taj’s front doors and were corralling all the EW-SCAB winners into one big photo opportunity.

Hot Dog started forward to join them, but stopped after a few steps, turning her attention back to the car. Meanwhile, Drue crawled out from under the Space Runner and started to walk around it, letting his fingers smudge the thin layer of Moon dust that had settled on the vehicle.

“This must be some kind of prototype,” he whispered in reverence. “Check out this paint job. I think those ghost flames are made of microscopic LED particles.”