Dylan lowered the ship into a massive parking lot. I could tell it was big because it was empty. Only four or five other ships sat in it, and they were all lite ships. At least Dylan had plenty of available parking spaces.

The ship clunked as we touched down. Dylan yanked the key out and headed over to the ship’s side door. He pushed it open, letting in a plume of brown gas. Then he walked out as if the gas didn’t exist. His helmet must have been top quality. Kaela jumped out after him, leaving just me.

I bent my knees as my feet clacked against the ground. Gas fogged up my visor, so I waved it away. All the colors in the air tinted the city brown and white. I couldn’t smell it, but I assumed it smelled like oil. I gazed down at the streets below. Two cruisers zoomed by, and then silence. This place was dead. Who’d killed it?

“Mind explaining what we hope to find at this AI base?” I walked back to Dylan, who was pointing his key at the back of the lite ship. “I know I’m not allowed to know everything, but something would be great.”

He clicked a button on the key. The ship clicked as its back unfolded and laid out a miniature ramp. It shook the ground as it made contact. Inside this new compartment was Dylan’s green and black cruiser. I’d forgotten that lite ships had trunk areas.

“Catch or you’re on cafeteria duty.” Dylan tossed another set of keys at me. I panicked and closed both hands around them. Oh, thank goodness! My motor skills weren’t up to par, so catching those was nothing short of a miracle. “Congratulations! You’re not completely worthless. Now—as much as I hate to say this—get in the driver’s seat and drive us to our destination.”

Kaela sighed. “You’re gonna have to tell him where that is. Unless you want him to drive us in circles.”

Dylan frowned. “I suppose he’d be wasting my cruiser’s energy. Fine. It’s not like the answer is going to clear anything up. You’ll be driving us there.”

He jabbed his thumb at the massive red swirls in the distance. The Scarlet Storm? The one wider than Earth? I already hated driving in storms, but that thing looked more like death in wind form. I hadn’t realized Surge wanted us to kill ourselves.

“You want me to drive into that? Why did you bring your own cruiser then? It’ll get destroyed in there. Why not bring one of the cruddy public cruisers? Why would the AI even build a base in a storm?”

“Enough questions!” Dylan heaved an exasperated sigh. “A public cruiser would fall apart in seconds under the storm’s pressure. My cruiser will be perfectly fine. Unless Nessa only pretended to fine-tune it again. I can’t imagine why that silver-obsessed git keeps doing that.”

I walked up to his cruiser. “You’re letting me drive your cruiser…why? It’s not going to explode when I get in, is it?”

“That would kill me too. God, you’re stupid. Ow!” Dylan rubbed his arm where Kaela had bumped her elbow against it. She shrugged while brandishing an innocent smile, and he just glared. “Surge has a theory that you can confirm if you’re the driver. That’s the other reason why you’re here of course. You didn’t think he actually meant that leadership nonsense, did you? No, I’m the only leader here.” He turned his head to the side. “And I won’t fail this time.”

What was that? I was sure he’d punch me if I asked about it, so I tried to ignore it. Even though it was interesting…

I took my seat behind the foreign wheel. Kaela took the passenger seat, while Dylan sat directly behind me. Directly. It felt like he was breathing down my neck. He’d probably be watching my every movement, making sure I didn’t drive his cruiser incorrectly. If I were in his shoes, I’d be the same way. Honestly.

The engine hummed as I started the cruiser. Next stop: a storm just big enough to hold all my issues with my life. The gas got thicker as we drifted down the lot. By the time I reached the streets, it was like being back in school during a fog delay.

As I’d observed from above, these streets were as barren as a desert. Some corners didn’t even have streetlights. There weren’t nearly as many skyscrapers as there had been in Red City either. It was mostly smaller places that sold food or appliances. Not that those stores seemed populated. This wasn’t much of a city at all.

“What’s up with this place? Effluvium, was it?” I asked as I motioned around us. I could do that since there was no one else on the road! “It’s so empty. Are you sure you guys used to live here?”

“Pretty sure,” Kaela said with a forced chuckle. “There’s a few reasons for it, and the simplest one is it’s Jupiter. With such a big planet, everyone and everything are super spread out. Surge thinks it’s why this is the perfect spot for the AI to hide. Who could find them in a place this big? Plus they probably aren’t affected by the Scarlet Storm. No one can touch them.”

“Why were they here again? Surge mentioned that something happened here?”

Kaela groaned as she watched the buildings passing by. “I recognize this place. Ask again in a block or two, I doubt they cleaned it up that much.”

Whatever that meant. I kept my eyes open for anything odd. It’d be hard to tell what to look for, but it was worth a shot.

Never mind.

“Whoa! What happened?”

The skyscrapers returned, with a twist. Each one was severely damaged, like someone had taken a wrecking ball to it. They were seared too. Support beams stuck out of them, so I guessed they were under construction. I mean, under repair. It wasn’t just them. The roads didn’t have potholes, they had craters. I drove by houses and stores that had completely caved in. Not a single blade of grass was undamaged.

“Wow, it’s inspiring how they barely fixed any of it,” Dylan said. “All they really did was sweep away the bodies and debris.”

“From what?” I asked for the hundredth time.

“From the AI attack, Wander!” Kaela said, startling me. I had worn out Kaela’s patience? “When we were kids, the AI attacked Effluvium. Blue and tan AI infested the streets and swept people up. They held them squirming in their arms. No matter how hard the people fought, they couldn’t break free.”

Kaela’s voiced broke toward the end of her statement. She sounded like she was describing an event in progress. It seemed like she had returned to the past and was experiencing the events of that horrible day. I understood her pain.

“Of course it was the AI.” I shook my head. “It’s always those monsters.”

“There’s more to it, fool,” Dylan said far too calmly. “Tell him what really caused all this destruction, Mikaela.”

She just had, hadn’t she? Only the AI would be merciless enough to go around bombing cities.

“I was about to.” Kaela reached for her hair, then flinched when she hit helmet instead. “Like I just implied, the AI were there to kidnap people, not blow up the joint. Someone else was behind that part. Word must have reached Frost that the attack was happening because that’s when First Division battle ships showed up.” She interrupted herself with a shudder. “Those massive ships just zoomed into our sky. Right before they unloaded missiles on us.”

I almost slammed on the brakes out of shock. “The First Division did this? There’s no way! The city was full of civilians, wasn’t it?”

“That’s the part you’re still not getting, Wander.” Kaela slumped back in her chair. “Frost may act like she cares about us, but all she really cares about is killing AI. I’m sure she figured that Effluvium was the perfect place to let loose because of its low population. What I want to know is if she realized how dangerous it was to fire missiles on a gas giant.”

As she said that, we reached the next block. What remained of it. There were no buildings, only piles of black debris. The road was almost non-existent, and the rushing wind was the only sound for miles. I actually hit the brakes this time. I couldn’t keep driving with my hanging jaw.

“Frost…did all this?” I asked despite not wanting the answer.

Kaela nodded. “She destroyed my home without a care in the galaxy. She even killed my dad.” Kaela lowered her face. Her slight sniffles revealed why. “He had just left for work when all this started. He never came home. I was supposed to be headed for school. If I had left home…I probably wouldn’t have come back either. Now do you understand why I can’t stand that woman?”

I did. I couldn’t believe that Frost had ordered everything that had happened, but the proof was right in front of me. Kaela kept sniffling beside me, while Dylan wore the biggest scowl I’d seen on him. I was too afraid to ask him where he had been during all this. It didn’t matter. If everyone else had stories like this, I couldn’t see myself asking more questions.

Even worse, I got why Kaela was so mad at Surge. He’d invaded a defenseless city, like Frost and the AI had. His case wasn’t as extreme, which was why Kaela had gone along with it at first. Then she’d come to her senses and helped us out. There was so much to think about here, but we still had a job to do.

I hit the pedal, carrying us away from the carnage. Even though this was the type of trauma you could never get away from. I would know.

Utter silence took over as I drove us through the dead city. I wasn’t surprised when buildings stopped popping up. I had difficulty imagining that this place was as big as it seemed. A flickering, holographic sign warned me I was leaving the city. Good. The road stretched on past the sidewalk, but it reached its end outside the city limits. I hit the brakes, slowing us down before we slid off the dead end.

“What are you doing?” Dylan asked, breaking the silence. “I didn’t tell you to stop. Keep driving.”

“Uh, there’s no more road.” I motioned to the sea of pinkish brown gas.

“If I cared about your feedback, I’d ask for it. Now keep, driving.” He crossed his arms like the conversation was over.

Cruisers were designed to hover over solid, consistent surfaces. You could drive over sand, but it’d be bumpy, and you’d never make it over water. Driving over gas? I imagined you’d just fall right in. I wasn’t interested in seeing what Jupiter’s core looked like.

“Wander, he’s a jerk, but you should just do what he says,” Kaela said. “Jupiter’s vacant but it’s also got tricks up its sleeves. Man…those would be some massive sleeves.”

I couldn’t find it in me to disobey her, not with those tear stains on her face. If she wanted me to drive over gas, then I guess I had no choice. I crossed my fingers and hoped that Jupiter had a lovely core.

I stomped on the pedal because, if I was going out, it needed to be quick. We flew off the road and into the gas. We sunk into the fumes, which shot my pounding heart into my ears. I screamed out of fear for my apparently short life. Then I stopped when I realized that we’d stopped sinking. Gas shrunk away from the windshield instead of devouring it.

“Are you going to keep driving or not?” Dylan groaned. “Yes, you can drive on the gas. Mikaela’s just explained that the atmosphere towers make that possible, hasn’t she?”

“I didn’t think they were this effective.” I resisted the urge to step outside and try the gaseous ground for myself. This was like something from an amusement park. “I guess I’m out of excuses for why we shouldn’t drive into the storm of death. Let’s go.”

The cruiser wobbled as we drifted toward the swirling red clouds. Every time we dipped too much, my heart would get pounding again. This gas road was the perfect fuel for my paranoia. What if I drove over a spot where the tower’s influence wasn’t strong enough? What if a tower or two was down for maintenance? What was that sound? It was like a low roar, but multiplied by a thousand.

I looked up and discovered the source of the sound. The storm loomed over us, now closer than ever. The wind blowing out of the swirly red monster was the cause of the roaring, and it was only getting louder. Lighting crackled through it, illuminating the dome. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Hopefully lightning couldn’t hurt me anymore.

“Now’s a good time to let me know where the AI base is!” I screamed over the wind.

“Too bad!” Dylan shouted back. “It’s up to you to seek it out with your abilities. Otherwise we’ll have no idea where we’re going.”

“WHAT?”

Red fluff consumed the windshield. The cruiser rumbled like we’d just entered a blender. Lightning illuminated the red and also thundered through my ear. We had officially entered the storm, and it was not an achievement worth celebrating.

“What is wrong with you people?” I shouted as the cruiser rattled me and my words. “The plan was to make me a human compass—Hybrid compass—a compass? I knew Surge was after my powers. But they don’t work like that.”

“How do they work then?”

“I don’t know!”

The cruiser tilted left, right, and the wind even lifted it off the gas ground. It was like trying to drive in a tornado. There was nothing but red and orange for miles. The plan was to leave navigation to my weird powers? Fine. Things were already awful, so what was the worst that could happen with this plan?

I shut my eyes and relaxed my grip on the wheel. Luckily, there was nothing to crash into but wind. I imagined what the AI base would look like. Metal. Okay…now that the obvious parts were out of the way. I imagined a tall structure with a huge doorframe. It had to be big to accommodate the AI. I imagined they’d built this place close by. They were resistant to the storm, but they couldn’t lug their material for long. The base needed to be built sooner, not later. It was…

“Watch out!” Kaela said.

My eyes snapped open, but I didn’t know what I was looking at. The creature was twice the size of the cruiser. It had no eyes and a gaping mouth. Vapor trailed off of its pale…skin? No, that was definitely not skin. I screamed and yanked the wheel to veer away from it. Then I sped by its right “arm,” narrowly avoiding it. It emitted a ghostly moan, shooting chills up my spine.

“Steer clear of the Miasma.” Kaela said. “They’re half gas and half organic but all sentient. They’re passive unless agitated, and you don’t want to hear the stories they tell about agitated Miasma.”

I wanted to tell her not to worry since we’d avoided it. As usual, the galaxy laughed in my face instead. A field of Miasma was laid out before us. Each beast slowly stomped to its destination, and I prayed it’d get there without noticing us. There were pale, brown, and, most dangerous of all, red Miasma. The latter blended in, making my efforts to steer much harder than they had to be. I held my breath as I maneuvered around the giant gas monsters in the middle of the storm. I was starting to wish we had fallen through the gas.

“This cruiser might not hold,” I said as it rattled beneath my hand. The left-wing mirror snapped off a second later, disappearing into the red.

“No!” Dylan clutched his head. “Locke, if we lose the other mirror, you’ll be next.”

“Can’t hear you, the wind’s too loud,” I said even though I’d actually heard every word. “Kaela, I need a favor. Fire your rifle into the storm. It’ll light everything up like the lightning does. I know the base is nearby, but I can’t find it unless—”

“I only heard half of that, but I got it.” Kaela clutched her metal staff and rolled down her window. Gas poured inside, obscuring the windshield within seconds. I hadn’t thought this through. “Make sure you tell Laura how useful I was on this mission.”

“If we survive.” I waved away the gas, but that only created a small window of visibility.

Kaela’s staff unfolded into her terrifying rifle. The glowing blue core at the end confirmed my theory by illuminating the gas in the cruiser. Kaela peered through the scope and squeezed the trigger. A blue beam erupted out of the barrel and sliced through the red. It was like a perfectly horizontal lightning strike. Its glow brightened every Miasma in the vicinity. I watched it soar, keeping my eye out for our target. I’d begun to doubt my strategy until I saw it: a tan corner. It was visible for a second before vanishing into the red.

“There.” I pointed to where it was even though I was the one driving. “I saw it. We’re almost there.”

Kaela rolled the window back up, but her eyes were wide with terror. “Wander, I should not have done that.”

“Something we can finally agree on,” Dylan snarled.

Every Miasma that she’d just bathed in the light? They had turned their eyeless, gaping faces toward us. Fear gripped my heart. I knew what my nightmares would look like for a while. I slammed on the pedal and leaned forward as we zipped deeper into the storm. The Miasma let out one piercing wail after another as they advanced. They couldn’t be running because their legs weren’t moving. It was like they were floating. The Miasma’s wails were synced up, and they destroyed my ears as they all floated closer.

They grouped together, sealing us inside a giant circle. I’d never been more terrified…but I knew I couldn’t stop there either. I gulped down my fear and pushed forward, slamming into the Miasma in front of us at full speed. It screeched and released plumes of gas from all three of its face holes. I was blind again. I yanked the wheel back and forth in an attempt to throw it off. I couldn’t tell if I had because gas had utterly clouded my vision. Then a gust of wind swept in and blew the gas away, revealing a tan structure.

“We’re here!” I motioned to the giant tan building before us. All we had to do was get inside. Unfortunately, I couldn’t do that from inside a vehicle. “I need you guys to get outside and open it. If I leave the cruiser out here, it’ll get destroyed by the storm and/or the Miasma.”

“Sure, I’ve always wanted to be torn apart by a storm.” Kaela gripped her door handle. “You ready, Dylan? We can’t be out there for long; we’ve got to be on the same page here.”

Dylan scoffed, which I somehow heard over the wind. “In that case, we’re doomed. I refuse to cooperate with a traitor, so just watch my back while I get the door open.”

“This isn’t the time to be so stubborn. We can’t—”

“Fight outside! We’re getting surrounded again.” I pointed to the Miasma floating their way over.

Both doors flew open, and my companions leaped out of them. I waved away more gas and watched in silent horror as they ran up to the front door. It was as massive as I’d imagined. The cruiser would get through without a problem. As long as these gas freaks didn’t get me before I could test my theory. I reversed the cruiser and drove away to put some distance between me and the Miasma. Unfortunately, I didn’t seem to be outpacing their floaty creepiness. What were their miles per hour?

I glanced at the door, where Kaela was motioning for me to drive over. Dylan was nowhere to be found. Neither was the door; darkness had replaced it. They’d actually gotten it open. I turned the cruiser around and shot toward them. Unfortunately, the Miasma were floating between me and my destination.

The cruiser rattled louder than ever as I veered around the beings again. One screeched as its creepy arm slammed against the cruiser, snapping off its other wing mirror. Dang it, Dylan was going to kill me.

The cruiser straightened out as I drove off gas and onto metal. I summoned my helmet and hit the brakes. The whiplash forced my head against the wheel, but my helmet absorbed the impact. The thump was extra loud due to the quietening of the wind. Darkness replaced the red, but it wasn’t much of an improvement.

“Shut the door!” I shouted as I turned the cruiser off.

Kaela ran over to the wall and banged her fist against a tan screen. It glowed red as the door began to close. The Miasma’s creepy faces came closer, becoming more defined, before the door shut on all of them. I would have said we were safe, but, as I peered into the dark, I remembered the truth: there was no safety in an AI base, abandoned or not.