We walked out of the booth. We hadn’t gotten further than a few steps when Laura suddenly slumped against the outside of the booth. She buried her face in her knees, and remained that way. Cruisers sailed past us, offering the illusion that this was a pleasant day. I needed to be back at the forge, but Laura needed me more. Could I take her with me? No, not after the “warm” welcome those jerks had given me.

“Wander, Laura!” I turned to my left and watched as Kaela Fire jogged up to us. Her black and yellow cruiser was parked down the block. She panted a bit as she caught up to us and turned away while she caught her breath. “Sorry, I had a big breakfast. Anyway, what are you guys doing here? Shouldn’t you be at the forge, Wander?”

Laura groaned at the sound of Kaela’s voice, so I nudged her with my foot. She could be sad, but not rude.

“I should be, but Laura’s pretty bummed right now. It’s a long story. Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be wherever you usually are?”

Kaela glanced at Laura with concerned eyes. “Bummed? Anything serious?”

Had she heard my question? Or had she just heard that Laura was upset?

“It’s kind of serious, but it’s mostly…complex? Don’t worry about it. She’s not your responsibility or anything.”

How could I explain this? Laura had forced her toxic parents out of her life, and now she was sad about it? The encounter was supposed to have raised her up, not to have brought her down.

“Yeah, she’s not, but maybe I can help anyway.” Kaela got down on one knee, lowering herself to Laura’s level. Laura groaned and scooted away. “Hey, do you want to talk?”

“No!” Laura said into her knees. The result was muffled at best.

Kaela nodded, satisfied for some reason. “Yeah I understand that. Hey, what’s your favorite color?”

Laura stayed silent for at least ten seconds before she said, “What?”

“Your favorite color. Don’t you have one? Everyone does.”

Laura sat frozen, probably from confusion. Was this how Kaela solved problems? By asking for favorite colors? Would the conflict with Laura’s parents have been solved easily if we had asked them which they preferred, red or blue?

My heart skipped a beat as Laura raised her head, revealing her wet face. “If it’ll make you go away, then red. Also green. It’s hard to choose just one stupid color.”

“Oh yeah, isn’t your space suit red and green?” Kaela planted herself beside Laura, who didn’t protest. “Man, you must love roses. Red ones, at least.”

Laura put down her knees, and lifted her head more. “I’ve never gotten flowers. Wander thinks they’re dumb because they wilt. I see what he means, but it’d still be a nice gesture. Take notes, Wander.”

“You have never once asked for flowers and you know it.” I couldn’t help grinning at how much a few words had cheered Laura up. “Did you need something, Kaela?”

I should have thanked her for help. What she had done was distract Laura from the horrible thoughts swirling around in her head. Simple enough, but I hadn’t thought of it. Kaela was clearly a master at dealing with the depressing stuff. That explained how she’d dealt with the Oppressed’s craziness.

She gasped. “Oh yeah. I almost forgot about my assignment. Surge wanted me to swing by the library and let Mr. Manning know that he needs him. Surge has a mission he thinks he’ll find ‘totally rad.’ He didn’t actually say that, but I wish he had. It’s the least he could do since he made me do this for him. Dylan would have done it, but he’s off investigating those AI bases.”

“A mission for Manning?” I asked. “That’s a new one.”

I hadn’t thought Surge would ever ask Manning to go on a mission. Especially since Manning wasn’t the mission type of guy. Anymore. What did Manning stand to gain from helping him?

“That’s right. A Manning Mission,” she said. “Everyone around the base knows he frequents the library, so I thought I’d check here first. That’s when I bumped into you guys.”

“Don’t bother Instructor Manning with mission stuff,” Laura said as she stuffed her face right back between her knees. “Being bothered sucks, like life.”

Kaela shrugged at me, but I didn’t blame her. It’d take more than one conversation to bring Laura out of this funk. Kaela was making progress, though…

“New plan. I’ll go talk with Manning, and you watch over Laura.” I winked, to signify that I had an ulterior motive—I totally did not need to explain winking.

Kaela beamed. “You can count on me. I’m an expert at battling depression!”

Was Kaela okay? I didn’t think so, but I’d deal with that later. I was dying to know what Manning did in the library all day. I sauntered up to the entrance, a pair of glass doors. Just like the cafeteria. The glass was too clean to have been around when the Earth was devastated. It was still smudged, but nothing was going to stop teens from causing that.

I coughed as dust invaded my lungs. It probably didn’t, but that was what walking into the place felt like. Green light illuminated the room, but it didn’t reach the corners. Countless tables were laid out in front of me, and yet only a handful were occupied. The people had their heads buried so deep in their books that they didn’t look up as I walked by.

The room had enough bookshelves to satisfy even the bookiest of worms, but there was no sign of Manning. A staircase to my right that led to the next floor. I couldn’t see much of it since it was so dark, but Manning must have been up there.

Each step I took up the staircase echoed throughout the room. Physical books hadn’t been popular in hundreds of years, so of course this place was empty. Manning’s attachment to physical books confused me. It was not like he was actually from the twentieth century; he just admired stuff from that era. It was fine to have preferences, but it’d be better to just catch up with the rest of us. We weren’t going backwards.

The second floor had fewer tables than the first, but they were shrouded in dust. To my right was a forest of bookshelves. The lack of light made them look like horror movie hallways. Someone could have been standing at the end of one, and I wouldn’t even know. Not until it was too late. Dang it, this place was creepy enough without my paranoia.

I wandered toward the floor’s only occupant. The man had his back to me, and that back was…shuddering? His table was coated in books as disheveled as the ones in Manning’s room. The man had to be Manning, but he didn’t seem to want to be found.

“Tainted…” Manning said in a low, unstable voice. “All tainted. All gone.”

“Manning?” I spoke into the dark.

He flinched and whipped around. I jumped because of how quickly he did it. Why did he seem so unnerved?

“Wander?” His voice was as shaky as Laura’s. The universe was putting me through this again? Wait, what did he call me? “I mean…Mr. Locke? What are you doing here?”

“Surge wants to give you a mission…” I glanced at the books. “Manning, what’s going on here? What’s with you and this place? Why are you so freaked out?”

Despite his appearance, he laughed. “Always hunting for information, aren’t you, Mr. Locke? Just as I’ve been doing. Can you tell me what this is?”

He held up a book. I peered at the long title: Cooking During A Galactic War and Other Fun Activities!

“It’s a cookbook with a very unique name,” I said, confident in my answer.

“You’re exactly right. So then, why does a cookbook need to mention the AI War? It doesn’t have anything to do with cooking…does it?”

I searched around for the camera taping this interview. “It…doesn’t?”

He sighed and set the book down. “You wish to know why I spend all my time here? Because, in all my time here, I haven’t yet found a book that doesn’t mention the war, or the AI.”

I raised an eyebrow. “What? Manning, that’s no big deal.”

“No, it isn’t. Not to you because you were born into this war! I was too, but”—he held up another book, which shook in his unstable hands—“I am so tired of hearing about it. I’ve always wondered about life before the war. I cling to old technology and media because it’s as close as I’m ever going to come. I can never go back far enough. In the four centuries that it’s been active, the war’s touched every single aspect of humanity.”

“Manning, I get your frustration, but—”

“No you don’t, Wander!” He slammed his palm onto the table, rattling it. “You don’t understand any of this. Your mission ends with you living peacefully with your sibling. This war’s conclusion doesn’t mean much to you. Anyone who believes there’s a light at the end of this tunnel is fooling themselves. Just look at what I lost because I believed I could make a difference.”

He motioned to the other end of the table, where more open books lay. I peered over the passages…and read about the “Galactic defenders officially known as Humanity’s Oath.” Each and every book mentioned my grandfather’s infamous team, who had also been Manning’s closest friends. He’d lost them all at once during their final mission. He’d never talked about it in great detail. Now I understood why.

“Manning, all you’re doing here is stewing in negativity that you can’t control,” I said. “The past is past, and there’s no use dwelling in it unless it’s to learn from mistakes. That’s why…I try not to think about my parents. It’s too painful, and it’s not productive.”

Manning looked up at me. “But, if you don’t accept the pain, how can you move on?”

That was a good question. I was hoping that, eventually, the pain would fade, but it’d take a while. The biggest problem was getting closure with people who were no longer with us.

“That doesn’t matter because there’s something we both have in common. Even though we both lost our families, we still have the one that we made together. You don’t have to go through all this alone.”

I held out my arms and hugged Manning. I shuddered as my dad popped into my head. What the heck? What was my brain trying to tell me? I ignored the thought even though the feeling remained. I stepped back as Manning rose from his seat. He sighed as he closed one of the hundred books on the table.

“Perhaps it is time to move forward rather than look backward,” Manning said as he wiped his forehead. “Was there a reason for your visiting me, Wander?”

It’d take a while to get used to that.

I nodded. “Somehow, Surge has a mission for you.”

“Unusual, but I suppose everything is nowadays. I could use a distraction, so I’m willing to accept it. I assume you wish to come along.”

“It’s more of a feeling that I should. Laura should too. She could use a distraction. Let me catch you up on that real fast…”

Talking this much had been forbidden in libraries, but no one was there to care. Plus we were on our way out. I explained Laura’s situation up until we headed outside and saw her conversing with Kaela. I was witnessing a miracle. Laura was frantically waving her hands around, while Kaela nodded, apparently entranced by what she was saying.

“…so it’s like, of course it’s getting another season, the voice actress leaked part of the script. Just announce it already. Oh, Instructor.” Laura rose up and wiped her eyes. If only she could wipe the redness from them. “Are you okay? You don’t look okay.”

The corners of his mouth curled up. “I’m all right, Laura. I heard you’d had it rough as well.”

Laura glanced back at Kaela, who grinned. “This weirdo wouldn’t leave me alone so I made her listen to my rant about Hot Stakes, season two. I guess she’s a good listener. Are we headed to Surge’s now?”

I nodded. “Are you coming with, Kaela?”

“I told Surge that I’d let Mr. Manning know about the mission, but I’m not going.” She looked at the ground. “That ‘fixing your family’ thing we talked about is having mixed results, Wander. I know Surge feels bad about Red City, but he won’t show it! He’s focused on this stupid attack plan he has. Actually he’s trying to figure out how to go about it. It’s why he wants the location of Epsilon.”

“Epsilon?” Manning asked with a hint of fear in his voice. “The mysterious AI planet? Surely this attack plan has nothing to do with Epsilon? Venturing there would be certain death!”

Kaela made eye contact with Manning. “Surge has a lot of dumb ideas, but I don’t see this one going through. The plan was made with the ruabrum in mind, but, thanks to us, they’re a bit busy. Anyway, catch you guys later. If you need to rant some more, I’m always available, Laura!”

Laura averted her gaze while Kaela sauntered away. Sure hadn’t taken much for a friendship to develop between them. Hopefully it had been enough to clear her head a little. I didn’t want her to be distracted on a mission. I was surprised she wanted to go at all.

“Wait,” she said. “Instructor Manning, did you just call me by my first name?”

It felt odd being back in Surge’s office after I’d failed to steal from him. It stunk of smoke, but now I had a memory associated with it, so I hated it even more. Luckily, something—someone was there to distract me from that.

“Nessa?” I backed up into the door as Nessa glared at me from Surge’s desk. Surge himself sat behind the desk, holding a steaming gray cup. There was no sign of the hidden staircase anywhere.

“There you are, Rookie,” she said. Her tone of voice scared me. “You should be at the forge. The place you ‘nearly died’ to gain membership to. I just swung by to let Surge know about your absence. You must be here to tell him yourself, right?”

Even out of school, I was getting in trouble for cutting class.

“I had to help a friend—no, two of them.” I motioned to my left and right, where Laura and Manning respectively stood. “Would you rather I left my friends to stew in their problems?”

“Perhaps, since it’d mean doing your job,” she said. “Although I can’t really punish someone for having friends. Not after last time. We’ll discuss this later. Surge?”

Surge nodded. “Theodore, there’s something I want you to know. Believe it or not, doing so will benefit you more than me. Are you in?”

“I’m afraid it’s been quite the day, so I’ll need more detail before I agree to anything,” he said. “Unless you can cure my brother of his Implant-induced madness, I’m afraid there’s not much for me to gain from any dangerous activities.”

“Close. I once said I doubted that you were the sole survivor of Humanity’s Oath. Time to see if I’m right.” He tapped his phone and set it on the desk, screen down. Its camera lit up, projecting a blue and white space ship above the desk. It had the giant biscuit-like structure of an exploration ship, but it seemed much bigger. Two giant jets protruded out of the back. Its front was littered with turrets and other violent-looking weapons. “This is a xeno ship that we’ve been tracking for a while. We finally got news of its trajectory recently. We believe it’s carrying insanely important cargo. Treasure that Frost can’t keep. I want you to board it and retrieve it.”

A xeno ship. They were so rare that you couldn’t even pilot one unless you worked for Frost.

Manning’s eyes glimmered gold as he stared at the projection. “What treasure could possibly interest me? Unless…you’re implying that one of my teammates may be aboard this ship? That’s, impossible. None of them remain! None except for Upton and myself.”

“Frost told you that and you believed her, right?” Nessa asked as she pointed her green eyes toward the ceiling. She was using that implant again. Did she ever relax? “Don’t do that. It’s a surefire way to hand her control over you. Information is Frost’s favorite weapon.”

“Since you’ve all proven yourselves worthy of my trust, I’ll spill what I know about this.” Surge glanced at me as he said that. I raised an eyebrow in response, but he’d already gone back to Manning. “It was an open secret around the First Ship that Frost acquired a weapon thanks to the downfall of Humanity’s Oath downfall. They were plucked from the Pluto base, restored to health, and secretly groomed to serve Frost until the time was right. Whoever that weapon is, they’re in that ship.”

One of the few remaining Humanity’s Oath members was being held in one of Frost’s ships. The idea of Frost doing something like that didn’t faze me much anymore. If all these accusations were true, then I had to be focused on righting her wrongs. It was not like I could confront her about it while she was so far away.

As for rescuing the third surviving member of Humanity’s Oath…that was an offer I couldn’t refuse. What if it was someone as wise and experienced as Manning? Having two Mannings on our side would be like cheating. Those AI wouldn’t stand a chance.

“What’s going on in that head of yours, Manning?” I asked.

He held his chest, as if telling himself to calm down. “If there’s even the slightest chance that one of my friends is on that ship, then we must embark immediately. My young wards may accompany me, correct? They are my new family.”

Manning glanced back at me and smiled. I gave him a thumbs up. This was a weird family-bonding activity, but it was all we were going to get in our line of work.

“Despite attempting to steal back the shield generator, Wander didn’t finish the job, so I suppose he can go. I’ll hand over this ship’s coordinates and trajectory in a second.” Surge took a sip of his steaming beverage. That must have been his version of dropping the mic. He then recoiled and covered his mouth. He peered into his cup. “This isn’t coffee.”

He…he had known about my attempted thievery this whole time. How? I had been invisible. No matter how strong his deductive abilities were, there was no way he could have told just by looking at me. Unless…I was still wearing the cloaking device. I looked down, and there it was, stuck to my chest. I’d never taken it off.

I’d become a lot dumber since coming here.

“I can’t believe this.” I slapped my forehead. “You knew this whole time? Why aren’t you punishing me? I betrayed your trust.”

“The only one you betrayed is Frost, which is something else we have in common now. You could have stolen the generator, but you didn’t.” Surge lifted his cup of not-coffee to his lips but then paused and set it down. “I don’t blame any of you for your plan to steal back the generator. I’m sure Frost promised you rewards that she never intended to supply.”

“You tried to steal the generator by yourself?” Laura enquired of me. “And he knew about it? What the heck have you been up to? Why didn’t you go through with it? Who the heck is this?” She motioned to Nessa, whose eyes finally turned gray again as she stopped using the implant.

“Theodore’s leading, but this is absolutely going to end in one of those Wander-style disasters that Kaela was telling me about.” Nessa’s eyes flickered green for a moment, as if she’d just made a note. “Interesting. Surge, permission to accompany them?”

“What?” I blurted out. “No way—”

“Be my guest.” Surge said. “It’s been a while since you were out in the field. I’m sure your sub can handle things at the forge while you’re gone. Consider this a reward for your cooperation with—you know.”

“My thoughts exactly; thank you.” She smirked at me. “The cloaking device works huh? I suppose we make an acceptable team after all. Just don’t get me killed out there. I’ll see you all at the hangar in an hour.”

She sauntered out as though she’d just won the argument that we weren’t having. I was starting to wish I had betrayed these guys. What was with that suspicious exchange she and Surge had just had? Reward for cooperation?

“Did you set this up?” I asked Surge. “There’s no way you understood everything just by seeing me with this device. Did you make Nessa repair this with me?”

“Finish the mission, kid.” He peered at the floor behind his desk, where the secret staircase had been. “I’ll give you an answer or two after you return. Heck, if you and the cargo come back alive…I might tell you the truth behind this base.”

My hands twitched with anxiousness. “Answers? Haven’t gotten any of those in a while. You got yourself a deal.”