Jupiter's Secret

NASA Exclusive Gone Wrong

"This, kids, is a replica of the Endeavor. Don't touch it or it will be the last thing you do! Thank you for taking the NASA Exclusive! Have a nice day!" the tour guide smiles and walks (more like waddles) away with her clipboard. Mr. McKlain turns around, his eyes wide as he points to the guide faking her sassy look. Aaron sneaks up to the huge rocket replica next to us and then reaches out a hand to touch it jokingly.
"Hey! You heard the fine lady!" Mr. McKlain winks at her when she turns around. We all gag and Aaron returns back to Lainey's side.
"Alright you may now go explore and do whatever it is you teenagers do!" Mr. McKlain is about to go when he rethinks that sentence. "On second thought, behave and don't be teenagers!" he runs to catch up with the tour guide and we split up into friend groups.
"What are we doing?" Renae looks around at everybody.
"Quantum mechanics anybody?" I point to a sign nearby. Everyone makes a face at me.
"What in the world is that?!" they chorus. I roll my eyes and gaze past Lainey's shoulder at an exhibit of space. I walked over and the others followed curiously. A glittery headline said "Europa Discovery".
"Guys this is the moon NASA thinks has extraterrestrial life! Isn't this cool?" I exclaim.
"Could you get any nerdier? It's an asteroid!" Aaron peers closer at the picture of the icy, scarred moon.
"It's Jupiter's fourth largest moon! Not an asteroid!" I cross my arms sassily. An employee in a NASA uniform walks through a door behind the exhibit. Glowing fog creeps out and then dissolves when the employee closes the door.
Blaize reaches his hand past the table with the Europa board to touch the stuff but yanks it back when the fog glows brighter.
"I have a strange feeling we should go in there..." Jasmine shuffles to the door as if in a trance.
"Yea, we should." Renae follows her. I grab her hand and pull her back.
"Wait, we might get in trouble!" I go for Jasmine's hand as well but she already walked in.
"Guys, you really gotta see this." Jasmine whispers from inside. Blaize nudges me in and Aaron hovers behind. Lainey hesitates but gives in and walks through the door.
A huge rocket ship sits on a platform rumbling in front of us. The word Europia along the side of it is shrouded in the shimmery fog. A staircase ejects from the Europia and Jasmine stealthily crawls up it. She disappears into the hold, a whisp of fog snaking along behind her.
"I really don't think we should..." I trail off as I step in with Blaize. Blinking lights flicker on a giant control panel at the front while a little tiny probe shakes in a corner near us.
"Buckle your seat belts, we're going to space!" Blaize fiddles with the control panel, pretending to be captain of the ship.
"I highly suggest you don't touch that. You know, unless you want to actually shoot us into space." I shove him off the panel. Jasmine and Renae are sitting in some of the seats up front, taking pictures of everything.
"This is amazing! I thought NASA never knew what they were doing but I guess not!" Aaron sighs, clearly impressed. Lainey stands on the stairs, mouth open. I push her glasses up her nose and shut her mouth for her and she comes out of her daze.
"Come on, back me up! We shouldn't be in here!" I elbow her.
"I can't help you this time Kassidy, it's just too much." Lainey breathes in awe. I walk out the rocket and go down the stairs, waiting for them to come out.
I cross my arms and tap my foot when a red light shines on the rocket's side. A countdown starts and the stairs begin to fold up. I stiffen and clench my jaw, unable to move while listening to Lainey and Renae shriek.
"Blaize, what'd you do?!" I shout. Right before the staircase winds up, I dive into the rocket.
"I didn't do anything! I just pressed this red button and..." he begins to pace the cold, metal floor.
"It's okay, I'll fix it. Maybe." I start for the panel and trip on a handle embedded in the floor. Something clicks in the mechanics and the front of the rocket opens to reveal a huge window, showing the outside.
The rocket is slowly shifted forward and after some time and more continuous clicking, the rocket is attached to the liftoff section.
The countdown has gone from five minutes to thirty seconds and I whimper.
"I can't fix this!" I fall back into the chair behind the control panel.
"Oh joy!" Lainey exclaims sarcastically. Blaize sits in the other chair next to me and I tell the others to find seats.
"Buckle up guys, this is gonna get rough!" I shout as the countdown hits five seconds.
I shudder and so does the rocket. Countdown calls one and the rocket goes flying into space, carrying the six of us with it.
I gotta say, that wasn't one of our best moments. Especially Blaize's. He was screaming the loudest.