Rim of the World

Chapter 7

The final destination ~ JPL

"Keep talking."

PASADENA
1.7 miles to JPL

"Man can I not wait to get this key to Dr Fielding," sighed Ivy.
"I never expected all this to happen at a summer camp," laughed Darius.

"Yo look! JPL!" Shouted Gabriel.
"What?" Asked Zhenzhen shocked.
"Woah woah! Go!" Shouted Darius as everyone started running towards it.

"Man this place got hit hard," said Gabriel as they walked towards the doors.
"The building is destroyed!" Exclaimed Darius, "No one can survive that."
"He's still here! Dr Fielding is still here,"Said Zhenzhen.
"Let's go!" Yelled Alex as they ran inside.

"Oh wow their testing plasma rockets. Those things are hotter than the sun," explained Alex.
"Look man all we gotta do is get this key to Dr Fielding and then you can look at all the nerd stuff you want," Said Darius.

They ran into a control room and started yelling for Dr Fielding.
"Dr Fielding!"
"We have the key sir!"
"Dr Fielding!"
"We have the key!"

"Over here!"Shouted Zhenzhen.
"He's dead guys," mumbled Gabriel.
"Shit!" Yelled Darius.
"We failed," sighed Alex.
"It's over," Said Ivy grabbing Gabriel's hand.
"I mean...let's be honest guys. Who do we think we are?" Exclaimed Darius.

"The nerd," Said Alex.
"Criminal," Said Gabriel.
"Orphan," Said Zhenzhen.
"Joke," Said Darius.
"The foster kid," Said Ivy.

"I guess I'll go try and find my parents,"mumbled Darius turning around.
"Me too," sighed Alex.
Gabriel also turned away, taking Ivy with him.
Zhenzhen sighed and sat down with the glow sticks in front of her.
"What are you doing?" Asked Alex.
She just smiled as everyone turned back and sat with her.
"Look. They didn't even get to open this. Well since we are all going to die together. May I propose a toast," sighed Darius holding up a bottle of wine, " Oh crap! This is from 1969! I mean we could at least get some fresh wine if it's gonna be my first time!"
He threw the bottle across the room, making it land with a loud clang.

A voice started speaking making everyone jump up and run towards it.
"Hello! We are here! Over!" Shouted Alex.
"Identify yourself what is your name?" Asked the man on the screen.
"I'm Alex!"
"How old are you?"
"I'm 13. And if you don't mind me asking who are we talking to?"
" This is General George. Is anyone alive at JPL? Is Dr Fielding there?"
"There are four of us. Everyone else is dead," answered Alex, "The astronaut sent us before she died."
"You were sent by Major Collins?"
"Yeh that's why we came," Said Gabriel.
"She gave us the key."
"You have the crypto key in your possession?"
"That's right! What do we need to do to get it to work?" Exclaimed Alex.
"Nothing. You need to get out of there. I'm sorry it's over. There's nothing you kids can do against this thing. Now get out of there immediately we are sending two units to pick you up."
"No!" Yelled Alex.
"What did you say son?"
"I said no. I made a promise to not let anything stop me. So I'm gonna keep trying and it would be a lot easier if you would help me. We didn't come all this way to give up now! We're done being told what we can and can't do! We made it across half of Southern California. Pass aliens and soldiers,"explained Alex.
"A diddler. Don't forget about the diddler," added Darius.
"All the way here. Nobody helped us get here! All we had was each other. So your going to listen to me because we're not kids anymore and we're the best chance you got! I'm going to ask you one more time general. What do we need to do to get this thing working?" Continued Alex.
"Alright someone needs to go down to the basement and fire up the emergency generators. Start them in sequence. Exactly four seconds apart. Send your fastest strongest..."
"I'll do it!" Shouted Zhenzhen.
"I'm sorry? That sounded like a young girl."
"Oh Yeh aliens don't stand a chance against her," Darius sighed.
"Alright you need to climb through the vent. The vault door won't open until the power is back on."
"Got it," Zhenzhen mumbled.
"Look your not safe at JPL."