(GQ #8) Mingling on the Moon

5. Hot Potato

Fluorescent lights and pale walls blurred together as Jun and Roxie continued the search for Aiden. Walking to the Moon Base Gym took a lot longer than Jun remembered. They weren't in much of a hurry, though. Knowing Aiden, he'd appear at the conference as if he never went missing. Still, they wanted to put in some effort. Captain Galhardo put his faith in them, and the guy was probably stressed out enough on a day like today.

Besides, Roxie was having so much fun! She marched ahead, as peppy as ever. Every few steps, she'd try out a new Aiden-tracking technique, which is probably why it took so long to get to the gym in the first place. As a Criminal Justice major and Aiden-knower, Jun knew these techniques wouldn't be able to track down anything, but they had fun playing along.

A vending machine caught their eye.

"Hey Rox, want a snack?"

Instead of turning around, Roxie marched in a semicircle to face Jun. "I only hunger for victory!"

Jun shrugged. "Suit yourself."

They took out a dollar bill from their wallet and put it into the vending machine, but they didn't let go of it. Instead, they yanked it out at the last moment.

Nothing came out.

Jun attempted the trick a few more times just to see if they did it right, but no dice. This vending machine wouldn't fall for their trick. Maybe they should try one last time.

"Are you stealing?"

Roxie's question broke Jun's concentration, making them forfeit their dollar to the vending machine.

"Uhh... Kinda, yeah." Jun admittedly felt a little ashamed to be caught doing this, especially by her. "But it was for a reason."

Roxie leaned over Jun. "Was the reason free food?"

"No." They stood up. "I just realized Aiden might be at one of the vending machines. He used to do this trick on them, like, all the time."

"Ahh, so you were doing petty crimes to summon him! How clever!"

Jun laughed. "Not quite. But it narrows down our options. Even if he is at a vending machine, he won't be there long."

As their eyes scanned the brightly colored bags and sugary sweets, a row of tiny, bear-shaped bottles stood out from the rest. They pressed the button corresponding to it. A bear fell into the pickup slot, and they picked it up.

"It's so cuuuute!" Roxie fawned over the bottle.

"Pure Honey courtesy of Ursa Major Farms. Edible packaging." Jun read its label. "Cool. Dunno what I'm gonna do with a bottle of honey, though."

"Maybe we could use it to bait Aiden."

The older ranger laughed at the mental image of that, then put the bottle in their pocket. "I'll keep that in mind. Come on, let's head to the gym."

"Onward, we go!"

Roxie continued marching forward. She abruptly stopped upon seeing a yellow cone and spread her arms out, preventing Jun from going forward.

"Ah, a wet floor." Jun noticed. "You saved my life."

Roxie hugged them. "It's the least I can do for you, my friend." She turned to the cone. "We have to approach carefully from here so that we don't slip and shatter our skulls on this nicely-mopped floor!"

"Ye--huh??"

A flash of frizzy hair, goggles, and bad judgement careened toward Jun and Roxie.

Roxie let go of Jun and spread her arms out. "I'll catch you!"