~Chapter Seven~
"FRANCINE!"
Digit threw himself against the crashed hood of the Coupe, his tail propeller shaking from his sobs.
"Didge, let it go," Jackie quipped under her breath.
"What gives, Nezzie? I thought you were gonna land us in Solaria!" Matt zipped up to the hollow of his neck and threw over his hood as he snapped at the driver.
"In case you haven't noticed, Matthew," she began, harshly slamming close the dented passenger door, "I did land us in Solaria. Hacker's on the loose, so it's only logical that he would come here and steal the Sunisphere again. See, Matt? Even though I've been out of the loop for ten years, at least I still remember the important things!"
"Oh, really? Well I can see you remembered how to land a Cyber Coupe!"
"Guys!" Jackie pulled her friends apart before they lunged at each other. "Look, let's just all...calm down. We just crashed, and it's freezing."
"Here," Digit sniffed, pulling coats and scarves out of his chest hatch and passing them out.
From a distance, a shrill, gasping wail could be heard closing in on the foursome.
"Oo-oh-oh-oh! Why-y-y? My Solaria! My poor, sweet Solaria! OH, the HUMANITY! What has he done to you...?"
"...Is that who I think it is?" Jackie asked a careful whisper.
"This can't be happening agai-a-ain!" A thin, blue, legless cyborg floated around the edge of the cabana the Coupe seemed to have crashed next to, a thin scarf wrapped pathetically around the collar of his loudly printed day-glow shirt. His arms were to the sky, carrying with him a gigantic thermometer.
"It is," Matt deadpanned.
"Olli!" Digit called as he seemingly forgot all about "Francine." "Look, the kids! The Earthlies came back!"
The cyborg glanced at them in a long silence, and then simply burst into tears again.
"I'm seeing mirages!" he squealed with a blow of his nose. "What next?"
Digit scrambled over and pulled down Olli's shoulders till their eyes met.
"Listen, big guy! We. Are. Not. Mirages! I'm really Digit, and these are really the Earthlies, come back to save you! To save Motherboard!"
"A-and I hate to be pushy, but I re-ally need some warm space to pace," Jackie shivered.
"What happened to all the other Solarians?" Inez piped up as Olli hysterically fiddled with his house keys.
"We were having a huge surf competition down on the beach, and when the Sunisphere was stolen, the cold came on too quick. This huge wave was about to crash onto the sand, and then the entire thing froze solid, including all the contestants! And all the spectators just got buried under the snow! I was the only one fast enough to get away."
"I believe that," Matt muttered under his mittens, which he was eagerly trying to warm with his frozen breath.
For the next ten minutes they all were holed up in Olli's cabana, not saying a word. Jackie fervently paced across the entire length of the floor. She was so focused that Digit had to mind his own path when he flitted from window to window, gaping at how fast the snow was coming down. Olli rolled himself into a ball in his hammock and only whimpered when he gazed at the sinking mercury. Inez kicked her heels listlessly atop a box of frozen veggie burger patties.
Matt sat on the floor against a wall and ran his hands ferociously through his already mussed red hair.
"Inez, if you're so cold, why don't you get up and walk around?" he snapped.
"What?"
"You've been moaning and whimpering ever since we got in here!"
"Matt, I don't know what you're hearing, but it's not me."