Gallagher Elementary. But why? Abby pondered the situation as she walked ahead of the other three members of her group. The only obvious connection was that they all had been there at one point. Beyond that, Abby could not think of a reason why that place should be chosen.

She scratched her head, then remembered that her cap was still missing. Funny thing, that cap. No-one could have snuck into her house that easily, and just to steal a cap, too. That left only Cree, because she sure as sundae didn't remember doing it. But then it couldn't have been Cree, because she was out that night with her teenage friends, and Dad swore up and down she didn't come back till sunup. Whatever the case, the fact was the memento stayed missing, without explanation and without cause.

Looking back, she realised that Wally was catching up with her, leaving Hoagie and Kuki some ten paces behind. Soon he was side-by-side, and he spoke. "What was that all about?"

"Numbuh Five's got no idea."

She liked using the third-person pronoun. It made her feel somehow coolly detached from the action, as if she were reading a novel, or scrolling through fanfiction online. Plus, there was something cool about being known by a number when it meant she was a member of a top secret organisation of kids. The best spies in the world all had numbers, 007 just being the best example.

Wally shook his head. "They must want us real bad, y'know? I say we scrap this whole thing and go home!"

Abby didn't quite know how to respond to the sudden suggestion, so she opted for sarcasm. "Gee, I wonder how ya know that, huh? Flying houses and freezing rifles give you a hint or something?"

Wally tapped his head. "I'm practicing my thinking. Just play along, OK? It's hard work. But seriously, why don't we just quit while we're ahead? Leave when we've not been shot yet?"

Abby stopped, causing Wally to dig his heels in too. "Now since when have ya' been a quitter? We've all known for some time something's not right with our world. Which sane universe allows mecha battles and adults to mess with kids like that? This could be the one chance we have to find out the truth about our world, and you won't even try?"

"I'm not saying that! It's just-"

"Look, Wally. If you'd told me when I jumped out of my house yesterday to go back inside, I'd have followed you. But now, we've come too far to turn back. We've got to know."

By now Hoagie and Kuki had caught up with them. Hoagie said, "What were you guys talking about?"

Abby and Wally glanced at each other. "Nothing." Wally added, "Which way was Gallagher Elementary again?"

"Around this corner. We'll meet it at the end of the street. Say, I wonder what's going to happen next?"

Abby wagged her finger. "Famous last words, man, famous last words. Hoagie, don't you read them books or something? Don't you know we ain't never supposed to say things like that?"

Halfway between Earth and the Moon, Keith awoke with a start in the cramped rocket cabin, lit only by a single, bare electric lamp. "What the-"

Maurice's face appeared before him, turned around from the control seat. "Relax, Keith. We're on our way to Moon Base. It's all under control."

Keith tried to move his hands. Strangely, he felt not just that he could not do so, but that the very idea of hands seemed to have slipped from his head. There was no sensation that he could tie down to being from his limbs, or his chest. And yet, when he looked down, past the blue-green mess, they were clearly there.

Maurice explained. "The stuff deadens your sensations. It makes you less likely to resist. Ice-Nine, they call it. I'm not a medic, so I don't know how they're gonna get it all off, but Moon Base always have answers." He smiled reassuringly. "Shame it's not always the right ones they get to first."

Keith looked out the small side window. Sure enough, the stars were floating points of light in the window, and the sky was black, not the light blue of Earth. It was real all right, but that didn't make it any easier to believe. "This world's weird. I don't know why I'm on this mission, but I suppose it could be much worse. Thanks for bailing me out."

Maurice left the control seat. Of their own volition, the controls moved, the autopilot kicking in to guide them towards their destination. "I've got to thank you."

A short pause, and then Maurice remarked, "We've got some time to kill. What d'ya wanna talk about?"

Keith laughed incredulously. Where do I even start?

Being a trained KND operative, he naturally focused first on his mission. He asked, "This is all part of the plan, right? It was all written down in Situation-"

Maurice shushed him hastily. "Not right here! We're in an official KND vehicle. The voice recorders will have everything we say down on tape. Numbuh Eighty-Six's attack was unexpected, and so were the Delightfuls coming to spoil the party, and so were the entire Kids Next Door force bearing down on one point. I suppose being Global Tactical Officer has its perks, but this was supposed to be a private, sooper top secret mission. Right now, Sector V are back on track. Once they get through the Reckoning, we can initiate them."

Keith looked sceptical. Now that the plan had been spelled out by Maurice, tradition dictated that it be spoiled in one way or another. "How sure are you this whole thing's gonna work?"

Maurice got up again, moving with his head bowed in the small rocket. He took a seat near the window and said, "I fed the whole plan to Numbuh 22 - you know, the go-to guy for logic problems and weird situations. He read the whole thing through, in the way it was written down in the original envelope, and he eventually said that he didn't catch any problems with the plan. So I suppose I'm pretty sure." As an afterthought, he added, "Although, he did give me his crazy theories on why there are seven ages of the Kids Next Door, so I don't know how much to trust him. He probably spent too much time at Epsilon Station - that tiny station on the other side of Moon Base - so I wouldn't trust that part of what he says."

The ice was constricting Keith again, but now that Maurice had mentioned it, he was curious. Why were there seven ages of the Kids Next Door? For that matter, why did the archival history of the Kids Next Door sometimes contradict what he had seen?

But he repressed those thoughts. Necessity drove his next question. "What are we gonna do when we get to Moon Base? We can't just walk up and demand cookies. I'm rated as a traitor by the Kids Next Door, and as of the last battle, so are you. How are we even gonna get past the security?"

Maurice replied with a smile, "You forget that the Kids Next Door don't always agree with one another, especially those making the decisions. To run a worldwide organisation like this, you gotta have plenty of people in the ranks, and I know enough to get us through. So relax. You'll get the care you need, provided you don't steal any of the root beer or ice cream when you're recovering in the hospital wing. And when the time's right you'll get the other kind of care you need." Thoughtfully, he fished in his pocket and pulled out Abby's note. His mind was already on other things.

As Keith looked on, Maurice shook the piece of paper open, Abby's neat handwriting being lit by the electric light. Looking at it, he muttered, "This is the one part I don't understand. How did this get here?"

Keith had no answer as the small ship, silent and defenseless, crept up on the Moon Base.

"There it is!"

Gallagher Elementary had ridiculously lax security given that should any kid be hurt, Senator Safely would be on to the place like pirates looking for candy. Still, this was the weekend, so maybe that was justified.

Almost casually, the four dodged whatever thin security there was, staying out of sight of the lone guard under the cover of semi-darkness. Climbing over the fence, the four of them walked back into the old yard. "Can ya' believe how much you've missed it?"

Wally gagged. "Abby, please. You don't miss the place. You miss the kids you were with."

Privately, Abby found herself in the weird position of agreeing with the orange-sweater kid. Wally was getting better at this. "Right, so I suppose we go through the main entrance?"

All the others nodded.

Abby walked over to the main entrance, where so many times she'd strolled through listlessly on her way to class. Gently, she nudged the doors open.

The hallways were empty. Normally, the quiet would be a good thing, especially after the battle they'd just had. It would allow them to think, to recap and process events. But here it just added to the surrealism of the whole thing.

Kuki, as if on instinct, drew closer to her friends. "I'm scared." She looked around, scanning her friends' faces to see if anyone shared her opinions.

Abby spoke up, though it was really to reassure herself as much as it was to help Kuki. "We'll stick together. No soda breaks, OK?"

The four of them walked through the doors, scanning the area for anything sneaky.

Then Wally's eagle-eyes again spotted something.

"Guys!" he whispered. "On the floor!"

A thin ribbon of faint light ran the length of the corridor, off to the side. Abby could not remember having ever seen that when she was in school. Then again, she remembered nothing of some things, so that could just be her. "You sure it's not just one of Safely's weird rules?"

"Positive." Hoagie bent down, examining the strip.

"How do you know that?"

In response, Hoagie simply pointed to the other side of the corridor. "There's nothing there. These are airplane aisle strips - designed to glow in the dark in emergencies. It's got to be the Kids Next Door trying to guide us. They're the only ones who'd think of something so random."

Abby nodded. "Let's follow the light."

The radio crackled, breaking the long, dark silence of space. "Craft approaching Moon Base, say your name and position."

Keith peeked at Maurice, who just climbed back into the control seat and spoke into the microphone. "Hello, Moon Base, this is Lyla, reporting from position one two degrees and fourteen seconds west, three six degrees and ten seconds north."

The controller at the other end was silent. Then back came the message, slightly confused and suspicious, "Craft calling, say your name again?"

"Lyla."

"We have no record of that name. Are you sure you don't mean-"

"Check with your commander."

A pause. "Okay..."

Keith raised an eyebrow at Maurice. What the heck is going on?

Maurice winked. You'll see.

Seconds later a new voice came on the line. "Hello Lyla, how's it going? Been a while since I've seen you."

Maurice smiled, a smile of recognition and relief. "Hey, Numbuh 202, we're doing brilliant. Just give us a direct into Moon Base docking and we'll be on our way."

"Alright. Lyla, cleared for docking bay 3, straight-in approach." The microphone clicked off.

Keith dropped his head. "Brilliant. Lyla's a code word isn't it?"

Maurice smiled and nodded as he prepared the craft for docking. "Roger, Moon Base. Cleared for docking bay 3."

The strip led down narrow corridors, through classes, and generally moved in a way that would be hard to believe had it not been for the fact that the four tweens had seen much more by now.

Eventually, the line ended. Dead center of the double doors that led to the gym.

Quietly, Wally touched the doors. They did not seem to be locked. He pushed the doors open, an inch at a time. The cavernous gym beyond was dark.

Wally took a step forward.

"Grass?"

Abby walked beside him, testing the ground for herself, delivering her verdict. "This ain't real grass."

"So what are we supposed to do? Why is grass even on the cruddy-"

As if on cue, the lights switched on. The bright, electric lights temporarily blinded the group. As their eyes adjusted, the picture before them became clear. And no matter how good Wally had been at sports, this was the one he could never get.

"We're supposed to play soccer?"

Maurice first brought Keith into Moon Base's hospital wing. The doctors there looked at him weirdly, but they got on with their jobs, wheeling Keith away. Of course, none could know that he was actually sixteen - a fact hidden by his accomplice conveniently cutting power to the 'intruder alert' alarm in the hospital wing. They guessed it, of course, but because he came directly through no-one dared to ask the question.

Now he had to be a bit more discreet. In his kid days, he had been quite the operative, and he was sure that there would be those who would recognise him if he were caught wondering the hallways of Moon Base.

Out of the hospital wing, he looked around at the empty hall. The base was larger than he remembered it, probably because it had been rebuilt from scratch. To find out who had tipped Numbuh Eighty-Six off, he had to get into the central computer, or somebody at the very top levels.

Subconsciously, Maurice started humming a tune as he walked the still-empty corridors. Somehow he still remembered the lyrics from his first camping session with the other cadets in his sector, though they were sure as hell not the original. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the burning of the school / We have trampled the teachers, we have broken every rule...

It had been a different time, a more innocent era. The mood had been nowhere near where he was now, on the run and desperate for somebody else to be on his side. All of which begged the question:

Where next?