A/N: For those of you who saw Interstellar, remember TARS and CASE? They were just too cute not to leave out. For those of you who didn't - well, I still hope you think them cute. And that I did justice to their portrayals.

Semi-actiony chapter!

- Chapter 3: Escape Velocity -

In physics, the speed at which an object can escape the Earth. About 11 kilometers per second or 25,000 miles per hour.

The next day dawned early and we rose accordingly, Lovino the most punctual of all. By the time I awoke - five a.m. sharp - he was already gone, his bed neatly made, his books back on their shelves; though I noticed in passing that a large gap remained between Astrophysics of the Modern Age and String Theory Revisited, which he had flipped through yesterday evening. Clearly he hadn't wanted to part with his books. For some reason I found that very endearing.

I headed downstairs and ran into Gilbert in the lobby, along with the blond man from yesterday, who turned out to be his brother. Ludwig Beilschmidt, robotics technician and mechanic. He rather looked the part, with his reserved and efficient manner.

"Luddy, this is Antonio. Antonio, this is Luddy," said Gilbert by way of introduction, and Ludwig flushed - a standard reaction of his, I would soon learn.

"I thought I told you not to call me that."

"I can call you whatever I like, little bro," Gilbert declared, ruffling Ludwig's hair for good measure. "You call me Gilly when no one's around."

Ludwig denied this ferociously and I couldn't help a chuckle. They soon joined in, too, filling the still city air with their gentle merriment. But I didn't laugh as openly as I would've liked. A small part of me wished for the same close companionship, which I'd never had growing up, and which always came back to bother me at the most inopportune times. And then again, I didn't want to wake the civilians.

The hangar, which had appeared low and obscure on my first trip here, now loomed before us and I felt dwarfed by it. It equaled the space center in height, a solid metal structure that nonetheless shifted like a live animal. Large numbers of doors appeared out of nowhere and slid upward whenever they were being used, and as we approached another panel lifted itself with a smooth little rumble. Through the large open space, I received my first true view of the EA-225.

"Wow," I murmured.

"See what I mean?" said Gilbert. "I told you she's amazing."

The image that first leaped into my mind was that of a fish. From its sleek grey surface to the narrow rows of windows that traversed its middle like scales, everything about the spaceship radiated speed and grace. It stood upright in the dimly lighted hangar, over two stories tall thanks to its massive engines, surrounded by rising platforms and shifting staircases that allowed technicians to rush in and out for inspections. A lot of clicking and whirring was involved, quiet from here but probably loud up close. Because the inside was well lighted, I could see silhouettes of people passing in and out of different rooms; suddenly I itched to be a part of all the activity.

"We can go in now, right?" I asked Gilbert, who had been studying the ship with definite adoration in his eyes. He gave a nod, still preoccupied.

"I believe they'll need help with loading," said Ludwig, already heading towards the piles of crates stacked by the door. "The robots can only do so much, after all."

"There are robots?"

"Yes," Ludwig answered matter-of-factly, as we lifted a box between us. He seemed to enjoy talking to me, which was flattering. "They belong to the space center and they frequently work as assistants. We're only bringing two along, though - TARS and CASE."

"What do they look like?" I inquired, trying not to betray my consuming interest.

"Oh, they're not much to look at. But they can talk your ear off if you don't watch out - TARS especially." Ludwig smiled as if he knew from experience. "I'll tell you when they show up - oh, hello there, TARS. We were just talking about you."

At first I thought he was addressing part of the wall - it was just a square slab of black metal about our height, nestled next to the crates. But upon hearing Ludwig's voice, the slab lit up at a screen in the center and started moving, turning into four interconnected obsidian columns. The outer two seemed to serve as arms to propel it across the floor, in the manner of a chimp, while the inner two ended up swinging like unused legs. It was rather cute to watch.

"Morning, Ludwig. I hope you weren't gossiping about me," said a surprisingly human male voice from somewhere on the robot. "It always reaches me afterward. And as for this pleasant young man here - "

"This is Antonio," said Ludwig, "in case they didn't tell you - "

"I see what you did there," TARS remarked and Ludwig laughed aloud as CASE rolled up, having heard its name. "But I have all the mission data already, including your names. Antonio Fernandez Carriedo, I'm sure. Pleased to meet you."

"The pleasure's all mine," I said, and almost stretched out a hand before realizing there was nothing to shake. TARS chuckled.

"Set a rain check for that handshake, won't you? I'll make sure to tell you as soon as I grow fingers. Among other things." I could've sworn the robot's tone of voice had grown suggestive.

"Goodness, Ludwig, he's on a roll today."

"Good one," said CASE, demonstrating, and Ludwig rolled his eyes.

"Their humor settings are at 75 percent. You'll have to bear with it; I don't feel like turning it down just yet." His voice had a touch of amusement to it.

"That's just fine," I said, because I was enjoying it immensely, and we set about moving the rest of the equipment, five enormous crates. They carried some interesting labels: Lithium Hydroxide Canisters, Telecommunications Units, Extra Movable Arms, and even Exploding Parts. They were all rather heavy, but the robots lifted one box apiece like they were feathers and soon left us behind. Gilbert, who had rejoined us, suggested finding some automatic carts to speed up the work.

"Hey, Liz! Lend us a hand, won't you?" he called, his voice echoing through the spacious room, and the brunette appeared from behind another stack of crates, stylus and electronic notebook in hand. She appeared to have writing utensils everywhere - three pens in her jacket pocket, two in her jeans pocket, a pencil behind her right ear, another holding her hair in place. This was Elizabeta Hedervary, the famous Hungarian engineer, currently in charge of tracking our inventory and checking the supplies.

"Was that an SOS I heard?" she said, laughing, as she sped over on a flat grey cart and got off, pushing it toward us. "I only have this one to spare, though. The others are carrying all the food. Here, I'll help if you want."

And she tucked away her notebook and pen, rolled up her sleeves and got right down to work with us. While she did so she explained to me that the lithium hydroxide canisters absorbed carbon dioxide so we wouldn't asphyxiate in space. The telecommunications units, on the other hand, would help us keep in touch with Francis and the Prime Minister back home; and the extra movable arms (dismantled, in extra big boxes) were machinery to attach the EA-225 to what she called "the wheel."

"That'll happen when we reach the space station," she said cheerfully. "Ludwig and I are going to do all the heavy work; then the wheel will spin and we'll have normal gravity out in space. One g, the standard."

"That sounds amazing."

"It is, trust me. The other continents don't have that luxury yet." Elizabeta said nothing about the exploding parts, however, and I assumed she'd simply overlooked it since the Beilschmidt brothers had already sent them away. We helped lift the last heavy crate of dismantled movable arms, and then she glanced over at the pile of cases she had come from and sighed.

"That's more food and fuel," she said, "but I'm not sure we should bring too much along, since the ship is already heavy. Extra food we don't need."

"How much do we have now?"

"A year's worth, approximately. It's all hard-packed and dried, so it won't take up space. Everything's in the storage compartment for now, until we take off. But the fuel is stored separately."

"We've got enough of that too, right?"

"My calculations show we can make the entire trip without refueling - but if we have to do that, there's the space station."

"Then... we should be fine."

"Yes, theoretically, but..." Elizabeta shook her head. "Really, I don't mean to ruin the mood. I'm excited too, and trips like these have succeeded plenty of times, but I just have a strange feeling about this one. First-time space jitters, probably."

I felt it too. But I didn't say anything.

"Aw, don't worry, Liz," Gilbert interrupted then, patting her shoulder. "Things will be fine, Gilbert Beilschmidt is at the wheel. I promise you'll have the time of your life, and even time left over to draw your funny maps!"

"Just remember - if Lili lets me, I'm next in line to the throne. So no joking about my profession, you funny pilot," said Elizabeta, whirling away as he tried to put his arm around her. She started walking briskly toward the ship, Gilbert following crestfallen behind her. "Let's go in now, for Antonio's benefit. You've been dying to see what it looks like, I bet."

"You bet," I answered enthusiastically, as she led the way toward a tall, nearly vertical staircase. It turned out to be an escalator, and we began rising quickly toward the shining hull of the EA-225.

"She's a beauty," Gilbert murmured just as he had the first day, only I wasn't sure who he meant, Elizabeta or the ship. His next words confirmed the latter. "I think I'll call her Endurance."

"She looks like a fish," objected Elizabeta. "How about calling her Fishy? Since we're running out of fish on Earth already. Right, Antonio? See, he agrees too. Might as well remember those noble ancients who sacrificed themselves for our tables."

Gilbert stared aghast at her. "You're joking, Liz. She's too beautiful for that."

"Nonsense, I know what I'm saying. Fishy it is."

Beside me, Ludwig was trying not to laugh at the absurdity of it all.

"They sound like they're fighting over someone," I whispered to him, unnoticed in the midst of their friendly bickering.

"They do this a lot," he replied. "They grew up together but went to different postsecondary schools. But they're still close friends now, as you can tell, and they argue over almost anything."

"You have to admit they look good together," said TARS from out of nowhere, and the two of us nearly fell over in surprise to find the robot behind us. "Don't they?"

"I didn't hear a thing!" Elizabeta declared airily, several steps ahead of us. We couldn't see Gilbert's face as he had turned away, but I assumed he was smiling. Maybe even blushing. It was hard to tell.

"Gil's having a heart attack," Ludwig whispered beside me, and it was my turn to stifle an audible reaction. "Don't mention this later. It'll happen all over again - it always does."

"I'll keep that in mind for sure."

"Are you guys coming in or not?" shouted Gilbert, having reached the top and recovered himself. "If not you'll have to ask TARS to take you on a tour, and I assure you he's extremely boring!"

"I take offense," blared TARS.

"All right, all right!" Ludwig shouted back. "We're coming!"

"Right away!" I added.

And we raced up the remaining steps like we were on fire.

The interior of the ship was intriguing, with a strong metallic smell that followed us everywhere we went. There were three main floors - the top being the living quarters and the bottom the storage compartments. The middle was - well, a middle ground; we could eat in the mess hall and sit in the adjoining rooms and conduct whatever research we needed to in our spare time. But this was a horizontal view of things, and as the ship had to be launched vertically, everything had been turned on its side.

This wasn't a problem for Gilbert and co-pilot Lili, however. We entered through a side door into the cockpit, and they showed us (or mostly me) their twin control panels of buttons and levers, the spacious windows, the slightly cushioned seats (which Gilbert caressed lovingly), and the interstellar maps on the walls. I asked if they wouldn't be uncomfortable during takeoff. Gilbert explained that it shouldn't be too hard on any of us, and that the ship would assume a horizontal position once we actually got into space.

"You guys will just have to buckle down awhile," he said, as if he could already see it happening. "The hatch in the hangar ceiling - can you see it through the window? Yes, that one - will open, and the city dome will also slide open, but only for five minutes. Then I'll count down three, two, one and shout for takeoff and you'll need to hold on tight. Because the force needed to get this baby off the ground is going to be massive, and I mean massive."

He then launched into a detailed explanation of the equations and variables they had used to determine the exact force and its effects on passengers, which I won't repeat here since I forgot them the moment he started.

"Gil, please," said Elizabeta, "you can bore everyone to death after we lift off, okay - "

"Liz, no! This is the most exciting part - now you've done it, I just lost my train of thought - "

"It's all right, you'll always have your king's manual - I mean, pilot's manual - "

"I take that as a compliment," said Gilbert, and they descended into another round of entertaining and pointless exchanges.

At that point I drifted away - I have to admit I was more focused on finding Lovino than anything. Don't tease me now. I just think too much about people I care for and about what they're doing whenever they're not with me.

(Yes, I care about Lovino, a great deal, and I did even then... but more on that later.)

It was easy going from floor to floor because staircases were so suddenly reversed and ladders were just flat. But going between rooms on the same floor proved harder. There were benches built into the walls, plentiful on the second floor, which might have given me nasty bruises if I were shorter and the rooms bigger. Everything was well-lit, though, so I suppose that helped.

Anyway, my sense of balance had completely distorted by the time I reached the living quarters, searching for my room, and by extension Lovino's. In that vertical hall only one ladder had been provided - flat against the floor, with a steep drop down of about twenty feet (the part I could see), which I had to ignore. Lovino's door, luckily, was the first one to my left, labeled with his last name; I swung myself over, knocked, and jumped inside as soon as he opened it.

Naturally I fell right through and ended up catching myself on the floor. (It sounds more graceful here than it actually was.)

"That is not what you want to look like when they ask for pictures of the crew," said Lovino's voice from somewhere above me. He didn't sound at all pleased to see me there. I turned over so I was lying on my back and a little less painful, and watched him that way instead.

"Hi, Lovi. How are you faring this morning?"

"Better than you look," he said, wrinkling his nose at the Lovi, and helped me up. "Why did you even take that ladder here?"

"Because that was the only way?"

Lovino sighed as if I were hopeless. "They have moving staircases outside for a reason. So you could have entered through the window, but no - instead you take the twenty-foot tall ladder and risk falling to your death just to get into my room."

"But your window's closed." The curtains were drawn too.

"You could have knocked and I would've heard."

"All right, I'll remember that next time. Thanks for worrying, though."

"Worrying? Who's worrying?" He huffed. "Not me."

I grinned at him, having gained the upper hand. "I like it when people care about me. Don't you? It's cute sometimes."

"Shush."

He went away and started rearranging the luggage I had displaced with my fall. The large suitcase looked much lighter now, as I saw him lift it easily and place it in the very back. I also saw two books peeking out of a half-open valise that had been shoved to the side. They looked quite familiar.

"Did you take those from the space center?" I asked.

Lovino froze and the books rapidly vanished, as did the valise. "So what if I did? You never saw a thing."

"I never saw a thing," I repeated after him, highly entertained. "Won't they come after you though?"

"I don't think so. I'm a scientist after all. I did ask for books a while ago but they never granted the request."

"Why not?"

He shrugged. "Paper's expensive as shit."

"You'd think they could have spared some for us."

"Yeah."

In the pause I marveled at how neat his room was. He'd tethered his luggage to one wall, with one of those high-density cords that hung everywhere, in case the ship had to speed up and we weren't in our seats. Beside that hung his space suit, white and pristine, with a badge saying VARGAS in front, and the European flag on the right sleeve. The helmet hung separately, the oxygen tanks below it; and at the far corner was one of those temperature-regulated sleeping bags with unbuckled straps all over it. His whole place looked, if not comfortable, then at least habitable. I supposed my room must be similar.

Then I saw, beside the door, a four-foot-tall metal plate with a handle on it, some sort of container. Light slanted through its cracks. "Is this for storage or something? I don't think you closed it properly - "

"Don't touch that!" Lovino shouted, and I jerked back reflexively, surprised by the intensity in his voice. He was too, and quieted right away. "Sorry, I - I didn't mean to yell. But that's a locker. I put - my food in there. So it wouldn't spoil."

Something sounded off about it, but I didn't choose to pry.

"It's okay. I shouldn't have touched it without asking. I'll go now - see you at breakfast then?"

"Yeah." He still looked rather shaken up, but I pretended not to notice and left him, taking the moving staircases as he'd suggested. The space suits had all been hung near the windows; I found the one labeled CARRIEDO and went through that window. It was just next door. I heard no sound from Lovino's room.

Everything appeared exactly the same, and even my luggage had been arranged in a corner for me. Nothing of mine had been taken, which was all I needed to know. I looked for a metal plate with a grey handle, spotted it next to the door, and pulled it open, expecting to see food stocked inside, or at least something space-related.

But - nothing. Just empty blackness. I let the light shine inside and discerned a few movable shelves at the sides, which I pulled out experimentally, but those were empty too. Then I remembered what Elizabeta had told me: all the supplies were still in the storage chambers. They would only be taken out once we were actually on the trip.

Which led me to the inevitable question:

What had Lovino been hiding in his locker?

Breakfast was a quiet affair that morning, even though we all dined in a large hall with the rest of the scientists. I sat at a long table, with Elizabeta and the Beilschmidts because Lovino was a little late, and observed my comrades' faces, glad to know everyone now. Besides my two bickering new friends, Gilbert's brother, and Lili Zwingli the Swiss co-pilot, our crew also included engineer Alice Kirkland and our doctor Bella Peeters. Alice hadn't spoken much to me - or to anyone, really - but I got the impression that she didn't like how I talked. She had a slight British accent, which probably explained things.

Bella, on the other hand, turned out friendlier. She smiled at me from across the table and I returned it.

"Is this your first time going out into space?" she asked.

"Yeah. I don't know what to think, really." The actual excitement still hadn't hit me yet. "It feels to me almost like a plane trip."

"Oh, it's much more wonderful than that. I've been on five - they're always short on medical officers aboard ship, can you believe it? So I ended up filling in for all the people they expected to come. I've been to Mars, Saturn, Pluto, two exoplanets. It's simply amazing to look out the window and see a star or a planet right next to you."

"Aren't stars too bright to look at?"

"Our windows are special. You can see everything through them but on the outside they're coated with something reflective. So most of the harmful light never reaches your eyes. We wouldn't want that to happen."

"Where are you from?" I asked her.

"Belgium. And you?"

"Spain."

"Oh, how was it over there?" And her face took on sympathy. "The land was pretty bad in my region too. I do hope you didn't have to see too much of it."

"I did have to. There were a lot of oases around the wasteland and at one point we went out to retrieve the water."

"How many of you?"

"Twelve. For forty little springs. It took about three days to collect the water from one of them. Most dried up before we could even get there."

"That's terrible," said Bella. "And you had to go out there in the sun and everything?"

"We had cars. You know, those average ones with the solar panels and the air conditioners and the ray shields."

"Still. That must have been unpleasant work. And I was out in space the whole time."

"It's a lot better compared to here, isn't it?"

"Yes, it's wonderful. Trust me."

"I believe you."

"Good." She smiled and went on eating. She was very pretty really, with nice big eyes and a genuinely pleasant expression. No wonder why she had always been chosen as ship doctor. I would have liked to ask her something more about space voyages and what else there was to see, but Alice claimed her attention with some question I don't remember now.

In the midst of wolfing down my sandwich, I realized this would likely be one of my last normal Earthling meals for a long time. Might as well take it slow, I thought - but taking it slow made me consider all the ingredients in our food, and after pondering what kind of meat substitute had been stacked with the lettuce (which would be lab-grown, considering our terrible farming conditions) I gave up and finished my breakfast with not a little human discomfort. No one else seemed to have the same problem.

At that moment Lovino came rushing toward us with a muttered apology. Eliza and Gilbert had already left (together most likely), and Ludwig wanted to inspect the machinery again, since he hadn't done it properly the first time. Which left a bunch of empty seats where I was. Lovino had no choice but to take one.

I watched him as he sat down. He didn't look happy.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Fine." He helped himself to food and started eating quickly, even faster than me during rush hour. "Stop staring at me."

"What kept you so long?"

"Nothing much. Just cleaning up. Taking care of paperwork."

"You still have paperwork to do?"

Lovino made a noncommittal noise. "Just for... certain people who have issues with my being away."

"Oh. Did it work out?"

"Yeah."

By this time Bella was observing us - or rather him - with interest. "You're Lovino Vargas, right? The astrophysicist? I didn't get to talk to you during the meeting. But your speech was really great."

"Yes. I'm Lovino."

"Oh, I'm Bella Peeters. I'm just a doctor. Pleasure to meet you."

"A pleasure."

They shook hands. I found this very amusing, forgetting Lovino had arrived at the same time as me. He wouldn't have had the chance to meet the others, reclusive as he was. But then I found it less amusing when Bella engaged him in conversation.

"You're the one who found the wormhole, aren't you? How did you do it?"

"Oh, it was complicated - it's not like finding a regular black hole. I didn't do it alone. There were five of us and we used a powerful radio telescope. Light doesn't pass through wormholes in the same way as it does through black holes, so that was a significant factor..."

Bella nodded as though she understood it all. "And did you use any interferometers?"

Then Lovino gave her an interested look that irked me.

"You've been studying this too, haven't you?"

"Not that much... I've just been following the news a lot, you know? Here and there I hear things, and then I stumbled upon your work." She laughed, and I thought I could see an unpleasant bit of red tinge her cheeks. "It's such an achievement."

"Thank you. I'm glad you think so." Lovino stood up and pushed his chair in. "I'm afraid I have to go now - I still have things to take care of. It was nice talking to you."

"The same goes for me."

"Bye, Lovi," I said, because I wanted to have the last word. Bella's happy expression shrank speedily and Lovino glared at me.

"Stop calling me that."

"See you later, Lovi."

"You're being annoying."

"Cheerio, Lovi." At this point Alice raised an eyebrow at me. I ignored it.

"You - oh, I'll have a word with you later," Lovino muttered, and stalked off angrily. "You're ridiculous."

As he passed by the leftover plates at the end of the table, I saw him make a quick movement, as if tucking something into his jacket. Sure enough the number of wrapped sandwiches had diminished by one. No one else appeared to notice.

So he had been hiding something after all, I thought as I watched him go.

Or rather, someone.

"Let's practice one last time today," said Francis. It was the second day and we were all restless. Not from excitement, though; no one seemed enthusiastic about leaving at noon tomorrow. I felt the same way, but I had the additional burden of a strong premonition, rather like Elizabeta's, which haunted whatever positive thoughts I might have had.

We all went up to the ship after getting breakfast. The robots were already there, CASE milling around and TARS sitting at the controls. Francis hurried us into our seat, his face worried, although he had no reason to since all the work had been done yesterday. And, each in our own ways, we were already prepared to take flight.

But Lovino disappeared again. I caught a flash of him at the table, but he was the first to leave, and I saw the customary sandwich disappear from its place as he went. Again, no one noticed. I thought maybe he was raising a pet to accompany us into space, but only jokingly, and I didn't believe it myself.

"So, Gilbert's going to shout for takeoff - you don't have to do it on the mic for now - and you'll all need to have your seatbelts on. Because once he says that the spaceship will lift off," Francis explained. "There won't be time for anything else. Is this everyone? Ten seats here and we should have eight people... who's missing? Lovino? All right now, where did he - "

A shrill wail cut him off. The wail of an alarm, high and piercing and alert. Red light flashed outside the windows, from emergency lightbulbs in the hangar walls, bathing us all in warning light. Francis rushed to the window and looked out.

"What the hell?" we heard him say.

I was the next one out of my seat and stopped beside him. The hangar doors were still open as we had left them, but about eight or ten people were outside the far end. As we watched half of them came running toward us. They were neither uniformed like the sentries nor lab-coated like the scientists. They wore ordinary shirts and dark pants and as they neared in the dimness I saw they had on masks.

"Shit," said Elizabeta behind me. "Those must be the damn spies! They've got weapons with them!"

"Where?"

"On their belts! They're not guns. They're fucking grenades!"

A cold shiver ran down my spine. It would only take one of them to blow up our fuel tanks and by extension the ship.

They were getting closer.

"We don't have time to get out!" Gilbert had run back towards the cockpit, followed by Lili. "We'll have to leave now! Guys, hurry! Buckle up! Francis, you too!"

Lovi.

He was somewhere here - he had to be. He had been ahead of us all. He was probably in his room.

"Lovi!" I shouted and started running in the other direction, towards the stairs.

"Antonio!" Francis bellowed after me. "What the hell are you doing?"

I ignored him and kept on until I reached the stairs. I had never been so thankful for upside-down stairs in my life; I raced down them like I was flying. Lovino had to be up there - either that or he was in the space center and safe. There could be no other way.

"Lovi!" I shouted, but my voice couldn't fight against the electronic wail. "Lovino!"

At that very moment a screech came from my pocket - my quadratum alarm. The Prime Minister's calm voice rose above the din.

"Launch. You must take off immediately. The spies have infiltrated the space center, but we have opened the hangar and dome for you. Go quickly. The mission must go on."

I reached the ladder and swung down. The quadratum fell out of my pocket, crashed into the wall, and kept falling as the voice faded into the distance. But it didn't matter; I was at Lovino's door now. It was half-open, with a sliver of light showing through. Without a second thought I jumped in.

Lovino clearly hadn't heard the alarm; he must have turned off his quadratum, as no electronic voice was speaking to him. He saw me, started, and slammed the metal plate quickly. But I saw a hand get pushed inside as he did so, and it was enough for me to know.

"Lovi," I said. "Who is that in there?"

He backed against the door, holding it in place. "No one."

"Tell me, Lovi. We have to go. Who was that?"

"No one!" he shouted. "Don't come any closer!"

"I'm not going to tell anyone. Please, Lovi. We can't stay here any longer."

"Don't," he said, his eyes pleading, and my heart went out to him. With a superhuman effort he turned around and opened the door. A skinny boy was crouching inside and stared at me with wide eyes. He was small and pale and looked like a younger version of Lovino.

"Who - "

"My brother." Lovino looked ready to break down. "Don't take him. Don't take him away. Please."

"Lovi, that's not what I meant, I'm not going to! Didn't you hear the alarm, there are spies out there, they're going to blow up the ship and we need to get seated so we can leave - "

"TAKEOFF," shouted Gilbert's voice across the intercom, freezing us for a split second. It was too late.

"Crap," I said.

Then a loud roaring fiery sound, and the ship rumbled like a whale about to leap and we went flying. I grabbed the boy as we tumbled down the floor-turned-wall toward the opposite one, unable to stop the sliding. He was cushioned but my back made impact with a great deal of pain.

"TAKEOFF," Gilbert's voice still echoed in my head, and I saw through the open window the hangar hatch passing us, followed by fake sky and the dome. We were out in the open. My back hurt like hell. I heard a groan that could have been mine or Lovino's.

"Are you okay," I asked the boy, and after he nodded yes, "LOVINO, ARE YOU OKAY?"

"YEAH," he shouted back from somewhere across the room, though he sounded pained. His voice barely made it over the rumbling of the ship as it flew. "CAN'T MOVE THOUGH. IS FELI OKAY?"

Feli. "YES," I answered, and then the roaring drowned out all other words.

I have no idea how long we lay there on the floor, but eventually most of the noise died down. The sky outside was blinding yellow now, the same sky I had seen so many times back in Spain, the real sky seen without shields. We had left our fake city behind and now it seemed we were heading closer and closer toward the sun. My only consolation was that it didn't get any hotter; the ship had been constructed to withstand temperatures like this.

"Hold on to me, kid," I told Feli. He put his arms around me and dug his fingers into my shirt. I in turn held him with one arm, and with my free hand grabbed onto a loop of rope jutting out of the adjacent wall. It was of course intended for times like these, and I made good use of it.

I held on tight, and it must have been about ten minutes later before the weight on our bodies lifted and the floor became horizontal again. Looking down, I saw my feet had risen a few inches off the ground; a minute or two more and I was airborne, save for the rope anchoring me against the wall. Now the sky outside was black and dotted with stars like the inside of a glittery sphere.

"Thank the heavens," I said, and let go. My back had stopped hurting so much with the weightlessness. Lovino swam toward us from across the room and took Feli from me.

"Feli, you're okay, right?" he asked, holding his brother tightly. Feli said a muffled yes into his shoulder and didn't let go either. I felt suddenly uncomfortable there; I had never seen Lovino look so protective of anyone.

"We have to go back down," I said, despite the feeling of guilt that washed over me. Lovino stared at me again with panic in his eyes.

"But the others..."

"We can't keep him in here forever," I tried to reason. "It's uncomfortable and it'll cramp him. Wasn't it uncomfortable, Feli?"

"Yes," he said, the first word he'd spoken to me the entire time. Then he was quiet again. Lovino looked from him to me and didn't move.

"Let's go then," I decided, and led the way. "If anything happens, which I don't think it will, I'll be here. I won't let them touch you."

Lovino gave no assent but followed quietly. We floated out the door, down the stairs, and through the entrance into the second floor, where everyone had unbuckled their seat belts and stood in a disarrayed crowd in the middle of the deck. All eyes were on us as we entered, and Lili was the first to gasp.

"You're all right!" And then, "A boy!"

Gilbert stared at us for a second, and I could see disbelief on his face.

"You two had a kid? How come you never told me about this?"

"What?" Lovino and I shouted together, and Elizabeta elbowed Gilbert rather hard in the ribs. I didn't dare look back at Lovino, for fear he would see my warm face.

"He's Lovino's brother," I said, trying to keep calm. "He's just a little boy."

"Don't any of you touch him," Lovino said loudly, his cheeks still red. Then he quieted: "He doesn't have anywhere else to go. I couldn't leave him behind. I'm sorry, I should have - "

"It's all right," Bella reassured him. "We can't go back anyway. But he doesn't look well... What happened to him?"

"He..." Lovino clutched Feli tighter. "His heart isn't that strong. I thought - I thought bringing him here would help. Because of the zero gravity. But I didn't want anyone to find out and take him back to the hospital." His face was hard but I could see his mouth trembling.

"It's all right," Bella said to him again. "We'll take care of him. I'll set up a space for him to rest."

"Could you do that in my room?" asked Lovino uncertainly.

"Yes. Of course."

"I'll help too," Alice offered, and she and Bella went off, floating slowly, to make the necessary preparations. The rest of our comrades continued watching us.

"… It's fine, Lovino," Francis said at last. "But now we can't let the Prime Minister find out. And there may be cameras or listening devices here."

"There are," Ludwig murmured. "In the far corners and near the machinery. I'll go turn them off right now. If they ask later, I'll say we wanted to save energy." He swam away through the air.

"Do you want me to take over?" Lili asked Gilbert. He smiled at her.

"No, it's all right. TARS can do it for now. CASE," he called, and the robot rolled over. It seemed to have escaped the zero gravity with some special machinery of its own.

"What would you like me to do?"

"If you could determine our position and where we're headed. We'll need to get to the space station before any enemy ships beat us there. How much longer?"

"About three hours."

"Have you detected any other ships?"

"Not at the moment. We managed to leave the spies behind." A map flashed on CASE's screen, and a blinking dot appeared several inches away from a pale Earth. "That's us," it said. Then another dot blinked awake, this time at the Earth's surface.

"What's that?" Elizabeta asked.

"A foreign ship," said CASE. "It must have taken off a few minutes after us. I can't tell where it's from; it's got anti-surface scanning technology. But it's not one of ours. Someone's tracking us now."

"Put up our shields, won't you?"

"Will do." CASE began rolling towards the equipment room, beside the cockpit. Elizabeta joined him too, but not without a last sympathetic look towards Lovi and Feli. Finally everyone else, awkward from hanging around for so long, drifted away about their own business. I took the chance to move closer to Lovino.

"Are you all right?" I asked. He gave a nod.

But he still held on tight to his brother, as if at any moment someone might snatch him away.