"I don't know about you, but I for one think this is crazy." Tucker lamented, frowning down at what had once been a proud and happy Nasty Burger. "They used to only cost a buck fifty, and now they're nearly three."
"The world is doomed." Danny agreed sarcastically, not bothering to remind his friend that he had covered the tab. A short period of silence followed, where they silently bickered at who would get the last fry. Both boys shot a hand towards it, and Tucker somehow managed to get it first. He dunked it in some ketchup before devouring it with a satisfied smile. Suddenly he froze, frowning again. Danny stared at him in a moment of confusion until he caught on.
"The world really is doomed." Tucker echoed, slightly stunned.
"Got any ideas?" Danny asked. His friend shrugged, suggesting that they contact NASA. Danny shook his head. "They should know by now."
"Steal a rocket?"
"I like that idea! But we'll get in huge trouble, and there's no way we'd get it past them without the Mission Control Center noticing…"
"Hah, mission. Why don't we ask Alex to make a loan from the bank?"
"I don't think they would."
Tucker sighed. "Rotten luck."
"No kidding."
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There was always the possibility of simply busting in Axiom again, in the hopes that they had replaced the space gear Danny had "borrowed" a year or two ago. Neither of the boys was even sure if a ghost needed a suit to go into space, but they were positive that a human would.
"I'm just spit-balling here man," Tucker said, thinking carefully before he continued speaking. "You're half-ghost, so we'll only need half a suit, right?"
"I'd like an entire suit, just in case something went wrong."
"What could possibly go wrong?"
"Well, now that you went and jinxed it…"
Tucker stared at his friend, thinking he was serious until Danny smirked, chuckling a little. Shrugging, the techno geek went on with things, turning to walk up the steps to Sam's house. They had left for the place a little after they had finished eating at the restaurant. Both boys knew that their friend was still sick, and that her parents could very well refuse to let them in. They also knew that Sam's grandmother lived with the Manson's, and that she was on her granddaughters, and her friends, sides. Feeling lucky, Tucker strode forward; the Goth's parents favored him over Danny, and rang the bell. They waited in tense silence for what seemed like ages, until the door opened sharply. A pale and pointed face shot out, glowering at the pair. Sam's mother.
"Oh, hello boys." She said, sounding anything but happy.
"Hello," they responded, one a bit more cheerful than the other. Eyes narrowing, the woman stared them down, taking in Tucker's appearance, which hadn't changed too much in all the years that she had known him, and Danny's. Much to her displeasure, her daughter's dark taste had crept into his wardrobe, and he had begun to wear more of the offending color. She was unaware that Sam was only a small, if that, reason for this change.
"Hey, Mrs. Manson, we brought Sam a tofu soy melt." Danny said, holding up the bag of food. The woman's eyebrows rose. "Uhh, would it be alright if we went and said hi to her?"
"Unless, she's still sick-" Tucker began, only to be cut off by Danny.
"-yeah, 'cause we'd totally understand."
As if it were answer enough, Mrs. Manson took the bag of food from Danny's surprisingly cold hand, curtly telling the youth that Sam was still unwell, and promptly shrunk back into her home, shutting the door after her.
"I don't think she's going to let us in," Tucker observed. Danny nodded, shrugging before turning and walking away. "Hey man, wait up! Where are you going?"
Danny looked at him, allowing his eyes to glow for a moment.
"I thought we'd go and see how Sam was feeling." He said. "Give it a few minutes, just in case the food is taken to her room. After that I'll fly us up there. We'll be in and out before you know it."
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The boys walked down the street, turning into an old alley so that Danny could transform into his alter ego without totally blowing his secret. He smiled to himself again, enjoying the change. For some reason, he was enjoying being in his ghost form more and more lately. Not that he'd go and tell anyone, not even Tucker. Secretly, he wished that he could stay in the form forever. When the thought had first crossed his mind he had found it most agreeable; after all, he was stronger as Phantom, and was starting to become a respected and loved figure in the town. Then reality would be back to slap him in the face, and he'd realize that he would have to actually die to become all ghost.
He and his friends had fought tooth-and-nail in the past to keep this from happening, and he didn't want to throw in the towel just like that. He figured that he was just depressed. Jazz had said the same thing when she had been around to visit last. Their conversation was still fresh in his mind:
"Danny, I'm worried about you. You're almost as Goth as Sam." Jazz said, resting her hand on her brother's. She tried to look into his eyes, but he was looking the other way.
"What's wrong with that? It's just clothes." Danny sighed, gently pulling his hand away. He crossed his arms across his chest, unconsciously defending himself from her words.
"I know that Danny, but it's not like you at all." She stopped when her father walked past them, carrying his latest invention. "I heard you crying out in your sleep last night."
"It was just a nightmare, Jazz. People get those all the time." Danny said stiffly.
"What was it though? You obviously didn't get that much sleep last night; you have shadows under your eyes."
"Spiders wanted me to tap dance."
"Danny, please. Come on, I want to help you. Something has clearly upset you."
"Nothing's upset me!" Danny retorted, a little too quickly. Jazz sighed, giving up for the moment.
He had almost told her everything when she had come to him again later, but he didn't. What did she know? Whatever.
"Let's go," the halfa said, looking over at Tucker. The techno geek shrugged, grabbing Danny's cold shoulder just as the boy took to the air, turning the two of them invisible and intangible before making his way over to the Goth's window. They looked in the window for a brief moment to check the scene. Sam was there, sitting up and reading a book on her bed. She looked healthy, if one chose to overlook the mountain of used tissues circled around her. A box of fresh tissues lay beside her, like a loyal dog. The bag of food they had brought her lay on the bedside table, opened. Half of the sandwich had been consumed. The boys assumed that the coast was clear and entered the room.
"Hey Sam!" they said in unison, dropping to the ground and regaining visibility. The girl jumped, dropping her book. If she had cried out in alarm, which she very nearly did, they would have been in serious trouble. Scowling, she picked her book up, chucking it across the room at them. It hit Tucker, who caught it and checked out the cover.
"The Idiot?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. Then he chuckled. "Are you trying to tell us something?"
"Yeah, Tuck, I am. Next time, give me a heads-up before you barge into my room." Sam said, fishing out another tissue. She quickly blew her nose.
"We tried to come up here the normal way, but your mom shut the door in our faces. We brought you a soy melt though." Danny said.
"Thanks. They haven't let me eat anything but veggie soup and crackers. Why are you guys here, anyway?"
"We, Tucker really, found some stuff out." Danny began.
"An asteroid is coming towards earth." Tucker cut in. Sam's jaw dropped. Danny revealed the worst of it next.
"According to the stuff we read, it'll hit us in about a week. Got any ideas?"
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The next minute or so was spent in complete silence. Sam stared between her friends, unable to believe what they had just told her. Finally, she broke the silence.
"This is serious, not a joke?"
"Why would it be?" Tucker said, sitting down in a chair.
"The media is probably keeping everything quiet because they don't know what to do and they don't want us to panic. How did you find this out?" Sam said, sitting up a bit straighter.
"I was bored, it's the weekend, and I'm single." Tucker shrugged.
"Have you figured out what we can do to stop this?" Sam said, aiming this question at both of the boys.
"No, that's why we came here. Three brains are better than two, you know?"
"Uhh, right…"
"What do you think, Sam? Could a ghost survive being in outer space?" Danny's question had been out of the blue. He was being completely serious though, much to his friends disdain. He blinked, glancing between them. "Come on, I've done it before…"
Sam shook her head. "Not when a huge floating rock set on crushing you was around."
"Yeah, well last time it was Valerie he was up against…" Tucker said, only being half serious.
"What would you do then, Danny? Blast it away?" Sam asked, ignoring Tucker's last comment. The halfa shrugged, fine with her suggestion. He didn't have a solid idea just yet. Sam shook her head again, sniffling. "Danny, it's an asteroid. It's going to be massive. It's not just another ghost fight."
"Well, what would you do?" he asked. She didn't answer.
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"So, there are about six days to impact, maybe five?" Sam asked. Danny shrugged, looking over to Tucker.
"Actually, it's about five." Tucker said, looking away. "Guess there's no chance in escaping to the Ghost Zone, is there?"
"It's the flipside of our world, so no. We need a plan." Danny said slowly, rubbing his chin.
"How about we call NASA?" Sam offered. "It's not much, but we have something they don't. I still don't like you going into space to fight an asteroid though."
"I do have a couple of numbers I could call that could put us in contact with at least someone over there. It's worth a shot."
"If all else fails, you could steal a rocket." Tucker said, trying to lighten the mood. Danny smiled a little, the thought was still tempting.
"No, Tuck." He finally said. They fell silent again, Danny staring out the window. All of a sudden, he clapped his hands once. "I have an idea! We could go there ourselves, to Kennedy Space Center at least. That way, they can't just hang up! I'm sure they don't have anything in their security just yet to keep ghosts out, so it will be easy. We can talk to the right people, and maybe they'll let us in on what's happening."
"Road Trip!" Tucker cheered.
"Wait, what about our parents? Remember last time?" Sam said, sneezing.
"Yeah, but this is different, Sam. The entire world could be destroyed-"
"You were almost destroyed too, Danny. Don't get me wrong, I really want to keep this asteroid from hitting us, but I think we should save the heroics for someone else."
Danny frowned, floating away to sit atop a bookshelf. He was clearly bothered by what she had said, but what really got to him was that she would just come out and say it, like his near-murder had somehow made him weaker. "I could do it, Sam." He said. "It won't attack me. It's not him." He said the last word with an angry sneer, not aimed at her, but at the memory of the crazy man who had almost done him in.
"I never said it was. Look, I'm sorry. It's just that, well, this seems to be too much for one person to handle on their own."
"Yeah, but we have something that they don't have." He repeated. "We have Tuck's tech savvy, your brains, and my ghost powers. Johnny's bike is still in the lab too." He added as an afterthought.
"It's too much of a risk. Look, why don't we just call them first? If that doesn't work, then we'll think of something else."
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Sam's last idea was final, everyone agreed on it. With that done, the boys decided to leave, before Sam's parents walked in. That would just be awkward. They were in Danny's room now, trying to find the phone numbers that he thought he still had. They were at least four years old, and he had no idea if they were any good.
"What about this?" Tucker said, holding up a battered pamphlet for the John F. Kennedy Space Center, or KSC. It bore the NASA logo, and looked good enough. Danny nodded, flying over silently to take the paper from him. Flipping through it, Danny smiled.
Nathan Sail.
It was only a name, but it was something to work with. As if reading his best friends mind, Tucker had already whipped out his PDA, doing a search of the name. While he did this, Danny went to search the darkest corners of his messy closet, all the while talking. This Sail guy, he guessed, was only a speaker or something. The Fenton's had all gone to the KSC when he had been in eighth grade or so, and had gone on a couple of tours. Somehow, his mother's status in the science community had given the family some exclusive access.
"Sail's uncle used to be an astronaut, so he's been in the business for a couple of years. He never went into space himself, but he's an expert on it or something." Tucker recited, his glasses reflecting the glow of his beloved technological device as he continued to read aloud. "He's a space programs expert." He corrected himself, looking up. "Well?"
"What about this: I overshadow Mr. Iron before science class, and have him make a couple of calls to the right people? We could take a field trip to the place-"
"And it would look totally normal! Dude, this is perfect!"
"Iron said we'd learn about that kind of stuff in a few weeks anyway, so it all works out. I'll just slip past security, snoop around, and be back before the lunch break."
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The plan was set, leaving the boys with nothing to do but wait. Tucker had gone back to his own home to play an online game in the hopes of chatting with Sam without her parents getting in the way, promising Danny that he'd have his tech gear ready for the trip, though Danny didn't really think that they would be needed. Better to be overly prepared than not though, so he went with it. In the meantime, Danny returned to Mugtome to tell Alex a vague idea of what they were up to.
Tucker and I (maybe Sam too) are hoping on going on a class trip to the Kennedy Space Center. I'm not sure what the teacher is planning, I still have to meet up with him. From what I can figure, the trip is bound to be informative on at least a few levels. Let's see how this works out…
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Monday morning arrived bright and early- so very, very early. With a groan, Danny rolled over, blasting his alarm clock with a weak charge of ecto energy. The thing clattered to the floor, and was silent. Satisfied, the boy fell back against his pillow, trying to gain a little more sleep before his mom barged in to make him get ready for the day. He won himself fifteen minutes, and was rewarded with only five minutes to spare with getting ready for the day.
He leapt from bed when he noticed what time it was, throwing on the nearest clothes he could find, which had been what he had worn on the previous day, before phasing into his shoes and running into the bathroom to finish getting ready. On his way downstairs, he managed to grab some Fenton Toast, and he promised himself that he would get some more food later before rushing out the door. Once outside, he transformed, flying off to school. No use bothering with the school bus crowd. Besides, he was certain that he had already missed the bus. He landed in the confines of Casper High, in the boy's bathroom, which was vacant of any other occupants. A quick flash of light found Danny Fenton standing in the middle of the room, a little worse for wear but otherwise on time for school. He checked his reflection in the mirror, knowing that his hair was a lost cause, as always, before running off to first period. A longer route was taken to avoid Dash and the other jocks, and he was only halfway in the door when the bell rang. Mr. Lancer looked up with a raised eyebrow, skillfully ignoring the snickers of Danny's fellow classmates.
"Well, Mr. Fenton, this is a first. You're actually on time today." He finally said, a ghost of a smile tugging at his aging face. He gestured to an empty desk. "Take a seat."
Danny nodded, walking over and sliding into the desk. Beside him, Tucker discreetly flashed a thumbs up sign, grinning. Danny returned the gesture. Both of them knew that the only reason the halfa had managed to make it on time was that there wasn't a single ghost outside the Zone. The Lunch Lady was the last one. Either they all knew that the earth was on death row, or they were just being generous.
"Tell you at lunch," Danny hissed to Tucker before turning to face Mr. Lancer as the lecture began. It was over Macbeth, Shakespeare's famous king-killing play. As interesting as Danny found the material, for once at least, he knew this was more in Sam's field of interest. She was the one who had helped him and Tucker to understand Shakespeare stuff in the first place. She was still out sick however, so the boys would have to struggle through reading Act three alone together.
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The next few classes went by in a blur of gym uniforms and the odd textbook, finding the two boys later seated together at their usual table, out of the way from the jocks and close enough to a door to make for a quick escape if a ghost were to drop in for a visit. As promised, Danny was giving a brief explanation as to why he had almost been late to class.
"I went to Mr. Iron's house, which took awhile, and overshadowed him and then his wife so that they would think that they agreed on the field trip. When I left he was already making the phone calls." Danny explained, taking a small bite of food.
"If I didn't know you had ghost powers, I'd say you were a creeper."
"It does sound bad, doesn't it?" Danny agreed. Tucker shrugged.
"It's better than having the world blown to bits by a floating rock, man, way better. So what then?"
"I had to overshadow him again to get him to mention my family. You can't just walk into the place; you have to make a reservation to go because they're so busy. Last time I went with my family, my mom was able to get us into the behind-the-scenes kind of stuff."
"Dude."
"I know, right? I'm not sure how it all worked out though, so we'll have to wait until seventh period."
Tucker shook his head. "No, I mean it's just different for you to think things through so much. Didn't know you had it in you."
"Thanks, Tuck."
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Fifth period was math class, a personal hell for the town's hero because both of his friends weren't in his class to start with and because, quite plainly, it was math class. Nothing eventful occurred there, and sixth period was hardly any different. Dash had taken it upon himself to stuff him in his locker and steal his backpack during passing period, and the smaller boy had missed the first twenty minutes of his own class because he had to go on a mad search through the school for it. And so, grumbling, Danny eventually wandered into class just in time to get the assignment. Luck was on his side, because the teacher, Mrs. Alvey, was one of the nicest teachers in the school; he got off with a warning.
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Spirits lifted a little, Danny arrived in time to get a seat in the back of class. Tucker arrived moments later, sliding into the seat to the left of Danny's. Mr. Iron was at the front of the class, behind his own desk, typing away furiously at his computer. It was curious really, he never acted like this, as if he were fueled by some obscure wish. He kept at it even after the tardy bell went off. The majority of the class assumed that this meant they were able to talk loudly and otherwise be a distraction en masse, throwing wads of paper around when they thought the teacher wouldn't see them. Danny skillfully dodged an eraser aimed at his head, glaring at Dash, before turning to ignore him. Mr. Iron was still on the computer, distracted, so the halfa whipped out his phone, he got it after the drama with the murderous fruit loop, to quickly text Sam. He was bored, and wanted to see how she was.
That said and done, he slid the phone out of sight in his pocket, slouching down in his seat. The action caused a stray bit of hair to fall into his eyes, and quickly brushed it to the side.
"So, what do you think?" he asked Tucker. The techno geek shrugged.
"Uh, you're hair looks fine?"
"No… wait, what? I mean the KSC stuff."
"Right, I have no idea. Well, we're going to find out in a sec, right?"
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AN: Notice anything odd about Nathan Sail's name? NAthan SAil… I feel sooper smart for thinking that one up!