Part XVI

Wednesday 22nd November

Jazz repositioned the headphones covering her ears. She found herself at a computer down in her parents' lab, watching a little blip on a radar as it broke through earth's atmosphere. She threw a glance over at the other two quickly put together stations in the lab, her mother watching Dani's vitals and Jack watching the suit's integrity. Jazz looked back at her screens, Dani making quick time with the newly designed exto-powered rocket towards the strange space craft floating above their planet.

"This is so beautiful," Dani said through the headset. "Space is awesome!"

Jazz let out a laugh, repositioning the mike. "Always wanted to go to space?" Jazz asked, reminded the girl was her little brother's clone.

"Yes," Dani said, a laugh of her own adding to her voice.

"I need you to keep focused, Dani," Maddie reminded. "Remember what we talked about."

"Sorry Mrs. Fenton," Dani tried, her laughter hidden in her voice.

"This trip is for what?" Maddie asked, leading the girl to finish.

"This trip is just to make sure Danny and his friends are actually up there," Dani said, her voice sounding like she was rolling her eyes. "I don't have any way to bring Sam and Tucker back without causing them brain damage at least."

"We want all three of them back, safe and sound," Maddie said, ending with a nod of her head.

"Dani, you're about to reach the edge of the mesosphere," Jazz said as she watched her dot continue above earth.

"How's the suit holding up?" Dani asked.

"You're still in the green," Jack said. "Nothing beats Fenton tech!"

"How are you feeling?" Maddie asked.

"Great. Danny would love flying in this thing!" Dani exclaimed.

"Can you activate the camera?" Maddie asked, getting Jazz to look up at the TV they had hanging from the ceiling.

Snow filled the old tube TV before a shot of stars showed, more coming into view as Dani flew higher out of the mesosphere.

"Is it working?" Dani asked.

"Like it should," Jack responded.

"Who is this coming up from Earth?" a new voice asked through static.

"Tucker?!" Jazz exclaimed, recognizing the voice instantly.

"Jazz?" Danny's voice asked.

"Danny! You're okay!" Maddie exclaimed.

Jazz took a glance back at her mother, seeing the woman sitting back in her chair with a hand on her chest.

"Mom?" Danny asked, surprised.

"Don't forget your old man!" Jack announced.

"It's all of us, little brother," Jazz said. "Dani's in the suit heading your way."

"Dani?" Danny asked.

"They know," Dani offered.

"You were missing, what else could we do?" Jazz defended, hoping to cut him off before he could be too mad.

A moment passed before Danny said, "I get it."

"Danny, is Sam with you?" Maddie asked.

"Yes, Mrs. Fenton," Sam's voice said. "It's the three of us."

"What are you on?" Dani asked. "All I can see is something shimmering through the stars."

An unfamiliar language filled her headphones, getting her to quickly take a glance at her parents to see if they might recognize the strange sound. She looked back up at the TV showing Dani's suit cam as she got closer to the shimmering structure.

"That was Commander Nish..lin," Danny said, sounding like he was trying to pronounce the owner of the voice's name correctly. "We're aboard a spaceship call the Delp-ke Whilk. He says he apologies for taking us, they had only wanted to do research looking for more of their kind."

"More of their kind?" Maddie echoed.

"They're half ghost, but they call it ethereal," Danny offered.

The man with Danny spoke again, his language strange in Jazz's ears as it sounded like there were less vowel sounds than English had.

"He says he didn't want to keep us for as long as he had, and asked if there was anything he could do, he will," Danny offered. "He just wanted to get back to his people's old homeland."

"Where is this old homeland?" Maddie asked, typing away the computer she as standing in front of.

"They named the ship after it," Danny offered.

"I'm almost at the ship," Dani informed. "Can I come aboard?"

The commander Jazz couldn't remember the name off spoke again, getting Danny to respond, "She's my cousin." More incomprehensible language sounded before Danny said, "Dani, cut your thrusters. They're gonna teleport you into a decontamination chamber. Stay inside your suit so you don't have to go through a longer process. Believe me, it's not fun."

"Is it alright if she keeps her communication opened for us?" Maddie asked.

"He says it's alright," Danny said, quickly translating what the man was saying. "Dani, they're teleporting you now."

Jazz watched the TV as the feed went to snow for a moment before showing her in an empty white room with blue lights coming from the floor. The camera looked around, letting them see what looked like a room with no doors, as a computer voice in a bad accent call down, "Decontamination process started."

Purple rain fell on her as Maddie asked, "How you doing, Dani?"

"Alright so far," Dani admitted. "The teleport didn't even feel weird."

"Your suit's holding up perfectly," Jack announced.

The camera angled down to look at the suit's white gloves, the purple rain wiping away a type of dust from her suit. Dani dropped her hands and looked up as she waited for the process to end.