When Tom and Astro got back to their room, Roger was nowhere to be seen. His suitcases were tucked away under his bed but it didn't look like he was planning on unpacking them any time soon.

"He really doesn't like us. I wonder why?" said Astro with a frown. "What exactly is he looking for in his team?"

"What do you want to bet he was hoping to be on a team like Mike's and Johnny's, a couple of military guys?"

Astro rubbed his chin. "You know, I hadn't considered that, but now that you mention it, it does make sense. In a way. I mean, just because he's roommates with a couple of military guys doesn't mean his chances of becoming an astronaut are higher. His chances are only higher if he does well, not because of his roommates."

Tom nodded slowly. "Which is true, but he could learn a few tips from them that might be able to help him stay in the program longer. Remember, Colonel Drummond said that the guys from the military had a leg up on the rest of us since the astronaut program is considered a part of the military, so to speak."

"That is true, but he still has to work hard for it. He can't get in on the work of his teammates alone."

Tom shrugged. "Who knows what his reasons are. It's not like he told them to us. But what I do know is if we are going to pass, we will need to start working as a team." He held out his hand. "You on board?"

Astro grinned. "Definitely." He grasped Tom's hand firmly and gave a hearty handshake. "And if Roger is out trying to get a transfer, then I hope he succeeds. As long as you and I are on a team together, I think we can make anything work out."

Tom grinned. "Glad to hear it. Come on, let's get unpacking for now. Roger's probably thinking he'll be transferred soon, or I should say, he's hoping to transfer, still don't know if he will. Anyways, point is, let's not worry about Roger right now, the semester hasn't even started yet. We know we want to be a team, and we're going to work on it." Tom nodded at the window. "Want to explore Morrisville later this week?"

"That sounds great! I've always wanted to see an Earthen city."

Tom turned to unpacking his suitcases. "So, what's an Venusian city like?"

Astro turned to unpacking his own suitcases. "Well, the best way to describe one is they're like Cloud City from Star Wars. Having anything on the surface would just melt or fry it almost instantaneously. They probably taught you this in school, or, at least I hope they touched on it, but the first plants they tried growing on the surface were jungle plants. They did last for a while, but eventually the heat was too much. Not to mention they couldn't get any sunlight, so we had to build above the clouds." Astro shrugged as he placed a few shirts in a drawer. "And that's how we came by building above the clouds, so we could get the sun necessary for the plants."

Tom nodded. "Yes, they did tell us about that in school. Aren't they going to try and build on the ground as well?"

"They're going to try, yes, but it's going to be a long time before they can get anything really set. They have to clear enough cloud cover for the sun to come through and they have to lower the temperature enough for the plants to actually survive, as well as us."

"Understandable," said Tom with a quick nod of his head. "Have you ever been to a Martian city?"

"Oh yes, once," replied Astro. "It's not that different, both are domed cities, though Martian cities are on the ground, Venusian cities are on metal legs." Astro chuckled. "Almost like the war machines in War of the Worlds too, now that I think about it."

"Just not out to kill anyone, I should think," said Tom with a laugh.

"As long as they don't tumble to the ground, we're good," said Astro.

"Is there a chance that could happen?" Tom asked worriedly.

"A very slim chance, but we've taken every precaution to prevent that from happening" replied Astro. He waved his hand dismissively. "Don't worry, Mr. Corbett, I can assure you that the Venusian cities are as safe as any other city on Earth or Mars. it's just the typical dangers are different."

Tom laughed. "Good to know. So which other planets do you think will get colonised?"

Astro paused in his unpacking and rubbed his chin. "Most likely Jupiter, maybe even Saturn. They'd have to use the same setup as Venus, of course."

"Right, of course." Tom let out a huff as he stuffed the last backpack under his bed. "Alright, that's my last one. How are you doing?"

"Just getting the last few things in the drawers," replied Astro. He put in a couple more shirts before closing the drawer and sighed with relief. "There, all done." He quickly tossed the suitcase under his bed. "So now what? We still have a few hours to kill."

"Want to check out the museum on campus? Heck, just explore the campus in general, get a feel for it? Might be best to do that now before classes start."

"That's a great idea!" exclaimed Astro. "That way, if I ever get lost, I wouldn't need to hold on to you like a baby holds on to their mama."

Tom chuckled. "Good point. Come on, we could run into the others too."

Astro grinned. "I hope so. And you know, I hope all of us, including whoever our third teammate is going to be, get to be on the same team."

Tom beamed as a wistful look came into his eyes. "I hope so too, Astro. That would just be the coolest thing ever."

"And we would make the greatest team ever!"

Tom chuckled. "I don't know about that, but we can certainly try to be. Come on, let's go exploring before dinner."

Astro saluted Tom. "Aye aye!" Tom made sure he had his key to the room before the two left and locked the door.

After looking at a few maps and making a few inquiries, the two finally found the museum of Sanford Institute. Within the museum were exhibits dedicated to the men and women who made the progress in space travel possible, along with the giants of the other scientific fields, and the names of those who previously graduated from Sanford Institute. But Tom and Astro went straight away to the space exhibits. They just looked at all of the exhibits, drinking it all in as slowly as they could. Tom, though, was just a bit faster than Astro, and as such managed to put a bit of distance between him and the Venusian. He had turned a corner to get to the next exhibit when he paused and blinked in confusion. There was Roger Manning, looking rather lovingly at one exhibit. He stepped forward and pressed his fingers up against what Tom figured was a name. Tom glanced quickly at the name of the exhibit, "The Fallen". So Roger lost someone in the line of duty, but who?

"Hey Tom!" Tom's head swiveled. Astro, Linda, Dot, and Martie were running up to him. "Tom, you're not going to believe this, but we just found out there's a party that's going on in Morrisville tomorrow night and both colleges are invited!" said Dot with a squeal.

"I've already texted Louise about it, and she's going to get the gang over there!" exclaimed Linda, bouncing on her toes.

Tom grinned. "That's great! Did you let Mike and the others know?"

Martie held up her phone. "I've already sent that text."

"Great!" Tom glanced at Astro. "Guess we're definitely heading into Morrisville tomorrow!"

The Venusian nodded. "Yes! I can't wait! It's so different being here on Earth than on Venus, or Mars, as I'm sure Orin can tell you more about that."

Martie laughed. "Oh I'm sure Mike's already getting the run-down."

"Just like I bet Tom's already gotten some of the run-down on Venusian city life," said Dot, placing her hands on her hips.

Astro grinned. "How could I not tell Tom anything? He's really easy to talk to. I like having him as a roommate."

Linda smiled at Tom. "Yes, yes he is. He's a great guy."

"Why are you talking about me like I'm not here?" asked Tom, throwing up his hands.

Linda laughed as she looped her arm around Tom's. "Sorry Tom, but you are a great guy."

"Well thank you, I suppose."

"You suppose?" asked Astro, blinking in confusion.

Dot just laughed. "And this is why we talk about you like you're not here when we're complimenting you, Tom Corbett. You're not sure if you're thankful or not!"

"And he was just complaining about us talking like he wasn't here," said Martie. She tsked. "Make up your mind man!"

Tom laughed. "Alright, alright, how about we continue looking through the museum?"

"And he changes the topic!" said Dot, throwing up her arms.

Linda laughed. "Typical Tom. But I kind of agree, I want to see more of the museum. I know Tom's just itching to get to the Jon Builker exhibit yet. Let's go."

Tom turned towards the "The Fallen" exhibit and saw that Roger was already gone. But he didn't mention it as they continued walking through the rest of the museum, passing up the exhibit, the girls dictating the pace. Yet Tom couldn't help but wonder, what name was Roger looking at?

The following day, the group made absolutely sure Astro got to see some of the major landmarks in Morrisville. It was a great day overall, and as they approached the place where the party was to be held, a local hot spot by the name of Pixie's Pub and Pool, Tom thought the party was the perfect end to an otherwise perfect day. Well, almost perfect, he had secretly wished they would have seen Roger before they left the campus and invited him along, just to include him, but he had been nowhere in sight.

"Linda!" At the front of the pub stood a group of people and a lovely red-head was waving at them.

Linda waved and let out a squeal. "Louise!" The two girls ran towards each other and hugged. "Oh, I can't believe how much I 've missed you! I'm so glad we have a place we can visit!"

"Same!" exclaimed Louise Haydock as they broke off the hug. She turned to everyone. "And it's so good to see everyone too! And ooh, you've made some new friends?" Introductions were made as everyone walked into the pub. Jim Valier and Maurice Stetson were really interested in hearing more about Venus and Mars from Astro and Orin. Even Ralph was cordial, though Tom figured that might have had something to do with his twin sister, Kit, being there to keep him in line.

An auburn-haired girl joined their group and introduced herself as Terry Landry. After chatting with them for a while, she brought her friends over and introduced everyone to Arden Blake and Sim Westover. Tom's first thought was of how pretty Arden looked. His second thought was of how easily he was able to converse with her, almost as easy as talking with Linda. They were eventually introduced to more of Arden's, Terry's and Sim's friends as more and more students arrived from both colleges.

"You know," said Dot some time later, as they were leaving the pub, "I think we met more students from Cedar Ridge than from Sanford." She side-eyed another one of their friends, Jackson Stiles.

"What?" he said. "I can't force my roommates to come to a party they didn't want to."

"Well, since this is going on for the rest of the week, you have other chances," said Ralph with a laugh.

"At least we met more students," said Ralph's roommate, Phil Morgan, with a slight drawl. "Everyone at Sanford seems a little less … open to communicating with each other."

"It could have to do with the fact that it's a little more competitive at Sanford than at Cedar Ridge," pointed out Orin. "Those of us in the astronaut program are especially going to get tense with each other as about half of us aren't even going to make it through."

"Well then," said Mike, "I think we should take this time to get to know each other. Who knows which of us will be on the nine-person teams."

"Yeah, and then we can use whatever we know about you to get you kicked out," said Dot with an impish grin.

"Dot!" chorused her friends.

She laughed. "I'm just kidding! You know that!"

"Yeah, we also know you might not be either," quipped Jackson.

"Oh my, guess it's a good thing she's on my team," quipped Martie, putting her arm around Dot.

Linda laughed. "You better believe it."

"Oh great, you too?" asked Jackson.

Tom scoffed. "Well of course, she's the first one you should be worried about."

Linda gasped. "Thomas Jacob Corbett, you're an absolute meanie!" Tom paused and turned to her, giddiness just bubbling inside of him. Everyone stopped walking and crowded around the two.

Tom grinned at her, eyes sparkling. "Well, Linda Mary Carlton, I aim to get into space, and you're not going to top me."

Linda put her hands on her hips. 'Oh is that so? Well, Mr. Corbett, you're on. Top grades get free sundaes, paid for by the loser, and of course, bragging rights."

"Oh you're on."

"Huh, I might want in on this," said Jackson, rubbing his chin.

"I just want to stay in the program," said Ralph.

"Oh come on, man, where's your sense of competition?" asked Phil. "I want in!"

"We might beat you by a mile though," said Mike with a laugh, indicating his roommates.

Martie scoffed. "You might have been my team leader back at the base, Samson, but here, you're fair game."

Johnny rolled his eyes. "Oh brother."

"Hey, what's that?" Astro was pointing at something down the road. Tom turned, there was a pair of lights getting bigger and bigger. Tom gasped as he realized what it was. It was a car coming right at them!

(Author's Note: Hello my rosy readers! Welcome back to another chapter in the Monoplane's Mission! Man, this chapter has been one of those "I don't want to work with you, even if you have scenes" kind of chapters. It's been frustrating to say the least, lol, but now that I've finally gotten past this chapter, I think I can get through the rest of the novel faster. I think another part is since this is a series, I'm also trying to figure out when and where to insert clues to upcoming mysteries as well as clues to this mystery. Not only that, but figuring out how this is going to play out. Should it all be from Tom's POV, or should I also include Mike's and Linda's, since they're equally as important? Sorry, not much in the way of appearances from Robby, Harry, and Irene, if they're who you're looking for, they get the summer mysteries. ;P So yeah, that's part of the problem right now, but I'll figure it out. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope you have a great day! God bless!)