Then my chat window chimes, displaying a little orange screen, and my heart does this weird, unexpected fluttering thing that catches me completely off guard.
It’s Aaron.
INCOMING TRANSMISSION
AARON: Room for one more in the Armada? Sorry I’m late is that D1V tell her I said hi and she’s very pretty oh my God Mira stop it get out of here.
I have to cover my mouth so I don’t explode with laughter into the channel. I close out the group chat and reply quickly to him. And Mira.
TRANSMISSION FOLDER
ME: About to take off, hurry up and lock on!
Let’s dance.
I send the message and hear his ship lock on to mine.
INCOMING TRANSMISSION
AARON: ARE YOU GOING TO PROM WITH HER—
Oh my God, I can’t with Aaron’s little sister. They seem so cute together, so sweet. I wink at the screen, only to realize it’s not like he can actually see me doing any of that. Or that anyone can see me doing that. Oh well.
I open the group channel back up, the chattering of voices filling my ears again.
“Technical hiccup, sorry!” I exclaim into the mic. “Had a few stragglers. Let’s do this thing! Three...two...one...jump!”
My little ship rockets into the black. A few bright blurs speed by me, either stars or passing ships, I can’t be sure. The colors move and swirl, and I turn from side to side, looking at them as they zip by, all curious and strangely beautiful and no doubt gorgeous in the video stream that Rebekah is recording on her side of things.
In less than a minute, thankfully, my ship slows to a stop, and a large planet appears. It’s impossibly bright blue, the shimmering hue of a winter sky, complete with white wisps swirling over it.
The stats load up in front of me:
CLASS THREE PLANET [ESTIMATED]
Status: Uncharted, Undiscovered
Life Support Capability: Positive
Detectable Resources: Gas, Ore
Would you like to claim and name this planet?
[YES] [NO]
A quick wave of anxiousness sweeps over me as I read the description, thinking about what happened the last time. But there aren’t any red flags on this one. It hasn’t been charted yet or claimed. It’s empty. It’s mine.
It’s mine?
I load up the channel window and select Maggs. There’s a voice chat option, to talk to her live, instead of just sending a message.
I tap it.
“Oh my God,” a young girl’s voice breathes, and in that moment, I realize I’m probably older than this girl. Maybe way older. She sounds like she’s twelve or thirteen. “H-hi? Hello? Is this a mistake? I think you chatted me.”
“It’s no mistake,” I say cheerfully, and then I press the broadcast button so the entire Armada can hear us. “My Armada! Meet Maggs. She’s the one who discovered this blue planet and shared it with me. With us! So it seems only fitting that she should lay claim to it.”
“Oh my God,” I hear her whisper again, barely a squeak.
“Go ahead, Maggs!” I tell her, a grin spreading across my face. I hear her typing through the headset, and after a few more keystrokes, the planet’s name pops up on the screen. A cheer erupts from the Armada at the sight.
PLANET OMGWHATISMYLIFE
Discovered by MAGGS
“Descend, Armada!” I exclaim, trying to mask the laughter in my voice. “Go explore, and thank you, Maggs!”
I push forward on the flight stick, and my ship speeds toward the planet’s surface, the bright blue glistening as it grows closer. I break through the atmosphere, the approaching clouds exploding around me, ships in the Armada at all sides, and I gasp at the immensity of the ocean. My eyes dart to the small plots of land that seem to dot the water like freckles. Seemingly tiny islands, but as we get closer, I realize they’re massive. Almost the entire Armada could fit on one with room to spare.
And the islands are everywhere.
I pick an arbitrary one out of the endless number of them and bring my ship in to land, settling on the soft soil. A few other ships follow me, two of which are Rebekah’s and Aaron’s. I wait as they both hop out and walk over to me, the sound of their footsteps, the roar of ships flying overhead, and the cooling of thrusters competing for my attention in my headset.
I mute my microphone from the rest of the Armada, setting us up in a private party as they get closer.
Rebekah hums next to Aaron. If she could look him up and down, I feel like she would. “He’s definitely not as cute as he is in the video.”
“Hey, I don’t look like my avatar. Wait, you showed her the video?!” Aaron exclaims.
“Um, I show her everything,” I tell him, feeling my cheeks flush a bit.
“Everything?!” Aaron asks, a hitch in his voice.
“Well, not our messages and stuff,” I say quickly.
I hear Aaron audibly exhale.
“I mean, you could show me those messages,” Rebekah says after a beat, chuckling. “They sound very interesting.”
“No way,” I say with a laugh. “So what happened, Aaron? Why so late?”
“Parents,” Aaron replies, sounding exasperated. “I actually don’t have much time. I need to help in the office a bit more, make things easier for my dad in the morning.”
“What’s he do?” Rebekah asks.
“He helps my mom run her practice. She’s a doctor,” Aaron explains, his tone sad. “They want me to take over someday. They keep trying to steal this summer away from me, I swear. ‘If we’re paying for college, you’re going to be a doctor!’ My mom loves to guilt me with—”
“Oh wow, what a horrible problem to have,” Rebekah faux cries. “My student loans give me panic attacks at night, Dr. Aaron.”
“I’m sorry. I know I’m luckier than most. It’s just... I really don’t want to be a doctor. I want to write, play video games...” Aaron trails off, and I hear Rebekah groan again. “What?”
“Oh nothing,” she says. “I’m just already exhausted by your privilege.”
“Hey, you don’t know anything about me or my fam—” Aaron starts to dig in.
“Alright, alright!” I interrupt before they start really fighting. “Let’s cool it with all that and do some exploring.”
The two of them grumble a bit more, but grow quiet as we walk over the terrain. The ground is some sort of weird soil-and-sand mixture that makes my feet slide a bit with each step. There are a few hardy-looking small green plants here and there, and a handful of treelike bits of green, but nothing towering or impressive. In fact, it’s easy to see right across to the far side of the island, and over to the other islands nearby, each of those with their own ships and crews exploring them.