Diggers: The Sharp Edge of the Universe (16 page)

“Yep.”
Reggie removed his headphones and smiled.

“ELAINA,” Mikayla said. “Now that you’ve downloaded all of the translations into our earphones, I need you to allow our voices to be heard instead of yours.”

“Okay, Ms. Mikayla Fishborne,” ELAINA said in her sultry voice.

Finn let them figure out the rest of the details about the ear buds while he played Galactic Solitaire for the second time—which said something because the game used over fifty thousand cards and it was always possible to win,
if
you played long enough. Most people found Galactic Solitaire maddening because they never had enough time to finish an entire game.

Five whole days had passed since the formal introductions, and the Leader Council still hadn’t made their decision. When Mikayla came up with the idea to implement their own communication systems, Finn had done his part by rewiring the headphones from their space helmets and projecting them through the DUMP communications system. He’d just finished the job and had started making suggestions about some other improvements when Mikayla blew up at him for no reason at all. That was why he sat playing solitaire instead of helping the others test the translation devices.

“You could put the king on the ace.” Mikayla pointed.

Finn sighed and dragged the king over to the ace.

“Listen, Finn,” Mikayla slouched into the navigator's chair. “I want to…well, say something.
 
I’m still not sure why I insisted on coming with you on this…whatever…but I’m really happy I did. It’s been the scariest, coolest, craziest thing I’ve ever done.”

Finn looked up from the game he'd been using as an excuse to try to ignore Mikayla. “Wow. I mean…
wow
. If I didn’t know better, I’d say that sounded pretty close to an apology.”

Mikayla huffed. “What? I’m not apologizing for anything! I just wanted to say…what I was trying to say…holy space dust. You're the most irritating, pain in the—”

Finn laughed. Riling her was just too easy. “You’re welcome Mik.”

Mikayla ran one hand over her uniform and forced her blazing features into calm. “Yes, I wanted to say…thank you.”

Something Finn didn’t understand washed over him, and the words came out before he could stop them. “Thank you too, Mik. I’m not sure how far Reg and I would’ve gotten without you here.”

“I’m glad to have you as a friend, Mr. Finnigan O’Reilly.” Mikayla said in her best ELAINA impersonation.

Finn punched her lightly in the arm and they laughed together.

“I’m going to try the new translation system out on Manuaar…unless, well, if you want to try it first…I mean, we wouldn’t have the new system at all without your help,” she said.

“You go ahead,” Finn said.

“Manuaar?”
Mikayla slid the mic close to her mouth. “Can you understand me this time?”

Manuaar smiled.
“Yes, Mikayla.
I can
understood
you perfectly. I must say, yours is a much better voice than the computer voice.”

“Yeah.”
Finn said. “It’s nice to be able to talk in my own voice and not sound like a girl.”

For the first time since they'd met him, Manuaar laughed. “I was wondering what gender you were. What gender is the one called Reggie?”

“Male,” Reggie said through his mic.

“Ah,” Manuaar said. “I guessed female, but I must admit with your species, it is very difficult to tell the difference.”

“Yeah,” Mikayla said. “I can understand how you feel. It took me a while to figure out the differences for your species. The females have longer fins that run along their spines and their names all end in 'A,' right?”

Manuaar smiled. “You are a very observant alien, Mikayla. Do all female names of your species end in 'A' as well?”

“No,” Mikayla said. “Mostly it’s our hair and our…um…”

Finn snorted. He knew the most obvious difference and sure wasn’t going to help Mikayla find the proper word.

“Our, uh, chest area.”
She quickly motioned to the area she tried to describe.

Manuaar nodded as if he understood, and Mikayla gave a little sigh of relief.

“How much longer do you think we’ll have to wait?” Finn asked, forcing most of the impatience out of his voice.

“Finn.”
Manuaar gazed at him through the microscope, and Finn got the unmistakable feeling of being observed by an adult who found his impatience entertaining. He could almost hear his mom saying “when you get older you’ll understand.”

“The Leader Council is deciding the fate of an entire galaxy and all beings within it. This is something we cannot rush. Whatever choice they make for the Milky Way will surely affect all of the other galaxies. This is not a game.”

Reggie placed a hand on Finn’s shoulder before Finn could respond.
“Nope.
Not a game.”

Finn wanted to tell Manuaar what he thought anyway, but Manuaar had pulled his eyeball away from the microscope. Instead, the view screen showed the Leader Council making their way into the Science Lab and assembling in a cramped semi-circle.

They could only watch as Manuaar spoke with the Leader Council. Manuaar wasn’t an easy alien to read when it came to emotions. None of them were. The communication probe in Manuaar’s ear only allowed them to speak directly to him. They hadn't figured out a way to listen to…

“ELAINA!” Finn yelled. “Quick. Translate what they’re all saying to each other.”

“Okay, Mr. Finnigan O’Reilly,” ELAINA replied.

“And this is your final decision?” Manuaar said to the female standing in front of the group.

“It is the will of the entire Council,” she affirmed.

Manuaar seemed to want to say something else, but stopped himself. Slowly, he turned and faced the microscope.

“Uh-oh,” Reggie said.

Finn nodded.

It seemed to take Manuaar years to cross the room and finally sit in front of the microscope. And it seemed to take him centuries to peer into the microscope and begin talking. Finn felt the
gloom descend even before Manuaar said a word. He wondered if they would go back to the Milky Way and meet their fate alongside everyone
else,
or if they would remain here and learn to call this immense world home.

Manuaar stared into the microscope and said nothing.

“It’s all right,” Mikayla’s shaky voice finally broke the silence. “You can tell us. We can take whatever happens.”

Finn didn’t want to think about having his entire galaxy destroyed, but he nodded and tried to stay brave.

“I am not sure where to start,” Manuaar said.

“Just…start at the beginning,” Finn said.

“The beginning,” Manuaar said. “Well, today…today has been officially named…”

“Named what?” Finn pressed when Manuaar hesitated. Many names came to mind.
D-Day.
War-of-the-Worlds Day,
Dia de los Muertos
.

“Today is named…Mikayla Day,” Manuaar said.

The silence felt as thick as the atmosphere outside the DUMP. Manuaar's words rushed into Finn's ears, and his brain took an incredibly long time to process them. He looked over at Mikayla, whose face nearly matched her crimson suit. She smiled shyly.

“NNNNNOOOOOOOOO!”

Chapter 24: Mikayla Day

“Is Finn all right?” Manuaar asked, massaging his ear hole. Finn’s sudden scream had sent Manuaar careening into the table behind him, which had caused him a considerable amount of embarrassment in front of the leaders of his world.

Finn sat sprawled out in the Captain’s chair, staring at nothing.

“Yep.”
Reggie patted Finn on the head a little too hard.

Of all the names they could have chosen, the Leader Council had picked the absolute worst name possible. Mikayla had half their universe named after her. The only thing left was to name an entire
day
after her.

“Why…Mikayla Day?”
Finn said without making eye contact with anyone.

“Finn,” Manuaar said in his patient adult tone. “Mikayla is the one who came up with the method for communication. She made first contact. She took a huge risk by inserting the communication transmitter into my ear. Also, in our world females are held in very high esteem. They are the…mothers, which makes them the leaders of every family unit and leaders of our world. They are our wisest, most revered—”

“Okay, okay,” Finn blurted, sure that if he had to hear one more word about how awesome girls were he’d vomit. “I get it. Did the Leader Council decide anything else?”

“Yes,” Manuaar said. “After the parades and parties for Mikayla Day have concluded, they would like to offer you all a job.”

“A job,” Finn said. “What sort of job?”

“They want you to be Exploration Commanders,” Manuaar said.

“Exploration…what?”

“The official name will be Intergalactic Commanders of Exploration,” Manuaar said.

“Wow.” They all stared at each other.

Mikayla Day seemed silly and childish compared to being Commanders.

“ICE,” Reggie said.
“Sounds cool.”

“Explorers,” Mikayla said.
“Explorers of what, exactly?”

Finn elbowed her and tried to wave her off, but she just ignored him. She was going to try to ruin this for them. He felt sure that even though she had a point about wanting to know more about this, it would somehow be twisted around to make them all mad at him, and their new appointment would somehow be ruined.

“The Leader Council would like you all to explore the other microscope slides. We have a general feel for what happens in each slide, but we would like more details. If you all are willing, we would like to learn whether the galaxies should be saved or not. We were obviously wrong about your galaxy, and it makes us wonder how many other galaxies are worth saving.”

“Makes sense.”
Finn nodded and tried to get Mikayla to nod along with him.

“What made you think the Milky Way was trash?” Mikayla acted like Finn didn’t exist.

Finn felt a sudden burst of rage at her. “What made
you
think all of those slides you got rid of were trash?” he countered.

Mikayla stared at him for a moment.
“Because they had no value to our research.
Some were old. Some had decayed. Some of the living organisms were dangerous.”

“Yes,” Manuaar’s gigantic eyeball blinked. “There was no prosperity in the Milky Way…and so many battles. The Milky Way slide was…decaying. Dangerous.”

Manuaar's words couldn’t have hurt worse if he'd included a punch in the gut. The
SS Vortex
had been in the middle of some major battles over worlds they'd wanted to excavate. The
Girglonians on Sasstem were especially violent, and
Vortex
finally had to leave their world completely alone—which didn’t make anyone happy because they had the largest Mikaylium deposit ever discovered.
But, dangerous?
Decayed?

“So,” Mikayla changed the subject, “how would we travel? Get food? Ohmygosh! We’d never be able to see our families again! Travel through all those different galaxies would mean….”

“Never again?”
Reggie looked at Manuaar.

Finn’s heart dropped to his toes. He didn’t exactly miss being away from his family, because the adventure had been so exciting. He’d had his fair share of homesickness. He just didn’t cry about it out loud like Mikayla. But never seeing his family again would be absolutely out of the question.

“We have to see our families again! We’ve been gone almost a month as it is. We have to go back and let them know we made it. We have to tell them what we discovered. We can’t just…leave and never see them again.” Finn stared into Manuaar’s massive eye.

Manuaar gave a rare laugh. “Of course you will see your families again. It will be easy enough to use an eyedropper and place you in any slide. I have been directed to take charge of your missions, and I will be given a team of Scientists to assist both you and me in this new venture. The Leader Council has even agreed to help build a ship better suited for your travels.”

“But,” Mikayla stepped forward, “we still have to deal with space and time. It took us weeks to get here. It will take us weeks, maybe months or years, just to navigate a single slide.”

“Except for the normal course of time, you will not be affected by the added amount of time space travel requires,” Manuaar said.

“Did he just speak human?” Finn laughed.

“No,” Reggie said. “We’re using translators.”

Finn rolled his eyes. “Manuaar, how are you going to change space time travel? You might be big and smart and all, but there are some things that just can't be changed.”

“It took you almost a month to get to this universe. I will be able to put you back into your universe in a few seconds. Only the time it takes to get there will pass. It is quite simple, really. I will explain all the details, if everyone agrees to stay." Manuaar said.