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  “Ok. I’m hanging up then. I’ll be out in a minute.” I remove the headset and stick my phone back in a pocket. Then I climb out carefully.

  The concrete is cool and dry as I kneel on it. I press my forehead against the floor to reconnect with the ground. It just seems the right and thankful thing to do before I get out from under the saucer to face the berating I am due for flying outside the hangar. I stand up, smiling as I walk over to join my companions. Kylie rushes me, offering a big hug.

  “I’m glad you’re back safely. That was great,” she whispers in my ear.

  Gramps is next. He has a reserved grin on his face. “That was both brave and stupid at the same time,” he comments dryly, shaking my hand before pulling me in for a hug as well. “I just hope there’s no fallout from that little stunt you pulled outside the building.”

  “Haven’t heard anything yet,” Uncle Earl injects. Everybody looks his direction. “Oh. Uh. I monitor the radio frequencies the interceptor’s use. There’s no chatter to indicate a scramble has been ordered.”

  “Your son really has a knack for electronics, doesn’t he?” Mr. Charles asks Gramps.

  “More than I’m aware of,” Gramps responds proudly.

  Jen gives me a hug while Willie claps me on the back. “That was pretty amazing, man,” he says. Cheri nods like the whole thing is too astonishing for words.

  “Who would’ve thought we’d be here doing this,” Jared says, coming up and taking my hand. Catching me off guard, he pulls me into a headlock. “I’m glad you’re back safely too.” I don’t think I’ve ever heard him sound so sincere before.

  “Ok people. This isn’t over yet,” Mr. Charles reminds us. “You’ve got to retrieve those bits and do whatever you can to make believe tonight never happened. Now get busy!”

  We all look at each other and grin. “And make sure the bits are in the correct envelope for the tube you take them out of,” Jen reminds us.

  “Does anybody have any idea what our float is going to look like?” Kylie asks as the scaffold is put back in place so we can get to the lifter tubes.

  “I’ve thought about it some,” Willie answers. We listen to his ideas while we secure the G-bits, but fatigue is catching up to us as the sun rises for a new day.

  Float Building

  The first week of school passes quickly. Jen was able to get our float registered for the parade without any problems. Mr. Venturi, as faculty advisor to the F.A.C.E. Club, had agreed to the idea even though he thought it was more of a promotional stunt for the soon to reopen launch facility.

  The school’s Future Astronauts and Cosmic Explorers club had been around for at least fifteen years. It was established soon after the original spaceport had been sanctioned by New Mexico’s state legislature. We’d been on several field trips out there to watch takeoffs of their high flying craft. Actually, it was pretty boring except for the cool display of spaceflight history in the visitor center.

  The F.A.C.E. Club has always been the butt of more than its share of jokes around school by those who we considered less educable. ‘Space Cadets’ we were sometimes called. Mostly we figured it was jealousy, and tried to laugh the comments off. But it still hurt. We just couldn’t figure out why they liked to put us down so much. Anyway, this year our parade entry would top them all and offer a surprise that no one would be expecting. Not even our own club members.

  The day after the test flight, Jared called to say his dad had instructed Uncle Earl to padlock the hangar so Stiles wouldn’t have such easy access. Earl was also given security privileges for that hangar. He had seen Stiles a couple hours later and told him the hangar was off limits to almost anybody, because of the theft of the control module.

  When I got there yesterday to help Willie and Jared secure the saucer on the trailer for the parade, Earl related how Stiles had acted surprised about the theft. Earl didn’t mention the video he had showing Stiles as the thief. Mr. Charles was also true to his word that he would assign Stiles more off-site tasks to perform. We were all glad to hear Stiles was very agitated by it, too!

  To lift the saucer we drove a two thousand pound capacity forklift over from another hangar. We weren’t sure it was powerful enough. The spreadsheet I had started to track the weight of every piece in the saucer had not been strictly maintained, especially when I wasn’t there to do the updating. Willie had reinforced the trailer a little and built a stand to set the gyro-point into. It was the only way to secure the saucer and enable its launch. Willie also said he would pull the float with his Beast.

  It’s late on Thursday when we finish mounting the saucer on the trailer for the ride into town. We attached wooden two by fours on the corners and sides of the trailer, running ropes between them all the way around so we can hide the saucer under a drape of tarps. There’s no way a decorated float would have survived that long trip into town.

  We may not have needed all the tarps. Evening was well into night, with its cover of darkness, when we finally drove the beginnings of the float into town. It was the strangest launch vehicle rollout in space history. Being a pretty desolate drive, we didn’t encounter many curious eyes. Uncle Earl locked the hangar behind us. If Stiles came nosing around in the next couple of days, we hoped he’d still think the saucer was in there.

  The building where we’d decorate the float belongs to one of Willie’s dad’s friends who runs the car museum. The mechanic’s garage has space in a corner that isn’t in use and is large enough for the float. And it doesn’t hurt that his son has been interested in F.A.C.E. since the sixth grade and would be entering high school next year. Tommy is a cool kid and our kind of people.

  “So we’re ready to start decorating?” Kylie asks as I close my locker for the last time this week. “We’re all meeting in Venturi’s classroom, right?”

  “Yes, and yes,” I answer her. Her enthusiasm for high school is almost sickening, but I know it will wear off, probably in less than a month. “Are you ready for your first club meeting?”

  “Yep! This is so cool! I love it!” she squeals with glee.

  “Just remember, we still have a secret to keep,” I whisper.

  “Well, I think we need something else to occupy suspicious minds.” She takes hold of my hand and starts swinging my arm, playfully taking longer than normal strides down the hallway. It feels good. I am no longer a solo nerd in school; I have a nerd soul mate with Kylie around.

  We head down the stairs. Passing through the double fire doors we meet Jen coming around a corner. “Hey, you two look pretty comfy together,” she comments as we continue down the hall towards Venturi’s classroom. The door is closed when we get up to it, with a sign taped on the outside.

  F.A.C.E Meeting in Progress Members Only!

  Jen opens the door. Kylie releases my hand as we go in. Everybody else is already there. Mr. Venturi stops talking as we walk in. He stares us still. “T plus two and a half minutes,” he says to point out that we are late. Then he nods for us to join the group.

  “As I was saying, we have a couple of new members in our club this year; William Carson…”

  “Call me Willie,” Willie interrupts.

  “And Kylie Charles, who, as you all know, is the sister of our third year member Jared, and an incoming freshman. Welcome to you both.”

  “Thanks,” Kylie says, sounding a little embarrassed by being pointed out as the only freshman in the club, but offering a big smile none the less.

  “Mr. Carson - Willie,” Venturi continues, “why do you want to join our club in the last year of your high school career?” I know Venturi well enough after two years to know that he has probably already talked with the shop teachers about Willie’s interests and grades.

  “It’s the future, sir,” Willie responds enthusiastically. “I guess I want to see how I might fit in and where it might take me.”

  “Yes. I hear you’ve been spending some time out at that experimental maglev facility helping with a gyroscope demonstration exhibit which,
somehow, has already become the centerpiece of our float this year.” Venturi doesn’t mask his contempt for the commercial implications of the float.

  “That’s correct, sir. It’s been an uplifting experience working with those guys, and they thought I might enjoy the club, so here I am.”

  When Willie says ‘uplifting’, I smirk. It’s an allusion that probably shouldn’t be made. But then, Willie is just having fun.

  “Well, your teachers say you have excellent potential as an engineer. It’ll be nice to have a nuts and bolts guy around to help balance out the rest of the egg­heads in here.” We all laugh. Subtle as he is, sometimes Venturi does add a little humor to his speeches. “So, here’s the plan. Since Vince Malone graduated last year, our first order of business is to appoint a new chairman. This is your club and I expect you to run it. I’m only here to keep things civil and assist with any concerns you may have regarding school policy. So, who do we have here from the senior class?”

  Willie and Carly Newman raise their hands. Carly has been with the club since her freshman year. She is really smart, and doesn’t mind letting you know it, but she’s not very creative. Some people can learn every fact in the books but not be able to apply them. That’s what is interesting about Jen; she knows the facts and has the creativity to apply them. Last year I had gotten the feeling there was some competition between the two.

  “Carly,” Mr. Venturi says, “you have seniority because of your four years in the club. Do you want the job?”

  “Of course,” Carly replies, acting as though she expects the honor. “Does Willie concede without a vote?” she asks out of courtesy.

  “Like the man said,” Willie answers, “I’m a nuts and bolts kind of guy. I don’t mind one bit if you run the show.”

  “Good,” said Venturi. “Madam Chairwoman, you have the floor.”

  Carly makes her way to the front of the classroom, opening a notebook on the way. She has her acceptance speech already written up. “Thanks for giving me this honor,” she begins. “I know we’ll have a fun year and learn lots of new things.”

  I look around at the other members. Manny, Anna, and Evan sit in the row by the windows looking as bored as the rest of us listening to Carly finish up. It quickly becomes clear, that we, who have been working together all summer, make up the majority of the club this year.

  “I guess the most pressing issue is decorating the float for the Homecoming Parade. It’s my understanding that Jennifer has been able to clear the concept with the administration.” I think I detect a small degree of annoyance in Carly’s voice. “Jen? Would you like to fill us in on what that is?”

  “Um, sure,” Jen answers. She stands up to address the group. “It was pretty much a group effort by those of us who live near the maglev facility. Kylie wrote some software for a school project last year; Tyler had the wacky idea for a flying saucer; her brother thought the two ideas went well together and convinced his dad that it might make a cool exhibit for when the new ownership takes over out there.”

  “New owners. Huh.” Venturi interrupts. “I hadn’t heard that.”

  “Anyway,” continues Jen, “they got me involved and, I’m not sure how Willie got word of it, but we’ve built a pretty good exhibit. And since Vince had me do the parade paperwork last year, I thought I’d just go ahead and do it this year too. So we’re all set to go.”

  “Thanks Jen, and to the rest of you, too,” Carly says. “So what’s left to do and where are we doing it?”

  Willie stands up. “It’s downtown already, near the parade’s starting point. We’ve got the saucer mounted on a trailer, which I’ll pull with my truck.”

  “And we’d like to keep the location secret as long as we can,” Jared adds. “I don’t want the other clubs or groups spying on us. They’re already taking shots at us, and I don’t want to give them anymore ammo.”

  Four of us know the true meaning behind Jared’s words. We are all worried that Stiles will figure the whole thing out sooner than later.

  “So what’s the rest of the float going to look like?” Carly presses.

  The classroom is quiet. I know I haven’t thought about it. What would happen during the parade has always occupied my thoughts. Then Willie stands up again. “May I?” he asks, motioning towards the dry-erase board at the front of the room. Venturi motions him up.

  Willie quickly draws the trailer with the saucer mounted on it, first from a side perspective, then a top view. He uses quick, practiced strokes, more like an artist than an engineer. He is fun to watch.

  “Here’s the front and here’s the saucer,” he explains pointing. “I was thinking we could easily build a short, launch gantry type structure in the back, but with ladders going up each side. We could stand along side them during the parade and occasionally climb up onto the bottom one or two rungs.”

  “Climbing to the stars?” Carly asks.

  “Something like that,” Willie responds. “Then we could have a gangway coming from the middle of the structure out to the cockpit of the saucer.”

  “I don’t think the administration would agree to anyone sitting on that,” Venturi said.

  “Of course not. It’s just for show,” Willie agrees. “Then we just add streamers or those flowery thingys that are usually on floats, wherever you want.” Silence ensues. Willie looks hopefully around the room, before moving back to his seat.

  “‘Climbing to the stars’,” Carly says again, mostly to herself.

  “How about, ‘Reaching for the stars’?” Evan speaks up. He sounds more excited.

  “Or ‘Shooting for the stars’?” Anna adds as the idea takes hold.

  “We can settle on the theme after we’ve had some time to think about it,” Venturi suggests. “Right now, if everyone agrees this is the general direction to take, we should probably go down and get started on the framework.”

  “Good idea,” Carly agrees, glad for the direction. “Those in favor say, ‘Aye’.” The room erupts in the affirmative so a ‘Nay’ vote is never called for. “Ok then. Let’s adjourn and head down to work on the float.”

  Willie quickly explains how to get there, again expressing the need for secrecy that Jared suggested earlier. Mr. Venturi locks his room after we’re all out and groups form for the ride over. I straggle behind a little, indicating to Willie to stay back too.

  “Willie,” I quietly say when the others have gotten far enough ahead, “how am I going to take off with a gangway hanging on the side of the saucer?”

  With a glint in his eye he replies, “The gangway will be hinged. I’m going to hook my winch up to the bottom end, and at the right time, I’ll pull it up out of the way just like they swing those arms out of the way during an actual launch. I’d like to suggest a countdown of some type, and then, for effect, I think we could use a couple of fire extinguishers to create an exhaust like fog. A few mock takeoffs would be fun before you really do it. It’ll be so cool!”

  I grin. Willie really has thought this through. “You didn’t mention any of that a few minutes ago, how come?”

  “I’m the new kid in the group and a shop kid as well. I didn’t want to appear like it was all my idea. Maybe you could suggest the other stuff at some point?”

  “Sure,” I agree. As we walk outside to our vehicles, I let Willie’s ideas nestle into my thoughts. It will be quite a launch!

  As soon as we get to the museum, Tommy comes running out. He acts like the owner’s son and leads us through the easiest entrance. We all accept Tommy like he is one of us, and in many ways, he already is. He just needs another year to formally become one of our club.

  “So, this is the saucer-gyro exhibit you all have been working on?” Mr. Venturi asks. He walks all the way around the trailer until he gets back to where Willie is standing. “Pretty nice work.”

  “Thanks,” Willie replies. “Jared knew something about welding aluminum, but Tyler, he had to start from scratch but learned pretty quick.”

  “So what do
es it do?” Carly wants to know. “Can you demonstrate it to us?”

  “Well, it’s not as versatile as I’d hoped,” Kylie answers. “It’ll pretty much just spin one way or the other right now. What we’re hoping it will do someday is be able to bring itself fully upright from a leaning, at rest position.”

  “Start it up!” Tommy interjects, reiterating Carly’s second question.

  “It’s secured to the trailer for transport and the parade,” Willie answers, “and the hydrogen cylinders are at home. We thought it would be safer without them for now.”

  “Hydrogen?” asks Venturi. “What does it do that needs hydrogen?”

  “We’ve got a sequenced lighting application,” Kylie answers, “just for show. Hopefully it’ll be late enough in the evening to be seen during the parade, but definitely after the pep rally.”

  “A real ‘blast-off’ for the team before the game. Huh. I can’t wait to see that.” There is a hint of sarcasm in Venturi’s voice. “Ok then. Let’s get to work. Anybody got some wood to contribute to the, uh, gantry tower?”

  “I brought along what we have,” Jared announces.

  “I can get some plywood from home,” Manny adds.

  “We’ll probably still need to buy some. How much money was left in the F.A.C.E. fund from last year, Jennifer?” Venturi asks.

  “Right around forty-five dollars.”

  “Well, you all may need to chip in more to get this thing done. See how far you can get. I’m going home for dinner. I’ll be back later to see how you’re doing.”

  “I guess I should go home for dinner, too,” Tommy tells us, nodding towards the door where his father is standing. “See ya later.”

  We all say goodbye to our advisor, glad to be left on our own. Manny and Evan take off to get the wood Manny mentioned. Carly heads back out to her car to bring in some of the materials that had been leftover from last year’s float. She hands the chicken wire to Jared when she gets back, suggesting that Willie and I could help him put it up on the sides and back of the trailer. She invites Kylie and Jennifer to help make all of the tissue paper blooms we’ll need to decorate the thing.