Extras

"So I noticed," she said. After all day floating in the hoverball rig, Aya felt like she weighed a thousand kilograms.

"Our apologies for any injuries," came the strange voice again. "But we know how dangerous you can be."

Aya blinked, finally discovering the source of the words—it was lying right there on the ground, less than a meter away.

"Moggle?" she said softly.

"Forgive us for making modifications to your hovercam," Moggle said in its weird and unexpected new voice. "We found it damaged in the jungle. While making repairs, we installed this voice chip."

Aya groaned, remembering her reunion with Moggle out by the ruins. For once it hadn't flashed its blinding night-lights, which wasn't like Moggle at all.

"We hoped you would rejoin your hovercam," the voice continued. "And we would have a chance to talk with you directly."

"You've been watching us this whole time!" Aya cried.

"Our apologies for our deception, and for your injuries. It was necessary to disable you temporarily and bring you into a controlled environment."

"Controlled environment?" Aya snorted. "You mean a prison?"

"Of course not!" Moggle's new voice said. "We are honored to have you here. Our colleague offers her profound thanks, by the way. Your hovercam saved her life when she fell from the ruins."

"Yeah, this is some thanks." Aya sat up straighter, pain shooting through her.

"If you allow us to explain, we think you'll discover that our aims and yours are complementary."

Aya laughed. "Sorry, but our aims don't include blowing up the world!"

The voice paused, then answered, "It is unfortunate, but certain foolish children have misled you.

Perhaps you'll listen to an old friend."

Aya frowned. An old friend? Who did they think she was? And why were they talking to her in English, anyway?

A rumble passed through the building, the huge doors parting a bare sliver. Through the opening, Aya saw several inhumans hovering nervously, needle fingers at the ready.

In front of them was a strange-looking man, with wild hair and bizarre ragged clothes. He slipped through the doors, which hurriedly closed behind him.

Aya blinked—she'd never seen anyone so ugly.

His skin was sunburned and his features crooked. The beaming smile he gave her was unbelievably snaggle-toothed.

He laughed and said in English, "I knew you would come for me, Young Blood!"

"Um, I don't think we've met," Aya said. "And what did you just call me?"

"Your voice is …" He stepped closer, sharp eyes flicking among the three of them. "If you would show your face, Young Blood."

A short, painful laugh escaped Aya. "You think I'm…?"

"She's not Tally Youngblood!" Frizz exploded. He turned to Aya. "The freaks think we're Cutters."

Frizz reached up to pull his hood off. Aya did the same, and after a moment's hesitation, Hiro sighed and followed suit.

The man stared at the three of them, dumbfounded.

"See?" Aya said. "I really don't think we've met." She gave as deep a bow as her injured ribs allowed. "My name is Aya Fuse."

"But you…," the man sputtered, fingering his own dirty, ragged garment. "You wear the Sayshal clothing, and the floating ones said you had come to rescue me. But your faces are not Sayshal!"

"Indeed," Moggle's new voice agreed. "We seem to have made an error."

Aya nodded slowly. "We aren't Cutters, but we're friends of Tally."

"Young Blood is an old friend of mine as well!" The strange man smiled and clapped her on the shoulder. "My name is Andrew Simpson Smith."

Two Birds With One Stone

Things were starting to make sense. Sort of.

Soon after their hovercar had limped home on autopilot, the freaks must have realized that Tally Youngblood had arrived. Who else but Specials would have jumped out over the jungle? And Frizz, after all, had a

But there was one thing Aya couldn't figure out "How do you know Tally? And what are you doing here?"

Andrew Simpson Smith smiled proudly. "Young Blood fell from the sky near my village, three and a half years ago."

"She fell from the sky," Aya repeated. "Near your village?"

Andrew nodded. "It is very far from here. Among the little men."

"The little men?" Aya asked, looking closer at him. Had his teeth been surged to be that crooked? His clothing had scruffy bits of fur clinging to it, like something made of dead animals. "Are you in some kind of clique that does pre-Rusty re-creations?"

Confusion clouded his face. "I don't understand. Perhaps you do not speak the gods' language as well as I?" He leaned closer. "Many of the floating ones also speak it poorly."

Aya sighed, deciding to stick to simple English. "Are you from Tally's city?"

"My people live in the wild," Andrew said firmly. "But now we know the ways of magnets and other magic. We help Young Blood watch the cities, to make sure they don't injure the Earth. That is how I met the floating ones."

Aya nodded slowly. "She said she had a friend who got kidnapped by the freaks. That's you, right?"

"Yes." He added softly, "The floating ones don't like to be spied on."

Moggle spoke up again. "Andrew, perhaps you can explain what you've learned about us."

Aya rolled her eyes at the hovercam. Did the inhumans think that this pre-Rusty-looking oddball could convince her of anything?

But the man was nodding sagely. "Do you know about the shape of the world, Aya?"

"Um, pardon me?"

"It is not flat, as it appears. But round, like a ball."

Hiro barked out an astonished laugh, but Frizz bowed and said, "Yes, we've heard this before."

"You are wise, then." Andrew squatted next to where Moggle lay on the ground, placing one dirty finger against its curved, camo-black skin. "All of us live on the surface of this ball. More all the time—more people, more cities, less wild."

"We know." Frizz squatted next to him. "We call that the expansion."

"Expansion." Andrew nodded. "The gods' word for making bigger. But the ball of the world does not get bigger."

"Yeah," Frizz said. "We're kind of stuck with what we've got."

Andrew smiled. "That is where the floating ones are clever. What if we build a new city…here."

His finger wavered in the air, a few centimeters from Moggle's skin.

Frizz was silent for a few moments, then said, "In space?"

Andrew nodded slowly, spreading out his hands as if warming them over Moggle's surface.

"There is a steady place over our heads, called orbit.

A ring that fits around the world."

"I don't believe it," Hiro said softly.

Andrew chuckled. "It is hard at first, I know. But I learned from Young Blood that the world has no edge, no end. You must learn to see beyond the little men."

"The little men?"

asked Hiro.

Frizz looked up at the towering metal shape above them. "Turns out you were right, Aya, back when we saw them making this thing. You said it looked like a ship!"