Galactiquest

Aiden and the nerd brigade stepped off of the elevator and onto the fifth floor.

“Wow, they keep the floors up here really clean. I can see my reflection!” Leon gawked as if these sterile halls looked much different from the ones downstairs. The floors did look cleaner, though.

“Don’t get used to seein’ it.” Aiden walked ahead of him. “The only time they let us lowly rangers up here is for cleaning duty. And that’s if they like you.” If Captain Galhardo didn’t have his dad’s name to cling to, Aiden could easily see him winding up like that. A premium janitor for the higher-ups. Or worse, he could’ve ended up like Jun, a babysitter for problem rangers.

“Huh. I wonder if they’ll ever let me clean up here!” Leon continued, completely unfazed. It shouldn’t have surprised Aiden that the IF’s #1 fanboy would be honored to do menial labor. “Mia, have you ever done it?”

“Wha--?” Mia snapped out of a daze.

“Have you ever cleaned--?”

“Uhh, no. I’ve never been here either.”

“Really? You seem like someone who’d be liked by upper-level people. You’re good at following rules and stuff!” Leon was right, Mia would’ve been the type they’d pick for busywork.

“I keep a low profile.”

She ended the conversation just in time for the three to approach a guard, who just so happened to be a warrant officer. They rarely had good experiences with Aiden. Judging by this guy’s face, word got around.

He stared them up and down suspiciously. “Are you here for the Celestion Conference…?”

“Yes, sir!” Leon answered. “We’re with the Celestion-5!”

“Oh…!” The guard relaxed a little. “Sorry, but your captain has to be here to verify you all.”

Aiden groaned. Of course he’d be punished the one time he decided to play by the rules. “What about his brother? Ain’t he in there?”

“I believe so, but--”

Aiden stepped forward, only for the guard to plaster himself against the doors.

“What do you think you’re doing, Ranger!?” He looked more afraid than threatening. Aiden almost felt bad.

“I’m just trying to get verification. Emil knows who we are; he can vouch for us.”

“You need to be verified before you can enter the room! That’s the whole point of verification!” The guard shouted so much, veins started popping out of his forehead. Why were warrant officers like this?

Leon showed up beside Aiden. “Is there a way you could get Emil to come out here and give us the okay to go in?”

“I don’t even know who Emil is, but if he’s not your captain, there’s nothing he could say to let me let you through!”

“...Um, sir? Wouldn’t it be easier if we just showed our IDs?” Mia stood far behind the others. This situation probably wasn’t doing favors for her low profile.

The guard glanced down at his tablet. “We only check captains’ IDs here. That’s just how it’s set up for today. I’m going to have to ask you to leave now before I call in reinforcements.”

“Do you at least have an idea of where our captain might’ve gone?” Her voice could barely be heard. It sounded like she stepped back even farther.

“Yeah, then we could go find him and bring him back!” Like with everything else, Leon was weirdly excited about this.

The guard calmed down. Finally. “He took the elevator. It looked like it stopped at the first floor.”

Right back where they came from. Aiden couldn’t roll his eyes any harder.

“Thanks, sir!” Leon saluted before stumbling back to the elevator with Mia.

Aiden took one last look at the doors. It would be so easy to just barge in and be done with it. But the guard hovered his finger over the tablet, probably to call whatever reinforcements he mentioned earlier. Aiden didn’t feel like dealing with that, not today.

“Aiden, are you coming?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be there.”

Leon’s voice was the first thing he heard upon boarding the elevator. “Where do you think the captain could be? Do you think he went to go look for Aiden on his own?”

Aiden leaned up against the wall. “Can’t you guys text him?”

“No, Emil’s the only one who has his number. He’s really secretive like that!”

“Wonder why…” Aiden didn’t put it past the captain to be acting as a puppet for someone higher up on the chain of command. There was no reason for someone to be that tight-lipped without having something worth shutting up about. But what? ...He didn’t have an answer for that. Yet. But without an answer, even Aiden had to acknowledge his theory held no more weight than the weirdos on the internet who refused to believe the IF ever went to the moon. Annoying.

He and the others left the elevator as it opened on the first floor, but quickly came to a stop when they realized they still didn’t know where to go.

“Hm…” Leon bounced on the tips of his feet. “Maybe he got hungry and stopped by the cafeteria for lunch.”

“Uh-uh.” Aiden had no plans of returning there. “You two can go back there if you wanna catch up with ‘Triple Trouble.’” He started walking forward. “I’m going this way.”

“Okay… Wait!” Leon hurried up behind him. “We’re supposed to keep an eye on you!”

“Better catch up then.” The blond ranger continued strolling.

Too busy calling back to Leon, Aiden walked directly into a cart pushed by a brick wall of a woman and her much smaller goggled friend.

“Woah there, you okay bud?” Her crooked teeth smiled down at him as her friend bent over to stuff some containers back underneath the cart’s cloak. “Sorry about that!”

He dusted himself off. “Nah, I wasn’t lookin’ where I was going.”

For a brief second, she looked a little spooked before faking another smile. “Uhhhh anyway, good t’ see ya!” She began pushing her cart, leaving her friend in the dust. “Have a nice one!”

Goggles ran after her. “Wait I wasn’t finished yet!”

Aiden didn’t even get a chance to wave bye before the two sped off.

Leon peered out from behind him. “Did you know her?”

“Not at all.” Aiden knew too many faces to remember them all, but he was certain he wouldn’t have forgotten those two.

The bucktoothed ranger looked in the direction they left. “Aww, she seemed really nice.”

She seemed really suspicious to Aiden. Suspicious, but not his problem.

“I just thought of something!” Leon turned back around.“We should text Emil and see if he knows where the captain is.”

“Already on it.” Like a ghost, Mia appeared from behind and kept on walking past the others. “He said he went to the front desk.”

The other two followed her back to the entrance, where sure enough, Captain Galhardo paced back and forth. His face looked almost as blank as usual, this time with a little dash of panic as he muttered something on the phone.

“Yes, it’s gone… I don’t know who did it, that’s what I’m trying to--Listen, I need you to tell me if you’ve noticed anything out of the ordinary… What do you mean by potato hands? It is imperative to me that you explain what potato hands are... Please stop laughing, this is serious... Ranger Kim ate a... what?...I see. Yes, please inform me if you find out anything. Goodbye.”

He did a double take upon seeing Aiden and the others. “Oh, hello there. You came at a critical moment.”

“Is something the matter, Captain?” Leon tilted his head.

The captain motioned at the wall beside him, the same wall Aiden remembered putting his equipment, only now it was suspiciously empty.

“What happened to our stuff?” Leon stooped down at the wall. “Where’d it all go?”

Galhardo faced away from all of them. “That’s what I would like to know.”

“Well,” Aiden pointed at the still-empty wall, “they’re not here.”

“I am aware of that, Ranger Kelly.” The captain gave a suspicious look over his shoulder. “By the way, you wouldn’t have exited the cafeteria at any point, would you?”

Aiden had to laugh. Of course he’d be suspect number one. “No. I was in there the whole time.”

Captain Galhardo didn’t buy it, but hey, he was the one who asked!

“I can verify Aiden was in there as soon as we got in.” Surprisingly, Mia spoke up for him.

So of course Leon had to ruin it. “He was? But I thought we didn’t see him until way later!”

“Your text came rather late for having seen him that early.” The captain’s suspicion shifted to Mia.

“Uhhh, um…!” Mia gulped. “I-I was just letting him finish his lunch. I, uh, figured we shouldn’t disturb him!”

“Awww, you shoulda told me, then we could’ve all had lunch together!” Leon continued unaware that Mia had actually saved his skin. Sure, maybe she was looking out for herself, but if they’d joined Aiden earlier, there was no doubt Leon would’ve outed all of them as members of the Celestion-5, and he would’ve gotten his feelings hurt. Aiden and the kid didn’t click, but putting his optimism through the woodchipper of frenzied jealousy would’ve been a bit much.

The captain stared at her for what must’ve been an agonizing number of seconds. “...You should’ve notified us earlier.”

“Yes sir, it won’t happen again!” She nodded profusely. “Um, anyway we’ve been with him the whole time since.”

“Yep, we stuck together like three peas in a pod!” Leon did a corny arm pump.

“We’ve all got alibis. Airtight. Besides,” Aiden strolled over to the reception desk where his fan--Luis or something like that--sat behind the counter looking dejected. He plopped his arm elbow on it and pointed at him, “this guy woulda remembered me.”

Luis sighed. “That’s the problem. I wasn’t there at the time. No one else came by after you guys an’ I thought I could sneak a quick trip to the bathroom.”

“Never leave your post unattended.” It must’ve been a shame Captain Galhardo didn’t have his rulebook with him, otherwise, he could’ve recited the exact section he got that from. “If you must, ensure there’s someone else monitoring it in your place.”

“Yes, sir.” Luis sulked. “An’ they had the nerve to mess up my pens too… I had to clean potato gunk off of ‘em. I don’t even know what else was stuck on, it was like syrup or something? Who eats potatoes with syrup?”

“That’s weird...” Mia walked up to the clipboard on the counter. “They weren’t serving potatoes today, were they?” She looked between Aiden and Leon for answers.

“Ah, I was too busy getting lost.” Leon leaned from behind the freckled ranger to get a better look at Aiden. “What about you?”

“I didn’t see, smell, or taste any potatoes. No syrup either…”

The captain tapped his chin. “...Might it have been honey?”

“It coulda been.” guessed Luis.

That meant something to Galhardo, although Aiden couldn’t tell what. “Thank you for the information, we’ll be on our way.”

“Glad I could...help?”

Before Luis could finish, the captain sped off down the hall to his right, waving for the others to follow like sheep. Leon hurried along and Mia quickly set down the checkout clipboard to follow suit.

The tallest of the group, however, could not leave one of his fans--at least one not named Bella or Gordy--so dejected. Aiden leaned on the counter, thumbing toward the captain. “Don’t worry about that guy, he’s--”

“Aiden, are you coming?” interrupted Leon.

Aiden glared at him, rolled his eyes, and gave one final wave to Luis. “Later.”

“Hope to see ya around!”

A quick jog later, and Aiden had already caught up to the others. Captain Galhardo continued to book it, looking back not once, while Mia and Leon struggled to keep pace.

“One thing I don’t really get.” Leon visibly searched for thoughts in his head. “Why would anyone steal from us? It’s not like we had any money in there--” a search through his uniform pockets left him blushing, “--or it’s not like we were supposed to.”

“No one is ever aware of how many enemies they have lurking in the shadows.” The captain continued walking ahead. “That’s why we must always stay vigilant.”

“Woah.... That’s kinda scary. I can’t imagine who’d want to be my enemy.” The shortest ranger looked around before his eyes stopped on Aiden.

Aiden shook his head. “Don’t get your hopes up, kid. You’re a mild annoyance at best.”

“Wow, that’s… almost kind of nice? Thanks?”

“Anyway, the captain’s just tryin’ to say we’re not the most popular kids on the block right now.” He explained. “Y’know how the IF is at the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to the military branches?”

“Every branch of the U.S. Military is equally important, Ranger Kelly.” Did the captain actually believe what he just said? Aiden couldn’t.

“Yeah, yeah, but ask anyone in the Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force, and they’ll tell you they think we’re a buncha losers who have it too easy. Heck, even the Coast Guard doesn’t take us seriously.”

“I have heard that…” Leon trailed off.

“The IF is the same way.” Aiden swirled a finger in the air to look more educational. “There’s a hierarchy. All the other star rangers think they’re above the other Celestion crews, and the other Celestion crews think they’re above us. They hate us.”

Leon looked up at him. “Is that why your friends were so mad at us?”

“Those weren’t my friends.”

“...Ranger Kelly, may I ask where you’re getting all of this ‘information’ from?” Captain Galhardo actually looked back that time. The truth about their reputation must’ve gotten under his skin.

The tallest ranger shrugged. “When you listen around, you hear things.”

“Try not to believe everything you hear.” That couldn’t be more hilarious coming from the walking, talking Interstellar Forces propaganda machine. He came to a stop once the group reached the elevator. “Besides, it doesn’t even matter in this case.”

“Why?” asked Leon.

Aiden leaned on a wall beside him. “Yeah, you’ve been actin’ like you already know who the thieves are. What gives?”

Captain Galhardo pressed the elevator button. “I happen to know some information that almost certainly points us toward the culprits.”

“So… What is it?”

“I was on the phone with the lieutenant and he mentioned that Ranger Kim and Allen were with him.”

“Hold on.” Aiden closed his eyes. “How’d they get in? The whole reason we came back down here is because the guard wouldn’t let us in without you!”

“Didn’t you tell him that the lieutenant was still there?”

Leon answered this time. “Yeah, he still wouldn’t let us in.”

“...Interesting.” Captain Galhardo rested a hand on his chin. “Even more interesting is that Ranger Kim and Ranger Allen showed up with potato skins and honey smeared on their hands. Most interestingly, Ranger Kim ate the empty bottle of honey. Considering what the receptionist said earlier about his pens--”

“Wait, wait, hold up.” Aiden had to stop this thought train before it went off the rails. “Are you tryin’ to say that Jun and Roxie stole our stuff??”

“That doesn’t make any sense at all, Jun and Roxie would never do something like that!” Even Leon knew better!

“You expect us to believe Jun ‘Married to the Regulations’ Kim would ever steal?” Aiden couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He was supposed to be the group’s conspiracist, not the captain! “And yeah, Roxie’s a little weird, I don’t know her too well, but that doesn’t make her a thief!”

The captain didn’t back down. “You can never know anyone’s intentions but your own. Evidence is the fingerprint of the truth, and theirs are covered in honey and potatoes. It is highly unlikely that anyone else on this base would fit that description.”

“Of course you don’t know anyone’s ‘intentions!’” Aiden pushed himself off the wall with one foot. “All you do is sit up in your room doing who-knows-what while you watch us run around like lab rats! You wouldn’t know the first thing about us!”

“Um, wouldn’t watching us constantly imply that he would know... things?” It was strange that Mia hadn’t spoken up earlier considering she was closer to Roxie than she was anyone else, but knowing her, she’s the type to keep her head down and her mouth shut. As if to give an example, she ducked her head back down to text on her phone.

“Security cameras don’t show the full picture.” The blond ranger smirked. “If they did, I wouldn’ta broken outta jail.”

“You… You’re just messing with us, right Aiden? You didn’t really break out of jail, did you? ...Did you?”

Aiden paid Leon the same amount of attention that the captain paid to the elevator closing: Very little.

“I understand why you might be upset, Ranger Kelly, but if it eases your mind, Rangers Kim and Allen weren’t my first suspects.” Captain Galhardo stared not at him, but through him. He closed his eyes. “Theft charges, a history of clashes with authority and peers, and general misconduct--that you’ve shown even today--led me to suspect you first. It’s truly a miracle that you’re allowed to serve in the Interstellar Forces at all. You won’t be punished too harshly for your actions today, but let this be a warning,” His hat cast a shadow over his stare, “You are not invincible anymore.”

Aiden nodded, lifting his hands. “Yeah, yeah, that’s no big surprise. I’m not even mad about it. But riddle me this, Cap’n:” He marched right up to Captain Galhardo and stooped down to his eye level, “Why would Jun, Roxie, or any of us steal our own stuff when we need it to get back to the ship?

“I don’t have the answer to that.” Galhardo admitted. “But unless there’s anyone else who fits what we know about the criminals, we don’t have any other options.”

Mia shook her phone. “Uhhh, excuse me, Captain, may I?”

The captain nodded at her.

“So, um, I was able to confirm some things with Roxie and Jun---at least through the lieutenant, the others couldn’t answer their phones because...you know,” she wiggled her hands, “Ahem! Anyway, not only do I have an idea of who the culprits are, but also what they look like.”

“Oh cool! Please, please tell us more, Mia!” Whether the news itself or moving on from the fight excited Leon more was hard to tell.

“Roxie and Jun sustained some minor burns on their hands, which is why Roxie covered them in potato skins.”

“Where did they get the potatoes from?”

“That’s not important. What’s important is that there are two more people with the same injuries, and those two people’s names happened to be on the clipboard at the receptionist’s desk: Shirley Quinn and Sierra Flores.”

The captain found the strength to lift his giant eyebrows. “That is very important information, Ranger Wattson, thank you.” He took out his tablet. “Those names sound familiar…”

“Seems like you’re the only one whose been thinkin’ today.” Aiden had to admit. “...Wait, how'd Jun and Roxie get in?"

Mia typed on her phone. "The guard recognized Jun and let them in no questions asked."

"That's... disturbing." Galhardo cringed.

"That's the IF." Aiden muttered low enough not to get the IF superfan on his case again. "How do we know what Sheryl and what's-her-face look like, though?”

“Easy. You walked right into them.” Mia pocketed her phone.

“No way!” Leon pouted. “That really nice lady from earlier did it?”

“Roxie and Jun’s descriptions matched her and her friend exactly. Tall, buff, strawberry-blonde lady and a small, curly brunette with goggles.”

It all came together for Aiden. Jun or Roxie must’ve described him to them while they were still searching, and that was why he freaked Blondie out so badly.

“We don’t have a lot of time to look. The conference starts in less than 20 minutes.” Lorenzo continued to scroll through his tablet. He stopped to look up toward Aiden. “Ranger Kelly. This is a very important question. If you were to steal our equipment, where would you hide it?”

Did he think Aiden had some kind of psychic thief wisdom? Come on!

“If it were me,” Aiden began, “I’d hide ‘em in the gym. Lots of empty lockers to shove ‘em into.”

“Everyone, to the gym!” The captain started speedwalking before Aiden could finish.

The bearded ranger trailed behind the others. “But I get the feeling these two aren’t the brightest light bulbs in the shed.”

Leon slowed down. “What do you mean?”

“For one, they wrote their names right out there for us to see. Both of ‘em! You only need one signature to check things out, and no one was there to force ‘em to do that much. Two…”

Mia came to a stop. “Weren’t they headed away from the gym?”

“Bingo.”

The four ended up at the same intersection where Aiden first walked into the bigger blonde, better off than when they started but still hopelessly lost.

The captain adjusted his hat in frustration. “If they’re not there, where could they possibly be?”

“Well, the gym’s that way,” Aiden pointed to the right end of the hall, “so probably not there. Or maybe they went back. ...Wouldn’t it be faster if we split up?”

“And have one of you run loose again? Absolutely not.”

It was worth a try.

“Hey,” A lone cart strolling to the left end of the hall caught Leon’s attention, “is that one of those new self-driving carts?” He started following it. “Coooool…! I’ve always wanted to see one in action!”

“Oh yeah.” Mia didn’t pay the cart much attention. “It’s not really that convenient unless you know exactly where you want to send it. In fact, it’s the same one we saw our, um, suspects pushing around earlier.”

“Before, I only thought they didn’t know where they were going.” Aiden stroked his beard. “Now I know for a fact they don’t know where they’re going.”

The captain rubbed his temples. “So they could be anywhere.”

“Not quite.” Mia corrected. “They’re too long to fit in elevators.”

“So they’re bound to the first floor!”

“And there’s only so many places on the first floor that aren’t restricted or places we’ve already ruled out…” She leaned her head in one hand, “but that’s still too many places to search for the time we have.”

Aiden shook his head. Logic was the furthest thing from their suspects’ minds, so why should they bother with it? So he concentrated on one thought and one thought only: If he were some naive doofus who didn’t know his way around the base, where would he go?

His eyes drifted toward Leon further down the hall. He started following him.

“Ranger Kelly, where are you going?” Captain Galhardo started after him.

“You guys are goin’ about it all wrong, Rookie’s got the right idea.”

“Huh?” Leon turned around, smiling sheepishly. “What idea? Sorry, I kinda forgot what I was doing!”

Aiden smiled at him. “Exactly. Just go wherever your heart takes you.”

“Is that a good idea…?”

“Good ideas are the last thing we need right now. Don’t think about it, just run to the end of a hall and we’ll catch up.”

“O...kay?” Leon looked between him and the others before making a light jog to the end of the hall. He waved. “Over here!”

Aiden made his way toward him. Mia and Captain Galhardo caught up along the way. Everything was going according to plan.

“What on Earth do you think you’re doing? We only have,” the captain checked his tablet-turned-watch, “13 minutes left!”

“The way I see it, Rookie has a 50/50 chance of taking us exactly where we need to go,” Aiden explained, “or in the complete opposite direction.”

“And what logic are you using to come to this decision?”

“None.”

Aiden left the others dumbfounded and in the dust until they finally caught up to him and Leon.

The rookie pointed to their right and began running in that direction. “This way!”

“Isn’t that a dead end?” asked Mia. Aiden wished she didn’t interrupt the madness to his method, but it was pretty clear no one was at that end of the hall.

“Really?” Leon stopped in his tracks. “Thanks, I guess we can go in the other direction then.”

Everyone followed him to the next end of the hall, where they faced yet another intersection.

“I feel like we should go… left!”

“Um, Leon?” Mia probably wanted to tell Leon that he’d be going right back to where they started, but Aiden had no intention of letting that happen. He motioned for her to be quiet.

“Hm?” Leon looked at her.

The redhead glanced at Aiden and back to him. “N-Nevermind.”

“Okay, see you over at the next corner!” Once again, Leon picked a direction and ran with it.

“We’re going in circles.” stated the captain, as if Aiden didn’t already know.

“Our thieves aren’t making any sense, so why should we?” Aiden shrugged. “Worse case scenario, at least we’ll be closer to the elevator.”

Galhardo sighed. “In any news, I now remember how I know Ranger Quinn and Major Flores. Their names are on the Celestion-6 crew list.” He slid the watch off of his hand and expanded it to phone size. “If I get the lieutenant to talk to their captain, we could end this whole charade and get on with our lives.”

A memory from the cafeteria bubbled to the top of Aiden’s thoughts. “Are you sure you wanna do that? From what I heard, at least one of the other captains hates your guts.”

“Ranger Kelly, what did I say about believing everything you hear?”

“I mean,” Aiden shuffled his shoulders, “someone said one of the captains was mad at you earlier today. Something about havin’ to follow behind you, I dunno.”

The captain lowered his phone. “The Celestion-6 does follow behind us, yes, but are you trying to imply…?” He shook his head. “No, he wouldn’t stoop that low. He wouldn’t… stoop that low.” The second time sounded like Galhardo was trying to convince himself, not Aiden.

Suddenly, Leon began waving frantically at the end of the hallway, occasionally pointing to something to the left. The others joined him only to catch part of a conversation going on nearby.

“...wish we had more t’ work with.” Aiden recognized that as the blonde one’s voice. She rested her elbow on the side of the cart, completely blocking Goggles from view. “’S not like we know the place.”

Her friend spoke up. “I know, I know, but we were trusted for a reason.”

“I dunno.” Blondie shrugged. “I kinda feel like the reason was that we were the closest ones around.”

“I think we should just leave it here.”

“Right out in the open?”

“Yeah, it’s so obvious, no one would think of it! ‘Sides, we gotta get to the conference anywho.”

“You’re prolly right, Sparky. I do kinda worry though. What if somebody else swipes it right from underneath us? Then we won’t be able t’ surprise ‘em!”

Surprise? She talked like they were planning a birthday party, not a heist!

“Don’t worry, we’ll be back out before anyone notices. Then it’ll be the perfect prank!”

“Theft is not a prank, it is a crime!” Wait. That wasn’t either woman’s voice.

It was the captain’s. Sure enough, when Aiden looked around, only Leon and Mia were still with him behind the corner. The captain, however, stood out in the open, pointing the finger of blame at the thieves.

To make things look even more like a clown show, Captain Galhardo, like some kind of magician, materializes a copy of the IF handbook out of his hat. “In Chapter 5, Section 5 of the Interstellar Forces Handbook, theft is among the many crimes subject to punishment by court martial. Do you have any explanation for what you’ve done, and are you willing to face the consequences?”

Aiden couldn’t decide if he wanted to die of laughter or second-hand embarrassment. Either way, he quietly wheezed for air.

Leon was the next to step into the fray. “Hello, hi! Could you please give us our stuff back? We’ve kinda been looking for it all over the place and we need it to get back to our ship.”

Finally, Aiden decided to make his grand entrance. “Hey. Just give us our stuff back.”

Mia stayed behind the safety of the wall, wanting to be anywhere but a part of this. Aiden couldn’t blame her, not at all.

Shirley and Sierra, whoever was which, neither of them looked cold-blooded enough to be thieves or mischievous enough to be pranksters. They just looked… kinda sad. Both were frozen in place like deer in headlights, whispering to each other.

“I think we messed up.”

“Do ya wanna give it all back? The little one seems nice.”

“Hnnnnn, he’s adorable, but we gotta--”

The sound of an elevator door opening cuts through the quiet. Both thieves’ eyes lock onto the door beside them, then back at the group, then back at the door, so on and so forth until…

They just start ramming the cart in there.

“Shirley, hurry pick it up, pick it up!” The shorter one rushed her friend. Must be Sierra.

The captain hurried to the elevator. “Your escape is doomed from the start, that cart is too big to fit inside--”

Shirley shoved the words right back into Captain Galhardo’s mouth when she lifted one end of the cart and stood it upright inside the elevator. She then squeezed in beside Sierra, who frantically pressed some buttons inside.

“I’m really sorry guys it’s not what it looks like!” were Sierra’s final words before shutting the elevator in the captain’s face.

The finest artists could not capture the shock, awe, and confusion on his mug. The chaos of it all, it was how the French say… whatever French people say whenever something’s magnificent, Aiden didn’t know.

Captain Galhardo could only stand there, blinking, until he finally remembered the door to the stairwell just behind Mia. He made a run for it. “We can catch them at the top of the stairs, follow me!”

“Yes, sir!” Leon sprinted after him.

As they both disappeared up the stairs, Aiden finally let go of all the bottled up laughter. Some tears even came out. He could barely breathe.

“...Did they not know there’s other elevators on this floor?” Mia asked.

“That’s the best part!” squeaked Aiden.