The Adventures of Alex Spider Page 2

  Alex didn’t have a response so instead, he turned away as if uninterested. He actually didn’t get it at all. But he was jealous. He was jealous that these three friends had been having so much fun, for who knows how long. He didn’t want to be a part of their stupid squad. He couldn’t imagine what that would be like.

  “You’re going to need a name,” said Angelo, smiling big and bright.

  Kathy could tell Alex wasn’t enjoying himself and tried to steer the conversation to something else but Elon didn’t seem to register Alex’s lack of enjoyment at all. “Yeah! It’s my favourite part about being in the squad.”

  “Yeah, me too!” chimed Angelo.

  “But, where to start?” Elon mused.

  “Alex the Stick!” laughed Angelo.

  Kathy hid a smile as Elon seemed to consider the title. Alex took it to mean two things. One, that he was as skinny as a stick, or two, that he was a stick in the mud. He didn’t like either reason.

  “Nah, that’s not quite right,” Elon went on, “it needs to just happen. Maybe we’ll think of something out at the pit?”

  “Oh yeah, the pit! Do we have the suits?”

  “I don’t know guys, Alex just got here, that might be a bit—” Kathy didn’t get to finish.

  “Nonsense,” interrupted Elon, “Mom said we could keep these here for emergencies. Really, every home should have them. And Pasta Presidio is home to the Squad.”

  “Noodle H.Q.!” half-screamed Angelo.

  Alex rolled his eyes but he knew he was trapped in this situation. Without realising it, he looked to Kathy.

  “It’s alright, the suits all auto-fit and you’re as tall as Elon. Yours will be a good fit,” Kathy reassured him.

  ***

  The airlock sealed tightly behind them. The edge of the dome was found just at the edge of Silver Spring Glade. The entire town and surrounding forests were contained in several enormous domes. In truth, the domes went deep into the moon’s surface, really making them more bubbles than anything. Silver Creek was considered an island, resting at the centre of one of the moon’s largest craters. The embankments were too steep for regular lunar pods to drive up, so everyone had to be ferried down on enormous lifts. The City was about 200 kilometres away. Which to Alex, would still be a moon’s distance away from anything that even felt like home. Though a forest in space was neat, it didn’t do anything for his quickness of breath. It had been a long time since being in a moon suit. Not since his parents. He didn’t realise it, but as his breathing slowed, he found his hand in Kathy’s, being led out across the silver grey dust, making fresh footprints.

  Alex’s helmet began to crackle as Elon’s voice came over the radio, “This is Lieutenant Linguini, does everyone copy? Over.”

  It was Kathy that replied next, “This is Captain Kath, reading you loud and clear. Over.”

  “This is Angelo—” he cut out for a moment, tripping over an irregular crater and catching himself, “—I mean this is Brigadier Bolognese.”

  “Copy that,” chuckled Elon. “Alex? Can you hear us?”

  With the least amount of effort and the least amount of air, a quick, “Yeah,” is all he gave them.

  “Well alright! Take hands and jump lively. Let’s go!” shouted Elon over the radio.

  Suddenly, someone had Alex’s other hand, and the four of them were leaping into space and at an incredible height. Alex was scared. Just before he felt like he was hurtling into space, never to see solid ground again, the four of them were coming back down, in a big cloud of moon-dust. And once more, they were going up. The feeling in Alex’s stomach changed from terror, to anxiety, and then started to melt into something else. Excitement. He still didn’t want the others to know he might be having fun.

  After maybe twenty or so hops, the squad halted at the lip of a dark crater, ten meters in diameter. A sign with crude lettering, tacked to a post, read, “Bottomless Pit: BEWARE!” It had clearly been made and left by the Spaghetti Squad, but he was genuinely concerned that such a dangerous hole would have such poor safety measures.

  “So this is bottomless?” Alex crackled over the radio.

  “Well not bottomless, it can’t be. You’d come out the other side of the moon,” Angelo answered energetically.

  “That’s right,” followed Elon. “It’s just very very deep. If you fell, you’d be stuck in absolute darkness, and they say it takes half a day just to reach the bottom.”

  “Yeah! Could you imagine!?” Angelo began, gesturing widely once more, but this time lost his footing on the lip of the crater and started to fall forwards, “Aaaaah!” screamed over the radio.

  “Brigadier!” yelled Elon.

  “Angelo, no!” cried Kathy.

  Alex didn’t have time to think. He half-dove after Angelo, falling into the crater himself but managing to hold a grip on the edge. His other hand was just out of reach of Angelo.

  “Whyyyyyyy?” droned Angelo, slowly drifting into the dark. Made all the worse by the slow gravity of the moon. “I was soooo yoooooung.”

  Alex reached as far as he could but it was no use. The darkness slowly gobbled up Angelo’s kicking feet, then his legs, his torso and then finally...Alex’s eyes were shut tight and he was still holding the edge of the crater with all his might. He noticed that everyone had gone quiet. He opened his eyes. At the centre of the pit, Angelo’s face was grinning widely; the darkness had stopped just before his helmet. The pit wasn’t bottomless at all, it only looked bottomless because of the dark.

  The radios had been muted. Suddenly, everyone’s laughter spilled into Alex’s helmet. “Man you were fast!” came Angelo’s voice from all the noise. “You didn’t quite reach me, but you were all over that like a spider. HEY!!!” Angelo finished with a gleeful hop, kicking up a bit of shadowed dust from the crater. Without finishing his thought, his big round helmet darted to Kathy and then to Elon. They both smiled at each other and turned to Alex.

  “Well, what do you think of that for a name?”

  “What?” Alex asked, still catching his breath.

  “What do you think about…Sergeant Spider!?” Angelo blurted.

  Alex didn’t say anything at first. “Hmmm, I don’t know,” said Kathy, “he doesn’t seem like a sergeant type.”

  Alex cleared his throat, “Can I just keep my name, kind of like Captain Kath?”

  “Like…Alex Spider?” asked Elon.

  “I guess. Yeah.” The name felt better to Alex, “Yeah, Alex Spider.”

  Kathy and Elon nodded to each other in agreement as Angelo clambered out of the bottomless pit. “Alex Spider,” he said, outstretching his right hand, “welcome to the Spaghetti Squad.” Alex hesitated for a moment and then took Angelo’s hand.

  “Thanks,” he answered quietly, before adding, “Brigadier Bolognese.”

  ***

  Back at the tree house, the gang put away their space suits before collapsing down next to the stacks of comics and a few loosely placed blankets. Alex still hadn’t said much on the way back. He was happy to have a nickname in the group, but it felt strange.

  “So Elon, are you still going to go stay with your older brother in Moon City this summer?” Angelo hadn’t stopped talking since the pit.

  “I think so. I mean, I love being out here. And you know I love the fishing, but could you imagine spending an entire year in the City?”

  “Have you ever been to any cities?” asked Kath.

  “No,” answered Elon, “but I’ve always wanted to go. I’ve been in Silver Creek all my life. Leaving even for a bit makes me scared. Good kind of scared though, I think.”

  “Would you go by lunar pod or by rocket?” asked Angelo.

  “Oh, I’d go rocket all the way. Lunars are sooo slooow. Besides, rockets are incredibly safe.”

  “They aren’t that safe,” added Alex with a blank tone.

  “Maybe we shouldn’t—” Kathy tried to interrupt.

  “Oh they totally are,” Elon continued. “They’re pretty
much foolproof these days. It would take a real dummy to crash one.”

  Alex didn’t realise that he was already on his feet and raising his voice, as if he couldn’t control his actions or even hear the words coming out of his mouth, “You shut up, Elon. Take it back!”

  Everyone was startled; Kathy tried to keep tears from welling. Elon began to stammer but it was Angelo that interceded, “Hey squad, c’mon. Everything is okay in Noodle H.Q.” But Alex didn’t hear him. He was already out the hatch and down the ladder. Kathy tried to call after him, but he was already steaming down the path.

  “Was it something I said?” croaked Elon.

  “It’s okay, it wasn’t you. He’s just sensitive.”

  Alex disappeared down the path, Angelo watching all the while from a crude porthole cut through one of the wall planks. “Man,” he started.

  “What?” followed Elon.

  “Spider can run.”

  ***

  Alex hadn’t made any noise when entering the house. He quietly shut the front door, went upstairs to his room, and cried. He thought about what Elon had said, over and over. He knew that Elon didn’t mean anything by it. Not to him personally, he didn’t know his parents died in a rocket crash that his dad had been piloting. The rocket auto-systems were very safe but they never found out what happened exactly. And he cried. He cried because he missed them with all his heart. No matter what people said on purpose; no matter what people said by accident, he knew his dad was a great rocket pilot. His mom was a great woman too, a writer. She wouldn’t have been in that rocket with him if he hadn’t been great. His father had been the owner of his own small rocket company. Their new rocket was supposed to change space travel.

  He didn’t care about all that, though, he didn’t care about new ways of getting from here to there. He didn’t care about the moon, or space or anything else. He just cared about his parents. How could he feel like he belongs when where he belongs is gone? He wrapped himself a little tighter in his duvet and stared out the window once more. For a brief moment, an idea popped into his head. One so fast he hardly even knew it was there, but it had been, for however brief. For a moment, he wondered, “Maybe the Spaghetti Squad can help.”

  3

  Every morning, a great big disk rises from Moon City to help reflect sun across the smaller towns and farms. Alex could always tell it was just before dawn because the mail rockets would come in from earth, blurring overhead with red and blue fire.

  Alex stayed in his room well into the afternoon. He was determined not to risk any outbursts, so when he heard through his window Angelo sauntering to their house from down the path, he didn’t come down. Even when Elon joined them a moment or two later and the Spaghetti Squad joked and laughed right beneath his window, he still didn’t come down. Suddenly the Squad got very quiet, hatching something when Alex’s ear twitched at the mention of “Lunar Olympics.”

  “Alright, I say today’s competition is Lunar Long Jump!” declared Angelo with great conviction.

  “We’ll have to switch off the gravity generators for most of the backyard if we want to do it properly,” Kathy finished, walking over to a row of bushes next to the house. Getting down to one knee, she fiddled with something in the dirt, when a trap door unsealed with a hiss and a waft of cool air escaped around the edges. The door rose up and slid open to reveal a brightly lit console with three dials. One dial was blue, another was red, and another was green. To the left of all three was a bright meter, lit in yellow. A little lock icon glowed on each of the dials. But a tiny screen with an up and down arrow displayed the name of a setting. Right then it read: Regular Day. She tapped the down arrow and now it displayed: Regular Night. Once more: Patio Party. Kathy tapped the arrow a third time and LUNAR OLYMPICS all in capitals read along the console. She tapped a small red button next to the arrows and the yellow meter began to drop.

  Kathy got up and went to another bush further down the row leading away from the house. She opened another trap door and changed its setting as well. Uncle Dave had helped the Spaghetti Squad with their first annual Lunar Olympics by programming a pre-set with less gravity. Usually they only needed to turn down one gravity generator for an event. Lunar High Jump was also a Squad favourite. But today, just in case anyone was watching, they wanted to really show off.

  Alex was still trying to ignore what they were doing, but it was after Elon’s first attempt that Alex found it too difficult to stay in his room.

  “Ooooooh, man! Elon! You’re practically flying!” Angelo’s unbound enthusiasm was contagious. Alex had to see. Sitting up from beneath the windowsill, he couldn’t help it, a sharp laugh escaped him. Elon was floating…not just floating…air-running over the yard and towards the path away from the house. It was incredible. Elon landed with a soft thud about five feet from the foot of the path.

  “Holy cow!” exclaimed Kathy, “That was the furthest yet.”

  “Pff, that’s nothin’,” interrupted Angelo. “You just check this out!” Angelo scurried back to the rear of the house, right beneath Alex’s window. With a deep breath and a great deal of very serious concentration, Angelo bolted from a standstill with five big strides before leaping with all his might.

  With regular gravity, Angelo would have travelled maybe a few feet, but now he could launch himself five times that. Angelo squirmed through the air, contorting himself all kinds of ways in a bid to gain more distance. Everyone began to laugh. He tried so hard for what seemed to only slow him down. Elon and Kathy both doubled over as Alex joined in from the window.

  “Hey, Alex!” Elon called from below, “Come join us.”

  Alex didn’t say anything, but it was too late, he was smiling and they could see it. He gave up. Within a minute he was in the backyard waiting at the starting line next to Kathy as Elon helped up Angelo.

  “I thought I had it that time. I thought it was going to be my furthest yet,” Angelo was still a little out of breath.

  “I saw it, Brigadier. Next time,” said Elon.

  Angelo didn’t say anything back.

  Kathy was just getting into position when she decided to offer her spot to Alex. “Go ahead,” she gestured to the starting-line: two footprints stamped into the grass. A few strides ahead of him was a stick, meant to signify the jumping point. “That’s where the gravity is switched lower,” she nodded toward the stick.

  “So I just sort of run and…?” Alex trailed off.

  “Jump!” Kathy laughed. She understood the feeling of trying Lunar Long Jump for the first time. But really, watching anyone play on the moon for the first time ever always made for a fun afternoon.

  “Go Spider, go! Go Spider, go!” chanted Elon.

  “Go Spider, go!” joined Kathy.

  Alex didn’t hesitate, he launched from his place with three giant strides. He exploded up and over the jumping line with power none of them expected, and he soared. For all of the Squad to see, the Spider could fly. At first, he kept his eyes shut tight, but as the cool dome air passed over his face, he opened to see he had surpassed Angelo’s spot, and was going to make it at least as far as Elon. No. Further! Stiff as a board, Alex felt more like an Olympic ski jumper. Down, down, down, and he slid knee first onto the grass, landing just past Elon’s mark.

  “Jumping Spider!!” cheered Elon, who didn’t seem remotely upset at being outperformed.

  Alex barely landed before he was being helped up and congratulated by Elon and Kathy. “That was some heck of a jump, Alex!” beamed Kathy.

  “The Lunar Olympics have seen some pretty amazing things but nothing like that,” Elon could not hide his admiration.

  “Thanks,” Alex said quietly. He continued to look at the ground but smiled. He couldn’t hide his enjoyment.

  “Where’s Angelo?” Kathy asked suddenly.

  “Hey, yeah!” joined Elon.

  Alex was a little concerned that Angelo would just disappear like that, “Where would he have gone?” he asked.

  Elon scratched
at his neck a moment before frowning, “I think he may have been a little upset.”

  “Why?” asked Alex.

  “I think it’s because you guys both beat him, you know, by a lot,” explained Kathy.

  “I think you’re right. He didn’t say much after his first attempt. But he’s shorter than the rest of us, he shouldn’t beat himself up,” offered Elon.

  It was Alex who had something else to offer, “We can’t help what makes us feel bad or even angry, I guess. That’s kind of the problem, isn’t it? I didn’t know I’d go so far either.”

  “Well he’s probably back at the tree house,” suggested Kathy. The other two agreed and they made their way down the path immediately, forgetting to disengage the Lunar Olympic settings.

  The path felt a little longer to walk today. Alex was still trying to get used to the dark sky dotted with bright spots constantly overhead. Elon and Kathy were chatting about something, and he became mesmerized by what the island was like, as if really seeing it for the first time. The path was like walking through any forest, pine needles littered the way, some a rusty orange from decay. The air felt fresh and clean as anywhere on earth. The time of day was difficult to discern, it was mostly bright or not bright. The disc was raised in the morning and lowered in the evening. It wasn’t gradual like back home. But he got used to it. It made him appreciate seeing the forest in the light and how special it was to look up and still see the brightest of night skies. As the other two talked, he continued to lose himself in the space around him and tried to think of just the right way to describe it. A dark sky wasn’t fair. It was more, Alex thought, more like a…a blanket of stars overhead, that never went away, no matter the time, no matter the day. To his surprise, he had just made up a rhyme about outer space. And he liked it. He definitely wasn’t going to be sharing that with the Squad, but he had to admit to himself, that sounded nice. Listening to a lot of Talib Kweli and Common probably rubbed off on his rhyming skills.