Desperation backed Lorenzo into a corner, figuratively and literally. He huddled between the two intersecting shelves lining the seating area, the least populated space within a reasonable distance of the archives. This did not mean it was unpopulated. To his dismay, a lone reader witnessed him: Delilah Rose. He split his focus between avoiding eye contact–her eyes were never far from him–and his string of phone calls. Could he blame her for staring? Libraries had laws, and every word he spoke flew in the face of them. His eyes darted around his surroundings. At any moment, punishment could be upon him.

He had a bigger crime to stop, namely Angelo Summers. How did he survive the weight of impending doom on his shoulders when he was hardly able to lift himself? He didn’t sleep well; that much, Lorenzo knew for sure. In the early mornings, the ship’s camera feed caught the boy jolting awake in his dorm, followed by him huddling up and staring into the darkness, sometimes crying. Guilt must haunt his dreams. In a way, getting sent home might put Summers out of his misery.

Lorenzo’s impatience grew, despite the pleasant wait music over his earpiece, the one he placed on his right ear. He checked the time. 18:37. At this point, he and Mia would need to take a bus back to the hotel in time to meet the others.

The easy listening music came to an end. “Sorry about the wait, sir. The IF just got in contact with us to confirm that you are who you say you are. I went ahead and sent word to give you access to the full search results. All that’s left to do is wait. Do you have any questions?”

“When will I have an answer?”

“When will you have an answer?” the receptionist repeated as if he’d spoken another language. “Are you asking when you can expect to hear back from us?”

“Y-Yes.” Lorenzo’s phone calls were better left planned, and his internal script ran out two phone calls ago.

“It should be within ten business days.”

Two weeks. The Celestion-5 had a schedule to keep. The longer it took to prove Summers’s lie, the more time it would take to send him back where he belonged and find more suitable crewmembers to replace him and his brother. He’d prefer to be done with the whole disaster, but patience was a virtue.

“Thank you, that’ll be–” Another question crept into mind, cutting off his train of thought and his ability to course correct.

“Will that be all, sir?”

“No, wait.” That came out too casual. Too desperate. “Will I still have full access upon leaving the Moon? To the search results?”

“I don’t think so. Something about it being harder to encrypt information from foreign spacecraft.”

“My ship leaves tomorrow. Is there a way–” his thoughts outpaced his mouth,“Is there a way to make the process go faster? It’s an emergency.”

“I’ll pass that along and get back to you as soon as possible. But I’m afraid I can’t make any promises that they’ll see my messages any faster.”

“Thank you for your efforts.” Lorenzo held a deep breath until after the call ended. He should’ve called earlier. If it weren’t for ship preparations and debriefs about deserters, he would’ve called earlier. With the wait being two weeks, would it have mattered?

Being struck by a meteorite was more likely than being chosen to pilot the Celestion-5. That applied to any star ranger. Lorenzo had yet to even enlist when his principal pulled him out of class for Chief Commander Wilson to offer him a spot on the Celestion Project. None of them knew he’d prove himself fit to lead the first manned ship to Neptune. His own hard work was responsible for this, yes, but good fortune even more so.

Bad fortune saddled him with a teenage criminal. Whichever way fortune would have it, the Celestion-5 would either contribute to the advancement of mankind or be remembered as the ship that allowed a child soldier onboard. Lorenzo preferred not to leave things up to chance.

When his earpiece rang again, he thought fortune turned in his favor.

Then his mother’s voice came through. “Wenzooo! Good, good, I was worried you wouldn’t answer.”

“Why would I not?” He never called her; he always answered.

“No time for that. Emil’s in jail.”

“Wh–?”

“He needs you to bail him out.”

Lorenzo felt as though he’d been hit in the head with a shovel. “Do you know what he was arrested for?”

“Huh? What was that? You’re so quiet. C’monnn, you can speak up a little.”

“I’m in the library.” Library or not, Lorenzo was not going to risk Delilah overhearing him talking about his brother’s arrest, especially not when Mia had now joined her, presumably after putting away the files. Both mother and daughter stared at him, though the latter had the decency to look away.

“And? Relax, they’re not gonna—I was gonna say they’re not gonna arrest you for it, but with Emil’s whole thing, you better play it safe.”

“Do you know what happened?”

“Nope. Told him not to say a word until you, your dad, or a lawyer showed up.” Yet she called him paranoid. “Plus, I didn’t have the heart to press him. You know how jumpy he gets when he feels trapped. Remember the anti-gravity tube? At the space center back in Texas?”

“...I remember.” Lorenzo remembered feeling helpless as he watched his brother kicking and screaming, even if it was for no reason.

“Pobrecito palomito.” she clicked her tongue. “Well, he ain’t gettin’ any freer with me talking your ear off, so I’ll let you go. Let me know how it goes and what actually happened. I wanna get my facts from an unbiased source. And. Y’know. It wouldn’t hurt to hear from you more. Especially with–” she went silent for a few moments, prolonging Emil’s jail time, “the big trip. Emil loves to hog a phone, but you know I think of you, right? We both do.”

Unsure how to respond, Lorenzo told her “I’ll call you back.”

“And I’ll be looking forward to your report, Captain.” She gave a kiss to the receiver. “Talk to you later!”

Lorenzo took a moment for himself to recover from the news. He wanted to take a few more when he realized he’d have to break his own rules and split off from Mia, but every moment he wasted was another his brother had to suffer. So he walked over to her …and her mother.

“A situation has come up that needs my attention, so I will not be able to go back to the hotel with you.”

“Hotel?” Delilah’s eyebrows raised at her daughter.

“I thought we weren’t supposed to split up.” Mia ignored her. She didn’t ask where he was going. His circumstances weren’t ideal, but her response was.

“Yes. Since I’m the one who violated the order, I’ll take full punishment. Could you text the others that our meetup will be postponed until further notice?”

“I’m on it.” She lifted her phone.

Lorenzo left with tablet in hand, searching for directions to Lunaria’s one and only police station. His lone comfort was the fact that he only had his thoughts to intrude on him. Was Emil alone or did Léonardo get arrested too? Whose fault was it? The Summers’ situation primed Lorenzo to be wary of Léonardo, but Emil could’ve been careless enough to cause a misdemeanor on his own.

Misdemeanor. Just the idea sat like lead in his stomach. Leaving his little brother to ruin his future might as well have been Lorenzo’s crime. It’d impact their family’s reputation all the same. Galhardos were to be upstanding in all respects. Any deviation from that wounded their collective protective shell. Their father often reminded them of an important lesson he learned during the death ray scandal: People were much like sharks—always on the hunt and ready to swarm when there’s blood in the water.

Tending to issues in private was a matter of safety, but some wounds were too big to hide. Like a limb severed, his mother split from family, forcing upon them the agony of change. There was a time where he couldn’t walk through school without nosy questions or teachers’ condolences. Now he passed through busy streets confident that even if someone happened to know about his broken home, they couldn’t take advantage of it. Enough time passed for everyone to adjust. It still felt wrong to.

Ironically, the Celestion-5 mission was a change she found hard to accept. She’d just have to be content knowing that even though they’d be far away, his and Emil’s feelings for her wouldn’t change. Lorenzo would still be just as confused by her as usual.

No one stood between Lorenzo and the reception desk when he entered the police station. This meant no one stood in the way of his purpose, but this also meant that no one gave him enough of a buffer to figure out the words he wanted to say.

“Hello, may I help you?” The receptionist split her attention between him and whatever she typed on her laptop.

“I was wondering if my–” Introducing Emil as his brother was unnecessary. Too much information. “I’m looking for my subordinate.”

She stopped typing to stare down his outfit. “You’re with the IF? Somebody around here was calling around for a star ranger earlier.”

As she turned to ask her coworkers for more information, Lorenzo took a look around at the waiting area. A plaque rested on the wall beside Lorenzo’s head. From the words he could make out, it seemed to be commemorating the Interstellar Forces’s generous donations of training equipment. Speckled tiles made an attempt to hide what grime couldn’t be removed by mopping. Though not up to the Moon Base’s standards, it was still clean enough to make out a vague reflection showing some movement down the hall. He lifted his gaze to find two hands waving at him.

If he shut his eyes, he could pretend one of them wasn’t his brother’s.

“Captain Galhardo-Alverez?” Surprisingly, the receptionist didn’t look his way until he faced her. “Oh, I was just trying to get the name of the guy they were calling. Is that you?”

An older officer escorted him down the hall after he showed the receptionist his ID, and there, he finally saw Emil, haggard, sweaty, but smiling alongside Léonardo. Their smiles faded under his stare, until they both dropped eye contact. They were long behind him when the officer turned towards an open area full of desks. Phones rang, radios crackled–it was an effort to think straight in these conditions. How did anyone protect the public here?

He and the policewoman weaved around desk corners when finally, she stopped at a desk in the back. Lorenzo recognized the sun logo of Mr. Shine, his favorite superhero, decorating the laptop sitting on it. The owner had a flat expression to match. His nameplate read ‘OFC. Tobias Peshko.’

“Officer Peshko.” The policewoman addressed him, to no avail. He had earphones in. “Peshko.” she repeated loud enough for his head to jolt up.

“Sergent Nash?” Officer Peshko’s head jolted up, as did Lorenzo’s. He had no idea someone so high on the chain of command would take the time out of her day to escort him.

“The captain here is looking for those boys you hauled in earlier. Should I go get ‘em?”

“I could–”

“Ahh, I don’t have anything better to do right now.”

“S-Sure, go ahead.” His eyes flickered to Lorenzo. “Have a seat. I’ll go over the details once your subordinates get here.”

“Yeah, let him get back to his podcast.” joked the sergeant. “Where are you at, by the way?”

“She keeps noticing two guys on her tail, but they haven’t done anything yet.”

“Got’cha. Let me know how it goes.”

She left the two in silence—as much silence as this place can have. Lorenzo appreciated it nonetheless, even if it meant being forced to listen to the loud man sitting on top of the next desk.

“So I made them eat it right there, right in front of me—Of course I did! If you saw them, you’d’ve seen how tense they were. Like they were up to something. I thought maybe the little weirdos tampered with it—Yep, spacepunks. One of them had those ridiculous-looking mirror shades, you know the ones—What do you mean the guy right behind me?”

Lorenzo didn’t recognize him without his hat, but both he and the hot dog policeman made the realization around the same time.

“Can’t keep out of trouble, huh?”

“I’m just here to pick up my subordinates, sir.”

“Subordinates?” Officer Hot Dog eyed him. “What did they do, crash your UFO?”

He took off his ridiculous-looking mirror shades out of respect for the police station. “I’ve yet to find out.”

Sergeant Nash soon returned with Léonardo and Emil in tow, hands cuffed behind their backs. “Peshko! Your boys are here.”

Officer Peshko promptly yanked out his earphones and corrected his posture. While he and his superior talked, Lorenzo steadied a chair so Emil wouldn’t topple it over. Léonardo was on his own.

“It wasn’t my fault this time.” were the first words out of Emil’s mouth. “Or Leon’s.”

“Hi, Captain! I knew you’d come and get us.” Léonardo leaned out from behind Emil.

“We didn’t do anything.”

Though he seemed sincere enough, Lorenzo had his doubts. “I find it hard to believe you got arrested for not doing anything.”

“Then we’re on the same page.” responded Peshko. “Let’s get to business.” He took off his laptop monitor and shuffled it against the desk like a stack of papers. “I have video evidence of these two conspiring to stalk a woman.”