The High Five

Flare Up

To Milo's relief, the crew managed to make it to dinner without any more incidents.

"We defeated the jinx!" Jess declared. "If the faulty pressure sensor hadn't been found, it could have caused a full shutdown of the entire water system."

Milo cast a look to Bobby that said, Shut up and don't ruin this for her.

"That's not all," Bobby said, producing a small object that resembled a spark plug. "We found a defective power coupler in the starboard cargo-lift. It was a fire hazard just waiting to happen."

Milo scrutinized Bobby's face for signs that he was lying. "Good work," he said belatedly. He grabbed a lunch tray and took a seat.

Tayen noticed Milo frowning at his food. "Fair swap? Your zombie guts for my maggot balls?"

"Deal," Milo agreed. Teriyaki rice balls beat spaghetti any day.

Vivian burst into the mess in disarray. "I am so done with this jinx!"

"What happened to your shirt?" Tayen asked.

"Major toothpaste malfunction. It's ruined. The fluoride eats holes the fabric. First the sesh, then the shower, and now this—what an absolute disaster!"

"What happened in the sesh?" Jess asked.

"Oh, just a glitch with the AI moderator," Vivian said evasively. "So when is this jinx officially over?"

"After the next round of dessert poker," Bobby said. "Don't worry. The chances of coming up all duds twice in a row are almost nil."

"All right then. Spin the wheel!"

"It's called dessert poker for a reason. We have to finish dinner first."

"Come on, everyone eat fast." Vee-Vee shoveled food into her mouth.

"Famous firsts," Jess announced. "Who was the first astronaut to visit a dwarf planet and which one was it?"

"I find that offensive," Bobby said. "They should call them planets of diminutive circumference."

"Here's a hint," Jess went on. "Was it Mei Lung, Dhanush Ashvili, or Conrad Peters?"

"Dhanush," Vivian answered. "I saw an interview with him. And the name of the planet was something to do with castle..." She racked her brain. "Fortress. Citadel. Pallas!" She snapped her fingers. "Now please, can you all just finish eating so we can put this miserable day behind us."

Bobby took the tiniest of nibbles from his ravioli. "A delectable meal like this deserves to be savored."

"Don't make me spit all over your food." Vivian made a hocking noise.

Just then the radiation alarm flashed to life. A rising pitch assaulted the ears. Alerts popped up simultaneously on their phlexes. Solar storm. One of the sunspots had finally popped.

The crew had been extensively drilled on SPEs, or solar particle events. SPEs were caused by the disruption and realignment of magnetic fields, which could form looping flux lines many times the size of the Earth. When they intersected the sun's surface at a perpendicular angle, they formed sunspots. Sometimes the flux lines became twisted and subject to enormous strain. When they snapped, they shot out enormous quantities of plasma and charged particles. Unpredictable and capable of wreaking havoc on sensitive electronics and even more sensitive human organs, solar storms were the bane of space travel and moon colonies. The Earth's magnetic field protected those down on the surface from the worst of the radiation, but only the thin walls of the ship stood between the crew and the tsunami of subatomic particles.