Please Don't Tell My Parents I Blew Up the Moon by Richard Roberts

straight. I couldn’t have blacked out more than a second, right? It’s just that building a spaceship-
    Ow. Ow. Ow.
    “Ha! HA HA HA!”
    I rubbed the back of my head, which did not work very well through my helmet. The ache forced my eyes nearly shut, but my grin spread so wide, that ached, too.
    “I can make a spaceship.” Oh, I could. The spaceship swam around in my head, lithe instead of stiff. The idea was so complicated. So beautiful. I could do it, but… “I need cloning tools. My power’s on a biotech kick.”
    Claire asked, “Penny, are you sure?” Ray merely squeezed me protectively.
    That grip around my arms ached, too. He so needed a better idea of how strong he’d gotten if he was going to woo the ladies. With great effort, I wriggled an arm free to wave them both off. “Three inspirations in one day is overworking my power, and this job can’t be done by hand. This is just strain.”
    Spider hadn’t batted an eye. Metaphorically. In a literal sense, I was mostly sure spiders didn’t have eyelids. “Fortunately, an illegal cloning research center was recently shut down by Mourning Dove. She must have been distracted, because she forgot to destroy their biotechnology suite. I am a bit of a packrat, and appropriated the set. The tools will be waiting for you at the launch site.”
    Space. The Inscrutable Machine would be the first humans to visit Jupiter, the first to leave the inner solar system. The offer was so, so tempting.
    But it wouldn’t work. As much as I wanted to grind my teeth, I had to say, “We respectfully decline your generous offer. Growing a spaceship could take days. Space exploration could take weeks. We have school obligations. We have cover identities to think of.”
    Behind me, Ray stomped his foot, and Claire let out a snort of frustration. They knew I was right.
    Spider reshuffled her legs, pulling them in to grip webbing close to her body, and leaned a few feet closer. For the first time, I could make out the gleaming black eyes, tiny compared to her bulk but much bigger than mine, and all clustered together. I got the terrible feeling she was giving me a look, an arachnid expression I could not possibly interpret. Her answer came slowly, almost grave. “I hope that by now I have convinced you that I do not offer what I cannot deliver in full. Please rest assured I have a cover prepared that will not only excuse your absences, but will make your secret identities more secure. You will be free to take as much time off school as the job requires.”
    “We’ll do it.” I said the words before I’d even thought them through, but there was no way I was taking them back. Not even if Ray and Claire tried to argue.
    “Excellent. This way, please.” Spider turned around, crawling through her web at a dainty pace that allowed us tiny humans to follow. I put one arm around Claire’s waist and another over her eyes, Ray took her elbow, and we walked together towards the other side of the web-filled parking garage. Where could we be going?
    Well, if I had to guess, the big rectangular hole in the wall edged in flickering light that led into a white painted, metal-trimmed corridor. Another clue would be the yellow and white hazard lines painted just inside the portal, with the legend ‘CAUTION: REDUCED GRAVITY.’



he painted warning wasn’t kidding. I took my first step through the portal, got dizzy, tried to get my feet under myself, and jumped so high, I nearly cracked my head on the ceiling. The high ceiling. I let myself settle down gently, and took the next few steps nice and soft. After two successful steps, I looked back.
    Ray and Claire looked perfectly comfortable and in control, like the artificially balance-enhanced superhumans they were. I didn’t know whether to be mortified or furiously jealous.
    I opted for ‘grateful.’ Ray eyed the hallway exits and Claire had taken off one glove to slide a finger over the metal walls. They pretended flawlessly that I