Paparazzi was weird for PPMC, but she expected it after her completion. Her hands went outside to the space center's circular launch pad and hovered beside Professor Chenoa.
She patted her but did not take her eyes away from the group of tourists in front of them. "PPMC also has the power of hyperspace, known as light speed, and she can even survive a supernova."
Oh, great. They would make clones of PPMC for whenever the Sun exploded, would they?
A tourist lifted her hand. "Can she talk?"
"She's AI-powered, yes." Chenoa pushed her red, oval-shaped glasses closer to the bridge of her nose. "We've programmed her with the personality of Becca Matton, Benjamin E. Matton's late wife, to rear Dan during his journey."
But I don't know how to rear a teen! PPMC thought to herself.
That same tourist asked, "What time periods are they going to again, Professor?"
Chenoa smirked. "Well, if you know anything about geologic time, you should know."
PPMC knew she referred to her name. She almost spoiled what it meant, but Chenoa held her index finger to her lips. She would've made a great teacher if she went into education instead of astronomy.
"Now, PPMC," Chenoa whispered, "let's let them figure it out themselves."
A voice ripped through the atmosphere after she said that. "I don't want to be part of a stupid space exploration!" Before PPMC knew it, Ben appeared in the tourist crowd.
He dragged a teenage boy behind him and begged, "Come on, Dan! At least give it a chance! Let Professor Chenoa explain it to you."
Dan stamped on Ben's foot. He tripped over his hoverscooter and tumbled like a bowling ball through the crowd.
The pins moved aside to let the bowling ball through.
Dan fell forward, but PPMC slipped her hands under his arms. Now that they were face-to-face, she finally got a good look at him.
He was a shorter boy, maybe 5'7, with brown eyes, tufty hair, and a small pimple on his beardless chin. He donned a pair of goggles above his bangs and a red uniform. His boots looked like they were strong enough to cut through metal.
PPMC knew it was wrong to hit on a teenage boy, but she couldn't help herself. Dan must've gotten his good looks from his mother. He and Ben shared some resemblance but didn't look like clones.
Gosh, was PPMC staring? She had to be because Dan pulled away, a weird look on his young face. He appeared a little pale, too, as if he felt a bit under the weather. No, PPMC was seeing things. After all, she was only a starship.
An awkward silence passed before Dan finally admitted, "Quit staring at me like that. It's creepy."
PPMC couldn't even find it in her hands to apologize. How on Earth were she and Dan supposed to survive each other? She didn't feel like a mother but a thirteen-year-old girl head over heels for the hottest boy in school.
Professor Chenoa, please save me, PPMC mentally pleaded.
***
"I don't want to be here!" Dan refused to travel with PPMC's creepy, robotic hands. They looked like something out of a horror film by the way they hovered and seemed to stare. Why hadn't he flown away yet? His hoverscooter was right there.
The paparazzi moved away from PPMC and zeroed in on Dan. Cameras flashed, and black dots blurred his vision. His head spun, and he clutched it with one hand.
"Dan! Dan!" one tourist yelled. "What's it like to be the Star of the PPMC Project?"
"Uhh..." Dan answered, his voice trailing like a river through the excited crowd.
"Oh! You're speechless, I see!" the tourist assumed.
Dan snatched flailing hands from him and pushed through the gathering to get some air. He glared at Ben and eventually shouted, "Leave me alone!" at his crazed fans. From there, he turned and crashed right into PPMC's hands. Dan toppled onto his back, knocked out cold, and his face was under her.
In his unconscious mind, he saw The Valley of Green the day he found the fossil. There was five-year-old him and his mother. It was like he went back in time via a time machine, and Dan liked it. He'd rather look at his mom vs. his dad any day, especially now that he knew Ben wanted to get rid of him.
"Mom!" Dan called, running toward her. Unfortunately, he ran through her as if he were a ghost. Seriously? He just wanted a woman to love him again. What was the point of his dream if he couldn't touch Becca?
"Daniel," he heard her say to five-year-old him, and she hugged him. "I want you to know that I'll always be with you—in forms both big and small."
"In forms both big and small." How could Dan forget this conversation? It happened soon after Becca showed him how to hoverscoot and left him temporarily.
"In forms both big and small." He said those words aloud as he came to... and found himself no longer on the space center's launch pad. Instead, he rested on a bed in a hotel-like room. Holographic blinds covered its single window.
The thought of Ben carrying him there after accidentally knocking himself out embarrassed him. However, now that he was alone, he could escape more stealthily. Or he could merely grab his hoverscooter and make a run for it. Whatever Dan had to do to get himself out of this absurd mission. He would fly to his grandma's and live there. Or he could find a nice little bridge and become a hippie. Ben wouldn't care.
But wait! Where was his hoverscooter? Dan searched the medium-sized room. He looked under the bed and opened the mechanical closet. If his dad took it, he swore... hm. Where would someone like Ben hide a hoverscooter? Well, considering Dan was the "Star" of the so-called PPMC Project—ugh. That's likely where it was. He just had to make it through the space center without Ben or Chenoa catching him. He didn't care what the project entailed. Ben would have to find someone else to do his dirty work.