16 FREEZE-DRIED MILK SOLIDS

16 FREEZE-DRIED MILK SOLIDS Lunar day 252 T minus 14 hours to evacuation "What's up?" Kira asked as we hurried out of Chang's residence. Chang didn't follow us. He stayed back in his room. Maybe he really had other things to do, as he'd claimed, though I had the sense that he was so annoyed at Nina, he didn't want to see anyone else for a bit. "Another emergency," I said. "In the mess hall." From Chang's door we could see the mess

through the corner of the greenhouse. To my surprise, no one seemed to be there. In fact, there didn't seem to be anyone anywhere in the base. The corridors along the residences were completely empty, as was the rec room across the hall: For once, no one was using the veeyar system. Obviously, everyone could have been on the side of the base I couldn't see, where the science pod and the bathrooms and the maintenance offices were—or they could have been in their residences—but I couldn't hear any voices, either, which was unusual. I wondered if there had been a new problem with the oxygen system, and everyone had passed out from hypoxia. Kira looked concerned as well. "C'mon," she said, and we ran toward the mess. It didn't take long to get there. Only a few bounds down the corridor. As we rounded the greenhouse, it became evident that the mess was completely empty—even though my parents had just asked me to come there. The science pod and the gym were empty too. Which was very, very unsettling. If everyone had collapsed from hypoxia, there should have at least been some bodies around. I swung back around toward the greenhouse.

At which point, almost all our fellow Moonies leaped out from where they'd been crouched at the base of the wall, hidden from view, and screamed, "Surprise!" Under different circumstances, the surprise party would have been a very lovely effort on everyone's part. They had curled pages from the residents" guide into conical party hats and decorated them festively. They had inflated surgical gloves to make balloons (although with all the fingers sticking out, they looked more like cow udders). They had even made confetti, which Violet and the other kids flung in the air. Unfortunately, it wasn't the best day for a surprise party. I was already on edge, worried about oxygen leaks and killers on the loose. So when everyone jumped out and startled me, I screamed in terror. So did Kira, who was equally on edge. Both of us leaped several feet in the air, given the low gravity. And I lost my grip on the syringe I'd been holding. It flew into the batch of inflated surgical gloves Roddy Marquez was holding and pierced three in one shot. They all exploded with a series of loud bangs, frightening Inez Marquez, who started bawling.

The syringe itself ended up jabbed in Cesar's thigh, where it stuck like a dart in a bull's eye. Turns out, Cesar had a fear of needles. He made a surprisingly high-pitched shriek and then passed out, nearly taking Kamoze Iwanyi down with him. This stopped the celebration dead. All the Moonies had been about to burst into "Happy Birthday to You," but no one got past the first syllable. Except Violet, who obliviously kept singing. And when Violet sang "Happy Birthday," she did it as operatically as possible. The only Moonies who weren't there were the Sjobergs (naturally), Chang (obviously), and Nina (who had probably never celebrated anything in her life). Dr. Brahmaputra-Marquez quickly ran to Cesar's side to check on him and gasped when she saw the syringe. "Why were you carrying this?" she asked me accusingly. "Chang found it in his residence," I said, deciding it wasn't time to go into the whole story. "It might, uh still have a little cyanide in it." "What?!" Dr. Marquez gasped. "The killer planted it on Chang," Kira said quickly. "To frame him for killing Lars."

In all the commotion, she had forgotten that a lot of Moonies hadn't been told that the poisoning wasn't an accident. Particularly the children. This revelation was enough to stop even Violet in the midst of her song. "Someone killed Lars?" Inez yelped, then started crying even louder. "Actually, they only tried to kill him," Kira said quickly, which didn't help much. "We should get Cesar to the medical bay right away," Dr. Brahmaputra-Marquez said. Although he was only a teenager, Cesar was still one of the biggest Moonies. Even so, Dr. Balnikov handled him easily. He picked Cesar up, cradled him in his arms, and hustled him off with his mother. Dr. Marquez followed along. "Do you think I can help?" he asked meekly. "I doubt it," Dr. Brahmaputra-Marquez said. "He needs a real doctor." "But I am a real doctor," Dr. Marquez protested. "You're just an astrophysicist!" "Then tend to Inez, for Pete's sake," Dr. Brahmaputra-Marquez told him. Inez Marquez was still crying, having been ignored in the uproar over Cesar. In fact, a fragment of one of the surgical

gloves was still draped over her head, like a little latex yarmulke. It occurred to me that the syringe was an important piece of evidence, but given that it was still stuck in Cesar's leg, it seemed like bad manners to ask for it back at the moment. In any event, my parents had now come to my side. They were terribly upset and embarrassed about how badly the surprise party had worked out. "I am so sorry," Mom said, hugging me tightly. "We all thought this would be a nice surprise. Your birthday hasn't gone the way we'd hoped, and so " "We didn't mean to frighten you like that," Dad put in. "It's all right," I said. "Really. I'm sorry I ruined everything." Close by, Dr. Howard was comforting Kira as well, one of his rare moments of emotional engagement. He wasn't hugging her, though. They were just talking things through. "It's not ruined," Mom assured me. "We only got off on the wrong foot. But we still put together a wonderful birthday meal for you." It turned out they had. At least, they had put