Extras

Tally's name to Udzir. That explained why the inhumans had let Aya, Frizz, and Hiro roam their camp, too afraid to confront them, waiting until they were trapped before attacking. In the sneak suits they'd looked exactly like Cutters.

But there was one thing Aya couldn't figure out 'How do you know Tally? And what are you doing here?'

Andrew Simpson Smith smiled proudly. 'Young Blood fell from the sky near my village, three and a half years ago.'

'She fell from the sky,' Aya repeated. 'Near your village?'

Andrew nodded. 'It is very far from here. Among the little men.'

'The little men?' Aya asked, looking closer at him. Had his teeth been surged to be that crooked? His clothing had scruffy bits of fur clinging to it, like something made of dead animals. 'Are you in some kind of clique that does pre-Rusty re-creations?'

Confusion clouded his face. 'I don't understand. Perhaps you do not speak the gods' language as well as I?' He leaned closer. 'Many of the floating ones also speak it poorly.'

Aya sighed, deciding to stick to simple English. 'Are you from Tally's city?'

'My people live in the wild,' Andrew said firmly. 'But now we know the ways of magnets and other magic. We help Young Blood watch the cities, to make sure they don't injure the Earth. That is how I met the floating ones.'

Aya nodded slowly. 'She said she had a friend who got kidnapped by the freaks. That's you, right?'

'Yes.' He added softly, 'The floating ones don't like to be spied on.'

Moggle spoke up again. 'Andrew, perhaps you can explain what you've learned about us.'

Aya rolled her eyes at the hovercam. Did the inhumans think that this pre-Rusty-looking oddball could convince her of anything?

But the man was nodding sagely. 'Do you know about the shape of the world, Aya?'

'Um, pardon me?'

'It is not flat, as it appears. But round, like a ball.'

Hiro barked out an astonished laugh, but Frizz bowed and said, 'Yes, we've heard this before.'

'You are wise, then.' Andrew squatted next to where Moggle lay on the ground, placing one dirty finger against its curved, camo-black skin. 'All of us live on the surface of this ball. More all the time?more people, more cities, less wild.'

'We know.' Frizz squatted next to him. 'We call that the expansion.'

'Expansion.' Andrew nodded. 'The gods' word for making bigger. But the ball of the world does not get bigger.'

'Yeah,' Frizz said. 'We're kind of stuck with what we've got.'

Andrew smiled. 'That is where the floating ones are clever. What if we build a new city?here.'

His finger wavered in the air, a few centimeters from Moggle's skin.

Frizz was silent for a few moments, then said, 'In space?'

Andrew nodded slowly, spreading out his hands as if warming them over Moggle's surface.

'There is a steady place over our heads, called orbit.

A ring that fits around the world.'

'I don't believe it,' Hiro said softly.

Andrew chuckled. 'It is hard at first, I know. But I learned from Young Blood that the world has no edge, no end. You must learn to see beyond the little men.'

'The little men?'

asked Hiro.

Frizz looked up at the towering metal shape above them. 'Turns out you were right, Aya, back when we saw them making this thing. You said it looked like a ship!'

Aya looked up at the missile, or ship, or whatever it was. She shook her head. 'But it looks exactly like one of those Rusty weapons!'

'The Rusties had more than one dream,' the inhuman voice said.

Aya realized the sound hadn't come from Moggle, and she turned around. Udzir and two other inhumans floated above her.

'After the first crude city killers were invented,' he continued, 'they were redesigned to send people into space. Death and hope in one machine.'

'That's what this is all about?' she asked softly. 'Space?'

'That's why you're all so lame in hoverball rigs!' Hiro cried. 'You're not using them to get around quicker? you're using them to practice for zero-g!'

'So you do believe in orbit!' Andrew said happily. 'It is a place where everyone floats!'

Aya closed her eyes, remembering her own trip through the jungle. 'And that's why you're all surged up like freaks. In zero-g there's no point in having feet. So you've all got extra hands.'

Udzir frowned, swimming in the air. 'We aren't 'freaks,' Aya Fuse. Every change we've made adapts us better to our future home. We're the first extraterrestrial people.' He bowed. 'We call ourselves Extras.'

Aya barely managed to stifle her laughter.

'I assure you,' Udzir said firmly 'we are completely serious about our new home.'

'Sorry it's just that in my city 'extra' means?well, never mind.'

'So you are on the same side as Tally,' Frizz said. 'All that metal's leaving Earth for good.'

Udzir nodded. 'Two birds with one stone. We can slow the expansion here on Earth and redirect it into space. It's time for humanity to leave our home, before we destroy it.'

'You're going to stay in orbit?' Frizz asked. 'Not go to some other planet?'

'Permanent orbital habitats,' Udzir said. 'Close enough to Earth to lift more supplies with mass drivers, near enough the sun for plenty of solar power. And miniature ecosystems to recycle our water and oxygen.'

'The Rusties never managed to save themselves this way,' another of the Extras said. 'They were overwhelmed by their own numbers and their wars. But humanity is smaller and more united now?we have another chance.'

'Unless Tally Youngblood and the Cutters stop us,' Udzir added, turning to Aya. 'A possibility we have you to thank for.'

'Me?' Aya said. 'Why didn't you just tell everyone what you were doing? If you hadn't been hiding here and kidnapping people, I bet Tally-wa would totally be on your side!'

'We have great respect for Tally Youngblood,' Udzir said. 'But we couldn't reveal our plans. Do you think the cities would let us strip the old ruins of metal? Or build a fleet of ships that could be easily turned into city killers?'

'You better ping Tally now and explain,' Frizz said. 'She's probably already here. And if she sees those ships, she'll think the same thing we did!'

'She has not listened to us so far,' Udzir said. 'We hope that you will try, Aya Fuse.'

Aya nodded slowly, her last doubts falling away. The Extras weren't trying to destroy the world; they were trying to save it. The zero-g rigs, their monkey toes, the spaceship towering over her?finally the whole story fit together.

The biggest story since the mind-rain 'I'll try,' she said. 'But one condition. Give me back my hovercam.'

'I should have known,' Udzir sighed.

He waved his hand, and Aya felt her limbs lighten, her hoverball rig coming back to life. Hiro floated up into the air, and Moggle rose uncertainly from the floor.

'Is that really you?' she asked.

Moggle's night-lights flashed.

She smiled, blinking away spots and booting her eye-screen. 'Tally-wa? Are you around? I've got some news for you.'

There was no response.

Aya shook her head. 'She must be farther than a klick away. Can you boost my signal?'

'We can try,' Udzir said. 'But if your ping goes out through our network, Tally may not believe that it's really