| rdfs:comment | - Harlan Band, Catalina, Rosie Ianni, Radu, and Bova are in a classroom at the Starcademy while assistant principal Miss Davenport is taking roll. The students learn that, while their peers are out on field training, their own field tests have been cancelled due to poor academic performance. "It is for your own good," she tells them. She leaves the room momentarily to track down the students' teacher, Commander Goddard.
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| abstract | - Harlan Band, Catalina, Rosie Ianni, Radu, and Bova are in a classroom at the Starcademy while assistant principal Miss Davenport is taking roll. The students learn that, while their peers are out on field training, their own field tests have been cancelled due to poor academic performance. "It is for your own good," she tells them. She leaves the room momentarily to track down the students' teacher, Commander Goddard. During her absence, the students witness the arrival of an alien spaceship through the classroom's window. They momentarily argue about but ultimately decide to board the unknown vessel, hoping to put their names in the history book by making first contact with a new race. On board, the ship bonds with each student as they touch the panels in the corridor and wander off to explore the ship. Catalina and Radu find the engine room while Rosie and Bova discover the bunks "with changes of clothes and everything". Harlan is the first to discover the Command Post and re-activate Thelma, the ship's resident android, but not before stepping on and damaging the crystal that contains her memory. He also is the first to discover that the ship has taken off of its own accord and left the Starcademy far behind. Meanwhile, the teachers have boarded the ship as well to look for the students; it bonds with them as well. Still in the bunkroom, Rosie accidentally discovers a Flexor, as it starts gives her a shoulder massage. She becomes startled, overheats, and falls into a jump tube. Bova follows after her, unsure of where he will end up. He falls out of a tube into the Engine Room, tripping and kick-starts the hyperdrive with an accidental electric jolt. Goddard and Davenport find Harlan in the Command Post and start disciplining him, but are cut short when they learn they're leaving the Solar System going faster than light. When Davenport asks Thelma if there are any crew members on the ship, Thelma says, "Why, yes. There is one from Earth, from Saturn, from Mercury, from Uranus, and from Andromeda." The Christa has appointed them as the crew. Commander Goddard attempts to turn the ship around but he is unable to maneuver the controls, while Harlan has no trouble piloting the ship. "Well, maybe... maybe it only works for kids," Harlan says, starry-eyed. Rosie falls out of the jump tube into the Command Post, dazed from her ride. In the engine room, Catalina, Radu, and Bova try to turn off the engines. Meanwhile Thelma explains the workings of the ship to Harlan and the others. The ship's name is the Christa, "named after an Earth teacher who died during the early years of space exploration". She adds another small detail: the ship is being pursued by a White Circle which is liable to pull them in. Goddard says that no one who has been through the white circle has survived to report back. Bova appears in the engine room, telling them that Catalina and Radu are trying to turn off the engines. After a lengthy attempt at finding the engine room, Harlan and Goddard find that Catalina and Radu have shut down the hyperdrive engines before they realize what's happening. The kids rally together as a crew to try to steer clear of The White Circle. They fail and fall through, unaware of what will happen. Arriving generally unscathed in another part of the universe, Thelma tells them the length of the trip back home: 7 years, 4 months and 22 days. Everyone argues, panics and generally reacts badly, especially Goddard, who was three weeks' shy of his suspension and "could've been back out in space, with a crew". They realize that they are out in space, on a ship as a crew - exactly where they all (excepting Miss Davenport) professed wanting to be in the first place. They begin their long, strange trip home together as the crew of The Christa.
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