The Adventures of Navi Vol. 3: Off-Course
By Ellie B.
Blue space starfield by sololos from Getty Images Signature Created in Canva
“What? How? What are you doing here?” Navi asked in shock. He had not heard from her since she went missing five years ago. Stella did not answer his questions. She just kept walking. Navi realized he had just been standing there staring at her, frozen, and he ran to catch up. Shaking off his confusion, he ran to catch up.“Are you going to tell me what you’re doing here?”
“Maybe later, but now is not the time for long stories.” Stella looked around frantically as she moved across the surface of the planet. The glowing purple light that the planet emitted reflected off her cloak. “We need to get off this planet before we run into any more sentinels,” she told Navi.
More sentinels? Why was Stella worried about running into more sentinels? This planet was uninhabited. Navi kept these thoughts to himself. Instead, he asked a different question: “where are we going?”
“To my ship.”
“And after that?”
“Genius.” Navi had never heard of that planet.
“Where is Genius?”
“Genius is the secret planet the council lives on.” Who was this mysterious council she kept mentioning?
“What is the council?”
“I’ll explain once we get to the ship, but you have to stop asking questions because right now I need to focus.” Navi glanced over at Buzz who he was still holding on his shoulder. Buzz was wagging his tail looking at Stella. It seemed to Navi that Buzz had missed Stella even more than he did. They hastened to a destination Navi was unaware of until a large, sleek ship came into view. Stella walked up to the ship and spoke, “Stella.” The ship responded to her command and the door to the inside opened. Navi saw Stella glance back at him. His mouth was agape. “It’s voice activated,” she said. Navi had never seen anything this advanced before. The ship was extraordinary, but intimidating; perhaps it was designed to be intimidating, he thought. Where had Stella gotten this?
Navi followed Stella on to the ship. He walked in a slow circle, taking it all in. The interior was just as grand as the exterior. “Over here, Nav,” Stella called. Navi followed the sound of her voice to a robot repair station where she told him, “You can fix Buzz.”
Navi began repairing and charging Buzz while Stella began speaking to the ship again, “Navigate to Genius.” The ship lifted off of this strange planet. Navi remembered the reason he had initially come here, to find the source of the strange signal, but Stella was more important. He would try to find the signal source later. The ship shot out of the atmosphere and into space.
He tried to focus on repairing Buzz because it was better than thinking about Stella. Thinking about her right now was too hard and too confusing. Nevertheless, his desire to receive some answers won out. “So… are you going to tell me about the sentinels?” Navi asked hesitantly. Stella let out a reluctant sigh as she began to explain.
“The council is supposed to be able to control mechanical lifeforms.”
“Wait,” Navi said.
“What?”
“What is the council?”
“The council is in charge of governing this galaxy.”
“What galaxy is this? It’s not on any of my maps.”
“This is the NorthStar galaxy.”
“The NorthStar galaxy? Like the mythical galaxy? The one I named my ship after?”
“Yes,” Stella replied. “The NorthStar galaxy is real. It’s… far more impressive than either of us ever imagined. Nav, I found it.” Navi did not know what to say. He had been through far too much in the last hour.
“As I was saying, recently, these dangerous sentinels have been popping up everywhere. Uninhabited planets, large cities, and even Genius. The council thinks one of their enemies has discovered how to hack into their system. I’ve seen that system. There’s no way someone could hack it. I think…”
“You think…?” Navi urged her on. He needed to know.
“I think… that… that there may be a traitor on the council.”
Columns: 🖋️Creative Writing
Ellie B. lives in Virginia, USA, with her parents, her one sibling, and her two dogs. This is her third year at NSA, and this will be her first year with the Navigator. She is in tenth grade and enjoys reading in her free time. She is a dancer with a focus on ballet and has plans to pursue it professionally in the future.