The Strike Trilogy by Charlie Wood

at Orion. The old man looked human, but that hadn’t been the case with almost everything else Tobin had seen so far, so he wasn’t taking any chances.
    “No offense,” the boy said, “but I don’t really feel like talking. To anyone. I just…want this over with.”
    Orion nodded. “I understand. But if you want to talk, I’m here.”
    A silence passed. Orion looked out the window next to him. “All right, Scatterbolt. You can take us down now.”
    “Here?” the robot asked. “But we’re not near the city yet.”
    “I know.” Orion stood up and slung his quiver onto his back. “But we’re gonna walk the rest of the way. It’ll be safer.”
    “Okey dokey,” Scatterbolt replied. Then, with an easy push of a lever, he brought the ship slowly downward.

    Once the Sky-Blade’s engines turned off and it came to a stop, Tobin walked out its side door and down a long metal ramp that jutted into the ground. Scatterbolt had landed the gleaming sky-ship in a forest, but it was the swampiest forest Tobin could ever imagine: the ground was nothing but brown sludge, with large, random patches of moss resting on top of the sticky sludge like bizarre islands. There were also thick, winding trees crawling out of the moss islands, which seemed to be scratching at the drifting clouds with their brittle, leafless branches. Heavy thickets of fog were floating through the area above the ground, like curious residents inspecting the new arrivals in the sky-ship, and strange animal calls and insect clicks were bleating out from all around the deep darkness.
    “Well,” Tobin said, stepping onto the mucky ground, “this is the creepiest place I’ve ever seen.”
    Behind him, Scatterbolt walked off the ship, and his big, round feet sunk into the mud, all the way up to his ankles.
    “And the grossest,” he added with a sneer.
    Next, Keplar walked off the ramp, waving his hand at the football-sized horsefly buzzing around his nose.
    “And buggier than hell, too,” he grumbled.
    Finally, Orion walked off the ship, picking up a long skinny tree branch and using it as a walking stick. He moved ahead of the others and toward the dark forest, as if it was a completely normal thing to do.
    “Which is exactly why it’s safe for us to hide here,” he said. “Follow me, everybody. A friend of mine is waiting for us up ahead.”
    Following the old man, Tobin stuck close by Keplar, as he was growing more nervous with each new sound coming from the trees.
    “You guys actually know somebody that lives in this place?” he asked the dog.
    “Yeah. Her name’s Aykrada. She used to be a superhero in this place not too long ago, but now...well, there’s not much of a place left.”
    To his right, Tobin noticed a couple of small, shanty-like houses on the edge of the forest, but they were rundown and abandoned, as if nobody had lived in them for months.
    Tobin was just about to ask Keplar another question when the football-sized horsefly returned and landed on the boy’s shoulder. He turned and saw its kaleidoscope eyes staring back at him.
    “Aaaaahh!” Tobin screamed. “Get it off, get it off!”
    Jumping up and down, Tobin waved his arms and stomped his feet, until finally the bug flew away, letting out an insulted little buzz as it zoomed into the forest.
    Keplar laughed loudly, throwing an arm around Tobin’s shoulder. “Ain’t hanging out with superheroes fun?” he asked with a grin.
    Behind Tobin and Keplar, Scatterbolt was doing his best to keep up with the group, but his feet kept getting stuck in the mud, and he had to pull them out with loud, sticky SHLURPS!
    “Hey!” the robot called, shaking the mud from his foot. “Hey, guys, wait up! C’mon, wait for me!”
    Stepping forward, the robot avoided another deep puddle of sludge, but then the horsefly returned again and landed in front of him. This time, as it blocked the robot’s path, it licked its lips and drooled.
    “Oh, no,” Scatterbolt said, holding his