Free The Nerdy Dozen by Jeff Miller

a whistle. His only success had been to produce an alarming amount of slobber.
    â€œOkay, recruits, this is it,” Jones began. “In addition to the lead pilots and the copilots, who I will announce momentarily, there will be two more of you flying in each Chameleon as auxiliary, err , backup pilots. Listen up for your name.” He took out his list. “Andertol”—Neil was surprised to hear his own name called first—“you’ll be copilot supporting . . . Grunsten.”
    You’ve got to be kidding me , Neil thought as he turned his head away from the weaselly smile spreading across Trevor’s face. It almost wasn’t worth being a copilot if he had to fly with Trevor. Sam patted him on the shoulder, and he took a deep breath.
    As Jones went on reading the list of the rest of the copilots, and the auxiliaries who would be helping with the invisibility and radar technology, Neil brightened up when he heard he’d be flying with Biggs. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. He wanted to whisper a joke, but he worried that Jones might hear. And he doubted Jones would think it was funny.
    â€œOkay, everybody,” Jones said, folding the list and placing it in his pocket. “Know which plane you’re in? Good. I’ll keep this short and sweet. This is a simple recovery mission for a missing Chameleon fighter and the two soldiers flying it.”
    Neil kept an eye on the sunflower seeds still curled away in Jones’s lip. So far, he hadn’t seen him spit out any shells. He wondered if Jones was swallowing them, and if they had some kind of years-long digestion process, like chewing gum.
    â€œFrom here on out, the three of us are in charge,” Jones barked, gesturing to Lopez and Wells. “While these things normally only fit four, we’ll be riding in the emergency jump seat. We wanted to bring an extra recruit in each craft to serve as pilot for the return if our soldiers are unable to operate the missing fighter. Once the missing Chameleon is recovered, we’ll have one of the copilots on standby to fly it home, if necessary.”
    Neil knew right away that he wanted to be that pilot.
    â€œYou will each report to your assigned soldier, and they will both report to me. Now, before we set out for the missing plane, we will be making a stop at the USS Martin Van Buren . It’s an aircraft carrier in the Pacific about ninety clicks west and a few more south,” Jones continued. “That will give you a chance to get a feel for the aircraft, and maybe even let our copilots take a spin at it. From there, our mission starts.
    â€œCorinne, your team is with Lopez. JP, you’re with Wells. Grunsten, you’re with me. That means you’re flying lead in formation.”
    â€œSir, yes, sir!” Trevor said with an excited nod. Neil felt his heart start beating at double speed. He was flying in the lead plane—which might just mean he had the best chance of piloting the missing plane once they’d found it.
    â€œNow, cadets, I want to make one thing clear. While you all learned these skills from a game . . . this ,” Jones said, pointing to the nearest Chameleon, “ this is not a game. There are no more restarts. Game over means game over . But if you’re like me, that’s the way you like it. So, you ready?”
    â€œSir, yes, sir!” everyone yelled, somewhat together this time.
    Neil grabbed his in-flight jumpsuit out of a pile and pulled it over his regulation canvas pants and plain gray shirt. It was like an ill-fitting beige cocoon—but a very official-looking one. Tying his shoes, Neil looked up at the metal staircase firmly planted in front of the jet he’d be copiloting. It was a long way up.
    All at once, the cockpit on each jet slid open, and Neil and the others warily climbed up into their fighters.
    The interior looked exactly as it did in Chameleon. Unlike in standard military