Free Diggers: The Sharp Edge of the Universe by Shannon Heather, Jerrett James Page A

them up.
    Lee Fishborne actually yelled obscenities into the Com in his space helmet, which was all caught on the live feed for everyone in the Space Station to hear. Finn still laughed at the vision of Lee Fishborne flipping over and over in space and cussing with every turn. Mikayla turned a deep crimson when his profanity reverberated over ELAINA’s Com link, and she mumbled something about it being the first time she’d ever heard her father say those words.
    Reggie spent most of the time watching the auger, or watching Mikayla. They’d all hoped, even if no one had admitted it out loud, that at least one of the space-to-space exchanges would be successful so they’d have an adult on board. The thought of turning this stupid idea over to an adult to fix sounded wonderful. Finn would’ve even welcomed Belch, but the big man hadn't even made it close before the entire tube ripped away from the Space Station and sent Belch careening off into space. Lieutenant Orlando tried to squeeze through the transfer tube, but even his boneless squid-like body couldn’t compress enough, so he ended up stuck in the middle of the tube, screeching like an Earth orangutan.
    When no one else would volunteer, the SS Vortex loaded the DUMP with as much food, water, and fuel as they could hold, then spent hours downloading sensor and testing information using ELAINA.
    Finn knew the three of them coming back alive wasn’t nearly as important as the information they gathered along the way. He had talked to his mom and dad and sometimes Quinn called to give him advice. The conversations usually ended with someone getting mad or his mom crying.
    “Never you mind , Finnigan.” Captain Windblown’s eyebrows were stuck together with worry, and his forehead wrinkled under the strain of the past few days. “Make sure you send all of the information collected down to Mr. Fishborne. He’ll need it to make the necessary analysis for the discoveries.”
    Finn kicked at his boot buckle. ELAINA received the daily Space Station NewsPad, and so far there hadn’t been a single report about any of them onboard the DUMP. The news people made it look like Lee Fishborne spearheaded this entire great new discovery from Vortex .
    Finn finally nodded, and the captain cut the communication.
    Finn spun in the captain’s chair. “I think I understand what you meant, Reg, about the Diggers making all the discoveries.”
    Reggie pulled his gaze off the auger monitor and looked at Finn for a moment. “Yep.”
    “Excuse me?” Mikayla’s voice coming from right behind them made both boys jump. “Diggers don’t make discoveries. I know. I’ve been on lots of excavations. The Scientists make the discoveries. The Diggers dig.”
    Finn readied his response, but Reggie said, “No.”
    Mikayla gave an irritated gasp, “No? No? What, exactly, do you mean by ‘no’?”
    “Diggers make the discoveries,” Reggie said, like it should be obvious to everyone, but Finn sort of understood how Mikayla felt. He hadn’t really understood it until now.
    “Look, Mik, can I call you Mik? See, we’re Diggers, and just about every Digger there is has a nickname, except Dan. He works with Belch. But Dan is sort of Dan's nickname too, because he drives the DUMP Advancement Navigator…kinda like his parents knew he’d run a DAN.” Finn laughed at the revelation. “Anyway, Reg figured it out. See, the Diggers they…well, we…almost always find the stuff way before the Scientists even see it. Diggers have to know what’s new, just like the Scientists do, or else they could dig right through a major discovery and never know it. Yet the Scientists get all the credit. I want to, well, used to want to, be a Scientist. They get all the glory, but the Diggers make the discoveries.”
    The boys nodded and smiled, waiting expectantly for Mikayla to understand.
    “That,” she said, rage flashing in her blue eyes, “is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. Diggers dig!