Chapter 5:
HOMESICK
Over the course of the next few days, people who had witnessed what became known as “Zero’s Knife Throwing Act” were asked repeatedly to retell the story to those who had not seen it. However, these stories didn’t always end the same. Many people said that Alex ducked her head out of the way just in time, and her catching of the knife by the handle was pure luck. At this point in the story, people usually shivered as they imagined what would have happened if Alex had caught the wrong end of the steak knife.
Other people said a miracle occurred because the knife seemed to change directions as it was speeding towards Alex’s face. One moment it looked like it was going to slice through her cheek, and the next it was speeding toward her hand.
If you had asked Clark Johnson what had happened, he would have told you that Alex must have had a magnet in her hand. From his perspective, it appeared that the knife did indeed change directions. Not only that, the way Clark told the story, the knife seemed to stop spinning briefly before hitting the palm of Alex’s hand—almost as if the knife knew Alex had to catch it by the handle and not the blade. Even Clark’s brother Jack didn’t believe that part of his story.
Only Alex knew how close Clark’s story came to the truth. For the second time in one day, Alex had done the one thing both her grandpa and the General had told her not to do. She had used her power to pull an object into her hand. But what else was she supposed to do? When the knife was spinning toward her at a vicious speed, it was only instinct for Alex to think about catching it so that neither she nor anyone else got hurt. And as for catching it by the handle—of course, she concentrated on moving the handle into her palm. Who would want to catch a knife by its blade?
Of course, there was a small handful of people who simply believed Alex had great catching instincts. Foremost among these people was the man in the white shirt with the word “Coach” across the back. As soon as he saw Zero pick up the knife to throw at Magnum, he hopped up and yelled, “Zero! No!”
When the coach saw Alex catch the knife, he was momentarily stunned into silence. Then he ran up to Alex. In her left hand, she held a half-spilled glass of milk. In her right hand, she still held the knife. Both hands were shaking.
“In all my years of coaching softball,” he began, “I’ve never seen a catch like that.” He shook his head as if he couldn’t believe it. “Who are you?”
Carrie ran up beside Alex. “Coach, this is my new roommate. She’d make a good catcher for the team, don’t you think? I mean, some people are saying she’d make a good pitcher, but after what we just saw, I think she’d really be a better catcher.”
The coach looked Alex right in the eyes. “What’s your name?”
Alex looked up into the big brown eyes of the handsome man in the coach’s shirt. His chiseled jaw was set in a wide grin that showed off his gleaming white, perfectly straight teeth.
“A – Alex,” she stammered. “Jones.”
The coach cradled her shaking right hand in his two strong hands. “I’m Coach Skule. Why don’t you let me take this knife now? O.K., Alex?” Alex nodded, the shaking of her hands spreading to the rest of her body as she realized how close she had come to having her cheek sliced off.
Coach Skule slipped the knife out of Alex’s hands. Then he looked up to check on Zero and Magnum; security was already hauling the two of them away.
“So what do you think, Coach?” Carrie was hopping with excitement beside Alex. “Don’t you think she would make a great catcher?”
The coach’s smile got even wider. “I think you’re right, Carrie. What do you say, Alex? We could use a good catcher like you on our team.”
“Oh, well, I’ve never played softball before, but my grandpa did teach me about baseball.”
“Perfect,” beamed the coach. “We’ve got a month before the softball season begins. I’m sure Carrie will help you prepare. In the meantime, Carrie, why don’t you get our new catcher a fresh glass of milk?” Coach took the half empty glass from Alex and handed it to Carrie. “And, Alex, why don’t you go back to your table and relax for a bit? You still seem a bit shaken up. We’ll talk more about softball later. I need to fill out my security report.”
With that, Coach Skule walked away, and Alex returned to her seat.
Simona’s dark eyes were like saucers. “Alex, that was amazing!”
“The chance of making a catch like that . . .” Yvonne paused as if mentally calculating the chances.
“Who cares about the chances? She did it!” exclaimed Jack. He leaned over the table. “Do you think you could do it again, leak?”
“Maybe,” Alex shrugged. If she used her ability, she knew she could it again, but she couldn’t tell them that. Then she smiled a little. “Of course, Jack, if you keep calling me a leak, I might not stop any knife that was headed toward you.” That got a loud laugh from Clark, and a few snickers from the rest.
“Nice one,” Carrie commented as she sat down beside Alex and handed her a new glass of milk.
For the remainder of the meal, the seventh grade students pumped Alex for information about where she lived and how she had gotten to the moon. She kept to the story she had told to Carrie. When Jack asked what was wrong with the space station home she had left, Alex made up a story about the air recycling system malfunctioning, and her grandpa wasn’t sure they were getting an adequate amount of oxygen. It sounded life-threatening enough without being too dramatic. Alex noticed most of the students were riveted to her story, but Sam and Adam whispered to each other periodically. Alex thought she caught the words shirt and yanking, along with a few leak’s thrown in.
When it was time to go, Alex followed the rest of the seventh graders to the trash chutes. Most of them had already stepped out into the hallway, but Adam and Sam lurked behind until it was Alex’s turn. Adam stepped right in front of the trash chute Alex was aiming for. His arms were crossed, and the glare he gave Alex rivaled the one she had given him earlier that day.
“You might have wowed a few people with your lucky catch back there,” Adam scoffed, “but make no mistake about it. We don’t trust you. You’re still a leak.” Alex made no response, but chewed her lip until Adam stepped aside and exited with Sam.
Once she had disposed of her tray, Alex hurried out into the hallway. Had Carrie remembered that she was supposed to show her to their room?
Carrie was standing outside the dining hall. “There you are!” she exclaimed. “What took you so long?”
“Oh, nothing.” Alex didn’t want to repeat what Adam had said to her. Did everyone think she was a leak?
“Let’s head this way,” Carrie led her in the opposite direction of the rest of the seventh graders. “I’ve got to take you to see Madame Oberin first.”
“Madame who?” Alex worried how she would ever keep everyone’s names straight. Back at home, she had only two names to worry about: Grandma and Grandpa.
“Madame Oberin,” replied Carrie. The two girls stepped into an elevator. “Second floor,” announced Carrie, and the lift began to move. “She’s like our foster mom, only much tougher than any mom I’ve ever met. She lost all of her own children during the Final Battle. Tragic.” Carrie shook her head as they exited the elevator and turned left.
“All of them?”
“Yeah, she had seven of them. Now she’s in charge of the orphans here, so she’s got like 50 or 60 kids now. Something like that—Yvonne could tell you the exact number.”
Carrie and Alex turned the corner and were greeted by a sturdy-looking woman in her 60s. Her steel grey hair was cut into a blunt bob, one side of which was carefully pinned back. Alex had the impression that if one of the woman’s grey hairs had dared to fly out of place, she would have deemed it impossible to continue her work until that hair had been properly taken care of.
“This must be Alex Jones, I suppose.” It was more of a statement than a question.
“Yes, Madame Oberin,” replied Carrie.
Madame Oberin’s murky brown eyes took in Alex’s appearance. “Hmph,” was her only comment about that. “Let’s get you to the sleeping quarters you’ll be sharing with Carrie.” She turned and started heading toward the opposite end of the hallway. I see you already have your PTD. Excellent. You’ll need it for entrance into your room. This room over here,” she indicated a doorway that read Madame Oberin, Orphan Supervisor, “is where you can find me in an emergency, but please,” she held up one hand, “only come to my room if you cannot reach me via PTD first.” She glanced over her shoulder at the two girls. “I’m not always in my room, you know. The PTD is the most efficient way to find me. No use wasting your time running all over the complex.”
Alex noticed that Madame Oberin’s gait seemed brisk and efficient, too. No unnecessary arm swaying, just get from Point A to Point B as fast as possible.
“This section of the dormitory is for the male students.” Madame Oberin gestured toward the doors as they passed, each labeled with a room number. “You will not be spending any time here.” Carrie and Alex exchanged glances.
“Coming up is the common area of the dormitory. This section is accessible to both the boys and the girls between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m., if you should decide to form a co-educational study group. It also offers a lovely view of the playdium.”
The hallway opened up, and Alex found herself in a modern, but comfortable looking room. Students were spread across the couches and chairs. Some had their heads in their books; others were engaged in conversation. Many of them looked up when Alex stepped into the room.
“Jeffrey!” Madame Oberin hollered. “Put . . . your . . . feet . . . down.” The last statement was made with crisp, clipped words spurted out in a staccato fashion. A blond boy immediately pulled his feet down from the table they had been propped on. Madame Oberin looked at her watch. “Only two hours left in the common area tonight.” This was followed by a few groans.
Madame Oberin continued her tour. “This side of the dormitory is for the young ladies. After 10:00 each night, you’ll need to remain on this half of the hallway. Ah, here we are now.” Madame Oberin stopped in front of a doorway on her left. Room 111, the sign read.
Carried reached for the PTD on her ear.
“Let Alex try hers,” said Madame Oberin. “Let’s see if she’s programmed into the system yet.”
Alex pulled the PTD off her ear. She had almost forgotten it was there. Alex glanced up at Madame Oberin, who nodded encouragement, then placed the PTD before the panel beside the door. It slid open.
“Perfect,” declared Madame Oberin. “Well, I’ll leave you two girls to get acquainted. Carrie, make sure Alex is up to date on all our protocol here. Remember, curfew is 10:00. Lights out by 11:00. If you need me, try reaching me on your PTD.” Madame Oberin turned and walked back down the hallway.
“After you,” Carrie gestured toward the room.
Alex stepped inside. The room wasn’t big, but it held two twin beds, a pair of nightstands, and a couple of desks. One side of the room would have looked like a mirror image of the other if it weren’t for the softball and sport photos Carrie had hanging up on her side of the room.
“This is your closet.” Carrie pushed a panel door aside. Alex’s new clothes were already inside, as well as her spacesuit and her old clothes. “That’s your bed and that’s your desk.” A few books were spread out on the top of the desk and a shirt was draped over the back of the chair. “Oh,” Carrie snatched up the shirt and books. “Sorry, about that. They didn’t give me any warning that I was getting a roommate.” Carrie put her belongings back on her side of the room. “Oberin does inspections of our rooms every Monday night, so make sure your side of the room is tidy by then.”
Alex nodded. Could she ever think of this as her room? She pictured her old room back at home: the pink and blue quilt her grandmother had made for her bed, her shelves of books, and the mural Grandpa had painted on her wall. From memory he had drawn the old skyscrapers that had graced his hometown of Chicago before the Final Battle. She went to sleep every night snuggled up with her grandmother’s handiwork while admiring Grandpa’s rendition of the old Chicago skyline. This is only temporary, she told herself now as she looked at the blank wall and the plain red bedspread. Grandpa’s coming back soon. She walked across the room and peeked behind the shades that were covering the window.
“We’re really lucky to be on this side of the hallway,” said Carrie. “We get a nice view of the playdium.”
She was right. Their room was on the second level and looked out over the softball field. In the distance, Alex could see the wooded area. She knew that if she could see beyond the trees, she would see the track where she had beaten Adam. Her stomach lurched a bit at the memory. Had she really used her power to beat a boy in a race? And what good did it do me? she thought. Adam totally thinks I’m a leak. Then she remembered the reason why she had wanted to beat him so bad. Tomorrow would be her birthday, and there was no one there who would help her celebrate.
“Do you want to head down to the common area?” Carrie gestured with her thumb.
Alex sat down on her bed. “No, thanks.” Exhaustion consumed her. “I think I just want to go to bed.”
“Yeah, I guess traveling from Mars must be a pain.”
Alex nodded. Then she let her head hit the pillow.
“Alright, I’m going to head down to the common area with the others. Bathroom’s two doors down on the right if you need it. I’ll try not to wake you when I come back. Can’t make any promises, though. I’m not used to having a roommate.”
Carrie needn’t have worried about waking Alex; she fell into a deep sleep shortly after Carrie left the room.
* * *
When she did finally wake up, it was with a start and two thoughts consumed her: 1) It wasn’t a dream—I really am on the moon! and 2) It’s my birthday, and I’m alone!
Alex groaned softly as she sat up in bed. She looked around. Carrie wasn’t in the room, and her bed was already made. Something small and black was on the floor. Alex bent down and realized it was her PTD. Better hang onto that, she thought. Alex headed toward the closet and pulled some of her new clothes from the closet. Then she ventured out into the hallway. No one was around. Which way had Carrie said was the washroom? Alex wandered down the hallway a bit and found a room marked Girls’ Lavatory. Alex wasn’t sure what this meant, but it didn’t have a room number so she figured it must be safe. She waved her PTD, and the door slid open.
Alex breathed a sigh of relief. The room was indeed a washroom with several private shower stalls. Never in her life had Alex enjoyed a hot shower more than she did that morning.
She dressed quickly in one of her new skorts and a white v-neck shirt, topping it all off with her grandfather’s old blue baseball cap. By the time Alex found her way down to the dining hall, most of the colony had finished eating breakfast. Alex sat alone at the otherwise empty seventh grade table and felt the awkward stares of the few remaining diners. She didn’t stay long. As soon as she was finished, Alex sent her tray down the chute and headed out. Not knowing what to do next, Alex wandered through the moon colony. Pieces of it seemed familiar to her from her tour with Marta the day before. However, she must have gone down a different hallway at one point, for Alex suddenly found herself in a spot she hadn’t seen previously.
A long set of windows ran the length of the hallway. Stepping over to them, Alex peered down into a hangar, a giant room for storing spaceships. Alex marveled at the variety before her. Grandpa’s old Rock Jumper was the only ship she had ever seen up close. Sure, she had occasionally seen other little ships flying over her island back home, and then there were those hoverships that had come looking for her, but these were real rocket ships. Some of them were small with a tiny cockpit on top for a fighter pilot and thin wings on each side for quick maneuvering. Others were large tubes with pointed noses at one end and massive rocket boosters at the other. A few technicians were moving around below the ships, checking parts here and there. The whirring of electric screwdrivers and the pounding of hammers floated up to Alex. She wondered how often these ships were used and where they flew.
For a moment, Alex had visions of breaking into the rocket hanger, stealing a ship, and flying home on her own. She knew the flight was too long to make it home before her birthday ended, but at least she . . . Alex stopped mid-thought. What was the point? She didn’t know how to fly, and even if she could manage one of those smaller rocket ships, where would she go? Emperor Devlesh’s men were probably watching over her old house, and who knew where Grandpa had gone looking for Grandma?
Alex resigned herself to spending her birthday alone. She turned away from the windows and rambled down the hallway. Eventually, she found her way inside the playdium. It was a beautiful day inside the artificial atmosphere. The sky was programmed to be blue that day with a few clouds drifting by.
Alex stopped short inside the entranceway. Adam was sitting alone on top of the bleachers. He had a notebook and an old-fashioned pencil in his hands.
Not in the mood for a confrontation, Alex tried to sneak behind the bleachers to the other side of the playdium.
“I can see ya, leak,” Adam called out without turning around.
Alex didn’t break her stride. “Yeah, so? I can see you, too.” Alex thought she heard Adam snort as she walked away.
In the wooded area, Alex began examining the trees. They were definitely real—and of all shapes, sizes, and sorts. Alex recognized some of them—palm trees, mangroves, guava trees—from her island back home. Many of them were completely new to her, but some reminded her of the trees in her grandmother’s photos of the old family home back in Chicago. Alex tried to remember what her grandmother had said they were. Maple trees? Oak trees? Deep into the wooded area, she came across several evergreens—Christmas trees her grandmother had called them. There were at least two of every variety, as if someone had decided this section of the moon colony would be a “Noah’s ark” for trees. Alex’s heart soared when she saw two Monkey Pod trees. They were like some of the ones she used to climb daily on her island home.
Wasting no time, Alex climbed one of the Monkey Pod trees. It felt good to get her hands around rough tree bark again. Her new moon boots weren’t quite as adept at scaling up the trunk as her old shoes had been, but they worked. Higher and higher she climbed, her feet and hands knowing which branches to reach for and which to push off of.
At last, she found herself hidden among the top branches of the tree. The Monkey Pod stretched out far around her. As is usually the case with Monkey Pods, this tree was much wider than it was tall. Its branches spread out in a shape similar to the top of a mushroom. Alex didn’t mind that it wasn’t the tallest tree in the playdium. For the moment, she felt enveloped in its branches, and the smell of home was heart-achingly familiar.
Alex spent hours up in that tree. Occasionally, she switched to a new position, but mostly she thought of the past few days. How quickly life had changed! She wondered where her grandfather was now. Had he made it back to Earth yet? Were the Emperor’s henchmen waiting for him? Would he be able to find Grandma? Earth was such a big planet. Where would Grandpa start his search?
Then she thought about her birthday. Last year’s birthday had been terribly sad because Grandma had been gone almost a year. Since Grandpa wasn’t much of a baker, Alex had made her own birthday cake, chocolate with pink frosting. The cake had tasted fine, but Alex didn’t have the fancy decorating touch her grandmother had. When she blew out the candles on that cake, she wished Grandma would be back in time for thirteenth birthday. No such luck.
Now she was turning thirteen and everything was ten times worse, Alex decided. She had neither of her grandparents with her, and she didn’t know when her grandfather would return. Alex considered telling someone that it was her birthday, but who would really care?
Her thoughts were interrupted by a stern voice below.
“Alexandra!” The voice hollered out the staccato-style command. “Get . . . down . . . off . . . that . . . tree!”
Monday, March 29, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Chapter 4
Chapter 4: MOON DUST, NEW THREADS, & A FOOD FIGHT
Jack whacked Sanyu upside the head. “Really smooth, Sanyu!”
“What?” cried Sanyu helplessly. Jack just shook his head.
“It’s all right,” said Alex. She held her head up high now. There was no way she was going to let her new classmates see her cry. “I could tell you were all thinking the same thing.”
A couple of the girls looked down at their shoes. Clark shifted his weight uneasily. Sanyu tilted his head to the side and scratched the top of it. He seemed to be figuring out how Alex could have turned out to be a girl.
Sam made his way over to Adam and gave him a consolation pat on the back. “Don’t worry about the race, man. Obviously, the new kid is a freak.” Alex felt her teeth grind together. That little Sam kid was gonna be trouble.
In the distance, a shrill bell rang.
“Thank God!” sighed Yvonne. “Let’s get back to class. This recess stuff is stressing me out.” Her long, blond hair swaying behind her, she ran back to the other side of the playdium. The rest of the kids followed quickly.
Near the exit to the playdium stood Ms. Pullman, who greeted each student by name when they walked past her.
“Good afternoon, Adam.”
“Hey, Ms. Pullman.”
“Samuel.” She gave Sam a stern, warning look that Alex couldn’t understand. What had Sam done to annoy Ms. Pullman?
“Ms. Pullman,” sang Sam. He smiled at the teacher.
“Hello, Jack.”
“Hey.”
“And . . . ,” Ms. Pullman craned her neck around Jack to see who was coming last. In the small hallway leading from the playdium to the inner loop of the colony, Alex’s new classmates bunched up near the doorway as if expecting something to happen when Ms. Pullman saw Alex without her hat on. Did they think Ms. Pullman would be shocked that Alex was a girl, too? Alex could see Yvonne’s blue eyes peeking out from behind Clark’s tall frame.
Ms. Pullman’s brow furrowed a bit. “Good afternoon,” she said slowly. Then with the slightest raise of her voice, she made the last word a question. “Alex?”
“Good afternoon, Ms. Pullman,” Alex answered strongly, faking a sense of confidence, and strode into the hallway where the other students had gathered to watch the scene. Alex took a step forward; her new classmates took a step back. Yvonne, still standing behind Clark, let out an, “Ouch!” Apparently, he had stepped on her foot. Alex took another step forward. This time Yvonne moved fast enough to get out of Clark’s way. Ms. Pullman stepped into the hallway behind Alex.
“Well?” she looked at everyone. “What are you waiting for? Get your things from my room and proceed to Professor Callahan’s room for science.”
Alex took another step forward.
“Go, go,” urged Sam. “The freak needs to get through!” With an abrupt aboutface, the students headed out of the hallway and into the inner circle.
“Samuel!” Ms. Pullman yelled, but Sam continued to speed down the hallway.
Back in Ms. Pullman’s room, Alex picked up her small bag. In the corner of the room, Ms. Pullman was having a hushed conversation with Sam. Alex couldn’t hear what was being said, but neither Ms. Pullman nor Sam looked happy. As Sam shot her a dirty look, Alex followed the other students out of the classroom and down the hallway to a doorway marked Astrophysics and Other Sciences: Professor Callahan.
Callahan turned out to be a funny, old man. With his white hair, thick white beard and round tummy, he looked like he should have been wearing a red suit trimmed in white fur. His green eyes twinkled when the students walked into his room.
“Ah, my young scholars,” he greeted them. “How are we doing today?”
“We got a new kid,” Jack nodded back to Alex who entered the room behind him.
“Yes, General Fratelli stopped in a moment ago to tell me about our new student.”
Professor Callahan stepped forward to shake Alex’s hand. “Well, well, hello there, young lady. Come on in, welcome. Adriana, isn’t it?”
“Alex, sir, my name’s Alex.”
“Oh, of course, of course. I knew it started with an A. You mustn’t mind me, Alex. I’ve been at this science teacher game too long. Eons ago, well before the war, I used to teach astrophysics back on Earth at a university called . . .” He rubbed the side of his temple, then let his hand drop. “Well, now, what does it matter what it was called? That school doesn’t exist anymore anyway. Let’s get started, shall we? Take a seat over here, Alex,” Professor Callahan gestured to an empty seat on the side of his classroom. “I think we should begin by reviewing what we discussed yesterday. It will be a good way to introduce Alex to her new home, too. Did everyone plug in their PTDs?” Callahan looked around to see that the students had logged into their consoles.
“Alex, did anyone give you a PTD yet?” The professor directed his attention to his newest student.
“I’m sorry, a what?” The term sounded familiar to her, but she had no idea what he was talking about.
“A PTD. That’s what we call these things here.” Callahan lifted a small, rectangular device off his ear, and Alex realized that all of her classmates had taken off the strange black gadgets they had had in their ears and placed them into their computer terminals. “A personal technology device.” He held it out for Alex to see. She shook her head to indicate that she didn’t have one. “I’m sure General Fratelli will be getting you one shortly. We couldn’t live without them here on the moon. They do everything for us: make phone calls, hold our music and electronic files, open doorways, give directions, capture video and photos.” Suddenly, Alex remembered where she had heard the term before. When she tried to enter the IMC, the lit panel had asked her to scan her PTD. Callahan continued his explanation by pointing at a small portion of the device, “The tiny screen here can be a bit of a strain on our eyes. That’s why we plug them into the consoles when we want to do any real work.” Callahan turned toward his teacher’s console and attached his own PTD. On the large screen behind him popped up a photo of the south pole of the moon. With a few touches on the screen, Callahan zoomed in on a particular crater.
“Here we go, the Shackleton crater. Can anyone tell us from yesterday’s discussion why this site was chosen for the moon colony?” The blond girl’s hand popped up.
“Yes, Yvonne.”
“Some areas of the south pole, like the Shackleton crater, get sunlight almost all the time. In fact, some areas see sunlight almost 98% of the time.”
“Very good. And why would constant sunlight be so important? Life on earth exists without continual daylight. Why is it so vital to our existence here? Clark.”
“Solar power.” Something about Clark’s response seemed odd to Alex. Did he speak with an accent?
“Absolutely, solar power.” Professor Callahan looked around the room. “Imagine if we didn’t have solar power.” He paused to let the idea sink in. “How would we survive? What would keep this colony going?” He chuckled to himself for a moment. “It’s not like we could have run an electrical line between the earth and the moon.”
Alex slowly raised a hand. There was a question on her mind, but she wasn’t sure if she should ask it.
Callahan’s eyes lit up. He loved to be questioned. “Yes, Alex.”
“What about wind energy? Couldn’t you use that to generate power as well?”
“There is no wind on the moon,” Adam blurted out. Then he rolled his eyes, as if to say, What an idiot!
“No wind?” She turned to look at him. “Ever?”
“I’m afraid, young Mr. Zweil speaks the truth, Alex,” Mr. Callahan stepped in before Adam could respond. “We have no wind here on the moon. Which brings me to my next point—the moon has no significant atmosphere. What problems does this cause for us?”
“No oxygen,” Jack quipped.
“Well, yes,” Professor Callahan chuckled. “I would have thought that was obvious. The designers of this colony complex had to find a way to create and then seal-in an environment that was rich in oxygen. One crack in our protective ‘bubble’ here, and we’re all in trouble.” He shuddered at the thought. “Let’s move beyond the obvious. What other problem does a lack of atmosphere give us?”
Alex looked around the room; no one seemed to know. Seated beside her was the redheaded girl named Carrie. She was manipulating her console, trying to find the answer in her notes.
“The Earth,” continued Professor Callahan, “has an extremely useful atmosphere. Not only does it provide oxygen, but it also protects its inhabitants from something else. Unfortunately, the damage done to the Earth by Emperor Devlesh means its atmosphere isn’t as adept at protecting the planet as it used to be.”
“Radiation,” Alex said. They all turned to look at her. “Radiation, that’s it, isn’t it? The Earth’s atmosphere is able to absorb some of the radiation from the sun, but without any atmosphere on the moon, we’re at risk of radiation poisoning.”
“Very good, Alex,” Callahan nodded approvingly.
“Radiation poisoning?” Yvonne asked. “I don’t like the sound of that.”
“But it’s true, isn’t it?” Alex sat up straighter in her seat. “You said the designers chose this site because we would be in the sun all the time, but that also means we’re exposed to radiation all the time.” Alex’s breathing quickened. She looked around the room at everyone. “That means you’ve all had eleven years of radiation exposure.” Visions of her new classmates growing second heads swam before her. She looked down at her own hands and turned them over several times. “We can’t stay here. This isn’t healthy.” By this point, the rest of the class was looking at her as if she had just grown a second head.
Professor Callahan chuckled softly. “Slow down there, Alex. We’re perfectly safe. You’re right that radiation is extremely dangerous, but our founders knew that when they built this complex, so they made the necessary adjustments. I was going to talk more about the Shackleton crater today, but we’d better turn to page 211. Let’s find out how the colony designers used a little thing called ‘moon dust’ to save us from radiation.” Callahan and the rest of the students began tapping out instructions on their consoles.
“Um, sir,” Alex raised her hand timidly.
“Oh, sorry, Alex. I forgot you don’t have a PTD yet to access your console. Why don’t you look on with Carrie for now?”
Carrie didn’t look too pleased with this idea, but she tilted her console slightly so Alex could look, too.
* * *
An hour and a half later, not only had Callahan given the class a thorough explanation of the layer of moon dust (also called regolith, the professor informed them) that covered the colony complex, but he also whipped up a last-minute experiment with moon dust as well. Several sealed containers with small amounts of moon dust were passed out to each lab table.
“Be sure to keep the containers sealed,” warned Professor Callahan. “Prolonged exposure to moon dust is harmful to your lungs.”
Using a device Professor Callahan called a magnetron, Alex worked with her lab partners Carrie and Sanyu to heat the moon dust at varying temperatures and for varying lengths of time. Alex watched in amazement as the moon dust quickly melted into a cement-like creation. Using a different power setting on the magnetron, they melted another container of moon dust until it resembled glass.
“Notice what happens when I shine a concentrated beam of light and heat at this melted moon dust.” Professor Callahan took one of Adam and Sam’s samples that had been melted into concrete and secured it before a powerful lamp he had at the front of the room. “Pretend this light represents the sun. You’ll notice how it is unable to penetrate the concrete. The moon dust is protecting us not only from the radiation of the sun, but also the extreme heat. That’s why we can use the old lava tunnels under this complex as protection from the bright sun if something should happen to our colony. In fact, the early colony designers considered building the entire colony underground. Any questions?” He looked around to make sure everyone understood.
“Alright, we’re running out of time. Let’s start cleaning up the lab.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Alex saw Adam pack away some of the unused moon dust and store it in a cabinet. Then he took his seat beside Sam. When Adam looked up at her, Alex looked away and concentrated on wiping the lab table she had shared with Sanyu and Carrie.
“I guess you’re not too worried any more about getting fried by the radiation,” Adam called over to Alex.
“People used to be really scared of radiation,” said Sam, “especially before they knew how to protect themselves from too much exposure.” Then his eyes widened. “Hey, maybe Alex is a time traveler who has come here from the past!” A few of the nearby students giggled.
“Alright.” Professor Callahan stood before the class, rubbing his hands together excitedly. He seemed completely oblivious to the little dialogue that had just occurred. “It looks like we’re almost cleaned up. Excellent. Now listen carefully, I have something important I need you to remember for Monday’s class.” A few students clicked on their consoles to type in reminders. “I think,” continued Professor Callahan, “that we need to get up close and personal with the our home crater here. Therefore, bring your space suits on Monday. We’re going outside!”
“Outside?” questioned Clark.
“Yes!” hissed Jack.
Alex wondered what the big deal was. She had been outside the colony walls just a few hours ago. However, the excited grins and the slapping of hands among the other kids told Alex that this was something special for them.
“Yes, outside!” Callahan’s eyes sparkled. “It’s time we did a little exploring.”
The bell rang, and students logged out of their consoles and returned their PTDs to their ears. Alex picked up her small bag and wondered where she was supposed to go next. She tapped Sanyu on the shoulder before he could walk away.
“Hey, Sanyu, where do we go next?”
Sanyu gave a little shrug. “Home.”
Home. The word cut at Alex. It was impossible for her to go home. By now, her grandfather would have repaired the Rock Jumper and be on his way back to Earth. How long would it take him to find Grandma? The sooner he found her, the sooner he would return for Alex. In the meantime, she wondered what she should do next.
The doorway to Professor Callahan’s classroom slid open, and Marta rolled into the room.
“Excuse me, Professor Callahan. At the General’s orders, I am to take Alex Jones with me.” No one but Callahan and Alex paid any attention to Marta. The other students walked around her and out of the classroom, excitedly talking about their plans for the remainder of the afternoon.
Callahan looked at Marta and then at Alex. “Of course, Marta. Alex, make sure you have all your things. Marta will take good care of you.”
The prospect of spending more time with Marta didn’t thrill Alex, but at least she had somewhere to go now.
Out in the hallway, Alex said, “So where are we going?”
“The General has decided you need some new clothes and supplies.”
The next few hours were spent in two rooms. The first room they visited was labeled Carol’s Colony Clothing. Carol turned out to be a tall, dark-skinned woman with her hair in a high bun and a set of dark-rimmed spectacles on the tip of her nose. She asked Alex to step into a cylindrical machine in which Alex’s body was scanned from head to toe. Then Marta asked the seamstress Carol for “the standard seventh grade issue.” Carol told her to return in an hour.
Next Marta took Alex to a much larger room in the outer loop of the colony. This place was labeled Technology & Technical Services. Here Alex received her PTD. Marta showed her how to attach it to her ear so that she could receive phone calls and listen to music. When she took it off her ear, she could use it for taking photos and videos. Then Marta demonstrated how to plug the PTD into any console in the complex. Alex was amazed by how much she could do with the PTD. All of her textbooks were stored on it. Her homework would be kept on it. Alex did her best to soak in the information Marta threw at her so quickly.
“The most important thing to remember,” Marta insisted, “is that you never lose your PTD. It is your key to everything in this colony. Your very life may depend on it.”
Alex nodded as she fit the PTD onto her ear. She was surprised by how lightweight it felt.
When Marta’s tutorial on the use of the PTD was finished, they headed back to Carol’s Colony Clothing where Alex was amazed to find a whole new wardrobe completed just for her. The clothes fit perfectly. She had multiple skirts of the style she had seen her female classmates wearing. Each skirt had a short sewn into it, which explained to Alex why the girls didn’t mind running around in their skirts. There were also several colors of leggings and numerous tops with the same V-neck style and fitted bodice all the older girls and women of the colony seemed to be wearing. Each top bore the colony’s five-star emblem. Several pairs of sporty-looking ankle boots were also waiting for her.
Choosing a dark skort and a blue top, Alex changed into one of the outfits immediately. She examined her new look in a full-length mirror. Startled by the difference, she realized why the others had thought she was a boy in her old clothes.
“We’ll have the other items delivered to your sleeping quarters later,” Marta explained.
The door to Carol’s Colony Clothing slid open, and a disgruntled girl walked in. Alex recognized Carrie immediately. Despite having completed a science lab with her, Alex realized she knew nothing about her except that she was supposed to be the pitcher for the softball team.
“You called for me, Marta?” Carrie tightened her ponytail before folding her arms over her chest. She glanced over at Alex to take in her new clothes.
“Yes, Carrie.” Marta rolled over to where Carrie was standing near the doorway.
“Alex will be staying with you.”
“What?” Carrie unfolded her arms, put her hands on her hips, and leaned toward Marta as if she had heard wrong.
“Alex is your new roommate.”
“But why? Doesn’t she have any parents either?”
Either? thought Alex. Had Carrie been abandoned on the moon, too?
Marta stood silently. It was clear she wasn’t giving Carrie any more information than she thought necessary.
“Why me?” Carrie finally asked when she realized Marta wasn’t going to answer her last question.
“You are the only seventh grade girl who does not have a roommate.”
“But . . .”
“These are the General’s orders.” Marta’s voice was stern, and Carrie pulled back a little. “You are also to take the new girl with you to dinner. See that she knows how we operate around here. After dinner, you are to take her to the sleeping quarters. Alex’s new clothes as well as her . . .” Marta looked at the pile of Alex’s old clothes slumped over the back of a chair, “former apparel will be delivered there by the time dinner is through.”
Carrie sighed. “Couldn’t someone else . . .” She waved her hand vaguely at Alex.
Marta rolled a bit closer to Carrie. “You wish for me to tell the General you will disobey his orders?”
Sighing, Carrie turned to Alex. “Com’n, Newbie. I’ll show you where we eat dinner.”
Out in the hallway, Alex turned to her new roommate. “So, Carrie, what did you mean when you asked Marta if I didn’t have any parents either?”
Carrie gave her a wary glance. “Just what it sounded like. I figure if you had parents you wouldn’t need a roommate.”
“So you don’t have parents either?”
Carrie stopped in her tracks. “Listen, Newbie, we don’t talk much about parents around here. So if you want to get along with people, you’d better not mention them.”
Alex walked beside Carrie for a while in silence. “But why? Why would people not want to talk about their parents?”
With another abrupt stop, Carrie faced Alex. “Because most of us are orphans, you
leak.” Leak? Alex wondered what that was supposed to mean.
“I don’t understand.”
Carrie resumed walking. “We’re orphans, Newbie. Like you.”
For the second time that afternoon, words cut at Alex. Orphan?
“I’m not an orphan,” she protested. “My grandpa’s coming back for me real soon.”
Carrie rolled her deep blue eyes. “Sure he is.”
“No, really he is!”
“Where are you from anyway?”
Alex tried to remember what the General had told her. “A space station.”
“Oh, yeah.” Carrie’s eyes narrowed. “Which one? Some of the other kids and I have been reading up on the space stations lately.”
“Oh, well, this isn’t an Earth space station.” Alex bit her lower lip. Would she be able to pull off the lie? “Ours was back by Mars.”
“Mars!” Carrie’s eyes widened. “No wonder you’re such a leak.”
“What’s a leak?”
“A leak, you know, a leak.” Carrie struggled for an explanation. “Like when something bad from the outside gets into the inside.” She stopped walking again and folded her arms. She turned toward Alex and took two steps forward, pressing Alex up against the wall. “Listen, I’m not one to beat around the moon rock, you know what I mean? So I’m going to ask you straight. Are you one of Emperor Devlesh’s spies?”
Alex shook her head frantically. “No, not at all. I’m nobody’s spy. My grandpa dropped me off here to be safe for a while until he could make repairs at home. That’s all. Promise!” Alex held her hands up in surrender.
Carrie took a step back. “Well, we’ll see about that.” She jerked her head toward a doorway. “This is the dining hall.”
When the door slid open, Alex saw one of the biggest rooms she had yet to encounter in the colony. There were several rows of long tables with benches. Along two of the walls were several, long silver rails upon which people slid blue trays. On the wall immediately to Alex’s right was a small black box, similar to the one she had seen near the entrance portal.
“Ya gotta swipe your PTD here.” Carrie removed the device from her ear and waved it before the small black box. “That’ll get you a tray.” Sure enough, a slot opened up in the wall, and a blue tray slid halfway out. Carrie pulled it the rest of the way out and placed it on the beginning of the silver rails. Alex mimicked Carrie’s actions and pulled out her own tray.
“Why do we need to swipe the PTD?”
“We, I mean the orphans, get three meals a day here. Others can come eat in the dining hall too if they want, but they’ve got to pay. The PTDs help them keep track of who is eating when.” Carrie slid her tray further down the rails. “Food is broken into categories here. Say you want ravioli. Then you come over here to the pasta section. On this screen, you hit your selection. In a few seconds, the screen slides away, and your food is here.” Carrie demonstrated as she spoke. “If you want chicken stir fry, see the chicken section. Say you want a nice filet mignon, try the steak and chops department. I would recommend you take at least one thing from the vegetables section every once in a while otherwise the school nurse gets on your case.”
Alex nodded, trying to take it in while she ordered herself a plate of chicken parmigiana.
“Oh, one more thing,” Carrie continued. “Don’t try taking more than one dessert from the sweets section. When you touch the screen, it scans and remembers your fingerprint. It won’t let you touch the sweets screen twice during one meal period, and it sends an immediate alert to the health department.”
“You’re kidding?”
“Nope.” Carrie ordered herself a glass of chocolate milk from the beverage screen.
“Obesity used to be a real problem when first colonists came here. They don’t mess around anymore.”
As Alex waited for the beverage screen to slide away and reveal her glass of milk, she got the sensation that she was being watched. Her back was to the seating area of the cafeteria. Turning around, she discovered that many of the diners had indeed been staring at her. Some of them looked away quickly, but others made no attempt to hide their curiosity. They continued to gaze steadily at her. In groups of twos and threes, some of the colonists, both young and old, bent their heads together to discuss the new arrival.
Deciding to ignore them, Alex picked up her glass of milk and followed Carrie.
“You better sit with the rest of the seventh grade.” Carried headed toward a table near the back. “We don’t trust ya, but at least we won’t eat you alive.”
They walked past a table of slightly older students, and Alex was reminded of a certain section of ocean not too far from her home island. The term “shark-infested” popped into her head. A couple of the boys glared at each other across the table as if they were about to start a fight. Some of the other students stared at Alex as if she were new prey that had crossed into their territory. One girl in particular gave Alex the creeps. Her eyes stared in opposite directions. Her right eye followed Alex as she walked past while the left eye watched the two boys who glared menacingly at each other.
“Those are the eighth graders,” whispered Carrie as they sat down at their table.
“I’d recommend keeping away from them.” Alex nodded and took a seat next to Carrie. Everyone from their class except Sanyu was at their table. Alex wondered if this meant Sanyu had an actual family to go home to. Carrie had said most of them were orphans. Had the war left that many children without parents?
“Hey,” Jack leaned over the table to Carrie, “what’s with bringing the leak?” He jerked his head toward Alex.
Carrie stabbed a piece of ravioli with her fork. “Had to. General’s orders.” She shoved the ravioli in her mouth.
“What are you supposed to do with her after dinner?” asked Sam. “Send her down the trash chute?” The others snickered.
“She’s my new roommate,” murmured Carrie between bites of pasta.
“My condolences,” interjected Adam, who was sitting beside his roommate Sam.
“Oh God!” Jack slapped his knee and laughed.
“What’s so funny?” Carrie retorted.
“I’m just picturing the start of softball season next month. I saw the leak tossing the ball to Sanyu today. She’s got a strong arm. Should be interesting when the two of you are both up for the pitching slot on the team, and then you got to sleep in the same room at night.” Jack chuckled some more. Carrie narrowed her eyes toward Jack. Then she picked up a piece of ravioli and hurled it right into his left eye, splattering marinara sauce across his face and onto his left shoulder. This got a hurt “Hey” from Jack, but a series of snorting laughs from everyone else.
“Serves ya right for messing with the pitcher,” called Adam.
A beautiful dark-skinned girl with her hair tightly braided into thick cornrows was sitting to Alex’s left. She nudged Alex with her elbow. Her brown eyes seemed a little softer, a little less cruel than some of the rest’s. “So you’re an orphan too, huh?”
“Not really,” began Alex, but she couldn’t continue her explanation.
Clark, who was sitting at the end of the table, uttered one word that made the rest of them freeze: “Fight.” They all turned in the direction Clark was facing. Alex turned her head as well. They were looking at the eighth grade table.
“I don’t see any fight,” said Alex.
“Not yet, but it’s coming,” explained the dark-skinned girl.
“How does Clark know?”
“He can read lips.”
“Read lips?”
“Yeah, you know, tell what people are saying from far away by watching the way their lips move. Clark’s an expert at it. He has to be. He’s deaf.”
“He can’t hear?” Alex was astounded.
“That’s what she said, leak,” Jack jumped into the conversation. “You got a problem with my brother’s hearing loss?” Alex looked back and forth between the two boys. They were similar looking, but not identical. Fraternal twins, Alex decided.
“No, no problem at all.”
“Hey, Simona,” Adam called down to the dark-skinned girl beside Alex. “You pickin’ up any of this?” Adam pointed toward the eighth grade table.
“Simona can hear anything,” Carrie whispered to Alex. “She’s like the exact opposite of Clark.”
Simona strained her hearing for a moment. “Seems to be the usual thing. Zero wants Magnum to get a dessert for him.”
Alex looked over at the eighth grade table in time to see an extremely thin boy slam down his glass. The boy seemed emaciated, his bony elbows making sharp angles as he pressed his palms onto the table and leaned forward.
“Com’n, Magnum. You know you’re not going to eat any dessert; you never use your ration.” The skinny boy directed his comments across the table at a boy who was about as large as Zero was skinny.
“Forget about it, Zero!” Magnum yelled back. “Just because I choose not to eat my dessert doesn’t mean I have to sit here and watch you eat two of them.” Magnum rose to his full height, which was rather intimidating.
Several tables over, Alex watched in confusion. Was the skinny boy actually asking for food from the fat boy because the fat boy never ate dessert? Shouldn’t it be the other way around?
“You’re a selfish leak,” screamed Zero, who stood up to face Magnum eye-to-eye. When he was standing upright, Alex was surprised to find that Zero was as tall as Magnum. However, in Zero’s case, his unusual height only emphasized how incredibly scrawny he was. Bones jutted out from every corner of his body.
“You’re an obnoxious . . .”
“Boys!” An adult in a white shirt with red letters spelling “Coach” on the back ran up to the table. “That’s enough, Magnum and Zero. Perhaps the younger kids can teach you some manners. Zero, sit over there at the sixth grade table. Magnum, you sit with the fifth graders.” The man looked around the room. “Everybody else, go back to eating.”
One by one, the other diners returned to their meals as Zero and Magnum snatched up their trays and headed to opposite ends of the dining hall.
“Man!” sighed Jack. “I wish Coach Skule would stop interfering. We might get a real fight one of these days.”
Alex looked back at her tray and was surprised to see she had already finished her glass of milk. “Um, there’s no rule against getting two drinks, is there?” She looked around the table. Carrie shook her head while others discussed the inevitable “real” fight that would have to erupt some day between the two eighth grade boys.
At the beverage station, Alex ordered up another milk. Two stations down from her, Magnum approached the dessert station. He tapped the screen a couple times and then pulled out a large ice cream sundae complete with whipped topping and a cherry on top. Alex couldn’t figure out what he was doing at first. Didn’t Zero say Magnum never ate dessert? Smirking, Magnum turned away from the sweet station and made sure that Zero was watching his every move before he dumped the sundae right into the trash chute.
By this time, Alex had her glass of milk in hand and was heading back to her table. She found herself in the unfortunate position of standing between the two eighth grade boys: Zero was three tables to her left, and Magnum, still near the trash chute, was two tables to her right. From the left, she heard a voice scream, “Son of a . . .” Zero picked up a steak knife and hurled it across the dining hall toward Magnum. Alex looked up just in time to see the knife spinning rapidly, blade over handle, right toward her face.
Jack whacked Sanyu upside the head. “Really smooth, Sanyu!”
“What?” cried Sanyu helplessly. Jack just shook his head.
“It’s all right,” said Alex. She held her head up high now. There was no way she was going to let her new classmates see her cry. “I could tell you were all thinking the same thing.”
A couple of the girls looked down at their shoes. Clark shifted his weight uneasily. Sanyu tilted his head to the side and scratched the top of it. He seemed to be figuring out how Alex could have turned out to be a girl.
Sam made his way over to Adam and gave him a consolation pat on the back. “Don’t worry about the race, man. Obviously, the new kid is a freak.” Alex felt her teeth grind together. That little Sam kid was gonna be trouble.
In the distance, a shrill bell rang.
“Thank God!” sighed Yvonne. “Let’s get back to class. This recess stuff is stressing me out.” Her long, blond hair swaying behind her, she ran back to the other side of the playdium. The rest of the kids followed quickly.
Near the exit to the playdium stood Ms. Pullman, who greeted each student by name when they walked past her.
“Good afternoon, Adam.”
“Hey, Ms. Pullman.”
“Samuel.” She gave Sam a stern, warning look that Alex couldn’t understand. What had Sam done to annoy Ms. Pullman?
“Ms. Pullman,” sang Sam. He smiled at the teacher.
“Hello, Jack.”
“Hey.”
“And . . . ,” Ms. Pullman craned her neck around Jack to see who was coming last. In the small hallway leading from the playdium to the inner loop of the colony, Alex’s new classmates bunched up near the doorway as if expecting something to happen when Ms. Pullman saw Alex without her hat on. Did they think Ms. Pullman would be shocked that Alex was a girl, too? Alex could see Yvonne’s blue eyes peeking out from behind Clark’s tall frame.
Ms. Pullman’s brow furrowed a bit. “Good afternoon,” she said slowly. Then with the slightest raise of her voice, she made the last word a question. “Alex?”
“Good afternoon, Ms. Pullman,” Alex answered strongly, faking a sense of confidence, and strode into the hallway where the other students had gathered to watch the scene. Alex took a step forward; her new classmates took a step back. Yvonne, still standing behind Clark, let out an, “Ouch!” Apparently, he had stepped on her foot. Alex took another step forward. This time Yvonne moved fast enough to get out of Clark’s way. Ms. Pullman stepped into the hallway behind Alex.
“Well?” she looked at everyone. “What are you waiting for? Get your things from my room and proceed to Professor Callahan’s room for science.”
Alex took another step forward.
“Go, go,” urged Sam. “The freak needs to get through!” With an abrupt aboutface, the students headed out of the hallway and into the inner circle.
“Samuel!” Ms. Pullman yelled, but Sam continued to speed down the hallway.
Back in Ms. Pullman’s room, Alex picked up her small bag. In the corner of the room, Ms. Pullman was having a hushed conversation with Sam. Alex couldn’t hear what was being said, but neither Ms. Pullman nor Sam looked happy. As Sam shot her a dirty look, Alex followed the other students out of the classroom and down the hallway to a doorway marked Astrophysics and Other Sciences: Professor Callahan.
Callahan turned out to be a funny, old man. With his white hair, thick white beard and round tummy, he looked like he should have been wearing a red suit trimmed in white fur. His green eyes twinkled when the students walked into his room.
“Ah, my young scholars,” he greeted them. “How are we doing today?”
“We got a new kid,” Jack nodded back to Alex who entered the room behind him.
“Yes, General Fratelli stopped in a moment ago to tell me about our new student.”
Professor Callahan stepped forward to shake Alex’s hand. “Well, well, hello there, young lady. Come on in, welcome. Adriana, isn’t it?”
“Alex, sir, my name’s Alex.”
“Oh, of course, of course. I knew it started with an A. You mustn’t mind me, Alex. I’ve been at this science teacher game too long. Eons ago, well before the war, I used to teach astrophysics back on Earth at a university called . . .” He rubbed the side of his temple, then let his hand drop. “Well, now, what does it matter what it was called? That school doesn’t exist anymore anyway. Let’s get started, shall we? Take a seat over here, Alex,” Professor Callahan gestured to an empty seat on the side of his classroom. “I think we should begin by reviewing what we discussed yesterday. It will be a good way to introduce Alex to her new home, too. Did everyone plug in their PTDs?” Callahan looked around to see that the students had logged into their consoles.
“Alex, did anyone give you a PTD yet?” The professor directed his attention to his newest student.
“I’m sorry, a what?” The term sounded familiar to her, but she had no idea what he was talking about.
“A PTD. That’s what we call these things here.” Callahan lifted a small, rectangular device off his ear, and Alex realized that all of her classmates had taken off the strange black gadgets they had had in their ears and placed them into their computer terminals. “A personal technology device.” He held it out for Alex to see. She shook her head to indicate that she didn’t have one. “I’m sure General Fratelli will be getting you one shortly. We couldn’t live without them here on the moon. They do everything for us: make phone calls, hold our music and electronic files, open doorways, give directions, capture video and photos.” Suddenly, Alex remembered where she had heard the term before. When she tried to enter the IMC, the lit panel had asked her to scan her PTD. Callahan continued his explanation by pointing at a small portion of the device, “The tiny screen here can be a bit of a strain on our eyes. That’s why we plug them into the consoles when we want to do any real work.” Callahan turned toward his teacher’s console and attached his own PTD. On the large screen behind him popped up a photo of the south pole of the moon. With a few touches on the screen, Callahan zoomed in on a particular crater.
“Here we go, the Shackleton crater. Can anyone tell us from yesterday’s discussion why this site was chosen for the moon colony?” The blond girl’s hand popped up.
“Yes, Yvonne.”
“Some areas of the south pole, like the Shackleton crater, get sunlight almost all the time. In fact, some areas see sunlight almost 98% of the time.”
“Very good. And why would constant sunlight be so important? Life on earth exists without continual daylight. Why is it so vital to our existence here? Clark.”
“Solar power.” Something about Clark’s response seemed odd to Alex. Did he speak with an accent?
“Absolutely, solar power.” Professor Callahan looked around the room. “Imagine if we didn’t have solar power.” He paused to let the idea sink in. “How would we survive? What would keep this colony going?” He chuckled to himself for a moment. “It’s not like we could have run an electrical line between the earth and the moon.”
Alex slowly raised a hand. There was a question on her mind, but she wasn’t sure if she should ask it.
Callahan’s eyes lit up. He loved to be questioned. “Yes, Alex.”
“What about wind energy? Couldn’t you use that to generate power as well?”
“There is no wind on the moon,” Adam blurted out. Then he rolled his eyes, as if to say, What an idiot!
“No wind?” She turned to look at him. “Ever?”
“I’m afraid, young Mr. Zweil speaks the truth, Alex,” Mr. Callahan stepped in before Adam could respond. “We have no wind here on the moon. Which brings me to my next point—the moon has no significant atmosphere. What problems does this cause for us?”
“No oxygen,” Jack quipped.
“Well, yes,” Professor Callahan chuckled. “I would have thought that was obvious. The designers of this colony complex had to find a way to create and then seal-in an environment that was rich in oxygen. One crack in our protective ‘bubble’ here, and we’re all in trouble.” He shuddered at the thought. “Let’s move beyond the obvious. What other problem does a lack of atmosphere give us?”
Alex looked around the room; no one seemed to know. Seated beside her was the redheaded girl named Carrie. She was manipulating her console, trying to find the answer in her notes.
“The Earth,” continued Professor Callahan, “has an extremely useful atmosphere. Not only does it provide oxygen, but it also protects its inhabitants from something else. Unfortunately, the damage done to the Earth by Emperor Devlesh means its atmosphere isn’t as adept at protecting the planet as it used to be.”
“Radiation,” Alex said. They all turned to look at her. “Radiation, that’s it, isn’t it? The Earth’s atmosphere is able to absorb some of the radiation from the sun, but without any atmosphere on the moon, we’re at risk of radiation poisoning.”
“Very good, Alex,” Callahan nodded approvingly.
“Radiation poisoning?” Yvonne asked. “I don’t like the sound of that.”
“But it’s true, isn’t it?” Alex sat up straighter in her seat. “You said the designers chose this site because we would be in the sun all the time, but that also means we’re exposed to radiation all the time.” Alex’s breathing quickened. She looked around the room at everyone. “That means you’ve all had eleven years of radiation exposure.” Visions of her new classmates growing second heads swam before her. She looked down at her own hands and turned them over several times. “We can’t stay here. This isn’t healthy.” By this point, the rest of the class was looking at her as if she had just grown a second head.
Professor Callahan chuckled softly. “Slow down there, Alex. We’re perfectly safe. You’re right that radiation is extremely dangerous, but our founders knew that when they built this complex, so they made the necessary adjustments. I was going to talk more about the Shackleton crater today, but we’d better turn to page 211. Let’s find out how the colony designers used a little thing called ‘moon dust’ to save us from radiation.” Callahan and the rest of the students began tapping out instructions on their consoles.
“Um, sir,” Alex raised her hand timidly.
“Oh, sorry, Alex. I forgot you don’t have a PTD yet to access your console. Why don’t you look on with Carrie for now?”
Carrie didn’t look too pleased with this idea, but she tilted her console slightly so Alex could look, too.
* * *
An hour and a half later, not only had Callahan given the class a thorough explanation of the layer of moon dust (also called regolith, the professor informed them) that covered the colony complex, but he also whipped up a last-minute experiment with moon dust as well. Several sealed containers with small amounts of moon dust were passed out to each lab table.
“Be sure to keep the containers sealed,” warned Professor Callahan. “Prolonged exposure to moon dust is harmful to your lungs.”
Using a device Professor Callahan called a magnetron, Alex worked with her lab partners Carrie and Sanyu to heat the moon dust at varying temperatures and for varying lengths of time. Alex watched in amazement as the moon dust quickly melted into a cement-like creation. Using a different power setting on the magnetron, they melted another container of moon dust until it resembled glass.
“Notice what happens when I shine a concentrated beam of light and heat at this melted moon dust.” Professor Callahan took one of Adam and Sam’s samples that had been melted into concrete and secured it before a powerful lamp he had at the front of the room. “Pretend this light represents the sun. You’ll notice how it is unable to penetrate the concrete. The moon dust is protecting us not only from the radiation of the sun, but also the extreme heat. That’s why we can use the old lava tunnels under this complex as protection from the bright sun if something should happen to our colony. In fact, the early colony designers considered building the entire colony underground. Any questions?” He looked around to make sure everyone understood.
“Alright, we’re running out of time. Let’s start cleaning up the lab.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Alex saw Adam pack away some of the unused moon dust and store it in a cabinet. Then he took his seat beside Sam. When Adam looked up at her, Alex looked away and concentrated on wiping the lab table she had shared with Sanyu and Carrie.
“I guess you’re not too worried any more about getting fried by the radiation,” Adam called over to Alex.
“People used to be really scared of radiation,” said Sam, “especially before they knew how to protect themselves from too much exposure.” Then his eyes widened. “Hey, maybe Alex is a time traveler who has come here from the past!” A few of the nearby students giggled.
“Alright.” Professor Callahan stood before the class, rubbing his hands together excitedly. He seemed completely oblivious to the little dialogue that had just occurred. “It looks like we’re almost cleaned up. Excellent. Now listen carefully, I have something important I need you to remember for Monday’s class.” A few students clicked on their consoles to type in reminders. “I think,” continued Professor Callahan, “that we need to get up close and personal with the our home crater here. Therefore, bring your space suits on Monday. We’re going outside!”
“Outside?” questioned Clark.
“Yes!” hissed Jack.
Alex wondered what the big deal was. She had been outside the colony walls just a few hours ago. However, the excited grins and the slapping of hands among the other kids told Alex that this was something special for them.
“Yes, outside!” Callahan’s eyes sparkled. “It’s time we did a little exploring.”
The bell rang, and students logged out of their consoles and returned their PTDs to their ears. Alex picked up her small bag and wondered where she was supposed to go next. She tapped Sanyu on the shoulder before he could walk away.
“Hey, Sanyu, where do we go next?”
Sanyu gave a little shrug. “Home.”
Home. The word cut at Alex. It was impossible for her to go home. By now, her grandfather would have repaired the Rock Jumper and be on his way back to Earth. How long would it take him to find Grandma? The sooner he found her, the sooner he would return for Alex. In the meantime, she wondered what she should do next.
The doorway to Professor Callahan’s classroom slid open, and Marta rolled into the room.
“Excuse me, Professor Callahan. At the General’s orders, I am to take Alex Jones with me.” No one but Callahan and Alex paid any attention to Marta. The other students walked around her and out of the classroom, excitedly talking about their plans for the remainder of the afternoon.
Callahan looked at Marta and then at Alex. “Of course, Marta. Alex, make sure you have all your things. Marta will take good care of you.”
The prospect of spending more time with Marta didn’t thrill Alex, but at least she had somewhere to go now.
Out in the hallway, Alex said, “So where are we going?”
“The General has decided you need some new clothes and supplies.”
The next few hours were spent in two rooms. The first room they visited was labeled Carol’s Colony Clothing. Carol turned out to be a tall, dark-skinned woman with her hair in a high bun and a set of dark-rimmed spectacles on the tip of her nose. She asked Alex to step into a cylindrical machine in which Alex’s body was scanned from head to toe. Then Marta asked the seamstress Carol for “the standard seventh grade issue.” Carol told her to return in an hour.
Next Marta took Alex to a much larger room in the outer loop of the colony. This place was labeled Technology & Technical Services. Here Alex received her PTD. Marta showed her how to attach it to her ear so that she could receive phone calls and listen to music. When she took it off her ear, she could use it for taking photos and videos. Then Marta demonstrated how to plug the PTD into any console in the complex. Alex was amazed by how much she could do with the PTD. All of her textbooks were stored on it. Her homework would be kept on it. Alex did her best to soak in the information Marta threw at her so quickly.
“The most important thing to remember,” Marta insisted, “is that you never lose your PTD. It is your key to everything in this colony. Your very life may depend on it.”
Alex nodded as she fit the PTD onto her ear. She was surprised by how lightweight it felt.
When Marta’s tutorial on the use of the PTD was finished, they headed back to Carol’s Colony Clothing where Alex was amazed to find a whole new wardrobe completed just for her. The clothes fit perfectly. She had multiple skirts of the style she had seen her female classmates wearing. Each skirt had a short sewn into it, which explained to Alex why the girls didn’t mind running around in their skirts. There were also several colors of leggings and numerous tops with the same V-neck style and fitted bodice all the older girls and women of the colony seemed to be wearing. Each top bore the colony’s five-star emblem. Several pairs of sporty-looking ankle boots were also waiting for her.
Choosing a dark skort and a blue top, Alex changed into one of the outfits immediately. She examined her new look in a full-length mirror. Startled by the difference, she realized why the others had thought she was a boy in her old clothes.
“We’ll have the other items delivered to your sleeping quarters later,” Marta explained.
The door to Carol’s Colony Clothing slid open, and a disgruntled girl walked in. Alex recognized Carrie immediately. Despite having completed a science lab with her, Alex realized she knew nothing about her except that she was supposed to be the pitcher for the softball team.
“You called for me, Marta?” Carrie tightened her ponytail before folding her arms over her chest. She glanced over at Alex to take in her new clothes.
“Yes, Carrie.” Marta rolled over to where Carrie was standing near the doorway.
“Alex will be staying with you.”
“What?” Carrie unfolded her arms, put her hands on her hips, and leaned toward Marta as if she had heard wrong.
“Alex is your new roommate.”
“But why? Doesn’t she have any parents either?”
Either? thought Alex. Had Carrie been abandoned on the moon, too?
Marta stood silently. It was clear she wasn’t giving Carrie any more information than she thought necessary.
“Why me?” Carrie finally asked when she realized Marta wasn’t going to answer her last question.
“You are the only seventh grade girl who does not have a roommate.”
“But . . .”
“These are the General’s orders.” Marta’s voice was stern, and Carrie pulled back a little. “You are also to take the new girl with you to dinner. See that she knows how we operate around here. After dinner, you are to take her to the sleeping quarters. Alex’s new clothes as well as her . . .” Marta looked at the pile of Alex’s old clothes slumped over the back of a chair, “former apparel will be delivered there by the time dinner is through.”
Carrie sighed. “Couldn’t someone else . . .” She waved her hand vaguely at Alex.
Marta rolled a bit closer to Carrie. “You wish for me to tell the General you will disobey his orders?”
Sighing, Carrie turned to Alex. “Com’n, Newbie. I’ll show you where we eat dinner.”
Out in the hallway, Alex turned to her new roommate. “So, Carrie, what did you mean when you asked Marta if I didn’t have any parents either?”
Carrie gave her a wary glance. “Just what it sounded like. I figure if you had parents you wouldn’t need a roommate.”
“So you don’t have parents either?”
Carrie stopped in her tracks. “Listen, Newbie, we don’t talk much about parents around here. So if you want to get along with people, you’d better not mention them.”
Alex walked beside Carrie for a while in silence. “But why? Why would people not want to talk about their parents?”
With another abrupt stop, Carrie faced Alex. “Because most of us are orphans, you
leak.” Leak? Alex wondered what that was supposed to mean.
“I don’t understand.”
Carrie resumed walking. “We’re orphans, Newbie. Like you.”
For the second time that afternoon, words cut at Alex. Orphan?
“I’m not an orphan,” she protested. “My grandpa’s coming back for me real soon.”
Carrie rolled her deep blue eyes. “Sure he is.”
“No, really he is!”
“Where are you from anyway?”
Alex tried to remember what the General had told her. “A space station.”
“Oh, yeah.” Carrie’s eyes narrowed. “Which one? Some of the other kids and I have been reading up on the space stations lately.”
“Oh, well, this isn’t an Earth space station.” Alex bit her lower lip. Would she be able to pull off the lie? “Ours was back by Mars.”
“Mars!” Carrie’s eyes widened. “No wonder you’re such a leak.”
“What’s a leak?”
“A leak, you know, a leak.” Carrie struggled for an explanation. “Like when something bad from the outside gets into the inside.” She stopped walking again and folded her arms. She turned toward Alex and took two steps forward, pressing Alex up against the wall. “Listen, I’m not one to beat around the moon rock, you know what I mean? So I’m going to ask you straight. Are you one of Emperor Devlesh’s spies?”
Alex shook her head frantically. “No, not at all. I’m nobody’s spy. My grandpa dropped me off here to be safe for a while until he could make repairs at home. That’s all. Promise!” Alex held her hands up in surrender.
Carrie took a step back. “Well, we’ll see about that.” She jerked her head toward a doorway. “This is the dining hall.”
When the door slid open, Alex saw one of the biggest rooms she had yet to encounter in the colony. There were several rows of long tables with benches. Along two of the walls were several, long silver rails upon which people slid blue trays. On the wall immediately to Alex’s right was a small black box, similar to the one she had seen near the entrance portal.
“Ya gotta swipe your PTD here.” Carrie removed the device from her ear and waved it before the small black box. “That’ll get you a tray.” Sure enough, a slot opened up in the wall, and a blue tray slid halfway out. Carrie pulled it the rest of the way out and placed it on the beginning of the silver rails. Alex mimicked Carrie’s actions and pulled out her own tray.
“Why do we need to swipe the PTD?”
“We, I mean the orphans, get three meals a day here. Others can come eat in the dining hall too if they want, but they’ve got to pay. The PTDs help them keep track of who is eating when.” Carrie slid her tray further down the rails. “Food is broken into categories here. Say you want ravioli. Then you come over here to the pasta section. On this screen, you hit your selection. In a few seconds, the screen slides away, and your food is here.” Carrie demonstrated as she spoke. “If you want chicken stir fry, see the chicken section. Say you want a nice filet mignon, try the steak and chops department. I would recommend you take at least one thing from the vegetables section every once in a while otherwise the school nurse gets on your case.”
Alex nodded, trying to take it in while she ordered herself a plate of chicken parmigiana.
“Oh, one more thing,” Carrie continued. “Don’t try taking more than one dessert from the sweets section. When you touch the screen, it scans and remembers your fingerprint. It won’t let you touch the sweets screen twice during one meal period, and it sends an immediate alert to the health department.”
“You’re kidding?”
“Nope.” Carrie ordered herself a glass of chocolate milk from the beverage screen.
“Obesity used to be a real problem when first colonists came here. They don’t mess around anymore.”
As Alex waited for the beverage screen to slide away and reveal her glass of milk, she got the sensation that she was being watched. Her back was to the seating area of the cafeteria. Turning around, she discovered that many of the diners had indeed been staring at her. Some of them looked away quickly, but others made no attempt to hide their curiosity. They continued to gaze steadily at her. In groups of twos and threes, some of the colonists, both young and old, bent their heads together to discuss the new arrival.
Deciding to ignore them, Alex picked up her glass of milk and followed Carrie.
“You better sit with the rest of the seventh grade.” Carried headed toward a table near the back. “We don’t trust ya, but at least we won’t eat you alive.”
They walked past a table of slightly older students, and Alex was reminded of a certain section of ocean not too far from her home island. The term “shark-infested” popped into her head. A couple of the boys glared at each other across the table as if they were about to start a fight. Some of the other students stared at Alex as if she were new prey that had crossed into their territory. One girl in particular gave Alex the creeps. Her eyes stared in opposite directions. Her right eye followed Alex as she walked past while the left eye watched the two boys who glared menacingly at each other.
“Those are the eighth graders,” whispered Carrie as they sat down at their table.
“I’d recommend keeping away from them.” Alex nodded and took a seat next to Carrie. Everyone from their class except Sanyu was at their table. Alex wondered if this meant Sanyu had an actual family to go home to. Carrie had said most of them were orphans. Had the war left that many children without parents?
“Hey,” Jack leaned over the table to Carrie, “what’s with bringing the leak?” He jerked his head toward Alex.
Carrie stabbed a piece of ravioli with her fork. “Had to. General’s orders.” She shoved the ravioli in her mouth.
“What are you supposed to do with her after dinner?” asked Sam. “Send her down the trash chute?” The others snickered.
“She’s my new roommate,” murmured Carrie between bites of pasta.
“My condolences,” interjected Adam, who was sitting beside his roommate Sam.
“Oh God!” Jack slapped his knee and laughed.
“What’s so funny?” Carrie retorted.
“I’m just picturing the start of softball season next month. I saw the leak tossing the ball to Sanyu today. She’s got a strong arm. Should be interesting when the two of you are both up for the pitching slot on the team, and then you got to sleep in the same room at night.” Jack chuckled some more. Carrie narrowed her eyes toward Jack. Then she picked up a piece of ravioli and hurled it right into his left eye, splattering marinara sauce across his face and onto his left shoulder. This got a hurt “Hey” from Jack, but a series of snorting laughs from everyone else.
“Serves ya right for messing with the pitcher,” called Adam.
A beautiful dark-skinned girl with her hair tightly braided into thick cornrows was sitting to Alex’s left. She nudged Alex with her elbow. Her brown eyes seemed a little softer, a little less cruel than some of the rest’s. “So you’re an orphan too, huh?”
“Not really,” began Alex, but she couldn’t continue her explanation.
Clark, who was sitting at the end of the table, uttered one word that made the rest of them freeze: “Fight.” They all turned in the direction Clark was facing. Alex turned her head as well. They were looking at the eighth grade table.
“I don’t see any fight,” said Alex.
“Not yet, but it’s coming,” explained the dark-skinned girl.
“How does Clark know?”
“He can read lips.”
“Read lips?”
“Yeah, you know, tell what people are saying from far away by watching the way their lips move. Clark’s an expert at it. He has to be. He’s deaf.”
“He can’t hear?” Alex was astounded.
“That’s what she said, leak,” Jack jumped into the conversation. “You got a problem with my brother’s hearing loss?” Alex looked back and forth between the two boys. They were similar looking, but not identical. Fraternal twins, Alex decided.
“No, no problem at all.”
“Hey, Simona,” Adam called down to the dark-skinned girl beside Alex. “You pickin’ up any of this?” Adam pointed toward the eighth grade table.
“Simona can hear anything,” Carrie whispered to Alex. “She’s like the exact opposite of Clark.”
Simona strained her hearing for a moment. “Seems to be the usual thing. Zero wants Magnum to get a dessert for him.”
Alex looked over at the eighth grade table in time to see an extremely thin boy slam down his glass. The boy seemed emaciated, his bony elbows making sharp angles as he pressed his palms onto the table and leaned forward.
“Com’n, Magnum. You know you’re not going to eat any dessert; you never use your ration.” The skinny boy directed his comments across the table at a boy who was about as large as Zero was skinny.
“Forget about it, Zero!” Magnum yelled back. “Just because I choose not to eat my dessert doesn’t mean I have to sit here and watch you eat two of them.” Magnum rose to his full height, which was rather intimidating.
Several tables over, Alex watched in confusion. Was the skinny boy actually asking for food from the fat boy because the fat boy never ate dessert? Shouldn’t it be the other way around?
“You’re a selfish leak,” screamed Zero, who stood up to face Magnum eye-to-eye. When he was standing upright, Alex was surprised to find that Zero was as tall as Magnum. However, in Zero’s case, his unusual height only emphasized how incredibly scrawny he was. Bones jutted out from every corner of his body.
“You’re an obnoxious . . .”
“Boys!” An adult in a white shirt with red letters spelling “Coach” on the back ran up to the table. “That’s enough, Magnum and Zero. Perhaps the younger kids can teach you some manners. Zero, sit over there at the sixth grade table. Magnum, you sit with the fifth graders.” The man looked around the room. “Everybody else, go back to eating.”
One by one, the other diners returned to their meals as Zero and Magnum snatched up their trays and headed to opposite ends of the dining hall.
“Man!” sighed Jack. “I wish Coach Skule would stop interfering. We might get a real fight one of these days.”
Alex looked back at her tray and was surprised to see she had already finished her glass of milk. “Um, there’s no rule against getting two drinks, is there?” She looked around the table. Carrie shook her head while others discussed the inevitable “real” fight that would have to erupt some day between the two eighth grade boys.
At the beverage station, Alex ordered up another milk. Two stations down from her, Magnum approached the dessert station. He tapped the screen a couple times and then pulled out a large ice cream sundae complete with whipped topping and a cherry on top. Alex couldn’t figure out what he was doing at first. Didn’t Zero say Magnum never ate dessert? Smirking, Magnum turned away from the sweet station and made sure that Zero was watching his every move before he dumped the sundae right into the trash chute.
By this time, Alex had her glass of milk in hand and was heading back to her table. She found herself in the unfortunate position of standing between the two eighth grade boys: Zero was three tables to her left, and Magnum, still near the trash chute, was two tables to her right. From the left, she heard a voice scream, “Son of a . . .” Zero picked up a steak knife and hurled it across the dining hall toward Magnum. Alex looked up just in time to see the knife spinning rapidly, blade over handle, right toward her face.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Chapter 3
Chapter 3:
A FLICK OF THE WRIST
Alex’s knees quaked as she walked beside General Fratelli. She wasn’t sure what made her more nervous--the General seeming even taller and stronger when she stood beside him or the fact that she was, for the first time in her life, about to have real classmates. What will they be like, she wondered. Would they think she was nice? Would they find her jokes funny? Back on Earth, she had spent much of her time reading books, and many of them included kids who had moved and had difficulty fitting into their new schools. Would these kids let her sit with them at lunch? Most importantly, would she ever feel she could trust any of them enough to share her secret with them? Grandpa had warned her against it, but maybe someday . . .
Alex tried to keep track of where the General was leading her. It was hard to know where one was when everything inside the inner and outer loops was monotonous—the same white walls and the same doorways. It’s a good thing most of the doorways are labeled, thought Alex. Finally, they came to a door marked English Literature & Writing: Ms. Pullman. The General paused before stepping in front of the door.
“Remember what I said, Alex. You’ve been living on a space station near Mars. You’re here only until your grandfather can repair your home. And whatever you do, under no circumstances should you show anyone what you showed me in my office this morning. Nothing will jeopardize your stay here more than that.”
Alex’s stomach had already been doing flip-flops before the General’s speech; now it was whirling around like a blender. Alex put her hand over her belly in an effort to calm her emotions.
“Yes, sir, I’ll remember.”
“Good,” replied the General. “Let’s go inside.” He stepped in front of Ms. Pullman’s door, and it slid open.
Alex followed the General timidly into the classroom. Their presence clearly startled the students and their teacher, but no one was more shocked into silence than Alex. The class was obviously in the middle of a birthday party. Each person was holding a plate of partially eaten cake. They were all dressed in the same simple, solid-colored garb with the IMC emblem that Alex had seen on the other colonists, and they all sported the same black device in their ears. At the room’s center, used birthday candles and the crumby remnants of the cake sat on a platter on a table. About ten students, staring in disbelief as they looked first at the General and then at Alex, stood around the table. Based on the varying skin tones and facial features, Alex thought they did a good job of representing the various ethnicities that made up the International Moon Colony. A very short boy with sandy brown hair looked like his eyes were going to pop out of his sockets and knock the wire-framed glasses right off his nose. A tall, handsome boy with dark hair and olive skin stopped with his fork in his mouth. Beside him, a dark-skinned girl with beautiful dark eyes and thick braids stood with her mouth wide open. Her mouth continued to hang open until a girl with red curls nudged her with an elbow.
In a moment, Alex took in the whole scene. She had never been to a real birthday party. Sure, her grandparents had celebrated her birthday each year with cake and presents, but there were never any other kids around. And now, wondered Alex, now there is no one to celebrate with me, and my birthday is . . . During her hurried escape from the moon, Alex had lost track of the dates. She looked around the room wildly. Was it posted somewhere? Then she spotted it on the wall—a calendar with the dates crossed off. Today was Friday, February 10, 2216. Alex’s heart sank. Tomorrow would be February 11, her thirteenth birthday, and she had been abandoned on the moon with total strangers.
Ms. Pullman, a slender woman in her early twenties, appeared as startled as her students. She immediately put down her cake plate. “General Fratelli,” she squeaked. “Good afternoon. What can I do for you, sir?”
“Good afternoon, Ms. Pullman,” boomed General Fratelli. “I’m sorry for interrupting. I’d like to introduce you and your students to Alex Jones,” he nodded briefly at Alex, “who will be joining your class.”
“Joining our class?” Ms. Pullman’s eyebrows flew up. “But . . . but . . .” Her mouth moved, but no words came out.
The General waved his hand as if to brush away a cobweb. “We’ll worry about her school records later, Ms. Pullman. Alex has already had lunch, so no need to worry about that either. I can see that your students have been eating as well.” A pretty blond girl with bright blue eyes slid the remainder of her cake slice behind her back as though the General might snatch it out of her hands.
“Well, yes,” replied Ms. Pullman. “We . . .well, we’ve been celebrating Adam’s birthday.” She gestured toward the tall, handsome boy with the dark hair and olive complexion, and everyone looked in his direction. Clearly, the tall boy was Adam, and Alex had just walked in on his birthday party. Alex’s eyes locked on Adam’s, and she felt a jealousy she’d never known before. If eyes could shoot daggers, Alex’s eyes would have shot Adam dead. How dare this boy get a full birthday party with his friends at school? He’ll probably have another party tonight with his parents when he gets home, Alex fumed. And what would she get tomorrow? No birthday party, no cake, no presents. Not even her grandfather with her to celebrate. She felt like her whole existence was being mocked.
“Oh, I see,” General Fratelli suddenly appeared uncomfortable. He looked straight at Adam. “I didn’t realize it was your birthday.” Then he looked down at Alex briefly as if to say something and then changed his mind. Alex wondered if the General knew the next day would be her birthday. He seemed to know almost everything else about her. “Well, happy birthday then, Adam. I’m sure you and the rest of your classmates will be very welcoming to our new student. Good day, Ms. Pullman.” With that, General Fratelli swiftly left the room.
Silently, the ten seventh graders and their teacher stared at the new kid. Alex shuffled her feet. Was she supposed to say something first? Finally, Ms. Pullman shook her head and pulled herself together. “Well, welcome, Alex.” She stepped forward to shake Alex’s hand. “I’m sure we’ll have plenty of time to get to know more about you in the days ahead. I’m sorry you didn’t come a minute sooner. We would have saved a piece of cake for you.”
The blond girl immediately turned her back on Alex and gulped down the last of her cake. One of her classmates nudged her and whispered, “Real smooth, Yvonne.”
“I have a bit of my piece left.” Ms. Pullman lifted her cake plate. “Perhaps you’d like a bite?”
Alex looked down at the cake plate. It looked almost as good as the cakes her grandmother used to bake. Alex’s lips drew tight, and her eyes narrowed. She hoped that by squeezing her eyes tight for a moment, she could push back the tears. “No, thank you,” she murmured before glaring back at Adam.
“Oh, well, it’s time for recess. I’m afraid our little birthday celebration hasn’t left much time for playing. Why don’t you all finish your cake slices and then I’ll lead you out to the playdium.”
The students had trouble taking their eyes off Alex, but eventually they started giving each other nervous glances. Alex could tell that their suspicions were immediately raised. Did they already think she was a spy? Only one of the boys, dark-haired and with a round, yet almost flat face, smiled at her. Alex guessed that his ancestors had come from one of the Asian countries.
“O.K. I think you all need to go to the playdium and run around for a bit.” Clearly, Ms. Pullman could sense the tension in the room. “Drop your plates in the cleaning chute on your way out. Let’s go.” Slowly, the kids started to move again, their eyes shifting nervously from each other to Alex.
Ms. Pullman led the way, and the other students started to follow. Adam and the short boy with the glasses stayed behind. Alex figured there had to be at least a foot height difference between the two them. They both continued to stare, with their arms folded, almost daring her to speak.
The dark-haired Asian boy was also still in the room. He had a wide grin on his face, and he walked right up to Alex. “Hi, I’m Sanyu. This is Sam.” He gestured to the short boy. “And that’s Adam.”
Alex was too frightened to respond at first. What should she say? The General had already told everyone her name was Alex. “Um, hi,” was all she could get out.
“Well, are you coming or not?” asked Sanyu. Alex just shrugged. “What do you mean, you don’t know? Recess is fun. Are you crazy?” The boy laughed, grabbed Alex’s arm, and pulled her toward the door. “Com’n. It’s the best part of the school day.” Alex allowed herself to be pulled out of the room, but she took one last glare at Adam before leaving.
In the playdium, Sanyu dragged Alex over to the softball field, where he showed her where the bats, balls, and gloves were kept in an equipment box. Then the two of them started a game of catch while the remainder of Alex’s new classmates watched from the bleachers. From the field, Alex could make out snatches of their conversations.
Yvonne, the pretty blond who had wolfed down her last few bites of cake, was deep in discussion with the redheaded girl beside her. “This is going to ruin our numbers,” Yvonne said. “We used to have five boys and five girls. Now we’re off balance.”
“I just feel bad for Adam,” confided the redhead. “It’s his birthday. ”
Sanyu threw the ball, and Alex caught it with ease. When she went to return the ball, Alex heaved it with such force that Sanyu was nearly knocked down. At the top of the bleachers, the redheaded girl stood up to get a better look.
“Hey, Carrie,” a boy on the bottom bench called up to the redhead. “Looks like you may have some competition for the pitcher slot this year.”
Carrie’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not afraid of any competition, Jack.”
By this time, Adam and Sam had made their way into the playdium. Sam marched his way to the front of the bleachers and faced his classmates, pushing his glasses up on his nose to get a good look at them. “Alright, everybody, listen up. It’s Adam’s birthday, and you know what that means. We play whatever game the birthday kid wants to play, so let’s head on over to the other side of the playdium. We’re running races.”
“AHHH, MANNNN,” Jack groaned loudly. “Not races. We know who’s going to win.”
“Get up, you whiner,” Carrie grabbed Jack by the ear and pulled him up. “It’s Adam’s birthday. We do what Adam wants, and we all know Adam loves to run.”
Alex tried to study Adam as she tossed the ball back to Sanyu. Adam did look like he could be a fast runner. He had to be at least six feet tall, and he had a rather slim body.
Another boy from the class jumped up and shouted, “To the track!”
“To the track!” echoed Sam, and everyone started sliding off the bleachers. “Sanyu!” Sam called toward the field. “We’re running races. Let’s go.”
“Com’n, Alex.” Sanyu turned toward Alex who had just caught another ball. “Now you’ll see something amazing. Wait till you see what Adam can do.” And with that, they walked toward the other end of the playdium. That meant traversing the hill behind the softball field, picking their way through the small wooded area, and crossing over to the running track.
“What’s the distance?” asked Carrie.
“What’s it matter?” quipped Jack.
“I think it should be up to Adam what we run,” said Carrie before stretching down to touch her toes, the red curls in her ponytail flopping down as she bent over.
Pressing his right leg forward into a lunge, Adam bit his lip and thought. “I don’t know—maybe 100 meters?” He switched feet and lunched with the left leg forward.
“That’s kind of short,” responded Sam.
“Why not 400?” Alex’s voice squeaked. They turned to look at her, and she stared back defiantly. She was nervous, but she saw an opportunity to get even with the boy who had already had too much fun on his birthday. She and her grandmother used to do a lot of running together on their island the year before she left. Ever since then, Alex had gone for long runs on her own, thinking about her grandmother and wondering if she was having any success tracking down her mother. “What’s the matter?” Alex continued. She looked straight at Adam. “Can’t run that far?”
“Oh, I can run that far. The question is, can you keep up?”
Alex shrugged in response.
“400 meters it is then,” called Sam. “That means a staggered start with each runner remaining in their lane the whole race. This also means only eight of us can run. I’ll call the start, so I don’t mind sitting out. We need two more people to sit this one out. Who else wants out?” Sam scanned the small crowd before him.
One of the boys raised his hand.
“Alright, Clark’s out,” called Sam. “That brings us down to nine. Who else wants out?”
“I’ll sit out,” volunteered Yvonne. “I don’t want to mess up my hair.” She pushed her long blond locks behind her ears.
“O.K. Adam gets first pick of lanes since it’s his birthday. Which lane do you want, Adam?”
“I’ll take four,” he said and claimed his starting position.
“Ooh, I’ll take eight,” a small girl with mocha-colored skin jumped up. “I love feeling like I’m ahead even if it’s just for a bit.”
“I think the new kid should pick next,” Sanyu gestured toward Alex.
Not waiting for someone to argue, Alex chimed in with a quick, “Three,” and took her place in the third lane.
“I’m taking five,” called Jack before anyone else could. Soon they were lined up, with Adam in the middle, Alex to his left and Jack to his right. The other classmates filled in the lanes around them.
Sam positioned himself inside the curve of the track where everyone could hear him. Clark and Yvonne sat down on the grass near him.
“Runners, take your marks,” Sam bellowed. They all crouched down. “Get set.” Muscles tensed. “Go!”
Alex remembered her grandfather’s stories of running track when he was in college. His favorite distance was 400 meters, so Alex knew that everyone had to start in staggered positions around the first curve of the track. The runner in lane one started the farthest back while the runner in lane eight was closest to the end of the curve. That way, the people in the outer lanes would still end up running only 400 meters. This meant Alex could easily keep an eye on Adam who had started slightly ahead of her in the next lane.
Alex watched as Adam, with his arms pumping easily and his legs pounding the asphalt, quickly passed by Sanyu in lane six. Jack seemed to be a decent runner and was able to stay ahead of Adam for the first forty meters. As Adam overtook Jack, Alex inched closer toward him.
“Woohoo, go Adam!” called Yvonne from the opposite end of the track. Clark was clapping beside her.
“That’s what I’m talking about!” cried Sam, his arm pumping the air. “That’s my roommate, leaving you all in the dust.”
Although Alex had done plenty of running back on Earth, she had never competed in a race before. Now as her blood was pumping and her adrenaline increased, she felt stronger and more determined than ever to beat Adam at the race. Something about the pounding of her feet on the track made her feel like a clock was ticking. She had a deadline to meet. She had to pass Adam before he got to the finish line. Alex had an idea that if she could beat Adam in this race, maybe she’d win the respect of her new classmates. Jack sure seemed annoyed that Adam always won. Maybe the rest of them would admire her for her speed, too.
Alex inched closer to Adam. She was only five feet beyond him now. She had to win.
And then it happened. Without Alex realizing she had done it at first, she flicked her right wrist slightly as if she were trying to pull Adam’s shirt into her hands just as she had done with the General’s photo of her grandmother. As she did so, the back of Adam’s shirt jerked toward her.
Adam glanced over his left shoulder. A look of horror crossed his face when he realized how close Alex was to him. Clearly, he had thought nobody was anywhere near him.
Sam and Yvonne must have noticed Alex gaining on Adam, for their shouts grew louder, and Clark clapped more fervently.
Then it happened again. Alex flicked her wrist so that Adam felt another tug on his shirt, more powerful than the last one. This time, Adam looked over his right shoulder toward Jack. He did a double take and realized that Jack was at least eight feet behind. Alex grinned at Adam’s bewildered expression.
“Come on, Adam!” screamed Sam.
“You can do it, Adam!” cried Yvonne.
The finish line was a mere twenty feet away when Alex gave one final flick of her wrist. The back of Adam’s shirt yanked backwards. Adam stumbled on the track, his feet nearly tripping over each other. He looked at the springy surface of the track to see if he had tripped on something, his head only coming up at the last moment as Alex sped past him, crossing the finish line first.
Alex grinned from ear to ear. She had beaten the smug birthday boy who had taken it for granted that he was the best.
Sam and Yvonne stopped shouting and clapping immediately. Clark looked confused. The others dribbled in slowly, panting heavily. No one spoke at first. Alex stood to the side, squeezing her abdominals to ease a cramp; she truly had run her hardest and couldn’t have beaten Adam if she hadn’t yanked his shirt back towards her.
“You cheated!” Adam walked right up to Alex. “You cheated! I felt you tugging on my shirt.”
“What are you talking about?” asked Jack who walked up beside Adam.
“He was pulling my shirt to slow me down,” Adam pointed at Alex, who now looked bewildered. “I could feel him. Three times he did it.”
He, thought Alex. Him? Is he referring to me?
“Man, you’re crazy,” replied Jack. “Alex beat you fair and square. He didn’t touch you at all. I could see the two of you perfectly the whole last fifty meters.”
Alex’s mind was whirling. She looked down at her baggy old pants and loose-fitting shirt that her grandfather used to wear. Then she looked at the girls in the class.
They were all wearing skirts and tights.
“If he wasn’t pulling on my shirt, then what was holding me back?” Adam cried.
“I hate to say it, Adam,” said Sanyu, “but I think Alex just ran faster.”
“Nobody runs faster than me.” Adam was getting nearly delirious at this point.
“Besides, what kind of a guy beats another fellow on his birthday?” Adam stood before Alex and gave her shoulder a shove. “Explain yourself, you little runt!”
Alex couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Not only had they not been impressed by her victory, they didn’t even know she was a girl. What kind of a first impression had she made?
She quickly debated whether or not she should let them go on thinking she were a boy, but she knew the truth had to come out sooner or later. It might as well be sooner.
“I think you’ve got the wrong idea about me,” said Alex, and with that, she pulled the blue cap with the red “C” off her head. Down tumbled layer after layer of Alex’s thick, dark brown hair. It fell to the middle of her back.
Jaws dropped all around the group.
It was Sanyu who finally broke the silence. “You’re a girl?!?”
A FLICK OF THE WRIST
Alex’s knees quaked as she walked beside General Fratelli. She wasn’t sure what made her more nervous--the General seeming even taller and stronger when she stood beside him or the fact that she was, for the first time in her life, about to have real classmates. What will they be like, she wondered. Would they think she was nice? Would they find her jokes funny? Back on Earth, she had spent much of her time reading books, and many of them included kids who had moved and had difficulty fitting into their new schools. Would these kids let her sit with them at lunch? Most importantly, would she ever feel she could trust any of them enough to share her secret with them? Grandpa had warned her against it, but maybe someday . . .
Alex tried to keep track of where the General was leading her. It was hard to know where one was when everything inside the inner and outer loops was monotonous—the same white walls and the same doorways. It’s a good thing most of the doorways are labeled, thought Alex. Finally, they came to a door marked English Literature & Writing: Ms. Pullman. The General paused before stepping in front of the door.
“Remember what I said, Alex. You’ve been living on a space station near Mars. You’re here only until your grandfather can repair your home. And whatever you do, under no circumstances should you show anyone what you showed me in my office this morning. Nothing will jeopardize your stay here more than that.”
Alex’s stomach had already been doing flip-flops before the General’s speech; now it was whirling around like a blender. Alex put her hand over her belly in an effort to calm her emotions.
“Yes, sir, I’ll remember.”
“Good,” replied the General. “Let’s go inside.” He stepped in front of Ms. Pullman’s door, and it slid open.
Alex followed the General timidly into the classroom. Their presence clearly startled the students and their teacher, but no one was more shocked into silence than Alex. The class was obviously in the middle of a birthday party. Each person was holding a plate of partially eaten cake. They were all dressed in the same simple, solid-colored garb with the IMC emblem that Alex had seen on the other colonists, and they all sported the same black device in their ears. At the room’s center, used birthday candles and the crumby remnants of the cake sat on a platter on a table. About ten students, staring in disbelief as they looked first at the General and then at Alex, stood around the table. Based on the varying skin tones and facial features, Alex thought they did a good job of representing the various ethnicities that made up the International Moon Colony. A very short boy with sandy brown hair looked like his eyes were going to pop out of his sockets and knock the wire-framed glasses right off his nose. A tall, handsome boy with dark hair and olive skin stopped with his fork in his mouth. Beside him, a dark-skinned girl with beautiful dark eyes and thick braids stood with her mouth wide open. Her mouth continued to hang open until a girl with red curls nudged her with an elbow.
In a moment, Alex took in the whole scene. She had never been to a real birthday party. Sure, her grandparents had celebrated her birthday each year with cake and presents, but there were never any other kids around. And now, wondered Alex, now there is no one to celebrate with me, and my birthday is . . . During her hurried escape from the moon, Alex had lost track of the dates. She looked around the room wildly. Was it posted somewhere? Then she spotted it on the wall—a calendar with the dates crossed off. Today was Friday, February 10, 2216. Alex’s heart sank. Tomorrow would be February 11, her thirteenth birthday, and she had been abandoned on the moon with total strangers.
Ms. Pullman, a slender woman in her early twenties, appeared as startled as her students. She immediately put down her cake plate. “General Fratelli,” she squeaked. “Good afternoon. What can I do for you, sir?”
“Good afternoon, Ms. Pullman,” boomed General Fratelli. “I’m sorry for interrupting. I’d like to introduce you and your students to Alex Jones,” he nodded briefly at Alex, “who will be joining your class.”
“Joining our class?” Ms. Pullman’s eyebrows flew up. “But . . . but . . .” Her mouth moved, but no words came out.
The General waved his hand as if to brush away a cobweb. “We’ll worry about her school records later, Ms. Pullman. Alex has already had lunch, so no need to worry about that either. I can see that your students have been eating as well.” A pretty blond girl with bright blue eyes slid the remainder of her cake slice behind her back as though the General might snatch it out of her hands.
“Well, yes,” replied Ms. Pullman. “We . . .well, we’ve been celebrating Adam’s birthday.” She gestured toward the tall, handsome boy with the dark hair and olive complexion, and everyone looked in his direction. Clearly, the tall boy was Adam, and Alex had just walked in on his birthday party. Alex’s eyes locked on Adam’s, and she felt a jealousy she’d never known before. If eyes could shoot daggers, Alex’s eyes would have shot Adam dead. How dare this boy get a full birthday party with his friends at school? He’ll probably have another party tonight with his parents when he gets home, Alex fumed. And what would she get tomorrow? No birthday party, no cake, no presents. Not even her grandfather with her to celebrate. She felt like her whole existence was being mocked.
“Oh, I see,” General Fratelli suddenly appeared uncomfortable. He looked straight at Adam. “I didn’t realize it was your birthday.” Then he looked down at Alex briefly as if to say something and then changed his mind. Alex wondered if the General knew the next day would be her birthday. He seemed to know almost everything else about her. “Well, happy birthday then, Adam. I’m sure you and the rest of your classmates will be very welcoming to our new student. Good day, Ms. Pullman.” With that, General Fratelli swiftly left the room.
Silently, the ten seventh graders and their teacher stared at the new kid. Alex shuffled her feet. Was she supposed to say something first? Finally, Ms. Pullman shook her head and pulled herself together. “Well, welcome, Alex.” She stepped forward to shake Alex’s hand. “I’m sure we’ll have plenty of time to get to know more about you in the days ahead. I’m sorry you didn’t come a minute sooner. We would have saved a piece of cake for you.”
The blond girl immediately turned her back on Alex and gulped down the last of her cake. One of her classmates nudged her and whispered, “Real smooth, Yvonne.”
“I have a bit of my piece left.” Ms. Pullman lifted her cake plate. “Perhaps you’d like a bite?”
Alex looked down at the cake plate. It looked almost as good as the cakes her grandmother used to bake. Alex’s lips drew tight, and her eyes narrowed. She hoped that by squeezing her eyes tight for a moment, she could push back the tears. “No, thank you,” she murmured before glaring back at Adam.
“Oh, well, it’s time for recess. I’m afraid our little birthday celebration hasn’t left much time for playing. Why don’t you all finish your cake slices and then I’ll lead you out to the playdium.”
The students had trouble taking their eyes off Alex, but eventually they started giving each other nervous glances. Alex could tell that their suspicions were immediately raised. Did they already think she was a spy? Only one of the boys, dark-haired and with a round, yet almost flat face, smiled at her. Alex guessed that his ancestors had come from one of the Asian countries.
“O.K. I think you all need to go to the playdium and run around for a bit.” Clearly, Ms. Pullman could sense the tension in the room. “Drop your plates in the cleaning chute on your way out. Let’s go.” Slowly, the kids started to move again, their eyes shifting nervously from each other to Alex.
Ms. Pullman led the way, and the other students started to follow. Adam and the short boy with the glasses stayed behind. Alex figured there had to be at least a foot height difference between the two them. They both continued to stare, with their arms folded, almost daring her to speak.
The dark-haired Asian boy was also still in the room. He had a wide grin on his face, and he walked right up to Alex. “Hi, I’m Sanyu. This is Sam.” He gestured to the short boy. “And that’s Adam.”
Alex was too frightened to respond at first. What should she say? The General had already told everyone her name was Alex. “Um, hi,” was all she could get out.
“Well, are you coming or not?” asked Sanyu. Alex just shrugged. “What do you mean, you don’t know? Recess is fun. Are you crazy?” The boy laughed, grabbed Alex’s arm, and pulled her toward the door. “Com’n. It’s the best part of the school day.” Alex allowed herself to be pulled out of the room, but she took one last glare at Adam before leaving.
In the playdium, Sanyu dragged Alex over to the softball field, where he showed her where the bats, balls, and gloves were kept in an equipment box. Then the two of them started a game of catch while the remainder of Alex’s new classmates watched from the bleachers. From the field, Alex could make out snatches of their conversations.
Yvonne, the pretty blond who had wolfed down her last few bites of cake, was deep in discussion with the redheaded girl beside her. “This is going to ruin our numbers,” Yvonne said. “We used to have five boys and five girls. Now we’re off balance.”
“I just feel bad for Adam,” confided the redhead. “It’s his birthday. ”
Sanyu threw the ball, and Alex caught it with ease. When she went to return the ball, Alex heaved it with such force that Sanyu was nearly knocked down. At the top of the bleachers, the redheaded girl stood up to get a better look.
“Hey, Carrie,” a boy on the bottom bench called up to the redhead. “Looks like you may have some competition for the pitcher slot this year.”
Carrie’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not afraid of any competition, Jack.”
By this time, Adam and Sam had made their way into the playdium. Sam marched his way to the front of the bleachers and faced his classmates, pushing his glasses up on his nose to get a good look at them. “Alright, everybody, listen up. It’s Adam’s birthday, and you know what that means. We play whatever game the birthday kid wants to play, so let’s head on over to the other side of the playdium. We’re running races.”
“AHHH, MANNNN,” Jack groaned loudly. “Not races. We know who’s going to win.”
“Get up, you whiner,” Carrie grabbed Jack by the ear and pulled him up. “It’s Adam’s birthday. We do what Adam wants, and we all know Adam loves to run.”
Alex tried to study Adam as she tossed the ball back to Sanyu. Adam did look like he could be a fast runner. He had to be at least six feet tall, and he had a rather slim body.
Another boy from the class jumped up and shouted, “To the track!”
“To the track!” echoed Sam, and everyone started sliding off the bleachers. “Sanyu!” Sam called toward the field. “We’re running races. Let’s go.”
“Com’n, Alex.” Sanyu turned toward Alex who had just caught another ball. “Now you’ll see something amazing. Wait till you see what Adam can do.” And with that, they walked toward the other end of the playdium. That meant traversing the hill behind the softball field, picking their way through the small wooded area, and crossing over to the running track.
“What’s the distance?” asked Carrie.
“What’s it matter?” quipped Jack.
“I think it should be up to Adam what we run,” said Carrie before stretching down to touch her toes, the red curls in her ponytail flopping down as she bent over.
Pressing his right leg forward into a lunge, Adam bit his lip and thought. “I don’t know—maybe 100 meters?” He switched feet and lunched with the left leg forward.
“That’s kind of short,” responded Sam.
“Why not 400?” Alex’s voice squeaked. They turned to look at her, and she stared back defiantly. She was nervous, but she saw an opportunity to get even with the boy who had already had too much fun on his birthday. She and her grandmother used to do a lot of running together on their island the year before she left. Ever since then, Alex had gone for long runs on her own, thinking about her grandmother and wondering if she was having any success tracking down her mother. “What’s the matter?” Alex continued. She looked straight at Adam. “Can’t run that far?”
“Oh, I can run that far. The question is, can you keep up?”
Alex shrugged in response.
“400 meters it is then,” called Sam. “That means a staggered start with each runner remaining in their lane the whole race. This also means only eight of us can run. I’ll call the start, so I don’t mind sitting out. We need two more people to sit this one out. Who else wants out?” Sam scanned the small crowd before him.
One of the boys raised his hand.
“Alright, Clark’s out,” called Sam. “That brings us down to nine. Who else wants out?”
“I’ll sit out,” volunteered Yvonne. “I don’t want to mess up my hair.” She pushed her long blond locks behind her ears.
“O.K. Adam gets first pick of lanes since it’s his birthday. Which lane do you want, Adam?”
“I’ll take four,” he said and claimed his starting position.
“Ooh, I’ll take eight,” a small girl with mocha-colored skin jumped up. “I love feeling like I’m ahead even if it’s just for a bit.”
“I think the new kid should pick next,” Sanyu gestured toward Alex.
Not waiting for someone to argue, Alex chimed in with a quick, “Three,” and took her place in the third lane.
“I’m taking five,” called Jack before anyone else could. Soon they were lined up, with Adam in the middle, Alex to his left and Jack to his right. The other classmates filled in the lanes around them.
Sam positioned himself inside the curve of the track where everyone could hear him. Clark and Yvonne sat down on the grass near him.
“Runners, take your marks,” Sam bellowed. They all crouched down. “Get set.” Muscles tensed. “Go!”
Alex remembered her grandfather’s stories of running track when he was in college. His favorite distance was 400 meters, so Alex knew that everyone had to start in staggered positions around the first curve of the track. The runner in lane one started the farthest back while the runner in lane eight was closest to the end of the curve. That way, the people in the outer lanes would still end up running only 400 meters. This meant Alex could easily keep an eye on Adam who had started slightly ahead of her in the next lane.
Alex watched as Adam, with his arms pumping easily and his legs pounding the asphalt, quickly passed by Sanyu in lane six. Jack seemed to be a decent runner and was able to stay ahead of Adam for the first forty meters. As Adam overtook Jack, Alex inched closer toward him.
“Woohoo, go Adam!” called Yvonne from the opposite end of the track. Clark was clapping beside her.
“That’s what I’m talking about!” cried Sam, his arm pumping the air. “That’s my roommate, leaving you all in the dust.”
Although Alex had done plenty of running back on Earth, she had never competed in a race before. Now as her blood was pumping and her adrenaline increased, she felt stronger and more determined than ever to beat Adam at the race. Something about the pounding of her feet on the track made her feel like a clock was ticking. She had a deadline to meet. She had to pass Adam before he got to the finish line. Alex had an idea that if she could beat Adam in this race, maybe she’d win the respect of her new classmates. Jack sure seemed annoyed that Adam always won. Maybe the rest of them would admire her for her speed, too.
Alex inched closer to Adam. She was only five feet beyond him now. She had to win.
And then it happened. Without Alex realizing she had done it at first, she flicked her right wrist slightly as if she were trying to pull Adam’s shirt into her hands just as she had done with the General’s photo of her grandmother. As she did so, the back of Adam’s shirt jerked toward her.
Adam glanced over his left shoulder. A look of horror crossed his face when he realized how close Alex was to him. Clearly, he had thought nobody was anywhere near him.
Sam and Yvonne must have noticed Alex gaining on Adam, for their shouts grew louder, and Clark clapped more fervently.
Then it happened again. Alex flicked her wrist so that Adam felt another tug on his shirt, more powerful than the last one. This time, Adam looked over his right shoulder toward Jack. He did a double take and realized that Jack was at least eight feet behind. Alex grinned at Adam’s bewildered expression.
“Come on, Adam!” screamed Sam.
“You can do it, Adam!” cried Yvonne.
The finish line was a mere twenty feet away when Alex gave one final flick of her wrist. The back of Adam’s shirt yanked backwards. Adam stumbled on the track, his feet nearly tripping over each other. He looked at the springy surface of the track to see if he had tripped on something, his head only coming up at the last moment as Alex sped past him, crossing the finish line first.
Alex grinned from ear to ear. She had beaten the smug birthday boy who had taken it for granted that he was the best.
Sam and Yvonne stopped shouting and clapping immediately. Clark looked confused. The others dribbled in slowly, panting heavily. No one spoke at first. Alex stood to the side, squeezing her abdominals to ease a cramp; she truly had run her hardest and couldn’t have beaten Adam if she hadn’t yanked his shirt back towards her.
“You cheated!” Adam walked right up to Alex. “You cheated! I felt you tugging on my shirt.”
“What are you talking about?” asked Jack who walked up beside Adam.
“He was pulling my shirt to slow me down,” Adam pointed at Alex, who now looked bewildered. “I could feel him. Three times he did it.”
He, thought Alex. Him? Is he referring to me?
“Man, you’re crazy,” replied Jack. “Alex beat you fair and square. He didn’t touch you at all. I could see the two of you perfectly the whole last fifty meters.”
Alex’s mind was whirling. She looked down at her baggy old pants and loose-fitting shirt that her grandfather used to wear. Then she looked at the girls in the class.
They were all wearing skirts and tights.
“If he wasn’t pulling on my shirt, then what was holding me back?” Adam cried.
“I hate to say it, Adam,” said Sanyu, “but I think Alex just ran faster.”
“Nobody runs faster than me.” Adam was getting nearly delirious at this point.
“Besides, what kind of a guy beats another fellow on his birthday?” Adam stood before Alex and gave her shoulder a shove. “Explain yourself, you little runt!”
Alex couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Not only had they not been impressed by her victory, they didn’t even know she was a girl. What kind of a first impression had she made?
She quickly debated whether or not she should let them go on thinking she were a boy, but she knew the truth had to come out sooner or later. It might as well be sooner.
“I think you’ve got the wrong idea about me,” said Alex, and with that, she pulled the blue cap with the red “C” off her head. Down tumbled layer after layer of Alex’s thick, dark brown hair. It fell to the middle of her back.
Jaws dropped all around the group.
It was Sanyu who finally broke the silence. “You’re a girl?!?”
Monday, March 8, 2010
Chapter 2
Chapter 2:
ALEX SHARES HER SECRET
The screen on the robot’s apron went dark, and the smooth gray door through which the robot had emerged opened again.
“Follow me.” The robot rolled into the hallway beyond the door. “I will take you to the General.”
“Thank you, um . . .” Alex hesitated on the name.
“Marta,” replied the robot without slowing down.
“Right. Thanks, Marta.” Alex picked up her bag and followed her guide. As she walked into the dark hallway, she gasped at what she saw. It wasn’t so much a hallway as a street. She didn’t know exactly what she had expected, but this was not it. She had figured the moon colony would be modern looking, perhaps with lots of gray, flat walls and rounded entrances to match the bubbly exterior. Instead, she found a world much older looking and much more like Earth than she had expected.
The floor was dark gray with a white dotted line down the middle. Alex recalled the old streets on her island home. Flanking the street were sidewalks and multi-level buildings. The entrances to these mostly brown brick buildings were on a raised first floor with a set of steps leading up to the doorway. When she looked up, Alex gasped again. Far above her, she saw a dark night sky and stars. Were they real? Alex wondered if she was looking through a window or at a painting. The light from the “stars” and the occasional street lamp allowed Alex to follow Marta as she walked down the center of the otherwise dark street.
Alex wasn’t sure how far she had walked when the style of buildings changed. These were houses of a style Alex had seen in her grandparents’ old photos from Chicago. She searched for the word her grandparents had used for them. Bungalow, she thought. These homes were two stories tall and rather squat in appearance. A few steps led up to the door on the right and a row of tall windows graced the front. Tucked up under the eaves was a small window for an upstairs bedroom. These homes were pushed back from the road a bit. Alex squinted in the dim light. She thought she might have seen small patches of grass between the homes and the sidewalks. Was it possible they were growing grass on the moon?
For several minutes, Alex followed Marta in complete silence. Then curiosity caused her to break the quiet that pervaded the strange new world she had entered.
“Marta.” She kept her voice low, for she had the distinct feeling the buildings themselves were asleep. “Why are these buildings so old looking?”
“The IMC was built nearly a hundred fifty years ago.” Marta responded without looking back. “Construction began toward the end of the twenty-first century; the architects decided to use styles they felt embodied the old world back home.”
“Like the bungalow homes?”
“Yes, quite popular in Chicago at one time.”
“And what about the first set of buildings we passed? Were they from Chicago too?”
“No,” Marta scoffed. “Those were New York-style apartment buildings, popular with the young people around here. Walk-ups, they used to be called.”
Alex contemplated what the robot had said. Chicago bungalows and New York apartments meant this section of the International Moon Colony must have been built by Americans. She wondered what she might see next.
As if Marta could hear Alex’s thoughts, she said, “Here now are my favorite homes in the American wing: the gingerbread houses of San Francisco.”
The homes had indeed changed. No longer were the buildings built with drab bricks. Brightly colored shingles covered these homes, and they seemed to drip with ornate scalloped edges like frosting hanging off the edge of a cake. They were cheerful, tall homes in a variety of pastels, squished side by side.
“But why hasn’t anything been updated?” questioned Alex. “Aren’t there any modern homes?”
Marta halted in her tracks and spun around to face Alex, who nearly ran into her.
“Don’t you know your history?” Marta placed a long, slow emphasis on the last word and put her robotic hands on her hips. Alex shook her head, apparently she didn’t.
“What a pity!” Marta cried. “There’s so much to learn from the past.” Without any further explanation, Marta did another about face and continued her trek down the street.
Alex got the distinct feeling that she had somehow offended Marta, so she kept quiet and stayed behind her until they reached the end of the street. A blank gray wall, incongruous with the colorful gingerbread houses they had passed, greeted them. Alex thought they had encountered a dead end. However, a lighted panel, similar to the one Alex had seen on the outer portal, lit up on the wall in front of Marta. A green bar of light passed over Marta’s mechanical face, and the wall slid open.
Once inside, Alex could see that the hallway split off in two directions. Marta rolled swiftly to the right, and Alex hurried to catch up. There were no homes in this section of the colony. This area resembled what Alex had expected, lots of plain white walls with occasional doorways here and there.
“Where are we now?” Alex called to her guide.
“The General will explain everything to you,” responded Marta. “We must get there quickly. The other colonists will be waking up soon.”
Afraid to ask any more questions, Alex pondered why she had to get to the General before the other colonists were awake. How would they react if they saw someone new in the IMC? Would they be hostile to a stranger, or would they welcome a newcomer?
Marta led Alex past doorways labeled “Delivery” and “Styling Salon.” Then they approached another gray wall. Another lit panel scanned Marta’s face again with a green light. The wall slid open, and Marta rolled into a small, square room, no bigger than four feet in depth and width.
“Come,” Marta commanded.
Alex wasn’t sure why Marta wanted her to step into this seemingly dead-end of a room, but she also didn’t want to get left behind, so she followed Marta inside. The wall closed, and the whole room began to move up.
“Oh,” cried Alex. “It’s an elevator. I remember Grandpa showing me pictures of them from his old office building in Chicago.”
“What did you think it was?” snapped Marta, obviously becoming annoyed with Alex.
“Well, I didn’t see you hit any buttons or call out any commands.”
“Of course, not. I’m a machine, like this lift. I can communicate with it in ways you cannot.” Marta clasped her hands in front of her apron and stared straight ahead at the wall in front of her. The small room came to a stop, and the wall opposite the one they had entered slid open. Marta led the way out.
This hallway was similar to the one they had just left—plain white walls but fewer doors than the first floor had. Marta rolled a short way down the hallway and stopped before an unmarked door. Her robotic face was once again scanned, and the door slid open.
Staying right behind Marta, Alex entered a quiet room. On the right and left were small chairs and tables covered in magazines. Further in, two unoccupied desks waited like sentinels before a doorway. Marta rolled between the two desks and presented herself before the door. When the scanning was finished and the door opened, Marta stepped inside a beautiful office. Bookshelves made of dark wood and filled nearly to capacity took up the walls to Alex’s right and left. The wall opposite her was covered with a set of vertical window blinds. In front of her, a set of leather chairs sat before an intimidatingly large mahogany desk with ornate carvings.
But what captivated Alex’s attention the most was the person standing behind the desk—a very tall man with broad shoulders and a grim expression. He wore a dark green suit with numerous stripes across the top of his shoulders. On his chest were more gold pins and colorful medals than Alex could count. Among the honorary distinctions on the left side of his jacket was a five-pointed star with the letters IMC embroidered in its center. Alex decided this star had to represent the International Moon Colony. She didn’t need to see the name badge the tall man wore on his right side to know she was standing before the leader of the IMC.
“General Fratelli,” Marta addressed the commander. “Alex Jones.” Marta rolled aside so that Alex could step forward.
Alex took a timid step toward the General. What was proper behavior? Should she bow? Reach across the desk and shake his hand? No, that might be too personal. But this man was obviously important, so he deserved a formal greeting. He stared at her expectantly. Alex decided she needed to make the first move in order to end the awkward silence.
With a slight bow of her head and the tiniest of curtsies, Alex blurted out, “Good morning, Your . . .um, I mean, Good morning, General Fratelli.”
The corner of the General’s mouth curved upward for a second. Then he looked grim again. “Take a seat, Alex.” He turned to his robotic assistant. “That will be all, Marta. Thank you.”
“Yes, General Fratelli.” Marta spun around, took one quick glance at Alex, and then rolled out of the office.
Alex looked at the two leather chairs in front of the General’s desk. The General waved toward the one on the right, and Alex sat down. General Fratelli drummed his fingers on the top of his desk before taking his own seat. Then he gave a little cough and clasped his hands in front of him. He seemed to be contemplating how to begin this conversation.
Alex glanced around the office. The General’s desk was immaculately clean—only a few papers and a computer monitor. The bookshelves to her right and left held both new and old books. One shelf in particular caught Alex’s attention. There were several photographs, a small globe, and numerous plaques the General had undoubtedly been honored with. In one of the photographs stood a woman who looked much like Alex’s mother. Alex was only two when her mother disappeared, but Alex had seen many pictures of her in the old photo albums her grandparents had.
The General leaned back from his massive desk, crossed his arms over his chest, and then rubbed his chin with his right hand.
“Tell me about these hoverships. This was back on Earth, I presume?”
“Hoverships?” Alex started. She had been thinking deeply about the photo of the woman who looked like her mother. “Oh, yes, we came because of the hoverships.”
“What do you mean you came because of them? You’d best start from the beginning. When and where exactly did you see these hoverships?”
“Well, it was two days ago, I guess. I mean it was morning, and I was climbing my favorite tree. The view of the ocean is spectacular from up there. The way the deep blue ocean creeps its way up the sand . . .”
“Yes, I’m sure it’s lovely,” snapped the General. “What about the hoverships?”
“Well, I’d never seen anything like them before. They were sleek and shiny and black and flew over the surface of the water. We’ve had some ships come pretty close before, but never anything like this. I knew something must be wrong so I climbed down the tree and ran to Grandpa right away.”
“Hmph,” the General grunted. “I suppose you made it off the island before the hoverships landed.”
“Oh, yes. Grandpa gave me only a minute to grab a few things.” Alex gestured toward her small bag. “When we took off, I could see the hoverships docking on the far side of our island.”
The General studied Alex’s face for a moment. When he spoke again, his voice was demanding and insistent. “Did they follow you? Is there any chance they may know you came here?” The General stood up, and Alex felt herself grow smaller in her chair.
“I don’t think so, sir. Grandpa spent time flying in a strange pattern over the Earth before we left the atmosphere. He didn’t think anyone had followed us.”
“And your grandmother?” the General’s voice softened.
“Still on Earth, sir. She left our island two years ago to search for my mother.”
“She thinks your mother’s still alive?” The incredulity in the General’s voice was unmistakable.
“Well, yes, sir. Grandpa doesn’t think so. But Grandma couldn’t believe she was gone. I mean, after all, no body was ever found.”
“Your mother is dead, Alex.” His voice was stern again.
“But how do you . . .”
“Trust me. I know.” General Fratelli sighed. “And you haven’t heard from your grandmother since she left the island?”
“No, sir. Not one word. Back at home, I’d climb my favorite tree everyday, hoping that I’d see her rocket heading back home, but . . .” Alex’s voice trailed off.
The General and Alex sat in silence for a bit, each lost in their own thoughts.
“You have clothes in there?” The General nodded toward Alex’s bag.
“Yes, sir.”
“Good.” He nodded his head again, this time toward a door in the wall behind Alex.
“I’ve got a room over there where you can change out of that spacesuit. When you come back, we’ll discuss a course of action.”
Alex wasn’t sure what he meant by a “course of action,” but she was getting warm in her spacesuit. “Thank you, sir,” she mumbled. Then she picked up her bag and headed toward the door the General had indicated. As she walked past the bookshelves, she tried to get a better look at the photographs. The woman in the one photo definitely looked like her mom--she had the same long dark hair that flowed down to her waist—but Alex couldn’t figure out who the man standing next to her was. He didn’t look like the photos she’d seen of her father. This man’s hair was way too dark. Alex decided she’d need to take a second look on her way back to her seat.
The room that the General indicated turned out to be a spacious washroom. Alex made quick work of getting out of her spacesuit, pausing briefly to inspect her right shoulder. She had been right when she told Grandpa back on the Rock Jumper that she would get a nasty bruise where her body had slammed into the sides of the ship. Her right shoulder was covered in a large violet-purple splotch. She touched the tender spot gingerly and examined the backside of her shoulder in the mirror. It wasn’t pretty, but it could have been much worse.
Once her space suit was off, Alex slipped into some normal clothes, a pair of loose-fitting pants and a comfy, old green t-shirt. They were nothing fancy. Her grandmother used to make all of her old clothes. After she left, Alex kept growing and eventually outgrew everything her grandmother had made for her, so she started wearing her grandfather’s old clothes.
Alex looked at herself in the mirror and grimaced. Ugh, helmet hair, she sighed. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out a small blue cap with a big, red letter C on the front. It was old, tattered, and faded, but it had belonged to her grandfather and Alex loved it. She pushed her sleek, dark brown hair up under the cap and adjusted it in the mirror. She pulled out a little fringe of hair under the front. It would have to do for now. Leaning closer to the mirror, Alex inspected her face. Her hazel eyes had puffy patches under them, and her skin, tanned from hours of playing in the island sunshine, looked gritty and oily. After two days on the Rock Jumper, she couldn’t wait to take a shower.
With her spacesuit tucked under one arm and her helmet shoved into her bag, Alex returned to the General’s office. Another furtive glance at the photo on the shelf reassured Alex more than ever that the woman had to be her mother. Despite her petite frame, she looked strong and determined, like a woman who wasn’t afraid to stand up for herself. Alex had no doubt that this woman had to be her mother, but what was the General doing with such a photo? And what was her mother doing with that man?
The General was now seated behind his desk. He did a double take when Alex walked in.
“Where did you get those clothes?” he asked.
“My grandfather,” she replied sheepishly. “I outgrew all the girly clothes Grandma made for me.”
The General shook his head in despair. “We’ll get you some new clothes soon.” He gestured for Alex to return to her seat. “In the meantime, I can think of only one possible course of action for us to pursue. We must tell everyone you are from a far off space station.”
“Excuse me,” Alex blurted out. “What do you mean? Why can’t I say I’m from Earth?”
“And have them fear you and despise you?” The General shook his head vigorously.
“Everyone here believes everyone on Earth is a follower of Emperor Devlesh. And they are right to believe so. After the Final Battle of 2205, when all of us rebels moved either here to the IMC or to a space station, you and your grandparents were the only rebels who remained on Earth. It was all done in complete secrecy. Not even the other rebels here know your grandparents and you had stayed behind. I, alone, knew that your grandfather had taken you and your grandmother to live on a secluded island. For nearly eleven years, your grandparents have been able to keep your presence on the planet unknown. Something happened recently, undoubtedly as a result of your grandmother’s disappearance, that alerted the Emperor to your existence; hence, the hoverships.” He leaned forward in his chair and rested his clasped hands on his desk. “Alex.” His voice was sharp. “Do you know why those hoverships came to your island?”
Alex looked up at the General. Unable to take the intensity of his gray eyes, she looked down at her hands. Was it safe to tell him? Grandpa had warned her not to speak of it. Her voice came out haltingly, “I . . . I think they were coming for me, sir.”
“And what makes you think that?” The General leaned further forward.
Alex began to squeeze her left thumb with her right forefinger and thumb. Then she squeezed her right thumb with her left forefinger and thumb. She alternated back and forth squeezing her two thumbs, contemplating how to respond.
“My grandfather said I should never talk about it.”
“Talk about what, Alex?” The General’s voice trembled with anticipation.
Alex’s hands worked more feverishly. She could feel the weight of the General’s gaze on her. She looked to the right, then up, and then to the left, avoiding the General’s eyes and focusing on the photo she so desperately wanted to see close up. The bookshelf was several arms’ lengths away. If she could get that photo in her
hands, maybe she could figure out who the strange man was.
“Grandpa told me to never talk about what I can do.”
The General was on the edge of his seat. “And what, precisely, can you do, Alex?”
Alex looked back at her hands. Did she dare tell? Grandpa had sworn her to secrecy, but at the same time, he seemed to trust General Fratelli. He must have, if he’d told the General where he was hiding her and her grandmother.
“It’s O.K., Alex,” the General’s voice was soothing now. “I’m here to protect you. Your grandfather would want you to discuss it with me so that I can keep you safe.”
Alex knew it was now or never. In one swift movement, she could get her hands on that photo and reveal her secret to the General at the same time.
Alex concentrated on the photo. With a flick of her left wrist, she was able to pull the photo right off the shelf and cause it to fly the eight feet from the bookshelf directly into her hand. Her jaw dropped as she stared at the photo. It was a much older picture than it had first appeared, the colors fading away. The woman in the photo wasn’t her mother after all. Her dress was way too old-fashioned, yet it was a style Alex recognized easily since she had seen several dresses like it. No, the woman in the photo definitely wasn’t her mother; it was her grandmother.
Before she had time to study the man in the photo, General Fratelli leapt up, reached across the desk, and grabbed the photo from Alex’s hands.
“What are doing? That doesn’t belong to you!” roared the General.
“What are doing with a photo of my grandmother?” Alex stood up and faced him. “And
who is that man with her? That man isn’t my grandfather. What is he doing with his arm around Grandma?”
“That is none of your business!” The General shoved the photo into his top desk drawer.
Then it was Alex’s turn for a surprise. “And why,” she began with a quick realization, “why aren’t you surprised that I could pull that photo from off that shelf? Did you know all along I could do that?”
“Of course, I knew. Listen, Alex, your grandfather was right to caution you. You must never use your power like that again.”
“But why?”
“Why?” General Fratelli’s eyes widened. “I would think that was obvious. Because it makes you different, that’s why. And people fear what they can’t understand.” The General took in a deep breath and then let out a sigh. “Understand this, Alex. The people of this colony will be suspicious of a stranger. If you are ever to be accepted by them, you must hide your ability. You must tell them that you and your grandfather were living alone on a distant space station.” The General’s speech picked up speed and intensity. “We’ll tell them it was near Mars. You encountered technical difficulties, and your grandfather sent you here to the moon to be safe until he can repair your old home. You must never tell them you came from Earth; they’ll consider you one of the Emperor’s spies and you must never,” the General’s voice rose to a feverish pitch, “never show them your ability. Is that clear?”
Alex nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“Good.” The General calmed down. He pulled on the bottom of his jacket to smooth it out. Then he sat back down at his desk and tapped the monitor before him. “Marta,” he called. From where Alex was sitting, she could barely make out Marta’s image as it appeared on the screen. “Marta, are the colonists at their work stations yet?”
“Almost all of them, General Fratelli.”
“Excellent. Please alert the Council members that I must meet with them immediately in Colony Hall. We’ll need to decide how to alert the rest of the colony to Alex’s presence. When you’re sure the colonists are at their work stations, take Alex here on a tour. She’ll need to familiarize herself with her new surroundings. I’ll meet the two of you back here at 1100 hours.”
“Yes, General Fratelli.”
The General tapped the monitor, and the screen went blank again.
“Uh, General Fratelli,” Alex was unsure how to make her request since she didn’t want to sound rude, but she could think of no other way to ask. “Does it have to be Marta who gives me the tour?”
“Marta is an expert on the International Moon Colony. Why wouldn’t you want her to give you the tour?”
“I don’t think she likes much.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Well, as we were walking to your office, sir, I kept asking her questions, and I think my questions annoyed her, especially when I asked about why the houses were so old and not updated.”
The General snorted a bit. “Just like a woman,” he muttered to himself. Then he directed his attention to Alex. “Marta is one of the original droids from this colony. If you made any implication that the colony, and in turn she, is old and outdated, you offended her immensely. I myself take great pride in the fact that she’s still running nearly a hundred and fifty years after creation. A fine piece of work, Marta is. A testament to human invention.”
The General gathered the papers on his desk. Alex felt that she wasn’t making the best first impression. She would have to get on Marta’s good side.
The door behind Alex slid open and Marta rolled in.
“General Fratelli, I’ve alerted the Council members. They should be gathering in Colony Hall shortly. The rest of the colony is at their work stations.”
“Thank you, Marta.” The General stood up. Looking at Alex but clearly addressing the robot, he continued, “You do excellent work. Please take Alex for that tour now.”
“As you wish, General.” Marta turned to Alex. “Follow me, please.”
Alex picked up her bag and then looked down at her spacesuit.
The General sensed her speculation. “You can leave your spacesuit here, Alex. I’ll have it taken to your sleeping quarters later.”
“Thank you, General.” With her small bag over her shoulder, Alex followed Marta out of the General’s office.
Out in the plain white hallway, Alex tried to make up for her earlier misstep with Marta. “I hear you’re an expert on the IMC. You’ve been here forever.”
Marta stopped rolling immediately. “Who told you that? I am as fresh and alert as any droid here. There’s no need to throw my age up at my face.”
Alex’s face burned red. How did she always say the wrong thing to Marta? “Oh, that’s not what I meant. I just meant, well, that you must know a lot. The General said you did. I think that’s great. I mean, that you know so much.”
“May I make a suggestion?” asked Marta.
“Of course,” replied Alex.
“Stop talking.”
Alex opened her mouth to respond and then thought better of it and clamped her mouth shut.
“That’s better,” said Marta. “I have much to show you and much to tell you, so you’d better listen up and keep up.”
Marta began her tour of the IMC by explaining how five different international communities—the United States’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Russian Federal Space Agency (RKA), Japan’s Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the European Space Agency (ESA)—had come together to build the colony, much like they had with the first international space station over two hundred years ago. In the center of the colony was the communal area, which was a joint effort. Then each of the space organizations built its own wing to house the first colonists. Alex realized these five wings had to be the five spokes she had seen jutting from the center bubble of the IMC when she first landed.
The center of the communal area was Alex’s favorite part of the tour. Marta referred to it as “the playdium” and explained that one of the original architects was a woman from New York who had suggested that they build a green space in the middle of the colony. She imagined it as being similar to something called Central Park in the middle of the old Earth island of Manhattan. Marta said it was a great feat of engineering to figure out how to get so much Earth to grow on the moon. Inside the playdium were real trees, real grass, even a small pond. A baseball diamond and some playground equipment were situated in one corner not too far from the pond. A grove of trees gave the sense of a small forest in the middle, and on the far end was a full size running track complete with spectator stands. The “sky” above the playdium was as blue as the sky above her island home back on Earth. Marta explained that the three-story-high playdium actually had its own weather system so that it could mimic Earth’s atmosphere as much as possible. The rest of the colony was kept at a standard temperature and humidity, but inside the playdium the weather could change and some days, Marta explained proudly, it even snowed.
Around the playdium were two corridors, an inner loop and an outer loop. The inner hallway included the school, the library, the cafeteria, various businesses and offices, and Colony Hall. The outer loop contained a movie theatre, a performance hall, a robot repair shop, clothing boutiques, and the styling salon and delivery service that Alex had seen earlier. Like the playdium, everything in the inner and outer loops was shared by the community.
Marta had been right about the colonists being at their work stations. Almost no one was in the hallway. Alex only spotted a few humans along the way, all of whom gave her a suspicious glance. The colonists represented a variety of ethnicities and ages, but all of them wore solid-colored clothing with the colony’s emblem, the five-pointed star with the letters IMC embroidered in the center, printed on the upper-left corner of their shirts. Alex also noticed that each of them had a small, black device attached to their ears. The gadget was rectangular, and some of the colonists tapped them as they passed Alex and Marta in the hallway.
When the tour was finished, Marta brought Alex back up to the waiting room outside General Fratelli’s office.
“One moment, please, while I see where the General is.” Marta’s eye slit went dark, and she remained motionless for a minute. Alex plopped herself in one of the chairs. She was exhausted from her tour. How would she ever remember where everything was? She felt like she had circled the colony for hours.
Marta’s eye slit lit up again. “The General will be with you in a moment. In the meantime, I am to see that you are fed. What type of sandwich would you like?”
Alex perked up at the mention of food. How long had it been since she had last eaten? “Oh, I’d love some food. What kind of sandwiches do you have here on the moon?”
“We can make you anything you like.”
“Peanut butter and jelly?” Alex asked.
“What type of jelly? We have grape jelly, strawberry jam, apricot preserves, cherry jelly, and orange marmalade.” Marta spit out the list with brisk efficiency.
“Grape, please.” Alex could feel her stomach start to rumble.
Marta turned away and approached one of the walls. Lights flashed between the wall and Marta. Moments later, a panel slid open, and Marta pulled out a tray.
“Here you go,” said Marta, placing the tray on a table near Alex. “Peanut butter and grape jelly. I also took the liberty of ordering an apple and some cookies for you, as well as a glass of milk.”
Alex stared at the tray in amazement. “How do you get food like this on the moon?”
Marta folded her hands in front of her. “Located ten miles from the colony is a set of farming towers. They are the utmost in efficiency when it comes to growing crops and raising animals. Their ability to simulate an Earthlike atmosphere conducive to farming and animal husbandry is unsurpassed.”
Before Marta had finished her statement, Alex hungrily started on her lunch, delighting in the crunch of the apple and the squish of the grape jelly as it seeped from the sandwich’s sides. It wasn’t long before she had devoured the entire meal. She only had a moment to enjoy her full stomach when the General burst into the room. Alex stood up immediately. The General’s presence could certainly be formidable.
“Let’s go, Alex,” his voice boomed. “It’s time for you to meet your new classmates.”
ALEX SHARES HER SECRET
The screen on the robot’s apron went dark, and the smooth gray door through which the robot had emerged opened again.
“Follow me.” The robot rolled into the hallway beyond the door. “I will take you to the General.”
“Thank you, um . . .” Alex hesitated on the name.
“Marta,” replied the robot without slowing down.
“Right. Thanks, Marta.” Alex picked up her bag and followed her guide. As she walked into the dark hallway, she gasped at what she saw. It wasn’t so much a hallway as a street. She didn’t know exactly what she had expected, but this was not it. She had figured the moon colony would be modern looking, perhaps with lots of gray, flat walls and rounded entrances to match the bubbly exterior. Instead, she found a world much older looking and much more like Earth than she had expected.
The floor was dark gray with a white dotted line down the middle. Alex recalled the old streets on her island home. Flanking the street were sidewalks and multi-level buildings. The entrances to these mostly brown brick buildings were on a raised first floor with a set of steps leading up to the doorway. When she looked up, Alex gasped again. Far above her, she saw a dark night sky and stars. Were they real? Alex wondered if she was looking through a window or at a painting. The light from the “stars” and the occasional street lamp allowed Alex to follow Marta as she walked down the center of the otherwise dark street.
Alex wasn’t sure how far she had walked when the style of buildings changed. These were houses of a style Alex had seen in her grandparents’ old photos from Chicago. She searched for the word her grandparents had used for them. Bungalow, she thought. These homes were two stories tall and rather squat in appearance. A few steps led up to the door on the right and a row of tall windows graced the front. Tucked up under the eaves was a small window for an upstairs bedroom. These homes were pushed back from the road a bit. Alex squinted in the dim light. She thought she might have seen small patches of grass between the homes and the sidewalks. Was it possible they were growing grass on the moon?
For several minutes, Alex followed Marta in complete silence. Then curiosity caused her to break the quiet that pervaded the strange new world she had entered.
“Marta.” She kept her voice low, for she had the distinct feeling the buildings themselves were asleep. “Why are these buildings so old looking?”
“The IMC was built nearly a hundred fifty years ago.” Marta responded without looking back. “Construction began toward the end of the twenty-first century; the architects decided to use styles they felt embodied the old world back home.”
“Like the bungalow homes?”
“Yes, quite popular in Chicago at one time.”
“And what about the first set of buildings we passed? Were they from Chicago too?”
“No,” Marta scoffed. “Those were New York-style apartment buildings, popular with the young people around here. Walk-ups, they used to be called.”
Alex contemplated what the robot had said. Chicago bungalows and New York apartments meant this section of the International Moon Colony must have been built by Americans. She wondered what she might see next.
As if Marta could hear Alex’s thoughts, she said, “Here now are my favorite homes in the American wing: the gingerbread houses of San Francisco.”
The homes had indeed changed. No longer were the buildings built with drab bricks. Brightly colored shingles covered these homes, and they seemed to drip with ornate scalloped edges like frosting hanging off the edge of a cake. They were cheerful, tall homes in a variety of pastels, squished side by side.
“But why hasn’t anything been updated?” questioned Alex. “Aren’t there any modern homes?”
Marta halted in her tracks and spun around to face Alex, who nearly ran into her.
“Don’t you know your history?” Marta placed a long, slow emphasis on the last word and put her robotic hands on her hips. Alex shook her head, apparently she didn’t.
“What a pity!” Marta cried. “There’s so much to learn from the past.” Without any further explanation, Marta did another about face and continued her trek down the street.
Alex got the distinct feeling that she had somehow offended Marta, so she kept quiet and stayed behind her until they reached the end of the street. A blank gray wall, incongruous with the colorful gingerbread houses they had passed, greeted them. Alex thought they had encountered a dead end. However, a lighted panel, similar to the one Alex had seen on the outer portal, lit up on the wall in front of Marta. A green bar of light passed over Marta’s mechanical face, and the wall slid open.
Once inside, Alex could see that the hallway split off in two directions. Marta rolled swiftly to the right, and Alex hurried to catch up. There were no homes in this section of the colony. This area resembled what Alex had expected, lots of plain white walls with occasional doorways here and there.
“Where are we now?” Alex called to her guide.
“The General will explain everything to you,” responded Marta. “We must get there quickly. The other colonists will be waking up soon.”
Afraid to ask any more questions, Alex pondered why she had to get to the General before the other colonists were awake. How would they react if they saw someone new in the IMC? Would they be hostile to a stranger, or would they welcome a newcomer?
Marta led Alex past doorways labeled “Delivery” and “Styling Salon.” Then they approached another gray wall. Another lit panel scanned Marta’s face again with a green light. The wall slid open, and Marta rolled into a small, square room, no bigger than four feet in depth and width.
“Come,” Marta commanded.
Alex wasn’t sure why Marta wanted her to step into this seemingly dead-end of a room, but she also didn’t want to get left behind, so she followed Marta inside. The wall closed, and the whole room began to move up.
“Oh,” cried Alex. “It’s an elevator. I remember Grandpa showing me pictures of them from his old office building in Chicago.”
“What did you think it was?” snapped Marta, obviously becoming annoyed with Alex.
“Well, I didn’t see you hit any buttons or call out any commands.”
“Of course, not. I’m a machine, like this lift. I can communicate with it in ways you cannot.” Marta clasped her hands in front of her apron and stared straight ahead at the wall in front of her. The small room came to a stop, and the wall opposite the one they had entered slid open. Marta led the way out.
This hallway was similar to the one they had just left—plain white walls but fewer doors than the first floor had. Marta rolled a short way down the hallway and stopped before an unmarked door. Her robotic face was once again scanned, and the door slid open.
Staying right behind Marta, Alex entered a quiet room. On the right and left were small chairs and tables covered in magazines. Further in, two unoccupied desks waited like sentinels before a doorway. Marta rolled between the two desks and presented herself before the door. When the scanning was finished and the door opened, Marta stepped inside a beautiful office. Bookshelves made of dark wood and filled nearly to capacity took up the walls to Alex’s right and left. The wall opposite her was covered with a set of vertical window blinds. In front of her, a set of leather chairs sat before an intimidatingly large mahogany desk with ornate carvings.
But what captivated Alex’s attention the most was the person standing behind the desk—a very tall man with broad shoulders and a grim expression. He wore a dark green suit with numerous stripes across the top of his shoulders. On his chest were more gold pins and colorful medals than Alex could count. Among the honorary distinctions on the left side of his jacket was a five-pointed star with the letters IMC embroidered in its center. Alex decided this star had to represent the International Moon Colony. She didn’t need to see the name badge the tall man wore on his right side to know she was standing before the leader of the IMC.
“General Fratelli,” Marta addressed the commander. “Alex Jones.” Marta rolled aside so that Alex could step forward.
Alex took a timid step toward the General. What was proper behavior? Should she bow? Reach across the desk and shake his hand? No, that might be too personal. But this man was obviously important, so he deserved a formal greeting. He stared at her expectantly. Alex decided she needed to make the first move in order to end the awkward silence.
With a slight bow of her head and the tiniest of curtsies, Alex blurted out, “Good morning, Your . . .um, I mean, Good morning, General Fratelli.”
The corner of the General’s mouth curved upward for a second. Then he looked grim again. “Take a seat, Alex.” He turned to his robotic assistant. “That will be all, Marta. Thank you.”
“Yes, General Fratelli.” Marta spun around, took one quick glance at Alex, and then rolled out of the office.
Alex looked at the two leather chairs in front of the General’s desk. The General waved toward the one on the right, and Alex sat down. General Fratelli drummed his fingers on the top of his desk before taking his own seat. Then he gave a little cough and clasped his hands in front of him. He seemed to be contemplating how to begin this conversation.
Alex glanced around the office. The General’s desk was immaculately clean—only a few papers and a computer monitor. The bookshelves to her right and left held both new and old books. One shelf in particular caught Alex’s attention. There were several photographs, a small globe, and numerous plaques the General had undoubtedly been honored with. In one of the photographs stood a woman who looked much like Alex’s mother. Alex was only two when her mother disappeared, but Alex had seen many pictures of her in the old photo albums her grandparents had.
The General leaned back from his massive desk, crossed his arms over his chest, and then rubbed his chin with his right hand.
“Tell me about these hoverships. This was back on Earth, I presume?”
“Hoverships?” Alex started. She had been thinking deeply about the photo of the woman who looked like her mother. “Oh, yes, we came because of the hoverships.”
“What do you mean you came because of them? You’d best start from the beginning. When and where exactly did you see these hoverships?”
“Well, it was two days ago, I guess. I mean it was morning, and I was climbing my favorite tree. The view of the ocean is spectacular from up there. The way the deep blue ocean creeps its way up the sand . . .”
“Yes, I’m sure it’s lovely,” snapped the General. “What about the hoverships?”
“Well, I’d never seen anything like them before. They were sleek and shiny and black and flew over the surface of the water. We’ve had some ships come pretty close before, but never anything like this. I knew something must be wrong so I climbed down the tree and ran to Grandpa right away.”
“Hmph,” the General grunted. “I suppose you made it off the island before the hoverships landed.”
“Oh, yes. Grandpa gave me only a minute to grab a few things.” Alex gestured toward her small bag. “When we took off, I could see the hoverships docking on the far side of our island.”
The General studied Alex’s face for a moment. When he spoke again, his voice was demanding and insistent. “Did they follow you? Is there any chance they may know you came here?” The General stood up, and Alex felt herself grow smaller in her chair.
“I don’t think so, sir. Grandpa spent time flying in a strange pattern over the Earth before we left the atmosphere. He didn’t think anyone had followed us.”
“And your grandmother?” the General’s voice softened.
“Still on Earth, sir. She left our island two years ago to search for my mother.”
“She thinks your mother’s still alive?” The incredulity in the General’s voice was unmistakable.
“Well, yes, sir. Grandpa doesn’t think so. But Grandma couldn’t believe she was gone. I mean, after all, no body was ever found.”
“Your mother is dead, Alex.” His voice was stern again.
“But how do you . . .”
“Trust me. I know.” General Fratelli sighed. “And you haven’t heard from your grandmother since she left the island?”
“No, sir. Not one word. Back at home, I’d climb my favorite tree everyday, hoping that I’d see her rocket heading back home, but . . .” Alex’s voice trailed off.
The General and Alex sat in silence for a bit, each lost in their own thoughts.
“You have clothes in there?” The General nodded toward Alex’s bag.
“Yes, sir.”
“Good.” He nodded his head again, this time toward a door in the wall behind Alex.
“I’ve got a room over there where you can change out of that spacesuit. When you come back, we’ll discuss a course of action.”
Alex wasn’t sure what he meant by a “course of action,” but she was getting warm in her spacesuit. “Thank you, sir,” she mumbled. Then she picked up her bag and headed toward the door the General had indicated. As she walked past the bookshelves, she tried to get a better look at the photographs. The woman in the one photo definitely looked like her mom--she had the same long dark hair that flowed down to her waist—but Alex couldn’t figure out who the man standing next to her was. He didn’t look like the photos she’d seen of her father. This man’s hair was way too dark. Alex decided she’d need to take a second look on her way back to her seat.
The room that the General indicated turned out to be a spacious washroom. Alex made quick work of getting out of her spacesuit, pausing briefly to inspect her right shoulder. She had been right when she told Grandpa back on the Rock Jumper that she would get a nasty bruise where her body had slammed into the sides of the ship. Her right shoulder was covered in a large violet-purple splotch. She touched the tender spot gingerly and examined the backside of her shoulder in the mirror. It wasn’t pretty, but it could have been much worse.
Once her space suit was off, Alex slipped into some normal clothes, a pair of loose-fitting pants and a comfy, old green t-shirt. They were nothing fancy. Her grandmother used to make all of her old clothes. After she left, Alex kept growing and eventually outgrew everything her grandmother had made for her, so she started wearing her grandfather’s old clothes.
Alex looked at herself in the mirror and grimaced. Ugh, helmet hair, she sighed. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out a small blue cap with a big, red letter C on the front. It was old, tattered, and faded, but it had belonged to her grandfather and Alex loved it. She pushed her sleek, dark brown hair up under the cap and adjusted it in the mirror. She pulled out a little fringe of hair under the front. It would have to do for now. Leaning closer to the mirror, Alex inspected her face. Her hazel eyes had puffy patches under them, and her skin, tanned from hours of playing in the island sunshine, looked gritty and oily. After two days on the Rock Jumper, she couldn’t wait to take a shower.
With her spacesuit tucked under one arm and her helmet shoved into her bag, Alex returned to the General’s office. Another furtive glance at the photo on the shelf reassured Alex more than ever that the woman had to be her mother. Despite her petite frame, she looked strong and determined, like a woman who wasn’t afraid to stand up for herself. Alex had no doubt that this woman had to be her mother, but what was the General doing with such a photo? And what was her mother doing with that man?
The General was now seated behind his desk. He did a double take when Alex walked in.
“Where did you get those clothes?” he asked.
“My grandfather,” she replied sheepishly. “I outgrew all the girly clothes Grandma made for me.”
The General shook his head in despair. “We’ll get you some new clothes soon.” He gestured for Alex to return to her seat. “In the meantime, I can think of only one possible course of action for us to pursue. We must tell everyone you are from a far off space station.”
“Excuse me,” Alex blurted out. “What do you mean? Why can’t I say I’m from Earth?”
“And have them fear you and despise you?” The General shook his head vigorously.
“Everyone here believes everyone on Earth is a follower of Emperor Devlesh. And they are right to believe so. After the Final Battle of 2205, when all of us rebels moved either here to the IMC or to a space station, you and your grandparents were the only rebels who remained on Earth. It was all done in complete secrecy. Not even the other rebels here know your grandparents and you had stayed behind. I, alone, knew that your grandfather had taken you and your grandmother to live on a secluded island. For nearly eleven years, your grandparents have been able to keep your presence on the planet unknown. Something happened recently, undoubtedly as a result of your grandmother’s disappearance, that alerted the Emperor to your existence; hence, the hoverships.” He leaned forward in his chair and rested his clasped hands on his desk. “Alex.” His voice was sharp. “Do you know why those hoverships came to your island?”
Alex looked up at the General. Unable to take the intensity of his gray eyes, she looked down at her hands. Was it safe to tell him? Grandpa had warned her not to speak of it. Her voice came out haltingly, “I . . . I think they were coming for me, sir.”
“And what makes you think that?” The General leaned further forward.
Alex began to squeeze her left thumb with her right forefinger and thumb. Then she squeezed her right thumb with her left forefinger and thumb. She alternated back and forth squeezing her two thumbs, contemplating how to respond.
“My grandfather said I should never talk about it.”
“Talk about what, Alex?” The General’s voice trembled with anticipation.
Alex’s hands worked more feverishly. She could feel the weight of the General’s gaze on her. She looked to the right, then up, and then to the left, avoiding the General’s eyes and focusing on the photo she so desperately wanted to see close up. The bookshelf was several arms’ lengths away. If she could get that photo in her
hands, maybe she could figure out who the strange man was.
“Grandpa told me to never talk about what I can do.”
The General was on the edge of his seat. “And what, precisely, can you do, Alex?”
Alex looked back at her hands. Did she dare tell? Grandpa had sworn her to secrecy, but at the same time, he seemed to trust General Fratelli. He must have, if he’d told the General where he was hiding her and her grandmother.
“It’s O.K., Alex,” the General’s voice was soothing now. “I’m here to protect you. Your grandfather would want you to discuss it with me so that I can keep you safe.”
Alex knew it was now or never. In one swift movement, she could get her hands on that photo and reveal her secret to the General at the same time.
Alex concentrated on the photo. With a flick of her left wrist, she was able to pull the photo right off the shelf and cause it to fly the eight feet from the bookshelf directly into her hand. Her jaw dropped as she stared at the photo. It was a much older picture than it had first appeared, the colors fading away. The woman in the photo wasn’t her mother after all. Her dress was way too old-fashioned, yet it was a style Alex recognized easily since she had seen several dresses like it. No, the woman in the photo definitely wasn’t her mother; it was her grandmother.
Before she had time to study the man in the photo, General Fratelli leapt up, reached across the desk, and grabbed the photo from Alex’s hands.
“What are doing? That doesn’t belong to you!” roared the General.
“What are doing with a photo of my grandmother?” Alex stood up and faced him. “And
who is that man with her? That man isn’t my grandfather. What is he doing with his arm around Grandma?”
“That is none of your business!” The General shoved the photo into his top desk drawer.
Then it was Alex’s turn for a surprise. “And why,” she began with a quick realization, “why aren’t you surprised that I could pull that photo from off that shelf? Did you know all along I could do that?”
“Of course, I knew. Listen, Alex, your grandfather was right to caution you. You must never use your power like that again.”
“But why?”
“Why?” General Fratelli’s eyes widened. “I would think that was obvious. Because it makes you different, that’s why. And people fear what they can’t understand.” The General took in a deep breath and then let out a sigh. “Understand this, Alex. The people of this colony will be suspicious of a stranger. If you are ever to be accepted by them, you must hide your ability. You must tell them that you and your grandfather were living alone on a distant space station.” The General’s speech picked up speed and intensity. “We’ll tell them it was near Mars. You encountered technical difficulties, and your grandfather sent you here to the moon to be safe until he can repair your old home. You must never tell them you came from Earth; they’ll consider you one of the Emperor’s spies and you must never,” the General’s voice rose to a feverish pitch, “never show them your ability. Is that clear?”
Alex nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“Good.” The General calmed down. He pulled on the bottom of his jacket to smooth it out. Then he sat back down at his desk and tapped the monitor before him. “Marta,” he called. From where Alex was sitting, she could barely make out Marta’s image as it appeared on the screen. “Marta, are the colonists at their work stations yet?”
“Almost all of them, General Fratelli.”
“Excellent. Please alert the Council members that I must meet with them immediately in Colony Hall. We’ll need to decide how to alert the rest of the colony to Alex’s presence. When you’re sure the colonists are at their work stations, take Alex here on a tour. She’ll need to familiarize herself with her new surroundings. I’ll meet the two of you back here at 1100 hours.”
“Yes, General Fratelli.”
The General tapped the monitor, and the screen went blank again.
“Uh, General Fratelli,” Alex was unsure how to make her request since she didn’t want to sound rude, but she could think of no other way to ask. “Does it have to be Marta who gives me the tour?”
“Marta is an expert on the International Moon Colony. Why wouldn’t you want her to give you the tour?”
“I don’t think she likes much.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Well, as we were walking to your office, sir, I kept asking her questions, and I think my questions annoyed her, especially when I asked about why the houses were so old and not updated.”
The General snorted a bit. “Just like a woman,” he muttered to himself. Then he directed his attention to Alex. “Marta is one of the original droids from this colony. If you made any implication that the colony, and in turn she, is old and outdated, you offended her immensely. I myself take great pride in the fact that she’s still running nearly a hundred and fifty years after creation. A fine piece of work, Marta is. A testament to human invention.”
The General gathered the papers on his desk. Alex felt that she wasn’t making the best first impression. She would have to get on Marta’s good side.
The door behind Alex slid open and Marta rolled in.
“General Fratelli, I’ve alerted the Council members. They should be gathering in Colony Hall shortly. The rest of the colony is at their work stations.”
“Thank you, Marta.” The General stood up. Looking at Alex but clearly addressing the robot, he continued, “You do excellent work. Please take Alex for that tour now.”
“As you wish, General.” Marta turned to Alex. “Follow me, please.”
Alex picked up her bag and then looked down at her spacesuit.
The General sensed her speculation. “You can leave your spacesuit here, Alex. I’ll have it taken to your sleeping quarters later.”
“Thank you, General.” With her small bag over her shoulder, Alex followed Marta out of the General’s office.
Out in the plain white hallway, Alex tried to make up for her earlier misstep with Marta. “I hear you’re an expert on the IMC. You’ve been here forever.”
Marta stopped rolling immediately. “Who told you that? I am as fresh and alert as any droid here. There’s no need to throw my age up at my face.”
Alex’s face burned red. How did she always say the wrong thing to Marta? “Oh, that’s not what I meant. I just meant, well, that you must know a lot. The General said you did. I think that’s great. I mean, that you know so much.”
“May I make a suggestion?” asked Marta.
“Of course,” replied Alex.
“Stop talking.”
Alex opened her mouth to respond and then thought better of it and clamped her mouth shut.
“That’s better,” said Marta. “I have much to show you and much to tell you, so you’d better listen up and keep up.”
Marta began her tour of the IMC by explaining how five different international communities—the United States’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Russian Federal Space Agency (RKA), Japan’s Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the European Space Agency (ESA)—had come together to build the colony, much like they had with the first international space station over two hundred years ago. In the center of the colony was the communal area, which was a joint effort. Then each of the space organizations built its own wing to house the first colonists. Alex realized these five wings had to be the five spokes she had seen jutting from the center bubble of the IMC when she first landed.
The center of the communal area was Alex’s favorite part of the tour. Marta referred to it as “the playdium” and explained that one of the original architects was a woman from New York who had suggested that they build a green space in the middle of the colony. She imagined it as being similar to something called Central Park in the middle of the old Earth island of Manhattan. Marta said it was a great feat of engineering to figure out how to get so much Earth to grow on the moon. Inside the playdium were real trees, real grass, even a small pond. A baseball diamond and some playground equipment were situated in one corner not too far from the pond. A grove of trees gave the sense of a small forest in the middle, and on the far end was a full size running track complete with spectator stands. The “sky” above the playdium was as blue as the sky above her island home back on Earth. Marta explained that the three-story-high playdium actually had its own weather system so that it could mimic Earth’s atmosphere as much as possible. The rest of the colony was kept at a standard temperature and humidity, but inside the playdium the weather could change and some days, Marta explained proudly, it even snowed.
Around the playdium were two corridors, an inner loop and an outer loop. The inner hallway included the school, the library, the cafeteria, various businesses and offices, and Colony Hall. The outer loop contained a movie theatre, a performance hall, a robot repair shop, clothing boutiques, and the styling salon and delivery service that Alex had seen earlier. Like the playdium, everything in the inner and outer loops was shared by the community.
Marta had been right about the colonists being at their work stations. Almost no one was in the hallway. Alex only spotted a few humans along the way, all of whom gave her a suspicious glance. The colonists represented a variety of ethnicities and ages, but all of them wore solid-colored clothing with the colony’s emblem, the five-pointed star with the letters IMC embroidered in the center, printed on the upper-left corner of their shirts. Alex also noticed that each of them had a small, black device attached to their ears. The gadget was rectangular, and some of the colonists tapped them as they passed Alex and Marta in the hallway.
When the tour was finished, Marta brought Alex back up to the waiting room outside General Fratelli’s office.
“One moment, please, while I see where the General is.” Marta’s eye slit went dark, and she remained motionless for a minute. Alex plopped herself in one of the chairs. She was exhausted from her tour. How would she ever remember where everything was? She felt like she had circled the colony for hours.
Marta’s eye slit lit up again. “The General will be with you in a moment. In the meantime, I am to see that you are fed. What type of sandwich would you like?”
Alex perked up at the mention of food. How long had it been since she had last eaten? “Oh, I’d love some food. What kind of sandwiches do you have here on the moon?”
“We can make you anything you like.”
“Peanut butter and jelly?” Alex asked.
“What type of jelly? We have grape jelly, strawberry jam, apricot preserves, cherry jelly, and orange marmalade.” Marta spit out the list with brisk efficiency.
“Grape, please.” Alex could feel her stomach start to rumble.
Marta turned away and approached one of the walls. Lights flashed between the wall and Marta. Moments later, a panel slid open, and Marta pulled out a tray.
“Here you go,” said Marta, placing the tray on a table near Alex. “Peanut butter and grape jelly. I also took the liberty of ordering an apple and some cookies for you, as well as a glass of milk.”
Alex stared at the tray in amazement. “How do you get food like this on the moon?”
Marta folded her hands in front of her. “Located ten miles from the colony is a set of farming towers. They are the utmost in efficiency when it comes to growing crops and raising animals. Their ability to simulate an Earthlike atmosphere conducive to farming and animal husbandry is unsurpassed.”
Before Marta had finished her statement, Alex hungrily started on her lunch, delighting in the crunch of the apple and the squish of the grape jelly as it seeped from the sandwich’s sides. It wasn’t long before she had devoured the entire meal. She only had a moment to enjoy her full stomach when the General burst into the room. Alex stood up immediately. The General’s presence could certainly be formidable.
“Let’s go, Alex,” his voice boomed. “It’s time for you to meet your new classmates.”
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