Prologue and chapter 1

PROLOGUE

“Hold it right there!” A man dressed entirely in black raised his gun and aimed for the girl causing all the trouble.

Alex’s heart hammered in her chest. She wondered how she could have gotten herself into such a predicament. How does a thirteen-year-old girl, who wouldn’t have hurt the smallest bug on her home island, become someone who causes nothing but trouble and chaos? Only two short months ago, she was sitting idly among the top branches of her favorite tree. Now she was 240,000 miles away from that spot, and everything was a disaster. She held a weapon in each hand, and at her feet, two people lay motionless—whether dead or only injured, Alex had no idea. A short distance away, her friends stared at her in disbelief. How could she explain to them what was really going on? Would they accept her after what they had seen her do?

Then again, acceptance would only matter if she survived, and at the moment, survival was questionable. For although Alex held a weapon in each hand, the man dressed in black had a gun pointed directly at her heart.

Yes, Alex wondered how on earth she had gotten into such a predicament. But perhaps her biggest problem was simply the fact that she wasn’t on Earth. She was on the moon. As to how she got there, well, let’s just say that her story began with a crash landing . . .


Chapter 1:
A ROCKY START

“Brace yourself, Alex!” Grandpa yelled. “This landing’s not going to be pretty.”

Through the small windows of their little Rock Jumper, Alex watched the gray, cratered surface of the moon zooming up toward them. In the distance was an enormous, bubble-shaped structure with five spokes jutting from its sides. Since it was the only human-made structure in sight, Alex knew that bubble had to be her destination. Her stomach grumbled with queasy anticipation. What adventures awaited her in that strange bubble on the horizon? For better or for worse, she couldn’t spend too much time worrying about it yet. The most important thing at the moment was landing safely on the moon.

“I thought the moon’s gravitational pull wasn’t that strong,” she yelled over the roar of the engines and the blaring alarm that indicated an engine malfunction. Her grandfather furiously hit a green button on the control panel. When that had no effect, he rotated a dial and then flipped up a switch.

“Not nearly as strong as Earth’s, but still strong enough to smash us to smithereens if I can’t get this last brake rocket to fire.” He pushed the green button again. “Come on!” he screamed. The vibration of the ship’s engines shook the Rock Jumper as it strained against the tugging of the moon’s gravity.

Alex watched Grandpa’s hands fly over buttons and levers on the instrument panel. Buzzers sounded, lights flashed, needles swung crazily in a dozen different dials. If only she were old enough to help. But at nearly thirteen years of age, Alex was too young to start pilot’s training. All she could do was sit helplessly and watch. Her grandfather jammed his fist down on an unresponsive green button. Suddenly, a loud blast roared below the ship. Alex’s insides were yanked down toward her seat. Her heart landed in her stomach. A moment later, the ship’s descent slowed.

“Yes,” Grandpa breathed.

“You did it!” Alex cried. “We’re slowing down.” She grinned over at her grandfather but noticed his forehead was still wrinkled with worry.
“It ain’t over yet. That last brake rocket fired pretty late. I don’t know if we have enough time left to decrease to optimal landing speed. Hold on, Alex.” Grandpa gripped his steering bars to level out the Rock Jumper.

Alex grabbed the armrests of the seat and watched out the window. Grandpa maneuvered the Rock Jumper down to a flat area near a large crater. Time played funny tricks. In one way, they seemed to be moving much more slowly. At the same time, their speed seemed much too fast for a landing.

The Rock Jumper rammed into the surface of the moon. Metal creaked and then crunched all around them. Lights on the control panel flickered. Again, Alex felt her insides being pulled straight down toward the seat below her. Above her head, a cable snapped. Every screw and rivet strained to hold the little ship together. Metal shrieked in protest as the whole vessel rattled back and forth. A loud pop from beneath her was the only warning Alex had before her seat unbolted from the floor of the ship. Alex slid as the Rock Jumper lurched to the right. Her right arm slammed into the side of the vehicle, and she screamed out in pain.

“Alex, are you alright?” Grandpa hit some switches on the control panel, turning off the last of the ship’s engines.

Alex took a moment to make sure she could still wiggle her fingers and toes. “Yeah, I’m O.K.” She gripped the control panel to steady herself as the Rock Jumper, moaning and creaking, swayed slightly on the moon’s surface.
Grandpa waited until the ship had settled into position before unbuckling himself. Then he eased his way out of his chair and headed toward Alex, checking his balance as he went. “Anything broken?”

Alex pulled herself upright and inspected her right sleeve. “No, I’ll be alright.” She rubbed her right shoulder. “But I bet I’ve got a nasty bruise forming under all this padding. Thank God for spacesuits, huh?”

“Did it rip?”

“No, no, it’s O.K.”

“Good.” Grandpa sighed. “Spacesuits equal life out here, you know.”

Alex nodded in understanding. “How about you? Are you O.K.?”

Grandpa settled back in his seat. “Me? Yeah, I’m fine. This old man’s seen much worse.” He rubbed his forehead and then smoothed back his thinning gray hair. “Now this Rock Jumper of ours,” he patted the metal wall beside him, “well, now that’s a different story. It’s certainly seen better days.”

Alex looked around the ship. With the exception of her unbolted seat, the insides seemed fairly intact—an open panel here, a few exposed wires there--but she knew something else, something much worse, was wrong with the ship. When she looked out the window, the surface of the moon was no longer horizontal. Had they landed on an incline?

“What happened?” Alex asked.

“Busted our landing gear probably.” He shrugged. “Only one way to find out. Grab your helmet and air tank. The sooner we know the extent of the damage, the better.”

Pushing her broken seat aside, Alex leaned over to open a small compartment. She pulled once on the handle, but the difficult landing had destroyed the latch. Alex put one foot on the wall near the compartment door and both hands on the handle. She leaned back with all her weight while twisting the knob. With a grunt, she yanked the compartment open. In it was the only bag she had brought from Earth. With the air tank on her back, Alex knew she would have to carry the small bag over her shoulder. Before leaving the Rock Jumper, Grandpa and Alex checked each other’s gear to make sure they were sealed properly.

“Can you hear me on the headset?” Grandpa’s words echoed slightly in her helmet.

“Yeah, I can hear you.”

“I’m hoping we’ll be able to keep communication open until you reach the IMC. Once you’re inside, though, I doubt we’ll be able to keep up our transmissions. I’m sure the General has security precautions in place.”

Alex nodded. What would those “security precautions” entail? Would there be guards? Would they let her in? Would they even give her the chance to explain why she had come all this way?

“Oh, I almost forgot.” Grandpa took something small out of a zippered compartment on his spacesuit. “If General Fratelli doesn’t recognize you, show him this.” He placed something small and oval into Alex’s bag.

“What is it?” she asked.

“It’s called a cameo. It used to belong to your grandmother. When he sees it, he’ll know it’s really you and not a spy. Come on, now. There’s no point waiting around.” Grandpa cleared his throat and turned around quickly to hide the tears Alex knew were starting to form in his eyes.

After Grandpa opened the hatch to the Rock Jumper and climbed down to the moon’s surface, Alex stood for a moment in the ship’s opening and looked out at the scene before her. How long had she waited for adventure? How many years had she been trapped on that little island with only her grandparents for companionship? How often had she wondered what it would be like to play with other children?

And now that excitement lay at her feet, she could feel her stomach getting queasy again. Would the other children accept her? How could she live in a world without the trees, volcanoes, and blue-green water she was used to seeing? She took a mental snapshot of the moon’s nearly colorless and seemingly waterless craters. The sky was pitch black despite the bright sun. In the distance was the bubble-shaped building with the tentacles jutting out of its center. She knew it had to be the International Moon Colony, where General Fratelli had no idea that Alex was on her way.

“Let’s go, Alex,” Grandpa called up to her from the surface of the moon. She climbed down to join him as he circled the Rock Jumper to inspect the landing gear.

“Yeah, it’s what I thought. The starboard leg popped a spring.”

“Can you fix it?” Alex’s voice trembled slightly. What would happen if Grandpa couldn’t fix it?

“Yeah, shouldn’t be too much trouble.” He turned toward her and gave her a wry smile from inside his helmet. “I should have this old girl up and running before you’re snug in your new bed at the IMC.”

“Grandpa,” Alex hesitated for a moment, “are you sure you don’t want to come with me? Just for a bit, maybe?”

He put his hand on her shoulder. “You’ll be fine, Alex. The General will take good care of you. Now me, on the other hand, he wants nothing to do with me.”

“Then perhaps I shouldn’t . . .”

“Nonsense, this is the only safe place. And trust me, the General will watch out for you. Just tell him that I dropped you off and that I’m headed back to Earth to find your grandma.” He looked past her to the IMC, but his thoughts seemed far away. “He’ll understand why I have to go back.”

“I’ll miss you, Grandpa.” Alex tried not to sound too choked up. She wasn’t sure how long it would be before she’d see him again. It would take only two days to return to Earth, but finding Grandma could take weeks, even months.

“And I’ll miss you.” Their helmets crashed together as he gave her a big bear hug. “But don’t you fret. I’ll be back as soon as I find Grandma.” He pulled away from her. “Now off you go. It’s better for you to approach the IMC right away. We don’t want to look like a couple of spies lurking around out here.” Grandpa smiled as if it were a joke, but Alex knew spies were no joke. Even though she’d never met General Fratelli or any members of the International Moon Colony, Alex knew from her discussions with Grandpa that no one at the IMC was a fan of Emperor Devlesh, and no one who opposed the Emperor would consider a spy a laughing matter.

Alex took a step back and adjusted the small bag on her shoulder. They had left so quickly that she really had had no time for packing. “Are you sure you’re O.K.?” she called back to her grandfather.

“Yes, Alex. I’ll keep the comm line open while you walk. Let me know when you’re near the IMC. Once you’re too close, their self defense mechanisms will interrupt our communications.”

“Good-bye, Grandpa.”

“I’ll see you soon, Alex.”

With that Alex turned away from the only father figure she’d ever known and headed toward a moon colony that she had only first heard of two days earlier.
Her first few footsteps sank a couple inches into the moon dust. Her grandfather had warned her about this. Just because the moon looked like a giant rock didn’t mean the entire surface was rock solid. In fact, it was covered with very fine granules that feet and landing gear could actually sink into a few inches. This moon dust made the walking difficult at times, depending on its depth. However, when she hit a patch where the dust wasn’t too deep, Alex moved along the surface fairly easily, the lower gravity giving a funny bounce to her step.

The trek to the IMC took longer than Alex had first anticipated. Without the usual landmarks of trees, plants, and buildings like Earth had, Alex had difficulty judging how far away anything was. Alex would come to the edge of one small crater, thinking she could cross it in a matter of seconds. Ten minutes later, she’d find herself only halfway to the other side. After an hour of walking, she checked the comm line.

“Grandpa, are you still there?”

“Yep, still here, Alex.” His disembodied words crackled in her headset.
She turned around to see if she could still see him. The Rock Jumper was an ant on the distant horizon.

“Are you at the IMC yet?” asked Grandpa.

“Nope, not yet. It’s much farther away than I first thought.”

“You’ll make it. Keep walking.”

Alex turned back and continued on her way. “How are the repairs going?”

“Oh fine. It’s a little more complicated than I first thought, but I should have the necessary parts. Now where . . .?” his voice trailed off. Alex imagined he was searching for something back in the seating compartment of the Rock Jumper.

As she walked, Alex thought about how crazy the last two days had been. One moment she was enjoying her favorite treetop view on their island. The next, she was fleeing for her life. It was from the top of her favorite tree that she had spotted the strange, black hoverships gliding over the water. Alex and her grandparents had never seen ships of that type near them, much less ones traveling so fast. She knew, without anyone telling her, that something was terribly wrong.

Alex swung down from the tree and ran through the jungle to where her grandfather was gardening. As soon as she had described the hoverships to him, he grabbed her arm, screamed something about having no time to lose, and then muttered to himself that he hadn’t thought he’d ever live to see the day.

Back at the house, he gave her only a minute to grab her bag and a few items of clothing. Then they ran down the hill to the garageport. Alex had only been allowed in the Rock Jumper a few times previously. As soon as they were buckled in, Grandpa fired them off the island. It wasn’t a minute too soon either. As they sped up and over the water, Alex could see the hoverships docking on the far side of the island.
Now as she walked across the moon, Alex wondered if the people in the hoverships had any idea where Grandpa and she had run off. Would they follow them to the moon? Would they be watching for Grandpa when he returned to Earth?

On the two-day journey to the moon, Grandpa had explained that he was taking her to the International Moon Colony, where General Fratelli was in charge. He would look after her while he searched for Grandma. During their discussion, Grandpa said the IMC was the safest place to go; however, he warned her that Emperor Devlesh may have spies there, spies that had been planted years ago. She should be careful what she told people.

Suddenly, Alex looked up and realized that the immense IMC was looming before her. It was much bigger than it had looked from the Rock Jumper.

“Grandpa, can you still hear me?” She turned back around. She couldn’t see the Rock Jumper in the distance anymore.

“Alex?”

“Yes, I’m near the IMC.”

“Good. Do you see an entrance?”

“I’m near one of the spokes, and it looks like there’s an entrance portal at the end of it.”

“Great. I’m sure there’s a security system. Look for anything that looks like a keypad or a terminal for swiping a badge.”

She walked over toward the end of the spoke. She was maybe twenty feet from it when Grandpa’s voice came back over the comm line.

“Do . . . see . . . thing?”

“Grandpa,” Alex called back over the line. “Grandpa, you’re breaking up.”

“Step . . . from . . I . . C,” his voice sounded far away.

Alex backed up a bit. “Grandpa. Grandpa, I’m losing you.”

“Keep . . . away.”

“What?” she asked frantically and started heading back toward the Rock Jumper. Her heart was pounding. Was Grandpa trying to warn her of something, or had somebody found him?

“Keep moving away from the IMC,” Grandpa’s voice was faint but clearer now.

“Their security is breaking up our signal.”

“Oh,” Alex breathed a sigh of relief.

“You must be within proximity of their security zone. That’s why our communication is going.”

“Yeah, I get that now.”

“When you were close, did you see a way in?” he asked.

“Yeah, there appears to be a panel to the right of the door.”

“Great, try that. Press random buttons if you need to.” Grandpa chuckled softly. “That’ll be sure to catch Roberto’s attention.”

“Who?”

“Roberto Fratelli, the General.”

“Oh, right.” All Alex could think was, What am I doing here?
Grandpa must have heard her doubt.

“You’ll be fine, Alex. I’ve got another hour or so left on these repairs. If I don’t hear anything from you in that time, I’ll assume you made it safely into the IMC. Give the General my regards.” He snorted softly and then muttered, “If he’ll take them.”

“Find Grandma quickly, Grandpa.”

“That’s my plan. Over and out.”

Alex took a few steps forward. She could feel her stomach doing flip flops. What were the people who lived in this giant bubble with spokes like? Would they accept her? She took a few more steps forward.

Wondering if she had already entered the security zone, Alex called out on the comm link, “Grandpa?”

There was no response. Knowing she only had an hour or so to find her way in before Grandpa left the moon, she rushed toward the door. To the right of the entrance was a panel, but Alex didn’t see a number pad, only a button and a few lights. She tentatively hit the button. Was this some kind of space doorbell? Nothing happened. What now? Knock?

She stood before the solid flat door. Alex raised her fist to knock when a section of the door above her head changed colors. It was a screen of some sort. A red light passed over it. Then it returned to its normal gray color. Another section of the door, this time directly in front of Alex’s face, changed color and a red light passed over the face shield of her helmet.

A moment later words appeared on the screen: “Please scan your PTD at the terminal.” Alex raised her arms up. “PTD?” she tried to scream through her helmet.

“What’s a PTD?” She stood there waiting for a response. A few seconds later, a new message appeared on the screen: “You have not scanned your PTD. Please scan your PTD on the panel to the right.”

“I don’t have a PTD!” Alex screamed at the door. “I don’t even know what a PTD is!” She looked around. The other spokes must have had portals as well, but they probably had the same entrance procedure. She tried pushing the button on the panel again.

A new message appeared on the screen: “Do you require assistance?”

“Yes!” Alex screamed. Two small boxes appeared on the screen, a green one marked yes and a red one marked no. She put her gloved finger up to the green one. The screen changed immediately. It read, “One moment, please. Marta will be with you shortly. Please step inside.”

The screen went blank, and the door slid open. On the other side was a small room, no bigger than 10’ by 10’. Cautiously, Alex stepped in. To the right and left were benches with some hooks above them. Then the door slid closed. A faint yellow glow from the ceiling kept the room dimly lit.

A computerized feminine voice called out, “Beginning decontamination.” A whoosh from overhead made Alex look up. Millions of tiny moon dust particles were lifted off her spacesuit and pulled into a funnel above her head. They sparkled like crystals around her as they floated toward the ceiling.

When the moon dust had been removed from Alex’s suit, the computerized voice spoke again. “Adjusting living environment.” Suddenly, Alex grew very tired. Or perhaps, it would be more accurate to say, she grew very heavy. She tried to walk over to the benches to sit down, but her legs felt like they weighed fifty pounds each. The small bag on her shoulder felt much heavier, too.

Before she could make it to the bench, the wall opposite the door slid open. Into the small room rolled a tall, thin robot with an almost matronly appearance. The head was angular with a flat top and angled sides like that of a hexagon. A horizontal, blue strip took the place of eyes, and a set of holes worked as a speaker for the mouth. Instead of legs, the two-armed body had a set of wheels under what was shaped as a long skirt. The front of the body was painted to give the appearance of a maid’s apron. The door slid closed immediately behind the robot.

The robot turned to Alex, and its eye slit went from blue to black. Then a green light rolled from the top of the eye slit to the bottom of it. Alex got the sense it was giving her the “once over.” The eye slit returned to its cool blue color.
“You’re not one of us.” The tone was almost indignant. “Who are you? State your business.”

“My name is Alex Jones. I’m here to see General Fratelli.”
The green light scanned up and down the eye slit again. “You will need to remove your helmet. The climate in this room has been adjusted to human standards. You should be able to breathe normally without your air tank. Gravity should feel similar to that of Earth as well.” Ah, Alex thought to herself, that’s why I had suddenly felt so heavy inside this room.

Alex reached up and unlocked the helmet, hoping the robot’s statement about breathing regular air was accurate. Slowly Alex lifted her helmet an inch off her head and took in a breath. All seemed normal, so she continued removing it. Her heart was beating quickly, but at least she was able to breathe. Confident she wouldn’t suffocate, Alex switched her air tank off.

“Repeat your name and purpose, please.”

Holding the helmet at her side, Alex lifted her head and looked squarely at the robot, who was only slightly taller than she was. Alex suddenly recalled a favorite quote her grandmother liked to repeat: You are only as afraid as you make yourself look.

“My name is Alex Jones,” she announced proudly, her head held high. “I am here to see General Fratelli.” Then for good measure, she added, “Please take me to him.”
The robot wheeled back a step and then forward again. “No one sees General Fratelli without an appointment. Is he expecting you?”

Alex faltered for a moment. “No, he is not expecting me, but this is an emergency. I come from Earth.”

The robot wheeled back again. “From Earth? Are you alone?”

Should she tell the robot about her grandfather? No. No need to make things more complicated.

“Yes, I’m alone.”

“What is your business with the General?”

“I was sent here by my grandfather, Angelo Jones.”

The robot made some whirring noises as if considering Alex’s last statement. Finally, she spoke again, “One moment, please.” Her eyes went dark, and she stood still. Had she broken down? Alex waited. Nothing happened. She walked around to the side of the robot. Still the machine did not move. Alex walked behind her, searching for a reset button. Nothing. What would she do if the robot didn’t turn back on? Oh, my God, she thought, I’ve broken the robot!

Alex was almost all the way around the robot when its eyes flashed blue again, and it turned its head toward her.

“Please step in front of me,” the robot called sternly.

“Oh, sorry,” Alex said, stepping back around in front of the machine. The top half of her “apron” glowed like a screen.

“I have awakened the General for you. He wants to confirm your ID before allowing you access.”

The screen on her apron flickered before the image of a severe face appeared on the top half of the apron. The General was balding and obviously old, but his gray eyes were intense and his lips were set firmly in a grimace.

“State your name.”

His bellowing voice weakened Alex’s knees. “Ah, Alex,” she spit out. “Alex Jones.”

“Come closer, Alex. Let me get a good look at you.”

She stepped closer to the robot and bent down a little so her face would be in front of the screen.

“You do have something of your grandmother around your eyes,” he said slowly, “but that could have been fixed with plastic surgery. How’d you get here, Alex?”

“Um, my grandfather dropped me off.” Alex was considerably less confident than she had been with the robot.

“He dropped you off?” The General leaned back a bit from his screen. “What does he think this is? Daycare?”

“No, sir, no. It’s just that it was an emergency. There were these hoverships and we . . .”

The General cut her off. “Where’s your grandfather now?”

“Headed back to Earth,” she replied. “He needs to find Grandma.”

“Find Grandma?” With this, the General’s eyebrows pushed down over his eyes. “What do you mean find Grandma?”

“Well, she left about two years ago.”

“Two years ago?” roared the General. “She went missing two years ago, and he’s just going out looking for her now!” Alex could see only the General’s head and top of his shoulders, but a loud thunk told her that he had hit whatever table or desk was in front of him.

She shifted the weight on her feet. How could she explain this? “Grandma told us not to follow her, that she’d be back as soon as . . .”

“Enough!” The General leaned back in his chair. “This doesn’t sound right. How do I know this isn’t a trap? How do I know you’re really Alex Jones?”

A trap? Alex thought. How could she ever prove her identification? It’s not like she had a pilot’s license yet. Then she remembered.

“Oh, wait!” Alex dug through her bag. “I almost forgot. Grandpa gave me this to show you. He said it belonged to my grandmother and that you’d recognize it.” She took the cameo out of her bag. It was a small, oval-shaped pin with a gold, scalloped edge. In the center was a pale pink background with a raised profile of a lady carved out of ivory. She held the pin before the robot’s screen. “Grandpa thought this should be enough to prove my identity.”

The General leaned in closer to his screen. His eyes narrowed. Then he began to shake his head slowly back and forth. “I never thought I’d see that again.” He blinked rapidly and then pulled away from the screen. He cleared his throat a few times. “All right, Alex. Welcome to the International Moon Colony.”