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.”