by Dane Bagley
“Four minutes until the bell,” Mark observed to himself. It seemed like an eternity. What was he so anxious for? The only thing that the bell represented was that he would have to go to English class. He hated English even more than history. His grades had been slipping the last couple of weeks. Sheer boredom was the only reason. Nothing in school intrigued him. Home life was boring. And Steve hadn’t sent him any word in a couple of months. He had expected to hear something from his brother. Finally he had given up hoping, but now he had nothing to anticipate in life. Gramps was going to sleep earlier, and Mark just watched whatever stupid show was on TV.
Finally the bell rang and he could at least walk outside for a few minutes. The weather was starting to get crisp, and he only wore a tee-shirt, but he actually enjoyed the sensation. It wakened him a bit, and gave him a touch of life for the day. The only thing good about English was Tess. She was a very pretty brunette, who loved pink. She always had something pink on. Today it was a pink flower in her hair. Mark and Tess hadn’t really hit it off yet, but she was at least nice to him.
“Hey, Tess.”
“Hey, Mark.”
That was about it for today, but it was better than nothing. Class dragged on. Tess sat in front of Mark, and all he could do today was stare at her hair and the pink flower. He loved those soft brown curls.
“You are going to have a book report due by the end of the semester,” Mark’s teacher droned. Mark only half-listened. ”It will be on H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds. It’s one of the first books written about earthlings and aliens. Both this book, and a later radio show taken from it, have caused quite a stir at times. Today, the world is focused on alien contact again. I’m sure that a lot of you have been following the news about the Space Force. So, I hope that you will find this book interesting.”
Once Mark heard the words ‘alien’, and ‘Space Force,’ his consciousness to reality returned. He hadn’t actually heard what this was all about.
“Hey, Tess,” he whispered. “What’s this about aliens and the Space Force?”
“Boys,” she whispered back.
“No, really—I wasn’t listening.”
“What were you doing?”
“Checking out the flower in your hair.”
She turned briefly and scrunched her nose at him. He shrugged and gave a half smile.
“We’ve got to read a war book about aliens, and do a book report by the end of the semester,” Tess explained.
“Awesome!”
“It’s an old book, though.”
“Oh.”
The next thing he knew, the teacher was passing out copies of the book. They were hardback, and very worn. Tess got one that was practically falling apart in her hands. She had passed back a newer one to him. “Eeeww,” she said, holding the book like it would cause her some kind of a disease.
“Here, give it to me. I’ll trade you.”
She agreed readily, and they swapped books. Marks book was pretty disgusting, but he didn’t care—especially since he got to make a trade with Tess. I think that I’m going to like this book, Mark thought. His life was currently so dull, that even this assignment was a significant pick-up. Plus, Tess was being cool today.
School ended, and he walked home with a little spring in his step. The cool air added to his brisk pace. He actually considered opening the book and starting to read it as he walked in the door. Gramps was already home, and looked like he was just settling in for some news. “Hey, Gramps.”
“Hey’ya, Markey. School a’right?”
“Yeah, it’s cool. We get to read an alien book. But we have to do a report, too.” Mark walked into the kitchen and grabbed a soda and some chips, then sat down on the couch. Commercials were on, but they had said that the next story was about the Space Force, so he decided to stay and listen.
“Speculation has been rampant for weeks about the Space Force finding something. Officials have been on high alert, and have been extra quiet with reporters. Today the Vice President said that they are monitoring a life form very closely, in a speech to supporters. It was an apparent slip of the tongue, and the White House has been dialing those comments back all afternoon,” said the talking head on TV.
“This ‘ere guy—he’s worse’n that idiot Joe Biden, back when I were a kid.” Ryan said to no one in particular, as he shook his head and put a bite of his burrito in his mouth.
“I’m hearing that the White House is putting together a press conference for tomorrow morning. We are getting reports of much interest and concern, both from the scientific community and the general public.”
“I’d don’t think they’ve got nothin’,” said Ryan out loud, but not necessarily towards Mark.
“What if they did, Gramps? What if it’s Steve! Steve will take them out!”
“If they’d got anythin’, it’s probably some mold growing on some rock.”
“—maybe some kind of killer alien mold.”
“Na—j’st mold—nothin’ more.”
Mark was feeling excited inside. He continued to watch the news. They had no clue. They were talking to experts that had no clue. Then they brought in analyzers to analyze the experts who also had no clue. It was all entertaining anyway. Alien fascination was always simmering these days. Sometimes it would bubble up, and today was one of those days.
“The crews of the ZX-120’s seem to be on a communication lock down. We are yet to talk with any families of crew members that have received any communication in weeks. Space Force command is giving out ‘no comments,’ like trick-or-treat candy. Whatever is going on, we can expect some answers tomorrow,” said someone on the TV.
“Ya w’nt a burrito, Markey?” asked his gramps.
He was still a little hungry, but another burrito sounded awful to him. “No. I’ll get something later.” The news was starting to get on his nerves, so he got up and went to his room. He thought about starting his book, and even pulled it out of his pack. But it really was gross, and there were a lot of words—and no pictures. Instead he reached for his new Space Patrol comic book. Micro aliens were getting sprayed by the Space Patrol on the front cover. It wasn’t that great the first time, but he was much more in the mood right now. As he thumbed through the pages, his thoughts turned to Steve.
Eventually, he found himself lying on the bed with the comic book on his chest. He was gazing at the texture on the ceiling. His eyes were open, but his mind’s eye was deep in space. Steve had told him that he had to get good grades to be in the Space Force. He could feel motivation oozing back into his veins. There was something out there. He knew it. Steve might be right in the middle of it. Steve was probably the top commander out there. So he was running everything from space. As soon as he could, he would join him out there.
Chapter 28
