by LM. Preston
Seeing the space pad in the distance, his father told Aadi to put away the controls.
“Gary, resume to previous driver and lock Code 2341 for Aadi’s driving session,” his dad said after he took over the controls. The vehicle lowered directly over the parking space in front of the building. “Well, Aadi, here we are at camp. I am going to get you registered.”
Aadi hopped out of the truck and adjusted his flattened backpack as he closed the door. Watching his dad leave, Aadi went to the back of the vehicle and opened the trunk. He peeked into his duffle bag to look for Ebu.
“Hey, Ebu, you okay?” he whispered into the bag.
“Ebu is here and doing great.”
“Ebu, I want you to go into secret mode, just in case they scan my bags.”
“Ebu will do.”
“Hey… now that I think about it, Ebu, hop into my backpack,” Aadi said as he turned and sat down in the trunk with his backpack at the opening of his duffle bag. Ebu collapsed and climbed into Aadi’s backpack. Aadi turned around and looked side to side to make sure no one saw him before he grabbed his duffle bag to go meet his dad.
He ran through the huge arched glass doors to the Processing Center and looked around.
“Wow,” he said when he walked through the doorway of the building. He looked up at the arched doorway encased in glass and stood dazed while watching a ceiling of flashing stars and planets zoom by.
“Welcome to TEGRC’s space pad,” said the android greeter at the door. Aadi jumped. Androids were still pretty scarce because they were costly to develop, and most companies used them only in work settings that required mundane manual labor. As far as Aadi knew, Ebu was the only android that had been created as a playmate. He built Ebu as the little brother he would never have when his parents confirmed they couldn’t have any more children.
“Uh, hello,” he said to the android. “Where’s Mr. Lear, my father?” Aadi asked it. It looked like an old model, very rudimentary and more like a robot than a person, but with a sleek shape and silver tinge of a sophisticated android that would work in a lab instead of a warehouse.
It was hard for Aadi to pay attention to the android, as rare as it was, because he was simply amazed at the space pad. It looked like an asteroid from the inside out. It had rounded stonewalls and silver metal beams sticking through the ceilings that had black glass doorways labeled, “Transit To Space Centrex 1,” “Space Camp Processing,” and “Labs.” There were many androids greeting incoming people and groups, and the workers had on bright gold and black form-fitting suits with ear tenas connected to their ears that projected 3-D computer keyboards and screens for customers. There were greeting counters on each side that had black tops with shooting stars. Aadi thought it was a little overboard, but still very impressive.
“Wow,” he said again as he looked around for his dad. A lot of the technology here was only seen in very few instances, usually in the homes of what his dad called “the filthy rich” or in large companies and government agencies. He had never seen quite so much cool stuff in one place.
“If you will follow me, I will take you to your father. You may give me your duffle bag, which will be waiting for you in your room when you board the ship,” the android said. Aadi used his telenex to call his mom. Blinking his eyes and focusing on her face, he said, “Mom, this place is GREEEAAAT!” He pictured his mom in his mind while she drove, and then she smiled at him.
“I knew you would love it,” she said. He made his mind go blank, and her image disappeared.
Aadi followed the android through the door that said “Space Camp Registration”.
“Aadi! Over here, son,” his dad said while he waved over the kids that stood around. Aadi ran past the crowds to get to his dad.
“Hello, Aadi. We need to take a retina scan of your eyes to start your registration. Please look through the opening on the box to my right,” the lady behind the desk said as she pointed.
Aadi placed his eyes in the openings and heard the computer say, “Confirmed… Aadi Lear checked in.”
“Please follow the signs down the hall to the boarding pad. Have a fun time at camp,” the lady said as she touched the button on her ear and a 3-D keyboard appeared.
“Come on, son. It’s already four in the morning, and you need to get settled before blast off, so let’s get you onboard,” his dad added then pushed lightly on his backpack. His dad turned him around, bent down, and gave him a big hug, “I love you, son. Have a good time.”
“Uh, Father, you are embarrassing me. You act like you are never going to see me again,” Aadi said with a smirk and then turned around to walk through the passageway to the ship.
Aadi glanced at the many other kids that rode on the elevated treadmill. It moved suspended in the air about twenty feet and continued to get higher as it approached a huge silver and gray ship that was shaped like an oval. He was impressed with the ship and noticed it had a level of clear windows on the top and a bright silver outer rim around the middle. The ships wings and propellers weren’t outside the ship as in older models. Aadi supposed that they extended only when needed in order to protect them from deterioration and unintended breakage from space debris. The ship looked as though it was a sleek, fancy model of all of the older space shuttles Aadi had seen his parents on before they went into flight twice a year. He wondered to himself, Why is TEGRC going into the space camp business?
Aadi felt a punch on his arm. He turned his head to the left to see who hit him.
“Hey, stank breath,” Damien screamed in Aadi’s ear while pulling on Aadi’s shoulder to get closer. Then he shoved Aadi and rushed pass him to the ship. Damien had dark auburn hair and deep, pale blue eyes. He was shorter than Aadi, but muscular and thick, so he packed a punch whenever he confronted Aadi.
“Ebu, I really don’t like that butt hole. Man, his breath stinks. Why did he have to breathe in my face?” Aadi said to his backpack.
Just as Aadi started to walk faster, his right arm was brushed by someone’s backpack.
“Oh, sorry… I am in a hurry to get onboard. Excuse me,” the girl that tried to pass him said.
“Hey, wait! You go to Buckingham Middle School, don’t you?” Aadi said, trying to catch up to her. He had seen her at school, and although she had a bit of a gap in her teeth at the top, she was still kind of pretty. She also loved to play all of his favorite sports. He knew this because she was always playing some sport with the boys. She kept to herself other than that, though, so he had never talked to her before.
“Yeah, what’s it to you?” she said as she eyed him while turning slightly during her walk-run to the ship entrance. Aadi looked around to see most of the kids behind him hurrying past to get to the entrance also, so he sped up to walk fast with her.
“Well, I go there, and I’ve seen you around. You know… playing tag football with the Collington twins?”
“You mean you saw me playing with my brothers, bright boy,” she said as she started a small jog. Aadi walked faster to catch up to her.
“You are Paul’s and Casey’s triplet sister?” Aadi asked with wide eyes. Slowing her down with a tug on her shoulder, he thought, She doesn’t look anything like the twins. They were both blond haired, blue eyed scrawny kids compared to her slightly muscled form, and she stood taller and wider than both of them. He noticed her coffee brown hair and deep olive complexion with bright green eyes. While looking her over, he figured she looked mostly like her dad, since Mr. Collington was a dark brown tall man.
“Everyone says that. Try to ask me something new, bright boy.” She laughed, and he noticed a dimple on her right cheek. “So, what’s your name?” she asked.
“Aadi. What is yours?” Aadi said and easily laughed with her.
“My name is Eirena. Don’t try to say it like your-an-us. My name is e-rain-a, bud. Well, got to go, bright boy,” she said. Then she turned around and took off running. Aadi stood there a moment and watched her run off, then shook his head and considered t
hat camp might be a fun place after all.
“Hey, speed up, dweeb!” Dakota said in his squeaky, scratchy, deep put-on voice. Oh, great, Aadi thought, the class chump and Damien’s flunky is coming to camp with me too.
“Hey, dude, what are you doing here? I thought you were going to soccer camp?” Aadi asked.
“What do you think, fart face? My parents made me come here instead, but that’s cool, ‘cause now I have you to pick on,” Dakota said as he shoved past Aadi with his shoulder.
Aadi laughed when he recalled beating Dakota in every game they played, but Dakota loved to talk trash and was malicious with it. Aadi watched Dakota’s honey-blond spiky hair move through the maze of kids as he ran toward the ship.
Aadi scratched his head and adjusted his backpack. Then, he realized that he was the last kid to go on the ship, so he picked up his speed to a run and ran pass Dakota to stand in line for room assignments.
Chapter 2
While standing in line, he looked around the ship entryway. The walls and floor looked like white stone with sparkling silver moving within it. Aadi realized he was staring when he was pushed to move up in line. There were four hallways that led to different parts of the ship, and most of the kids were going to the left hallway that had an android on each side.
“Excuse me, can you move up?” a very petite girl asked him. She had black hair, brown almond-shaped eyes, and porcelain skin. Aadi noticed she wasn’t so fragile when she poked him hard on his arm to get him to move forward.
“Can you hear me? I said MOVE!” She had the loudest voice when she screamed. Her sharp little fingers kept poking him in the middle of his back, and it hurt.
“All right! I am moving! Just get your dang finger out of my back,” Aadi said as he shrugged away from her.
“Oh, sorry. I just can’t help it. I am the oldest of three boys, and I have to make them behave, so I just sometimes forget other boys aren’t them,” she said in her small voice again as she twisted her forefinger with her thumb and looked down at her pink tennis shoes.
“Whatever. It didn’t hurt,” Aadi said, and he moved up to the front of the line to stand in front of one of the Camp Counselors.
“Hello, my name is Aadi, and I am here to get my room assignment,” Aadi politely said to the lady wearing the red and gold Camp Counselor uniform.
“Oh, Aadi! Happy you made it. Your room is on Level A203, Room 321. Your roommates will be… let’s see… Tacitus Monroe, Damien Hamilton, Dakota McNeil, and Scott Thompson,” she said with a smile that Aadi didn’t bother to return. This sucks, Aadi thought, considering he didn’t like either Damien or Dakota and he didn’t even know Scott and Tacitus. He sure hoped he had an ally with them. Otherwise, he would be spending most of his time in space kicking butt and taking names.
He headed to his room one level down. The dorm hall entrance was marked. The Counselor waiting in the hallway smiled at him and pointed him and a few other boys to their rooms.
He placed his eye in front of the retina scanner, and the door opened. The room was large enough for two bunk beds and a loft bed that had a convertible desk unit that collapsed into the wall. There were computers on each desk that looked like an ink pens but had a button on the top that projected 3-D viewing screens.
Aadi thought to himself, maybe this camp isn’t so bad. In the very least, it definitely had enough cool stuff to keep him entertained.
“Impressive, isn’t it? Bet you don’t have this type of equipment at home,” said the kid on the loft bed. He was leaning with his back against the wall, legs hanging slightly over the side of the bed, and with a marble sized toy in his hands. He moved the object through his fingers with precision. He had short black, cropped hair on a rounded face and a dark chocolate complexion with piercing almond black eyes. He was a pretty big kid for his age - a bit chunky in frame, but muscular at the same time, Aadi figured he would be a good ally. Aadi watched as the kid gracefully jumped down from the bed to land in front of him.
“Hey, my name is Scott. Are you Aadi?” Scott asked and put his marble deep in his pockets, leaving his hands there.
“Yeah. Have you met the other guys?” Aadi asked, reaching out his hand for a handshake.
Scott looked down at Aadi’s hand as though he was contemplating not shaking it. He then reluctantly took his hand out of his pocket and shook it. Then snatched his hand away and put it back in his pocket.
“Yeah, I met all but one, but so far, you are the only one who’s cool. That Damien’s a real piece of work, and the kid Tacitus is a weirdo. I guess some kid named Dakota is on the way. Damien’s on the top bunk to your left, and Tacitus has the top bunk to your right. If I were you, I’d rather sleep under Tacitus than Damien,” Scott said. Scott turned around as he went in his pocket, took out a flat case, pushed a tiny button on it, and twisted it into a small ball. He started hitting it against the wall on the side of his bed. Aadi figured their conversation was over, so he went over to the bunk bed that he would share with Tacitus.
“All Space Cadets report to the auditorium for your orientation… All Space Cadets report to the auditorium for your orientation,” a loud booming voice came from the speakers on the gray ceilings.
“I guess we better go,” Aadi said. Then he took off his backpack. He bent down on his knees and attached it to the bottom rail of his bed.
Scott collapsed his ball and then strolled out the door. Aadi lay down to the floor of the lower bunk and said, “Ebu, stay put. I have to go to orientation.”
“Ebu will stay put,” Ebu said from the backpack.
Aadi stood up, walked toward the door, and ran into a chubby, short kid that came just above his shoulders. The kid had unkempt hair and glasses with slightly protruding teeth. “Uh, sorry I didn’t see you. Are you going the auditorium? I’m still trying to find my way around this place,” said Aadi as he came to a stop.
“It’s all right. My name is Trevor. You can follow me if you want. It’s this way,” the kid said, and led the way to the auditorium. Aadi took off in a jog and followed the other kids rushing down the hallway.
He entered the auditorium, which appeared to have a glass ceiling that showed the sunny blue sky. Walking quickly down the aisle, he made his way over to Scott and sat down.
“Hey, Scott, did I miss anything?” Aadi asked while getting comfortable in his seat.
“No, bright boy, you didn’t. However, I see you are late as usual,” a voice behind Aadi said. He turned around to see a smirking Eirena. She had her arms crossed in front of her t-shirt and her leg tapping with nervous energy in her blue jeans. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail with long, dark brown bangs hanging down to the side.
“Well, I made it, didn’t I?” Aadi replied and turned back around, “That’s all that counts.”
“Whatever. I just hope you aren’t going to be on my simulation team because you have all the signs of being a slacker,” Eirena said.
“Well, if you are to be so lucky to be on my team, I’ll bet you that I am a better flyer than you are,” Aadi said, slightly turning his head so she could hear him.
“Hello, Space Cadets! Welcome to Camp Explorer!” A lady appeared slightly above their heads in the front of the room on a hovering platform that stood about two feet above the stage, and all around the room screens displayed her face.
“We are so happy that you all made it through our extensive testing and health review to be selected for our maiden voyage to Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn… if we have time. You may want to know how we can cover so much ground in so little time as eight weeks. Well, we have a few new technology gadgets up our sleeves! All of you have parents who work within some division of TEGRC and know that we are leading the flight into the future in so many areas. Well, we have created a device that allows us to travel to planets and distant solar systems in the blink of an eye. This device is in all our flight simulators and space cruisers. In addition to getting to our destinations a hundred times faster than even NASA or the speed of li
ght, we also slow the aging process for our astronauts during this light-speed travel. Each pilot or Space Cadet will be outfitted with our Space Cadet skin suit that must be worn at all times when you are off the ship. The suit will contact our main computer if any of our Cadets are in physical harm, lost, or distressed. It will send us a signal to make sure that we can get to you. This is another item that you all will be trying out before its release to the general public. Only TEGRC astronauts and specialized employees have even been able to try these out. Lastly, you will be able to simulate and test our space cruisers for future campers. You will be trained to handle any hostile situations, but there should be none since there is no confirmed life on the planets we are visiting. Please follow the doors on each side of the auditorium and head to lunch. After lunch, you will meet with your team in the launching room and end your day in the Processing Lab, where we will give you the needed immunizations to protect you on your planetary visits,” she said. She nodded to the Counselors, who started to direct the kids out of the auditorium.
Aadi got up and walked behind Scott toward the cafeteria. Scott sat down at the table by the exit, turned to Aadi, and said, “Hey, can you go get our food, and I’ll hold our table?”
Aadi put his knee on the bench, leaned over, and replied, “Sure… what do you want?”
“I don’t care. Get me some of everything,” Scott said, as he took out his marble and laced it between his fingers.
Aadi went to get the food, and when he returned, Scott, Dakota, Damien, Eirena, and the girl that poked him earlier were sitting at the lunch table. He looked over at the tiny girl and wondered how she got in their group since everyone at the table towered over her. She had small hands and a slender, yet firm frame that was covered with a pink and yellow flowered pantsuit.
As he sat down, some kid holding his tray stood perfectly still next to his seat. The kid was about his height and had dark brown hair and freckles. “Can I sit here? I am your roommate,” the boy said.
