by R.E. Rowe
Chapter 5
Jayden biked over to Parker’s house and glided his bike in front of their closed garage. He glanced at his watch and groaned. It read two fifteen a.m. A few seconds later, Parker and Nora walked their bicycles through the side gate.
“Let’s do this.” Nora hopped on her mountain bike, turned her bicycle light on, and took off down the driveway. Jayden and Parker followed behind her. Before long, they were peddling like mad up the curvy private road to the observatory. Lucky for them, no other vehicles or security patrol cars were on the two-lane mountain road.
When they finally arrived at the observatory ninety minutes later, Jayden was exhausted. But one faint whiff of jasmine gave him an instant second wind.
Nora led the way to an open spot behind a cluster of oak trees and tall bushes, overlooking the parking lot where they hopped off the bikes and dropped them to the ground.
Jayden peered around the large shrubs and focused on a group of about thirty teenage kids standing around an unmarked green school bus parked in front of the white dome observatory. He didn’t recognize anyone from his school in the parking lot.
Besides the bus and the group around it, the lot was empty. “Crazy place to distribute a new game,” Jayden said.
“Cold too,” Parker said, dancing in place with his teeth chattering.
“Come on.” Nora stood. “It’s ten minutes till four. It’s time for some recon. Let’s hoof it.”
“You go, we’ll wait,” Parker said.
Nora shot him a look. “You’re not serious.”
“Hey, we’re paying you, aren’t we?” Parker said, folding his arms and looking away from her.
Jayden was tempted to go with Nora, but even her jasmine perfume couldn’t get his feet to move. No way would he risk getting caught by the authorities. Who knew what they would do to teenage gamers who crashed the World Corp pre-release party? A lifetime game ban would be worse than death. “I’ll wait here too,” he mumbled under his breath.
“Whatever.” Nora huffed and shook her head. “Wimps.” She jogged around the bushes into the parking lot.
Jayden watched as she sauntered over to the group. No one on the blacktop seemed to suspect a thing. At first, Nora chatted with one small cluster of kids before moving on to another. A couple of boys gave her a long look and sucked in their guts, which caused Jayden to tighten both hands into fists. Nora gave them a glancing smile and moved on without offending them.
“She’s definitely smooth,” Jayden whispered to Parker.
“Nora has always been good at this kind of thing,” Parker said. “She says if you own it, people will buy anything. My sister is completely insane.”
“But evidentially, it’s true.” Jayden squinted. “You see any adults around the bus?”
“Nope. Just kids our age.”
Jayden pointed to a teenager sitting in the driver’s seat of the bus with the inside lights on, reading a newspaper. “He looks like he just got his drivers license.”
“Yep,” Parker said. “Seems like he’s waiting for something.”
They watched Nora talk with another boy standing outside near the front of the bus. He handed her a piece of paper. She scanned it once, and then slipped away from the kid when another girl walked up to talk with them.
The bus driver abruptly jumped out of his seat and jogged off the bus into the observatory building. Without missing a beat, Nora dashed into the bus. She searched around the driver’s seat and in the glove compartment.
The girl is fearless, Jayden thought. “Your sister is amazing,” he blurted out to Parker without thinking. “What’s she doing now?”
“No clue,” Parker said with a shrug.
A minute later, the driver quickly walked out of the building.
Nora saw the older kid coming towards the bus and dove to the floor.
Jayden made a face. “Oh man.” He thought for sure she was about to get caught.
Parker pointed to Nora and agreed with him. “Oh crap, she’s so busted.”
Before the driver reached the bus, the guy stopped and answered a call on his cell. Nora peeked over the seat and used the opportunity to scamper out the bus door. She ran around to the rear of the bus, and then crouched down so the driver couldn’t see her. As soon as the coast was clear, she hauled butt back to the two shivering boys.
“Wicked crazy. Wait until you see this,” Nora uttered between breaths. She tossed a document to Jayden. It was in a flimsy black cover and looked official. “I snatched it from under the driver’s seat.”
The first page read: “HIGHEST SENSITIVITY SECRET.”
Jayden glanced at the next three lines:
Zulu Echo Uniform Sierra
Space Expeditionary Combat Command
Squadron Group 717
“What is it?” Jayden asked her.
“No idea,” Nora replied. “But it looks important. Read the small print.”
Jayden peered closely at the bottom of the page.
Penalty for unauthorized disclosure of the contents of information contained herein is cause for immediate execution. SECC Code 12.31.1
“Are you kidding?” Parker asked.
“Immediate execution?” Jayden scoffed. “Oh right. It’s just a game.”
Nora handed a piece of paper to Jayden. “And I took this flyer from a girl.”
“Did anyone tell you the password?” Jayden asked.
“It’s the word: ‘Dione,’” Nora said. “You need it to get a ride on their pick-up bus.”
“Put that away, I think it’s almost time,” Parker said.
Nora snatched back the flier and stuffed it into her jeans pocket.
Jayden searched around, expecting either a car or truck to roar up the small private road and into the observatory parking lot at any minute. Instead, he heard only the sound of crickets and a slight breeze whistling through the oak trees.
The kids in the parking lot continued to mingle. They began to get restless and impatient until a faint noise buzzed overhead. Jayden glanced skyward and noticed a pinpoint of light getting bigger in the night sky. A faint vibration tickled his nose.
“Uh, guys.” Jayden pointed at the light. “Look.”
The white dot kept growing. After a few seconds, he realized the light was originating from the underside of a falling black object. Unbelievable, he thought as the giant object landed smoothly in the empty parking lot.
Two girls screamed and a boy shouted, “What is that thing?”
Jayden tried to make out details. The craft was the size of a small, two-story house, but with the shape of a massive helicopter without blades or a rotor. It reminded him of the alien UFOs he had seen in a few of World Corp’s older space games.
The parking lot’s lights buzzed and went dark. A bright white spotlight, brighter than daylight, flashed from the object and lit up the entire area near the bus where the kids were standing.
Parker’s teeth chattered louder. “Is that, ah . . . um, a real freaking UFO?”
“Quiet!” Nora snapped in a breathy tone.
Jayden heard a droning vibration that reminded him of a high voltage power line. “No way,” he said, studying the massive object. “It’s probably a fancy stealth promo helicopter.”
“Sssst,” Nora hissed, poking Jayden with two fingers as though her hand were a serpent. It hurt, but Jayden didn’t flinch.
Without any warning, a large door, the size of a small garage, opened on the vessel’s side. A short metallic ramp extended to the ground. Another spotlight from the craft flashed near the bushes.
Parker, Jayden, and Nora hit the ground and didn’t dare move until the light shifted away.
“I don’t think they saw us,” Parker whispered, his voice trembling.
They slowly rolled to their knees but stayed crouched. Jayden noticed no one in the parking lot had moved. Then, the weirdest thing happened. A small-framed, elderly African-American woman with curly salt and pepper hair saunt
ered out of the vessel’s open door. She wore a tight-fitting black body suit. Large, black-rimmed glasses almost overwhelmed her round face. Maybe she’s the one handing out game discs? Jayden thought.
The woman waved at the crowd in the parking lot, and then turned around and walked back inside the craft. Thirty-some-odd kids meandered up the ramp and entered the flying machine. Only the bus driver and his unmarked bus remained in the observatory's parking lot. The driver continued reading his newspaper, totally unfazed by what was happening around him.
A moment later, the brightly lit parking lot abruptly went dark, and the flying craft shot up into the sky, faster than a rocket launch. The three of them fell back on their butts and stared up at the heavens.
Jayden was speechless. It was the fastest moving helicopter ever!
Then the vessel stopped and hovered one hundred feet above them.
For a moment, Jayden forgot to breathe until he gasped. He noticed Parker blinking as if he was sending a Morse code message. And as best as Jayden could tell, Nora’s tan had instantly turned the color of chalk.
A blast of unnatural warm wind hit him in the face. Four white lights below the craft flashed on, and then the craft shot to the right and disappeared.
The only things remaining in the parking lot were a bus driver, a bus, and harmonizing crickets.
“What just happened?” Jayden whispered, rubbing his eyes.
Neither Parker nor Nora answered.
Jayden peered from behind the bush and watched the driver study his watch. After a few seconds, the kid started up the empty bus and sped toward the parking lot exit.
“Stay down,” Nora said in a loud, wobbly burst of breath.
The bus lights flashed over their heads as the bus drove away.
Jayden managed to catch a closer glimpse of the driver as he passed. He seemed to be in a military uniform or maybe an ROTC uniform. The kid was clean-shaven with no hair showing under his black cap and wore a black jumpsuit uniform. Jayden noticed white letters on the driver’s cap: “SECC.”
“Let’s get out of here,” Parker stuttered.
“I vote for that,” Jayden said.
The three of them jumped on their bikes and coasted down the windy road back to Los Gatos. When they caught up to the bus, they made sure to stay far enough behind it so the driver wouldn’t notice them if he looked in his rear view mirror. After thirty minutes of high-speed gliding, they arrived at Parker's house and regrouped in Nora’s room.
Jayden tried hard to sound calm. “Okay, what was that flying thing?”
Nora’s jaw tightened as she reached into her pocket and pulled out the flyer from the girl in the parking lot. She peered at it with narrowed eyes.
Parker finally spoke. “Let me see that paper, sis.”
Nora handed the paper to Parker. He read the print: “World Corp. Finish school abroad, all expenses paid. Earn college credit while learning to develop games. Exotic travel. Five hundred dollars per week salary.”
“No freaking way,” Jayden muttered. He turned to Parker. “It sounds just like that news report we saw at your house.”
Parker continued. “Hiring applicants aged thirteen to seventeen. World Corporation is active in every country in the world.”
“Easy to sign up,” Parker read. “Just fill in the online application and have a parent sign in the parental signature box. Watch for the green bus in your area. All pickup locations and times are in the appendix. Join us today.”
Nora shook her head. Her brow furrowed. “No, thanks.”
“So the kids that disappeared into that supersonic, bladeless helicopter were picked up by World Corp?” Jayden asked.
“Apparently,” Nora said.
“Let me see the other document,” Parker said to Nora. “The one you snatched from under the driver’s seat.”
Nora handed the other flimsy document to Parker. It looked to be about ten pages or so. He thumbed through it, stopping on the second page.
Parker and Nora gazed at the page over Jayden’s shoulder.
Welcome to Space Expeditionary Combat Command (SECC)
Classified Employee Briefing
This document has been created for new employees responsible for driving recruits to pick up areas. SECC headquarters has answered the most frequently asked questions below:
1. How have recruits been selected? After an application is received, selection is based on a number of criteria, including economic status, health, and age. Simply verify the password and the recruit’s name. Collect the signed permission form at the pickup site before allowing entry on the bus.
2. What age range are the recruits I will be picking up? 13 to 17 years old.
3. Why so young? Earth teenagers are best able to adapt to the physical and mental demands of space training.
Jayden jerked his head up. “Space training? What the heck? This must be the most advanced role-playing game in history!”
Nora shushed him, and they continued reading the paper in silence.
1. What is SECC? SECC is a special division of the US Navy established by the CIA to recruit and deploy an international combat force into space to fight the ongoing war against the alien invaders known as the Atilla.
2. Is World Corporation a real organization? No. It is Space Command’s cover story.
3. What if I decide to quit Space Command? You will be executed, and your family will be taken to Guantanamo, Cuba. Furthermore, in order to maintain secrecy, those who are reassigned off-world will never return to Earth.
“This paper makes the game sound real,” Jayden said. “Space Expeditionary Combat Command . . . SECC? For real?”
Nora shrugged.
“Pages are missing,” Parker said, thumbing through the paper.
Jayden noticed jagged scraps of torn-out pages, and ran his fingers over them.
“The rest of the pages in the back look like a bus schedule,” Parker said. “Wait. There are some loose folded pages here.” He took one page out and inspected it.
Jayden leaned in to get a better look. “Blank permission forms?” The page appeared similar to a Brooke Middle School field trip permission form with official-looking small print, a signature line for a name and another for a parent’s signature. “This must be the slip you need to get picked up by the bus.”
Parker put the blank form back with the others, and then browsed the second page again.
The three of them sat for a few minutes in the silence, trying to digest the official-looking document.
Jayden swallowed hard and was the first to speak up. “Is it real? A space war?”
Parker huffed and started to pace. “It has to be some kind of stupid joke—”
Nora interrupted him and raised her voice. “Or maybe a way to hype their ridiculous new game. Make it seem super realistic, so it goes viral. I bet the new game is already trending.”
“I’d think it was a video trick if I saw it online,” Jayden said. “But that flying thing really took off with no blades. All I heard was a slight buzzing sound.”
“Snap,” Nora added, sounding less confident. “Those kids just disappeared inside the thing.”
Jayden shook his head. “Do you think World Corp is actually picking up the kids to fight in a real secret space war?”
“That’s what the paper implies,” Parker said.
“Ridiculous.” Nora shook her head. “Not possible. It has to be related to hyping their new game.”
Jayden thought everything they’d read had sounded nuts. “Now what?” he asked Nora.
“Now you pay me,” she replied, and then grabbed the official-looking document and threw it at Jayden’s face. “I could care less about idiot kids and some stupid, make-believe video game war. It’s obviously just a corporate marketing ploy. I expect payment in full tomorrow.” She grinned and sat in front of her computer display.
Jayden figured she was imagining computer upgrades or new parts. From the expression on her face, it s
eemed to him as though she’d already put the UFO, the disappearing kids, and the so-called space war out of her mind.
Nora continued. “Got it, Surfer Boy and Pop Star? I’m shopping for computer hardware this weekend.”
“Jayden’s dad is good for it,” Parker said for the third time. He refused to look at Jayden when he said it.
“Good,” she said. “You’ll get the tablet back when I get my money. Now get out! I have a hacker’s avatar to turn into a slug.”
Jayden’s eyes went wide as he followed Parker out of Nora’s room.
In the hallway, Jayden glared at Parker. “Where am I going to get that kind of cash?” He was ready to punch Parker’s lights out.
Parker didn’t answer as he walked Jayden out the front door.
Jayden shook his head. The sun was just starting to rise. He was way too tired to think straight. “I’m going home to sleep.”
“I’ll come over this afternoon,” Parker said, patting him on the back as if it would comfort him. “We’ll figure out the cashola situation.”
Jayden pulled his shoulder away. “Right. I’ll just visit an ATM,” he said, rolling his eyes. “They always have cash, right?”
“Maybe your dad can give us an intern advance?”
Jayden shrugged and scrunched up his face. The thought of asking his dad for money wasn’t pleasant. His father would ask a million questions. The last thing Jayden wanted to do was start lying to him. But he needed the mini-tablet back.
Jayden groaned as he turned to leave. “My dad is flying with my mom to Austin for a meeting at 10 a.m. this morning. So it’ll be just me and Rosa for the next few days.” He rubbed his face with both hands. “No way Rosa will lend that kind of cash to me.”
“Chill, dude. We’ll figure it out,” Parker said. “Now go get some rest.” He patted Jayden on the back again.
This time Jayden didn’t object. “Yes, Mom,” he said.
Parker forced a smile.
“I hope you’re right,” Jayden added as he sauntered down the driveway and turned towards home.
Besides the money problem, there was another thought that just wouldn’t go away. The paper they’d read had said: “Penalty for unauthorized disclosure is immediate execution.”
Surely that meant avatar execution, he thought. Or had the three of them discovered something they couldn’t even begin to comprehend?
