Earthlight Space Academy Boxset

by Heather Lee Dyer

  “If I can, you bet. And thanks again for checking on Mom.” One of their kids was deathly sick once and Kai was able to get some medicine from his father’s laboratory to heal the child, so we’ve been close with the Mitchells ever since.

  Mrs. Mitchell makes a clucking noise in her throat. “Such a shame she can’t seem to get her motivation back. She’s got two beautiful children right here that need her. And besides, she might feel better if she actually got up and moved around a bit.” She pinches both of our cheeks.

  Cam and I hurry off before she decides another hug is needed.

  We head back up the steep slope out of Hells Canyon. As we climb carefully on the uneven path, I steal glances up at the stars. I spot several space stations moving slowly across the horizon. I smile. Someday I’ll be working and living up there in space instead of laboring in basil and potato fields and living out of a tent.

  Every night I tell myself this to keep me motivated.

  At the top I force my eyes down from the heavens and search along the length of the Dragon Wall in the distance. Its long, ugly shadow casts a jagged scar across the horizon. That’s where we have to go tonight.

  Actually, on the other side of it. My stomach churns just like it does every time I see the Wall.

  We stay on the canyon side of the canal, and head west toward bare hills gleaming in the moonlight. I find the small cave opening, and Cam and I squeeze into the tunnel. After a few meters the tunnel grows larger and we can stand and walk upright.

  I hear a crack behind me and the tunnel glows green. Cam puts one of the glow sticks in my hand as we walk around small rocks and debris. Every other weekend or so I make this trek to see Kai. Outside of school, this is the only time I can meet up with him.

  There are only seventeen New China students in our prep school this year. So, it’s pretty obvious when Kai and I talk during school time. We have to be careful, and it irritates me to no end.

  Forty-eight million people were forced to move out of their homes and leave behind their businesses. They grew bitter when the first thing our government did was stop all public transport into or out of those states. Which meant we ran out of gas, food, and water within weeks. So, yes, I can understand where the tension against our new Chinese neighbors comes from. I just don’t think it’s productive. The Chinese people who’ve moved here were forced to — even though their government labeled it as “winning the lottery.” We all know they were forced.

  Unfortunately, after we left our homes and businesses, the New China government came in and destroyed all our cities to start their new “glorious and perfect” society. Not having a vehicle or cities to purchase supplies from made the walk to the Borderlands difficult.

  Before the last of us had even crossed the border, the Chinese scraped together the Dragon Wall. Literally. They bulldozed miles of forests and fields to create the Wall. It runs from Canada all the way down to the Mexican border. They left openings for the last of us to get through, then they closed it up solid and tasked their military to guard the whole length of it.

  “Do you think Mom will be all right, Anja?” Cam asks.

  I stop and turn to face him in the eerie, green light. “I know it seems like she’s given up right now but once she knows I’ve made it into the Academy, she’ll get herself together.”

  “But I think it’s more than just depression and weakness now,” says Cam, tracing lines in the dust with his shoe.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I think she had a bit of a fever again today. Mrs. Mitchell made her take some medicine and she seemed better afterward, but it’s happening more frequently.”

  I frown. “She’ll be all right, Cam. I’ll get her up tomorrow and see if Dr. Tuttle can take a look at her. It’s just the way her lupus progresses. Some days she can’t get up to eat, and some days she can.” I ruffle his hair to irritate him and continue down the tunnel. I clench and unclench my hands and stretch my neck as I walk. Mom hides from the world not only because she hurts so much and is exhausted all the time, but also because she lost her will to live after being denied a space job here.

  Unfortunately, I can understand her physical pain and exhaustion. No one notices, but I take care to stay out of the sun as much as possible, and I work extra hard to keep my body healthy. What a curse to inherit from a parent.

  After almost an hour of walking I feel along the cave wall for the familiar thin nook. Even with glow sticks sometimes it’s hard to find. The exit out of these tunnels is even smaller than the entrance.

  My hand finds it and I step into the small alcove and place my hands on the rusty ladder rungs. I look back to make sure Cam is right behind me and start climbing. I have to pause now and then to wipe my sweaty palms on my pants.

  I shake my head, frustrated with myself. I’m going to be working over two hundred fifty miles above Earth, or farther, and here I am afraid of being up high on this ladder.

  I keep climbing and saying to myself: It’s the rusty ladder, not the heights.

  My stomach clenches suddenly and I look down to glare at Cam. His movements are vibrating the ladder. He knows I hate this part.

  He just grins up at me.

  I unclench my hands from the metal and creep up the last few rungs. My heart pounds as I peek out from the mouth of the lava tunnel. I signal to Cam that all is clear. We pull ourselves up and squat among the short sagebrush that camouflages the hole. Cam is still smiling. He enjoys this trip and has no fear.

  Other than losing more of his family.

  I really need to get Mom out of bed so she can take care of Cam instead of the other way around.

  We should be living normal lives. Eating pizza, watching vids, meeting friends at the clothing store or coffee shop. I sigh. We used to have that — a normal life on the Pacific Coast.

  I shiver as we make our way among the sagebrush, the desert night is cooling down rapidly. I zip up my well-used flight jacket and turn the collar up against the breeze.

  We make it to the barbed wire fence and carefully squeeze through. It’s more of a warning than an obstacle, really. It’s one of the fences the nearest farmer used to keep his property lines marked. Now it just marks the neutral zone between our land and the Wall.

  We stay as close to the ground as we can. Now that we’re in the shadow of the Wall the ground here is scraped clean. I feel naked without more than sagebrush to hide behind.

  I scan the top of the Wall in both directions. Just like clockwork I see several guards pacing back and forth, and others sitting in small shelters built atop. I hold my breath as I count and then nod to Cam.

  We sprint as quietly as we can straight toward the Wall. I keep an eye on the guards even as I check my footing for rocks or other debris left behind from the hurried construction.

  Cam and I make it and sink down into the Wall, making ourselves as flat as possible. As I even out my breathing, I look up and watch several space stations make their way across the Idaho sky above us. Then my vision is blinded by the indirect brightness of a spotlight. It’s scanning the desert floor on our side of the Wall.

  My heart races, and I push Cam.

  He crawls toward the large boulder just a few meters away. My heart pulses in my throat as we try to out-crawl the searchlight.

  Cam throws himself behind the boulder and I follow him, sinking into the small, dusty tunnel dug behind the rocks that make up the base of the Wall.

  The light skims across the boulder, just inches from my feet as I pull them inside the tunnel.

  It keeps going.

  I breathe out and lean my forehead against the cool dirt wall of the tunnel.

  We wriggle on our bellies, switching positions so I go first. It narrows quickly, and soon I barely have enough room on either side of me. I wait until I know we’re far enough from the entrance before I snap a glow stick and shake it. The green glow illuminates the wood frame that keeps the tunnel and the Wall above from crushing us.

  I crawl army sty
le, careful not to bump the sides of the narrow tunnel. Strange how crawling through an earthen tunnel doesn’t make me as nervous as the heights coming up the rusty ladder of the lava tunnel.

  I think about what Instructor Terry said about helping Kai with his issue with enclosed spaces. I should bring him into the tunnels. I shake my head. It’s a stupid idea to smuggle a royal New China citizen across the border. It would only be for a short amount of time. It’s not like he’d go all the way to my camp.

  I hear Cam following. It takes us close to a half hour to make it to the other side. It’s slow going, dirty, and exhausting. I inhale the soft, earthy scent of the dirt and wood around me as my arms burn from the workout.

  At the other end I place the glow stick deep inside my shirt pocket, so it becomes pitch dark again. The darkness is so complete I can’t even tell if my eyes are open or closed.

  Outside this end of the tunnel, there’s a hollowed-out log that hides the opening. I slowly push one end of it forward to look out. I silence my breathing and listen as my eyes adjust to the dusky light. I don’t see or hear anything, so I slide the log farther and pull myself out into the cool night air.

  Pain shoots through my hands as I scoot out of the way to allow Cam to come out. The trip through the tunnel tends to mess with the circulation in my hands and feet.

  I find the space stations overhead, once again grounding myself mentally.

  “Anja?” Cam whispers, interrupting my thoughts.

  “Sorry, Cam.” I silently berate myself for losing focus this close to the Wall. “Yes, it looks good so far, let’s go.” He’s already pushed the log back into place.

  On this side of the Wall, debris and earth-moving machines still litter the landscape, like sleeping giants. Where there were once lush forests, only barren, open land stretches for miles, creating a second barrier between Them and Us.

  Cam and I pick our way carefully around piles of loose rocks, branches, rusty metal monsters, and discarded sections of old buildings and houses. Several huge green metal highway signs stick out at odd angles from the ground.

  A junkyard of our former lives.

  We zigzag for more than twenty minutes before we duck inside a crumbling, but mostly intact building surrounded by large trees that survived when they built the Wall. The mangled gas pumps outside quietly stand guard. My heart skips a beat or two and I force myself to take a few steadying breaths.

  We were several hundred miles from the border when we ran out of gas and had to abandon our car. After a few weeks of walking, we became dangerously low on clean water and food supplies. Now gas stations just remind me of that awful trip.

  I step farther inside what is probably the last gas station standing in New China and freeze mid-step as I hear a noise off to the side. Instinctively, I duck and flatten myself against the wall. I hear the unmistakable snap of a glow stick. Amongst the dark shapes of broken furniture and twisted food racks I see an eerie green profile.

  4

  Kai

  I let out a breath. “You scared the crap out of me, Kai. I wasn’t expecting you for another hour or so yet.” I stand up and motion for Cam to come inside. I close the door behind us, even though most of its glass is broken.

  “I couldn’t wait to see you guys. Besides I was bored waiting at home.”

  Cam heads straight to Kai and gives him a quiet high five in greeting. As I watch the two of them, I notice that Cam has had a growth spurt this summer. He’s almost as tall as Kai now.

  Good grief, no wonder we’re going through food supplies.

  I snort. “If only I could stay home and be bored.”

  Kai’s smile fades.

  I hold up my hand and step forward. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it that way.”

  Kai looks down at his feet, his straight black hair falling across his eyes. “I know. I hate the way things are for you as well.” Cam shoots me a dirty look and turns his back on both of us. He stalks to the other side of the room to check out the box of supplies Kai brought. That boy lives to feed his stomach.

  I step closer to Kai, forcing him to look up at me. As soon as he makes eye contact, I regret my teasing. Those dark eyes of his shine full of compassion and sorrow. I forget how literal Kai is about everything. He’s absolutely brilliant, but he takes everything to heart. And he’s an only child, so it probably is pretty lonely at his house.

  “No. I’m the one who’s sorry. I was just teasing. You know I appreciate all the help you give us. We would never have survived this long without you. Neither one of us chose to live this way.” I nod my head toward Cam. “What have we this week?” I smile, grab his arm and tug him toward the box.

  Kai returns the smile and allows me to pull him along.

  “I was able to get real beef this time for you. Cans and some frozen packages my parents had shipped in. Some medicine and water purifiers as well. I’ve been volunteering down at the new hospital. It was easy smuggling the supplies out since they don’t have security set up yet.” Kai’s whole body lights up when he smiles. He could easily have stayed back home and spent his life as one of those famous clothing models that girls fangirl over. His smile is amazing and underneath his dark choppy hair, his heart-shaped face and dark eyes always make my stomach flutter.

  But instead, he’s here, working to get into the Academy just as hard as I am, but for different reasons.

  I try to remind myself, again, that Kai and I are just friends as well as competitors for the same academy slots. I have to remind myself of that a lot when we touch. A kind of electricity always flows between us, and I know from his expression, he feels it too.

  A beam of light interrupts my thoughts as it illuminates the inside of the gas station. Kai and I instantly flatten ourselves to the ground.

  “Cam, down.” I rasp between clenched teeth.

  Cam drops to the floor with packages of food in each hand.

  I hold my breath. Have we been found? The light is dim, so they can’t be too close to the building.

  Kai and I have a view of one of the dirty windows. We spot two lights bobbing toward us. My eyes widen as I quietly let out the breath I’m holding. Kai scoots over toward Cam and quickly repacks the supplies and shoves them under a dirty table.

  I look around. I can only see one door from here. Shouldn’t there be a back door in this place? I can’t believe I didn’t think of an escape plan before entering. We haven’t needed one all the times we’ve been here.

  What’s going on with the increased security?

  Kai motions for us to follow. Cam and I crawl as quietly as we can over the dirty floor. Kai stops at the wall and pulls on a grime-covered metal door handle. He crawls in and we follow, pulling the door shut behind us. It seals us into a cold, dark space that smells like death. Seriously. I pull the neck of my shirt up over my nose and mouth as I breathe shallowly. The smell must be rotting food that somehow was missed by scavengers.

  Kai finds my hand and I squeeze gratefully. I reach for Cam, who’s shaking, his bravado finally stretched too thin. I pull him close and whisper softly to him. I don’t know if I would’ve handled this kind of fear, starvation, and stress at his age. I feel horrible that he has to grow up this way. I remind him quietly how much braver he is than I was at his age. His shaking soon subsides, and his breathing evens out.

  I lose track of time as we sit crouched on the floor, the three of us huddled together. We can’t hear anything from inside this cooler, but that might be a good thing.

  Kai finally cracks open the door and creeps out. Through the open door I can see it’s starting to get light outside. No guards though. He motions for us to come out.

  “Looks clear. They probably didn’t even come inside the building.”

  I’m grateful we weren’t caught by the guards, but now I’m worried we stayed too long. Cam and I need to get back before it gets light out.

  We quickly stuff our empty backpacks with the supplies Kai brought us. I heft the heavy pack onto my shoulder
s.

  Kai stands right behind me, and as I turn, I find myself inches away from his dark and penetrating eyes. He hands me a small wire-bound book. “I was able to get another one for you.” He gives me that killer smile again.

  In order for me to make it through many of the subjects at school, I have a lot of studying to make up for. For a whole year I didn’t attend school while we made our way from our old home and went through the process of finding a new one, although it ended up just being a tent. And taking care of Mom after her breakdown.

  This should be easy for someone with my high IQ, but with the disruption of moving and just trying to survive, I missed too many classes. I’ve been seriously behind my classmates. Until now. I look down at the book in my hands. It’s an aeronautical engineering book. I grin. Thanks to Kai, I’ve been able to catch up.

  “Perfect! Thank you, Kai. You’re amazing. I appreciate it.” I give him a quick hug and turn to meet Cam at the door.

  Cam peeks out. “Nobody in sight.” He steps out and starts making his way to the Wall. I frown and watch for guards as he crosses to the closest construction machine and crouches down behind it.

  Kai steps up next to me, his shoulder brushing mine. “You’ll make it. Up to the space stations, I mean. We both have the same dream, and we’ll get up there together.” We both look up at the stations still visible above us.

  I smile weakly at the dusky sky. “I know you’ll make it too, Kai. You’re crazy smart and have been studying this stuff all your life. If I can pass the tests, I doubt they’ll let us work together though.”

  I look over and see that Kai’s expression has dimmed, a wrinkle forming in the middle of his forehead. “We’ll figure out something. But now go and get home before the sun comes up.” He nods toward the Wall. “I’ll see you next week.”

  As I watch him slip behind the gas station, I remember what I promised Instructor Terry. I look at the sun rising slowly and grit my teeth. It’ll have to be next weekend. Here’s hoping our tests aren’t moved up.