Earthlight Space Academy Boxset

by Heather Lee Dyer

  They all start talking amongst themselves. Finally, the group of Chinese stands up and walks over to sit with the main group. Kai and I sit among the now-combined group of our classmates.

  “Can you tell us what happened down in the canyon?” asks a girl with bright red hair to my left. “There are so many rumors I don’t know what to believe. But most of them say it was the Chinese military.” She glances nervously at the nearest Chinese student near her. Sarah Cool. Short but powerful. Her tent is on the opposite side of the canyon from mine.

  I glance at Kai and then at the school. Not seeing any adults coming out, I turn back to the group. Everyone closes in, making a tight knit group with their attention fully on me. I take a deep breath and lower my voice. “It was the Chinese, but not the regular Chinese military. In fact, I doubt their government even knows those militia were on our side of the border. And our fellow classmates definitely had nothing to do with them.” Most of the Chinese students look shocked. Guess not everyone heard about it.

  “How do you know they didn’t?” Sarah asks quietly.

  Her tone isn’t aggressive, just curious. “Because it was the Chinese Unit 29824 that was in our camp. They aren’t allowed on our mainland. None of these students have parents that are in positions to know military secrets.” I look over at Kai. “Right?”

  Kai nods his head. “All of our parents are either medical or biological experts, not military. We had no idea that the Unit was here.”

  “Why don’t you just report them, then?”

  I look back at Sarah. “Because it would draw too much attention to all of us in the canyon. We need to just concentrate on getting into the Academy.”

  “What if they come back?” asks one of the Chinese students near Kai.

  I shrug. “I’m not sure. I hope they don’t. But I did hear there were only eight of them. We have hundreds of thousands of people down there. We outnumber them.”

  It looks like Sarah and the others accept my answer because they stay quiet, a few of them nodding.

  “Right now, all we need to worry about is getting through the next tests. All of us have a chance of passing and getting into the Academy if we concentrate and work hard.”

  My last word is drowned out by the loud squawk of the warning bell. We all get to our feet and slowly make our way inside to our classroom. The Seven are waiting at the front of our room with tablets in hand. My pulse races as I sit in my usual seat. Everyone is quiet and in different states of nervousness. The skinny kid next to me wipe sweat off his face as the girl in front of him thrums her fingers on her desk. I glance up the row to Kai, who looks back and gives me a small smile. Rand comes in last, trailed by Cam. Rand goes to his seat, and Cam sits with his back against the wall right next to me. We all face forward, waiting for our latest test scores.

  18

  Celebration Interrupted

  The Seven take turns calling out the names and scores of those of us who have passed. They have us line up along the side of the classroom where we will file out and start the simulator testing.

  Three border students and two Chinese students don’t make the cut. For a class of sixty, they tell us that’s pretty good odds. But my heart still breaks as those students leave the classroom in tears.

  Kai stands next to me and reaches for my hand. He squeezes and leans toward me. I squeeze back, appreciating his closeness.

  The rest of the day is spent in the several trailers in the parking lot. At each one, the computer sends our scores directly to the Seven, who take turns monitoring each trailer. Once a test is finished, they tell us if we qualify to go to the next station. By the time I’ve made it to the space walk, the very last test, there are only twenty of us left. I stand next to Kai, both of us leaning into each other for support as we wait our turn in the high-tech simulator.

  Four students go in at one time. Kai ends up in the group ahead of me. Only an hour and a half goes by when he comes out of the trailer ahead of the others. I frown as I watch his face when he stands in front of Commander Svell, who is taking his turn at our station. My heart races as I can’t blink or breathe. This is it.

  And then Kai grins and shakes the commander’s hand. I feel faint and have to sit down on the grass next to our walkway. I watch Kai’s every movement as he walks over to me, grinning. I want to enjoy this moment with Kai fully in case I don’t pass.

  “You passed.” I smile as he sits next to me.

  “Yep.” He wraps his arm around me.

  “You finished a half hour early.”

  “Yep,” he says again.

  “Show off,” I say as I let him pull me closer.

  He puts his forehead to mine. “You’re next. You’re going to ace this.”

  My stomach twinges. “I hope so,” I whisper.

  “You will.” He kisses me, and then we turn to wait for the others to finish their test.

  Only one other student in his group passed. The twinges in my stomach grow worse, and I start sweating.

  When they finally call my name, Kai has to push me to my feet. I numbly walk to the trailer and take each step like it’s my last. I accept the memory chip from the Commander and cast a last look back before I enter the trailer. Kai stands there smiling, while Cam jumps up and down behind him. If I wasn’t so nervous, I’d be mad at Cam for drawing attention to himself. But it does the trick and I finally smile back, my nerves flooding away as I move into the simulator. I lock myself into the space suit and one of the Space Command officers places the helmet over my head, locking me into the two-hour virtual reality simulation.

  I not only pass the simulation; I find that I don’t ever want to leave the simulated world. The experience is more amazing than any of the simulators we’ve practiced on. The test scenario takes place on the Orion space station, taking apart and putting back together the battery and harness that connects the solar panels to the station. The view looking down on Earth is amazing. I fear I’m over my time limit with each time I catch myself looking down at the view. I push myself to finish.

  I step out of the trailer, grinning before I even talk to the commander. I can feel deep in bones that I passed. Everything I’ve learned at school, everything Mom told me about her time up in the space stations, and everything I’ve dreamed about made the mission in the simulator feel like I’d done it a million times before.

  The commander makes me wait at attention while he goes over each individual score from the simulator. When he finally congratulates me, I shake his hand and then go running into Kai’s arms.

  “I told you,” Kai whispers in my ear as he puts me down.

  “Thank you for getting me this far,” I whisper back.

  He shakes his head. “It was all you. You’re amazing.”

  Cam comes plowing into both of us, and the three of us end up almost toppling over laughing. Once we calm down enough, we realize that the Space Command officers are packing up the trailers. I look up and see that the sky is darkening, and our rides home are waiting next to the trailers.

  My smile fades as reality crashes in. “Time to go home, I guess.”

  Kai’s face mirrors mine as he wraps an arm around me. “I’ll see you Monday.”

  “A whole weekend wondering if we passed?” I say, my voice a pitch higher than normal.

  “No. We know we passed. We just have to wait until Monday for the official announcement,” Rand says as he stops next to us.

  “Congratulations, Rand,” I say, smiling up at him. He was in a completely different group than Kai and me. I haven’t seen him since lunch.

  He throws my backpack to me.

  “Thanks.”

  He nods to our truck idling in the parking lot. “We’d better get going.”

  “Yep.” I turn to Kai. “See you Monday.”

  “Yes. Have a good weekend. Hope your mom is getting better.” He gives me a quick hug and then joins the other Chinese students in the black SUV. I watch as they take off down the gravel road.

  Aft
er the truck drops us off near the edge of the canyon, Cam and I head straight to our tent. The first thing we do is check on Mom. Nothing has changed. I give her a sponge bath and change her clothes. She barely says anything, and the few words she does say don’t make any sense. It’s weird that her body seems to be working, she can move and talk and recognize us, but her brain is shutting down in other ways. Dr. Tuttle says this is to be expected near the end. With her liver shutting down because of her lupus, her brain is starved.

  I’m so antsy after the exciting day I can’t sit still. I have Cam go get one of the older Mitchell kids to keep an eye on Mom, and we grab our fishing poles and some dried beef and fruit for dinner.

  Cam and I weave our way through the campground toward the dam. Halfway there, we run into Rand.

  “I was just coming to see how your mom was doing.”

  I motion for us to keep walking back the way he came. I need to get out of this crowd.

  “She’s not making any sense when she tries to talk to us,” I say, frowning as I glance over at Cam. He hasn’t said anything since we fed her.

  “I’m so sorry,” says Rand.

  I nod and we walk the rest of the way through camp in silence.

  When we finally get on the other side of the dam, I feel like my lungs have opened back up and I can breathe again. Rand shows us a new fishing spot, and we set up for an evening of fishing. We sit side by side on a large rock protruding from the edge of the river.

  “Thanks, Rand. I really needed to get out of there. I’m still buzzing from passing all those tests, and it’s hard when I can’t really celebrate because of everything going on.”

  Cam taps me on the shoulder. He hands me a package, grinning. “Mrs. Mitchell says congratulations. We can celebrate with us three, can’t we?”

  I smile. “Yes, we can. You’re the best.” I unwrap the package and find a giant chocolate bar. “Nice. I haven’t had chocolate since my birthday.” I grin as I unwrap the bar and give Rand and Cam pieces.

  We enjoy the rich chocolate while listening to the wildlife sounds around us. We stay there until dusk. Cam catches a dozen good fish. Rand and I talk all afternoon and evening about the tests, our futures, and what we think is going on with the Chinese Unit. My skin’s a little crispy from the sun reflecting off the water, but I feel refreshed, ready to face the decisions I’m going to have to make the next few days.

  We head back toward Rand’s campsite to cook up the fish for dinner. I’m not quite ready to go back to camp. It’s peaceful here, and Cam and Rand have been talking fish recipes so now I’m hungry as well. It’s hard to believe right now that I was so distrustful of Rand when we first met. I should know better than anyone that we’re not all what we seem to be at first.

  As we get closer, we can hear loud voices over from the main camp.

  Rand and I look at each other. “Cam, stay here and clean the fish. We’ll check it out.”

  “Seriously? You’re going to leave me alone here?”

  I give him the look, you know, the sister look that says, don’t push me.

  “Fine. But bring back some spices from storage.” He stomps off toward Rand’s fire pit, his fish swinging over his shoulder.

  I shake my head and turn toward camp.

  Rand stops to grab something in his tent, and then jogs to catch up with me. We can hear more voices, and they sound angry.

  “What do you think it is, another fight?”

  Rand looks sideways at me. “No. I don’t recognize some of those voices. Strangers.”

  “Great. Do you think the Unit is looking for us again?”

  “Maybe.” He clenches his jaw and the muscles bulge in his neck.

  I’m suddenly a little nervous. I pull Rand toward the cliff, using the rocks and sagebrush as cover. We come to the outer ring of boulders encircling camp and peek out of a crevice.

  There are people running toward the bridge, most with large packs on their backs. I see some heading toward the path up to the fields as well. Total chaos.

  “Why are they all panicked? Do you see anything?”

  “Too many people packed together. Here, move over for a second.”

  I shift over, allowing Rand to get a better view out the opening between the rocks we’re hiding behind. His shoulder feels hot against mine, and I can see sweat building up on his forehead. He takes out a pair of binoculars and steadies them.

  I hold my breath, imagining all sorts of scary things. Wild dogs, coyotes, Chinese special forces with guns and dogs.

  “Well?” All my muscles are taut, my nerves strung tight.

  He pulls the binoculars down and looks at me. “It’s them. They’re back. This time they’re beating people, that’s why so many are running. They aren’t just asking questions; they’re trying to force the people to turn on you.”

  I let out the breath I was holding, feeling light-headed.

  “Come on, we’ve got to go back to my campsite where it’s safe.”

  I can’t move. They’re here again, looking for us. They know who I am. How?

  Rand tugs on my arm, pulling me up and along with him. I let him drag me along. But after a few steps, I dig in and pull my arm out of his grasp.

  “No. I can’t go, Rand. I can’t let all those people suffer because of me.” I twist and stumble back toward the voices.

  “Anja! You can’t do this. You don’t know what they’ll do to you.”

  I get to the line of boulders and start to pick my way around them.

  “At least think about Cam if you won’t think about yourself.” Rand’s voice is hard, edged with desperation.

  I stop. Crap. He’s right. I can’t leave Cam all alone. Not now, after all we’ve gone through.

  I lean against the nearest rock. Rand comes and stands next to me.

  “I don’t know what to do, Rand. I can’t let all these people suffer. And I can’t leave Cam alone.”

  “I know, Anja, it’s just…”

  I hear a scream slice through the night air. I know that voice. With my heart racing, I peer around the rock. Most of the people have already evacuated camp. A few are on the ground, cradling wounds. Among the smashed tents, there are four special force soldiers dragging a body behind them. His hands are behind his back, and his hair falls across his eyes, but I would recognize him anywhere. Kai. They have Kai. I fall to my knees, the rest of my already fractured world falling apart completely in front of me.

  19

  Torture

  Rand picks me up and carries me back to the campsite. I’m in shock and don’t struggle. I know I should be doing something, but I don’t know what.

  He puts me down beside the fire. Cam has several fish cooking.

  “What’s wrong?” Cam looks at Rand. “Rand? What did you see?”

  Rand places his hand on Cam’s shoulder. “We saw Kai being dragged into camp by Unit soldiers.”

  “What? Why would they do that to one of their own?” Cam kicks at a rock sticking out of the hard pack dirt. He then starts throwing all the dinner stuff in a bucket near the fire.

  “What are you doing Cam?” Seeing him so upset has forced me out of my shock.

  “We’re going to go get Kai.” He fills up a water bottle, and puts it in his backpack, and does the same for me.

  “You can’t Cam, it’s the Unit soldiers that have him. It’s too dangerous.”

  Cam stops and stares at me, his jaw firm. “He’d do it for you or me.”

  “Now wait a minute, both of you. Neither one of you is going anywhere.” Rand steps up between Cam and me, his hands on his hips, his eyes flashing with anger.

  “I have to do something. He’s my friend. And what about all the other people? We need to do something.” I cross my arms, determination kicking in.

  Rand sighs, and his shoulders sag. “I know, but we need a plan. We can’t just walk up to them and ask them for Kai.”

  Cam snorts. “He’s right. How are the three of us going to go up against them?” />
  My stomach twists and I sit down on a log. I put my head in my hands, hoping that some idea will come to me.

  “I have an idea.” Rand kicks out the campfire and packs his backpack with tools and food. “Cam, give Anja her backpack.”

  Cam hands it to me. I don’t know what his idea is, but I can’t just sit here.

  “Anja, you still have the cell phone Kai gave you?”

  “Yes, why?”

  “Cam and I will go see what direction they’re taking Kai. You call and see if his parents will answer his phone. Tell them what’s going on and see if there is any way they can help us get him back. Cam and I will be right back.”

  I frown and grab Rand’s arm. “Make sure Cam stays safe. You’re just going to look, right?”

  Rand smiles and places his hand over mine. “I will, don’t worry. We’ll be right back.”

  I dial Kai’s phone number as I watch Rand and Cam pick their way back to the main camp.

  My heart stops as someone answers the other line.

  “Nǐ hǎo?”

  “Hello? Mr. Tang?”

  “Yes. Who is this?” I can understand the suspicion in his voice, after all I’m sure he doesn’t get New American Republic girls calling his son’s cell phone all the time. I don’t think so, anyway.

  “Sorry Mr. Tang, but I need your help. Well, Kai needs your help.” I explain to him what Rand and I just saw.

  After a few acknowledging sounds and some colorful Chinese words, Mr. Tang goes silent.

  Is he going to help? I wonder if he’ll just turn me in. Fear sparks in me like an electric shock up my spine.