Earthlight Space Academy Boxset

by Heather Lee Dyer

  I nod, grateful they care enough to keep us safe.

  Soon we stop before a large cement building. They unload us and whisk us inside, armed escorts flanking us.

  Once inside, they try to separate us, but I stay firm telling them I won’t leave Kai. Cam Velcros himself to my side as well. With a lot of eye rolling, they allow Cam and me back with Kai.

  I spot Rand behind us. “Are you coming?”

  “I think I’ll go with the major.” He points to the officer he was sitting next to. “They want to know what happened down there, and I want to know how they knew to rescue us.”

  “Yes, I’m curious about that too. Do you think Mr. Tang had something to do with it?”

  “Maybe. I’ll find out what I can and then come find you.”

  “Thanks. I appreciate all you’ve done. And you kept Cam safe, just like you promised.” I let go of Kai’s hand long enough to go up on tiptoes to give Rand a hug.

  He stiffens, not expecting me to hug him. “You’re welcome. I’ll be back soon.” He nods at Cam and follows the Major down the corridor. As I watch the two of them walk away, I realize Rand is very comfortable among the commanders and the military. He’s going to be a great leader someday. I smile and go back to Kai’s side, realizing this is the first time I truly trust Rand.

  21

  Good News

  Once we’re in a private room, the nurses unwrap Kai’s bandages. He cringes and squeezes my hand. I keep talking to him all the way through them putting an IV in his good arm, cleaning and stitching up some of the deepest cuts that run from his wrists to his elbows, and re-bandaging all his wounds. They put a temporary splint on his broken arm and tape it to his chest.

  Finally, Kai passes out from the pain, and the nurses and doctors leave us alone. I pull a chair over to his bed, the metal legs scraping on the tile floor. I curl up in the chair, tucking my feet underneath me. Cam finds an extra pillow and falls asleep on the floor nearby.

  I’m not sure how much later a knock at the door wakes me from my dozing. Panic hits me, and I check Kai and all the monitors arranged above his bed. My heart settles as I find him still asleep, and all the readings seem to be normal — at least the machines are beeping steadily, and no alarms are going off.

  I turn to see who woke me up and find several people in the doorway. The Seven are here in Kai’s hospital room.

  I try to straighten my clothes and hair, imagining I must look like I just went through a corn combine.

  “Sorry to intrude. We heard what happened to you kids and wanted to see how you’re doing. Is it all right if we come in?” Commander Svell hesitates in the doorway.

  “Yes, of course.” I must look a wreck. “I can’t believe you’re here.” I stand up and shake hands with him.

  Kai stirs and I grab his hand, letting him know I’m still here.

  “We heard your story from your friend Rand as we were on our way to our transport ship. Quite some excitement you kids got involved in. News of this has gone all the way up the political chain, causing some big ripples nationally.”

  His words make me go cold. I’m horrified to hear that we’ve caused such problems. “Oh, no. This is so not how I wanted things to go.” I pause. “Wait, what do you mean all the way up the political chain?” I’m starting to sweat now.

  “All the way to the President of the New American Republic, of course. Seems your friend’s parents have some powerful friends of their own.”

  “Kai? What do his parents have to do with this?”

  “You don’t know?” Commander Svell turns to the others with a confused expression. “Mr. Tang is a personal friend of President Rush. That’s how our army ended up rescuing you. Our government is now providing support for those down in the camp.”

  I sit down hard in the chair. “I did make a call to Mr. Tang, but I never suspected this is how he would help us.” I look at Kai’s sleeping face. “I didn’t even know they were that well-connected. Kai never said anything.”

  Commander Svell steps toward me. “It’s not common knowledge. When the New China government finds out, his parents will be in a lot of trouble. We’re doing some intelligence gathering to see if any word of what happened tonight got back to their government.”

  I moan and put my head in my hands. “I hope they’ll be all right. Kai did all of this to help me and my brother, as well as the others in the canyon.” I whip my head up. “Wait, you said that our government is providing support for us? What kind of support?”

  One of the other commanders pulls a chair over to mine and sits down. “They’re helping them clean up their camp, bringing food and supplies to them, and providing medical attention to those in need. It’s all they can do right now until President Rush sends our state more money. But it seems a nasty virus swept through your camp on top of the wounds several men got from the Chinese, so medical support is there.”

  My shoulders droop and tears start flowing. Just like that, and I’m overwhelmed again. “I know. My mom is sick with that virus. Do you know if she’s all right?” My body goes cold as I just now realize I should’ve checked on her before coming here with Kai.

  The room goes quiet, except for the beeps and clicks of the machines attached to Kai.

  “I’m sorry, miss, we don’t know.” He gestures to the others. “We’ll find out about your mother.”

  “Thank you.” I look over at The Seven. “As much as I appreciate you checking on us, I’m a bit confused. You really came all the way here just to see us?” I blush. I hope I’m not blowing this moment with the very heroes I’ve looked up to all these years. And possibly the commander I’ll be working under, if I still get to go to the Academy.

  I look over to see Rand standing in the doorway, smiling. He steps into the room, easily blending in with the commanders. “They’re here to give us some good news.”

  He weaves his way around the commanders to stand next to me. “How’s Kai?” He nods to the bed.

  I look over at Kai, still sound asleep. “They cut him pretty deep. He’s drugged up so he’ll sleep for a while.”

  “Good. I’m glad he’ll be all right.”

  “Really? I thought you didn’t like Kai.” My emotions are all over the place right now, and I’m feeling overly protective of Kai, especially with what’s happened tonight.

  “I know. I’m sorry. I had a hard time at first, but what he did to save us, well, even I’ve got to admire that.” He looks down at his feet, avoiding eye contact.

  “What do you mean save us? What did Kai do exactly? I thought he was the one caught by the Unit while heading home.” I stand up and look Rand in the eye.

  Rand looks over at the commanders. They shrug and Rand rolls his eyes. “I guess you haven’t been told yet.” He stares at his shoes. “Kai gave himself up to the Unit on purpose, trying to deter them from finding you. He found out they’d left the Wall again to look for you. But they couldn’t get any information from him, even under torture.” He winces. “Sorry.”

  I grip Kai’s hand tighter, my heart thumping in my chest. “Why would he do that? He could’ve gotten himself killed.” I feel Cam lean against me.

  Rand looks up and meets my gaze. “You know why. He cares about you. He knew with your mom not doing well, you and Cam would be back at your camp. And he figured the Unit would know as well.” He wipes his palms on his jeans. “And, well, I hate to admit it, but he was right.”

  More tears slide down my face. Rand hands me a tissue. I turn around and wipe my face and take a few cleansing breaths. I turn back around to face the room again.

  “Okay. I’ll have a stern chat with Kai when he gets better. But now that all the bad things are out in the open…” I pause and look at the commanders crowded into the room. “Exactly what did you come here to tell us? Is it about our tests?” My legs feel weak and clasp Kai’s hand with both of mine. “Should we wait for Kai to wake up?”

  Commander Svell steps forward. “No, we think after all you’ve gone thro
ugh, you deserve to not wait any longer.”

  He hands me a piece of paper. I reluctantly let go of Kai’s hand and take it.

  I look up at Rand and he’s grinning from ear to ear. “All of us made it through the testing and are being offered spots in the Earthlight Space Academy? They aren’t splitting us up? Even Kai?” Through all the pain and heartache, happiness bubbles up from deep inside of me, and I almost squeal in delight.

  Rand nods. “Yep. It seems the border school experiment was successful. And the three of us are the very first students from any border school to make it into the Academy with top scores. And look down at the bottom.” He nudges the paper toward my face. “Just look.” If he grins any bigger, I think his face will split.

  I read the bottom lines. It says that Rand has been made leader of our future class at the Academy. “Seriously? That’s fantastic!” I give him a hug. Cam gives Rand a high five as I turn around to face the commanders waiting.

  “Thank you! Thank you so much for this, and for delivering this news to us in person. This is amazing.” Each of the commanders shakes my hand. They leave with well wishes for Kai’s recovery.

  “And I’ll be seeing you three in a few weeks when the new semester starts at the Academy,” Commander Svell says in his deep voice. He’s tall for someone who has worked on the space stations for so long, and he towers over me. “Make sure you’re all ready to work hard.” He glances over Kai’s sleeping form and then leaves the room.

  I turn back to Rand after everyone has left.

  “Thank you. It seems I’m still in debt to you.” I punch him in the arm and then plop down in the chair again. “I wish Kai would wake up so we could tell him the good news.”

  Rand eases into the other chair and kicks his feet up on the arm of my chair. I push his feet off the chair. “Great start at leadership.”

  He laughs, a deep sound that rumbles through the room, then a somber look crosses his face. “I finally made it, Anja. Everything I’ve been through the last few years, was all for this moment. And,” He brushes my arm with his hand, “it’s even better with you making it as well.” His eyes flick to Kai’s bed. Cam has moved to the other side of Kai to sit in a chair.

  “Rand.” I close my eyes and try to rub the tiredness out of them.

  “I know, I know. As friends, of course. I’m glad we can do this together. Really, Anja.”

  “Yeah? You’re really all right with us just being friends?”

  “Well, best of friends, of course. I mean, who else would I trust to tell me if a girl I’m dating is right for me.” He pulls on a stray hair that has gotten loose from my ponytail. “Besides, as leader I can’t date those under my command.”

  I blush and look away. Cam comes over to stand next to me, his face white as ash.

  It takes me a minute, but then my heart skips a beat as I see my brother fighting his emotions.

  “Oh my gosh, Rand. What about Cam? What am I going to do with him when school starts at the Academy? Mom isn’t well enough to take care of him. Kai was working on some sort of plan…” I look over at Kai. “But I don’t know if he ever figured anything out before all this happened.”

  “Hey, I’m right here,” says Cam, his hands on his hips.

  “I’m sure we’ll figure something out, Cam. We should talk to the commander—” Rand starts to say before the door suddenly opens.

  The metal door slams into its stopper with a loud bang. Rand and I both jump out of our seats.

  It’s Commander Svell, looking sheepish. “Ah. Sorry about that kids. I was in such a hurry to leave and then the General stopped me. Anyway, please come with me.” He stands back from the doorway, gesturing out in the hall.

  Panic rises inside me. “Right now? What’s wrong?” I back up, leaning against Kai’s bed. I know I should obey my future commander, but I can’t just leave Kai.

  “We have some important intel you two need to see. I’ll have the nurse come in and sit with your friend.”

  Before I can argue further, the commander walks back out the doorway, and Rand follows. A nurse comes hurrying in, and I reluctantly leave Kai’s side.

  “Cam, stay here with Kai, all right?”

  For once, he doesn’t argue with me and sits back down beside Kai. My heart breaks seeing his expression, but I know the commander wouldn’t have come to get me unless it was truly important. I force myself to turn and walk out of the room, leaving Kai and Cam with a nurse who hurries past me, her expression serious and her eyes downcast.

  22

  Political Anger

  I jog down the corridor to keep up with Rand and Commander Svell. We take an elevator down farther into the bowels of the building. I didn’t think this building could go down any deeper, but we go at least ten more floors down. No one says anything during the ride, and I’m starting to get jumpy and panicky. Rand places his arm around my shoulder, which calms me down a bit.

  He looks down at me, smiling. “Stay strong, we can get through whatever this is.”

  I nod.

  We leave the elevator and go down several more corridors. I’m all turned around. This place is a maze.

  Finally, we enter a busy room full of men and women in military uniforms. Maps shine on vid screens all along the walls, and rows of computers are scattered all around the room. People are talking into headsets, and a bunch are clustered around a table at the far end of the room. That’s where Commander Svell leads us.

  The soldiers in desert fatigues around the table step back as we reach them. I’m nervous and scared as we stand next to serious-looking officers in dress uniforms.

  “What’s the latest?” Commander Svell demands.

  Several people talk at once and I don’t understand anything. They all have uniforms on but seem to be from different military forces. The commander holds up his hand, and everyone stops talking. I didn’t know the Academy commanders worked with the military. He points to a large man to my right and introduces him to me as Brigadier General Olson. I recognize him from the team that rescued us. He’s shorter than the rest, but stocky, and intelligence shines in his ice blue eyes.

  “General, can you please brief our guests here on the current situation?”

  The general frowns over at Rand and me. “About an hour ago, we received a call from Mr. & Mrs. Tang. The Chinese Unit soldiers were outside their home. We haven’t been able to reach them since. We assume they’ve been taken.”

  I cover my mouth with my hand. I’m trying to be strong and mature in front of all these people, but I wasn’t expecting them to go after Kai’s parents. I mean why would they, the Tangs are their own people? But they did go after Kai. I fight to push images out of my head of them being tortured like Kai. All because of me.

  Rand puts his arm around me again, and I bury my face into his chest. He smells like campfire and musky sweat.

  “And no demands have been made yet.”

  I feel Rand’s voice rumble through his chest. “And what are we doing to get them back?” His grip tightens on me.

  I pick my head up and step back from Rand. I look around at all the faces staring at us silently. “Well? What in the world is our government doing to help these people? The only crime they’ve committed is that they’ve helped a few poor New American Republic immigrants, which is way more than our own government has done for us.” I glare daggers at the brigadier general.

  The officer’s jaws drop, and even Rand looks shocked that I’ve raised my voice to the highest ranking official in our area.

  The general clears his voice and points to a large digital map on the wall behind us. It shows our country divided by the Wall. “The Chinese main forces are amassing their troops all along the Wall. This seems to be in response to whatever intel their Unit soldiers got out before we captured them. There’s no way to get a team over there, now. Even if the President did approve us breaching the Wall. But we’ve requested a conference with the Secretary of State. She’s on her way here.”

  �
��Here? As in Gowen base?” A sick feeling starts in my stomach. “But there’s been no White House officials over here since the Wall went up. I thought they took a hands-off approach in order to appease the Chinese.” I ball my fists and press my nails into my palms to keep myself from panicking. I can’t believe all this is happening because Cam and I found a way to help our family and friends.

  The General slams his palms down on the glass table. We all jump. “They did take a hands-off approach! And it was working just fine. Until you decided to cause trouble and blow our whole operation out of order.” His face is red, and he’s sweating profusely.

  “Out of order? You call hundreds of thousands of people starving to death, order? Do you even know what it’s like for us? The poor immigrants you and this government have ignored? Do you even know how the fresh fruit, vegetables, and meat get to your fancy tables? Do you? From people like me, Rand, and even kids like my eleven-year-old brother working six and seven days a week, hard labor, for next to nothing in pay. You were there. You saw our tents. Those are our homes, for goodness sakes! It’s not like we’re just camping down there for fun. Tell the Secretary to stay on the East Coast. We can figure this out ourselves, as we’ve always done.”

  I turn and stride to the other side of the room. If I wasn’t absolutely positive I’d get lost down here, I would go find Kai and Cam and get the heck out of this place. No one’s going to listen to us. I’ve already screwed things up with getting Kai tortured and his parents captured.

  Rand comes up behind me, but doesn’t make a move to touch me, which is good, because I might just snap.

  “Anja.”

  “I know. I screwed up. I’m so sorry to drag you into this.” Thankfully, I don’t have any tears left, so I just lean my forehead against the wall. My eyes cross, and I pull back a bit to see that I’ve literally leaned against the Wall. I step back and see that all the vid screens now show the same picture. The Wall, in the same area as our tunnel.