Earthlight Space Academy Boxset

by Heather Lee Dyer

  Rand’s face is red, but he sits down with everyone else. Sean goes still.

  “I know this must be hard for you.”

  A crease forms between Sean’s eyebrows as he stares at me.

  “I was part of the first Migration.” I swallow, my mind racing ahead, wanting answers. “My mother, little brother, and I lived as migrants once we got here. We worked in the fields while I went to school.”

  I point to Kai. “And Kai emigrated from China. He was one of the first Royals. He was integrated into the school on our side of the Dragon Wall despite opposition.” My gaze strays to Rand, but I quickly turn my attention back to Sean. “We all had to give up homes, we lost family members, and our old way of life.”

  A single tear runs down Sean’s cheek. The muscles in his jaw ripple as he fights for composure.

  “But now we’re all here in this together. We need to know what you’ve heard and seen. Both with your home and with the Kagawa.”

  Sean swallows. “Are you just saying that because you’re the class leader and you’re trying to make me feel better? Do you need to prove something to the commander?”

  My mouth drops open. I had forgotten about that. I earned the leadership position after I kept our class from fragmenting last year. And then there were the class spaceship projects that were sabotaged by Josh, which ended up being successful anyway. I blink back tears as I remember how he betrayed even his childhood friends. Just because he wanted to be a leader.

  Kai squeezes my hand and I look up. Everyone is staring at me. I swallow. “No, Sean. I’m not just saying all that because I’m the leader of our class. We’ve been through a lot the last few years and we learned that we need to stick together. No matter how dark the situation becomes.”

  “She’s right. We’re here for you. Can you please tell us what’s going on?” Alex is very careful with his words.

  Sean gazes at Alex for a moment, something passing between them. He then turns back to me. “Sorry. I have a hard time trusting anyone right now.”

  “We understand.”

  “Will you try to figure out what happened with the Kagawa?” he asks lightly.

  “Yes. We’ve already started diagnostics.” I glance at Kai and he nods.

  Sean lets out a deep sigh. “Well then you’ll need to know what you’re up against. Did you hear about the prisoner at Starlight Max that escaped?”

  My body goes cold. “Yes. Why?”

  Kai squeezes my hand. Rand stiffens in his chair. Out of the corner of my eye I see Philip put his tablet down.

  “After they sentenced him and sent him back the first time, they realized he was working for several countries. They found a tablet hidden in his old housing unit with names of security agents from at least four different countries. It caused a lot of tensions around the world.”

  “Security agents? We don’t have those anymore,” says Alex quietly.

  Sean nods vigorously. “Yes, we do. My dad is one of them. That’s why they took him away.”

  I stare at Sean, who clamps his mouth shut again, eyes glistening.

  “What do you mean took him away?” asks Alex.

  “They had some kind of job for him. That’s why I was brought here. I had nowhere else to go.”

  I stand up and pace in the small space in front of the couch. “Sean, we’re sorry about your father. With the Space Laws I thought things were getting more peaceful. We’ve worked with China for the coastal land we sold them. We built border schools, and in space we’ve built habitats and space stations.” I stop in front of him. “What went wrong?”

  “Something has always been wrong. Normal people just aren’t aware of it. I only knew because of my dad. He wouldn’t tell me everything, of course. But he did tell me some. In case something like this happened.”

  I sit back down next to Kai. “All right. What else can you tell us?”

  Sean looks around the room. “So, you believe me?”

  I shrug. “I’ve always felt there was more going on than our government tells us. After working with the general this past year, I know for sure.”

  Sean’s eyebrows rise. “There’s a large group that has opposed us living in space. The Pure Earthers, or Purists as they’re called. They believe we should give up moving to space and concentrate on fixing our world down here.”

  “Are they responsible for destroying the lake?” asks Philip.

  Sean twists to look up at Philip. “Probably. How did you know? I thought you guys didn’t have any outside contact the last few months.”

  “I know that area. And one of the techs I worked with on Mars was fond of listening to Earth vid programs. I heard pieces of news here and there when she had her earpiece up loud. Enough to believe what you’re saying.” He adjusts his glasses.

  I look in horror between the two. “You mean this group is responsible for a whole lake being poisoned? Contaminated?”

  “We think so. There were so many explosions along the shoreline that it poisoned all the animals and fish. The lake turned brown within days. That’s why they moved our whole town instead of trying to fix the lake. Things have gotten way worse all over the place. Most countries are on the brink of war.”

  “Explosions?” asks Rand.

  “Moved a whole town?” asks Kai.

  “Wait. I thought you said the countries were upset about the prisoner’s double agent status. What does this have to do with the Purists?” I ask.

  Sean looks around at all of us before turning back to me. “He’s one of them.”

  My chest squeezes and I glance at Kai, blinking back tears. He frowns and wraps an arm around me.

  “What? Did I say something wrong?” asks Sean.

  “That prisoner is her father,” answers Alex quietly.

  “I-I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”

  I wipe my tears and turn back to Sean. “It’s all right. Is there anything else we should know?”

  Sean’s eyes dart around the room. “Just that this is why there’s so many of us at the academy. We need to get to space before war breaks out.”

  The silence is thick as we stare at Sean.

  I think about the past few years and what Sean says makes sense. Our country selling the west coast. The Dragon Wall. The Chinese special forces kidnapping Kai’s parents.

  I look at Kai. “We need to talk to your father.”

  He nods. “When will they let us use the vid again?” he asks Sean.

  “Tonight, after the commander’s message. They’ve scheduled time where they’ll remove the internet block.”

  Kai looks at me. “I think we need to take a closer look at the Kagawa before then.”

  “How long will they allow us to talk to our families?” Philip asks.

  “Only about a half an hour.” Sean looks at his shoes.

  “Do you have anyone to call?” Alex asks.

  “My sister. She’s already up on one of the stations.” Sean sits up straight.

  Alex nods. “That’s good. I personally don’t keep in touch with my family.”

  Sean frowns. “Why not? You guys aren’t close?”

  Alex chuckles and glances at me. “You could say that. But since my father is the SIA commander, he already knows that I’m all right and what I’ve been doing. No use talking to him.”

  “Seriously? You’re Commander O’Neill’s son?”

  Alex’s vibrant smile gets bigger. “You won’t hold that against me though, will you?”

  Sean just stares. Alex chuckles again and stands up. “I think that’s enough world domination planning. Who wants to get in a run in before dinner?”

  We stand and head to our dorms to get dressed. Rand, of course is all ready so he stays put to wait for us.

  The strap to the weighted pack digs into my already bruised shoulders as I push the door open to the community room. I’m about to complain about it when I see Katrina and Rand talking on the far side of the room. I stop in my tracks as I watch tears roll down her face. Rand is
a statue with his arms crossed over his chest as Katrina walks away from him. She glances at me with red eyes as she rushes past me into the dorms.

  I’m torn, not knowing what to do. They’re both my friends. But I just stand there as Rand storms out of the room, tightening his weighted pack as he goes.

  Kai and Philip walk out as Rand jogs down the corridor. Kai raises an eyebrow at me. I look back at the closed dorm door. I take a deep breath and join Kai and tell him what I just witnessed.

  4

  The Commander

  Kai squeezes my hand as we walk to the lifts. “I know they were together at the beginning of the summer cruise. Something must’ve happened on that ship.”

  “But why didn’t either one say anything to us earlier?”

  “They probably didn’t want to put us in a tough place. We’re all friends. It’s not like we could easily take sides. Right?”

  I sigh. “You’re right. It’s just one of them could’ve said something. It’s not like they can hide something like a breakup when we all live together.”

  “True.”

  We wait at the lift for the others to join us before riding it up to the top of the building. We reach the glass bridge that leads over to the attached identical building. I gasp as I plaster my face to the glass wall and look down.

  “What is all that?”

  “Smoke. Pollution. Smog?” Sean steps up next to me.

  I look at him with wide eyes. “Here? We’re in the middle of forests and farmlands.”

  He shakes his head. “Not anymore. Most of the forests have been burned in our area. And what wasn’t torched was bombed.”

  “Why would they even do that? Aren’t they supposed to be fighting to keep Earth clean and intact?” asks Kai.

  “They think by destroying large sections of land it’ll make their point about needing to work on protecting our land more.”

  “That doesn’t even make any sense,” I mutter. “We were only on the cruises for three months. All this has happened in that short amount of time?”

  “Things went downhill fast after that prisoner—” Sean screws up his face. “Sorry. When your father escaped the second time.”

  I glance at Kai and frown. “Second time?”

  Sean’s eyes go wide. “Sorry. You didn’t know he escaped again? They think one of the countries he was spying for broke him out this time. Just this past week.”

  I slump against the glass. “Earlier I thought you were talking about the first time he escaped months ago.” I grab Kai’s shirt and he wraps his arms around me. “What if my father goes after Cam again? We need to talk to him right away.”

  Sean shakes his head. “They won’t lift the block until tonight. You have no way of getting a message out.”

  I stand up straight and push through the crowd of students heading to the zero-G track. “Maybe not. But I think I know how to make the commander talk to me before tonight.”

  Kai hurries to catch up to me. “What are you going to do?”

  “We need to get the general’s attention. He’s the only one who will know everything that is going on.”

  “What about the commander?”

  I grin. “We’re going to use him to get to the general.”

  “Uh oh. I know that look.”

  “What look?” I try for my most innocent expression.

  “Exactly. Nice try though.”

  I push through the double doors that lead to the auditorium. As I suspected there are several guards there. I stop and study the foyer. There’s a shimmer to the second set of double doors that lead into the main auditorium.

  “Force field. Local one by the looks of it.”

  I turn to see Philip standing behind us. Sean is watching from the other side of the doors.

  “You don’t want to be here, Philip. I don’t want you to get in trouble.”

  “But you’re fine with him getting in trouble?” He points to Kai.

  I clamp my mouth shut.

  Kai chuckles. “She just knows I’m as stubborn as she is. I won’t let her do whatever crazy thing she’s got in mind without me.”

  I smile. “Thanks. I think.” I turn back around and march up to one of the security guards.

  “Hi.” He doesn’t move or respond. His black uniform is free of any patches or symbols. Just like the ones in class this morning. “You’re not our normal academy security.”

  He tips his face down slightly to look at me.

  “If I were to try to go through those doors, what would you do?”

  His expression goes cold. “You can’t get through the electronic field. Military grade science.”

  I grin. “Thank you. That’s exactly the information I needed.” I step back quickly as the guard glares at me. I turn to Philip.

  “Military. Do you still have the security codes you used last year to hack the space net?”

  A smile slowly spreads across Philip’s freckled face. “Of course,” he whispers. “What do you have in mind?”

  I glance at the guards around us and lean in to whisper in Philip’s ear.

  His smile widens. “Challenge accepted.”

  “We’ll just wait over here,” I say to the guards, who just ignore me.

  I shrug off my weighted pack and tuck it by the wall. Philip and Kai look at me oddly but do the same thing. We huddle over by the outer doors as Philip types furiously on his tablet. I watch over his shoulder as he hacks into the school’s intranet and uses the program we used last year to open up a security breach. As his tablet flashes red, we look up to see the wall of energy fluctuate and then disappear.

  Philip’s expression goes serious. “I probably should’ve used your tablet this time, Anja.”

  “We’re all in this together now, remember?” I laugh.

  The security guards look around in confusion.

  “Ready?” I ask Kai and Philip.

  “Sure. For what?” answers Kai.

  “Run!” I say and take off toward the double doors, now no longer guarded by the energy wall.

  I swing open one of the doors and Kai and Philip follow me inside. I take a sharp left turn and run down the side corridor. As we speed past framed artwork and stylish decorations I remember too late about the extra guards around the corner.

  With a strangled scream from Philip, the three of us run right into two more security guards, dressed all in black like the others. They quickly get over their surprise and grab us.

  “What are you doing back here?” asks one as he grips my arm tightly.

  “How did you get past the force field?” asks the other.

  We stay silent.

  “Fine.” The two of them pull us farther down the corridor. The lead guard swipes his ID badge over a sensor near the door and it opens up to a lush room full of couches and luxurious decorations.

  They hold us tight as we face The Seven.

  I hear a whimper from Philip.

  “Was this your plan?” whispers Kai next to me.

  “Sort of?” I whisper back. Although I knew they used this room as a safe house of sorts, I didn’t expect them all to be here.

  Commander Svell stands up and approaches, his footsteps silent in the plush carpet. “Anja. Kai. Mr. Case. What are you doing here?”

  I swallow. “Looking for you, sir. I need to talk to my brother right away.”

  He tilts his head. “And why is that?”

  “Because I know about what’s going on out there,” I nod toward the door. “And I need to make sure he’s all right.”

  He frowns. “What do you think you know?”

  “Enough that there’s something going on that you didn’t tell us about.” I look past him at the other commanders. “We deserved to know the moment we came back to Earth.”

  “You didn’t exactly come back normally. You almost died yesterday. We figured you would need time processing that.”

  “Those pilots are well trained. We knew we’d get back safely.” I hope I sound more confident tha
n I feel.

  “But we still want to know what happened to our ship,” adds Kai.

  “You couldn’t wait a few hours until I made my announcement?” The commander steps back and waves at the guards to let us go.

  “No. It’s not like you were going to tell us everything tonight anyway. Right?”

  He gives me a small nod. “True. But as the leader of your class, you’ll need to learn that sometimes too much information isn’t healthy. People tend to panic and allow fear to dominate their lives.”

  “Panic? Do you really think that’s a good enough excuse to keep us in the dark? We have new friends, students you crammed in here with us, that have lived out there and have experienced whatever type of craziness is going on. You didn’t think we wouldn’t talk to them?”

  His expression darkens. “That was an action born of necessity.”

  “Tell us what’s going on here. Please.” I squeeze my hands tightly into fists.

  The commander studies me. “I hope you understand that in general most people don’t want to know every little detail of what’s going on. Some can’t handle too much information all at once.”

  I cross my arms to keep from digging my nails into my palms. “And I thought I made it clear last year that I’m not one of those people.”

  He nods. “As leader of your class you’ll need to keep that in mind when you do decide to share what I’m going to tell you.”

  I grind my teeth and just stare back at him. Philip whimpers in the silence.

  The commander takes a deep breath and glances over at the others lounging around the room. Then he sits down facing me.

  I remain standing.

  “While you were on your summer cruises a lot of things happened in politics that no one saw coming. I’m not sure what you’ve heard, but it’s really not as bad as people think.”

  “Bad? Let’s see. My father escaping for a second time, our government finding out he’s a traitor and part of the Purists group, war between countries, and whole populations forced to leave their homes because the Purists are destroying the one thing they’re supposed to be protecting. I think in reality it’s actually as bad as it can get. Sir.” Anger grows in my belly as I tick off each item.