by Holly Hook
"They ordered us to leave last week," Dad said. "They're going to build factories here. Come on. This way." He pulled on my arm. "Tess! Come on!"
I opened my eyes.
Plain white walls surrounded me. I turned over on the cream-colored bedspread, which I hadn't moved. The pillow made a crinkling sound. It reminded me of hospital pillows, those plastic ones that were supposed to be sanitary.
Matt stood in the doorway of my room. A faint hum sounded through the air.
I blinked, not sure where I was at first.
Then I remembered.
The ship.
We must have taken off by now. I had been asleep long enough to have a dream cycle.
"Tess," Matt said, biting his lip. "I don't blame you for being mad at me."
I tried to feel angry to tell him to scram, but it seemed as if I'd had some time to calm down as well. A new terror swept over me.
We were both in space.
Alone. Stuck together for three weeks.
"I mean, I convinced your parents to send you away," Matt said. "Well, I didn't tell them to send you off, but what I told them helped them get to that decision. I didn't know that they were going to treat you like that."
I sat up on the bed. Thankfully, I was still fully clothed, because I had flopped down here without thinking. "I believe you," I said. "I didn't mean to be such a jerk."
"You had every right to that," Matt said.
"Well, you slapped that mask on my face and stopped me from breathing that gas," I said. "I forgot to say thank you for that. And if you are fighting these aliens, I have to commend you. Are you an Earther, too?"
"I'm not an Earther," Matt said. "They don't have that on Mars. But there are some of us who want to take Earth back. Some of us aren't going to accept what the Grounders told us. I'm one of the ten scouts who went out to plant tracking capsules. Nine more stowed away on other ships. I don't know how many made it to Earther strongholds."
"Makes sense," I said. I looked down at my patch. "Woking Park is a stronghold?" I had never heard of it that way before.
"It's a stronghold for our type of life," Matt said. "We need to spread it back over the planet and get rid of the Grounder life. You've seen the red weeds growing all over the place."
"Scientists say they're a mutation," I said. "The pollution's messed them up." I had always known that something was strange about them.
"They're related to the Grounders," Matt said. "Those red plants, I mean. The Grounders brought them out with them. Did you know that most of your scientists have been taken over by Grounders?"
I shuddered. "Is anyone safe from getting those blobs stuck on them?"
"Sort of," Matt said. "The Grounders only take over people in power. They just want to kick the rest of us off Earth."
I thought about it. "That...makes sense," I said, balling my fists.
Mom and Dad lied to me all these years. My anger was more at them than at Matt. Sure, he'd brought news that convinced them to send me away, but they had hidden this from me for my entire life. I wondered if they'd been planning to tell me the truth on my eighteenth birthday. It would have been a wonderful present.
Not.
And most of all, I hated the Grounders.
They had swept me aside to make room. I couldn't find any better words for it. I felt like a speck. A piece of garbage. I thought I had left this pain behind eight years ago, but no.
"I don't expect us to be friends," Matt said. "I wrecked things for you. Trust me. I know what it feels like to have your life and identity screwed up forever. I just wanted to explain myself."
He was mature for a fellow sixteen-year-old. I'd never met a guy like him. Of course, he was the first green person I'd ever met. I had the sense that I'd see more once we got to Mars. It was shaping up to be a strange place, but so was Earth. I couldn't even be sure of who I was anymore, or what I could become. I glanced at my arm, imagining my skin turning color.
"Thanks," I said, turning away. No. We would not be friends. Every time I looked at Matt, I thought of how I'd left Winnie behind and let him drag me out of that corridor. I thought of my parents' betrayal. I thought of my world ripping apart and what a failure I was. Even if Matt weren't a bad guy, I would never leave those things behind.
I turned away and faced the wall. I had no contacts. There were no calls from Mom or Dad, trying to explain things better. It wasn't like I wanted to see them right now, anyway. They didn't have to turn me over to the Task Force.
Matt lingered in my doorway for another full minute before I heard him walking down the corridor, opening a door, and closing it softly.
Chapter Seven
The next three weeks passed in a long blur. There was no day and night in space. I had nothing but a tiny porthole to look through, but I couldn't bear to study the stars. I no longer had a special place in them.
And I couldn't bear to look at the bluish-brown dot that had become Earth. Mom and Dad told me that it had once been a lot more green, centuries ago, and had only taken a huge turn for the worst after the Great Council formed and unified all the countries. That dot got dimmer with each passing day, but there would soon be another one on the horizon. A red, dead place that looked a lot more fitting for the Grounders.
How long had they looked towards the sun, jealous of our world?
Were there any still left on Mars, or had they all evacuated? Maybe we were getting sent to some planet-wide reservation where they didn't care what we had to do to survive. Maybe the Grounders wanted us in a farm. If they needed another body to control, they'd know where to go. Maybe they even used us for nourishment when they were done using our bodies and limbs. Those blobs must have a way to survive while attached to people.
In short, the closer we got to our destination, the bigger the ball of tension inside of me got. Matt didn't speak to me much. He stayed in his room, lying on his bed as if he were steeling himself for whatever was coming. I did the same. There wasn't anything to do besides head to the snack bar and back again, especially now that my contacts were gone. I couldn't play any games. I couldn't read. I couldn't even study for lessons that I no longer needed to memorize. Even that would have been something familiar and sane. Instead, Matt and I shared the ship with the two miners who had been drafted right out of work earlier that day. They didn't speak to us much. I think we reminded them of their families. Well, me. I was willing to bet they hadn't left behind green kids.
Time soon lost all meaning. A bigger and bigger part of me wanted to talk to Matt, but that proud, angry part refused to let me stroll to his room and knock on his door. Seriously, how hard could that be? I knew that logically, he hadn't ruined my life and that the Grounders had with their draft, but I couldn't stop blaming him. He represented everything that had gone wrong with my life.
And he still convinced my parents to send me away, whether he meant to or not.
But eventually, after more time had passed, Matt knocked on my closed door.
"What?" I asked.
"Sorry to bother you," he said. "I think we're getting ready to land. You'll hear the excited captain telling us that pretty soon, so I wanted to warn you."
I made no motion to get off the bed. "Thanks," I said. At least he was making an effort. After all, Matt had taken this flight before. He must be one of the only people who had come back from Mars.
"No problem," Matt said.
I looked around the bare room. A sink decorated the wall. I hadn't packed a thing except for the clothes on my back, which I put in the cleaner next to the communal shower every day. I ran my finger over my Earth patch. I felt as if I had weakened. This ship might have artificial gravity, but there was no place to work out. The synthetic food didn't help, either. What would I even do on Mars?
I wasn't sure who I would become after we landed.
I could tell that Matt was lingering by my door. "Why are you still there?" I asked.
"You're rude," Matt said.
"I know I am," I s
aid. "I just had my life ripped away from me. You have to understand." I should have apologized, but I couldn't make myself. I hadn't been like this before.
"I do understand," Matt said. "I've had my life ripped from me, too. It sucks."
"I agree." I stared at the ceiling. At least there was something we had in common.
"Attention, passengers," the captain said over the intercom. "You will be arriving at your destination in two hours' time. Please, make sure that you have packed your belongings."
"What belongings?" I asked.
"Hey," Matt said, still through the door. "All I had was my sketchbook."
"Oh, yeah. You said that you like to draw," I said. "I used to do that."
"On a tablet or paper?"
"On paper. I couldn't hang my pictures up, otherwise."
"And you made fun of me for drawing," Matt said.
I wanted to say that I was eight years old when I drew last and that I wasn't very good at it, but I had the feeling Matt would take that as an insult. Well, the eight years old part. I didn't hate him that much. I just didn't want him around me.
"I didn't mean to," I said. "There just aren't a lot of people who do that anymore." It was like my neighbor with his car.
"You're an Earther. You should be old-fashioned."
At least someone still considered me one. "We believe in living naturally," I said. "It works, too. You can come in if you want." Something about Matt's words made me want him with me.
He opened my door. "It's not like that on Mars," he warned.
"I know it can't be. It's not Earth." I walked to the window, turning my back to Matt. He was just a little more tolerable to be around. Maybe he could help me navigate whatever was below.
My stomach turned into a tight ball again when I saw the reddish expanse below. Lately, I hadn't been looking out the window much, because I knew what I'd see, and the sight of dead canyons and craters and mountains made this whole thing a lot more real. Even from this height, I could see lights on the dark horizon where day met night. It was nowhere near Earth cities, of course, since the population of the colonies was only about ten million at this point. It didn't do much to make the planet appear less desolate and dead.
"Stupid Grounders," I said. "Why couldn't they have stayed here under the surface where they belong?"
Matt didn't say anything. The tension in the room thickened to the point where I wanted to scream. I wasn't spending the rest of my life here. I could only pray that Matt's plan worked and we could get rid of the Grounders and their freaky red vegetation. My stay here would only be temporary. I was already going crazy on this ship. I'd go nuts down in the colonies. I doubted there were any parks yet.
I turned to Matt. "What am I going to face down there?"
"Well," he said, sitting on my bed. "When it comes to politics, it's no better than Earth, except that there aren't any Grounders. There's a split about whether or not to start a war. Some people want to take back Earth, like me. But then there's the Mars Identity Movement. They're all about embracing this planet and making it better for us. Most of them are okay, but there are radical people in that group. They're not going to like your patch."
"I don't care," I said. Why would anyone want to stay on this rock? "I'm keeping it, and I'm getting back home."
"You might have to wait," Matt said. "The plan for fighting the Grounders is moving, but it might be a while before those of us who want to go back to Earth can."
I edged away from the window. Matt took my place. I found myself wishing I had spoken to him more during this trip.
"How did you get involved in this?" I asked.
He didn't take his gaze off Mars. "I've been plotting and asking around ever since I looked out the window like you just did. Nobody expected me to draw plans in a sketchbook and show them to a few scientists in the colonies."
He had my interest. "I want to see your sketchbook," I said, hating Matt less and less. It looked like we were on the same wavelength about a few things. I also needed to work on my pride. "After I find my friends, that is."
"They might not have gone to the same colony you'll end up in," Matt said. "They left a few hours before you did. Chances are, they ended up at a neighboring one. That shouldn't be too hard to reach."
"That's great," I said. "So the Grounders just dump us wherever."
"Exactly. It's up to us to find our families."
Nothing Matt said so far bode well for the conditions in the colonies. I sat down next to him (yes, unthinkable) and stared at the wall in silence. He said nothing.
"Please be seated," the captain said over the speaker. His words came in monotone. That gave away his Grounder status. "We will be dropping you off shortly." Those were the only words he had for us.
Matt rose. "I'm heading back to my room. Entering the atmosphere isn't the most relaxing thing in the world. You'd better sit in your chair."
"What are you? A Teaching Computer?" I asked.
Matt smiled at me and stood up. "So you still have those on Earth."
He left me alone and headed back to his room. Down the hall, the two miners did the same. Doors closed. No one spoke.
I scrambled over to my chair and sat, a bit too close to the porthole for comfort. I tried not to look at the ground getting ever closer.
Chapter Eight
Matt was right that entering the atmosphere, even though it was thin and unsuitable for life, wasn't fun.
A thin layer of orange fire covered the outside of the ship and danced at the edges of my porthole. I had to close my eyes and pretend that it wasn't there. The ship also bounced at times, making my stomach rise into my throat. It was a gross sensation.
The whole thing lasted about ten terrifying minutes. The faint humming of the ship stopped, along with all sense of motion.
I had gotten so used to the noise that I only noticed when it was gone. If I had been asleep, the silence would have woken me. It was strange how that worked.
I opened my eyes. The glass in my porthole had dimmed, blocking the outside from view. It was as if the Grounder captain didn't want us to know what we'd enter in a few minutes.
An urge to disembark with Matt swept over me. I shook my head, trying to cast it away. I was tougher than that. I'd get off the ship with my head held high.
"Attention, passengers," the Grounder captain said. "You will now disembark from the main entrance. From there, you will enter processing."
I shuddered. Processing was a scary word. It reminded me of the food in the snack bar. But still, I exited the room to find Matt standing in the corridor.
"Don't worry. It's not too bad," Matt said. "They just check you out in a medical bay before they let you in. Then they can find a room for you. Hope that you don't end up sleeping on the floor or something."
"On the floor?" I asked. There was a lot that Matt hadn't told me, then. Of course, I hadn't spoken to him much.
"Well, the Grounders are sending people faster than we can build."
The dread returned to my gut. It implied many horrible things. "Then I'm leaving."
Matt didn't say anything at first. Maybe that was because the Grounder captain could be listening. I didn't know. But we walked to the tiny hatch that I had to crawl through to get out. An inflatable walkway had been set up, leading into a narrow, plain corridor that was dusty around the edges. A pair of grimy yellow lights hung from the ceiling. My first view of the colonies, and already things looked dismal.
I really, really, didn't want to get off.
"We have to do it," Matt said.
I had another question for him, but I didn't want to sound rude again. I had already done a great job of that. I climbed through the hatch and tumbled to the floor like a klutz. Three weeks without exercise was already doing things to my body. I pushed myself off the floor, feeling like a lightweight. Or maybe it was the reduced gravity on this world. I hoped that this place had a gym. I would need it to keep my muscles from wasting away as Matt's had.
&
nbsp; I walked down the tunnel, not sure what I was going to see. The dim corridor stretched ahead, ending in a T. A sign on the wall pointed to a lobby and a medical bay. A single guard stood at the sign, waiting for us to get off. He wore a short-sleeved uniform the color of coal along with a shiny black helmet, and he held an electric baton. I shuddered. The weapon was no different than the ones the Enforcers back home used, but this guy stared at me through his dark face mask.
And he was green, just like Matt. I couldn't tell what his original skin color had been.
"This way," he said in a neutral voice. He nodded. "Welcome to the colonies. You'll want to go to the right and get checked out before you enter the lobby."
He wasn't a Grounder. I could tell from the way he spoke. Grounders didn't use contractions. At least, I hadn't heard one do so yet.
"Do I have to go?" Matt asked, appearing beside me.
"Yes," the guard said. "I have some questions for you...never mind. I think I know the origin of this story." He must not be used to old colonists getting off the ships. Just new meat, like me. The guy didn't sound happy about Matt's mission. I wondered if he was one of the Mars Identity people.
He did have a patch on the front of his uniform.
The symbol on it was Mars, with three asteroids sailing overhead. Golden letters underneath the symbol read MIM.
Mars Identity Movement.
These people weren't supposed to like Earthers.
I hurried past, keeping my head held high and made a right around the T junction. I followed Matt down the right side of the T and towards the medical bay. I tried to shut down my racing thoughts. I had landed on another planet. No one had smiled at me yet. It was clear that this wasn't a happy place. I tried not to stare back at the guard, who looked like a walking beanstalk in a uniform, but I couldn't resist. The man gave the same instructions to the two miners getting off the ship.
The medical bay had a closed steel door. Matt opened it. "It won't be that bad," he said. "Just don't take the shot."
