Outside, the bright yellow body and thick black stripes had not changed since Grandpa was a little boy, but that was about the only similarity between his transportation and the boys' school pod.
"You know, in my day we rode the bus to school. Same colors you got here, but no darn computer driving you around. Every bus had a driver, some good, some not so good, but they got the job done."
The boys laughed. Grandpa always told them stories about the olden days, much to their amusement. Grandpa looked around the inside of the pod.
"Nicer inside, I'll say that," Grandpa said. "We had those hard bouncy seats you can't find anymore. No seatbelts like you got either...but we made a game of it. If you timed it right, the bus would hit a bump and you could bounce clear into the ceiling."
Grandpa seemed to smile at the memory of his death-defying school bus bounces seventy years earlier. Satisfied that the boys were in good hands, or at least as good as was to be expected with a computer running things, Grandpa stepped away from the pod.
"Bye, grandpa," the boys said in unison.
"School pod go," Daniel commanded.
"School pod go," an electronic voice repeated. This voice was different from Harry's, in both tone and its robotic response. It seemed to be thinking for a moment, then the voice replied: "We are waiting for one more passenger."
Ernie and Daniel rolled their eyes. They were always waiting.
Mom came down the steps of the house next. Her smaller one-person pod waited in front of the school pod. As she approached, the pod's top opened on a hinge, like the old fighter planes the boys had seen whenever Grandpa made them watch two-dimensional movies with him.
"Waiting for Ani?" she asked as she waved. The boys and Grandpa waved back.
"What else is new," Daniel muttered. The brothers climbed back out of the pod to wait.
"You boys be nice to her," Mom said seriously as she stepped into the narrow pod. "She has only lived here for a few months and doesn't know that many people."
Ernie rolled his eyes. Mom sat down and tucked her bag at her feet. Her pod closed with a hiss before she zipped away.
Grandpa shuffled back up to the house while Daniel surveyed the sky. It was a warm spring day in the city of Magellan. A bird sang from one of the trees in front of the house and the deep blue morning sky provided the background. Daniel watched as fleets of air transports crisscrossed the sky. They formed orderly lines at different altitudes, each transport's computer system communicating to all of the others and coordinating a safe separation as they moved about.
Occasionally a transport would divert from the line, descending to land somewhere in the city. Daniel watched one air transport break off, but instead of descending, he watched it speed upwards, toward space.
"Do you think that one is going to the space station?" Ernie asked.
"More likely going to LEOSE-Upper," Daniel answered. He pronounced it lee-oh-see, referring to the Low Earth Orbit Space Elevator (LEOSE)-Upper station.
"Why do we need the space elevator if we can just fly to space in Dad's shuttle?" Nathan asked.
"We don't need it now as much. Did you know that people first wrote about the idea of a space elevator almost two hundred years ago?” Daniel said as they watched. "Humans had never even flown, much less ever been to space."
"We know," Ernie said. "You aren't the only one that knows about space, you know."
"When did they build it?" Nathan asked ignoring his brothers' debate about who knew more.
"Over thirty years ago," Daniel answered authoritatively. He read a lot of books, but his favorite topic was space. "This whole city is built around the space elevator, and all the things that support it."
"When they built it, they didn't have the technology that we have now," Ernie answered quickly before Daniel could. "They used to send people up to space in rockets, with fire coming out of the bottom."
"Very good, Ernie," Daniel said in a tone that sounded like a proud teacher. Ernie caught the condescending tone and punched his older brother in the back in response. Daniel ignored it and resumed his lecture: "Even today, it is more cost-effective to move the large equipment up by the elevator. The shuttles and transport ships are good for people and smaller cargo, but the really big stuff can't be transported that way."
Daniel paused before he continued. "It took fourteen years to build. They started launching the deep space probes from LEOSE-Upper almost immediately, and we made contact with our first Alien society less than a year later."
"The Olympians?" Nathan said.
"Yes," confirmed Daniel. "That's not their real name. We can't pronounce their names, but they landed during the 2068 Olympics. So that's what everyone started calling them."
"Can you imagine how exciting that must have been? Meeting aliens for the first time," Nathan said quietly. His brothers nodded their agreement.
"The first space elevator only went to the Hopper Station," Daniel lectured. "Even though the cable went up so much further. It was slow but still better than rockets. They couldn't build it until someone invented a super strong, super light cable. The first cable was built using only human technology, but after the Olympians shared their technology with us, we adapted it and expanded the space elevator to what it is today."
"Can you imagine what that must have been like?" Ernie asked craning his neck to look directly above him. "The first time we met people from another planet?"
"So cool," Nathan said. "How many other planets with life are out there?"
"Three so far, right?" Ernie asked.
Daniel nodded. "Three that we know of, yes. There are probably hundreds, maybe thousands."
The three brothers stared into the sky toward the orbiting space station that they knew was somewhere above them, imagining worlds and adventures beyond their dreams.
"Look, Dad's shuttle," Ernie exclaimed.
Nathan and Daniel turned to see where Ernie was pointing. High in the sky, the spacecraft eased its way over the landing spot in front of the house. Two long cylinders ran along the craft's roof. The bluish-green glow of the propulsion system emanated from the front and the back ends of the cylinders. The rest of the shuttle was cement colored aluminum with the letters ESA boldly stenciled on both sides. The door showed the same serious-looking crest as the patch on Dad's uniform shoulder.
The shuttle hovered overhead as the boys watched.
"What is it doing?" Nathan asked.
"Scanning the landing area," Daniel answered. "It's programmed to make sure the area is safe before it lands."
They continued to watch as the shuttle hovered for a few seconds more before slowly landing on the designated spot in front of the house. As if on command the small door opened on the side of the shuttle, sliding forward while two steps deployed from beneath the door. A second door lifted upward from the rear of the spacecraft.
"I wonder why it opened up the cargo area?" Daniel wondered out loud.
"It always does that when it comes to pick up Dad. I climbed in there one day," Nathan said trying to impress his brothers. When he realized what he had revealed he gasped audibly.
"You did what?" Daniel and Ernie asked in unison, their eyes now focused on their baby brother.
"You are not allowed to go into the shuttle, " Daniel said using his most authoritative voice. It was the voice he used on his brothers whenever he was in charge of them, or at least when he wanted them to do what he said.
"He didn't go in there," Ernie dismissed with a wave of his hand.
Nathan's face twisted as he tried to decide whether to tell them the rest of his secret. They were his older brothers after all. And he had been anxious to tell someone ever since his accidental trip.
"Yes, I did," he finally said. "Went all the way up to Dad's ship. "
Daniel and Ernie were shocked. Thinking quickly Daniel yanked both Nathan and Ernie into the school pod.
"Microphone off," Daniel said. There was always some computer listening no matter where they we
nt. Turning the microphone off didn't so much stop the listening as it stopped the recording.
"Do you realize how much trouble you would be in if Dad knew you did that?" Daniel scolded.
"I didn't really mean to go up there," Nathan said. "I just wanted to see the inside of the shuttle. And the cargo door was open. Before I knew it Dad climbed in and we were taking off. "
"Oh yeah? So what was it like?" the skeptical Ernie asked.
"It was soooo cool," Nathan said smiling at the memory.
"What happened when you got up there?" Ernie asked.
"The shuttle just flies up to the ship's docking hatch. Then Dad gets out and goes to work."
"So you sat in the baggage area all day?"
Daniel watched his brother closely. Nathan had to be making it up. But as Daniel looked at his youngest brother, the look in his eyes told him something else. Nathan was not lying. Daniel suddenly felt jealous.
For as long as he could remember, Daniel knew that he wanted to join the ESA and travel through space like his father. And now his little brother had been to space before him.
"Why didn't you get out and look around a little bit?"
"I didn't know what to do," Nathan answered. "I was going to get out and get Dad but I didn't want to get in trouble."
Ernie scoffed at the idea. "Dad would have been mad, but Mom would have been crying. Her little baby flying around space," Ernie emphasized the words 'little baby'. "You should have at least had a look around. Who goes all the way to a space schooner and stays in the shuttle cargo compartment all day?"
"Wait a minute," Daniel said skeptically. "Somebody would have missed you."
"You guys were on your hike for the day in Utah. You wouldn't let me come, remember," Nathan said with more than a hint of anger. "Mom had to go in for some problem in the lab and Dad was on the ship."
"Wasn't Harry watching you?"
"I told Harry I was going with you. Then I disabled all the front house sensors," Nathan said with a proud smile.
"What about your comp?" Ernie asked looking at the small plastic wristband on his brother's arm. Grandpa was the only person they knew who did not wear a wrist computer. The small band allowed sensors to track their biometrics, enabled video communication and video recording and performed millions of other functions. It also allowed computer systems to track their location, even Harry.
"I left my comp in the bush there," Nathan said to Ernie. He pointed to one of the small green bushes that flanked their front door.
Daniel wondered how his little brother knew to do some of the things he did. Then he began to wonder something else. If Nathan could do it, could he do it, too?
Anila Belewa
A door across the street flew open and like a sudden wind, Anila Belewa came rushing out of the house.
She was only four feet, four inches tall, the smallest girl in the fifth grade. Her dark skin and black hair contrasted starkly against her canary yellow shirt. The Parker brothers had not learned much about her since her family moved into the house across the street at the beginning of the school year.
That was not because Anila, or Ani as she liked to be called, did not tell them. In fact, Ani talked constantly. But the boys seldom listened beyond the first sentence or two. Ani's mother was from India but often traveled for work. She was some kind of a plant scientist, Daniel remembered. Her father was a scientist too; a deep-sea biologist who was gone a lot. She had moved to Magellan from Mombasa, Kenya. That was all Daniel could recall after six months of riding in the pod and going to school with her.
Ani's progress across the street and into the school pod was hindered by the large tuba case she was carrying, which she bumped and banged against everything – including Ernie.
"Watch out," he said unhappily. "That thing is as big as you are."
She settled into the last remaining seat in the school pod and dropped her tuba case onto the floor with a thud.
"School pod go," she commanded without so much as a hello to the boys. Nothing happened. "School pod go," she repeated louder. Still nothing.
"Microphone on," Daniel said remembering he had turned it off earlier. Although it was still listening, the pod would not follow any other command until the microphone was reactivated. "School pod go."
The pod came to life as the battery-powered up, and the pod's door slid closed with a hydraulic hiss.
"Why was the microphone turned off?" she asked. No one answered. She looked from brother to brother suspiciously but each looked out the pod's windows, avoiding eye contact.
"Please fasten restraints," the pod's electronic voice directed.
The children connected their five-point harnesses and the pod drove away. It continued down their street and out of their neighborhood. The yellow and black pod paused at the next intersection and then pulled out just in front of an identical pod. The computer brains of the two pods connected and formed, a singular vehicle picking up speed. Two more yellow and black pods joined the convoy, which was beginning to look more like a train than a bus as it continued toward the highway. Normally the school pods were noisy with students video-linking with friends in other pods--sometimes holding two or three conversations at a time. Ernie was talking with one of his friends, but Daniel wanted privacy as he considered the secret Nathan had shared earlier.
"What were you guys talking about?" Ani asked again.
The school pod turned left at the end of their street and picked up speed. Three other pods joined theirs, moving to within inches of each other and forming a small, train-like group. The onboard computers integrated wirelessly communicating millions of pieces of data per second. The interconnected computers compared everything from temperature and humidity, weight of the cargo (passengers), air pressure in each tire, and performance of the pods' mechanical equipment. This information was relayed to the chief traffic computer, which coordinated the movement of all vehicles in the city.
The convoy of school pods was now forty-two pods long and traveling at 50 miles per hour. The convoy maneuvered to the right and diverted off of the main road. Still more pods joined the procession just before the right lane descended below the rest of the surface roadway. The side road dipped underneath the main road and merged into another speedway underground.
"I know something must have been going on," Ani persisted.
This level of roadway was reserved for high-speed travel, while the roadway above subject to the weather, was for more local traffic. The school-bound convoy of pods picked up speed as it merged with two other lanes of traffic traveling at nearly 150 mph. Some of the underground speedways also housed tubes for the supersonic railway, but along this particular stretch, there was nothing but shiny white tiles. Along their trip, tiny projectors on the top of each pod displayed beautiful scenery alternating with the occasional advertisement against the specially designed photo-reactive tiles.
"Why is no one answering me?" Ani shouted.
As the convoy of school pods traveled along the underground speedway, hundreds of other pods shifted between lanes as the chief traffic computer system constantly calculated, updated and recalculated every pod's trip. At this time of day, the school pods were the priority, so the computer moved the other traffic around to ensure the students got to school on time. Daniel watched the scenery go by without much thought to their transportation. Ani stared at her instrument case and hummed a random tune, while Ernie and Nathan argued over something that Daniel did not care about. They were always arguing.
Daniel's mind was racing. His earliest memories were of his Dad in his crisp blue uniform heading off to training or on another mission. It always interested him. When he was ten, Dad took him to the base of the space elevator. He thought that touring the base of the space elevator terrestrial base was the most exciting trip he could ever imagine, but when his father surprised him with a trip up the elevator and an overnight stay on the space station itself, he was ecstatic. They rode the accelerated crawlers up the space elevator, ha
d dinner and toured the station. Dad took him everywhere he asked and patiently answered every question. Daniel loved every second!
That was the day he decided he would follow in his father's footsteps. The trouble was, Daniel was not very patient. He had six more years of school...plus the five at university and then, of course, the ESA training. That would take another year or more. More than eleven years of waiting! Daniel wanted to go to space now. And now that he knew that his baby brother had already been in space, it was all he could think about.
Daniel fidgeted in his seat. He could not hold back his enthusiasm any longer. "Microphone off," he said. His brothers and Ani looked at him with surprise. "Nathan, do you think you could do it again?"
Nathan was playing with the clasp on his violin case and not paying attention. "Do what again?"
Ernie sat up. He knew exactly what Daniel was thinking. "You know that thing you told us about this morning," he said eyeing Ani cautiously. He did not want to let Ani in on their secret.
"Oh... I umm...I...I don't want to do that again."
"But could you?" Daniel pressed.
"You could, couldn't you?" Ernie liked where this conversation was going.
"What are you guys talking about?" Ani asked. Ernie thought that she always sounded a little annoyed when she talked. She was the same age as Ernie, and they were in most of the same classes.
"Nothing. Don't worry about it," Ernie dismissed.
"We would be prepared this time," Daniel said to Nathan. "We can bring some snacks. Blankets. It would be a real adventure!"
"Yeah, what else do we have to do anyway?" Ernie added. "Otherwise spring break is going to be boring."
"I could do it again," Nathan said. It would be quite easy, he thought. He knew Harry's digital processors and security routines backward and forward. That kind of thing always came naturally to him. His older brothers did not always pay too much attention to him, and now they needed him. Nathan felt important.
"I want to know what you three are talking about," Ani declared loudly. She hated not being let in on a secret. Even if that secret did not involve her. "I won't tell anyone."
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