Project Alpha

by D. J. MacHale

  The soldier turned and strode off as Gabriel and Carly joined the group. Both were trying hard not to smile.

  “Thanks!” Carly called to the soldier.

  Gabriel went right to Dash and they exchanged high fives.

  “Is there an explanation for this?” Siena asked.

  “That’s what we want to know,” Gabriel said. “You know those blackouts every night? They aren’t real. They’ve got huge generators that power the whole camp but they’ve been shutting them down and telling us we’re blacked out. Why is that, Commander?”

  All eyes went to Phillips.

  “Is that true?” Siena asked.

  “It is,” Phillips replied. “The fact that we power down every night is voluntary. If the rest of the country is dark, we should be too. It’s the right thing to do.”

  “But you’re still generating power, even at night,” Carly said. “Why?”

  “There are facilities here that would be irreparably damaged if they were totally cut off. That would jeopardize the entire mission and we can’t risk that. When the final crew is chosen, you’ll see exactly what I mean.”

  “Why couldn’t you just tell us that?” Gabriel asked.

  “I understand your concern,” Phillips said. “Please know that you are all still on a need-to-know basis…until you need to know.”

  “What’s all that got to do with the hologram?” Anna asked.

  Commander Phillips looked at Gabriel and Carly.

  “The challenge was to beat the program and get to the far side of the arena,” Carly said. “Nobody said how we had to do it.”

  “We found the base’s generators last week and saw how they were powered down,” Gabriel said, matter of fact. “It was simple. No power, no hologram.”

  “It was Dash’s idea,” Carly said.

  Anna shot a scathing look at Dash, who shrugged modestly.

  “That’s cheating!” she exclaimed.

  “I don’t agree,” Phillips said. “The task was to find a way to outwit the program and get to the far side. That was accomplished by Dash and Piper, with assistance from Gabriel and Carly.” Phillips faced Gabriel and Carly and added, “But I would appreciate it if you left the running of Base Ten to the camp personnel.”

  “You got it, Commander,” Gabriel said, and saluted Phillips.

  “Congratulations to all four of you,” Phillips said. “Nicely done.”

  Anna wanted to argue further, but she knew she was beaten.

  “That officially concludes the competition,” Phillips announced. “We’ll make the crew choices tonight and give you the news tomorrow. You’ve earned the right to celebrate. Head back to the dorm. We’ve got a little something planned for you.”

  Phillips turned and walked off with STEAM.

  “I don’t believe it,” Anna said, grumbling. “I didn’t know it was okay to cheat.”

  “We didn’t cheat,” Dash said. “We worked together to solve a problem.”

  Anna stalked toward Dash, staring him right in the eyes. Dash didn’t flinch, though a bead of sweat appeared on his forehead.

  “You were smart,” she said, growling under her breath. “But you gotta be more than smart to win this competition.”

  The two stood nose to nose.

  A dog’s bark broke the tense silence.

  All eyes went skyward to see the golden retriever looking down on them with its tail wagging. The blond young man was gone.

  Anna broke away from Dash and stormed off.

  Niko and Ravi headed off too.

  Siena approached the others.

  “Ingenious,” she said. “I wish I had thought of that myself.”

  She followed the others.

  “Thanks for including me,” Piper said to Dash.

  “Don’t thank me. Without you, Anna would have beaten me to the finish line. So thank you.”

  “I don’t know who’s going to win this competition,” Carly said. “But that was awesome.”

  “Yeah, it was,” Gabriel said. “Now if we don’t all get kicked out of here for nearly destroying the base, we might have a shot at this.”

  “I’m not looking forward to this,” Carly said as she and Piper approached the foyer of their dorm building.

  “Seriously,” Piper said. “I’m too tired to do any more challenges today.”

  “Welcome!” STEAM exclaimed as he hurried up to them. “Enjoy. You have earned it. Yes sir!”

  “Earned what?” Carly asked.

  Suddenly, thumping dance music kicked in, making the floor vibrate.

  “It is a party!” STEAM said, and led them into the foyer.

  The two stood there, wide-eyed to see that the space was decorated for a celebration. Orange and blue balloons covered the ceiling. Multicolored crepe-paper streamers hung down to hide the drab walls. A long table was loaded with bowls of chips and candy. Another held a variety of juices and sodas.

  It looked like a festive school dance.

  Except nobody was having fun.

  Siena sat by herself, reading.

  The boys all surrounded the snack table.

  Anna wasn’t even there.

  STEAM swung his arms and jumped from foot to foot in a strange attempt to dance. It looked more like he had short-circuited a critical movement function.

  Everyone rolled their eyes and turned away from the robot.

  STEAM gave up, dropped his head, and went back to pouring soda.

  Carly and Piper approached Siena, making it official that the boys were on one side of the room and the girls on the other.

  “I don’t think reading is allowed at a party,” Carly said with a smile.

  “I’m doing research on the changes in physiology of the human body during long periods of space flight,” Siena said.

  Carly shot Piper a look and said, “Oh, in that case. That’s allowed.”

  “Thank you,” Siena said, and went back to reading.

  “I was kidding!” Carly said, and took the book from her. “Take a break—we earned it.”

  “If you insist,” Siena said with a sigh. “What should we do?”

  Carly looked around at the overdone yet earnest decorations.

  “They tried to make this look like a dance, so let’s dance,” she said.

  She took Siena by the hand and pulled her out of her seat.

  “You too,” Carly said to Piper, and pushed her wheelchair into the center of the room.

  The three faced each other and started bouncing to the music. Siena had no rhythm and looked completely uncomfortable. Piper laughed and rocked in her seat. Carly liked to dance and spun around the other two.

  The boys watched with looks that said they would rather be fighting another Raptogon than venturing out to dance.

  “This is a strange end to a very strange week,” Niko said. “It’s weird to think that some of us are going home tomorrow.”

  “To be honest, I miss my family,” Ravi said. “I want to be on the crew, but going home wouldn’t be a horrible thing.”

  “I miss my family too,” Gabriel said. “But I really want this. And they could use the ten million bucks.”

  “What about you, Dash?” Niko asked.

  Dash thought hard before answering. “I guess I’m hoping if we don’t make the crew, there might still be some way we can help with the mission.”

  “Yeah,” Ravi said. “Like teaching Anna to lighten up.”

  “Look!” Gabriel said.

  STEAM was between the three girls, whirling and dancing…badly.

  “I’m glad somebody’s having fun,” Niko said.

  STEAM danced his way over to the boys.

  “Oh no,” Ravi said. “Don’t even think about it.”

  “But it is a party. Enjoy yourselves. Make my day,” STEAM said.

  “You go ahead and knock yourself out,” Ravi said.

  “Dash,” STEAM said. “Please go to the supply room and retrieve a few liters of soda?”

  “Absolutely,” Da

sh said, and hurried off, relieved that he didn’t have to dance. “Don’t hurt yourself, Steamer.”

  STEAM gave him a pistol shot with his little mechanical finger, then turned to the other guys.

  All three turned their backs on him.

  “You are party poopers,” STEAM said.

  Dash left the foyer and walked down the long corridor that led to the supply room. Inside was Commander Phillips sitting on top of a table.

  “Oh, hi,” Dash said with surprise. “You should come to the party. It’s really…uh…”

  “Boring?”

  Dash shrugged and smiled. “Nice try, though.”

  “Something’s come up,” Phillips said gravely.

  “Oh,” Dash said. “I guess I wasn’t really sent here to get soda.”

  “There’s a problem.”

  Dash stood silently, waiting for the worst…and got it.

  “It’s you,” Phillips said.

  “Is this because I had the idea for shutting down the generators? That was a mistake. I won’t do anything like that again.”

  “It wasn’t a mistake. It was brilliant.”

  “Oh. So then what’s the problem?”

  “You’re twelve and a half years old.”

  Dash stared at Phillips, uncomprehending. “Not getting that.”

  “We thought you were twelve,” Phillips explained. “Somewhere along the line, your birthday was entered incorrectly into our system and you’re actually six months older than we thought. We just realized it today.”

  “Still don’t get why that’s a problem,” Dash said.

  Phillips ran his hands through his hair and took a deep, troubled breath.

  “Why do you think we’re putting together a crew of such young people?” he asked.

  “I thought it had something to do with adults not being able to physically handle the stress of the flight, or something.”

  “That’s exactly right. We’ve developed a revolutionary propulsion system that allows the ship to make jumps not only through space but also time. It’s how we can send the crew to such a far-flung location. Without this propulsion system, the journey out and back could take years. Decades. Now we can get a crew out and back in one year.”

  “So why is my age a problem?” Dash asked.

  “The biological component of the system wreaks havoc on the metabolisms of older astronauts. Anyone over the age of fourteen is a liability, a risk.”

  “Oh” was all Dash managed to say.

  “The schedule calls for six months of training before launch. The trip itself will take a year. That means—”

  “That means I’ll hit the danger age before we get back,” Dash said soberly.

  Phillips looked down and kicked at the floor.

  “How accurate is this?” Dash asked.

  “Enough that we can’t risk it,” Phillips replied. “Simply put, you could die.”

  Dash’s heart sank.

  “So that’s it. I’m out,” he said, trying not to let his voice quiver.

  “It seems so,” Phillips said.

  “Wow” was all Dash could say as tears formed in his eyes. “I guess I never had a shot.”

  “I’m sorry,” Phillips said with genuine regret. “I wish we had known earlier.”

  “Any chance this is a mistake?” Dash asked with a touch of desperation.

  “No,” Phillips said.

  Dash wiped his eyes and picked up a couple of bottles of soda.

  “Okay, then. I should get these back to the party.”

  He turned for the door, then stopped and said, “Would I have made it?”

  “I don’t know if this is going to make you feel better or worse, but of all the candidates, you were the only slam dunk. You brought this team together, Dash. More than once. That was one of the qualities we were looking for and you exceeded every expectation. I hope that means something to you.”

  “It does. Thanks. I, uh, I’m not going to tell anybody. I don’t want this to turn into a pity party.”

  “I understand. Nobody will know until tomorrow.”

  Dash gave a nod of thanks and left the room. He walked slowly back toward the party. It was over. Any hope of being part of the greatest adventure in the history of mankind was gone. He wasn’t going to save the world. He wasn’t going to give his mother ten million dollars. He was going home. Dash reached the door to the foyer and looked out at the group.

  The guys were still hovering around the food.

  Carly and Piper chatted on the opposite side of the room.

  Siena had gone back to reading.

  It was hard to celebrate when every last one of them had their stomach in a knot, thinking about what the next day would bring.

  Dash looked at them each in turn, wondering who would be going up and who would feel as badly as he did.

  He stood up straight, took a deep breath, and shouted out, “Hey, what kind of party is this?”

  He ran into the room, shaking the bottle of soda.

  “Let’s have some fun!” he exclaimed as he twisted off the cap. A spray of soda flew, dousing the guys.

  “Yeah!” Carly cheered, jumped up, and ran for the soda table. She grabbed another bottle of soda, shook it up, and let it erupt all over the others.

  Siena hid her book under the cushion of a sofa for protection.

  “Oh yeah!” Gabriel shouted. “It is so on!” He went for the food, grabbed handfuls of M&M’s, and whipped them at Dash.

  Dash retaliated by dumping a bowl of Cheez-Its over Gabriel’s head.

  The party quickly degenerated into a raucous, messy celebration of food fighting and fun. Everyone battled everyone else while laughing, throwing, and even dancing.

  Anna watched the mayhem from the far end of the foyer with her arms folded. STEAM scampered over to her with soda dripping from his big eyes.

  “Join the fun,” STEAM said.

  Anna shook her head. “They don’t want me there.”

  “Yes they do,” STEAM argued.

  “No, a leader shouldn’t let her guard down like that. Good night.”

  She turned her back on the group and headed for her room.

  Behind her, the battle raged.

  The tension was gone.

  Ravi filled his mouth with soda and sprayed it at Niko, who was disgusted and laughed hysterically at the same time. Dash couldn’t stop laughing either, until he looked past Niko and saw STEAM.

  The little robot was looking at him with his oversized mechanical eyes.

  STEAM knew the truth. If it was possible for a robot to show sympathy, STEAM was doing it. Dash gave him a small smile and a shrug of resignation.

  STEAM gave Dash a salute, then picked up a cup of punch and tossed it at Ravi. “We will party like it is 1999!” STEAM exclaimed.

  “I have no idea what that means!” Ravi yelled back.

  The party raged on.

  Tomorrow the real show would begin.

  Base Ten felt like a carnival.

  A sea of folding chairs faced the doors of the largest hangar on the base. A military band played patriotic tunes. Television cameras were everywhere, all focused on a stage that was set up in front of the giant hangar. On stage sat a podium and four chairs: one for each of the soon-to-be-announced Project Alpha crew.

  The seats filled quickly with Base Ten personnel. The press section overflowed with eager reporters. The front row had seven chairs roped off and a space for one wheelchair, waiting for the stars of the hour.

  At ten o’clock sharp, the band finished playing “The Stars and Stripes Forever” as a bus with darkened windows pulled up to the side of the stage. The bus door opened, and Commander Phillips stepped off and climbed the long ramp that led to the top of the platform.

  The crowd was totally silent as Phillips walked up to the microphone.

  “The dream is finally a reality,” he began, his amplified voice booming across the base. “We are about to begin the final preparations that will send four brave astronauts to the far end of the galaxy and back.”

  The hundreds of people in attendance, and the support team for Project Alpha, broke out into thunderous applause. Even the reporters applauded.

  “I have no doubt that we will rise to the challenge. We must. Too much is at stake. As we have said so many times, failure is not an option. And we…will…not…fail.”

  The crowd once again broke into applause. Phillips raised his hands to quiet them.

  “You should save your applause for the eight exceptional young people who have volunteered for the mission. They have put in long hours of hard work and gone through strenuous testing. They represent the best and the brightest that our world has produced. I present to you the eight finalists of Project Alpha.”

  The door of the bus opened and the eight candidates marched out wearing crisp, clean orange-and-blue training uniforms.

  The audience cheered. The band kicked in with a rousing version of “Off We Go into the Wild Blue Yonder” as Anna led them past the rows of ecstatic soldiers and straight to their seats in front.

  Anna waved to the crowd like an Olympic champion. Ravi did too. Siena looked awkward and embarrassed. Piper beamed a big, happy smile. Dash was last, putting on a good face. He was the only one who felt no pressure because he already knew his fate. He smiled and waved anyway because that’s what he was asked to do.

  Their images were being broadcast throughout the United States and around the globe. Hope for the future of the world would rest on the shoulders of four of these young astronauts. They were heroes before ever setting foot inside a space vehicle.

  They reached their places, gave one last wave to the crowd, and took their seats.

  Phillips leaned into the mike and said, “That wonderful reception was well deserved. Though only four of these young people will fly, they are all equally qualified.”

  Dash held his head high.

  Phillips said, “The choice was difficult, but ultimately we assembled a crew we felt would make the best team. The success of this mission will not rest on the abilities of any one individual. It will be the sum of the parts that will make it to the Source, and bring it back.”

  That brought the people to their feet again with thunderous applause.

  “To the four who will be going home,” Phillips said, “please know that we honor you today as well, and we are all grateful for your sacrifice and your hard work. Once the crew is announced, I’ll bring you to the bus to begin your journey home. Please, remember one very important thing: you will officially become alternates. If anything happens to one of our principal crew members during training, you may be called upon to take their place.”

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