The Other Earth

by Amber LaShell

  Chapter Twenty Four

  I looked over at Brandon as we stepped out of the elevator and walked toward the bus, which was parked in the same spot as before. He looked at me and smiled, his eyes brighter than I had seen them in days.

  "I'm going to sit up front with the driver. There are a few things I want to ask him about" he said. "Is that okay?" he asked me.

  I nodded, "That's fine" I said quietly, happy we had managed to clear the air the night before.

  He smiled before he turned around and stepped onto the bus, taking the very first seat behind the driver. I continued to walk until I made it closer to the back of the bus and dropping my bag onto the seat in front of the last one, sat down and scooted to the window.

  "So what do you think?" Vanessa asked, sitting down next to me on the bus.

  "About what?" I asked her.

  She smiled, "Europa" she said.

  I looked around and saw that Brandon was up at the front speaking with the driver, so nobody would be listening to us.

  "It's a nice place to live. It's just sad though" I said truthfully.

  Vanessa tilted her head, "What do you mean?" she asked.

  I sighed, "Well. Yes it's a nice place to live. But, it just seems sad to me that the entire planet isn't like that. I just wish everyone could live free and happy" I said.

  She nodded, "Yes it would be nice, but what other choice do I have? The government has been dictating everyone's life for over a hundred years. I don't even know anything different" she argued.

  I sat back and looked out the window, "I miss home. It may have pollution but at least we're free to do what we want" I said without thinking.

  My heart starting pounding as I realized that I had said something out loud to Vanessa that I should have kept to myself. I continued to stare out of the window, but I was not seeing what was outside. I was thinking of a way to smooth this over and as I thought, I started to silently panic, knowing that I would never be able to lie myself out of this one.

  "What does that mean? What is pollution?" Vanessa asked beside me, obvious confusion in her voice.

  I looked back over to her, "Nothing. Forget I said anything" I said, turning quickly to look back out of the window.

  I held my breath as I waited to see if she would say anything else or drop the subject. I really wanted nothing more than to take back the last few seconds. I had come to care about Vanessa as a friend and I was actually pretty tired of lying to her about where I was really from.

  I looked back over to her and she was still looking at me with a confused look on her face.

  "Randi, what's going on?" She asked me quietly.

  I sighed, "Okay look. There are some things you don't know about me, and I don't think you will understand so I want to just forget I said anything."

  Vanessa narrowed her eyes, "Randi, do you think I'm stupid? I know you're different. When I had my meeting with the officials in Europa last night I asked them about you and Brandon. They told me they have never heard of anyone with your names in any underground city. So, I know you aren't really from the underground, but I don't care Randi." She said.

  I sat back and closed my eyes, "Okay if I tell you the truth you can't repeat it anywhere." I said.

  I opened my eyes and looked at her as she nodded, "I promise" she said, whispering so quietly I had to strain to hear her.

  "Okay. I am not from this planet. I am from a planet nearly identical to Terra called Earth. I am a scientist and I came here to study your planet and to learn from you because you have no pollution here" I said quickly.

  Vanessa's eyes grew wide, "Are you serious?" she asked.

  I nodded, "Yes." I said simply.

  She shook her head, "What is pollution?" she asked again.

  I sighed, "It's hard to explain, but it's basically a smoke that stays in the air and makes it hard for us to breath. Our planet is dying because of it."

  "Okay, if this is true, how exactly did you get here?" she asked.

  I folded my arms to hold myself, "On a spaceship." I said slowly. "I know that sounds crazy, but it's true."

  Vanessa sat back in her seat, "I don't know what to believe" she said.

  "Our mission was to blend in and learn as much about this planet and how you kept pollution out, and when we got here we had a ready made underground story just waiting for us to take it" I said, trying to make her believe me, even though I knew if someone had told me this story I would have thought they were a mental case.

  "How long did it take you to get here?" she finally asked after several minutes of silence.

  "About six months" I said.

  She looked over at me so quickly, I thought she might have given herself whiplash. "Six months?" she asked, obviously surprised.

  "Has anyone on Terra ever been to space?" I asked her, curious if they had already explored their moon.

  She shook her head, "No. They don't even let us explore our own world, much less what is out in space, as you call it" she said.

  I groaned, "Okay. I know I sound crazy Vanessa, but you are just going to have to believe me on this one." I said.

  She looked at me for a few seconds before looking away, "I don't know. I'll need some time to absorb all of this." She finally said.

  I nodded, "I completely understand, take all the time you need. In the meantime, tell me about your meeting last night, how did it go?" I asked her.

  "Oh, they will reserve an apartment for me for when I'm ready to come" she said in a strange voice.

  "Well that's good news" I said, smiling, trying to take her mind off of the world shattering secret I had just told her.

  She nodded, "Yes, it is. I'm tired, so I'm going to go and lie down." She said, getting up and moving to an empty seat far enough away from me that she couldn't see me as she disappeared into the seat. I sat back and sighed, wonder how I had managed to make two people run to the other side of the bus from me in just two days.

  ***

  I looked up from the window as the bus finally came to a stop. Vanessa was now sitting up front by the driver, looking like she couldn't wait to run away from the bus. Brandon was grabbing our bags from the seat in front of me, a smile on his face.

  "Hey, I thought you were still asleep. We are here, time to go" he said.

  I wondered for a second if Vanessa had tried to ask Brandon questions about what I had told her, trying to see if I was telling the truth or not.

  "What's the matter?" Brandon asked me.

  I looked up at him and smiled, "Nothing." I said.

  "Come on, let's go." He said, helping me up out of my seat.

  I followed him off of the bus, looking around to see where Vanessa had gone. I finally caught a glimpse of her straight black hair as she quickly walked into the main government building. I looked over at Brandon and figured that she needed some space to think about things so I grabbed his hand as we walked back toward Flora's house.

  "Randi, I'm not sure we should be holding hands here" he said, though not letting go of me.

  I sighed, "Honestly Brandon, I really don't care anymore. I'm ready to go home" I said.

  "We're going home. We'll be there in a minute. What's the matter with you?" he asked, noting my surly attitude.

  "I'm talking about Earth home, not Flora's stupid gray house" I said with an attitude.

  Brandon stopped walking and I looked over at him. He had a concerned look in his eyes that I hadn't seen since he had accidentally hit me in the head with a baseball and knocked me out when we were sixteen.

  "Okay, you are starting to freak me out Randi. What the hell is wrong with you?" he asked, his voice taking on a deeper note.

  I sighed, "I'm just sick of this place. I miss Stacey, and color, and being able to hold your hand anytime I wanted to" I said.

  Brandon laughed, "Yeah I know. I miss home too, but need I remind you that you would not hold my hand back home? Maybe I'm not ready to go back to that. Besides, we have to at least try to finish our mission" he
said.

  I let go of his hand and put my hands on my hips, "Okay, wait just a minute. We talked about leaving early and you agreed with me that there was no reason to stay here for the full year" I said, wanting to yell, but managing to keep my voice down.

  He nodded, "I know I did. It's just that after going to Europa, I think there is still so much that we don't know about this planet, and maybe we should stay longer" he said.

  "I told Vanessa" I blurted out before I could stop my mouth.

  Brandon's eyes narrowed, "You told her what exactly?" he asked me.

  I bit my lip, "Oh um. I told her that we were aliens here to explore their planet" I said in one breath.

  Brandon threw his arms up, "What the fuck Randi! You just completely blew our cover! How could you tell her that?" he said, yelling loud enough that I had to shush him.

  "Be quiet! I was tired and cranky and it just sort of slipped out. I don't think she will tell anyone. I will talk to her tomorrow and explain to her how important this mission is." I said.

  Brandon put his hands onto his head, "No way. You think I'm going to let you walk into the main government building tomorrow, with someone knowing that you are from another planet. Are you crazy? They will kill you!" he said.

  I shook my head, "No, don't you see. Vanessa doesn't trust her government anymore and wants to move away to the underground. The only thing keeping her here is that she has been trying to convince her parents to go with her, but they are happy the way they are."

  Brandon grabbed my hand and started to pull me faster in the direction of Flora's house. "What are we doing?" I asked quickly.

  "We are going to get to Flora's house and pack out stuff and get back to the ship as fast as we can" he said.

  "Why?" I asked, knowing in my heart that Vanessa would be okay and not tell anyone.

  "Are you crazy? We have to get out of this sector. We can find another underground city and do more research there and change our names or something, but we cannot stay here" he said.

  "Brandon. I trust Vanessa" I yelled to his back.

  He didn't say anything as he kept pulling me behind him. I ran with him, scared to stop, but knowing that I needed to reason with him once we stopped. We ran the rest of the way to Flora's house, still holding hands. Once we reached the front door, Brandon opened it and pushed me inside ahead of him.

  "Go upstairs and pack Randi, we don't have time to debate this" he said frantically.

  I stopped and turned to him, "Brandon I really don't think she will tell anyone" I said.

  He pointed toward the stairs, "It doesn't matter. We are leaving and will wait it out a few days, find out how things are after that. Now, go!" he yelled.

  I turned and ran up the stars, letting Brandon's hysteria start to worry me. Maybe it was a good idea to hide out in the spaceship for a few days, and maybe I could convince Brandon to leave this planet and go home. I ran to my room and stuffed the gray bag I had brought with me from the spaceship with only the things I had come with, plus the clothes I was already wearing.

  Brandon walked into my room from the bathroom, his bag already packed as he pulled it onto his back, "Are you ready?" he asked.

  I simply nodded as I followed him back down the stairs where Flora was waiting for us, "What happened?" she asked.

  "Our cover is blown and we need to go back underground before people start to come and look for us" Brandon said, not knowing that all of this had happened for Flora before.

  "Was it Vanessa?" she asked.

  Brandon looked over at me and nodded, "Yes, we are afraid that she has told someone about us and before they can come find us, we are leaving" he said.

  Flora looked over at me, "I tried to warn you that she was not trustworthy. She trusts in the wrong people. I have a feeling my time here is limited. They are going to notice that this has happened again. Be careful and hopefully I will see you again someday when the coalition finally wins." She said, then turned around and disappeared into the darkness of the hallway.

  "Come on let's go" Brandon said as he pulled me toward the back door.

  We walked quickly through the door and followed the path that we had come just a short time before. It was odd walking through the back of the sector again. In such a short time things had changed so much for us, that it looked almost completely different. We walked for a few minutes until we found the secret door out. I waited as Brandon pushed it open and looked out to make sure the coast was clear before stepping out. I quickly followed behind and waited again in silence as he closed it behind us.

  I looked up as we turned to walk away from the gray wall and I saw the waterfall in the distance. I had forgotten how far away it had been and regretted that I hadn't worn better walking shoes. I looked around and saw that the hills were empty around us.

  "Do you think we'll see James?" I asked him.

  Brandon shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know. I hope not, I don't want to have to try to explain anything to him. But, he's usually pretty close to the entrance and I don't see him so maybe he isn't meeting anyone today" he said.

  I kept walking, struggling to keep up with the pace Brandon was setting, "Can you slow down a little? I didn't know we were going to be walking today and I wore heels" I said, wishing I could just take my shoes completely off and walk.

  Brandon looked down at my feet and slightly slowed his pace, "What was Flora talking about back at the house?" he asked me.

  I sighed, "Oh, she had told me a story when you were gone to sector six. The last coalition people she had staying at the house almost got caught by the government. One of them was a woman who was working with Vanessa, and she opened up to her about being in the coalition and Vanessa trusted the wrong person and they told the government people who came to arrest them."

  "What happened to them?" Brandon asked as he took my bag from me, making it lighter on my already aching feet.

  "Vanessa felt bad that the person she had confided in blabbed and so she came and warned Flora, who was able to get them out and back underground before the police made it there. She then played dumb when they came looking for them."

  Brandon shook his head from in front of me, "After all of that, I cannot believe you trusted her" he said. "That's just not like you. Do you have feelings for her?"

  My mouth dropped open, "No. I do not have feelings for her. I care for her as a friend, but nothing more. I do not have any romantic feelings for her whatsoever" I said, shocked that he would even accuse me of this.

  Brandon nodded, "Okay. I just had to make sure, sorry" he said, still walking.

  I sighed, "I just don't think that after what happened last time that she would chance it again, but I've known you a long time and I trust your judgment." I said.

  "Good. We will just wait it out for a couple of days and then venture somewhere else" he said.

  I looked up from my feet, trying to gauge how much longer we had to walk and saw that we were not far from the lake and waterfall and sighed, "Can't we just leave?" I asked.

  Brandon laughed, "What do you think Jessica will say when we get back nearly a year ahead of schedule and we tell her that we left before doing everything we could?" he asked.

  I groaned, "She would flip her lid" I said, knowing that I was going to lose this fight.

  I stayed quiet as we walked around the lake and headed toward the waterfall where our ship was hidden. It really was well hidden behind the water, we had already walked around the waterfall and I still could not see where the ship was. I followed Brandon to the small opening that we could slip through to get behind the waterfall without actually getting wet. It wasn't until we were completely behind the waterfall that I finally saw the ship sitting there dark and quiet.

  "Home sweet home" I said, actually happy to get back inside where I had spent so much time.

  Chapter Twenty Five

  I looked down at the blank piece of paper, thinking of how I was going to tell someone that even though they were only looking out for
me I was going to do something dangerous anyway.

  I quickly wrote my note, "Brandon. I'm sorry, but I have to talk to Vanessa to make sure she doesn't tell anyone about us. I will be back soon, please don't worry. Love Randi."

  I stood up and quietly walked to the door, hoping that Brandon was still sleeping. I took a deep breath as I waited for the door to open and sprinted outside, hoping to get to Vanessa and be back before Brandon got too angry with me.

  I made good time as I walked up to the gray wall, happy to not have run into anyone. I slipped through the hidden door and walked quickly down the street toward the government building. As I approached the tall building, I took a deep breath and held out my empty coffee cup, hoping it made me look normal.

  I walked through the doors and waved to the girl at the front desk like I did every morning. I was surprised though when instead of cheerfully waving back at me she just gave me a small smile and turned around in her desk. My heart started to pound as I tried to calm myself down long enough to make it through the door, hoping that it was just a coincidence that she hadn't greeted me in her usual way.

  I stepped up to the door and slid my card, nearly fainting when the door light did not flash green as I was used to. I quickly looked around as I tried it again, hoping with every part of me that I had just messed up somehow. I watched the light stay red, after swiping it three more times.

  "Randi" I heard a man say behind me.

  I turned and saw a tall man with brown hair that was graying in the temples standing behind me with five guards standing behind him.

  "Yes? Why is my badge not working?" I asked, practically whispering as my heart pounded in my chest.

  "I'm going to need you to come with us" he said sternly.

  "What is this about?" I asked, calculating my next move.

  The man inched forward toward me, "You need to come with us now" he said, this time more loudly.

  I looked around, panicking and decided to try and run back to the ship. My heart sunk a little as I realized that I didn't want to lead them back to the ship, so I would need to try and lose them along the way.