by Amy DuBoff
Jason hurried inside and Raena followed.
“I’m sorry we tried to sneak out,” she said as soon as the door closed.
Wil selected the surface on the control panel next to the door. He was silent for a moment. “It wasn’t fair of us to dump all of this on you so suddenly. This isn’t how we typically handle the transition for people raised on Earth.”
“What would you normally do?” Raena asked.
“Begin with a written introduction, posing as a university,” Wil explained. “Make some sort of scholarship offer and arrange an in-person meeting in a neutral public location. An Agent would attend under cover to verify the candidate’s ability potential, and then they’d arrange for a private follow-up interview where there’d be some presentation of telekinetic abilities. If it’s the right kind of candidate we’d want here in the TSS, they’d be sold right there.”
Jason softened slightly. “But Raena’s abilities came on so suddenly you had to rush things.”
Wil nodded. “That’s right. I’m sorry, we should have been more prepared.”
“It seems like a lot was working against you today,” Raena replied.
“Isn’t that the truth?” Wil smiled.
A thud sounded outside and the elevator shuddered slightly. Raena was about to question the sound but her father’s calm demeanor indicated everything was normal.
Jason also seemed to notice the sound and dismissed it. “But Mom and Michael went through that standard intro?” he questioned.
“More or less,” Wil replied. “But Michael’s father was a former Agent so things were a little different.”
“How—” Jason began.
“It’s complicated,” their father replied with a sigh. “Suffice to say that all of us ended up where we were supposed to be.”
Raena stood in silent contemplation for another two minutes while the elevator continued its ascension. Then, the pulsing white light ceased and the doors parted.
Any doubts about their location evaporated immediately.
“Whoa!” Raena breathed, taking in the moonscape outside the glass dome. Beyond the gray, dusty surface in shadow, stars gleamed in the velvety blackness of space stretching as far as she could see.
“This is incredible,” Jason said, awe audible in his voice as he stepped out of the elevator.
Wil smiled. “Believe me now?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Jason grinned back.
Raena pulled her gaze from space and walked forward to get a better view of the port. She spotted some small spacecrafts docked down each of three corridors fanning out from the elevator lobby. “Is that what we’ll take to Tararia?” she asked, skeptical.
Her father laughed. “Stars, no! All the transport ships are up there.” He pointed upward behind her.
Raena turned around and looked up toward what had been to her back since she exited the elevator. Her jaw dropped when she saw a massive structure suspended above them, concourses branching from a central hub with massive spaceships docked in many of the open berths. “No way!”
Jason swiveled to see what she was looking at. “What the…?”
“How has no one on Earth seen that up there?” Raena asked. “When you said the TSS doctored footage from probes on Earth, I was thinking maybe there was a little port deep in a crater, or something. But that!”
“Well, it can’t be seen from the planet since it’s anchored here on the side that faces away at all times. But yeah, there are some longstanding agreements with the governments of Earth that we get to modify all surveillance footage.”
“That seems impossible,” Jason murmured.
“We won’t be able to for much longer,” Wil agreed. “All right, satisfied?”
Jason’s gaze was still fixed on the massive spacedock. “Can we go up there?”
“Not now. But soon.” Wil pressed the elevator call button and the doors to the same car reopened.
Jason sighed but nodded his understanding. “Okay, I guess we really are in space.”
“Very well.” Wil stepped back into the elevator. “Now, we’ve all had very long days. Let’s get some rest. This’ll all be less weird in the morning.”
As farfetched as that seemed to Raena at the moment, she had a feeling he was right. I guess we’ll have to get used to our new home.
They rode the elevator back to Headquarters in relative silence. Wil escorted them back to their quarters and left them with a gentle ribbing about not trying to sneak out again.
Once inside with the hallway door closed, Raena collapsed on the couch. “We’re really going to do this, aren’t we? Live out some fantasy from a book we read.”
“Yeah, I guess we really are,” Jason replied.
Raena grinned. “You know, I think this is going to be great.”
CHAPTER 11
The next two days were refreshingly uneventful after the chaos of Raena’s unexpected departure from Earth. Not nearly enough time had passed for her to feel comfortable in the strange surroundings of Headquarters, or to be able to relate to the experiences of the other members in the TSS, but it hadn’t taken long for her to glimpse the feeling of community her parents had talked about.
Living in such an enclosed environment forced people to focus on commonalities rather than calling out differences, and Raena was pleased to see what a difference that made in day-to-day interactions. While becoming acquainted with new individuals, they asked about her interests, not what she’d done in the past. Values of individuality and how unique strengths could benefit the whole dominated the culture. It left her anxious for classes to start when the new term began, but there was still a lot to do before then.
On the morning of the third day after arriving from Earth, Raena was in the process of dressing in some Taran civilian clothes her parents had provided—a simple outfit with form-fitting black pants and a long-sleeve teal V-neck—when there was a chime at the front door. The viewscreen in her room illuminated and she saw that her father was in the hallway.
She quickly finished dressing and went out into the common room to find that Jason had already answered the door.
“Good morning,” Wil greeted her. “How are you feeling today?”
“Great,” she replied. “The headache is finally gone.”
Her father nodded. “Let’s have Irina give you one final exam and then you should be ready to travel to Tararia.”
“How long will we be gone?” Raena asked.
“I’m not sure. A week, maybe?”
Jason crossed his arms. “You need to let us talk to our friends back home before we go.”
“Yeah, I know Katie will be freaking out,” Raena said. “You promised to let us get in touch after a few days.”
Wil hesitated. “What would you tell your friends?”
Raena glanced at her brother. “That you took us on a spontaneous trip out of the country?”
“We already said that much in the post to your Feeds,” her father pointed out.
“Well what about the house?” Raena questioned. “Is it just sitting vacant? You’d also said we could go back for our things.”
“Yes, we can go down sometime after we’re back from Tararia,” Wil replied. “And Michael’s looking after the house for us. He and Elise are still commuting because of Corine.”
“Okay, but… It’s been three days since we suddenly left school. They’ll be worried,” Raena insisted. “Posting a generic message to our Feed isn’t enough.”
“All right,” Wil yielded. “I’ll unblock your handhelds, but please be respectful of the TSS’ communication policies. You’re enrolled as Trainees now even though classes haven’t started, so I need to hold you to the same standards as anyone else.”
“I promise,” Raena said, and Jason murmured his agreement.
“As soon as you’re done,” Wil continued, “report to Medical. Irina is expecting you. Assuming you’re cleared, we’ll leave in an hour. I’ll be back here to get you then.”
Raena n
odded. “See you.”
As soon as her father had gone, Raena returned to her bedroom and grabbed her handheld from its charging pad. She tugged on the sides of the device to open it. When the main screen illuminated, she pulled up the contact list for all the numbers back on Earth that had previously been blocked. This time, when she scanned through the list, there was no longer a red dot next to those names.
She tapped on Katie’s name and selected the text message option from the pop-up menu.
“Hey! Sorry I haven’t been in touch,” she started to type before realizing that she was writing in New Taran. She erased the text and changed the entry interface to English before starting over. Nervous, she sent the message and waited for a reply.
Several seconds later, the handheld buzzed. “OMG, where are you?!”
“We left on an extended family trip,” Raena replied. “We’ve been in transit.” Her stomach knotted as she lied to her friend.
“That doesn’t make any sense. Why did your parents take you away so suddenly?”
Raena struggled to come up with an excuse. With a frustrated sigh, she jogged into the common room. “Jason, what are you telling them?”
Her brother emerged from his bedroom. “I was just going to ask you the same thing. Everything that comes to mind just sounds dumb or would bring up more questions.”
“What about… ‘our grandfather is sick’?” she suggested. “I went home sick with a migraine, and that night Dad got a message that his dad was ill and we went as a family to go see him, since we hadn’t had the opportunity to make the trip before. He might die, and couldn’t let him go without seeing his grandchildren in person.”
“I guess that might work…” Jason said. “But why hadn’t we been able to make the trip before? It’s weird not ever seeing grandparents.”
“Old family drama!” The story started to come together in Raena’s mind. “Dad left home long ago and we’ve barely talked with our grandparents. With grandpa really sick, this was the only chance to fix the relationship before he dies.”
Jason smiled. “I like it. I mean, as a story. That doesn’t explain the ‘we’re not coming back to school’ part, though.”
“Good point.” Raena groaned. “I’m a terrible liar.”
“No, this situation is just fucked up,” Jason replied. “We shouldn’t have to invent a story to tell our friends.”
“We can’t tell the truth, though. They’ll think we’ve lost our minds!” Raena laughed. “Well, we could tell the truth and then they’d figure that the reason we aren’t coming back is because we were locked up.”
“Ha! I don’t think I want to be remembered as the two over-achievers that went crazy.”
“Yeah, me either.”
“What about… Grandpa is sick with some drawn-out illness?” Jason invented. “He has about eight months to live, which will bring us through the rest of the school year. Mom needs to be there to support Dad, so we’re just going to be home schooled from…”
“Slovenia!” Raena jumped in. “Our grandparents live in a remote village no one has heard of.”
Jason shrugged. “Why not? Sure.”
“Okay,” Raena agreed. She returned her attention to her handheld. “Our grandfather is really sick,” Raena texted to Katie. “After I got home from school with that migraine, our dad got the message from his mom. We immediately got a flight to Slovenia. It took forever to get up to their village, and the cell reception is terrible. Apparently there are still places in the world with crappy connectivity.”
“That’s awful!” Katie replied. “How long does he have?”
“Less than a year,” Raena told her. “I think we’re going to miss the rest of the school year.”
“But Winter Formal! And prom!”
Can’t say I was terribly excited about going. “I know. But… This is the only chance to patch things up before he dies.”
“Yeah, I guess that’s more important,” her friend said. Then, “Damn, this sucks. You didn’t even say goodbye.”
“I know, I’m sorry. Can you tell everyone I’m okay and not to worry?”
“You should tell them yourself! Upload some scenic pictures of the town to your Feed.”
Raena’s heart sank. “I don’t really want to explain my family’s private business in a public forum, you know?”
“Yeah, I get it.”
“I’ll miss you, Katie,” Raena said. “I’ll write you again when I can. But, crappy connection.”
“Good luck in the wilderness.”
“Thanks.” Raena tossed her handheld down on the couch. “This feels so wrong.”
Jason groaned and put his own handheld in his pocket. “We’re supposed to live up to the TSS’ ethical code, and somehow lying to our longtime friends is the best way to do that? No.”
“Katie seemed to understand—at least, that’s how her messages sounded. She probably thinks we’ve been kidnapped.”
“Well, we sort of were. Just by our parents.” Jason ran his fingers through his hair. “And now we’re going to leave the solar system…”
“Speaking of which,” Raena grabbed her handheld from the couch, “we’re supposed to get cleared by Medical.”
“Yeah, let’s go,” her brother agreed. “We’ve been cooped up here for days. If we can’t be at home, I guess we may as well see what space travel is all about.”
“When you put it in those terms, I think I’ll find a way to stay distracted from my guilt.”
“Same.”
They made their way up to Level 1 via the central elevator, still drawing attention from passersby in the hall for being dressed in civilian clothes while coming out from the Junior Agents’ wing.
The receptionist at the front counter in Medical smiled when they approached. “Hello, again. Here for another checkup?”
“Hopefully the last for now,” Raena replied. “Our father said Irina would be expecting us.”
“Yes, go on back to the exam rooms,” the receptionist replied.
Raena and Jason nodded their thanks and headed to the left. They were only midway down the hall when Irina came out of another exam room in front of them.
“Hi, you two. I hear your dad wants to depart for Tararia this morning?”
“That’s the plan,” Jason replied. “If you clear us.”
“Let’s see,” Irina said and led them down three doors to an empty room. She closed the door behind them, then removed her tinted glasses and concentrated on Jason.
“Should I lay down, or—” he started to ask.
“No,” Irina stated. “You’re fine. The dampening agent has already dissolved. Any more headaches or flashes?”
Jason shook his head.
Irina turned to Raena and likewise focused on her. Raena’s skin felt electrified under the doctor’s gaze.
“You’ll be very gifted,” a voice said in Raena’s mind.
Her pulse spiked with surprise. She stared into Irina’s eyes and sensed that she was the speaker.
“Anyone can receive a message. Try to reply,” Irina said.
“Like this?” Raena asked, forming the words in her head.
“Precisely. You’re a natural.”
“What about Jason?”
Irina smiled faintly. “He’ll be stronger than I ever would have thought possible before I met your grandfather, but you take after your father. You’re very special, Raena.”
“Should I be worried?”
“No. You’ve passed the most difficult hurdle in the Awakening. Your abilities will emerge gradually now. Believe you are in control and you will be. I anticipate you advancing very quickly.”
Raena swallowed.
“Others won’t be able to detect your abilities for another month or so. At this early stage, there are only spikes when you actively use the abilities. It takes time for the telekinetic aura to stabilize around you.”
“And then?” Raena asked.
“Everyone will know just how special you reall
y are.”
Raena realized that almost no time had passed during the telepathic exchange. “Why doesn’t everyone communicate this way all the time?”
“We’re training not to intrude in other’s minds. The intimacy is uncomfortable to some. And talking out loud helps us connect with the rest of the population. You’ll learn the right times for these private exchanges.” The doctor smiled at her. “All clear,” she said aloud. “I’ll make a note on your records that you’ve been cleared for travel and active duty. If you start to feel off, though, please tell your parents right away.”
“Thanks,” Raena replied.
“Have a nice trip,” the doctor said with a warm smile. “I’ll see you when you come back.”
Raena and Jason returned to their quarters and began packing for Tararia. As Raena gathered several sets of clothes and began placing the articles in a travel bag, she couldn’t shake the strange feeling of telepathically communicating with the doctor. Am I really that much stronger than Jason? It didn’t even occur to me that our abilities might be different.
Adding to her discomfort was the bizarre situation of packing a suitcase full of items that weren’t really hers. The items were all custom-made to her size, but they didn’t feel like hers.
She was struck by a sudden pang of homesickness. We can’t talk to our friends. We have none of our old things. All that we have now is each other.
The knot in her chest persisted while she finished packing. When the bag was sealed, Raena slung it over her shoulder and went out into the living room. She saw Jason still rummaging around in his room through the open doorway so she sat down on the couch to wait. “Dad will be here soon.”
“I know,” Jason replied. “I’m ready.” He came out from the bedroom with his own bag. “This was weird, right? Packing for a trip to another planet—and having none of the things be ours?”
“Yeah, this may as well be a stranger’s suitcase.”
A chime sounded at the door.
“Time to venture into the great unknown,” Jason said as he stepped over to answer the door.
Raena rose from the couch and grabbed her bag.
Their parents were waiting in the hall.
“Ready for your first interstellar voyage?” Wil asked.