The Tundra Trials

by Monica Tesler

  More cheers. At this point, I’m not even sure what we’re cheering for.

  “I am so deeply honored to take up the reins left behind by the incomparable Florine Statton as the new Director of Bounder Affairs. Now, without further ado, I am pleased to announce that the Tundra Trials begin today!”

  Now I’m cheering along with the masses. I still only know what Waters told us about the Tundra Trials, but I bet they’re going to be epic.

  It seems Sheek doesn’t know much about the Tundra Trials either, because he returns the podium to Ridders for a full explanation.

  “You’re right to be excited,” Ridders says. “But make no mistake, you have much work ahead of you. The Tundra Trials are a grueling pod-against-pod astrocache competition across the surface of Gulaga.”

  Ridders activates a projection screen, and a visual of the planet’s surface appears in the air above him. He presses a button, and dozens of Earth Force insignias appear on the landscape. The projection turns, and more targets come into view across the planet. “Caches are placed strategically at different geographic locations on the surface. You will need to use your skills in navigation, teamwork, blast-pack flight, and bounding to find as many caches and collect as many tokens as possible over the weeks ahead.”

  Ridders deactivates the projection. “The point of the Trials is to simulate real-life situations in your training and prioritize the pod over the person. We expect you to hone your skills and your cunning, as you will need both to be successful Earth Force officers. The Trials will commence this morning and will be overseen by Commander Krag, the highest-ranking Gulagan officer in Earth Force. The commander will explain the rules of the Tundra Trials once you reach the surface.”

  Lucy elbows me and whispers, “Commander Krag is Neeka’s dad!”

  A plebe approaches the podium. Ridders covers the microphone with his hand. “Excellent timing,” he says after talking with the plebe. “Stand and salute your admiral!”

  So the rumors were right. We leap to our feet, whipping our hands against our foreheads.

  As I watch for the intricate doors to open, an honor guard marches by our carrel. The admiral must be using the back door.

  The guards escort a small figure clad in the Earth Force uniform. As they descend the ramp and approach the podium, their ranks part. Admiral Eames steps to the microphone. It’s the perfect height.

  Maybe I was wrong. Maybe it was built for her.

  She gestures for us to quiet down. “Greetings, fellow officers, cadets of the EarthBound Academy, and esteemed guests. Welcome to the Earth Force sovereign nation of Gulaga. Cadets, today your training begins in earnest. Make no mistake, the progress you make at the Academy will translate into victories in battle. Your duties are to your planet, and your planet needs you.”

  Sheek, standing at her right elbow, bursts into applause, our cue to do the same.

  “You have looked into the face of the Youli,” the admiral says somberly. “You have seen their rotten core through their hollow eyes. Those eyes are searching for you across the galaxies. They will hunt you down and try to extinguish you.”

  Whoa. That seems a bit extreme. Hunting down and extinguishing us sounds quite a bit different from the Youli urging us to leave the Paleo Planet.

  “They seek to exterminate all of humanity and claim Earth as their own,” she continues.

  Marco bumps my shoulder. “Exterminate us and claim Earth?” he whispers. “That’s not what I imagined when Waters mentioned a territory and policy dispute.”

  The admiral leans forward. “The hour could not be more grave. Focus on your training, master your skills. You will be called upon to use them imminently. The time is now to seize your birthright.”

  When the admiral stops talking, the chamber is silent. Then a lone voice rises up. “Birthright! Bounders fight!”

  Cole and I exchange glances. Whoever decided to shout in this moment of military decorum is definitely going to be in big trouble.

  But then another voice joins the chant, and another, and another.

  “Birthright! Bounders fight!”

  “Birthright! Bounders fight!”

  “Birthright! Bounders fight!”

  Soon almost everyone in the chamber has joined the chant, pumping their fists in the air with each word. At the podium, Admiral Eames slowly lifts her hands overhead. The volume in the chamber swells.

  I don’t know what to do. This feels all wrong. There’s so much we don’t know. There’s so much we do know that’s not right. Like how they bred us to be soldiers, how they’ve lied about the Youli, how they’ve tested alien technology on kids. Mira is agitated and nervous. She grabs my hand.

  On either side of me, Cole and Lucy chant. I guess they’d rather blend in than stand out on principle.

  Marco shakes his head. “Not doing it.”

  The admiral stares up at our carrel. We must be the only cadets not chanting.

  I’m so torn. I don’t want to feel like the odd man out anymore. But I know too much to see things in black and white.

  Mira squeezes my left hand. Stay strong.

  “Birthright! Bounders fight!”

  “Birthright! Bounders fight!”

  “Birthright! Bounders fight!”

  I lift my fist in the air, but I don’t say the words.

  12

  THE ADMIRAL RETURNS THE PODIUM to Ridders and exits through the hall next to our carrel. When she passes by, she nods at us. I’m not sure if it’s a Welcome back nod or a You’d better shape up nod. Either way, she makes me nervous.

  Ridders wraps up the briefing and invites in the twenty-six junior ambassadors, one assigned to each pod. We have an hour to get to the surface for the start of the Tundra Trials, and our ambassadors are charged with bringing us there. If there’s one thing I learned yesterday, it’s to not leave Neeka when we need to navigate the twists and turns of Gulagaven.

  All the junior ambassadors are wearing the same custom Earth Force brown bags, which Lucy calls frocks. I’m not sure how we’ll spot Neeka in the crowd.

  I don’t worry long, because as soon as we step foot on the chamber floor, Neeka nearly knocks Lucy down with a hug. She’s tied orange and blue ribbons around the left shoulder strap of her frock. I don’t need to guess where those ribbons came from.

  “Oh! Oh! I’m so happy to see you this morning! I was so devastated yesterday when the boys got lost, and Father had some hard words for me last night, and I promised that today things would be different and we would all stay together. You hear that, boys? I said we’d all stay together. And that means no wandering off on your own or exploring off-limits tunnels or befriending any Wackies. Got it?”

  “We didn’t wander off on our own,” Cole says. “You left us.”

  “How were we supposed to know that tunnel was off-limits?” I ask.

  “Befriending Wackies?” Marco says. “I wouldn’t exactly say we befriended him, but do you mean Barrick is a Wacky?”

  I hadn’t thought about Barrick since we made it to the burrow yesterday, but if Neeka’s saying he’s a Wacky, that may call for some follow-up questions.

  “Oh! No! I most definitely did not say that. We are not allowed to talk about Wackies. That is on the prohibited list for sure. Father would be very disappointed.”

  Lucy links her arm with Neeka. “Remember what I said yesterday, sweetie? These boys will trick you into saying anything. Now, same plan as yesterday: girls up front, boys in the back. But this time, you boys need to stay in line.” She delivers these last words with her hands on her hips, glaring at us.

  Marco salutes. “Yes, ma’am.”

  She slaps him on the arm. “Cut that out.”

  We follow Neeka out of the chamber and through the winding tunnels of Gulagaven. At first, we’re with most of the other cadets in a huge herd. But soon the crowd thins, and it’s just our pod, gradually making our way to the surface, listening to Neeka and Lucy drone on and on. Marco puts his hands out to slow me and
Cole.

  “What?” Cole says as the girls pull ahead.

  “Quiet, Wiki,” Marco says. “Just hang back.”

  “We don’t want to get lost again,” I say, urging us forward. “Plus, Lucy will flip if we get separated.”

  “We won’t. I just want to give them a little space so they can’t hear our every word.”

  The girls pull ahead. They don’t seem to notice that we’ve fallen behind. From what I can tell, Neeka and Lucy are engaged in a game of competitive talking.

  “What’s up?” I ask Marco.

  “Did you hear what Neeka said about Barrick? That he’s a Wacky?”

  “That’s not what she said,” Cole says.

  “It’s what she implied,” he says.

  “Maybe,” I say. “But what are we going to do with that information? Barrick bolted the second he got a chance. We’ll probably never see him again.”

  “We need to find him,” Marco says.

  “Maybe Waters knows where he is,” Cole says.

  “That’s right, Brainiac!” Marco says. “Barrick said he knew Waters! What do you think about that juicy nugget? A Wacky who knows Waters who happens to rescue us? What are the odds? It’s fate, and we need to find him.”

  “It has nothing to do with fate and everything to do with him spotting three cadets out of their element and reluctantly stepping in to help,” I say. “Although I admit it’s weird he knows Waters.” Somehow Waters seems to be at the center of everything. I wish I knew why. Maybe if I told my pod mates about the brain patch, we could come up with an explanation. Of course, they’d be so mad at me for keeping secrets, they may never talk to me again.

  “I want to find Barrick, too,” Cole says. “I want to get a look at that first-generation voice-translation box.”

  “Let’s try to get some more info out of Neeka,” Marco says. “She may know about the summit, and she definitely knows about the Wackies.”

  “Fine,” I say. “And we can watch for signs of the Wackies out on the tundra during the Trials. But let’s not get derailed with this. I don’t want to be on anyone’s radar this tour, and we’re already on Ridders’s watch list. As far as I’m concerned—”

  I almost crash right into Lucy, who’s planted herself in our path with Neeka and Mira by her sides.

  “Are you trying to get Neeka in trouble, and our whole pod right along with her?” she asks.

  “Huh?”

  “Don’t you play all space cadet with me, Jasper Adams! We turn around and you’re so far back we can barely spot you. From now on, you’re my buddy. I’m going to keep track of you if I have to hold your hand for the rest of the tour.” Lucy swipes my hand up in her own. Neeka loops her paw around Marco’s elbow. That leaves Mira and Cole to walk side by side in the back of our buddy train.

  We fall in line and take the long way up to the surface. Fortunately, Neeka honors my request not to cross any bridges. As we make our way through the last stretch of tunnel to the surface, the air gets colder by the second. Our breath puffs in chilly clouds as we walk. There aren’t any side tunnels with burrows or bars or even work spaces. The higher levels of Gulagaven are truly inhospitable. It makes me fear what’s waiting on the surface.

  “Almost there.” Neeka rubs her fur and hurries along.

  If she’s cold in a fur coat, you’d better believe it’s freezing.

  “Any chance we could get some hot chocolate? Or at least some winter gear?” Marco asks. “I’m turning into a Popsicle.”

  “As a matter of fact,” Neeka says, pointing ahead to a large door with a thick metal knocker, “the outfitter is the first stop of the final ascent.” When we reach the door, Neeka twists the knocker and pulls.

  We follow Neeka inside. The walls of the room are covered with a thick, fuzzy coating which I’m guessing is for insulation because it’s quite a bit warmer. Thank goodness. I can barely feel my toes. The room is filled with Tunnelers and Bounders. Most of the cadets made it here before us. They must have crossed a few bridges.

  Long benches stretch across the room. They’re packed with cadets piling on layer after layer of protective weather gear. The Bounders who are furthest along look like giant puffer fish. That’s what we have to wear? How are we going to walk? Or fly? Or bound, for Earth’s sake?

  Neeka waves us over to a counter manned by a couple of Tunnelers. She asks our shoe size and passes that information along. The Tunnelers head to the back and reemerge minutes later with a gear bin for each of us.

  I take my bin and find a spot near the wall. Unfortunately, I’m directly across from Regis. I didn’t recognize him beneath all those layers.

  As soon as I sit down, he’s on me. “How was your first night, Jasper?”

  I figure not responding is the best approach, but I forget that Marco is sitting beside me.

  “How’s your sad, pathetic life, Regis?” he asks.

  “Am I talking to you, Romero?”

  “I sure hope not.”

  Thankfully I’m saved by Captain Edgar Han, Regis’s pod leader, who I also didn’t recognize at first under all the gear. “Regis, Randall, Hakim, let’s go. We’re having a pod meeting before the Trials start. Wear your bounding gloves. They’ll keep your hands warm. And you’re going to need them.”

  “Pod meeting?” Cole whispers as Mira, Lucy, and Neeka grab the seats left behind by Regis and crew. “That’s completely unfair! Our pod leader isn’t even here!”

  “Oh! You’re in for a treat!” Neeka says. “Father told me this morning. Since your pod leader hasn’t arrived on Gulaga yet, the most famous aeronaut in the world is going to be your substitute—”

  Oh no. “Not—”

  “Maximilian Sheek!” Neeka is obviously expecting us to jump up and down, or at least cheer or something, when she tells us that Sheek is going to be our substitute pod leader. When she sees our downcast expressions, she slumps, too. “Whatever is the matter? I thought you’d be delighted!”

  “Sheek is nothing but a liability,” Lucy says. “The only thing awesome about him is his hair.”

  “But I thought—”

  “You and the whole world, sweetie,” Lucy says. “Sometimes we know too much for our own good.”

  As if he heard his name whispered among the masses, Sheek makes his grand entrance. He’s decked head to toe in custom-made winter fashion, of course. His outfit reminds me of the coat Lucy wore on our mountain hike, although ten times fancier.

  “There you are, honorary podettes!” He waltzes over to us. “Chop! Chop! I’m holding a strategy session in two minutes!” He pauses—and poses—for the whole room to take in his greatness before waltzing out of the outfitter.

  “Strategy for what?” Marco asks. “How to be a complete fraud?”

  “Oh! Oh! Quiet!” Neeka says. “That kind of talk will have you banished!”

  “What?” Lucy, Marco, and I say at the same time.

  “Oh! Oops!” Neeka waves and tiptoes up the aisle. “You’re all set right? I’ll be back to pick you up after the Trials. Good luck!”

  “Wait a minute!” Lucy says. “What did you mean ‘banished’?”

  Neeka twists her head around to check if anyone overheard us, and then scurries from the room.

  “Did you see her turn her head?” Cole asks. “The Tunneler turn radius is remarkable. Their neck muscles are very loose.”

  “Neck muscles?” Marco says. “Neeka drops a banishment bomb, and you’re talking neck muscles? What’s with you, Wiki?”

  “Do you think that’s what happened to the Wackies?” I ask. “They were banished?”

  Lucy opens her eyes super wide, shakes her head in tiny jerks, and keeps quiet. If Lucy’s not talking, there’s a problem. I slowly pivot my own head around to find Sheek looming over me.

  “Let’s not concern ourselves with trivial topics,” he says. “Instead, let’s focus on the fact that I asked you to rendezvous with me outside for our strategy session.” He crouches down, somehow still managing t
o look like a web star, and whispers, “The last thing I want to do is babysit you insolent twerps. You will do what I say and you will do it now, or the admiral will know of your insubordination.” He stands back up to his full height and announces to the room with a twirl of his hand, “That’s right, the other pods will be racing for second place today.”

  Lucy, Marco, and Mira follow Sheek out of the room. Cole stays back and helps me lace up my boots, then we dash out together. We don’t want to get on the wrong side of Sheek. He may be a coward, but he’s got mega pull in Earth Force.

  We exit the outfitter center into a small waiting room filled with other cadets and Tunnelers. An intercom makes an announcement in Gulagan, followed by its English translation: “One minute until the doors will open. You will have thirty seconds to enter the first antechamber.”

  “What’s the antechamber?” I ask.

  “We’ll find out,” Cole says.

  The doors slide open and the crowd funnels through. Thirty seconds later, the doors close. The room we’re in looks a lot like the room we left, only smaller and colder. A Tunneler officer directs us through a clear tube that sucks the extra air out of our gear so we look a bit less like snowmen. Now there’s a chance we’ll be able to maneuver our blast packs, but we still look pretty silly.

  Another intercom ushers us through a second anteroom. Finally it warns that the anterior gate is opening. We’ll have thirty seconds to exit onto the surface ramp. “Don face masks now,” the announcement concludes.

  Cole and I pull on our clear masks and lift our hoods. Scanning the room filled with other cadets, I realize it will be hard to tell who’s who on the surface.

  When the doors slide open, we’re hit with a blast of arctic air so cold I instantly know where my skin is exposed. I adjust my face mask to cover the patch of cheek I’d missed. The intercom beeps, signaling the doors are about to close. Cadets push from behind. Cole grabs my sleeve, and we jog up the ramp, guided by the dim natural light.

  It’s awesome to be outside, cold or not. Once we clear the ramp, I stop and tip my head to the star shining down on Gulaga.