Earthlight Space Academy Boxset

by Heather Lee Dyer

  I glance at him sideways. Although he acts all negative and aloof, I can tell he’s got a passion for this place.

  Take your own advice, Anja. Make friends of the enemy.

  I paste on a smile and turn toward Lon. “So, we’re getting data from the Fringe ships, and then trying to fix the problem?”

  He nods, his gaze skittering from me to Sandy.

  “So far we’re just narrowing down things we can’t change,” says Sandy.

  “Like what?” I ask.

  “Depth of the soil, the size of the domes, the food and water mixtures,” answers Ms. Germain as she ticks the items off on her fingers.

  I frown. “Where does that leave us?”

  Sandy and Ms. Germain look at Lon, who blushes. “I’ve come up with an idea from my years at the GMO plant and working the tree farms in Oregon. We had similar issues there, where although there is obviously plenty of growing space, we didn’t want them to grow too fast. We were working on research to stunt their growth without harming the trees or altering their natures.”

  I must look confused, because Sandy laughs and places a hand on my arm. “I know that sounds like something we’ve already done in the past, with all the GMO food we’ve had for decades, but it’s a bit different with trees and their vertical growth. We’re trying to alter the growth patterns of these trees, but not their natures. GMO research alters the natural species too much, or in a few generations can cause mutations. We need to find a way to avoid that.” Sandy is practically glowing as she talks.

  I grimace, wondering what I’ve gotten myself into. “Sounds like an interesting challenge.”

  Ms. Germain motions us to follow her back to the classroom. “Yes, it is. And that’s why you three get double biology credits for this work. We’ll be using biology and genetics to try to find a solution.”

  I raise my eyebrows in surprise. “I only had a very basic genetics class at prep school.” Although I did get private lessons in genetics, since Kai’s father is a genetics researcher.

  Ms. Germain grins over her shoulder at me. “That’s all right. Lon and Sandy can help get you up to speed. And I’ll send you a few articles to your tablet to read through.”

  Lon frowns as we follow the path and find seats around the table.

  My tablet pings and the others turn to me. I automatically look at it thinking it might be Kai. I wince as it says “Anonymous.” Great. When I look up, I realize I had mumbled that last bit out loud.

  “Sorry. Not who I thought it was going to be.”

  “Are you going to answer it?” Sandy asks.

  “It’s no one important. It can wait until later. Sorry for the interruption.”

  Lon snorts and stands up. He clomps over to one of the tables lining the walls and puts on gloves.

  Sandy sighs. “That’s all right, I talk too much anyway. I know he thinks so.” She stares at Lon’s back.

  I study Lon. “He’s not just acting like that because I’m here?”

  She looks confused. “No, he’s always a bit grumpy. Says I rattle on too much.” Her expression crumples.

  I place a hand on her arm. “Guys always say that. Just ignore him.”

  She glances over at him again. “You’d think he’d be nicer to me by now. We’ve been working up here since last semester,” she says quietly so only I can hear her.

  I narrow my eyes at her. This girl really likes him. I lean closer to her and say, “Maybe he’s that way for a reason. I just assumed he was grumpy because he’s friends with Josh, and Josh doesn’t like me.”

  She shakes her head, frowning.

  “Obviously there’s something else making him keep people at a distance,” I whisper. I look around the room full of seedlings, dirt, microscopes, and petri dishes. “Might be why he’s more comfortable dealing with plants.”

  She looks at his back as if seeing him for the first time. “You might be right.” Then she grabs my hand and leads me over to the bench to show me my part in their little project.

  We work for hours side by side, Sandy chattering away and Lon working by himself in heavy silence. Sandy is actually very interesting, although I did have her repeat herself a few times when she talked too fast and I missed something. All together it was a pleasant way to spend the morning. Too soon the lights in the small classroom flash red signaling the end of class.

  The three of us hurry out of the greenhouse waving to Ms. Germain who is digging in the dirt around the pond. We get to the lift when I look down, discovering that dirt is clinging to my pants right where the apron stopped.

  Sandy giggles and wipes at her own pants. “Happens all the time.”

  As we ride down the lift I brush at my own pants, horrified at all the dirt I’m leaving behind on the lift. Lon just ignores the both of us.

  We step out into a sea of students and I say goodbye to Sandy.

  I spot Rand’s tall blond head, with Kai next to him and grin as I head toward them. Kai’s frowning as I approach.

  “What’s the matter?” I look between him and Rand.

  Rand beats Kai to it. “That was one of Josh’s group.”

  My eyes flick to Lon as he passes us. He glares at Rand but keeps going.

  I sigh. “Yes. He’s working in the greenhouse too. But at least there’s another girl, Sandy up there also. She keeps the conversation going for all of us.” I grin. “Since he won’t even talk to me.”

  The two of them just stare at me.

  “It’s fine. Other than the fact that Josh now knows where my first period class is. Lon’s harmless.”

  They don’t look convinced, but the warning lights flash and we head to our next class.

  Space law is absolutely boring compared to my morning in the greenhouse. Even though I try, I can’t get past the first couple of tests. I sigh realizing I’ll just have to deal with this class like everyone else.

  At least I have Kai sitting next to me. Although we can’t talk during the lecture, I amuse myself by watching how he bites his lip while he’s concentrating. It’s a habit I first noticed his first year at prep school. I teased him mercilessly about it, but he just can’t help it.

  In turn he teases me how I can zone out during examinations. I admit I do get quite focused when I need to be. That’s how I realized Kai was having trouble testing. He admitted that he was actually jealous of the way I can lose myself in tests. After that I showed him some focusing techniques Mom taught Cam and me.

  As a side job she was in charge of the spacer quarterly testing. “Everyone has more than one job in space, Anja.” She would tell me. “We have to cross train in case we’re ever shorthanded or something happens to one of the crew.”

  I shiver remembering how I had nightmares after that. I’m not sure why because Mom never went into detail about exactly how they would lose one of the crew. I guess I just filled in the blanks.

  When class is over, we automatically head to the lunchroom and sit down at our usual table.

  “I got another message during first period,” I tell Rand and Kai. “I haven’t opened it yet.”

  Kai frowns as I slide my tablet to him. I’m not sure why, but I become less anxious when I have him read it first.

  He frowns and then hands it to Rand.

  Rand’s face turns red as he shoves the tablet back at me. It crosses my mind that maybe my issues are more than he can handle right now.

  I brace myself and read the message. It’s the longest one yet. “If I can hack your tablet, cause a fire drill, I can most definitely find your brother. Stop ignoring me.”

  My lunch tries to come back up and I take small sips of juice. I swallow and reread the message. I look up. “What do I say to that?”

  “Good thing we’re being watched over.” Kai grinds his back teeth.

  “What?” His answer confuses me.

  He rubs his finger along the square at the bottom of my tablet and shrugs, his eyes drilling into me.

  I nod, an inkling of an idea settling in the ba
ck of my mind. “Yes, so we can safely go about our classes.” I finish the last few bites of my lunch, settling my nervous stomach. “I think we should meet up with our project groups early.” I make sure both Rand and Kai are watching me.

  They both shrug. We put our trays away and hurry out of the cafeteria. To their credit, they just follow me, not asking any questions. I send a quick message as we walk, and it pings back almost immediately. I smile and head toward the lifts.

  I push the Level B button and get looks from the guys. I shrug and hold up my tablet, showing them the square. They stay quiet, but look very confused.

  Out loud, I try to sound normal. “I’ll introduce you to Sandy from the greenhouse sometime. She’s really nice, and I think she might be in our afternoon calculus class.”

  They just both nod stiffly. I roll my eyes. We are not good at this. None of us are making it into the SIA anytime soon.

  13

  Going on Offense

  When the lift opens the smell of fresh cut wood is intoxicating. I inhale deeply.

  Before the New China government bulldozed the forests to create the Dragon Wall, it was a treat to travel across the border. Cam and I would walk through the thickets and smell the pine needles, freshly budding maple leaves, and enjoy the muted sunshine filtered through the upper branches.

  I make a beeline for the back wall. Philip is sitting at a worktable and his eyes go wide when he sees Rand and Kai with me.

  “Hey, Philip. Thanks for meeting us here to go over the project.” I talk slowly, probably making him think I’m a bit dense, but I don’t want him to say anything.

  I point to the back wall and then to my tablet.

  His face pinches in confusion. But he follows me over to a metal cabinet and opens the heavy doors for me. I place my tablet in the middle and he closes and seals it.

  I turn to find all three guys staring at me. I motion away from the cabinet. On the other side of the room I finally say, “Philip says that cabinet is lined with something that will block any signals coming in or out of the tablet while it’s in there.”

  Rand and Kai nod in understanding, but Philip looks like a rabbit about to be eaten by a coyote.

  I smile at Philip. “Sorry I couldn’t explain earlier. But I need your help.” I take a deep breath and tell him about the anonymous messages and security trying to help out by adding the bugging square.

  “I think we need to figure out who this is ourselves, since it doesn’t seem that security will.”

  “And you believe I can do what the SIA can’t?” he asks, his voice squeaking a bit.

  “Yes. You’re the smartest person I know with computer systems.”

  His eyebrows rise. “You must not know many people.”

  I chuckle. “True, but I do have an uncanny sense about people. Just watching you work those equations during our project time showed me that you know way more than you let on.”

  He looks nervously between the three of us.

  “You can trust these two. They’re my friends.” I introduce them, although I’m sure Philip already knows who they are.

  Philip doesn’t look convinced, but he nods. “As long as no one finds out.” His pale face blushes a light pink and he takes a quick glance at Rand.

  “You’re afraid of Josh and his friends finding out you’re helping us, aren’t you?” I ask gently.

  “It’s not like I can fight them off.” His lips pull into a tight line.

  “Trust me, I understand. It’ll just be between us. If they even suspect anything, just say it’s related to our class project.”

  He nods slowly. “All right. What exactly do you want me to try to do?”

  I smile. “I need to track down where the messages are coming from. The SIA has traced it back to their space net system, but they can’t narrow it further. This guy is threatening my little brother. I need to find out who he is before he finds Cam.” I bite the inside of my cheek so the hot tears forming don’t spill over.

  Kai studies me, his eyes narrowing.

  I glance at the cabinet then start pacing in front of Philip. “I’ve been thinking.”

  “Dangerous thing to do,” pipes up Rand.

  “Funny,” I say as I send him my best glare. “Anyway, the SIA is trying to track the signal. What if we instead try to track down who could possibly do this? The person either has accessed my personal records or knows me.”

  Philip nods. “The stations of course keep track of ratings of all personnel. That one should be easy enough to get into.” He sits down at one of the tables and starts typing onto his tablet.

  I sit across from him. “Ratings?”

  “Yes, which job ratings each person has. They’re mostly public knowledge.” He shrugs. “Easy enough to access.”

  “Why would they make that public?” I’m trying to remember what I’ve learned over the years about living in space. I can’t remember anything about records.

  “Because if there was a problem on a space station or ship, then other crew members could easily be identified and quickly fill in for mutual aid.”

  “Makes sense,” says Rand from the other end of the table. He kicks his feet up on the stool next to him.

  “All right. I’ve narrowed it down to full computer science ratings and ranks above first class.” He spins the tablet toward me.

  “That was fast. Why above first class?” I start swiping through the crew jackets. It’s basic information; name, rank, and all the ratings they’ve earned.

  “Only way this person could do the kind of hacking he’s done to your tablet, and avoid the SIA is to have command codes only first class and above have access to.”

  I nod, still swiping. “If I don’t recognize anyone, then what do we do?”

  “Plan B would be to see if I could hack into the academy’s hack on your tablet.”

  Rand, Kai, and I look up at the same time. “What?”

  Philip frowns. “Only as a last resort. But it’s possible I could hack into the security square they’ve got attached to your tablet. I could either see what they’ve come up with or use their hack to try to track him down myself.”

  I smile widely. “I knew I was right about you.”

  “Positively evil and ingenious,” says Rand. He’s grinning at Philip as if seeing him for the first time.

  Philip just ducks his head. “Thanks?” he says quietly.

  I look down and continue swiping. “How many are there?” I ask as the faces all start looking the same.

  “I narrowed it down to forty. Out of hundreds of thousands of spacers, I think that’s pretty good.”

  “Wow. That is excellent, Philip.” I slow down as I get past the first twenty. The personnel jackets are getting longer as the ranks get higher. “Most of these officers are rated in many different departments.”

  “Yes, that’s to their advantage if they want to move around or if somehow their position gets cut.” Philip’s voice is louder and contains obvious passion for the subject.

  I glance briefly at him. “Where do you want to go after graduation, Philip?”

  “I want to go on one of the Fringe long-term missions.”

  My finger stills on the tablet as I stare open mouthed at him. “Seriously?”

  He frowns. “Why not? Don’t I look like someone who craves adventure?”

  I grin. “You know I didn’t mean it like that.” I shrug. “I just was expecting something maybe in the research department or space net. Something techie like that.”

  “They have tech and research on the long-term vessels as well.” He has a small smile on his face, and I’m relieved I didn’t offend him.

  I nod and go back to looking at the officers. I wonder why an officer would bother with border kids like Cam and me? As my finger swipes across the screen I freeze. All the air goes out of my lungs, and for just a minute I think I’m going to pass out.

  “Anja?” Kai wraps an arm around me, holding me up on the stool. Otherwise, I might’ve fallen of
f. A burning sensation starts deep in the pit of my stomach and radiates outward as I stare at the tablet.

  I get up from the stool, breaking free of Kai’s grasp, and stomp across the room. Several times. As the energy starts to dissipate, I head back toward the table.

  All three guys are staring at me. Kai holds Philip’s tablet, a horrified expression on his face.

  Even he can see it.

  I swallow the bile in my throat and point to the picture smiling up at Kai on the tablet. “My. Father,” I spit the words out.

  “Wait. I thought your father was dead,” says Rand.

  I whirl around and he instinctually steps backwards, his hands up in the air.

  “That’s the story I told everyone. Either that or that he abandoned our family when I was young. I couldn’t very well tell Cam that our father chose his career over his kids.”

  “You knew he was up there somewhere?” Kai points upward.

  I take a deep breath and count to ten. I shake my head. “No. Mom would never say where he went. I assumed he just found another family. Mom had to quit working on the space stations to take care of us after that. We were too young to join her up there.” I slam my palm on the table, making Philip jump. “What I didn’t know was that he was all comfy up in space while Mom, Cam, and I barely survived down here.”

  Tears do flow then as I look down at the man with white hair and a hint of the same red as mine. His eyes are the exact same as Cam’s. Commander Toland.

  “And he’s never contacted you until now?” asks Philip quietly.

  “Right.”

  “But why as Anonymous?” he probes gently.

  When I look up, Philip has his tablet and is studying it carefully.

  “I bet he didn’t think we could trace him. One of his ratings was SIA,” I answer.

  “But now he’s a commander on one of the moon bases. Our security wouldn’t even think to look there.” Philip meets my gaze.

  I frown. “Why not?”

  He shrugs. “The space net relays are super old on any of the moon bases. Security probably didn’t think he could transmit or hide his transmission with such low tech.”