by R. E. Rowe
“Quiet!” Nora snapped in a breathy tone.
Jayden heard a droning vibration that reminded him of a high voltage power line. “No way,” he said, studying the massive object. “It’s probably a fancy stealth promo helicopter.”
“Sssst,” Nora hissed, poking Jayden with two fingers as though her hand were a serpent. It hurt, but Jayden didn’t flinch.
Without any warning, a large door, the size of a small garage, opened on the vessel’s side. A short metallic ramp extended to the ground. Another spotlight from the craft flashed near the bushes.
Parker, Jayden, and Nora hit the ground and didn’t dare move until the light shifted away.
“I don’t think they saw us,” Parker whispered, his voice trembling.
They slowly rolled to their knees but stayed crouched. Jayden noticed no one in the parking lot had moved.
Then, the weirdest thing happened. A small-framed, elderly African-American woman with curly salt and pepper hair sauntered out of the vessel’s open door. She wore a tight-fitting black body suit. Large, black-rimmed glasses almost overwhelmed her round face. Maybe she’s the one handing out game discs? Jayden thought.
The woman waved at the crowd in the parking lot, and then turned around and walked back inside the craft.
Thirty-some-odd kids meandered up the ramp and entered the flying machine. Only the bus driver and his unmarked bus remained in the observatory's parking lot. The driver continued reading his newspaper, totally unfazed by what was happening around him.
A moment later, the brightly lit parking lot abruptly went dark, and the flying craft shot up into the sky, faster than a rocket launch. The three of them fell back on their butts and stared up at the heavens.
Jayden was speechless. It was the fastest moving helicopter ever!
Then the vessel stopped and hovered one hundred feet above them.
For a moment, Jayden forgot to breathe until he gasped. He noticed Parker blinking as if he was sending a Morse code message. And as best as Jayden could tell, Nora’s tan had instantly turned the color of chalk.
A blast of unnatural warm wind hit him in the face. Four white lights below the craft flashed on, and then the craft shot to the right and disappeared.
The only things remaining in the parking lot were a bus driver, a bus, and harmonizing crickets.
“What just happened?” Jayden whispered, rubbing his eyes.
Neither Parker nor Nora answered.
Jayden peered from behind the bush and watched the driver study his watch. After a few seconds, the kid started up the empty bus and sped toward the parking lot exit.
“Stay down,” Nora said in a loud, wobbly burst of breath.
The bus lights flashed over their heads as the bus drove away.
Jayden managed to catch a closer glimpse of the driver as he passed. He seemed to be in a military uniform or maybe an ROTC uniform. The kid was clean-shaven with no hair showing under his black cap and wore a black jumpsuit uniform. Jayden noticed white letters on the driver’s cap: “SECC.”
“Let’s get out of here,” Parker stuttered.
“I vote for that,” Jayden said.
The three of them jumped on their bikes and coasted down the windy road back to Los Gatos. When they caught up to the bus, they made sure to stay far enough behind it so the driver wouldn’t notice them if he looked in his rear view mirror. After thirty minutes of high-speed gliding, they arrived at Parker's house and regrouped in Nora’s room.
Jayden tried hard to sound calm. “Okay, what was that flying thing?”
Nora’s jaw tightened as she reached into her pocket and pulled out the flyer from the girl in the parking lot.
She peered at it with narrowed eyes.
Parker finally spoke. “Let me see that paper, sis.”
Nora handed the paper to Parker. He read the print: “World Corp. Finish school abroad, all expenses paid.
Earn college credit while learning to develop games. Exotic travel. Five hundred dollars per week salary.”
“No freaking way,” Jayden muttered. He turned to Parker. “It sounds just like that news report we saw at your house.”
Parker continued. “Hiring applicants aged thirteen to seventeen. World Corporation is active in every country in the world.”
“Easy to sign up,” Parker read. “Just fill in the online application and have a parent sign in the parental signature box. Watch for the green bus in your area. All pickup locations and times are in the appendix. Join us today.”
Nora shook her head. Her brow furrowed. “No, thanks.”
“So the kids that disappeared into that supersonic, bladeless helicopter were picked up by World Corp?”
Jayden asked.
“Apparently,” Nora said.
“Let me see the other document,” Parker said to Nora. “The one you snatched from under the driver’s seat.”
Nora handed the other flimsy document to Parker. It looked to be about ten pages or so. He thumbed through it, stopping on the second page.
Parker and Nora gazed at the page over Jayden’s shoulder.
Welcome to Space Expeditionary Combat Command (SECC)
Classified Employee Briefing
This document has been created for new employees responsible for driving recruits to pick up areas.
SECC headquarters has answered the most frequently asked questions below:
1. How have recruits been selected? After an application is received, selection is based on a number of
criteria, including economic status, health, and age. Simply verify the password and the recruit’s name.
Collect the signed permission form at the pickup site before allowing entry on the bus.
2. What age range are the recruits I will be picking up? 13 to 17 years old.
3. Why so young? Earth teenagers are best able to adapt to the physical and mental demands of space
training.
Jayden jerked his head up. “Space training? What the heck? This must be the most advanced role-playing game in history!”
Nora shushed him, and they continued reading the paper in silence.
1. What is SECC? SECC is a special division of the US Navy established by the CIA to recruit and
deploy an international combat force into space to fight the ongoing war against the alien invaders known as
the Atilla.
2. Is World Corporation a real organization? No. It is Space Command’s cover story.
3. What if I decide to quit Space Command? You will be executed, and your family will be taken to
Guantanamo, Cuba. Furthermore, in order to maintain secrecy, those who are reassigned off-world will
never return to Earth.
“This paper makes the game sound real,” Jayden said. “Space Expeditionary Combat Command . . .
SECC? For real?”
Nora shrugged.
“Pages are missing,” Parker said, thumbing through the paper.
Jayden noticed jagged scraps of torn-out pages, and ran his fingers over them.
“The rest of the pages in the back look like a bus schedule,” Parker said. “Wait. There are some loose folded pages here.” He took one page out and inspected it.
Jayden leaned in to get a better look. “Blank permission forms?” The page appeared similar to a Brooke Middle School field trip permission form with official-looking small print, a signature line for a name and another for a parent’s signature. “This must be the slip you need to get picked up by the bus.”
Parker put the blank form back with the others, and then browsed the second page again.
The three of them sat for a few minutes in the silence, trying to digest the official-looking document.
Jayden swallowed hard and was the first to speak up. “Is it real? A space war?”
Parker huffed and started to pace. “It has to be some kind of stupid joke—”
Nora interrupted him and raised her voice. “Or maybe a way to hype their ridiculous new
game. Make it seem super realistic, so it goes viral. I bet the new game is already trending.”
“I’d think it was a video trick if I saw it online,” Jayden said. “But that flying thing really took off with no blades. All I heard was a slight buzzing sound.”
“Snap,” Nora added, sounding less confident. “Those kids just disappeared inside the thing.”
Jayden shook his head. “Do you think World Corp is actually picking up the kids to fight in a real secret space war?”
“That’s what the paper implies,” Parker said.
“Ridiculous.” Nora shook her head. “Not possible. It has to be related to hyping their new game.”
Jayden thought everything they’d read had sounded nuts. “Now what?” he asked Nora.
“Now you pay me,” she replied, and then grabbed the official-looking document and threw it at Jayden’s face. “I could care less about idiot kids and some stupid, make-believe video game war. It’s obviously just a corporate marketing ploy. I expect payment in full tomorrow.” She grinned and sat in front of her computer display.
Jayden figured she was imagining computer upgrades or new parts. From the expression on her face, it seemed to him as though she’d already put the UFO, the disappearing kids, and the so-called space war out of her mind.
Nora continued. “Got it, Surfer Boy and Pop Star? I’m shopping for computer hardware this weekend.”
“Jayden’s dad is good for it,” Parker said for the third time. He refused to look at Jayden when he said it.
“Good,” she said. “You’ll get the tablet back when I get my money. Now get out! I have a hacker’s avatar to turn into a slug.”
Jayden’s eyes went wide as he followed Parker out of Nora’s room.
In the hallway, Jayden glared at Parker. “Where am I going to get that kind of cash?” He was ready to punch Parker’s lights out.
Parker didn’t answer as he walked Jayden out the front door.
Jayden shook his head. The sun was just starting to rise. He was way too tired to think straight. “I’m going home to sleep.”
“I’ll come over this afternoon,” Parker said, patting him on the back as if it would comfort him. “We’ll figure out the cashola situation.”
Jayden pulled his shoulder away. “Right. I’ll just visit an ATM,” he said, rolling his eyes. “They always have cash, right?”
“Maybe your dad can give us an intern advance?”
Jayden shrugged and scrunched up his face. The thought of asking his dad for money wasn’t pleasant. His father would ask a million questions. The last thing Jayden wanted to do was start lying to him. But he needed the mini-tablet back.
Jayden groaned as he turned to leave. “My dad is flying with my mom to Austin for a meeting at 10 a.m.
this morning. So it’ll be just me and Rosa for the next few days.” He rubbed his face with both hands. “No way Rosa will lend that kind of cash to me.”
“Chill, dude. We’ll figure it out,” Parker said. “Now go get some rest.” He patted Jayden on the back again.
This time Jayden didn’t object. “Yes, Mom,” he said.
Parker forced a smile.
“I hope you’re right,” Jayden added as he sauntered down the driveway and turned towards home.
Besides the money problem, there was another thought that just wouldn’t go away. The paper they’d read had said: “Penalty for unauthorized disclosure is immediate execution.”
Surely that meant avatar execution, he thought. Or had the three of them discovered something they couldn’t even begin to comprehend?
Chapter 6
Jayden paddled effortlessly on a surfboard towards a perfect tropical wave fifty feet away. He glanced back over his shoulder and flexed. Nora blew him a kiss from a white sand beach with his dad’s red tablet in her hands.
A loud thump, then another, caused Jayden’s eyes to snap open, his surfing dream popping like a firecracker. He gazed around as his bedroom came into focus. His digital clock on his nightstand glowed three forty-two p.m. More thumping. The window rattled.
“Okay, okay! I’m coming!” Jayden stumbled out of bed and toward the noise, then pushed aside the blinds.
Parker pounded on the glass like a madman. He glanced back over one shoulder, then the other.
Jayden could tell by Parker’s puffy eyes that he’d been crying. His stomach sank. It was the first time he'd seen Parker cry. “What?” Jayden pushed up the window. “What’s wrong?”
“They took her!” Parker screamed as he climbed through the window. “They took my mom and dad too.”
His eyes were moist and bloodshot. “I think they’re coming here next!”
Jayden stepped back and steadied himself. “What are you talking about?”
“Nora—they pulled us out of our bedrooms, and then they took her and forced my mom and dad to go with them.”
Jayden forced his eyes closed, and then opened them. He wasn’t dreaming. “Who did?”
“Guys in black masks with automatic rifles, that’s who! SECC printed on black shirts.” Parker was talking fast, his voice getting higher and higher with each word. He struggled to catch his breath as he paced in a circle, his fists clenching and unclenching. “These guys weren’t avatars, Jayden! It wasn’t a game. They raided my house with real assault rifles!”
“Slow down!” Jayden said, grabbing Parker’s arm. “Start over.”
Parker took a deep breath. “They said Nora was going away, and she’d be gone a long time. They yelled at my parents. The men told us it’d be better for Nora if we didn’t say a word to anyone. One man quoted the Patriot Act and a presidential directive to capture and detain terrorists. He claimed Nora was a terrorist. Oh my God! My sister?” Parker sucked in a short breath, then another. “Something about an SECC code. . . .”
“SECC code?” Jayden repeated. He snatched the flimsily covered document from his desk, and rapidly flipped through the pages.
Space Expeditionary Combat Command.
SECC must be an acronym, Jayden thought. But it’s a game! It had to be a game. He decided Parker must be seriously confused.
“Nora screamed,” Parker said, just above a whisper. “She told me to run, but a masked guy grabbed me.”
His voice shook as he added, “He yelled, asking if I knew a gamer named Killgeek . . . They’re looking for you, Jayden!”
“What?” Jayden rubbed his face, trying to understand Parker. “Me? Why me?”
Parker shrugged, shaking his head.
Jayden’s stare fixated on his best friend. “How’d you get away?”
“The guy questioning me walked away to answer his cell.” Parker’s voice wavered. “I bolted.”
“Okay, okay, let’s think about this.” Jayden sat down on his bed and inspected the typed pages. “SECC
Code 12.31.1.”
The phrase below the numbers caught Jayden’s eyes. “Immediate execution,” he muttered. World Corp had gone way too far promoting their new game, he thought. Jayden refused to believe it was anything other than a game. It made no sense. Who would take Nora and Parker’s parents?
Parker looked around, his eyes wide. “We need to get out of here!”
“Shhh, lower your voice. You'll freak out Rosa . . . What else did they tell you?”
Parker continued rambling a hundred miles an hour.
Jayden only understood every third word. He seized Parker’s arm and shook it. “Slow down!” he said through his teeth, forcing his voice to stay calm.
“Okay, okay.” Parker drew in a quick breath. “Another guy in a black mask asked my dad questions about hacking a top-secret website. A dude with a deep voice told us if we didn’t go with them peacefully to be debriefed, they’d toss us in a dark cell at Guantanamo until we turned ninety years old.”
Nora’s hide-the-babe bot didn’t work, Jayden thought. Someone must have tracked the babe. He knew he needed to do something, but at that moment, his brain had frozen.
“A
fter I slipped away, I hid beside the garage and watched them throw my family into the back of a black van. Mom was screaming. It was chaos. I didn’t know what to do. One masked guy told my dad and mom that if they cooperated, the two of them could return home tonight. But Nora was going someplace else. She wouldn't be coming back, not for a long time, no matter what.” Parker sobbed. “What is happening?”
“Easy man,” Jayden said, trying to sound calm. “Take a breath and give me a second.” He didn’t have a clue what was going on, but these guys apparently knew about Nora’s hacking.
“What’d they say about me again?” Jayden asked.
“The masked guy said they were looking for a second terrorist hacker that went by the name Killgeek. They claimed to have narrowed the cable company’s IP address to our block. They’re going to check every house.”
“What did you tell him?”
Parker dropped his head. He looked up with red-rimmed eyes. “I’m sorry, Jayden. I couldn’t help it.”
“What do you mean?” Jayden asked.
“I told them your real name.” Parker covered his face with both hands. “They’ll be coming here soon.”
“Seriously, Parker?” Jayden groaned. “Are you kidding?”
“I thought they were going to kill me!” Parker whispered, his shoulders quaking.
“Did you give them my address?” Jayden asked.
“No, I took off. But they’ll figure it out once they ask around,” Parker said, making the most pathetic face Jayden had ever seen. Parker trembled as if the temperature in Jayden’s room had dropped below zero. “What do we do?”
Jayden inspected the pamphlet again. “They mentioned an SECC code. This paper does too.”
It still made no sense to him. SECC was an online game. It wasn’t supposed to be real. He scanned the schedule at the back of the document, showing times and locations.
Jayden continued. “You said the guy told you Nora was going away for a long time. Maybe they’re taking her to the place they took the observatory kids. I bet it’s all part of the new game marketing hype. Get the web buzzing, you know?”