The Forgotten Shrine

by Monica Tesler

  “Later, cadet,” she says. “I have business I must attend to first.”

  And with that, she briskly walks from the port.

  15

  AS SOON AS SEELOK AND the admiral exit the bay, the general unloading of the passenger craft gets under way. The Alks on the low scooters rig a second ramp to the craft for the luggage. The rest of the pod leaders disembark first. At the end of their ranks, Gedney hobbles off. When he sees us, he heads in our direction.

  “How are you, kids?” he asks. “Officer Johnson didn’t provide a very detailed report.”

  “That’s because Officer Johnson has no clue how we’re doing,” Lucy says. “Did you see him in that blinged-out gold jumpsuit? That tells you all you need to know.”

  “He’s been occupied with food, wine, and friends of the virtual variety,” Marco says.

  “They’re using VR here?” Gedney asks.

  Cole fills him in on the VR tech, but I don’t listen. I scan the cadets as they disembark from the craft. First the Bounders in my class head off. Ryan, Meggi, and Annette descend the ramp and join their pod leader, Captain Ridders, in the corner. Then the new wave of cadets spills out. Ryan flags a group of them over to the corner. Those must be the juniors in their pod. Still there’s no sign of Addy.

  Gedney touches my forearm, and I jerk.

  He smiles. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I asked how you’ve been, Jasper.”

  “Oh, I . . .” I keep my eyes on the exit ramp.

  “Don’t worry. Your sister will be along soon. She’s in my pod, you know, so you’ll be training together. I suspect you’ll be back to sibling bickering in a matter of hours. Not that I’m looking forward to that. I have about all I can handle in the sibling bickering department.”

  What’s that supposed to mean?

  The new cadets keep coming, and finally I spy my sister.

  Addy steps out the craft door flanked on both sides by other cadets, who appear to be hanging on every word she says. She stops at the top of the ramp and scans the port. When she finally spots me, she takes off running.

  “Hi, J!” She crashes into me with a giant hug. When we break apart, she waves to Cole, Marco, Lucy, and Mira. “Hi, senior pod mates.”

  “Hey!” I say, giving her another hug. “You okay?”

  She pulls away and gives me an odd look. “Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”

  I shrug. “Just asking.” I check out the other cadets and recognize the two girls as the twins Addy was sitting with on the trip to the space station. They both have curly red hair, green eyes, and freckles, and I doubt I’ll ever be able to tell them apart. One of the guys I’ve never met, but he has jet-black hair and is almost as tall as Marco. The other boy is Desmond, the annoying kid we met on the first night. Addy is standing between me and Marco.

  “How goes it, Adeline?” Marco asks.

  “It’s Addy,” she says, correcting her odd formality on launch day. “Let me introduce everyone else.”

  “Isn’t that Gedney’s job, Adeline?” Lucy asks, squeezing into the small space between Marco and my sister.

  Addy looks quizzically at Lucy. “I said, it’s Addy.”

  Lucy tips her head and grins. It’s not a friendly smile.

  Gedney nods at my sister. “Go ahead.”

  Addy gestures at the twins. “This is Orla and Aela. They’re from Eurasia—northwest in the Scandinavian archipelago.” She moves on to the tall kid. “Minjae is also from Eurasia, but the opposite side.” Then she nods at Desmond. “He says he already knows you.”

  “I’ve never met him,” Lucy says.

  “You don’t know Desi?” Marco says, swinging his arm around the kid.

  Desmond sidesteps him. “I am Desmond from Australia. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

  “Well, Desmond from Australia, I’m Lucy from Americana West, and these are my sometimes-awesome, sometimes-annoying pod mates, Jasper, Cole, and Mira.”

  “What about me?” Marco asks.

  “Ah yes, I forgot. That’s the always-annoying Marco from Amazonas.”

  As the others keep chatting, I pull Addy to the side. “How are you really?”

  “Seriously, I’m good,” she says. “You were right, Jasper. It feels great to connect with other Bounders in real life. What about you? How are things here? There are so many rumors about the Alkalinians, I don’t know what to believe!”

  I don’t get a chance to answer because Steve and other members of Seelok’s entourage return to the port and wave us all to the center. The nerves I’ve had about Addy being here come rushing back, replacing the excitement of seeing my sister.

  “Greetingsss, offi-sssersss and cadetsss,” Steve says. “Welcome to Alkalinia. We are sss-so very happy for your arrival. You will now be sss-shown your quartersss. Cadetsss in one wing; offi-sssersss in another. All of your mealsss will be sss-served in quartersss. We will retrieve you for training in the morning. Esss-cortsss, pleassse pro-ssseed.”

  “Wait,” I whisper to Gedney as the cadets and officers start to break up. “We need to talk. There’s something going on here.”

  Lucy nods. “We’re hoping to speak with the admiral tonight.”

  “I’m afraid that’s unlikely,” Gedney says. “Admiral Eames has a full agenda. I wasn’t even able to get on her briefing schedule before . . .” Gedney abruptly stops talking, his face shifting into a stern gaze.

  I glance over my shoulder. Steve hovers on his flying throne.

  “Time to sss-scoot along,” Steve says.

  “Hello,” Gedney says to Steve. “These cadets were just telling me about your hospitality during their time here.”

  Steve circles around and stops directly in front of Gedney. “Do you train thessse exsss-eptional children? They are mossst interesssting.”

  “Yes, I’m Gedney, their pod leader,” Gedney says, placing a protective hand on Lucy’s and my shoulders. “And you are?”

  “Sss-Steve, offi-ssser in sss-service to hisss exsss-ellen-sssy Sss-Seelok, regent of the Alkalinian Sss-seat.”

  “Steve, if I may ask . . . ,” Gedney says, smiling in an unusual way. His lips turn up, but his eyes stay cold. “I’m a bit of an anthropologist, and I’d like to speak with some of your people while I’m here, particularly the Alkalinian youth. I’d like to understand how you’re adjusting to your new home.”

  Gedney obviously knows the Alks relocated here. He must know some of the secrets from the shrine, like how the Alks destroyed their planet. But why is he asking about the youth? Why would he want to spend a second more than he has to with these snakes, young or old?

  “Perhapsss,” Steve says, “but you have a very busss-y sss-schedule.”

  Gedney inclines his head. “I’ll revisit the request at a later time.”

  “Children,” Steve says to us. “It is time for you to retire to your quartersss. The arriving cadetsss need time to get sss-settled.”

  He circles around the junior cadets and swishes his scaly tail in a hypnotic wave above his head. The twins watch his every move with a look of panic on their faces.

  Gedney turns his back on Steve and pulls me and Lucy to the side. “Don’t worry. We’ll talk tomorrow. And I’ll try my best to get you an audience with the admiral.”

  He gives our shoulders a squeeze, then heads over to Steve and lets our snake ambassador usher him to the other side of the port, where the remaining Earth Force officers are gathered.

  Lucy shoots me a worried glance. I guess we have to go another night before we can report our suspicions about the true Alkalinian agenda. And who knows how long it will really be until morning?

  As we walk with the other cadets to our quarters, there’s lots of chatter about what to expect here on Alkalinia. I don’t know how Lucy manages to get the gossip mill churning so quickly, but we’re still a few turns away when Ryan grabs me from behind and gets right in my face.

  “Is it true?” he asks. “They have gaming consoles and swimming pools and a never-ending su
pply of your favorite foods?”

  “The games and the food are basically right,” I say. “But swimming pools? Where’d you hear that? The last thing I want to do around here is swim. Not with all that contaminated water out there.”

  “The water is contaminated?” Ryan stands so close I can see the remains of the fluffed tofu he must have had for breakfast stuck in his gums. He’ll be psyched about the VR menu.

  “Yep. It’s, like, radioactive or something. Ask Cole.”

  Ryan finds Cole and starts pounding him with questions.

  Meggi bounces along beside me and links her arm with mine. “We missed you guys!”

  I smile. The truth is I missed her, too, and many of the other returning cadets. “What did you do at the space station this week?”

  “Lots of refresher training. And we helped the new cadets adjust to the routine. Since your pod wasn’t around, Captain Ridders asked me to be your sister’s mentor. Addy’s really sweet, Jasper.”

  “She can be.”

  Meggi lowers her voice. “She told me about the protests in Americana East. In fact, she told a lot of kids about them.” Meggi stops and pulls me to the side. “You may want to talk to her, Jasper. Earth Force really frowns upon those kinds of stories. If the admiral found out, Addy could get in some serious trouble.”

  It’s not like I’m surprised that Addy talked about the protests. Addy follows her own beat when it comes to justice and doing what’s right. But I am surprised that I feel an urge to come to my sister’s defense.

  “She’s not lying,” I tell Meggi. “Those protests are real.”

  Meggi tips her head. “Still . . .”

  “Understood. I’ll talk to her. How did the new cadets react when they found out about the Youli war? Did the admiral tell them they’re training to be soldiers?”

  She bites her lip. “No one said too much about that, to be honest, but all the cadets seem to know. Did you tell your sister about the Youli, Jasper?”

  I’m not sure how to answer. Addy probably shared everything she knows about the Youli with the other juniors, but how could Earth Force justify not telling them? Meggi looks at me expectantly. I open my mouth to stumble through an answer, but I’m saved by Steve.

  “Cadetsss, we have arrived at the quartersss hall. Line up by a door with your pod matesss.”

  I squeeze Meggi’s wrist. “We’ll talk more later, okay?” Before she has a chance to answer, I sprint down the hall to our door.

  Desmond is standing there.

  “Take that room,” I say to him, pointing to the next one in the row. “This is ours.”

  “That’s not what Steve said. He said to line up by a door.” He jabs at our door with his pointed finger. “I pick this one.”

  “We’ve been here all week, Desmond. This is our room.”

  Desmond shakes his head. “That’s not what Steve said. He said to line up by a door. I pick this one.”

  “I heard you the first time, dude. Just move.”

  Marco walks up behind Desmond. “Is there a problem?”

  I shrug. “Just tell him to pick another door.”

  Marco shoves his shoulder between Desmond and the door to our quarters. “Listen up, Desi, when we tell you to do something, you do it. When my man Jasper says to move, you move.” He puffs up his chest and leans over Desmond. “Move!”

  Desmond backpedals and crashes into the other junior cadets in Gedney’s pod, who just so happen to be standing right behind us. I’m pretty sure Addy and the others watched the whole exchange.

  “Nice,” she says to Marco.

  He grins. “Effective is the word I’d use.”

  “I was being sarcastic,” she said. “Don’t treat my pod mates like that.”

  “Or what?”

  She puts her hands on her hips and steps within centimeters of Marco. “Do you really want to find out the answer?”

  Marco grins. “Actually, yes. I’m incredibly curious.”

  Addy smiles in a way I haven’t seen before. It’s like she’s daring Marco to back down through sheer force of will—that’s a look I’d recognize—but this is something more.

  Marco holds her gaze for several seconds. Then he bursts out laughing. He places his hand against the door to our quarters, pushes it open, and heads inside.

  Addy has a smug look on her face. I’m not sure what to make of that exchange, but I’m pretty sure she came out ahead.

  “We’ll catch up more tomorrow, okay?” I say to her.

  “Can’t we talk now?” she asks. “I haven’t seen you in over a week. I want to spend time with you, Jasper. I want to talk about Bounder stuff.”

  Down the hall all the doors are closed. Addy and I are the last two cadets out of our rooms. “I want to talk, Ads, but we’re supposed to be with our pods in our quarters.”

  Addy shrugs. “Who would know?”

  “That’s not the point,” I say, thinking about what Meggi mentioned earlier. “It’s against the rules.”

  She laughs. “Fine. I want to get a look at our custom pod room anyway. See you tomorrow, Jasper.” She gives me a quick hug and disappears behind the door.

  As soon as I step inside our quarters, I realize I’m super hungry. What’s for dinner? I head over to the buffet table. It’s piled high with pizza boxes, a pasta station, and a sundae bar for dessert. It seems like the food just keeps getting better. Maybe it does. Maybe the simulation is adjusting based on our food choices this week.

  Marco already has a plate and is slipping pizza slices on. “Dig in!”

  As soon as the pizza hits his plate, Lucy shouts, “Wait!”

  Marco slings on another slice. “Why?”

  “That’s it!” she whisper-yells. “Don’t eat! Get the thingy!” She waves her arm at the SIMPLE. Somehow she manages to convey her meaning to Cole without actually using the word (a challenge). He rigs it up, and we gather in the gaming corner, spread out on the beanbags.

  “Speak fast, DQ, ’cause I’m starving,” Marco says.

  “That’s just it!” Lucy says. “I’m famished, too. And every time the dinner food shows up, we stuff our faces and pass out for a really long time, like a week. There must be something funny about the food—or at least the dinner food. I think it’s what’s been knocking us out.”

  “Please don’t say that,” I beg. “The food is about the only thing going for this place.” I try not to think about what Lucy said, but I can feel the idea she planted wriggling beneath the surface.

  “Just don’t overdo it tonight,” she says.

  “I’m not happy, Twisted Sister.” Marco shakes his head. “I am not loving everyone telling me what to do.”

  Lucy glares at Marco. “You’re an Earth Force cadet. Everyone tells you what to do.”

  “Officers, maybe. But not other cadets.”

  I laugh. Addy really managed to get under his skin.

  “Shut up, Ace!”

  “Shut up, both of you, and listen to me!” Lucy says. “I think one of us should stay awake tonight.”

  “Huh?” I’m not sure where she’s going with this.

  “You said yourself, Jasper, that there was something funny going on at night,” she says. “We need to figure out what it is. I’m staying up.”

  “All night?” I ask.

  Lucy shrugs. “We’ll see. If I get tired, I’ll crash on the couch.”

  “That’s not a bad plan,” Cole says. “Observe, hypothesize, report. We’ll be prepared when we talk to the admiral tomorrow.”

  “Right.” Lucy gives Cole a thumbs-up. “Whatever you said. Show me how to work the SIMPLE. I may need to use it. And I’m counting on it actually being simple to use, because technology is not my specialty.”

  “No, your specialty is obviously nail polish,” Marco says. “You must have painted your nails a dozen times since we got here!”

  “Shut up!” Lucy says again.

  “Can I eat now?” Marco asks. “Because I’m going to start raging any second i
f I have to keep smelling that pizza without getting it into my belly.”

  “You’re disgusting,” Lucy says. “Go ahead, ignore me, eat. But don’t be surprised if you’re asleep in twenty minutes. I’m almost sure the reason we’re tired all the time has something to do with the food. It’s the only thing that makes sense! And I, for one, plan to test my hypothesis like Cole said so I’m prepared to back up our suspicions when we’re finally able to talk to the admiral.”

  After showing Lucy how to work the SIMPLE, Cole fires up Evolution. Marco goes back to his plate of pizza. Mira drifts to the piano. Lucy joins me on the sofa and talks at me about what we missed at the space station this week. As much as she spreads gossip, she’s able to gather it quickly, too, because she gives me a play-by-play of basically everything that happened while we were away. I only half pay attention. I don’t really need to know much of this stuff. And also I’m hungry. Like, really hungry. The sundae bar is calling my name. But what if Lucy’s right? What if part of the problem is the food?

  Eventually I cave in and grab a small slice of pizza and a single scoop of Rocky Road ice cream drizzled with hot fudge.

  After I eat, I stretch out on the recliner to watch some futbol reruns with Marco, but I can’t really focus on the game. I keep thinking about what Meggi said. Did Addy clue the juniors in on all the Earth Force secrets I shared with her? I’m not mad if she did. The juniors are about to put their lives on the line for Earth Force. They have a right to know the truth. The really awful thing is that Earth Force wasn’t the one to tell them.

  My eyes grow heavy, and after a while I’m slipping in and out of sleep, seeing images of Addy and Meggi protesting, and one of a Youli eating a giant sundae with strawberry sauce. That’s not real. I need to get to bed.

  I stumble to my bedroom door. Something tickles at my memory. Right. Lucy. I glance over my shoulder. She’s watching me from the sofa with a concerned look on her face.

  “You staying up?” I ask.

  She nods. “Good night, Jasper.”

  “Good night.”

  16

  I’M ON A TABLE. My eyes are open. I can’t move. I can’t even blink.