“I’m not scared,” Marco says. “I’m mad. They want us to be soldiers in their war, and they never mention it? They don’t even tell the people of the planet they’re fighting a war? How does that fly?”
“Simple,” Cole says. “If they told, there never would have been any Bounders. The people approved breeding kids for space exploration, not for battle.”
“Maybe that’s true,” I say, “but there’s still a lot we don’t know.”
“And a lot we’re not going to know,” Cole says. “Let’s face it. They’re not giving us these answers in the next two days. I read everything I could about Earth Force, and there wasn’t a hint of this. Someone’s gone to great lengths to keep it secret.”
“You’re right about that, Wiki,” Marco says.
We’re quiet. Marco plays with the lava lamps. I run my fingers through the shag carpet.
“Let’s make a pact,” Lucy says. “We don’t have all the answers, and we don’t have many choices, but let’s enjoy the next two days as a pod. Enjoy the field trip to the Paleo Planet. Enjoy being kids. Who knows how much longer we have to do that?”
Marco, Cole, and I nod our agreement.
Mira slips her hands into her gloves. She tips her fingers toward the starry ceiling and fills the air above us with a thousand lights that blink in an intricate pattern. Lucy pulls on her gloves and adds to Mira’s picture. The rest of us follow. A million lights twinkle beneath the ceiling stars of our pod room.
Mira flutters her gloved fingers, and a soft sound like the tinkling of piano keys fills the air. I don’t know where the sound is coming from, but I know enough not to ask.
Then Mira rises and dances in the starlight. One by one, we join her.
As I set my tablet down next to Marco and Cole, I wonder which famous poster-worthy aeronaut will lead our last lecture.
A ripple of whispers makes its way from the rear of the hall. Marco jabs me in the ribs and points. A Tunneler walks down the aisle. When he reaches the podium, he steps onto a stool and plugs his voice-translation box into the projection system.
Grunts and clicks and stutters blast through the speakers. Then the voice box translates: “Good afternoon, cadets. It’s a real honor to speak with you today. My name is Boreeken—Bo, for short. I’m from the planet Gulaga, or P37, as you usually say. The admiral asked me to talk about my home planet and also about the one I just visited, the Paleo Planet. Is everyone excited for the end-of-tour field trip tomorrow?”
All the cadets clap. I can’t believe tomorrow we’ll be on the Paleo Planet.
“As most of you know,” Bo continues through the translator, “the climate on Gulaga is much colder and less hospitable than on your Earth. That’s why we spend most of our lives underground. Our towns and infrastructure are all subterranean. The only common surface endeavors are agriculture and transport.”
Bo explains his planet’s geography and his civilization’s history. He talks about the advanced mining technology the Tunnelers developed after generations of living underground. I try hard to focus. No matter how awesome I am with the gloves, paying attention still isn’t my thing. And I definitely want to hear what Bo has to say, especially when he starts talking about first contact.
“You Earthlings were searching for veins of occludium in our planetary system,” he says. “When we first spotted your ships in the starlit sky, all the Gulagans came above ground. It was the first time our species had been on the surface in those numbers in our recorded history. We didn’t know what was happening. Strange beings appearing in the sky? Many believed it was the day of judgment. That the gods had arrived.”
Bo skips over the early years of Earth relations and the details of the diplomatic envoy. He jumps right to the end: Gulaga signed a treaty with Earth to let us extract occludium in exchange for a technology transfer. They gave us occludium and showed us how to mine it. We gave them technology, including quantum space travel.
“The Paleo Planet was also discovered during one of your ore searches,” Bo says. “Yes, the planet contains rich stores of occludium, but I think the biggest draw for you Earthlings is the Paleo Planet’s close resemblance to your planet in its infant stage.”
That’s true. Paleo Planet is the name Earth Force dreamed up for P63 to promote the tourism initiative that’s slotted to begin later this year. With all the pics and vids on the webs of the green valleys and dense forests and sparkling blue lakes, everyone I know is dying to go there. I can’t count how many times I’ve watched the vids of the wildeboars and the saber cats and the giant hairy beasts that look just like woolly mammoths. The only reason the Tunnelers are linked to the Paleo Planet is because their species run the occludium mines.
When Bo wraps up his speech, the lecture hall bubbles with excitement. We’re leaving for the Paleo Planet tomorrow morning, and we can’t wait!
21
THE HANGAR DOORS RETRACT AS THE captain initiates the countdown. My stomach lurches. Something about seeing the vast expanse of open space makes me queasy.
We left breakfast early to be first in line for seats. Our pod scored the front row, which, according to Cole, is the best spot for the Paleo Planet approach. But right about now, it’s also the best spot for nausea, at least for me.
Cole taps me on the shoulder. “Check it out.” He points to the edge of the hangar doors, where rows of gunmen stand at the ready.
“More than when we arrived,” I say.
“You guys weren’t kidding about the security,” Marco says. “I can’t believe I missed it before.”
“There’s more,” Cole says. “Look!” He points out the hangar door. Ships like the one we spied near the cellblock hover on either edge of the hangar, and a half dozen more are visible a mile out. I bet they’re going to escort us to the Paleo Planet.
“They need those gunners,” I say. “They’re transporting precious cargo. All their trained free-bounders are here in this craft. We were born to be the front line in their alien war, so they better keep us safe.”
“Shhh!” Lucy swats her hand at us. “Can we give it a rest? All I’ve thought about since we left the Ezone two nights ago is you-know-what, and I need a break. We made a pact, remember? Can’t we talk about the Paleo Planet and all the amazing things we’re going to see there, like the saber cats and the wildeboars and maybe even an amphidile? And all the flora and fauna. And the Tunnelers, of course. Maybe they’ll even give us a tour of the occludium mines, and—”
“Why did I agree to sit next to you?” Marco asks. “Do you plan to talk the whole flight?”
“Yes, if it makes you stop talking about the other stuff.”
“I’ll shut up if you will. Deal?”
“Oh, fine, I guess,” Lucy says. “I’ll go find Meggi and Annette once we’re allowed to move around.” She pulls purple ribbons from her pack and twists them through her hair.
Marco and Cole take out their tablets. I lean back on the headrest and close my eyes.
Lucy has a point. We all need a mental break. Maybe we’ll actually have fun on the field trip. We’ve been psyched to go to the Paleo Planet for months. The trip was announced long before we departed for the space station.
Mira sits next to me. The others will forget she’s even here, but I never can. It’s like we’re connected by an invisible tether. Sometimes it stretches, and Mira is little more than a dull touch at the edge of my mind. Other times the tether yanks, and Mira is right on top of me, filling my brain.
I peek over at her and quickly turn away. I don’t know what I’m nervous about. It’s not like she’d notice if I looked at her, and I doubt Regis would catch me. Still, my chest feels like a full glass of water, like I have to sit up really straight so the water won’t slop over the side. I glance again. Her long fingers lie in her lap. Her nails are cut short, and her skin is pink. I know if I grasp her hand, it’ll be cold. Her thick braid hangs over her left shoulder. Gold flyaway hairs fall around her face like a wreath. A breeze would lift them
, but in the air-controlled ship, they’re still. Mira is still, her eyes clouded over like usual.
I wish Mira would talk. I don’t expect her to, of course, but she knows more than anyone about the alien. She has to. She communicated with him. The others laughed it off when I told them, but it’s true.
I press my fingers to my forehead and concentrate. Mira, can you hear me? I picture an open door and will Mira to walk through it. Mira? Answer me. Mira? It’s no use. I’m basically having a conversation with myself.
Which is pretty boring. And ridiculously pathetic.
“Cadets, this is your captain. We are disengaging FTL. Once we stabilize gravity, take a look out the front. The Paleo Planet will be in full view.”
I must have fallen asleep, because the last thing I remember was trying to get Mira to respond to my lame attempts at ESP. Cool, Jasper. Real cool.
The ship jerks out of FTL. My body lifts and pulls against the restraint. A bunch of cadets burst out laughing. A few rows behind us, Hakim floats up and over the seats. Guess he forgot to fasten his harness. Busted. Maybe he’ll have to sit out the field trip.
The ship glides forward, and soon the whole front windows are filled with the image of an enormous planet. The Paleo Planet.
“Whoa,” Marco says, “that thing is massive.”
The planet is veiled in a shimmery light so it seems like we’re looking through gauze.
“What is that haze?” Lucy asks. “Could there be clouds up this high? Are we already in the atmosphere?”
“No,” Cole says.
We look at him, hoping he’ll elaborate. But in classic Cole fashion, he doesn’t.
“Come on, man.” Marco shakes his head and turns back to the window. “Wait . . .”
The gauze is gone.
“What happened? Did we pass through it?” Marco asks.
“They lowered the shields,” Cole says.
“Seriously?” I ask. “The entire planet is shielded?”
Cole nods. “Occludium shields. They’re probably tethered to a standard force field they deactivated for us to pass through. I bet they have them on Earth, too. They probably kept them lowered until we shifted to FTL the day we left the planet.”
“Yeah, and we had no clue we needed them then,” Marco says.
“Wait, wait, wait a second,” Lucy says. “Let me remind you again. Today we are supposed to be free from all talk about you-know-what.”
“I guess this is just reality, Lucy,” I say. “Gunner ships, occludium shields . . . Welcome to the world beyond the secrets.”
“Maybe the secrets weren’t so bad after all,” she says.
“Listen up, Scaredy-Cats,” Marco says. “Things are the way they are, okay? And while you guys are busy debating what we do or don’t know, I’m looking at that.” He points out the window.
The Paleo Planet is now on clear display. Cobalt blue oceans merge into lush land formations. Swirls of white are dissected by peeks of mountain ranges. Bits of brown and black and silver blend into the vibrant hues.
“It’s incredible,” I say, “it looks just like the old pictures of Earth.”
“Yeah,” Marco says. “Earth with a lot more green.”
The ship shakes as we enter the atmosphere. When we fall below the cloud line, the landscape comes into view.
Mira takes my hand. She stares out the window, smiling.
“It’s so gorgeous,” Lucy whispers.
High mountains rise at near ninety-degree angles from the land, and waterfalls a kilometer high cascade off cliffs. Trees the size of skyscrapers burst with a thousand colors of flowers. Wide lakes with lines of whitecaps stretch between the peaks like an open mouth between jagged rows of teeth. We clear the range, and a vast valley spreads beneath us. As we descend, someone yells, “Look! Animals!”
Sure enough, a herd of wildeboars grazes in the valley. Cole points toward the range. Hairy beasts that look like woolly mammoths munch leaves at the tree line.
“Those things are huge,” Marco says. “I wouldn’t want to get in their way.”
The ship flies low over the grass and flushes up a flock of fuchsia birds. There are thousands of them, tens of thousands. They lift off the plain and break into an intricate formation to avoid our craft, then merge together again on the other side.
A lone saber cat chases the flock. He dashes after the birds at blinding speed. When he reaches a wide brook, he leaps and splays his legs to the side, gliding across the gap on his furred flaps of skin.
“A winged cat!” Lucy says. “I never thought we’d actually see one!”
Florine emerges from somewhere and morphs into a tour guide. She names the animals and plants we pass and points out landmarks. “And over this next range we’ll see the mines.”
We clear the line of spiky peaks and dive back down. At the edge of the range, a cluster of metal buildings hugs the ground. They are wide and flat with odd angled sides. From above, they look like honeycomb.
The buildings surround a stretch of pavement buzzing with Tunnelers. Metal tubes lead from the pavement into the ground, heading in the direction of the range. Every few moments a strange treaded vehicle, the shape of an egg, emerges from one of the tunnels. The exiting vehicles steer to a conveyer belt that lifts the egg from its treads, cracks it open, and empties its contents onto the belt. The egg is returned to its treads, and a Tunneler pilots the empty egg to an inbound tube.
Our craft sets down on a landing strip adjacent to the mining operations. Dozens of Tunnelers line up to greet us. They’re all bunched together, hairy and stooped. Six weeks ago I’d never seen a single Tunneler, and here I am staring at fifty of them.
“It’s strange, right?” Lucy says. “Cool, but strange.”
“There’s just so many of them,” I say.
“This must be what it feels like to be an Earthling on their planet,” she says. “We’re the ones who don’t fit.”
“They don’t fit here either,” Cole says. “This isn’t their planet. We brought them here to mine, remember?”
Marco laughs. “Are we going to talk? Or are we going to explore? Let’s go.” He leads the way as we push to the front of the boarding ramp.
As soon as I step off the craft, I’m blinded. I have to squint just to see where to put my feet. The star that warms the Paleo Planet’s system is both closer and weaker than Earth’s sun. It creates basically the same conditions for life, but it’s a bit brighter. The Tunnelers must hate it. Even Earth is too bright for them.
At the end of the boarding ramp, two Tunnelers hand out sunglasses from large bins.
Kleek. Kleek. Argakreek.
“For your comfort and protection.”
They repeat it over and over, resulting in a hysterical mash-up of grunts and mechanical voice-overs.
Marco slips on the glasses and stoops over. “For your comfort and protection,” he says in a robotic voice.
Lucy slaps him. “Cut it out. I thought you were more sensitive.”
“Come on!” he says. “It’s funny.”
I’ll tell you what’s funny—how ridiculous we look in the glasses. They were obviously not made for kids. They look like giant bug eyes, particularly on Cole and Lucy. They’re only partially shaded, so you can still see our eyes.
“Looking good,” I say to Cole.
“They’re not for fashion, Jasper. They’re protective eyewear.”
“Right,” I say. “Comfort and protection.”
“Please,” Lucy says. “Let’s go.”
We join the rest of the group and head for the center of the pavement, where the largest crowd of Tunnelers is gathered.
“Welcome, visitors,” one of the Tunnelers says through his translator box when we’re all assembled. “My name is Norideek, and I am Chief Engineer of Earth Force Industries Occludium Mines at Paleo Planet. We have a very special tour planned for you. But first let us show you around the mines. Please break into small groups and proceed with one of our fine guides.” He
gestures to a row of Tunnelers standing behind him.
We match up with our pod leaders—it’s weird to see Waters outside the space station—and then meet our tour guides. Our Tunneler guide introduces herself as Charkeera and leads us to the egg-cracking conveyer belt I saw from the craft.
Arrrgh. Arrrgh. Awwwk. Kleek.
“Most Earthlings don’t know this,” she says, “but occludium stays in liquid form throughout the mining process. These specially designed transport vehicles keep the occludium at the ideal temperature and allow it to flow feely in the rounded container until it’s processed for transport.”
The egg-shaped vehicles are sleek and seamless. I can’t even spot the hinge where they separate to unload until the crane lifts and tips one of the eggs. The coolest thing about them, though, is the steering compartment in front. There’s only enough room for the Tunneler driver. In other words, they’re kid-size. Not many grown-ups would fit inside an eggmobile.
“Any chance we can take one for a spin?” Marco asks, taking a step toward a vacant transport.
“Did you bring your driver’s license?” Charkeera asks.
“Ummm . . . ,” Marco says.
Klarrr. Klarrr. Klarrr.
“Ha! Ha! Ha!”
Tunneler, one. Marco, zero.
“These transports are for mining purposes only,” Charkeera continues. “They require special training.”
Waters inserts himself between Marco and the egg. He knows Marco’s impulsive streak all too well.
Charkeera keeps talking about the mining process, the tunnel systems, and the shipping of occludium off the planet, but I’m barely listening. I tip my head and warm my cheeks. I don’t stare directly at the star, but I peek at its corners, mesmerized by the enormous disk in the sky, three times as large to the eye as our Earth sun. It bathes the Paleo Planet in golden light.
Bounders Page 21