Survivors

by Alex Isaacs

  We continue to do our school work, Zoey, asking if I would like a drink. I say yes, she brings us each a beer. I get caught up in my classwork, understanding it some more. Zoey looks at the time, asking if I would like to stay and watch a movie, she says she does not like to be here alone. I say yes, she finds some movies for us to watch. We pick out a movie, Zoey, grabbing us another beer. We sit down on the couch together, Zoey moving over closer to me. We watch the movie, Zoey snuggling into my shoulder after getting us another beer. As we get into the movie, Zoey looks at me, then moves to kiss me. I kiss her back; then, she gets me to put my arm around her so she can snuggle in better. As the movie gets near the end, Zoey asks me to get us another beer, snuggling into my arms once more as we start to watch this movie. I do not notice the time, but notice that Zoey has fallen asleep in my arms. I try not to move to disturb her. I look at the clock; it is near midnight; I hear the front door open. Zoey’s parents are back, seeing us on the couch. Her mother notices that she is asleep. She nudges Zoey’s shoulder to wake her up. Zoey begins to wake up, kissing me right in front of her mother. I look as shocked as her mother does. Zoey’s mother tells her it is time for bed. Zoey wakes up some more, noticing her parents. Zoey thanks me for staying with her until they got home.

  I collect my books, heading to the door, thanking Zoey for her help. Zoey’s mom thanks me for staying with her until they got home. Zoey comes over, giving me another kiss, saying goodnight. I walk out in a daze, not even paying attention to where I am. As a bus goes by, I remember where I am; I need to catch the bus that comes near the Urbina’s house. I get to the house; Joe is up waiting for me. I tell him I fell asleep watching a movie after doing my schoolwork. He says everyone is asleep here; he wants to know how I am doing on my training, flying the PSV. I tell Joe that Jason is going to let me fly solo on the next trip. Joe looks at me, then says he thought he heard that, but he wanted to hear me say it. Joe tells me that he wants me to control one of the PSV’s that will be going to the asteroid belt this week. I look at Joe, saying this week already. Joe says yes, this week, we need to get fuel coming in for us to do more work. Joe then asks me how my astronomy class is coming along. I tell him I have the key to the lab now. I can only use certain machines, but I can go in to use them at any time. Joe said great, tomorrow the two of us will go into the lab, he wants me to look where the PSV’s are going. On Monday, I will use the tractor beam on my PSV in space to see how it performs. He tells me to get to bed if they ask, I got in just after eleven; all the others went to bed at ten-thirty.

  The next morning at breakfast, my mom asked how my studying went last night. I said great; I am up to the class now, plus I can email or talk to Zoey when I am home in the valley if I need help. Ann asked how Zoey’s parents were. I said they were great; her mother thanked me before I left last night. Joe came in, asking if we are going to the astronomy lab, we better get going. We got to the lab, Joe turning on the machines that I was not supposed to be touching. He got the asteroid belt up where the PSV’s are going, showing me the different asteroids. As Joe began to tell me which asteroids we are looking for, I say the ones with the water and oxygen; we can make fuel out of the materials. Joe looks at me, saying, I am coming along in my astronomy class. I can see the images of the asteroids but will see them a lot better from the PSV. We close up the lab; Joe now wants me to see the program for the tractor beam.

  We get to his lab, Joe bringing up the program for the tractor beam. He shows me how it works on the computer, telling me that it can safely pull up to three or four times the weight of the PSV. As we leave to go home, I cannot wait until tomorrow; I want to try this beam out in space.

  When we get back to the house, Rose and my mother are waiting for the two of us. They tell us our work for the day is over. I ask about my training with the girls. My mom says I can go with them, but we are to come straight back here. We are all going out to dinner tonight. You two have not been around most of the time. I feel guilty, but I know what I am doing is important. I head out with the girls to our training. The girls still seem upset with me; I find out how much in our hand to hand combat part as the two lay into me. I get caught off-guard, not knowing how mad they are. I get tossed and hit fully by both of them. Kelly sees this with the others in the group, stopping to watch the two come at me again.

  I try to be nice, not wanting to hurt them, but I get a bloody nose, then a black eye from their attacks. Kelly steps in, stopping the two, Ann saying cousin, then walking away. I look at Mandy; she says I am not her brother. Kelly asks me what that is all about as they take the two girls to the showers. I tell her about the party the other night, all the people asking questions about why we were not in class. I made up this story, filling Kelly in. Kelly shook her head, saying I did not think that one out, especially since those two like me a lot. I looked at Kelly; she smiles, saying I am a dumb country boy. Kelly sends me to the showers, telling me to keep my distance from those two, I need to be in shape for my flying this week. I have a quick shower, coming out, leaving a message for the two girls that I am on my way back to the house. I catch the bus, finding the two girls at home. Rose and my mom asked what happened to me, seeing my black eye and some dried blood below my nose. I tell them I slipped on a bar of soap. I hear the two girls saying yea right.

  We get dressed for dinner; I quickly go to sit in the front seat of the mini-van. The dinner is a quiet one for me; I do not know what to say. After we get home, I say goodnight, heading off to bed. I wake up in the morning, my head a little sore from where the girls hit me. I have a nice long shower before Joe, and I head to the base. Jenny is there, staring at me, asking what happened. I said nothing, getting ready to go up in the PSV. I check the PSV out then get ready to take off. There are three of us going up today, Kelly, with Joe, Jason, and myself, with Jenny as my passenger. As we get near the asteroid, Joe tells Jason to stop, Alex is going to try using the tractor beam this morning. I get the beam working, getting it onto Jason’s PSV. I start to move, looking at the program. I get Jenny to take control of the PSV. She says what; I say it is easy, getting her to take control. I tell the others to hold on; I want to check out the program. Jenny settles down, keeping the PSV flying straight. I look at the program, making a couple of notes. I come back to sit in the pilot seat, noticing that Jenny is doing a great job. I keep her flying as Joe calls to tell me I can release the beam now. I turn it off, getting Jenny to keep flying to the asteroid. I help her to land the PSV. We get taken inside to unload, then get a load of ore to take back. The two new PSV’s are ready to go; they are sitting on the moveable platform, ready for takeoff. Doors are in place in case there is a problem with the magnetic clamps holding everything down inside the chamber.

  As we get ready to leave, I get Jenny to retake control; she asks me if I am serious. I say yes, you show great signs of being able to fly a PSV. I instruct her how to take off, then let her set the course to fly us back to earth. I help Jenny land the PSV, and as we get off the PSV, she faints. A lot of people come over to see what is wrong, giving me a hand to carry her inside. The others come in, Simon following them. They ask what is wrong with Jenny. I tell them it finally sunk in what she was doing; she fainted from what she had done today. Joe asks me what did she do. I told them that Jenny flew the PSV for me today, so I got her to fly some more. I think her landing the PSV was a bit much. As Jenny finally came around, she started to babble. I said it was okay; I helped you to land the PSV. Jenny fainted again. Joe and the others gave me shit for doing that. I said she was flying it as I checked out the tractor beam. She was flying it like I was when I started. Jason said you could tell if a person is good enough to fly a PSV, turning to me, Jason says, Alex, you are not ready yet to start teaching people to fly a PSV. Simon said yet, what do you mean. Joe says he can see how well I am progressing; Jason is right. Alex can train people shortly to fly the PSV’s. Joe then told Simon that I am going to control one of the two PSV’s going to the asteroid belt. I asked Joe who
I am replacing. Kelly said I am replacing her. I look at Kelly saying you are a better pilot, Kelly says no, I am better than she is now, she could fly the mission, but I have more experience in choosing the asteroids.

  Jenny comes around again. We steady her, Jenny looking at me, saying did she fly it in space. I said, yes. Jason tells Jenny he would like to train her starting tomorrow. Jenny looks at me, then faints again. We laugh, we have overdone it now with her, she might need someone to check her out from the psychology department. Kelly says she hopes she does not faint all the time like this. When Jenny comes around again, we get her to her feet, not saying anything else to her. Jenny is fine after she gets some fresh air.

  We have some time before going home; I ask to see the program once more for the tractor beam. I bring out my notes, looking it over. I ask Joe if we can take a laptop home for me to do some work on it. He gets me another laptop; then we put the program on it for me to work on at the house. As we are about to leave, the General stops us, asking me if I genuinely think Lieutenant Sanders will be a good pilot. I tell the General, yes. He thinks for a minute then says he needs to get another psychology person to train. The General asks where the Lieutenant is, we direct him to where she last was. Joe tells me that they are looking for more pilots, not many look promising.

  Once at home, I look at the program for the tractor beam. I find that I can use the tractor beam to drag back more than one object at a time. I go to show Joe; he makes a call to the shop, giving instructions to make a new lens for the tractor beam. I configure the program to work on one or more of the beams. All we can do is try it out. I go to bed, not getting much sleep.

  In the morning, we get to the base, but we have to wait for Jenny. I find out she has found a student to help with the psychology study; she will come with Jenny on this trip. As we wait, the engineers come over to show us the piece that they made up for the tractor beam. They are installing it on my PSV while we wait to take off for our trip today. I get the laptop with the new program and go to wait for Jenny. Jenny and the General finally show up with Simon. I cannot see anyone else with them. Suddenly, Simon asks if that is the girl coming with us today, Jenny says yes. Simon goes over to her; I see that she is talking on her cell phone. Simon asks to speak to the person on the phone; then, he told the General to go and get them.

  As the girl turns around, Jenny starts to introduce her to us; I am shocked to see who it is.

  Chapter 8: Changes

  I say hi to Zoey, asking her why she is here. Jenny says this is the new psychology student that we are bringing in for the group. Jenny asks me if I know Zoey, I say yes, she is in my psychology class. I hear a phone ring; it is Simon’s. I hear him ask the first person to hang on, then he answers his other phone, telling them to stay with the mother, wait for the father to return, and if there are any other children, wait and bring them all back to the base. Simon gets back on the other phone; I hear him tell them to answer the door and follow instructions. Simon hangs up; then comes over to Zoey. Simon asks Zoey if she has any brothers or sisters. Zoey says, no. Simon tells Zoey that she is not to use her phone anymore.

  We get ready to go, Zoey asks me what I am doing here. I look at Jenny, then tell Zoey she will see in a minute. We get to the PSV, Jenny taking Zoey in to get seated. After I check out my PSV, seeing the new attachment, I enter the PSV, taking my seat in the pilot's spot. Zoey whispers to me, saying I should not be sitting in the pilot’s seat, I had better move. I get Penny in the other pilot’s seat, asking her if she wants to try taking off. Jenny says, yes.

  We move out, getting in position to take off. I tell Jenny I am here to help out if it gets windy. Zoey is now saying; you are not the pilot. I turn, smiling, saying, yes, I am the pilot. I hear Zoey say oh my god, then she looks to be starting to panic. I tell Zoey to relax; everything is alright; I have done this before. Jenny does very well taking off getting us into space. Zoey is now looking out into space; she has forgotten the takeoff. Joe calls, telling me that the two of them are in place. I radio back saying, I will engage the tractor beams, but I will only move your two craft a few feet.

  I engage the tractor beams, telling the others to hold on for a minute; I have to adjust the program. I tell Jenny to hold us in position when she takes the controls, I grab the laptop, adjusting the program. I take back the controls, noticing that the beams are how I want them. I begin to move the other two vehicles, noticing the increase in the use of power until I have them moving. I tell Jenny to retake control, as I put in the information. I come back, releasing the two vehicles, telling them it works. We head to the asteroid, Zoey, not even paying attention to what we are doing. I get Jenny to land, once we are in the building, I head down to the two new PSV’s. I look to see how easy it would be to put the new part on them. When I come back, Jenny is talking with Zoey, telling her what to watch for in the study that she will help conduct.

  We get our load on, moving out with the other two PSV’s. Simon will be happy with the loads we can bring back now. We have ten working PSV’s, with two more under construction. I let Penny fly back to earth, Zoey watching her, making some notes. Once we have landed, we get changed. I give the information to Joe; he passes it on to the engineers. I tell Joe I will be back; I am going to my training with the other two girls. Kelly and Jason catch up to me, Jason asking how Jenny is doing in the pilot seat. I tell Jason, he can find out tomorrow, he can ride with her to correct any mistakes. I get changed; then, go to training. I notice the two girls still look mad at me. Kelly tells me to keep my distance for a couple of days, which should give them time to cool off. After our training, the three of us head back to the lab.

  When we get in, I see that Zoey's parents are now sitting with Zoey waiting. I ask Joe what is going on. Joe says that Simon is upset about Zoey calling her mother. Simon does not want anyone outside the program to know what we are doing. I can understand that, but I ask Joe what Simon wants to do with the three of them. Simon is trying to figure that out. I go with Joe over to Simon; he has finished talking with General Horten. Joe asks what will happen with Zoey and her parents. Simon tells us that the Simpsons will remain on the base. I ask if they can move to the valley, they would be away from everyone up there. Simon says the problem is that they do not have any skills for the group, except for Zoey. I tell Simon that we can ask my dad to train them to run a farm; that way, they can be useful to the group. Simon tells the two of us to find out quickly; now, they will be on the base. Joe says to hold on; he will make a phone call.

  I go to use another phone, calling my dad, letting him know of the situation that has arisen. He says all he can do is try; there is room in the valley with all the farms. I go back out to Simon, saying my dad is willing to try to get them to farm, plus we do have all the farms. Joe comes over to Simon, saying that Rose is willing to take them into their house for the time being. I tell Joe that my dad will try to teach them how to farm. Simon says, great. We head over to the Simpsons, Simon explaining the situation we are in with what has happened. A security guard comes up to Simon, telling him two reporters want to see him. Simon looks at the Simpsons, saying it has already begun. He takes Zoey’s cell phone, taking the battery out of it, saying no more cell phones, please. The parents hand their cell phones to Simon. Mrs. Simpson asks what about their belongings. Simon says he will get people on it for now; the story he will use is that the three of you are in quarantine.

  Simon tells us to give him five minutes to get the reporters out of the way, then we all can leave the building. As we all leave, Zoey is looking at Ann and Mandy. We get to the house, Rose telling me I am giving up my room. I say okay, getting my things out for Zoey’s parents. Zoey will room with the two girls, Marie moving in with my mom until we gt back to the valley. After dinner, the three girls confront me, Zoey asking me if I lied to her about the other two girls. I said yes, but before I could explain, Zoey walked up to me, slapping me hard across the face. Zoey went on saying she does not like liers, then when she st
opped yelling at me, she came over to slap me once again. The three girls walked away; they all looked mad. Mrs. Simpson, Rose, and my mom came over to me, asking me to tell them the whole story.

  I go through the whole story, explaining my position. My mother said I had no right to lie to the girls; I should have thought about what to say, asking them first. My mother said no wonder the two girls hit me like that the other day. The three ladies start to talk, saying they better straighten things out, no need for Alex getting hit anymore. I stand up, getting ready to go with them when my mother turns to me, asking where I am going. I say I want to help explain. My mother tells me to sit down; I have done enough damage for now. Joe grabs three beers, getting me to come outside with Mr. Simpson. Mr. Simpson says to call him Jim, as he asks about the farm they are going to in the next few days. I tell Jim where the valley is; he does not need to worry about people finding them. I tell Jim that my dad will help them to learn how to farm so that Simon is happy with all three of you being in the program. Jim asks about his job. Joe tells him that Simon will take care of it for him. They might even sell your house to cover any loose ends.

  Joe says he will be right back; he is going to call Simon about our conversation. Jim asks me about Zoey, how she will keep doing her education. I tell Jim that we will set her up to do online courses like the three of us are doing. Joe comes back out with three more beers, saying everything is being taken care of right now. Simon will get the house emptied, then sell it for you. Jim asks what about some clothes for now. Joe tells Jim he is waiting for Rose to come out; then, the two of them will pack some clothes for the next week or two. I ask what about Zoey’s school books. Joe says she does not need them until next week so that they will be at the valley by the time she starts her courses up again. I tell Joe that she will need her books; she is training for Jenny’s study. Jos said they would pick up all of her books then.