Strangers at the Door

by Dan Eaton

  I suddenly understood what was going on, however, I was a little surprised. Nina had her plan and it had taken me a while to convince her she should spend some time with Bryce so he could get over his infatuation with her and she could get some practical experience dealing with boys. She had reluctantly agreed to do it until the Homecoming dance, although obviously things had changed.

  “Nina, Bryce is a nice friend that I like to dance with. That’s all he’ll ever be. There’s nothing there for you to ever worry about.”

  She finally looked at me and there were tears in her eyes.

  “I know, Ananyu. I’m sorry I got mad at you. It’s just Myra danced with him and I didn’t want anyone else to dance with him, but everybody kept asking me to dance and it seemed like every time I looked over at him, you were dancing with him and having a good time. I just—.”

  “You just got jealous of your best friend having a good time with your boyfriend. You know I talked with Myra last night and she’s happy you and Bryce are spending time together. She really doesn’t want him for a boyfriend. You’ve got nothing to worry about.”

  The tension seemed to drain out of Nina’s shoulders and she said, “Come on, we’re late,” as she headed off down the path in a steady lope. We loped along through the Grand until a little after seven. I wanted to find out more about what was going on with my friend so I invited her to have a bite in the cafeteria so we could talk more. We grabbed some food and drink and then settled into a table away from everyone. Nina spoke first and said, “You know this is your fault, right? I wouldn’t have gotten involved with Bryce if you hadn’t pushed me.”

  “I just suggested you spend some time with Bryce and get a little use to having a boy around. What happened to the Plan and dropping Bryce after the homecoming dance?”

  Nina looked at me, dropped her eyes down to her lap and said, “At first it was just about hearing all the details of his adventure. Bryce had such an interesting story to tell about his trip to LL1. He’s smart and it was fun working with him to get him caught back up with the rest of the class. Then it was fun to go loping with him and studying every day. He’s got a nice smile and makes me laugh. I just got to a point where I felt really comfortable having him around. Then the dance came up and I remembered you had said I could drop him afterwards and I could end it. When I saw him dancing with Myra, and then all those dances with you, I just realized I don’t want to give him up. I like him being nice to me and I want him to be around.”

  I took another bite of my garden omelet and said, “You know it’s going to hurt, right?”

  “What’s going to hurt?”

  “The day will come when you two will break up. Bryce has a crush on you, yet there’s no guarantee that it will last forever. He might even be the one to break up with you. All I’m saying is the longer you keep him, the more it’s going to hurt when he’s gone. What I had originally suggested was a little experiment with not a lot of risk for either of you. You keep Bryce and you’re taking it to another level where things are going to hurt much more when it’s over.”

  “Who says it has to end. There’s such a thing as high school sweethearts.”

  “Oye mere jiggri dost, you got it bad. Remember in three years, you’re going to be attending the Air Force Academy, and Bryce, who knows where he’ll be going. If the stars all lined up, maybe you could make a long distance relationship hold up, however, I already did the charts for both of us and the stars don’t line up for either of us and Bryce.”

  “Arrgg, those charts are just hocus pocus and you know it.”

  “All I know is that I respect the beliefs of my ancestors and those compatibility charts say neither of us have a shot with Bryce. More logically, we’re fifteen and most fifteen year olds don’t find themselves in long term relationships. What I’m trying to tell you is that it’s going to end and probably painfully. When it does, you can cry on my shoulder. Enjoy it while it lasts.”

  The nuclear fires stripped the flesh from his bones and he bolted upright in his bed. His heart was pounding so hard it felt like it would jump right out of his chest and his panicked breathing brought far more air than needed to lungs, he was sure the air had just been ripped from by the vacuum of space. He just sat there trying to slow his breathing and calm his racing heart before it burst. When his breathing calmed and he could no longer feel his heart racing, he weakly collapsed back onto his bed. It was the dream again. The same one he had been having ever since the Chinese had threatened to destroy all that he loved. The dream wasn’t real. The destruction the Chinese had threatened had never occurred. What was real was his country had failed to protect them and had instead knuckled under to the Chinese demands. He would never feel safe again and it wasn’t right. It just wasn’t right what they had got away with.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Strangers at the Door

  Good morning fellow NLH residents. It’s Saturday, October 23rd, 2038.

  The SpaceX liner, Lunar Spirit, arrived yesterday afternoon with more welcome additions to the Habitat. Please welcome Jeffry Baker, Ralph Bell, Casie Boss, Clinton Braganza, Tom Coleman, Raychel Cooper, Jaimee Curry, David Cooley, Sylvia Fernandez, Leigh Ann Greer, Douglas Hanson, Raychel Hanson, Konner Haskel, Darena Hendrix, Dwaine Hunter, Dr. David Ivey, Richard Maldonado, Matthew Massey, Della Oliver, Lynzey Paape, Jerry Page, Shawnita Perez, Ann Phelps, Doug Phelps, Mara Sidman, Tanessa Stam, Kellie Vance, Anakin Vogelbaum, Kristanna Woods, Shawnette Wynn. The Habitat’s resident population now stands at six hundred and sixteen.

  The Virgin Galactic liner, VLS Eve, under charter to the United Nations, will land at 11:15 today with the UN’s Monitoring team for the linear accelerator. The Monitor from France is Cheval Beaubien. Cheval is accompanied by his wife, Adriene, and their daughter, Charlise. Russia’s Monitor is Neva Konovalov. Neva is accompanied by her husband, Gregori and their daughter, Irisa. The Monitor from the United Kingdom is Brice Cunliffe. Brice is accompanied by his wife, Ginna and their son, Ren. The Chinese Monitor is Ming Zhang. Ming is accompanied by his wife, Wen, their son Yang, and their daughter, Mei. Dr. Christine Johnson will be hosting a welcome party for the Monitoring team in the main cafeteria at 6:30 this evening. She invites all NLH residents to come by and meet the Monitoring team members and their families.

  In financial news today, the Lunar Stock Market closed Friday with shares of Mussconny Machine trading at $30.78 a share, Mussconny Fabrication at $33.85 a share, Hotel Whipple shares are at $30.91. O’Reilly’s Shellfish Company is at $25.46 a share and CDB Farms is trading at $25.69 a share. MM Brewing is at $2.64 a share, and Daniels Designs is at $2.32 a share. Psuche Neural is at $12.60 a share.

  Bryce would normally have been enjoying the lazy breakfast with his parents, however, the topic of conversation this morning was the arrival of the UN Monitoring team and the welcome party the Habitat would be hosting for them this evening. He and Sandy had talked about the solution the UN had put in place to resolve the concerns the Chinese had brought up about the linear accelerator project Transcor was building. Bryce was willing to concede the Chinese and others had valid concerns about the accelerator being used to launch KEWs at any country on the Earth. He was even willing to concede that the UN monitoring team was a fair solution. What really upset him was the Chinese had made a thinly veiled threat that they would destroy the accelerator if no diplomatic solution could be found. There had been entirely too much speculation on the news, that an attack on the accelerator could well result in deaths at NLH. Deaths that may have left him a friendless orphan. Transcor and his father, as accelerator project manager, had come under attack from the Chinese news media with stories that didn’t directly tell lies, yet slanted the stories and used innuendo to paint Transcor and his father in the worst possible light. It had all hurt him.

  When the politicians announced the solution, there were no indictments against the Chinese for the threats they had made to NLH. There were no apologies for what had been said about Transcor and his dad.
No one even said sorry to him for being stranded at LL1. No, instead, the Chinese were celebrated for their leadership in resolving this international issue and then were actually rewarded with access to the linear accelerator. They, along with the rest of the UN Security Council members, were even given reduced rates to use the accelerator. It wasn’t right. It just wasn’t right what they had got away with.

  Mom must have noticed the scowl on my face because, she said, “Bryce, what’s done is done and we all need to put it behind us. Countries play this game all the time. I’m just thankful that it came to a peaceful ending—”

  “Mom, I get it. They won this round, but I don’t have to be happy about it.”

  “No, you don’t have to be happy about it, however, you need to remember the ten thousand foot view. It was all a war of words. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me and all that.”

  “Yeah, I guess. So sitting alone at LL1 and hearing words that you might all die did hurt and I’m having problems just forgetting that.”

  “I know, Sweetie. I wish now that we had never let you go with Sandy. Yet we did, and despite everything, some good came of it or you might not be spending as much time with Nina as you are now.”

  I couldn’t help smiling when she said that. Mom knew how much I wanted Nina for a girlfriend and how long it had taken me to finally make it happen.

  She said, “Just remember that we were just witnesses to a game played between countries and just like you or I had no influence on what the United States did, neither did the Chinese UN Monitor and his family have any influence on what the Chinese government did. Don’t hold what his country did against him.”

  Later that evening I went back to the cafeteria with Mom and Dad for the welcome party. We were a little early and people were still gathering. I expected that pretty much the entire Habitat would turn out for this party which is one reason why we got there early. Nina and her parents were there and as soon as she saw me, she made a beeline for us. Our relationship had changed since the Homecoming Dance. Before the dance, I was pretty sure Nina liked me, though I always felt like there was a reserve to her. After the kiss when I took her home from the dance, that reservation was gone. In its place was a possessiveness that hadn’t been there before. I was her boyfriend and she was very upfront about it. She was okay with me talking to Ananyu, though any other girl trying to talk to me usually resulted in Nina walking up and joining in the conversation while she confidently held my hand or wrapped her arm around my waist. She’d tolerated Myra at first, then that had rapidly devolved to the point where Myra just stayed away from me. I found it sad and ironic that at the point where Christine finally allowed me to talk to Myra, things changed and we had reached a situation where Myra wasn’t allowed to speak to me.

  Nina led me away to talk with Ananyu. She was sitting with Adam, Blayze, and Jocelyn. Jocelyn was someone else Nina kept a sharp eye on. Fortunately, it had nothing to do with me. With all the studying I had been doing with Nina I had expected my GPA to improve. I didn’t think I could catch up with Nina, however, she and I both believed when the class rankings came out, we’d be number one and two. We were shocked when I was number three. I was behind Nina with an entirely respectable 4.00 GPA. Sitting just one one hundredth of a point behind Nina was Jocelyn. We were all well aware she was a know it all, nonetheless, we hadn’t realized she was almost on the same level as Nina. Nina was very competitive and I shuddered to think what might happen if Jocelyn was able to top Nina in the GPA rankings.

  The room was getting pretty full as Christine entered the room and took her place on a raised stage that had been placed midway along the Cafeteria’s eastern wall. As she started speaking, the crowd grew quiet and she began telling us of the new arrivals. First up, she introduced the French UN Monitor, Cheval Beabien. He was an average looking gentleman with close cropped caramel, chocolate colored hair. Speaking in a confident voice with a hint of an accent, he introduced his wife, Adriene, and his daughter, Charlise. Adriene Beabien was a tall woman who surpassed her husband in height by at least 15 centimeters. She had reddish brown hair and you could tell she was uncomfortable being up on the stage with everyone looking at her. Their daughter, Charlise, took after her father in height and hair color, although she had clearly dyed hers. She had shoulder length hair with the ends highlighted with streaks of brilliant red.

  Following the French, came the Russian UN Monitor. Her name was Neva Konovalov. She was a hardy woman of obvious Eastern European ancestry with auburn black hair and a friendly face. Her husband was named Gregori and had the same hardy build as his wife, although he had buttery blond hair and a short trimmed beard. Irisa, their daughter, had inherited her parents’ build and her mother’s black hair. She’d modified her look by adding a stroke of blond hair to the right side.

  The UN Monitor from the UK was a sandy haired gentleman named Brice Cunliffe. Brice had an outgoing personality and a ready smile and Bryce couldn’t help liking him even without the similarity of their names. Brice’s wife, Ginna, was a reserved woman with long red hair that she currently had tied up in a pony tail that reached down to her waist. Bryce wondered how she would have fared with that hair in a travel suit for three days on an old lunar shuttle. Long hair wasn’t something you saw often in space where even shoulder length hair was considered a liability by anybody that spent much time in a pressure suit. Their son, Ren, had obviously dyed his hair since Bryce was fairly certain that that particular shade of purple never occurred naturally.

  Finally, Christine introduced the Chinese UN Monitor, Ming Zhang. Ming was a tall, Chinese man with black hair. He had a pensive look about him, like he was trying to figure out how the crowd was reacting to his presence. His wife, Wen, was taller than average for a Chinese woman. She had dark hair cut in a sleek bob that framed her face. Their son, Yang, was a good looking kid who had inherited his parents’ height. His sister, Mei, was the oddball of the family and was only average height for her age. She had long straight dark hair and was clearly the shyest of the family as she edged behind her mother to get out of the limelight. Bryce tried to take to heart what his mother had said about the Zhangs not being responsible for what had happened, yet he couldn’t help feeling that the Chinese had once again exploited the situation by sending a family of four when the other countries had only sent families of three.

  After Christine’s introduction of the new families, each of the Monitors came forward to give a speech. Most were short and consisted of basically saying they were glad to be there and were looking forward to working with everyone in the future. Zhang’s speech went further and commented on how excited he was to be part of this multinational effort and how he was looking forward to working together to build a brighter future for all nations of the Earth. If Bryce could have just forgotten the prior three months, he would have actually liked the speech, although he couldn’t help from feeling that the Chinese would be looking for every advantage they could get at whatever the cost to the other nations. With the speeches over, Christine had the newcomers line up by family and a receiving line was started so that everyone who was interested could be introduced to the Monitors and their families.

  Mom and Dad waved for me to come join them in the receiving line. Nina tagged along with her hand in mine, her mom and dad joining the line further down and immersed in a conversation with some people from her father’s work. Nina said, “I wonder what Mrs. Konovalov is like? She’s the only woman on the Monitor team.”

  Nina had an affinity for strong women leaders and it was no surprise to me that she wanted to talk with the Russian Monitor. I was more interested in talking with the new kids. I was glad the Chinese family was last in the line. I’d try to grin and bear it for Mom and Dad’s sake, although, I wasn’t looking forward to meeting them. I know in my head that they had nothing to do with what had happened, yet in my heart, I was feeling anxious about meeting them and the closer they got, the worse I felt.

  The re
ceiving line crept forward and eventually, Christine was presenting us to the Beaubien family. They were actually very warm and friendly. Cheval Beaubien immediately recognized Dad and he made a point of ensuring Dad knew he was looking forward to working with him in a non-confrontational manner. Nina and I spoke with Charlise briefly. It was just enough to get a slight impression that Charlise wasn’t totally thrilled about being here. I hadn’t thought about what being at NLH would be like for a kid whose parents had been assigned here. All my classmates had been chosen by a selection process that screened for families where everyone wanted to come here. The selection process for the UN Monitors had a different set of criteria. I really hoped that Charlise’s parents hadn’t signed her up for two years of misery.

  The Konovalov family was up next and like Cheval before her, Neva instantly recognized my Dad. Where Cheval had immediately strove to make my Dad feel more comfortable, Neva was more reserved. It wasn’t that she was unfriendly, it’s just she seemed to need some time working with Dad before she’d be comfortable. Gregori and Irisa took much more interest in Nina. They had heard about the capture the flag games we had played and both expressed an interest in playing the next time a game was scheduled.

  I wasn’t surprised when I really liked the Cunliffe family. Brice was as friendly in person as he had seemed up on the stage. Ginna was friendlier than she had appeared on stage, although still quiet. Ren was a hoot, I didn’t even mind when he tried flirting with Nina. It just bounced right off her. Then it was time to meet the Zhangs. It was irrational, but my heart started pounding and I couldn’t do it.

  “Mom, excuse me, I have to go,” and walked off, leaving my Mom looking worried and Nina looking perplexed.

  Ananyu found me later, sitting at the waterfall park. I was sitting there thinking in my own little world when I heard a voice beside me say, “Penny for your thoughts?”