Bounders (29 page)

“He wasn't that little,” Cole says.

We have an hour to kill before our last lecture, so we con a plebe into letting us into our pod room. We sprawl on the beanbags and stare at the starlit ceiling. I drag my fingers along the carpet. I want to talk about what happened, and what it all means for us, but I don't know where to start.

“Do you think Waters knows we bounded?” Cole asks.

“I'm not sure,” I say. “I actually think Gedney might keep our secret.”

“Why do you care?” Marco says. “An alien war is a much bigger deal than us breaking their silly rules.”

“What do you think they want from us?” I ask. “How do we fit into the war?”

“I don't even want to know,” Lucy says. “I just want to get home and see my family and my friends and go back to drama class and paint my nails and tie my hair in whatever ribbons I want and forget I ever came to this place.” Lucy's voice cracks, and this time it's not an act.

“Come on, Lucy,” I say, “you don't mean that. We've got one another now.”

“You're right,” Lucy says. “It's just . . . scary . . . you know?”

Yeah, I know. I'm super scared. I can bound, and I'm decent at
Evolution
, but I'm not a soldier. Even the gloves scare me. Now that I know what they are and how little we actually know about them, I realize how dangerous they'd be in the wrong hands. Wrong hands, get it? Yeah, it's not funny. Nothing about stolen alien technology is funny.

“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!

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.”