Bounders (6 page)

I don't know what to do. Should I salute? We aren't technically Earth Force yet. I sneak a glance at Cole. He stands tall, his right hand lifted in a line against his forehead. I bring my hand up in a swift snap.

Admiral Eames enters the hangar. She looks just like she does on the webs. She's tiny, probably only a few inches taller than Addy, and she has thick brown hair she wears twisted up beneath her cap. She was the best FTL pilot in the regimen, the youngest officer in the senior ranks. And, of course, the first and only admiral of Earth Force.

As she walks our line, her gaze lights on each face. I will myself not to turn away when her eyes settle on me.

“At ease,” she says when she reaches the podium.

We drop our hands to our sides but still stand straight. It's hard to be at ease in front of the admiral.

“This is a momentous day. A day thirteen years in the making.” She takes a deep breath and scans the crowd. “Welcome, Bounders. You've heard your whole life you are the future of Earth Force. Let me tell you again. You are the future of Earth Force. And the future starts now.”

Lucy bumps me with her hip. When I glance at her, she beams. This is it. I'm about to be inducted into Earth Force. I squeeze my hands into fists and take a deep breath. Next to me, Cole bounces on his toes. I'm right there with him. So much adrenaline pumps through my body, I think I might burst.

“Fifteen years ago,” the admiral continues, “I was privileged to be part of the diplomatic mission to P37. That day heralded a new era for Earth Force, an era we share with our friends.”

Admiral Eames led the diplomatic envoy to Planet 37, the Tunneler planet, when she was still a junior officer. She wasn't only a skilled pilot; she was an excellent negotiator. She brokered a deal between Earth and P37 that paid off for both planets.

The admiral scans the line of officers and nods each time her gaze touches a Tunneler in the exchange program. When her eyes graze over the Tunneler from the air rail, he swings up his hairy hand in salute.

The admiral lowers her voice. “Sadly, that era was quickly shadowed by the tragic Incident at Bounding Base 51. While those who gave their lives in service of their planet are on our minds today, we think of them in glory and tribute.”

The admiral bows her head, our cue to do the same. The Incident at Bounding Base 51 happened the year before I was born. A famous quantum ship failed to materialize during a routine bound. The entire crew was lost. All those aeronauts—gone—their atoms adrift somewhere in the cosmos, never to reassemble.

After the Incident, Eames was appointed admiral, and Earth's space agencies and military were all brought under the Earth Force umbrella. Within a year Earth Force started screening for Bounder genes. Positive couples like my parents had to have their babies premade in a petri dish to make sure their recessive genes danced in the right way to produce a Bounder baby.

Somehow the Incident at Bounding Base 51 and the Bounder Baby Breeding Program were connected. Somehow we—the Bounders—are the insurance policy that such a tragedy never happens again.

“For today we take our era of advancement to the next level.”

Oh no, not again. The admiral kept on talking, and I completely spaced out. Focus, Jasper.

“For you,” she continues, “you, Bounders, are the future of our space program. We've been waiting for you. We are honored to serve with you. With your aptitude for quantum space travel, there is no limit to where we will go in the universe.”

The lump in my throat is back. The oath is next. In seconds we'll be officers in Earth Force. I wish Addy were with me. I wish we could take the oath together.

Admiral Eames lifts her right arm, palm forward. “Please raise your hand and repeat after me.”

Line by line, as she states the oath, we repeat it back:

I promise to protect and defend Earth,

to be faithful to our planet,

to obey the orders of the Admiral,

and to serve at all times with honor in Earth Force.

As we speak the last words, Admiral Eames spreads her arms wide.

“Congratulations, Bounders. We welcome you as fellow officers of Earth Force and our very first class of cadets at the EarthBound Academy. May the torch of quantum space travel, so gracefully carried by our strong ranks of aeronauts, soon pass to you and ascend to a level of which we have only dared to dream.”

The hangar erupts in applause. I clap, too, but I'm kind of stunned. I can't believe it. I'm an Earth Force officer. Lucy tosses her arms around me. A little dramatic, but it helps bring me back to the moment. The clapping continues, and the hangar echoes with the thunderous sound. I cringe. A couple of the cadets cover their ears. Yeah, we're pumped, but can we cut the noise?

The admiral gestures to Florine to take the podium. Something silently passes between the two of them. Even though Florine stands a head taller than Admiral Eames, she seems to shrink in size. She bows her head and removes her sunglasses. The admiral nods and steps aside, flanked by Ridders and another officer.

“Congratulations,” Florine says, flashing her white teeth. She looks strange without the sunglasses. Her face is kind of droopy. “Enjoy the moment, because it won't last. No more thinking you're special. That's in the past. You are cadets—the lowest on the totem pole, even lower than the plebes. Our quantum aeronauts are the heroes here—not you, Bounders. Don't forget that.”

Geez. I guess boosting Bounder morale is not part of the job description for the Director of Bounder Affairs.

“It's past midnight back on Earth,” Florine continues. “The flight crew is getting your luggage off the craft. We'll show you to the dormitories, and tomorrow . . .”

Florine keeps glancing to the right. She's distracted. I follow her gaze. Most of us do. One of the Bounders has left the line. She is gliding toward a gun station. A long blond braid swings behind her. Mira.

“Ex-
cuuuse
me,” Florine says, directing her words to Mira. “You cannot go over there. That space is off-limits. Mira, stop!”

The girl responds to her name, but not in the normal way. She turns slowly, and a serene smile creeps across her face. She doesn't react at all to being called out. It's like she has no clue what she's doing is wrong or strange.

By then two officers have left their positions and approached Mira. When they touch her, she falls to the floor and curls into a ball. A man in civilian clothes darts across the hangar in long fluid strides. He is tall and kind of old, maybe my parents' age, with dark hair and thick stubble on his cheeks. He waves off the officers and kneels on the floor next to Mira. He whispers something too quiet to hear. Then he stretches out his hand. A long moment passes. Mira lifts her head and her eyes dart around the hangar. Then as quickly as the drama came on, she settles. She takes the man's hand and lets him walk her back to the line. He doesn't leave Mira's side for the rest of Florine's talk. He grips her firmly on her shoulder, holding her in place, holding her together.

Florine leads the girls to their dormitory. Lucy waves before dashing to the front of her group to talk with Florine. Lieutenant Ridders rounds us up for the trek to the boys' dorm. We leave the hanger and start down the hall. Everything is decorated in the dull sameness: gray-green paint, florescent lighting, chrome trim. The lights make my head hurt. The ceiling is low, and the halls are narrow. And everything smells funny. Like a nasty combination of lemon cleanser and day-old hot dogs.

Cole and I are stuck in the back of the line again, which is fine by me. I feel dizzy, queasy, and claustrophobic.

“You guys got it all figured out, huh?” comes a voice from behind.

I turn. It's Marco. He must have hung back on purpose.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Cole asks.

“Nothing, Wiki, just making conversation.”

“My name is Cole.”

“Yeah, yeah. But Wiki suits you. You're like a walking fact machine.”

“How would you know?

“I heard you on the craft. Dude, take it as a compliment.”

“My name is Cole.”

“Got it.” Marco rolls his eyes at me. I'm kind of with him. Cole is acting lame. But I've already picked sides. I'm stuck with Cole. And I doubt Cole would appreciate my joining in a little friendly ribbing.

Up ahead, the other boys stop. Good. Maybe we can shake Marco.

Lieutenant Ridders stands in front of a clear enclosure about three meters square. One side has a long metal trough. The other has a huge vent hanging from the ceiling, and a metal grated floor. Between the two sides, computer panels are mounted to the wall. The top screen flickers with red and green lights. It's a blueprint of the space station.

Cole has a huge smile on his face. He knows what's up. I wish I did.

“Cadets,” Ridders says. “This is the primary way we get around here. Some of you may know about the suction chutes—”

A loud buzz interrupts Ridders, and a green light blinks above the metal trough.

“Incoming,” Ridders says. “Perfect timing.”

Just then another officer shoots out of the wall and slams into the trough. When she looks up, she freezes, clearly surprised she arrived to an audience. Ridders stands at attention, his hand raised in salute. Around me, hands fly to foreheads. I jump to attention. We haven't gotten the protocol thing down yet, but we're working on it.

She hoists herself out of the trough, brushes off her uniform, and steps out of the cube. “At ease,” she says.

Whoa. Is that . . . ?

The freckly kid from the craft sidles up next to Cole. “She's one of the aeronauts, right?”

Cole nods. “Malaina Suarez.”

“Boys, this is Captain Suarez,” Ridders says. “I'm giving them a tutorial on the chutes,” he explains to her.

She nods and heads down the corridor, calling over her shoulder, “You're in for a wild ride!”

I can't believe it. Malaina Suarez stood right there, three meters in front of me. And she actually spoke to us! She looks exactly the same as she does on EFAN. I watch her hurry down the hallway and disappear around a corner.

“Even the aeronauts use these to get around,” Ridders says.

I stopped paying attention and missed what Ridders said. Get with it, Jasper. Focus!

“In house, we call these chutes and ladders after the kids' game,” Ridders continues. “It's how we travel from structure to structure. Once you activate the suction chute, the vent will open, and you'll be sucked up by the vacuum. The chute pulls you out of this structure, through open space, and into another structure. You'll end up in a trough like that one at the other end. You get numb to it after a while, but the first few rides are quite a rush.”

Sucked into open space? You've got to be kidding. My stomach takes a few flip turns. I study the blueprint of the space station—dozens of freestanding structures connected by a web of shiny metal tubes. I had no idea those tubes were used for transport. Some of them are pretty long. And windy. And scary, like the world's most intense water slide without the water.

How did I not know about the suction chutes? I should have done more research before coming to the EarthBound Academy. And Cole should have cued me in on our flight from Earth.

“Who wants to go first?” Ridders asks.

Two dozen arms shoot up, but Marco skips that step. He grabs the door handle and steps inside the chute cube. “Which button do I push, Lieutenant?”

After Marco, I watch at least twenty cadets activate the chute. It's slow going. Most cadets can't wait for their turn, but some of the kids refuse to go into the chute until Ridders talks them off the panic ledge. The guy standing next to me is practically hyperventilating. And I get it. Most of the ride is outside the structure, as in flying through space. What if something goes wrong? What if the chute gets disconnected? You could be launched into space without a suit.

I psych myself up for the chute, but my heart still beats its way into my throat when Ridders points to me. Stay calm, Jasper. You've got this. I enter the chute cube and plant my feet on the grate. I check the screen. Geez. There have to be more than a hundred chutes connecting the space station structures. The blinking green light shows where we are on the blueprint. Oh no. The chute isn't a direct shot to the landing cube. It bends sharply in the middle, which means I'll be vertical for half the ride and horizontal for the other half. I remember what Cole told me as we waited our turn. Spatial orientation is simply a matter of perspective on the space station. The floor is a floor and not a ceiling only because of the gravity stabilizer. Since the chutes are zero gravity, it shouldn't matter if I'm right side up or upside down, as long as the suction works.

I take a deep breath, pull the vacuum seal, and press the chute activation button. The vent above me opens. Here goes.