The New Frontier Read online

Lauren patted Julia on the back, “Come on, we have to get ready for school. Maybe after you stop thinking about it, you’ll figure it out.”

  Julia tried to pull it together. She brushed her teeth and splashed water on her face, hoping that would wake her up a bit. She found some crumpled clothes on the floor and threw them on.

  Once she was somewhat refreshed, she walked out to have breakfast. Her mom glanced at her, then paused to get a better look. Julia’s normally quirky attire was punctuated by bleary eyes and unusually messy hair.

  “What happened to you?” her mom asked, walking over to put her hand on Julia’s forehead.

  Julia brushed her mom’s hand away, clearly irritated, “Nothing. I didn’t sleep much. I was trying to get that project to work.”

  “Well, you’d better hurry. We’re already late.” Their mom pushed them along.

  On the way to school, Julia could barely walk straight. Her mom didn’t notice much because she was dealing with the younger kids, so Lauren helped Julia along.

  As they split, with Lauren going to her class and Julia going her way, Lauren paused to watch her sister meander down the hall.

  In class, Julia plopped down at her desk. She grabbed her computer out of her bag and immediately propped her head on her arms and pretended to read her computer.

  “OK, class, we’re going to do some independent reading this morning on your history lessons, then we’ll take a test,” her teacher said.

  Julia wasn’t paying attention. She had dozed off already.

  After what seemed like a few minutes, she awoke when her teacher shook her shoulder. “Julia. Julia!”

  Julia’s head dropped, landing her forehead in a puddle of drool that had accumulated on her computer.

  “Julia, are you feeling OK?” her teacher asked.

  “Yes, fine.” Julia sat up in her seat.

  “OK, well, you need to take your test.”

  Julia tapped on her tablet and the test appeared. There was a timeline with key dates highlighted. The top of the timeline had the title “Cielo’s Story.”

  They had been studying the short history of Cielo in school. Many of her classmates had grown up on the station and knew the history intrinsically, but Julia did not. She tapped on the first highlighted date.

  A bubble graphic appeared with the question, “Who was the first governor of Cielo?”

  She had no idea what the answer was. Guessing, she wrote, “Grover Cleveland.”

  The rest of the test went about the same way. At the end of the test, her score came up, “20%”.

  Her teacher immediately walked back toward her.

  “Julia, you’re not well. You’ve never performed like that before. Go to the nurse’s office.”

  Julia got up, bowing her head, and walked out the room. She took her time getting to the nurse’s office, shuffling down the halls. Once in the office, she slumped down in the seat, waiting her turn. Another kid was waiting before her.

  The nursed poked her head out the door. “OK, John, come on in.”

  The kid next to her went in the office and the door closed.

  Julia leaned over on the seat next to her and promptly fell asleep again.

  “Julia? Julia?” she awoke once again to somebody shaking her.

  “What? Huh?” She sat up, rubbing her eyes.

  “Come on in.”

  She got up and walked into the office.

  “Let’s see,” the nurse pulled out a handheld device, waving it up and down the length of Julia’s body.

  “Hmm,” she said looking at it. “Doesn’t look like anything’s wrong.”

  “Nothing’s wrong! I’m just tired! I didn’t sleep very well last night!” Julia insisted.

  “Hmm. Is everything OK at home?” the nurse asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Is everything OK? Are your mom and dad OK?” she asked.

  “Yes! Of course they are,” Julia snorted back at the nurse.

  “OK, well, get back to class and try to pay attention.”

  Julia didn’t say anything else. She just got up and slowly made her way back to class.

  By the end of the day, she was ready to get out of there. But her teacher was concerned enough to address her mother out at the pickup line.

  “Kathryn, Julia didn’t have a very good day today,” her teacher said.

  “Oh, really? I wondered. She said she stayed up late working on a science project,” her mother said.

  “Science project? What science project?” her teacher asked.

  Julia looked up. “It’s a surprise.”

  “Well, it better be after today! I’m looking forward to it, Julia. You should have told me,” she said, then got distracted by other student’s parents.

  Her mother squinted her eyes, “Surprise, huh? What are you up to?”

  “It is! I don’t want to talk about it. It wasn’t working.”

  Lauren joined them a minute later, “Hey, how’d your day go?”

  “I DON”T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!” Julia screamed.

  “Fine! You don’t have to be so rude.” Lauren glared at her sister, then turned to her mom. “Can Alyssa come home with me after tennis practice and have dinner with us?”

  “Sure—I’m glad you’re making friends, Lauren,” her mom answered.

  “All right. See you later!” Lauren called as she jogged away.

  Julia’s shoulders sagged. “I don’t want to go to music today. Can I please go home and take a nap?”

  “Sure, honey,” her mom answered, rubbing Julia’s neck. “I’m worried you’re getting sick again.”

  Julia grunted in disagreement but didn’t say anything else while she went with her mother to drop off Evan and Maia at swim practice and then barely made it home and into bed before she fell asleep.

  *

  When Lauren got home with Alyssa in tow, the girls barged into the bedroom and found Julia sleeping soundly. They tiptoed back out and went to the kitchen.

  “Are you two ready to eat?” Lauren’s mom asked.

  “Sure, what are we having?” Lauren asked.

  “Beef stroganoff.”

  “Mmm … I love that!”

  “Umm, do you have anything vegetarian?” Alyssa asked.

  “Vegetarian? You aren’t vegetarian, are you? I’ve seen you eat fish, at least.” Lauren said.

  “Yeah, but I really don’t eat beef,” Alyssa replied.

  “Why?”

  “Have you ever seen a cow up here?” Alyssa asked.

  “You know, come to think of it, I haven’t.”

  “So how do you think this beef got here?” Alyssa asked.

  “Umm, I’m not sure,” Lauren said.

  “It’s cultured beef, that’s why.”

  “What’s that?” Lauren asked.

  “You know, like a Petri dish? They take cells from a cow, then grow them on a fake bone and make meat.”

  Lauren gagged, faking to throw up. “Uck! I’m not eating it, Mom!”

  “Fine, I’ll make mushroom stroganoff, would that be better?”

  Alyssa smiled shyly. “Yes, ma’am, I’d like that.”

  After a couple minutes, their dinner was ready and the kids dished their plates and sat down at the table. Evan and Maia came out of their room when they smelled it.

  “Where’s Julia?” Evan asked.

  Their mom looked toward the room where Julia slept. “Let’s just let her sleep a little longer.”

  After dinner, Lauren and Alyssa went back to her room.

  “I can’t believe she’s still sleeping!” Lauren complained. She shook Julia lightly.

  “Julia!” she whispered. “Julia, we need to get back to work.”

  Julia shifted and slung her arm up above her head. She smacked her lips and mumbled something unintelligible.

  “Julia!” Lauren shook her harder.

  Julia blinked her eyes then rolled over, burying her head in her pillow.

  “Julia!” Lauren tugged
on her arms and then her hair.

  “What!” Julia finally answered, turning over.

  “We have to keep trying,” Lauren insisted.

  “Trying what? What are you talking about?” Julia moved around a little, kicking her legs, then snapped into consciousness.

  She sat up. “I thought I was dreaming,” she whimpered.

  Lauren sat down next to her. “No, I’m sorry, you’re not.”

  Julia rubbed her face, trying to organize her thoughts. “OK, OK. I’m getting up.”

  She swung her legs around, feeling for the floor with her feet. She walked over to her desk and sat down, not even noticing Alyssa.

  “OK. Let’s see …” Julia’s screen flashed on as she sat down. Her email showed several new messages.

  The first message in her inbox was from her teacher back on Earth. She excitedly opened it, hoping it might have the answers that had eluded her for the past few days.

  “Lauren, look, Mrs. Montgomery responded,” she said as she tapped on the message. Julia’s report was attached to the message. She opened it immediately and scanned it.

  “There!” she exclaimed. “That’s it! How could I have forgotten that!”

  “What!” Lauren asked.

  “What is it?” Alyssa asked.

  Julia turned around, noticing Alyssa for the first time. She blinked. “I didn’t remember this step.” She pointed to the report on the screen. “OK, I think I can do it now.”

  Julia pulled out the equipment and started moving some of the parts around. As she worked, she spoke to herself. “Put this here, and there. Now this. OK. That should do it.”

  She tinkered with the equipment a little more and then looked at her monitor, squinting, then yawning.

  “What? WHAT?” Lauren asked anticipating big changes.

  “There, doesn’t that look better?” Julia asked, looking up at Lauren and Alyssa.

  “I can’t tell a difference,” Lauren frowned.

  Alyssa shrugged.

  “We just have to wait now. I’m going to bed,” Julia retorted, then got in bed and was sound asleep within seconds.

  Lauren looked at Alyssa, frustrated that there wasn’t a more immediate result. She sat down at her desk and her monitor flashed on.

  “Hmm … that wasn’t very exciting,” Alyssa said.

  “Let’s see what the tracer brought back for me today,” Lauren said. “Show tracer activity.”

  Instantly, an alert flashed on her screen: “Tracer reported activity … location found.”

  Alyssa walked up to Lauren and looked over her shoulder. “What is it?”

  Lauren’s heart throbbed in her chest. She touched the alert message with her finger. “I set up a tracer on Julia’s blog. It should show us where the attack came from.”

  A map of Cielo Prime appeared with a blinking red light at Lauren and Julia’s room. A thin line retraced the bounces the message took, rotating the three-dimensional map as it zipped through the station. Finally, somewhere in Grid 15, the line launched out into space, landing on New Cielo, darting in and out of the station and finally resting in a new construction zone. The line sat blinking, then the screen flashed, “Trace complete …”

  Lauren stared contentedly at her screen, “Gotcha.”

  “That’s where it’s coming from? New Cielo?” Alyssa asked.

  “Looks like it.”

  “I guess you need to figure out a way to get over there!” Alyssa said.

  Lauren sat thinking. “I have no idea how we’d get over there alone.”

  “Well, I need to get home. I’ll try to think of something.”

  Lauren got up to walk Alyssa out, then went back to her room to read a book before going to bed.

  *

  The next morning, Julia felt much better after sleeping for 12 hours.

  Lauren, unusually, had been awake for a while and was ready for school.

  The first thing Julia did when she woke was check the experiment. It seemed to be coming along nicely.

  The two got ready and left for school with their mother and siblings. Their dad was working out at the asteroid belt.

  “Let’s walk today. We’re early enough,” their mom said.

  “Ah, Mom, I don’t want to,” Evan said.

  “Come on, Evan, what’s wrong?” Julia chided her brother.

  “Fine, I’ll walk,” he accepted.

  On the way, Lauren and Julia walked ahead.

  “How are we going to get to New Cielo?” Lauren asked.

  “I have no idea. First, I need to get the treatment going again. You figure out how we get to the other station,” Julia said.

  The two walked, pensively concentrating, both with furrowed brows, not saying a word. Lauren thought about how to get to New Cielo and Julia thought about her experiment.

  School was difficult to sit through again, given all that was on their minds. Both girls were distracted and had trouble concentrating on their schoolwork.

  At lunch, Alyssa sat with Lauren, trying to pry bits and pieces of the puzzle from her. They sat away from the other students.

  “So, tell me about these creatures again?” Alyssa asked.

  “Well, they’re about this big.” Lauren held her hand above the floor about a foot and a half. “And they’re furry,” she laughed, “They have long bushy tails. And they chatter.”

  “Wow, I wish I could see them,” Alyssa said.

  “Hmm, maybe you can’t see them, but what about feeling them?” Lauren said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, Julia and I have fed them. They practically come up and eat out of your hand. Maybe we can watch them and tell you when to feed them,” Lauren said.

  “Oh, that would be cool. Let’s do it,” Alyssa said.

  After school, the three of them met. They asked their parents if they could go to the plaza. Up in the food court, the girls scoured the shrubs for the little creatures.

  Eventually, one of the creatures popped its head up over one of the planters. Julia saw it first and slapped Lauren on the arm.

  “Over there!” she pointed.

  The three slowly walked over and sat down on the planter ledge. Lauren picked up an old piece of pizza crust and handed it to Alyssa.

  “OK, now pretend you’re not doing anything. Hold the pizza crust down here,” Lauren said.

  Alyssa held the pizza crust steady. After a few minutes she asked, “Are they coming?”

  “There’s one that’s interested. Just keep holding it,” Julia whispered.

  The creature cautiously approached Alyssa.

  “OK, look down,” Julia said.

  Alyssa looked, but didn’t see anything. Then, suddenly, something grabbed the pizza crust and it disappeared into the bushes.

  “Ah! Awesome! They really are there!” Alyssa blurted out.

  “Shhh!,” Lauren motioned to be quiet.

  “That was so cool!” Alyssa said, more subdued.

  “We told you!” Julia couldn’t help herself.

  “OK, I believe you now. There’s something there,” Alyssa said.

  “Now, I need to get home and check on the treatment,” Julia said.

  The sisters agreed to keep their friend updated as they departed.

  “I’m glad Alyssa finally believes us,” Lauren said later that evening as they got ready for bed.

  “Even though she hasn’t had the treatment, she’s listening. That’s a start,” Julia said as she settled down to go to sleep. She rolled over, burying her head in her pillow and pulling her covers up.

  Lauren held up her tablet to read it, but didn’t last very long. After a few minutes, her tablet slid onto the floor and she was sound asleep.

  A loud, screeching, grating sound rumbled through their bedroom. Lauren and Julia awoke at the same time.

  “What was that?” Lauren asked with her hands wrapped tightly around her covers.

  “I don’t know!” Julia said, a little scared, from her bed.

&n
bsp; Again, the noise penetrated the room. This time it sounded a little further away, out in the hall of the station.

  Lauren jumped out of her bed. She stood at her door in her jammies, listening.

  Again, the screeching noise riveted them, sounding a little further away.

  “Come on, Julia,” Lauren said, running out of her room and to the front door. Their parents and siblings hadn’t awakened. Lauren waved her hand in front of the door. It opened.

  Julia tiptoed up to her sister, cautiously peering around her.

  They heard the noise again, around the corner in the hall, still further away.

  The two stepped out into the hall. Their door closed behind them.

  The noise rang out again, this time sounding closer, with thumping footsteps.

  They turned to open the door. It didn’t open. Lauren tried again, waving her hand in front of the door. It didn’t open.

  The footsteps came closer. A dark, ominous shadow filled the hall around the corner. The sound came again — a hoarse, rasping screech.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Lauren said, grabbing Julia’s hand and running down the hall in the opposite direction.

  The sound got closer. The shadow followed them, obscuring any details of what was behind it.

  Down one hall, then over another, they both ran as fast as they could.

  The screech came again. This time it hurt. They could both feel it in their ears. Reflexively, they both cupped their ears, trying to shun the noise. The noise pierced their ears again.

  They ran faster.

  Again, it was right behind them—the noise pounding in their heads. Julia looked back. The shadow was closing in fast.

  The noise again … it was painful, almost too painful. Julia stopped, grabbing her ears, tears streaming down her face from the pain.

  Lauren looked back. Blood dripped from her sister’s nose and ears. She reached for her sister, but it was too late, the darkness enveloped them. All went blank.

  Julia awoke, gasping for air. Lauren did the same. The two were back in bed, sweating profusely, their beds were soaking wet.

  “Lauren?” Julia asked.

  “I’m here,” Lauren responded.

  “What was that?” Julia asked.

  “I don’t know,” Lauren said, shuddering.

  They both sat silent in their beds, reflecting.

  “What do we do?” Julia asked.

  “I think we just need to get that treatment done.”