The New Frontier Read online

  Chapter 8

  Escaping from Aliens

  Just as they feared, a couple of the creatures appeared at the entrance to the cave and started looking around.

  One of the creatures approached the clearing with his hands on his hips, glaring to see if he could spot anything. His clothing hid most of his body, but he appeared to be about Lauren’s height, though stockier. His gaze seemed to look straight through the bushes. Just as he was about to look the girls’ way, one of the monkoons ran out in front of him and off into the woods.

  One of the ash-faced hominoids waved his arms, picked up a rock, and threw it toward the monkoon, missing it, but scaring it enough for it to run off further. He followed the monkoon toward the woods. Just then, the girls noticed they had lost track of the other hominoid. Curious, Julia poked her head slightly out of the hole, trying to catch a glimpse of where he went. Lauren sat up on her haunches to peek, too.

  Suddenly, the missing hominoid jumped in front of the two sisters. As quickly as he appeared, he grabbed Julia by the arm. She shrieked and squirmed to get away from him.

  The other hominoid rushed over to help. Startled, Lauren fell back and gasped for air. She felt her lungs deflate like a popped balloon. Her eyes contracted as if she were looking through a tunnel. The hominoid was pulling and tugging at Julia. She had to do something.

  A rush of adrenaline overtook Lauren. With all her strength she pulled back her legs and donkey kicked the hominoid in the face. This time it was his turn to shriek. He pulled back, letting Julia go to clutch his own face as he reeled in pain. Lauren’s blow had hurt.

  They knew they didn’t have much time. Quickly, they turned and crawled back down the tunnel. They could hear the hominoids talking to each other, but they couldn’t understand what they said. They just knew the creatures were coming after them.

  As soon as they got to the small treasure-filled cavern, they looked around to see if they could find anything to slow the hominoids down. Lauren started grabbing anything she could get her hands on and stuffing it into the tunnel.

  She grabbed a small stick and poked at the roof of the tunnel. “Here, help me with this,” she said as she grabbed another stick, giving it to Julia.

  Julia whacked at the tunnel. Big chunks of rock and dirt fell as the tunnel partially collapsed. The girls wheeled around to find the monkoon simply staring at them, blinking. The girls jumped to the tunnel at the other side of the cavern, moving as fast as they could.

  “Hurry, hurry,” Lauren said, stuffing Julia into the tunnel. Julia rushed, bumping her head as tried pushed forward into the tunnel.

  She stopped to rub her head.

  “No, don’t stop, keep going,” Lauren forced her on.

  Remembering their predicament, Julia crawled as fast as she could. Unexpectedly, a monkoon jolted by both of them and stopped further in the tunnel, looking at them.

  As they crawled on, the creature kept slightly in front of them, keeping pace with the girls. “I think he wants us to follow him,” Lauren said.

  “Fine with me. He’s the only one of us that knows the way,” Julia said, crawling after the creature.

  They passed the juncture to the factory ceiling and kept going as the tunnel twisted and turned in the darkness. There were several offshoots that the creature navigated through, making sure the girls were right behind him. The girls could hear the creature shuffling ahead of them, but not much else. Julia paused for a second and Lauren bumped into her.

  “Ow. Why’d you stop? We need to keep going,” Lauren insisted.

  “Hold on.” Julia reached into her fanny pack and pulled out the flashlight.

  “Not yet. Let’s get a little further and then you can turn it on,” Lauren said.

  They continued for another several minutes and the creature stopped. It started chattering frantically. Julia turned on her flashlight to look around. The girls could see a small opening that went down into the station.

  “Shh. What’s that sound?” Lauren asked. Julia paused and listened intently.

  They could hear a slight whooshing sound in the distance out of the opening, which seemed to be getting louder. A few seconds later, a full blast of air hit them as a train sped by. The two could see the train below and realized the opening was a vent to one of the train tunnels.

  “Hurry, when the train goes by, let’s jump down there,” Lauren commanded. The train passed. “OK, now.”

  Lauren jumped into the tunnel with cat-like precision, landing firmly on her feet. She looked up to see her sister shove herself out of the opening, hanging frantically with her legs dangling.

  “Julia, just let go. It’s not that far,” Lauren shouted up to her.

  “No, I’m scared! I don’t want to,” Julia said as she wildly kicked her legs. Finally, her grip gave and she plopped on the floor of the tunnel.

  “Come on,” Lauren said as she helped Julia up.

  The walls were solid steel and the tunnel almost pitch-black. Far up ahead they could see a light where the train disappeared. They both started running toward it, fleeing the hominoid creature they were sure wasn’t too far behind.

  “What’s that?” Julia asked as she felt a cool breeze pick up. The breeze rapidly grew from slow to a full-blown gust.

  “Hurry, jump up here against the wall,” Lauren said anxiously as she heaved herself up onto a ledge. She offered Julia a hand to pull her up.

  As soon as they both got up, the next train sped by at full speed. The blast of air wisped their hair about their faces and tore at their clothing. It was gone in seconds.

  “Come on, let’s get out of here before the next train comes,” Lauren shouted to Julia, jumping down between the rails.

  The two ran as fast as they could up the rail line, eventually coming to their familiar station, close to their local plaza and school.

  A post blocked them from view of the other passengers waiting to get on the train. They hopped up out of the rail tunnel and into the station. Looking around the post, they nonchalantly strutted out, pretending nothing had happened.

  An older lady caught a glimpse of the two easing away from behind the post. She hobbled up to them, “You two, you know how dangerous it is over there? You could fall on those rail lines and get hit by the train. If I knew your mother, I’d tell her all about this,” she said, wagging her finger.

  Lauren shyly looked at the older lady, not knowing what to say. Julia hid behind her sister, hoping not to be noticed.

  “I’m sorry, we didn’t realize how dangerous it was,” Lauren said, looking down at the floor.

  The old lady looked the two sisters up and down. Unlike her usually composed appearance, Lauren looked more like a street urchin. Her hair wrapped wildly around her head and she had dirt and grease smudges all over her face and clothes. Julia wasn’t as dirty, but not by much.

  The old lady shuffled off to wait for her train. When the next train pulled into the station, the two tousled girls boarded it, sitting down next to each other. They were safe for now. They sat shuddering in disbelief.

  “What are we going to do?” Julia stared blankly at the other side of the train.

  “I have no idea,” Lauren said, distraught as well. “We need to tell someone, but we’re the only ones that can see them. Nobody will believe us.”

  “You know, those people-like things … they could see the little creatures, too, so we’re not the only ones that can see them,” Julia mused.

  “You’re right.” Lauren thought about when the hominoid threw a rock at the monkoon. “Why can’t anybody else see them?”

  Things had happened so quickly, the girls hadn’t had time to stop and think about the whole situation.

  “When did we start seeing all these things?” Lauren asked, staring at one of the other passengers at the back of the train, a lady who was reading something on her phone and didn’t notice the girls.

  Julia thought for a minute and then said, “Well, it was right after we got sick.”

/>   Lauren looked puzzled. “That’s right, but why would that have made a difference? Didn’t the doctor say it was just some strange organism?”

  Julia seemed perplexed.

  “What is it?” Lauren asked her.

  “I didn’t tell you this before because I didn’t think you cared, but those crystals had some strange organisms on them,” Julia said.

  “You mean the crystals in those rocks that Dad brought back from the asteroid belt?” Lauren asked.

  “Yes, and they’re the same crystals that were in that factory.” She pointed back to where they came from. “The rock had some organism on it that the computer couldn’t identify, just like the doctor couldn’t tell us what the microorganism was that made us sick.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me before?” Lauren questioned.

  “I didn’t think about it. When I put them in the container, the crystals turned a strange color and got that funky stuff all over them.” She paused. “Then, when I opened that container and touched them, it had that horrible smell …” She trailed off in thought.

  “Do you think that oozing stuff has something to do with this?” Lauren asked.

  “I don’t know. We got so sick I kind of forgot about it. I guess it could have made us sick, some bad reaction between the two,” Julia thought out loud.

  “Well, we need to find out. If that was the key, then it will help other people see these things and they won’t think we’re crazy,” Lauren said

  “OK, so we’ll get the ooze and expose Mom and Dad to it so they can see,” Julia suggested.

  “Yes, that’s what we have to do. I sure hope it works …”

  The rest of the way home, they didn’t say a word to each other. They both just sat expressionlessly on the train with this weight on their shoulders.

  Part II: The Treatment

  Chapter 9

  A Spoiled Plan

  “Are you ready?” Lauren looked at Julia as they readied themselves to enter the apartment, both knowing what had to be done.

  “Yes. I’m ready,” Julia said, tucking her curly hair behind her ears and wiping her face on her shirt sleeves.

  Lauren waved her hand beside the door. It opened before them. With the fervor of soldiers, the two marched into their room to retrieve the strange substance that allowed them to see these new, strange creatures.

  Julia went directly to her shelf and pulled down the box where she’d left the crystals. Both girls stood over the container in anticipation. Julia pried the lid open and discarded it on her desk. To their amazement, the container was completely empty—wiped clean!

  Julia’s jaw dropped.

  Lauren’s eyes widened.

  Neither could speak as they stared at the empty container.

  Julia opened another container —not there! Then another—empty! She opened all the containers on her desk but didn’t find the rocks in any of them.

  “No!” Julia shrieked as she opened the last container.

  Terrified, Lauren asked, “Where could it be?”

  Julia didn’t answer, starting in dismay at all the empty containers.

  In desperation, Lauren overturned both of their chairs and pulled the covers off their beds, looking anywhere she could, but it was no use. The strange ooze that could free them from their burden was nowhere. A few moments later, the girls stopped and sat in the middle of the room.

  Their mother came to investigate, having heard the noise.

  “What in the world?” She stared at the mess. Almost everything was scattered about the room. Oblivious to their mother, the girls sat unresponsive.

  She turned to reprimand the girls and then gasped, taking a step back. The pair looked like two she-devils smudged with dirt head to toe.

  Julia’s usually crazy hair was wilder than ever.

  Lauren’s normally impeccable hair whirled around her head in all directions.

  The two younger siblings, Evan and Maia, ran to their mother’s side, peering into the girls’ room with eyes opened wide.

  “What in the world?” Evan repeated.

  Maia ran past their mother to join in. She opened a drawer, giggling, and started pulling clothes out, throwing them in the air. Then she tousled her hair with both hands.

  “No, no, no,” their mom said. “Maia, go back to your room. Evan, you go with her.”

  Evan turned and slowly walked toward the door, looking back with each step. He didn’t want to miss any of it. He stopped just outside the door and peeked back in.

  “Go,” their mom said, waving Evan back.

  Maia hopped off the bed, running to join Evan.

  Their mother snapped her fingers in front of their faces. “Girls, what’s going on here?”

  Lauren spoke first. “We’re looking for one of Julia’s experiments.” She looked up at her mother, about to cry. “Did you take it?”

  “No,” their mother said. “Why would I do that?”

  “I don’t see how it could have disappeared,” Julia murmured.

  “Why is it so important? What is wrong with you two? You’ve been acting really weird lately.”

  Lauren ignored her mother, saying, “We just need it! Did anyone come in here?”

  “No, we just got back 10 minutes before you did,” their mother said, frowning. “Clean this up. Now! And go take a shower or something!”

  Julia ran across the room and grabbed her mother in a big hug.

  “What is that for?” Their mother looked perplexed.

  “Nothing, nothing. Just glad to see you.” Julia let go of her mother and went back to her bed.

  Their mother just sighed, shook her head, and then turned and left the room.

  As soon as she was gone, Julia said, “Well, SOMEBODY was in here,”

  “Or something.”

  “Exactly,” Julia agreed. “But there’s no way to prove it or figure it out because nobody can see them except us.”

  “We have to get that ooze and fast, so other people can see these things. It seems to be some sort of treatment …” Lauren started picking up some of the mess they had made. Julia started to help.

  “So, what exactly was this stuff on the crystals?” Lauren asked as she put her bedspread back on her bed.

  “That’s just it, I don’t remember. It was something I did on Earth for extra credit in science. I didn’t spend a lot of time on it …,” Julia mused.

  She continued, “Let me think … I think it was the genetic modification experiments. I know I was trying to get something to glow neon green …” Julia put her finger to her mouth, staring at the ceiling in thought. “If I remember, I had inserted some protein from some jellyfish into some simple single-celled organisms …”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Lauren cut her off. “Did you keep a log of what you were doing? Maybe we could recreate the experiment?”

  “We could try. Hold on, let me look.” Julia went to her desk and the screen flashed on.

  She spoke to the screen, “Show my blog.”

  The screen flashed Julia’s personal blog on the screen, with a picture of Lauren and Julia hiking at a local state park back in Texas as the homepage. There were entries for “What’s going on in my life? Experiments. Family. Friends.”

  Julia looked back at Lauren smiling, “Remember that?”

  “Yes, that place was a lot of fun.”

  Julia turned and tapped on the entry for “Experiments.”

  The screen showed a tiled view of active experiments Julia was working on with the name of the experiment and a small graph detailing what she was tracking.

  She scrolled down the list and clicked on the last tile titled “Archive.”

  The screen showed another tiled view of what looked like cardboard boxes stacked on top of each other with labels on the front. Each label had a number and a short description of what was in the box. She scrolled down the stack and tapped on Box 12.

  The screen flashed back, “Entry corrupted.”

  “T
hat’s strange,” Julia tapped on another bin entry.

  The same result. “Entry corrupted.”

  She tapped on another entry that cataloged her rock collection.

  Lauren said, “Is any of it there?”

  “No, none of it! All my experiments are gone!”

  Lauren asked, “What possibly could have happened to it? Nobody can write to your blog can they?”

  “I don’t think so, but I have no idea. They were just on the station system. I moved them over there when we got here. I didn’t think they were important,” Julia said, staring at the screen.

  “You didn’t protect them?” Lauren asked astounded.

  “It was just my blog! It wasn’t important. First that treatment stuff is gone and now this? What is going on here? Who would want to do this?” Julia wondered aloud.

  “I don’t know, but somebody sure doesn’t like what we’re doing,” Lauren answered. “Hold on, scoot over, this is my domain now. Let me dig around a little bit.”

  Lauren motioned in front of the computer to take control of it, then whipped her hands back and forth like she was conducting an orchestra.

  “What are you doing?” asked Julia.

  “I’m going to find out who did this,” Lauren said as she continued her cryptic motions. The screen flashed picture after picture too fast for Julia to keep up with.

  After a few more gestures, Lauren clapped and stopped. “This is the strangest thing. I can’t figure this out. The blog entries are just gone …” She peered at the screen, furrowing her brow, “Hmm … wait … there! Gotcha!”

  “What? What is it?” Julia asked.

  “There! See that?” Lauren pointed to the screen.

  “No, what is it? It just looks like numbers to me,” Julia said, unimpressed.

  “That, Julia, is evidence someone or something was poking around here. It looks like it left a tracer here to alert them when you add logs,” Lauren said triumphantly.

  “What? So anything I do, they’re going to find out about it?” Julia asked, shocked.

  Lauren smiled an impish smile. “They have no idea who they’re dealing with.”