Alone in the Dark, page 2
part #3 of Lunar Age Series
Myra plopped down beside me about the time the anchor got to the financial news and with a conspiratorial grin, leaned over and said, “I overheard your mom and Christine talking yesterday.”
“Yeah, and what were they talking about?”
“Nothing much, just what happened at your birthday party. Oh, I didn’t see the pancakes on the serving line. I’ve got to get me some.”
With a sassy smile, Myra took off to get some pancakes and left me still in the dark about what had happened two days ago. It had been my birthday on Monday and that evening there was a big party for me. The party was winding down when Sandy and Henry Chang said something to my mother that got her all upset. Mom wouldn’t tell me what had happened when we went home. I thought Sandy would spill the beans when I went into work after school the following day, but he begged off and said he wasn’t going to risk getting on my mom’s bad side again.
Myra returned with a plate of pancakes and sausage links. Before she sat down, she looked at Kat, who had arrived with her earlier and was now sprawled out on the table top in front of me and said, “Kat, get down from the table, please.” Kat gave a non-committal, “meow,” got up and relocated to my lap where she promptly started purring. Whoever it was at Psuche Neural that had programed Kat’s behavior had gotten the “humans are slaves” behavior exactly right. I was just glad Kat had taken the long way around and hadn’t walked through my food on her way to my lap. With Kat out of the way, Myra put the tray down in front of mine and sat down. She leaned in and said, “It was about the sabbatical.”
“Huh? What sabbatical?”
“We all completed the standard two year stay. Everyone working at NLH gets a month sabbatical, and greatly reduced rates for a trip back home and return.”
“Wait, you mean we get to go back to Earth for a month?”
“Our parents do. We don’t work here and the system wasn’t set up with dependents in mind. Ananyu’s parents can probably afford it, but I think most of the families are skipping the visit to Earth.”
“So if you don’t go, you don’t even get the month off?”
“Come on Bryce, why would anyone want a month off to sit around here doing nothing?”
“Yeah, I guess… Hey, what’s this got to do with what happened with my mom?”
“Christine came by and asked your mom what her plans were for the sabbatical. Your mom said you guys were skipping it. Christine said that was a shame, especially after how rough you had it last year and that it would have been great if your family could have taken a little break from things. Your mom said she and your dad had discussed it, however even with the discounts for the two of them, there was no way they could afford it. She went on to say that your family’s money is all tied up in the Farm expansion over in Peary.”
“Again, what’s this got to do with what happened with my mom at the party?”
“Well…” Myra was clearly enjoying dragging this secret out as long as possible. Kat got in the act by chirping up with a questioning “meow” that mimicked Myra’s.
“Well,” she said, “Christine told your mom that it was a shame that Sandy and Henry Chang’s plan didn’t work out.”
“So what was the plan?”
“I don’t know. Christine just said they had a plan, not what the plan was. Sandy and Henry must have been trying to tell your mom about it at the party when she got upset. It had to have involved you doing something. I can’t see your mom getting that upset over it if Henry had just been volunteering to pay your way for some reason.”
I reached down and started petting Kat while I considered what Myra had told me. At least now I had some idea about why my mom had got upset. I was still totally clueless on what Henry Chang’s plan must be. Myra finished off her breakfast, but before we could discuss things further, our pads both started warbling to let us know we had five minutes to get to class. I spent a lot of time in school that day wondering about what the plan was.
That evening I went to dinner with my parents and decided to see what I could pry out of them. Mom had just come back from getting a cup of coffee for dessert when I said, “Hey, did you know that after being here for two years, we get a month’s sabbatical so we can go visit Earth? Myra was telling me about it.”
Mom gave Dad a troubled look and said, “Some people get that. They didn’t take families into account when they came up with that idea. I’m afraid we can’t afford it.”
“It’s okay, Myra told me about the dependents thing and said she doubted anybody at school would be taking advantage of it because of the cost. She said the Patel’s could probably afford it, but Ananyu’s not mentioned anything about it so I guess they aren’t going either. It’s just kind of fun to think about, like winning the lottery or something.”
Dad said, “Sorry son, I think we used up all of our luck winning the lottery to come here.”
Mom was quiet for the rest of the meal and when I left to go back to Sandy’s I felt like a jerk for making my mom feel bad. I hadn’t been back at work for long when Sandy got a call and disappeared into his office for a long time. With all the expansion work going on, there was nothing unusual about Sandy getting called away unexpectedly so I didn’t think anything about it. I finished up the cleaning work after an hour and headed on home.
As I entered the door to the house, I heard Dad call, “Bryce, is that you? Come on up, we’ve been waiting for you?”
“Yeah, Dad, it’s me”
I climbed the stairs to the common room and found my mom and dad sitting there. My mom said, “Bryce, sit down. We need to discuss something as a family.”
I grabbed a seat and Dad said, “Are you happy, Son? I know the last year had some rough spots, but overall, are you happy?”
I hadn’t been expecting that line of questioning from my dad and had to think it over for a minute. The truth was, despite everything that had happened, I was fairly happy with my life right now. I said, “Last year sucked, but the year before was pretty good and I’m happy right now. What’s this about?”
Dad looked at my mom and she said, “Sometimes, I worry about our decision to come here. I worry that you’re growing up too fast, that our baby isn’t a baby and will be leaving the nest all too soon. You’re sixteen now. No matter what happens, in two years, you’ll be heading back to Earth to go to college. I…your Dad and I have been talking about the sabbatical. After completing the accelerator project, he could use a break, after last year, it would be nice to give you a break, and I wouldn’t mind seeing the family again—”
“But I thought we couldn’t afford it? Myra said all our money is tied up at Peary.”
“So the little bird must have heard me and Christine talking. It’s okay, and Myra is right, our money is mostly tied up. Sandy and Henry had been talking and came up with an idea that would pay for your portion of the trip. They brought it up at the party and I just hated the idea that my baby was turning sixteen and those two were hatching a plan to make you grow up faster. Back on Earth, we’d be worrying about you learning to drive. Henry and Sandy are trying to get you to drive a spaceship. It was a little much to take in.”
Dad spoke up and said, “Son, your mother and I just want you to be happy. It would be nice to take off and spend the month together, but we don’t have to go on the sabbatical. You are the one who’s going to have to do the work to make Henry’s plan succeed. If it’s too much for you, you don’t have to do it.”
“Uh, Dad, before I say yes or no to this plan, could someone please tell me what it is?”
“Oh, right, you don’t know. Henry’s sales department wants to do a commercial with you piloting the CLT30. That gets us all to/from LEO cheaply and Henry is having his people look at the options for getting us down to Earth and back up as inexpensively as possible.”
“My certification for the CLT30 is expired now. How could I pilot the ship?”
“Henry said you could re-certify at the training facility Denali runs here. We’d go in September during the Fall break so you’d only miss a couple of weeks of school. Henry said it would be a walk in the park for you to re-certify considering how well you did on the first certification. Look, I know this is unexpected and it’s late. Why don’t you hit the sack and sleep on the idea. Your mom and I are fine with whatever you decide.”
JUST A WALK IN THE PARK?
I was sitting at breakfast the next morning when Myra and Kat showed up to keep me company.
Myra asked, “How come you look so tired?”
“I was up half the night thinking. I got home last night and Mom and Dad sat me down for a family talk.”
“So did you finally get a talk about the birds and the bees?” She started giggling and Kat looked over at me from where she was curled up on the table and gave me a questioning “meow.”
“No. They wanted to talk about the sabbatical. My mom was freaking out a little at the party about me turning sixteen and Sandy and Henry making me grow up too fast. She settled down and we can go on the sabbatical if I want to.”
“If you want to? Why wouldn’t you want to?”
“Dad says Henry Chang wants to make a commercial with me flying a CLT30 to Earth—”
“That is so cool. No wonder you couldn’t sleep.”
“That’s not why I couldn’t sleep. I’m not sure I want to go.”
“You’re not sure about you and your family getting to go to Earth? Holy crap, Bryce, what are you talking about?”
“When we first came here, us kids got a lot of positive attention. It was fun, I’ll admit that. Then last year, I got put in the spotlight by the Monitor article. That wasn’t so fun.”
“But that all blew over after Buddy got caught. The press treated you much better after that. Even before that, the view people had of you changed when it came out about your role in saving Yang and Mei.”
“There are still people out there that hate me, even now. They’ve never met me, have no idea what I’m really like, and they hate me. Me standing out just makes me a bigger target.”
“But, they are a minority. Most people like you now. They must, or Henry would never consider using you for a commercial.”
“Maybe. Even if everything was positive, there’s still a price. Jocelyn ran me down in the dirt last year because all that good press had left her intimidated about us kids. It seemed like we could do no wrong, so when it looked like I had fallen from grace, she was delighted to believe the worst.”
“Okay, so there’s a price. There’s benefits too—-”
“I know. Look, I know I’ve been lucky and should be counting my blessings and I am. It’s just this whole notoriety thing comes along with a price tag and I’m not sure it’s worth the cost. Especially when making a commercial would push me way out ahead of the rest of you guys. As the Habitat has been growing, news about us has been falling off, and I’m okay with that. Do I really want to turn that all around?”
“So what are you going to do? A trip to Earth for you and your parents is huge. Are you really going to turn down that opportunity just because of what some people you don’t even know might say about you?”
I sighed and said, “I don’t know.”
THE WATERFALL.
After school that day, I wandered down to the waterfall room. I was due in to work at Sandy’s, but he wouldn’t mind if I was a little late and I wanted some time to think. I had only just got there and sat down on one of the benches before I felt a light touch on my shoulder and found Ananyu looking down on me.
She said, “Penny for your thoughts?”
“What are you doing here? I thought you had to be at the restaurant.”
Ananyu gave me a warm smile and sat down next to me on the bench. She had on a faint floral scent that I always liked. She pulled away an errant strand of her hair that had fallen across her face and said, “Myra was talking to me and said you were having a difficult time with a decision so I thought I’d be a friendly ear if you wanted to talk it out. Myra’s concerned you’re driving yourself nuts.”
“You ever think about what you want to be when you grow up?”
“Papa would like me to take over running his business. I’ll go to college, probably here, if they start one, and get a business degree. Somewhere along the line, my family and I will find a suitable husband and we’ll all live happily ever after. That’s all the further I’ve taken that thought and it sounds good enough.”
I looked at Ananyu. She looked happy. I thought about it for a minute and said, “You and Nina are so sure of yourselves. Even Myra, she loves working for my mom and will probably just keep doing that. Me, I’m not sure what I want to do. I never really thought about it that much.”
“You got that job working for Sandy and seem to enjoy it.”
“I like working for Sandy. I like learning new things. I kind of thought I’d become an engineer like my Dad.”
“So what’s stopping you?
“I…things like learning to fly the CLT30 happened. Things like last year happened.”
“Are you saying you want to be a pilot?”
“No. No, that’s not what I’m saying at all. It was fun to learn when I had nothing better to do. Now Henry is making me this great offer. I know he thinks it will be easy for me to re-certify, but it’s still going to take time. Time that might be better spent doing something else.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. I just wonder if while I’m so busy doing stuff for other people if I’m going to miss getting to do something that is important to me.”
“Like maybe you’re settling for second best and you’re going to get stuck with it?”
“Maybe. There’s also the whole thing about being in the spot light again. What if—”
“What if you do the things that make you happy and don’t worry about the things you can’t control. You enjoy learning things so do that. Henry’s giving you an opportunity to learn something and get a free ride to Earth. Take the opportunity. The commercial and the notoriety that comes with it won’t come until after you’re back. You can always go hide out in one of your mother’s gardens if reporters show up here. Or….”
“Or what?”
“If you really don’t want the opportunity, we both know someone who would love the chance to fly a CLT30.”
“Yeah, I didn’t think about that. This would really mean something to Nina. More than it would ever to me. I don’t know if Henry would go for that though. Mom and Dad might be pretty disappointed, too.”
“Talk to Sandy about it. See what he thinks. If you really don’t want to do it, then it would be nice if Nina could get a shot.”
“That’s a good idea. I’ll talk to him tonight.”
“Bryce, just make sure you’re saying no to the opportunity because that’s what you want. Please don’t give up on this because you are worried about what someone might say. My Papa would tell you that there always will be critics, but if you’re doing something you love, it’s worth a little pain.”
I walked Ananyu back to the restaurant and then went on to Sandy’s. It was really tempting to just tell my Mom and Dad I wasn’t interested. I really hated the idea of waking up one day and finding myself the subject of another attack by the Monitor. On the other hand, Ananyu was right in that I did enjoy learning to fly the CLT30. It might not be something I wanted to do for the rest of my life, but I did enjoy it. Our talk gave me plenty to think about for the rest of the evening.
HENRY'S DECISION.
I put off talking to Sandy and spent a couple of days thinking things over. It was Friday morning and Myra and Kat had joined me for breakfast. It didn’t take her long to bring up the topic of Henry’s offer.
“So, are you going to do it?”
“Myra, first off, I don’t want to be a spaceship pilot. It was something to do while I was stuck out at L1 but it’s not what I wanna be when I grow up”
“This is about Nina, isn’t it? Bryce, she dumped you. I thought you were over her.”
“I am over her, but we’re still friends. Myra, this isn’t a big deal for me and it just fell in my lap. Nina’s the one they really ought to be asking.”
“So you just want to give up a trip to Earth for Nina? Aren’t you certified? What about that?”
“My CLT30 certification expired so I have to re-certify anyways. I think Nina could handle the certification. She’d probably do a better job at it than I did.”
“I don’t know about this. You’d be giving up a lot. Are you sure you aren’t certifiable in a crazy sort of way? Have you told your parents yet?”
“No, I don’t know what to say. I don’t even know if Nina taking my place would work for Henry. I figured I’d talk to Sandy about it at work tonight.“
“Okay, so is something else bothering you about the trip? You said, ‘First off,’ like there was more than one thing.”
“This past year, I stood out and got a lot of attention. Not all of it was nice. That Monitor article really sucked. I just want to be me. If I make the commercial for Denali, I’ll be right back out there in the spotlight and I’ve had more than enough of that.”
Our pads started warbling indicating it was time to get to school. Myra took another crack at trying to talk me out of it when we ate lunch, however, the more I thought about it , the more certain I was that the right thing to do was to give Nina this opportunity.
That night, after I had things all cleaned up at work and things had settled down, I told Sandy about why I thought Nina should have the opportunity in my place. He said, “So, uh, are you sure about this, kiddo? I see what you’re saying, but it wouldn’t be a bad thing for you and your folks to take a vacation.”
