done. The ones who are sure theyâre the right person for the job end up making a mess of everything.â
âThank you, sir,â I said.
âIâve made my office available to your mother,â he said. âIf she needs anything while youâre gone, weâll take care of it.â
I let out a sigh of relief. âI canât tell you how much I appreciate that.â
âItâs the least we can do for you. Sheâll have the best care possible while youâre away. And youâll be in good hands as well. Ms. Price will do an excellent job.â
âThank you, sir,â she said.
He shook both our hands again. âGood luck,â he said. Then he broke into a huge grin. âYou are the luckiest people alive,â he told us, and then walked back to his car.
Ms. Price impatiently jabbed a finger toward the shuttle. That was her special way of telling me it was time to get on an alien craft, depart the planet of my birth, and leave everyone I knew and loved behind.
â¢Â   â¢Â   â¢
Despite the shuttleâs buslike size, the interior portion was more like a minivan. I had to imagine that the bulk of it went to machinery and engines. Dr. Roop sat near the navigationalcontrols, which were numerous: switches and levers and screens and buttons. There were flashing readouts and rolling streams of data. I guessed I was copilot, because Dr. Roop invited me to sit beside him. Ms. Price sat three rows back, to better ignore us while she read through more papers. I presumed her phone was about to lose reception.
There were no windows, glass possibly being a bad idea for a vehicle that traveled through the vacuum of space, but there were high-resolution video screens in the front and back, and on the sides, that acted as windows. I sat looking forward, and though I knew there was ten feet of shuttle on the other side of the screen, it sure looked like I was peering through glass.
âThe other kids are on the ship already?â I asked.
âYes,â he said. âI took them up yesterday.â
For some reason, I didnât like that theyâd had a whole day on the spaceship without me, but I pushed the thought aside. âYou do know how to drive this thing, right?â I asked Dr. Roop.
âFor a simple trip like this, the navigational computer will handle the controls,â he said.
âBut what if something goes wrong? Shouldnât there be a pilot on board?â
âThings donât go wrong,â he assured me. âBut even if, however improbably, something were to happen, the shuttle can be controlled from the main ship, and in an emergency I am able to operate it.â
I didnât love the idea of being flown around by a computer, but I knew I had to do things the Confederation way. You donât get to be a galaxy-spanning civilization without knowing what you are doing. Or so I told myself.
âIt will take about fifteen minutes to reach the ship,âDr. Roop said. âThe navigational computer provides a very smooth ride.â
Everything was happening so quickly, Iâd hardly had time to think about it. Now I was suddenly absolutely terrified. I was on a space shuttle of alien design, about to leave Earth and board a starship. This was nuts. I thought I might vomit or pass out or both.
âI have seen enough of human physiology to tell you are anxious,â Dr. Roop said, âbut I assure you there is no need for fear. You could not be safer. Now give me your hand.â
I did. He took out one of the cylinders that Ms. Price had used to inject me with nanites, and he pressed it to the back of my hand.
âSedative?â I asked.
âCertainly not. These are more nanites.â
âFor what?â
Suddenly my vision grew fuzzy, but only for a second. I blinked a few times, and the blurring was gone, but things were now just a little different. Dr. Roop had a vague, transparent
Louise Bay
Joy Dettman
Joyce Chng
Stacey Marie Brown
Greg Bear
V Bertolaccini
Robert Colton
Nicki Greenwood
Richard Castle
Britten Thorne