CHAPTER 1
The Basker Twins’ Very Bad Day
Moods were particularly cranky in the Basker family’s Utility Hover Vehicle on the morning of the parents’ “Secret Mission”, as twelve-year-old Elsie chose to call it with rolled eyes and fingers curling quote marks in the air.
“Mom and Dad are going on a...” drawn-out pause, “Secret Mission,” she had told her friends. “So we have to go to Uncle Fredrick’s boarding school for clones.”
The moans and screeches had been deafening.
Her twin brother, Everest, refused to say a single word about the changes that were being thrust upon them, but Elsie knew he was as unhappy as she was.
It wasn’t that they had anything against clones, but flasers, they didn’t want to leave their friends and live with their rule-obsessed, fusty uncle who smelled like rotting vegetables. And they didn’t exactly like the idea of everyone assuming they, too, had been birthed from a single cell in some sterile vial. It was already weird enough to share the same brown skin and hair, the same almond-shaped blue eyes, the same height, even the same nose. Being twins was bad enough; being labeled clones would be social suicide.
But the absolute worst thing about their parents’ “secret mission” was suddenly being parent-less. Sure Mom and Dad were the most cerebrum-heavy geeks in the galaxy, and Elsie and Everest wouldn’t have been normal kids if they hadn’t done their best to ignore their very existence. But that didn’t give them the right to just pick up and leave!
“Mom,” Elsie moaned from the back of the UHV, “how many days did you say this mission is going to take?”
“Deng,” Everest muttered, finally joining the conversation, “you’ve asked her four thousand three hundred and fifty-two times, yocto-brain. She already told you they’d be gone at least six months.”
Elsie glared and jabbed him in the side. “Shut down, twenty-first-century throwback!”
“Elsie, don’t tell your brother to shut down,” their mother, Justine Basker, snapped, her patience stretched to the breaking point. “If you must, use ‘power down.’ It’s more polite.”
Everest snickered and mouthed, “yocto-brain.”
As if she had eyes in the back of her head, their mother added, “Both of you can stop your name-calling this instant or, so help me, I’ll eject you from this vehicle.”
Since they were whizzing along the hoverway at 300 kilometers per hour using the commuter height, which was twenty meters above the single occupant vehicles, neither Elsie nor Everest took her threat seriously, but they did return to sullen silence.
Elsie heard her parents swivel their chairs around, but she kept her eyes down and pretended intense fascination with the blur of see-through vehicles as they bumped, weaved, stretched, and shrunk. She clutched the scruff of Pooker, her pet bobcat, who also stared unblinkingly at the traffic below, equally disgruntled. As domesticated as bobcats had become over the past five hundred years, they still preferred open spaces.
“You know,” their mom said after a few minutes of silence, “there was a time when it was dangerous for vehicles to bump into each other while in transit.”
“We know, mom,” Elsie responded. “We read all about it in ancient history.” Now she concentrated on the pretty moss lanes underneath the flying vehicles. Planned rain must have fallen last night. The moss was a particularly rich shade of green, and the never-ending lines of yellow glow sparkled.
“Then I suppose you can tell me why on-world travel is so safe today?”
Elsie groaned. “Because hover vehicles are designed for safety.”
“Yes, but how do we have the technology necessary to design such safe vehicles?”
“Flasers, who cares?”
“Everest, would you like to help Elsie with the answer?” asked their dad.
Everest shrugged and mumbled, “Because someone invented it.”
“Exactly. You’re alive and well today because of the hard work and sacrifice of generations of scientists that culminated in the invention and application of jellach.”
Elsie desperately wished her parents would shut down. She was already miserable enough without having to deal with a lecture on history.
“Science matters,” their mom said. “The research your father and I are doing matters.”
“Sure, Mom.” Maybe if they agreed with her, she’d stop droning on.
“We hate to leave you, but our work is important... to our world and to others. The hardest thing we’ve ever had to do is leave you behind. We love you so much.”
Their mom placed one hand over Elsie’s and the other over Everest’s, then their dad placed his larger calloused hands on top. Elsie peeked at her brother and was slightly cheered by the fact that he was obviously embarrassed by their parents’ display of affection.
“Let’s not forget that Baskers can handle anything.” Their dad chuckled halfheartedly. “At least we didn’t send you to boarding school on Mars.”
Elsie rolled her eyes. “You so don’t get it! If we’d been sent to an off-world boarding school, our friends would have thought we were zeller. Instead, they pity us.”
“Your uncle’s school isn’t so bad. From an educational perspective, you couldn’t ask for better.”
“Like that’s a selling point,” Everest mumbled. School was just the time he had to endure between sports.
“We have a gift for each of you—for good luck.”
Elsie perked up slightly and exchanged glances with her brother, who also had straightened from his habitual slump.
“Sorry, Everest, our gift may be kind of a letdown for you.” Their mom reached into an inner pocket. “Hold out your hands.”
Elsie shot out hers, but Everest was reluctant. When he finally offered his hand, their mom dropped something warm to the touch on both of their palms.
“Mom!” Elsie gasped at the exact same moment that Everest groaned with disgust.
“Jewelry?” he moaned. “You’ve got to be kidding.”
“Not exactly jewelry,” their dad said.
“Mom, Dad,” Elsie said, “don’t listen to him. They’re beautiful. Besides,” she wiggled her eyebrows, “Everest looks great in jewelry.” She cracked up as he jabbed her with his elbow. Guys wore just as much jewelry as girls did in 3002, but Everest didn’t like to wear anything that wasn’t directly related to sports. Plus, the necklaces were a little too pretty for his taste.
“Don’t tease your brother. As your father said, they are not exactly jewelry.”
They were disks, 2.3 centimeters wide and a purplish-silver in color. In the middle of each disk there was something like an ancient keyhole. An intricate pattern of interweaving lines had been etched along the outer rim of each disk. The charms hung from sturdy silver chains.
“These are special,” their mother added hesitantly, “made out of a very rare alloy. Keep them with you as much as possible. Wear them if you can, but keep them hidden under your shirts. It’s important that you don’t lose them, and it’s best if they stay secret. There may come a day when a Dr. Stephen Yee shows up, wanting to talk to you about these disks. You can trust him.” She didn’t add that if Dr. Yee arrived, that meant they were presumed dead. “Do I have your promises that you will keep these safe?”
“Of course,” Elsie said clearly, whereas Everest’s “Yeah” was barely audible and filled with disgust. They both slid the disks over their heads, but while Elsie continued to admire hers, Everest shoved his underneath his shirt.
“Your father is right. We Baskers can handle anything, even living apart.”
Something about their mother’s tone brought Elsie’s attention back to her parents. Even though they both wore reassuring smiles, Elsie sensed that their mom, at least, was close to tears.
“We’ll be fine.” Elsie forced a smile. “It’ll be an adventure.”