The Unsound Theory (STAR Academy Book 1) Read online

“Right, Nico. It’s me you found under that protection, but I didn’t create it myself.” She didn’t see a point in hiding the truth from him of all people.

  With a low hum, the now-full shuttle transporter left for the launch site. Yalena darted a look out into the vast field and back to the control tower they were leaving behind. The sun burned hot on her chocolate-brown hair. At least she could use the heat as an excuse for her clammy palms.

  When she peeped back at Nico, he was crestfallen. “Why would you need police protection of this caliber?”

  “I was adopted by a secret police officer.” Yalena held her breath like she was under water, anticipating his reaction.

  “Oh.” Nico frowned, probably realizing the question may have been too personal. His eyes ventured away from her face for the first time since he had sat down, and Yalena wondered with some discomfort if he was going to go back to his previous seat. He didn’t. “That’s something The Woodpecker didn’t know.”

  Her lips twitched into a smile for a second as she registered his self-given hacker nickname. Wringing her hands, she sought for a safe topic they could discuss, letting that last comment fall through the cracks.

  “So, do you know much about the shuttle we’re taking?”

  “It is a fine piece, that’s for sure.” Nico lifted his gaze and snapped out of that odd, broody mood that had rolled in over him. “We accelerate at 1g until the midpoint, where we flip in zero-g, then decelerate at 1g until we connect to the space station. It’s a neat way to maintain Earth-like gravity inside the shuttle for most of the trip, anyway.”

  And now, I let him drone on, Yalena thought. If he’d really done his homework on her, Nico would know she’d have nothing to weigh in here. “That’s interesting.”

  “I can’t wait,” he said, missing her sarcasm, so Yalena looked to Jen, who seemed just as clueless as her when it came to what weightlessness might feel like.

  The transporter stopped when it was positioned directly by the shuttle, connecting to it with a ladder. A few of the students jumped up eagerly to form a line and cross over into the powerful model that would take them to Unifier. Yalena felt her legs shake as she climbed up, one of the last to go.

  Don’t look down, she thought. Just don’t.

  But nerves gave way to awe once she’d boarded the shuttle. On the outside, it had all seemed white and simple, but on the inside, every surface shone with extreme gloss. Two of the walls functioned as humongous windows, through which Yalena could see the concrete launch platform below.

  She sought for Jen with her eyes, who looked back at her and whispered, “Wow. So much better than I had imagined!”

  The shuttle’s arrangement reminded Yalena of an overgrown treehouse, with ladders to connect all the levels. It was as if the rooftop of the treehouse was its head and the mid-level its bodice. Grateful for Nico’s explanation, Yalena understood why that was the case. In the middle level, roughly a dozen seats were attached to the walls at their backs, an equal distance from the floor and the ceiling. Stomach already turning, Yalena tried to chase away the thoughts of the upcoming flip.

  “I can’t believe I’m about to do this,” Jen said with an odd mixture of horror and excitement.

  “Me neither.” Yalena almost wished she had sat down next to somebody else, somebody who’d done this a thousand times and would dispel all her doubts and fears instead of feeding them. Still, noticing Jen’s trembling fingers, Yalena felt the need to be the brave one, regardless of the sensation that made her knees weak.

  “So, neither of you has been in space before?” Nico asked, even though he must already have known the answer from all his research. The girls confirmed it, and he then took some pride in introducing the main features of the spacecraft to them.

  Out of the corner of her eye, Yalena spotted Chris, who observed the three of them for a little while. He busied himself with getting everyone on board. But before it was time to take their seats, he smiled, nothing like the silly teasing he had served her with before.

  “Making friends already,” he said.

  She settled for silence after that, although she could have sworn she heard him whisper, “You’ll be all right,” before he urged the group to strap into their seats.

  After a security drill, it was time for the somewhat rocky takeoff. There was neither time nor a way to see the patch of land below them turn smaller and smaller, the way Yalena had always imagined. The dust from the takeoff swirled around them, like a thick, gray cover enveloping the rocket from all sides. They left it behind fast, speeding away from the mother planet until it turned into a football-sized, green-blue blur.

  The flip was, without a doubt, everyone’s favorite part of the trip—one could hear it in Chris’ voice when he announced they should prepare for it. His voice sizzled with energy, and the freshmen reacted to match it. One guy whom Nico introduced to Yalena as Han Yong from China issued a loud “Woo-hoo!” followed by some others cheering.

  “It’s been way too long since I got to do that.” Nico turned to Jen and Yalena. “We only use the linear acceleration method on shorter flights—to the Moon and Unifier. Martians use solar panels or antimatter fuel and spin the entire ship to get gravity on board. Same as the tech used on Unifier. You’ll see.”

  Yalena nodded like she understood, while Jen pulled the ends of the safety belt keeping her strapped into her seat.

  “So, did you go to Mars, then? Last time you were in space?” Yalena asked, trying to distract herself, or else Jen’s nerves would spill over to her.

  “Last trip I did was just a full loop in lower Earth’s orbit in zero-g, so I was out of luck,” Nico said.

  “Most people probably wouldn’t say that,” Jen remarked.

  “Everybody ready?” Adam’s unmistakable accent sounded over the com. They roared in response, but Yalena’s throat had closed in a stubborn refusal to make a sound.

  “Acceleration phase completed,” Chris’s voice said. He must be piloting. The rational part of Yalena knew that made him nothing but a glorified taxi driver, but the space hype must be rubbing off on her. It did sound kind of cool now. “Gravity in cabin at zero-g.”

  But the students didn’t need the announcement to feel the difference. Yalena’s feet bounced off the floor in weightlessness. She stilled her breath, feeling adrenaline push through her veins. The second-years had briefed them on what was going to happen, yet she felt her stomach tighten when her seat started to rotate. Strapped securely into it and feeling no gravity pull, she found it easier to adjust to the motion, guiding her into position for the deceleration of the flight.

  In the state of zero gravity, Yalena was finally able to appreciate the symmetric features of the rocket.

  “Imagine what’s happening in the cabin,” Nico said. “They’ll have all their equipment flip as well, not just their seats.”

  Yalena tried to paint that picture inside her mind, then Adam’s voice sounded in the corpus again. “Flip completed. Deceleration seats locked into position.”

  “Deceleration to Unifier commencing. 1g in cabin activated,” Chris said. Yalena tried her best to keep her breakfast from making a second appearance as soon as she felt the sudden pull of gravity, making her feet drag down toward what used to be the ceiling. Up was down and down was up.

  Appropriate, Yalena thought. And if she’d missed the earlier ones, that was her final cue that life had just flipped on its axis.

  Chapter 4. The Descendant

  THE REST OF THE TRIP felt almost comfortable. There was something exciting and rewarding in having flipped upside down in zero-g, and the freshmen gushed and giggled about it for the rest of the flight. Even Adam’s quick tutorial on how to use their new personal devices—the white, sleek gadgets he called Berries—couldn’t keep their attention for long. Typing quickly, so as not to miss the view of the approaching space station, Yalena set up a locking sequence on her new Berry and extended the holo-screen a few times, just to make sure it worked.

/>   Among the excited chatter, she studied her new classmates, like she did every time Adeline switched assignments and Yalena had to start at a new school. All the fidgeting and boasting didn’t escape her attention; she had already compiled a mental file on each of them, most dutifully on Nico and Jen. However, when the white Unifier lights were so strong that they pierced through the viewing panel of the ship, she could no longer divert her gaze from the unmistakable spinning structure with white light illuminating it like a halo.

  She peered out at the enormous construction. Unifier Space Station. It was hard to believe she had been there before, as an infant. Perhaps it was smaller back then, without the red-numbered gates at the bottom, like the number 08 that their ship was sliding toward. Or maybe it had been exactly the same, ghostly white and silvery gray, like an artificially small planet.

  The freshmen clapped for Chris after the ship successfully connected to the station, and they were allowed to unbuckle themselves and step out of the rocket. The corridor they had climbed up to get into the ship was now horizontal, and they were able to simply walk across it and into the station. Yalena was happy she’d made a mental note to never think of up and down in absolute terms anymore. Everything flipped and switched to best fit its purpose at the specific moment. Nothing seemed fixed.

  She half-expected to feel the spin of the Unifier globe, the way she’d seen it as the rocket approached its docking station, but her feet felt stable on the floor. She couldn’t, however, escape the notion that the ground curved under her toes.

  “This feels weird,” Jen said, as if in tune with Yalena’s thoughts.

  “The Unifier globe is too small, so you feel as if you’re walking down a hill,” Nico said. “Try it.”

  Yalena giggled. “Do they have a slide that goes all the way around?”

  “No, but that sounds like fun.”

  “Listen up, freshies.” Adam’s drowsy “e” sound made Yalena cringe a little. That accent nagged her, begging her to place it. “You’ll all be living in the student dorms. You’ll find your room assignments in the welcome message on your Berries. The Moonies are already in, so go ahead and say ‘hi.’”

  Yalena scrolled on her Berry until she found her room assignment. “Room 210,” she said.

  “I’m in 212,” Jen said, showing a small smile. “Hi, neighbor.”

  “219 over here,” Nico added. “That must mean second floor in the student dorms. Shall we?”

  He puffed up his chest a little as he led them to the elevators, obviously swelling with pride. Much to Yalena’s surprise, the space station wasn’t the hollow death capsule she’d always imagined when she’d looked up at it from Earth. As she followed Nico and Jen toward the dormitories, Yalena’s eyes stayed glued to the new surroundings, studying everything from the view outside the occasional window, the sleek doors opening at each checkpoint and the residents they passed by.

  Yalena watched as Nico casually swiped his Berry everywhere he went, making doors open and prompting automatic guidance systems to chime in with, “For student dorms, follow the green markings,” “You are on level 2,” and finally, “Welcome to the freshman dorms.”

  Yalena approached her door and punched in the code from her Berry. The display of room 210 glowed green, and a second later, the door slid open, revealing a rather compact, but tidy room. It was simplistic, furnished with a bunk bed, a desk with two chairs, and a wardrobe. Everything was made from the same white-grayish metallic material and looked untouched, even though judging by the age of STAR Academy, more than twenty pairs of students must have already lived there.

  “Check it out!” Nico sounded pleased, walking in behind her. “It’s big.”

  “Big?” Jen and Yalena exclaimed at once.

  “Compared to the room I had on my exchange semester on Zanzar station, absolutely.” He wasn’t joking.

  Yalena’s eyes traced the ramp of the bed. “So, I guess we’re sharing, then.”

  Being an only child, she had never bunked with someone before. She wished it could have been Jen, or at least one of the other two Earthling girls she’d seen on the shuttle.

  “I’m sure your roommate will be here soon. Since the Moonies arrived before us, she’s probably from Mars,” Jen said.

  “Impossible,” Nico interjected. “All Martians in our class are boys.”

  Yalena swallowed, her eyes darting from one corner of the room to the other. Just a second ago, she had wished for a private room, but she already felt lonely in the empty space.

  “You must be rooming with one of the older girls, then.” Jen tried to sound cheerful.

  “Must be.” Yalena followed her lead.

  “Right, let’s all get settled in, then.” Nico picked up his bag, but before heading down the corridor to find his room, he touched the tip of his Berry to Yalena’s and Jen’s. “Buzz me when you’re heading down for the intros.”

  The girls promised they would, then Jen followed Nico out the door. The metallic door slid shut automatically, isolating the noise and chatter in the hall. It didn’t take Yalena more than a few minutes to transfer the modest contents of her duffel bag into the wardrobe. A few light green, steamed uniforms were already inside, and she changed into one of them, wishing they had picked another color. The red she’d seen Chris and Adam wear came to mind.

  Seeing as she needed to kill some more time, she decided to squeeze in another short audio lecture. Choosing one about the expansion of all space cities and stations during the Migration felt appropriate.

  At the time of the Quakes, space stations were under development and could only host up to a hundred people. When the destruction on Earth pushed governments around the world to act and save their people, a space fund was created, which subsequently financed many of the societies we know well today.

  It is worth mentioning that one of the most breathtaking and entirely new independent space stations—Unifier—was also built with money from the space fund. The Unifier Space Station is the biggest mankind has ever built, and it was completed just fifty years ago. It now hosts more than a thousand scientists and other personnel. With the accomplishments of its residents, as well as students at the highly selective STAR Academy, Unifier is now a major player in all space exploration projects. The Unifier commander also leads the Board of Approvers, selecting how best to distribute money from the space fund to new projects.

  Moreover, in the 2100s, the fund was used to add nine cities to the original three on the Moon, and two more on Mars. The Moon expansions were bigger and more hotly debated than the Martian ones for multiple reasons. First of all, governments argued that the Moon’s proximity to Earth would allow for a faster exodus from the planet, which the population desperately needed. Even with the most advanced space travel technology of the time, getting to Mars was still restricted to specific windows of opportunity, due to Mars’ orbit, and lasted two months.

  However, as emphasized by Moon authorities after they declared independence from Earth in 2132, the Moon settlements functioned round the clock for decades, not only to enable the expansion, but also to source the necessary minerals for building deep space migration ships and mining Helium-3 to fuel their flights. In a lawsuit surrounding the claim, Earth has paid over 28 trillion dollars in penalties for human rights violations against the workforce.

  Many critics of the court ruling still voice the concern that desperate times called for desperate measures and cite examples of similarly poor living conditions on Earth during the Migration. The payout is ever more controversial because it resulted in the Moon’s investment in large-scale antimatter fuel production after the Migration. Antimatter is more efficient than the fuels used during the Migration, allowing humans to reach about 12% of the speed of light. It powers almost all modern spacecrafts, confirming the Moon’s monopoly over it and making its citizens richer than they have ever been.

  The recording stopped, interrupted by an incoming message from Jen.

  “Come over,” it said
.

  Yalena needed no more than one quick look around that empty room of hers to follow the suggestion.

  “You got ready fast,” she said after buzzing the doorbell on Jen’s room and coming face-to-face with her at the door.

  “So, my roommate is in,” the girl announced, forgetting any sort of greeting.

  Yalena studied the room, which was identical to her own, underneath the deep cover of rainbow-colored garments that seemed to have spread onto all surfaces, including the floor.

  “Where is she?”

  “Everywhere!”

  Jen picked up a neon pink and green dress to make room for Yalena to step inside. It felt a whole different kind of uncomfortable compared to the hollow room 210.

  “She’s been in the bathroom forever, too.” Jen gaped. In the back of her mind, Yalena had to consider the possibility that she was lucky to have no roommate after all.

  The sound of running water stopped, and a raven-haired girl in a towel stepped out of the steaming bathroom. “Oh, I didn’t know I had an audience.” She cackled, and Yalena couldn’t help but think how frog-like her smile was. “I’m Natalia, Moon Area C-12,” she announced, not speaking to either of the two directly, but instead, browsing through the thick cover of clothes she had spread all around the room.

  With a lot of mumbling and a voice so quiet that one could hardly make out all that she was saying, Jen introduced herself and asked for a little space to start unpacking.

  “Give me a minute to choose what to wear, would you?” Natalia didn’t try to hide her eye roll. “I don’t understand what the rush is, anyway. The Martians haven’t even arrived yet. It’s not like we’re going to start without them.”

  She then unceremoniously let her towel fall to the floor and held two dresses close to her body, as if to envision herself wearing each of them in turn.

  “You two must be Earthlings.”

  “Mmm.” The girls nodded.

  “Figures.” Natalia seemed more frog-like by the second. “Disappointed you didn’t get your own room, princess? I used to share a room with five other girls in high school, and you complain your Earth is overpopulated.”