THE GOODBYE KIDS
1 – A huge mistake
Jorden
"One small step for man, one huge mistake for mankind."
My father's voice thunders, as he paces in the center of the crowded hall, his chiseled features radiating confidence. His blazing eyes flit over the crowd, drawing them in. They hang on his words, clamoring to get closer to him.
I'm the only one dying to get further away.
My father surveys the rustic dining room, which doubles as our meeting hall. To avoid detection by the conglomerate we avoid using most 22nd century tech. The long wooden tables pushed against the walls, are made from pines felled when our compound was carved into the mountain. The benches are arranged in rows and crammed with people sitting shoulder to shoulder. Everyone wants to be in this fateful meeting of the Earther movement's inner circle.
I lean over to whisper in Aaron's ear. "My biggest mistake was coming here today." My friend struggles to swallow his snicker, and I look down to hide my smile. I feel my father’s disapproving gaze on me and my heart starts beating double time. I look up, meeting his eyes and his piercing glare pins me to my seat with just a slight crease of his eyebrows.
Leaning forward my hand finds Dusty's soft head under the bench. Warm breath tickles my palm as he pants, calming me. He's not supposed to be in here, but I won't leave him outside in the cold.
"If the conglomerate won't listen to reason, we'll leave them no choice. For twenty years we've been nipping at the heels of the most powerful men on Earth, but today we stand on the cusp of changing history. If my plan succeeds, we will finally achieve our goal of preventing this world's devastation. You must decide. Are we brave enough, determined enough, to do what it takes?"
The crowd rise to their feet, applauding, and Aaron yanks me up, muttering in my ear. "Come on now, Jorden. Don't get on his bad side."
As if I have ever been on any other side with my father. Ever.
I get to my feet. Even though I'm in the back row, my father will notice if I stay seated. Dusty bounds up from his hidden place under the bench, tail thumping enthusiastically. Luckily the crowd drowns out the sound.
Using the momentary disruption with everyone standing my father beckons. "Come here, son." I feel the weight of dozens of eyes on me. "The next generation of Earther leadership shouldn't be crammed at the back." His tone is friendly but his eyes are hard.
Aaron threads a hand into Dusty's collar to make him stay and gives me a sympathetic look. When I reach the front of the hall, my father claps his hand on my shoulder and I do my best not to shudder as he pulls me close. To onlookers, it's a warm fatherly hug. I'm the only one who feels the painful way his fingers dig into my skin.
"It's time for you to get more involved." He murmurs in my ear, low enough so only I can hear. "As my son, you enjoy luxuries few have these days, like pets and fresh air. Do I need to remind you how lucky you are? Maybe by removing the dog?"
"No, sir." I stammer.
"We appreciate things more once they're gone," he says softly, the words both a warning and a reminder. For a moment I wonder if he's referring to my mom. "Once we remove distractions, we can focus on what's really important."
His eyes grip mine as he watches his threat sink in. People say we have the same eyes but I don't recognize myself in his hard green gaze and I never want to.
I struggle to stay calm. If I beg he wins.
"No. I'm focused. I'm keeping up with my schoolwork and training. I just made junior combat instructor…" He should know this but we talk so rarely I'm not sure he does.
"Your choice of seating doesn't exhibit a commitment to our cause. It's important for my son to show support. People need to see it."
Important for him, he means. For his position as Earther leader. My father is all about appearances. I bristle, but don't raise my voice.
"I'm just as committed to stopping the conglomerate as you are," I say with every ounce of conviction I possess. "As much as Mom was." My voice trembles as I mention Mom.
"Good. Then sit down, keep quiet and pay attention," he snaps, releasing me. Grinning at his followers as though sharing a joke, he flicks a gaze at the front row and people scoot aside to make room for me to sit.
So, after years of ignoring me, my father has finally decided to groom me for leadership? Does this mean he suddenly believes in my abilities or is this just for appearances’ sake? I never know where I stand with him.
With my relocation complete Dad claps his hands and the room hushes. He pauses dramatically before announcing.
"So, my plan… we're going to destroy the Jump ship."
Everyone in the room gasps.
My father waits a moment for the room to settle and continues. "Destroying the ship throws a catastrophic wrench in the conglomerate's off-world plans. It will set colonization back decades, possibly more. They will have no choice but to refocus on saving Earth."
Now I understand why he wants me here. It's a momentous discussion.
A few decades back the conglomerate, this enormous company that owns practically everything on the planet, decided Earth's situation with pollution and overpopulation was no longer cost-effective. So instead of dealing with it, they poured their resources into a getaway plan. First, they developed a new interstellar travel technology, enabling a ship to jump light-years away from Earth in months instead of decades. It's a hundred times faster than a hyperdrive. Then they established an off-world colony, called New Horizons.
They started moving people off Earth at the rate of a few thousand a year. With billions of people on the planet, guess when most people get to leave? You got it–never.
Most people gave up. They kept living in silent despair, hoping they'd get picked to go to New Horizons. But not my dad. He relocated with a group of his followers to a hidden compound in the mountains and kept coming up with crazier and crazier plans to stop the conglomerate.
This is probably the craziest plan yet. So crazy… it just might work.
Jacob, my father's second in command, rises to his feet, drawing the gaze of all the participants in the meeting.
"Think about it for a moment. This isn't a small bomb taking out three or four colonists or even a dozen. This isn't good or bad PR. This is a game-changer. We can't ignore the fact that blowing up the Jump ship in transit means taking over one thousand lives. Families, children..."
Dad clenches his jaw. Jacob has claimed the moral high ground against sacrificing the travelers, forcing my father to take the opposite stance. Dad must hate that. It's bad for his image. Jacob is second in command because he's influential enough to become opposition. My father adheres to the adage, 'keep your friends close and your enemies closer'. Still, now he must play his part.
Frowning my father rumbles, "Sacrificing one thousand souls to save the Earth. To save countless generations to come. Is it even a question?"
"It should be." Jacob says quietly.
My father straightens, his stance reaffirming his military training. "Then I will answer it and claim responsibility. It is a trade I am willing to make. If ridding our world of the accursed Jump ship forces the conglomerate to resume efforts to salvage our planet, I would pay that price many times over."
My skin prickles with goosebumps as his words ring through the air, their meaning sinking in. We're going to do it; we'll stop them and save mankind. We're going to change history.
One of the lieutenants interjects, bringing the discussion crashing back down to earth. "How do we reach the Jump ship? Hijack a hyperdrive vessel?"
My father shakes his head. "We can't get a ship. Earth Space Command's security is too tight, but the traveler program is vulnerable. We get people into the program, and let the ESC transport them to VOR space station for us." He grins. "The security on the space station itself is more relaxed. Then our operative uses the materials available on the space station to build a bomb."
"Why not smuggle a bomb on board the transport?" Somebody asks.
Dad makes a slicing motion with his hand, batting away the option. "We've been observing security protocols on Earth for months, it's airtight."
Jacob looks around the room. "The only question left is who? Somebody has to travel to the space station to blow up the ship."
That's the big issue. The Jump drive is so volatile it can only be used outside the sun's gravity well, so it never comes to Earth. The technology relies on a rare mineral called Utopium. Decades of mining asteroids only produced enough to power a single ship. So, the conglomerate transports the colonists up to the space station at the edge of the solar system with hyperdrive vessels. Then the Jump ship takes them from VOR to New Horizons and returns.
I lean forward, swept away by the excitement of the moment. The audacity of the plan. I'm curious to learn who the champion will be. The role is dangerous and full of glory. Whoever does it will go down in history.
My father lists the requirements. "We'll need to give our operative a solid backstory. Professional background relevant to the colony. Diplomas in the system. References. The computer trail must be spotless."
Jacob frowns. "We need somebody who isn’t in the system. No arrests after Earther protests, no face to scrub from police records. You never know who might recognize them. That rules out a lot of potential candidates."
One lieutenant shakes his head. "A single guy will stand out. It’s a pity we can't send a family. People with kids look less suspicious."
"Good luck finding an operative willing to sacrifice their whole family for this mission," another mumbles.
I look around the room at the stumped faces, searching for ideas to help. "You say they send families?" I blurt out, no longer able to stay quiet.
Jacob eyes me. "Sure. Best kind of colonists. Stable well-grounded folks, taking the leap to provide their family with a better life."
"I wasn't thinking about the adults. I was thinking about the kids."
They goggle at me in surprise. I swallow. "It's probably easier to build a dossier for a kid tagging along with parents. Less background material. You'd only need school transcripts, an ident chip."
They're all looking at me now. I lick my lips, my mouth suddenly dry.
"Send me."
Before I realize I'm talking, the words are floating in space between us.
"What?" My father springs to his feet.
He didn't see that coming. My heart gives a small leap of satisfaction.
"They're not going to look too closely at a kid and even if they did, what would they find? I have no records. No implant. I'm not on the grid." I've spent my whole life hiding on the farm up here in the mountains.
"Forget it." My father says at once in a voice that leaves no room for discussion.
Jacob looks at me, then at my father. Eyebrows raised. "It's a good idea."
Jacob's opinion matters almost as much as my father's. He won't let Dad shut me down so fast.
"Somebody needs to go. I'm seventeen." Not daddy's little boy anymore.
My father slams his fist down. "It's suicide."
"I just have to rig the bomb and get it on the ship, right? I could stay on the station when the Jump ship leaves."
Jacob looks doubtful. "Maybe, maybe not. It's dangerous either way."
"But there's a chance, right? Me dying isn't a requirement."
"No.” Jacob pauses and sighs, tugging on his short gray beard. “Sure. There's a chance you pull it off and return to tell the tale." He's probably just humoring me but I grasp onto that possibility. I flick my dad a look and my elation falters. He's livid.
My heart is beating its way out of my chest. Telling me to take it back, but the train has left the station. I can't stop it now without getting run over.
The lieutenants are talking excitedly. "If we train him properly, give him all the help we can in advance, he could pull it off" ; "They'll never see it coming"; "We need to find a family to attach him to…"
I stop listening as they press ahead, ideas churning. My father is furious, his jaw set. I keep waiting for him to put a stop to it. He could if he put his foot down. I don’t look at him, but Jacob pauses, looking at me, ignoring my father.
"You really want this? You understand what you're volunteering for?"
I feel my father's glare out the corner of my eye. Seeing him like that gives me a sudden sense of triumph. If I do this, against his will, I'll no longer be a boy. I'll be a man. A wild joy takes hold of me as I realize that he can't stop me. No more trying to win his approval. If I do this, I'm free.
Yeah. Free to die.
I lean forward, not looking at my dad. "Yes."
His voice stiff with anger my father bellows. "I won't allow it."
Too late, Dad, too late. It's already been decided.
A taut silence meets his declaration and my father finally reads the room. Seeing the grim faces of his lieutenants and his second in command his face softens. I watch as he changes tactics, from the fierce leader to the bereaved husband.
"I lost my wife to this cause, would you have me lose my son too?"
Jacob frowns. "That's his decision to make. With all due respect, Eleanor may have been one of the first, but she wasn't the only one to lay her life down for this cause. We've all made sacrifices. Why somebody else's son and not yours?" He looks at me for confirmation.
I speak up one last time to seal my fate. "Mom sacrificed herself to stop the conglomerate. Let me honor her memory by finishing what she started."
"We'll put it to a vote," my father says, "wait outside."
Aaron and Dusty follow me out the hall. As soon as the door slams shut, I slide down against the wall, taking deep gulps of the cold mountain air and feeling giddy with the rush of defying my father in front of all his men. Aaron stands over me, bursting with nervous energy. He runs his hands through his short black curls, his bright eyes wide, standing out against his dark skin.
“What the hell, Jorden??”
I can hear an argument raging inside the room. Dusty trots over to lick my face and I stroke him as my brain whirls at the enormity of my commitment. I hadn't wanted my father to take him away. Now I’ll have to leave him behind.
“Jorden?” My friend repeats in an anguished tone. “What were you thinking? You need to go in there and take it back!”
“I can’t take it back.”
I feel a wave of panic rising in my chest and dark spots appear before my eyes. I chose this, I say under my breath, again and again before the fear sweeps me away and crushes me. I chose this and I'll do it.
“Yes, you can.” He’s practically crying. “What were you thinking?”
I wasn’t but it's too late now.
I raise my head to look him in the eyes. “I won't take it back. I can do this. Jacob saw it even if my father couldn't. I choose to make my own path. To go down in history. To make a difference.”
“You’re going to die.” My friend’s pained tone voices the thoughts I’m avoiding. “You’ll die killing people.”
I push myself up and grip his shoulders, as much to stabilize myself as to convince him. “For Earth, Aaron. Wasn’t that always the goal? To save everyone? I don’t want to die. I don’t, but some things are worth dying for. Like Earth, and all the people still on it. I don’t want to kill those people but it's them or the people stuck on Earth.”
"You always make fun of his speeches; I didn't think you believed him."
I pause. "I know, but even though I hate to admit it he's right about the conglomerate."
My friend inhales but before he can reply the door opens. My father wears a look of bleak resignation. "Come in."
Jacob exudes quiet triumph. The other people in the room look resolved.
My father is the one who speaks. "We put it to a vote. Against my better judgment. You will go."
Walking back after the meeting with my father the silence is thick.
I search for words to explain why I offered myself for this mission. Even though it felt like defiance, I'm doing something momentous, executing his plan. The years of Earther efforts will finally matter. Yet his thundering silence stills my tongue. As we reach the boys' dormitory where I room with Aaron, my father stops, shaking his head and looking at me with disdain.
"You stupid boy. You could have been
a leader. Now you will only be a memory."
Before I can answer, he turns his back on me, and walks away.
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