The Homeworld Trilogy Boxed Set

Chapter One

I am sick of Mars.

Lin clapped her hands together as my class stepped into the Great Frontiers Solar System Museum. She skipped into the dome and reached the giant model of the Solar System, stopping right under Jupiter as it floated over her head. For someone who was tired of the classes about the Red Planet, she was excited to be here.

I faced Winnie and grinned. She picked at her green uniform and shook her head. Lin needs to stop taking energy tablets, she whispered.

I'm going to have to cut her off, I said. They're not natural.

Lin ducked as the holographic Saturn floated over her head. She jumped and swung at it. Stop being such an Earther, Tess. Natural this. Nature that.

At least swing at the right planet, I told her. There's Mars. If we weren't friends, we would fight.

Winnie wasn't listening to us. I don't like this field trip. They're just getting us ready for the draft.

I didn't like it, either. The Great Council was sending more and more people to the Mars colonies lately. They said it was their way of saving humanity from the crushing pollution problem. I thought that they could do that by shutting down the factories and the mines, and that wasn't just because I was an Earther. Everyone felt that way.

I was no psychologist, but I had the feeling that was why Lin took so many energy tabs and Winnie was depressed. No one ever heard back from the Red Planet.

I don't like it, either, I told Winnie, keeping my strong face up. But it's just a field trip. We'll get through it. I bet it's just part of the Mars Unit.

Lin stepped away from the center of the hologram, footsteps echoing in the enormous dome. A notice appeared in my contacts, filling the center of my vision with bright blue text.

WOKING HIGH SCHOOL GROUP A, PLEASE FILE TO THE MARS ENTRANCE. YOUR TOUR BEGINS IN 2 MINUTES.

Everyone silenced. It seemed like a cold way to start the tour. Usually, a guide robot greeted museum-goers. Perhaps it had broken down.

Great, Winnie said. She ran a hand through her messy, curly hair.

Winnie's tension flowed into me, but I didn't dare show it. I had to do something. We're sneaking out of this tour, I said. Want to look at the Terminus exhibit? There's one for each planet. As long as we're in the museum, the computer shouldn't give us detention, right?

Winnie frowned. I don't want to get in trouble.

Come on, Winnie. If we get detention, it'll be together. There are worse things out there.

I tugged on Lin's sleeve. I told her the plan, and she nodded in silence. Checking out another museum would be better than having propaganda about the virtues of Mars shoved down our throats.

What are you doing? Blake asked, drawing closer to us.

He made me a little dizzy. Sneaking out when the tour starts, I said. I blushed again. Do you want to join in?

I eyed the rest of the students in our class. Paj was too busy looking at something on his contact display, and everyone else was gathered into their groups, murmuring. I envied the people who could go through their daily lives, not thinking about how they could get disrupted at any moment.

At last, the reflective door to the Mars Museum slid open and an actual human being stepped out, a man dressed in a blue jumpsuit with a name tag that read HENRY OGILVY. He wore zero emotion and also had the plainest buzz cut I'd ever seen. He wore a ridiculously high collar around his neck that must be choking. He let the door close behind him, but not before I caught a glimpse of the museum. Both walls were big, panoramic photographs of the Martian landscape, complete with images of the first rovers.

Greetings, the man said in a flat monotone. I am Henry, and I will be your guide for the Mars Museum. If you would step in after me, I will begin your tour.

People snickered. The guy sounded just like the Great Council. I wondered if he was an android since museums used them sometimes, but real veins forked under the skin of his hand, which was on the door handle. He was human. Besides, androids were usually programmed to sound cool.

Henry sounded the way all of the members of the Great Council did when they spoke. It was unnerving.

He held the door open and looked at each of us in turn. He might be boring, but he was observant. My hopes of sneaking over to the Terminus Museum dwindled. Maybe we still could once Henry got talking. It wasn't like the door would lock behind us.

Lin walked into the museum behind the rest of the class. The four of us stayed behind, keeping close. I hoped that Winnie got up the bravery to sneak out with us. Our assignment was only to come to the museum. The computer hadn't specified that we had to follow the guided tour. Everyone just assumed that was what we were supposed to do.

So we filed inside. The air got colder as if the museum wanted to simulate what it was like to stand on a dead planet. The light above was a pinkish hue, and for a moment, I felt like I had changed worlds, and that suffocation was next. A bit of panic raced through me until I took a breath. The museum made this look real. Even the pink sky appeared genuine, and the landscape around us stretched to infinity, a series of reddish rocks, hills, and craters.

Welcome, Henry said. Follow me through the center walkway. We have done our best to simulate what it would be like to stand on Mars. Safely, of course.

At least we didn't get Venus, Blake whispered.

A few people laughed, but most of the class was walking ahead of us. Winnie shifted like she was unsure. I hung back with Lin and Blake as Henry stopped at a scale model of the Curiosity Rover. We kept a bit of distance between the rest of the class and us, just enough to not look suspicious. Henry spoke in his monotone voice about the rover missions as we stopped at model after model. He was incredibly dull.

Then we moved on to the pop culture exhibits, to where there was an original copy of The War of the Worlds in a glass case. An ancient radio played the audio program at a low volume. An actual scale model of a Martian tripod stood behind it, shining in the pink light. It looked like it was about to blast us with a heat ray. Henry spoke about the stories people used to make about Mars, focusing on the ones about evil aliens. He had to turn his back eventually.

And now, Henry announced, we reach the most interesting part of the tour: the discovery of past life on Mars.

Paj yawned. Henry backed around what I realized was a curve, keeping us in his sights, and a new exhibit came into view. This place was disorienting. It was no wonder you needed a guide here. The walls didn't look like walls. I couldn't tell where the path was, so we were helpless to follow Henry.

It seemed like the guy was doing his best to make sure no one ducked out.

The farther we got into the museum, the creepier this got.

Once around the curve, we stood by an exhibit of fossilized microbe colonies that were supposed to be over four billion years old. They looked like strange lumps sticking out of the landscape where water had once flowed. There were also a few real meteorites in glass cases that scientists had studied. The air cooled. I had a passing thought that the universe was trying to warn us back.

I shivered.

The first evidence that there was once life on Mars came way back in 1996 in a meteorite, Henry said, patting a glass case with a piece of rock inside. It was this one, in fact. More meteorites were studied, and more evidence began to pile up, yet for the next several decades, most scientists remained in denial.

Henry turned his back to us to face the fossil model.

Lin poked my arm. Now, she hissed, smiling and facing the way we'd come.

I'm not sure about this, Winnie whispered.

I wanted to sneak out but I also didn't want to leave my friend. But you hate this Mars stuff even more than I do, I whispered. Come on. I didn't want to say that this was creepy, because that would make Winnie feel worse. I forced a smile. It'll be fun.

One brilliant scientist in the early twenty-first century studied photos of the Martian landscape and determined that she was looking at fossils of microbe colonies. Again, this got dismissed.

The museum cooled even more. Henry was not speaking right at all. He looked like a human being, but he didn't speak like one. Something about him gave me the creeps.

Something just didn't feel right here.

Henry kept his back turned, talking about how the fossils hadn't been brought up again for many years.

Lin and Blake took my arms. We were going, then. I crept back as quietly as I could. The rest of the class faced the exhibit. At least some people were interested, even though Paj was still obsessed with his contact display.

Winnie stood there. I waved to her to come on already, but she didn't move. She was chickening out.

I paused for a split second, not sure what to do, but then Lin pulled on my arm, and I followed.

It was a bit confusing to go back through the Mars Museum since everything looked like an endless desert, but at last, we got around the curve and ran between the pop culture exhibits. Henry didn't yell at us. I wasn't sure if the guy was capable of it. I imagined he'd tell us in a flat monotone to come back or else. The thought was hilarious.

At last, we found the door embedded in the wall. Lin pushed it open, and we burst out into the Solar System Room.

The three of us burst out laughing. I don't think Henry is going to notice us gone, Blake said. I think only half of his brain is working.

It was so much warmer out here. Relief coursed over my skin.

Where's Winnie? Lin asked.

She wimped out, I said. Oh, well. We'll see her once the tour's over. They'll have to come back out here, and the monorail isn't supposed to pick us up for another hour. Come on. I searched for the Terminus Museum, mostly to cast aside my guilt about leaving Winnie behind. We always stuck together, and she'd be angry with me after the tour. But this was just a field trip.

The Solar System Room was empty, so no one stopped us as we made our way into the Terminus Museum. It was barren in here, and since the planet Terminus was so far from the Sun--and from Henry--only stars made up the background. The Sun remained a single bright one right over our heads. The silence was a relief.

I thought of Winnie again and walked through the museum with Lin and Blake.

This is boring, Blake said, leaning against the screen that played the NASA announcement of Terminus's discovery in 2020.

No, it's not, I said. Nature is exciting. I prepared to get teased about my Earther status again, but Blake didn't poke fun. It was a good sign. Let's walk through the rest of this exhibit and take our time.

There was no chance for anyone to respond.

My contacts flashed with a new announcement, this time in red, angry letters that never meant anything good. At first, I thought it was a new detention voucher, but this time it was so, so much worse.

MESSAGE: URGENT

RECIPIENT: TESS SCOPELLI

EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY, YOU ARE TO RELOCATE TO MARS. YOU WILL DEPART AT THE END OF YOUR TOUR.

Chapter Two

I froze in terror, not comprehending for the first few seconds. The red letters faded in and out, begging for my attention.

They had just drafted me.

I thought of the dead, alien planet. Of tiny glass domes. Of looking at the desolate wasteland for the rest of my life, never to see Earth again. That was if I even survived. Maybe people died on Mars all the time, and the government needed new bodies. Every horrible theory about the place swirled through my head.

They were going to send me there, probably without my parents.

The message faded in my vision, and I realized I had backed against the wall of stars. I waited for Blake and Lin to ask if I was okay, but both were absorbed in their contact displays.

Um...what? Blake asked into the air. Um...Lin and Tess?

I got one too, Lin said, all the happiness gone. Her energy tabs weren't going to help now.

We stared at each other. It was apparent without saying anything.

They had chosen all of us.

The field trip was a trap. The government had gotten the school to send us here, and the rest of the tour group must be headed for a ship right now. Now that I thought about it, the Solar System Museum was very close to Space Port Nine.

Next door, in fact.

I peeled myself from the wall. We faced each other.

My friend had been worried about--

Winnie! I screamed, bolting for the door.

Oh, crap, Blake shouted, running after me.

We ran under the stars to the door. I pushed it open. I had left Winnie. Now she was scared and alone. They must have drafted my entire class. It was Winnie's worst nightmare, and I had abandoned her to it.

I had to keep her, and myself, on Earth.

I wouldn't get kicked out of my home again. That was NOT happening.

We burst out of the Terminus Exhibit. No one was in the main Solar System Room now. No Task Force agents waited for us. Our stunt was the only reason we weren't already getting dragged away. I bolted to the entry of the Mars Exhibit and pushed the door open. I stood there, looking in. It was even colder in here now, as if they were trying to suck the life out of us. It was all silence. Even Henry's drone had vanished.

Tess! Blake said. Don't go running in there. I think this has something to do with that Henry guy.

We're not leaving Winnie, I said, keeping my voice down. There was no one in front of us on the path. The tour had ended on a surprise note.

I should have stayed with her.

I walked quickly, afraid that I'd run into the Task Force. There was no one here. We passed the model tripod and the pop culture section. We hurried through the fossil area and the meteorites. The three of us rounded another curve--it was so hard to tell if you were actually on the path in here--and came at last to a closed set of double doors.

I stopped. No one waited to greet us. The double doors were steel and final. I had a feeling that they led right to the spaceport.

We had left right before the rest of the group went through.

That's where they are, I said. I walked up to the doors.

Tess, Blake hissed. You can't go in there. That's where the Task Force has to be.

I wouldn't abandon my friend. What kind of Earther would I be? I walked up to the double doors and pulled on one. To my surprise, it opened.

Don't go in there, Lin said. That's a trap if I ever saw one.

Inside was an empty movie theater. Folded chairs stood in rows of ten. There must be forty seats, waiting for viewers. One of them was still down as if a body had occupied it recently. Every seat faced a Holo Projector, but no movie was playing on the platform. After whatever our tour group had watched, the summons had come.

There was a second set of double doors across the room.

They're further in, I said, heart racing. Getting to Winnie wouldn't be easy. I had the sense that once I passed through these doors, they would shut. Someone needs to stay and make sure these don't lock behind me. I don't trust this.

I will, Lin said. She might have explosive energy, but she didn't have my guts.

I'm coming with you, Blake said.

You don't have to, I said. Let me.

Now's not the time to be brave, Blake said.

I ran across the empty theater. Yes, it is.

The second set of double doors opened as well. I pulled open a door and peered into a corridor that stretched for what looked like half a kilometer. A mop droid stood against the wall, turned off, and the tile shined underneath the lights. The hallway was empty. I could see all the way down to yet a third set of double doors.

This corridor left the museum. It was a pipeline right to Space Port Nine. I imagined my classmates getting escorted this way by the Task Force, all while the tour guide tried to calm them with no emotion.

Henry did speak like the Great Council.

That's too far, Blake said.

I know it is, I said, stepping into the corridor.

They're going to know that you're here! He followed me.

I didn't have an answer for that. I broke into a full run, leaving Lin behind. Blake and I bolted closer to the first set of double doors. It wasn't half a kilometer, but it felt like it. By the time I reached them, I had gulped down air like crazy. I jogged a lot, but this was testing me to the max.

The doors came open for me, too, but something beeped as I pulled. They'd have the Space Port monitored. Another hallway, this one carpeted, spread out in front of me. Two sets of metal double doors waited on either side. I could see the main chamber of Space Port Nine from here, complete with glowing holographic departure times in the center. The room stood empty. People didn't hang out here. The two double doors I could see from here were labeled 1:30 and 2:40.

I checked my contact display.

1:20.

Winnie must be in the 1:30 one.

We have ten minutes, Blake said. It was clear that he was sharing my thoughts.

No one stood in the hallway. No one who entered Space Port Nine came back out except for the Task Force, and they didn't tell. I had a feeling that the doors here would all lock. They didn't want the condemned to escape.

They've got to be sitting inside, I said, running again.

My footfalls echoed off the bare walls. Blake stayed behind and held the door open to the hallway. It was up to me. I wouldn't stop fighting.

I could pull the waiting room door open. I knew that if I stepped inside, it would close and seal me in.

The area was a large, rectangular space with blue carpet.

Posters of Mars hung on the walls between small souvenir shops and coffee places. People sat in chairs. I spotted T-shirts. Tablets. A counter where two women in blue-gray uniforms were selling coffee. Both stood there, expressionless like our tour guide. They must be members of the Task Force, and they had gotten the simple jobs. People like Henry had the difficult ones.

I searched the faces in the terminal. A few families sat on the far end of the room, near the most ominous set of steel double doors I had ever seen. Those must lead to the ship.

My class.

They all sat in a row together. Another Task Force employee rolled a cart of coffee past, asking if anyone wanted a cup. No one took any. I spotted Paj, staring at the wall in shock. Melissa and Steph both whispered to each other. Steph's skin looked like paper.

Winnie sat at the end of the row, by herself, with her arms wrapped around her knees. She looked so much younger, like a child afraid of the monsters in the closet.

And my class sat fifty feet inside the room, too far away for me to reach before the door closed and locked. Blake couldn't leave his post. So far, no one looked at me.

Do you see her? he asked.

I closed the door and faced him. Winnie's in there, but I can't run in. If I yell, the Task Force will notice me.

Blake cursed. We can't stay here.

I knew what he was saying. We might have to abandon the mission. But I couldn't. An Earther didn't give up, even when everything looked dire. I thought of how Mom and Dad would look at me if I did that. We had to keep fighting for humankind and the planet, no matter what the Great Council did.

I took my shoe off and wedged it in the door. It tried to close, crushing my shoe in the process, and I ran into the room. The Task Force wouldn't stop me from coming in. I was where I was supposed to be.

Winnie, I said, circling the row.

She looked up at me, not moving her legs off the chair. Tess? Where were you? She sounded so small and afraid.

Quiet, I said. We're leaving. I took a breath to calm my nerves. Once we left, the Task Force would follow us. We wouldn't have much time to get away. I searched the room for Henry, but he had vanished. Only the coffee women pushed carts around. It was as if they were there to calm nerves.

I know we are, she said. We're going to die, aren't we?

Get up, I said. I tapped Paj on the shoulder. He looked up, mouth falling open. All of us. File to the door. It's open.

Winnie's gaze shifted from her knees to the exit. I followed it. The heavy door closed harder on the shoe, warping it into pasta. It might not recover, but I didn't need it. I had to keep us away from Mars, and then I had to warn my parents. They weren't here. I did not doubt that Mom and Dad would know some fellow Earthers who could hide us.

Winnie stood. She remained quiet. Paj did the same.

And then I heard the worst three words ever.

Secure the door.

The coffee woman spoke with a heavy drone, emotionless. I eyed another Task Force employee who stood in front of a doughnut stall, eyeing my shoe. She stood between us and the door.

Go! I shouted. There was no hiding this now.

Winnie and Paj sprang up, leaving the rest of the class behind. I hadn't had time to warn everyone. The three of us bolted for the door.

The Task Force might be emotionless and weird, but they moved quickly. The coffee woman raced me to the door, eyeing the shoe that kept it open. Behind us, people rose and stampeded for the exit. I didn't look back.

She had almost reached the door. The woman pulled a pass card from her pocket.

I rammed into the employee, throwing her into the wall. She grunted. I shoved the door all the way open and kicked my shoe out of the way, not bothering to retrieve it. Winnie and Paj ran out behind me.

The woman muttered something. I wasn't sure if the footfalls behind us were the Task Force or others trying to take the opening and escape. I couldn't look back. Blake held the doors open to the hallway that led back to the museum. He waved at me, all the color gone from his face.

Winnie and Paj and I burst through the door that he held open. Other footfalls sounded as people bolted through the Space Port, heading in the opposite direction. The hallway stretched in front of us. Something was wrong. This escape was too easy. No one had evaded the Task Force before or gotten out of the Space Ports. There had to be a reason, but my mind shut all of that down. It was survival now.

Run, I breathed, ramming into Blake.

He stumbled but caught his footing. We were four now, soon to be five once we reached Lin.

Something's happening! Winnie shouted.

Paj swore. Gas!

A hissing sound filled the hallway. The vents at the bottom of the floor had come to life. A white vapor streamed out, spreading and reaching out with vaporous tendrils. The mop drone came to life, red eyes locked on us. It moved in front of us with a whirring noise, blocking our way to the museum.

Now I knew why no one escaped.

Whether or not this gas killed, we were doomed.

To a fast death or a slow death, I didn't know.

I pumped my legs faster, sides burning and lungs begging for air. I held my breath. If I could get to the doors without passing out, I might make it. My animal brain took over. I had to escape, whether alone or with the others. Survival instinct ruled. The doors to the theater remained closed. The air clouded with the gas. I couldn't breathe it in, but my lungs burned. I was using up oxygen by running. I would never make it.

I put my shirt over my nose an thought of my mask in my pocket. But that was for outside, for the pollution. It wouldn't do any good against this. I dared a breath from under my shirt, and right away a wave of grogginess swept over me.

Paj fell next to me. We left him behind. I held my breath again, but some of the gas had already entered my system. When I woke, I might be on the ship to Mars.

If I woke.

Please, one of the Task Force women said from behind, her voice muffled. Stop. We will not harm you.

My lungs burned, and I dared a second breath.

Blake went down, face-planting on the tile. The mop drone stretched its arms, ready to catch me. I wouldn't make it. Darkness reached up and grabbed hold of my mind. I stumbled, grabbing the wall. The air had turned to white fog. There was no way I was making it. In those final moments, I sent out hope that Lin would escape.

A strange buzzing sounded through the hallway, and I closed my eyes.

Chapter Three

Come on. Get up. Someone slapped something smooth and crinkly over my face. Breathe through this. The gas will get out of your system. We have to hurry before reinforcements come.

The person--a young man about my age--wrapped the crinkly thing around my nose and mouth. I breathed. The air was fresh through it and the drowsiness lifted. It was like the pollution masks that we all wore but made from a different material.

It took me a second to realize what had happened. The gas. I opened my eyes to see the hallway filled with fog. Through this mask, I smelled a bit of smoke.

I sucked in another breath and realized that the effects of the gas were clearing. Paj lay on the floor, passed out and breathing. So did Blake. Winnie lay slumped against the wall, out cold. She still breathed, too. My friends had succumbed to the gas's effects.

Then who--

A boy about my age faced me. He held my arms as he kneeled over me. In the fog, I saw that more forms lay on the floor, forms in gray-blue uniforms.

Huh? I asked.

This boy was green.

As in, plant green.

His dark, curly hair was normal, and his eyes were a deep brown, the most common color. The green in his skin, though weird, looked natural somehow. It reminded me of the pigment in leaves.

And he, too, wore a mask over his nose and mouth. It wasn't one of the pollution ones that everyone had. I could see through it, and he wasn't falling over from the gas that now filled the chamber.

Are you okay? he asked in a normal voice.

My friends, I said. A green boy stood before me, and that was my first thought.

They're only asleep. I only had two masks. We have to go. You're an Earther. You might be useful. He looked at my patch. Come on. If you want to fight for your cause, follow me.

I'm not leaving my friends! I pulled my arms away from him as the last of the gas's effects wore off. Other than us, the hallway was quiet. The mop robot had powered down.

I blinked, glad that the vapor didn't bother my eyes.

About ten Task Force employees lay on the floor. A strange burning smell came from them, one that could creep through this gas mask I wore. The coffee woman lay face-down on the tile. Her collar had flipped, exposing her neck. There was something black and burned sticking to the back of it. It looked like a fried octopus with tentacles wedged in her skin. I couldn't see the rest of the hallway clearly, but the sight was enough to make me nauseated. What had happened?

The boy had a gun in his belt. It had a large barrel with an orange glow emanating from it.

And he was shaking.

It looked like some laser or a heat ray, and it must have stopped the Task Force and the robot. It must have. The Task Force people all wore gas masks. The woman was no longer breathing, unlike my friends. I had a feeling that none of the Task Force people were. My friends, on the other hand, continued their slumber. They had survived whatever this green boy had done.

And what was that thing on the back of the woman's neck? I couldn't see if the other Task Force people had them.

You have to, he said. You don't want to go to Mars. I just came from there. He pulled on my arm. You can stay, or you can go!

Let go of me! I raced over to Winnie, jumping over the woman in the process. The smell worsened. I shook Winnie. She groaned and turned her head, but she didn't wake up. I grabbed her shoulders and searched around for a mask. The woman wore one, tied around her ears. A Task Force man nearby lay dead, eyes open and not breathing. I caught a glimpse of another roasted tentacle poking into the back of his skull.

She won't wake up. There's too much in her system, the boy said, desperate. I need someone to show me where Woking Park is. Taking Earth back depends on it.

Winnie! I shouted. I'd drag her into safety. I could get her into the theater. Hooking my hands under her arms, I managed to drag her a few feet. Help me!

The boy sighed and took Winnie's legs. Together, we lifted her while he tucked the strange gun under his armpit. The green boy wore a gray jumpsuit that looked like something from a prison. He was skinny like he had spent a few years in reduced gravity. He lifted Winnie, shaking, and dropped her legs.

I can't, he said, checking back in the direction of the spaceport. I'm not used to this much gravity anymore. We have to leave.

He was right. His muscles had atrophied. Then I'll do it myself, I said. Why did he need me so badly? This boy from Mars didn't have to stick around. Winnie! You have to help me.

She continued to breathe. I dragged her further from the woman's body and that gross thing on her neck. I had never seen a dead person before. The disgust and the horror would hit later. Right now, it was just shock and need to get my best friend out of here.

In the direction of the spaceport, doors banged open.

Drop her! the Mars boy shouted, grabbing my arm.

In my shock, I did.

Footfalls raced for us. I couldn't see our pursuers in the fog, but they were coming. They would make eye contact with us soon enough. I thought of this boy and how Mars had ruined his body. He had a hardness in his eyes that I didn't want to match. The Red Planet had made him into something strange and terrifying. If I went there, I might become like this.

The animal brain took over again, and I ran.

I left Winnie behind, but there was nothing I could do. If I dragged her, they would take us both.

I followed the green boy to the theater doors, panting through the mask. He rammed into them, opening them, and we both bolted into the room. The same gas that filled the hallway behind us also filled this place, as if the Task Force expected people to try running this way. If this boy hadn't shown up, I would be getting dragged away right now.

I had to escape.

I wouldn't do my friends any good captured. Right?

Keep going! he shouted, brandishing the strange gun.

I could be running with a lunatic. The Mars boy could be a serial killer, and I'd be his next victim.

The boy pushed the next set of doors open.

Lin lay on the floor, passed out.

Lin! I shouted.

The Mars Exhibit, too, was filled with white vapor. The Task Force wanted to be thorough. I wondered if the entire museum was like this. Maybe they took everyone away who stepped in.

I had no choice but to jump over her. The footfalls drew closer to us.

We have to hide, the boy said, grabbing my arm. The Grounders don't like heights.

I didn't protest. I thought of looking out at Mars for real, and I followed, leaving Lin to her fate. I would never live with myself for this.

The tall, hulking form of the tripod loomed large in the fog. The boy paused, then bolted for it, still grasping my arm. There was a ladder leading up to it, attached to one of the back legs.

What are you doing? I heard someone ram into the first set of doors. The Task Force would break into the exhibit in seconds.

Up, he said, green face inches from my own.

This boy might be alien and gangly and armed, but he was a gentleman. He let me scramble up the ladder into the back of the tripod first. I had never climbed anything so quickly, not even during the obstacle course in Physical Conditioning. Adrenaline had taken over. There was a small opening in the back of the tripod which led into darkness, probably made for maintenance people. I climbed in, scooting along metal, and the boy scaled the ladder, tossing his weapon up to land next to me.

I had been around my father's vintage collection of old style rifles many times, but those didn't have actual bullets in them. This weapon still glowed with orange in the barrel. It could kill. The only mystery was whether it did it by attaching gross things to peoples' necks or by burning gross things that were already on peoples' necks. I blinked and saw those burnt, gelatinous masses again. What were they? I would have to hold my questions. The green boy climbed in beside me. Some of the vapor came up with him.

Take out your contacts, he ordered.

What? I asked. My notice that my ship was boarding flashed in my vision, red and angry.

Do it. They track you through those.

I couldn't imagine cutting myself off from the world, but terror was making me do some crazy things. I took out the lenses.

Now break them.

What?

He seized my arm. His grip was weak. Years on the Red Planet had ravaged his body. I'll do it if you refuse. The world depends on this.

Something about the desperation in his words made me drop my lenses to the floor of the tripod. I brought my remaining shoe down on them.

The crunching sound made me feel like a part of me had shattered. I felt naked without my lenses. They had belonged to me since I was two years old. I could barely remember life without them.

Now stay quiet.

I did. It wasn't like I had a choice. Down below, voices droned. The people searching for us sounded as dull as Henry had. What was wrong with them? They weren't androids, but they weren't acting like normal humans, either. I thought of the burned blobs on the backs of the others' necks. All of the spaceport employees wore high collars, almost as if they were hiding something.

A terrifying theory crept into my mind, but I cast it away. I'd had enough horror for one day.

They must have exited through the main doors, a woman said in a flat monotone. She must be walking right under the tripod.

We must check. I will contact the Great Council, a man said in the same drone. The team can track her. His footsteps stopped.

I ground my foot down again onto the broken contacts. I wasn't sure what made them up--just that the Great Council issued them to all citizens. The green boy breathed slowly. I felt like I was sharing this tripod with a plant stalk which had grown arms and legs. I thought of those Mars fossils in the museum below and whether or not they had a chance to evolve into anything.

Like those blobs on the necks of the Task Force, maybe?

We remained quiet. There wasn't anything else we could do. The boy didn't try to climb down and confront any of the employees. No one tried to climb up. I heard several pairs of feet heading away, towards the main entryway of the museum.

The Grounders aren't creative, the boy said. You know them from how they speak. I would have killed that second group, but too many deaths will bring in more Task Force members for us to fight. Besides, these people used to be human. I feel bad about killing them.

Grounders? I asked.

I'll explain later, he said. You need to take me to Woking Park. You're an Earther. You should know how to get there from here. I'm not very familiar with this area.

I eyed my Earth patch on the front of my shirt, which I wore proudly every day of my life. My mother manages the park, I said. It's the biggest one in the world. What did this boy from Mars want with it?

Is it still green? he asked as if it were the most important thing in the world.

Yes. Very green. Who was he, and why was I about to lead him home? My house was in the back of the park. My parents and I had lived there for the past year. We'd taken the place of the old managing family after they'd fallen victim to the draft.

My aunt used to have a garden in a park like that before she got shipped to the colonies, the boy said. Her name is Cecily.

I didn't know her. Lots of people rented gardens inside the park, free from the pollution that ravaged the rest of the world. Places like Woking Park served as nature's last refuges. Like other Earthers, my family was determined to preserve what little we had left.

Take me there, the boy said.

I can't. Not until the Task Force clears out and not until you explain what you want with it. In the dim light, my contacts looked like dust on the floor. I couldn't believe that I was now cut off from everyone. I would never be able to speak to my friends again unless I got forced to board one of the ships. From the looks of this boy, Mars wasn't kind. Why are you green?

It was a rude question, but I had to know.

It's part of surviving at the colonies, the boy said. They inject plant cells under our skin so that we can get some energy from sunlight. I know, it's stupid and ironic--

More footfalls filled the space below us. The vapor outside the tripod was thinning. I held my breath. The Task Force--the Grounders--were running back in the direction we had come. They hadn't found us. The Great Council's computers hadn't turned back my whereabouts.

I would never look at social media the same way again.

The Task Force didn't speak. I waited until I had the faint noise of the theater doors opening and closing again.

Now, the green boy said. I'm Matt, by the way.

Tess, I said. We did a brief handshake before he scrambled down the ladder, gun in hand. So far, he showed no signs of wanting to kill me. I wondered he would change if I refused to take him to the park.

I had better do what he wanted, then.

Anyway, I'd trust Matt when he said that I didn't want to go to Mars. We had that in common.

I thought of Winnie and Lin and Blake. What's going to happen to my friends? I asked, landing on the red ground. The vapor was much thinner now, but I didn't feel safe taking this mask off.

They're on their way to Mars. They'll wake up. That gas just knocks you out. Ask me how I know.

I wasn't sure whether to feel better or worse. I imagined Winnie with green skin and shrinking muscles. We were both top students in Physical Conditioning. It would be a nightmare for both of us. She reached out to me, asking why I had abandoned her. I couldn't even keep my best friend here on Earth.

Matt and I ran for the exhibit exit. I hoped that no one was out in the main part of the museum, waiting to intercept us. I pushed the doors open first, shocked that they gave way. He was right that the Grounders weren't the most intelligent things in the world--whatever they were.

The main room was empty of people and absent of vapor. I stepped in, checking the perimeter. The only movement there was the holographic Terminus, inching along the wall in its super big, super slow orbit. The other planets whizzed around the fake sun. The Task Force had already checked this room and abandoned it.

Come on, I said. There should be another magnet rail at any time.

I can't go on a train. Or any form of crowded transportation.

Matt stood there, green as ever. This light brought the color out even more.

Then what? I asked. There would be plenty of people on the rail, especially those who were trying to duck out of school and work early. A green boy wouldn't draw any attention.

And the moon was made of cheese.

They have gas in the rail stations, Matt said. "The Grounders will use it if they find us. We need to find another way.''

I wondered how he knew about all of this. I searched around. The City of Woking had a network of connected tunnels so that people could walk about, away from the pollution. I spotted a door on the edge of the room with the universal tube symbol--an upside-down U--above the door. This way.

I hadn't been over in this part of the City before. My family had only moved here last year after Mom bought the park. My parents were still worried that they might be in trouble with the City of Rockville for refusing to vacate our now-razed house years ago, so we moved a lot. Last year, Rossville officials had tracked down my family and tried to hit us with a huge penalty, forcing us to relocate yet again. I was sick of it.

But now that Mars called, the City of Woking felt like a home that I didn't want to leave. I was tired of being ripped out of my life and my identity. How could I be an Earther on the Red Planet?

So I led Matt into the tunnel. As I suspected, it was made of glass and went in the direction of the city center. Woking Park was close to there, about a kilometer away. The transport belt would get us there in no time. Only one older couple rode the belt towards us, and they were too far away to notice anything strange about Matt. A single man walked a dog further down the tunnel, in the middle pedestrian section, but there was no one else. If we're going to get away, it's now, I said. I waited for traffic delays to come up on my display until I remembered that it was no longer there.

I was blind in the world.

Matt and I got onto the belt that would take us to the City center. At least we were headed to the same place. My house stood at the far edge of Woking Park, far from the public gardens. I had to tell my parents about my summons. They would figure out a way to hide us. We had moved before. We would do it again. I also had to warn them about their contacts. We'd have to go off the grid. Dad was always paranoid about ways the government could be watching us, so he wouldn't mind taking them out. He would tell Mom that he was right, and he'd have a strange satisfaction in that, too.

But I would also have to admit that I had left my friends behind.

So Matt and I rode the belt to the City Center. There would be more people there, but he didn't seem to care. The rails were faster than the belts, but we couldn't risk the Task Force finding us there.

After ten minutes, the belt slowed. I eyed the sky above. Yellow today, with a hint of green. What was it with the color green lately? The sun was an orb trying to breathe in the smog. I hadn't seen a clear sky since our farm in Rockville.

Matt looked up as well. I see the Great Council is still polluting full force.

Yep, I said. We hate the government.

I'm glad we met, then.

I thought of telling Matt that I had hated them all my life. The more he was on my side, the better. He still carried that gun on his belt. Dad would want to see it--if Matt managed to walk through the city center without getting stopped by the Enforcers. The Great Council had banned guns a hundred years ago, except for vintage ones like my dad collected. I wondered if there were any scanners for weapons still embedded in the city.

If yes, we weren't going to get very far.

You might want to tuck that into your pocket, I said. You still haven't told me why you need the park.

It's part of the plan.

What plan? I figured that after what we had been through, he wasn't going to kill me. He didn't have the eyes of a psychopath--just someone who had gone through a lot. We had studied psychopaths in school, and so far, Matt wasn't showing the signs of one.

Taking Earth back, he said with pride. He smiled at me. That's why I was hoping to meet an Earther. You guys will want to work with us.

The belt slowed further. I couldn't see the end of the tunnel, but we were getting closer to the City. We passed a bathroom facility and a few potted plants that marked a vending machine. A dog barked. A woman looked up at us. We passed in a blur, but I didn't miss her mouth falling open when she caught sight of Matt.

Happy Halloween! I shouted, waving.

It was March. Matt would need another