The Ruins of Arlandia

Chapter Two: Take Off



Calvin sat in the backseat of the hover car. He stared out the window, lost in thought. It was a beautiful sunny day. There were no clouds in the sky. New Arlandia City was nicknamed the “City of the Sun,” because of the sheer amount of glass that reflected the sunlight. The buildings, domes, moving sidewalks, and hover-car lines were all covered in glass.

The hover car made its way downtown on the central line. Calvin was comfortable in his light-grey utility uniform, but his uniform was bare—only a name tag and rank insignia. His career was just starting. He would have plenty of time to add ribbons and decorations. His father and mother sat in the middle seats talking, but Calvin was completely unaware of what they were saying. He was full of conflicting emotions, excited and terrified at the same time. He was excited that after two months of briefings and simulations the Sorenia was going to launch. He was terrified that he would make a mistake and let everyone down. Calvin closed his eyes. He was so tired he could feel sleep tugging at him. He couldn’t remember the last time he slept well. He opened his eyes, afraid he would fall asleep.

As they got closer, Calvin saw the fields that surrounded the Space Command dome were covered with tents.

“Look at that,” Foster said. “Some of them have been camped out here all week.”

“It’s not every day you get to see a space launch.”

There were little tent cities all over, in every open spot. Thousands of people gathered near small fires, sitting on foldout chairs and blankets on the ground. Many were setting up large cameras. Closer to the dome was another group of people. This group held signs and marched along a sidewalk as close to the dome entrance as it could get. Security guards watched them warily. The signs read, “Stop the launch,” “You’ll kill us all,” and “Don’t bring the Dark Terror.”

The protesters screamed as the hover car passed by. They sounded like an angry, jumbled mess. Calvin couldn’t understand what they were shouting. Security quickly waved the car through the gate, and it stopped in front of the entrance to the dome.

Two men in dark blue security uniforms opened the hover car doors. A small reception waited for them outside. One of them saluted Calvin’s father.

“Senator Range,” The man said. “It’s good to see you, Sir.”

“Captain Vinder,” Foster said, returning the salute. “It’s good to see you too. I have to say, though, I didn’t expect a reception.”

“We don’t get distinguished visitors every day,” Captain Vinder said. “Or get to witness what could possibly be the last manned space launch.”

“So you’ve heard the rumors,” Foster said.

“Just rumors,” Calvin said.

“Yes,” Captain Vinder said, smiling. “Just rumors. Lieutenant Range, it’s a pleasure.” Calvin tensed and straightened his back even more than it already was. The captain offered his hand before Calvin had a chance to salute. Calvin shook his hand reluctantly, but with a firm grip. It felt strange to be treated so well by a captain, since Calvin was only a lieutenant. But when your father is a senator, that’s what you get.

“It’s an honor to meet you,” Vinder said. “It’s going to be a spectacular launch.”

“Yes, Sir,” Calvin said. One of the security agents retrieved Calvin’s suitcase from the trunk and handed it to him.

Calvin and his parents were escorted into the space center’s main building. Calvin half expected to find another group of people waiting to greet them on the inside. He was accustomed to a painful ceremony everywhere his dad went. He was relieved when there was no one there. They stopped into the entryway—a wide-open space in the large glass dome.

Foster looked at his son, and he smiled. “This is it, Son,” he said. “We’ll say goodbye here.”

“OK, Dad,” Calvin said.

“We’re going to watch in the control room.” He looked into his dad’s face and saw worry there.

“What’s wrong? I’ll only be gone for five days. We’re not even allowed to leave our solar system.” Calvin wasn’t able to hide his disappointment.

“I’ve been trying to change that,” Foster said.

“I know, Dad,” Calvin said. “It would be easier to change the planet’s orbit.”

“You’re right,” Foster chuckled, remembering that he had said that many times himself.

Foster appeared to struggle with what to say. Finally he said, “I envy you. Even if it is only around our system, it’s going to be an adventure. Oh, I almost forgot, I want to give you something.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small gold medallion, hanging on a long gold chain. He held it out to Calvin.

“My father gave this to me, the day I went into space for the first time. I want you to have it.”

“Thank you, Dad,” Calvin said, taking it from him. He put it around his neck and hid it under his shirt. His mother smiled sadly. Calvin knew that smile; he’d seen it before. She was trying hard not to cry.

“Be careful up there,” Foster said. “The Sorenia is old. You’ll get a lot of experience repairing equipment. I’ll see you soon.”

“Thanks, Dad,” Calvin said.

His mom reached out and took his hand.

“I can’t believe it,” she said. “You’re finally going into space.” Her eyes started to tear up, so she forced herself to change the subject to something cheerier.

“Don’t forget, we’re having dinner at our house on Friday. Everyone will be there.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Calvin said. “I’ll be there.”

“You can tell us all about your mission,” Foster said. “Keep a journal. It will help you remember everything.”

“Yes, Sir,” Calvin said.

Calvin hugged his mom and shook his dad’s hand. Before leaving, his mom reached into her purse and took out a tissue. Then they left, holding hands. It was a sad moment, but it was very hard for Calvin to be sad.

“Hey, did you see all the crazy people out there?" Jax said, approaching Calvin from across the highly polished rotunda. “The Dark Terror is coming. I’m scared.”

“Yeah, they’re in space, waiting for us. Are you ready to go?”

“I’m ready,” Jax said. “Just waiting for you.” They walked down a glass-covered hallway. “Did you talk to the captain?”

“Yes,” Calvin said. “He said it would be no problem. We can share a room.”

“Excellent!” Jax said. The biggest adventure of a lifetime waited for them, at the end of the glass corridor, sitting on the landing platform—the Sorenia, a fifty-year-old ship with a dangerously underfunded maintenance budget.

Most of New Arlandia ignored the launch. They were scared and tried to pretend it wasn’t happening. There was, however, a group of ten thousand people gathered around the Space Center to watch the historic event. Thousands of cameras captured it in vivid color. They weren’t disappointed.

The Sorenia looked like an airplane, and it took off like one. Once it was high enough in the atmosphere it blasted its way into a low orbit.

The Sorenia shook violently, creaked loudly, and smelled like burning metal, but the ship made it into orbit without any alarms going off. The captain ordered Calvin to set a course that would take them around the perimeter of the New Arlandian planetary system, which Calvin did quickly. He was nervous at first, and afraid of making mistakes, but he had memorized all of the coordinates of their system, and he programmed the computer from memory. Even so, he decided to double check his work, just in case. It turned out he didn’t need to—his numbers were right.

There had been some interesting moments on the first day. The ship’s sensors showed a very large object appearing and disappearing, somewhere out ahead of them. The captain said it was a sensor malfunction, and he assigned a work crew to fix it.

The most exciting and terrifying thing happened after lunch. There was a power spike in the engine core and a frantic effort to contain an overload. Calvin was sure they were all going to die, but at the last second Jax repaired the computer and saved the ship.

At the end of the day Calvin went to bed, but he found it impossible to sleep. He couldn’t stop thinking about almost dying on his first day in space. Images of the flashing red emergency lights, the smell of smoke, and the panic on the faces of his shipmates played over and over in his mind. He was awake for a long time, wondering if the old ship could survive another four days in space. At some point during the night, he fell into a deep, restless sleep.