Three

My room in the Shelter reminded me of my room in the hospital (though I was starting to doubt is was a hospital so much as a lab). There was a bed, a charger, and a computer, but no windows. The only difference here was that there were no doctors or engineers to check on me. I didn’t miss their constant tests, but I did miss the attention.

One of the Shelter caretakers had provided me with new clothes. It was a relief to be out of my ill-fitting medical tunic and into something more...fashionable, as it were. Armed with slick new bodysuits, as it was the norm on Mars to wear astronaut-inspired garb, I took to venturing into town, exploring the food domes and community buildings and watching people as they went about their business.

Soon enough, it became time for me to join them. I was enrolled into Opportunity Public, a school that served everyone from preschool to junior high, and my first day of class had finally arrived.

A Shelter caretaker walked me to the schoolhouse. “Remember, if you need help, just ask a student or teacher. They’ll be happy to help, but you have to remember to ask.”

I nodded. We had been through this. Introduce yourself. Make some friends. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Raise your hand in class.

“Okay. Do you think you can make it back on your own, or do you want someone to pick you up?”

“I’m fine on my own.” I didn’t need you to walk me here in the first place.

“Alright, send us a ping if you need anything. Good luck, Io!”

“Thanks,” I said. Then I was alone in the school.

I made my way to class, having decided with the school and the Shelter that I would enter seventh grade; after all, no one knew how old I was, or what prior schooling I’d had, so we’d made our best guess. I knew, however, that I wasn’t going to learn anything at this school that I didn’t already know, no matter what grade I was put in. I was here for the social experience. I hadn’t talked to anyone my age since the accident.

Room #7, then, was the classroom I was looking for, and it wasn’t hard to find. I was early. Only a few kids sat in the room, chatting with each other, and the teacher sat alone at her desk, typing away at her computer. I approached her.

“Mrs. Esther?” She looked up from her computer at the sound of her name. I continued, “Hi, I’m new. My name is Io.”

“Oh, Io, of course,” Mrs. Esther said. “We were expecting you. Please let me know what I can do to help you adjust. Alpha?”

A boy who had been chatting with friends at the back of the class looked up. “Yes?”

“Alpha, come up here,” the teacher said. The boy--Alpha--dutifully approached us. “Alpha, this is Io, a new student. Would you mind showing him around today and helping him adjust?”

“Of course,” he replied. He looked me up and down. “Dude, how’d you convince your parents to let you get all those enhancements?”

I didn't know how to reply. I smiled nervously.

Mrs. Esther waved us off, saying, "I'm sure you two have a lot to talk about, and class doesn't start for ten more minutes."

“C’mere, Io.” He lead me towards the back of the classroom and pointed at a desk. “This is my spot, so you can sit in the empty one to the right.”

“Oh. Thanks, Alpha,” I said.

“First off, I’m Alph. Only the teachers say Alpha,” he said with an easy grin.

“Right. Alph it is.” Looking at him, I saw how the nickname suited him better. He had shaggy hair and a dimpled, lopsided grin. I could tell by the way his irises shifted color that his eyes were artificial, probably replacements for some burgeoning nearsightedness in his originals.

“So tell me about your enhancements! You probably already noticed my eyes,” he said, proud, “but my parents would never let me get all your cool head stuff! What’s it all do?”

It keeps me alive.

I decided not to dance around it. “I was in an accident. The doctors gave me these enhancements to save my life.”

Alph frowned. “What happened?”

“I don’t remember,” I said. “I don’t remember anything before waking up in a hospital.”

“Oh.” I could tell Alph felt guilty. “Sorry, man.”

Before I could reassure him it was no big deal, a bell rang. Class had started.

I tried listening to the teacher for a while, but it was impossible to engage in her lectures on pre-algebra and Earth history--I knew all this already. So I zoned out, daydreaming until another bell rang and Alph told me it was time for recess.

~

I didn’t notice her until the first half of recess had already came and left. She looked about my age, with dark hair and unblinking eyes, though her most noticeable feature was that she didn’t seem to have visible enhancements of any kind. That, and she was staring at me. Once I’d noticed her, I couldn’t stop stealing glances over at the bench she sat on. Each time I looked over, she was still staring at me, undaunted by the fact I had discovered her. With the end of recess came relief from that uncomfortable gaze.

I asked Alph if he knew the girl with no enhancements.

“Oh, you mean Ele?” he replied. “Yeah, she’s weird. A bit...spacey! Get it? Cuz she’s from space?”

“What do you mean, ‘from space?’”

“Oh, right. We call the Earthlings aliens from space, cuz they flew over on a ship...from space. I guess it doesn’t make that much sense.”

“So she was born on Earth?” I hadn’t met anyone from Earth yet.

“Yeah, but I wouldn’t get her talking about it, or she won’t shut up.”

I noticed Ele was in the same class. She always paid attention to the teacher, but whenever there was a lull, she would stare at me.

~

Going to school became routine. I zoned out in class, chatted with Alph and his friends during recess and lunch, and returned “home” to the Shelter. All the while, I would try to avoid the steady gaze of Ele. Soon, though, it became clear that she wasn’t going to stop unless I talked to her.

I walked up to her as school was ending one day and decided to be blunt. “Why are you always staring at me?”

She didn’t answer me for the longest time, and when she did, it wasn’t an answer at all. “What kind of enhancements do you have in your brain?”

I stared at her for a moment. “What? I don’t know. There’s a computer in there,” I said. What did that have to do with anything? “You didn’t answer my question.”

She ignored me, again. “Why can’t I read your mind?”

What. “Read my mind?”

She shook her head. “Io, right?” I nodded, bewildered. “Come with me. There is someone who wants to meet you.”