Chapter One: Home Again, Home Again

Ynkeri packs to go home from her family vacation

       Ynkeri sat on the soft bed she’d slept in for the last week and gazed out of the glass door that led to a pure glass patio, wishing she didn’t have to leave on such a beautiful day. The ocean was her favorite color today- a mix between blue and green- and the two, small suns of Arnor were shining in a cloudless sky. 

“Ten minutes, Ynkeri. I hope you’re packed,” her mother said, exasperated, from the adjacent room. She was not packed. Not even close. Ynkeri looked at the pile of dirty clothes she’d tossed in the corner over the last week and frowned. The reason she was in her room was to pack, but what she really wanted to do was sneak over to see her friend who was staying three doors down from her family. B was eleven just like her, and every year her family came to visit at the same time. The thought of waiting another year to see her best friend was terrible. 

“Ynkeri! Your mother is talking to you.” This time it was her father’s baritone voice, smooth and strong.

“Almost done,” she yelled through the smoke-grey door. Ynkeri jumped from the bed and gathered up her clothes in a double arm-load and dumped them unceremoniously in her suitcase. Her undies and a couple of socks had fallen from her grasp so she stomped over to pick them up, too. Her toothbrush and comb were in the bathroom. She could leave them, but she knew her mother would be upset if she didn’t bring them back home. Besides, now that she was actually packing it didn’t seem so big a task. 

She took a turn around the room, checking to see if she’d gotten everything. The charges to send a forgotten item back were high on Arnor and she knew her parents wouldn’t pay to have anything returned. She was forgetting something and she knew it, but she couldn’t figure out what. She chewed on her bottom lip while she thought about what it could be.

Turning her body in a circle, she remembered. Where is Squiggles? Kneeling down on the hard, tiled floor she looked under the crystal-clear dresser and only found a bit of loose change. She picked it up and put it in her pocket. The tile made her knees hurt, but she kept looking, unwilling to leave without her favorite stuffed animal. Squiggles the Octopus had been a present on her fifth birthday and even though she wouldn’t admit it to anyone besides B, it was always tucked under her arm when she fell asleep. Turning towards the bed, she put her face nearly to the floor and spotted a single green and blue polka-dotted tentacle just under the left poster. She kissed Squiggles on the face and stuffed him into the suitcase along with the rest of her belongings. 

“Ynk, time to go!” Mother was constantly worried about time. It drove her father crazy, but Ynkeri was used to it. They were never late to anything. Maybe mad and yelling, but never late.

When she finally found the remote, she pressed close and her poor packing job was concealed by the air-compression which turned her overflowing suitcase into a neat little square half the original size. She hated leaving Arnor each year, but she was looking forward to what would happen when she pushed open. The rain of clothes from the uncompressed suitcase was a rare treat that always made her smile. She promised herself that this year she was going to catch Squiggles before he hit the floor. 

The door opened and her big brother was standing in the doorway. Four years older than her, he was her nemesis.

“Hey Ynk, you ready to get beat again when we race at the terminal?” Ari asked, his smirk annoying her already. 

“Oh, so you beat your kid sister in a leg race. You gonna brag at school, too?” Ynkeri retorted. She wanted to stick her tongue out at him, but he would just laugh and call her a baby. 

“I’m still gonna beat you.” Ari said, only a little deflated.

Ynkeri put her suitcase, now the size of a back-pack on her shoulders and shrugged. She was the fastest runner in her grade, just like Ari was in his. One day, she told herself, I’m going to make it to the gate first and I’m never going to let him forget.

“Out, out, out, my little runners,” her father said, putting his head in the door above Ari’s. So close together, it was clear they were father and son. They had the same dark hair and blue eyes- even their noses were the same long, broad shape. “It’s going to be too busy at the terminal today for a leg race, but the street outside the house should be clear, if you insist on continuing the tradition.”

“Why wouldn’t we?” Ynkeri asked, shocked. “We always have a leg race at the end of our trip.”

“And I always win,” Ari said, smiling smugly. 

“So far,” their father chimed in, winking at Ynkeri. “One day, she’s going to take that winning streak from you and you’re going regret all the torture you’ve dished out over the years.”

“In her dreams, Dad. Don’t give her a false sense of hope- it will only break her heart,” her brother said, truly digging in. 

“You’re such a t**d-bag, Ari.” Ynkeri said it before she could help herself and her Dad’s frown made her wince, but she was relieved when he ignored the remark. 

“Oh, what? You’re going to let her get away with that?” Ari said, shaking his head at their Dad. “You would have grounded me for a week for saying something like that.”

“You never called anyone a ‘t**d-bag,’ son. I am simply admiring the creativity and the fact that she hasn’t kicked you in your shins yet.” Dad tousled Ari’s hair and wrapped him into his classic side hug. “Now, if she hurt your feelings, that’s quite another matter.”

“What? No!” Ari said, offended. 

“See? No harm done,” their dad said, smiling mischievously. Ari frowned. Ynkeri smiled. Her brother was too easy to trick sometimes. 

“Late! We’re going to be late checking out if we don’t leave right this minute,” their mother said, waving her arms toward the front door of their hotel suite. 

“You heard your mom, we’re going to be late and then the universe is going to explode.” Dad said, teasingly. Ynkeri’s mom smiled back, but was not swayed.

“Let’s go! I’m taking the fees out of your allowances if the hotel keeper charges us extra.” 

That got them moving. 

Ynkeri looked forlornly at B’s blacked-out door as they passed by it in a rush. She’d said goodbye the night before, but they always saw each other the morning of their departure. Even as they got in the elevator, she craned her neck to see if B would suddenly emerge, but the glass doors closed and as they passed the floor, she knew she wouldn’t see her friend again until next year. 

Ari and Dad bantered all the way down the one hundred floors while her mother stood, stoically, eyes closed but for the occasional glance at the watch on her left wrist. As Ynkeri looked at her, she reflected again about how pretty her mother was. She was slim and when she smiled, her entire face lit up. Even though she didn’t have blue eyes like Dad, her hazel ones were interesting. Ynkeri found herself staring at them more than usual. Most people who could pay the money requested blue eyes for their babies, but her mother’s parents hadn’t made that request. Her grandparents on her mother’s side were ‘religious.’ Ynkeri hadn’t understood why the two were related at the time, but that was the reason her mother gave when she’d asked.  Now, she knew- sort of. Her biology and genetics class this year was all about manipulation of genes and its history. Most people just did what they wanted, but there were some who clung to old ideas about God. Ynkeri didn’t quite understand that part, but when she’d tried to ask her mother about it, she’d only shrugged and said, ‘They thought gene manipulation was an offense to their Creator.’ That didn’t explain much at all, but Ynkeri recognized the tone that told her when to let stuff go. She had meant to ask her dad, but the trip had sped by without her thinking about it at all.

When the doors opened, her mother stepped through first and walked briskly to the hotel keeper’s desk. Pressing her right palm to the screen she moved through the process, smoothly swiping her forefinger through several screens of information. Ari and Ynkeri looked at each other, pleased when their mother turned back and gave a thumbs up. There were no additional charges for their tardiness. Their allowances were saved. 

“Alright kiddos,” their dad said, smiling, “down the corridor and then home, but no racing. Our little tradition will have to wait.”

Ynkeri tried not to be unhappy, but now she hadn’t seen B and their annual race to the gate was cancelled. 

“There’s always next year, Ynk,” her mother said, putting an arm around her shoulder. Leaning down, she whispered, “I think Ari is a little relieved. You’re getting really fast.”

Ynkeri smiled broadly. 

“Ynkeri!!!!” A high voice called from behind her. Turning she saw B sprinting towards her, waving her hands over her head like one of the monkeys they’d seen in the nature slides. That had thrown them into a fit of giggles when they’d first seen it on the Saturday morning wildlife camp her parents had signed her up for. 

Blond-haired, green-eyed B was breathless by the time she caught up to Ynkeri, but they hugged and laughed anyway. 

“I thought I wasn’t going to see you today!” Ynkeri said, almost crying. 

“I know! When I saw your door was clear, I knew you’d already checked out. I was frantic!” 

“I’m going to miss you like crazy, B,” Ynkeri said, hugging her friend again. 

“Me, too, Ynk.” B replied, “but we’ll be back together in no time! And we can talk all about how our classes went and I can tell you all about the boys in my class.”

“Time to go, Ynkeri,” her dad said, beckoning her. 

Ynkeri threw her arms around her friend one last time and tried not to cry. “Ok, well, you keep your fingers crossed for me. I think this year is the year I catch Squiggles.”

“I can feel it, already,” B replied, raising her left hand up close to her smiling, freckled face, middle finger over forefinger. 

Ynkeri laughed, raised both hands with crossed fingers and then ran to catch up with her parents. 

“I’m glad you got to say goodbye to Briney,” her mother said when she fell back into step by her side. Ynkeri nodded, contented that at least one thing worked out the way she’d hoped.

“Me, too.”

The last few hundred feet to the gates were busy, the lines so congested that the only way to tell which way a group was going was by their expressions. If they looked excited, they were on their way into the hotel. If they looked tired, they were on their way home. Ynkeri felt a pang of jealously watching all those happy faces heading toward the hotel’s entrance. Their vacation was just starting. 

Though busy, the terminal was fast, each group stepping onto their home-world’s platform and then winking out in quick succession. Ynkeri and her family didn’t have to wait long before it was their turn to wave their hands across the scanner and step up onto the glass platform.

“Home again, home again, jiggity- ji-” Ynkeri’s dad said, getting cut off as they began their journey home.

∞

Something felt weird to Ynkeri as soon as they left the platform. Normally, there was a white flash and then they were standing on their home platform on Eris, but this time it felt like she could count the seconds as they traveled. When she finally had solid ground under her feet she immediately felt ill and leaned over to vomit. 

The terminal was abnormally dark and the echo of the splatter made her ears ring. Ari was the first to utter a surprised yelp, followed by a phrase so filled with curse words, she had to stop and think about what it meant. When she sorted it out, she blushed.

“What is going on, dad,” Ynkeri asked, disoriented. 

“I don’t know, Ynk. Let’s just stay together.” Everyone nodded in the near black and Ynkeri could feel Ari’s hand find hers. They stepped down from the platform in unison and a bright light suddenly blinked on, making everyone squint and shield their eyes. 

“Stop right where you are,” a tenor voice called from a beyond the light. 

“My name is Doctor Henric Mlaghan, we are just com-” 

“Silence,” another voice demanded, this time from another part of the Terminal. Ynkeri guessed he was coming from where the restrooms used to be. “You are all under arrest for the possession of illegal genetic code.”

“What? That’s absolutely absurd,” Ynkeri’ s mother said in an angry tone. Without warning, a loud noise erupted, the sound hitting the hard bare walls and amplifying it painfully. Ynkeri broke from Ari’s grip to cover her ears until it stopped. When she opened her eyes, her mother was laying crumpled on the ground and her father was kneeling by her side, calling her name with such fear in his voice that Ynkeri began to cry. From the shadows the two men approached, guns raised. Ari turned to her and gave her a hard push towards where the old exit use to be and yelled, “Run.”