The Valley View Voice

Chapter 1

 

CAROLINE was scared, but also excited. It was her last day on H-1-23 (a planet that was habitable but not fully colonized) and her shuttle had dropped off 10 people. Of those, she knew one of them, and she wasn’t sad to see her go. Marya had been a bit of a bully to the other Specials (which made sense because she was one of the Tanks, or the ones with the strength powers).

Caroline, herself, was a Telly. She could move things with her mind and could talk to people too. Mother scolded her all the time for scaring the Standards, the humans without powers. She would always tell Caroline, “You’re a big 10-year-old! You can act like one.” Caroline would scoff and reply, “I can’t not act like an 10-year-old because I am one.” Then she’d stick out her tongue and stomp away.

Today, she was scaring the Standards again, while the shuttle was beginning to take off. Currently, on the ground below her, a daisy was picked and it flew up to about eye level of one of the people below. It opened and closed, the petals undulating by what seemed was of their own accord. Mother couldn’t see this, because she was on the other side of the shuttle, talking to one of her friends. So, she continued and made the daisy follow the girl around as she shrieked and ran away.

Caroline’s father walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder. She shrugged it off, and he didn’t try to put it back on. “This must be hard for you, losing all your friends like that,” he said.

“Maybe. Not really, though. I won’t really miss anyone here,” she responded nonchalantly. “I missed Kat for a while last time we moved but I don’t miss her as much anymore. Now she’s just a friend that I talk to every once in awhile on the nets, rather than my best friend in the whole world.”

“You’re really adaptive, sport.” With that, her father tousled her hair and walked away.

The shuttle was just about to go to space. The bigger engines came down and the wheels retracted. The seatbelt sign came on and a voice came over the intercom saying, “You have 5 minutes as the captain checks the equipment to get your baggage strapped in and your butt in your seat.” (Laughter was heard in the background, as well as someone saying, “You’re funny, Roe.) “Thank you.” The intercom clicked off and Caroline sat down.

5 minutes later, it was time for the 150-second trip out of the planet’s atmosphere. This was the bumpiest part of the ride, which could be fun, but it was also scary. There were plenty of videos of spaceships exploding in the air and she didn’t want to be one of those flights. So as the engines rumbled to life, Caroline found herself crossing her fingers once again. She crossed her arms for good measure as the sickening sensation of falling came to her and the shuttle blasted up towards the skies.

Chapter 2

NAELIA was nervous. It was the 29th Taking she had experienced. It was only her younger sister, Mounra's 13th. They had lived on the the planet E-05-27 with their parents, Angica and Ollyver, who were Taken a year after Mounra was born. If you were Taken you went somewhere unknown and potentially terrible. The people who were Taken were never seen again. As the ceremony commenced the guards began to look up and down the rows of people, they made sure no one escaped. One single guard stood in front of the anxious mass of people looking through a shorter list of names than usual. Naelia stared down each of their faces looking for some sign of who they were looking at specifically, but to emotion escaped their monotone gazes.

After what seemed like multiple millennia to Naelia, even though she knew it most likely only took a few seconds, the guard with the list of people who would be taken started reading off the names in a bored, monotonous voice.

“Jaemes Skir, Pipper Skir, Andru Rimuk, Claritta Rimuk, Alstor Kinne, Ianna Junsuhn, Naelia Deharjan, Mounra Deharjan, and Zohir Barajas.”

As soon as Naelia hear her name she just hoped her dear sister wasn’t granted the same fate, and when she did hear it, she nearly weeped from distress. This was the thing she had dreaded since she was born. Now it was happening. Naelia remained as calm as she could and whispered over and over to herself and Mounra,

“It’s fine. It was bound to happen eventually. We’re fine...”

The people whose names were read off the list, slowly and tentatively walked forward to the stage. Naelia knew that they got the on the stage they were supposed to say a public and last goodbye to the rest of their friends and family, but what she didn’t know was what happened after the Taken were led off the stage, never to be seen again. Right as Mounra and Naelia turned to face the audience Mounra froze; squeezing Naelia’s hand. Naelia, quietly panicking inside thinks quickly and whispers to Mounra,

“Don’t be scared, we’re going to be okay. Now we’re gonna say goodbye when they call our names. Okay?”

Mounra nodded microscopically and relaxed a bit. As the guard on stage read off the names once again, the people on stage called out goodbyes to family, and friends. All of the Taken were then ushered into one large room and were told that they were chosen because they had shown exceptional talent on this planet and were now going to be relocated to a new one, in a new solar system. They were told it would take about a week to get there by space shuttle. Naelia was shocked they were going all the way from solar system 7 to system 24. The 10 people were lead outside, and Naelia was again, shocked at now the size of the shuttle. She supposed that would make sense since it would take them a week to get to the new solar system, and planet.

Mounra was now extremely frightened. She had once again stopped moving, at this time it was the sight of the shuttle and the guard’s instructions to enter it. Once again Naelia quieted her down by whispering it was going to be okay. Finally the Taken all entered the shuttle which was fitted with a fancy mess hall and a room for each of the Taken. When the guards led each person to their new sleeping areas, Naelia sighed in relief. Her and Mounra’s bedrooms were across from each other. The guards instructed them to change into the clothes laid out in their room. Naelia walked into her room, which was a bland white color and picked up the clothes which were the same color. She slipped hers on, and left the room to find Mounra. Mounra was coming out of her room at the same time as Naelia and she was wearing the same exact outfit, except smaller. Then the guard in the hall instructed them that they were to report to the mess hall for a Tran-Sem.

They walked into the hall to find that everyone was already there. They took the seats labeled “Naelia” and “Mounra”, and the guard announced:

“Let the Transportation-Seminar commence!” He took out a long scroll. “First matter: The Taken Criteria.”

He proceeded to let the Taken know why they were taken.