Sixteen-year-old Ash Bennett is done with life on the run. Every time she starts to settle on a new colony, her scientist parents drag her back onto The Starling without answers. But when a pit stop on Phobos goes catastrophically wrong, Ash finally gets a glimpse of the truth: her family has been hiding dangerous secrets about their pastâand about her.
Rescued by Edanâa rebellious, frustratingly magnetic teen with a shadowy pastâand psychic twins Isaac and Isabel, Ash is pulled into a world of fugitives, Pathers, and Mind Squad Agents: telepaths once weaponized in the brutal wars between humans, EsserKai, and Qureegers. The fragile peace that followed is cracking, and an old prophecy is starting to whisper Ashâs name.
Worse, she canât ignore two things: the vivid dreams of a blue-skinned boy named Xai⊠and the strange, electric pull she feels toward Edan, as if theyâre connected in ways she canât explain.
With mind-bending enemies hunting her and her familyâs lies unraveling fast, Ash has to decide whether to keep running or face the truth head-on. Because the deeper she digs, the clearer it becomesâthe fate of the galaxy might begin, and end, with her.
Sixteen-year-old Ash Bennett is done with life on the run. Every time she starts to settle on a new colony, her scientist parents drag her back onto The Starling without answers. But when a pit stop on Phobos goes catastrophically wrong, Ash finally gets a glimpse of the truth: her family has been hiding dangerous secrets about their pastâand about her.
Rescued by Edanâa rebellious, frustratingly magnetic teen with a shadowy pastâand psychic twins Isaac and Isabel, Ash is pulled into a world of fugitives, Pathers, and Mind Squad Agents: telepaths once weaponized in the brutal wars between humans, EsserKai, and Qureegers. The fragile peace that followed is cracking, and an old prophecy is starting to whisper Ashâs name.
Worse, she canât ignore two things: the vivid dreams of a blue-skinned boy named Xai⊠and the strange, electric pull she feels toward Edan, as if theyâre connected in ways she canât explain.
With mind-bending enemies hunting her and her familyâs lies unraveling fast, Ash has to decide whether to keep running or face the truth head-on. Because the deeper she digs, the clearer it becomesâthe fate of the galaxy might begin, and end, with her.
âWake up, Ash,â a voice crackled next to her head. She sat up and opened her eyes, struggling to remember the details of her dream. This was the third one this week. Was she trapped in a storm? She had fallen asleep at her strada console again, and a holographic face flickered on the panel in front of her: A smiling, square-jawed man with bright green eyes ran his pixelated fingers through his cartoonish blonde hair.
It was Hugo, the shipâs computer, that her father had modeled after her childhood hero: Hugo Darkstarâpioneer, adventurer, warrior, and intergalactic hero!
She sat up and gazed at the amber mass of rock floating in the center of the screen. Phobos. She watched the moon rotate momentarily before reading the small text underneath. Named after the Greek god, Phobos, meaning fear.
Fear. Thatâs what she had been feeling the past few days. She didnât want to be here and wasnât sure why.
She rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Long trips on the ship always dried her out like a lizard . . . not that she had ever seen or touched an actual lizard. She wished her dad would program more moisture into the shipâs environmental system, but he didnât want to waste water.
âMorning, Hugo.â Ash yawned and stood up. âMom and Dad up yet?â
âYes, your mother arose two hours, seventeen minutes, and forty-seven seconds ago,, andâââ Hugo started.
âI donât need the exact times, Hugo. When do we land?â she asked, slipping into a cobalt blue jumpsuit crumpled on the floor.
âIf there are no complications or delays, approximately forty-three minutes andââ Hugo began.
âYeah, I get it,â she said, waving her hand upward, causing his face to flicker away.
Ash saw a small white chatter bubble blinking on the strada screenâs lower right-hand corner. Her stomach twitched when she saw it was a message from HanSolo to Ashes2Ashes. She mustâve fallen asleep in the middle of their chat. HanSolo was a friend she had made a while back in her favorite chatbox, Ship-Talk. She was first impressed with his nick. Not too many kids her age knew about Star Wars, let alone Han Solo. She couldnât blame them; it was centuries old and had actual puppets performing with the actors. She loved old and cheesy things.
Most chatbox people used toon versions of themselves or AI-generated pictures, but HanSoloâs picture seemed like a real photo. In the pic, he laughed and rested his hand on his short, light brown hair. Ash focused on his lips a little too long. Glitch, do I like him? Not that it mattered if she did. He was most likely light-years away, and you couldnât reallytrust anyone you met on the strada. It was fun chatting with him, even if there was a good chance his pic was a lie. She could have her fantasies.
HanSolo: If ur going to be stuck on Phobos u should ck out the blasty flight sim place there. Battle Core!
She sat up and tapped her fingers on the keyboard, thinking of what to say.
Ashes2Ashes: Sorry, passed out! I doubt my parents will even let me off the ship. Such noids. Nervous about everything. âFunâ is not part of the plan.
She stared at the screen, waiting to see if he would respond. There was no activity on his end. She stood up to get ready but plopped back down when she saw him typing.
HanSolo: Glitch, Iâm sorry. Maybe Iâll fly over, drag you out of the ship to take you. Battle Core is blasty.
Her stomach fluttered at the thought of actually meeting him. She felt her lips curling up into a big smile as she typed.
Ashes2Ashes: I would love it if you kidnapped me and we ran away together. For a date, I mean, not forevs.
She hit send, then immediately felt stupid for sounding so desperate.
Ashes2Ashes: What I meant was, Iâd love to be dragged off this laggy ship. Kidding, not kidding.
She watched the blinking cursor, feeling like an idiot. What was she doing? Flirting in chatboxes was not who she was.
HanSolo: I might be closer than you think. He inserted a flashing winky face.
Her gut flip-flopped this time as she tapped out her response.
Ashes2Ashes: Stop teasing. Gotta dash. About to land. Chatter l8r.
Ash plopped onto her unmade bed and pulled on her favorite black boots. She couldnât waste her energy dreaming about a boy who probably didnât exist, whisking her away on some flight sim date. She fell back, knocking Mr. Moon onto the ground, and stared at the metal ceiling, where her father had painted thousands of tiny blue-and-white stars. It had taken him days, she remembered. She couldnât help but smile.
Her dad was a genius. He had designed their shipâthe only one of its kindâout of a rare titanium-based black composite material and equipped it with an untraceable interstellar travel drive. It was fast. To make it even faster, he was experimenting with Faster-Than-Light drive technology and planning to incorporate it into the shipâs engines. So we could get nowhere more quickly? Ash snorted and rolled her eyes. She was so tired of traveling to nowhere.
The ship was named âThe Starlingâ after a bird species found on Earth. There were no more birds on Earth nowâthere wasnât much of anything alive on the planet. Ash had only seen a few real birds in her life.
When she was younger, she had visited a nature dome, a large preserve where green engineers tried to recreate Earthâs old environment. They grew plants and trees, built rivers, lakes, and waterfalls, and cloned a few animal species. She had fed pigeons in a park and watched ducks swimming in a pond. It had been a long time since sheâd done anything like that. They never stopped anywhere these days.
Ash stood up and noticed the familiar hum of the engine under her feet. She went to her desk to grab the lase-blade that she always wore in the side pocket of her boot, slid it in, and left her room.
The Starling wasnât very big. It only had two private rooms and a few smaller bunks for guests, which were always empty. There was a kitchen, which her mom had insisted on painting orange, and an open dining area. The living space was the largest room on the ship. Her dad had picked up two vintage brown sofas with soft cushions, and Ash often fell asleep on them after a night of vid marathons, wrapped in her favorite green quilt.
She passed by the dark, empty medical bay. Silhouettes of two cots in the middle of the room cast shadows on the shiny floor. In her momâs science lab next door, rock and soil samples were scattered across clear trays. Nanoscopic images of crystals and bacteria flickered on the monitors. A kaleidoscope of colors and shapes danced across the screens, vivid against the plain white walls.
While her dad focused on exploring as far into space as possible, her mom traveled inward to uncover the tiny universes within our own. Laurel was part of a team of scientists studying the debris around a wormhole near Proxima Centauriâthe same wormhole that the Collective had traveled through many decades ago.
Everyone who studied general galactic history knew the basic story of Earthâs Bane. The EsserKai and Qureegers were Earthâs ill-fated second and third contacts. They arrived and, without warning, declared war on humanity.
The decimation of Earth followed shortly after. The warâs end came as suddenly as it had begun, and humanity survived. No one knew exactly why the Collective stopped the fighting, but most believed it was because Earthâs specially trained pather soldiersâMind Squad Agentsâdevastated the enemy ranks, marking a turning point in the war.
After a peace treaty was signed, many Kai and Qreeg stayed in the galaxy because the journey home was long and dangerous. Humanity focused on survival and recovery, but maintaining peaceful relations between the different species proved to be a complicated societal issue.
The aroma of Insta-Caf and toast wafted down into the hallway. Ashâs stomach growled. She hurried to the top landing but froze when she heard her parentsâ voices coming from the kitchen. She tiptoed through the hall and leaned against the wall to listen.
âTĂ itĂ i, Iâm starting to get worried. Sheâs been acting odd the past few days, and I donât think itâs just shi ji sui de nuhai type of thing,â her dad said. Ash was annoyed that her dad was gossiping about her and reminding her that he spoke Mandarin way better, even though he was a full-on white guy. What was he saying about her, something about being a girl? Thatâs all she could understand. âShe told me last night she didnât want to stop at Phobos.â
âYouâve never been a teenage girl,â her mom tried to joke, but the strain in her voice was clear. Ash wanted to storm in and announce her presence. How dare you talk about me behind my back? she wanted to scream, but something held her back. âHarry, I sense that sheâs been having nightmares or strange dreams,â her mom said. Ashâs breath caught in her chest. How does Mom know that? She senses it?
âMaybe she inherited more than just your meili,â her dad said. Then there was silence. Beauty . . . I know that one. Mom told me about almost naming me that. âLaurel? Are you okay?â What else could I have inherited?
âItâs nothing . . . I hopeââ her mom said.
âGreetings, Bennetts! Sorry to interrupt your breakfast, but we will be entering the orbit of Phobos in thirty minutes,â Hugoâs voice boomed through the shipâs com-system. Ash hurried back to her room before her parents could leave the dining table.
She sat on the edge of her bed and picked up Mr. Moon, holding the plushie close to her. What were they talking about? How could Mom possibly know that I had strange dreams?
âAsh, get your pĂŹgu up here. Now-ish, please.â Her momâs voice crackled through tiny speakers in her walls.
She grabbed her jacket and ran to the bridge. Her parents were already buckled in. She sat in a seat behind them and started fidgeting with the seatbelt. A silver-wrapped food cube fell into her lap. She looked up. Her dad was sitting at the flight console. He turned and smiled at her while scratching his brown beard. Tiny lights from the consoles flickered in his blue eyes that matched hers.
âYou missed breakfast,â he said. She forced a smile and clicked her seatbelt into place. Her motherâs words about sensing her dreams still echoed in her mind. Maybe she could ask her dad about it the next time they were alone. The only people who could genuinely sense things were pathers, and it couldnât be that. Pathers were rare these days. Maybe it was her mom just being âMom.â She always joked that she knew everything, but this was oddly specific and accurate. Ash was having repeated intense dreams.
âDo you remember that time you slid headfirst into the flight console because you didnât secure for landing?â her mother said, chuckling as she pulled her long black hair back into a bun. âI canât get that image of you out of my head.â While unwrapping her snack, Ash saw her mother winking at her. Her motherâs eyes were a reddish-brown, and their shape made her Chinese heritage unmistakable.
âYeah, maybe youâll let me forget that sometime in this century,â she said as she stuffed the mushy green cube into her mouth and chewed. âNothing beats the taste of algae disguised as chocolate in the morning.â She opened her mouth and stuck her tongue out at her mom, and her mom shook her head.
âAsh-er, act your age,â she said as she scrunched her face in disgust. Adding er to her name was supposed to be endearing, but she mostly did it when she was irritated with Ash.
Today, she would prove to her parents that absolutely nothing was wrong with her. There would be no acting weird,and she wouldnât mention her strange dream. She didnât need her parents debating her teenage girl issues. She felt the ship rumbling beneath her, the familiar feeling of breaking through yet another atmosphere.
Here we go again, another pit stop, she thought. Phobos . . . fear.
The Starling touched down at one of the outer docking bays of Chons. Her dad insisted that being further away was better because the docking fees were cheaper. It made Ash feel like her parents were paranoid about something.
They walked out of the shipâs entryway and were hit by a blast of amber dust. Ash climbed up a small dune, and her eyes followed the path to the entrance of the center of Chons in the distance, about a few hundred meters away across a short row of sandy hills and several docking bays. Phobos was terraformed, but some colonies like Chons were still protected from extreme weather conditions under a giant dome.
âHereâs the list. Please stick to it,â her mom said, swiping at her slat. Ash felt the RingCom on her finger buzz, alerting her that sheâd gotten the list. âThen come back immediately.â She watched as her dad opened the cargo hold.
âIâll take the Sparrow for a ride first,â Ash said, spinning around toward the cargo hatch. Her heart skipped a beat at the thought of riding her favorite little scout ship. Her father had built it, and it was space-capable, helping with mining and water reclamation. Her mother used it to gather space debris for her various contracts. Ash had a special love for the little Sparrow because it was how sheâd first learned to pilot. It wasnât a Ramjet Gunner, but it was still pretty blasty.
âNope, we need supplies. We arenât hanging out for long,â her dad said while pushing a hover cart toward her.
âYou should be happy we let you go alone,â her mom said. âWatch yourself and stick to the list. No unnecessary exploring without us.â
âSo, what youâre saying is, stick to the list?â The looks on her parentsâ faces showed they didnât appreciate her sarcasm.
âMaybe I should go instead,â her dad said, glancing at her mom.
âI did scans. Itâll be fine,â her mom said as she rolled an empty canister over to a recycling area in the dock.
âScans of what?â Ash asked, glancing back and forth between her parents. No one responded. This was exactly what had been bothering her lately. What kind of scans were they doing if her mom thought everything was fine? Ash considered another approach. âDad? I saw on the strada that they have some of the best assault flight simulators in the galaxy here on Phobos.â
âSupplies. Move your legs. Come right back,â her dad said. âPlease niĆ« niĆ«.â Their pit stops used to be fun. Now her dad was always in mission mode. He was forming a permanent wrinkle right between his brows. What are they glitching out about? Ash felt that her parents had been running away from something for weeks. It wasnât unusual for her family to be on the move, but this felt different. Her father was a freelance engineer, and her mother worked as a researcher for chemical companies. They changed the subject whenever she brought it up, saying they were looking for new work. She shook her head, thinking of all their excuses.
âOkay, fine, I just thought we could have some fun for once in our lives,â Ash said. âAnd stop calling me âlittle girl,ââ she added, grabbing the cart and stomping off. The cart whooshed behind her as she walked away through a veil of dust. She closed her eyes and wished HanSolo would fly here and kidnap her.
Stupid rock. She kicked her boot out at the thick sand as her cart hummed behind her. She counted the endless settlements they had visited and realized she had only scattered memories of them. She was born in Galileo Proper, located on Io, one of Jupiterâs larger moons, but she had no memory of it. The most extended place theyâd ever stayed was during her first six years, and it was on the colony of Poseidon, located on Europa, another one of Jupiterâs moons. She was still too young back then to remember much.
Ash shoved the cart ahead of her and picked up a rock, chucking it over a dune. She was used to living the nomadic life, but sometimes she wished she had a place she could call home, one that wasnât constantly moving and made of metal. It would be nice to make real flesh-and-blood friends.
Her parents were hiding something. They were usually very open and kind, but recently, their mood had changed. Now, her mom was sensing her dreams? Why couldnât they tell her the truth? She was sixteen, not six.
âLiars,â she said as she swooped down and grabbed a fistful of sand. She let the granules fall slowly from her clenched hand. As the sand fell, she paused to gaze around at her surroundings. One more dock, and then she would be at the entrance to Chons.
She squinted into the distance and noticed another small colony nearby, connected by a large transport tube. A brisk wind blew against her. She flinched as gusts of sand whipped around her face. She tapped a button on her jacket, tightening it around her as she continued her journey.
Suddenly, she saw someone move in the corner of her vision. A young guy was sneaking around a big old rust bucket of a ship in the docking bay as she passed. He wore a black trench over a charcoal jumpsuit and was covered in dust.
Even from a distance, she could see his bright green eyes darting back and forth as he inspected the ship. They stood out against his dark skin and short black dreads. Ash stood there, wondering if he was blasty, and then got nervous when she realized she was staring at him. He was a thief, and she was debating his looks.
I just want to make an actual friend. Because of their migrant lifestyle, Ashâs current friends were random strada incarnations like HanSolo. She realized she didnât even know his real name. There were also some kids from virtual school, but they never stayed in touch once classes were over.
The cute guy turned, and his green eyes landed on her. She froze. He smiled and waved as if nothing creepy was happening. She forced a smile and felt her dry lips catching on her teeth. She held her hand up briefly before rushing toward the colony entrance. She glanced back again to see him inhaling mist from a Kai rank, his eyes still on her as fog erupted from his mouth. Hot, but also . . . blech.
Ash approached a security gate, and a large cylindrical tube slid open. She squeezed in with her cart. She turned to see if the boy was following her, but she couldnât see him anywhere. A few travelers stood in line at the gates, but it wasnât crowded. She breathed a sigh of relief.
âPlease stand still during the scan.â A pleasant, automated voice echoed through the chamber. âNo major contaminants found. Thank you, and welcome to Chons.â
A flash of light and a gust of air blew upward through tiny holes in the platform, signaling sterilizing protocols. The tube spun, and the door opened on the other side.
âWhoa,â she said as she entered the settlement.
All the noise and movement made it hard to focus on anything. The bright, blinking holo-lights almost tricked her eyes from glimpsing the grim nature of the colony.
A Kai female, clad in a shiny black jumpsuit, brushed past quickly, her skin tinted with ruby scales. A grimy, emaciated man with a mouthful of brown teeth rammed into her cart, and she spun around.
âWatch it!â she yelled at him and noticed a Splice node blinking at his temple.
He smiled at her as if in a dream and then screamed as he ran down the street. Poor guy, she thought as she watched him stumble and fall. Splice was banned, and he was likely playing a hacked-up version of the game. Without tech-med help, he was a goner.
Soiled food wrappers stuck to her boot as she walked. She tripped and kicked over empty bottles. As far as she could see, hundreds of colorful signs flashed in different alien and human languages.
Merchants passed by, pushing their floating carts up and down the main street. They stopped here and there, ordering a hot crosser or a steaming bowl of spicy noodles. She glanced at the crosser stand, and her mouth watered. Hot, chocolaty, and packed with caffeine.
Ash spotted the depot across the street and made her way toward it. Floaters roamed around, asking for rides off this rock, claiming they could gig. A guy with a face covered in blurry tats stopped her outside the entrance of the trading depot. He grabbed the end of her cart and pulled it toward him, but she yanked it from his grasp. His hand was covered in dried scabs, and his nails were black with grime. His face crinkled like dirty plastic as he smiled and leaned toward her.
âMy brother has credit on Triton. I promise to pay you back once I get there,â he said as she quickly stepped into the entrance, shaking him off. âI give killer back rubs!â she heard him yell through the squeak of the sliding doors.
âGross,â she said with a shiver.
Every floater had a sob story. Scratch that; every human had a sob story. Earth was gone. They were all byproducts of war. A lot of folk were stuck where they were. Not everyone was lucky enough to have a place to live, a ship, a family, or credit.
So what if she didnât have any friends? She needed to stop feeling sorry for herself. Things could be way worse, she reminded herself. She could be living alone in one of these colonies, forced to do terrible things, like that cute thief sheâd seen at the docking bay. Stop thinking about him . . . he wasnât that blasty.
She strolled in and glanced at the E-News Screen. The star date flashed 09-27-2347. Celebrate half a century of peace with the Collective over a Galactic Burger and a side of Crater Tots! Blinding words flickered across the screen, assaulting her vision. She couldnât believe it had been fifty years since the war.
Few humans still alive had ever been on Earth, as it was still closed off and quarantined. A corporation was in charge and still tested the atmosphere and soil regularly to determine when it would be habitable again. Maybe they could heal it one day. Her mom always mentioned that it wasnât the war alone that had destroyed the Earth. Humans were already halfway there when the Collective arrived. She often looked at pictures and read about Earth on the strada, but she knew that was as close as she would ever get.
She wandered through each aisle, throwing bins and boxes of supplies on the list into her cart: Sani-Time wipes, powdered soy, dehydrated nut cheese, mushroom jerky, and food cubes. Yum, she thought as she rolled her eyes.
The depot was a maze of winding aisles filled with shelves that were twenty feet high. If she needed something from the top, vid panels operated sliding mechanisms to transport the item to the bottom shelf, which was left empty. She saw boxes of dark chocolate meteorites and a dozen new flavors of comet crisps, but she knew better than to spend what few tabs remained on her familyâs credit chip. Her parents controlled what she could spend anyway.
She glanced at a holo-model prancing in and out from a panel on the wall. She wore a sleek metallic black outfit with matching boots and winked playfully at Ash.
Ash looked away and sighed. She looked down at her wrinkled blue jumpsuit, old gray jacket, and beat-up black boots. She studied herself in a small mirror on the wall. Her shoulder-length chestnut hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail, and her fair, freckled face was already streaked with brown dust from her trek through the dunes. She rolled her bright blue eyes at herself. Where would I even wear that? Solo dance party in the cargo bay? she thought as the model strutted past again.
She pushed her cart into the one line that was still being operated by a living person. The other automated lines were too long. Suddenly, someone bumped into her, knocking her onto the ground. She looked up and saw a figure bolting past her.
âHey! Watch where youâre going, you glitchhead,â she yelled.
The figure turnedâit was the cute guy from the docking pad! His long black trench snapped as he spun around. Time froze for a nanosecond. He smiled crookedly at her. It was unreal how green his eyes were, especially against his dark skin. They had to be fake.
âSorry! Didnât see ya there,â he hollered as he ran backward out the door, pausing to wink at her.
She watched as a heavy depot security guard lumbered after him. She stood up and got back in line. She peered around the counter and saw that the guard had given up the chase and was coming back into the store. Another guard stopped him at the door. She watched them chat about the boy. She couldnât hear them clearly but caught the words âtunnel punks.â Was he following me? Maybe making sure I didnât tell anyone about him sneaking around that ship.
âForty-three tabs, please,â Ash heard someone in front of her say.
She spun around to find that an Uolu clerk had already scanned all her items and was ready for payment. She didnât personally know any Uolus; they seemed so . . . magical or something.
Many of them were deeply spiritual and maintained their religious practices privately. They had also remained neutral during the war. He stared at her with dark blue eyes. Uolus were androgynous and had no body hair, making it difficult to determine their chosen gender. They got to choose their sex. Ash didnât know all the details of how that worked, but she knew that at some point in their lives, they got to choose.
She looked at him closely and started feeling weird. He held out his portable scanner, and she stared at his pale green, almost translucent skin, then looked up at his face. A strange sensation crept up from her stomach and into her chest, causing it to tighten. Atö nov tu.
âDo I know you?â she heard herself asking him. âAtö nov tu?â she whispered under her breath. What am I saying? Whatâs this gibberish in my head? Iâm going glitchy.
âI know you from when you walked through those doors over there,â he said. âDid you say something else?â He raised his brows while glancing at the scanner in his hand. She shook her head, swiped her ring across the scanner, and avoided looking at him for the remainder of the transaction.
âThanks,â she said, pushing her cart toward the exit. She walked out the door with her head down, her cart floating behind her.
Her face was hot. Why would I say that? Why would he know me? Do I know him? He seemed so familiar to her, especially his hand. She gently squeezed a circular silver dot pierced through her tragus.
âFind a short description of Uolus, and transfer it to my bugs.â After a moment, a voice narrated into her ears.
When humans achieved long-range space travel in 2100, the Uolus lived on small colonies dispersed across the Milky Way. Humanity couldnât believe peaceful aliens were living right in their solar system. The Uolus were the ideal first contact for Earth, but that didnât mean they didnât have their secrets.
When the EsserKai and Qureegers unexpectedly declared war, the Uolus insisted on staying neutral, and the Collective left them alone. Some humans havenât forgiven the Uolus for not aligning with them. To this day, anti-Uolu factions are everywhere, minor in number but abundant in reproach, and all with the same message: Humanity will never forget.
The voice was still narrating, but Ash wasnât listening anymore. She was distracted by the numerous bars and shops lining the avenue. Some businesses were gigantic, with bright, blinding lights; others were as tiny as sanitation stalls. E-Ads were plastered and peeling on every inch of a building. A cacophony of sounds and jingles blended, chanting slogans and ads. Last chance to see Starship Mistress! Everything 50% off! Fight to the death! Dun dun dun! Electronic images blinked on and off. Some were so damaged and warped that Ash couldnât determine what they were advertising.
. . . Many notable Uolu scientists were involved in this venture, the voice was still narrating.
âQuit,â Ash said, smelling onion pancakes sizzling from a merchantâs carriage passing by. She imagined biting into the flaky crust of a just-cooked meat bun when her motherâs voice invaded her daydream. I once found thirty-four parasites in one âfishcakeâ I purchased from a snack cart on Luna. The delicious aromas were invading her nostrils. I could always pop a Para-Gone . . . Her cravings were getting harder to reason with, so she walked a little faster.
Just ahead, she saw a large courtyard with a shining chrome statue at its center. Above her, a huge sign flashed CHONS BATTLE CORE. Head the assault in a craft of your choice, from RAMJET GUNNERS to AGATI WAR-CLASHERS! She stood there gawking at the gleaming sign, attempting to formulate a plan to convince her parents to let her come back. Thoughts of running away with HanSolo popped into her mind.
Ash walked into the square. What she thought was a statue turned out to be a real-life Ramjet Gunner. She wanted to take a holo-snap to show HanSolo, but froze when she saw who stood beside it. Mr. Green Eyes leaned against the gunner, puffing on a rank.
He turned toward the ship and smiled at it, his coat opening to reveal a lase-gun holster. Her throat tightened. There was no way she was getting closer now. She wished he would go away, yet she couldnât stop staring at him. He slid his hand across the smooth surface of the gunner, saying something. Man, heâs tall. She moved a step closer. Even his dumb chin stubble is cute. Suddenly, he froze and glanced up.
Glitch! He sees me.
He smiled again and waved in her direction. She turned away and started pushing her cart down the street towards the gate. Why was he everywhere? Could he be following her, and was she excited about it? Itâs not like you can go on a date with him. Weâre leaving after I bring these supplies back. Just keep walking.
Ash stepped out of the security tube when, without warning, she felt a sharp stabbing pain in her left temple. She pressed her fingers on the sides of her head and scrunched up her eyes.
When she opened them, she wasnât next to the colony gate anymore. She was next to her dad, and men wearing blasty biz-suits were standing before her, pointing lase-guns straight at them. How did she get here?
âLily, did you think we wouldnât find you?â She heard one of them ask. She looked up and looked at the man. He was an Asian-looking guy, wearing a smooth charcoal suit. She noticed a long scar across his cheek and something small and shiny on his collar. Her hand clenched uncontrollably into a fist by her side. Who the hack is Lily? Then the pain returned.
Ash keeled over and put her head between her legs. When she looked up, she was back at the gates. She jumped to her feet and looked around, realizing she was alone.
What just happened? Are my parents in trouble? She grabbed the cart and continued her trip back to the Starling, hastening her pace. Her heart was pounding in every part of her body, and her mouth was dry, making it hard to swallow. She felt dizzy, and her limbs shook.
Ash passed the now-empty docking bay where sheâd first seen the cute guy when the throbbing returned. She slipped down into the sand. A wave of nausea swept through her, and she stood beside her father again. No!
âIt would be easier if you agreed to come with us,â one of the men said. She tried to open her mouth to ask what was happening, but she couldnât control her body. âHe hasnât seen you in years, and heâs getting impatient. You know how long itâs taken him to find you?â She glanced over at her dad. His face was grim as he looked at her. Ash had never seen her dadâs face like that.
âLaurel, donât listen to them. Just stay behind me.â Her father grabbed her arm, pulling her back.
Laurel? He thinks Iâm my mom! Suddenly, words were spilling out of her mouth.
âPlease, I think you have us confused with someone else. I donât know who this Lily is. Weâre just here on vacation andââ
I didnât want to say that! Wait! Iâm in my momâs body. This is really happening! I need to stop this! I canât move.
âStop the charade. We know who you are. If your husband doesnât do anything glitchy, he can walk away with a minor mind raze,â a man said as he stepped forward, his hood shadowing his face.
A mind raze? Who wants my mom?
Ash glanced back at her dad and saw him slowly reaching for his lase-gun. The pain in her head had returned, and it was worse than ever.
âYou think Iâm a hacking idiot? You arenât messing with my head,â her dad said. She had never heard her dad this angry.
Through the pain in her head, reality crashed down on her. They know exactly who these people are, and this is what theyâve been hiding from me. Who are my parents, and what have they done?
Her vision blurred, and once again she found herself across from the first docking bay. She sat up and retched. Then, she stood and sprinted down the pathway, desperate to help in any way she could.
However, before she made it all the way across, she tripped and fell onto the sand, feeling excruciating pain. She clutched her face and pressed her palms against the sides of her head until the pain subsided.
After brushing the sand off her face, she opened her eyes. The pain shot through her temples, and she shifted her perspective once more.
âYouâre not taking my wife! Iâll remember this. No mind wipe will work. Youâll have to kill me,â her dad said as he pulled out his gun, aiming it at the thugs.
Ash wanted to grab his gun, but she still couldnât move. A shot rang out, and time slowed. She turned.
Her dadâs gun was smoking, and his face was flushed with rage. She saw the scar-faced Asian man wave his arm. The blast harmlessly struck the ground beside him, a cloud of sand erupting between them. How did he do that? Time sped up, and the cloud of sand dispersed.
âI warned you,â the man said, firing his gun.
The blast struck her dad square in the chest, and he collapsed onto the ground. She could smell burning flesh and melting plastic.
The universe froze, and so did her breath. All she could do was stare at her fatherâs smoldering chest. The rage on his face was replaced with childlike fear.
Daddy! she wanted to scream.
Ash fought against her momâs will and was suddenly returned to her body. A sob broke from her chest as she stood up and ran down the path. Ma, Iâm coming.
She wiped at the stream of hot tears on her face, ignoring the sand scraping against her wet cheeks. The burning hole in her dadâs chest filled her mind. Why am I seeing all of this? Please let this be a trick. Please let them be standing there, angry that I was late. Please let them yell at me. This has to be a nightmare.
Before reaching the dock, she froze mid-run as something held her in place. Her stiff body slid upright through the sand and came to a stop behind a gigantic rock. She heard her momâs voice in her head.
âAsh, donât move. Her mom must be controlling her. She felt stuck in time, and the throbbing pain returned. Itâs okay, baobei. This is the path.â
She was transported back into her momâs body. Her momâs hand was raised at the men, and a powerful force surged from a flick of her wrist, throwing them onto the ground.
She caught a glimpse of a bright green laser blast from the corner of her eye and realized that one of the men had fired his lase-gun.
A burning pain shot through her lungs, and her bodyâher motherâs bodyâcrashed to the ground, engulfed in a cloud of dust.
She shifted back to her own body and tried to open her mouth to cry out, but her vocal cords were as frozen as she was. She heard the Asian man scream at his subordinate from behind the rock.
âYou hacking fool! Weâll suffer for this!â
She heard another blast, followed by a thunderous boom. A flash erupted from behind the dune, accompanied by spitting flames and gray smoke. The Starling!
She was drawn into the darkness behind her eyes, becoming oblivious to her surroundings. In that darkness, she heard her mother whisper three words and three numbers to her. Damek, Libra, truth. Seven, four, three.
She returned to herself, feeling tears streaming freely down her cheeks, the only part of her that wasnât held in place.
Ash felt her mother close her eyes and exhale a final breath. The barrier surrounding Ash shattered, causing her to collapse onto the ground behind the shadow of the rock.
Sixteen-year-old Ash Bennett has grown up traveling around the solar system with her parents in a space vessel of her engineer fatherâs design. But as sheâs gotten older, sheâs come to realize the secretive nature of their existence and is starting to believe her parents are keeping secrets from her. When she returns to tragedy at their ship docked on the surface of Phobos after a routine supply run, she becomes tragically certain that they had been holding out on her. Now sheâs on the run from killers â Mind Squad Agents â with three new companions sheâs not at all sure she can trust.
The Dreamer is a marvelous beginning to this exciting new young adult science fiction space-adventure series by Linda Patricia Cleary, and the story hits the ground running, even as the author undertakes the heavy lifting of crafting a unique and robust universe for the story. The story unfolds from multiple points of view, Ashâs and those of other major characters, with great effect.
Ash is a typical teenager, full of curiosity, emotions, new feelings, and uncertain about her current life and her future, and thatâs before tragedy strikes. The author immediately builds suspense with Ashâs thoughts on her and her parentsâ solitary lifestyle and the odd, recurring dreams that leave her waking in a sweat. Now on her own, Ash must grow up quickly while discovering sheâs developing strange new abilities like those of the universeâs much-maligned Pathers.
Joining her in the story is Edan Wagner, whose parents lead the notorious space pirates, the Rippers. Heâs trying hard to walk away from that life, and his parents arenât having it. The twins, Isaac and Isabel, are Pathers with strong kinetic and telepathic abilities, and are searching for their own parents, who disappeared from their home on Mars. They, too, are being hunted, as are pathers throughout the solar system, by whom and for what purpose no one seems to know. Each of these characters has a strong, intriguing underlying storyline that I look forward to learning more about as the series progresses.
The plot is vibrant with compelling backstories of first contact and Earthâs demise, leaving it a spoiled, uninhabitable rock in space. Alien races, such as the Kai and Qreegs, freely mingle with humans throughout the solar system, which advances in technology had opened to exploration and settlement for quite some time by the time of the events in the book. There are plenty of bad guys to escape from as the new friends learn to trust each other and seek answers about their parents. Their group of misfit young adults slowly expands as they rescue others in need along the way. As this is the start of a new series, not all questions are answered, leaving ample territory for future books.
I recommend THE DREAMER to readers of young adult science fiction and space adventures.