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Book Information
Genre:
FICTION / General
Publication:
Jul 31, 2009
Pages:
60
Books by P. Joy Webster
After a very intense year at boarding school, Julie's tired and misses her mom, Eva. Eva's just received a promotion - she is the Earth's Ambassador to Norandia, a new member planet of the Interplanetary Council. Julie's dying for summer vacation to come, so that she can visit her mom and see this mysterious planet. However, her mom has said "Don't come here, Julie!" What's really going on? What's her mother not telling her about Norandia?
Don’t come here, Julie!
P. JOY WEBSTER
CHAPTER 1
Julie was almost in tears as she got in line for the molecular transporter. She had planned on spending the summer with her mother on the planet Norandia after a tough year at boarding school on Earth, but Mom had called her on the vidphone to say that Julie shouldn’t come, at least not right away. Mom had just been appointed the new Ambassador to Norandia, and needed some time to get settled in to her new house. As well, she would be working extra long hours until she got to know the people there, especially the new Terran staff, so she had made arrangements for Julie to stay with her Aunt Ruth on Rinda.
Julie loved Rinda, but it was hard to go there knowing her mom would be far away. She had lived there for several years, when she was in Elementary School, and it had become home. Her friends that lived there all year round would be there, of course, as well as her friends from Elementary School who went back every summer. She had been looking forward to flying over (and even into, but nobody was supposed to know) the volcanoes there in her specially designed hover craft. There was an incredible stellar observatory that she liked to visit with her friend Steve. She had hoped to spend some intensive time with him this summer. Now, as the time to go to Rinda had actually arrived, she was so nervous about seeing Steve, she had almost lost any desire to go back. What she needed was to go somewhere totally new, where she would have things to think about other than schoolwork and Steve. She also needed to spend time with her Mom.
CHAPTER 2
Hmmm... somewhere totally new, where she could spend time with her Mom... like Norandia, for example? Her Mom hadn’t actually said that Julie couldn’t come, just that she shouldn’t come quite yet. So what if there were still boxes around the house? Julie could help with the unpacking. So what if her Mom would be at work all the time? At least Julie could see her once in a while. The Norandians had just joined the Interplanetary Council, and Julie wanted to meet some Norandians, not just see them on TV. The more she thought about it, the more she wanted to go to Norandia, at least for a few weeks. After that, she’d be ready to go home to Rinda and stay with her aunt.
The line for the molecular transporter was advancing quickly - it was almost her turn. Her destination was recorded as Rinda on the transport computer, but she still had time. She stepped out of line, to the great surprise of the people behind her, and went out the door, back to the reservation computers. She had already gone through the two security checks to get to the final line, and would have to do that again, but she didn’t mind.
Hopefully the guards wouldn’t recognize her and ask a lot of questions about why she had left the transport area. She would change her destination to Norandia, and in about an hour, she would be having an iced tea with her Mom. Mom would be angry at first that Julie hadn’t listened to her, but she’d be glad to see Julie. Maybe her Mom needed to see her as much as Julie needed to see Eva. She’d send her Aunt Ruth a voice record over satellite to tell of her change of plans, and Ruth would understand.
CHAPTER 3
Stepping up to the computer, she entered the information for a new destination. After starting to process the request, the computer gave her a message saying that it was a restricted access destination, and that authorization was needed. Julie’s Mom had given her an authorization code that gave her the same travel security clearance as her staff at the Embassy, along with some very specific guidelines on what kind of situations justified its use. Missing one’s Mommy was not one of those situations, but Julie knew there was no changing her mind. She was going to Norandia!
She entered her authorization code, and then crossed her fingers that it was still valid. It seemed to be, because the computer continued the processing. Because Norandia was a restricted access destination, she had to confirm her authorization with a retinal scan and fingerprint scan. In the end, however, she got her authorization to teleport to Norandia.
She thought the jig was up when she got to the front of the line and showed the printout with her confirmation code. The transporter operator looked at it and raised his eyebrows. “We don’t get a lot of people going to Norandia. It’s not exactly a tourist resort!” he commented. Julie replied honestly, “I’m going to see my mother, the Terran Ambassador there.” The operator relaxed visibly: “So you’ll be well protected. That’s good. Enjoy your trip if you can!”
Julie wondered what the operator meant by that - surely it wasn’t that backward on Norandia! There had been life on Norandia as long as on Earth, and they were advanced enough to communicate with other planets. She had seen some Norandians on vidlink, and they seemed a reasonable enough people.
There had been talk of armed demonstrations against “earthlings” (because of something to do with minerals, but Julie couldn’t exactly remember why), but nothing serious had happened.
Norandians were interesting to look at - humanoid, but with bright blue skin and flaming red hair.
Oh, it was her turn at the molecular transporter, finally. Julie was a little nervous about having her molecules disassembled and then reassembled all those light years away, but the technology had been around for 30 years already. When her Mom was her age, she wouldn’t have risked traveling by molecular transporter, and it would have taken 2 lifetimes to reach Norandia by spaceship. Even Rinda had been beyond the reach of most civilians. Only people who worked there and their families would find the money to pay for the trip. Now, Julie traveled by molecular transporter twice or even three times a year.
CHAPTER 4
Because of the distance between the two planets, the transport took a full 10 minutes, and Julie breathed a sigh of relief when she reassembled on the Norandian transporter pad. The Embassy was in the same city as the tele-port, Rouyna (the capital) so all Julie had to do was find a vidphone, call her Mom’s office, and someone would come pick her up in a hover limo. Her Mom had told her a few weeks ago, “The hover limos here must run on batteries of some kind. We’re too far from the Sun to use solar power.” She would have to remember to ask the driver how they worked.
She had expected to be fitted with some sort of space suit, but the whole city was under a huge glass dome. She stood still and looked around her for a minute. The tele-port reminded her of the Biodome that had been set up on Rinda almost 2 centuries before, except for all the garbage on the floor/ground. It would have been a beautiful tele-port if not for that. The glass walls gave a spectacular view of the rugged mountains and, inside, there were trees with every color of leaf imaginable. They grew right up to the top of the 10-foot ceilings. “Is it Fall here,” Julie wondered to herself, “or are these leaves always colored?” There were some trees that were green, so maybe the other trees always stayed colored. The operator signaled for her to step down from the pad. Embarrassed, Julie realized that she was holding up the next transport. She stepped down from the transporter pad, and had a shock. She hadn’t realized from the TV how tall these people were, but even the women were a good 7 feet tall! Having stepped down from the platform, she was no longer at eye level with the people. 5-foot tall Julie began to feel very intimidated and alone! She then realized that she had forgotten her luggage on the transporter pad. (It had been transported along with her). The teleport operator was glaring at her because she was still holding up the next traveler’s transport. Lowering her head, she grabbed her suitcase and mumbled an apology that she realized would be incomprehensible. She would have to change her Terran credits for Norandian ones, and get a Norandian language chip for her universal translator - just as soon as she called her Mom’s office.
She continued staring around her as she walked down the glassed-in corridor. She went by another transporter pad that seemed to be used for local transports. She saw some blue-skinned people carrying space suits appearing on the pad, and imagined that they worked outside of the city limits. Some of the men had dirty faces, and walked with drooping shoulders, as if going home from a long, hard day at work. “They must be miners,” thought Julie to herself. She caught some hostile stares, and realized that her olive skin and dark curly hair made her stand out from the sea of blue skin and red hair. She must look as strange to them as they looked to her, but why did these people look at her with such hostility? Was she just paranoid? She saw a sign for public vidphones, and decided to make her call before exchanging her credits and buying her language chip.
CHAPTER 5
Mom had taken her Vice-Ambassador, Max Creed, as well as her Executive Secretary, Elaine Hartwell, to Norandia with her and Julie was relieved to hear Mr. Creed’s deep voice on the other end of the line. She realized (after dialing) that she could have ended up reaching one of the Norandian staff, and then she wouldn’t have been able to communicate. Tall, blond, and heavyset, Mr. Creed had become like an uncle to her after Julie’s father had died five years before, and she felt reassured and happy to be there after all. It would be fun to hang out with Max’s teen-aged daughter and son, too. They must have finished their school year by now.
Mr. Creed, however, was not happy to hear that Julie had arrived. “What part of ‘go to Rinda’ did you not understand?” he barked curtly. “It’s dangerous here, kiddo! Your Mom wanted you on Rinda so you’d be safe, not because she didn’t want to be with you! Get back over to the departure area and beam over to your Aunt’s!”
“But, Mr. Creed, intergalactic safety laws only allow one transport per day. More than that destabilizes the molecular structure too much. Now that I’m here, can’t I stay? Can I talk to my Mom?”
Max’s voice softened. “Sorry, she’s not here right now, but I’ll come and get you personally. Knowing you, you’ll have a good book with you?” Julie replied that she did. “Go sit and read behind a tree, or better yet, see if they have some couches to sit on in the Ladies’ washroom. You still have your pager? Good. I’ll page you when I get to the front door of the terminal.”
“Mr. Creed, you’re scaring me! What’s going on?” Julie felt tears coming on again.
“I’ll explain everything when I get there. Whatever you do, stay out of sight, and don’t talk to anyone, okay?”
“But why?” Was that a whine in her voice?
“Just do it,” he barked. “I’m on my way, okay?”
This sounded like a final answer to Julie! “Okay,” she responded meekly, “See you soon.”
Even though Julie didn’t see any real danger, she knew that Mr. Creed wouldn’t give her such a stern warning for no reason. Yet, she couldn’t imagine staying without having a Norandian language chip. Her mom was busy, and wouldn’t be able to go places with her every day. She would just buy her chip and then go sit in an isolated spot until Max Creed came.
When she went to the counter to buy her chip, the clerk’s shocked expression was not reassuring. The clerk waited until Julie had plugged in her chip, and then said to her, “What came over you to come sightseeing now, of all times, Terran?” Julie was getting a little tired of hearing this same story. She said simply, “The transporter operator made a mistake - I won’t stay long." The clerk replied, “That’s good. Be careful while you’re here.”
Feeling suddenly very vulnerable, Julie sat and waited. (There were indeed some couches in the Ladies’ washroom). Max Creed only took 45 minutes to arrive at the terminal, but that 45 minutes had given Julie a chance to work herself into a real state. She hadn’t even been able to concentrate on her book, even though it was an interesting one. Normally, she didn’t like being at the beck and call of a pager. Now, she couldn’t have been happier to hear that annoying beep.
CHAPTER 6
Expecting an ambassadorial limousine, Julie was surprised to see Mr. Creed at the wheel of a very ordinary looking hover car. Reading her mind, he explained that he wanted to be discreet, and didn’t want any Norandians to figure out who she was. As well, in a private car, they could talk with less of a chance of a listening device being planted in the car. Julie was really starting to get scared.
“So, where’s Mom, and why isn't she in her office? Has anything happened to her? Is the rest of the staff okay? Why didn’t she want me to come? Are you taking me to your place? Is your family still here? ....”
“Slow down, Julie, I can only answer one question at a time. Now that you’re here, there’s no use trying to hide the situation from you. I’ll just tell you bluntly, and then you’ll understand why it’s so important for you to leave as soon as possible.”
He went on to explain that Julie’s Mom had been kidnapped two days before! The Terran Mining Company was accusing the Norandian miners of kidnapping her, and the Norandian Ambassador and Prime Minister were furious over the allegations. Relations between the governments of the two planets were tense to say the least.
There had been some anonymous threats that someone would be kidnapped, so it wasn’t a total surprise, but they hadn’t had a chance to put together an action plan in case of a kidnapping. Mr. Creed had sent his family back to Earth to safety, and hadn’t slept since the Ambassador’s disappearance. Now here was Julie for him to keep an eye on, on top of it all!
Julie was stunned by the news and felt badly about adding to Mr. Creed’s stress but, at the same time, she was even happier that she had come. How could she not have come? After all, Julie wasn’t a baby. There must be something for her to do to help her Mom now that Julie was there.
“Remember, Mr. Creed, when Mom’s personal computer was hacked into, and I was the one who caught her mail clerk? I’m sure I can help this time, if you’ll let me!”
“Right now, young lady, you are going to help me by promising not to leave the house, and by letting me get some sleep.” He had said something like that during the hacking incident, too. She wouldn’t argue with him, but she wouldn’t sit around doing nothing, either.
CHAPTER 7
Julie had been so busy shooting questions that she hadn’t noticed that Mr. Creed was pulling into a gated driveway. After entering a code into the security system, and waiting for the system to scan his fingerprints, he pulled into a carport.
“They seem to be making you feel right at home, Mr. Creed. This is a nice house!”
“They did give me a nice house, but this one is your Mom’s. The whole staff has been staying here all together since your Mom’s been kidnapped, because we feel we can trust the security system, and it helps us to keep an eye on each other. If an emergency evacuation is necessary, it’ll be easier if we’re all together, as well.”
Julie caught her breath. “This is serious, isn’t it?” she whispered.
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you, whiz kid. This was really not the time to pull a stunt like this.” He looked at Julie, saw her emotions in her face, and messed up her hair to lighten up the atmosphere. Julie pretended to protest, but appreciated the fatherly gesture.
What could Julie say? They went into the house and checked in with Elaine Hartwell who also gave Julie a speech about how she shouldn’t have come. There had been no changes in the last hour and a half. They invited Elaine to come have supper, but Ms Hartwell didn’t join them. She had already eaten and wanted to stay in the office that they had set up in the Ambassador’s house in case there was some word of Eva. The other two had a late, very quiet supper as neither of them felt like talking. Mr. Creed was exhausted physically and emotionally, and as was struggling not to cry in front of Julie. Julie was struggling not to cry, because she wanted to prove that she was capable of keeping her wits about her and doing something useful. She wasn’t tired, but when Mr. Creed showed her to her room, she made no protest. She wanted to be alone, get over the shock of the day, and make plans for the next day. Copyright 2007
About P. Joy Webster
I grew up in Meadow Lake, SK and spent my life in school until I graduated and moved to Quebec City in 1997. I'm actually using all of my studies - I am a part-time school librarian, I teach English as a Second Language part-time, and do translation from time to time.
I originally wrote "Don't come here, Julie" as a short story for a class. When my teacher encouraged me to expand the story, I just couldn't ignore his words. It has truly been a labour of love.
I have been encouraged several times to write a sequel, so keep your eyes peeled.
After a very intense year at boarding school, Julie's tired and misses her mom, Eva. Eva's just received a promotion - she is the Earth's Ambassador to Norandia, a new member planet of the Interplanetary Council. Julie's dying for summer vacation to come, so that she can visit her mom and see this mysterious planet. However, her mom has said "Don't come here, Julie!" What's really going on? What's her mother not telling her about Norandia?
I grew up in Meadow Lake, SK and spent my life in school until I graduated and moved to Quebec City in 1997. I'm actually using all of my studies - I am a part-time school librarian, I teach English as a Second Language part-time, and do translation from time to time.
I originally wrote "Don't come here, Julie" as a short story for a class. When my teacher encouraged me to expand the story, I just couldn't ignore his words. It has truly been a labour of love.
I have been encouraged several times to write a sequel, so keep your eyes peeled.