Aria Vanir, a psychic tween girl from Virginia Beach, trusts only her mother with the knowledge of her predictions and remote viewings. When Aria connects with spiritually and technologically advanced aliens--the Gallions--she instead confides in he...
Aria Vanir breezed through her seventh-grade homework to focus on far more important matters. While many of her friends and neighbors gathered at the Virginia Beach boardwalk to admire the amber and ruby rays from the setting sun, Aria preferred to gaze through her bedroom window at the darkening heavens. For her, twilight welcomed the dawn of the stars. On this clear evening in late May 2028, Aria mindlessly tapped her fingers against the top of her transmission binder, or tBinder, as she wondered who lived among those twinkling orbs.
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Aria's mother, Lindsay, came into the bedroom and asked to see her homework. With a smile on her face, Aria handed her tBinder to her mother. Lindsay knew from Aria's happy expression that all the answers probably were correct. Still, Virginia Beach's North End schools had asked one parent or guardian to check homework every night. Lindsay sat at Aria's Hospitality Station—with its three chairs and a small table for serving tea—and opened the tBinder.
Over the past five years, tBinders had replaced books and electronic devices in schools. Teachers now downloaded lessons, documentaries, homework assignments, and tests into their students' tBinders. Parents or guardians checked homework against an answer section that was protected with a fingerprint tScan. Then the students uploaded their assignments to their teachers' tBinders, which automatically graded homework, quizzes, and tests.
As Lindsay scanned the tBinder files, Aria pulled back her long auburn hair into a thick ponytail and practiced ballet steps by the edge of her bed. Aria's slender body and flexible limbs made even the more challenging moves look effortless. For Aria, dancing was the one thing that put her busy mind at rest. Although she was one of the smallest girls in her ballet class, as well as in the seventh grade, she often was selected for starring roles in recitals.
"Your homework looks great, honey," Lindsay said as she pressed Back to go to the beginning of the assignment. Like Aria, she had bony fingers and a dainty frame. They definitely looked like a mother-daughter pair, except Lindsay was a brunette with green eyes. Aria had inherited her father's blue eyes and fair skin. Lindsay clicked Tools - Signature, and the tBinder automatically generated her electronic signature to indicate her approval of Aria's homework. "I especially like your description of Thomas Jefferson's home. Excellent detail."
"Thanks, Mom," Aria replied as she raised her hands over her head into third position. Aria recalled everything from her school trip to Monticello in Charlottesville, Virginia. For that matter, she remembered everything she had ever seen, from words and equations on her tBinder to license plates and paintings. Aria rarely needed to study. She just saw the answers in front of her face whenever a teacher asked her a question or she was taking a test. To Aria, this photographic memory was perfectly natural.
Lindsay started to leave, but Aria wanted to tell her mother about her latest psychic impression. Aria confided only in her mother about these visions of future events, yet giving voice to them still made Aria anxious. She needed some quiet time with her mom to ease into telling her about Mrs. Higgins.
