Chapter One~The A-Letter
The screen door slammed behind me as I made my way across my tiny lawn, if you could even call it a lawn. It was barely the size of the front of my house. I stared out at the village around me. It was a beautiful summer day, bright and sunny. Little kids were even out on their hoverboards, zooming through the streets, desperate to enjoy the last few minutes remaining in our lunch break.
“Hi Lina!” I called to a young girl who was my neighbor. I don’t think I should even call her my neighbor because she lives practically on top of us. That was the thing about Brookdale--the houses were almost three feet apart. In fact, that was the thing about this whole planet. There just wasn’t enough room for us humans anymore. My great grandmother used to tell us stories of when she was a little girl. That was back when telephone numbers were only ten digits instead of thirteen, when every child could get into school, when houses weren’t three feet apart, and when grocery stores didn’t sell completely out of food by noon. The world was overpopulated now; about eleven billion people occupied earth. It was getting so bad that there were rumors the government was considering putting a ban on human reproduction for five to ten years.
“Hi!” Lina called back before she whizzed out of sight on her hoverboard. I pulled open the mail chute at the base of our driveway and found a stack of letters waiting.
“Vonda Zenon”, “Darius Zenon”, “Current Residents”... I rifled through the mail, glancing at the name on each address, looking for my new audio magazine subscription, when something caught my eye. “Rae Zenon”. My name, and it wasn’t my magazine. I almost never got A-letters. A-letters were mostly advertisements and things for the parents/guardians of the household. I glanced around, knowing I shouldn’t play it outside. Once inside I eagerly tore the envelope open, pulling out the letter and audio chip inside. I pressed my thumb to the scanner on the audio chip. Identifying my thumbprint, the audio began to play. I read the letter along to the audio.
“Congratulations!” An almost-too-bubbly recorded female voice rang out.
A robotic recorded male voice interjected with “Rae Zenon.”
The female continued. “You have been selected for the Maxxam Planet trials. Tonight at 6:00 p.m. please contact the following number: 8645-4726-90031. Thank you.”
I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. The “Maxxam Planet trials?” What was that supposed to mean?
“Mom?” I yelled. All that answered me was silence. She had already left to go back to work. I glanced at the clock. 12:50. I should probably head back to school. Shoving the letter in my bag , I headed out the door.
For the rest of the day I couldn’t stop thinking about the letter. Thank goodness my family could afford SAH’s, Scholastic Aid Headsets; I couldn’t pay attention to any of the notes. SAH’s could record the audio of your teacher giving notes. That way you could play back that day’s lesson when you needed to study for a test, or copy your notes onto your tablet.
Questions raced around my head all day--What were the Maxxam Planet Trials? Why was I chosen? Who else had been chosen? Was it dangerous? When my mom finally got home that night from work, where she worked in a laboratory trying to develop ways for food to be grown faster, I practically attacked her with the questions that had occupied my brain all day.
“Mom!”
“Yes, dear?” She sounded tired as she set her bags down in her home office.
“I got an a-letter today.”
“Really? From who?” She sounded distracted as she picked her own a-letters from the kitchen, that I had brought in earlier.
“The government.” That got her attention. Her head snapped up, her eyes wide. “Something about the Maxxam Planet Trials,” I continued.
I could tell from her look of confusion that she hadn’t heard of them either. “Well can I see it?” She asked quickly.
I snatched the letter from my bag and handed it to her. After reading it, she glanced at the clock. “I’m not really sure what this is Rae, but it’s 5:50,” she informed me. I nodded. “Better call soon.”
I grabbed my tablet from my bag and walked upstairs to my room. Anxiety filled me as the minutes ticked by. At 5:58, I dialed the number into my tablet. At 5:59, I pressed “send.”
My breathing quickened as the phone began ringing. A few rings later, a hologram of a woman was conjured by the phone. The hologram portrayed the women from her shoulders up. She had brown hair wrapped into a tight bun, and she wore dull pearl earrings. She had the whitest teeth I had ever seen, and pencil thin eyebrows. She smiled, an overly happy grin. “Hello!” She chirped. Before I could respond, she spoke again. “You must be calling about the Maxxam Planet Trials.” I nodded. “I’m Florine, and you are...” She looked down, presumably at a paper. “6:00...Rae Zenon?” She asked, looking up.
I nodded again. “Yes.” That was the only word I got out before Florine began talking again.
“Alright, please confirm your identity by pressing your thumb on your tablet’s DNA identifier pad.” I did as I was told. When I finished I looked up at Florine, who was studying another paper. Even as she did this, the smile was plastered to her face. I assumed she was the almost-too-bubbly voice recorded for my a-letter.
“So what are the Maxxam Planet Trials?” I asked, unable to wait any longer.
“Goodness, someone’s eager!” She chuckled. “I’ll get to that!” Then she went on a giant tangent of how great the government was, and how much she liked her job, and blah, blah, blah. I pretended to be interested, nodding my head occasionally, and agreeing all twenty-seven times she said “Don’t you think so?” When I was about to throw my tablet across the room in frustration, Florine finally said words I actually wanted to hear.
“Alright, the Maxxam Planet Trials,” She said with a smile. She put on a pair of reading glasses, as I subtly rolled my eyes. Clearly reading off of a paper, she began. “Now, as you know, our planet is attempting to hold many more people than it actually has room for.” I nodded, everyone knew that. She continued, “And I’m sure you are aware there is not enough food for over a quarter of the population." I hadn't been exactly sure of the statistic, but I had known that too. "Recently, the government has considered putting a ban on human reproduction for five years, to slow the growth of the population. After much debate, it has been decided this is an unrealistic goal, and the government will not go through with this."
This was news to me! Last I'd heard, they had been seriously considering it. I was interested now, but not entirely sure what this had to with the Maxxam Planet Trials. I wanted to know what they were and why I had been chosen.
"About six months ago," Florine resumed, "a new planet was discovered, just outside our solar system. A century ago, it would have taken thousands of years to get to the new Planet. But with our new technology, it will take just over a week. The new planet has been named Maxxam."
I wanted to scream at her, "JUST TELL ME WHAT THE MAXXAM PLANET TRIALS ARE!" but I held my tongue. I could sense she was about to make her point.
"Scientists have determined that Maxxam could sustain human life. The Maxxam Planet Trials are hopefully going to provide a solution to our over-crowding problem. Two hundred citizens have been selected randomly to travel to Maxxam. They will live there and submit reports weekly about what it is like living there. We need to know if it is possible to have mass numbers of people living on the planet. Within ten years, we hope to have about half of the population living on Maxxam."
I was fascinated now, hanging onto every word she said. "So I'm one of the randomly selected citizens?"
"Yes. Citizens have been selected from every age group, every race, and well...every walk of life! Some wealthy celebrities have also signed up, buying their trip to Maxxam to escape paparazzi and to have more space for bigger mansions."
I felt slightly dazed, unsure whether to be happy or sad. It would be so much less crowded there! Yet, I would have to leave everyone I knew, and my entire family. "When do we leave?"
"Exactly a week from now."
