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E lara Adele Vaughn sat in the empty shuttle station.
The large gray-and-white terminal was deserted, but the young girl wasn’t alone. She stared into the holographic projection of her little brother, Danny.
“It’s not like it’s super far,” Elara said, “and you get to come visit during break. That’s just a few months away.”
The shimmering blue, transparent image of Danny didn’t look convinced. He was three years younger than Elara—having just turned nine—and small for his age. Danny was obviously upset, but he shrugged and half smiled anyway. “I guess,” he said. “Maybe you’ll change your mind. Maybe you’ll transfer.”
Elara felt herself frown. She didn’t want to fight. Not right now. Not with her little brother. But she knew where Danny was hearing this from—her parents.
“You’re so good at farming,” Danny pushed. “And mom and dad say the Affiliation needs farmers. They say you could get a grant—”
“The Affiliation needs terraformers, too,” Elara said, gently cutting her brother off. “More than anything. If we don’t expand our borders and colonize more worlds, where will we farm?”
For as long as Elara could remember, she wanted to become a terraformer. Specifically, she wanted to be a bioengineer and learn to create new life-forms on new worlds. That wasn’t something Elara could achieve on her home world—Vega Antilles V, a remote farming community on the fringes of Sector 17. A planet so far away it was usually called “Nowhere.” It also wasn’t something she could do by attending the Academy of Agriculture, which was where all her older brothers and sisters went. It was probably where Danny would go too, when he was older.
“I guess you have to go then,” Danny said sadly. “You can’t blame me for not liking it, though.”
Elara felt her smile return. It was true. How mad could she get at her little brother for missing her? “Well, I’ll come and visit. I promise you that. And the Seven Systems School of Terraforming has a break the same week you do, and you’ll come visit me then. Right?”
“The name of the school is ‘STS,’” Danny said. “No one says it like that except you.”
“It’s a very important school!” Elara said in mock offense. “The Seven Systems School is the leading educator of terraformers!”
Danny rolled his eyes. “You sound like one of their ads. ‘The Seven Systems School of Terraforming Sciences and Arts: Create your own world!’”
Elara stuck her tongue out in response.
Danny waved his hands dramatically, the hologram sparkling more as it animated the motion. “Your journey begins... NOW!”
“Well, it is a good slogan,” Elara responded, standing up from her bench and grabbing her heavy backpack. “And it happens to be true. Literally. My train just got here.”
“Oh. Okay... ,” Danny said. It was clear he wasn’t ready to end the conversation. Neither was Elara. But interplanetary communications were limited and costly. Projecting them during hypertravel was virtually impossible. Time was ticking...
Suddenly Elara felt overwhelmed. Her heart raced, and she felt her brow furrow. Leaving was more difficult than she had expected. Her family had dropped her off hours ago and said their goodbyes. Her brothers. Her sisters. Her mom and her dad. Maybe they didn’t entirely understand why Elara was leaving, but they still supported her decision. They all stood at the platform and hugged her one by one. They were a large family. A poor family by most standards. But they were loving and hardworking and happy. And they were hers. And now...
“Hey,” Danny said, sensing his sister’s mood shift. “Hey. It’s okay. You’re right... it’s just a few months until you have Visitors Day. I’ll be there to see you. Mom and Dad already booked the trip for me.”
Elara smiled, her hand reaching out to touch the blue light of Danny’s holographic projection.
“I’ll miss you,” Elara said, her eyes rimmed with tears. “Lots. Every day. And I will write you all the time. I promise.”
“Double promise?” Danny asked.
“Always. Forever and ever.”
Danny smiled again, and the connection was cut off. And for the first time in her entire young life, Elara really was alone.