The Millennial Box by Julie Steimle (snow like ashes .TXT) 📖

way. She endeavored to occupy her attention with her boyfriend who had gotten used to being silent when he was eating with that group. A tall, preppy kind of guy, Kevin usually joined her for a short time anyway, and mostly for couple time with his gal pal. But Kevin stood up. He didn't like hanging around with that group when Zormna is not there. After all, Zormna was the only reason Jennifer was there.

"Let's get going before the bell," he said, offering his hand to Jennifer.

She nodded and took it, letting him pull her off the grass. Jeff's tiny group of conspirators in the Mars scene had vanished in seconds, and he was back with his regular group of wrestling buddies, alone to eat his lunch.

"Besides that," Mark continued critically. "Jeff, something's happened. You've changed."

Jeff looked up, staring back at Mark in blank surprise. "How?"

Brian raised his eyebrows. "Come to think of it, since Homecoming you have been acting weird." Seeing Jeff's look, he explained, "I mean you ditched my sister, which I still don't think she's recovered from."

Jeff winced. That had been an unfortunate, yet necessary choice.

"You watch Zormna like a hawk," Brian said. "Even in class."

Jeff's face went a little pink. He hadn't realized he had been that obvious.

"And I know you think the FBI are watching her and you." Brian smirked. "Hey, I remember camp, ok? I know something is up between them and her. But what about you? You were arrested yesterday! What's going on?"

Jeff took a breath and held it. What could he say? The truth was definitely not an option. Mentioning where he had truly come from and all the politics... They would laugh at him harder than they did at Darren. If only he had a suitable lie.

"I can't tell you," Jeff said with a shrug. "Life just got screwy."

All three just gaped at him.

"Listen," he said with pain. "I just...I just think that I got in their way when I stopped that agent from - "

Jonathan shook his head, waggling a finger at him. "Since camp. Since camp things have been weird. Before then, you and Zormna would fight like cats and dogs. Now, you're like - "

"It's Zormna." Jeff closed his eyes and let out a sigh again. "Ok? It is all because of Zormna."

They waited.

Opening his eyes, he said, "I promised Todd I'd protect her." The stared disbelievingly. "Well, I did...and I decided that she isn't all that bad and that she really needs protecting." He then closed his eyes again. "It isn't just the FBI. She confided in me something very secret." He opened his eyes, lowering his voice to a whisper now, wishing this would work to convince them not to pry any deeper. "She told me that people are hunting for her." He saw Brian roll his eyes. "No, really - to kill her."

"This isn't that old my-family-is-in-the-middle-of-a-feud-and-I'm-an-orphan-that lived-in-a-military-school story is it?" Brian said dryly. "Because we know this story already."

Jeff glared at him, so akin to Zormna's glares that even Jonathan flinched - and he was used to her glares because of all the snarky things he liked to say when teasing her.

"No. This isn't a story. And it isn't a feud. You know her crazy great aunt? The FBI didn't kill her. Even Darren knew that. There are these real people that really did come here and had her killed." Seeing Brian's doubtful look, he continued, "And they are after Zormna."

"But what about - " Mark started.

"The FBI," Jeff continued, answering his question before he started it, "have been on this case following the murders. But Zormna thinks (and I agree with her) that the FBI were the ones who had actually exposed her great aunt to the killers in the first place - on accident of course."

Brian leaned back and shook his head. "This is nuts."

"Only if it wasn't true." Jeff then attempted his most sincere expression he could muster. "But it is true. The thing is, the FBI is annoyed that I was messing in their affairs. And secondly, they thought that possibly I had something to do with Zormna's aunt's death - no matter how remote."

Mark glanced at Jonathan and then at Jeff.

"No, no, no..." Brian said. "No. Zormna would have at least said something. She wouldn't hold back something like this. She can't lie. I've watched her try it. It's all over her face when she does."

Jeff smirked. "She's a better liar than you think. Besides, you wouldn't believe her." Then he looked towards the library. "Darren knows, and he has been keeping his mouth shut. I'm personally amazed at how well he has been keeping the secret."

Brian shook his head again. "But why were you arrested yesterday?"

Jeff closed his eyes.

"The FBI had me taken in. The rest I told you." Looking at his friends now, he said, "I'm not lying. I swear."

Mark looked at him a second and then nodded. The other two considered it.

Brian sighed, shaking his head. "And ditching my sister at Homecoming?"

Looking up at the sky and shaking his head with a groan, "I told you. Agent Steve Keane, a.k.a. Sam Perkins, had taken Zormna on the outskirts of town. I left to get her out of that without dragging Joy into trouble. It was for Joy's protection."

He looked back and saw the smirk on Brian's face. The guy was only messing with him.

"You dork." Jeff shook his head and grinned.

"I'm here," Zormna said, closing the front door behind her as she stepped into Jeff's house. 'Alex' was the only one in the front of the house. He was sitting on the counter in the kitchen, eating a bowl of cornflakes and swinging his feet.

"Where is everyone?" she asked, looking around.

Al chewed and pointed down the hall with his spoon. "'vey haff gone..." He choked and coughed. Clearing his throat with a swallow. "They've gone into the radio room."

She nodded, peering at him slightly with concern to make sure he was still breathing. He just continued eating, motioning for her to go with his spoon. Nodding again, Zormna marched through the living room to the hall and took the first door on her left. The door was locked, but she remedied it with a knock. They let her in.

Inside the room she saw Malia, Jeff's 'Aunt Mary', working the hairline radio and Uncle Orren marking up charts with movements and strategic plans. Aaron was on the computer, communicating with an unknown someone via email with Eric looking on and whispering suggestions. Jeff was sitting in a swivel chair with his head in his hands. A banjo leaned against the near wall as if it had been played not too long ago.

"Headache?" she asked, peering down at him through his arms.

Jeff looked up and frowned. "My friends aren't very stupid."

Zormna chuckled. "What'd you expect? You wouldn't have liked them if they were."

Sighing, he stood up and walked over to the hairline, listening to Malia's conversation.

<<Na, L.I. - al' oomal'orn em 'om dooleev'en sha zomeree van trii zhavod Llal'ge dre noo geval'narr ne'eme tar ta syafa la'zak 'don sru fena gen'op za'or ray zhezva,>>[1] the voice on the one end said in her native tongue.

"Kahl ozah sru dre na'llal'chaee, sep lenst don em rel joillp vnoot orbanee gedra gan'ge ee gedra ach'ge gan?"[2] she replied. She looked up at Jeff and lifted her finger, mouthing 'one minute'.

He nodded.

<<Mazh'zha dre na'llal'chaee, noo sa za pa'nel'ov mno'narr en'em.>>[3]

She smiled. "Del'kai en'em. L.I. ves."[4]

Aunt Mary swiveled in her chair and stood up, looking at Zormna sideways.

"All yours," she said, stepping away.

Jeff motioned to Zormna, deferring the seat to her. Zormna nodded and sat down.

Looking at the radio, it took a while for Zormna to get her bearings. It was an old type radio, set up with junk from their world and junk from this one, combining into an odd contraption that had only one feature she really needed to care about - the dial for fine tune messaging. She fiddled with the knob and then peered at the machine to find a quicker way.

"Can't I just punch it in? I know the code by heart, but this is ludicrous." Zormna kept fiddling with the knob, struggling to get it close to what she wanted.

Jeff smiled. He pointed to a computer pad that had not quite had all the pieces and buttons put on it. "You can use that to fine tune it."

Glaring at him, Zormna pulled out the metal stylus that lay on the table near the machine and started to poke the pad. "You could have shown that to me earlier."

The knob adjusted itself as Jeff looked the other way, gazing at the ceiling with a smirk. Admittedly, he liked messing with her. Zormna was often a know-it-all when it came to tech and he liked to see her humbled occasionally. The radio spun into focus and grasped on the precise line. Zormna recognized the clear hum. It was ready.

"Zeta thirteen, NASA zero zero, receiving me?" She waited.

No answer.

She repeated. "This is Zeta thirteen, NASA zero zero. Do you read me? Must respond."

The line was still silent.

Zormna looked up at Jeff and shrugged.

"Maybe they've been found," he suggested.

Zormna shook her head. "And this is the right line."

She turned again to the radio, "NASA zero zero, this is Zeta thirteen requesting an emergency report, code: Adaral, Meshral, One, over. Do you copy?"

<<Copy that, Zeta thirteen. Where are you calling from?>>

Zormna let out a sigh. That was why. "A private radio. Hard to explain."

<<Isn't Alea Salvar now over Zeta operations?>> the other side asked. It was a woman's voice. She didn't sound entirely pleased.

Rolling her eyes, Zormna replied, "Salvar is running Zeta for now. I'm on special projects, Alea, and that is all you need to know." She paused, glancing annoyed up at Jeff. He kept silent. "I need to know about this box that NASA found. Did you report it in to Alea Salvar?"

The other side sounded like they were deliberating their response. <<No, Alea. The FBI had seized it before we could get a hold of it.>>

Zormna scowled. "You didn't report it?"

The other side quavered. <<We didn't have it.>>

Angrily now, Zormna snapped, "Alea! You know you should report all interplanetary exposure. What if they got more than just that box?"

Jeff seized Zormna by the shoulders to calm her down. "Cool it, Zormna."

She scowled at him. "Don't tell me to cool it. If they weren't so lazy, we probably wouldn't have lost the box in the first place, and the feds wouldn't be breathing down our necks now."

<<Alea Zormna?>> the other side inquired, clearly hearing some of the argument.

Zormna turned back to the radio hairline and glared as she spoke. "Did you find out what the box was?"

They paused. <<We thought you knew. You knew it was a box....>>

"That's all I know. All I know is that it is a box of a sort, and it is one of ours. What exactly was it? Did you see?" She waited, trying to calm down for Jeff's sake.

They deliberated again. <<Alea Kiir had a look at it before the FBI claimed it. Kiir, tell her.>>

A strangled protest came from the other side.

Jeff glanced at Zormna and her still scowling face. He whispered, "Sounds like Alea Kiir is a bit frightened of you."

<<I am not!>> came the insulted protest from the other side.

"Our radio must be better," Jeff muttered, with a smirk.

"Tell me, Alea Kiir. What was it?" Zormna commanded.

Alea Kiir did sound like he was a tad frightened yet still offended by Jeff's remark. <<It was the Golden Age satellite.>>

Zormna sat up straight and blinked. Jeff paled and leaned in.

"The what?" he asked.

<<Who's with you?>> Alea Kiir demanded.

Zormna shook her head and glared at Jeff. "Unimportant. Alea, are you sure it was the Golden Age satellite?"

He grumbled on the other side. << Positive.>>

"And do you know what happened to it after the FBI