Fractured Futures by Monica Tesler

Author:Monica Tesler
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin
Published: 2019-12-16T16:00:00+00:00

* * *

Not long after lunch, Mira arrives and bounds us to one of the large Youli halls, where Wind Chimes and his two Youli friends are waiting to give us a highlight tour of their home world. A smug I told you so feeling fills my chest, and I shoot Addy a triumphant smile. See? There’s no reason to be so skeptical.

Once we’re assembled, something happens, I assume we bound, but it’s more than that. We’re no longer in the hall. We’re outside, floating in the air inside one of the bubbles like the one that encapsulated our tiny capsule when we first arrived.

“Whoa!” Marco says.

“That was unexpected,” Cole says.

“How about a heads-up next time?” Lucy asks.

My mind sparkles with laughter. It’s more than just Mira’s. In fact, it’s so loud that all of us Earth kids (except for Mira) cover our ears (as if that would help). That only brings on more sparkles from the Youli.

Turn down the volume, I tell Mira.

She smiles. As long as all of you promise to brain-talk. At least try.

Our bubble starts to glide. As we slip past the first crystal tower, a swoop of purple flashes by our bubble. Then another, this one orange. And another, teal blue.

Are those… birds? Addy asks.

A swoop of yellow flies by. It kind of looks like a bird, but it doesn’t have any feathers. Instead, it has colorful, flat arms that extend to the sides like a hang glider, supporting a small, bulbous body in the center.

Similar, Mira says. She sends us images: birds, bats, phosphorescent sea creatures from the ocean depths.

Our bubble picks up speed, and we weave between crystal towers, tightly wound with semitranslucent green vines. They go on as far as the eye can see, like we’re floating amid a grand crystal forest in the sky. Everything pulses in time to the beating hearts in the Youli’s chests, even the small bulb bodies of the birdlike fliers.

It’s like everything is alive! Addy says.

The Youli radiate positive energy. Yes, child! Wind Chimes says. You’re beginning to understand. Everything is connected. Everything learns. Everything lives.

I’m not sure how long we float, but soon I’m totally relaxed. Even though I’m standing, my body feels supported by the bubble. There’s a sense of something that’s hard to put into words. I start to feel… bigger… than I am. Broader. More expansive, like maybe I’m part of everyone in this bubble, everything on this planet, everything in the galaxy.

Everything.

It’s the same feeling I had the first time I used the gloves.

What’s that? Marco asks, breaking my trance.

Lucy grips my forearm. Addy gasps. I scan around me, searching for what they’ve spotted.

Up ahead, there’s a trio of crystal towers that look different from the rest. The vines that circle their shafts are brown and leafless. The crystals pulse, but so faint it’s hard to tell. Where all around us there is life, these towers show decay.

The Youli fill with sadness and a touch of something harsher. It’s not anger exactly, but it’s close.

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