Page 1 of A Million Stars and Shadows

PROLOGUE

EVIE

Age 13

My lungs were burning, and my legs had turned to lead, weighing me down to a crawl.

I couldn’t run further.

It didn’t help that my space suit was too large and cumbersome to move around. It didn’t help that my oxygen tank was almost as big as my suit, and sweat was pouring down my back, my chest, and my forehead.

The cooling system in my suit had turned off.

On New Earth, where the surface could be well over a hundred degrees in the daytime and freezing at night, having a temperature-controlling suit was necessary to survive on the surface.

“I wish I can take this off!” I shouted.

“Request denied,” a female voice said from my helmet.

“This suit…it’s weighing me down. I can’t run,” I yelled, barely able to catch my breath.

“For your safety, your request has been denied,” the calm leveled voice said.

“I could kill you, Sally,” I said. “Let me out of this suit now!”

“If I did, you would die of suffocation. There is no oxygen on the surface. Don’t be an idiot.”

“Great,” I said. “My suit is talking back to me.”

“That’s the least of your worries, Evie,” Sally said. “In approximately five minutes, they will be all around us.”

“That’s why we need to move,” I said. “Now!”

“Get up and move, then,” Sally said, with a bit of an edge.

“I can’t when you’re weighing me down,” I said. “And your temperature-control system is off. I’m sweating to death here.”

“Analyzing the situation,” Sally said. “Hold on, it appears the connector valve between the air condenser and me has been dislocated.”

“That’s it,” I said, trying to reach the back of my oxygen tank with my gloved hand to grab the tube… only to find there was no tube. “It’s missing,” I said.

“Four minutes,” Sally said. “Before they reach us.”

“I need to reconnect the tube to the suit,” I said.

“No time for that,” Sally said. “Get up and run.”

“Run?” I said. “I weigh close to a ton.”

“Just temporarily,” Sally said. “Hold on.”

“Are you kidding me?” I asked. “I can’t get up. How can I even run?”

Instead of the authoritative female voice answering me back, a swoosh sounded in my ears. Then a rush of cool air swept through my suit, giving me an instant relief from the heat. “Oh that feels good,” I sighed.

“Good. Now get up and run!” Sally said. “You have three minutes.”

“But my legs…” I protested.

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