Page 39 of Tarek

The shuttle had been climbing for several minutes, the city below us rapidly shrinking in size until it looked like something seen in a museum diorama. Beside me, Evan and Matt were having the time of their lives, their faces turned toward the viewscreens covering the shuttle's walls, ceiling, and now even part of the floor.

Laura was less impressed. She had decided that the most appropriate response to traveling through the atmosphere in an alien spacecraft was to take a nap, and she was currently sleeping in her car seat with one tiny hand tucked beside her cheek. Skye watched as avidly as the boys, intent on enjoying this stage of the journey every bit as much as she had enjoyed riding in our old car and, later, the minivan I'd left parked in front of the center.

The shuttle jolted gently as the engines changed pitch. The city was gone, and the endless sea stretched beneath us until that, too, disappeared from view. Outside, the blue sky darkened, the curve of the planet became more pronounced, and the last wisps of cloud fell away beneath us. Then the shuttle's outer hull began to glow. Streams of fire seemed to race along the sides, and the vibration beneath my feet intensified as we passed through the upper atmosphere.

Evan gasped, pressing his hands against the armrests. "Daddy! It's on fire!"

"It's supposed to be," I assured him. "The shuttle is designed for this."

"How do you know?" Matt demanded.

"Because if it weren't, we'd have a very serious problem. Besides, I've seen old rockets and space capsules doing the same thing in films. The hull gets hot because of the speed and friction as it moves through the atmosphere. It's not quite as simple as the air catching fire, but the shuttle is built to withstand the heat."

That seemed to satisfy Evan, although Matt looked as though he was filing the information away for future investigation. The shuttle shuddered once more, and then the roar gradually faded into a low hum. The glow along the hull disappeared, leaving the view screens to display a breathtaking view of Earth beneath us.

For several seconds, none of us spoke. Even Matt seemed to have run out of questions as he stared at the planet, its blue oceans and white clouds spread across the darkness. I'd seen photographs of Earth from space, of course, but watching it from a moving shuttle was something else entirely. The sight made the last few months feel very far away, as if the life I'd left behind belonged to somebody else.

I rested a hand on Evan's shoulder and glanced at Matt. They were both safe, both here with me, and both looking forward rather than back. That was what mattered. Whatever happened next, I was going to give them the best life I could.

"How long until we get there?" Evan asked eventually.

"Not long, according to the schedule. The whole trip from the ground should take less than forty-five minutes altogether. That's about how long it took us to drive to the beach from the motel and back."

"So faster than driving from the motel to Grandma and Grandpa's house?" Evan asked. "That took way longer when we left their house and moved into the motel."

"Quite a bit faster, yes."

"Can we come back for a visit?" Matt asked.

The question caught me off guard. I looked at him, then at Evan, who had turned away from the viewscreen to listen to my answer. I didn't want to promise them something I couldn't guarantee, but I didn't want them to think moving to New Haven meant the people they loved had disappeared from their lives, either. The information packet had explained that occasional visits back to Earth would be paid for, as would visits from immediate family members, but there were practical considerations beyond the cost of a trip.

"We'll work out visits and calls once we're settled," I said. "We're not going to forget Grandma and Grandpa just because we're moving somewhere new."

Evan nodded, apparently reassured, and turned back to the window. Matt soon followed his example, and I let myself breathe a little easier. They were adapting more readily than I'd expected, though I suspected the spaceships and the prospect of living on another planet were helping considerably.

A few minutes later, the viewscreen changed. A vast structure appeared in the distance, its scale so enormous that my brain initially struggled to make sense of it. The Bride Fleet ship looked less like a spacecraft and more like a city that had somehow been built in space. Its illuminated docking bays and layered decks stretched across the darkness, and smaller craft moved around it like insects circling something immeasurably larger. More pinpricks of light resolved themselves into other ships, similar in design but appearing smaller thanks to perspective and the vast distances involved.

"Good grief," I murmured, taking it all in. “Looks like in the movies, and how big is that thing?”

"That's the Bride Fleet?" Evan asked, his voice full of wonder. "And that's our ship?"

"Looks like it."

"It's humongous!" Matt exclaimed.

He wasn't wrong. Compared with the enormous vessel ahead, our shuttle was practically a Little Tikes ride on. I watched as we approached one of the docking bays, the structure growing larger until the outer walls filled most of the viewscreen. A shimmering field appeared across the entrance, and the shuttle passed through it without any noticeable change in speed.

Inside, the bay was brightly lit and busy with activity. Other shuttles occupied marked berths, while Mylos personnel moved between them, guiding arriving passengers and coordinating the flow of luggage and equipment. Our shuttle descended smoothly toward an open berth, and I felt a soft thump as the landing gear settled into place. The engines wound down, the vibration beneath our feet ceased, and the viewscreens gradually returned to their normal appearance as walls, ceiling, and floor.

Matt looked around, blinking. "Are we there?"

"We're there," I confirmed.

"That was so cool!"

Jimmy laughed. "And now Jimmy's Space Taxi has sadly brought you to your destination! You may unbuckle your seat belts, but boys, please don't leave the craft without your father. It's a busy hangar out there, with plenty of males working and other shuttles coming and going."

"Yes, sir," Matt replied while Evan nodded emphatically.