Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

High Orbit Hero: A Blackmailed Teen’S Struggle to Protect His Sister
High Orbit Hero: A Blackmailed Teen’S Struggle to Protect His Sister
High Orbit Hero: A Blackmailed Teen’S Struggle to Protect His Sister
Ebook354 pages5 hours

High Orbit Hero: A Blackmailed Teen’S Struggle to Protect His Sister

Rating: 0 out of 5 stars

()

Read preview

About this ebook

Station One is the first space station built for civilian habitation, orbiting Earth and housing its inhabitants in safety. Sixteen-year-old Geoff Anders lives among the many occupants; in order to fit in, he makes the mistake of joining a gang known as the Taurids. He builds a circle of friends, and together they have fun wreaking havoc wherever they can. But when Geoff decides he wants out, his leader finds a way to keep him in line.

Chin Ho sets his sights on Geoffs little sister, Barbara, threatening to set her up as a prostitute if Geoff doesnt toe the line. In order to keep this from happening, Geoff finds himself the victim of blackmail. To save his sister, he must participate in a dance competition that could save Barbaras life and his ownbut will he be able to keep up with Chin and his other opponents?

Torn by loyalty to his friends and a need to be free of Chins threats and tyranny, Geoff works hard to prepare for the competition. Barbara is not yet in the clear, but he would do anything to keep his sister safe. Soon, a simple gang shoplifting goes terribly wrong, and murder is mentioned. Geoff knows he should go to the police, but if he isnt careful, he may end up leaving the gangin a body bag.

LanguageEnglish
PublisheriUniverse
Release dateOct 1, 2012
ISBN9781475945317
High Orbit Hero: A Blackmailed Teen’S Struggle to Protect His Sister
Author

J.M. Krause

J. M. Krause has been writing for the past twenty years. She is a journalist and winner of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association Bronze Quill. When not spending time with her family, Krause works on her BA in English at Athabasca University in Canada.

Related to High Orbit Hero

Related ebooks

Children's Fantasy & Magic For You

View More

Related articles

Reviews for High Orbit Hero

Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
0 ratings

0 ratings0 reviews

What did you think?

Tap to rate

Review must be at least 10 words

    Book preview

    High Orbit Hero - J.M. Krause

    Copyright © 2012 by J.M. Krause

    All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

    This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

    iUniverse books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

    iUniverse

    1663 Liberty Drive

    Bloomington, IN 47403

    www.iuniverse.com

    1-800-Authors (1-800-288-4677)

    Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

    Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

    Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

    ISBN: 978-1-4759-4529-4 (sc)

    ISBN: 978-1-4759-4530-0 (hc)

    ISBN: 978-1-4759-4531-7 (e)

    Library of Congress Control Number: 2012917381

    iUniverse rev. date: 9/20/2012

    Contents

    Chapter 1

    Chapter 2

    Chapter 3

    Chapter 4

    Chapter 5

    Chapter 6

    Chapter 7

    Chapter 8

    Chapter 9

    Chapter 10

    Chapter 11

    Chapter 12

    Chapter 13

    Chapter 14

    Chapter 15

    Chapter 16

    Chapter 17

    Chapter 18

    Chapter 19

    Chapter 20

    Chapter 21

    Chapter 22

    Chapter 23

    Chapter 24

    Chapter 25

    Chapter 26

    Chapter 27

    Chapter 28

    Chapter 29

    Chapter 30

    Chapter 31

    Chapter 32

    Chapter 33

    Chapter 34

    Chapter 35

    Chapter 36

    Chapter 37

    c-Surfer

    Chapter One

    Appendix

    Chapter 1

    26974.png

    We picked our next little whore. Chin Hon pointed to the group of chatting schoolgirls in the holoview’s two-meter cube. Thought you might be interested. He bared his teeth in a fierce smile and adjusted the holoview.

    Geoff Anders watched anxiously as the picture zoomed in on a girl with wavy chestnut hair, wide coffee-brown eyes, and a dimple in her right cheek. Barbara, his little sister! Geoff crossed his arms and clenched his fists underneath his elbows. Letting Chin and Lui see his anger and fear at them targeting his sister would not help his situation.

    What the hell do you want with her? asked Geoff. She’s just a kid.

    Young is fun, Lui Ko said from the love seat on the other side of the holoview.

    Chin smiled again, but his obsidian eyes burned into Geoff with no trace of humor. He stood up. Shorter than average, he still looked down at Geoff.

    She’s got something I want, Chin said. His straight black hair brushed the shoulders of his embroidered magenta shirt. Prominent cheekbones made his black eyes appear small.

    What’s that? Even as he asked, Geoff realized Chin was only interested in Barbara as a means to control Geoff.

    There’s a Taurid who’s mouthing off and making waves, said Chin. She’s my way to get him back in line.

    You could try talking to the guy, Geoff said.

    I gave instructions. You ignored them. Now you pay.

    What? asked Geoff. Ion-blasted, mutant hell! They were going to order him to lift something from a place with real security, so he would end up in youth rehabilitation or jail. His parents would blow orbit.

    Lui tossed his long braid behind his shoulder and chuckled. His melonlike cheeks bunched up, nearly hiding his milk-chocolate eyes. His soft bulk jiggled beneath his navy shirt and pants that looked like silk pajamas.

    Ice trickled down Geoff’s spine. How many things worse than rehab were there?

    You know what the Simba is? asked Chin.

    Yeah, replied Geoff. Chin made a come-on gesture, so Geoff added, It’s a dance. It was a competition dance, like Latino and ballroom dancing. He knew that because Barbara and their mother watched the dance shows on the holoview.

    At least you didn’t say gay guy’s dance, said Chin. Lui and I used to dance. When he was skinny, we won our share of trophy money.

    Lui made a rude gesture in Chin’s direction.

    Ignoring him, Chin continued, There’s a team in a rival family polishing their boots for the October competition. I want to beat them again, but since Lui’d die onstage, I need a new partner. You’re it.

    Huh? Geoff tried to think of a way out. I can’t dance.

    Lui laughed and said, That’s the fun part.

    You have a pretty face and a feel for music, said Chin. You’ll have to learn the rest. That or— He glanced at the image of Barbara frozen in the holoview and raised his eyebrows.

    Geoff said, Spell it out.

    You having trouble getting the message? asked Lui.

    Geoff kept his eyes on Chin’s.

    Say it, and give your word, he insisted.

    Maybe you’re smarter than you look, Chin said. We won’t touch your sister if you train with me and dance in the competition. You have my word.

    All right. Even as Geoff agreed, he wished he could take it back. He felt sick at the sight of Chin’s grin.

    Can you touch your toes? Lui asked.

    What? asked Geoff.

    You gotta be flexible to dance, said Lui. Can you touch your toes?

    Yeah. Geoff had been in a gymnastics club until a few years ago. He had been very flexible then and still was.

    Here. Chin tossed a data card that was half the size of his palm and as thick as his fingernails across the room.

    Geoff picked the strip of plastic out of the air.

    Do those exercises at least four times a day, Chin ordered. Don’t be stupid and pull a muscle, or I’ll get the Mad Medic to fix you. It’s quick, but it hurts a helluva lot worse than any injury.

    I got school and a job, Geoff said. When do you expect me to exercise?

    In the morning, at noon, after school, and at night, Chin listed. Do it. I’ll know if you don’t.

    Yeah. Geoff pocketed the card. He hated mornings. He never got up until the last possible second.

    You don’t work at the arcade ’til Friday this week, said Chin. Tonight, tomorrow, and Thursday, meet us at the rec center on the heavy deck, entrance C, at 2055. Wear a snug T-shirt and bicycle shorts.

    Yeah. If they knew when he worked, they must have been planning this long enough to steal a schedule. Or else the families making up the Lung Organization owned the arcade.

    Don’t tell anyone, Chin ordered. If word gets out I’m dancing this fall—

    Chin did not complete the sentence, but Geoff nodded to indicate he got the message.

    Wait for Trevor out front. Chin pointed to the door.

    Geoff left the apartment and stomped down the parquet floor, not that stomping was very effective in the two-thirds gravity of this deck. He was really deep-spaced without an air tank. Why did he have a blasted sister anyway?

    By the time Geoff reached the front entrance and stepped out into the wide station corridor, he admitted the mess he was in had a lot more to do with himself than with Barbara. He plopped onto a bench and scowled at the flowering vines across the hall. Chin wouldn’t call him pretty if he looked more rugged. His fine, almost delicate bone structure was his second worst curse in life. The first was his face. His wide-spaced, large brown eyes, straight little nose, and girlie mouth always gave him trouble. Being called pretty had landed him in more fights than he cared to count.

    Maybe Dad could find a way out of this blackmail, but no one in Geoff’s family even knew he belonged to the gang. How could he explain this? Besides, there obviously wasn’t any way out.

    Trevor’s cheerful voice interrupted Geoff’s gloomy thoughts.

    You look as happy as a politician named ambassador to Ur-anus, Trevor said. He sipped from a can of cola that Geoff suspected held some form of alcohol in addition to the soda pop.

    Blast off. Geoff got up and headed toward the transit stop.

    Trevor walked with him. He stood a head taller than Geoff and was nearly twice as broad. Except for his light gray eyes, the features of his round face clearly showed his Chinese ancestry. A bright blue ring in the center of his left eyebrow matched the blue hoops dangling below the straight black hair covering his ears. The three earrings in each ear were a set with the chunky chain around his neck and one of his four finger-rings. Trevor was dressed in khaki jeans and a shirt with blue top-stitching that matched his jewelry; Geoff wore blue jeans and a purple-and-orange soccer jersey.

    I obviously had a better time there than you did, the larger boy said. What’d they want?

    You know better than to ask, replied Geoff.

    Trevor shrugged and looked away.

    Geoff scowled up at him and then stopped and planted his fists on his hips.

    They told you to ask, didn’t they? demanded Geoff. To see if I’d say anything.

    Trevor met his eyes and said, I told them you wouldn’t.

    What would you have done if I did? asked Geoff.

    Trevor shrugged again and said, I dunno. I figured you wouldn’t.

    What’d they tell you? Geoff asked as he continued walking.

    You’re working on a project that’ll take some time. I should run interference if you need.

    I have to cut our game time short tonight, Geoff said. And tomorrow…and the day after. The bastards aren’t leaving me any free time. They’re not happy unless everyone follows their orbit!

    Black hole that kind of talk. Trevor’s earrings chimed as he looked to see if someone was watching them.

    Why should it matter? Geoff glanced down the hall lined with glowing and flashing hologram storefronts interspersed with a few potted shrubs. The twenty or so people around them were paying no attention to the two teens. I’m not part of a Lung family. I’ll never be more than a fringe runner.

    They walked in silence for half a minute, and then Trevor said, There. He pointed to a convenience store across the hall. Let’s get a snack.

    Okay. They were both hungry, and it wouldn’t occur to Trevor to pay for snack food. At least Trevor chose places with weak security. How he knew he never said, and Geoff did not ask.

    They walked in together. Trevor got the store attendant to open the display of sports-star collector holos. Each thumbnail-sized button held a holographic image of a sports figure frozen in action and would project ninety seconds of a great moment in that person’s career.

    Pretending boredom, Geoff circled until he could see the security monitors behind the counter. He checked what angle the cameras covering the snacks recorded from and strolled back to Trevor. After a moment, he wandered away.

    Geoff went down one aisle and back up the next, tucking treats, including candies and chocolates only made on Terra, into his sleeves and pockets.

    Aren’t you done yet? Geoff asked when he returned to Trevor.

    Hold orbit, said Trevor. He moved his left forearm across the counter scanner so that it could read his implant, and then he leaned forward for the retina scan to authorize a bank transaction.

    The clerk bagged Trevor’s holo buttons and handed them to him.

    Have a good day, boys, he said.

    Thanks, Trevor replied. Be seeing you. Outside the store, Trevor raised one hand to shoulder height, his palm outward, and grinned.

    Not wanting his friend to know how much their visit to Chin and Lui had upset him, Geoff slapped Trevor’s open hand and said, Shadowhand and the evil genius, Trevor the Terrible, complete another successful mission to retrieve rations from the enemy stronghold.

    Trevor laughed. As they headed toward the transit stop, he asked, What’d you get me?

    Geoff handed him an apple.

    That’s it? Trevor exclaimed. We hardly ever hit a store with Terran stuff, and I bought a pile of buttons!

    Geoff smiled and passed him two chocolate bars, a bag of candy, and a package of gum. He took a couple of pieces of the beef jerky, which had been made in the station’s protein production lab, and gave Trevor the rest of the package.

    That all you want? asked Trevor.

    Geoff, his mouth full, nodded. Chin and Lui had ruined his appetite. Besides, stolen snacks didn’t taste as good as they used to.

    Which ones are mine? asked Geoff.

    Doesn’t matter. Trevor tossed Geoff half a dozen of the colorful buttons. He lifted his ringed eyebrow and asked, What?

    What…what?

    You’ve got that shove-the-station-out-of-orbit look, replied Trevor.

    Geoff sighed and said, I don’t see what the big deal is if I don’t always do things exactly like Lung wants. I don’t have ancestors who worked with your ancestors. As long as I don’t go against you all, it shouldn’t matter what I do with my life.

    It’s us, said Trevor. You swore a blood oath to be one of us.

    I know. Geoff gave Trevor a troubled look. He had joined Trevor’s gang, the Taurids, nearly three years ago, shortly before he had turned fourteen. And I keep my word. I just don’t want to be so…constricted. Under orders all the time.

    Hey, we all go through that, Trevor said. Like rebelling against our parents. Just quit being so loud about it. Here’s our car.

    Geoff followed Trevor into the transit car. From the outside, all that could be seen were the wide double doors. Inside were two rows of ten seats, each of which could comfortably hold two adults. Bright light bars on the ceiling created good visibility for the security cameras at the front and back of the car.

    It held a dozen other passengers. The two boys sat close to the exit and played their new sports buttons as the car silently rolled between the station walls.

    They lived in Station One, the first station built for civilian habitation. It orbited Earth slightly behind and above the main transfer station where Terran cargo was offloaded from atmosphere planes and transferred to space-traveling freighters.

    At eighty years old, Station One was far older than the development of artificial gravity. It had been started in the late 2060s and had been constructed as a giant spinning doughnut. The rate of spin was set to give the outer layer (or bottom deck) one Terran gravity. All but one school were on that heavy deck, so children would get the required hours in gravity for physical density and strength. Most business offices and residential apartments were on decks with lighter gravity.

    Geoff and Trevor rode to a transit center farther down the line. Transit centers served as connector hubs for cars traveling across the deck and the rows of elevator cars that moved between decks.

    Let’s have a game or two, said Trevor. I figured out a way to get by you in Scout Ship. He took a couple of steps toward a cross-deck car.

    I got to meet Barbie, Geoff said. Besides, it won’t work. I’m too fast. Shadowhand was on the top-ten list of many different games throughout the station.

    What’re you doing with your sister?

    Babysitting.

    Trevor snorted and said, She’s too old to need a sitter.

    We’re going to the low-g market by the docks, said Geoff. It was a family rule that no one under sixteen went up there without being accompanied by someone older. Barbara was only thirteen. Geoff had had the freedom to visit the dockside markets by himself for less than a year.

    She’s got you wound around her little finger, said Trevor, extending his pinky finger and making a circling motion with it. Whyn’t you tell her no?

    ’Cause I like the market, answered Geoff, knowing it was only partly true. You should come with us. We could check out what’s new in the weapons booths. He was going to look for a certain young salesgirl, too.

    I can do that standing here, said Trevor.

    Geoff sniffed derisively. A computer-generated holo image, especially the little ones from personal links, couldn’t compare to actually being there. Because the Lung organization’s influence in the dock markets was limited to the section rumored to cater to black-market dealings, Geoff’s friends did not have a lot of enthusiasm for visiting the market. Conversely, Geoff got a secret pleasure from going where Lung’s influence was minimal.

    They caught an elevator car. Like the cross-deck transit cars, it held two rows of seats. All were occupied by at least one person. Geoff and Trevor stood by the doors and lightly held the rail as gravity diminished.

    Show messages, Geoff whispered to his wrist com. It was his link to the station’s net until he turned twenty-one and could get an uplink implant. Everyone below the age of majority only had their personal information—identification, medical records, and bank access—implanted.

    Geoff had no mail, so he opened his school folder. He had math to finish, and sure as Sol was hot, he’d have something due in station systems, the class he had skipped. He did. Somehow, he would have to find time to get it done. If his grades fell, his parents would send him back to after-school tutoring. That had been bad enough in grade eight. He wasn’t going there in grade eleven.

    See you tonight, Trevor said as he got off on the 0.7-gravity deck. Geoff rode up to the 0.6-gravity deck, wishing the trip was longer so he would have more time to come up with an excuse to be out late every night while he suffered with Chin.

    Chapter 2

    26979.png

    Geoff’s family lived on deck thirty-four, section M, in apartment 133 on the corridor named Squamish Road. Each wedge-shaped section had its point at the center of the station and its wide base along the outer rim. He ambled down the hall, taking long steps with plenty of hang time. The walls were covered with leafy vines, flowers, and shrubs stretching up to the recessed lights above them. Bushy pecan trees guarded both sides of the Anders’s door.

    Inside the apartment, black shadows stretched across a living room made rosy by pink grow-lights. White-light ceiling bars brightened when Geoff entered. The dark blue living room rug showed wear spots by the entry and on the opposite side by the kitchen’s navy-blue tile. Apartments were built long and narrow, with the bathroom, bedrooms, and storage areas beyond the kitchen.

    Out of habit, Geoff went to the garden. The apartment’s outer wall, which was divided in two by the door, held a closet on the left and a rack of hydroponic garden shelves on the right. These lined the walls behind the couches, curving around the corner and filling the next wall. Although all apartments were built with garden equipment so residents could offset station air charges, not all stationers used them. Both Geoff’s parents liked to garden, so there was always something fresh to eat.

    Geoff stole a few peapods from Barbara’s little section of garden. As he crunched the tiny legumes, he checked the nutrient and temperature regulators. Then he picked a sweet turnip. He just had time to drop the empty peapods and turnip peel down the kitchen recycle chute when Barbara and Nadine arrived.

    He’s here already! Barbara yelled. Let’s go. She jumped and twirled and then landed facing Nadine and the door.

    I’m still eating, said Geoff. He bit into the sphere of crunchy vegetable as he walked toward the girls.

    You’re always eating, Barbara teased, her dimple showing in her cheek and her wide brown eyes sparkling with fun.

    Nadine looked from sister to brother and then said to Barbara, You’re right. You’re taller than him now.

    You sure you want to come with us? asked Geoff.

    Nadine clapped her hands over her mouth and nodded. Her short, reddish-brown hair bounced around her face.

    Get lunch from the market, said Barbara.

    Let’s go. Nadine opened the door and skipped out ahead of Barbara.

    Geoff followed. The door slid closed and locked behind him. On its other side, the lights dimmed.

    25643.png

    The three teenagers left the elevator car when gravity had all but disappeared. The market was near the center of the station, one deck below the inner hub. Centered inside the station’s donut, the hub gave access to the hundreds of ships tethered to the giant metal parking frame orbiting beside the station.

    Six times a day, at the beginning of every second odd-numbered hour, the hub disconnected from the station and stopped its rotation. While it slowed, the air was pumped from three-quarters of it and compressed into tanks. Once the hub was motionless, huge bulkheads opened, exposing the empty sections to space. Rovers, ship staff and passengers, outside staff, dock workers—everyone had two hours to move between ships and the station hub. Cargo went into the vacuum-exposed areas, and personnel air locks gave access to pressurized sections.

    Mindful of the influx of people coming on station right after 1700, Geoff said, We got an hour before the crowd. Let’s go. He stepped forward, floating three meters down the hall before he put his foot down for another push. It carried him into the market proper, an open section so large the upward curves of the floor and ceiling were visible.

    Ummmm— Barbara breathed deeply. It always smells so exciting here.

    Yes, agreed Nadine. Let’s have some goodies before the spacers come. Then we can look at stuff.

    We’re leaving before they get in, said Geoff. He led the way to the food booths. Many were identical to the ones in the food courts of the malls. Like the girls, he wanted to sample the ones that weren’t.

    A few minutes later, their hands filled with protein balls on sticks, assorted pastries, and crunchy, dehydrated sweets, they began to tour the market. Because it was a slack hour, they could stroll three abreast. The booths offered everything from handmade clothes to weapons to games.

    Barbara and Nadine stopped to talk to a boy behind a table of Belter Pipes, little flutes made of the thin metal from beer cans.

    Geoff paused long enough to decide that the young salesman was about the same age as Barbara and posed no threat, and then he went down the aisle to a table of wares handwoven out of stems, long leaves, and other dried plant material. It was presided over by a teenage girl.

    Hi, Dayle, said Geoff. I came back. Her eyes were level with his, dark brown with a scalloped ring of lighter brown at the outside edges of the irises. He could stare into them for hours.

    And I’m still here. Dayle smiled and leaned forward. Looking for something in particular?

    Yeah. Geoff smiled back. You. She was a Rover, someone who lived on a space ship. Her family had come to the inner system to get medical treatment for her grandmother, and they would soon be heading back to their usual routes. Normally, they traveled between the cities and small colonies of the asteroid belt. No one knew how many unofficial emigration rockets had taken off from Terra in the early days or how many people had crammed themselves into old shuttles and gone to the asteroids. Every now and then, explorers found little colonies of dead people, their DNA so badly mutated by radiation they could not procreate.

    How about this one? Dayle picked up a cream-colored basket with a flat lid. It fit inside her hands. It’s a nice jewelry box.

    It is, agreed Geoff. He cupped his hands around hers. Who would I give it to? My favorite girl already has one.

    She giggled and answered, Your mother?

    Maybe. Geoff kept his hands on hers as they chatted. Part of his mind wondered what it must be like to live in a ship, safely distanced from bullies like Chin. It must be nice to break dock and move on when things got difficult.

    After a few minutes, Dayle returned to the subject of the little basket.

    Maybe your sister would like it, she suggested.

    Sister! Geoff had forgotten about Barbara and Nadine! He looked at the table where he had last seen them. They were gone.

    Geoff spun slowly on his heel, searching the scattered shoppers for the two girls. He did not see them. Where the hell did they go? And why? Neither Barbara nor Nadine would hide just to annoy him. They liked coming here too much.

    I’ll be right back, Geoff said. He jumped up, raising his hands over his head to keep from bumping the ceiling. As he rose, he twisted, rotating so he could view the entire market. No girls.

    Wait. They were walking toward the far end of the food booths between two older boys…or young men.

    Geoff reached the apex of his jump. He pushed against the ceiling to hasten his descent and hit the floor running—at least what passed for running in near-zero gravity. He bounded down the aisle and jumped a table of crafts, making sure he went high enough to invert and kick the ceiling for added impetus. He landed halfway down the next aisle.

    Then, strolling with apparent casualness but moving more quickly than his targets, Geoff approached Barbara and Nadine from behind. He stepped close to the girls and draped his arms across their shoulders.

    Startled, they turned to look at him. Geoff halted, pulling them to a stop as well. The two older boys—Geoff guessed they were eighteen or nineteen—went one step farther before they stopped and turned.

    Get lost, kid, said the thin, black-haired one. He was taller than Trevor.

    No. Geoff turned his left wrist on Barbara’s shoulder, making it obvious he was recording the two strangers. Calling 911 would bring market security,

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1