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Boing! Boing! The sound the small red rubber ball made as it hit the alabaster ceiling. Riley, with his eyes fixated on the top wall from his bed, repetitively tossed the ball into the air. He’d pretty much been in that same position for the last 9 days since being informed his parents died.

Boing! This time the ball came down hitting him in the face. He thought about how he was turning 18 in 3 weeks. Dad was more excited than he was and promised a special surprise for him when that day came, because it would be a time for celebration. SS Celeste had only been inhabited for 33 years when his parents immigrated here from Earth looking for a new start. Space Station Celeste was originally designed to be a pit stop between Earth and Mars but had over 25 thousand inhabitants now. Most of the citizens were scientists or former elite on Earth, although Riley suspected his parents were neither as his father was regulated to perform custodial duties and his mother in garment sanitation. He often wondered why his parents and the few others were made to do grunt work while most simply filled their time with visits and fluorescent light baths. His parents rarely mentioned the old world, only reminiscing fondly of Dad’s Auntie Linda or when his mother sang songs from her childhood.

It was just him now. Maybe he would fill the empty custodial position his father held?

The information on the paper tightly clutched in his hand read “93 Trayvon Way, Kansas City MO”. While sitting in arrivals waiting to be processed, Riley asked one of customs officers what this meant and she explained that down here on Earth this was referred to as an address, a way for people to find each other amongst the millions of other people.

I guess I’ll go there, he thought.

After processing, Riley was ushered toward the direction of the nearest air shuttle terminal. He made his way to the kiosk and typed in the address. The charge was $75 for the 90 min trip, with the next one leaving in 2 hours. He sat down to gather his thoughts and take inventory of all he currently possessed. He took only a few things from home; his parents old emergency contact info along with the special bottle of champagne his father had hidden to share a drink together on his 18th birthday. He also had what the SS Celeste Council provided before deporting him, 14 days worth of meal tabs and a Debit ID card that was loaded with $20,000.

He looked up…people everywhere, moving quickly with such intent. Immediately he felt self-conscious in his skin. He knew he was human too but had never seen humans like this before. Everyone wore different pieces of cloth as if they picked it out themselves. Back home they used artificial source, which could not prepare Riley for the direct rays of sun pulsating on his back thru the window. With more time to kill, Riley walked outside the terminal into the clashing sounds of vibrant chatter, cars whizzing by and the roar of shuttles flying ahead. “Philadelphia Welcomes You” is what the sign said across the street. Riley hardly felt welcomed. An announcement finally calls for boarding and as they lifted to take off, he turned to look out the window and saw a Billboard advertisement for SS Celeste “Paradise awaits!! Prices starting at 160 million”.

Kansas City was more pleasant than where he just was; not much activity on the streets and a calmness in the air. He looked down at the paper with the address on it. He was told it wasn’t far and that he could walk. Being exposed to the elements for the first time left his throat scratchy and dry by the time he arrived at his destination.

He walked up the steps and stood at the front door, unsure of what to do next.

“May I ask why you’re standing on my porch?”

Riley noticed the door monitor. “I beg your favor, is there a Linda Lee here?”

“You got her, but who may I ask, are you?” she replied.

“You knew my parents.. they always talked about you.. I jus”

Before finishing his sentence the door opened…

“Let me look at you, lift your head up” Linda examined the boy with a quick glance, noticing the greenish hue beneath his pale skin.

“I didn’t think I would ever get to meet you, now look, here you are.”

Linda Lee was in her early 70’s, plump with cinnamon brown skin and the warmest smile Riley had ever witnessed. She led him into the home and directed him to the couch.

Riley gazed around at everything decorated so vividly, a stark contrast from how he was raised in a monotonous tone of beiges and whites.

“Can I get you anything? I bet you’re thirsty”

While Linda rushed to gather something to drink, Riley continued to explore the room, thinking of what to say to her, considering he barely had answers himself. All he knew was that for the first time in a long time he felt safe, and he was not ashamed to take comfort in that.

“Here you go dear” handing him the glass.

She sat down with a worrisome look as she watched this thin framed young man gulp down the water. She wondered what happened that he was back here. She begged her Ethan, who she’d raised since he was seven years old, not to leave. All they needed to do was lay low, they had enough money at that point and Ethan promised he was done for good. When Mary got pregnant, Ethan wasn’t willing to risk waiting around for goons to come kill his family, they had to leave. He saw SS Celeste as their way out because there was a buy-in that included transportation, a moderate sized pod, weekly food rations and a chance at a fresh start. Once Ethan made up his mind, there was no going back, no matter how desperately Linda pleaded. They vowed to send messages back but year after year she heard nothing. Almost 19 years since she laid eyes on Ethan and now here in her living room was his son.

“My Ethan?” she asked quietly.

“They’ve been gone for almost a month now”

Riley slowly went into details on what he was told about his parents. How there had been an accident at work. That because his parents left him with no resources, and the council concluded him deficient, he was cast out and sent back to an Earth he never knew.

Linda listened intently, feeling like something was missing but clearly the boy was in pain.

“Well, no sense in us sitting here worried about things we cannot change, you hungry?”

“It smells so good my stomach hurts, what is that?”

Linda smiled “Follow me”

Riley followed her and the savory scent into the kitchen. He sat down as she prepared his plate.

“Baked chicken, macaroni and cheese, string beans, a slice of poundcake and some of my famous lemonade. Your daddy used to drink it by the gallon” she said with a laugh.

Riley looked down in bewilderment… everything here was so different. Back home they mostly consumed dehydrated fruits and chlorophyll meal tabs. The steam rising off his plate filled his nostrils and he began to shovel food into his mouth. It tasted so good!

“Well someone was hungry, your daddy ate like that too. I would always have to tell him to slow down before he choked” she chuckled as she tousled his hair.

Riley looked up, smiling with appreciation.

He wondered why his parents left in the first place. He’d only known Linda for an hour but was thankful to be here, this was just what he needed.

Suddenly, a violent pain hit his stomach and he felt an overwhelming response at the bottom of his throat. Unable to control his body, he began to involuntarily paint the walls and mahogany table with half chewed up food.

Linda rushed to get him a trashcan so he could finish his business. Riley grimaced with every upchuck, feeling ashamed that Linda had to see him like this after she had been the most gracious host.

Hours later Riley woke in a daze, having just experienced the wildest nightmare. When his eyes finally adjusted in the unfamiliar room, he realized this hadn’t been a dream at all. He turned to his left and on the bed stand was small picture frame with a young couple. He did a double take and realized the people in the photo were his parents. Riley had never seen a photograph of his parents before. They were linked arm in arm, with loving smiles on their faces. He picked up the photo.

“They couldn’t have been no older than 19 in that pic” Linda chimed, standing in the doorway.

“You gave me quite a scare, feeling any better?”

“I think I’m ok, I’ve never had anything like that before”

“Never had baked chicken?! Mac and cheese?! I taught your daddy better than that, what were you guys eating up there?"

Riley sat up and saw she placed his bag beside the bed. He went into the bag and pulled out his meal tabs, handing them to her.

“WHAT is this?? No wonder your skin looks greenish. Well clearly this is nothing like my home cookin. I’ll make some adjustments until you get used to it.”

Riley got up to wander around the room, intrigued by the art on the walls.

“Yup, this was your daddy’s room. He still has some old clothes in here, I’ll wash em up so you can shower and relax.”

As she walked away with the laundry, Linda looked back “I’m so glad to have you home.”

Riley continued to search around the room; it was plain, a little dusty, with a few posters on the wall. There was a grand bookshelf lined with books and warrior figurines. He scanned the first and second shelf…wilderness survival stuff, Dictionary of legal terms, Art of War, Chicken soup for the Soul, Invisible man and quite a few martial arts books. His father never mentioned a passion for martial arts. Weird. The bottom shelf held more of the same reference type books. The last book on the row was titled “The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey”. Unfamiliar with the name, he pulled the tattered book out to get a closer look. He sat down on the bed and tried to open it but noticed the book flap was glued to the other backend of the book flap.

“Why would he glue this together?”

Frustrated and curious, he rummaged thru the side table by the bed and found a scissor. Carefully, he cut the flaps away from each other. He lifted the front flap and was surprised to find a small black notebook, still in pristine condition after all those years under the book cover. Riley opened the notebook, eager to see what was so special that it needed to be camouflaged. The first few pages were just random sketches and scribbled notes. Further into the notebook however, contained something like a ledger with company addresses, dates and accounting info. He turned another page and found a list of names; some of the names were crossed out, some weren’t.

His father had always told him that he worked as an ambassador of the people during his time on Earth. This didn’t look like the type of work his father described over the years.

Arnie Price

Tucker Walton

Li Xiu

Spenser Nolan

JC Murdoch

The last name on the list sent Riley into a tailspin, his mind racing on what the link between that man and his father could have been.

JC Murdoch currently held a prominent seat on the Council of SS Celeste.