Glass Planet

P R O L O G U E

Viva

I push the earbuds into my ears as I scurry down the steps of the school. Passing the ID wall, I barely register my basic information that appears on a holographic screen before me as I look for my itinerary. After scrolling past the final bit of information of my physical appearance, I see what's next, after school. I'm supposed to meet Lyra at the main fountain after she gets back from her trip from that goddamned place. I hope I never ever go there, 'better future' or not.

I take my time as I make my way past the tightly packed suburbs, stopping only at the street where I live. I consider just checking in with Alura and telling her where I am, but I don't want this moment to end, this blissful moment of peace, being alone without feeling lonely. When I'm finally at the fountain Lyra waits for me, almost totally unrecognizable.

Lyra Davis is already beautiful with her silky, strawberry blonde hair that fell to the middle of her back in shining waves. Her startling blue-gray eyes hit me like drops of rain, with golden brown freckles sprayed across her nose. As I get closer, I see that her Nordic ice princess features seem a thousand times more beautiful, and now she has blood red lips and pink stained on her cheeks. Probably artificial, since it's not remotely cold, and she doesn't look like she's been running. She's wearing a dark blue dress leaving her shining, freckled shoulders bared. She raises her hand in greeting when I reach her, but makes no move to touch me. At first I think she doesn't want to touch me, but as soon as I sit down next to her, she wraps me in a hug so tight and so sudden that I almost fly into the fountain.

"What've you been doing, homeslice?" she asks me, handing me a cup of mint chocolate ice cream, my favorite. "Nothing much," I answer, taking a huge bite. "Thanks for the ice cream. It's colder than my soul." Lyra laughs. I'm always making comments about my nonexistent/dark/cold soul, even though I become more protective than my mom when it comes to my friends, which is saying something. She starts to talk about what the place looks like, but I'm not paying much attention. You don't need a personal description to know what Glass Planet looks like.

Even as I sit in the warm, September sun, I envision myself at the gates of Glass Planet, much like Lyra was, probably. Tall towers of metal and glass shoot up towards the sky, and I can make out the main building, the Hayman Needle, where the entire government system sits. I know that somewhere near, there are huge mansions with whole walls of glass, and lights lining the walls.

"And I also met someone there," Lyra finishes, ending my vision of Glass Planet. Unlike everyone here, I don't want to go. Sure, I could have better opportunities and chances at a perfect life, but I don't feel safe there. And I couldn't possibly go, what with taking care of Alura, trying to keep everything together while Mom's cancer tries to pull everything else apart. I'd rather live down here and stay in less than okay conditions than stay at Glass Planet. God, they could have been on the so-called International Space Station for all I knew.

"Hello? Viva, I'm talking to you."

"What? Oh, sorry," I mumble. "Who'd you meet?" A slow smile spreads across her face, and I know that this can't possibly be good. I've known her long enough to know that this is her I'm-in-love smile. "His name's Aidan," she says dreamily, sticking her finger under the running water and tracing it across the concrete of the fountain in the shape of a heart. "He was gorgeous, Viv, and we had this instant connection and-"

"Hold up," I interrupt. "Did you hook up with him?" Lyra looks slightly uncomfortable, then gives me an almost imperceptible nod. I smile, but decide not to press her on it. My watch face vibrates urgently, in the pattern I recognize as the emergency notification. The pattern repeats itself a few times, followed by a message from Alura. Attack on Jupiter Sector. Not Glass. I pause, the world slowing to a halt. Mom and Alura and there. "I gotta go," I mumble to Lyra, and suddenly I'm running faster than I thought I could ever run.

I see the chaos from miles away, alarms screeching, people running, and it doesn't seem real. There's been no conflict, no major issue that people in suits sit in tall towers and yell about. This attack was unprecedented.

I try to get closer to to the wreckage, but I'm stopped by what seems like to be a whole wall of people. Fireman, cops, everyone. I try to push through, but I'm stopped once again by arms and chests, with people telling me to get out, it's not safe, stop, stop, do you want to get yourself killed.

"Wait!" I scream over the noise. "I have to go. Let me through, I need to-"

"No, you don't, hon," says a female police officer holding my arm in a death grip. I'm just about to respond with some other comment when I hear someone yell "SHOCKWAVE!" Everyone except me runs for cover, but I'm still standing there, watching a bright blue light come towards me, thinking that I wasn't supposed to die, not here, not now, not like this, not like this, not like