Bang!!!
I suddenly woke up to the sound of a horrible crash. I thought it happened in my dream, or nightmare in this case, but I smelled the scent of smoke in the air. Something happened and it was real.
Today was May 21st, 2035. It was supposed to be a normal day. Well, as normal as it could be in my life.
For the past three months, I've been training to become a space spy to defend America on the cosmic stage. This all started when I was recruited into the Agency of Cosmic Espionage, disguised as the Academy of Astronauts.
As I ran out of my cosy room, the scent of smoke intensified. Maybe something in our kitchen exploded?
I live in a small home in Florida, near the academy. Outside my room, there was a living room and a parallel kitchen. I found my mum, Justine, staring at something outside our home in shock. I stopped next to her and looked in the same direction. What I saw sent shivers down my spine.
On the road outside our house was a crashed drone, but not just any drone. A cosmic surveillance drone.
I heard about these during my previous mission. Two analysts were busy locating a rocket belonging to our enemies, a Russian criminal organization known as the Perseids. The analysts used a network of such drones to track them down.
Now, one of these drones was burning outside my house.
- This can't be a coincidence, right? - I quietly asked myself. I didn't say anything to Justine, as I simply wasn't allowed to.
The Agency was founded in 2027 when the Second Cold War began with the Russian invasion of Europe. The US helped the struggling European nations before China joined the war, trying to get something for themselves. Our agency relies deeply on secrecy, as moles are suspected to be everywhere. We discovered one of them during our first mission. Because of this threat, we weren't allowed to say anything about our true job to our parents, which hurt me, as I was forced to lie someone I trust so much.
I ran out of our house to see the wreck for myself. I didn't bother to change my clothes, so I made it outside whilst wearing pajamas, attracting confused looks from our neighbours, who were also observing the wrecked drone.
Most of it probably burned up in the atmosphere, as only a cigar-shaped capsule and a charred radio remained of the spacecraft, along with a few tiny wing pieces. The whole thing was surrounded by a wall of fire and a menacing cloud of smoke.
- Chris, stop! It's too dangerous! - Justine followed me out of the house and forced me inside. She cares for me deeply and didn't want me to get in trouble. Little did she know that I've gotten into trouble far bigger than this.
As I came back inside, I saw mum frantically packing things into a briefcase. What was she up to?
- Why are you packing stuff? - I asked her.
- We need to go, this place is no longer safe - Justine panted as she continued packing.
- What do you mean by this? - I was still confused.
- More drones could arrive at any moment! It seems like the Russians or Chinese are attacking us! Do you want to get blown to bits?! - she hissed back in stress.
Due to the looming threat of invasion, people live in constant fear. Our neighbours mistook a normal plane for a bomber some five months ago and quickly left their home, until they got a closer look at it and came back. Nobody was free from the anxiety, my mother included. She saw the drone as the sign of a surprise attack and chose to roll out.
I knew that it was an American space drone and I wished to tell her that we were safe, but firstly, I had to keep a secret and secondly, I wasn't entirely sure about our safety. Sure, a drone from our country crashed, but why did it crash? Somebody might have shot it down. The fear was transferred onto me and I joined mum to speed up the packing.
After some ten minutes, we rushed out of our little house with three large suitcases and two backpacks, one of which was mine. I still didn't change, not wanting to waste our time. The only thing besides pajamas that I put on was my favourite blouse. Our neighbours were also afraid, as I saw several of them running away from the neighbourhood.
The drone was still burning, but now a black SUV accompanied it. Several men leaped out of the vehicle and inspected the downed spacecraft. Among the men was Jaxon Koval, a person I recognized.
Jaxon is an agent known for taking any job in the agency, which led the higher-ups, including our principal Captain Nigel, to calling him "naively loyal". Whether that is true or not is up for debate, as we didn't get to see it for ourselves. Additionally, he is half-American, half-Russian and was deployed into the academy as a false enemy agent meant to test our skills for our first mission. He gazed upon us for a bit.
- I'm sorry, can we join? We have no car and the place is wartorn! - mom approached him.
Normally, the agents wouldn't let anyone into their vehicle, but Jaxon recognized me and allowed us in. We hopped into the SUV with our massive luggage and we drove away from our home. I looked back at it, worried that we may never return to it.
As we moved forward, a fire truck passed by us. It came to extinguish the fire from the wreckage.
Several memories raced through my mind, particularly those of my previous missions, both of which took place during February.
During the first one, we were tasked with finding a mole on the American Moon Base. The mole ended up being Dawn, a girl who we previously considered to be our ally. This mission was our first encounter with the Perseids and ended with the latter escaping in a rocket after we thwarted their scheme. The scheme involved blowing up the moon base and the surrounding mines to monopolize the valuable isotope helium-3 and gain litearlly cosmic sums of money. Additionally, the Perseids wanted to frame a Chinese person for the attack, hoping to escalate the conflict between the USA and China while Russia would have gotten extremely rich.
More recently, during our second mission, we had to find the Perseids aboard the Hyperspace, a giant space hotel in low Earth orbit ran by an AI called HISS (Hyperspace Intelligent Security System). Our enemies hacked into HISS and tried to drain the station's oxygen supply to suffocate everyone aboard, including an American governor named Richard Diaz. When that didn't work, they desperately attempted to deorbit the Hyperspace, which we prevented thanks to my newfound navigation skills. I'm a space enthusiast and learned a lot about rockets and orbital maneuvers, but this talent still surprised me.
During the three months that passed since then, I've gotten better at my craft thanks to lessons in the academy that weren't interrupted by missions. I wasn't the best at fighting or interrogating, but managed to perfect my navigation skills, along with some others like eavesdropping and tracking.
With all those memories racing through my head, I sighed and put my hands in the pockets of my bright blue blouse. However, I sensed a piece of paper in the left one. As I pulled it out, it turned out to be a handwritten note.
"Dear Chris,
I must inform you that something big is happening and you must come. Jaxon Koval will pick you up and drive you to the bunker where we'll meet. Be on high alert, as we don't know what's to come.
See you soon,
Harold.
PS: Destroy this letter after reading it. May nobody besides you know that it was there."
Harold is a person I did not expect a letter from. He is Captain Nigel's assistant and practically his right hand. I thought that the note would come from Edward, or "Einstein" as we called him. Einstein is the adult supervisor of our unit and a generally caring elderly man. It would have made sense for him to send the letter. Maybe he was unavailable?
Anyhow, "something big" seemed ominous and concerning, especially when I didn't really know the details. There was only one thing I was certain about.
A new mission has just begun.
ns216.73.216.33da2
and then Add to home screen.