Creak...
The wooden doors opened with a loud creak, indicating that they were old. From what I knew, they may be over a decade old. I walked through them, not knowing what to expect. Because, as a space spy, your expectations rarely meet reality.
For four months, I've been secretely training in the Academy of Astronauts, which was a mere disguise for the Agency of Cosmic Espionage and it's main base of operations. During those months, I've managed to go to space twice, thwarting evil schemes every time I left the Earth. I wasn't alone on those missions, as I was accompanied by our unit.
Unit 212 consists of Sebastian, a 16-year-old leader and self-proclaimed "cool guy", Claudius, a 15-year-old mechanic and technology enthusiast, Amber, a 14-year-old combative girl who's always ready to beat up evil people. Finally, there's me.
I'm Chris and I'm also 14, just like Amber. I started as a young space enthusiast who dreamed of becoming an astronaut one day. As I reached my teen years, I aspired to become a student in the Academy of Astronauts, having no clue about the elaborate cover-up. When I was enrolled in February of this year, 2035, everything changed as the truth was revealed. I still wanted to participate and participate I did.
After going through a mere week of training, unit 212 was selected for a top-secret mission to find an unrevealed enemy agent hiding in the American Moon Base. This was my first trip to space and I was initially ecstatic, but things quickly escalated into a battle for life as we foiled an evil plot to monopolise the valuable isotope helium-3 and blow up the American outpost with the surrounding mines. The culprit was Dawn, a girl who was enlisted into the Agency two years before I arrived. She was a mole for the Perseids, a Russian criminal organization founded shortly before the Second Cold War (fought between the USA, Russia and China) broke out. The Agency was also established during this time period.
On the same day, we chased the Perseids to the Hyperspace, an AI-managed orbital hotel and thwarted another scheme with the help of a new ally named Arika, who was recently recruited into the agency. The evil plan was draining the oxygen aboard the station to kill thousands of people, including an important American governor named Richard Diaz. As the plan failed, the Perseids made a desperate attempt to deorbit the Hyperspace and finish the job, which was also thwarted and our enemies were forced to flee once more.
During the next three months, they hid in the shadows, working for a Chinese bioengineering company called BIORBITAL. We had to infiltrate their lunar biodome during our previous mission last month and fought the Perseids whilst dealing with Lim Yazhu, the company's CEO. He wanted to bombard the US with deadly bioweapons, but the Perseids sabotaged his actions by blowing up one of the weapons, hoping to kill off the best American and Chinese space spies, who hid in the biodome. They also tried to steal the company's technology and give it to Russia, but we ultimately managed to capture them and my father, who is also a cosmic spy, sent them to a prison on Earth.
Now, it was June 30th, the end of my fourth month in the academy. I've just finished my exams and now a ceremony was planned to celebrate the end of the school year and our accomplishments. Because of our short yet eventful career, everyone will be watching us.
- I'm nervous... - Sebastian muttered. I heard him, as hearing was my strongest sense.
- Don't worry, it's just a formal ceremony and then we'll be free! - Amber tried to cheer him up.
- We won't be, there are summer lessons to keep us in good shape - Arika suddenly appeared.
She was also a special guest, but we didn't see her coming. She is a 15-year-old IT expert and a friend of mine. Following our previous mission, she was officially recruited into the Agency.
- You're also here? - Claudius was surprised by the unexpected appearence.
- Why wouldn't I? I greatly contributed to the previous two missions - Arika hissed in response.
The ceremony was a bit strange, because it took place underground. Captain Nigel, the principal of the academy, wanted to protect us from possible surface threats and thus chose the closing ceremony to take place in a bunker. While there were no imminent threats above, we couldn't be certain when it came to safety. Enemies may be hiding behind every crevice, so additional caution is only a good thing.
After leaving the hallway that led to the bunker, we emerged onto a wooden stage. Captain Nigel was dressed in an unusual black suit, accompanied by our adult supervisor Edward (who we jokingly call Einstein because of his appearence), who was dressed in a similar suit. Ahead of us was the audience, seated on dark wooden chairs that were brought down here from the upper levels. Pretty much every chair was occupied, except for one in the corner. However, that quickly changed and the seat was taken by the last person who I expected to see.
My mother, Justine.
Justine is a caring and loving mother, but she stayed out of the spy business, not being aware of the academy's true purpose. She thinks that I am simply training to become an ordinary astronaut, not a space spy. She doesn't even know that my dad became a space spy, following his dissapearence a few years ago. I wasn't aware of this fact either until I encountered him in the lunar biodome.
Still, my mom's arrival here made questions arise. How was she allowed into the celebrations if classified details will be mentioned? Will she learn the truth about the Agency? How will she react when she finds out about all the deadly situations I've faced so far?
Those doubts made me shiver, to the point where Sebastian noticed.
- Is everything okay? - he whispered to me.
- Yes... - I lied, not wanting to stress the others. Before I could process all my questions, the ceremony suddenly begun.
- Good morning, agents... - Captain Nigel started in a strangely enthusiastic tone. Usually, he was either angry or showed no sign of emotion. I sensed imitation in his voice. He was trying his best to sound happy. As he started, I saw Justine expressing surprise and alienation on her face. Oh no.
- ...this has been a rough year for our agency. Moles have infiltrated our ranks, several schemes were planned by them, war almost broke out. However, our space-spies-in-training braved those difficulties and America was victorious once more. While everyone has proven themselves worthy of passing onto the next year and the summer lessons, I wanted to congratulate a special group of heroes that saved us from numerous threats using their creativity, courage and strength. Give a round of applause to unit 212! - Captain Nigel pointed at us. Everyone cheered except for Justine, who was too startled to react properly. This wasn't looking good at all. I gulped, but nobody heard it amongst the applause.
Nigel subsequently passed the microphone to Einstein.
- This celebration is not only for the brave adepts, but also for the adults surrounding them. Edward, what would you like to say about your time with the team? - Captain Nigel visibly grumped while asking this question.
He still held a grudge for our caretaker, because Einstein broke several rules and denied orders to save us multiple times. Nigel even replaced Einstein with his right-hand-man, Harold, but when the latter deserted and Einstein went on a rogue mission to help us in our quest to stop BIORBITAL, Edward came back to supervise our progress.
- It's been an honor to work with this group. They are very skilled and talented teenagers, forming a team more powerful than any other that I've worked with. Allow me to introduce our heroes - Einstein smiled and Nigel responded with a quiet and cold "Sure".
- First, this is Sebastian, the team's leader - Eistein started and Sebastian waved to the audience, triggering another wave of applause - This boy is Claudius, our mechanics specialist who went through a tough recovery following injury, but he braved the challenges.
Claudius was injured as our stay aboard the Hyperspace came to an end, after our spaceplane was violently blown up by the Perseids. He had a metal support arm attatched to his real one, but he recovered and the metallic attatchment was now gone, much to Claudius' dismay, as he modified the support arm into a useful multitool.
- The only female member of our unit is Amber, who's always ready to fight, having straight A's from combat tactics - Amber grinned as Einstein introduced her. She made a "ready for action" pose, as we call it, for show.
- Lastly, this is Chris, the brain of our team and a boy with a galactic passion that led him here - Einstein walked over to me. I was already sweating and having everyone, even Justine, promptly turn to me wasn't helping with my stress. I tried my best to smile like the others, but I knew that the results weren't great.
As the celebration continued, everyone gave a short speech about their time in the Agency and their goals. I brought up the roots of my career, saying how I was interested in cosmology since I was six and I've always dreamed of becoming an astronaut. I stammered as I reached the part where I brought up my beginnings in the academy. Justine clearly twitched when I used the word "danger".
Fortunately for my sanity and cortisol levels, the ceremony came to an end as we were rewarded with beautiful diplomas for completing the year, even though I've only been in the Agency for four months and my traning was accelerated to catch up with the others.
We went back into the hallway after leaving the stage. My mind was still occupied by Justine. She was shocked by the truth, but what now? Will she confront me? Will I be forced to reveal the confidential details of our missions? Will she take me to a normal school for safety? Will my career continue?
As we reached a small cloakroom and changed to our casual clothes, I decided that I couldn't take it anymore. After getting dressed, I left the cloakroom to the team's surprise and looked for Justine in the auditorium. It wasn't long before I found her. Her facial expression indicated that she was absolutely stunned by reality itself.
- Mom...! - I started, but Justine abruptly cut me off.
- I need to talk to the principal.
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