TWO

First, the splash of brilliant tiny lights nearly blinded me as I stepped into the room enveloped in a million stars and shadows.

"What room is this?" I asked out loud.

A woman's voice answered me instead of Sally's. "This is the Captain's Room." It was Mom's voice.

I froze for a moment.

"Mom?" I called out. "Are you here? Where are you?"

"The Captain's Room is where the captain and his team can map out and view the space ahead of him," Mom's voice continued. "Isn't it lovely?"

The room looked like it was a part of space itself. The bluish-purple dotted with bright lights the colors of gold, silver, and cream.

"LED technology allowed us to transform every inch of this room into a projector screen," Mom's voice continued. "It is like a million stars and shadows."

"That's what I thought," I said. "If I was to paint this, I picture it as a million stars and shadows." I looked around. Where did her voice come from? In the room? "Mom? Mom? Where are you?"

I ran to where I last thought I heard Mom's voice. But no one was there. I ran to another side of the room. Still no mother.

"Mom!" I yelled. "Why can I hear your voice, but you're not here!" I was getting anxious. "Mom! I came all this way looking for you. I know you said I should stay put in the shelter, but I was really worried about you when you didn't come back to the shelter. I'm sorry about that, Mom, but I thought you'd need my help. Mom…"

I thought I saw a shadow around the corner of my eyes.

"Evie," a voice whispered close to my ear.

"Evie," another voice whispered.

"Mom?" I called out. "Is that you?"

I turned around and lost my balance, falling onto a table or a desk. I couldn't tell which one, but as my hand fell against the desk, touching it palm down, the room immediately changed.

Gone were the tiny stars and space scenery.

In front of me was a room lined with bookcases filled with logbooks, maps, and real books. My eyes widened with amazement at the bounty of books in front of me, but one book stood out from the shelf, pushed out further than the others.

I reached out for the book, which was covered in rich red leather. On the cover was a tiny golden lock, engraved with a letter "J".

"What is this?" I asked.

"Open it," Mom's voice said.

"Mom?" I looked around. "Where are you? Why can't I see you?"

"Your handprint will open it."

"Of course," I said. "My DNA is the same as Mom's. It will open anything Mom can." I placed my hand on the book, and it flew open, startling me.

"It's Mom's diary!" I shouted. "Mom, I found your diary. But where are you?"

"Evie!" Sally's voice warned from my hat. "There is a movement in this space."

"I couldn't see anyone in this room, Sally. Where is the movement?"

"There to the left," Sally said.

I looked and saw a bit of a shadow but nothing else.

"Was that mom's voice all this time, Sally? Can you analyze it?"

"No, that was not your mother," Sally said. "It was her likeness, recorded into the system, programmed to turn on when prompted by the right prompt."

My heart dropped thinking that all this time, I've been talking to a computer when I thought I was talking to my mother. "Somehow, I did think it was a computerized voice. That it was a possibility." I bit back tears.

"I'm overriding the system to tap into that voice," Sally said. "It is a bit glitchy, not acting as it should be. An image was supposed to accompany the voice, but it is not working."

"Evie," Mom's voice said. "You've made it."

A shadow appeared near the bookcase where I had found the red journal. Mom's image. A holographic image, but there was so much depth to it, there were shadows cast as if the image had substance, like a real human being.

"That's what the shadows and movement were," I said.

As if to affirm my assumption, Mom's hologram moved across the room from the bookcase to the desk.

"Movement detected," Sally said. "Connected to the Voice of Jana Gee, Chief Engineer of the Red Genesis."

"Mom," I said.

"Your DNA from your handprint opened this message I left for you, Evie," Mom's hologram said. "I assume if you find this place, you would have left the Shelter looking for me. I wished you did not have to until I get back. If you are here, know that you are safe for now. I had prepared this ship to produce what you will need to sustain yourself for at least half a year to a year or two, depending on the fruit and vegetable processing center. I had fixed the center before leaving."

"Leaving?" I asked. "Where did you go?"

"You may be asking where I went," Mom said. "That is a long story, and I will let you read about the reason I took on this mission itself."

"Mission?"

"The Red Genesis," Mom said. "It's bigger than just the ship…the one you are on is 1 or 3 Red Genesis ships."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"In the red journal you have," Mom said. "It's my journal where I wrote down everything I felt and went through from Day 1. Read it. It'll explain why I did what I had to do."

"Mom?" I asked. "What did you do?"

"Evie," Mom's image faded in and out, flickering like a lightbulb about to burst. "I trust you will know what to do. If you are here, you must have Sally with you. I programmed her to help you. She is a first generation Shelter Suit, which I had been working on so she may not be perfect…"

Mom's voice faded off.

"Mom? Sally, what's going on? Why is there so much glitching?"

"The hologram was syncing with me, updating herself with messages downloading to this ship," Sally said. "Your mother programmed me to provide the latest information to this ship if I arrive."

"Smart," I said.

The hologram flashed back on again. Mom's face flash in front of me, looking like the way she did when I last saw her. "I love you, my daughter."

Then the hologram burst apart, leaving the air I was staring into where Mom had stood, empty.

For a while, I felt all alone. I felt hollow and empty, as though Mom had left me again.

"Then I heard Sally's bright voice said, "What's in the red journal?"

"Do we have time?" I asked Sally.

"Of course, Evie," Sally said, suddenly sympathetic. "Your mother wanted you to find this journal that you have to read it. You have to read it before you can find her. Perhaps there are clues to where she has gone."

"At least it will make me feel like she's here with me," I said, opening the journal to the first pages and started reading.

"You are safe in here for now," Sally said. "I do not detect anything else around us in this ship, at least at this part. But outside…they've caught up."

"The Monsters?" I asked.

"Yes, they've surrounded the ship. But they could not get in. Being on this ship is the best option for now."

I remembered what Mom had taught me about the Monsters. They fed on fear. "Reading," I told Sally.

"Reading has always helped me escape to another world. To keep my mind at peace or at least distracted. I can't wait to read all about Mom and what happened to everyone on Red Genesis."