Free White Sands by Nicholas Sansbury Smith

CHAPTER 1
    D UST swirled around the streetlights before vanishing under the white afternoon sun. Jeff watched the motes pass from behind the dust-caked window of their car, then began counting the poles out of pure boredom.
    Fifteen . . . thirty . . .
    After a few minutes Jeff grew bored of that, too. He leaned over to his little brother, David, who was completely focused on his tablet. David swiped furiously at the screen before letting out a deep sigh.
    “I lost again!”
    “Give it here.”
    “No. I will beat it!” David said, a little too loudly.
    Jeff looked up nervously as their stepmother, Paula, shot them stern looks in the rearview mirror. “Is this how you two are going to act when you’re with your father? Do I need to remind you he has enough on his plate without having to worry about one of you getting into mischief?”
    David looked up from his tablet sheepishly. “No. I will be good.”
    Jeff kept his focus on the endless sea of sand dunes outside.
    “Jeff?” she asked.
    “Whatever, Paula. I won’t stress out Dad.”
    There was a short hesitation in Paula’s nod. She cleared her throat as if she was going to say something but instead sighed. Jeff knew she was disappointed that he still wasn’t calling her mom, but he was never going to. His real mom was dead, and Paula would never replace her.
    Jeff braced himself as the car accelerated. The short screech of thetires reminded him that Paula had a temper. Crossing his arms, Jeff caught her gaze in the front mirror one last time before leaning away from her view.
    David had already returned his full attention to his video game, swiping at the screen even more violently than before. With a smirk Jeff scooted closer to his brother and whispered, “This sucks, but at least Dad is taking me shooting.” He watched David’s eyes widen and shift away from the display.
    “Shooting?” The younger boy cracked a grin that showed off the newest gap in his baby teeth.
    Jeff brought his fingers to his lips and tilted his head to make sure Paula wasn’t eavesdropping. “Shhh,” he whispered. “You aren’t supposed to know, but maybe Dad will take you, too.”
    David’s smile broadened and he nodded confidentially. “Awesome,” he said, slowly enunciating the word.
    Jeff would have been excited back when he was seven years old as well, but he was turning eleven in a few days and he wanted to spend his birthday with his friends, not at some stupid base. Even with the promise of a visit to the shooting range, he was less than thrilled.
    The trip to White Sands Missile Range was an annual one. Each year they would visit their father, a guard for New Tech Corporation, at the new spaceport. In the past, Jeff had marveled at the shiny buildings and sleek spaceships. They were cool, and the other kids were envious of his trips. But Jeff had grown tired of his friends’ stupid comments.
    “I heard NTC is conducting alien experiments over there,” one of them would say, or, “NTC is going to take over the world.”
    Of course, Jeff didn’t believe any of it. He’d seen enough to know that aliens weren’t real and that NTC was just another lame security company.
    Jeff returned his attention to the window as they passed a field of solar panels. The slender blue squares angled toward the sun, absorbing energy to feed the spaceport.
    He sighed as he watched the panels zip by. The field only marked the halfway point of the drive and he was already bored. Reaching down, he pushed the air vent open onto his face and sank back in the leatherupholstery.
    “I did it!” David shouted, screaming in victory.
    Jeff looked down at his brother’s tablet. YOU WIN scrolled across the screen.
    “Give it here,” Jeff said, gesturing for the tablet.
    David looked at him, his brown eyes studying Jeff’s face skeptically.
    “Come on,” Jeff insisted.
    “No!” David finally replied.
    “Boys, what did I tell you!” Paula said, taking her eyes off the road for a