This year for the first time we are sharing several of our short story submissions publicly! Please enjoy the following story by middle school student Evan Schmidt:
Echoes
Evan Schmidt
Cold, that’s all I felt when I woke up from my dreary, deep, sleep. I opened my eyes to find myself in a pod, much like a cocoon. “Oxygen levels low, take action immediately.” I started fumbling around in the pod until I found a flashing button. In panic I vigorously tapped the
button until the pod opened. Then, I stumbled out onto the cold, hard, metal floor. I tried to sit up and look around but my head was ringing and my eyes were watering. I sat there wondering how I got here or why I was there. All I remember was yells and screams, echoes of the past. I shook
it all away and got back up to explore re around this mysterious place. By the looks of it it looked like an abandoned factory or a futuristic encampment. I made my way through it and discovered that it was looking less like a factory and more of something that the military would use. Guns, lockers, and bunks, definitely not comfortable ones. I need to get out of this place! I thought to myself, but how exactly would I do this? Instantly, I thought of fire and burning a hole through the side. Perfect! All I needed something to use. Hmm… I needed to look deeper in this place and find out what it was doing and why I was here. I ventured in a direction I presumed was deeper into the place. Suddenly, I had a fit of pain in my head. I sat down onto the ground and closed my eyes. Breath in, breathe out. “Hello, General Anderson.” “Hello, General Talbot.” Abruptly, two male voices started talking. “Do you fancy a coffee, Talbot?” “No, thanks.” Could this be planned? Are there speakers in this place? I listened to them jabber on and on about their children and how they were doing but then, boom! “Anderson, we need all hands on deck, I repeat all hands on deck!” But there was no answer. Then the sound faded away like the sunset on a warm summer night. I slowly regained my bearings and stood up again. I’m glad that’s over. I was puzzled by what just happened but I had to move on. As I made my way around I found provisions like food and water that would keep me alive if I couldn't get out.
Finally, I got to a command or a control room, I couldn't tell the difference. But there I discovered I was flying, I was on a ship! I ran to the main dashboard and tried to decipher the controls to find out where I was going and why. I fiddled around with a few controls but then the ship started shaking. That’s not good. Then it started shaking more vigorously. Uh-oh! Hold on!
I grabbed the bottom of the main control console and held on for my dear life. “Going down! Going down! Disengage!” It was happening again and at the worst of times. “Private Smith, are we going to make it.” “I don’t know” I was struggling to hold on to my anchor in this sea of madness. Before I let go I wrapped myself in a ball to reduce the impact. Then, I let go and went out like a lightbulb. “Wake up, wake up!” “She’s not waking.” I heard whispers and conversations. Then, I drifted off to sleep again. I finally woke up and rubbed my eyes. “Hello.” “Who are you?” “My name is Talbot.” “General Talbot?” “The one and only.” We chatted for a while. I found out that I was on the military ship The Pit Viper or the Space Force Viper. It was abandoned because the ship was heading straight for a giant meteor. The engines were damaged by the meteor field surrounding it so they had to use the escape pods to disembark. I started to get up but Talbot pushed me down. “Rest.” “No, I’m fine.” I took off all my medical equipment and got up. “I insist.” “No, really I’m fine.” I needed to do some snooping around. “Do you guys have a bathroom?” “Yeah, down the hall and then a right.” I promptly left and tried to look for the main control room. After a few minutes of searching I found it, there were 3 soldiers, all unarmed. I needed to draw them out. Pull the fire alarm. BEEP! BEEP! The fire alarm rang like
a T-rex roaring. I ran into the hall to hide from the soldiers. “Let’s go!” “Move out!” I ran into the control room and looked around. Computers, where are you?
I dashed across the room to the soldiers workstations. I got to one of the soldiers computers and clicked it on. Shoot. It was asking for a password. I looked around the computers to see if any of them were logged in. I found something even better, a sticky note with the password to the computer. Too cocky in your “impenetrable fortress,” huh? I typed it in and I was in. I also found a USB drive lying on another soldier's desk. I hope this isn’t important. I plugged it in and it popped up. It read Subject Data. I dove into the sea of data. There wasn't much time so I skimmed over it. It was just some hospital data, probably a soldier's data. I copied over all the important looking files from the computer onto the drive and ran. “Long bathroom break, huh?”
“ I was looking for someone to help me with that fire alarm going on.” He nodded in understanding. I sat back down on the cot. “Can I have some alone time?” “Sure.” I searched the room for a laptop and my search ended up short.
I had to steal one. I peeked outside “False alarm, huh?” “Yes, I believe the girl did it.” “Why?” “I don't know.” I walked out of the room. “Can I get a glass of water?” “Sure.” He started to walk away. Wait! “Can I come with you? I need to stretch my legs.” He signaled me to come. We walked together in silence to the break room. He handed me my glass of water. “Thanks.” “No problem.” Suddenly, the alarms started blaring. “UNKNOWN SHIP IN AIRSPACE, PRESENCE IMMEDIATE.” Then, a boom rocked the ship. “Let’s get you to safety.” After a short walk we arrived at my new room. “Not exactly a luxury suite, huh?” “It’s safe that’s what it is.” He shoved me in and hustled away. More like a prison than safety. “BREACH IN HULL, ENGINES AT 50%.” We started to slow down until we almost came to a complete stop. Oh god. I started to have these “hallucinations” again. “She just came in and we found her floating outside in open space.” “How is she not dead?” “We don’t know. We’re running tests right now.” “Good.”
Then, I realized those hospital records were mine! Someone was running toward me and my cell that wasn't military. I started panicking and I hid myself in the corner of my cell. The man looked around the cell and then said “I know you’re there.” I replied “Who are you?” “The good guys. Listen, I’ll break you out of here but you have to trust me.” “Where will you take me?” “Away, far away.” I stood up and nodded my head. “I’m in.” He got out a laser cutter and started cutting a hole for me to climb through. “Fugitive breaking out Subject! Engage!” “Give me the cutter and run. Trust me.” He fit the cutter through the bars and then did exactly as told. I don’t think the guards noticed me so I started to cut through the bars. One of the guards glanced over at me but quickly glanced back. “Let’s go, move out!” I was in the clear. The hole that I cut fell out of the cell and I started to run where the mysterious man ran. “Come on!” I saw him running towards a door, presumably leading to the docking bay. “What’s your name?” “What, now?” “Yes!” “Anderson!” I stopped for a second. General Anderson, I thought he was dead! “Let’s go! Explosives are rigged to explode in a few minutes!” We ran through the door onto a platform overlooking a plethora of ships. “Which one is yours?” “The flaming wreck. We need to take one of theirs!” I dove down the stairs and ran into the bay. I saw a sizable ship that looked pretty sturdy. “That one!” I pointed to it. ”Sure! Hop in.” We climbed up to the cockpit and we hopped in. We started to take off but then Talbot entered the bay. “Anderson, I thought you were dead!” That’s what I thought also. “Why are you working for someone else?” “Because I discovered what you actually do!” “Men, guns free!” We started to get shot at but our ship held up and we had enough time to get out of the bay. “Thank goodness that’s over.” “Not yet” “Do you have a laptop?” “There should be a laptop in here.” I found it and plugged in the USB. “What’s that?” “Stolen data.”
“Really? That would mean millions for me and my employer!” “Why?” “You have visions right?” We talked and he has these hallucinations too. He calls them “echoes.” “It’s okay now. We’ll find a place to settle down for a while and we can talk more.” “Ok, good.”
Then, we flew off into the distance and never looked back.
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