The Mars Project by Julie Steimle (i can read with my eyes shut TXT) 📕

looked to Zormna who was propping her head against the car hood, gazing tiredly at him. “Anyway, if you want, I can fix your car. I work at garage past the downtown area.”

Zormna shoved him from then engine with one of her greasy hands. “I can do it. He asked me.”

Snorting at her, Jeff replied, “You might do it, but not after tearing it up in exploratory surgery. Come on, Zormna. You are just messing around.”

Zormna straightened up angrily and hopped off the bumper she had been standing on. “I’ll have you know I reconstructed more ships in the Patrol—and out of it.”

Jeff rolled his eyes at her.

“My work stopped you from tampering with my ship,” she snapped, propping her hands on her hips.

And that earned another eye roll from Jeff. “Oh, please…”

Mr. McLenna backed towards the house with raised hands. “I’m leaving before I hear too much. You just fix that car.”

Once he left, Jeff turned to Zormna and frowned. “I thought you weren’t going to do any more chores for them.”

She made a face.

“I’m not.” Then gesturing toward the engine, Zormna said, “This isn’t work. All we did was change the oil and filter, and then replaced the spark plugs. The rest was just exploratory.”

Jeff laughed. “Not work?”

Letting a smile slip, she said, “No, this is fun.”

He smirked. “Maybe.”

Jeff looked around with a sweeping glance at the numbingly quiet surroundings. The neighborhood still seemed asleep. The rumble of lawn mowers floated on the air, and the smell of grass and dry leaves went with it. The FBI still had not returned, and he wondered at Zormna’s previous reaction when he had mentioned it. So he said, “Where are the FBI? Did you do something to them?”

Snorting, Zormna shook her head, then shrugged and nodded. “Yeah…Actually. I used a small project I’ve been secretly working on.” She peeked over at the road again. “Before we came out to work on the car, I snuck behind their tailpipe and stuck in a tiny little…what do they call it? Oh, EMP device.”

Jeff’s eyes widening, he laughed. “No kidding?”

She nodded, going back to the innards of the car, reaffixing those things she had taken off.

“Out of what?” he pried, interested.

“Doesn’t matter,” she said dismissively. “It was short-lived and burned out once it was used. But it sends a small pulse through the framework of the car and not much further. So…their watches, listening equipment, and cell phones all quit on them.”

“And the car?” Jeff asked, staring at her with an impressed grin.

Chuckling, Zormna nodded. “Oh, that too. I had Mr. McLenna call a tow truck for them. We’ve been expecting the arrival of replacements when you showed up.”

But Jeff only stared at her, smirking more. Then, after a silence as she tightened once last part in the engine, he asked, “Have you made a lot of these before? Mini EMPs?”

Shrugging, Zormna hid a mischievous grin as she whispered back, “I accidentally discovered how to make one back Home in mechanics class—our equivalent of auto shop, only for….you know.”

Rubbing his forehead, he snickered. But then with another look at the still-empty road, Jeff whispered, “Uh, actually, why I stopped by…I need to ask you, your birthday is coming up, right?”

She looked out of the engine then back at him. “Are you seriously getting a psychic vibe about my birthday right now?”

Shaking his head and chuckling, Jeff replied, “No…uh. More like guessing. You are going to be fifteen soon, right?”

She nodded.

“Probably in, oh, say…October?” he asked.

Zormna nodded again, though she was growing annoyed. “Yes. So what?”

Peeking again to the road, then to the house, Jeff whispered, “Can we postpone it to, like…November?”

“Postpone?” Zormna didn’t look annoyed so much as puzzled. Then she shook her head with a huff. “Look. We can skip it for all I care. I’ve never celebrated my birthday.”

Those words seemed like a mallet to glass. Jeff’s eyes widened at her, but he looked sad for her rather than shocked. “Never?”

Turning away as if she didn’t care, Zormna shook her head.

Closing his eyes, Jeff whispered, “Is it because your whole birthday takes place on the Day of Adaral?”

 Zormna almost whacked her head on the car hood again, popping up in a stare at him. She ducked and climbed out of the car engine, inching near him. “Ok, ok… Now you have got to be psychic. How did you know that?”

Pinching the ridge of his nose, Jeff shook his head. “Zormna…I am sure you are tired of hearing this, but children born in the month of Adaral are killed by the High Class because it was prophesied that a child born on the first day of Adaral would be the last Tarrn that would free our people and end the Endless War.”

She recoiled. Staring up at him with disgust, she finally said, “You are right. I am tired of hearing that.”

Jeff clenched his head looking like he’d scream. “Why are you so aggravating?”

“Why are you so upset?” She snapped back. “It’s my birthday. We can skip it.”

“Though that is really depressing,” Jeff said while shaking his head, “What upsets me is that you are still running from the prophecy.”

She stiffened. But instead of denying it, she growled back in a low voice, “It’s not denial, Jafarr. I just don’t like it. The conditions of the prophecy are the worst…”

“Because of what you have to do?” Jeff asked.

Zormna shook her head. “Because of what has to happen for me to become the one prophecy is about. I don’t need you to tell me that most children born in the month of Adaral don’t live to see their next birthday. I know it, ok? The Kevin made that clear to me.”

Cringing, Jeff nodded. “I get it.”

“Do you?” She stepped up to him. “Because I don’t want you to let rest of the Tarrns die just because you found me and believe I am the one.”

Shaking his head, Jeff knew now that she was not going to abandon her position on saving the other Tarrns, even if it meant her own life. And though that was admirable, it was also pointless.

“Don’t worry. I’m not letting the others die if I can help it,” he said, already giving up.

“You’d better not!” she yelled at him.

“I won’t. But Zormna you’ve got to face that this is your destiny. Sometimes I don’t think you take any of this seriously,” Jeff said, placing a hand on her shoulder, trying to help her.

She shook him off, walking back from him. “I don’t believe in destiny! Remember.”

“Fine! It is your mission then—just like it is my mission to protect you,” he snapped. “And what I am asking right now is, you haven’t told the McLenna’s a birthdate, have you? I mean, on your documents, I noticed a discrepancy. Smudged writing. Typos. Ms. Guisse pointed it out and guessed the date to be either October or November. Did you give them a date?”

Zormna shook her head. “No. They made one up.”

His eyes widened. “And?”

She chuckled. “The records say I am sixteen, Jafarr. The entire date is wrong. Why do you care?”

“They’ll care,” Jeff hissed. “The McLennas and all their kind will.”

Zormna cringed. “Why is this coming up? They don’t care about me. When Mindy had her birthday in June, they never asked—”

“Because you were at camp,” Jeff said darkly. “And they were not thinking about you at all. But when Jennifer or Todd have their birthdays, they are going to think about it, and then they are going to ask. And you need to lie to them.”

Zormna stared. “But I don’t care about having a birthday pa—”

“It is not the party,” Jeff said exhaustedly. “It is the date. Understand?”

She closed her eyes, nodding. Fact was, she had seen the reports year after year when she was in the Patrol of the parents that had tried to hide their children’s birthdates. The one month was barren of birthdays, except hers.

“But, I think for show, you should have a party,” he said.

“What?” Zormna stared up at him. “Are you crazy?”

“In November,” he explained.

Zormna shook her head, reaching in to dislodge the bracer bar to the car hood. She detached it and closed the hood with a bang. “It is not necessary.”

“Zormna…” He followed her as she picked up the tools on the carport floor and put them back into the box. “…Can you please let people care about you? Allies help each other. And friends do more. We did say we would try being friends.”

Zormna paused in her collecting. She peeked back at him. “Jafarr… Can’t I just…just be a soldier? I don’t want to be a figurehead or…. Look, I don’t feel like prophetic material.”

“Neither do I,” Jeff muttered, weakly chuckling. But then he shook his head at her, gesturing with his arm. “But you, come on… Alea Zormna Clendar of Zeta? The Kevin’s Zormna? Why are you doubting your mission when you know you’re the youngest adult in our history, and the most notorious Surface Patrol officer and most brilliant hacker—at least as far as I have ever known?”

She bit her lip sheepishly, peeking up at him. She even blushed.

“You shouldn’t bother with flattering me, Jafarr. I mean, how can you talk about me like that when you were clever enough to keep out of P.M. hands, even after you ended up in ISIC? And you have a cleaner record than I do. That means you’re smart enough to contend with me as an equal adversary,” she said. “So don’t pretend to be impressed.” Then Zormna smiled and added with a wink, “You were the only one that gave me trouble.”

Jeff joined in her laugh, blushing. He scratched the back of his scalp. “Alright… So…as they say—we are two of a kind. So why are you doubting? This task—between you and me—is something we have been prepared for. I mean, come on. We have shared dreams. Conversations with our common ancestor.”

Zormna sighed, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, smudging more grease on her face. “I know. I just don’t want it. It scares me.”

He reached out to her and she stepped up to him, actually letting him hold her. “It’s ok. It scares me too… But, listen to what I am saying now. I’d die first before I’d let you get hurt.” And he whispered low, “And I will do what I can to protect the other Tarrns if that’s what you want.”

Lifting her head up in a stare at him, Zormna’s cheeks flushed redder.

“Hey, Jeff! What are you doing here?” Sam’s voice came up from the driveway.

Both Zormna and Jeff’s heads popped quickly in that direction. Sam was dressed in a clean tee shirt and jeans, and he was holding a smoothie in his right hand.

“I’d say the same thing to you,” Jeff responded, letting go of Zormna who went back to collecting tools to put into the tool box. Her face was really red now and she was moving quickly. Jeff stepped back from the McLenna’s car towards his truck, making distance between them also.

Sam shrugged, peeking towards her then Jeff. “I thought I’d take Zormna to the movie we’re gonna see at the mall. We’re still going, right?”

Zormna quickly looked up at Jeff then nodded, eyes hopeful in anticipation.

Jeff sighed, though he also nodded.

“That’s why you also came, right?” Sam asked, walking to the front of the McLennas’ car. He was standing as if to put himself between them, a hint of jealously in his actions, though he also reached down to help pick up tools.

Jeff glanced at Zormna with a nod. “Somewhat. There was actually something we had to talk about, but we can finish that conversation later.”

Zormna nodded, her cheeks cooling.

Sam glanced at him then Zormna again. His curiosity getting the better of him, he said, “I have to ask. Are you and Zormna a couple?”

Zormna moaned with a roll of her eyes and a heavy shoulder slump. Amused and relaxing, Jeff smirked as he started to laugh. The tension in air eased. That