Two Years Earlier

"HURRY! WE CANNOT MISS ANYTHING!" his best friend Hope yelled over the murmur in the arena. She held his hand, leading him through a packed crowd in the theatre entrance. She wore khaki shorts and a midnight blue t-shirt with stars. Her hands were sweating and lost her grip momentarily. Hope paused, recovered, and they continued up the aisle. Cole wore dusty jean shorts and a black t-shirt with a spaceship.

They were smaller and quicker than the adults in their way, so they slipped past them. Hope found four aisle-seats third row from the back. They sat down and used the paper programs to save seats for Cole's parents, who were close behind. They arrived a few seconds later. His father had short brown hair, wore jeans, a dress shirt, and a strong cologne that irritated his nose. His mom had long blonde hair and hazel eyes and wore a pink sundress. They arrived and took the seats at the end of the row.

"Did you ask your parents if you can go to Bettencourt's Space Camp?" Cole asked.

"Yes. They said they can't afford it because they have to pay for the Kennedy Tech classes. We start in September."

A man seated behind them said, "I hope you read..."

"Name Jinx!" Cole shouted.

He reached up and pinched the sensitive skin on the under part of Hope's arm.

"Ouch!" She massaged that spot. "I'll get you later."

Cole enjoyed winning but felt guilty causing her pain. Something Hope disregarded whenever she won.

"Don't be surprised if my mom pays for the camp for your birthday or something," he said.

Hope did not respond. She had become oblivious to everything except seeing Dr. Bettencourt.

This theatre was cold. Outside, it was hot and sunny, which was why he wore shorts. Yet this room was freezing. The air vent on the ceiling blew cold air on him. Hope rubbed her goose-bumped legs. He noticed she was wearing her new midnight blue shoes with stars and white socks. There were about two hundred people in the full amphitheater. Black vinyl seats lined the rows, with a wooden stage at the front. A podium was in the center of the platform, and a movie screen covered the back wall.

She had begged Cole's parents to let her join when she found out Dr. Bettencourt had sent them a personal invitation to attend his speech. He entitled it Our Planet's Future. Well, she never begged his parents for anything. His parents were best friends with her parents, neighbors, and they had betrothed them. Although he was not sure what they meant the first time they said, "betrothed."

They had been on their yearly camping trip to the secluded forest preserve. It was night with crickets chirping and tall trees surrounded them. The four adults sat around a warm campfire. They had made their fire pit under an opening in the forest canopy to see the black sky filled with stars that were not visible at home. The sound of wood cracking and the smell of smoke filled the air. Hope was helping him catch lightning bugs. Their parents were drunk like usual.

His dad slurred, "You think that's bad? I spent my entire Thanksgiving next to brothers' wife." He got out of his chair, paced, and continued, "She complained about everything. 'It was too cold in the house. The chairs were uncomfortable. There were smudge marks on the glasses. The turkey was too dry.' On and on and on. I wanted to shoot myself." He mimed placing a gun to his head, pulled the trigger, and fell back into his chair.

Hope's dad said, "Yeah. I wish we could choose our in-laws. Since we have to spend the rest of our lives with 'em, we should have a say in it."

Hope's mom interrupted, "This time we will."

She spun around in her folding chair, almost losing her balance, to where she thought Cole and Hope were playing. They were on the other side. She raised her wineglass in the air and shouted, "Hope and Cole, we betroth you."

"Sure mom," Hope called out.

Her mom turned back and said, "Done. That was easy." The four of them laughed.

Cole and Hope did not care then because they did not know what betrothed meant, and their parents always said the stupidest things when drunk.

But this one they did not forget. On the drive home together, they planned the wedding, where they would live, and which schools our kids would attend.

Hope opened her dictionary app and typed in "betrothed": engaged to be married. Cole read it over her shoulder.

Woah.

He yelled, "Stop! I'm NEVER getting married, mom."

He watched Hope ponder this scenario and told him, "First, they have no rights to force us to do anything. Second, I have seen Tangled and Aladdin on repeat, hundreds of times, and I do not feel that way about you. Yet there were worse things than spending the rest of your life with your best friend."

"Fine. I'll go along with it for now."

She continued, "Plus, they have to drop it, eventually."

But months later, they still talked about it.

He disagreed with Hope's view, and it irritated him whenever they brought it up.

Hope explained that they were doing it to make him over-react. She showed him a video of himself, told him to quit arguing, and they would stop nagging him. He took time. But now, years later, he played along. He checked out and ignored them when they brought it up.

He did it again when Hope asked his mom to bring her to see Dr. Bettencourt. His mom said, "Anything for my future daughter-in-law," and winked at her.

Cole gazed at Hope sitting in her seat and chuckled. "You read all of Dr. Bettencourt's books. What do you think this'll be about?"

She had read every one, including his most recent, Perfect System.

"I think it will either be about his new book or about the new space camp he opened," she said.

The lights turned off.

The Trillionaire, Dr. Bettencourt, stepped through the beige curtains and strutted to the podium. He was fit for his age with short brown hair, a clean-shaved face, a tailor-made navy suit, white shirt, and a crimson tie; his daughter's favorite color.

"There he is!" Hope squealed, stood, and pointed at him.

The audience applauded and rose with her.

"Thank you very much." Dr. Bettencourt waved and waited a minute for them to stop. They did not, so he motioned for them to sit, and they did. "I want to thank everyone for coming here on my special request." He peered around the room and snickered. "Normally, when I give a speech, I'm selling a book or at a board meeting. So, it's nice to be back here with friends."

A video began on the movie screen and the song We are the World, played quietly in the background. A rotating Earth appeared with ice caps that melted, then water covered half of every continent.

"Let's get to the reason I'm here. On the day that my son was diagnosed with terminal cancer." He paused and stared at the ceiling for a few seconds, composed himself, and continued. "On that day, I had an epiphany about my future." He motioned to the crowd. "Our future."

He pointed at the screen and it changed to images of drought damaged farms with withered plants. Then it displayed bees dying and many empty beehives. The final image had emaciated bodies of children lining the ground, dead from starvation.

"We have spent years fighting together to show people the catastrophic things humans are doing to our Earth, including global warming. As scientists, we knew the hazards early on and spent our lifetimes warning everyone. One year turned into five, ten, and now twenty years have passed. Now it is too late to reverse our course and people are still unwilling to change. I would like to repeat popular facts that many of you touring the planet with me have probably memorized. Climate change produced by greenhouse gases caused all but one of our planet's mass extinctions. The worst was 250 million years ago; when carbon warmed the planet by only five degrees, sped up when that warming triggered the release of methane in the Arctic, and ended with 97 percent of all life on Earth dead. Now we are adding carbon at a rate that is ten times faster than that and increasing."

He moved to the front of the stage. "Our situation is escalating quickly. Over the last decade, nine out of the ten deadliest heat waves ever have occurred; together, they've killed hundreds of thousands of people. I do not want my daughter to die here either, which is why I sped up my plans to colonize Mars."

The audience cheered.

"Woo!" Cole shouted and clapped.

"Sped up is an understatement," Dr. Bettencourt beamed. "What if I told you I already have forty people living on the surface?"

"I'd say hogwash!" his mom shouted. The audience laughed. "There's no way!"

He focused on her. "You can always count on Julie to speak her mind," Dr. Bettencourt continued. "Any rational person should have that response. But I have proof." He gestured at the screen again.

He displayed a faded video, showing inside a dimly lit square shaped house. It was minuscule, with people crammed close together to fit. They waved. Some grinned. The woman closest to the camera had bags under her eyes and her clothes, a dark orange jumpsuit, had a layer of dirt on it. She propped her body against a refrigerator and closed her eyes to sleep. The walls were dull white, and each section had a handle on it. Cole assumed they pulled out to save space.

They heard a loud WHUMP when a gust of wind forced the wall inward. Then the signal disappeared. It returned after a few moments. The bent wall was back to normal. A young woman with curly black hair jumped up and ran toward camera.

"Sorry, the wind gusts here are severe." She adjusted the camera's position and then moved back and smiled. "This is Captain Tiana Jefferson, reporting that our 106th Martian day was a success. We finished installing the second living quarters that landed last week. We are ready to greet the next crew that will join us. Half of our team asked to use the empty habitat. There's not much space here, so I let them. We had two injuries today. One broken forefinger when it got stuck, sealing the outside door. Another person suffered frostbite on their back when their suit ripped. Although both stated that they will carry on. Everything else is going to plan. I will send another report tomorrow."

The video ended.

"How did you get them there?" Hope asked. He did not believe they could ask questions yet.

Dr. Bettencourt shifted toward Hope and said, "Earth has had the technology to send humans to Mars for years, but never had the money or the drive. Now we have both." He smirked and pointed at himself. "We have many crews in route and a rotating supply line that has a one-year return cycle. The downfall is we still rely on supplies from Earth."

The image changed to show transport ships moving back and forth to Mars and Earth's moon.

"Our initial crews are maintenance teams. They will construct the first dome at Tharsis. This leads me to the reason I asked you here. I am creating hundreds of preparatory schools around the world and opening them up to high school students. We want to train the brightest kids and families we can find. But be warned, I had a trial school, and it was difficult even for the best students. It is a three-year school that will train them for the rigorous life on Mars. At the end of the three years, I will reward the top three students from each school, a one-way trip to Mars with their families."

They saw different images of school campuses, similar to many college universities.

"Now I will go around, speak to everyone, and answer your questions," Dr. Bettencourt said.

The lights turned on. Cole shielded his eyes.

Dr. Bettencourt strutted off the stage and down the stairs. Cole lost sight of him in the mob of people.

"We haven't seen you since your son became ill," said an unfamiliar woman's voice. "Our family prays for a swift recovery."

Hope faced Cole and asked, "Am I dreaming?"

He placed his hands over her shoulders and examined her from top to bottom.

"Nope. You look like you're awake," he said to her. Somebody moved in their direction and Hope's eyes became wide open. He assumed it was Dr. Bettencourt.

She whispered hastily, "Oh, my god. Oh, my god. Oh, my god. He's coming over." She dried her hands on her shorts. Her hands sweat when she was nervous. Plus, her rosy cheeks were another hint.

He said, "Relax, everything'll be fine."

"We have to get into his school," she said.

"I got this. Remember that this is why I'm your best friend." He pointed at himself with his thumb and grinned.

Hope despised that saying he stole from his favorite reality show, Being Skye.

"Dr. Donaldson." Dr. Bettencourt greeted Cole's mom and shook her hand.

"Doctor," he said to his dad. "It's always a pleasure to see you two. I was most excited to get you on board. You are our top scientists. Not to mention your son, Cole."

Dr. Bettencourt shook Cole's hand.

His mom said bragging, "He's always tested in the top 1% with his IQ." He hated when she did that.

Cole smirked, placed his arm around Hope's shoulder, and nudged her forward. "My best friend Hope is the top student in our year and also dreams about going to Mars. We both want to go to your school."

"Hope Anderson," she said and gave him her hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Hope."

He grasped her hand and knelt to speak with them.

"How old are you two?"

Hope's face turned white. He had never seen that before. Did she pass out? She took a step backwards towards Cole, leaning against him. She did not answer the question, nor was she about to. He propped her up and responded, "We're twelve. Well, my birthday is on Saturday. I will turn thirteen. Hope will be thirteen over the summer, too."

"Thirteen? Hmmm." He considered that for a second then continued, "Well, this is for High School students, so you are a year too young. Although we have a Summer program, starting on Monday. It will prepare you for the entrance exams and if you pass them, I will allow you to enter early. But it is very demanding even for the best students, and you're a year younger."

Hope recovered and stated, "We welcome the challenge and will be there on Monday."

"Excellent news," he released her hand, patted her on the shoulder, and rose. Then he took his dad's hand. "The summer school's information is in the handout and my assistant will forward you the registration links. I have more people to speak with, so I must be going. Thank you for your time."

He shifted to the next group.

Cole and Hope spoke at the same time:

"Did we just sign up to go to Mars?" Hope asked.

"Did we just sign up for summer school?" Cole groaned and smacked his palm against his forehead.

Cole continued, "Today's the first day of summer break and I already lost Summer Hope. She may never return again." He placed his hand over his eyes and scanned the theatre, yelling, "Hope? Hope!" He was loud, everybody heard him, and stared.

"Who's Summer Hope?" his dad asked.

"She's my fun and exciting best friend that shows up when the school year ends, and disappears into textbooks when the next school year begins."

He went back into his character, peered through Hope, and said, "I can't find her anywhere." He fell to the floor and laid flat on his face, crawling toward her feet. He lowered his voice to a whisper and cried in his Rose from Titanic impression, "Come back!" He grasped her right ankle and said it weaker, "Come back." Then slumped his face onto the cool tile floor.

"Get up, you idiot," she lifted him by his hair and chuckled. "What's more important, two months of summer school, or living out our dreams by going to Mars?"

He dusted himself off and pretended to stroke his fake beard, deep in thought. "Hmmm. Let me consider my options. Two months of summer school or going to Mars."

He paced in a circle, still stroking his non-existent beard. "Now, if I remember correctly, you have stated in the past that during our six-month trip to Mars, you will teach me chess so we can play. Which, by the way, is not fun or playing."

Hope punched him in the shoulder. It hurt a lot, but he did not flinch. "Could you be serious for a moment?"

"Fine. You're right."

"Wait. What?" She froze momentarily, then cupped her hand to her ear. "Could you say that louder?"

He moved next to her ear and stated, "You are right." Then backed away. "But to be clear; I'm only giving up Summer Hope until we pass the tests and then she must return immediately."

"Fine."

"Quit clowning around," his dad said and pushed him from behind. He stumbled down the aisle toward the exit.

His mom said to Hope, "Let's go tell your parents the good news."

Cole continued, while walking down the steps, "And Summer Hope must appear on the Fourth of July."

"Don't push it," Hope stated.

"Come on. We always go to the fest. There'll be fireworks."

They passed behind Dr. Bettencourt.

He greeted a different family and said, "I hope I didn't bore you guys."

"Name Jinx!" Cole shouted. He reached up and pinched her again. "This is getting too easy,"

"I'll get revenge later," said Hope.

She never lost twice in a row. Dr. Bettencourt distracted her.

"I can't believe we're going to Mars," Hope shouted.

"Hold on, we have to get into the school first. Then, after graduating, they only take the top three from our school."

They exited the theater and went back outside into the warm and humid night air.

"You're welcome for introducing you to Mr. Perfect." He gave a high pitch wail, placed his wrist the top of his forehead and feigned passing out. "Oh, Dr. Bettencourt, I just have to go to your school." That was hilarious. She had to laugh.

She tried to restrain herself, but snickered anyway. "If we are going to make it, you must take this seriously. Can I count on you?" Hope asked him.

"Of course, that's why I'm your best friend."