CHAPTER I

"Yusha! Are you going to get up?" I tried to wake up my sister.

"Mm-hmm. Let me get some more sleep. I want..." she yawned sweetly, "to finish the dream…"

"If you don't get up, then I'm not responsible for myself," my hands grabbed the edge of the warm blanket.

"Just a few seconds more..." Yusha mumbled to herself.

"My patience has run out. Get up!" I pulled the blanket over me, letting the cold air burn Yusha's pale skin.

"Why?" she shivered.

"We need to get up, school starts soon!" I snorted and started pulling on a black jumpsuit made of thick rubberized fabric that can protect the skin from acid rain drops.

Many of my peers wanted to fly away from our planet to "Flora", as they did not like to carry oxygen tanks on their backs forever and breathe with a mask. From my point of view, they were insignificant whiners or just weaklings. They thought it was easier to live on the Flora than with us. But on TV, knowledgeable people showed how many dangers the wild nature of the green world was fraught with: poisonous plants, carnivorous animals, and all kinds of diseases.

I heard a loud, rolling cough, from which my sister suffered. For as long as I can remember, she was constantly coughing, and sometimes completely suffocated, turned blue, looking like a wayward astronaut who forgot to check an oxygen tank before going into outer space. At such moments, doctors had to be called. They took her to the hospital for a few weeks and then let her go home. Because of this, my sister did not study well and received poor grades on the tests. And she was also in a group of weaklings.

Yusha has disgraced our glorious Iridium family! Once upon a time, my father made a heroic raid into enemy territory and immortalized his name on the honor board, where all the heroes of the colony were. All the young people began to look up to him, and I wanted to follow in his footsteps. Get a technical education and become an engineer. And my sister…

She ran slowly, couldn't even pull herself up once on the horizontal bar, and was generally indifferent to sports. This is a complete disrespect for the precepts of our great commander-in-chief! He always said: "In a healthy body — a healthy mind!". Would you know what she wrote in her personal diary? Thank to the synthesis that no one else saw it, otherwise we would definitely have been sent into space without spacesuits. You see, she liked the poetry of the damned enemies from the Flora and their meaningless words about love. At this rate, she will soon start watching propaganda films, listening to enemy music, and reading novels about traitors!

After changing, I looked in the mirror. A young girl with snow-white skin, completely dotted with vascular meshes, similar to cracks, was looking at me. A face with sunken cheeks and sharp features was decorated with slightly reddish eyes. The peculiarity of our kind was a slight degree of albinism, so my hair was also light, and also fragile, like glass. Yes, Yusha and I were not much different from each other, but a few years ago I was injured, and now anyone could recognize Maya in me. The roof of a dilapidated building fell on me. At the same time, a sharp piece of metal cut my right eyebrow and almost grazed my eye, leaving a rough scar on my face, and I also felt on my own skin how hard it was for the miners who were flooded in the mine.

"There's that red dust in our room again," complained Yusha.

"It looks like the air filtration system has failed," I suggested. "You know Ferrum Three is a desert planet, so it's no wonder there's dust everywhere."

"It's a pity," the sister sighed and with a drooping head began to put herself in order.

"Also tell me that you wanted to see green meadows and dense forests here," I laughed.

"Wouldn't you like to?" she frowned.

"No, because it's unrealistic."

"We live in the era of terraforming. Almost any planet can be greened!" Yusha insisted on her own.

"Yes, yes," I nodded. "Only it costs money, and our planet is poor. Barely enough credits to buy synthetic food. It's good that there is polluted water, otherwise, we would have to buy liquid."

"Oh, I forgot that you're Miss Know-it-all! The well-rounded excellent student," Yusha showed me her tongue.

"Better think about your future, otherwise you won't be able to find a job," I said angrily and went to the exit.

"Don't worry, I'll clear this room for you soon!" There was a hint of resentment in her sister's voice.

Again she hinted about freeing up space. Did our parents decide to send her somewhere? They should have told me about it, but there was no serious talk about it. Yusha has always kept secrets from me as if we were strangers to each other! However, I wasn't particularly interested in her personal life.

"Mom! We're late," I went into the cramped kitchen, where my mother was standing behind the stove.

Her caring hands cooked just wonderful and delicious food from synthetic ingredients. All my fellow students were jealous of my sister's and my dinners. And they tried to take away our food. I didn't share it with anyone, and my Yusha simpleton was always giving a portion to false friends.

My father rarely had breakfast with us, as he got up early and went to the factory, where he held a managerial position. He always thought ahead and tried to earn at least a little extra money for our colony, since ventilation systems, oxygen stations, power plants, and many other complexes needed constant repair and all because of the red dust that spoiled the metal. Of course, it was possible to ask for help from other colonies, but our commander-in-chief always said: "Don't get into debt - it's better to work harder!". That's why my father worked a lot.

"Hi, Mom," Yusha finally appeared. "What's for breakfast today?"

"Hi, my Yusha. How did you sleep?" Mom asked solicitously.

"Everything was just fine until Maya woke me up!" she snorted.

"Don't snitch on me. We need to go to school, not watch meaningless dreams," I began to defend myself.

"That's enough!" mom stopped our quarrel.

Her red eyes now looked like two red-hot rubies, which were preparing to incinerate us with deadly rays. Oh, Mom could give us such a scolding that then the butt will hurt for a whole week, or even two. Therefore, I and Yusha immediately became quieter than water, lower than grass.

"That's nice," she abruptly changed her anger to a smile. "Today we will have scrambled eggs from real eggs that were laid by a chicken."

"Really?!" we exclaimed at the same time. "Where did you get them?"

"Your dad bartered with a traveling merchant, who in turn purchased goods on the Flora."

"Are these eggs from Flora?" I asked. "What if they are poisoned?"

"Don't be silly," Yusha shook her head. "They have much better things there than we do. Mom, can we get a chicken?"

"I'm sorry, Yusha, but they don't live on our planet for a long time," she sadly shook her head. "But don't be discouraged, maybe someday we will be able to afford a real farm with a dome where pets will live."

"Hurrah!" my sister was delighted.

Oh, Yusha, how naive you are. Always believed in fairy tales…

"Yusha, did you remember to use your inhaler?" Mom reminded her.

"Oh, I'm going to inhale a dose now," the sister jumped up and ran to our room.

The scrambled eggs turned out to be so delicious that I wanted more, but there were no more eggs left. They were enough to cook exactly two servings, for me and my sister. My parents sacrificed everything they could for us, and they didn't even taste a piece of this wonderful food. Deep down, I also hoped for a miracle that would turn our world into a fairy tale, but in recent years this belief has faded before the harsh reality…

After thanking Mom for a delicious breakfast, we went to the hall. Oxygen cylinders and breathing masks were waiting for us there, as well as additional protection in the form of rubber boots and chemical protection robes. Putting on our uniforms and throwing waterproof bags with notebooks on our shoulders, we entered the airlock that separated our house from the outside world. As soon as the systems equalized the pressure and pumped the precious air back into the house, the doors silently opened in front of us.