First to Dance Read Online Free PDF

books differently, and held their heads differently. Some were slouching; some were leaning on the palm of one hand with their weight on their elbow; some were sitting up straight and holding their book out front. Differences made sense, she thought. The sameness they were taught to believe did not. Ayita needed to know the truth about Earth, and for the moment, she no longer cared about class. It was all a lie, anyway. She was convinced.
    Ayita stood, leaving the book on her table, and walked with confidence to the door.  All of the eyes in the room looked up, and the instructor stood to address her.
    “Excuse me, miss; c lass isn’t over yet.”  Ayita opened the door and walked out.  “Miss!  You can’t leave yet! Miss!” 
    Ayita turned around and looked at her.  “As an instructor, you could recite any one of those books from start to finish,” she said. “Don’t you know my name?”  She stared, waiting, but received no response.  The instructor didn’t pay any personal attention to her students. To her they were all test scores and not really people. They would all drop out eventually, so why bother? It took too much energy to care about them. She learned their names from the computer systems and test scores, but never attached those names to faces.
    Ayita shook her head, and turned back, away.  You’ll learn my name now, she thought. She left the building and hurried toward her home.  When she got there, she went straight downstairs to the basement.  There had to be something in these books about what happened to the planet called Earth, about how life had become what it was.  There had to be a solution to the mess she was in.  Ayita took down every book that she’d already read or started reading, and looked up at what was left.  There weren’t many. One of them had to have the answer, she thought, but where should she start? Then she saw it. Hidden behind the other books, parallel to the wall, there was a thin book that she never noticed before. She took it down, and opened it in her lap.  The pages of the book were blank, but in-between the pages were a series of letters, hand-written on separate pieces of paper.
     
    Dear Aaron,
     
    My son, I am writing these letters to you because I wish to leave you with the truth of our legacy. You are not yet a year old and I will soon be leaving you, but I trust that you will find these letters and read them when you are old enough to understand. I believe in destiny, and I believe that my letters to you will make a difference in your future and the future of this planet. I am hiding them here in my secret room in our basement, but I know that somehow, you will find them and read them one day.
     
    I was born and raised on a planet called Earth. Never forget that. The rulers of this land will try to make you forget. They will tell you that Earth is a lie. Don’t believe them. When you wonder why I am no longer there to be your mother, you can know it is not because I didn’t love you—I love you very much. The reason I cannot stay with you is because I refuse to teach you their lies. I love you too much to lie to you.
     
    All the nations of Earth were at war when I left. We thought the world was ending. Then a man called Dr. Azias proposed a solution: leave earth behind. He’d discovered a distant planet where human life was possible. The planet was called Azias—he named it after himself when he discovered it.
     
    Because of his wealth and influence, Dr. Azias had the decision-making power of who could go and who must stay. He devised a survey that was sent to any who asked, and of the responses, he decided who would have a place to live on Azias and who must remain on Earth. Your father and I were accepted for the journey, but we were not told what the journey would truly entail. He tricked us, all of us, and that is why we are here.
 
    Because we were traveling at a relativistic speed, more than 30 years passed on Earth during our three