Space Station Crisis: Star Challengers Book 2 Read Online Free PDF Page B

all frustrated, Zota explained, “Your confusion came from the fact that the small hairs in your inner ear initially told your brain that you were spinning. After a short time, the fluid in your inner ear began to spin at the same rate as the hairs, so you felt like you had stopped. Finally, the hairs sensed that you were slowing down, but since you thought you were already stopped—without sight or hearing to help you correctly decipher the inner-ear signals—you misinterpreted the slowing down as a reversal to spin in the opposite direction. Now, Cadet Park, if you would be so kind as to sit in the Bárány chair…?”
    Song-Ye, who had watched everyone else take their turns, hesitated. “I … get dizzy, and I don’t like carnival rides.”
    “Come on, it’s fun,” JJ said. “A peek into what astronauts feel.”
    “That’s what I’m afraid of.”
    “You’re a dancer,” Dyl pointed out. “Twirling should be a piece of cake.”
    “But I don’t dance blindfolded, Junior. We have tricks to keep us from getting sick, but we have to be able to see” Song-Ye took a deep breath and nodded with obvious reluctance. “Okay. Whatever.” She sat in the chair, put on the goggles and headphones, and let Zota twirl her. Growing pale, she clutched the arm of the chair with one hand, while pointing in the direction of spin with the other. Before the chair stopped, though, she yanked off the goggles and hunched forward, pulling in heavy breaths. “I’m going to be sick if this lasts any longer.”
    Zota’s lips pressed together in a concerned frown. “Perhaps you should stay behind on the space-station mission, Cadet Park. The discomfort could be quite—”
    “Pfft! I’ll grit my teeth and get through it.”
    Tony looked surprised. “Boy, you guys sure like these Challenger Center simulations.”
    “Just wait,” JJ told him.
    Zota straightened and spoke with great intensity. “You are as prepared as you’re going to be. Because you changed the future last time, you will be traveling to a time that’s much like my own, but there will be differences … whether small changes or large ones, I cannot tell. This is unknown territory. Remember, the future is your choice. The decisions you make affect what is to come.”
    He led them out of the room toward the painted airlock door. He paused, looking at all of them with a concerned expression. “In my time, there were no survivors when Moonbase Magellan was destroyed. After the attack, the ISSC was Earth’s watchtower, a place from which to monitor the Kylarn invasion—until the aliens took it over and used the space station against us. After that, we didn’t have a chance.”
    Zota closed his eyes as if he didn’t want to look at the cadets. “I did not know much about Earth’s space program then. I watched the horrific battles and saw the violence the Kylarn unleashed, how many millions were killed.… our cities, our monuments, our works of art, all destroyed. Fires raged for weeks and months across the continents. Refugees were everywhere.” He opened his eyes, and he looked pale. “The Kylarn set up camps and began to perform experiments on prisoners.”
    “Maybe we’ve already changed that,” King said. “We discovered the secret alien base much earlier, and we helped the Moonbase crew.”
    “We won’t know what changed until we get there,” JJ said. After hearing Zota’s story, her heart was pounding, and she was even more determined than before. “Come on, I’m ready to go.”
    “Perhaps you can save more of the future,” Zota said, “but remember, your primary mission is back here. None of those terrible events have happened yet, and if Earth can be prepared, then the aliens won’t conquer us so easily.”
    Song-Ye said, “Maybe the Kylarn won’t even try if we look like too much of a challenge.”
    Tony leaned toward JJ. “You never mentioned these simulations had such a complicated set-up! Good thing I’ve done enough