Ginny belongs to J.K. Rowling. The other characters belong to me. The names are taken from Miranda Flairgold's "A Second Chance at Life".
Summary: This story takes place in 2070. Ginny is not magical and she studies in a muggle school. She has gotten her father's love for technology and therefore jumps at the first chance to see more advanced technology, especially since she would be visiting the moon. Her best friends also signed up with her. Together with six other people, they are accepted and they go onto a trip none of them would forget.
The Exchange (Sci-Fi)
The sun crept out of its slumber and a sleeping world slowly began to wake. The shrill scream of an alarm clock broke the tranquility of the Weasley household. Ginny sat up in her bed. She was feeling very excited today. It was the day of her exchange programme and she would be visiting the place of high technology, the moon.
Minutes later, she was on her way to the underground tove, a lift-like cubicle that had many buttons listing the places one could go to using the tove. Ginny walked into the tove, strapped herself onto a chair and pressed the button with the word "spaceport" printed on it. She braced herself against the speed of the tove as it whisked her on her way to the spaceport.
As she stepped out of the tove, she saw her best friends, Cyala and Rianae, waiting for her. The two friends beckoned her over and soon they were engaged in an interesting and imaginative conversation about what they would see on the moon.
"The people who are going to the moon, please follow me." A gruff voice announced.
Ginny, her friends and seven other students stood up and followed the guard into a hanger. Once there, a cheerful young lady smiled amiably at the nine teenagers standing uncertainly around her.
"Hi, I am Vey. I will be your guide on your trip to the moon. Would you all come with me onto the space rocket?"
Once Vey had made sure everyone was comfortable, she snapped her fingers and the rocket took off.
"When we reach the moon, you would meet the family you would be staying with. The families have kindly prepared their spare bedrooms for you. The families would guide you along."
"Ginny, Cyala and Rianae, you are in Group Ateres. This means you would be staying with the Ateres family. Noir, Daray and Silas, you are in group Namach. The rest of you, Ekara, Fayina, and Xerian, you are in Group Farov. That's all."
As soon as they reached, Vey gave them a pill to swallow, saying that it would allow them to breathe on the moon led them to something that looked like a bigger version of the tove. She explained that it was a teleporting machine and instructed them to get into it. She said "Transportation Centre" and within a second, they had reached. As they walked out of the machine, they were met with a flurry of action. Robots raced around the spacious room, operating the teleporting machines. The teenagers were flabbergasted as they were shooed into another quieter room.
"This is where we part ways. Split into your groups and go into the machines with your groups. When the door is closed, say in a clear and loud voice the names of the families you would be staying with. You would arrive right outside the family's house."
Ginny and her friends walked into a machine and said "Ateres!" Seconds later, they were at the gate of the Ateres mansion. A dark-haired woman walked up to them, introducing herself as Sierra. Leading the girls into the homely-looking mansion, she told them her children were still at school and were not home yet. She brought them to the spare bedrooms.
"Where are the beds, Mrs Ateres?" Ginny questioned, puzzled.
"See those glass cylindrical cubicles at the side of the room? Those are the 'beds'. Inside them, you would be suspended in mid air. This makes sleeping more comfortable since your movements and ways of sleeping would not be restricted. Have some rest and feel free to explore." Sierra explained, then went out of the room to give them some privacy.
Ginny and Cyala went to their beds, wanting to see how it felt to be floating in the air while Rianae went into the bathroom for a bath.
"Wow! Ginny! Cyala! Come!" Rianae shouted.
Ginny and Cyala rushed into the bathroom and saw Rianae staring at a list, her eyes wide with wonderment. The list was filled with pictures with bubbles and scented soaps, each with a name beside it and a short description of what it was. According to the instructions, they just had to key in the names of the scented soaps and bubbles of their choice, then when they turned on the taps, the bubbles and soap would come out together with the water. Eager to try it out, the girls made a choice of large light blue bubbles, medium pink bubbles and strawberry scented soap. They ogled at the water, soap and bubbles that came out and a mild strawberry scent reached their noses.
"Girls, my daughter, Hyashi is here. She is going to her room. Do you want to meet her there?" Sierra told them through their communication bands around their wrists.
"We'll be right there, Mrs Ateres," Ginny replied and the girls quickly turned off the tap and rushed down to meet Hyashi.
"Hello, I am Hyashi. I guess I have to tell you all about our world, it is much more different than life on earth. I have migrated here when I was ten. If you have any questions, I'll gladly answer them. I simply can't wait to take you sightseeing, but it is too late today and tomorrow is still Juteg." At the puzzled looks she got, Hyashi explained, "I think your days are named differently. On the moon, one week has eight days. The days are Niteg, Tooteg, Futateg, Sonteg, Semteg, Juteg, Ionay and Nulay. Ionay and Nulay are what you call weekends. I can bring you around on the weekends, but tomorrow is Juteg, which means that you have to come to school with me tomorrow. It starts at 9am and ends at 7pm. There are four breaks in between, each an hour long."
At this, Ginny and her friends groaned. "We can't even be spared from work here, can we? We better rest a lot before tomorrow or we would fall asleep in class."
"It's time for dinner," A small robot appeared at the door and said in a metallic voice. Hyashi and her newly-made friends made their way into the living room.
"Where is the food, Hyashi?" Cyala asked, frowning at the empty table.
"There," Hyashi replied, pointing to some bottled pills. "Each pill contains just enough nutrients, vitamins, calcium, water, and everything we need for a healthy life. Instead of food, we have a pill every meal. The pills would also allow you to breathe on the moon. There are different flavours and textures for people with different tastes. Would you like to pick a taste?"
Soon, Ginny was sucking on a vanilla flavoured pill, Cyala was chewing on a blueberry pill that tasted like a jelly bean and Rianae had chosen a chocolate flavoured one that melted slowly.
Finishing their pills, Ginny and her friends bade Hyashi goodbye as they went to their room to pack up and prepare for the long day of school the next day.
"Rise and shine. Rise and shine." The small robot woke up the trio, who had spent the first night on the moon sleeping in air.
Hyashi walked into the girl's room, smiling at the waking girls. "It's time to go to school, lazy pigs."
At this, Ginny and her friends perked up. Despite their initial groans about having to go to school, they had been looking forward to attending school on the moon as they wanted to find out what studying was like there. After changing out of their pajamas, they followed Hyashi into the teleporting machine they had came to the house by.
Seconds later, they found themselves at the footsteps of a large school, Akren. The school was made of metal to absorb the heat to be converted into electricity. The rooftop was covered with solar panels as a source of energy too. When they went into the school building, Rianae realized that there was some spongy material on the walls. Hyashi explained that it was used to change the temperature of the room; the material could be controlled so that a fixed amount of heat could come through.
Hyashi led Ginny, Cyala and Rianae into their first class. At the entrance, a robot handed them a pill. Ginny stared suspiciously at the pill before Hyashi explained to her that the robot teachers could not speak very well and therefore transmitted the knowledge through waves. Eating the pill would allow them to comprehend the waves and the knowledge would be imprinted into their minds. With that in mind, Ginny gulped the pill down.
When the lesson started, Ginny was surprised to hear a voice in her head. Also, she could remember every word the teacher said, unlike on earth where she would forget everything before the class was over. The robot teacher also taught all the subjects. The subjects were about the same as usual, Math, English, History and surprisingly, earth studies.
By the time lessons ended for the day, Ginny and her friends were exhausted by the large amount of knowledge they had gained in just one day. They teleported home and had a relaxing bath in the bathtub, then turned in for the night.
At least we'll have fun tomorrow, it would be Ionay, a play day, Ginny thought. Hyashi had agreed to take them to an amusement park and Ginny could not wait to go there. She had read up on the amusement park on the moon before she came here and had found out that there was a room where one could be completely weightless and fly around within the room as if it was in outer space. With this happy thought, Ginny drifted into a much needed sleep. This exchange programme was going to be an eye-opener.