I woke with the sun. My window faced east so I caught the first morning rays. I sat up, my chin length hair creating a nimbus around my head from sleep. I combed through it with my fingers as I got out of bed and went to the bathroom. After a quick shower, I dressed and combed my hair. Once I was ready, I went downstairs for breakfast. I could already smell the bacon, eggs, and waffles mom was making.

I sat at the table across from Pete, my older brother. Dad was reading the news at the head of the table, a cup of coffee seemingly forgotten in front of him. Pete also had a cup of coffee which he cupped in his hands, blowing on it and sipping occasionally. I crinkled my nose a little at the smell. Mom brought a cup to me, but mine had hot chocolate in it.

"Morning sunshine." Mom planted a quick kiss on my cheek before returning to making breakfast.

I wrapped my hands around the warm mug. "Morning mom!"

Dad looked up from his reading. "Tiana, what are your plans for tomorrow?" I thought for a moment. Today was Friday. I had school today, but not tomorrow.

"As of right now, I have no plans. Why?"

Dad smiled slightly. "Well, Rasputin keeps asking when you will visit again. It would seem he misses you." Dad had a Russian accent from working with Rasputin. Rasputin was a Warmind. He was an AI whose primary function was the monitoring and protection of earth. There was one for every planet that supported human life, but Rasputin was Earth's. Since Rasputin was Russian by origin, the primary language he used was Russian so dad had needed to learn it in order to work with the Warmind properly. Constant use of the language had given him an accent, especially when he talked about Rasputin.

I smiled. "I would love to come to work with you! Can I mom?" I turned slightly in my chair to look at mom. I had a habit of asking her before I did anything.

"If it is alright with your father, you don't have to ask me silly." There was a laugh hidden in her undertone. I bounced excitedly in my chair as I turned back to my hot chocolate. Mom brought breakfast over shortly after that and we all dug in. Mom made great waffles and the bacon and eggs were always good.

Pete and I left for school not long after breakfast and walked together down the dirt path toward the school. It was a long walk and occasionally dad would let Pete take the Sparrow, but lately Rasputin had been acting oddly. It could have been a glitch, but Dad had been going in to work early each day to try and figure it out. As we walked, dad shot past on the Sparrow. Pete and I waved, but dad either didn't see or was too distracted to wave back.

I lowered my hand, thinking out loud. "I wonder if Rasputin is ok? He doesn't often ask to have others brought to him."

Pete tried to cheer me up. "Don't worry about it too much. Dad will take care of him." I wasn't really reassured, but I appreciated the effort.

We walked in silence for a time before Pete abruptly spoke up. "You know what? I think I know why Rasputin really wants to see you. He has a better memory than we all do apparently."

I looked at my brother curiously. "What? Why?"

Pete grinned. "Even you forgot! Tiana, tomorrow is your birthday."

I stared at him in shock. I'm sure my face looked totally stupid. I had forgotten. Tomorrow was my seventeenth birthday. I did a quick count on my hand to make sure. Yep, tomorrow was the fourth of May. My birthday. "Now I feel silly." I let my hand drop.

Pete and I laughed and joked together, making plans for the evening as we walked. We arrived at school and split up for our classes. I was only half an hour into class when I started to get bored. Now, I love school. I love being around my friends, but I didn't have too many of those. I tended to keep to myself except with family. I started doodling in the margins of my notes in science. I already knew all of the material the teacher was talking about. Occasionally I would write down a word or two, but it was usually not something the teacher had said. Instead, her words would remind me of something Rasputin had once told me on the subject.

The day seemed to drag on. Pete had promised he would take me shooting with his sniper rifle as an early birthday present. I loved Pete's rifle. It had low kickback and a smooth trigger. I had a love of guns and sometimes my tendency to start talking about weapons or Rasputin would make my peers come up with lame excuses and leave. I sighed slightly to myself as I made my way through the halls toward the cafeteria. The food was decent, but not as good as mom's cooking.

About halfway through lunch, the cafeteria started to shake. I felt it through my bones and the table shifted sideways slightly as it rattled. I instinctively grabbed the table, prepared to dive under it should the roof start to come down. The shaking gradually slowed to a stop though, and I relaxed again. I was probably the only one though. The rest of the cafeteria erupted as students and teachers all began to talk at once. I stood, dumped my tray, and left the chaos.

Earthquakes were uncommon in this part of the world, but occasionally a rumble would affect the world as the Traveler made a slight modification. I looked up. The Traveler was visible on the horizon, a big white sphere floating above the planet. Apparently its wanderings had brought it close. It tended to make minor changes to the landscape here and there which were the cause of the random shakes. All the same, you would think that humanity would be used to it by now. Another brief shake rocked my footing, but I kept my balance and the shaking went as fast as it came.

The school was buzzing about the two shakes for the rest of the day, but I watched the clock anxiously. Pete was going to take me straight home so we could get his rifle and go shooting. I hoped he would also let me shoot his Scout rifle, but either way I was just happy to shoot a gun. The bell finally rang and I was the first one out the door. Pete was waiting for me by the gate and I ran up to him. He had a big grin on his face that told me he was as excited to go shooting as I was.

"Ready?"

I nodded, practically bouncing in my desire to go. We raced home, running across the terrain and barely noting our surroundings except where we placed our feet. Pete beat me, but only because his legs were longer than mine. We both changed to more casual clothing and met downstairs, Pete with his sniper and his Scout rifles, and I had my hand cannon. I honestly didn't like the hand cannon all that much, but it was the only weapon dad would let me have until I was older. I resented that slightly, but Pete helped make up for a bit of it by letting me use his guns.

Mom shouted after us as we darted out the door. "You two be careful and make sure you are home in time for dinner!" Pete and I called an acknowledgement as we left, making our way into the woods and up a hill, away from town. We arrived at the top of the hill where the trees thinned a bit and we had a perfect view of the valley on the other side of the hill. Another hill a good 100 yards ahead of us sported targets. There were others dotted through the trees at different intervals.

Pete handed me the sniper rifle. I took it and quickly checked the sights and flipped off the solar setting. I didn't need to burn away the targets. I also made sure the safety was on.

Pete hefted the Scout rifle. "You get the long targets. I'll go for the closer ones."

I nodded. We did this often so the drill was familiar to me, but we always went over it for safety reasons. We both readied ourselves, then began firing. The sound of the shots rang in the valley and a flock of birds scattered to the sky. I several of the targets and then froze as something in the scope caught my eye. I scanned the trees around my last target. Pete noticed my lapse and stopped firing as well. The valley got really quiet, but that could easily be because everything was gone due to loud gunfire.

"They trees are dying." My voice was barely a whisper as I finally realized what had bothered me. It was spring and the leaves were changing to fall colors. The bark was also peeling off of the trees. Many of those trees were too young to be peeling bark. I looked up from the scope as Pete tapped the barrel of the gun, indicating he wanted to see. His Scout rifle's scope wasn't as powerful as the sniper's.

I handed over the gun and Pete peered through the scope at the trees. I got up and walked over to a nearby oak, putting my hand on the rough bark. The bark crumbled under my touch. Looking up, I could see the same discoloration of the leaves. One fell as I watched and I caught it. The leaf had black spots, as if it were already decaying. Pete was saying something and I missed it.

I looked over at him. "What?"

Pete glanced at me and lowered the butt of the rifle to the ground, holding it by the barrel and leaning on it slightly. "We should probably tell someone. These trees shouldn't be dying yet, especially with the Traveler so close." I nodded and looked at the leaf in my hand. I could feel it drying out as I held it. Whatever was causing this was accelerating the death of the tree. Pete and I started back for home, noting how other plants also showed signs of rapid decay. There was also little to no wildlife roaming the woods.

Mom looked up in surprise as we entered. "You two are back early. Is everything alright?" I gave a noncommittal sound as my answer and Pete used his guns as an excuse to go upstairs without answering. I sat at the table, twirling the now dead and dried leaf with two fingers. One of the edges cracked slightly and I quickly put it down.

Mom came over to see what I was doing. "Where did you find that? I thought all the fall leaves were gone by now?"

She moved to pick it up, but I stopped her. "It fell off an oak out by our range. Mom, something is wrong with the trees."

Mom looked a little shocked by the news, but quickly composed herself. "Your father should hear about this. He is due home any minute. You're sure that something is wrong with the trees?"

Pete answered as he came down the stairs, saving me from needing to answer. "All the oaks by our range are young trees, yet their bark is peeling as if they were hundreds of years old and dying. That leaf was moist, like a normal fall leaf, when it fell. Now look at it."

Mom's face told us that she didn't like what she saw. She went back to cooking dinner and Pete and I sat at the table in worried silence. As soon as I heard dad's Sparrow pull up, I shot to my feet. As I did, the leaf crumbled to powder at the wind of my movement. I stared at it in shock. It had only been an hour since that leaf fell. It shouldn't be dry enough to crumble like that at my little movement. The door opened and dad stepped in.

He immediately noticed the tension in the room and stopped, seeing my face. "Tiana, what is the matter?" I shook my head. It made no sense. Pete stepped in and described what had happened. Dad slowly sat after the explanation was over.

He looked at the pile of crumbled leaf. "I saw it on the way home, but I didn't really see the problem until now. What is going on?" His last statement had seemed more to himself than to any of us.

Mom interrupted us. "Well, dinner is ready. Let's eat and then worry about it."

She brought dinner to the table, swept away the dead leaf dust, and sat down with us. I ate slowly, the gears spinning as I tried to reason out why the trees were dying. A disease? Possibly, but not one I had ever seen. Some kind of poison? I doubted that as soon as I thought it. If it was poison it would affect the people and animals as well. There were still animals in the area, if not very many, and the people were just fine. The more I thought about it, it could only really be a disease, unless something totally foreign had done it.