The Recycled Window

By Anne deNize

Hannah's new house has recycled windows. One is from the exploration spaceship, the ISS Apex, which mysteriously abandoned the crew on its last mission.

The window has seen - and recorded - the whole journey. Can Hannah and friends decode the window's message and rescue the abandoned astronauts in time?

Suitable for 9-12 years.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Anne deNize
• Release date: Dec 8, 2010
• ISBN: 9781452399805

Anne deNize

A New Zealander who grew up on a farm, studied languages and literature then went into computing and business administration. This took her through systems analysis, systems training, software design and IT project management. She is now following a long-held dream to write and combining it with a love for science fiction and a passion for child literacy - writing science fiction and fantasy for children and young adults. Recently she has been branching out into romance, fantasy and science fiction for adults.

Book preview

The Recycled Window

by

Anne deNize

Copyright 2010 Anne deNize

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Chapter 1

That’s a funny-looking house. How come all the windows are different? Hannah liked moving to a new house although leaving her friends behind was hard. But this house looked odd. The windows were all sizes and shapes.

That’s the recycling, said her father. In this area all houses have to contain a minimum of 20 percent recycled materials. Some builders recycle stone or the timbers and some recycle whole components. This one chose to use windows from various sources. It looks like this one on the left is from a church and one over there could be from an old sailing ship.

Weird, was all Hannah could say at this point.

It’s an interesting feature, dear, said her mother. There aren’t many houses like this.

Hannah liked that idea. It was fun having a house that nobody else had. She would write to her friend, Pammie, and tell her about it.

Come inside and see your room, suggested Dad. You’ll like it.

Everybody knows what you’d like better than you do, Hannah thought. She followed her father through the house and up the wooden stairway. It smelled new, woody and sunshiny.

Here you are, Dad said. Your very own room. Hannah stood in the middle and turned around. This was all wood, too. It had a pinewood smell. Her bed from home had been put in place against one wall. It looked a bit bare, being just the bed and mattress; all the bedclothes were still in the box on the landing. The window had a painted wooden frame with an arch at the top. The greeny brass catches on the window were curly and old-fashioned. Her rug with a cat on it would look really good in the middle of the floor, by the bed. She was delighted to see a large bookcase built in on the same wall as the door. All her books would fit into there easily.

She looked down on the front garden. There was a tree covered in pink blossom, dropping pale petals like snow. A bunch of daffodils in the far corner made a satisfying splodge of bright yellow. Her mother was carrying in bits and pieces of bedding and groceries out of the car. It had been a long journey from the old house.

Oh, shut up, damn you! her mother shouted. I’m doing the shopping order tomorrow!

That’ll be the fridge, thought Hannah. It’s probably telling her she needs groceries. She went downstairs to see what was going on.

Her mother was still talking to the fridge. All right then, print a grocery list, she grudgingly conceded.

Printing, said the fridge calmly. Hannah heard the printer in her father’s study start up. It was the way the fridge spoke so calmly, whatever you yelled at it, that annoyed her mother. It always stays cool, thought Hannah, and giggled.

I can’t find a damn thing, exclaimed her mother, crossly. It’s all either in a box or in some cupboard.

Like the place where you put it yesterday? teased Hannah’s father.

Yes, but irrelevant. Be useful instead of just sitting there laughing at me.

Yes, dear, said her father meekly.

"And don’t you ‘yes dear’