Krista's eyes were fixed on writing her essay. She picked up her laser print pen, clicked it on, and turned the knob to essay script mode. She pressed the trigger and soon she had a finished copy of "The World Now in Utopia." She flew over to her teacher's desk and handed her the paper while floating in mid-air.

"Krista! How many times have I told you not to float around me while I'm correcting papers?" her teacher said.

"Exactly 23 3/4 times," Krista answered, her head hanging down.

"Then get down from there! You're making handprints on the ceiling."

She looked around the room. All students at Utopia Junior High lived at the school. She floated through her well-furnished room and looked out her window at the clear blue water. The world certainly will change after 1980, and I know 'cause I live in the future, Krista thought. She floated to her desk and picked up the picture of her together with her family shot in 1979. She missed them.

"Krista!" a mechanical voice shouted. "It's cleaning time!"

"Not now, P.J. I'm tired."

P.J. was her computer hologram bracelet and her constant reminder to do things.

P.J. projected a hologram of a young woman.

"Be good, Krista, and do what you're supposed to do. I love you. Remember, you can always come back in time to us. Goodbye!" the young woman said softly. Then her image disappeared. The woman saddened Krista, because this woman, she knew, was her mother.

"P.J., I told you never to play that recording," Krista whispered. Suddenly Krista realized why P.J. had played it. She had to decide if she wanted to go back to 1980 before the last porthole closed up forever. She loved her life in 1980, but she loved Utopia too. She just couldn't decide. For a thirteen-year-old girl, this decision was too much to handle.

She shook it off and went to the clean screen. She pressed the button and she was clean again.

"That's my girl!" said P.J.

Krista was very tired. Maybe if she slept on her big decision she would find an answer, so she floated over to her moon cushion bed and fell into a restless sleep.

She dreamed about the time when the porthole to Utopia opened up and she said goodbye. Her sister and brother and parents were so vivid in her dream that she cried in her sleep. Soon this dream ended and Krista felt worse about living in Utopia.

She awoke with a start as she felt sweat pouring down her flushed face. She flew to the clean screen quickly and pressed the button with her elbow. She flew to her closet and pressed a button. A shelf came out with a small pillbox with capsules. She picked out the one labeled "shorts and t-shirt." She threw it on the ground and with a puff a smoke, she was dressed. Then, with her fingers flying, she braided her hair.

She took the clothes capsules. Pressing a button, all the furnishings of her room folded up and turned into a suitcase.

P.J. was on her wrist as she rocketed out of the room. Flying around the corner, she flew to the sea and never looked back until she had flown across the sea and landed on Utopia Islands. There was the porthole marked 1980. It started closing!

She ran toward the porthole to 1980 as it turned into a little hole and closed up. There was a sudden stray gust of wind blowing up her brown hair and she knew it was over. She would never see her family again and she knew in her heart. that even in the future, you are always too late. 1