Galax-Arena

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Galax-Arena, by Gillian Rubinstein, is a 1995 science fiction novel following 3 children who are kidnapped by aliens, though it is not particularly science fiction (in fact, in some ways it is anti-science fiction). It deals with issues of slavery, what we know vs what we believe to be true, the difference between children and adults, street people (children), and spirituality, to an extent.

The book is written as though Joella is writing it from her memory. She begins with an account of what life is like now for her family, and then tells the events that led up to this.

The Galax-Arena itself is a stadium-type place where human children perform death-defying stunts of gymnastics for a crowd. There are no safety nets or anything, in fact death is sometimes encouraged by their trainer Hythe. The children are forced to grow up very quickly in order to survive, but most of them already have, as they were street kids before they were kidnapped.

Those who can't perform, like Joella, and later Mariam, are taken to be pets. It is here Joella discovers that the Peb, as the children call themselves, are not performing for aliens, but for humans in costumes. It is part of an elaborate set up to make the children believe there is no way out, and because they believe it, it becomes true. They are actually still on Earth, but refuse to believe it when faced with the evidence. Only seven of the 30+ Peb get out, because only those 7 believe it possible that there is any hope left.

There was later a sequel, Terra-Farma. This picked up the story a year after Joella and her siblings left the galax-arena, and follows their further brushes with Project Genesis Five, the organization who created the Galax-Arena. There was going to be a third novel called Universercus that would conclude the trilogy, but it was never published.