Star Spark

by Day Leitao

  Carla looked at her. “You’ll be fine. They’ll give you food and a place to live. You could even get a job. It’s a way to make a living. Plus, the truce has been holding for years now. It’s probably going to be renewed. The risk of you going into war is tiny.”

  Tiny. Tiny risk of being sent to die. As if it didn’t matter.

  8

  New Lives

  Dess entered the old civil port with confident strides. It had taken them two days, but they’d contacted him. Whatever they had to tell him was obviously different from what they’d told him before, and he was eager to listen.

  The woman who’d spoken to him was there, as well as the middle-aged man. Dess really should rethink his manners and start asking people’s names. Or start remembering them. He hadn’t been thinking much in the last few days.

  The woman smiled. “There you are. Zizo here was saying you had chickened out. I was sure you’d come.”

  Dess stepped closer to them. “It’s my pleasure. Can I have your name?”

  “Alicia. Just Alicia, in case you’re wondering. We have no titles here.”

  That meant nobody would call him Mr. Starspark. One more thing to like about this place. “Nice to meet you.”

  “So,” Alicia continued, “I was told that you couldn’t afford a ship. Is that right?”

  “I said I didn’t want to pay for it in advance, I never said—”

  She waved a hand. “Sure. Doesn’t matter. Something changed. You could go as a co-pilot. Would you do that?”

  “What’s the payment?”

  She raised an eyebrow. “Half. You’d get 5 thousand shells for a cargo of water.”

  “And when I come back I could buy my own ship?”

  She shrugged. “If you want, of course.”

  “I guess it is a good idea for me to go with someone more experienced.”

  “He’s new, too. We aren’t going to split an older team that has been working well.”

  A noob. Dess wasn’t sure if he’d want to obey a noob. “I’d need to talk to the pilot.”

  “First you accept our terms, then you get to know who your partner is.”

  Dess sighed. It wasn’t as if he had any other choice. He should stand his ground and negotiate, but that was hard to do when he was close to starving. “Sure. What are the terms?”

  When Dess signed the last contract, he realized that he hadn’t done a tiny bit of negotiating. Basically he was risking his life and would get no help from Sapphirlune. In fact, if he were captured or questioned by the Mainland government, they had the right to deny any connection with him. Technically he would be a rogue ship disobeying his government. Other than that, he wasn’t supposed to quit and start living on the planet.

  Zizo injected a chip on his neck. The pain was deeper than physical, it was the pain of knowing he was going to be taken advantage of without much in return. No, there was something in return. He’d be able to make a comfortable living and have the freedom to fly away from that rock. He sighed.

  “Easy there,” Zizo said.

  Right. Dess wasn’t supposed to move.

  “There. You’re ready to fly.”

  Dess touched his neck. “So basically… if I die or if I’m captured, you won’t do a thing to help me, but if I decide to live on Mainland, somebody will come pick me up? Interesting.”

  Alicia looked at him. “It might sound strange, but once you see the ocean, the forests, and the blue sky, you’ll understand why it could be so tempting to forget everything and hide. We can’t risk that.”

  “What if I paid for the ship, though? You’d have nothing to lose. I’m not saying I’m planning on doing that. The idea is ludicrous, but—”

  “Just imagine what would happen if a bunch of our people, military-trained people, changed sides. Our secrets would no longer be secret and that would make us even more vulnerable than we already are.”

  Vulnerable. Dess had never thought of his moon that way. Safe high above in the sky, against a planet that had almost no functioning spaceships left, he thought the moon was pretty safe. Different opinions. “Right. I won’t quit and become a fisherman, you can be sure of that.”

  Zizo pointed to Dess’s neck. “Oh, we are.”

  Saytera shivered under the jacket given to her. Her idea of seeking shelter had been mainly to find some place warm. Instead, she was in a refrigerated truck, staring at dead squids. Guess who was whose food now? Her fingers were still purple and her only consolation was that it wouldn’t be more than two hours. Two hours. Almost freezing to death.

  Her heart tightened thinking of Nowla. Oh, so much guilt. If only she could tell her past self never to get in that boat with Vivian. Now she was away from her home, from everything and couldn’t say she didn’t deserve it.

  And yet she still knew nothing about herself and the mysterious reason she’d been sought by those people.

  Carla’s words came back to her. “Do you think Yansin would have trusted me if I knew whatever secret you have?”

  But Saytera didn’t have secrets. Other people held secrets about her, and she, the most concerned person in all this, was kept in the dark. In the dark. Almost. A tiny red light allowed her to stare at some dead squid.

  At least the woman had given her some information about who those people were. Terens were groups of people who studied ways to bend reality and affect matter. Matterweaving. She knew that. Yansin’s group was one of them, but it was rather isolated. The other difference was that Yansin and her followers didn’t believe in using objects for channeling and concentrating their power, thus the lack of rings, swords, or other metallic objects. Most Terens used those.

  And why two groups? Well, again Carla’s words were vague. According to her, Maxterens were said to believe in their superiority and the right to dominate the universe. Terens fought for peace. Hard to swallow, when Terens were the ones who had wanted to kill her. But Saytera had said none of that, afraid of implicating the woman in secrets she shouldn’t know.

  She remembered when she asked, “But how come they all live on this planet?”

  “They don’t.”

  “But the Mainland System gate is blocked.”

  “We know things that most people don’t.” Interesting her use of we, as if she were still part of that group. Saytera remembered how Vivian had passed right through the monitor ship.

  And that explained why Yansin was going to leave Mainland. Leave Saytera. Leave her islands. Probably because of what Saytera had done, how she’d gone away in the middle of the night without telling anyone, knowing well that there could be some danger. At least if she died of cold, it would be deserved.

  The trip didn’t feel like two hours, but an eternity. The jacket helped a little, but not a lot, when her clothes were still damp and when the truck was cold. If only she could make fire. Well, that was a stupid thought. She’d spoil the squid and risk the truck catching fire. Brilliant, brilliant, Saytera. The only thing she could do for now was focus on the infinite star fire burning within her, in every cell, every atom, and try to make it burn bright and hot, countering the cold outside.

  After a long time, the truck stopped. One of the drivers opened the back door. “Here, girl. The academy is that dark building over there. Don’t tell them how you got here.”

  “Tha-thanks.” She was shivering.

  “Good luck.” With that, he closed the door of the cargo area, went to the front, and the truck left. There was a city nearby, she could see buildings at a distance, but where she was there was only one building, large and ominous, with dark glass walls. It looked small to be an academy, but maybe they were smaller than she’d imagined.

  Saytera walked towards it and knocked on a metal door. No idea what awaited her behind it.

  The ship assigned to Dess was a Zeta-33. It was a civil model, without weapons or shields, but quite fast. It wouldn’t have been his choice. It had a shiny silver polish and sharp angles. Made for civilians to show off. His stomach was growling
, as he’d made the best dinner he could out of some leftover dry cookies. Today he’d come prepared in civil clothes. He missed his pistols, which had remained in his locker in the academy, to which he no longer had access. That said, if they were only going to the sea, he wouldn’t need any weapon.

  He stepped in carefully and a bit wary. His trip would be a nightmare if he had to listen to a noob. One trip. He could get his own ship once he returned. If he succeeded. If he survived. The door was open and he climbed in. To his surprise, the pilot seat was empty. Someone was sitting in the co-pilot seat: Marcus.

  It couldn’t be. “Are you… my partner?”

  Marcus leaned back and laughed. “Haven’t I always been?”

  “Are you sure? You have a good family. You don’t have to do this.”

  Marcus shook his head. “And be another number among the initiates? Nah. I’m good. Plus, we never know, we could all die in six months. At least I’ll have seen the ocean. From up close.”

  “Does your father know about it?”

  Marcus bit his lip. “He does.”

  Something was odd. “And he accepted it. Like that?”

  Dess’s friend was silent for a moment, then said, “He kicked me out of the house.”

  “Oh. Where are you living?”

  He tapped the dashboard. “Here. For now.”

  Dess wanted to tell his friend that this was not for him, that he had better options, that he didn’t need it, but Marcus’s resolute expression prevented him from doing so. One trip wouldn’t change much—unless they got killed—but Dess wouldn’t let that happen. Maybe his friend would quit after that.

  Dess sat down and sighed. “I see. Listen, there’s something I need to say. Once we come back, I want to get my own ship. It’s not that I can’t take orders, it’s just—”

  “That you’re an insanely good pilot and you know it. Why do you think I left the seat for you? Hey, we can be a team.”

  “Your father’s going to skin me alive and think it’s my fault.”

  Marcus chuckled. “Sure. You really need to please my father and everyone in Sapphirlune’s government circle. They’ve been so good to you, recognized all your effort and all, promoted you—”

  “Yeah.” His words were poking his wound. “I get it. What if he hates me, right?”

  “Exactly. You owe him nothing. I owe him nothing. And being free is the most wonderful feeling in the world. You know what it is? Freedom. We do whatever we want.”

  “There are certain procedures.”

  His friend still had a glimmer in his eye. “Sure. I’ve read it all. That said, as long as we come back with the water, nobody will say anything.”

  Water. Dess got up. “Do you know how we’ll get it?”

  “Container on the back with a suction tube. We just have to fly over the sea for a few minutes. I can tell you all about it on the way. It’s a while, you know?” Marcus threw some packages to Dess. “And I brought snacks.”

  “Cookies? We’ll have crumbs flying all over when we go to zero G.”

  “We can keep the artificial gravity on. You can also put the whole thing in your mouth and chew it. No crumbles.”

  “I guess.” Dess noticed the dashboard. Everything had a label explaining what it was for. Definitely a ship for amateurs. “We didn’t have a lot of practice with those civil models.”

  Marcus looked down. “It’s what I could get. My father—”

  “It’s fine. This is fast. Plus, I think all this metallic finish will camouflage us.”

  “We’ll get a better one once we’re back.”

  Dess nodded. “Yeah. I’ll get it. And I’ll pay you back.”

  “As you wish, Mr. Pride.” Marcus laughed.

  “You’re kidding, right? Is everything ready?”

  “I was waiting for you.”

  “Let’s get going, then.”

  In a way, Dess was happy to have his friend by his side, but it was a selfish happiness, as Marcus was defying his family and this wasn’t good for him. Then again, he’d talk to him once they got back. He hit the communicator. “Permission to leave?”

  “In thirty seconds”, a man’s voice replied. Zizo, probably.

  Seconds? Dess was thinking he’d need to wait a few minutes. He took a deep breath while the lights went from yellow to blue. The massive metal doors opened. He hit the antigravity switch then flew into the airlock. As it finally opened, the infinite universe was in front of him. Dess was part of it. On his way to finally set foot on land. Mainland.

  The woman who opened the door to Saytera had brown hair cropped short and wore pants and shirt in a one-piece suit. A jumpsuit. That looked horribly uncomfortable. “Yes?”

  Saytera hesitated, then passed the stick.

  “What’s this?” the woman frowned.

  “For me. To enter the academy.”

  The woman looked at Saytera up and down, a disgusted expression on her face, then closed the door. If she took too long to show up Saytera would need to walk to the city and beg.

  Instead, the door reopened in just a couple minutes. “Follow me,” The woman said. Then she frowned. “Goodness, dear. Where were you? In a refrigerated truck?”

  “Sort of.”

  “Hum. You’ll need a warm shower and new clothes. What’s your name?”

  “Saytera,” she said it without thinking, then immediately regretted it. Carla had told her to give a different name, but she’d forgotten what it was, and for a moment even forgot she had to keep her identity a secret. It was hard to have coherent thoughts while almost freezing.

  “Right. I’m Kia and I’ll be responsible for you from now on. Follow me. You’ll join the others tomorrow.”

  The woman descended some stairs and led Saytera to an underground passage and then a hallway. She crossed some young people wearing white and blue jumpsuits in a material that looked hard and uncomfortable. They looked at her with surprise and curiosity. Some of them laughed and sniggered. Saytera looked back and noticed that more people had come out of the doors to look at her. What were they looking at?

  Kia pulled Saytera’s arms. “Ignore them. After a shower that smell will go away and tomorrow they’ll forget how you got here.”

  That smell. So Saytera stank of squid. What a glorified entrance. Wet, shivering,, and stinky. Her hair was mostly hidden under the jacket, and she noticed that nobody had hair long like hers. She’d probably have to tie it from now on. One more thing she didn’t like.

  The bath place had many stalls with metal doors and no bathtubs. Kia left her there and got out, promising to bring dry clothes. Saytera looked at the mechanism. There was a pipe with a thing from where water probably came. So that was a shower. On the wall, a set of switches she had never seen. Saytera was a stranger in a strange land of which she knew very little.

  Based on her best guess she pushed the silver button in the middle—and screamed, as cold water reached her body. As if she weren’t cold already. There were two other buttons, numbered 1 and 2. She’d need to figure it out. And find a way to belong in this place—at least for now. Yansin would find her, she had to believe it. Meanwhile, she had to learn how to use a shower.

  The uncountable hours in the simulator was nothing compared to the feeling of actually flying. Not that it was harder or different, just that it was real. As they approached the planet, Dess was careful to find the right area to enter the atmosphere. It couldn’t be far away from the continent, where storms could make flying very difficult, and it couldn’t be too close, where they’d be shot from one of the many anti-flight bases on the shore. He’d seen a map of where they were, at least in theory, or at least according to information from years before.

  They descended quite fast. His heart was warmed at the sight of the blue sky and grey ocean. Pictures, videos, and simulations didn’t compare to actually being there, seeing the land in the distance, and the powerful ocean below them. As much as the universe was overwhelming with its vastness, sky and ocean were power
ful and humbling, and Dess felt tiny in his ship.

  Marcus was quiet, staring at the window, then turned to Dess. “I thought I’d never see it.”

  “We’re here.” Dess patted his friend’s shoulder. “Can you set up the water collector?”

  Marcus nodded and got up. “On it.”

  Dess realized that this was a job to be done by two people. Had Marcus not volunteered, would they have partnered Dess with somebody else? He wasn’t sure if he liked the idea. Then again, he knew he’d have to talk some sense into his friend once they got back. At least he’d seen the ocean. It was huge, wild, almost looked like a sentient being with its waves, its energy. They’d take a little bit of that home. Dess wished he could land, walk outside, smell and feel that air. Maybe later, once he got a better hang of where to go and where not to go.

  As he contemplated a future with delightful trips to the planet, his ship was shaken and jerked. There was nothing around them. It was wind. Just wind, although quite strong. A storm he hadn’t seen coming.

  He turned back and yelled, “Stop the procedure. Find a place to hang on tight.”

  Piloting in the atmosphere and in storms was something Dess had trained a lot. Perhaps he’d always wanted to come to the planet. He still had the anti gravity on, although it affected just the weight of the ship. The attraction of the planet affected Dess and his friend. Like he’d simulated so many times, he turned against the wind and turned on the thrusters to counter it. Or maybe he tried. The wind wasn’t coming in one direction, but circling them, like some kind of mini twister. He’d been trained to fly in wind like that. The secret was to power up and get out of its circle. But it wasn’t working.

  Dess was about to lose control of the spaceship, and that meant it could be thrown against a rock, taken too close to the shore, anything, really. All the procedures he thought he knew didn’t really work. Then he had one more idea. The ship was being tossed around because, without the gravity, it was light like a feather. He’d never heard about it or done it in the simulator, but he turned off the anti-gravity.