by Day Leitao
Nadia sat by them.
Saytera was confused. “I don’t know. I’m the one who missed the last few minutes.”
Nadia shrugged. “You did it. You turned off the security system. But when we went to pick you up, you had fainted. Christina and Sylvia went to try to find the medical center to see if they could get you anything. I’ll get them back.” She walked away, to the door.
Looking down, Saytera noticed she was still wearing the outer suit, and took it off, then looked around. “Everything is working, then? Temperature, breathable air…”
Larissa laughed. “Imagine if it weren’t. We’d be so screwed.”
“I had some extra air in the ship,” Nadia said as she re-entered the room. “But not much.”
Saytera looked at the terminals again. “This is the communication center.”
“Yep,” Larissa nodded.
“Is it working?”
“We’re testing it. We might need to break it through.”
That shouldn’t be too hard for Larissa, so Saytera was quite hopeful that they were going to accomplish their goal.
Right then, Sylvia and Christina entered the room. Christina sat by Saytera. “Feeling well?”
“Yes.” It was even strange to imagine that she had passed out or anything like that. Stranger was to realize she’d actually disabled the security system.
Christina nodded. “Nice.” She turned to Nadia and Larissa. “We’ll try to see if we find supplies, then.”
Saytera got up. “I’m coming with you.”
Her friend bit her lip. “Sure? You’ll need a zapper. I mean, there were some security droids.”
Christina was among the few people who knew how little Saytera and weapons got along.
Still, Saytera wanted to go out and explore, and didn’t think she’d be much help cracking a communication system. “I’m coming.”
“Let’s go, then.” Christina said.
There she was, about to explore a human construction on a moon, a moon that until then had not seemed real to Saytera, a place she would never imagine she would set foot on. And there she was, going with someone she would have considered an enemy until recently, and someone she… Well, she would never have guessed they could be friends again. If they were getting along, anything was possible.
Victory was not in war, but in understanding. Hopefully people on Mainland and Sapphirlune would see that, too. Or else they would all be done for.
29
Dead Garden
Dess found the familiar gap beneath the fence leading to his old house.
“Are you sure?” Marcus asked.
Of course he wasn’t. Dess looked at his friend. “Stay. Your father will protect you.”
Marcus scoffed. “And miss all the action? No way.”
Dess put a hand on his shoulder. “This is no joke. We don’t know what’s going to happen, but it’s possible that after this… we might have to hide. Who knows?”
“And you expect me to stay here while Sylvia’s there?”
Dess sighed. Of course there was no convincing his friend. “Let’s go.”
“How do you know there’s a hidden gate here?”
Those memories still hurt. How many times Dess had relived the scene, hadn’t gone back for the doll, and their family had escaped. The thing is, they were on an interplanetary ship, so they weren’t going to the port. There was an exit there, within these grounds, and hopefully a functioning spaceship as well. Knowing how much of a coward Tarel was, Dess had no doubt.
“I know this house. And I don’t think anyone will look for us here.”
They walked over the now dried ground. Odd to bring someone else to what used to be his sanctuary, his memory of his lost past, lost family, lost everything. Almost everything. At least Azael had been with him for some time. Now gone, too. In a way, Marcus was the family Dess had left, so it made sense that he should be there. His heart tugged thinking about Saytera, too, but he didn’t know what she was to him yet.
He knew how to deal with the security in the garden, but wasn’t sure what would happen if he tried to steal a spaceship and open the gate. If there even was a spaceship there. This was a huge gamble. The docking station for ships was on the other side of the house. Dess took a deep breath. This had to work.
In seven years, nobody had bothered to change the security system in the garden. Perhaps they hadn’t changed any of the security systems. Dess could dodge the scanners as easily as he could fly a ship in a simulator. They reached the walls of the mansion. Tum, tum, tum. His heartbeat. It had been so long that he’d touched those walls.
There was a window open. The right thing would be to go straight around and try to get to the presumed spaceship parked there. And yet, it was as if the window called him.
Dess turned to his friend. “Stay here. I’ll go up there and back here again. If I don’t show up in five minutes, you can either go around the house and see if you find a ship, or get back through the same gap and then hide.
Marcus pulled his arm. “Where are you going?”
“I’ll be right back.” Dess moved away from his friend and climbed the wall. The window led to a living room. The place used to be warm and lively in Dess’s time. Now it had white furniture which just gave him a feeling of coldness and dread. It didn’t take long for him to find what had certainly brought him here. Tarel’s office. Or at least an office.
There were two terminals, a desk, and some notes. More than that, there was an information stick. Dess pocketed it and crouched as he heard steps coming in his direction. Some luck. Tarel himself.
He spoke on a comm. “She can’t have gone to the Tahari Moon. Its defenses are up.”
The man paused, as if hearing something, then sighed. “Find the Starspark boy and we’ll get our answers. He’s responsible for that.” He paused again, then said, “Right. I’m waiting, then.”
And would keep waiting. Provided Dess could control his sudden urge to come out of hiding and punch him. Now he was the concerned father—blaming Dess, who had absolutely no say in what his daughter had done.
Tarel stepped out of the office. Dess would need to climb down this window. It was a steep descent. It would have to do. After looking around, to check if nobody was getting back, he went to the window—and then Tarel entered again.
Dess shot him with his zapper before any of them could say anything. Hopefully it wouldn’t kill him, for Nadia’s sake at least. Then Dess crossed back to the other window and climbed down, trying to forget the odd feeling of walking in that house when it was the same and yet completely different.
“What was that about?” Marcus asked.
Dess shook his head. “Getting in trouble.” Then he smiled and pulled a stick. “And some information.”
“I’m sure the girls have it all.”
Dess shrugged. “Never know.” He gestured to his friend. “Come.”
They walked around the house, pausing when the scanner moved, and came to the side. There was a spaceship there, by an auto opening station. This was made for a quick escape for the moon. Something that could be quite useful in case they learned that the city would be under attack. Interesting. This was not exactly where his family had died, but another station, connected to the same gate out of the city.
“We’ll never open this,” Marcus said.
Maybe not. Then, maybe, it was worth a try, in case the override security still existed. He remembered his mother taking his hand and explaining to him how he could hop on a ship and escape. Strange that they thought perhaps Dess would need to do it on his own. But he would never be able to do it, not alone, not so young. And yet, if the security system hadn’t changed, he could do it now. Dess pressed his hand on the panel—and it lit.
“Let’s go. There should be a 20-second countdown.”
The ship also opened to his hand. Idiots. They thought they had killed Dess’s entire family, including him.
“How are you doing this?” Marcus asked.
“Luck.
” In a way, it was true.
When security guards came shooting, they were already escaping the circle protecting Sapphirlune city and in open space.
Marcus leaned back and sighed. “You think they’ll send anyone after us?”
“No. I think they want to know where we’re going.”
“Then they’ll find Sylvia.”
Dess shook his head. “They would find her regardless, Marcus. I doubt they went there to hide.”
They were in a large building, which was probably meant to be the center of operations in the Tahari moon. Saytera, Christina, and Sylvia came to a huge deposit with heavy mining machinery.
“It’s weird, isn’t it?” Sylvia asked. “To see this all empty.”
Not so much. In a way it reminded Saytera of the hangar in the Academy. “A little. We have abandoned spaceships on Mainland, too.” Then she wondered if she was giving the enemy too much information, which was ridiculous, since she wasn’t sure who her enemy was anymore.
“In Sapphirlune, too, they’re on standby,” Sylvia said, thoughtful.
Christina looked around. “It’s all here waiting until it’s useful for someone outside our system. We’ve all been duped, that’s what I think.”
“That’s the truth.” Saytera sighed. “Let’s go. There should be a residential area somewhere. We’d better find it.”
Sylvia took a moment, looking back at the machinery. “Do you think… we’ll make a difference?”
Saytera shrugged. “No way to know other than to keep trying.”
Then, Sylvia’s comm beeped. The girl opened the audio for them all to hear. It was Larissa. “Do you think you can disable the main cannon?”
“But it keeps us safe, doesn’t it?” Saytera asked.
“They’re friends.”
Saytera wasn’t sure if she could be that precise. “If the cannon’s controlled remotely, the only way would be to deactivate it. But then…”
“Leave it,” Nadia replied. “You’re right that it keeps us safe. They should be able to land just like we did.”
“It’s Dess?” Saytera asked. Then she realized she should have stayed quiet.
“I think so. I’ll get back to you.” The comm was turned off.
Sylvia looked at Saytera. “You know him.”
“I know he’s a good pilot.”
The girl shook her head. “No. I mean. You know him. Was it you with him when he crashed in Mainland? Are you planning something?”
Saytera stepped back. “We aren’t planning anything.”
“You didn’t answer the first question.”
The question sounded accusatory and Saytera didn’t like it. She looked at the girls’ eyes. “Yes. I crashed with him in Mainland. But him rescuing us was a coincidence. Why?”
Sylvia looked away and shrugged. “It sounded… convenient.”
“It sure was.”
The girl looked down and away. “You could have told us.”
“I didn’t know you or trust you.” Saytera paused. “Let’s go to the communication room, see if they need help.”
Sylvia sighed and was the first to head to the door. Christina glanced at Saytera, as if surprised, then did the same.
They entered the communication room.
“Where are they?” Saytera asked.
Larissa glanced at her. “The equipment here is toast, but they contacted us.”
Saytera was anxious, worried about Dess, even if he hadn’t been the nicest to her last time she’d seen him. “Contacted. In the past. What about now?”
“They’re too busy to talk,” Nadia said.
Meaning avoiding the canon. “If I know where it is, we can stop the current going to it,” Saytera said. “I don’t want them risking their lives.”
Nadia leaned back. “I got us here. Dess should have no problem, since, you know, he’s soooo much better than I am.” She chuckled.
“That’s not funny.”
“I’m serious, Saytera,” Nadia replied. “That guy would sleep in the simulator if given the chance. He’ll make it.”
“True.” Sylvia rolled her eyes. “I’d say flying simulator is his sexual orientation.”
Larissa turned to Saytera. “They’ll land inside, though. We got the gate.”
Saytera was still barely able to breathe.
Nadia got up and approached Saytera. “Hey. Chill. Look at Sylvia. Her boyfriend’s there, and she’s calm.”
The girl looked down. “He’s not my boyfriend.”
Nadia rolled her eyes. “Right.”
“What about you?” The dark-haired girl shot back. “Also quite calm when your lover’s there.”
“Not lover. Just… a failed experiment.” Nadia shrugged.
Larissa chuckled. “Why? You thought he could make you straight?”
“Sort of.”
That conversation was uncomfortable. What Saytera really wanted was to see Dess and Marcus landing and safe. “Where are they landing?”
“The inside port, so that’s much better than us. But we’re not sure how to get there,” Larissa said.
Saytera looked around and remembered the little she saw of the structure from space and from when she was walking outside it.
“I think I know where to go.”
She ran towards a door and pressed to open it. And got no result.
Larissa was beside her. “We’re figuring out the doors. But I need to control the gate first.”
Saytera sighed and sat down, watching as her friend focused on the controls. There wasn’t much she could do right now, and that was agonizing. She wished she could help Dess the way he’d helped her when they had been adrift in space. Sitting and waiting was dreadful.
Larissa turned to Saytera and smiled. “Landed.”
Saytera closed her eyes. So much relief.
Her friend was in front of her. “Let’s find them.”
Saytera was rather thinking of the way he’d ignored her in Sapphirlune. “You go. I’m fine here.”
Larissa knelt in front of her and whispered, “You’re dying to see him.”
Saytera didn’t understand why her friend was insisting, after everything. “Yeah. He was so nice to us…”
“Give him a chance to tell his side of the story,” Larissa said.
“I don’t need to go to the landing pad for that.” Saytera wasn’t even sure how he’d act in front of her, and wasn’t looking forward to it.
“Stubborn.” Larissa shook her head.
Only Larissa and Sylvia went to meet Dess and Marcus.
Nadia, Christina, and Saytera were quiet for some time.
“You know,” Nadia said. “They were supposed to stay in Sapphirlune.”
“Wouldn’t they be in danger, though?” Saytera asked.
Nadia sighed. “That makes sense.”
Saytera had a curiosity. “And why has nobody else come after us?”
“I hide my trail well.” Nadia laughed.
“They found us.”
“Nah. Sylvia told Marcus. She pretends she doesn’t but she’s crazy about him.”
Saytera smiled, remembering him saying her name on the island. “He loves her, too.”
Nadia narrowed her eyes. “How do you know?”
It was better to admit it. “It was me. On the island with them.”
“Oh.”
“But the fact that we ended up in space, that was coincidence. I never planned on leaving Mainland. I just wanted to know what was happening and then tell my people. It was just a desperate escape.”
“You knew you would find allies in Sapphirlune, though, so maybe you meeting them, in a way, helped you decide to risk going into space.”
“That makes sense,” Saytera conceded.
“Thank you for coming to us,” Nadia said. “We’ll make it right. We’ll end this war.”
“Why are you so cheerful?” Christina asked.
“It’s already hard to do what we’re doing. If I start to doubt us, then we’ll ju
st be paralized.”
Saytera took a deep breath. “But there’s so much that doesn’t depend on us.”
Nadia smiled. “Why we must nail our part.”
Saytera smiled back. “We will.”
The door opened and Dess stepped in. Saytera got up, stunned. He was outrageously good looking and it was hard to ignore it. With his eyes locked on hers, he ran to her and held her face in his hands.
“How are you? Are you hurt?” His voice had the ability to speed up her heart.
“I’m fine,” she managed to reply.
He took her hand. “Can you come with me? I need to talk to you.”
“Sure.”
Saytera followed him, without any idea where she was going, surprised that the doors were working.
They were in a deposit with empty shelves.
Dess stared at her.
“What is it?” she asked.
He was silent. Saytera looked down, then felt his hands pulling her face gently towards him.
Then she didn’t see anything more. He was kissing her. There was no darkness outside or inside, no stars. Just them and their fire becoming one. One universe, one ocean, two in one. One breath. One heart divided in two, setting the same rhythm.
And then they were apart again, his eyes on hers.
Dess smiled. “I wanted to do that from the moment I met you.”
“When you were pointing a pistol at me?”
“You had a bow and arrow. That causes a reaction.”
Saytera had a light laugh, but then decided to get to what had been bothering him. “Dess, in our testimony—”
He caressed her face. “I know. I’m sorry. That Tarel guy, he threatened to kill you. I thought…” He looked down, then back at her. “If he thought I didn’t care, I thought you would be safer.”
“Oh. Can we trust his daughter, though?”
Dess shook his head. “I don’t know. Sylvia I kind of trust, but Nadia…”
Saytera remembered the girl’s words, and how hopeful she sounded. She remembered her fear when bringing them to the moon. “I think she’s fine.”
“Let’s hope so.” He then looked at Saytera. “You called me, didn’t you? When you were adrift.”
“We sent a signal.”
