The Dead Planet Series: Exodus (Book 1)

by Drew Avera

  Chapter 26

  I walked into the cargo bay of the transport and was astonished to see all of the people scurrying around. The transport was enormous. The cargo bay alone could have held the apartment building that I had lived in. The steel structured walls were labeled with identifiers that told you where each passageway led. I imagined that it must be very easy to get lost in the maze that surrounded us. The entrance was wide open and despite all of the people around me I was able to find Kara standing in a line labeled 'Receiving'.

  I ran up to Kara and could see that she had been crying. She was not paying attention to anything going on around her and she did not even see me approaching her.

  "Kara," I said aloud hoping to get her attention. She looked up at me with teary eyes and I could see relief written on her face. She lit up at the sight of me.

  "Serus! I can't believe it. I thought that they had refused to let you board without a ticket," she said as she hugged me in a tightly. I could feel her cheeks spread into a smile when she laughed. "What changed their minds?" She asked.

  "It was White," I said. "He gave me the ticket I had given him when I killed Harling."

  "Are you serious? He gave up his chance of surviving for you?" She asked. I could see her confusion. From what we had previously known, Pontiff White had never seemed like the kind of man to sacrifice for the benefit of someone else. "Surely there must be some kind of catch. He wouldn't just give up his seat without insisting on something in return, so what was it?" Kara was intelligent enough to know that some things are too good to be true. In this case though, it was true, and the answer was very simple.

  "The only thing he asked of me was that I carry out the plan we had made and take down the Syndicate. He wants me to kill them all, every single last one of them. When I do that then my debt will be paid." I said it in a way that made it seem that his request did not match my own intentions. The reality of the situation was that we shared a very similar view towards the Syndicate. I wanted them brought down just as much as White did. We both had something in common in regards to the Syndicate. They had taken our families away from us, and now it was time for pay back. Now was the time for reckoning.

  "How does he expect you to do that?" She asked. "You are only one man. It will be impossible to kill them all." Kara said. Her logic was sound, but I still held hope that I would be able to do what I had set out to do.

  "That is something that we will have to discuss later," I said trying to change the topic of our conversation. "This line is pretty long. What are we supposed to be doing here?" I asked.

  "This is where we get assigned which state room we will live in during the transport. Now that you are here then we can share one. I was reading a handout that said that some staterooms can hold up to four people so we will most likely be sharing with another person or two." She said.

  "Great. Nothing beats sharing a living space with someone you don't know." I said sarcastically.

  "Shut up," she sneered at me. "You know you're lucky to even be here. I wouldn't complain too much if I were you," she eyed me insinuating that I had made a joke at the expense of the thousands of people who would die by staying on Mars. I knew she was right so I kept silent.

  The receiving line was moving at a fairly consistent pace. It took us about half an hour before we were seen by the woman at the counter.

  "Tickets please," the woman said. She was a dark skinned woman dressed in a pink blouse. Her hair was cut to her shoulders and she had a cheery disposition despite many hours of dealing with people checking on board the transport.

  Kara and I both handed her our tickets and she typed some information into her computer. "What are your names?" She asked.

  "Kara and Serus Blackwell," I said. The woman gave me a once over, I could see her eye my gauntlet ominously. I placed my hands behind my back to remove it from her sight. She produced two identification cards and handed them to us.

  "These cards will serve as room keys for your state room. They will also be used as a food voucher. You will be authorized three meals per day and you will need to present this card in order to eat. I have you sharing a small stateroom on level echo. It is state room number thirty three. Please enjoy your stay," she said to us and quickly looked up to the person behind Kara and me. I led Kara by the arm over to the passageway that was led to the echo level. We had to climb four ladder wells to get to our level and our state room was at the end of a long passageway.

  Kara swiped her car and the door to the state room unlocked. She pushed the door open which revealed a small room with a two stacked bunk beds setup with two stand up lockers to hold our belongings. Fortunately the pamphlet Kara had read said that there was a store on board for us to buy new cloths and toiletries. Several months of walking around in dank clothing would have been awful.

  Kara and I looked over the room and I decided to take the top bunk. She sat down in a chair that was in the corner behind the door and sighed.

  "What's wrong?" I asked.

  "It's everything," she said. It seemed that the light was dimming behind her eyes. Reality was setting in and she was taking it hard. "I just can't get over the fact that our home will be no more and instead of the Syndicate trying to save everyone they are just saving themselves. With the exception of the two of us I would be willing to bet that most people on this transport, and the others just like it, are in some way tied to the Syndicate. It's a shame, and I wish that there was something that I could do about it. Something that I could do to make a positive change. Do you understand where I'm coming from?"

  "Yes I do," I said as I turned to face her. I pulled a stool off the top of one of the standup lockers and sat in front of her. "That is the same thing that I am trying to do. I want to make that change, but the only way to do it is to erase the corruption by destroying those who caused it." I ran my hand through my hair and cleared my throat. I looked down at Thom's gauntlet that I was still carrying. I now realized why White had handed it to me. It wasn't that he was surrendering, but he was giving me an opportunity to find his replacement. I looked at Kara sitting in the chair with her head rested against her right hand. She returned the look with a curious expression.

  "What is it?" She asked.

  "Just an idea," I said.

  "What's your idea?" She asked as she leaned closer to me, intent on hearing my master plan.

  "Why don't you join me? You could be my partner in bringing down the syndicate," I said.

  "Really?" She asked in a sarcastic tone. "How am I supposed to help you?"

  "With this," I replied as I held the gauntlet out to her. I could see her reflection in the polished silver as she starred at it, questioning whether or not she wanted to touch it. "You can use this, and I can teach you how."

  She looked up at me and her jaw was slack like she was dumbfounded by my suggestion. She glanced back at the gauntlet and ran her hand over the smooth surface of it. I could see that she was on the fence, somewhere between saying yes and running away. I needed to give her the push that would allow her to make the right decision for herself.

  "This will be your chance to get back at the people who abducted you. The people who tried to kill you," I said. "Together we can go after the people responsible for killing our father." She gasped and looked up at me. She held my gaze for several moments and without looking away from me she grabbed the gauntlet out of my hand.