by A M Lopez
The lights turned on revealing the room-sized closet, with many compartments. In each section, there were black space suits with helmets ready for action.
"Strangely, on the piece of land that we’re settled on, there is oxygen. As soon as you step out of this space, the oxygen levels deplete severely."
Aaron still reached in for the suits.
"I'm not going to risk it. Eva, get your suit and zip up."
Eva walked into the room and in front of her compartment. The white shelves were filled with small devices, ones that they've needed in missions before. Eva grabbed her black suit and unzipped it, the rubber passing through her hands. Lowering it to the floor, she easily stepped in and zipped up the side, the overlay comfortable over what she had on. It felt nice and cool, not like wearing layers. Looking back up, Eva took the helmet into her hands and put it on her head, the system automatically turning on. From the suit, she could access the other teammates’ communication devices and Dawn.
"Alright, I'm ready." Eva turned around, just as Aaron opened the closet door and strode out.
"Dawn."
Dawn opened the door, the escalator already down. Unlike what they had confronted before, a star filled sky met them. The surroundings were filled by small pieces of land as if they were meteors. They were in plain space, but the oxygen was still there. The land they were on was still decently large, having harbored the library. Eva could see from a distance where the land ended.
They set their feet on the ground, the grass which was even before, now was in pieces. Everything was torn apart, from nature to the building in front of them.
“I'm still trying to wrap my head around what makes a person mad enough to destroy all dimensions. From what Connor told us, it doesn't seem enough for all this damage." Eva looked over to Aaron, whose face was set into a determined look.
Continuing to walk towards the dated library, Aaron took a while to respond. " “I hate that I don't know, how am I supposed to lead a team into a mission without knowing what we’re up against?" Aaron's voice was frustrated, letting go of what she had kept to herself.
Eva caught up with Aaron, looking straight. "I know that, we all hate it. However, we're all in this together. You don't have to carry every frustration by yourself. This is a team, not a hold everything solo group. I'm with you."
Aaron nodded, her lip twitching up slightly at the ridiculous name. The mood lightened as they reached the library. They walked up the worn white steps, the light fixtures on either side of the building flickering. Its structure was firm, but old.
"This reminds me of a temple that the Greeks used." Eva murmured under her breath, marveling at the detail.
"Maybe it is a temple, but just not to a god." Aaron responded and firmly walked up to the large door. She pushed the door open and widened her eyes.
"What happened here?"
Chapter Ten
The library looked like a palace. The air was as thick as Dimitri's 'special healing soup' and the shelves that went up to the sky were empty, the books in messy piles on the floor. Everything was shrouded in darkness, but their helmets had automatically switched to night vision.
Suddenly, Aaron rushed forward. “Eva, help me out!”
Eva immediately followed her, scanning the area Aaron was running towards. Her eyes widened when she saw what pushed Aaron into motion, a gloved hand poking out from under a fallen bookcase. The two each grabbed a side of the bookcase and lifted it off of a decently large figure, leaving it standing upright. They kneeled and quickly removed the books off of the person, revealing a teenage boy.
He was wearing a short sleeved blue shirt, black pants, and black boots. Above that he had a brown apron that reached his knees, and brown gloves covered his hands. His clothing was worn without rips, and his curly red hair was matted. His light skin contrasted with the dirt and multiple bruises that littered it. Despite his bruises, he didn’t seem to be badly injured.
Eva looked up at Aaron. “What should we do?”
Aaron looked around and sighed. “He needs medical attention. We’ll bring him to Dimitri after a robotic first aid kit looks him over.”
Eva nodded in response, watching as Aaron took off her backpack. She pulled out a robotic first aid kit and turned it on. Immediately, it powered up and flew closer to the guy. The robot moved around the unconscious male before beeping and returning to Aaron. She held out her hand and it landed there, shutting down.
Eva raised a brow. “That was . . . quick.”
Aaron nodded. “Either he’s alright or his injuries can’t be fixed by the robot.”
Eva rubbed her arm. “Let’s hope it’s the first option.”
Aaron tapped on the side of her helmet. “Dawn, we need help carrying a teenage male out of here. Can you get Allison to come help and tell Dimitri to be prepared for another addition to the medbay?”
Eva heard static before Dawn’s voice rung out in her helmet. “I have just notified both. However, Allison is still very busy with my repairs. You two will have to get the boy out on your own.”
Aaron sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Thank you, Dawn.”
Eva tilted her head. “So, do we lift him or what?”
Aaron raised a brow. “No. We’re dragging him. I don’t think we could lift him even if we tried.”
Aaron grabbed the man’s left arm and, following her lead, Eva got the right one. She gave Eva a nod, which Eva returned with one of her own.
“On three we pull him. One. Two. Three!”
The two girls grunted, but were able to slowly drag the boy’s unconscious body toward the entrance.
“I’m really glad we didn’t try picking him up!”
“Even if I agree with you, Eva, now is not the time.”
Groaning, Eva almost tripped on a book near her feet. It was Aaron’s narrowed eyes that made her laugh nervously. The two girls screeched when Aaron tripped, Eva being brought down because of her grip on the guy’s arm. She immediately sat up and looked over to Aaron, who seemed annoyed with their situation based on her furrowed brows.
Sitting up, she looked at Eva. “New plan. Clear the path then drag the unconscious teenager out the door.”
“Sure thing, captain.”
Standing up, the two quickly set to moving books. Eva used her feet to sweep the books to the side, occasionally glancing at the covers and titles. Aaron also used her feet, at times having to crouch and throw the books with her hands. Together they made quick work of clearing their path and headed back to the male.
Aaron sighed. “Let’s try this again.”
Both grabbed onto an arm and looked the other in the eyes.
“One. Two. Three!”
Their slow drag began again. Finally reaching the door, Eva took a step forward to walk through the door. Their feet passed through easily, but when they tried to drag the boy, he wouldn't pass.
"What the heck? Why won't he go through?"
"Dawn, what's happening?" Aaron grunted, trying to drag him through the door.
"It seems the library is surrounded by a blue force field that prohibits anyone who was here during the incident from leaving. It appears this male was here."
Eva and Aaron laid the teen on the floor. "We need Dimitri here, ASAP." Aaron squatted down next to him.
Just as she squatted, a cough came from the male. His body convulsed as a scratchy sound came from his throat. His eyelids fluttered open revealing confused blue eyes. The teen quickly got up, ready to run.
"Wait, wait. We're not here to hurt you, we're getting help." Eva settled in a comforting position.
He looked over the girls, leaning on a wall. Slowly nodding, his raspy voice sounded out. "Who are you guys?" Wariness creeped up on his eyes, making him seem tired.
"I'm Aaron, she's Eva, we're here to help figure out what's wrong." Aaron slowly approached the man. "Do you know why you aren't able to leave?"
He let out a heavy sigh and his body slumped. "Ezra’s the name, I live in the undergro
und communities, work as a blacksmith. I came up here to research a new material, but when I got here, there was a man walking around." He pointed up the stairs. "There is a small lab upstairs, he was rummaging around. I was just reading a book when I guess he got angry and did something." He looked in her eyes. "Who is he?"
Aaron crossedher arms as if a shield was able to prevent anything to happen. "He is a horrible person, and…” Aaron glanced at Eva, who slowly nodded.
“He has the power to destroy planets.”
Panic shrouded his body. "What do you mean?"
"Ezra, the planet was torn apart. It seems as though this library is the only place with oxygen, another thing we don't understand."
He shook his head. “Are there any other survivors?”
Eva winced. “None that we were able to detect, and with how the planet was. . . it’s unlikely.”
The man's tall frame seemed to fold in on himself as reality weighed upon him.
Aaron approached him and settled down. "I'm sorry. We're going to call in support to get you out of here."
He looked up at her with tear filled eyes. "What's the point if everything and everyone I love is dead?"
"They still live on through you. They would want you to survive." Aaron took a deep breath in. "Don't let their deaths go on in vain."
Aaron looked back at Eva who was silently watching the exchange go down. "Eva, call in backup from the HQ. Tell them to get here as soon as possible, and tell Dimitri to get down here. Ezra and I will go check out the lab."
Eva nodded and started to head towards the ship. The world was dark and somber, and the oxygen levels were the same. With every second that went by, the pieces of land began to float further and further apart. No matter what direction she looked, Eva could only see destruction and loss. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a second. Opening them, she moved on, getting stuck in despair wouldn’t help the situation everyone was in.
Tapping the side of her helmet, she began relaying her orders. “Dimitri, Aaron needs you in the library asap. Dawn, open a line of communication between me and HQ.”
Dawn’s voice broke through the almost unbearable silence. “Dimitri is doing a last check on Connor and Arthur, after which he will head to the building. Where would you like to have your conversation with HQ?”
Eva sighed, looking around her. As much as she wanted to talk in Dawn, having the broken world behind her would explain the severity of the situation without much explanation from her.
“I would like to take the conversation out here.”
“Understood, patching you in now.”
Eva raised her arm as her watch’s transmissions were being shown through the suit she was wearing. At first only light was being projected, but then a hologram of the Director popped up. It took all of Eva’s will power not to wince. The Director almost never answered calls, usually it was an AI or communications operator.
“Agent White.”
Eva kept her face emotionless. “Director.”
The man himself narrowed his eyes. “Let’s skip to the point. What happened? Did you capture Richard?”
“No, the energy spike was a trap. Richard lured us here with it and then destroyed the planet we were on.”
“Excuse me?”
Eva tapped her wrist and lifted it up. “See for yourself.”
The Director’s hologram looked around at the floating pieces of planet, brows furrowing. He turned back to Eva. “Why is Astrolabe still on the planet and how?”
“There was a piece of land big enough to land Dawn, who needed repairs. This area is retaining its oxygen somehow. It also holds the library from which the energy spike came from.”
The Director looked around again. “Where is Aaron? Good leaders face their superiors instead of leaving it for their lessers.”
Eva’s hand not projecting the Director clenched, her teeth grinding.
“Well?”
She took a breath. “She is in the library with a man named Ezra, who lived on this planet. He claims to have seen Richard in the library’s lab. Aaron went with him to check it out and told me to request backup.”
“Yet, you haven’t.”
Eva’s eyes narrowed. “That is because a superior began questioning me before I got the chance.”
The Director glared at her and opened his mouth to speak.
Eva cut him off before he could even begin. “Team Astrolabe requests backup at the remains of dimension Libra as soon as possible.”
The Director’s face had turned red with rage. He was about to scream at her when his head turned. He began to talk with someone Eva couldn’t see, their side of the transmission muted. Eventually, he sighed and nodded.
The Director turned back to Eva and unmuted himself. “Backup is on its way. Stay out of trouble.”
His hologram disappeared. Eva let her arm fall to her side, growling. Over the past two years, she had begun to hate the Director. Not only was he a horrible father to Aaron from what little she knew of that situation, but he was also a stubborn man. He would rather have someone follow his orders, no matter how idiotic, than have anyone disobey and do their own thing, even if they had the better plan. He and Eva would clash constantly if Aaron hadn’t made it her job to keep the two as separated as possible.
“Bad time?”
Eva turned to the source of the voice and grinned. Standing in front of her was Dimitri and Arthur.
“You’re up, I see.”
Arthur’s lopsided grin made her smile. “Your eyes are working I see.”
Eva laughed and gestured for them to walk with her, together they headed back towards the library.
She finally decided to voice her concerns. “Is Connor awake yet?”
"Yes, however he needs to stay in bed." Dimitri's eyes sparkled. "Don't worry, he made a dramatic presentation on going out to stay with you."
Eva blushed, the feeling not being a stranger to her. "Let's get inside."
The twins gave each other a look and followed Eva inside the library. "Woah." Arthur breathed in while Dimitri widened his eyes. "It's beautiful."
"Finally, you're here." Aaron said from the top of the disheveled stairs. Her curls were falling out from her ponytail inside her helmet.
They headed up the stairs and into a room filled with scientific equipment. The tables were turned over and puddles of blue liquid were spilled all over the place. Ezra was sitting down on a wooden chair against a wall. Dimitri looked to Aaron and she slowly nodded, having him go check up on the man.
"Hello, I'm Dimitri. I'll just do a quick check-up on you, is that okay?"
Ezra nodded and with that, Dimitri brought out his supplies and began to examine him. Aaron pulled Eva and Arthur aside and brought them to the only table that stood up.
"We found this book," Aaron slid a dusty leather- bound book towards them. "It was lying open on the table, however, we can't read it."
Arthur carefully opened the book, causing dust to fly everywhere. He softly ran the pads of his fingers over the textured pages.
"We'll have to bring this in to examine." Arthur looked up, his hair flopping over his eyes. "Can we do that?"
Aaron nodded. "According to Ezra, you can take any book out of this library. It doesn't have an owner or anything."
Dimitri cleared his throat from behind them, causing Aaron to look back. "He's fine, but I don't know what keeps him bound to this place."
Ezra looked down, and Aaron stood next to him. "It's okay, backup is coming soon. We do have to get going though, we need to stop this man. Will you be okay here?"
Ezra let out a hoarse laugh. "Yeah, I mean, I can't go anywhere."
Aaron went to respond to him, but Dimitri laid an arm on her and inclined his head to the door. Aaron let out a sigh and led the team outside. The walk to the ship was quiet, as if they were mourning something.
Reaching the medbay, Connor was sittingat upright on his bed. Aaron popped in her head, the two nodded at each other an
d she left. Eva shuffled her feet on her way next to him. Once more, his hard- blue eyes roamed over her in a protective way.
"Do we have to go over this every time you're knocked out?" Eva groaned, sitting back in a chair.
A low laugh emanated from his throat. "Of course, it feels like I've been knocked out for years."
Dimitri interrupted from the other side of the room, checking up once more on Arthur. "Of course, it does, I gave you heavy meds so you get better faster."
Arthur rolled his eyes at Connor. "Duh."
Eva and Connor gave out a small chuckle and spent some more time talking before Eva walked out to meet Aaron. The leader had pinged her watch a while ago, asking her to head up to the Control Room.
Eva knocked softly on the door. "Can I come in?"
"Go ahead." Aaron's soft voice came out, barely going through the door.
Eva opened the door, looking for the leader but instead was faced with a horrific sight. Out of the window, bodies upon bodies lined up. They floated around in the midst of space with mouths open, as if crying out for help. Ice climbed up Eva’s body as tears gathered up in her eyes, hands coming up to cover her mouth. Aaron was on the floor, with her knees brought up against her chest. The leader was now fallen. Eva rushed to her side and gathered her up in a hug.
"Why didn't I see this coming? I should've seen this coming." Aaron whispered as if she was afraid her words or actions would cause further damage.
Eva put Aaron's head on her shoulder. "We're going to get him. We're going to get that bastard."
In that moment, the two girls mourned for the lives lost.
Chapter Eleven
The team had reached Headquarters a while ago. However, they had reunited in the Conference Room to take a breather. Connor and Eva were stationed on the bean bag chairs, watching the others. Aaron was seated at the table along with Allison and the twins. They were deep into discussion on what they were going to tell the Director.
"Well, I for one think we shouldn't even go to the Director." Allison huffed and looked down, her blonde locks framing her face.
Aaron shook her head, dark bags settling under her eyes. "We have to go. Let's just tell him the bland truth and try not to get angry at him. "