by Day Leitao
“Got to the right place, boy! We always take pilots. It’s the pilots who don’t want the job.”
Job was a magic word. That caught his attention immediately. “What is the job?”
“Where do you think we get our water from?”
That was easy. “There’s a desalinator right beside this building.”
“Indeed. You don’t think it produces water, do you?”
It hit Dess. The desalinator was right beside the civil port. He looked at the man and frowned. “We bring it from the planet?”
“Well, that’s obvious, isn’t it?”
It was. And Dess had never thought about it. “But how can one get down there if they’re shooting every ship that comes close to the continent? Do they go to the other side of the planet?”
The man shook his head. “Too many storms. You need to get near the continent, and be good enough not to get shot, that’s all.” He looked at Dess and frowned. “But you don’t have experience, do you? That might not be for you.”
“I know how to pilot. My stats at the simulator are the best in the academy.”
The man leaned back laughing. “That’s a toy, kid. But I guess there aren’t any more real pilots left but toy players. Alicia said you would be interested. Are you interested in risking your life?”
Alicia was probably the woman who had told him to come.
“What are the terms?”
“You’re a private operator. Technically, nobody knows about you. You buy a spaceship, and then when you bring the cargo we pay you. You should start with water, since it’s easier.”
“I have to pay to risk my life?”
The man waved a hand. “Not a lot. But we can’t risk losing ships or you taking a ship, not coming back, you know…” He pointed to the glass. “They’re not expensive. They vary from a thousand to about fifty thousand shells each. You’ll get ten thousand shells for a single cargo of water.”
Dess didn’t even have a hundred shells. Most of his wage went into his tuition, and it wasn’t as if he earned a lot. But if he would make the money back… “Can’t I borrow the money?”
The man grimaced and shook his head. “I doubt anyone will be willing to lend to someone who’s risking going to Mainland.”
Dess’s stomach sank. For a moment, he’d felt a flicker of hope, even excitement, to really fly out of that city, get to know the planet, nature. Plus, do something useful, put his knowledge into something practical. But he decided not to show his disappointment. He doubted a lot of pilots were eager to take that job, and it seemed that there were a lot of work-related casualties. They should be desperate to get a pilot.
He shrugged. “Well, then, when you run out of people and wave this payment, come and contact me.”
He took his personal token and tapped on a screen, so as to give the man his coordinates. Dess turned around and walked outside. He was sure the man would run after him. Instead, he went home followed only by silence.
Saytera felt as if her muscles had been paralyzed, and that was a relief, since that was better than dying.
Then she felt someone putting a hood over her head, so that she couldn’t see anything anymore. Saytera and Nowla were pushed while still hooded. A strong hand over her mouth prevented Saytera from yelling. Still, she held hope that someone would see the scene and help them because it must have been obvious that they were being captured. Nobody did, though. They stepped on something with a metal floor. Hollow metal floor, echoing their steps. Probably a boat. Then someone removed their hoods, pushed them into a room and closed its door. Nowla was there, pale, eyes wide. It was a tiny room, less than two meters long and wide, with no bench, chair, anything. The walls were made of metal sheets. No windows. The unsteady ground confirmed that they were on a boat.
Nowla looked somber, then sighed and sat on the floor, on a corner. “At least they won’t kill us.”
“Yet.” Saytera wasn’t sure what they’d do once they figured out which of the girls was the one they wanted.
Nowla stared. “You’re so cheerful, Saytera.”
“But it’s true. We need to escape.”
Nowla gestured around her. “Well, if you find a way, be my guest. But don’t forget that some of the boats we saw in the village were squid hunters.”
“Why should I care about the marine life in the area?”
“If you jump in the water they might kill you.” Nowla shrugged. “Not that there is any way to jump out of this box.”
Saytera didn’t want to give up the hope of escaping. No windows. She checked the door. It didn’t have a mechanical lock, but some kind of electrical system keeping it locked. If only she could turn it off as if it were a lamp…
She sat down by Nowla. “Vivian gave her life so that we wouldn’t be taken by them.”
“It was a good try. She failed, though. Sometimes we fail, it happens.”
“True. But don’t give up.” She decided to go to the door again and see if maybe there was a way to force it open. She pushed it. To her surprise, it moved. It led to an empty hallway. Saytera turned to her friend. “Let’s go.”
Nowla was still sitting, and shook her head in fast movements. “Don’t. I’m not jumping in that water.”
Saytera crouched in front of her friend, dreading the precious seconds she was losing. “Let’s try.”
Nowla grabbed Saytera’s hand. “Please. These people don’t mean to kill us, or we would have been dead already.”
At that moment, it was clear that Nowla would never try to escape. And it was a foolish, risky idea anyway. But she had to try. She had told herself she would listen to her gut, and she had a horrible feeling that she had to leave that boat right away.
She looked at her friend’s eyes, trying to see if she changed her friend’s mind. “Please. We have to try.”
Nowla held tighter. “There are things in the water. You won’t survive. Don’t leave me.”
A hard place to be. Saytera didn’t want to leave her friend, but she didn’t want to remain there either. There were so many things worse than death. Then she figured that if she escaped, she could help for Nowla. If she stayed, they’d both be doomed. “I need to try. I’ll find someone to help us.”
“Don’t go.” Nowla’s eyes were misty.
Saytera pulled her hand and walked out the door, heaviness in her chest, feeling like the worst friend in the world. She understood that Nowla was frozen with fear, but she wasn’t, and she could at least try, so why not? The hallway was empty, but she looked for a side door from where there could be a window, a door leading outside, something… She didn’t dare look back at her friend. The friend she was leaving—if she managed to escape.
There was a ray of light coming from one of the doors and she swung it slowly—to see a man reading a datapad. But there was a window. Saytera ran as fast as she could towards the window. It led to the sea below! The man pulled her leg but she kicked his hand with the other leg and jumped. Her body was then submerged in cold water, and she heard yells coming from the surface. As much as she wanted to breathe, she kept under the water, moving away from the boat. When she felt her lungs couldn’t take it anymore, she allowed her face to go up. A projectile hit the water beside her, and she dove, this time determined to make the longest distance she could before getting more air. Her life, her freedom depended on it.
It was then that she felt it; something wrapped around her leg and pulled her to the bottom. Squid. Right. She cursed for not having any cutting object, any weapon. She tried to kick it with the other leg, but it got entangled as well. Perhaps Nowla had been right that trying to escape was stupid.
Saytera was pulled away from the boat and the projectiles. One good side. The bad side was that her lungs were about to betray her and try to suck oxygen from water. If only her matterweaving had been better, she could perhaps do something to that squid. Now she was about to be taken to some deep, dark depths, and become food for the food people ate. No. That was incorrect. Squid didn
’t eat people. They only ate small fish. What was it doing, then? Self-defense.
Struggling and trying to attack it wouldn’t help her. Saytera tried to close her eyes. One big ocean. Stars in the universe, stars within. At which point did her life end and the squid’s start? Weren’t they both part of something bigger? Gears in the machinery of life. Saytera tried to relax her muscles, while at the same time focusing so as not to try to breathe water. She felt a tentacle lose hold of her leg, and immediately went up to the surface. As she caught her much needed air, another tentacle pulled her down before she even knew in which direction the boat or the coast was. Of course, her sudden movement must have startled the creature.
Now she was again being pulled. This time it was easier to relax, as she focused on letting the air in her lungs leave her body slowly, sparkly bubbles against the sunlight coming from above. One ocean. One starfire. Saytera wasn’t going to try to fight the animal. Poor thing, more scared than she was, so often hunted. Time passed, like an eternity in a few seconds. Her lungs were out of air and tempted to try to breathe water. Saytera decided to be the water, let go, and hope for the best.
To her surprise, the squid let her go. She emerged and saw that she’d travelled a lot more than she’d guessed. She was far from the beach, but far from the boat where she’d been. There was a rocky shore up ahead, with waves crashing against it, and she’d need to avoid it. But this wasn’t the time to try to swim anywhere. Instead, she dove again and remained there, for as long as she could, coming up only for some air.
The boat was a spec in the distance—and then it wasn’t. A bright flame consumed it and a loud bang reached Saytera’s ears. No, no. This couldn’t be real. But there was no boat, just bits and pieces scattered around it. Bits and pieces. No more boat. Some strange reality, strange nightmare.
Her friend was gone. Why, why hadn’t Saytera insisted? But then, how would Nowla have survived the squid? Regretting wouldn’t help, wouldn’t change anything, except that if Saytera had stayed on her island, none of this would have happened.
Saytera’s body was cold and she wouldn’t be able to stand much longer in that temperature, but she felt cold inside, and numb. But dying in that water wouldn’t bring anyone back, wouldn’t change anything.
There was a sandy beach in the distance. As weak as she was, she forced her legs to propel her forward, cloudy water and waves above her. After a long time, the bottom of the sea was close enough that she could get up and walk, and so she did, until she collapsed on the shore. No, she shouldn’t stay there. Somehow, she still feared someone could find her. She walked to the woods surrounding the beach, so that at least nobody would spot her from above. If there was anyone. Perhaps she was paranoid.
So far, she’d escaped. She had a squid to thank. Saytera took a deep breath. She was free—probably. On the other hand, she had no money, no contacts, no food, no means to hunt or defend herself, and no way to go back to the islands. Plus she’d left her friend behind—and now she was dead. Saytera took a long, deep breath. She couldn’t change the past, just try to fix what she could for the future. Alone and helpless, with no idea where to go, she’d have to figure out a way to survive.
Marcus’s eyes were gleaming. “So you could go to Mainland?”
Dess shrugged. “If I manage not to get shot, sure.” He still hadn’t mentioned the money issue, and even so, his friend seemed a lot more fascinated with the job than Dess would have predicted.
“But if people go there, there’s a way. I mean, there’s a way to go there and back. Do you know what this means?”
“A lot. But tell me what you’re thinking.”
“Freedom. And the power to actually do something that matters. Isn’t it what you always wanted?”
Dess shifted in his seat. They were in his small kitchen, drinking artificial juice, one of his last food supplies. Dess had never told him who he was and what had happened in his past, so his friend had no way to know that he also wanted justice. But yes, he wanted to do something that mattered too, except he wasn’t sure if getting water was the solution.
He sighed. “It’s not like I’ll be fighting or collecting information.”
“Why not? Once you figure out how to get to the planet, the rest is just a matter of planning.”
“Yes…” He decided to change the subject. “And how’s life as an army initiate?”
“Boring. Normal. We don’t do anything different other than training and stuff. There are more people there.”
“You don’t like it?”
“I don’t know. I feel I’m just… just a number. You got lucky, Dess, you can do something unique.”
“I haven’t said yes.”
“Are you insane? If I could, I’d be right away setting course to Mainland. Imagine, you’ll finally be able to see the ocean from up close. Mountains. Real nature.”
Dess laughed. “You talk as if I was going on a tourist expedition or something. It’s not a vacation.”
“But you’re going, right?”
“Uh, yeah, once I figure out certain things.” He didn’t want to tell Marcus that he couldn’t take the job because he couldn’t buy a ship.
“And what if you don’t take it? What are you going to do? I still think they’d take you back, you know?”
“I’m considering a few options.” The options were pretty much starving or trying to find work in the mines or some other kitchen, but he didn’t want to say it.
Marcus laughed. “Something funny. They say the food in the academy sucks now that you’re gone.”
“See? I have at least some value. I won’t say I’m upset that Serra and the teachers have to starve a little. They deserve it.”
Ideally Dess should have talked to whomever replaced him, explained some of the droid’s particularities, but it wasn’t his fault they didn’t value his work.
Marcus said, “They should give you a medal for the wonderful work in the kitchen.” He then looked at Dess seriously. “So you really aren’t coming back?”
“You know the answer.”
Marcus nodded, thoughtful. “I do. I really do. I know the answer.”
The cool breeze from the ocean didn’t help Saytera, whose fingertips were purple. If only she could make fire. Why think about that now? What she had to do was figure out a way to go back home, but her mind gave her no answers. No boats would take her there—especially when she had no means to pay them. Plus, nobody knew how to get there—not even her.
Perhaps she shouldn’t worry so much about her future because if she didn’t do something soon, she might not have any. What she had to do was find shelter and maybe some food. Surely someone would be kind enough to give those to her. Saytera was unsure of direction, but she spotted some hills and walked in their direction, figuring she was distancing herself from the village. That place still gave her the creeps and she would rather not bet her life on all of those people being dead. She still felt a heavy weight in her chest thinking about Nowla.
A sound of leaves cracking caught her attention. Somehow, she knew it wasn’t an animal. A person. Perhaps she could deal with just one person, if they didn’t shoot weird fire or who knows what from their hands. Saytera grabbed a rock and a twig but then decided it wouldn’t do much if they decided to use matterweaving. It was better to play along to whatever they were going to do.
A woman approached. She had clothes similar to the villagers, but wore a skirt.
“Saytera?”
“Who are you?”
The woman raised her hands. She had no rings. “My name is Carla. I was sent by Yansin.”
Saytera took a step back. “Can you prove it?”
“The last thing she told you was that the sun would rise again.”
Saytera exhaled in relief, as she remembered those words. There had been nobody else around them at the time. She could hardly believe this was true.“You’re taking me home?”
“I’m getting you to a safe place. You’ll need to hide for a
while. Yansin’s location has been compromised. They’ll have to hide as well.”
“Where are we going to hide?”
Carla took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Saytera. You can’t rejoin them right away.”
The same feeling of cold numbness she had in her fingers was now taking hold of her whole body. It wasn’t just the woman’s words, but her apologetic expression.
Saytera asked, “Can you help me, though?”
“Yes. Yes.”
“I need warm clothes.”
The woman looked at Saytera up and down. “We could perhaps swap clothes. There’s no time.”
It was then that Saytera noticed that the woman was pregnant. No way she’d give cold, wet clothes to a pregnant woman. She shrugged. “I can keep my clothes.”
Carla nodded. “There’s a truck going to Kamia, and you’ll have to get in it. In that city, look for the military academy. Your entry in it has been arranged. Tell them your name is Selma.” She gave Saytera a metal stick. “Give them this.”
Saytera took it. The woman wasn’t making sense. “But aren’t they dead? The people who wanted to take us? Why do I have to hide?”
Carla again had that sad, apologetic look, and shook her head. “I’m doing what Yansin asked. She probably her her reasons.”
Saytera sighed but kept walking with the woman, trying to understand why she was being sent away. “Are you sure I can’t hide with Yansin? I can apologize—”
“It’s none of that. It’s just that she thinks it’s best if everyone believes you’re dead. At least for now.”
“Why?”
Carla showed her palms, as if to show she had nothing in her hands. “Hey, I left the islands years ago. I don’t know anything about their secrets or yours. All I know is that nobody from the islands can know you’re alive, so you need to stay away from them.”
Saytera was shivering. Stay away from them. It sounded harsh, bitter, and sudden. Was Saytera just going to be thrown in the world like that? On her own, without direction? Well, the academy was a direction. And still, she was being ripped from everything she’d always know, everything she’d always held dear.