by Day Leitao
The afternoon was history class. Saytera actually enjoyed that they were talking about the war against the Lunars. This lesson focused on the moon of Tarahi and its discovery. That was the reason Mainland and Shapphirlune were fighting. Tarahi had an incredible reserve of gravity stones, or Ilanium. It was the main compound in the anti-gravity systems allowing spaceships to take off easily.
The Lunars, from Sapphirlune, thought that it should be all theirs, because, according to their deranged minds, Tahari was a moon, therefore it was their territory. But their territory was just their own moon. Why they thought it gave them ownership of the whole universe around them was anyone’s guess. And from there they’d been fighting.
The teacher explained well why Lunars had acted unfairly against the planet, in right grabs that had no limits. They even wanted to be allowed to come to the planet to collect food and water. And that was what the planet was counting on; cutting off their supplies and pressuring them to concede defeat. In six months the terms were going to be renegotiated, and they expected the Lunars to cave.
Either way, it was better than the lessons about distant planets like the deposed Ringon monarchy and other stuff that had no relation to her own life. One good thing—as long as she ignored the fact that people still shot her glares, laughed, and whispered behind her back. She’d gotten a new nickname: Giant Bun.
Whatever. It didn’t matter. At least they weren’t making fun of her eyes. Well, the bitter taste in her mouth and the tightness in her stomach told a different story. She’d just work really hard at punching her mattress and get those feelings out of her system.
It was still strange to think about day and night, with the excessive lights and lack of windows. Alone in her room, Saytera was about to start her mattress-punching session when soft knocks on her door caught her attention. Saytera was expecting her should-be roommate, but it was another student instead, a petite girl with dark hair to the chin—who had probably mistaken the door.
“Yes?” Saytera asked.
“Can I come in?” the girl whispered, almost as if afraid.
Saytera nodded and stepped away from the door, wondering what her visitor wanted.
The girl walked in. “I’m Christina, but they call me Kiki.”
“Saytera.”
“I know.” Everyone knew, of course. The girl looked away, then looked back and locked her eyes on Saytera. “Listen, don’t let them get to you. It’s normal. Most new recruits go through it. It will pass.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“You walked away. Some even suggested you sabotaged the electricity panel.”
That was absurd. “There wouldn’t have been time for that, and I don’t even know where it is.”
“Exactly, it couldn’t have been you. I know.” She then changed to a cheerful tone. “Do you want to practice? I’m sure you’ll do better when nobody’s looking.”
“If the pistols aren’t defective, I guess.”
“They aren’t. And it’s fun.”
Fun was a nice word to hear after everything she’d been through. “Sure.”
Kiki smiled. “I’ll go in. Then you go. I’ll leave the door open. It’s the door just beside where we had our class this morning.”
Saytera didn’t understand why they couldn’t just go together, but she’d figure it out later. “Fine.”
After the girl got out, she changed quickly and went to the door Kiki had told her. Yes, it looked fun. Instead of the ranges and booths, this place had some rocks, some small weird platforms with stairs, small walls, big walls, and rectangular targets in movable panels suspended by wires.
Kiki stood by her. “Much more like the real thing, isn’t it?”
Shivers went down her spine as she remembered her only real encounter with enemies. They weren’t just one or two, moving slowly in the distance.
The girl then added, “We’ll probably never see any of that. Still, it’s good to practice.” She handed Saytera a pistol. “We call this a zapper. It’s an energy pistol. Crackers are the projectile pistols, but we don’t have them here.”
The zapper was similar to the ones she tried to use before, with the teacher. It felt heavy and uncomfortable in her hand, not that it was really heavy. “What do I do?”
“It’s set up like a circuit. You have to go through it and shoot the targets.”
“Won’t we get in trouble for being here?”
Kiki shook her head. “I got special authorization from Kia.”
Saytera stared at the circuit, trying to figure out how to do it.
Kiki held one pistol in each hand. “I’ll go first, then you do what I did. It’s fine if you go more slowly, and you’ll obviously use only one pistol.”
“Why two?”
She looked down and shrugged. “I want to train to use both hands. Commander Faetee says it’s stupid, that I only have one pair of eyes.” She shrugged. “I got two hands, though. And who knows, I could maybe use a zapper and a cracker at the same time.” She smiled again. “Watch.”
Kiki ran through rocks, got up and down stairs, sometimes squatted by walls, all the while using both hands to shoot the targets. She got most of them on her first shot, with the exception of one or two that she had to shoot twice.
As Kiki got back, Saytera said, “That was amazing!”
The girl was almost out of breath. “I wasn’t showing off, I just wanted you to know how the circuit works.”
“Still. That was pretty good. Had it been a real situation, you'd probably survived up to the fourth target, when you missed.”
Kiki nodded. “I know. I botched it. That’s why I come every night. To get better. I need to tell you a secret: I was terrible in the beginning. Terrible. Like, couldn’t even hold the pistol properly. As you noticed, commandeer Faetee doesn’t bother teaching you how to do it. I got teased. Well, their laughter and their silly words became my fuel. I decided I’d become the best in the academy.”
“Are you?”
She cocked her head. “I think so. Commander Faetee prefers Jonas, though, but he’s much slower than I am.”
That commander was a nitwit and his opinion only meant that Kiki was likely a lot better than this Jonas dude. “How come nobody else practices in the evening?”
“They do sometimes, not always. Your turn now.”
Saytera walked to the place where her new friend had first stood. As she tried to shoot the first target, the pistol didn’t respond. Unwilling to go through the whole “it’s defective, it isn’t” ordeal, she just got back to where Kiki was. “I’d rather watch you do it a couple more times. I think I could learn a lot.”
“It’s fine if you do it slowly and miss. You should have seen me a year ago.”
“I know, but it’s been a stressful day.”
Kiki nodded. “All right.”
Saytera sat down. She didn’t understand whether there was something she was doing wrong or if her energy was messing with the pistols. They kept electronics away from the islanders because they said they messed with the training. What if it was the other way around? That didn’t make sense, though, as it meant Saytera had any kind of strong matterweaving abilities, and she didn’t. She could be crap at more than one thing, though.
At least one student was being nice to her. When all her insides were being turned to ice, with the horrid memories of that boat exploding with Nowla inside it, Vivian dead, and the thought that perhaps she’d never return home, a little bit of kindness was like a small flame warming her heart.
Dess had accepted three things: Marcus wasn’t going to quit being his partner, they were going to split expenses and profit, and his friend had moved permanently to his house.
The next morning, they’d have their second incursion to the planet. Excitement sizzled through him as he realized he enjoyed this private trader thing more than he’d ever expected.
Someone knocked on the door and Dess opened it. Sylvia was there. Sure, technically he and Marcus were sharing the house, but his f
riend could at least have told him he’d invited her. A quick look at Marcus told him that it wasn’t really the case.
“Hey,” she said. “I came to see how you two were doing.”
Them two? Right. More like Marcus, and they’d probably do the whole we’re-just-friends thing. And yet, the visit felt strange. A good thing he was no longer interested in her, or he’d rather be caught dead than let her see his humble two-piece house. It was still strange because she likely lived in one of the luxurious high rises in the center of the city. Marcus didn’t show any signs of being embarrassed, though. Good for him.
“Can I come in?” she asked.
He’d been so lost in thought he’d been just standing there. “Sure.”
“I brought some firewater.” She held a bottle.
There had been a lot of illegal drinking in the academy and Dess usually stayed away from it, but he assumed it was her own way to show niceness, so he decided not to say anything. Dess put three glasses on the table and they sat down.
“I know what you’re doing,” she said. “I hope you’re careful.”
“I thought it was supposed to be secret,” Marcus said.
As if nobody would notice ships coming in and out of the moon.
His friend then added, “Except for the high echelons, of course. Does that mean you’re there already?”
“Yes and no. I did some digging.” She opened the bottle.
It was Dess who was curious now. “So you do get access to some private information.”
She sighed. “A little. Nobody can know I’m here, by the way.”
Marcus shrugged. “Makes sense.”
Dess wanted to smack the bottle on her head. How dare she be ashamed of his friend? He frowned. “No, it doesn’t.”
Marcus glared at him. “Dess. Her family is like mine. You wouldn’t understand.”
Right. He was the non-family person there. It wasn’t his fault that some wacko had decided to explode the ship carrying his family seven years before. But he’d never told anyone that. Marcus knew he’d lived in the mansion, but thought he’d been raised by Azael, the gardener. It didn’t matter.
He got up. “Right. I’m tired. If you don’t mind, I’ll relax a little, uh, here on the couch.” He turned to Sylvia. “If you by any chance get tired and want to, uh, rest, there’s a mat under the bed.”
She rested her glass on the table. “I wasn’t going to stay long.”
“Sure. Just in case.”
Marcus shook his head. “You won’t rest with us talking here.”
Dess shrugged. “Talk in the bedroom then and close the door. Or here. Don’t worry about me.”
Knowing well he was going to have trouble sleeping completely dressed, he lay down on the couch trying to recall the sound of the ocean in his ears, wondering when he’d be able to walk on real sand and feel the waves hitting his feet. He ran his hands over his rings, thinking about all the power that was still unknown to him, and if he’d ever really come close to it. Reading about it was one thing. Maybe one day he’d see it, experience it. His thoughts almost lulled him to sleep, but then the sound of Marcus and Sylvia “talking” in the bedroom distracted him.
Dess understood how chance sometimes made things right in ways that weren’t clear at first. Had he made a move on Sylvia, his friend wouldn’t be happy right now. Plus, Dess would never accept someone who wanted to “talk to him” but only in secret. His body was made of stardust, carrying the energy of the stars, and deserved a lot more than that. Fine, so was Marcus’s, but if he thought this was good enough for him, then it was. Dess wanted something better than that. For now, he wanted to dream about beaches, the ocean, and some insanely good piloting.
Saytera’s troubled dreams were interrupted by a strident sound of dolphins wailing in terrible pain. It was the middle of the night. She took a look at the display by her bed. No. It was morning. Ugh, getting up in darkness was horrible. Plus, how was anyone to have a decent mood being awoken by that dreadful sound? Perhaps that explained people’s crankiness and bad attitude. She even wondered if she’d been cranky. Well, probably. Plus, she’d forgotten to do the mattress punching the previous night. She headed to the eating hall trusting that things were going to get better. Well, at least she had a friend.
Tray in hand, she was glad to see Kiki’s face in the crowd. The girl didn’t seem to see Saytera, though. Even as Saytera approached, Kiki was focused on her plate.
Saytera sat by her and said, “Hey.” The girl didn’t reply. “Are you all right?”
Silence. Someone else sat at the table.
Saytera insisted, “Kiki?”
The girl turned, face blank. “I’m sorry. Do I know you?”
It hit Saytera. And it hurt. The girl was ignoring her on purpose.
Saytera smiled. “Of course not. I got confused.” She got up and went to the corner table, now her table, a nauseous, dark feeling in her stomach.
The panels on the wall and the lights in the hall went down. At least now it was clear that it wasn’t Saytera’s fault, and at least she was in a place with natural light. There was no panic this time. Probably just a faulty system. One faulty thing among so many. At least she could find refuge in the hangar. Stomach closed, she threw the food in a trash bin and left that hall.
On her way, she bumped into Kia. The woman said, “Your schedule changed. You’ll take mechanics in the morning. Commander Santi is taking you in an apprenticeship.”
Commander Santi? Mechanics?
“In the hangar,” Kia added.
“Nick? ” She was surprised that the old crazy man was some kind of teacher.
Kia nodded. “It’ll be good for you. You’re lucky. He doesn’t usually take apprentices.”
Lucky indeed. Incoherent rambling was better than a mocking class and an egocentric teacher. At least one little light. And she followed that light at the end of the hallway.
As she got there, Nick yelled, “What are you doing here?”
Perhaps he’d forgotten. “I’m your apprentice.”
“So you want to learn? See that one there?” He pointed to a black ship. “Tell me what’s wrong with it. I’ll come and check on you before lunch.”
Impressive teaching method. Plus, it was likely that he’d forget what he’d asked her to do by lunchtime. Still, she got on the ship and tried to imagine what it would be to fly it above the atmosphere, to see the stars from amongst them. Not something this thing would do.
Her thoughts turned to Kiki. Now that she considered it, her behaviour wasn’t strange at all. Yesterday she’d made sure they weren’t seen together. Not only did Saytera not fit in there, she was some sort of undesirable company.
Saytera took a deep breath. This place didn’t matter. She was a lot more important than any of those nitwits would ever be. She just had to find out how. If only her thoughts would clear in this immense loneliness.
Away from her island, her rituals, anything resembling nature, under artificial light, Saytera thought that punching a mattress was ridiculous. As she got ready to do it, alone in her room at night, she was disturbed by soft knocks on the door. Saytera opened. Kiki was there.
Saytera glared. “You’re kidding, right?”
The girl walked past Saytera and closed the door.
Saytera protested, “Hey, I didn’t invite you and I don’t care if anyone sees you talking to me in the hallway.”
“You’re upset?”
“No. I’m delighted. What do you think?”
Kiki shrugged. “I told you. It’ll take some time for people to get used to you. They used to mock me too. If they see me hanging out with you…”
Saytera opened the door. “Nothing to fear, then.”
“I thought you wanted to train.”
“I don’t.” And it was true. Something weird happened when she touched the pistols, but that obviously wasn’t the main reason she didn’t want to train.
Kiki shrugged. “Well, then, you won’t improve. A
nd if you keep that attitude, you won’t have any friends.”
“Who? The lovely people you’re afraid will turn around and mock you? How’s that working for you?”
Kiki walked to the door. “Pretty well. It’s human nature, Saytera, we all crave belonging.”
“You can pretend, Kiki. It doesn’t mean you can belong where you don’t belong.”
“If you change your mind and decide to train, come to the training grounds in the evening.”
“Why can’t your friends train with you?”
She looked down. “They’re lazy. I don’t care. Less competition.”
With that, she left. Saytera needed something soft and natural to punch and the perfect idea came to her mind: Kiki’s face! Yansin’s voice came to her mind. “Never release your anger on other people.” She wondered if Yansin knew that people could be mean just for the fun of it and wondered how controlled her master would be in a place like that stupid academy. Thinking about Yansin calmed her down. This was temporary. Her heart always knotted when she remembered Nowla, though.
11
Changes
Second time should make things easier, except that it didn’t. Flying into Mainland’s atmosphere while trying to stay away from its monitoring towers perhaps would never get easy. Still, Dess and Marcus were back with their cargo of water.
For the first time, he saw a ship belonging to other independent traders. A girl with pink pigtails was checking something outside a yellow T-45. That was a pretty good model. Dess walked towards her, Marcus by his side, and tapped softly on the hull.
The girl was startled, looked at him and blushed.
“So you also go down to the planet?” Dess asked.
“Yes.” Her voice was almost a whisper.
“I’m Dess.” He extended his hand.
The girl shook his hand but was visibly nervous. “Sophie.”
His friend also extended his hand. “Marcus.”
The girl was an example of why you shouldn’t judge people by their appearances, since she looked to be about fifteen, and seemed far too scared for someone who did something as dangerous as piloting among storms and potential enemy fire.