by LM. Preston
“I’ll lead, and you mimic my moves. Everything will come back from the simulations we did at home. And Shamira, whatever you do, don’t close your eyes. You need to really see what we’re doing. There are space bandits roaming free now that the Earth Security Force has locked down space travel to Mars. We have to be quick, fast, and focused. Above all, we must reach Mars safely. I have some snakes to track down and kill.” He spoke with the most hate and venom she had ever heard from his usually jovial lips.
They took off, and Shamira tried hard to stay focused and not get swept away with her awe at seeing the ceiling of the building open up to a clear sky. The space jet seemed to go straight up and take off slanting skyward.
“I’m not going to waste time here. We’re going into low hyperspeed to get into space as quickly as possible. If all goes well, we will be on Mars in about six hours. Brace yourself.”
Shamira couldn’t help but peek at the blue sky. The sun glared brightly, and she gave in to her awe at her new sight. Nevertheless, the muted windows softened the glow as their craft got closer and closer to the clouds. In a blink, they pushed through Earth’s atmosphere leaving a tickling in the pit of her stomach. She skimmed the screen bio of their space jet and the control descriptions. She was impressed to realize that their space jet had major firepower. It also had the latest laser shooting technology that not only fired, but also found the power source of another ship and defused it, causing instant destruction to any opposition. The lasers were smart beams that hunted and fired on the selected enemy with the precision of a magnet.
“Shamira, study time is over. You need to mimic the controls with me. Split your screens so that you have them on each side, and then you can see me clearly and through the window ahead.” She easily followed her father’s lead. He smiled at her progress then said, “Now, we’re in space and leaving the protected area. I’ll need you to take over controls if anything happens to me or when I have to concentrate on firing.”
She looked out to the black void of space lit up by sparkling stars. Refocusing on the controls, she grabbed the small forked wheel in front of her. Every move her dad made with the controls and the wheel, she followed, and they started to move completely in synch.
“Perfect, perfect. Now that you got it, I’m going in hyperspeed Level Two, heading straight for home,” her dad said and focused on the sky in front of them.
They flew without incident for several hours, and Shamira loved her newfound joy in flying. She remembered hating the simulation sessions she had with her dad, using the computer that projected a visualized drawing of light in the shape of the vehicle in her mind. The simulation also pushed heated points on her body to simulate her touching or maneuvering certain controls. She used to think it was a waste of her time, but now she realized that she had simulated flying so much that it was a second nature to her. It was like she had done it for years before and was just getting reacquainted with it, as if she had actually flown before.
They heard a boom of laser fire pass by, “Shamira, heads up! We’re being attacked. Damn! These are some nasty bastards, so shoot to kill,” he yelled furiously.
“Who are they? What do they want?” she asked, quickly putting in the sequence to aim the laser missiles.
“Damn bandits. They’re probably part of the scum crime organization that took your brother. Just prep everything for me to fire and hold on! I’m about to do some fancy maneuvering.” He swerved out of the way of a laser shot from one of the other ships. The two attacking ships were smaller but had firepower and were gaining on them. Her breath caught in her throat when her father swerved and dipped, evading all the constant fire to their ship.
“Shamira, I want you to fire at them. Get it right, now. I don’t want to waste any shots. I don’t want them to have time to run and tell their friends we’re on the way,” he said and growled in anger.
She knew how to do it. She’d practice this from the time she could touch a computer. Her hands roamed over the controls and put in the locking sequence. She confirmed on the screen that her approaching targets were coming up quickly. She also put in a sequence to counteract against their fire and smiled to herself with triumph when each and every one of their missiles were met and destroyed.
“Show off. That’s my girl! Ha ha!” her father laughed. She smiled widely. She realized she loved this just as much as hand-to-hand combat. Ok, she thought, maybe not as much as that.
“Dad, I’m going to shoot now,” she said. She was hit by sadness again and anger. Eyebrows frowning, she fired then blew up the two attackers. Her dad pushed them into hyperspeed Level Four. She looked out the window to see streaks of white where stars once hung in the sky. The jet slowed down, and she looked ahead to see the bright reddish ball that was her home—Mars. A feeling of happiness filled her.
“Shamira. Fire! We’re being attacked again. Quick. They’re coming up from behind,” her dad yelled. He cleverly maneuvered back and forth out of the way of the lasers.
“Dang!” she said. She saw countless fire come their way. She could have kicked herself for dazing out. She quickly locked on the targets, fired, and counter-fired. Breathing hard, she noticed one got away and returned fire. Just as her dad tried to outmaneuver their fire, she managed to hit them.
“Get him, Shamira! We will survive the hit!” her dad commanded. How dare he get away! She fired two missiles at them: one to counteract the missiles they fired, and one to hit them head on. The ship tried to outrun the missile, but Shamira used a smart missile for this creep. She had always thought the possibility of killing others would be a line she wouldn’t cross, but it was in this moment she discovered that when it came to life or death, she would always choose to live, even if it meant her attacker had to die. She shrugged off the temporary moment of guilt. Their ship flew through the orange and blue fire and debris from the blast. Pieces of the ship flew in their path. Her father dodged them, and she let out the breath she’d been holding as they flew home.
Chapter 10
Her dad wasted no time landing their space jet at the Security Force Space Pad. He didn’t speak, and she knew why, because she didn’t feel much like talking either. She wanted to get home now and find out what exactly happened so she knew where she needed to go next. She needed to get on the streets to find out what else her target knew to get more answers.
They climbed in his company car and drove in silence. She couldn’t help the temptation to look around and take in the beauty of her home. Red, blue, and gold hues came from the packed sand, windblown and a bit wild in its comparison to her brief observation of planet Earth. Her father flew home.
Her thoughts turned dark. The fury was building in her again, just as it always did when she spent too much time pondering things that made her angry. She remembered to push it down, down deep. She didn’t want to tip her parents off to where her thoughts were leading her. If they knew what she was capable of doing, they would definitely lock her inside. Now with real physical sight at her disposal, nothing could stop her from pursuing those creeps that tried to control her world. They wanted to infect the world that she loved and use kids as pawns to control the Security Force that was in power. Her father’s voice jerked her out of her thoughts.
“Shamira, we’re home,” he said with relief in his voice. There was heaviness there, and she felt it too. Sadness flowed within her, and a tear fell from her eye. Her eyes closed, and she pictured the David that she knew from her unseeing past.
The car landed in the driveway. Her dad quickly hopped out of the car, not looking back at her. She took a moment to stare at the gold from the setting sun on the house. The front yard was scattered with rock decorations of various colors and hues. They’d a cottage-style house with angular sharp edges that made it appear like it was part of the land around it. There weren’t any other houses nearby, and she had to push her sight in either direction to see the neighboring homes.
The heat generators were kicking up. She closed her eyes and lis
tened to their humming. Most people couldn’t hear them, and she guessed they just sort of automatically tuned them out, but she had always heard them and felt the slight tremor where she stood when they kicked up the heat. Being blind had made her sensitive to those things that other people took for granted. It seemed that her senses hadn’t lost their sensitivity. It’s good to be home. She inhaled the Mars air that she knew so well.
Closing her eyes briefly, she pondered on how they had drilled miles under the planet’s surface to add heating beams to make Mars as close to Earth temperatures as possible. Breathing in, she wondered about the towers throughout the planet that pushed clean oxygen and powered the heat generators buried deep within the ground. She raised her chin and felt the winds and sun, which generated the power on Mars every day and night. The people on Earth take so many more things for granted. Although the heat generators made Mars warmer than it would be without them, she realized that Mars was still much cooler than Earth.
Opening her eyes, she shook off a slight shiver when the coolness of the evening air hit her exposed face. Pulling her jacket closer, she took a deep breath, caged her anger, and walked toward the door. She opened the door and was hit by warmth. She looked up to see her dad as he embraced her mom. Shamira’s mom had hair slightly darker than her own. Her face was pale with a sprinkling of freckles over her nose, giving her a youthful look. Tears fell unchecked from her mother’s eyes, and her mom pushed away from her dad. She ran to Shamira and snatched her up in her arms. Her mom and she stood about the same height, but her mom was thicker. She had a firm grip when she pulled Shamira tightly against her. Caught off guard, Shamira didn’t have a chance to return the embrace.
Shamira pulled slightly away from her mom to get another look at her and realized that she looked similar to what she had imagined. She closed her eyes and sniffed, smiling slightly at the familiar scent.
“Hi,” she said, smiling. Her mom smiled at her through her tears, and Shamira noticed a deep dimple on her mom’s left cheek. She reached out and touched it.
Her mom took her hand, and turned to her father. “It has been horrible. Nelson, everything is falling apart at Headquarters. They’re tracking us down one by one and snatching our kids. I will kill the bastards. I will. If it’s the last thing I do, I’ll hunt every one of them down and make them pay!” her mom said, releasing her hold on Shamira.
Her father paced angrily and said, “Katherine, I know, baby. I know, but you will have to beat me to it,” her dad said. His anguish showed brightly on his face. Growling out his grief, he punched his hand through the wall, and tears ran silently down his face. Her mom rushed over and hugged him from behind, whimpering while she cried.
“I’m so sorry, so sorry,” her mom cried. Shamira stood and watched them and thought this wasn’t the way she wanted to see them for the first time. Again, her anger started to build. She had to go, to get out of there. She wanted to start looking for David. Her fist balled up and she tried to regain her slipping control. She would not cry. Refusing to give the slime that did this to her family the satisfaction, she would find the mastermind behind this. She was sure of it.
“Nelson, we have to go. They’re waiting for us at Headquarters. We’re having an emergency tactical meeting. This is a lot worse than we anticipated. A member from each of the Sectors arrived early today—or what remains of them anyway. They’re waiting on us to get there. We must go.” Her voice broke while she tried to regain her composure. She pulled away from her husband, whose head rested on the wall above the hole he’d made.
“What about Shamira? Should we take her?” he asked and pushed away from the wall.
“I think I’ll be safer here, Dad. I want to get reacquainted with my home and spend some time in David’s room. Please?” Shamira pleaded, bending her head down and trying to look pitiful. She didn’t want them to notice the anger burning within her. It would give away her intentions to her dad. He knew the other side of her nature, the fighter, the hunter, and her inner beast.
“She’s right. There’ll be so much going on there. I don’t even know if Headquarters is safe anymore,” her mother said.
“Fine. Shamira, lock up,” her dad said. He grabbed her mom by the hand. They gave her a quick hug goodbye, and were out the door.
Taking a deep breath, Shamira looked around the room, which was bright, even with only few windows. She looked around and realized that the room was pretty open. There were no walls separating the main rooms. She looked toward the only wall in the room and knew it led to the bedrooms. Testing her ability to see through walls, she pushed her sight deeper into the room that was David’s. She saw his bed and a picture of the two of them at the videogame dome. In the picture, she was leaning toward him with her hands tangled in his brown hair. She wasn’t smiling, but he had a big grin on his face.
She shook off the memory of the day they’d taken that picture. Turning, she went straight to her room and took a selfish moment to look around, realizing that she liked the dark pink and purple colors. Taking a moment for research, she sat down at her desk and tapped into the Security Force main computer, still undetected. She wanted to know exactly what she was up against and what the Security Force knew about this crime organization, Monev.
“Jackpot!” she said when the screen came up with the results of her search. Hum, the scum is trading drugs on Mars and Earth. Now she realized why the Security Force on Earth locked down their airspace: They were cutting off the source of the drug that was not only highly addictive, but also gave its host extremely aggressive behavior when the addiction grew worse.
Shamira knew about the drug trading, but she still didn’t know how the missing kids fit in the picture. She wondered how they tracked and captured the Security Force members. The Security Force members were extremely well trained and stronger than the average person. It would take ten average men to bring down just one Security Force Elite member.
Her research reached a dead end, and she decided it was time for her to do some digging of her own. She got up and threw off the jacket she had worn home. She quickly grabbed her hunting clothes and her weapons. Smiling, she placed her shades on her eyes. She still like the way they felt. I’m ready.
As she walked out onto the driveway, she felt something strange, as if someone were watching her. Man, this sight is making me lazy. She closed her eyes and inhaled. It was that boy. Tingling started in the pit of her stomach, so she took a calming breath. She was curious what he looked like, but she wasn’t about to let him know that. She stood up straighter and turned around slowly. Her breath caught when her eyes landed on him. He was beautiful. A bit taller than she was, he was dressed in a black form-fitting jacket and jeans. He had billowy blonde curls, dark green eyes, and dimples on each cheek. He smiled at her with the cocky, self-assured grin. She slowly lowered her glasses and frowned at him.
“What do you want? I thought I told you to stay away from me - boy,” she spat out and put her hand on her hip.
“My name is Valens, and you are not getting rid of me. Also, from the way you look, I’m older than you - girl,” he said with a lift of his eyebrow. “I want the same thing you want—to find the bastards who are stealing kids and killing the Security Force members.”
He sauntered toward her. She didn’t want him to come too close, or he would see how uncomfortable he made her. Taking a deep breath, she thought, I better work really hard to fake it. She didn’t want him to go with her because she worked best alone, and she was sure he’d make her lose her concentration.
“Well, it’s up to you to try and keep up. I don’t like partners -they’re sloppy,” she said, and then turned from him.
“Come out, Pearl,” she said to her motorcycle.
“Who said I was giving you a choice?” he replied and reached to touch her arm. Remembering that she didn’t like to be touched, he pulled his hand back. She looked at his arm retreat, and lifted an eyebrow.
“You’re different somehow. Can you see me now
?” he asked, studying her with his eyes.
“Does it matter?” she snapped.
“I never thought it did,” he said with a shrug.
“Yeah, I can see. Doesn’t matter though, I could have tracked them when I was blind – and alone,” she snorted and smirked.
She turned away from him and hopped on her motorcycle. She was getting ready to pull off when she felt the weight of Valens press against her back, and his hands gently held onto her waist. She didn’t trust her voice to speak clearly, so she took a deep breath. Kicking the motorcycle into full gear, she headed toward Sable Street.
Chapter 11
“Hey, let’s go to Snake Ice, that gaming room on Black Snake Avenue. I have a lead there,” Valens said way too close to her ear. She was not in the mood for his demands.
“Look, I have a lead on Sable Street, and that’s where I’m going,” she said, irritated.
“That lead you had is dead. Trust me. He’s dried up, and his cold, dead body has been tossed into outer space. We’ll get more information at the Snake Ice gaming hell. Trust me, okay? We’re on the same team,” he said, as his hands squeezed slightly on her waist.
“Fine. We’ll go to Snake Ice then,” she spat out. She wished he wasn’t so close. He really made her feel uncomfortable. It seemed like everywhere he touched felt heated. She took a breath to steady herself.
“So, since you are seeing me for the first time, how do you think I look?” His sweet smelling breath caressed her ear when he asked the question.
I will not give him the satisfaction of the compliment he’s fishing for. No way. “I saw you before I got my eyesight. Smelly, cocky, and a sloppy fighter. Now my eyesight just confirms it,” she said with a smirk. She figured her comment must have worked, because he pulled away from her and only held onto her jacket, not even touching her waist. She felt a little chill, but she brushed it off. This is better. He needs to save his flirting for someone else. I don’t need the distraction. Her brother came first, period.