by Lisa Jade
I’ve spent a long time only thinking about myself, and the people I spend my time with. How could I have forgotten about this? About the other people who set foot aboard this ship with a legitimate reason, their hearts filled with hope for the future? Just like me, they left their homes behind for the promise of seeing something amazing. And just like me, they’ve had those dreams shattered.
But then a gentle hand touches the freckled girl’s arm, and as she raises her head, Finn smiles. He scoops her up and plants her back on her feet, wiping away her tears. I don’t think he knows her. He’s just being kind, like always.
As I look around, I see he’s not the only one. Sabina filters through the crowd too, providing encouraging words and a firm embrace to those who seem frightened. Terri trails after, offering small smiles to those around her. My chest swells with pride. Luci was right. They really do care.
Finally, the world seems to calm. It’s an unnerving silence, the kind that presses in oddly on my ears. The crowd turns their attention to the front of the room, and Luci and Isaac exchange nervous glances.
“We know you’re scared,” Luci starts, “and we want to clarify exactly what the Captain just confessed. Orithyia functions on their medical technology, and that’s fuelled directly by testing on Companions. The whole Scheme is a trick. It’s also the reason behind the recent attacks – a group tried to threaten the Captain into handing the ship over. They intended to negotiate the Companion’s safe release. Now, every member of that group has been killed.”
Anger seethes around me, and when I look around, I’m surprised to see two dozen eyes glaring at the Captain. The rebels aren’t here, aren’t alive to take the blame for their actions. But he is. He draws his shoulders back and ignores it.
Isaac rubs at the back of his head and sighs.
“It’s a trick we’ve all been complicit in. The passengers aboard this ship didn’t know the truth, but we should have been fighting for you from the start. Each day, those on Three and Four are treated as less than human. We all knew about it, but we’ve done nothing to stop it. We, each and every one of us, have let you down.”
A solemn silence follows his words. He’s genuinely sorry – and I see several people give small nods in reply to his words. They feel the same.
Isaac frowns, addressing the passengers now.
“Over the past few months, every Companion has become a friend – or more. It’s not fair that we let them be snatched away from us. It’s not right.”
More nodding. Words of agreement.
“We know it’s scary,” Luci says, “believe me. We’ve been scared of the Captain since… well, forever. No, the people back home will not be happy if we fight back. They’re going to be angry with us for going against the Council’s plans – but the alternative is for our friends to suffer and die. Isn’t saving them worth facing that anger?”
A few small cries of support. Her chest swells with pride.
“Look down there. The man we’ve always feared is just that. A man. And just because we’re told he has power over us, that doesn’t mean it’s true.”
She fixes him with a stern gaze.
“You were wrong, Dad. Wrong about the Companions, and about Orithyia. You were wrong about us. We are fed up of the hatred you and your peers spew. We’re sick of it!”
More cries. Her eyes glimmer. This is all she’s hoped for; her rallying cry.
“No more death,” she states, her voice dripping with confidence, “both sides of this battle were wrong. Nobody deserved to win. But we’re the future, as you always say. We are the third side. And we are in the right.”
She looks at Isaac, who seems to be intoxicated by the confidence coming off her.
“If we’re the future,” he finishes, “then we decide what happens next. And we don’t want to lose our friends. Enough.”
They pause, and unbelievably, the world starts to thump around me. It takes a long moment for me to realise what’s happening; it’s the gentle murmur of a few hundred people, as they take up the phrase and turn it over on their tongues, toying with it as though it’s an entirely new concept.
Enough. Enough.
The words grow louder.
And suddenly the crew members shrink back against the walls, exchanging frightened looks as more people take up the words. Several shout. Some pound their feet on the ground as they fall into a strange rhythm, which grows louder with every moment. Even those previously in floods of tears turn towards the chanting, unable to join in through their sobs but still clapping in time.
I look around wildly, excitement filling my chest. It’s working. They’re doing it!
Isaac catches my eye and winks; heat finds its way up my cheeks, and I find myself beaming back. This is the Isaac I know – the one who backflipped off the Stem for a little thrill, the one who opened a hatch into the cosmos just to show me what it looked like. This is the Isaac that nobody else knows. Now, everyone sees him.
But then the Captain shifts, and I realise that I’ve lowered the gun. The man’s head snaps my way. His eyes roll in his head, controlled by barely-held rage. His face contorts with hatred.
“You!”
I leap away as he jumps at me, promptly slipping on the marble floor. My bones jar as I hit the stone floor and sit up, desperate to scramble out of his reach. Despite the cuffs at his wrist, he’s coming at me with terrifying speed. His eyes have rolled back so far that all I can see are the whites; he looks positively inhuman.
The world seems to move in slow motion, and around me I can sense the room grow silent, and all the previously-hopeful faces turn to looks of horror as the Captain bares down on me, a vast flurry of rage and hatred.
Three bullets strike his shoulder. He staggers back and growls – and for a second, I wonder if it will even slow him down – but then his eyes turn towards his attacker and he pauses.
The crew stand just behind me, holding their guns up. But to my surprise, they’re not pointed at me. They’re aimed at him. The nearest man’s gun is still smoking slightly, betraying his crime. He and the Captain stare at one another for a long moment, and then the larger man’s face crumples. Anger is replaced by defeat. His own crew turned on him.
“I’m sorry, sir,” the shooter says, “but we need to accept when we’ve been beaten. The kids are right. This isn’t the way to do things.”
Isaac races through the crowd, his face filled with concern as he passes his wounded father and holds a hand out for me to take. I wave him away.
The Captain sits slumped on the polished marble, his once-crisp uniform spattered with blood, his previously handsome face filled with lines from his twisted expressions. The wounds in his shoulder seep blood, but he doesn’t seem to care. For a man so large, such injuries are nothing. Even so, his eyes are filled with pain. It’s not physical pain, though – it’s emotional.
It’s a feeling I know only too well; abandonment.
The crew member turns to the others.
“Listen up!” he barks, “we’re done here. There will be no more attacks, do you understand me? From either side. Anyone who so much threatens another person will be out on their ear! We are done with the violence.”
“What about Orithyia?” someone calls. It’s Luci who replies. She’s surprisingly unbothered by the events that just unfolded, instead choosing to float above it all.
“We’ll head to Orithyia as planned. And once we’re there, we’ll remain aboard and negotiate our safe passage home. If they insist on us leaving the ship, then we’ll do so only on the promise that every passenger remains with their Companion until a way home can be arranged. We will get every single person back home without injury.”
She looks expectantly at the crew members, who give a small, collective nod.
“We’ll agree to that,” the shooter says, “and will continue to serve the ship and its passengers until then.”
I stand, firing a sideways glance at the crew. Wow. They turned so easily. It took hardly any
thing to get them to switch sides – even to lodge a couple of bullets in their boss’ torso. I look at the man slumped on the ground. What did he do to them? How badly must he have treated his employees, if they were so eager to abandon him at the first opportunity?
Something about it doesn’t sit right with me; but then the nearest crew member shoots a reassuring smile my way.
“Don’t worry. We won’t throw you back in the cell. To be honest, none of us were pleased with how we handled the rebels. Blindly shooting like that, without giving you a chance. We wanted to get to the bottom of this, to figure out why you were doing it.”
“Quinn was never with the rebels,” Isaac corrects him, “she got sucked into it. She was only ever trying to save us.”
The older man gives a small nod, but I feel his gaze drop to the scar on my arm. Isaac’s arm tightens defensively around me.
“The Brand doesn’t matter. None of it matters now.”
“But…”
“Enough,” he snaps, “join us, or we send you away with the Captain. Those are your options.”
“S-send him away?”
Isaac crosses his arms.
“We can’t risk having him on this ship. The man’s a menace.”
“I thought you said nobody else would die.”
“We’d never kill him!” I interject.
“Then what…?”
Isaac looks down at his father, and for a moment he looks like he may lash out, but then he heaves a sigh and steps closer. The Captain lifts his head and meets his son’s gaze with a weary look. Something strange plays in Isaac’s eyes as he looks down at the man who once scared him so much, now curled into a ball at his feet. It’s something akin to pleasure. He’s excited to be the one in power, even for a moment. He rolls his shoulders back, curling his lip in the same disgusted sneer the Captain always used on him.
“Nobody will die,” he says, his voice like ice, “but you’ll be sent back to Earth in one of the release shuttles. Ideally, we’ll send you somewhere pretty damn far from Pyre. Maybe the Mainland. Perhaps the trip back home will teach you a small lesson in humility.”
Luci steps down and moves to stand beside her Father, resting a hand on his vast shoulder.
“That doesn’t matter right now. For now, let’s place him in a cell. And for crying out loud, someone treat his injuries. Nobody benefits from letting the man bleed out.”
As the Captain is led away, someone plucks the gun from my hand. I glance up, but Finn just grins.
“Don’t panic. I’m just making sure they take him to the cells. I’m not sure how much I trust their change of heart, is all.”
He fires a suspicious look at the crew members, and I give a small nod. I’m not entirely convinced by it, either – though they’ve given us no reason to doubt their new loyalties. As he heads from the room, he gives a small smile; reassurance, if it were needed, that there are still people we can trust.
Suddenly, the room erupts into cheers. Luci looks around wildly, delight filling her eyes, and I realise that she’s come to the same conclusion as I have. We won.
Or rather, they did. I stare at the siblings for a moment, revelling in the pride filling my chest. Pride. That’s something I didn’t think I’d feel again.
Sabina and Terri dart over, wrapping their arms around Luci and pulling her into an awkward, many-armed embrace. Luci’s crying now, laughing so hard that fat tears roll down her cheeks. She’s happy. She’s so damn happy.
Sabina looks at me and pokes out her tongue.
“See, I always was suspicious of you,” she teases, “too many lies. You’re not convincing enough, you know. Never did quite fit in.”
“So I’ve been told. You know, I wouldn’t have blamed you if you’d turned me in. I know you’re not… the biggest fan of people from Four.”
She shrugs.
“What the hell do I know? I’d never met one before.”
But then her mouth twitches and breaks into a smile, and a hand latches around my wrist. Sabina tugs me into their embrace and for a moment, all I can hear is their light, overjoyed breathing.
And then the embrace ends, and I’m whirled away by someone else. This time, I ease into their touch, entwining my fingers with theirs. Isaac gazes down at me, and all the hardness from before has gone from his eyes. His face is soft again, and his touch is unbelievably warm against my skin, and suddenly the cheering around us fades away. My body moves of its own accord; wrapping my arms around his shoulders and pulling him closer. I pull back when I notice his fingers are quivering.
“Are you okay?”
He lets out a long, pained sigh.
“I… I think so. Kind of stressed.”
“I get that. There’s a lot to do now.”
He blinks.
“Like what?”
“Well, once your father’s wounds have been treated, we have to jettison him off. Then create a new database, I think, with the details of each passenger and Companion to ensure they’re not parted. Then, we need to establish how the ship will run for the next twenty-two months. Establish new ground rules and have everyone agree on them. And then…”
“Enough,” he pleads, “that all sounds just terrible. Can we take a break first?”
I glance around. The room is still celebrating, completely oblivious to us.
“Alright. Let’s go somewhere quiet, shall we?”
“We really shouldn’t,” he says. I shrug.
“We’ll only be gone a couple of minutes. Nobody will notice.”
I’m suddenly aware of just how pale he is. His hand shakes in mine. Concern flits through me but I rein it in, feigning indifference. He needs a few minutes to relax; but if I tell him that, there’s no way he’ll go along with it.
I tap Luci’s shoulder.
“We’ll be back in a minute, okay?”
She responds with a delighted smile and a squeeze of my hand.
“Don’t be a stranger,” she laughs.
“Course not.”
Twenty-Eight
We slip into the hallway – and the moment we do, Isaac slumps to the floor. He cups his head in his hands and lets out a long, rattling sigh. I crouch down next to him.
“It’s alright,” I mutter, “the hard part is over. You don’t have to worry anymore.”
He rakes a hand through his hair.
“I didn’t think it would be so hard… standing up to him like that.”
“I can’t imagine. For what it’s worth, I’m really proud of you.”
He looks at me for a long moment, then returns my smile somewhat uneasily.
“Do you feel okay?” he asks suddenly. I consider this. My body feels alright, if a little tired. My hand sinks to my stomach. Nothing – even the tender feeling has faded away, leaving it as though nothing happened. The blood Terri gave me has done its job, too; any lingering light-headedness has vanished, and the world is stable once again. Considering all that’s happened since we first entered the Bridge to confront Mom, I feel pretty damn good.
After a moment, a familiar arm wraps itself around my shoulders.
“I’m fine,” I coo, “really. Though I just realised – I never did thank you.”
“For what?”
“Saving my life. I’m not stupid, you know. If you hadn’t shown up when you did, I’d be dead. And I know that to keep me alive, you risked everything. I’m sorry you had to do it. But, I’m really happy you did.”
He smiles.
“Me, too. But it only seemed fair to save you.”
“Huh?”
“You’ve been saving people since you got here. Terri. Luci. Those two women in the ballroom. Even me.”
“You? I never saved you.”
His grip tightens.
“Trust me. You did.”
I don’t respond to that; I’m not sure what to say. So instead I lean closer, nestling my head against his collarbone. For several minutes we sit in comfortable silence, the din of the ballroom fading into th
e background.
I allow my eyes to slip shut for a moment, and listen to the soft sound of our combined breathing. After everything that’s happened, it’s nice to just sit together like this.
“Looks like we’ll get you home after all,” Isaac says suddenly.
“Guess so. That’s weird, right?”
“Huh?”
I pull back, gazing out of the nearest window. The stars are dense, winking in and out as though they were a tapestry of lights, or glitter on a gently shifting canvas. The thought of leaving them behind saddens me; but then I think of home, and longing builds in my chest.
“It’s just… I kind of figured I’d never go back. I’m a little scared. There was a rebellion planned there, too, you know. Four was going to try and liberate itself. Perhaps everything will be different when I go home. And my Dad... he might never forgive me for leaving. I don’t know if I’ll be able to slip back into my old life.”
“You won’t,” he mumbles, “none of us will. There’s so much to do. So much that frankly, I’m stressed out just thinking about it. Making everything right back home, putting a stop to the Companion Scheme… nothing will ever be quite the same again.”
My chest aches at the thought. What if I do return home to find that Dad doesn’t care for my return? What if I’m turfed out of my childhood home? What if I’m ostracised as a criminal, a rebel, a freak? If the rebellion failed, there’s no way I’ll be welcomed back.
What if they don’t forgive me? I abandoned them. I made a selfish choice and ran at the first chance to escape. Finally, I understand why I did it. I chose to go instead of facing up to my own problems. Running was easier than facing the world. Easier than coming to terms with what happened to Cherise.
During the six months I spent on my bedroom floor, both Dad and Alice had taken time to sit with me, to try and talk me out of it. They’d gone out of their way to help treat my arm after the Branding. They’d pleaded with me to do something – anything – to break out of the rut I was in. But I was too scared to try. So I refused them. And the first chance I had to escape it all, even if meant leaving them behind… I took it.