Avren: An Auxem Novel

by Lisa Lace

  She stepped towards me as if she wanted to fight. If she wanted to fight, she would beat me to a pulp, and I would let her because I had no spirit left in me.

  I felt like my heart had been ripped out.

  "Mana," Jared said again, enfolding her in a tight hug.

  I buried my face in my hands, crying. After a few minutes, I remembered that he wasn't dead — he was a stranger in a very strange land. And it was our duty as his friends to help him navigate it.

  "Hey you guys," I said, glancing over at Dar where he was sitting and watching everything without any reaction. "He's not dead. He's right here."

  "He might as well be," Mana said as I walked over to where they were standing close together.

  "I know. But let's forget that his mind is missing. And remember that he needs help. He's lost and confused. If we're his friends, then we need to help him deal with it."

  Jared's face got a sad look.

  "He helped me when I needed it," he said.

  Then we walked over to Dar.

  "Hey there, my name's Jared," he said.

  "We're your friends."

  "I'm sorry," Dar said, a baffled look on his face. "But I don't remember you. And I don't know my name to introduce myself."

  "Your name is Dar," I said. "And I'm Kenna."

  "And this is Mana," Jared said. "You've been mind-wiped, that's why you don't remember anything. I don't want to overwhelm you by telling you too much about yourself too quickly."

  "You are an important person on the planet Susohn," Mana said, her eyes devoid of any emotion. "We have been taken captives on a slave ship. I am your Senior Advisor and oldest friend. Jared is your Head of Security. And she..." Mana gave me a dirty look.

  "Mana." Jared murmured, frowning at her. Mana turned away and went to the other side of the room, holding her arms clutched tightly around herself.

  "Excuse me," he said, following her across the room.

  Dar and I watched them go.

  "Do you work for me, too?" he said, looking at me with absolutely no recognition in his eyes.

  "No," I said. "No. I don't work for you."

  "Who are you then?"

  "Just..." I tried not to let the tears fall. "Just someone you used to care for."

  "We have to convince him to escape with us," Mana said.

  Dar had been stubbornly sitting in a corner, confused and frustrated at not being able to remember who he was. He was also wary of us. He had no recollection of us and questioned if we were who we said we were. I guess we could be anybody to him, and we might be trying to trick him.

  "Don't we need to have a plan to escape first?" I said. "Did I miss a meeting?"

  A guilty look flashed over Jared's face.

  "We were tossing around some ideas when you were sleeping, and we think we've come up with something that might work. I forgot we hadn't told you about it. Sorry, Kenna," Jared said, looking a little bit sheepish.

  "Oh, that's okay," I said, trying not to feel left out. "You can tell me now. But I don't know how we're going to convince him to come with us. He's pretty confused and upset."

  "We'll think of something," Jared said. "If we have to, we'll bop him over the head and drag him with us."

  Mana and I both frowned at him.

  "Okay, okay," he said, holding up his hands. "It was just a joke."

  "Ha, ha," Mana said. "We need to help him trust us and explain why he needs to come."

  "How much are we going to tell him?" I said.

  They both looked at me in sympathy.

  "I don't want to tell him about our relationship," I said, staring down at my boots.

  "Why not?" Jared said, looking confused.

  "Because I just don't want to."

  "She's hoping he's going to remember her spontaneously," Mana said, looking me over.

  How had she guessed?

  "No, I don't... I mean..."

  "Is that even possible?" Jared looked at Mana.

  "No one has ever regained their memories after being mind-wiped," Mana said, staring at me even though she was answering Jared's question.

  "That's what I thought," Jared said, and he looked at me. "Kenna..."

  "I know. It's silly. But I refuse to believe that he's gone. He can't be gone."

  Mana rolled her eyes and turned away. Jared didn't say anything but gave me a hug.

  "Whether his memory is coming back or not, we have to convince him to go with us. So, let's talk to him," Mana said. Jared and I looked at each other and followed her.

  "Hey," she said to Dar. He was sitting and staring off into space. I noticed she avoided using his name.

  He turned to look at us but didn't say anything. He had hardly said two words since he returned to us. I hoped he hadn't forgotten his ability to talk.

  "Look, Dar," Jared said. "I know you're upset, but we can't be pussy-footing around you, trying to pretend that nothing has happened. What these girls want me to do is crazy."

  Mana and I looked at each other.

  "You were mind-wiped like we already told you. And who you thought you were is gone."

  Dar stared at Jared, his eyes troubled.

  "But who you ARE is right here."

  I held my breath in shock. Of course, Jared was right. His memories were gone, but he was still here. I could tell that Mana had the same revelation. Dar seemed to be wrapping his head around the idea, too. Jared went on.

  "We need to get ourselves and you out of here. I know you don't remember us, but you can trust us. All of us. Mana has known you for years. Kenna and I just met you, but we were your friends." He glanced over at me and then back at Dar.

  Dar looked at me for a moment and then back at Jared, obviously trying to understand the undercurrents of the conversation.

  "You can trust us. You HAVE to trust us if you're not going to live out the last short years of your life as a slave."

  Dar frowned.

  "This is a slave ship," Jared continued, feeling that he was gaining momentum. "The aliens will load it up with as many warm bodies as they can. They're going to take us back to their mining planets and force us to mine their minerals for us. If that sounds like a desirable future to you, then I guess we can leave you here. If you'd rather avoid being a slave, then you can come with us. It's up to you."

  We all held our breath, waiting for what he would say. He looked down at the floor, not sure whether to trust us or not.

  I knelt down beside him.

  "Dar?" I said, trying to keep any emotion off my face that might scare him. He looked up and met my eyes and my breath caught in my throat. It was like the night we first met at the party — I couldn't look away. Finally, I found my voice again. "We don't mean you any harm."

  He gazed at my face for a long time and then finally he nodded.

  "I will come with you," he said. He turned away from us as if those five words exhausted him.

  "Good," Jared said, clapping his hands together. "Good. Now we just have to get away."

  DAR

  The three finally left me alone after I agreed to go with them. I didn't know why the fact that there were three of them seemed significant.

  I felt that three was a key number, but I didn't know why.

  There were many questions. I had lost everything, but I wasn't sure what I had lost. Apparently I had been someone of importance. And I had friends. Other than that, I knew absolutely nothing about myself.

  My life was a clean slate.

  I probably would regret losing all of my memories if I could remember what it was I had lost. Jared seemed like a good guy, and Mana was someone dependable.

  But that Kenna. I couldn't seem to figure out where she fit.

  She intrigued me. When I looked at her before. When she spoke to me. Something happened inside of me. My heart stopped for a moment. I lost my breath. I felt like for a second everything clicked. And in spite of all that had happened to me (which I couldn't remember), it was going to be okay.

  Then that
flash was gone, and she was some random that I didn't know.

  It was confusing.

  It made sense to go with them. If I was ever to piece back together my life, I wasn't going to get a chance to do it if I was a slave in some far off galaxy. I wondered what exactly their plan was to get off an impermeable ship that was designed to keep people prisoners.

  I had another nap. I was constantly exhausted - I felt like I could sleep for days. When I woke up, the three were talking in the corner. They spoke quietly, but I could hear them perfectly.

  "It's perfect because it's simple," Jared said.

  "It's perfectly simply stupid," Mana said in a disgusted tone of voice. "We're going to get ourselves mind-wiped or killed. But I can't think of anything better to try."

  "Okay, so can you run through it one more time, Jared? You said the shuttle you came in on is still attached to the ship?"

  "Yes. Some of the devices embedded in our skin are still functioning. We've determined that our shuttle is still there," Mana said.

  "We need to knock over the droids that bring us our food and water and get out the door. We'll grab one of them and make a run for the cell that we entered through — that's only three doors down. We that know because of the device we recovered from Mana's elbow implant."

  Kenna glanced at the dirty bandage wrapped around Mana's elbow. If we didn't clean it soon, it would get infected. She ought to take better care of herself, I thought, momentarily forgetting that personal care was probably pretty low on Mana's list of priorities right now.

  "How will we get into the other cell?" Kenna asked.

  "The droids use fingerprint identification. That's why we'll take either the whole droid or a hand. We'll lock the other droids in this cell."

  "Okay, I'm following you so far. We knock over the droids when they bring us our food and water. We use their fingerprints to unlock the door on the other cell. We get inside. And the shuttle is on the other side of the hull. But how do we get to it?" Kenna asked. She sounded like a walking plot summary.

  "Imagine the device we removed from her elbow is a souped up Swiss army knife," Jared said, grinning at me. "It has a laser beam that cuts through metal."

  "You're kidding me," Kenna said.

  "No lie," Jared said, holding up his hands to show his innocence. "We come prepared."

  "Mana's right. This plan is stupid and needs a lot of luck. I haven't got any better ideas, so let's get ready."

  I stood up. If they were going to enact that ridiculous plan, then I had better get ready, too.

  The four of us stood on either side of the door. We were waiting for our food and water. I couldn't believe that we were doing this.

  It seemed the height of folly to me, but they had faith that it would work, and I didn't care. For me, there were no consequences. If they caught us and mind-wiped us, I would be in exactly the same boat as I was in before.

  Of course, I wouldn't wish a mind-wiping on anyone. It's horribly disconcerting, disorienting, and frankly irritating because I didn't know who I was or anything about the world. The three had only told me bits and pieces about my life. We were waiting to get away and then they would fill me in on everything they had left out.

  I hoped.

  Jared and I were on one side of the door and Mana and Kenna on the other. We waited silently. The droids should be here any minute.

  I glanced over at Kenna. I didn't think she was particularly beautiful. But there was something about her eyes. They captivated me. I felt as though I could get lost in them.

  She met my gaze and held it. She didn't speak or move, but I knew she were telling me something in a language that I couldn't understand. It was just out of reach, and it was giving me feelings I couldn't identify.

  We stared at each other until my heart was pounding and my breathing coming fast. What was she doing to me? It felt like sorcery.

  She hadn't even touched me, and my body was responding. I had no chance to think about it, though, because the door was opening.

  The droids had a humanoid form and could perform simple tasks. But they weren't sentient, thank goodness. Jared and I quickly overpowered them. These were the servant droids, not the soldier droids I had seen in the med bay where they mind-wiped me. I assumed that there was a big difference in power and weight for different types of robots.

  Jared and I picked one up and ran down the hall. Kenna and Mana had slammed the door and locked it. They were right behind us.

  We made it to the other cell and used the droid's fingerprint to give us access. I wondered what kind of maniac designer would put prints on an android.

  "What do we do with the robot?" Jared asked Kenna and Mana. No one asked my opinion, and I didn't offer it. I was a shadow now, without memories and almost without a personality. I would stay in the background and try to figure things out before I would offer my opinion on anything.

  "Just take it into the cell," Mana said. "And hurry. They've been alerted. We have two minutes and forty-five seconds."

  Jared rushed into the room. There were excited exclamations from our crewmen who were being held there. He ignored them all, running to the wall. Mana was right behind him and handed him a device that seemed microscopic. I hadn't even realized she was holding anything in her hand.

  Jared aimed the laser at the wall and started to cut.

  Nothing happened. He gave Mana an inquisitive look.

  "I said before it took two minutes to cut the hull the first time," she said.

  "That doesn't give us much leeway." His teeth clenched as he focused on cutting the right sized hole and keeping the proper distance and angle from the hull.

  "I told you this was stupid," she said with a shrug.

  I chuckled to myself. That was so like her.

  I froze. How could I know if something was like her or not?

  I stared at her for a minute before I shook it off. It was a fluke.

  The mind-wiped had no memories or even glimmers of memories. The technology was made perfect in the last fifty years. The people who did that sort of work didn't make mistakes either.

  I couldn't have remembered anything about Mana. My assessment had to have been based on what I had seen of her since I woke up.

  There was a loud commotion in the room, disturbing my train of thought. My eyes drew to Kenna. She was surrounded by people asking questions or greeting her.

  She was talking to as many of them as she could. Shaking hands, smiling, answering questions. Her long brown hair, I noticed, had been coiled on her head instead of being in a braid down her back.

  I tried to listen to what she was saying.

  "There's not room on the shuttle for all of us. We will return to the ship and make a plan to get you all out of here. You've got to be strong and stay safe until we return, okay? We won't leave you here."

  There was a loud screeching noise.

  "Kenna," Jared said. He and Mana were pulling out a piece of hull.

  Kenna smiled one last time and ran over to me. She grabbed my hand, and I felt an electric tingle zap me when we touched. She looked at me in shock, and I could tell that she had felt it too. There was no time to wonder about all of this.

  We had to go. We could hear soldier droids pounding down the corridor.

  She pulled me to the hole in the hull. Mana and Jared had disappeared through it.

  "You first," I said.

  She looked confused and paused for a moment. Then she shook her head.

  "You don't understand, but you're much more important than I am. There are a lot of people depending on you to come back."

  "Dar, Kenna," Mana poked her head back through. "Hurry up! Why don't you talk AFTER you evacuate? The ship's starting to close up again."

  "Now, Dar. Just go," she said pushing me a little.

  Something was wrong. I was experiencing deja vu. We had already had this conversation about who should escape and who was more important. But I didn't want to argue. I wanted to get to safety and, more impor
tantly, I wanted Kenna to get to safety, too.

  The sooner I went through, the sooner she would follow me.

  I put my legs in and slid into the shuttlecraft, landing clumsily in a heap on the floor. Mana helped me get up. Jared was already powering up and getting ready to take off.

  Mana went to the hole and called to Kenna again.

  "Kenna, quick. You're next!" she said.

  At that moment, we heard soldiers coming through the door. I heard the sound of shots. People screamed and ran to the walls and corners, trying to get out of the way.

  "You have to come now!" Mana yelled.

  My heart pounded at the sounds of chaos coming through the hole. I saw her feet dangling, but something was delaying her.

  "Kenna, you're going to have to jump. The ship's closing up," Mana yelled again.

  I moved to see if I could help. Kenna was sitting ready to jump through the hole. That's when I noticed the problem with the ship.

  The ship was reconstructing its walls by itself. The hole was getting smaller. Soon she would not be able to fit through.

  "Now, Kenna!" Mana screamed.

  Kenna finally jumped, her body slipping through the ever-shrinking hole in the hull. But she had waited too long. In the end, her arm got caught and pulled back. Her forearm and hand slid through as the hole closed around it. The metal of the ship scraped deeply from halfway up her forearm to her fingertips.

  She screamed in intense pain and fell to the floor in a heap, thankfully unconscious. Her arm was bleeding profusely.

  I felt like vomiting. I did have memory problems, but I could not remember ever seeing anyone hurt so badly.

  "Jay, get us the hell out of here." Mana said.

  There was a lurch as Jared quickly accelerated away from the alien vessel. Mana tossed me the first aid kit.

  "Stop the bleeding, Dar. Jared's piloting and I've got to make sure they don't transport us back." She ran for a console and began tapping furiously.

  "Keep them from getting a lock, Mana," Jared said. "We'll be on the other ship in a few minutes."

  I stared down at Kenna. Her arm was a mess.

  I didn't know what to do.

  "Dar!" Mana yelled, "Stop the bleeding. She's can't lose any more blood. Jared, he's just standing there. I can't let them get a lock on us. But Kenna's going to die. She must have cut an artery."