All you need in life is a good ship, a good crew, and good friends.
The explanation didn’t take very long, and there was a situation in which the redhead, who’s name they learned was Ellen, pulled out a gun after hearing that the Uniforms had held Alex at gunpoint. The situation was only deescalated after Ezra, the wavy haired brunette, pointed out that Uniforms had extensive knowledge on ships and that they could help them get their ship, the Espionage (according to the decal on the other side of the wing at least), running.
The crew was small. It consisted of only five girls, the four that had been outside during the initial meeting and one other girl who had been in the ship’s engine core. And although a ship their size could potentially be run by one person plus the Artificial Intelligence, it would be much easier now with three extra people who have lived by and worked on a ship since near birth.
“I know she’s small,” Ellen said as she climbed up a ladder to the ship’s engine area, “but she’s ours”
Mark made a face as he followed after her, “Why’s the ship a girl?”
“Because I said so.” She snapped with a hint of lighthearted annoyance, looking down briefly at him. She could easily kick him down if he wasn’t careful.
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Whoever that girl was, she was gone. There was too much commotion to even guess where she could have gone. She could have easily just blended into the crowd and probably did.
There was no point in searching for her. So they decided not to.
“What now?” Mark asked again, looking at his friends.
Mai shrugged, and followed Mark’s gaze towards Thi.
He noticed their expectant looks and gave them an exasperated response “Why are you both looking at me?” he asked.
The small girl shrugged and gazed past the two tall males to the marketplace.
“Well it’s just – I don’t know.” Mark said, his pitch a slight bit higher than normal.
Thi brought his hands to his face, rubbing his eyes a little under his glasses.
Mai turned back to the boys, bored of staring out into the land of merchants and customers, “We should probably talk about our options.”
“See here’s the problem,” Thi shifted from one leg to the other, looking down at Mai who stood across from him, something she tended to do so she could see his face without having to strain her neck “We don’t have a lot of options.”
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Getting ready was easy. The assignment was easy, everything was pretty easy. Mai had been right. All they had to do was grab the quickest transport back to Earth and return. There really shouldn’t be any problems.
She packed a small bag, moving about her room trying to see if there was anything else she needed to take along with her on the trip. She had parted with Mark and Thi about an hour ago and knew that they were probably scrambling to do the same.
Still, as an officer of Unified she had to be prepared for anything. So even after holstering her solar pistol by her right leg and packing several battery packs, her medic module, two separate scanners, specialty lenses and several tools every spacer had to have, she still racked her brain for anything else she could have potentially missed. There was always something. Her dad complained about her packing habits a lot and that was with days of notice, she only had two hours this time.
Finally with a sigh, she threw her bag over her shoulder and started towards the door.
Her grandma and dad were waiting for her downstairs. Everyone else was at work, either on the ARC itself or the outpost, it seemed.
She didn’t really want to do this. She didn’t really know what to say. Her dad was overprotective, he enjoyed worrying about her safety which was weird considering he was the one who brought her here. She wasn’t like Mark or Thi. She wasn’t born here. She was brought here when she was seven, leaving with only her vague memories of Earth and entire family.
From what she understood, her dad had requested a transfer to this outpost after getting into a rather bad scuffle on his own ship. He never gave her the details, just told her that they took the opportunity as it came and never looked back. It had been the safest option at the time.
The only issue was that it tied her to the life of a Unified officer for what could potentially be her entire life.
“Hey Dad”
—
Mark waited by the garage where they kept all the ground vehicles to transport in and out of the compound. He had already said his goodbyes and his bag was heavy. Being the (arguably) burliest one out of the three, he was usually left to carry the heavy stuff, and besides, that was his specialty anyway. He had two rifles folded up in his pack as well as several explosives and other potentially dangerous items. He wasn’t, however, allowed to carry any of the things Carlton had given them. He wasn’t quite sure how he felt about that. His friends trusted him with all these big weapons and yet they wouldn’t let him haul around a datapad.
Mai had argued that she was afraid he’d lose it since he did seem to be prone to losing small things in his big pack, and she was also afraid it’d get smashed. Thi told him that it was for the better and that he had a heavy enough pack as it was.
The three of them had been friends since they were kids. The compound had the population of a decently sized town and there were a lot of children to befriend but the three of them just seemed to click in a very odd sort of way. Thi and Mai had been neighbors from the start and Mark had met the girl through his best friend. The rest, they say, is history.
He looked up to see the sky begin to glow. The sun was rising, so it must have been about nine. His friends would be here soon and he grinned at the fact that he was early for once.
Maybe he was just too excited about getting off the planet and doing something on their own. Maybe he was just too excited to prove himself. He’d always seemed to be on the butt end of a joke. He was usually pretty good at shrugging it off but that didn’t mean that it didn’t get to him sometimes.
Thi arrived next and strangely enough, he was seen without Mai. Mark would have thought that since they lived next to each other they would have just walked here together.
“Where’s Mai?” He asked.
“She told me to go on ahead.” Thi shrugged, “She’ll be here soon.”
“We would have to wait for the girl.” Mark joked, knowing that if she had heard she would have most likely thrown something at him.
Thi just gave him a look that said you are so lucky she isn’t here right now.
Mark ignored it, “So what’d you bring?” he asked instead.
“Some battery packs, a few tools, energy caps, just-” He answered, his right hand swirling in a small circle to supplement his words. “a bunch of stuff.”
“Yeah,” Mark nodded, “I brought pretty much the same things.”
“So um who’s driving today?”
They were going to drive to the nearest town to find a way to Earth because the only vehicle they had that could make a trip like that was the ARC ship and that was impossible.
“You guys ready?” A confident female voice piped up behind them.
The boys turned around to see their friend and nodded. Mark resisted the urge to ask her what took her so long.
The trip into town was one they knew well. The outpost couldn’t survive in isolation and besides, half the point of the project was to improve relations with other planets.
Mai looked back, watching as the large ship faded away into the background and the huge gates that kept them in was closed behind them, blocking the view of the ARC and the town they had established there. The only thing she could see now were the men on the lookout towers waving from afar and a traveling caravan that glanced at them briefly before continuing their way into the outpost.
She sunk into her seat, only a few hours into her day and she was already tired, mostly from the lack of sleep the night before than anything else.
Not too long afterwards, the three of them stepped out of the car, tugging on their packs. Mark slung both the straps of his backpack over his shoulders, looping his fingers around them, looking up at the sky. It was no longer dark out. The sun was shining brightly and the lights that illuminated the town flickered off. He’d only been to the actual town a few times himself, he never really had the need to go in. Most of his trips isolated him to the outer rim of the town.
Thi looked at his watch, his own backpack hanging on one shoulder, they were on their own schedules, they were deciding how this mission went. They had no extra help. It was their call.
Should they just get it done as soon as they can? Or did they have some leisure time?
He was the most familiar with the town, knowing it’s layout by heart, maybe they could spare a few minutes to-
“Hey guys, look at this!” Mark said, gesturing them over. Thi hadn’t noticed but Mark had moved in front of a booth and picked up a strange elastic tube. Grinning in a silly fashion, he began to shake it, letting the elastic tube flop around everywhere chaotically, nearly smacking a few other things on the table away (and his face). It seemed to amuse him greatly. He flipped it towards Thi like an extension of his arm; it looked a bit like a tentacle. A stupid tentacle.
Thi walked over, snatched the tube from his hand, and began to mimic Mark with exaggerated amusement for a brief second along before completely shifting to a semi-serious demeanor, dropping his free arm and stopping his foot, pointing the tube at Mark’s chest. “What are you doing?!”
Mai shook her head wondering how the hell she got stuck with these two.
She assumed that they were in the market but she couldn’t be sure. She was like Mark, she’d only been into town a few times and only to a small section of it. It was Thi who was the expert, roaming in and out of different buildings and sectors, learning the culture and language.
Mark shrugged, “I dunno.” he grinned sheepishly, the last bit of his laughter dying out.
Mai approached the two idiots she considered brothers and said with her best attempt at a straight face, “You know that’s an alien catheter right?”
Thi quickly dropped it back on the table, nearly flinging it onto several other things. The Rangion merchant did not look amused. Mark, on the other hand, looked slightly confused, although he had reached the conclusion that this object was not good.
“What’s that?”
Thi’s face was still scrunched up in disgust as he asking for disinfectant or sanitizer before explaining to Mark. “Well,” He started, pausing for a second, his hand still out “Think of a -”
Mai butted in, interrupting the explanation much to what seemed like Thi’s relief. “I’m pretty sure it’s clean. I mean who tries to sell a used catheter?” Even as she said that though she handed him the sanitizer after digging through her bag for it.
Thi’s face did not change. “You don’t know these people.” He said darkly, shaking his head ever so slightly.
“RRgken dafc arkaz” The large yellow skinned creature with six fingers grumbled in a low voice. His bugged eyes looked angry.
Thi, who had returned the sanitizer to Mai, translated for them. “He says that if we’re not going to buy anything, we should leave.”
Not wanting to touch anything else in that booth they bid the Rangion a polite goodbye and left, walking down the marketplace that buzzed of activity.
It was obvious that the market was what made the town. It was a bazaar, like the one in Instanbul. Aliens of all species roamed around, shouting over each other in various languages and dialects in hopes of attracting costumers. Several booths had automated devices that shouted sale prices for the merchants.
Big and small, wide and tall, humanoid and sluglike, all types of creatures crossed them, bumping into each other easily. Mai felt uneasy, these creatures were a lot larger than she was, she felt like she could easily be trampled or knocked over. And it didn’t help that Thi had mentioned the people here being a bit shady earlier. She tightened her grip on her messenger bag, keeping her hand over the flap. The last thing they needed was to get something stolen.
She glanced over at Mark and Thi who seemed a lot more comfortable than she was, particularly Thi.
Thi was used to this space, he knew it well, having made regular trips to and from the town for his specialization. He was the diplomat of the group, the linguist, and he studied or at least knew of every culture in the galaxy.
He lead them through the bazaar, at one point whispering to Mark to keep watch of Mai.
For the moment he was the unofficial leader.
Neither Mai or Mark minded.
A huge steel building came into view. Looking up at the entrance they could see a a large half arch starting from the ground that cut into a straight steel bar protruding out of the metal sheet that made the roof. It was a huge hanger.
Here everyone traveled in groups and packs, all looking entirely too busy to care about three young humans arriving.
It was obvious that this was where they would take a transport to Earth. Thi walked away from his friends to the teller and get the transport tickets.
Mai and Mark stood nearby, keeping watch of the surrounding area and their friends.
“So…” Mark started, after the two had lulled into a silence. “What’s a catheter?”
“Uhm” She turned to look at him directly, she had been staring at a blue tinted holographic figure.
“Bad news guys.” Thi said, running up to them. Mai hadn’t noticed him approach. “The next transport to Earth could take up to a week to get there.”
“What?” Mai was confused, Earth wasn’t that far away, it really shouldn’t take that long to get there, even with a communal transport that had to make stops at other planets too. “Why?”
“Apparently war broke out in the Nara system. The transports have to go around it plus with all the different stops…”
“Great.” Mai said, dropping her arms and turning around with a small huff.
Mark’s face had fallen into a small frown. “Okay, so what do we do then?”
No one had a chance to answer as a small blonde girl barged through the group, right arm positioned in front of her as she shoved people away from her.
“Gheeze!” Mark exclaimed, staring off at the direction the girl had sprinted towards. He’d been bumped into but due to the comparison in size, he didn’t get more than an arm to the chest.
Thi stared in the same direction, “I wonder what her problem is”
Mai, who actually had gotten knocked over, stood up, brushing herself off. “Thanks for the help guys.”
“Oh sorry.” Mark said, turning to her.
“It’s fine.”
The wake of destruction the girl had left was starting to right themselves. She had knocked over a few people, spilled someone’s bag, and disappeared into an alley way.
“HEY!” Someone shouted from behind. “SOMEONE GET HER, SHE TOOK MY ENGINE CORE CHIP”
The three friends glanced at each other immediately before sprinting off in the direction of the girl.
She had been running pretty fast and the time it took for them to start meant that she had one hell of a head start. It also didn’t help that she had disappeared around an alleyway.
Thankfully the blonde girl picked a poor choice for an escape route because the buildings were designed in a way in which there was only one direction to run through.
Following the path they found themselves back in the market.
“Fuck.”
No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man – Heraclitus
The alarm sounded at six AM, as it always did, and the sky was still dark as night. The sun itself would not rise for several more hours but the day had already started. They could waste no time waiting for daylight. They operated on standard Earth hours.
Within the Anark system’s ARC inhabitants, three young souls rose from their beds to ready themselves for their work days. Trained in the ARC outpost from day one, they weren’t kids, they weren’t soldiers, they were experimental officers and this was the only life they would ever know.
Ithaias found himself first to arrive at his post for debriefing. All the minors in the outpost were collected in the ARC ship’s cargo every morning for the rundown of their days. As today was Monday, the majority of the kids would be sent off into their schooling routines before having to report to specialized training in whatever field they had selected or were selected for them as children.
He was early, which wasn’t usually the case, but today he and his two closest friends would be sent off on their first official mission on their own without guidance. The final person in their team had finally reached the age of seventeen, which meant that they were ready for an assignment of their own. Ithaias could feel his stomach twist in nervousness more than excitement for the prospect of being sent out on their own.
Were they ready for this?
He hoped so.
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Actually, I think it’s nice that no one reads this. It lets me get things off my chest. It’s not private so it gives someone a chance to read it but no one does so I still have my privacy.
It’s like instead of keeping everything inside, I’m writing a message in a bottle for everyone else to read if they ever care enough to.
It’s kind of funny how I feel pretty much the same about life but it’s like I have forgotten how to express it. I find myself running out of words and just continually fading away.
It’s like I’ve lost my backbone and succumb to misery.
Again.
I had long since given up the fight. I accept my current situation and I live with it. Occasionally, I had peaks of feeling but for the most part I was numb, my emotions were pushed back and muffled.
I had given up on acting on them because I knew that negative emotions resulted in nothing but negativity. So I decided to just stop being angry and sad. Instead I kind of became a blank slate. I kind of became inhuman.
And then I went on this huge journey of “recovery” and I’m stuck in this position where I can almost feel but I’m still me and I linger in my residual blockade of numbness. The difference between now and before was that before I just didn’t react. I didn’t get angry, I didn’t get sad, I hardly ever got frustrated, I just didn’t care.
Now I don’t have a backbone.
I don’t have the ability or the energy to say something. I squeak behind people and avoid conflict. I take all blame, I pin everything on me.
And my head tells me this sucks and I should be frustrated and annoyed and all this but my heart isn’t in it. I don’t have that push to back up all those feelings to make me want to defend myself.
That fire in me is gone.
And I can’t keep watching people misplace logic for love. I can’t keep watching people fight for emotions and not solutions. I can’t keep watching people period.
I think when it comes to me. Everything that happened happened too late.
