Page 56 of The Program

The moment ended too soon, both of us pulling away to gasp for air, his minty-cool breath puffing over my face.

‘You’re here?’ he asked, his tone hopeful yet cautious.

‘I’m here,’ I confirmed. ‘I can’t believe this is happening again. It really is real, isn’t it? You’re really here with me right now.’

His answering smile was sad. ‘You doubted me?’

I shook my head vehemently. ‘No, Bromm. I never doubted you. I doubted what happened, though. I couldn’t tell if it was real or if you were just my mind conjuring you up because I missed you.’

‘I miss you too, love. So fucking much.’ He paused, thinking something over. ‘I guess now’s as good a time as any to talk. I have the location.’

I pulled back further, separating our bodies but keeping the physical connection through our hands. ‘Where?’ His wince was subtle, but I still caught it. ‘Where, Bromm?’

‘The Forbidden Planet…’

I wracked my brain for any information I had on such a place but came up empty. Odd… Whatever made this planet ‘forbidden’ must have alluded my self-run education. Or details about it were just very well hidden, even from my methods of acquiring information. That didn’t bode well and his reaction made a little more sense with that reasoning, but it didn’t change that it was where we now needed to meet. ‘I’ve never heard of it. You’ll need to send me coordinates.’

‘I’ll get Xander on that. I have no idea where it is,’ he confessed.

‘When? I’ll be heading into the testing facility after this. I’ll need to input the coordinates into my ship to map out the course beforehand.’

His lips pursed in frustration. ‘I won’t see him again until tomorrow.’

‘Okay, no worries. I’ll just do a search while I’m in here. Leave it with me.’

‘I’ll let Foryk and the others know you’re here.’

‘You need to prepare to leave for tomorrow,’ I told him. ‘It might take longer depending on the time it takes for me to get everyone out, but just watch out for a shift in the guards’ behaviour. That’ll be your cue.’

‘Are you sure about this?’ he asked, concern and anxiety warbling his words. ‘Artemis, I don’t want anything to happen to you.’

I gave him a self-deprecating smile. ‘I’ll be fine, Bromm. Even if they catch me, I’ll find a way out again. I’ve done it twice already.’

His hands came up to cup my face, ensuring I couldn’t look away. ‘You never should’ve been in a situation you needed to escape from in the first place, love.’

I scoffed. ‘We can’t change the past. No point in wishing things were different.’

His bright purple eyes crinkled with his frown, the dual pupils narrowing to pinpoints on me. ‘I can’t stay for much longer, but this conversation isn’t over.’

I felt like I was missing some sort of sub context, but his intentions were clear and I softened at the tenderness he used to stroke my cheeks. His beard stretched between us to tickle at my face, gently swiping over my bottom lip before he leaned in to slant his mouth over mine. It was a quick kiss, but the emotion behind it lingered like he had just engraved them into our lips.

‘I love you, Artemis. I’ll see you soon.’

‘I love you too,’ I whispered, but he had already disappeared from the web.

I jumped from the line to follow the others in the web, moving further and further away from the dense tangle in the middle and onto a thinner, wispier line that almost gave off the impression of being dusty with misuse. It was haggard and weak compared to the others, something I had yet to find inside the web. Typically, the lines were strong and bright even with misuse. Wherever this Forbidden Planet was and whatever made it so forbidden, it seemed that the Intergalactic Union also wanted it forgotten.

Finally, I broke through the last remaining barrier into what I could only describe as a blueprint. An image appeared of the planet in question, overlayed with an abundance of notes that distorted the image. When I focused on one of the notes, the image morphed into a close-up of what was written. It seemed that the planet had been sectioned into different zones, and this one was concluded to be uninhabitable. The next few were the same until I reach the last. This one, however, was labelled ‘Potential Habitability’.

When I homed in on one particular file I almost fell off the flimsy line in pure shock. Image after image of the wildlife I’d begun to familiarise myself with sprung up. Purple-trunked trees, a line-up of blooms ranging from vibrant colours to pastels to black-petalled wonders, crystal-spotted mountains, the lake in the valley that shimmered in rainbow colours reflecting from the mountains… The very same lake I spent eating the majority of my meals gazing at with Libby at my side.

And then there were the images of the creatures. Various birds caught soaring above the trees, their feathers blending into the sky above them or the leaves below depending on the angle the image was taken. Tiny critters that were seen scampering across the forest floor or over mountain rocks. And the most startling image of all: Dave. Or what looked like Dave. This one was alive, full of vivacity, the picture capturing its expression mid-snarl as it lunged for the camera. Skin a vibrant purple similar to the trees and covered in a thin layer of fuzz; four ears, two pointed forward and two pointed back; six large, red eyes the same vivid shade as the venom-filled fangs on full display inside a long muzzle; a thick, mace-like tail that was primed in the air is if ready to smash and kill; long black claws that reminded me of Tornu spikes extended from enormous paws, ready to slice and slaughter. This would be what Dave Junior grew into, I realised, a sense of wonder washing over me at his species’ clear ferocity and lethality.

Then the images changed again, my mind spinning with the implications of this discovery. Staring right at me was the vaguely familiar image of the interior corridors and laboratories of the underground structure I’d been trapped in with Libby and Bal for the past solar. The building that had housed all of the women I’d just freed. The very facility I had just levelled to the ground in a fit of rage and revenge.

The Forbidden Planet was where I’d just come from and our final destination. Which meant we couldn’t use it as our rendezvous point.

The plan needed to be scrapped, and unless they already had a plan B we were out of time to forge a new one.

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