Page 105 of Between Earth and Eternity
Whoever said the truth will set you free didn’t consider the fact that, sometimes the truth isn’t freedom but an execution order. I walk out the door, shoes in hand, taking slow and steady steps down the hall, my mind moving quicker than my body.
This is what my father must have suspected. They simply had no way to confirm it and no way to get in touch with someone on the inside to fight back, but I do.
“Keep your eyes and ears open.”
“Play the game.”
“Keep your heart open.”
For so long, we had no hope, but now we do, thanks to Vallen and the people he’s working with. The good of humanity isn’t dead after all.
All along, Vallen wasn’t the evil I assumed him to be. He was the opposite in almost every way, betraying his own blood. His father left him with cuts and bruises, the mastermind behind this evil plot. I can only imagine the scars underneath the surface. The weight he carries must be unbearable, the pressure suffocating. And I had once called him pathetic? No. Nothing could be further from the truth. I made a terrible mistake in judging him.
Now I have something I never thought could be mine. Before, I drifted aimlessly, untethered, lost in the emptiness. But now, I have a reason to hold on, a reason to fight.
This is what my father asked me to do, what he was trying to expose, and now I have learned the truth.
But what I wasn’t expecting were the other truths I would uncover. Val and I had instilled hope in each other, a hope that could perhaps spread to everyone.
I shouldn’t be running away, but deciding what I’m going to do about this unburied knowledge, and I know the answer to that already.
I run back to his door and push the call button.
The door slides open, revealing Vallen, out of breath, like he ran to answer, his hair messy like he had his hands buried in it moments before.
“Skyler, I—”
“I changed my mind. I don’t need time,” I say, a little breathless myself. “I want to know everything.”
He smiles, his real, brilliant smile. I didn’t realize how much I’d missed it all these weeks until now.
“I knew you’d be back. I just wasn’t expecting it to be so soon.”
I shake my head, the blush rising in my cheeks, but can’t help but smile back, and then I do something I wasn’t planning at all. I wrap my arms around him, resting my head against his chest. He stands there, stunned for a moment as I embrace him in the middle of the threshold, but then he wraps his arms around me, sighing deeply in relief.
“I was afraid I scared you off for good,” he says softly.
I pull back to look up at him, the green in his eyes returned to their bright glory.
“Vallen, I am so sorry. I was so wrong about you. I shouldn’t have walked out on you like that. I just didn’t know what to do. I’m so—”
He puts a finger to my lips. “I think you’re handling it quite well. You should have seen Payson the first time he saw the footage.”
I’m still wrapping my head around the fact that he and Payson know each other. I was starting to think that day in the biosphere had all been in my head after all.
“So, what exactly does this grand plan entail?”
He tucks my hair behind my ear. “Come on. I’ve caught you up on the doom and gloom, but it’s time you learned about Nova.”
The plan to abandon Earth began shortly after the discovery of Eden, and when the idea of a luxury space ship to ferry us there started to unfold, it was put into motion quickly. The inner circle was limited, sworn to secrecy, and if there was ever even a hint that someone wasn’t all in, they found themselves no longer breathing. All the plotting and careful planning led to the same objective: save those who are “worthy,” leave the rest to wither away.
“I was only twenty-one at the time,” Vallen explained, “and was in way over my head. At first, it seemed like the only thing to do was to accept it. I drank and partied, trying to forget, but as time went on, I knew I had to do something. My father’s brutality only grew with his pockets.
Over the years, the members of Nova also grew across the galaxy; factions on Earth, in work ports, and even on Eden itself. Vallen’s goal was to build a network to take down those loyal to Mannox Industries and hopefully halt their plan from happening in the first place. But when the growing unrest caused Alister to panic, security was tripled, raising thenumber of badges and heightening technology measures, and his paranoia only made him more wary of trusting others. Only a handful of people had access to weapon facilities off planet, and Alister ensured he was in full control of production of goods, such as the mining on Sega and other ports that were owned and operated by Mannox Industries.
“My father isn’t simply cutting away those he sees as lower than him, he wants to create his own personal regime. An intergalactic kingdom where he has complete power on the throne. A master of the universe,” Vallen said.
Then, as the voyage of Zenith approached, things were starting to slip through the cracks, and Alister’s paranoia grew. “My father began cutting off communication, simply making people disappear if he even suspected that something was off. He realized we had to make a clean cut from Earth, taking only what was vital to Eden and leaving the rest to dust. Zenith became more than just a ferrying ship; it became the hub for his empire.”
