Page 124 of Between Earth and Eternity
One minute, thirteen seconds.
The longest stretch to the hangar. I sprint, charging forward with all my might.
Fourteen seconds.
I turn right into the hangar bay, and the timer sounds. The pod has launched. I remove two detonators from the strap, setting the timers for one minute each. The hangar is lined with shuttles and ships of all designs. I am single-handedly destroying lifelines if something truly happens to Zenith and everyone needs to evacuate. We are still months away from Eden.
The alloy spheres glide against the polished floors as I throw one in each direction, then run like hell.
The shouting and stomping of boots against the floor grows louder the closer I come to the end of the hallway. I turn into an open area, passengers out of their beds, all a bit in shock. I scan the crowd, looking for badges, and right when I spot them, they spot me.
“Hey! You!” a badge shouts, then everything is drowned out by a deafeningboom!
Havoc erupts as the ship shakes violently, and the scent of burning metal stings my nose. Most people have been knocked to the ground, including myself, and before I can get up, I am pushed back to the ground.
“I have her!” a badge screams above the noise. He places cuffs around my wrists and pulls me to my feet.
Over the chaos, I can make out Zara’s smooth, generated voice. “Please remain calm. Follow instructions from crew members and proceed in an orderly manner.” Her message is completely disregarded. People flee in all directions, somescreaming for help, others trying to calm crying children. The badge hands me off to another soldier, who hauls me away.
In the fire and terror, I have lit the match in hopes that Vallen and the rest of Nova will expose the truth of Mannox Industries and, as Vallen swore, burn it down.
If I ever give back what you gave me
Take it and run away as far as you can go
“Used To Know,” Lord Huron
My hands are covered in my own dried blood.
The stun bullet’s effects wore off eventually, but my leg continues to pulse in pain. The numbing injection faded hours ago, before Runa was able to perform quick medical aid with the limited supplies we had aboard the pod, and it needs additionalcare. I’m surprised I didn’t crack a tooth from gritting my teeth so hard as she pried the bullet away from my skin. But I’ll live.
It took nearly twenty-six hours to be picked up by the ship we’d intended to meet up with in our original plan. Thankfully, Payson was able to send out a distress signal before we escaped Zenith. This ship, Spectra, was a birthday gift from my father, ironically enough. I mostly used it to orbit Earth’s moon, just an excuse to be anywhere my father wasn’t.
Spectra’s coordinates have been set to Nova’s home base, which will take us a few weeks to reach, on a small planet about fifty times smaller than Earth with almost nothing but ocean except the one small island that houses the base.
I limp my way to my personal quarters, ignoring Bex calling out for me to stop. I know I should head straight to Spectra’s medical bay, but I need solitude, just a few minutes to reason with every painful emotion, even if there is no reasoning out of this. I can’t see what would ever make this bearable, understandable to the ache in my chest, an ache far worse than the one in my leg.
I rip my holster off, the gun now absent, throwing it against the display console in the middle of the room. The glass cracks and spiders out in all directions. My hands shake, and I bury them in my hair.
“Vallen?”
I turn to see Bex and Laz watching me with quiet worry. Payson joins them but looks like he wants to kill me. I did my best to avoid their gazes in the pod.
“She shot me. She actually shot me.” I laugh in disbelief. They all eye me like I’m deranged, and maybe I am. I don’t care.
“That was one hell of a move,” Laz says, blowing a puff of air.
“I didn’t know she had it in her,” Payson says.
Of course you didn’t, I think. I’ve never underestimated her, not for one second, but Laz isn’t wrong. It was insane.
“And it actually worked. We haven’t picked up signals of any kind,” Bex adds, checking his datapad.
“Do you think she’s alive?” Payson asks warily. We all saw the explosion from the pod. I pray to whatever divinity that may exist in this universe that she wasn’t in it.
“If there are any casualties, it will be recorded. Laz could try to peek at Zenith’s manifesto for any changes,” Bex says calmly.
Laz nods to confirm. “It won’t be easy, but I’ll try to find a loophole somewhere,” Laz adds.
