Chapter 21History
DATE:
7088.03.17,
RECON
ERA
The
Lotus Root
INTERSPACE
– WAYSTATION
#0085
I
was floating on a cloud of ants that were
crawling
over my skin. I
was so tired. So over the pain. Over the concept of living. I
didn’t want to wake up. Not
again.
“You
need to wake her up.”
“Are
you insane? She’s being prepped for another transplant! Her
physiology-”
“We
don’t care. We need to verify if it’s her. Wake her up. Now.”
“Doctor,
we can’t-”
“Trish,
please — follow their instructions. We’ll take care of her the
moment we can.”
The
first breath back in the world of the living was
sharp and cold.
I blinked at the bright lights and white tiles. The coloured lines
that denoted different life-support systems told me I was in an
intensive care ward of a hospital.
I had tubes in my mouth and
nose,
my neck was stiff and I felt the pressure
of needles under my skin.
What
did they take this time?
I can’t feel anything…
I
flicked my eyes to
the left
as far as I could. There
was
a nurse in the soft blue uniform of her station. She wasn’t looking
at me, glancing
fearfully to her side, her hands crimping the IV line that had the
anaesthesia.
I
glanced to my other side. A doctor, wearing green scrubs, his grey
hair and wrinkles doing nothing compared to the five crosses
embroidered at his collar
to show his seniority.
They
know.
I closed my eyes. You don’t bring out the head of surgery for
something as simple as an organ transplant.
“Is she
awake yet?”
My eyes
flew open. I knew that voice. The vitals monitor spiked, its frantic
chirping echoing the hammering in my chest.
“Yes,
sir. Her eyes are open.”
I
immediately sought out the nurse, trying to catch her eyes, the
needles in my neck tugging. I tried to non-verbally plead with her.
She could only look on helplessly.
Heavy
footsteps approached the bed. Tears escaped my eyes. The beeping got
louder.
“Hello,
Melissa.”
I slowly
looked over, my breaths became shallow and I couldn’t get enough
air.
Meng Su.
Jim’s
former
‘friend’
in the Peacekeepers of the Jade Sphere. He was in his combat uniform,
an exo-suit that reminded me of Forty-Five but was
white
and trimmed with gold. His
helmet was peeled away to reveal black
hair cut
close
against his scalp, and his light brown eyes bored into mine.
“You’ve
made a lot of people worry.”
He smiled,
his teeth straight and perfect, his lips pulling back just too wide.
His eyes stayed cold, analytical, just like Jim’s when he stared at
me. I wasn’t someone. I was some.
“We’re
here for your
protection, petal.
We’ll bring you home.”
‘
‘
A polite
little cage. A Core?bred nickname for a woman kept pretty and
quiet in a rich man’s house, sitting on a shelf like a bouquet of
flowers. A reminder of what Jim wanted me to be. What they all
thought I already was.
Something
small.
Something
owned.
I tried to
scream — a vortex of anger, frustration, and fear tearing through
the numbness. The doctor and nurse blurred at the edges of my vision,
their movements slowing as if underwater.
The ants
surged up my throat, stealing my breath, stealing my voice...and
then... the world cracked sideways.
I wanted to
go home. Or at least, go back before it all went wrong.
The
ants swarmed over me, bringing me back into the cloud. I floated
there, the fear and panic instantly gone. I gazed at the sky, it was
light
blue. The three mismatched moons hanging like ornaments over me
looked like the three Lunar
Sisters of Klaiana.
The sun’s rays were yellow, bathing me in its warmth, familiarity.
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“Mel,
you cannot be serious.”
“She’s
right, Cabot, you cannot be thinking of a career change! Not now!”
“Why
not?” I asked, the sweet
strawberry disappearing into my mouth. My
hair braided and hanging over my shoulder, my summer dress hugging my
upper curves before loosely hanging around my lower body.
We were
sitting outside a cafe along a restaurant boulevard. The narrow
street was pedestrian-only, keeping the city plaza quiet and
pristine.
“Well,
because! You’re
head of your department! You shouldn’t be thinking of a career
change!” Alison
spluttered next to me. I didn’t really know her, I realised at the
time. Anna
had introduced us. Anna
was inside, ordering something extra...
“Mel,
are you sure this is what you want?” Jessica asked gently, only
sparing Ali a glance. Her
dark frizzy hair was done up in a perm, despite my protests.
She
was in her casual clothes, her shift at the university over for the
week. She
didn’t like .
Why didn’t she like her?
“Yes,
I think it is,” I
said firmly, making sure I held my childhood friend’s gaze. We’d
travelled to Klaiana together, leaving the safety of Gamonida behind
to ‘find ourselves’.
Gamonida…
I didn’t know it yet, but after everything that happened, they’d
court?martial me on sight.
The
memory didn’t stop for that thought. My na?ve self kept talking,
so confident.
“Archaeology
lets me go out across the Spheres
and study deactivated
robots.
Old ones. Ancient ones. I
get to pull
apart
pre-Sev
code and manufacturing processes–maybe
even
figure
out
what caused the Blackout.”
I gave a crooked smile.
“And if I accidentally blow something up —
well, they’re already dead, they can’t dob me in.”
Jess
snorted. Ali looked horrified. But she was only human. She didn’t
understand. Not fully.
“Is this
for that guy?” Ali asked, whispering across the table.
I blushed,
looking away and rubbing the back of my neck.
“Oh
Melissa H.
Cabot!” Jess had shoved me lightly, her face contorted between
smiling and scolding. “You are not
making a major life decision over a boy!”
“No!”
I denied, but the smile on my face betrayed me. “Ok, maybe. He
might have given… me some ideas. Like…
maybe travel with him...”
“He’s a
security guard, Mel! You’re… way out of his league!” Ali was
affronted, as if my love life had anything to do with her.
“So?”
I asked seriously. “He’s cute, he’s funny, he’s hot, he’s
smart! And did I mention he’s really
attractive?
And corrected
on an energy system schematic?”
Jess
laughed, “No, really? You think he’s good-looking? You only ever
told me every single day since you met him!”
There
was more to the conversation, but all I remember was that Anna
came back out, pulling back the chair directly
in
front of me. Her blonde wavy hair loose around her shoulders, her
professional suit the only indication she was
on
her lunch break
as a university secretary.
“Mel,
come on.” Ali cut in, pulling on my arm. Why
was she so pushy?
“That
guard is
not
worth it. He’ll bounce the minute he can!”
“You
don’t know him.”
“Know
him.”
The
words echoed in my head,
the ants going back and stealing my voice again. But
I wasn’t screaming. I was crying. I missed Jess. I missed .
As
much as I hated it at
the time,
I missed that life.
She
had been right.
did leave. Disappeared without a word. I waited. And waited. Even
keeping an eye out when I started my new job. I wanted him back. Even
after I tried to forget him. Burying
him deep in the years of work.
Dirty-blond
hair, mischievous light brown eyes, that soft smile meant just for
me. And whenever he leaned in for a kiss, his earthy scent mixed with
worn leather.
I
gasped, blinking as I stared at the ceiling, bathed
in yellow light from the Klaiana
sun
outside.
I
could hear voices off in the distance, mumbling and glasses clinking
together.
“Az,
she’s just some spacer. Why are you so…”
A
woman spoke, but the rest slipped away, the voices drifting in and
out like I was underwater. I couldn’t move.
“Call
it a
bad feeling,”
came
the calm reply, low and husky, the sound of it curling through me.
“That
bounty is 50,000 CoreBits. She’s meant to be an
Iron Wall nobody...”
The
voice slid closer, memory bleeding into sensation — his firm tongue
tracing the veins along my neck, whispering against my skin.
“We
should call Mills. Or Shi-shi-” the
woman spoke again. ,
the cyborg with the eye and arm.
“And
tell them what?” A
gruff voice cut her off. Striker
Jake, the
other cyborg with the big metal arm. “That
dress she wore, Az. That material’s from the Core.
She
ain’t from the Wall.”
They were
the mercenaries.
“...do
you know that?” The woman
spoke, the soft slap of cards hitting the table punctuating her
words.
“That
job out in Alpha Vol… crates full of Core goods...fabric...” Jake
paused, as if taking a sip. “...stuff was worth more than ships out
here.”
.
I thought. I
hope this is a dream. If I’m actually hearing them. Have
they figured me out?
You
know they
have.
A little dark voice purred, the smile pulling too wide.
“said,
the low baritone sounded...familiar in my ear. “Someone
will come by to pick her up.”
I
need to get
up.
I started trying to swim away from the ants, climbing higher and
higher up into the sky. The sky turned to water, and I had to hold my
breath. I
have to breathe, I have to stay calm, I have to-
A
giant figure loomed over the horizon when I finally could see the
surface. The large broad-shouldered form was
tall and strong.
The
memories
shattered like glass.
Pain
rushed in to replace it. I gasped
for
air,
launching myself into a sitting position. And
immediately regretted it, crying out and falling
to
the side, my arms snapping around my middle. I
rolled
slowly onto my back,
breathing through the dizziness and pain, my eyes screwed shut. There
was no feeling
of extra
wetness leaking
from my suture site. Just the burn. The itch. The deep, angry pull
right through my abdomen.
The
blinding, mind-breaking pain that had filled my whole insides was
gone. Pain scale was a six out of ten. Better than the eleven and ten
from before the medications.
I
opened my eyes and blinked away the tears,
staring up at the dark ceiling.
At least the
pain meant I
was awake. And
alive.
Alive
meant dangerous.
I couldn’t pretend to be the
simpering
girl
from Klaiana again — the one who thought archaeology was about
lost history and pretty ruins, in
love with a boy and ready to explore the worlds.
I
couldn’t be the broken wreck from Ruenov either,
not while the ghosts were closing in. I
was Gamonidan. Survivor.
Fighter.
And I knew how to wake dead systems and make them listen.
If
Meng found
me again,
I wouldn’t be a bounty. I’d be a trophy.
I
needed to be gone before he realised who
I really
was.
I turned my
head.
Cold,
dark
brown eyes met mine.
PS: Oops, forgot to change the chapter title in chapter.
