LSS: Voyage of the Starry Seas

Good because you were viciously assaulted there," Sag began. "I'm so sorry you had to go through all of that."

"I was fine." Millie waved her hand. "Does it look like my face is hurt?"

"Yeah it does!"

"How? They said the bruises were gone." She pressed on her face,

Sag gently cradled her face, softly stroking her cheeks. "Because I haven't fully checked it just yet."

Millie blushed hard, her breath getting stuck in her throat.

She ran a finger all the way down one side of her face. "Are you sure that you're okay right now?"

Millie shuddered, making a keening noise.

"Tell me please. Be truthful. How are you feeling about all this?"

"F-Fine."

"Fine? So you've just resigned yourself to the fact that this sort of thing is going to happen and there's not really a lot you can do about that?"

Millie nodded.

"Well too bad because I'm not about to just let this slide off like that. The way I see this, they just got themselves assault and battery, obstruction of justice almost for sure, abuse of power probably belongs in there too for good measure. I mean there's threats. Maybe even a couple more that you'd be much better than me at figuring out." Sag raised an eyebrow. "Am I wrong there?"

"I mean, they'll get their dues." Millie seemed to be less flustered now. "But at the same time, I'm fine."

"Just because the physical injuries got patched up there doesn't mean that everything is suddenly going to be perfectly fine you know. You can't fool me that easily. Yes I'm dense. We all know that. But I'm not that dense."

"But I am fine."

"Mentally? You've recovered completely have youu?"

Millie nodded quickly.

"Not scared at all? No latent worries? Alll perfectly fine and normal, just another day in the office, you've got this down?"

"It's not the first time it's happened. Just the first time you had to see it."

Sag fell to her knees in shock. "N..not the..not the...Not the..Not. Not. Oh. Oh.I. Dumb."

"Sag?" Millie kneeled beside her, feeling her forehead. "Are you okay? Did you have a fainting spell? I can get you some water."

Sag shook her head, before pulling Millie into a tight hug. "Millie...I...so sorry. So...sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry."

Millie squeaked. "W-What's wrong? You didn't do anything wrong. You're... perfect. So perfect." She slowly hugged Sag.

Sag shook her head. "How can I be perfect if I didn't know you were...you were.." She choked up, unable to even get the words out at the moment.

Millie ran her fingers through Sag's hair. "We haven't worked together for very long. But you know my case load. High profile and higher risk."

"I should've known. I mean I know your load. And your..risk. I just thought. I didn't expect. You'd. Get threatened. Like that. All the time. That's just. On my ship. On my ship. I. I'm so hopelessly out of touch."

"Sag breathe. You're okay. It's not your fault. I never told you because... I didn't realize you cared so much."

Sag shuddered. "I'm sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. I. I don't. Show. Care. Much. I. Bad. Evil. Stupid. Cold. Distant. Must. Must. Be. Better."

Millie pulled back and gave Sag a good shake. "Snap out of it!"

Sag shivered. "But. But. But. Letting my employees get hurt. Bad boss. Make them uncomfortable about telling me things. I don't care if you're lunch gets stolen. Or if someone's been throwing paper balls at you. But assault. On the regular."

"I haven't reported directly to you for a long time."

"Its been long enough. More than long enough. Its not like you just started working with me last month."

"Look, none of it is your fault. It's dumb. Don't feel bad."

"How is it dumb? No. Assault and battery. Is not dumb."

"No. The reason I... didn't tell you is dumb..."

"How is it dumb? I'm an uncaring idiot. Very reasonable reason."

"That's not the reason!" Millie huffed.

"But you just said? Don't lie. Its okay. You can tell me how horrible I am. I won't react poorly. Your job is not in any danger. I'm not that evil surely."

Millie blushed. "I just... thought you were really cool, okay? I was embarrassed to admit that someone got the better of me."

"Huh?" Sag was a little lost there. She was cool. Huh? "What you mean?"

"I meant what I said."

"I'm cool? Me? Saggy..... well you know the rest of that nickname."

"And you know how much I hate that nickname."

"Well. is it untrue?"

"Yes!"

"I could've sworn everyone else would say the opposite."

"Well, I disagree with everyone then."

"You would do that."

"Of course!"

"So you thought I'd think less of you if you admitted to this because you think I'm the type who would not tell anyone?"

"N-No. I just... was worried you wouldn't trust me with anything." She shrugged. "Because it would be... lame."

"Girl you're not lamee. That's strength. Standing up for it!"

"R-Really?"

"Yes really!"

"O-Oh." She flushed.

"Remember that please!"

Millie nodded.

"Good girl." Sag patted her back gently. "I've got your back. Always. Same goes for everyone you work with."

Millie choked.

"Is that clear?"

She nodded.

"Thank you."

"Sure thing."

"Good to hear. Now we're going to look into this one first. Seriously. And then we're going to look at all...and I mean all... of the other incidents."

"They're all in prison."

"And they're sentences will get another charge added to it."

Millie huffed.

"Whatt?"

"They've already been charged with it. I'm not stupid."

"Finee. I'm the stupid onee. We're still taking this seriously and you're giving me all the names.

Mille slapped Sag's shoulder. "You're not stupid! Stop calling my l- f-friend that!"

Sag squeaked. "Ouch."

"S-Sorry."

"Don't be. I'm teasing you girl."

"Well, how was I supposed to know? You switch between the two quite a lot."

"Sorryy."

"Don't be sorryyyy."

"Finee. Enough of that for today. You're going to start out by formally complaining about this, and then, and only then, we're going to move onto cracking down on this case once again."

"You're really going to make me do that?"

"Why not?"

Millie sighed. "Fineee. I'll do it."

"That's my girl! Stand up to these idiots. Don't give them power."

Millie rolled her eyes. "Sure."

Sag huffed. "Why?"

"What? I literally agreed with you?"

Sag proceeded to allow herself a pout. "You rolled your eyes."

"Because you're acting like I'm some holy being."

Sag harrumphed. "I'm old fashioned alright. Get used to it!"

Sidney smiled softly to herself as she got up that day. This had been a surprisingly fun time. Well okay maybe not. That came with a big, big, and she meant just ridiculously big asterisk at the end of it. There was no escaping that reality. It had been a tough time having no one to help her. Well, that wasn't completely true. She had Darvi the Paranoid to help her out, but that was only for a couple of tasks. Like Not Dying and Staying Alive. Quite important tasks apparently, at least if you were the kind of person who believed Darvi. Regrettably she was that kind of person. It was hard not to be after all. Darvi really was very good at their job. She could totally two hundred percent attest to that.

There was never going to be an easier task than figuring out that particular gem. Darvi had managed to protect her so many times already. Like who knew that railings could get slippery, or people could mop the floors and afterwards they were slippery. Or that banana peels were slippery. Maybe Sidney just hadn't had a lot of experience with things being slippery. That was quite an alarming pattern to note there.

Sidney's revolutionary ability to slip and fall on almost any surface aside, she knew Darvi was the absolute best because Darvi cared about her more than that. The one night she'd been a little scared to fall asleep because she'd seen an ant on the pillow. That had been mind numbingly terrifying to experience but Darvi hadn't judged her too harshly and actually gone out of his way to help her, holding her, well not exactly holding her. Darvi didn't do hugs too well, but definitely acknowledging that xe was present to guard her and would not leave. Darvi had even volunteered to turn into an ant and ensure this ant and any other of its brethren would stay off her bed.

Well Sidney probably should've think a little longer. Darvi was encouraging her to do that and quite a lot too. Apparently thinking before you act was a thing. Like who would've thought. She laughed at the little joke she'd made by accident. She could be very cool sometimes. Well, she supposed thinking was something she did, just that she didn't always stop to do it. In her defense it could really slow you down from doing something exciting. It wasn't her fault that exciting things happened so fast.

She huffed and took out the book that Darvi had told her to try and read. She groaned. Books. Its not that she didn't like them. SHe had quite a collection in fact and enjoyed reading most of them, but somehow when someone else was telling her to read them, it made the book look boring. She huffed as she wrapped herself into a comfy blanket and sat down. Everyone was going off to do cool thing, well most of them, not all but then the ones left didn't like her so it wasn't like it matter. Most of them didn't like her. She was quite sure about that. Maybe. There was no way they all liked her. But then everyone liked her. She groaned and patted her head. Too confusing. Too confusing. She needed to not confuse herself. Darvi wasn't here to help cure the headache.

She groaned and propped the book open. It looked like reading through this was going to be the only real way to make the time go anything other than painfully slow today. She groaned louder. Why couldn't she be right some of the time on this ship? She was usually always right. Right? No one would lie to her about her being right. No way. That would never happen. This ship was just cursed somehow. Very cursed. She was just too good for it maybe.

The world knew that if she continued to be right all the time like she normally was, it would be forced to make her captain and no one would want that because Rina was already such a cool captain. She liked cool captains. She didn't think she could be a cool captain. Besides there was no point having a cool captain if you yourself was the cool captain. That's not how cool captains. She was struck with a pang of sadness for Sefarina. That must be quite a tortured existence.

Being so cool that you were considered the cool captain but then because you were the cool captain you couldn't get any of the benefits of being a cool captain. Well having a cool captain. But then you had to witness everyone around you reaping the benefits of having a cool captain. Sidney blinked. She wasn't entirely sure were she was going with this. Maybe it was the book's fault. Making her brain go faster than it should be and produce nonsense. She should probably read it to find out.

She groaned again. She had principles. Books other people told her she should read, no matter how interesting were strictly off limits. This was illegal. Why did Darvi possess this much power to make her want to read this? Darvi wasn't even here right now. If Darvi was here, Sidney would probably be writing a whole book report about this book. She snickered. She was being clever. Darvi wouldn't even know. She'd finish the whole book before Darvi even got a chance to come back. That'll show Darvi. She flicked the book open and began to read.

Harris Kane groggily shook his head and clutched his pillow tighter. Someone was trying to shake him awake. He tried to squeeze as much warmth as he could from the threadbare blanket he was lying under. The cold steel plate that he called a bed felt like an ice cube against his back, offering no comfort against the chilly air in the room.

“Wake up sleepyhead,” said a voice.

Harry rolled over, abandoning his battle to go back to sleep. As his vision cleared, two brilliant blue eyes came into focus.

“Morning, Aria.”

“Sorry to wake you up so early, but we are being reassigned today and we can’t be late,” she said, giving him a small smile.

“That’s okay, sis,” he said, slowly sitting up in bed and returning the smile,” I should have kept that in mind.”’

Harry stretched as he clambered off his bed. What I wouldn’t do for a mattress.

Aria looked him up and down.

“Get yourself cleaned up and come to the hall, I’ll be waiting,” she said. She walked up to him and pressed a kiss onto his forehead before walking out.

Harry ran after her before she could leave and pulled her into a quick hug.

“And what was that for?” Aria asked returning the hug and resting her chin on his head.

“Am I not allowed to hug my big sister?” he asked, smiling into her shoulder.

“Hmm…sounds like you are trying to butter me up for something,” she said, pulling him in closer, “fifteen year olds don’t hug their sisters.”

“No I’m not,” he said, attempting to sound offended,” how could you ever accuse me of that?”

‘Okay…now you do need to go get ready. You stink,” she said, wrinkling her nose.

“I do not,” he shot back.

“Oh yes you do,” she said, pulling away and turning to leave.

“Why you…” began Harry, but she ran off before he could complete his threat. Smiling to himself, Harry walked back into his room.
He went about his morning routine as quickly as he could before he rushed out five minutes later to the hall.

Even though they called it a hall, the tiny room was barely larger than your average bedroom. Thick concrete walls, bearing no decoration whatsoever surrounded them on all sides. It was almost unbearably cold and cramped. An air conditioning unit that had long since given up provided a tiny current of warm air. Harry looked around, searching for his sister amidst the other people milling about. He nodded to the familiar faces that caught his eye until he spotted a very familiar head of flaming red hair. Daisy woke up before me? The world must be ending.

He hurried over to her, slipping through the crowd as fast as he could. Her eyes lit up the moment she caught sight of his own.

“Hello!” she said, smiling brightly.

“Morning!” he said.

“I beat you to the Wake-Up today,” she said crossing her arms, a smug smile on her face.

“This is grave news indeed,” he said, a very serious look coming over his face,” I believe the world is going to end tomorrow.”

“Oh come on, I have woken up early before,” she protested, swatting him on the arm.

“No you haven’t,” he shot back,” I always have to wait to see that wonderful smile of you…”

A throat cleared next to them.

Harry turned to see Aria coming up from behind Daisy.

“That’s enough flirting for one morning, Harry,” she said, winking at him.

“We were NOT flirting!” chorused Harry and Daisy.

“Sure about tha…” began Aria but was cut off by Harry.

‘We’re going to be late. Can we just leave already?” he said. Daisy shot him a grateful smile.

“Uh huh, come along then,” said Aria, turning to leave before stopping to add,” don’t think I was fooled by the change of subject.”

“Aria…” started both Daisy and Harry simultaneously.

“Okay, okay, let’s get going,” she said, raising her hands in surrender.

The trio made their way out through the dilapidated doorway and towards the main hallway that would take them to the central hub of the camp. They walked in silence as they made their way across the imposing structure. Talking was forbidden in the halls. These walls were a dull metallic grey, the same color as the steel reinforced they were made of. The hallway was lit by two long strips of old school LED’s, relics of a time long past. There was just enough light to navigate without bumping into anything.

They passed by blocks A through G as they approached the center of the camp, The Hub. Leading into The Hub was a pair of polished wooden double doors. Harry, as he always did, frowned at the sign that proclaimed it to be “The Hub”. Such a creative name these morons picked.

The Hub was the one of the few rooms that actually had working air conditioning systems that kept it at a crisp sixty-five degrees. The room was built in a large circle with eight hallways, three of them leading off to the three sectors and the rest to other areas in the camp. At the center of the room stood a large, rectangular, steel column with displays mounted on each side. Aria walked up to the one facing them.

She scanned it for a few minutes, looking for their names. Harry exchanged a glance with Daisy. She didn’t appear to be worried on the surface but the way her forehead creased he could tell that she was not thrilled about being reassigned. I wonder where they’ll assign us this time. Please don’t be the guard’s bathroom.

“Got it,” whispered Aria, breaking Harry out of his thoughts. He looked at her quizzically. She pointed in the direction of one of the hallways. Oh, thank the fates. It's a door. We escape the bathroom once again.

“Is it the new door?” mouthed Harry. Aria simply put a finger to her lips and pointed at the hallway again before walking towards it.

Harry exchanged another look with Daisy.He tilted his head towards the hallway. Daisy shrugged.

The two of them set off after Aria and entered the hallway. It was one of the four that led to the outer walls of the camp. This hallway was flanked by doors leading to various guard stations and armories or at least that’s what they’d all assumed from the signs nailed to the doors. No human was allowed to enter any of those rooms. They hurried along the hallway, Harry and Daisy jogging to keep up as Aria barreled down the hallways.

After fifteen minutes of walking, they finally arrived at a set of doors each marked with a letter. Aria didn’t hesitate as she pushed her way through the door marked with a letter ‘H’. It took Harry a moment to realize why his brain had flagged this as an anomaly. Wait a minute, last week there was only F and G. They must have already finished construction on Door H. Guess I’ll find out once we’re there.

Aria didn’t slow down as they turned into the passageway to the wall. This one, like the rest of the passages that lead to doors, was made of glass instead of the usual metal and concrete and they could just about make out the outer walls of block F, as the dull metal reflected the light of the rising sun. After another two minutes in that passage, they finally came to a sliding glass door. Here, Aria stopped and turned to the two of them, her face a mixture of happiness and concern.

“Can we know what’s going…” began Harry but was cut off by a glare from Aria.

“That’s what I was about to tell you genius,” she snapped, before continuing in a softer tone,” Sorry, this is a bit of a mixed situation that we’ve been put into today.”

Harry had to restrain himself from telling her to skip the theatrics and get to the explanation.

“As the two of you probably noticed, they’ve finished building the new door to this facility,” she began,” and we’ve been assigned to keep that particular area clean.”

“That’s good right?” asked Daisy.

“I was getting to the bad part,” she said, holding up a hand,” please just listen to me. No more questions until I’m done with explaining.”

Harry pretended to zip up his mouth and throw away the key. Both girls smiled at his attempt to lighten the mood.

“As I was saying we’ve been assigned to a door and that’s the good thing but according to what I’ve heard …” Her voice dropped to the barest of whispers that both Daisy and Harry had to lean in to hear. They have come up with some new security system…it’s supposed to be way better than the one we have now so…well I don’t need to explain why that’s bad do I?”

“Definitely bad news,” summarized Harry, somehow managing to keep a smile on his face unlike Daisy,” but there’s always a way.”

“How can…” began Aria, but it was Harry’s turn to hold up his hand.

“Let’s not talk about that right now, let’s just go and get to work…it is going to take some time to get used to the new place,” suggested Harry giving them the subtlest of nods to let them know that conversation was far from over.

The three of them collectively took a deep breath as Aria stepped through the glass door that slid open automatically as she approached it. Daisy and Harry followed suit.

The first thing that hit them was the smell of fresh cut grass, something that was a rarity in the camp. Harry took a deep breath as a fresh breeze hit. Why can they not allow this to come into the blocks? Everything would be so much better that way. The three of them looked around.

It appeared to be very similar to the other gates that they had worked in. Two thick concrete walls boxed them in along the sides, the glass wall of the passage they had come through covering the rear. In front of them stood the one thing that all humans wished would collapse: The Inner Wall. It covered the entire camp and blocked off the humans inside from the outside world. The aliens’ own residences surrounded this wall followed by another wall that formed the perimeter of the camp.

The inner wall towered over them stretching to a good thirty feet tall. It was made of some alien metal that they had taken to calling Comotelal. The actual thickness was a mystery to them, with no human ever having been in a position to find out. The top of the wall was made of very smooth metal and curved into a hemisphere which prevented any kind of hook being able to get traction on it unless it could pierce the metal. Set into the wall was the new door.

“So our new job is pretty much the same as the previous door. We have to keep this place clean and fill in any cracks and such that occur from the elements. One new thing though is that the door is off limits. We are allowed to clean the wall itself but making any form of contact with the door is strictly forbidden,” Aria said as the three of them approached it, “whether that’s because there’s a laser system on it like the wall or they just don’t want us touching it, I don’t know. But if you like your hands don’t touch it.”

“Doesn’t look like much,” said Harry, frowning at the unimpressive and positively flimsy looking door. It appeared to be much thinner than any of the other doors and nothing about it screamed ‘You shall not pass’ like all the other doors did.

“It’s the latest model,” said Aria,” its way lighter apparently and the surveillance system running on this is also new.”

“Wait, how so?” asked Daisy.

“That’s about all mom managed to find out,” replied Aria.

“Oh right, that was a dumb question,” said Daisy knocking herself on the head.

“Okay, enough discussion, we have to get to work and finish this as fast as we can,” said Aria, pointing to a lawnmower and several other tools stacked in a neat pile in the corner.

“Think we can earn ourselves some extra food from this?” asked Harry.

“Uhh…wasn’t mentioned,” replied his sister,” but we can worry about all of that later.”

“Hmm…isn’t…” began Harry again but was cut off by Daisy.

“Look, Harry, I know you’re simply trying to find another positive from this but they ordered us to get started early for a reason.
Let’s try not to find out what happens if we don’t finish on time.” She gave him a small smile.

“Okay, Daisy,” said Harry, eyes downcast at that proclamation. He didn’t like to think of the situation the three of them were in, that all of humanity was now in. All because of some morons in suits a hundred years ago. Harry grabbed a nano-fiber cloth and whipped it angrily. No point thinking of the past. It is gone now. He forced his brain into submission and turned to the task at hand.

“It’s only just cleaning right?” Harry asked to confirm.

“That’s what the display said but since we were called out here early you never know what else they have in store for us. Let’s just get this thing done and then worry about what happens next,” advised Aria,” if we keep on discussing what might happen we’re never going to be able to get anything done.”

With those final words, the three of them began their work in silence.

As Harry worked, he reflected on the game the aliens were playing when they gave the younger teams a place as small as this to clean and considered it equal to the ridiculous amounts of work that were required in most other locations. The longer they spent outside; able to feel the breeze and the sunlight, the more he yearned to be out there.

As he scrubbed the door, he could almost feel the hope inside him leach out bit by bit. Being able to get so close to an exit, a doorway to the world that had once been their home, but not being able to leave; it was a torture on another level and none of the guards had to lift a finger to do it.

*******

Two hours later, everything was gleaming, having received a thorough cleaning by the three of them. The upper sections of the actual wall itself. The one piece that Harry knew would be the worst part. They were not allowed to have their heads actually be above the wall nor could they touch the top of the wall. Those that had tried had gone home missing their hands or their heads. The automated system of lasers that enforced this rule was very strict and did not allow any margin of error. There was a reason that the sound of bugs frying was something that neither of them even noticed anymore.

Harry propped up the ladder carefully against the wall. The ancient steel was rusted and could barely hold together. The least they could do is at least give us equipment that won’t kill us. He took a deep breath and stepped onto the ladder as cautiously as he could. Five years and I’m still not used to this swaying.

He wrapped the cloth tightly around his hand and began his climb, making sure to keep his feet as steady as possible. Below him, Daisy and Aria held onto the ladder as tightly as they could. Halfway up, he risked a look at the two of them.

Aria’s jaw was set. Her face betrayed no emotion. On the other side, Daisy’s face was clouded over with worry as it always was. Both their knuckles were white from holding on as tightly as they could. He gave them a smile to reassure them that everything was fine. It did nothing to release the tension from their faces but they both attempted to hide it with smiles.

He kept climbing, making it to the last few rungs. He positioned his hands carefully so that the cloth was right at the very edge, mere millimeters from being torched by the ever watchful lasers.

Harry took a deep breath. I don’t know what’s worse. Being the lightest of the team and forced to climb up or being forced to watch a friend of yours climb up. Uhh. He shook his head. None of those thoughts were helping him avoid losing an arm. He slowly began his work, his mind slowly calming down as the rhythm of moving his arm slowly allowed him to stop focusing on his thoughts and fall back on his years of practice.

It took him almost an hour to clean the top. Climbing up and down the ladder accounted for almost half of that time, most of which was spent wishing for the thousandth time that they had been given a climbing platform instead of an ancient ladder.
After the cleaning was done for the day, they took their time in putting away the equipment back in the corner that it had come from. They didn’t want to risk food privileges after all.

The walk back to The Hub was just as silent as the walk to the gate. As they walked, Harry went over the things that they had learnt that day. He was the one that had cleaned the section that surrounded the door. At first glance it hadn’t seemed like much but closer inspection showed that there was an entire network running through it, tiny golden fibers forming a massive lattice that appeared to be powering the security system. At least that’s what he had managed to deduce. The only way to know for sure would be to get someone like Kathryn out there. She could tell it in a heartbeat. I should have paid more attention in computing. Ahh...well mom will be happy with what we got.

Harry walked faster as they got closer to The Hub. They better have some privilege in exchange for the early wake up. In front of him Aria was staring straight ahead clearly lost in thought. Daisy was walking beside him and judging by her furrowed eyebrows she had probably been staring at him the whole time he’d been lost in his own thoughts. Oh no. Poor girl probably tried to catch my eye for the past ten minutes.

He gave her an apologetic smile. She held his gaze till they’d walked through the door before she raised her eyebrows.

“Thinking,” explained Harry. She put her hands on her hips and frowned.

“About how doors are made,” he whispered leaning in close so that no one would hear.

“Ohh…” she replied,” sorry for grilling you on that.”

“It’s okay,” he said,” I would do the same if you zoned out for ten minutes.”

“Are you two going to keep talking or do you want to know if we are going to get anything?” came a voice.

They whirled around. Aria was looking at them, arms crossed. She smirked at the slight pink tinge on their faces.

“Did I miss something important?” she asked teasingly,” why are you both blushing?”

“We are not blushing,” shot back Daisy.

“Can we just go see if we can eat now?” asked Harry.

“Whatever you say,” she said, still smirking,” come along then.”

Ariana Kane walked into her mother’s room, already knowing it would be a pointless conversation. There’s no way in hell that new door is going to be any easier to crack than the previous ones. Sighing, she turned to face her mother.

Her mother was seated on the bed, smiling widely. Mrs. Kane tapped the spot next to her and Aria sat down next to her, leaning into her mother and snuggling up.

“I thought nine year olds snuggled into their parents not seventeen year olds,” said Mrs. Kane, smiling down at her daughter’s face.

“I can just stand, mom,” she replied, although the peaceful expression on her face suggested that threat was unlikely to be carried out. Mrs. Kane simply smiled.

“So, Aria how was your day?” she asked.

“The usual,” Aria replied, rolling her eyes. She always has to start with the stupid questions.

“You got assigned to a new location, didn’t you?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“And from what I heard that was supposedly a new door that they installed recently.”

“Definitely looked like a door,” replied Aria a little too fast. Well. This is taking a very predictable turn.

“And?” prompted Mrs. Kane

“And what mom,” snapped Aria, before flushing, embarrassed by the sudden outburst,” sorry to get snappy on you.”

“That’s okay dear, I know you get tired of being asked the same question for every door but you know that we can’t just give up hope.”

“Why can’t everyone just get that we are never going to get out of here?” said Aria, more to herself than her mother.

“Come on, Aria, you can’t have stopped believing so soon.”

“Oh yes I can because it already happened.”

“What about your brother? Haven’t you seen how excited he is at every meeting? He’s one of the biggest believers in that idea.
Can’t you support this at least for him?”

“That’s not fair,” said Aria, frowning at her mother,” you can’t always play that card on me.”

“He wants to be free. He wants us to get out and you know it will mean a lot to him that you are going to help.”

“I know. I know. That’s why I helped all those other times. I thought once he grew up, he would start seeing the truth but…” Aria shook her head.

“He hasn’t stopped, has he?” finished Mrs. Kane,” take a page out of his book. There’ll be a chance of escape as long as at least some of us believe we can escape.”

“You can be just as happy if you work hard and earn yourself a good place.”

“You know you don’t really mean that, Aria.”

“It’s just always so hopeless mom,” she said, standing up. She gestured towards the room, the reinforced concrete walls, designed to make sure none of them could even imagine getting out.

“And even if we do make our way through a door, then what, we have the outer wall to go through and it’s not like any human has set foot in that place for us to be able to have the foggiest idea of what to do in order to survive through there.”

“And…that is where you’re wrong,’ said Mrs. Kane,” you always go off without hearing me out, but if you had you wouldn’t be saying that.”

This stopped Aria in her tracks. She quickly reclaimed her seat by her mother’s side.

“What is that supposed to mean?” she asked. There is no way someone was that stupid.

“Hmm…how about a little bargain then?” suggested Mrs. Kane, winking.

“Uh oh, what have you gone and done now” said Aria, as she pretended to be distressed.

“Do you have to be that much of a drama queen dear?” asked Ms. Kane.

“Jeez. I just...that was not drama queen level. Have you seen how Harry acts?” said Aria.

“That’s fair. So, do you want to hear the bargain or not?” asked Ms. Kane.

“Tell me.”

“I’ll tell you all about the things that we’ve been doing to gather information from the outside if you tell me everything that you saw at the door and attend tonight’s meeting.”

“I have to come to the meeting as well,” asked Aria, looking downcast all of a sudden.

“Yes…I was planning on taking your brother as well this time so you definitely should be there.”

Aria let out a small groan of frustration. That drama suddenly feels a lot more relevant now.

“It won’t be that bad dear,” said her mother, taking Aria’s hand,” and all you’ll have to do is tell them exactly what you saw.”

“Just that, no speeches about how awesome we are and how we are totally going to escape.”

“When you put it that way you make it sound a lot more childish than it really is.”

“Well it is a childish pipe dream.”

“Just listen to what they have to say and maybe you will change your mind.”

“I’ll try.”

“That’s all I can ask for,” said Mrs. Kane, getting up, “Now go warn your brother that he has to get ready. This is going to be his first midnight excursion.”

“His excitement is going to be unbearable,” said Aria, unable to stop the smile that the thought brought to her lips.

“Okay then, remember to be at the hall by midnight sharp along with Harry. Don’t get late no matter what. They are very strict about being exactly on time.”

“Can’t blame them for that, I suppose the only way to beat the system is to time everything to the millisecond.”

“Indeed,” said her mother, smiling at her,” alright then Aria, I’ll see you there.”

“Okay Mom,” replied Aria.

At precisely ten minutes to twelve, according to the clock in the living room, Aria tiptoed towards Harry’s room. She straightened up and gently pushed the ancient wooden door, taking care to not let it creak. You better not be asleep Harry or I’m leaving you behind.

Once the door was open, she made her way inside as silently as she could. Harry was standing, facing the wall and waving his arms around. She had to stifle a laugh. Is the idiot actually practicing a speech to give in the meeting? Lemme surprise him a bit. Although that might make him scream and that would be bad. Maybe some other time. She made a soft tapping sound against the hard concrete floor, tapping it seven times in the signal that they had arranged earlier.

He whirled around, a blush coming over his face. He tried for a smug smile as he crossed his arms and walked towards her.
“I told you I wouldn’t fall asleep,” he said, a smug smile firmly in place.

“Hmm…interesting strategy for doing that,” said Aria, trying valiantly not to burst into laughter.

“I was just trying to figure out the dimensions of the wall, that’s why the waving hands and all,” he said, smug smile vanishing.
“Sure you were,” said Aria, rolling her eyes.

“Yes I was.”

“Oh come on. I’m not that stupid. You were practicing your speech.”

“Was not.”

“Was too.”

“It’s not even a speech, it’s more like a talk,” he said, crossing his arms and frowning at her.

“So you were doing it,” Aria said, smirking. You can't argue with me.

“I never said that,” he said, quickly.

“But…”

“Hey aren’t we supposed to be like somewhere else in five minutes,” he said, pointing at the door.

“I guess we are,” agreed Aria, nodding.

“Uh so,” said Harry tilting his head towards the door.

“So what?” asked Aria, milking the situation just a bit.

“Let’s go,” he said in a stage whisper.

“I am so telling mom what happened though,” Aria said,” don’t think that I’ll forget it.”

“You are so mean,” said Harry, changing tactics suddenly, eyes wide and putting on his best puppy dog impression.

“That stopped working when you turned ten Harry, act your age already," she said.

“Oh come on, how does Daisy get away with that all the time, but not me?” said Harry.

“Because she’s got you wrapped around her finger,” replied Aria, ducking out of the door as he lunged for the nearest heavy object.

Harry joined her shortly and once the two had agreed not to kill each other, they ran as fast as they could towards the hall, running with barely any noise from years of practice. They only had five minutes to make it to the hall before it would be too late.

Harry pulled ahead of Aria and slid into the hall first, riding his socks like they were roller skates on the smooth concrete of the hall. Aria ran in a few seconds after him. Oh dear I hope we aren’t late. She breathed a sigh of relief as she spotted her mother, right next to the door leading to the central hub, gesturing for the two of them to hurry up.

Harry ran towards Mrs. Kane with all the enthusiasm of a five-year-old running into a candy store. Aria followed at a more sedate pace, heart beating wildly and smiling broadly. As much as she wasn’t the biggest fan of those meetings, sneaking around at night was always fun.

“Okay you two, you know the drill, stay behind me and do exactly as I see. Do not move a muscle unless I tell you to.”
Aria and Harry nodded, both with determined looks on their faces. There was only intense concentration as Mrs. Kane began by slowly walking out into the corridor. She stuck very close to the wall as she moved, her strides large although her pace was slow. Aria and Harry copied her as well as they could. Harry was doing almost a full split with each step as he matched Mrs. Kane’s strides. Aria did her best to emulate the two of them as far as she could.

The three of them slipped along the wall for at least twenty feet before Mrs. Kane raised her hand and signaled for them to stop. Aria and Harry watched with bated breath as Mrs. Kane pointed at a door set into the wall.

Aria saw Harry cover his mouth, eyes wide. She was also shocked. Oh my god it's that room. This one is going to be one of the more secret meetings. Whoa, this project must be one of the few that only Mom and the three others know. Well she’s definitely going all out to get me fully on board. She waited patiently as Mrs. Kane showed them the way to approach the door, stepping in two specific spots that she indicated to them before the door slid open smoothly and she stepped through.

Harry went first. He skipped through the stones quickly. The door opened immediately and he slipped in. Aria caught a glance of her mother standing right by the entrance as the door slid shut once more. She took a deep breath.

Aria jumped forward, moving as quietly as she could. Counting the tiles carefully, she stepped in the pattern that Harry had used moments ago and quickly found herself right in front of the door. It was one of the few doors in decent condition especially compared to the doors in the living area. Before she could analyze it further it slid open quickly and she jumped in to join Harry and her mother.

The first thing she noticed was the temperature. It was a stark contrast to their living area. It was pleasantly cool without being the numbing chill that usually permeated the hallways. A smile spread over her lips. Maybe this will not be so bad after all. At least I won’t be freezing to death.

She opened her mouth to speak but her mother put a finger to her lips and shook her head. Mrs. Kane tilted her head down the hallway. Guess we have more distance to cover. Aria nodded and Mrs. Kane took off, Harry right on her heels.

Aria took a moment to take in where they were. A light that was so dim that it might as well have not been there lit up what appeared to be a rough concrete passageway. It went on into what looked like a black hole. Apparently there was no light further in or if there was it wasn’t bright enough to be visible. In the faint light she could just about make out the rough walls that were covered in what appeared to be marks from a chisel. Realizing that the other two had almost been swallowed by the darkness she took off after them, not wanting to be left behind.

The hallway continued for a sizable distance. Her legs were groaning after a while, a hard day’s work earlier not being of any help. A few feet in front of her she could only see the silhouettes of Harry and her mother. How are they walking so fast in this darkness? Mom I can understand. She has probably walked this path half a million times but how is Harry going so fast? Oh God. How much further?

Finally, after what felt like an hour, Mrs. Kane came to a stop in front of a dead end. The brightest light that they had seen in the passage so far was hanging right above them. Mrs. Kane was counting some pattern as she traced her fingers along the rough-hewn concrete of the dead end. After a few sweeps back and forth she seemed to have found the correct spot. She pressed tightly and there was a muffled hum of machinery as the wall swung inward like a giant door. The concrete surprisingly did not make a sound as it gently settled against a wall.

Light spilled out onto the passageway. Thank the gods that at least this room is lit properly. Mrs. Kane stepped into the room and gestured for the two of them to follow her. Harry didn’t hesitate. He was through the door before you could say ‘Secret’. Aria took a moment to compose herself. There was a good chance that this could be the either the best day of her life or the worst day of her life. She really hoped it was the former.

Taking a deep breath, Aria stepped through the door and followed her mother as they emerged from a short hallway out onto a small room. There was a small table in one corner of the room which looked to be covered in several sheets of what looked like paper. Where on Earth did they find those ancient relics from? They can’t actually be using those to write can they? A man was standing behind it and gesturing to the three of them, smiling from ear to ear.

The rest of the room was mostly bare. Something that looked vaguely like a large metal spider sat on a small plastic stool. Two more familiar faces, Mr. Summers and Ms. Johnson, were already seated at the table. Three empty plastic chairs were arranged on one side of the table.

“Grab one of those and take a seat,” said Mrs. Kane making her way towards the chairs.

Harry and Aria exchanged looks. Harry looked excited but was showing the slightest hint of nervousness. Can’t blame him for that. Who would have thought Mom would let us into one of these meetings? Aria gave him what she hoped was a reassuring smile and tilted her head towards the chairs. He nodded and made his way towards them.

Ahead of them, Mrs. Kane had already sat down. Harry and Aria quickly followed suit, exchanging nervous smiles with the other occupants of the table. Mr. Haber also sat down once they were seated.

Aria flashed her best “Hi” smile. Will I have to stand up and tell them about it? Will they ask questions? Why did I say yes to this again? She did her best not to let any of this show on her face as she projected a calm look. She didn’t want Harry to pick up on her nervousness.

“Hello, hello,” began Mr. Haber, “I see that you two have finally joined us at one of these meetings.

That took Aria by surprise. They were expecting us earlier than this. That can’t be right.

“Come on Jake, I told you this was the best time for them to properly be introduced to them. Any earlier and things would have been a lot shakier,” said Mrs. Kane.

“Alright Alice, I know and I agreed with you,” said Jake, “Now then shall we get underway? I suppose introductions would be a waste of time since I’m sure you already know Alex and Eve.

Harry gave a quick nod while Aria mumbled a barely audible Hi. Gods, why am I such a nervous wreck?

“Now, no need to be shy you two,” said Eve, “come on Alice. Have you managed to terrify them this much about what goes on inside these meetings?”

“It’s just a little shocking, Ms. Johnson,” said Aria, finally finding her tongue, “we didn’t think that we’d be taken to a super-secret meeting like this one. Isn’t that right Harry?”

Harry nodded vigorously in the affirmative.

“Cat got your tongue Harry?” asked Eve.

“No,” he managed.

“Alright, let’s get underway then shall we,” said Alex, “we can’t afford to be wasting too much time here. We all need to be back as soon as we can be.”

“So these two and Daisy, I think you all know here too?” began Mrs. Kane, pausing for everyone to nod in agreement. “So this trio got reassigned and our prediction was correct so they are in fact working at the new door.”

“That’s lovely to hear,” said Jake, “this is going to make our live soo much easier.”

“Quite,” said Alex.

“Alright, over to you two then,” said Mrs. Kane, looking pointedly at Aria and then Harry.

Harry looked at Aria. She gave him a smile and began to slowly stand up. I guess it’s about time that we get this show on the road. No point trying to delay this.

“Hey, it’s not school you two, no need to stand up,” said Eve, smirking at the embarrassed look on Aria’s face. Good Job Aria, you managed to make a fool of yourself in less than five minutes. She quickly sat down again.

For a few seconds neither of them spoke, each one waiting for the other to start. The silence stretched on until a minute before Harry finally got tired of it and spoke out.

“Umm…Hi everyone!” he said, voice quiet and uncertain. Aria let out a breath that she hadn’t realized that she’d been holding. That ‘Hi’ managed to drain the tension from her and she took over.

“Good evening everyone, I’m Aria Kane,” she began internally cringing at the introduction. They already know my name. Why did I repeat it? Why am I bad at this? Will I be able to tell this in a way that makes sense? She took a deep breath. I can do this. “Eeeps...you guys already know that.”

Jake and Eve burst into laughter. Her mother was also sporting a wide grin. Alex was the only one that did not look amused.
“The new door looked a little thin,” she began.

“It looks really flimsy,” added Harry quickly, before going silent again as she sent a glare at him.”

“As I was saying the door was quite flimsy and at first glance you would think that it was something much weaker that was built in a rush.”

“It looked like someone could punch through it if they tried hard enough,” added Harry again. Aria sighed. Looks like he found his tongue pretty fast. Honestly, when that idiot starts on something that he is passionate about he doesn’t realize where he is.
“Yes. It looked very thin,” she repeated. Gods, why have we not said anything besides the fact that it is thin? What must they think of us? Why aren’t these words floating out of my mouth like they are meant to?

She took another calming breath and continued,” but I think that this is quite possibly some kind of newer material that they came up with, one that is stronger than the previous one making it so that the doors don’t have to be as huge. At least that’s what I could deduce from the way the metal was attached.”

“Wish there was a way that we could test this out honestly,” said Harry. He isn’t going to stop interrupting is he?

“That might be easier than you think,” said their mother from her seat,” finish your reports and then you can see the data that we’ve managed to find.”

Aria inwardly groaned. Why is she making this whole thing so cloak and dagger? Urrgh… this all just had to be complicated. Damn. Damn. Damn.

“Moving on to the other things that I noticed about the door…” I began.

“…were the network of wires running through it and the different hinge systems,” finished Harry. Way to steal the punch line Harry.
“As he was saying, these two things are very different from the normal mechanisms that one would expect to run into in a door.”

“The…” began Harry before going quiet under another glare from Aria. How many more times should I glare at him to get him to stop doing that? I really don’t want to shout in front of all these people but he is making me reconsider.

“These wires,” began Aria, and this time Harry finally seemed to have gotten the message and kept his mouth shut as she began to explain what she’d seen.

“So it looked like a mother board almost I think, like one of those ancient models from way back in the past that they make us use.” Alex nodded at the motherboard part and cracked the first smile she’d seen on him so far.

“Anyway I think these circuits are connected to how the new security system works. At least that’s the conclusion that Harry came up with.” She gestured towards her brother.

“Ah yes. I can’t be sure. I’m obviously no expert on checking for that sort of thing but according to my guesstimate I think it is some sort of nerve center for them to create a new system. I don’t know what or why they would be doing something that risky but I’m sure they had a plan.”

Aria watched as Harry got a bad case of verbal diarrhea, his excitement over the door making him confident enough to go on without coming off as the nervous wreck he probably was inside. Harry went on to describe the unusual hinge angles that they encountered.

“These hinges seem to support the theory of a connected security system. From what little things that we could notice I saw there was some sort of wire that ran through those hinges as well,” he concluded after narrating the whole story of the hinges and the wires.

“And that’s about it,” said Aria firmly once he was done up to that point.

“I guess so,” said Harry, looking almost sad at the prospect,” sorry but that’s all we could find.”

“No worries whatsoever Harry,” said Jake quickly, “We are very grateful to get all the information that we can about those doors no matter how small. Every little bit counts towards finally figuring out a way to get out of this prison. Alright time for us to uphold our end of this little bargain, isn’t that so Alice.”

Their mom nodded and Alex got up, walking over towards a dark corner of the room and returning with an ancient computer, a laptop, if Aria remembered correctly.

“What are we going to see?” she asked.

“The outside,” replied Jake, simply smiling at the look of surprise on her face.

Aria sat back in her chair, processing what he’d just said. So it really is true or at least they all believe it to be true. I’m not going to believe this until I can see it.

Jake gestured behind him to an ancient and yellowed piece of white cardboard mounted behind. An ancient projector was set a few feet in front of it. The whole setup had probably been new way back in the early 20’s.

Alex typed away on the computer, which if Aria remembered correctly was a model that was from somewhere around 2050 which made her wonder how on Earth Alex was going to hook it up to a projector that was 30 years older than the computer. Somehow when Jake produced a cable and hooked it up, the projected flared to life, projecting a video clip onto the screen.

The clop looked very spotty and it looked to be something around an abysmal 1080p resolution. The white screen was distorted in several places because of several stains on the ancient cardboard but it was still clearly a video that had been taken while in the air over someplace. Oh. My. God. Am I going to really see the outside? Aria watched with bated breath as the very shaky footage began to turn towards a large imposing structure.

It was instantly recognizable. The one thing that none of them could ever forget. The shape of the inner wall, except this particular camera was moving towards the wall in a direction that none of them would ever dare travel. The camera was gaining height steadily, quite obviously headed right for the top of the wall.

The camera slowly approached the wall, the massive structure looming towards them. It began a sharper climb up and soon Aria could see that they were level with the highest point that humans were allowed to reach. This was the moment of truth.

The camera began to inch upward, almost like it was somehow on the wall and crawling up on legs of some sort. The shaking of the camera intensified and the camera began to slide up and over the edge, right into forbidden territory. Aria waited for the laser beam that would fry it. Nothing came. She immediately remembered the spider like thing she’d spotted on her way in. Oh my God. Did that thing actually make it over the wall?

The camera continued its slow ascent and soon Aria was seeing an angle that she’d never imagined seeing even in her dreams. It appeared to be very rough, the smooth curve of the bulbous top broken in a few places by the elements. The camera moved forward, as the thing that it was mounted on began to reach the other side of the wall. That has to be like four feet thick. Oh wow. They were not cutting corners with that wall.

Aria risked a glance back at the others in the room. It was a wonder that none of them were doing a jig and celebrating.

Everyone’s faces bore the excitement and nervousness that Aria was certain was mirrored on her own face. The look on Harry’s face was something else entirely. She saw a hope simmering bright and a light in his eyes that she had never seen before. It was an anger and determination that she had never expected to see in the eyes of her usually jovial brother. At that point he looked almost dangerous somehow. She focused her attention back to the footage. I can decipher Harry’s facial expressions some other time.

The camera had now made it to the outside of the well. The wall looked exactly the same as it did from the inside, the only difference being that it had clearly been cleaned by some form of robot if the immaculate condition of it was any indication. The inside had the occasional uneven patch among the smooth finish, the mark of humans having repaired it over the years. The outside was free of any such blemishes and looked almost too perfect to be real.

The camera continued on its downward path before it suddenly leaped off the wall and they were now in the air, flying through the airspace that humans had once owned but were now banned from entering. The camera’s shaking stabilized as it took to the air.

They were now flying over some sort of field, covered in a purple plant that resembled grass making it look like a weird edited picture of a regular field.

The camera glided past the purple grass and into a small forest of some kind. They passed several strange looking trees that none of them had ever seen before. Looks like they brought in some trees from home and planted them over here. How did they even manage to actually grow the damn things? Those things are freaking huge.

They were mostly red and purple unlike the Earth’s native brown and green. There was one that looked like a giant Venus Fly Trap and several trees that seemed to be made of several long thin trunks that were moving if she was not mistaken.

The camera somehow managed to avoid getting smacked by one of the trees and made its way through the potentially deadly branches without any incident. This cannot be the first time they’ve done this. No one is good enough to get through all those obstacles on their first try. Was that what the cloak and dagger about? She quickly stored those thoughts in the back of her mind, not wanting to miss anything that was happening on screen.

The camera emerged from behind a set of giant bright yellow shapes that were most probably flowers although the weird cylindrical shapes did not resemble any flower that Aria had ever run into before. She smiled at the thought. Not like I have actually seen a flower garden. Those are long gone now. The camera began to lower itself down to the ground, probably just barely skimming the floor of the purple grass that was slowly giving way to what appeared to be some form of concrete. At least that’s what Aria imagined it was.

Bright purple streaks ran through a greyish green floor and they were almost pulsing with an eerie light. It reassembled some form of alien creature, which she realized it probably was. At this point the video paused. Aria squinted, rubbing her eyes as they readjusted from staring at the screen intently.

“And there we go, that right there, is our biggest obstacle to getting outta her,” said Jake, “The Weird Forest as we decided to very creatively name it.”

“Those are alien plants right?” asked Harry, “Then how…”

“...did they manage to grow them in our atmosphere?” said Mrs. Kane, finishing his thought.

“Quite simple,” began Alex, “they haven’t been idle over the past century or so, they’ve performed quite a bit of light terraforming, rather extensive but subtle, and raised the Oxygen levels in the atmosphere, I presume you know that it used to be around 15%.” He paused to check if everyone was nodding in the affirmative before continuing. “Well now its possibly closer to around 40% or 50%, something I assume is similar to their own planet and to Earth as well, millions of years ago when life first got underway.”

“That is a lot of research,” said Harry, looking genuinely surprised.

“We haven’t been idle,” said Alex.

“Alright then, now that you know that, you have any thoughts on how to get through the forest. That is our second major obstacle here,” said Eve, “from the data we’ve gathered, the rest of it appears to be just a regular settlement with just a few technologies we haven’t seen before but nothing particularly dangerous, and something a bit of sneaking around could easily get past. The outer wall itself, has a doorway that opens and closes fairly regularly and it would not be particularly difficult to sneak out in a supply vehicle, of course they do scan them so it won’t be easy but the check isn’t as stringent as on the inner wall so honestly if we get past the inner wall with this door, and find a way through the forest we can be outta here.”

“You guys managed to actually spy on the outer wall?” asked Aria, “how on Earth did that happen. There’s no way that one of you actually got out there right?”

“Sadly no,” said Jake, “this has all been possible through some very clever engineering by our resident mad scientist here.” He pointed at Alex. “We’ve managed to come up with quite a useful little device that’s been able to travel to all these spots. It’s got just about enough battery to make it to halfway along the alien city. And settled on a properly tall rooftop gives you a great view of the outer wall but sadly not of the outside.”

“And that device is what I’ve been hinting at Aria,” said Mrs. Kane,” and I think you’ve already seen it.”

“Is it that weird spider thing?” chorused Aria and Harry, before exchanging a quick smile.

“Correct,” said Alex, “that spider thing as you call it is a very advanced military grade drone.”

“No need to hit the kids with a vocabulary lesson, Alex,” said Jake,” I think they’ve been given enough lessons in that for one day don’t you think.”

“Those are not.” began Alex.

“Its fine,” said Harry, smiling at the two adults. “I can understand most of that and it’s very exciting to learn all of those.”

“See, now that’s a boy that understands the value of…”

“Okay, let’s not get into that,” said Eve. Aria rolled her eyes. Once a teacher’s pet, always a teacher’s pet.

“Alright then, I think time to wrap up for today. This was mostly about just introducing you two to what’s really out there,” said Mrs. Kane, “and you are going to need your sleep if you are going to go out tomorrow and get us that valuable information on the door.”
“But can we at least listen to the story of how this drone works, Mom,” said Harry, “didn’t you say like five minutes ago that the device was the important one here.”

“But it's gotten late,” she said.

“Ahh, it's fine Alice, if the kids think they can do it, I’m sure they can,” said Jake.

“Am I going to get no support from you three?” asked Mrs. Kane, frowning.

“I vote for the kids' side,” said Eve, smiling at the two of them.

“And I am far too experienced in these matters to be the one that picks the side that is most likely to lose. I say give the kids a bit more time. They’re what, fifteen and seventeen, in this day and age, that’s plenty old enough to be taking a few risks,” said Alex, clearing playing mediator.

“Alright,” said Mrs. Kane, “but you better be quick about explaining it.”

“Mom, come on, we’re not babies anymore,” said Harry, frowning.

“I know that,” she said, “I just...well fine. Carry on. I’m just being a little too paranoid perhaps.”

“So how was it done?” asked Aria, now excited that she would actually get to know the secret.

“With a very simple but cunning solution. Something old Frederick cooked up but I perfected,” replied Alex.

“Is that Katherine’s dad?” chimed in Harry, suddenly.

“Yes he is young Katherine’s father. Her talent for technology does have to come from somewhere now doesn’t it?” said Alex. “I believe she is.

“Um…Alex…,” said Eve, clearing her throat, “we’re operating on limited time here.”

“I apologize. Just went off on a tangent there. We cannot waste any time and I believe your team has one of the earliest wake up calls so she is certainly entitled to her sleep,” said Alex, looking pointedly at Aria, who nodded,” anyway where was I? Simple but cunning. In essence the reason we were failing was due to our approach being somewhat flawed. We were attempting to sneak through by either fooling it into thinking there was nothing or looking for a weak spot to smash through. These ideas failed time after time…”

“And got many people killed,” mumbled Aria under her breath.

“What was that Aria?” asked Eve, holding up a hand to pause Alex.

“Nothing,” answered Aria quickly,” Please continue.”

“Mr. Summers came up with the ingenious idea of fooling the system into thinking that we were allowed to pass through,” said Alex.

“And so Mr. Summers hacked the system,” exclaimed Harry, eyes wide, before he quickly added,” this Mr. Summers, not that one.”

“Oh nothing that extreme Harry. If we had found a way to hack the system we would have been out of here a long time ago,” said Jake, a slightly faraway look in his eyes,” what Alex here did was far more ingenious and a lot more likely to go completely unnoticed by the Carpathians.”

“Indeed,” continued Alex, a small smile on his face from Harry’s correction, “I collected discarded bits of equipment that the Venocarpathians carelessly throw away. Specifically, unwanted bits of their weapons. Simply because they are coded to work only for their DNA they seem to forget that the metal itself is not impossible to touch. Quite careless of them that.”

“But we’re not complaining,” added Eve, smiling.

“No, that we mostly certainly are not,” said Alex.

“And so Mr. Summers built this entire drone, robot hybrid out of that?” asked Harry.

“And the system does not reject those materials,” finished Aria, her eyes now wide in awe. Oh. My. God. That is the bravest or possibly stupidest plan I have ever heard of it. And the damn thing clearly worked.

“Precisely Ms. Kane. Precisely,” said Alex, “and voila, it actually worked.”

“But how did you get your hands on a proper gyroscope, accelerometer, the works, I highly doubt aliens were carelessly tossing those things around nor would they toss out radio controllers?” asked Harry.

“Someone paid a lot of attention in class,” said Jake, before adding to Harry’s hurt face,” which is absolutely not a bad thing.”

“Can I say I am now much more approving of the decision to have this young man on board?” said Alex.

“I told you he was one of the sharper ones in the toolshed,” said Mrs. Kane, smiling proudly.

“And Aria is also amazing,” added Harry, quickly, smiling apologetically at her. She smiled back gratefully. And the idiot has to go and do that so now I can’t rib him for just being a total teacher’s pet. She put an arm around his shoulders.

“Of course,” said Eve, “she’s the responsible one, isn’t she?”

“Oh I completely agreed with the decision to bring her on board right away,” said Alex.

“Oh come on,” said Harry, puppy dog look firmly in place.

“He’s just joking,” said Jake.

“You both are amazing,” said Mrs. Kane, playing the Mom mediator role as always. “But we must all be leaving by this point, I think. We have a lot more time to discuss all of this. And sleep is going to be vital in the coming weeks.”

“Why’s that mom?” said Aria.

“You’ll see,” she said.

Aria nodded. Please don’t be another silly half-baked plan to escape. They have to realize that’s not going to work at some point right. I mean the wall was hard enough but now this goddamn forest. All we learned is that it is even more impossible to find a way out now that we know there also lies a jungle of horrors beyond the walls. Nothing to get excited about. If anything it’s another reason why believing that we will someday escape is a fool’s errand.

“Alright, that’s enough then,” said Jake,” we’ll clean up here. You get the kids out of here Alice.”

“Thank you Jake. Thank you everyone for agreeing to this and coming on short notice,” said Mrs. Kane, giving everyone around the table a quick smile.

There was a sudden flurry of ‘Good Night’ and ‘Sleep well’ as the two of them and Mrs. Kane got up to leave.

“Long Live Earth,” said Jake as they neared the door, winking at Harry who immediately echoed the sentence. Aria simply rolled her eyes as even her mother echoed the sentiment along with everyone else present at the table. So much hope and yet it will all inevitably come crashing down just like it’s been for the past 99 years. A vicious cycle that always repeats itself. I suppose that is one thing the ancient myths get right. The spirit of hope is one thing humans just absolutely refuse to give up as foolish as that is.
The three of them said one last goodbye as they made their way out into the dark hallway they’d come through.

“Well come on then, follow me,” said Mrs. Kane,” of you go to bed.”

“Yes Mom,” chorused the two teens and the three of them made their way back to their living quarters. They walked mostly in silence. Harry seemed to be lost in thought, quite possibly just processing what had happened over the past hour or so. Mrs. Kane also seemed to be plotting something in her head so Aria also decided to keep quiet, deciding that talking about things could wait until morning. It's not like there’s a rush after all.

Sidney put the book down alarmed as the watch on her wrist. She'd been reading for a whole. One whole hour. Oh no. Oh no. This was getting out of hand. She was liking this book and getting absorbed in it. At this rate she was going to end up finishing the whole thing before Darvi even got back. That was bad. Darvi would won. Although wait, finishing the book was her idea of the power move so maybe not. This book was twisting her mind a little. Why was everyone in it trying to be so careful all the time? And the other person who wasn't that careful actually accepting that being careful is a good thing? She huffed. Darvi was playing some serious mind games.

This was really getting so far out of hand now. Why must Darvi be so good at this? Sidney just whined and did a full pouting by herself, opening up the mirror in the closet for good measure. Moments like this deserved to have the proper emotion attached to them. Of course. This was definitely not Sidney throwing a little tantrum for herself like Darvi liked to call her out on. She never did those. Not her. Couldn't be her. She was cooler than Aquarius' ice cream machine and absolutely everyone knew this and respected this. Okay that wasn't true. Some people didn't respect her. They probably feared her and were just trying to protect themselves. Yup that was definitely it for sure. Couldn't be hate or dislike. Except Belinda. No case could be made for Belinda. Belinda hated her guts.

Shaking herself out of the bad place there, she tried to think of the other problem plaguing her. Belinda was something else. The ship's sweetheart. The gifted one. So cool. Hanging out with her new girlfriend, the both of them looking so happy while Belinda went about destroying poor Darvi and her on a daily basis with absolutely no repercussions. That was just unfair. Sidney pouted some more at the thought. Golden girl. Loved by everyone and she just had to be against them. Sidney was the golden girl. This was her job. She didn't even hate people when she did things her way. Even if she did, she didn't go out of her way to go be mean. And if she was being mean, she had a great reason, like them being rude to her first. Or being rude to other people. Sidney had standards and pretty solid standards too at that. She wasn't one to go around just being rude randomly. She was adamant on that.

Sidney needed to do something else for a little while. If she kept this up for too too long she ran the risk of ending up with a series case of the bookworm illness. She knew how dangerous that could really be, she wasn't about to be taking any chances whatsoever with that. Maybe she'd go find Aquarius. The others probably actually left by now. Wait no. They wouldn't have left yet. They were going to leave now. Rune had said an hour. She scrambled to change clothes. She had to be there to wish them good luck. Okay not all of them. She couldn't care less about Belinda's luck, but Darvi. Darvi needed a wish. Maybe she'd even promise to not get in trouble. That would make Darvi feel good right? She could even try and actually keep that promise. She grinned, finally having something haphazardly thrown on. Opening her door, she dashed outside.

Breton sighed, rummaging through their bag. "Where is that crystal? I swear I put it in here..." He muttered, pouring the contents of the bag across the bed. Everything was there except the crystal they needed. The pinkish cyan crystal he made so sure to pack next to all of the others. The one that had just... dropped from the ceiling?

Breton jumped back, looking up at the ceiling. "...Naim?"

Naim smiled slightly from where they were seated on the ceiling. They hovered downwards and righted themself, until they were floating above Breton's bed. "Pretty crystal. Shiny."

"Well, yes, most of them are."

"I like crystals," Naim mused. "Also food. Do you want food?"

Breton's stomach growled. "Hehe. I think that's an answer enough."

Naim brightened. "To the kitchen!" They landed softly on the floor, then padded out of Breton's room. Their dead flower earring was looking a lot more dead, but their sea glass earring had been newly polished, apparently.

Breton shuddered. "Are you sure Gray won't kill me?"

"I'll distract him with your shiny crystals. My earrings too, if I have to." Naim looked proud of themself for being willing to make this sacrifice.

"I'm pretty sure Gray doesn't care as much about shiny things as you do, Naim."

They reached the kitchen. Naim opened the door as they said, "Everyone cares about shiny things, especially if those shiny things reflect light in their eyes. Not that I'd do that to Gray. Gray is awesome."

Gray walked out of the pantry as Naim said that. "Glad to know you think I'm awesome." Naim beamed. He then noticed Breton. "...What is he doing here?"

"He's hungry. You're the chef, aren't you?" Naim breezed into the kitchen. Looked like they'd gotten a lot more comfortable around here.

Breton shuffled in behind them.

"Well, he also stole food. And stowed away on our ship."

"Yeah, but. He's hungry," Naim said, as if that settled all the questions. They poked around, looking for something edible.

Gray shook his head. "I can make you two breakfast, I guess."

"Yessssss!" Naim beamed at Gray. "You are the coolest."

Breton looked up at Gray. "Thank you!" Which was both a thank you for the meal, and for sparing their life.

Gray went back into the pantry. "What do you two want to eat?"

"Something delicious," Naim said vaguely.

Breton sighed. "Naim, I'm pretty sure whatever Gray makes will be delicious."

"Oh. That's a fair point." Naim nodded. "Anything you want to make, then." They hopped onto a counter and sat there, legs swinging.

Gray came out of the pantry with bread, eggs, bacon, and various other ingredients. "Do you really want to stay here while I cook? I can bring the food to you when it's done."

"I want to watch." Naim looked at the ingredients curiously.

Breton nodded. "I do too." He hopped onto the counter next to Naim. Naim was wearing loose trousers and a tank top, as well as a shiny chain around their waist like a belt. They wrapped their fingers in the chain absentmindedly as they watched Gray.

Gray molded some metal into a pan, and tossed some eggs and bacon into it.

Naim sniffed the air and smiled slightly.

Breton watched as Gray skillfully cooked all the ingredients. Everything looked so good.

A little while later, Gray finished. He had made egg and bacon breakfast sandwhiches with a side of fruit salad. "Enjoy."

Yes, it was fair, but failure still hurt. Alz dueled again and again, losing more times than he won. Each time he hit the dirt, the determination in him to continue training grew until it felt as boundless as the ocean.

He became better at wrangling up his siblings. Somehow, he managed to save his frustration until he could vent it at practice or at sparring sessions. His parents noted his increased absences, but he'd gotten Marley to help out, and Lila had become much more responsible over the past few years.

Years passed like wind blowing across the ship of Aries.

The girl left for Sagittarius. Alz saw her off with a final duel, which the girl won. He was glad of that-- it meant she didn't go easy on him. He promised both her and himself to get better until he could win in a rematch.

They dueled occasionally. Alz lasted longer and put up a better fight. But he never won, and their duels became less and less frequent, and his determination started to fade like a piece of clothing worn one too many times.

It happened softly, like a puddle evaporating. Little by little, it dried up until nothing was left except some residue that itself was worn away. Alz and the girl grew apart. He still thought of her sometimes, but his daily life on Aries managed to be even busier than it was when he was a child, and so his daydreamings weren't often. The girl was occupied with her own training. He kept promising himself he'd get back in contact with her the next week, or the next month, but there was always something that came up-- his boyfriend's dog died, or a section of crop failed, or his family was celebrating a birthday.

Eventually, he stopped dueling. He'd forgotten why it mattered so much to him in the first place. Something about fairness. But really, life was unfair-- Syran had been killed in a machinery malfunction two years ago. His parents seemed to age a century then. James sobbed himself to sleep for a month straight.

Sometimes, even if you did everything right while planting, the crops turned out bad. It was a fact of life. He'd been naive to ever expect existence to be fair.

He was pondering this while walking back from work. Really, duels in themselves were unfair. One competitor might have had better mentors or more opportunities or a head start in training or better equipment. The only fair thing in this world was that everyone had one life, and even then, some were born in better circumstances and that was out of one's control and- what was that kid doing?

Alz stared at the boy. He was furiously polishing a rock.

"Hey. Kid. What are you doing?" Alz barely realized how much his tone sounded like the girl's from many years ago.

The boy didn't respond. He looked to be nine, maybe ten. He only scrubbed the sandpaper across the surface of the rock more furiously.

Alz looked around. No sign of any parents or siblings. He squatted down next to the kid. "That rock looks well and truly scrubbed to me."

The boy stopped polishing. "Mister, I'd like to be alone right now." His bright blue eyes blinked up at Alz. His nose was red. Were those traces of dried tears?

Alz hesitated, then looked around. He picked up a greyish rock and carried it to the boy. "I think that rock's polished already. How about this new one?"

The boy glared at him.

"Ah. I apologize. Have I broken an unspoken rule of rock-polishing?"

"Don't make fun of me."

"Oh. I wasn't-" Alz stopped. He had only been trying to get the boy to laugh, but he guessed that wasn't the right tactic here. "Sorry." He grew serious and sat down next to the boy again. "I'm Alz."

The boy returned to polishing his rock silently.

"I... I don't pretend to know anything about your circumstances, but... I was struggling too, when I was around your own age. My parents wanted me to take care of my younger siblings, and it was a lot of stress, and I felt that it was all unfair."

"Oh, boo-hoo." The boy frowned at Alz, unimpressed. Huh. Well, at least he was listening.

"Someone challenged me to a duel." The memories came back to Alz. The tomato plants, his sense of outrage, and then...

"...What's a duel?" The boy slowed his polishing.

Yes, Alz remembered how it'd felt. Like a breath of fresh air after spending the whole day indoors.

"Would you like me to show you?"

(778 words)

Sefarina knocked gently on Idris door. "Honey?" She was very worried at the moment. Idris was never one to be joyous but she thought Idris wasn't so down in the dump as to attempt something like that. Certainly not after their last talk.

There was a loud cough, but the door didn't open.

"Idris?" Sefarina tapped her foot against the ground, not liking this one bit.

There was the sound of furniture being dragged.

"Idris please? I just want to give you a hug. Make sure you're doing okay honey. I promise. Nothing else!"

There was a loud wail.

"Please Idris!"

Idris slowly opened the door.

Sefarina held out a hand gently. "Can I come in?"

Idris stood back, her head hanging.

She walked in slowly, careful not to startle her. She looked tired. Idris' eyes were puffy and she couldn't look at Rina.

"Sweetie?"

She sniffled.

"Hug?"

She shrugged, wiping her eyes.

Sefarina opened her arms. "I'm here for you sweetie. I'm always going to be here for you."

Idris wailed louder, hiding her face. She sunk to her knees.

Sefarina sunk to her knees right beside address, scooting closer to her. "I got you baby. I got you."

Idris sobbed freely

She gently pulled Idris into the hug. She sunk into her. Sefarina practically wrapped around her. Idris was safe. Idris was right here. Idris was going nowhere.

She held on to Rina for dear life, sobbing uncontrollably. Rina gently stroked her back.

"I got you baby. I got you baby."

Idris hiccupped, shaking her head.

"What wrong angel? Need something to write on?"

She shrugged.

Sefarina just pulled her close again. Idris sniffled into her neck. Sefarina just held her, now starting to very gently rock them back and forth.

After a while of sniffling, Idris pulled back, wiping her eyes. Sefarina gently reached out, helping her wipe them down.

"There's my pretty angel."

Idris shook her head.

"Why you shaking your head?"

Idris looked for paper, but after spotting none just shook her head harder.

"Need paper my angel?" Sefarina's heart broke to see Idris like this. Before Idris had always looked a little like this. A little lost and disillusioned with the world. But then that day. The smile. The look of hope on her face. Now Sefarina couldn't bare to see this. That smile needed to come back.

She nodded.

Sefarina pulled out the little notepad that she'd started just carrying around now, just in case Idris needed to say something.

She gently handed it over to Idris. She had to look into trying to get Idris her own little notepad. That way she wouldn't have to keep asking people for paper. Maybe Belinda would have a spare notepad. She seemed like the type to have a spare notepad. Juniper could probably give it a nice little scent. There had to be at least on artist on the ship that could draw a little cover page for Idris surely. What would be good for Idris? Had Idris maybe mentioned a flower at any point? She really couldn't recall.

Idris opened the page and grabbed the pen, scribbling something out. I disappointed you. You weren't supposed to know. I wasn't supposed to ruin this. It was stupid. It was a stupid dream and I couldn't I didn't I

"Sweetie what are you talking about? You haven't ruined anything at all. I promise. Nothing was ruined. Nothing was ruined." Sefarina pulled Idris even closer. "Nothing is ruined. Nothing."

Now you don't trust me. I'm a liability. Rune will kick me off the ship for being a problem. I'm a problem I'm a problem I'm a

"You're our wonderful, wonderful angel Idris. If Rune is going to kick you off, he's going to have to kick me off with you too, because I am never allowing that. You're not a liability sweetie. You are not a liability."

I jumped off the ship. I Gray had to catch me. I was falling.

"And why exactly did that happen baby? Can you tell me? I'd like to know. I thought you were feeling a little better, but looks like something hurt you really badly." Sefarina pulled her even tighter, practically into her lap at this point.

I had a nightmare. About Libra. He said He said Her eyes welled up with tears again.

Sefarina held her close again, gently taking on of her hands. "Hold onto me honey. I've got you. I've got you. Not letting anything bad happen to you. I'm here. I'm here for you. No Libra. Nobody but me."

She pulled her hand way, determined to finish. He said if you were really sorry, you would've killed yourself afterwards. She tossed the pen aside and held on to Rina, wails taking over completely again. Rina cradled her tight, letting her get it all out.

"I'm so sorry he said that to you baby. I'm so sorry. That's not true at all. Not true at all."

Idris shook her head.

"Are you agreeing with me baby?" Sefarina would probably even resort to praying to make that true, but something told her Idris wasn't going to change her mind about years and years of trauma that easily.

Idris froze, letting out a weak cough.

Sefarina frowned slightly. "Sweetie? Use your words honey. Want me to get the paper again for you?"

She shook her head again and went back to hugging Rina tightly. Rina hugged her right back. She wasn't letting go of Idris for the foreseeable future. Well maybe for lunch. Idris definitely could do with some food.

Idris pulled away again to grab the paper. I'm sorry I didn't tell you. Gray told me to and I didn't.

"That's okay baby. I can understand why you were afraid to tell me. Thank you for telling me now. I'm so glad Gray was there to save you then." Sefarina would have to thank him somehow. Probably not a cake. She'd get roasted. Would he be one of those people that hated nice things but somehow liked flowers?

She nodded. I'm trying to be too.

Sefarina gave her a gentle squeeze.

Sidney huffed and puffed her way back to the cabin. This day was going to be so much more boring now that the most interesting part of it was also over. She was going to just become a bookwork at this rate. It was quite literally the only interesting thing she could currently think of. Maybe she should go outside and have a talk with Sefarina at some point. It wouldn't be that unreasonable for her to have a chat right? It would be a terrible idea to go right now. Sidney could remember exactly how Sefarina had run out after Idris. That was bound to be a very difficult conversation. Especially right after the other difficult conversation with Darvi where she'd tried to do something too.

She now knew she was monumentally bad at comforting people. She was starting to notice this a lot now. Just so many. And she really meant, so, so, so, so many things. So many things that she was terrible at. She only seemed to make half the situations worse if she was being honest. She didn't know why people even put up with her anymore at this point. It looked like half the things that she took part in these days, just turned out so much worse for everyone involved and it wasn't just her being unlucky or something. She was the cause. She was making these situations much worse than they ever needed to be and it was all because of her. Just her doing so badly.

Sidney grumbled quietly to herself. This was not going as well as it needed. Trying to find something to think and immediately it was just bad through after bad thought. She didn't want to be having these thoughts. Right? Right? There's no way these were good thoughts to be having. Maybe she should go see Juniper. Yes, Juniper would know what to do about this kind of thing. That would make her feel better. That's when she promptly remembered that this evil trip out to the wilds that she'd of course been banned from going on had claimed Juniper too. Okay maybe banned was a really strong word. But its not like any of them wanted her coming either. Right? Or was she misinterpreting that too somehow? And she was right back where she started with how comforting Darvi had gone. She groaned loudly. Why was this so hard?

Juniper was gone. The one person who could probably talk some sense into her at the moment. Okay maybe Darvi could too. But Darvi was also gone. Sefarina. Sefarina would be able to help. She was definitely next on the list of people who had their shit together that she could trust. She was also probably one of one on the list of people who currently liked her. Well maybe Darvi still did too. Darvi was just feeling really bad. Sidney was pretty sure that's why Darvi had run away. Mostly because Sefarina had said that was the most likely reason Darvi had run away.

She had to trust Sefarina right? Sefarina wouldn't lie to her about something like that. Surely not. Sefarina wasn't the kind of person who lied right. Well Sidney usually thought she could tell when someone was the kind of person to be a bit of a liar, but then she wasn't super sure about that anymore. It was starting to be a little tough to be able to actually judge that. Well not really. Sidney hadn't changed much. She'd just started to realize that she was maybe not as good at something as she'd thought she was. This was really starting to get difficult to process now. Juniper. Darvi. Sefarina. This was going to be the pattern when it came to trying to make some sense of all of this.

Sidney huffed loudly to herself and went about making sure the door was securely tight. Darvi had taught her how to make sure it was always well protected. She still wasn't fully convinced about Darvi's philosophy. It really didn't seem likely that a random set of pirates were going to somehow ended up jumping on their ship of all ships randomly, certainly not without someone noticing and giving off an alarm.

Sidney didn't complain though. It was making sure she could nice and securely do the shameful act of reading the book Darvi recommended her to read and there was no chance anyone could just walk in on her. This afternoon was already feeling better as she felt just a little proud for having learned this so well from Darvi. She grinned to herself and walked over to the armchair she'd been reading on.

Picking up the several pillows strewn about she set about reconstructing the little nest that she'd ended up building for herself in order to be able to nestle in nice and tightly and read her book in peace. It wasn't the most elaborate thing in the world, but she had perfected a little bit of a craft over the years.

Sure, this place had about six less pillows than she normally had to work with, but she genuinely found that to be only a fun extra challenge, a lovely way to figure out an even cooler way to build her pillow fort. Plus she'd made sure to steal Darvi's pillows to have a little bit of extra material. Darvi wasn't using them right now so it wasn't like it was a big crime or anything.

Sidney smirked. Okay maybe she was just a little bit thrilled at the thought of getting away with stealing Darvi's pillows to do this task. As much as the book was really good, she still had standards to maintain. Darvi was naturally forcing her to do this against her will and she was rebelling here. Doing exactly what Darvi said but in a marginally different way was absolutely the heigh of rebellion. If anything, it was smart because she couldn't be punished. At least that's what she told herself as she pulled the book open and began to read.

Daisy woke up to find that she was supposed to have woken up ten minutes ago. Groggily she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and stumbled out of her bed. One day of being early and I’m right back to being late as always. How does Aria do it? She scrambled to get a quick shower and dress for the day in her usual working clothes of an ancient dress and rubber boots.

She ran for the door, bumping into a stool along the way and sending it crashing to the floor with a loud clang. She quickly righted the stool and continued her dash to the hall, barely having time to wave a goodbye to her mother who was also leaving for her own shift.

Daisy arrived at the tiny cramped room and began scanning the room for any signs of the Kane siblings. It took her a second to spot Aria waving to her from a corner of the room and she made right for them, pushing her way through the crowd. They exchanged greetings and began their trek along the long hallway, maintaining silence as they always did.

Daisy felt that something was not quite the same with the two. For starters, Aria had bags under her eyes. Aria never had bags under her eyes. The second red flag was Harry’s own facial expression. He was always bright and chipper bringing the humor to the trio but today he seemed to be radiating happiness. His stride seemed somehow more commanding that before with a new found determination. This all puzzled Daisy as they made their way to the central hub, but she kept quiet, deciding to figure it out once they were at the gate. After Aria had done her thing and logged in their arrival, the trio set off towards the door.

They walked out to a dark and foreboding sky. Dark clouds covered the compound blocking off any and all sunlight and dimming the entire area. Lights set into the walls that ran along the sides of the small enclosure were turned on, lighting up the area but they just weren’t enough. The eerie blue glow that they cast was doing almost nothing to light up the place. You’d think that they’d invest in better lights at least to ensure their own damn wall can be properly cared for. I suppose torturing us is much more fun. Daisy joined the other two as they made their way over to the tools.

“So what made you lose sleep yesterday Aria?” asked Daisy casually as they divided up the tools to begin their work.

“What?” asked Aria, eyeing her suspiciously,” what makes you think I did that?”

“You have bags under your eyes Aria,” pointed out Daisy,” sheesh it's fine. It’s good to occasionally rebel a bit and stay up late.”

“I suppose you would know all about that,” said Aria, now smirking.

“Hey, that’s not fair. I stay awake because…uhh…because I have insomnia,” replied Daisy quickly.

“Keep telling yourself that,” said Aria and walked off to begin cleaning her question. Daisy let out a sigh. Well that conversation did not go as planned. Maybe I’ll have more success drilling it out of Harry. She walked over to him as he began his work in his chosen spot.

“Hey, Harry,” she began.

“Hi!”

“You seem different today,” she said, tentatively.

“Really, I can assure you that I am not an imposter,” he said, looking up from the patch of grass he was cutting.

“Not like that dinkus,” said Daisy, rolling her eyes,” I mean your mood seems a little different.”

“Really?” he asked furrowing his eyebrows,” How so?”

“I don’t know. You seem somehow happier than usual.”

“Huh…well maybe. Not really sure,” he replied, voice slightly uncertain like there was some sort of internal debate going on.

“Did something happen last night? Aria having stayed up late and you being just randomly extra happy can’t just be a coincidence,” said Daisy, now positive that something out of the ordinary had definitely gone down.

“Uh…well…what is that?” he said, eyes going wide mid-sentence.

“What do you mean?” said Daisy. If he is trying to change the subject this is one of the lamest ways to do so.

“Just look behind you!” he said frantically pointing.

“I swear if you are…” she said as she turned around but trailed off as she saw what Harry was pointing at. It was definitely something worth screaming about. What looked like a large flaming ball was slowly dropping out of the sky. Oh. My. God. The worst part was that it seemed to be pointed in their general direction. The two of them stood there rooted to the spot.

“What are you two staring at?” asked Aria, looking up from her work.

They simply pointed at the sky. Aria followed their line of sight and gasped, a hand covering her mouth.

“Oh dear,” she said,” what on Earth is that?”

“All I can definitively say is that it is not of this Earth,” said Harry once he had managed to regain his power of speech.

Daisy, still unable to speak in her shock, broke out of it when Harry made his declaration.

“Wait how can you say that from down here?” she asked.

“Deductive reasoning,” he replied.

‘In English please?” she said.

“No planes or ships that belong to humans have taken to the sky in a hundred years. Do I really have to spell that out for you?” he said, smirking.

Daisy nearly face palmed. Of course. Why am I so stupid sometimes?

“Then what the hell is that thing?” asked Aria.

“Do you think I have super eyesight or something?” asked Harry,” there’s no way to recognize any markings from this far away and the fact that it is a giant ball of fire at the moment is not going to help matters.”

“Can you at least try to figure out if it’s a spaceship or some kind of local transport?” asked Aria.

“I’ll try,” said Harry.

“Where’s Samantha when you need her?” mumbled Daisy as she refocused on the big ball of fire falling steadily towards them. She looked at it carefully, looking for any part that would give away the medium that it was designed to fly through.

She couldn’t make out any details. The fire and smoke was obscuring whatever pieces that would be noticeable from that distance. The only thing that she could make out was a very pointy piece of metal that looked to be the front of the craft.

"But we won't be frustrated," pointed out Daisy.

"I will be," replied Aria.

"Well majority wins here," said Harry," you are outnumbered so we're going to be staying."

Aria snorted and then with a bored expression," Fine. You kids have you stargazing lessons. I've heard that..."

"Aria," snapped Daisy before Aria could finish her sentence. She nodded in Harry's direction. Oh gosh that was not subtle at all. Hopefully he didn't notice.

Aria got the message and sat down next to the sliding doors and patted the spot next to her.

"You two also take a seat then. We've been standing pretty much all day."

Harry and Daisy sat down beside Aria.

The three of them sat there in silence, soaking in the atmosphere. The stars shone brightly against their dark background. It was a beautiful sight that only a few of them would ever get the chance to see so clearly. They leaned against the cool glass, soaking in the atmosphere that had gained a calmness that seemed out of place for the hectic workplace that it had been all day.

The still sizable wreck of the ship seemed an almost decorative piece in the darkness. It lost its crooked and torn apart shape to resemble a simple giant black blob. Daisy wondered about the ship and its origins. It had solely been responsible for all the joy and sadness they had experienced over the past few days but even after cutting around layers of melted paint they were yet to run into any sort of identification tag.

After their time was up, Aria being the one to declare that the time was up, she hauled herself to her feet. Aria simply gestured towards the doors, which opened instantly. Neither of them said a word as they made their way inside and through the now almost pitch black hallways.

It was a few minutes’ walk to reach the Hub. The Hub itself was also dark at that time. Well that's new. I guess they expect us to have walked back to our quarters by now. Or maybe this is to encourage us to be back at our quarters on time.

"I guess they cut the power to even this place after 9," said Harry, voicing Daisy's thoughts.

"Yes. That means we need to get back fast," said Aria," come on. No time for any more chatting. And make sure to stay as close to each other as possible. This is not a great time to be getting lost."

"Yes Mom," chorused Daisy and Harry. Predictably, Aria just sighed and stepped into the gloom.

In the darkness, the hallways seemed to go on forever. There was no way to tell where the walls were and they could barely figure out where one hallway ended and another began. It was only the several years of having walked the same path that allowed them to not get lost. As it was, the three of them still clung to each other's shoulders as they walked to make sure they did not lose each other.

Daisy was feeling particularly uneasy. Usually she was used to the silence of walking along the corridors having accepted it as a necessary part of surviving in the camp but in the darkness the silence was a whole other entity. It made chills creep down her spine and the hairs along her arm stood up. Why did I ever think staying there till late was a good idea? Why am I so stupid? I should have known that the carpathians would do something like this.

Fifteen minutes, the time it usually took for them to get back came and went in the blink of an eye as they creeped along the hallways at a snail's pace due to the dark. Daisy couldn't help but wonder if they had somehow also lengthened the hallways or made their way back longer. She had to mentally slap herself. It wouldn’t do to get paranoid of all things if they were going to be doing this everyday for the foreseeable future.

The influx of increasingly ridiculous ideas stopped as they finally arrived at the equally dark hall. However, the lights streaming in from the quarters lit up the passages leading off from the hall and gave them the tiniest bit of light. They came to stop at the passages they would have to part ways.

"So... are we breaking the news tonight itself?" asked Daisy, tentatively.

"Maybe because it’s already so late and we'll just let people have a night where they still have some hope at least," said Harry, his face telling a different story of someone who just didn’t want to have to talk about it.”

"False hopes can be very dangerous," said Aria.

"Oh it’s only a few hours. Would you like to hear something like that right before you were about to rest after a busy day of hard work?" said Harry.

"Yeah," said Daisy, quickly jumping in, hoping Aria would realize what was really going on.

"I can already see that I am not winning this argument," said Aria, holding her hands up," I surrender. Let's all go catch some sleep now. We all are going to need it with our current situation." Daisy breathed a sigh of relief.

"She has finally understood that she can never win," said Harry, hopefully smiling as he usually did in such situations. The light wasn't enough to make out his face. Daisy smiled back, hoping he could see.

"Good Night and Sweet Dreams Daisy!" said Harry.

Daisy gave them both hugs and said her own good night before the three of them parted ways, Harry and Aria headed for their quarters, Daisy headed to hers’.

Sidney huffed and put the back down a moment. She was starting to get a little bit tired from reading now. Well not quite. It was mostly that she would really like to have some sort of snack around now. She was starting to get just a little bit hungie. It was that time right before lunch when she get a little peckish and Gray turned into a monster. This was the time to try and pull off some kind of heist or figure out some kind of snack. She had to get hold of one or the other or she really wasn't going to be able to find the motivation required to keep reading this horrifying tale she definitely wasn't obsessed with.. Okay it was more like she wasn't going to be able to keep going if she didn't eat anything cause she was going to start being constantly distracted by the hunger.

She gently set the book down, carefully open to the page she'd stopped at. She was starting to get quite a ways through the book now. It really was quite fascinating. Not that she was ever going to even think of telling Darvi that. Nope. She was not going to be nearly that stupid. Darvi would probably give her more books. Although if the book Darvi recommended were this good, then maybe she wanted more. But then there was always the other problem to consider where if she liked the book Darvi would be satisfied and give no more but if she didn't like it, Darvi would offer more and more in the hopes that at some point in some time SIdney would end up liking one. She cackled out loud to herself. Darvi would keep her reading all the way until they were done with this trip. Darvi would have absolutely no clue Darvi was feeding her reading addiction.

Sidney got up, feeling potentially diabolical. She felt so much more like herself at the moment. She was back in control for a moment. At least until all of those doubts inevitably returned. She could usually keep doubts away for a long time or even banish them. It was just getting harder and harder of late. She really couldn't find a good reason why.

She groaned quietly to herself as she made her way towards the door again. Maybe it was because she didn't have anywhere near the support she had at home. Okay that was a lie. Sure, her ladies in waiting tried their best, and they were really good at telling her that she was great but Sidney wasn't stupid. She knew that barring maybe three who genuinely were her friends, the others were all just following orders. They could rattle on all day probably about how cool and amazing she was but she knew for a fact if one of them had to say one thing substantial they liked about her, they would instantly have no answer at all. She'd run that test several times now.

She wondered why she even ran that test anymore. It had been quite a long while now. Only those three maids had passed. She was pretty sure about them. They passed it every year and every year they had something different to say. Either they were really skilled at this, or they did have some kind of genuine investment in her. She groaned loudly. She needed food. She was questioning the loyalty of her best maids. That was definitely a good sign she needed something.

She stumbled over to the closet and fumbled a little bit with the lock. Of course she'd remembered to bring a lock. Okay the look was maybe for her bags and they just happened to always be attached and Darvi had then suggested she use that when she'd wanted to lock her closet. Either way she'd somehow gotten a better lock onto the closet and it was safe from being randomly ransacked. That was of course the most important detail. Not how she'd acquired the lock in the first place.

Opening it up, she peered inside for her secret stash of snacks. She wished she could boast about how she'd stolen these but she'd practically had to beg for them from Gray, who after realizing it was either give her snacks or keep making her snacks or constantly try to defend her attempts at stealing snacks, had chosen to just hand over a few packets of chips to keep her away. She was probably a huge annoyance.

She quickly grabbed a snack and slammed the closet shut, locking it before she could complete that though. Bad Sidney. Bad Sidney. Thinking the evil thoughts again. She needed to move on and get back onto that book. Yes that's exactly what she needed to do. The book would make her feel better again. The book was nice. The book was comforting. And most importantly the book was really really good meaning she didn't end up thinking about anything else during it.

Sidney adjusted her great throne of all the pillows once again. She had a slightly different configuration that she'd worked out for when she needed to have some sort of snack. It was all part of her supreme pillow engineering. Maybe she needed to start putting that down as a skill these days. It wasn't exactly a skill a lot of the people she knew seemed to have anyway. Or maybe they just didn't care about pillow forts.

Sidney huffed a little quietly to herself again. That was edging back towards dangerous territory. The kind where Sidney started to feel evil again. She sped up her building, quickly finishing up the realignment of the pillow fort as fast as she could hope to do so. Settling back down she opened up her bag of chips, ready to eat. Pulling the book back on top of her, safely across her lap, she settled in once again.

The chips were homemade and wonderful. Darvi's book was also wonderful. A peaceful moment once again.

The next day, Aria woke up, as she always did, at exactly Wake Up time. She rolled out of bed and went about doing her morning stretches to quickly get rid of the sleepiness. It was going to be another hectic day and the earlier that they could get to work the better. They better return things to the normal schedule once that ship has been completely cleared away. They can't possibly make this permanent. The fact that even if they did, there wasn't going to be anyone to say that it wasn't fair didn’t exactly help her mindset.

Depressing thought for the day achieved, she made her way to her brother's room. Unlike last night, he was still fast asleep. She went through the motions, waking him up and then ordering him to get ready. In about ten minutes flat the two of them were ready and heading for the hall to meet up with Daisy.

The morning passed surprisingly normally with them somehow managing to avoid the topic of the door. Still, the fact that they had yet to reveal the information to the rest of the camp continued to trouble Aria and if the occasional stolen glances in the direction of the door by both Harry and Daisy, Aria wasn't the only one thinking about it. They had gotten a surprising amount done that morning, chipping away at the spaceship that was now starting to have noticeable chunks missing as they had cleared away almost a quarter of the massive ship.

Soon they were heading for lunch. As they walked to the dining area, judging by the nervous expression on Harry's face, the topic of the door would be finally mentioned in the near future.

The trio began their brunch in silence. For the first few minutes there was silence. Aria could almost feel the awkwardness radiating off of everyone at the table as they poked at the bland slop that they had to eat. Both Harry and Daisy seemed to be waiting for each other to make a move and Aria wasn't thrilled to be the one starting the conversation either. This is going to be a long meal if someone doesn't speak up. Maybe I should. The tension has been building since morning and someone has to let it out.

Dismissing the thoughts of just breaking the ice, Aria continued to eat. She could see Harry's face slowly taking on a more determined look as he started to take deep breaths. He was clearly steeling himself to be the one to break the ice. But several minutes later, Harry had still not uttered a word and was looking at Daisy who was mirroring his look. After a few minutes of that, Aria decided enough was enough.

"So... why are you two quiet today?" began Aria, keeping her tone as casual as she could manage," something bothering you?"

"Umm....naa...," began Harry but Daisy gave him a stern look.

"You're really going to make me do it?" asked Harry. Aria bit back a comment as Daisy gave him one of the largest smiles that Aria had seen on the girl. Predictably, he crumpled like a punctured air lock.

"Fine...so the...the door," began Harry.

"And what about it?" prompted Aria.

Like a villain in one of Earth's ancient horror movies, the two aliens were approaching slowly. They were within hearing distance and a small high pitched clicking sound which was their native tongue and the scraping of their clawed feet could be heard. Daisy winced at the scraping sound, imagining the damage they must have been doing to concrete, damage that the people in the area would have to fix. The aliens grew closer and closer until, the beam of light finally passed them, the flashlight producing the light coming into view.

Attached to the flashlight was a purple hand. The hand was mostly smooth with a thin layer of lighter colored scales on top of it that acted as a protective layer. The hand was attached to an arm that was attached to a large humanoid body. The thing was around ten feet tall, towering over even Aria by a good four feet. Its body was also a vibrant purple color, with glowing veins of brighter purple flowing all around its body. It had four arms, each one similarly sized. On was holding the flashlight and another was holding a sidearm as it swept the area. The other two arms were locked in a fighting stance, all eight fingers curled into fists. Its feet, armed with massive claws and having tough scales protecting it from the claw to the thigh area stood low, in a crouch as if the alien was expecting a fight.

Daisy's eyes wandered to its head towering above them. It had somehow not turned to look towards the side and so far the trio was safe from being discovered. The alien's four eyes appeared to be all focused directly in front of it, taking in something off in the distance. Its dome shaped head looked like a purple mushroom from the side, the aliens shocking white hair being the only thing that made it look different to a mushroom. The two Carpathians came to a halt, smack in the middle of the hallway, just a few feet away from them. Both of them lowered themselves into a crouch, as if they were getting ready to pounce on something.

Fear was slowly starting to creep up on Daisy. Whatever nonsense they are about to do, I really don't want to hang around and find out. That's when Harry, in a complete Harry move, tiptoed out of the hiding place and came up behind the two aliens. He wildly gestured for the other two to join. Did he just...oh dang well can't let him run off alone. Daisy and Aria tiptoed out after him.

Harry gestured in the direction that the aliens had come from before taking off at as fast as he could without making sound. Aria and Daisy both vigorously shook their heads in the negative in reply to his gesture but took off after him anyway knowing that he hadn’t seen their negative answers. Daisy almost wanted to throw something at him. Is this boy insane?

As they ran, Daisy risked a glance backwards to see the aliens turn, two sets of beady eyes focusing on the nook that they had just vacated, the bright flashlights lighting up the dark corner for all the world to see. Oh. My. God. We're so lucky that we took off when we did. Breathing a quiet sigh of relief, she kept on running.

She summoned up all the speed she could muster as she charged after the siblings, knowing they all had to turn the corner before the aliens got a chance to see. It took all of her remaining strength to speed up enough to catch up to Aria and Harry, both of whom were going much faster. The two of them slowed down as they realized Daisy wasn’t keeping level with them and the three of them ran in unison down the long straight corridor. For the first time that night, Daisy regretted wishing for a corridor without a bend.

The trio continued to run, the long hallway seeming endless as they lost themselves in the ever increasing darkness, hoping against hope that the aliens would not decide to look behind them or turn back around. It was a long exhausting couple of minutes, their adrenaline the only reason they were able to continue running even though they were already exhausted from a day of work. But soon enough they found themselves at a fork in the passageway to turn into and all three of them collapsed against the wall of the hallway, breathing hard and trying to get some feeling back into their legs.

Daisy was feeling particularly exhausted as she sat down on the floor by the floor and lay against it, trying to catch her breath. Wow I have not run outright like that for several years. That was somehow just as fun as it was terrifying. Daisy looked around to see how the other two were faring. Aria also looked completely spent much like herself. Harry, as always, was the outlier to that.
Harry was somehow standing up straight, a smile on his face, and just leaning against the wall for support, not looking nearly as out of breath as she or Aria did. As she watched, he flattened himself against the wall and slowly peered around the corner, probably checking to see where the aliens were.

Daisy took a few deep breaths to try and stop herself from hyperventilating. It would not do to be caught by breathing too loudly of all things. Aria was doing the same as she wandered over to her and plopped herself next to Daisy and gave her a weak smile which she returned.

"Th... that was cl... close," managed Aria, through large gulps of breath.

Daisy took a moment to finish catching her breath before she quickly replied," Yup."

"And luckily we actually ended up exactly where we needed to," added Aria, after a pause to catch her breath properly.

"Wait really?" whispered Daisy, now remembering that they should be keeping their voices low.

"Yes...we were supposed to actually come all this way," explained Aria.

"Wow...we were actually going to walk all the way here and then for another two places?" asked Daisy.

"No this is actually very close to the last place, the other two are in the corridor that we just ran through," said Aria.

"Ohh that's much better," said Daisy," but how are we going to manage then, “Will we be able to get to them? Those aliens might come back this way, come to think of it, how are we even going to be able to get back with this situation?"

"Well I can't exactly think of a way other than this, mom's map doesn't really have anything beyond like a single hallway after this. We'll have to just get in there and hope for the best. Technically they might actually not do anything. I mean it’s not like they were trying to catch us and we ran off."

"Valid point," said Aria, "mom did say that this was all within the rules to be walking around out here."

"Uh huh," said Daisy," let's get moving now I guess. No point taking any longer than we absolutely have to."

"Correct. Let's get going then," said Aria, hauling herself to her feet and offering a hand to Daisy. Daisy took her hand with a smile and the two of them tiptoed over to where Harry was still peering around the corner.

"Either of our pals look like they're coming back this way?" asked Daisy, tapping Harry on the shoulder.

"Not as far as I can see," said Harry.

"Okay you two keep watch, I'll go finish the informing part over here. It's just a few feet away," said Aria.

"Okay sis," said Harry, nodding," we'll let you know if something is coming this way."

Aria gave a nod and stole off towards the right of the passageway, running across the exposed part as fast as she could. Daisy turned around to watch their backs. There was no telling if the aliens might decide to come from that side. Never hurts to be overly cautious.

The next fifteen minutes passed quickly and surprisingly without a hitch. It looked like the aliens had been headed for somewhere far off because soon they were along the corridor once again and diving back into the maze of hallways they'd come through, messages delivered and without running into any more of the aliens.

Sidney groaned quietly as she reached back into the packet of chips to find nothing left. This was of course an unforgivable tragedy and a great travesty by all accounts. Who had seen fit to empty her bag of chips? She let out a quite huff. Now she had to get up and deal with it again. And they were just getting to the good parts too. Urghh. She really wished they'd find something out one of these days to just make these things happen.

Even when she had her maids to help throw the bag away, she still had to physically move and interrupt her reading to wash her hand of all the crumbs. That was if she was super lazy otherwise she naturally had to get up and go for the old bathroom to get a nice proper washup. Using some soap. Maybe some hand sanitizer. Okay Juniper had said she needed to go a little bit easy on that stuff. Especially the hand sanitizer. So maybe not that one anymore. But soap was important. How else was one really meant to get the oily feeling of chips out of your hand.

She could prove scientifically that one couldn't just go about doing that if you wanted to get your hands clean. She'd read several books about that. On purpose of course and because she wanted to. It wasn't a shameful bit of binge reading like she was doing right now. In fact. In fact. Two of her teachers. And her mother. Had told her not to read it. Because of course the art of soap and oily hands did not exactly sound like the most intellectual book one could be reading. Sidney definitely understood that. She wasn't kidding herself into thinking that. But it was useful information to randomly know. After all knowledge was knowledge.

She shrugged to herself as she finally convinced herself to get up and deal with it. She threw the bag of chips into the garbage. It was a little hard to get used to throwing away garbage all by herself and Darvi had somehow refused to help her. It was a non essential skill in some households okay. People didn't always take out the trash. She was getting a little better now. She was quite positive about that. She certainly wasn't as bad as she had one been when it came to throwing away garbage. She'd been downright horrifying at it previously.

Finishing that difficult task up, Sidney wandered into the bathroom next. Sitting by the sink was the one sad bar of soap that they had to use. It wasn't too bad. Besides with Juniper's warning still fresh in her mind, she was making sure to follow all of those orders. Those orders had definitely suggested that going easy on the soap was the best thing to be doing.

So she made it quick, having cut her ritual down a bit. She'd have to go back in for another checkup with Juniper sometime to see if she'd been following these instructions correctly. She was quite positive that she had been. Mostly positive anyway but it was hard to say. Juniper was the expert. She most definitely was not.

She grumbled again and found her way back to the nest. It was time for yet another rearrange now. She really hoped she wouldn't have to do one more of these but lunch time was coming just around the corner and she really wasn't super confident about her ability to survive too much longer without food. Gray had definitely promised to leave some food but should she really go and dive into that so eagerly on the very first meal since Gray poofed. Gray had probably left some fresh food for this one though. Maybe she should go.

Deciding that was the kind of think she could leave up to a little bit later. Her hands were clean. Brain was ready to go. It was time to get back into the reading groove and not worry too much about this. She quickly wrapped up her washing, cleaning it all gently away with the towel. She'd luckily brought her own towel so didn't have to use any overly rough abominations like she'd seen Darvi running about with.

Shuddering at the very thought once again, she made her way quietly back to her spot, getting everything straightened out and read again for one last reading session. Then she absolutely totally definitely would look into the food situation.

The next morning was a strange one for Aria. It was a day where she was going to be participating in a meeting that would be all about ways of escaping a place that she had long declared inescapable and somehow she found herself bound up in the enthusiasm for it. And I actually helped set it up in the first place. What is happening to me? Jeez that spaceship is changing so many things about this place. But then it's just the slimmest of hopes. It will probably not work out. That killed off her enthusiasm somewhat but taking a page out of her brother’s book she decided powering through it would be the best option.

She checked the time. There was still half an hour until Wake Up. A bit earlier than her usual time. She quickly went about her morning routine in her usual efficient manner. Once all she was ready, she took a moment to reflect on the magnitude of what was about to happen that night. It was the kind of thing that everyone had dreamed about happening and it was happening for real. Harry is going to be unbearable today and it’s not like Daisy is ever going to side with me. Smiling to herself about at least Harry getting some enjoyment out of the meeting, she made her way to her brother's room to make sure that he was ready, fully expecting him to already be awake on a day of such significance.

Just as she had predicted, Aria walked into Harry's room to find him already awake and somehow also ready for the day. That wasn’t the only unusual thing however, as he also appeared to be deep in thought as he sat on the bed, staring off into space. Aria made her way over to him and sat down next to him.

"Penny for your thoughts?" she asked, keeping her voice low so that she didn't accidentally startle him.

"Oh morning sis...just thinking about stuff you know," he said, giving her a smile.

"The meeting tonight?" she asked," raising her eyebrows. He nodded.

"It'll go fine," she said, putting a reassuring arm on his shoulder," we're going to do what you've always dreamed of."

"Do you really believe that?" he asked.

"Of course," she replied," look I'll be honest, I don't think I'll ever believe that we can get away until the day that we actually find ourselves outside this hellhole but with all the effort that mom put and heck the messages that we ourselves delivered this meeting is going to be a success. That much I can believe."

"Well at least I'm glad that you're not an impostor," said Harry," Ariana Kane saying that she believes in us being able to escape would be the stuff of legend."

Aria smiled apologetically. At least he doesn't scream and throw things anymore. That was a significant improvement.

"Shall we get going then?" she asked. Harry nodded, getting up from the bed. The two siblings headed out to the hall.

It was a day unlike most. The people in the hall all seemed happier somehow, it wasn’t the amount of smiles on display, rather it was the extra energy with which people seemed to be moving around that day.

Feeding off the energy of the room, Aria managed to quickly locate Daisy, who was early once again. All the excitement, if nothing else is making sure these two are both ready to leave early. That's a plus at least. Aria returned Daisy's beaming smile and the three of them met up next to the door.

The trio didn't exchange anything more than the usual pleasantries before they set off for the wreck as if it were just any other day but it was a much happier Aria and Co. that made their way to the wreck.

That day they had continued their work on the inside of the ship with most of the day being spent on moving the seats out of the ship and now they were in their fifteen-minute relaxation time. It was a time that Aria had actually come to appreciate although she would never admit that out loud.

That day, Aria used the time to allow her mind to relax and focus so that it could be ready for what would come its way in the next few hours. She knew that they were going to be running into some crazy ideas that night as they got to be present at a super-secret meeting for the second time that month. The biggest concern was that the location had changed, and Aria was given the responsibility of escorting not just Harry but both of them there, now that Daisy had also been invited this time.

Earlier than she would have liked, their fifteen minutes came to an end and it was time to head back in. She paused before the sliding glass doors, and took a deep breath to savor the night air one last time before stepping through. There was no going back now. Their next destination was going to be the meeting.

She plunged into the dark hallways first as she always did, Daisy, the poor girl still didn't seem comfortable with the dark, clinging on to her and Harry walking next to Daisy, pointing out the occasional obstacle that they had to avoid. The trio made it back to the hub where they paused to double check for signs of movement.

Mrs. Kane had told them to be on the lookout for anyone assigned to follow them as the promise of a secret meeting especially after a location change could bring in unwanted guests. Seeing nothing, they continued on to the hall.

That day they managed to get back in almost the same time they did when the lights were on. Once at the hall they waited for their designated time to be heading for the meeting room. They had to leave a precise time in order to make it to the meeting area on time, with several other groups of kids also visiting that same place at various pre planned times through the day. Two such groups accidentally meeting each other had to be avoided so that no one would get suspicious.

Their time was in exactly fifteen minutes, which meant that the previous group had probably already made their way out of the meeting area and were heading back to their quarters. The fifteen minutes passed mostly in silence. Harry and Daisy both seemed lost in their thoughts and Aria simply watched them silently, not wanting to intrude.

Aria kept the instructions that Mrs. Kane had so carefully given firmly in her mind as they set out making their way slowly down unfamiliar hallways, leading the other two through more areas of complete darkness, a clear indicator that these were hallways that weren’t supposed to be travelled at this time of the night.

It was a fairly long walk. Aria estimated that it took them at least ten minutes to stumble their way across the hallway until they finally ran into the nook that Mrs. Kane had told her to watch out for.

The three of them paused at the door. Aria studied the handle. This is going to be either the bravest thing that we've ever done or the dumbest thing that we've ever done. Oh well here goes nothing. Aria took a moment to look at the other two, both of whom gave her the slightest of nods. She put her hand on the handle and gently pulled down on it. The door swung open smoothly on well-oiled hinges.

Inside was another dark hallway. A strong current of cool air was coming from somewhere inside. Aria mentally slapped herself. Of course the meeting is in an inner chamber. They are not going to just use a regular old room. Stupid. Stupid. The three of them stepped inside, Daisy getting a slight shiver as the coldness of the room hit them.

Harry silently closed the door behind them

"So shall we then?" asked Aria.

"I think we've spent enough time thinking about what it's going to be. About time that we actually got to it," said Harry, with a smile.
"We definitely need to get out of this dark hallway," said Daisy," I've had enough of those for a day."

"Alright, hopefully we don't have too much further to go," said Aria and the trio set off, walking faster now that they knew the meeting room had to be close.

They turned a corner and saw a welcome sight. The rest of the passage was lit by several makeshift lights, probably hand crafted from spare bits of junk. It made the passageway seem a lot more welcoming and most importantly Aria could see Daisy visibly ease up as she stepped into the light. That’s one potential problem taken care of.

They continued through three more turns, heading deep into the center of camp and, if the slight slope was any indication, deep into the heart of the Earth as well. It was very reminiscent of the routes that led to the older storage spaces in the camp which Aria suspected was what this place must have been before it had been repurposed for the meeting.

Soon they arrived at a pair of double doors.

Aria decided to just go for it this time and pushed open the doors. They swung open, surprisingly not making a sound for doors that had to have been at least a decade old. They must have dumped a gallon of oil into the machinery to make that happen.

As the trio entered, they could see a giant room, filled to the brim with rows of chairs that were all surrounding a small stage in the center where Mrs. Kane and the other three were waiting. And to their surprise there were at least a good fifty people scattered about the room.

Harry closed the door behind them. There was a sudden whir of machinery in the background and she could hear several clicks. The four on stage turned to face the new arrivals. Aria tried her best to put on what she hoped was a confident smile.

No one said a word. Harry stepped forward and gave them a little wave. Aria had to stop herself from laughing out loud.

"Take a seat you three," said Mrs. Kane," glad you could make it. Now that we have everyone we can definitely move towards finalizing the number that will be picked for this umm excursion I think we have decided we'll be calling it."

There was a general murmur of assent at the statement. Aria led the three of them to a vacant area and fished around for any empty seats. She managed to locate a few towards the corner of the room and the three of them sat down. Aria tried to catch her mother’s eye. She had somehow completely forgotten to mention the fact that there would be so many people present at the meeting. Her mother finally looked in that direction and Aria raised her eyebrows.

Mrs. Kane simply smiled and winked at her before continuing with an introductory speech of sorts. Aria didn’t bother to listen and instead took a moment to look around. The place. By the cracked concrete walls Aria could confirm beyond a doubt that it was definitely a repurposed storage room, probably one of the oldest ones judging by the fact that even the locks were being controlled by them on command. There was no way they could have rigged up even a decade old storage room to work that conveniently.

There were several very strategically placed lights that were helping light the place, and although they were scarce they managed to bathe the area in a generous amount of light that was working just about enough for the place to be cozy instead of eerie. Only the corners were too dark to make properly out. They'd also managed to rig a light directly above the stage making a sort of spotlight.

Aria turned back towards the stage as Mrs. Kane started talking about the reason they were here. “We’re here to choose the people that will be embarking on perhaps the most dangerous thing that you’ll ever do in your life but since you’re all here, I’m sure it's also the thing you’ve most wanted to do for a long time.”

There was a general murmur around the hall and Mrs. Kane waited for it to pass.

"So the four of us discussed this at length and came up with three numbers for the teams. Now the three numbers will require three separate types of plans but they are all going to be equally as effective so we thought we’d leave up to you guys to decide. Now the numbers are 22,17 and 5. So please raise your hand and tell us which number you would prefer. One at a time.”

The voting began. It took a good forty-five minutes for each number to be called out and the votes to be counted manually by Jake and Eve, with them having to clarify a couple of things here and there.

It slowly came down to the ones at the very back; the three of them. Aria had been thinking hard on which number to pick. 5 was the number that immediately stuck out to Aria. 17 appeared to be a very risky proposition especially considering that an escape might have to take place before the wreckage of the ship had been completely cleared away and 22 was just ridiculous. The time it would take to fit that many people through would be a nightmare.

She raised her hand to indicate that she was ready to give her vote. She could see Harry and Daisy exchange a look before both of them did the same.