

The Life, Death and Life of Amelia Hollow

By E.J. Bowman

Published by E.J. Bowman at Smashwords

Copyright 2013 E.J. Bowman

Cover art by E.J. Bowman with text from 1001 Free Fonts

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1: The Year was 2808 AD...

...And Earth had probably changed a little since your time. The USA was fresh out of a civil war and a war with China. And there'd already been a gay president who went dressed as a unicorn to every press conference during Gay Pride Week. Not a great president, but one hell of a guy.

Around about twenty-eight years before in 2780, a Swedish man called Sven Hollow went on a one-man deep space mission to the outer rim of the solar system. He lost his way home when his coordinates got all screwed up. With food and oxygen supplies running low, Sven was on the verge of death. His saviour was strange spaceship that picked him up making Sven the first human to have contact with extra-terrestrials. Then Earth realized how out of the loop it had been seeing as all aliens outside of our dear solar system had already met and had created one huge union.

Sven was the first ambassador of Earth. He had to fight hard to convince the aliens that Earth would be a great contribution to their union. At first they didn't like us very much but they warmed up and finally came to a decision after a 5,450,054 to 5,450,053 vote that Earth could join the USM (United Systems of Mel) as a second-class planet. Sven had gotten the final vote by sleeping with the equivalent of an alien Jessica Rabbit with flaming red hair and green skin. He accidently got her pregnant and their son Cameron (the name 'Cameron' was common on both planets) became an ensign on board one of USM's mightiest ships called the Titonic... I'd also like to mention the fact that he is my half-brother.

Although my father was an ambassador and still had a presence in the USM, Cameron's mother kept Sven away from his son because she didn't want her son to act human in an alliance that saw humans as a 'second-class' species. This wracked my father to the core, but her species was first-class unlike humans so Sven had no say in the matter. She only let the pair talk via hologram and despite her attempt to keep them distant; Cameron rebelled and called his father as much as he could when she wasn't around and especially when he left home to join the Titonic.

Sven had left Earth at the age of twenty-seven and officially retired when he was thirty-two. He let some Russian woman take over for him because they had both been in the same space program.

At thirty-seven he was still single, but desperately wanted another child. He had a 'test tube' baby genetically engineered and I was 'born'. Having children bioengineered was very popular in this time – especially if you were rich.

My father didn't do much after he retired and had me despite deciding that he wanted to be bi-sexual. After lots of experimenting he married a Jamaican ex-drug addict cross-dresser. They didn't seem to have a lot to talk about, but they did enjoy each other's company. Sven recently celebrated his fifty-fifth birthday while his husband celebrated his thirty-seventh a few months after. What can I say? My father has a thing for younger men... and women.

Because the first encounter with aliens was still very recent, people were still uncomfortable with the idea. Conservatives said they didn't exist and wrote them off as boys in costumes. There wasn't anything you could say to change their mind, but I didn't really care about what they thought seeing as our liberal dictator just moved the last of them to Florida.

Oh yes, the USA was totally fucked when it came to politics. Ever since the 2340 elections when an android was brought into office things had been bad between the liberals and conservatives... really bad. All sane people had just stopped voting so really the fate of America was in the hands of the crazies. There wasn't Republican and Democratic Party anymore. They mutated into just being called the Right Wing and the Left Wing party to avoid confusion. There was no point in trying to understand either party... They both seemed awful to moi.

The last Right Wing president managed to undo almost a thousand years of democracy. There were executions in the streets for illegal immigrants, homosexuals and women who had had abortions in the past years. The most horrible thing he did was buy thirteen Chinese slaves for himself which may have just helped spark the war between the USA and China. Really, it was America's fault for voting in a president who had just escaped a mental asylum. The man was still wearing his tinfoil hat!

Shortly after the hundredth execution, a guy called Clive Darwin lost it. He got an army together and stormed the White House. My dad was luckily off-planet at this time or he may have not chosen to raise me in the States.

Clive Darwin took over the USA and started the craziest revolution in the history of forever. He basically just started a civil war in the heart of the States that killed a lot of Right Wingers before he sent the rest to live in Florida. Not in concentration camps, more like retirement villages but in Florida which most people agreed was just downright mean.

Lots of Left Wing voters weren't sure how to feel about this. Montana started a massive rebellion against Clive and caused the second part of the civil war. You know what happened to Montana? It was renamed New Utah. Why was it called New Utah? Because Clive liked Utah, that's why.

But years ago when I was eight, Clive died in hospital with head injuries due to mysterious circumstances. A woman called Leona Adams was suspected of murdering him (they had slept together the night before) but there was no proof... and she vanished. And so Clive's son took over. He's was little less crazy and that's why my father decided it was okay to continue raising me in the States. Clive's son Harry Darwin was young, but he was harmless. He was just a computer nerd so technology advancements skyrocketed once he took over. People still aren't sure how they feel about him being the leader of the USA at his age but, the value of the American dollar went up so nobody complained.

If you didn't guess from the cover, my name is Amelia Hollow. Before we go further I must warn you this book will portray me to have a big ego, but when you're as awesome as I am then why wouldn't you have a huge ego?

I grew up in the countryside of Wyoming where my daddy had a big mansion. His family had always been wealthy, but being the Earth's ambassador made Sven filthy rich. – Apparently you make big money for discovering aliens.

You'd think I'd have a sort of Swedish or Jamaican accent due to who I was raised by, but surprisingly I have a very American drawl. The only time I sound 'Swedish' is when I'm imitating the Swedish Chef from the Muppets.

I got 100% on my SUNE (Standard United Nation's Exam) plus extra credit on the extension papers making moi one of the highest scoring high-school students in the whole of the USA. Some would say I was cheating seeing as I had been bioengineered to be better, but they were just jealous. That's why I couldn't be on the women's basketball team. The coach thought the men's team would be more of a challenge. Not really much of a step up, though; none of the boys on the team were over six feet which is why they sucked so badly.

Being my father's clone, I enjoy retro science fiction as much as Sven. When I was little we watched rinky dink shows from hundreds of years ago like the Star Trek series, Star Wars, Crysis, Hidden Target and the Intelligence Factory... If you haven't heard of some of those then you are either stupid or they are after your time. I don't understand my father's obsession with old sci-fi television shows, but apparently all the new shows are just rip-offs of them so he prefers the originals.

Okay, so if you found this book coverless on the side of the street or you're reading creepily over your friend's shoulder and don't know what this book's about: this is basically the story of my life, death and life. Confused? Good. I'm just going to start at the very beginning... when I was a zygote. Nah, I'll start somewhere a little more interesting.
2: The Good, the Bad and the Really Bad

Tamarax Station. Possibly the worst place in the universe. The demon herself; Lady Tamarax Deloro ran the place. She's wasn't really a 'lady' anymore. She was just a monster.

She was good until she looked right at a tear in the space time continuum. Since then she was never the same. Apparently she saw a future where Mel (founder and leader of the USM) killed her so she lost it and would stop at nothing to kill the woman.

The station was based on a humungous rocky planet labelled uninhabitable, but she chose to ignore that obvious fact. At least three people in her station died a week due to the horrid conditions while three more died by her own hand. Nobody dared to ask for better living conditions because otherwise she could introduce them all to her little friend who had the real power.

Lady Tamarax used to be a beautiful woman (well, in an alien way) but her skin had become grey and rotten. She was skinnier than a skeleton with sags of old muscle under her arms and around her stomach when she wasn't wearing a corset. Her long black hair looked like millions of untamed vines. Light could not escape her cold, black eyes and her nails had grown into eight seven inch black blades (she only had three fingers on each hand). Heck, she hadn't used a knife to cut up her meal in years!

Looking into the space time continuum had really changed her. Anybody who looked into the tear saw the true meaning of time and it frustrated them because it was impossible to explain what you saw no matter what language you spoke. Tamarax tried to explain how time overlapped and could change but everything that changed was supposed to be changed and nothing was spontaneous with time. Everything that should happen would happen whether people wanted it to or not. Just travelling back through time could make the event you tried to prevent happen which is why the monks of Destin-Hey (often just called 'Hey-monks' as their language never had more than one syllable for each word) wrote the rules of time and made the universal bestseller list with their novel. They knew the rules because their race began just as time did. Although they didn't know what came before the universe, they knew what was to come. They had physic powers and were the only race in Milky Way history to reach telepath level twelve which was higher than the highest level... Seeing as they graded the telepaths of course they were the most powerful.

Tamarax had forgotten about the laws the Destin-Hey monks had created because she intended to break them. She didn't consider the fact that by trying to break the laws she wasn't breaking them at all and was following the set path, yet she was sure she had found the friend who was going to change all that. She had captured a 4th dimensional creature that called itself Tak because its actual name would take a millennium to say. Nobody was actually sure what the creature looked like, but judging by its shrieks it was terrifying. Tak was the only known creature that existed out of time and space. It had the power to manipulate the space time continuum if it got the right 'push'. To get this 'push' it had been hidden in an comet/ship that had a set course for a particular star that would not only give it the right amount of energy, but also the time 'push'. This particular star had a lot of enigmatic time energy surrounding it. It had a connection to Mel who was the only being older than the universe itself. Tamarax had done the math and concluded that crashing the comet into that star would create not only tear a hole in the space time continuum, but also let her use Tak as the remote to control the universe and rearrange it. – Don't worry; this'll all make a whole lot more sense later, but for now just smile and nod, time travel isn't simple okay?

Tamarax's bubble of thought popped when two soldiers the size of rhinos burst through the sky scraping doors. One had a strange blue blood surrounding his knuckles and Tamarax found it easy to conclude that the guy he had hit was not in great shape. – Good.

"Scouts were patrolling this area." He grumbled.

"Excellent." She said slyly. "Did you dispose of the ship?"

"We took what we needed from it and then blew the heck out of it."

"How many were on-board?"

"Just two."

"Damn." She said with the snapping of her sharp nails in disappointment. It was a horrible sound that sounded as if millions of tiny bones were breaking under her touch.

"Well, we can spare some of our own men, Tak's got to eat."

"Yes my lady. I'll run through the library and search for the weakest." The other soldier said before bowing once and leaving her office in haste. – He didn't want her to consider him for the menu.

"You." She said pointing at the one with the bloody knuckles. "Show me where they are."

All the walls in Tamarax Station were lined with one giant equation that the lady herself had written up when she was bored one day. She had never explained it, but it was something to do with the ultimate bomb. She would have created the thing but some of the elements needed had not been discovered and she had just made them up on the spot. – Crazy right? No, she had seen into time itself so she knew those elements would be found. Tamarax found it annoying having to wait around for everybody to discover things that she already knew about, but she couldn't be stuffed to put her money into scientific research when she planned on recreating the universe anyways.

The prisons were just as pleasant as her mind set. Anybody captured was probably not going to live through the day anyways, but their final day was a day in hell. They were like old medieval prisons except filled with the advanced versions of a stretching board that shocks you while you get torn from limb to limb. Tamarax let strange little rodent creatures scurry around in the prison block, most were diseased demons hungry for blood. If the guards didn't wear the proper boots then the creatures would get their legs. In fact, the only thing that separated it from a medieval dungeon was that instead of looking out the window onto a kingdom, you looked out at dead space: The place where a star could not be seen for at least three light years in every direction.

Tamarax Station sat at the very tip of one of the Milky Way's long arms. It seems to be too far from any place like Earth to really be a threat, yet aliens like Tamarax had far older civilizations that have been advancing their technology for much longer.

Unlike on Earth which was the one of the most primitive contributions to the USM, all spaceships authorized by Mel had to be able to travel at two light years per hour with a dega-drive of at least 230,405 light years per hour. This was just the minimum a spaceship can travel at, but some of the larger ships like the Titonic –the one Cameron was on– could travel to some of the greatest speeds in the universe... Seriously, speed of light was nothing.

Two USM Navy scouts sat weakly on their knees in one of the cells. A Tamarax soldier on each side of them making sure they couldn't escape even if they had the will. The co-pilot usually looked similar to an overgrown butterfly. Sadly, it hard to tell now because her wings and antennas had been ripped off.

The pilot wasn't looking so good himself, his orange skin had gone purple in places and blue blood was dripping off his fangs from where he had been hit. Their grey and black uniforms were tattered and soaked in blood.

"You two are looking lovely." Tamarax joked.

She held the pilot's chin in her fingers and made him look up at her. It was at that point that she realized his eyes had been gouged out and she let his head drop. He was barely conscious like his co-pilot, but it did not matter. She didn't need information from them anyways.

"Mrl... ke...you...r...a..." He mumbled. It took a heck of a lot of strength just to get his vocal chords to work let alone make words.

"I'm sorry I didn't quite catch that. Could you repeat it darling?" Tamarax asked patronizingly as she knelt down beside him and put her pointy ear close to his bleeding lips.

"M-Mel's going t-to kick you're a-ass." He whispered with an evil smile that made more blood run down his chin.

Tamarax usually didn't let little things get to her, but just seeing the amount of faith the USM soldiers had in such a horrible creature like Mel made her mad. She stood up and drew her metal-rimmed boot back before kicking the pilot right in his alien rib-cage. She heard a cracking noise as her boot made contact with his ribs. The pilot went backwards and stopped moving.

She snapped at the guards and they both picked up the prisoners and followed her out the door. The co-pilot was more active now that her best friend was down. She couldn't escape the giant man's hold and she was in too much pain to put much effort in.

The station stretched out for miles in each direction which is why conveyer belts were placed conveniently in most areas. Tamarax hopped on one and grabbed the bar followed by the guards carrying the two USM scouts. They didn't need to grab the bar because they were so heavy and probably weren't going to blow away like scrawny Tamarax would. She actually had to dig her boots into the ground just to keep her balance. Her greasy hair blew wildly in every direction like each individual lock was a snake in Medusa's hair. The skin on her cheeks began to ripple as the wind hit it. She tried to turn head, but hair just attacked her eyes and she gave up.

She leapt off the conveyer and strode down the long corridor followed by the two giant beasts and the fresh meat. The metal doors started to slide open as the cameras detected her coming. The doors revealed the private hangar the size of a warehouse. Right in the centre was a large hole covered only by the thin electric shield. Below it was the giant 'comet' that was just getting ready to take off on its massive adventure to the star Mel grew up around. The engineers who were just doing the finishing touches on the engine outside in space hated to touch the thing because they knew what monster was inside.

Tamarax made the guard drop the pilot before she dragged his limp body right to the edge of the hole. She didn't know why but she wanted make him fear her in those final moments otherwise she would be left unsatisfied.

In the bay there was hatch leading into the 'comet' that stuck through the electric shield so that Tamarax could easily feed Tak without having to go outside of the station. She punched a button on her wrist and the hatch doors slid apart. A strange shrieking sound could be heard from deep within the comet. Its cries were angry and disarming.

The co-pilot began shifting in the guard's arms. A small bridge came out that sat just above the electric shield and went straight to the asteroid entrance. She dragged the pilot to the very edge of it and stayed quiet as the terrifying creature screamed at them from below.

"Hear that darling? Because that will be the last sound you'll ever hear." She hissed in his ear before looking at the blood oozing from where his eyes used to be. How she wished she could make him look her in the eyes. – It was a shame he would miss out on seeing the satisfaction in her face.

"What the hell is that?" The co-pilot screeched as the shrieking seemed to just keep getting louder.

"Calm down Sefras!" The pilot called back, but she just kept struggling.

"You can do whatever the heck you want to me but my co-pilot deserves better than this. Send her back into space, I promise she doesn't know the location of this base." The pilot pleaded quietly.

I failed her, I failed her family, I failed the USM Navy and I failed Mel.

"Oh well aren't you the honourable captain?" Tamarax said haughtily. "Sadly, now that she's heard that noise she's gotta go too. Any other requests?"

"Let me go."

"Wha–"

She then realized he didn't mean 'let me go' as in wanting to be free. He pushed himself out of her weak grip and dove head-first into the asteroid entrance. His last act to annoy her, she always loved to force people in and he just went on his own terms. – What a badass.

Tamarax bit her lip so hard that blood started to run down her chin before she stamped on the bridge like an angry little girl. She wished that she had kept the pilot around a little longer so she could really break him, but he wasn't going to allow that. Despite everything he just died a free man and there was nothing she could do about that.

His co-pilot shrieked sorrowfully. Tamarax stopped her as she dug her nails right into her throat. She knew the genetic makeup of Sefras's species and that it wouldn't kill her although she would have some trouble breathing. Oh well, it wouldn't matter much longer anyways.

"Well your dear captain may have been a bit of a blind rebel, but no such luck for you sweetie." She growled as she dragged the dying creature onto the bridge.

Tamarax made the scout stand up properly so she could push her in when the co-pilot suddenly turned to her and spat her protective acid mucus onto her face. Tamarax covered her face with one hand before kicking the creature into the spaceship below. – She and her captain could rot in hell.

"Ugh, the USM Navy is just full of those kind of people isn't?" She joked as she stepped off the bridge.

One of the guards passed her a small cloth to try and tame the acid on her face. Tamarax pushed right past him and headed for the door. She had sustained so many injuries in her life that her body had grown numb to such melee pain. She already had plenty of scars on her ruined body; one more wasn't going to be a big deal. The witch-like woman grabbed the collar of an engineer walking by and made him look her right in the eyes. He tried not to stare at the acid steaming off of her skin and did not break the eye contact.

"I want the damned ship done soon or you're next on the menu. Got it?"

"Yes ma'am." He said placidly as if her words weren't threatening. – Big mistake.

"Okay... He's next on the menu." She said bluntly and passed him to one of the guards who would take care of him.

The other guard followed her back into the hallway and onto the rickety conveyer belt. She looked more furious than ever as she licked the blood off her chin with her elastic tongue before accidently burning it on the acid.

"Don't worry bucko," she said to the guard, "once I'm through with this universe you get the decade off. I've just got to kill Mel in more ways than one and then I could give you your own planet. Think your men can work a little harder this next month until all of that gets done?"

"Of course ma'am. Our duty is to serve–"

"Save it."

Tamarax looked around at her station as they flew through it. Everything was coming together. She had an army, she had the ultimate weapon and she had her looks (ha ha). Most importantly; she couldn't wait to watch the universe burn before she recreated it in her own way... She figured she'd call it Tamaraxia or something stupid like that.
3: The Acceptance Message

The mansion was about the size of a small castle if you want a comparison. Its garden looked like one you could see Greek Gods prancing gleefully about in. There wasn't another home for miles and my family liked it that way. We could have huge parties and wouldn't have to worry about noise control because we had no neighbours.

Sure, the Hollow's just sounded like rich douche bags, but we changed the world so we could do whatever the hell we wanted in our own house. Plus my father and Geraldine had worked hard to get their money. Sven –as you know– discovered the USM and became the ambassador while Geraldine (his real name was Gordon but when he discovered that he preferred cross-dressing, he changed his name so other men wouldn't know) used to work the streets in Kingston for various reasons. He took a lot of crap so meeting Sven was his big break.

My room was a fair size, but seeing as it was filled with all my crap it didn't feel that large. Even though we had a small gym I still liked to have a treadmill in my room in case I woke up in the middle of the night and felt like going for a run – which happened very often.

Because everything was electronic I didn't have a whole bunch of posters all around my room, I just had one giant screen above my bed which changed posters every five minutes. I had computer that was quicker than the speed of sound, a television with over a million channels, a tablet packed with thousands of books and yet I was still bored.

Instead of any of these options I just sat on my bed and stared out the window. It was cloudy which meant there could be thunder and lightning later but probably not any rain. It was summer so the weather usually sat between either blazing hot or lightning storms. I didn't mind it and neither did Geraldine. My father on the other hand still hated the heat even though he had lived in the USA a long enough time that you would think he'd be used to it.

I eventually decided that my window that looked out onto the vast valley was the most boring thing in the world so I slipped on my sneakers and flew downstairs. I did not have to worry about my father or Geraldine because I was pretty sure they were both in the indoor pool together and probably didn't want me to disturb them anyways. They would not mind if I was gone half an hour or so.

Starting out with a jog I picked up the pace when I reached the end of our gravel path and started sprinting down the road. There was no need to be worried about cars coming down the road because it was pretty quiet out in the countryside. Any of the people who would even live within five miles of my house would've preferred to take helicopters or shuttles to town instead of an old fashioned car.

When running with music booming into your ears you just seem to lose track of time. I started heading back when I realized that I was coming up on another house. Lightning struck off in the distance followed by rolling thunder. My weather predictions for today had been wrong. Big fat droplets fell from the grey clouds. Luckily it was summer in Wyoming so the rain was actually refreshing. My white singlet was completely soaked and my chest could be seen easily. That was the other great thing about living out in the middle of nowhere. I could've gone for a run in the nude and nobody would've noticed. Well, save Richard Dickson who tended to be a runner like moi. Luckily, he only ran at night because he wanted to avoid me at all costs. Apparently he did not like me screaming out 'Dick Dickson' every time I passed him. Great guy. Darn shame he resented me.

My sneakers squeaked as I walked back up the mahogany staircase. The charming sound echoed all down the mansion. The sound would inform my father that I was home even though he probably had not been aware that I was gone.

The silver scrunchie got knotted in my hair as I tried to pull it out. Taking a shower didn't seem right seeing as I was completely wet, but I did anyways.

My Scandinavian heritage gave me the usual bright blonde hair and my skin was fair. Growing up in Wyoming had given me more of a tan than my father Sven who preferred to think of himself as albino and tried to avoid the sun at all costs. He had even resorted to wearing a cowboy hat on days to make sure the back of his neck did not burn.

I looked like a mixture between a zombie and a creature from the Grudge as I staggered out of the shower. Strands of soaked hair covered my eyes. Once my vision cleared I saw the steam hovering in the bathroom suggesting that I had forgotten to turn the fan on when I came in.

Cosmetics had really advanced in the past a hundred years. Razors had gone out of style quicker than Zune when a cream had been invented that permanently removed hair and had no side effects like previous versions of it that made skin go purple or burnt like acid. It looked like I always waxed my legs, but that didn't mean they looked very attractive if you got a closer look. They were covered in plenty of nasty scars and bruises. One from every sports team I had been on which meant there were quite a lot. When you're the daughter of Earth's first ambassador there's a teeny bit of pressure put on you by coaches and teachers. I had to work pretty hard to please them even though it required getting a couple of bruises and breaking a couple of bones.

There was a knock at the door and before I even answered it slid open (yes I had a slide door for my room unlike every other room in the old style mansion). Geraldine was standing there in his dark blue singlet and jeans. His long black hair was pulled back into a ponytail that split into two braids at the first hair tie. He always had better hair styles than I did. Whenever he usually pranced into my room he had something to ask me about Sven. Right now he was silent. – This concerned me.

"What's up?" I asked him as I slid my singlet back on. I didn't mind him seeing me naked because I saw him as a sexless figure more than anything.

"You're daddy wants to see you in the holo communications room." He said in a tense voice.

"Oh god... Did Aunt Paige finally kick it?" I asked due to his tone.

Aunt Paige was three-hundred and seven years old and had every disease in the book. You would expect her to be dead, yet due to advanced medical care she was probably going to live another twenty years unless she got a cold or left the special sanitary room in the retirement complex. Most people lived to be at least 250-500 years old which may seem strange but you should see the health care system... Cured everything except the flu.

People would think this meant that there were millions of really old people running around the streets due to the increase in life expectancy plenty. But because of cosmetic creams and surgeries you were sure to look at least forty years younger. My father, Sven, was in his fifties but he used a cream that made him look late thirties.

Sadly, people also thought that because they looked young that meant they were young and many children were born to over-aged couples. This lead to a big health issue next to cancer because twelve per cent of children were born with deformities. This is when our dear 'American Unicorn', President Stanley Kesmin, said all people over the age of forty five had to have either a vasectomy or a hysterectomy in the most humane way possible. He put that law in forty years ago and it still stands today. It is not as a creepy as it sounds. My father went in for a vasectomy a couple of years ago and although he didn't see why he had to have it seeing as his partner was a man, he did understand why the American Unicorn had put the law in.

"No your Aunt did not kick it." Geraldine said firmly. "Nothing bad has happened, but you really should come with me."

The holo communications room in our mansion was nothing short of awesome. It was just a giant room filled with monitors and a big circular table in the middle that displayed holograms. When I was very little I pretended it was the bridge from Star Trek and ran around with my little friend, Ben, pretending to be all sorts of crazy aliens. Poor Ben always had to play a red shirt and pretended to die on a daily basis.

This was the room that my father raised Cameron from. Travelling beyond our Solar System to visit other planets was illegal due to the fact humans were 'second-class'. Instead at the end of every week my father called his son to chat. They had never officially met face to face, but my father said he felt like he really knew his son. I'm not sure if that was true or not. It was hard to really know someone if you had never talked in real life.

My brother and moi did not talk much because we were both busy people and also the language block –I didn't have a translating earpiece like my father– but all three of us had chats during one of our birthdays or Christmas. Geraldine felt a little left out of this family gathering because Cameron's mother, Della Vis Homen of Hashtish 4, was his rival for Sven's love. Even though Sven was sure he had made his choice they still had a 'friendly' rivalry. All of us knew that if Della said she wanted my father Geraldine would not have the power to convince Sven otherwise.

My father had both of his hands on the rim of the giant circular table. He was in his usual black turtle neck with jeans and glasses. Even though doctors offered him eye surgery to restore his sight properly Sven wanted to wait a little longer until he was really blind.

"What's news from Starfleet?" I asked him casually before imitating him by putting my hands on the table.

"Well... you're actually close about the whole Starfleet thing."

"Eh?"

"I don't know if I can explain this without showing you the message first so don't ask me anything until it's over." He said with a slight hint of anxiety in his voice. It was easy to tell when he was worried on concerned, his voice got a little higher and his Swedish accent became far more obvious.

"I hate the suspense. What happened? Did we lose money? Did President Darwin do something? Oh God, tell me the American Unicorn wasn't shot." I pleaded.

"No the... What?" My father shook his head. "Just watch."

He punched a playback button on the side panel and the hologram sprung up. We had one of the old-fashioned hologram projectors so there was an electric blue tint to it. None of us really noticed it until we saw the quality of other people's hologram displays. Then again, ours was meant for making calls to the USM so we didn't get to upgrade as easily.

"Greetings Amelia Frank Hollow." The recording of a monotone female voice said as a projection of my head came up and rotated around for all to see. "This message is from the USM Naval outpost 'Starside' in the Dalowit System. For the first time in USM history, Starside Academy is accepting cadets from second-class planets to train as commanding officers. Your profile and results from the Universal Standard test have been examined by our moderators and you would be pleased to know you are the most logical choice to be accepted in Starside Academy."

I looked up at my father. He said nothing but smiled.

"The academy is located in the Starside outpost. Only twenty students are accepted every grade from all over the galaxy. These students are prepared to become the commanding officers of the USM Naval ships. If you accept you will be the first human to be a part of the USM Navy. If you decline another human will not be chosen as there are far more qualified students from other second-class planets. Please listen to the contact details in the second message for your itinerary and list of contacts. You will spend two weeks preparing in Darwin Enterprises; your planet's leading science facility where you will learn how to survive in deep space. Thank you Amelia, we hope to see you at Starside Academy."

The hologram switched off and the table went back to its usual grey colour. I wasn't aware that my jaw had dropped. Had I just been accepted to Starside? Now that's a university I didn't apply for.

"Holy. Mother. Fucking. Crap." I gasped before running my fingers roughly through my damp hair. This wasn't a gleeful moment for any of us. It was shocking and completely unexpected. – The USM tended to be like that.

"Well... What do you want to do?" Sven asked me rather abruptly. He didn't sound particularly happy and was more concerned than anything. His daughter had to make the decision whether she wanted to travel millions of light years away or regret not accepting the chance of a lifetime.

I had already been accepted into Lund University and the University of California, but now Starside was in the equation.

"I don't believe it." I whispered.

"I know this is shocking but you need to–"

"I can't fucking believe they didn't even meet me in person to ask me something like that! How do I know that isn't spam mail or something?"

Sven shook his head: "Amelia, they don't act like humans. You just got asked by those guys to be the first human to be in the USM Navy. You're about to make global headlines no matter what your decision is."

"I'm going."

My dad choked a little. He was expecting me to take a little longer to make my decision but he had no idea how excited I was. Sure, everybody on Earth knew which station Starside was –that was where Mel resided– yet we never considered a human, save the ambassador, to make it there. It was only for the best of the best in the USM Navy. Seeing as humans were a second-class race I would change the USM-Earth relations just by showing up. It was time to show them what humans were made of.

"Are you sure?" My father asked, stunned.

"Daddy... I just got accepted into the real life Starfleet. You don't honestly think I'm going to turn them down?"

He smiled sincerely before circling around the table and giving me a bear hug. I wasn't a very 'huggy' person so I just acted as a plank when he wrapped his arms around me. It hadn't really fazed me how big a move to space would be. It seemed to unrealistic at the time. But if it was going to happen, it was going to happen damn soon. We didn't even have time to relax that day, after listening to all the messages sent to us it was nothing but go.

The next five goddamned hours of me and my father's life was spent answering calls from the usual places like the White House, Darwin Enterprises and an android who would organize how I got to Starside. The day had really changed rapidly for us yet the whole situation was still very surreal. Geraldine had given up on having a presence after the fourth call and went to clear his head. I know I was not his daughter, but the move was really going to affect him too. He did not love moi, but the thought of me moving still stressed him out. What really scared my father was that I was at a naval academy which was a major target for enemies of the USM.

We had a great talk with the Russian ambassador for Earth, Karina  Asimov. She kept telling me about how screwed I was going to get by publicity. Anything that had happened in my past was apparently going to rise up again and Sven agreed with her on that one. She would know.

When it was first learned that Karina had an affair on her husband in university the media went insane. Her husband explained 'they were on a break' at the time and he was okay with it, but the media wasn't just going to give up on a good story. They tortured her with it. A part of me felt that Karina would not have been treated that way if she was a man. Reporters loved scandals surrounding powerful women more than the loved scandalous stories about powerful men.

"...and another thing, Ms. Hollow. Have no sex between the time this call ends and the time you go to Starside. Paparazzi are going to be stalking your house and Darwin Enterprises for the next month, you don't want to give them anything to work with."

"Err... Thank you Mrs. Asimov."

"Don't worry Karina. I'll be telling her all about those things later." Sven joked before squeezing my shoulder, telling me 'he wasn't joking'.

Karina looked down for a moment to check the time on the side of her own hologram control panel.

"Sven, you know how much it costs to have these conversations so I don't need to explain why I'm signing off early. Good luck Ms. Hollow, make Earth proud or die trying. Did you get the itinerary for Starside sent to you? You must be organized, you depart in one month."

"Yes ma'am, no need to worry." I tried to reassure her but she did not seem amused.

"Sven... I trust you will get her prepped for all of this. She's too young to understand how important her presence is on Starside to both the USM and Earth. Take care."

"Bye Karry."

She rolled her eyes before reaching to the side and the transmission ended. I slumped in the chair and looked at my father hoping for an explanation. She was a strong, organized, powerful woman who represented Earth better than anybody else besides my father ever could... and dear god she was a bitch. She had set herself up to think I was going to fail and was probably already preparing her statement to the press on the matter... I see why my father nominated her. If humans went to war with another civilization she'd end it immediately with a snap of her bony fingers.

"Can you believe this?" I asked my father with a sigh.

"This is just the first day." He laughed with a hint of anxiety. "For the next two weeks we will be taking these calls daily and then when you leave for Darwin Enterprises you're going to every press conference they can arrange."

"If I die before I go to space you know why."

"Amelia, this may be the hysterical part of me speaking, but how are you not freaking out?" He asked with a slight twitch to his right eye. He was blowing up inside.

There was a loud beeping noise and the small screen on the panel informed my daddy we were getting another call. He sighed before hitting the answer button. Who could it be this time?

Cameron Vis Homen's image was projected on the table. He was in his usual grey and black USM Naval uniform with his matching grey cap and earpiece like my father's. It was a translator so that all USM workers could understand each other. My father had not bought me one yet so I just had to read the translations on the small screen while they talked.

Like moi, Cameron almost looked exactly like our father except the fact his skin was a sickly green and he had orange/red hair. His silvery/grey eyes seemed to sparkle more than a human's. It made him just look like he had puppy eyes on all the time... Really, I don't know how he looked like my father. He just did.

"Hello!" He said in his best English to try and please me. He may have been half human but his mother Della had never bothered to teach him English so the language was very new to him. He really sounded German for some reason.

I could tell he was calling from the Titonic's public phone. Other staff occasionally came into view when they walked past him and man, talk about diversity. Some looked like the creatures from Aliens while others were Wookiees from Star Wars. The only thing they all had in common was the uniform.

I felt very out of the loop when my father and brother talked because although Cameron could understand me due to his earpiece, I had no idea what he was saying.

"Hang on one second." Sven said as he fumbled in his jean pocket until he pulled out his earpiece that resembled a hands free phone except there was a long wire wrapped around it. He uncoiled the wire and carefully started pushing it into his ear. The earpiece only worked when it was hooked up to his brain. It was very efficient, yet horrible to witness when he put it in.

"Hello Cameron. And how's the Titonic?" My father asked cheerfully. He always loved chatting with his son because on Earth it was rare for young men to contact their parents so often. Luckily, Cameron was raised on Hashtish 4 where your parents were basically your best friends. He had felt very separate from his mother when he went to the naval academy (he was the first human cross-breed to make it into Starside but seeing as his birth certificate said he was raised on Hashtish 4 he wasn't technically considered a human. Although it was clear he was still treated unfairly because of his father from a second-class planet) so he always called Sven who had more context for what he was going through. His mother was the Hashtish Alliance ambassador which meant she didn't have much experience with the USM Navy. Politics was her forte. Sven had gone through plenty of hard-core training before he became an astronaut back in Europe and got what his son was complaining about. I was about to go through the training myself so he was going to have to listen to my complaining too.

"It's fine. Not sure if I'm ever going to get promoted even though I trained to be an officer." He giggled pitifully. "I'm too distracted all the time because I only get five hours of sleep before my next shift. I know because I'm a harsnic that I'm supposed to only need three hours anyway, but I believe the human side of me wants its rest." Cameron replied in Kestern; a common language in the Hashtish Alliance.

Sven laughed. "Yes, humans get very distracted when we get sleep deprived. Is your superior still Officer Geignovats? Ask her for a shift off so you can catch up on the well-deserved rest. They really want you to be at your best all the time so it would be best to request your shifts to be more spaced-out so you have more rest in between."

The harsnic did not like that idea: "But Ensign Davlos is on the same shifts as me at the moment. We work well together. I don't want to lose that. I think he's the closest thing I have to a–"

"The drama!" I cried sarcastically as I read their conversation off the small screen. Cameron obviously was not aware of how much work we had to do that day and could not have chosen a worst time to call.

Cameron looked to the side where I was probably being displayed on his hologram. He smiled sweetly and nodded. I had learned over the years that he was actually afraid of me. On his planet I would be considered very loud and obnoxious (I was considered that on Earth too) and that wasn't looked well upon. Because I was his sister he understood that some people were just like that. – Crazy and loud.

"Well Amelia. I've heard the news and I must say congrats." He smiled. "Guess what ship you're taking to get there?"

"Oh my." I said after reading the translation. "I'm taking the Titonic aren't I?"

He nodded. "Oh yes you are. All the new cadets get to experience a USM Naval ship first-hand when they get accepted. That way they know what they're in for."

"Are you going to meet up with me when I catch a ride?"

"Uh huh." He nodded speedily like an energetic chipmunk. "I'm the one picking you up off Earth. I volunteered to tour you around the ship."

"Aw. I get to be your annoying little sister finally and embarrass you in front of all your friends." I 'joked'. Cameron knew very well I wasn't joking and blushed.

His expression went from happy to more solemn in an instant: "Heh... Yes. Then there's nobody to embarrass me in front of." He joked in his species brutally honest way. My father's smile dropped into a frown. It was not nice knowing your child wasn't getting along with everybody else.

"Amelia can you leave for a couple of minutes? I'll call you back in soon." Sven said. He wanted to talk to his son about why he had no friends. Even I knew Cameron was a great guy so I could not understand why he wasn't getting along with others.

I decided I needed to annoy Geraldine in the kitchen where he was baking some sort of French pastry and miserably failing at it. It was either a deflated croissant or some sort burnt gingerbread man... How do those two have any similarities whatsoever? Ask Geraldine, he made it.

"So, how's the planning going?" He asked as he poked the pastry with a fork like it was a dead animal.

"Good. We're taking a break and Sven's talking to Cameron. The poor little guy apparently has no friends or something."

"Oh no! Not Cameron!" He gasped as he dumped the lifeless pastry into the trash. He did not know my brother very well because he disliked his mother but he knew the harsnic was a good boy.

He washed his hands in the sink and was about to reach for a tea towel when I grabbed his wrist. He jumped a little but I had seen something I didn't want to see. We made eye contact as I turned his arm and saw two little red holes just below the inside of his elbow. – The common trace of dusk.

Yes, after cocaine vanished from the face of the Earth during he-who-shall-not-be-name's presidency, the situation got worse and people wanted something more. Dusk was small mixture of meth, peyote and a large amount of a newly discovered moss found in the deepest parts of the ocean which was similar to marijuana except a little harder on the body. Dusk had nearly killed Geraldine and that's how my father and Geraldine really got to meet the night after they first 'met'. He was having a seizure in the bathtub from the dusk and Sven was the one who saved him and then spent two days in the hospital with him. Not exactly romantic seeing as Geraldine was a hooker at the time and on dusk, but it's always a fun story to tell at dinner parties. My father never wanted him to touch dusk again because it was just too hard on his system but apparently Geraldine was willing to break that promise just to get another taste.

"My father's going to be so pissed when he finds out." I hissed.

With a tug, he managed to pull his arm away and continued to wash the scorched tray. His head down. Not like he was ashamed, more annoyed that I had found out.

"Amelia. This is between me and him. Don't get involved." He muttered.

"I will get involved if you don't tell him." I said sharply.

I was very defensive of my father's feelings. My first promise to Geraldine when I was five was that I would take away his manly bits if he hurt my daddy... I stand by that. I like Geraldine but nobody hurt my father.

"It was just night when you were both out... I'm waiting to tell him after you leave. He already has enough on his plate I don't want to overload the poor man." He lied. I doubted that he had only done dusk once in the past few years. It was not something you got a needle for just to do once.

I rolled my eyes. The last time me and Sven had gone out and left Geraldine alone was a week ago when they were playing the adaptation of Burroughs's The Lost Continent at the theatre in Laramie. He had had plenty of time in the seven days after to tell him!

"Sweetie?" Sven called down the hall. I glared a Geraldine one more time before leaving, just to make sure he knew it wasn't over.

I returned to my father and Cameron in the holo communications room. Obviously things had gotten quiet between them which was why they wanted me to come back in. Despite his kind not having the power to flat-out lie; Cameron probably had not wanted to tell his father about issues in his social life. He was very reserved when it came to people that he were not his family and probably hadn't been making much of an effort to make friends. Also having his father from a second-class planet had really affected how others treated him. Most aliens from first-class planets did not take well to any creature below them. My father would have nagged him about putting himself out there more and proving himself to the other before remembering it was his own fault that Cameron was treated differently and going quiet.

"Say goodbye to your brother." Sven asked when I took my spot back next to the translator screen.

"I will see you in one month. You like the term 'beam me up, Scotty' right?" I perked up despite the glum atmosphere. "Well, we will beam up to the Titonic."

The harsnic was trying to please me and oh, I was very pleased indeed. So pleased I could not help retain the strange animalistic squeal that escaped my lips. Both looked at moi as if I was a dying weasel.

"Yes Cameron." My nodding was hasty. "I'm glad even your kind knows that quote." I choked. Don't cry, don't cry, for the love of God you better not cry!

"Well... Bye, bye!" He said in shaky English. Me and my father waved goodbye before he ended the call on his side. Once Sven was sure the message was over he dropped his head and sighed.

"So, why is he a loner?" I asked, unconcerned to how my father was feeling about the situation.

Sven shook his head solemnly. "Cameron's a shy boy, you know that. Apparently he misheard an order and accidently put the ship into DEFCON 2 mode. He believes he misheard the order due to his exhaustion. But now he's afraid to talk to anybody because he thinks they're still mad at him." My father sighed. "And of course they won't forgive him easily... first-class aliens just wait for the lower class kids to slip-up so they have more reasons to hate them. Cameron tries so hard to please people, but they just knock him down. Poor kid, look after him when you get up there."

"Will do... How did he activate DE–"

"Don't ask."

I walked around the table and gave my father a hard pat on the shoulder. I knew he worried more about Cameron than he worried about me because he felt useless when Cameron wanted help. Also, I was basically a crazy obnoxious girl who was incredibly outgoing so my father didn't worry about me making friends. Cameron probably did not like being compared to his little sister when it came to our social lives so I hoped Sven had not brought it up even though I was sure he had. I'd told him that Cameron had to figure these sorts of things out on his own; nonetheless my father was not willing to accept that seeing as he already felt plenty of guilt about missing out on his child's life.

We spent the rest of the night taking calls and planning what we were going to do in the final two weeks I had in the mansion. All the time I was thinking about whether Geraldine would tell my father or not that he had injected himself with dusk. Once I left there would be nobody else on Earth who knew he had (besides whomever he had bought it from) and he would get away with it. I would have been the definition of a tattletale if I had told on him. Plus I did have to agree that times were pretty hard on my father at the moment and I wasn't sure if he could handle it. It was hard to tell why he was so stressed. He had been to space, his son lived in space and so it was not a very foreign place to him. I was willing to accept his stress for the time being seeing as it had been less than twelve hours since we got the acceptance message and everything was still sinking in. If he was going to be like this for the next two weeks I was probably going to 'accidently' serve him something in his food that would calm him down... But not dusk.

"Okay." Sven began. We were sitting in the lounge next to the fake fireplace while he read over the notes on the tablet. "So, you're only allowed to take a small duffle bag filled with your property. Most necessary items will be provided for you –e.g. sanitary and bathroom supplies– and you are required to wear your cadet uniform at all times whether you are at Starside Academy or not. The duffle bag you are allowed to take to Starside is coming in a package tomorrow so you may begin packing..." He was only reading the important bits so he skipped some lines and used his finger to swipe the tablet and move the page up. "Apparently it would be wise to not take valuable items and it would be better to leave them in either a storage facility or a relative of whom you trusts house. Plus, you have no need to take your cell phone seeing as you will have no connection."

I was not really listening. The book I was reading on my tablet was much more entertaining than listening to what had already been said a dozen times. "Can I take my cell phone anyways?" I asked without looking up from my screen.

"I guess. But–"

"Good. I have a saved game of Tetris on it and I'm not letting go of it now." I smiled. Sven was not as amused, but he knew humour was my way of dealing with stress. He sighed like a teenager before letting his eyes wander to the edge of the tablet to check the time: 12:45am.

"You need some sleep. According to your brother you don't get much sleep in space so get it in now."

I rolled off the couch and hit the floor casually before standing up. I usually got to bed in the 1am range, nevertheless my father was right. Cameron had looked exhausted and I didn't look very pleasant when I had bags under my eyes all the time.

"Night." I kissed my father on the forehead before strolling out of the room. I secretly looked back once to see how he acted when he thought I wasn't looking. He was sitting up properly now with his head in his hands. Not crying, just being a stress monkey. I wanted to go back and give him another one of my 'comforting' pats on the shoulder, but I decided against it because it was best not to embarrass him. Instead, I went took two stairs at a time and flew into my bedroom.

I did not actually get much sleep that night. At 3am it suddenly hit me that I was going to Starside Academy. Then I just lay on my back and stared up at the ceiling thinking 'holy shit I'm going to Starside'. What bothered moi most was thinking about how I was going to break it to my friends... and my boyfriend, Aiden Wyle. I only had two weeks before I was going to Darwin Enterprises in Washington D.C. where I most likely would not be able to contact them. Aiden would be the hardest to tell because even though he was really cool with most things I did, he was emotionally invested in our relationship and really thought it was going somewhere. Lord, he was so cheesy right? But hey, I loved the guy. I liked him so much I had even tried to lose my virginity with him. Well... I say 'tried' because he was very ticklish and it was hard to have sex with someone who couldn't stop giggling like a child. Nobody understood why a tough emotionally-detached girl liked a sensitive nerdy guy like him. I guessed I liked boys who were the direct opposite of me or something. My greatest fear was that he would cry when I told him.
4: Yowza

Crap I'm a horrible friend and girlfriend. I kind of spaced calling any of them to plan a get-together because we were so busy in the first week. It was only on the Sunday that I actually got them all together at the mall (no, I didn't like shopping. It was just an easy place to get to) so I could break it to them. I wanted to tell Aiden privately, but there wasn't time for that because my father expected me back in four hours so we could do more 'gleeful' organizing.

I did not have much time to keep a social life in between schoolwork and sport so the friends I had were the loyal ones. Tanya and Elisa were actually both in my hockey team which is why I got to see them so much and Kim –who was actually Kimberly but hated her full name– was my 'math buddy' in class seeing as she worked faster than a calculator. – Strict Chinese family, you know how it is. Well, that's unfair because she was also Hawaiian. Meh, she had a Chinese tiger mother which was where the strictness came from.

And then there was Aiden, with his soft brown hair, green sweater vest and leather loafers. Some of the boys at school laughed when they saw us because I was just over six feet tall and he was barely 5'7. Not like we cared, because shortly afterwards I would be beating those boys up in the parking lot. Yeah, there was a kind of gender-swap in our relationship. He was more of a Yin guy while I was Yang. I only say this because Kim thought it would be hilarious to buy us promise necklaces and she gave me the black side while he got the white. She said we could swap them, but we never did. Just every time someone asked I would explain how it meant he was a part of me or some crap like that which is why I had his side... and then they would meet the boy and understand.

Here they all were. My dearest friends all on the bench in front of the indoor fountain, laughing at Tanya who had been laughing so hard that soda had come out of her nose. – Idiots. No, I did not actually think they were idiots. They just preferred to laugh at the strangest things.  
I clapped my hands together to get their attention. "Okay guys, so who is ready to hear the big news?"

All four of them looked at each other before Tanya shrugged and Kim nodded. "Sure." Tanya said. "Is it bad news?" Elisa asked.

"No." I reassured her. "It's not bad news depending on how you look at it."

"That sounds like bad news." Aiden joked. I didn't make eye contact with him. He was going to be the one I hurt the most.

I probably should not have done this but I decided to get all my news out in one breath. "Well a week ago I got accepted into Starside Academy so I'm moving there at the end of this month which is in three weeks but I gotta leave Wyoming in one week." I blurted out.

It felt as if the whole mall went quiet for a moment. They all sat in silence with blank expressions as their brains tried to process what I had just told them. I could not tell if they had actually misheard me or were in shock. Personally I hoped it was shock because I hated repeating myself.

"Yowza." Elisa said placidly. That was kind of her one-liner that she used whenever she was surprised. It was the appropriate time to use it I would say.

"What the fuck is Starside?" Tanya asked bluntly.

"A giant USM outpost in the Dalowit System, it's a couple light years from here."

"Of course it is."

"You're going in a week?" Elisa asked with a strain in her voice. She did not know how bad I was feeling about giving them so little notice but I hadn't had a chance earlier.

"Yeah. Sorry I couldn't tell you earlier. I'm lucky to even be with you guys right now." I explained defensively. "Apparently space travel requires a lot of planning and time especially when it's all crammed into four weeks."

"So have you only had four weeks' notice?"

"Yeap. At the end of the month I'm hopping on a spaceship and going away."

"For how long?" Tanya asked with annoyance in her tone. – I was going to miss her birthday which was happening in just over a month.

I opened my mouth, but no words came out. Being in the USM Navy was kind of a lifetime job. "Err... Quite a few years... A couple of decades." I mumbled.

"This better not be a fucking joke." Tanya growled. "You're a sick bastard if this is a joke."

"I can promise it's not a joke." I thought for a moment with a raised eyebrow. "Well... it could be the USM version of a joke, but not mine. Keep an eye on the news. I should be making headlines soon."

All of them were looking at me as if they expected me to burst out laughing and tell them it actually was a joke, but I didn't. Neither Aiden nor Kim had spoken a word so it was finally time to ask for their thoughts... I was going to ask Kim first because I feared Aiden's response.

"And what do you think Kim?"

Kim; the only girl to have ever successfully pinned me to the ground in Kung-Fu. Sure, I was terrible at martial arts. However I found this rather annoying seeing as she was almost half my height, but that made us more competitive with each other.

"Stars don't have sides. They're spheres." She said icily.

Classic Kimberly.

"I'm aware of that." I muttered.

She smiled. "But I'm actually really proud of you. A part of me would love to go there but I didn't have the athletic skills to even apply. How did you apply by the way?"

Oh, bless her blue plaid dress (no, I'm not religious, but I'll bless her anyways). At least somebody wasn't panicking. I could always count on Kim to not freak out; she was too smart to panic. Of course she was the only other person who knew what Starside Academy was. She was the kind of girl who would love to exceed all other humans by going to that academy.

"Well Kim, you don't apply. They just randomly select you I guess."

Kim was not amused by the answer because it felt like she had little control over her education and career if it was all random selection. It was not actually random and apparently I was the top student in the world, but I was not going to tell her that. I'm not really sure if that was even true and maybe the USM had lied to moi because they had ulterior motives.

Finally I looked to my boyfriend. He was just staring at the floor.

"Well should we all go grab smoothies and talk this through a little more?" I suggested. That way there wouldn't be an awkward silence between us and more of a suckling noise.

We sat on the rail on the outdoor roof garden for quite a few hours. It was nice. None of them were pressuring me for questions or complaining about Starside Academy. They were simply enjoying what they knew would be our final day together as a group. Kim would not hang out with Elisa and Tanya once I was gone because she was closer to me than she was to them and Aiden, well... I didn't know what Aiden was going to do. Hopefully find another lovely girlfriend who he would give himself up to because he had built up a level of trust like he had with me. He was such a shy boy. The reason we got together two years back was because I sympathetic for him on prom night. A chunk of students had gotten together and voted in poor Aiden as prom queen... and then when the red-faced boy got on stage they dumped pig's blood on him. Yeah... that had been a pretty bad night. After Tanya and kicked the crap out of the leader of the horrible scheme, I took the sobbing boy away from the prom. I would have taken him straight home, but he did not want his parents to find out so I took him back to my place first. After I leant him some of Sven's clothing, I released my inner geekness and showed him a few episodes of Star Trek and Unnatural while he calmed down. He was incredibly patient with moi which is probably why I fell for him so quickly.

"Do you know how we're going to call you once you leave?" Elisa asked, staring out at the parking lot below and wondering what would happen if she spat.

"Hey, I'll be lucky if I'll even be able to call my Sven and Geraldine." I laughed fearfully.

"Dude that is so not cool. You sure the acceptance message wasn't just spam mail? They could just want your credit card number." Tanya joked.

I smiled, considering it for a moment before shaking my head. "No, it isn't. We just talked to the head of Darwin Enterprises and the Secretary of State's assistant. Unless the government is in on the conspiracy I doubt it."

"You never know with this fucked country." Elisa muttered before going back to chewing on the straw of the green smoothie.

"True." I agreed before realizing the time. It was nearly six and Sven expected me home at seven and I still hadn't talked to Aiden. I looked at Tanya and did a sort of head cock in Aiden's direction so she would understand that I needed to talk to him.

"Hey guys we should leave the lovebirds alone for a bit." Tanya stated as she swung her leg over the rail and hopped back onto the roof. "We'll have a group Skype chat later on this week before she goes. Won't we, Amelia?"

I joined her on the right side of the rail. "Not a bad idea. It may have to be around midnight when my father frees me from the organizing hell."

Elisa and Kim joined the two of us but Aiden stayed on the rail. He knew he had to stay behind no matter how much he didn't want to. We still had not spoken properly even though he had warned me earlier that my straw had come out of the cup and fallen off the roof. He was more mysterious than a woman!

"Later. You guys rock by the way if that wasn't made clear by the fact I hang out with you every week." We had a small group hug. This was the last time we would meet face-to-face so I did not mind hugging on this one occasion.

"Later loser." Kim joked. "Enjoy being the first human at Starside Academy or whatever."

"If you had told me earlier I would've gotten you a going-away gift." Elisa moaned. I gave her a hard pat on the back.

"No need." I reassured her. "I've got to live out of one duffle bag for the rest of my life so I probably can't take anything cool, just a lot of gifts for my new 'space friends'. Yeah, I'm taking a lot of souvenir Ray-Ban sunglasses to space. I don't know why, it just seems like the right thing to hand out to aliens." I joked despite the fact I actually was taking Ray-Ban sunglasses to Starside Academy.

"Oh lord, stop rubbing the fact that you're rich in everybody's face! Who hands out cool sunglasses as stupid souvenirs?" Tanya exclaimed.

I raised my eyebrows smugly. "I do."

"Oh whatever. See you around... or not."

What a blow to the gut that was. But I just smiled at her remark before giving all three of them another hug. That was the good thing about the girls I chose to hang out with; they did not get all emotional.

I watched them all the way to the glass doors of the elevator. They waved goodbye as the elevator moved down and until they were out of sight. Wow, my best friends had just left and I was never going to see them in the flesh again. I felt like I should have done more with them. I would've used my savings to get them a trip to New York, but I had already planned with my father that all of my own money would go to some child fund I cannot recall the name of. The USM only took credits as currency so I would not need cash anyways.

I turned back to Aiden. He had his back to me and was staring out at the parking lot. He was hell when he was dead silent. I knew he was shy, but usually there was always a smirk or giggle from him when I cracked a joke. Now he was quiet. If he was trying to give me the silent treatment because I was leaving him behind on short notice while I moved onto greener pastures, then I was supposed to understand, though I didn't want to end on bad terms with him. I did not like expressing my feelings, but he needed to know that I really cared about him.

"So," I jumped over the rail and took a seat next to him, he shuffled away a bit, "how are you?"

It was all I could come up with.

"W-what?" He shook his head, astonished. "You just came out of the blue and told me you're leaving forever. How do you think I'm doing?"

"Great, I would suppose." Shit, he was mad at me. "But hey, it was pretty out of the blue for me too. What would you have liked me to do differently?"

"Never taken me to your house that night. That way we wouldn't have been together and I wouldn't have fallen in love with you."

Every word was like I knife stabbing into my chest. He was mad, I got that. But he didn't need to be mean or anything. It was not my fault I got into an academy I never applied for. What was I supposed to do, stop being good at everything?

He realized how what he said had come out and decided to re-write his words. "I... I didn't mean that. But... You know?"

"Yeah." I sighed. "I do know."

"It's just kind of..."

"Agreed."

That was how we learned to communicate. He was not much of a talker so I just had to predict the end of most of his sentences. It greatly confused Geraldine and Sven when he came over to dinner because we would both be laughing so hard at something even though we hadn't told them what we were joking about.

"This is it, isn't it?" Aiden asked after a short amount of silence. He knew the answer I had to give him already.

"Heh... I guess it is."

He let out a small laugh as if he was in hysterical pain. "Wow."

The sun was almost setting behind us. Though the clouds some stars could be seen far in front of us and all they made me think of was 'Starside'. Kim was right, it was a stupid seeing as stars did not actually have 'sides'.

"Hey, do you think that if you had chosen to stay that we would've..." Aiden drifted off.

"I don't know. I don't want to know. You're going to find a kickass girl who's a lot nicer than moi and marry her. Then you'll never look back."

"And you?"

"Fuck my future." I scoffed. "You get to be happy. I'm going to get early stress-marks in space."

He laughed. "What if you meet a sexy alien dude?"

I punched his shoulder. "There is no such thing as sexy in space, darling. If it makes you feel better, you'll probably be the last serious relationship I have... Actually, make that the last relationship!"

"That doesn't make me feel better at all."

"It should."

He kissed me. If it had been the end to a romantic drama the sun would've set right at this moment, but it was our luck that we heard the crack of thunder in the distance. I then had a graphic vision of us both getting struck by lightning in mid-kiss and quickly pulled away from him.

The mall hadn't quieted down. A new horror movie was being released at midnight so more people were actually going to be coming in. In Laramie the mall basically had everything from the theatre to a bed store. The 'Mighty Mall' killed all the other businesses within a one mile radius and probably a little further. That was the way since 2235 when a chain of Chinese malls were opened up in America that literally killed thousands of small businesses. But hey, globalization had basically killed all businesses that could not handle the heat. That was what first put the USA on edge because certain people felt we had too many immigrants coming in that didn't take jobs, just destroyed them. President Kathryn Santos –who was also the first Latina president– was in the White House at the time so she was not going to take any shit on immigration seeing as both her parents were immigrants and she let it happen. Instead of pulling a Sweden and closing off the borders, the USA just became one hell of a mixing pot and that didn't make a lot of rednecks happy. Guns had to be banned from civilians when the number of shootings that went on in foreign churches increased. It wasn't just Muslims taking crap anymore; anybody who wasn't white was screwed. Sad that America could fall so low, but the issue was going to come in full force eventually. It was good that Kathryn was president at the time because she got the issue sorted just before another Right Wing president was brought in.

(As I said earlier, yes, Sweden did close its borders to immigrants for a hundred years. Not because they hated other countries, they just wanted to keep out the Finns mainly. By 2808 it was sorted even though some countries like Finland were mad at them for doing a thing like that. Don't get me wrong; the Finns are not bad people. They are just too kind, friendly, humble and all these terrible things.)

A part of me wanted to hold Aiden's hand as we walked through the mall while the other part said 'hell no'. It was best not to lead him on again see as we had basically just broken up. But we were much closer than boyfriend and girlfriend. We were friends; there was a bond between us that wasn't even romantic. I would not be jealous if I came back in ten years and he had a wife. I would probably high-five him and say 'good job'. I think he knew that too. Romance was only the tip of the iceberg in our relationship.

I drove my personal shuttle home, the one my Sven had bought me for my sixteenth birthday. Aiden and I had departed on good terms, just a simple kiss on the cheek and then I left. It was a little past seven so no matter what Sven was going to be in an anxious mood. When he had gone on his first mission to space it had taken almost two years to plan and the USM had given us one month.

I was not a very focused driver. There was a little on my mind at the time and I accidently went a little higher into the atmosphere. I had to quickly pull back down because the police had tracked all shuttle activity in the sky and they could probably see how high my shuttle went. I suppose it would not matter much longer seeing as by the time I got a ticket I would be either in Washington D.C. or space. That would mean Sven and Geraldine would have to deal with the ticked, but not like they would complain.

The shuttle was a little shaky when it landed in the garage. Despite being only two year sold it was already outdated and seemed kind of rinky dink. Sven had wanted to buy me a new one last Xmas –formally known as Christmas– but I refused, it's funny how you get attached to the stupidest things. But my LFA V04 (I called her Liffy) had been very understanding of my landing techniques like when I let her accidently grazed her on the trees or the roof of the garage. A few days before Geraldine had joked about how many scratches the spaceships I controlled would have. I had not laughed because I was still annoyed with him about the whole 'dusk' incident.

Sven had been pretty ignorant about the situation as he usually thought of me and Geraldine having a rocky relationship. We officially first met when I was two when my father came back from Kingston with him. Our maid, Deanna, who had also been a dear friend of Sven's since he hired her four years before had been looking after me in the two months my father was absent. My grandparents in Sweden had insisted I come and stay with them instead, but I demanded to stay with Deanna (or 'Dee' as I called her). I greeted Geraldine formally with a handshake instead of a hug despite the fact my father had said he was going to be in our life for a while. At that time I liked it just being me and my father and didn't want any of his attention taken away from mine. Eventually I came to understand that Geraldine was going to be staying even if I didn't like it, so after a few months I finally accepted him even though I never called him 'father'.

"Where have you been?" Sven's voice was strained. He had been making at least twenty-five calls a day on no sleep so I could see why. "Have you realized that you're only leaving in one week?"

I gave him a pat on the shoulder as I walked past him. "Take chill pill Daddy-O. Darwin Enterprises has already promised that they would do all the organizing. I want you to take this week off."

He laughed. "Please, I trust something run by the government as much as I trust a member of the Cult of Disney. They still don't understand how the USM works, I do. And–"

"Come with me."

He blinked a few times. "What?"

I shrugged. "Follow me."

"W-why?"

"Because I want to show you something."

He raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "Like what?"

"Just come with me and you'll find out."

I presume he did not like the placidness of my voice but he followed. It was going to take a lot for him to relax but I had the perfect solution. He got a little confused when he was led to the lower floor where only the entertainment devices were. He presumed I wanted him to play a game with him, but I had something better in mind.

"Hurry up Amelia. I'm planning your move to Starside Academy if you haven't noticed."

I waved his statement away. "Oh, stop worrying. Have a little faith in Darwin Enterprises."

"Hell no, it's named after Clive Darwin."

"No, Harry Darwin endorsed it and it's in honour of Charles Darwin, silly."

Sven scoffed. "Sure... That's what he says."

He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw what door we were heading to. Now he knew exactly where we were going.

"No." He said bluntly.

"Yes."

"No. We've got a lot of work to do, darling and now isn't the time for any movies or television."

I did the one thing I never thought I would have to do. – Pulled the puppy eyes in hopes of getting sympathy.

"I just want to watch something with my daddy." I said in my little girl voice. "How many more chances are we going to get to do this?"

He growled. He knew I was trying to manipulate his emotions but he couldn't resist feeling bad. I was technically right, we weren't going to get a 'geek night' anymore. And he probably would not watch all the old movies we had because it would be too painful knowing I used to be there, in the leather seat next to him, watching a movie like Wrath of Kahn on the theatre-sized screen. I hoped he wouldn't be too lonely when I was gone, geek wise, that is. Geraldine had not realized we didn't watch old sci-fi because of the sets, animation or acting in the case of Star Trek. It was about seeing what the people of the past thought the future was going to be like. And for me and my father it was about the bonding experience. We got joy from watching the old shows and loved talking about the characters later or joking about the plot holes. Once I was gone who would Sven joke about the plots with? More importantly, who was I going to joke about the plots with?

Even though people on Earth thought old movies and TV shows were stupid and silly (yes they were, but still) most of them at least knew what they were. The aliens up in the USM would have no idea what any of the movies or shows were. And they would probably find the shows offensive because the aliens were inaccurate to real aliens. Man, I was going to be so alone in space. Sure, I was going to be surrounded by all sorts of crazy species, but I was going to lose my human connection. Maybe my classmates would have some cool alien shows... Probably not.

Sven let out a heavy sigh. "Alright, fine. One movie or television show and then that's it. Then we go back to work."

"Yay!" I kissed him on the cheek before pulling him into the theatre.

He took a seat in the front row and crossed his legs casually. He was secretly was glad I was forcing a break on him, he was especially glad that his break involved spending time with me watching some rinky dink old movie.

I took my seat next to him and pulled the options panel up on the screen. "Okay, what shall it be, Star Wars, Star Trek or Unnatural?"

He looked up in thought for a moment. "Err... How about a Star Wars tonight?"

"Okay... Which one?"

"The Phantom Menace?"

I sneered.

"Fine, fine." He waved the suggestion away. "Would you like to watch A New Hope?"

I smiled sweetly and nodded. "Sounds good."

The movie began. I grabbed Sven's arm and nuzzled my head on his shoulder. I would regret acting so lovey-dovey in the morning, nevertheless I was enjoying myself at the time.

"How did your friends take it by the way?" My father asked.

I sighed. "My friends took it really well. However, Aiden was a little mad at me because he wished I had told him earlier."

"Yowza."

"Exactly. But then we made up so we're cool now."

"That's good... Sorry I didn't let you out to tell him earlier."

"It's all good. We all ended on good terms so it didn't matter anyways."

"Well I'm sorry for you too." He said honestly. "It must've been very hard for you to tell them. I wish the USM had given us at least a year's notice. Sadly they don't work that way. Things go much quicker over there and they expect us to work at their rate. Lord," Sven sighed, "when I was an ambassador in the USM they gave me so much work, I literally had my computer filled with random crap that didn't make any sense to me, and they expected me to get it all done in an hour." I stared at him wide-eyed and fearful. "Sorry honey to tell you this. I know you do excellent in school and all, but Starside Academy ain't no school. It's going to really take it out of you."

"Joy to the world." I laughed.

There was silence for a moment as I readjusted the sound. If you were going to get engrossed in a movie then the sound has to be perfect.

"Hey dad, can you believe this is our last week together in this house? This really isn't like going off to college eh? I mean... I'm only going to see holograms of you after I leave."

My father stopped breathing for a moment before exhaling deeply. "Yeah... Let's not talk about that. Let's just enjoy the film and see who can recite the lines quicker."

I smirked and punched his shoulder before settling back into my seat. It almost made me want to cry knowing I wouldn't get to see my father every day. Even during special events like birthdays I probably would not be able to just catch up with him. I would be lucky if I could even see a hologram of him, let alone send a gift. I would miss my friends, boyfriend, the maids and Geraldine, sure, but my father... I couldn't imagine not seeing him every day. With that thought I did not even feel like going to Starside Academy at all.

It was too late to back out now. Earth needed a stronger presence in the USM so I had to play as the military ambassador. If I could get through Starside Academy and become part of the crew on a naval ship, I would prove that humans were fit to become full members of the USM society. Earth was treated as a second-class planet because we were still seen as in a primitive stage of life because our society seemed so un-advanced both technically and mentally. My presence would prove we were not at primitive as they thought. Thinking about how much of an impact I would be making in the USM and on Earth really scared the crap out of me. If I failed, Earth would forever be seen as second-class. Even if I made it through Starside Academy the pressure would always be on, people would always just be waiting for me to slip up.

I did not sleep that night.
5: Road Trip!

Deanna did not seem to understand how long hugs were supposed to last. I presumed five seconds at the maximum but she figured they were more around fifteen. I did not resist though. She and Clara were staying at the mansion while Sven, Geraldine and I travelled to Washington D.C. to stay at Darwin Enterprises. I had never realized we had a butler until this point when I saw him standing with Clara. I shook his hand casually before looking to my father in search of an explanation. He would tell me later that we had had Derik as our butler for over a year.

"Oh darling, things aren't going to be the same without you here." Deanna said solemnly. "I mean, who am I going to pick up after?" She laughed.

"Ouch." I said while clutching my chest jokingly.

Amazingly we were packing like usual. I hardly ever took much, Sven knew how to compact all he needed into one suitcase and Geraldine had three suitcases all for his clothing. But instead of packing my usual items (e.g. Computer, tablet, clothing), I was packing sunglasses. I had only brought one change of clothing as Darwin Enterprises informed us that I would be testing out my uniform instead of wearing normal clothing. Apparently I had to wear into it before it would be comfortable, plus there was an under layer they needed to test on me. I didn't ask much about it. Apparently it was like wearing a wetsuit. – Kill me.

We were taking the family shuttle; it required the least amount of charging up before it ran. Solar power had become the cheapest source of energy which was kind of sad seeing as it was pretty expensive. The shuttle estimated that it would take at least ten hours to reach Washington D.C. if we travelled at the shuttle speed limit. The day before I had been saying how I would use that time to sleep but now that it was the day I was so energetic for some reason, sleeping didn't seem like an option.

"I'll see you soon." Sven said impatiently to all of the servants as he sat in the shuttle with the hatch up. He was dialling in the coordinates into the GPS so we knew where we were heading. He was anxious to leave because if something happened and we were delayed, he still wanted us to reach Darwin Enterprises in plenty of time. I had already explained that seeing as the earliest we would get there was midnight, and the D.E. probably wouldn't mind if we came a couple of hours later. Then his rebuttal was that we should have left even earlier so that we wouldn't get there that late.

"Well... When you see a weird robot with a vacuum cleaner for a hand, think of us." Deanna joked as she pointed to herself and Clara.

I was almost offended. "Hell no, you do realize you guys are way more than just the cleaners right? You two are like my surrogate mothers... And Derik, well you're just awesome."

Derik, the butler, nodded before his eyes shifted slightly. Our unawareness of each other's existence had been vice versa. He thought he had been working for a childless couple, so saying goodbye had actually been saying 'hello'. I do not know how we never ran into each other. Apparently the mansion had been big enough that we would never encounter.

Sven coughed to get my attention.

"Stop rushing me." I growled. "I'm never going to see these guys again. I can say goodbye at my own rate."

He rolled his eyes. I had already said goodbye to Deanna and Clara twice this morning, but for some reason it did not feel like enough. Deanna had raised me as much as my father had and Clara was like my awesome sister from East Coast. They did not get paid as much to clean the house as they did more to sit with us at dinner and start the conversations. Yes, the maids ate with us; it was a large enough table that it didn't make any sense to send them somewhere else. This raised the question of 'where the heck had Derik been all this time?'

Geraldine looked down at his green watch. "Yeah Amy, we should be getting going before your father starts complaining about how hard it is to fly at night."

"Don't call me Amy." I said sharply. He looked a little taken back, but he knew why I was annoyed at him. The harshness of my tone even drew my father's attention. He presumed I was stressed so he let it slide.

The shuttle ride was less relaxing than I had wanted it to be. Our dear friends at D.E. had finally sent us the re-drafted itinerary for the next two weeks up to my departure. Sven read it out and emphasised the meeting with President Harry Darwin and the interview that would be broadcast to the entire world. No pressure.

Sven wiped his lips with the back of his hand. "...Well, according to this, me and Geraldine have far too much free time on our hands. Really, it's just you who has to do all the work."

I punched the button on my armrest to lean my chair back. "Joy." I muttered before closing my eyes.

"Well, would you rather come and join us on a tour of Washington D.C. instead of getting prepped for Starside?"

I hesitated, seeing his point. "Nah, I think I'll pass."

Silence filled the shuttle for a few minutes. None of us knew what to talk about. It was best not to discuss Starside at that moment or my father may have just jumped out of the shuttle to end the madness. However, not talking about it made it seem as if we were just putting it off.

I had been able to get in one video session with my friends before we left. Even Aiden had joined the chat which was heart-warming because I knew how badly I had hurt him. The extra fun part of the week was calling my relatives in Sweden and Germany to inform them of the news. I did not call my relatives in Finland: I was not close with them.

My great-grandmother had burst into tears and started cursing my father in Swedish. She had not been exactly happy for me. She could not believe she would probably never see her only great-granddaughter again. She wasn't one of those stereo-typical grandmothers that wanted me to get married and have lots of children. No, she really did not care what I did with my future so long as I was happy... yet for some reason me moving to space was a bit of a stretch for her acceptance.

"Do you guys want to put on an audio book or something?" Geraldine asked. He hated silence.

"Just keep your eyes on the sky." My father replied. Geraldine had had some 'close calls' in the past even though the skies tended to be pretty clear. Sadly, my father had been in the shuttle with him two of the times so he did not trust him to drive anymore. The only reason he was letting him fly the ship now was because he intended to be the one to drive when it got darker.

Geraldine shot an icy glare Sven's way before violently twisting the steering wheel. The shuttle did a roll in mid-air before returning back to normal. My father was clasping both armrests and his feet were in brace position on the floor. For being a retired astronaut, my father still could not handle a sudden shift in gravity.

He released one of his hands from the armrest and used his index finger to push his glasses back into place. "D-don't do that." He stammered femininely.

Geraldine and I burst out in laughter for a moment before I remembered I was still annoyed with him and stopped. Sven was not as amused. He felt as if my move to Starside was an elephant on his chest and he did not know how to cope with it. Sven was terrified. He feared I was going to lose my life in an intergalactic war. He was sure my death was fact that was just waiting to be written into the history panels. My father would never say this to my face but I was his female clone, child, I knew these things. A part of him probably wanted me to drop out at the last moment and stay on Earth while the opposing side was proud of me. Such a conflicted man; even if I told him that I was not leaving he still wouldn't be satisfied.

"Daddy?"

He looked up. "Hmm?"

"Chill out."

"I beg your pardon? Did you just say 'chill out'?" He raised an eyebrow. Obviously he had shown moi too many films from the twentieth century.

"I did." I admitted. "But seriously you need to calm down. Everything's going to be fine." I said with a sincere smile.

"What are you talking ab–"

Now it was my turn to raise an eyebrow: "I know what you're thinking. You should have a little more faith in me."

Sven was about to object, but closed his mouth. He knew I knew him better than anyone. He just bit his lip and unbuckled his seatbelt.

"I think I'll drive now." He said to Geraldine who quickly jumped out of the seat. The autopilot was perfectly capable of driving us all the way to Washington D.C. but my father did no trust technology that much. The autopilot had failed him back when he was astronaut and he had not trusted an operating system to drive him since.
6: Dear God I Hate this Woman

"Oh shit." Geraldine gasped as he went to the window. Dozens of flashing lights could be seen on the rooftop of Darwin Enterprises where we were supposed to land. We had been told our arrival would be kept a secret... That obviously was not the case.

"The motherfuckers." Sven growled as he slowly eased his hands up on the steering wheel as we started our descent.

The window wipers continued to swish from side to side as the rain attacked the Plexiglas windshield. The weather had been horrible all the way from Laramie to Washington D.C. despite the fact it was supposed to be summer. Apparently the weather hadn't stopped the press from coming out.

"Dad." I moaned while looking down at my beautiful 'Han Shot First' shirt. "I was told that I could dress casually. What the heck is happening?"

He shrugged. "Hey, don't blame me. I was under the same impression."

"Oh God, I'm a mess." Geraldine squeaked before pulling the mirror down from the ceiling to check his makeup. I rolled my eyes and pushed the mirror up again. "Relax. I doubt they came to take photos of you."

I rolled my eyes when I saw Sven even running his hand over his hair to make sure it was all in place. "Oh come on. You ladies should stop worrying about your looks. You're both beautiful."

"Hey, I don't want to be on one of those 'troll' websites where they make fun of celebrities just because my hair's bad."

"Do you consider yourself a famous celebrity?"

"Please." He scoffed. "I'm the guy who made first contact with the USM. I think I'm well-known."

A part of me thought that the paparazzi would jump on top of the shuttle as soon as we landed. They were only restrained by the small plastic chain running through the posts around the landing pad. On the other side of the chain were five people in long black rain jackets. Two of them were the presidents of Darwin Enterprises we had been told about in the itinerary. I didn't know who the other three were. They were most likely the doctors I would be working with and my fitness instructor for the next two weeks. I felt bad for the guys, they had been given so little time to get all of this organized, but could they have at least gotten rid of the freaking paparazzi?

Sven took his hands off the steering wheel and slumped back in the leather seat. "Everybody smile, act natural, and we'll get through this." He muttered in a very unenthusiastic way.

I squinted my eyes as the doors to the shuttle opened. Non-flash incredibly high definition cameras had been invented but only on the iPhone 7005G which most measly reporters could not afford so they still preferred to use the flash cameras on their phones. I felt like bitch slapping one of the stupid reporters who was calling out my name in an attempt to get me to look at him so he could get a photo. For my father's sake, I was tame and ignored that man yelling. The last thing I wanted was a picture of me beating up a reporter making it to Starside Academy. Sven pulled the large black umbrella out of the glove compartment and stepped out of the shuttle before putting it up. The rain battered against it as he used it to shield me from both the weather and all the reporters. He had it on a strange angle so that I was wedged between him and the umbrella.

"Walk quickly." He murmured in my ear. My legs were long like his so I was able to stride in time. Poor Geraldine was not as lucky in his high-heel boots and got left behind in the rain.

The tallest of the black raincoats came to us first. He ran like an ostrich with his long lanky legs while his equally long arms flapped around like wings. – 'Dork', was the best word to describe him.

As he got closer his face became clear and his teeth sparkled when the light from the cameras hit them. His bangs were wet while the rest of his hair was dry and protected under his black hood. He had a long horse-like face with a little bit of black stubble developing. That was most likely because he had not had time to shave. Kind of hard when you're planning an eighteen year-olds move to Starside Academy.

"Hello!" He said in an overenthusiastic voice the startled me and my father a bit. "Welcome to Darwin Enterprises. Sorry about the weather," he laughed, "it's not usually this bad in Washington D.C."

"I've travelled to Washington D.C. many times." My father stated in his 'I'm-superior-to-you-in-everyway' voice. "I know this is the usual weather."

The man let out a meek laugh. "Well... still better weather than San Francisco."

"Amen."

Both nerdy men laughed and although I did not get the comparison I joined in anyways. I'm not sure what the weather is like in your time. Global warming changed some things for us so some parts are rainier while other parts are bone-dry.

Geraldine joined us. His springy black curls had been uncoiled and drenched. He had not been wise enough to wear an extra layer and he was shaking like a wet cat.

"We should get out of the rain... and away from the press." The man in the black raincoat suggested. "By the way, my name's Dr. Blake Cooper." He stuck is hand out.

At first I thought he wanted to shake hands with my father but as it turned out he was more interested in moi. It was strange that I was in the spotlight instead of my father who also seemed rather surprised that Dr. Cooper had not even acknowledged who he was. Blake was determined to get off to a good start with me so I would hopefully put out a good word for him during a press conference.

A man who I thought was a journalist stepped over the plastic chain and ran up to us. I then realized his name tag that had the D.E. logo on it. "May I unload your shuttle sir?" He asked my father who tossed him the keys carelessly. "So long as you're taking our bags to our room."

"Yes sir."

My father gave the trembling baggage boy a harsh pat on the shoulder. He knew he intimidated most people so he had to make sure the kid knew there was nothing to be afraid of. The guy nearly jumped as soon as my father laid a hand on him.

"Attaboy." My father said sincerely before the baggage boy adjusted his clear plastic raincoat and jogged off to the shuttle. He was going to have a blast getting all of Geraldine's stuff out.

The interior of Darwin Enterprises was pretty spectacular. It was already like being in a spaceship with the florescent lights bouncing off the reflective white tiles on the ground and walls. Silver frames ran down the hallways with holograms of a representative accepting awards for all of D.E.'s achievements. There was nothing humble about the place. They felt as if they had just won a place in the USM against all the countries and were rubbing it in the other countries' faces a bit. Just having me live and train at D.E. meant they were getting stupendous amount of funding from companies that wanted their logo slapped on me. The other reason I had been told to not bring too much clothing –besides the fact I was going to be wearing my Starside uniform most of the time– was because they planned to dress me like a Barbie doll for all my press conferences with famous brands.

I spotted a 3D picture of the founding of the Russian/Chinese outpost on Mars. It was not exactly relevant to the USA, but back when Mrs. Clarke –the current co-president of Darwin Enterprises– was 'Ms. Heinlein' she helped setup the outpost. She was, after all, the product of the Chinese-Russia communist alliance.

"Hey." My father pointed at one of the holograms as we walked by. "I remember when you guys won that. You got the first 'rocket in space powered solely by faeces' award by default when Europe's spacecraft burnt up in the atmosphere on its trip home." He sighed heavily, holding back laughter. "Good times."

Don't worry. No humans or animals were on the ship. To be safe the scientists in the primary European NASA station had only sent up two androids and a handful of other robots and for good reason. Money was lost, but no lives.

"Yes." Mr. Clarke laughed, president of Darwin Enterprises. "One of our proudest achievements."

I wasn't really listening to anybody. Mr. and Mrs. Clarke seemed like great people and all, but when all they could talk about was their own corporation I could really care less. I instead examined the two women walking in front of us with Dr. Cooper. One was a short athletic blonde woman named Merissa Elway who was my fitness trainer. She had lived on Mars for a year and learned techniques to deal with different atmospheres so I liked her already. I was not sure what to think about Dr. Shea Hernandez. She was one of those women with the whole hair-in-tight-bun look. She was the perfect example of a woman who could not be defined to one ethnicity. She had an American accent yet she looked Mexican, African, with a hint of Asian in her. Her last name did not exactly define her to one ethnicity either. Even my own last name 'Hollow' didn't exactly say my heritage. I looked Scandinavian, but the Hollow surname was from my German roots. 'Hollow' was not a German last name. During the Second World War most of our primary family members fled to the Netherlands and changed their last name to something 'less German sounding'. What happened to the Nazi side of my family that stayed in Germany? They got their karma and were all killed when a Pinto crashed into their house during the Nazi family reunion many years later. What was a Ford Pinto doing in Stuttgart Germany in 1973? Excellent question. Sadly, there is no answer.

Shea had barely shaken my hand when we met before immediately pulling out her iPad and telling me what we had to do. I trusted her to get the job done, but her tone almost made it seem like she was annoyed about something. – Most likely me.

And not to discriminate or anything, but shaking her robotic hand had surprised me a little bit. She was a cyborg, and not like one of those cool ones from Terminator. She had lost both her leg, right arm and some parts of her skull under mysterious circumstances. She didn't seem disadvantaged in any way which is why I did not pity her. The only reason I guessed she had a prosthetic leg was because she had a slight limp when she walked. I presumed her sharp and cold attitude was a way of protecting herself. Even in this age having robotic limbs was still not very well accepted. I was curious about how she had gotten that way, yet I was polite and would never ask such a rude question.

"This is our room." Dr. Hernandez stated as she slid her card through the slot and the door slid up. The room had a long silver table surrounded by black leather chairs and a blue bubble in the centre that when activated would project holograms.

Mr. Clarke took a seat at the very end of the oval table and his wife took the seat next to him. Merissa raised her well-tanned arm and pointed at where me, Sven and Geraldine were supposed to sit on the left side of the table. She took the seat opposite us on the right along with Dr. Cooper and Dr. Hernandez.

Blake looked so enthusiastic that I almost fretted that he would fly from his seat and start dancing. He was the youngest in the room besides moi so I did not think he had dealt with many interplanetary assignments. It wasn't exactly reassuring to know this. Luckily, I just had to make it off Earth before I was in the hands of the USM. Somehow I trusted the aliens to keep me safer than the humans.

"Now just to make things clear." Shea began in a sharp tone. "The USM informed us that you are not the very best. There were ten ahead of you." I raised my eyebrows, surprised in an unsurprised way. "Because your father was an ambassador and your brother, Cameron Vis Homen is part of the USM Navy it was figured you would be trusted more because of your family's ties to the USM."

Thanks Shea. Great to know I'm not the best. I muttered internally.

"However," Dr. Blake interjected, "the NASA base in China wanted to make it very clear that they would choose another applicant to take your place if for some reason you were not able to go to Starside Academy ... That's why we've now got armed guards surrounding the base."

My father and I exchanged a glance.

"But the acceptance message we got said another human would not be chosen if Amelia declined." Sven stated.

"That is the case," Mrs. Clarke agreed, "but it's not like we've actually shared any of the messages with the rest of the world so they don't exactly know that."

"Maybe you should tell them that before things get out of hand." Everyone looked at Geraldine. He shrunk like a cowering kitten in his seat and went quiet. He was the one person in the room who really had no grounds to speak on.

"Well." There was a high pitch to Dr. Cooper's voice. Obviously the discussion was making him uncomfortable. "It's too late for that now. One woman has already tried to break into the room Amelia was supposed staying in and tried to plant a shrapnel bomb there."

All three of us on the left side of the table turned sharply to look at Blake. He put his hands up defensively. "Hey, we've changed what room you're staying in so it's cool now."

I looked to my father. He avoided making eye contact and just kept staring at Blake. Sven had already been worried about me getting killed in space, now he had to worry about me getting killed on Earth too?

"Why didn't we hear about this before?" He snapped.

Mrs. Clarke put her hand up as if she was trying to calm an angry lion. I wouldn't have actually been surprised if my father bit her hand off.

"Relax Mr. Hollow. Everything's under control. We didn't tell you because we haven't told the press either. If they found out you imagine what would be covering the tabloids. We don't want the bomb scare being the headline before Amelia leaves Earth. The United Nations wants this to be a bonding time for all countries as Amelia represents this whole planet... or some crap like that. Imagine people's reactions if they thought the Chinese were terrorizing Amelia. America's been to war with China before and we don't want that to happen again. After all, China would kick this country's butt." She said, sounding proud of her Chinese heritage. – It was quite a thing to be proud of.

"Was the assassin Chinese?" I asked, sure hoping that wasn't the case.

"No... it was a skinhead." Dr. Cooper happily explained. "But we all know the press would twist it to sound like a Chinese agent."

Thank god it was a skinhead. I thought. I'd much rather have one of those after moi.

My father sighed and intertwined his fingers before resting his palms on the cold metal table. He had never been more fearful for my life than he was right now. I nudged him with my sneaker under the table to tell him that 'it was all going to be fine'. He looked at me out of the corner of his eye and let a small smile slip out before his face tightened up again.

"All right, but I swear to God that if my daughter's life is in danger then I will haul ass to Sweden where I know they will take care of her properly."

Mr. and Mrs. Clarke's faces paled. If they lost me to Sweden then they would lose all of their funding. And nobody wanted all the funding to go to Sweden. They might have put the money towards something crazy like helping orphans or protecting wildlife. I'm kidding, I would've actually preferred if they put the money towards something like that instead of moi. After all, I was just getting beamed up to the ship Titonic so they did not have to put any money into flying me to Starside. All the funding was just going towards their resources. I thought they already had pretty decent equipment. Then again, everything they owned was from Apple which meant it would be great for a few years before it gained rebellious artificial intelligence and try to take over the world. And then you'd have to take a crowbar to the machines to beat them back into submission. That was the problem with having iJobs run Apple, he was secretly an evil android who wanted to dominate the world.

Now it was Mr. Clarke who put his hand up. "Mr. Hollow. There is no need to resort to actions as extensive as that. There is no time to move Amelia to Sweden. We are running on a very short schedule to get her ready for the academy."

"You just told me there was a bomb scare and we've been here less than an hour." My father said in an exasperating voice. "Not exactly a great start. I swear if there is another threat on her life –I don't care when it is– we are leaving."

I gave Sven a good kick under the table. He needed to calm down or one of us would be going to Sweden and it certainly would not be me. He jumped a little in his seat when my sneaker made contact with his shin before turning his head slowly to shoot me an icy glare. I just continued to look forward at Merissa as if I was not the culprit.

"Relax guys." I laughed hesitantly. "My father is just having a stress monkey moment."

"I'm not having a stre–"

"Shush." I interjected. "But I'm sure my life is safe in your... capable hands. We would just like to be informed next time there is a disturbance."

Mr. and Mrs. Clarke nodded. They were glad I was being so reasonable. After all, it was my life on the line and not my father's. If I wanted to trust my life to the crazy people at D.E. then I was going to.

"We don't like being threatened like that Mr. Hollow." Dr. Hernandez said coldly. "It feels like your trying to gain power over us by threatening to take your daughter away. Blackmail, almost. We're the ones who have done all the planning to get Amelia to Starside and not the Swedish. Amelia must stay here but nobody is forcing you."

Moi, Geraldine and Sven stared blankly at Shea. All I could think about was how much she sounded like Seven of Nine right then with her emotionless tone. I then realized that she had just offended my father. I had two rules: Never hurt or offend my daddy and never laugh at a joke made by Jar Jar Binks. I guess only the first rule applied in this situation.

"Listen up bitch." I growled. Suddenly I had everyone in the room's attention. "I'm allowed to be annoyed with my father for panicking and wanting to get me out of here, but you can't be. You didn't tell us there would be paparazzi when we landed and more importantly you didn't have the decency to tell us right off that there was a bomb scare... Hell, Sweden may be too far but there's always Canada."

It was a short moment before I realized that I had just called Shea a bitch. I had been using that word a bit too much recently and now I was suffering the slow and insufferable consequences as I got the strangest look of anger, yet surprise from her.

"When you call a woman a 'bitch' it's demeaning to our sex as you're implying that all I'm good for is being fucked by an alpha dog." Wow, this woman takes thing seriously. "It's as offensive as if I were call your fathers faggots." She spoke in such a calm voice that it was actually disturbing.

A blanket of painful silence draped over all of us. Dr. Hernandez sure knew how to shut me up. Yes, using the word 'bitch' was very offensive and I should've known better. However, there was no need to use slurs on Sven and Geraldine. I would have come back with a rebuttal but Sven's tense body language was just telling me to leave it. We would most likely talk about it later when we were safe in our own rooms. Oh wait, my room wasn't safe anymore, that's right, we had to worry about bombs.

Mr. Clarke coughed quietly into his fist to clear the silence. "Well. Shall we get on with the meeting?"

We all nodded in agreement and watched as the hologram projector lit up and the D.E. logo appeared. All the time being I still couldn't help but continue to look over at Dr. Hernandez. I wanted to try and get inside her head, see what she was thinking. She did not like moi, and God knew I hated her. Sadly, we were going to have to work together whether we liked it or not.

"Okay Amelia." Sven threw his jacket down onto his and Geraldine's bed with authority. "You may not be able to call that woman a bitch, but biatch is fine."

"Sorry about that guys." I said sincerely to both Geraldine and my father. "You two know how defensive I get of our family... I swear, if I had had time to prepare a debate on her last remark I would've knocked her off her pedestal."

"It's better you didn't. Otherwise she could just 'tip-off' the next assassin what room you're sleeping in." He laughed with no happiness in his tone.

"In which case I would tell her that I was moving to work with Maple Corporation and the NASA base in Canada."

Yes... the Canadian equal to Darwin Enterprises was Maple Corporation and not one joke had been made about how stereotypical the name was. It was named after some scientist called Professor Isaac Maple who lived over two-hundred years ago and created the first satellite from Canada to leave this Solar System and travel to Proxima Centauri which is the next system over. (That satellite was destroyed by the USM who had an outpost in Proxima Centauri and did not want us to discover them).Yeah, I was at the stage where I'd rather be working with Canadians than spend another minute with Dr. Shea Hernandez.

"Whoa, Amelia." Geraldine put his hands up like I was pointing a gun at his chest. "Let's not go that far." He laughed.

I rolled my eyes before striding into the bathroom. I had a paranoid feeling that D.E. had rigged security cameras all through our accommodation; I wanted to check the shower so I wouldn't find a camera a little too late. – It was clean.

"Honey." My father was standing in the doorway. I pulled my head out of the shower and closed the glass door. "They didn't put cameras in the shower. If I'm sure of anything, I'm sure of that." He told me.

I was angry, angry like a freaking hormonal teenager. – What was wrong with me? I was never this emotional. I wanted to tell him about Geraldine and the dusk, how I wanted to leave D.E. and how I was just overall scared. What if my father became ill while I was in the USM, and what if he died before I could come home? No, I didn't want to think about that.

"Amelia?" His eyes softened when he looked at my face. I wasn't crying –I never cried– yet he knew something was troubling me. He closed the door to the bathroom and left Geraldine on the other side. "Are you all right?"

The door is soundproof. Geraldine can't hear you, you can tell Sven all about the dusk.

"I'm fine." My voice was strained.

My father had a small melancholy smile on his face as he wrapped his arms around me. "It's all good, you're gonna be fine."

His words were comforting even though I wasn't worried about myself. I was worried about everybody around me. Being light years away meant I was basically disconnecting myself from Earth; my home. If my father –or even Geraldine– passed away and I wasn't there I would never forgive myself.
7: Spandex Spacesuit

Ranks:

Captain (C)

First Officer (FO)

Chief of Science Officer (CSO)

Chief of Engineering Officer (CEO)

Chief of Tactics Officer (CTO)

Sex:

Male (M)

Female (F)

Hermaphrodite (H)

Not Applicable (NA)

Primitive, opinionated? Is their information recorded on humans from Neanderthal times?

"What the hell?" I turned the tablet around and showed Dr. Cooper. He was the one who had given me the list of dub crews. I was going to give the USM the benefit of the doubt and presume the actual version of the list had gotten lost in translation. There had to be a better word than 'opinionated' to describe moi.

Dr. Cooper stepped away from the counter and looked closely at the list. He raised his eyebrows when he saw the information provided on me and shrugged. "The 'primitive' thing is because humans are considered underdeveloped compared to other civilizations the USM deal with. Also, it is considered a 'primitive trait' to have five fingers instead of four for some reason; not your fault that one." He joked. We couldn't control how fast we evolved. "This is the first year they are accepting minorities from second-class planets to be trained as the top officers which is why the notes seem to be biased about all the cadets." He explained. "I'm not sure why they said opinionated... maybe it's a typo."

"Yeah, it better be. Do I seem opinionated to you?"

"Err... no. I don't think so." He lied. His poker face was atrocious. "But the USM is just going off what Dr. Hernandez told them about you."

That biatch! I thought. Of course she would badmouth about me to the USM.

"And what's with the 'Hey-name' column?" I asked, pointing at where it said 'Am' was my Hey-name.

Dr. Cooper smiled. He knew lots on the subject.

"Well," he began smugly, "Mel is the ruler of the United Systems of Mel... Well obviously she is. So she was raised by Destin-Hey monks and out of respect of them, the USM shortened all names to one syllable because Hey-monks don't pronounce more than one syllable for each word in their language. I know your name is pronounced A-me-li-a and not Am-e-li-a, but Hey-names work weirdly."

I nodded even something still bothered me. "Wait, I thought Mel was born before time itself so how did the Hey-monks raise her?"

Blake looked up in thought for a moment. "She was born right before time started. Some say she was the cause of the big bang. And the Destin-Hey monks found her body shortly after time started when they were still evolving. They raised her as she raised them. They were the first species in the universe and they evolved into humanoid monkey things in a mere day because they were so advanced. They could see the future so they knew what they had to do to survive. They also made the first spaceship."

"How do you know all this?" I asked curiously.

"I have a minor degree in the history of the USM."

Nerd.

The first week at Darwin Enterprises had passed by swiftly. Between the constant fitness and nutrition tests run on my body I was getting exhausted. Today was more of a slow day, the day before I had had my first –and hopefully last– press conference. I was fine with public speaking, but not when reporters were asking me the most imprudent questions. One of them asked if I liked Sweden, Germany or the USA more, another asked if my body would be buried in space or not, and the greatest question of all came from a random temp who was hastily fired right after he said the final word. – He asked if I was single.

That madness was all over now. It was Wednesday and I was finally getting to try on my whole uniform. The hardest part was getting on the 'body-glove' under layer. I supposedly had to wear it because it would help my body deal with constant changes in gravitational pull and air pressure. Most life forms had evolved in very similar habitats. The USM had a 'standard' artificial environment built into all of their space stations that would support all aliens. The only problem was the gravity was pulling me to the core of Starside quicker than it would on Earth. Instead being pulled to the core of Starside at 9.8 m/s2 I was getting pulled at 15.05m/s2. Small difference? Yes, but the long term affect was very bad. If it wasn't for the nylon-thin body glove I was wearing then I probably wouldn't last very long. Oh yes, and it was compulsorily to wear a body-glove when we were floating around in space unless we wanted to die in the vacuum of space so that made sense. The body glove was made of an extra-terrestrial fabric Dr. Cooper just couldn't get his head around. – It was so thin yet so strong.

The poor scientist was actually supposed to help me put on the freaking thing for the first time, but he had a strange fear of women's body parts so I just made him turn around and put it on myself. Sure, the man could discuss the reproductive system of an alien for hours, yet when it came to Earth women his face went red like a tomato.

The body-glove came in two pieces: one top-half and one bottom. It was hard to get the thin neckline over my head even though somehow I managed. The undergarments covered every part of my body excluding my head only. No underwear or bras needed be worn under it seeing as it was both. The top and bottom halves met in the middle at my waist where the top half overlapped the bottom which went all the way to my stomach. It covered my fingers in toes in the black fabric, yet it perfectly outlined my fingernails. The USM tailors were clever when they made my suit; certain areas had thick padding stitched in meaning the body-glove was more modest than it could be. It also meant Dr. Cooper could look at me without blushing.

"Is it comfortable?" He asked as he looked at the required checklist on his tablet.

I gave it a quick test out by flipping backwards before landing with the splits. It was so unrestrained it was almost impossible to tell if it was there.

"Yeah." I stood back up and took a seat on the counter. "So do I have to wear it all the time?"

The door slid open. "Yes." Dr. Hernandez said coldly as came in and took the tablet off Dr. Cooper. "Except for when you are in the regeneration chamber, then you must remove it. You could only last a good month in at Starside without the suit on before your muscles started straining and your bones grew brittle."

Shea and I still weren't on very good terms; we were both too stubborn to talk about what had happened on the first night so instead we were just snappy with each other.

"What happens if I have to go to the bathroom or something during the day?" I asked, it sounded like a stupid question but I had to know. Then I remembered...

"Like I said, you could survive a month without the body-glove but that's the maximum. I'm sure you won't need more than an hour to go to the toilet." She said exactly what I was thinking.

I hopped of the counter and took a step closer to Shea, my voice low. "What happens if... it's that time of the month?"

She whispered back: "You're going to be on a pill so those kinds of things don't happen. Weren't you listening to me when I explained all twenty pills you will be taking monthly?" She asked, as if I sounded like an absurd idiot.

Last week when Shea explained the pills I had really just tuned out. Being on a USM outpost meant I would not be getting enough of the vitamins I usually got on Earth. So once a month, me and the other cadets would sit down for breakfast and instead being served the usual, we would receive a heck of a lot of pills with a glass of some sort of liquid and a small meal because we couldn't eat much after taking that many pills. – It was going to be a blast.

I hadn't been aware that Dr. Cooper had even left the room, but the door on the other side of the lab slid open and he came back in with my cadet uniform. The jacket and pants were florescent white with a black outlining. They were both folded in neat little square shapes and we had no need to worry about ironing because the extra-terrestrial material it was made out of did not crinkle. Resting on top of the pants and jacket was a black belt that had pockets attached to it and a dorky cadet hat. It was also white with a black line running around it and resembled a Navy beret. The uniform was really topped-off with the black 1970s go-go boots I had to wear. Thank God they didn't have much of a heel or my father would have never let me live it down.

"Once you put this whole uniform on you may feel a little hot and sweaty but don't worry," Blake reassured moi, "that'll all change when you move to Starside. It's freaking cold in the USM because most of the species are sensitive to heat so the rest of you are the ones who've got to suffer the cold."

I picked up the white beret to feel the fabric when I noticed the elastic black ring that had been hiding underneath. I set the beret back down and instead grabbed the little band to show to Dr. Cooper.

Blake looked up in thought for a moment before snapping his fingers. "Oh yes, technically you should be cutting your hair so that it only reaches your ears. However, they're letting you get off with tying back your hair."

I stared blankly at him. I would have been perfectly happy with cutting my hair if it made the USM happy; I wish Blake had consulted with me first before making decisions. Maybe he had just made the assumption that I was a typical teenage girl who loved my hair. I did like my hair, but I would've happily cut it if I needed to.

Surprisingly it was more awkward putting on the uniform now that Shea was in the room. Sure, I was covered from the neck downwards in black fabric, but I didn't like how she just stood there with a judgmental look on her face. Every time I accidently tried to punch my foot right through the fabric as I put on the tight spandex-like pants she cringed. She was overacting a little seeing as the spacesuit was made of an almost invincible fibre.

I pulled my hair back into a tight bun before placing the silly beret on my head. I had never looked more like Wilma Deering from Buck Rogers in the 25th Century fused with Seven of Nine from Star Trek: Voyager, except my uniform had a freaking beret so nothing could top that.

On my limbs, chest and back were strange black dots that were like small magnets covered by a thin layer of the alien spandex. It looked odd having black dots on my white jacket in two incredibly awkward places.

Dr. Cooper noticed me touching the hard dots on my arm (I wouldn't touch the ones on my chest) and shook his head. "Don't worry; those little magnets are for your armour. You've probably seen them on your brother's uniform when you chat with him. We do not have your armour but apparently it kicks ass." He laughed.

With raised eyebrows I pinched one of the black dots on my arm before deciding to give it a rest, wishing I had been placed in the dub crew: Marmus (or Mar), where their uniform was entirely black and the dots would not show. The four colours for the dub crews were also the four colours on the USM emblem on the left side of my jacket. The logo looked like somebody had sliced an 'X' shape through one large diamond to make four small ones. Starting from the top and going clockwise the colours were red, white, blue and black. The white diamond on my uniform was only visible due to its thin black outline. The four colours looked fine on Cameron's uniform seeing as his was grey, however none of the cadet uniforms could pull it off so easily. I wasn't sure how those colours –let alone the diamond shape– symbolized the USM, but that was probably something I had to look up if I wanted to pass the 'history of the USM' class.

Dr. Hernandez circled around moi and hunted for any faults in my uniform. She found none, but wouldn't compliment me on my tidiness. "You will receive your earpiece, wrist computer and armour on the USM naval ship: Titonic seeing as it is still being programmed." She took a step closer to the door which slid open when it sensed her coming. "I'll go check with Merissa if she's ready to test you in the fitness centre with your new uniform on. I'll get you when she's ready."

I was about to say goodbye, but stopped at the first word when the door slid closed behind her. An obstinate silence sat between me and Dr. Cooper. Neither of us were exactly sure what to talk about seeing as we already had a pretty awkward relationship.

"So," I mumbled hesitated, "where are ya from?"

I figured it was the easiest question to ask seeing as certainly wasn't American. At first I thought he was English, yet there was a different flavour to his accent that I couldn't put my finger on.

"Err... Ever heard of New Zealand?" He asked.

"Yeah." I nodded. "It became part of Australia thirteen years ago didn't it?"

Dr. Cooper's eye twitched. Behind his semi-neurotic smile was pure frustration. His grip tightened on the tablet in his hands. I was braced myself for him to snap the thing in half.

"Yeah." He said in a voice higher than helium. "I remember that change well... because we Kiwis love Aussies and were so excited to become part of their country. That's what we get for putting our money into healthcare, education and other crazy things like that instead of our military."

He burst out into high, hysterical laugher for a moment before coming to his senses and giving himself a spontaneous slap on the cheek. He looked once at me, smiled, and then strode out of the room, his white lab coat flapping vigorously.

Well... That explained why he was living in the USA.

I took advantage of the empty lab to go over to the mirror and get a clear look at my uniform. It wasn't all too bad. I did not look as stupid as I thought I would. The little inconveniently places black dots on my chest were still annoying, but everybody in the USM had them. Everything was suddenly feeling all too real. It was hard to tell if I was sweating due to the two lairs I was wearing or the realization of how close my final day on Earth was. In two days I was meeting President Harry Darwin (a.k.a. the Liberal Dictator) and then it was Saturday... and on Sunday that was it; that was my final day.

Dr. Hernandez returned shortly with Merissa following. Their laughter could be heard echoing down the hall outside, yet as soon as Shea opened the door her smile dropped and she transformed back into the dark monster I knew so well. For some reason both Merissa and Blake were good friends with her despite the fact they were both exuberant and friendly people and Shea was... well, the exact opposite.

"Where did Dr. Cooper go?" Shea asked as she looked from left to right in search of him.

I simply shrugged and shook my head innocently. "I'm sure he'll be back soon."

She raised her eyebrow, displeased. "You said something about New Zealand didn't you?"

Obviously it wasn't the first time Blake had stormed out of a room because of a discussion on the Australia/New Zealand conflict. I was only five when the whole thing happened so I didn't really know much about it. Nobody had died so it had not been big in global news. What was more popular at the time was when Alaska was adopted by Canada in the same year before Canada became a State and we got Alaska back. Then we lost Canada again but they didn't take Alaska with them the second time. It was like the world was playing a giant game of Risk that year except China had already won before it started. Sure, the war between the USA and China was said to have been a 'tie' even though we all knew which country really won. Hell, if the Nordic countries hadn't intervened and complained to the UN the USA would be part of the Republic of China. Nobody even knew places like Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark cared about the USA (Iceland was neutral about the situation... bastards).Of course then tension between the US, the Nordic countries and China was still there however none of us could stay mad at each other. After all; there were USM aliens to deal with that really owned all of us.

"Ugh." Merissa smacked her palm to her forehead. "Don't talk about New Zealand with him. He can't handle that kind of stuff."

"That kind of stuff?" I tilted my head. "Then the fuck does he live in Washington D.C. and work almost directly for the man who does 'that kind of stuff'?"

"Well... he doesn't give a rat's ass about politics here for some reason."

"But he lives he–"

Merissa put up her hand and shook her head. "It's just best not to question his beliefs. Hey... nice outfit, wanna go test it out?"

The fitness centre wasn't all that big, but it didn't need to be seeing as only moi was using it properly. According to Merissa the equipment was generally all packed away in a storage facility and the space was used for office parties. Once D.E. got the message from the USM and NASA about my arrival they quickly had to get it all back out again and call in Merissa to be my trainer. Merissa was not a part of Darwin Enterprises. For the past four year she had been back and forth between Earth and Mars teaching astronauts how to survive the conditions on Mars. Earlier in the week she had explained to me how she intended to be the first woman on Mercury. I wasn't in a place to judge seeing I was about to be the first full-blooded human to join an alien navy.

"Right." Merissa clapped her hands together. "So we've got to check how this suit affects your agility and speed." She pointed to the air conditioning vent up on the roof. "We're cooling this room down to simulate the environment of Starside. That is, unless you want to get all sweaty and forever have a stinky uniform." She grinned at her own joke.

She was right, it was cold. My breath was almost visible as I exhaled through my mouth. I almost wished the uniform required some sort of ski mask, the tip of my nose and ears were going numb. I did not understand how Merissa didn't have a jacket on. Then again, she was from Vermont and was used to the cold. I was wondering if Shea could handle the cold, but after becoming a cyborg she lost most feeling in her remaining limbs. The sleeves of her lab coat were rolled up. Her left arm had Goosebumps rising on it. She took no notice as she used her robotic right arm to work on her iPad. Poor woman, it makes you wonder what could have happened that damaged her body so severely... Wait, why am I feeling bad for her?

The course I was going on was like the badass version of a child's playground mixed with a conveyer belt and an army crawl course. I basically had to make it to the other side while the floor moved against me on the crawl course. I'm not exactly sure when a situation like this would ever come up in the USM Navy unless they chose to conveniently send me to a planet made entirely out of conveyer belts and playground equipment. I totally kicked ass on it, though. I beat my time from my original test from earlier when I was in normal fitness gear. I'm pretty sure I beat Merissa's time as well though she wasn't going to tell me that.

Every part of the uniform was perfect. Even though my hands were covered by the black glove, I actually had better grip when it came to the monkey bars because of the special grip padding on the palm and fingers. It was strange how all D.E. did was send my measurements to the USM and the tailors could work it out perfectly just off the holographic version of me. It had to be hard to make every single uniform unique due to the variety in alien species. Hell, it had to be awful repairing and remaking all the uniforms. And I was going to be one of those cadets who conveniently misplaced my beret every other day and they would have the pleasure of making me a new one. C'mon, what enemy would be scared of a dorky white girl in an even whiter beret?

That's a good question, who the heck is the USM defending the galaxy from anyways? Earth was so wrapped up in its own measly little conflicts that we had somehow forgotten to ask what we were up against when it came to the battles in space. All I knew was that the USM was usually up against someone big. From what Cameron Vis Homen told me; the leader was a neurotic woman who had it out for Mel. Apparently she had seen into space and time and wanted to change her future by killing Mel before Mel killed her. Random? Yes, but that Tamarax lady had killed a heck of a lot of USM soldiers to get her way so therapy was not an option for her anymore. My brother had never seen her before even though he had seen her henchmen and all he had to say about them was "they are huge."

Wearing the uniform was making everything all too real. I'd become incredibly sick of being on Earth and was ready to get over to Starside and kick ass. Sure, training to be a first officer was going to be difficult, but if Riker could do it then so could I. The main concern for me was how good the rest of the dub crew: Galle was because their performance would reflect my command skills. My dub crew's captain seemed to have interesting notes though... Did it say he was a sexist polygamist?

Oh shit, I'm screwed.
8: Meanwhile in a Place Similar to Hell...

Some women just don't suit makeup. Tamarax was one of these ladies yet she put it on anyways. It was the last remaining shard from her life before she went insane that suggested a part of her still wanted to feel beautiful.

Alien lipstick was a little different from any human lipstick. Tamarax pulled out the strange screwdriver-like device before hitting the red button on the side of it. A small red laser shot out and stained her thin lips red like blood. She puckered her lips as she moved the laser to each corner of her mouth. One slipup and she could tattoo a crooked red smile to her face for the rest of the week.

Makeup especially does not suit a woman who has blood dripping from her nose. One of the many side-effects of looking into a tear in the space time continuum: Whenever she thought too hard her nose would bleed. She happily ignored the blood and licked it away whenever it got close to her mouth.

"Guess what's happening in four days." She called through the cracked bathroom door. The lights in her queen-like bedroom were off, yet she knew her companion was still wide awake. After all, he probably needed to go to a medic to treat his stab wounds. – The problem with long fingernails.

"Yes?" A muffled voice called back. Obviously he had smashed his head into the pillow and was trying to catch up on the sleep he had missed out on the night before.

Tamarax pushed the bathroom door all the way open with the tip of her nail. Light poured into the bedroom and shined directly on her poor companion's face. His blue skin and darker blue blood sparkled in the light before he pulled the sheets up and over his face. He and Tamarax were some of the types of aliens that had adaptable bodies to survive any conditions. That's why they didn't have to wear body-gloves or sleep in regeneration chambers. They just slept in normal beds.

"The cadets from second-class planets are going to make their journey to Starside." Tamarax whispered to her drowsy toy.

Her companion sat up, the sheets slid off his upper-body revealing the golden flame tattoos running up his chest and back. His silky black hair was all over the place after his restless night.

"What does that mean for you? Does it change your plans with Tak?" he asked curiously.

She smiled and shook her head. "No, not at all. Can you guess why these cadets fascinate me?"

Her companion didn't have to think twice. "Is Amelia Hollow one of them?"

Tamarax clapped her hands together and the lights in the bedroom came on. Her companion had to squint to see properly. She sat down next to him on the bed before carefully running her sharp nail down his the centre of his chest, passing older scars as she went. She wasn't applying enough pressure to draw blood, but she often did this to remind him just who was in charge. She sensed his fear as she did this. All of his muscles tensed.

"Oh yes, she is." Tamarax answered after a short amount of time. "I wonder what Mel would think if I killed the girl."

"Probably be a little upset." Her companion joked hesitantly, finding it hard to look at her when she had luminous black blood dribbling from her nose. Actually, he always had a hard time looking at his master.

Tamarax's companion didn't really have a name. He just had the licence number: KC2203. He was a slave clone she bought on the black market thirty years back. Despite being a clone, he still had deep religious values like the rest of his species. The golden flames on his body represented how their alien god created their home world from the ashes of a great fire. Slavery was illegal, yet the USM didn't have as strong of a grip on some planets in the farther reaches of the galaxy where they got away with it. Most slaves were a clone of their own merchant like KC2203, however they still had unique minds. Slaves tended to be used to do dangerous jobs like deep space mining because they could be easily be replaced if they died and didn't have to be paid. KC2203 on the other hand felt he was treated like royalty compared to his brothers. Sure, he did not like Tamarax and feared her more than anything, yet it was nice to be on the good side of the woman who wanted to reshape time and space.

"By the way. When you reshape the universe will I still be here?" KC2203 asked cautiously.

He tried not to flinch when she kissed his cheek A line of her blood stained his cheek. "Oh... we will see."

He laughed meekly, she wasn't joking.
9: The Double Standards of the Liberal Dictator

Wow, for some reason I never expected to find myself in the Oval Office during the reign of a killer dictator's son. I had no problem with President Harry seeing as he wasn't a mass killer, but like many others I wanted him to free all the Right Wingers living in Florida. Sure, he said he was liberal and thought everyone deserved to be treated equally, except those who did not treat others equally, in which case he threw them into Florida.

Secretly it was every voter's dream to just have the opposing side vanish to a place where they wouldn't have to worry about their votes, but none of us wanted Clive Darwin to make that dream a reality and fuck up the States forever. It was a very sad day when the Left Wing party was acting more ludicrous than something as bad as the Tea Party. It was an even sadder day when North Korea was telling us how to run things. Sure, they were one of the most liberal countries in the world now, but it still seemed hypocritical with their complicated past and all.

One of the servants poured me some Coca-Cola before slowly backing out again. The old-style clock seemed to be making the most noise as the ticking sound echoed across the room. An unnerving noise, I was considering if I would have time to walk over to the thing, turn it off, and get back to my seat in time. Sadly, the two white doors swung open and the man himself strolled in. Four photographers, a bodyguard, and his assistant followed. It was a chaotic scene. The pressure of running a dysfunctional country seemed to be getting to poor President Harry Darwin. He was young, yet his eyes were dark and solemn and showed his exhaustion even if he did put on a good smile.

Like the rehearsal I stood up on command. I hated the freaking blue dress the D.E. had put me in even if was from Gucci. The dress was fine, but it was made for somebody who had larger breasts. Really, I was as flat as a board. I guess that is what I get for having my breasts surgically reduced in size.

I had gotten out of wearing makeup except for on this one occasion when the D.E. forced moi to. From what I had learned; the USM had chosen me because of who I was, but it wasn't okay to be myself in front of other humans. – Why am I still here?

Without saying one word the president put his hand out. I took it before we both looked at the camera and smiled. To be honest, he looked like a video game nerd with his vampire-pale skin and wild curly black hair. There was no way this man was running this country on his own. When we took our seats I examined his assistant who was standing behind his master's chair like a trained dog. He was a middle-aged man, well unless cosmetics played a role in his looks. There was nothing to spectacular about him. Grey hair, dark brown eyes, Italian suit, iPad in hand, earpiece and a bureaucrat. Yes, this had to be the real man running the country.

"A pleasure to meet you." I said, like an actress reading from cue cards.

"The feeling's mutual." Harry laughed. How unprofessional! At least I had learned my lines!

He took a sip of a foreign red liquid, wine. Obviously the alcohol ban of 2307 AD didn't apply to him. Nice to know the he could be the only man to be drunk on the job in over five-hundred years.

"Miss Amelia Frank Hollow," Harry began, finally reading from his invisible cue cards, "I speak on behalf of the United Nations when I say that it is an honour to have you be the one to represent planet Earth in the United Systems of Mel Navy. Your presence will help our relationship with the USM progress."

"Thank you, I'm excited to represent Earth."

"I'll tell you honestly, I don't think it's going to be an easy job. Earth has a long way to go before we're worthy of being first-class to the USM."

"I'll do my best to prove this planet to the USM."

His smile suddenly changed from formal, to cheeky in the blink of an eye. "Well enough of this crap. Shall we grab lunch?"

I could not help looking surprised. I knew the lunch was coming; the D.E. team, my father and Geraldine were all attending it. I was just expecting a little more discussion on the whole Starside Academy thing.

Harry Darwin's assistant looked as if he was staring at a dead diseased rat on the side of the road. It was easy to tell he despised the president, but little ignorant Harry did not take one notice. Yes... I was allowed to call President Darwin 'little' seeing as I was a few inches taller than him.

I did not like the way Harry Darwin had his arm over my shoulders as we walked down the white and powder yellow halls. He did not seem like a sexually driven man towards moi (although he was a nerdy loner which meant he would try and get sex whenever he could), but people didn't just touch me. It felt too controlling. He was so lucky I was resisting the urge to grab his arm and twist it till it snapped. I'm sure the photographers would just love it if I did that. I would much rather have the headline: "AMELIA HOLLOW BREAKS PRESIDENT'S ARM" over "PRESIDENT AND AMELIA HOLLOW CLOSER THAN FRIENDS". Yes, the photos of his with his arm around me were like candy to the ratty little photographers.

We walked into the dining room. The guests stood up as we walked in. There was Sven, Geraldine, Dr. Cooper, Dr. Hernandez, Merissa, Mr. and Mrs. Clarke plus three other men in suits. My father was smiling until he noticed the [resident's arm around me and his eyes popped out of their sockets. He was thinking: Why is the President's arm around my daughter? Why is the President's arm around my daughter? Why is the President's arm around my daughter? Over and over. I gave him a look suggesting I did not like the situation either before taking my seat.

A nice lunch. Obviously the chefs had done their research on what food I liked seeing as a delectable chocolate tart was part of my dessert. Harry Darwin was a very social man in an anti-social way. After giving a short speech he would not shut up about how crazy his daily routine as president was.

"Well Miss Hollow. Are you excited to be in the White House?" He finally asked.

The boy sounded a little tipsy. This was my chance to tell him how I felt; he was in a playful mood and wouldn't be offended in the same way... Probably wouldn't even remember.

"Well sir it has been fine... but there's just one teeny thing." I used my fingers to show how tiny the problem was.

"Yes?" He sat up properly in his chair, intrigued. Everybody else was chatting. Nobody would hear our conversation.

"You see, I don't like being touched. I especially don't like being touched when I'm in a dress that I find too revealing anyways." I explained.

He tilted his head slightly in confusing. Then it clicked.

"Wait... are you talking about the walk here?"

"Yes." I nodded slowly. "Truth is, I don't want that to be the photo that comes up on the news sites and I don't think my father wants it to be either."

"Oh." He muttered solemnly.

Shit, I just made the president of the United States feel bad. I probably should not have said that, but I didn't care how much power he had, it did not mean he had the right to put his arm around me.

"Sorry about that. Next time it won't happen." He lifted his glass and took a big sip.

"Not to worry, just one of my things."

He put on a fake smile, was about to pat me on the shoulder, realized that wouldn't be wise, and pulled his hand back. We did not speak to each other for the rest of the meal.

My father ran his hand across his eye through his hair. "You didn't. Oh, please tell me you didn't say that!"

"I did."

Sven couldn't help but laugh; only his daughter would be crazy enough to give the president a telling-off. He had been wondering why Harry Darwin and I had not spoken more that afternoon, now he knew why.

"So is the Secret Service going to break into our room and kill us tonight?" Geraldine asked, jokingly. I didn't give him an answer. – They very well could for all I knew.

"Well you weren't the only one who despised him today." My father had a boyish smile on his face; he had seen or heard something that he shouldn't have. "During the tour he was at the back speaking to Dr. Hernandez. I think they were having a tiff about what was best for you Amelia. Man, Shea does not like him."

I came out of the bathroom after successfully getting out of the Gucci dress and into my plaid pyjama shorts and retro Star Wars shirt. – A very attractive site. It was the reason my father never worried about me sneaking a boy over in the night. As soon as it got dark, BOOM, I became a sexless creature, also known as a nerd.

"Huh." I nodded my head in thought. I wonder what they could have been talking about in particular concerning me.

"Hey dad?"

Sven looked up from re-arranging the clothing he had stored in the dresser. "Hmm?"

A strange question: "How do you feel about Clive Darwin dumping all the Right Wingers in Florida?"

His eyes shifted to the ceiling for a moment. He was searching for any recording devices the D.E. might have installed that could pick up on our conversation. He saw nothing, but still looked very hesitant, his voice low: "Err... I don't know. This isn't really my country in the same way."

"But you've lived here long enough to have an opinion I think."

"Yes, that's true." He took off his glasses and put them in their black case. "It's like this Amelia: I don't agree with what crazy Clive did. It's a crime against human rights like Guantanamo Bay was." He paused to think for a moment. "Then again, the crazy people who ran the Right Wing party were trying to take away the human rights of other people so I don't agree with them. It's a complicated situation. Honestly... Florida kind of reminds me of the concentration camps from World War 2. I can't tell if this is really that different."

I shrugged my shoulders. "I think it sort of is. Hitler had no real standing to do what he did, but he brainwashed enough people to think he was right. The Jewish people hadn't done anything wrong, but the Right Wing voters have done a lot of bad things in the past."

"Have they? Or have you just been brainwashed to think they have?" He asked in his conspiracist voice.

"Nope," I shook my head happily, "I took American history. I don't think there's ever been a good president from the old Right Wing..."

I stopped myself quickly. Too late. My father knew where I was going with my statement.

He laughed. "How about Abraham Lincoln? He ring a bell?"

"Okay." I waved away his points. "No good Right Wing guys from after err... the late 20th century."

"You got me there." He laughed. "Well... save that one guy from the 22nd century."

"Yeah... that guy was great."

Geraldine joined the conversation. "Honestly, how many good Left Wing presidents can ya name?"

It took a moment, but I could count thirteen from memory. Oh well, I doubt my knowledge of the US presidents will really matter at Starside Academy. On that note, I went to bed that night wondering what the politics were like on the planets my fellow cadets were from. Maybe they had bad governments, tyrannies, mob rule, anarchy... communism! Maybe the politics of those other second-class planets made Earth's political problems look like disagreements in a child's sandbox.
10: Final Countdown

The big day had finally arrived. Cameron Vis Homen was meeting me at the Washington Monument and together we would beam up to the spaceship: Titonic. Was I nervous? Yes. Was my father even more nervous to meet his son for the first time and lose his daughter? Definitely.

"Shit, shit, shit." I gasped as I hastily put on my USM cadet uniform. It was just me and Dr. Hernandez in the dressing room because there was a 'women's' sign on the door and Dr. Cooper didn't feel comfortable coming in to help.

"Does this feel real to you?" I asked her, almost in a panic.

"Yes." She said placidly. This day had felt real to her since two AM when she was forced to get up and start organizing my departure.

"My dad... father is so excited about meeting his son for the first time. He's more excited about that than moi getting accepted to Starside Academy." I laughed.

I knew my father well. I knew he didn't think he had to worry about me as much as he had to worry about Cameron. I saw how tense he had gotten when Cameron first got into Planetarymark.

(Planetarymark was the USM space station located closest to the Hashtish Alliance. Cameron did his first two years of training there before getting an upgrade to Starside Academy due to his advanced tactics skills. Starside Academy was only for cadets training to be commanding officers.)

My father would never admit it but, he really had not wanted either of his children to go into armed forces. He was proud of me and Cameron, but he was a pacifist at heart.

I pulled my hair back into a strict bun and placed the silly cadet beret on my head. Ugh, I was so going to make the 'Hot or Not' section of any trashy website. I looked silly, but soon I would be surrounded by silly looking aliens.

"Shall we?" I opened the door for Shea. She rolled her eyes and stepped out.

Dr. Blake Cooper was sitting on the bench across form the changing rooms. Once he saw us coming he put his phone away and got up. We were in the secret rooms installed inside the Washington Monument where the dancers got changed every year for their 4th of July performance.

"I just heard from outside." He sounded more gleeful than I thought a man could sound. "Ensign Cameron Vis Homen... He's just beamed down. He's behind the stage."

I couldn't help but smile. Not because of how excited I was to see Cameron, but because of how excited I was for my father to see his son. Sven, Geraldine, Merissa, President Harry Darwin and the Clarke's were all on the floor below us with some other random people I did not know, or care about. If Blake had just heard that Cameron was here then no doubt my father knew as well.

We took the elevator down to the floor below to where the others were all waiting. Geraldine was in his finest turquoise dress while Sven was in a black suit with a tie to match Geraldine. As a pair they looked like they were attending a wedding as the bride's maid and groom's man. President Harry Darwin's assistant, Mr. Flandry, wondered whether or not it was a bright idea to have a cross-dresser on the stage and did request Geraldine to wear a suit as well. Seeing as it was a 'request' and not a 'demand' Geraldine made the easy presumption that the suit was optional and still chose to wear his best dress. – I respect him fully for his decision. He was better looking than the rest of the women in the room combined.

"Did ya hear?" I asked my father as I stepped into the small waiting room.

He nodded electrically. "Yes. Your brother is here, on Earth!" His voice went a little higher at the end of the sentence and his Swedish accent broke through. He was very excited.

"Are we allowed to go down and see him?" I asked Mrs. Clarke.

She sucked her thin top lip behind her bottom. "I think we have to wait until security calls us down. They still have to confirm his identity."

I looked to my father who had already punched the elevator button. He was not waiting.

"Mr. Hollow, you ca–" Mrs. Clarke began.

"Geraldine, Amelia. Let's go meet him." Sven interjected.

I looked back to Mrs. Clarke, shrugged, and joined my father with Geraldine at the elevator.

"Mr. Hollow." Mr. Clarke was backing his wife. "He has to go through the safety precautions seeing as he is not from Earth. We must make sure that–"

"See you guys down there!" My father said just as the doors closed.

Once the elevator started moving downwards Geraldine squealed like a girl and wrapped his arms around my father. All the excitement was getting to him even though Cameron was not his son.

"Honey, you finally get to meet your baby!" He kissed my father on the cheek. He then looked at me and realized I was also Sven's child. "Well... your other baby." He laughed, I did not.

Cameron and I had sibling rivalry despite living light years apart. Even on my big day my father was still more excited about seeing Cameron. Sure, it was the son he had never met, but I wanted to be a jealous brat and be annoyed that I wasn't the one getting attention during the event meant for me.

Sven could not control his cheerful giddiness. "Yeah... I know. Meeting my son and saying goodbye to my daughter. I can't tell if this is a dream or a nightmare."

"Hey!" I yelped, semi-jokingly.

"I'm kidding Amelia." My father reassured me. "This is just one of those confusing dreams that isn't scary but doesn't make a whole lot of sense either."

"Right."

The elevator stopped. There was that brief moment of suspense as we waited to see what was on the other side of the doors. Nothing. We had to walk down a short hallway, turn left, open the third door on the right and then the suspense was relieved.

"Now just hold still for a moment." A security officer said as he scanned my big brother with the X-ray machine. Poor little Cameron did not look very comfortable standing in the middle of four men in black suits all staring at him judgingly. They still could not handle how different he looked.

"C-Cameron?" My father said in a rather high voice.

My brother looked up sharply. His grey eyes ran across me and Geraldine before landing firmly on Sven. His body relaxed when the whole planet suddenly seemed less foreign to him. After all, his daddy was here to protect him now.

One of the taller men stepped between us and Cameron. "Mr. Hollow, I'm just finishing the scan and–"

"Oh, shut it." My father pushed past him with ease. Geraldine and I followed awkwardly behind him.

Cameron smiled at the man running at the X-ray as if he was trying to apologize for his father's rudeness. He then stepped off the X-ray and cautiously walked towards the three of us. He was still very aware of the men around the room, but they all knew not to interfere with the ex-ambassador and his son so they all just pretended to be doing other work while all knew they were still watching us.

"Err... um." Cameron didn't know what to say. Instead he just smiled sweetly.

My father reached into his pocket and pulled out his earpiece and uncoiled the wire before inserting it into his ear. Like before during our holo chat; Cameron could understand all of us, but only Sven could understand him. I really wanted to get my earpiece soon because I hated being left out of their conversations.

"Hi Cameron." My father said after a moment. Both of them had forgotten how to start a conversation.

"Hello f-father." Cameron said in English. He wanted to respect all of the humans in the room.

"Hi Cameron!" I said cheerfully to break the silence. He smiled at me and nodded. Waving wasn't exactly a normal gesture on his planet, but he did it anyways.

"How was the beam down?" Sven asked. It was all he could think of.

"Err... quick." Cameron laughed hesitantly. He didn't like the serious expressions of all the other men in the room. He felt he could not please them no matter what he did.

My dad gave up on trying to make awkward small talk and hugged his son. He couldn't believe he was meeting his in the flesh. Della Vis Homen would not approve, even though she had no say. They hugged for a long time. In the Hashtish Alliance they often expressed their emotions physically. The equal to an 'Earth hug' was a one-armed embrace, but before Cameron had beamed down he decided he wanted to impress his father by researching what humans did when they first met up.

"I can't believe it's you." Sven choked. He wasn't crying. He was just so excited that he was almost struggling to breathe. He was actually laughing a bit for some reason.

The door opened behind us just as Sven and Cameron broke their hug. Dr. Hernandez was standing there with Mr. Clarke. Both looked displeased. Merissa was standing behind them holding my duffle bag. – I had forgotten it upstairs.

"Well... Looks like you found him." Mr. Clarke laughed. He had seen many aliens via hologram in his time as president of D.E. so Cameron wasn't a shock to him.

"Yeah." Geraldine agreed. "Sorry about running off. Sven just gets very excited."

"So... am I going in front a big audience?" Cameron asked in Kestern. He had forgotten that nobody else besides his father could understand him. Sven nodded before giving Cameron a sympathetic pat on the shoulder and telling everyone else what he had said in English.

Cameron shifted from side to side. He was camera shy. He worried what the humans would think of him because of his green skin. Like my father I gave him a pat on the shoulder. Of course my 'pats' were far more aggressive and my brother had put his foot forward for balance to keep from falling over.

He was shorter than me in real life. I had not expected that. Most harsnics stood at five feet and 5'6 so Cameron was considered tall standing at 5'7. Height in the Hashtish Alliance was very important. Studies had shown that taller harsnics held the highest ranking jobs. Cameron's mother, Della, tended to wear high-heels (very high-heels) that made it possible for to look my father right in the eyes. She was like a supermodel on Hashtish 4. I had seen pictures and I must say; it was easy to see why my father had been attracted to her. Sure, she had to wear a body-glove that covered her from the neck down, but the red dress she put on was all too alluring to men. The black body-glove left nothing to the imagination.

Merissa passed me my duffle bag. I unzipped the pocket on the side and pulled out my present for Cameron. In my hand was a black case holding pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses. I had ten other pairs in my bag. One was my own pair, some for my dub crew and the remaining four could be for any friends I made along the way. I do not know why I wanted to bring sunglasses as my gift. Sure, they were light and didn't take up much space... but we would be in a space station where we most likely would not need them.

"Oh, thank you!" Cameron said gleefully as he accepted his present. – He had no idea what it was.

He pulled out the sunglasses and examined them. The harsnic looked more excited by them then I thought he would. That is when I noticed that he only had four fingers (or three fingers and one thumb). It was only a small difference in the physical makeup of a harsnic compared to a human. That was why Della and Sven had been able to procreate together. Most children of interspecies parents had been genetically engineered because each parent had a different number of chromosomes. However, harsnics and humans conveniently had the exact same amount. Had my father known that at the time he probably would have used his 'hour out of the body glove' more wisely and used protection.

Cameron looked so cute in sunglasses. They made him look more like an alien with his green skin and huge black lenses covering his eyes.

"Activate." He said in Kestern. When nothing happened he tried to say 'activate' again in English but it sounded a little funny.

"There a problem?" I asked him as we followed the stage manager back down the hall.

"How do you turn them on?" He asked Sven in Kestern, who translated it for moi.

"Err... you don't. They're just sunglasses."

He tilted his head slightly before nodding. He was so used to advanced technology that he could not even recall what simple things like sunglasses were originally meant for. I couldn't blame him for thinking that the Ray-Bans would do more than just exist; they did look a little too cool to just do nothing.

"We have presents for Amelia aboard the Titonic." Cameron told my father who told me. Sven didn't say it with much enthusiasm. I presumed he was getting tired of just being the translator in a conversation.

I put on my own sunglasses too. What better way to leave Earth then with kickass sunglasses on?

"Do I have to say anything?" I asked the stage manager. I was waiting backstage with him, Sven, Geraldine and Cameron. The others had already taken their seats on stage as President Harry Darwin gave a speech. We were just waiting for our queue to go on.

"Just a farewell." He told me casually. "You've not been scripted to say anything so you could really just say 'goodbye' and leave it at that... but don't do that."

Damn, I had been planning on just saying goodbye and nothing more!

Yeah, there was a little bit of a turnout. Cameron gulped as he saw the thousands of heads in the audience. Their skin and hair were such a wide range of colours. Harsnic skin colour only ranged from light green to dark green while hair could either be orange, red or brown. When Della was pregnant Cameron she was worried that he would get his father's blonde hair or blue eyes which would just prove more that he was a cross-breed. The harsnics were a highly respected race so Della didn't want many people to know that his father was from a second-class planet. Now more than ever Cameron wished he had been raised on Earth where everybody looked so strangely different. When he had first seen a projection of his father he was shocked... and then he saw Geraldine a few years later.

"Relax." I whispered to him as we walked on stage. "Now that you're wearing shades nobody can see the fear in your eyes. The photos of you are going to turn out fine in the newspapers."

"That is good." He said in English. My God, why did my brother sound so German?

"Amelia." A stage manager whispered to me from just off stage. "Go to the podium. Say your farewell."

This was it. I was saying goodbye and then I was leaving. I gave him the thumbs up before walking across the stage to the glass podium. It was incredibly wide and jammed with thirty little microphones. President Harry Darwin was there already talking to the audience about 'the greatness of the USM'. I stood next to him, waiting for him to introduce me. Most of the audience had their camera phones raised. Some were filming me and Harry, others were filming Cameron who was sitting quietly next to my father and Geraldine. They had seen pictures of aliens online, but never in real life.

"And now the woman herself..." President Harry Darwin gestured to me. "...Miss Amelia Frank Hollow, the first human to join the USM Navy. Here to say her farewell."

He took a step back to let me get closer to the podium. I smiled awkwardly at the audience. It took me a second to realize I still had my sunglasses on. Not like I was going to take them off. I felt like the coolness of the sunglasses cancelled out the silliness of the cadet beret.

"Greetings Earthlings." I joked, no laughter. It was so awkward that not even a cricket would chirp. "I must say I'm very sad to leave this planet... let alone this great country." That got some patriotic cheers. "Wow... I really don't know what to say. But I guess all I need to say is that I hope I represent Earth well and... farewell. I'll see you guys later. I love America men Sverige är ett bättre land!" I said cheekily.

This was the issue with having an improvised goodbye. Still the audience cheered so I guessed I had said enough. I stepped away from the podium and waved. My father caught my eye, he was laughing a little because he knew what I had tried to say in Swedish even if my pronunciation was bad. Cameron also knew what I had said due to his translator and so did Mr. Flandry. Trust me, Harry's assistant was not happy. Luckily, by the time the rest of the American knew what I had said I would be long gone.

Everyone stood up. This was the part where I was supposed to say my final goodbyes. A stage manager snuck on and passed me my duffle bag. – I had forgotten it again. I was about to swing it over my back when I remembered my phone in the side pocket. I pulled it out and secretly wrote a text to all of my friends saying: "Later guys. Love ya'll!" before throwing it back in the pocket and swinging the duffle bag over my back.

Cameron and I shook the hands of all the men and women on the stage. I didn't know most of them, but I pretended to and shook their hands sincerely. When I reached Geraldine I hugged him. I did not care about the dusk situation at that moment. I was probably never going to see him again so no point in ending on bad terms. I was about to hug my father but Cameron was still hugging him. They had had so little time together. Sven couldn't believe he was losing both of his children now.

"Be safe." Sven whispered to me as we hugged for the final time. "Cameron said you two will call me from the ship."

"We will. Bye daddy."

"Bye-bye sweetheart."

I wish we could have had a longer goodbye. I wished even more that the last person I had to say goodbye to wasn't President Harry Darwin. I just shook his hand and smiled. Hopefully the next time I visited Earth –if I ever did– he would be out of office.

Cameron stood next to moi on the blue tape. We were placed on an angle so that the other people on stage could see us along with the audience. I looked to the sky, the sunglasses protecting me from the sun. I could not actually see the spaceship so I presumed they had 'parked' a fair distance away from Earth. They didn't want to scare the humans by making them thinking an alien invasion was happening.

The screen on the Washington Monument (technology times, it also had a giant clock on it like it was Big Ben or something) came up with the countdown.

"10... 9..." The audience chanted.

"Here we go." Cameron whispered in English, but by now I was just sure he was German. He pulled up the wrist communicator and silently spoke to the Titonic in Kestern, informing them to start the transport.

"8...7...6...5..."

I looked to my father and Geraldine one more time. Geraldine had teary eyes, but my father never cried. He had told me that the last time he had gotten 'teary eyed' was when he held me for the first time after the scientists had confirmed that I was ready to leave the artificial womb. People who were against engineering children said that the children wouldn't have as strong of a connection with their birthparents if the child wasn't inside a mother... but like they would know. Bioengineering children was originally started for parents who could not procreate for whatever reason. Most cases were when the mother's womb was not fit for being fertilised which is why artificial wombs were created. Shockingly, one of the first clinics opened up with new artificial wombs for infertile parents opened in Wyoming which explains why my father moved there. He was originally going to just stay for the five months while I was being created (bioengineered children had sped up pregnancies) but then he grew fond of the place and bought a freaking huge mansion because he felt like it.

"4...3..."

A yellow beam started at my feet and slowly worked its way up. Because of my years of watching bad sci-fi shows I expected the teleportation ray to look more digitized and crappy. This one was very much real. The only way to describe the feeling as it reached my waist was that it felt like being splashed with warm water. Why? I don't know, it just did.

"2...1..."

The last sound I heard was the crowd cheering as my face engulfed by the golden light. I wasn't blinded like I expected to be because both Cameron and I were still being kickass with our sunglasses on. Yeah, perfect way to leave Earth.

Final nerdy thought: Beam me up, Scotty!
11: Titonic... Titanic?

The room was spinning and had just become one big grey blur with yellow flashing lights. My body wasn't used to being turned into billions of little particles and shot across space. A hand reached out and grabbed my shoulder just before I fell over. It was Cameron's hand.

"Easy." He said in English. "I felt bad the first time I did that too."

If you thought about how foreign of a language English was to my brother, then you had to be impressed by the fact he could even construct sentences.

The bright lighting in the room was disorienting. I grabbed Cameron's arm to keep myself from falling over. It felt like my guts were still trying to rearrange themselves after the beam up. The tip of my nose and cheeks felt icy. Blake had not lied; being in a USM spaceship was like walking down the frozen food section of a supermarket.

I was a little surprised to see the aliens running the teleporter. One was bright pink and had its eyes high above its head on stems while the other did not even have a head. The only thing all aliens seemed to have in common were the universal translators attached to whatever part of their body detected sound waves. Cameron had ears like mine –except for their little pointy tips– so the little translator was attached to his ear while the wire ran all the way to his brain. I was soon going to learn why it needed to be attached to the brain. Apparently while attacked to my brain, it would also affect my sight in some way. A part of me really did not want to know how.

Cameron carefully pulled the sunglasses off my head and put them in the side pocket of my duffle bag. He attached his own pair to his collar before grabbing the strap of the bag and pulling it off moi.

"I will hold this until you feel better." He said as he swung it over his back.

"Thanks." I mumbled jadedly.

"You are welcome."

I stayed close to my brother as we headed for the elevator. The hallways were extra-large for some of the taller aliens. On our way we passed a creature the size of Jabba the Hutt while another looked like a skeleton on stilts. I knew we were all on the same side here, but they still disturbed me a bit. These aliens were far more exotic than anything I, or any sci-fi director, could have ever dreamed up. We passed one that looked like a slithering spine with two big black eyes and a USM Naval beret on its white head. – Very disturbing.

The aliens did not seem to like moi much either. First they would look at Cameron and roll their eyes –or what I presumed was their eyes– and then they would look at the dorky cadet beside him and scoff. My poor brother, he must have been so embarrassed by me.

"How big is this ship?" I asked him to break the awkward silence in the elevator. I hadn't noticed before, but there was another alien in the elevator with us who only went up to my knee. He cocked his head up and gave me a strange look for asking a stupid question.

"Big." Cameron laughed. The little alien looked at him strangely too... maybe that was just its usual face.

Sadly, the layout of USM spaceships weren't like the ones in Star Trek. They looked more like a mixture between submarines and ships like... the Titanic, except of course they were far larger and were a lot cooler. Then there was the bridge... Yowza. The room was circular with one great window/monitor at the very front. The image on the monitor was of Earth. A very surreal feeling knowing that I wasn't on that planet anymore and that I was miles and miles away from my family. Near the front was the captain's chair with its own computer attached to the armrest. All the other computers were either attached to the walls or grouped in circles with all the other computers that performed the same task.

A tall green creature that resembled a praying mantis in a USM uniform made its way through the bridge and greeted us. Except it did not greet us in the usual human way. The creature had four arms. The higher up ones had the stereotypical alien hands while the lower down ones were like bendable swords covered by a thin black body glove. The creature raised one if its blade-like arm to draw an invisible line down both Cameron and I's chests. I stood absolutely still. One slip up and the creature could cut right through my body like a knife through warm butter. It was the way the captain greeted people on the ship. I could tell he/she/it was the captain because of the black stripe running across its chest and the black pin attached to its beret. The first officer would have something similar, except they would be missing the black pin and just have the stripe.

The captain made a strange gurgling noise fallowed with a small shriek that was just loud enough to startle me. It didn't seem like aggressive sign, but if I knew one thing about aliens, they were never what they seemed.

"He says hello." Cameron told me. "He is Captain ______." I didn't quite catch the name because it was so foreign to my ears. At least I knew it was a 'he' so that I would no longer have to refer to him as an 'it'.

The captain spoke again. Cameron translated it: "We should get your tr-trans.... translator so we can communicate better on the t-tour."

"That sounds great." My smiled seemed a little forced. I was feeling so many strange emotions. I didn't even know if I was happy or not. I was just in a surreal daze.

We passed the first officer in the hallway called Tek. She (or I presumed she was a 'she') seemed incredibly intimidating. The way she stared Cameron down did not make her gain my approval. Her blue hair-like tentacles contrasted with her bright pink skin. She was a fairy in appearance, but a hellcat in personality. I could not understand a word she said but something had made her very unhappy. Cameron hung his head, ashamed.

What the fuck where they talking about? I thought with an expression that matched my thoughts.

Tek strode off as if she was late for something very important. Although I knew she had nothing important to do seeing as the ship hadn't even started moving yet. A fascinating fact about the USM: They never 'took their time' to do things... even walk. That was why they expected me to be ready to shift my life forever in one month. In fact, they had felt like they had actually giving me plenty of notice because they usually only gave out the news a week early. I was happy to have the month, but it also felt a bit patronizing because they were giving all the new cadets extra time. They thought all the aliens from second-class planets were slower and held us all in lower standards.

"What was that all about?" I whispered to Cameron. Hopefully his captain did not have ultra-good hearing.

"Nothing. Do not worry." He put on his best fake smile. Sadly, it was not the harsnic way to lie even if he did just want to be a 'good sport'.

My God, I now knew why my father felt so protective of Cameron. A part of me just wanted to go out of character and hug the boy until he got all the feelings out. Another part of me wanted to run back down the hall and beat the living hell out of the first officer who made him feel bad.

We were led by the captain to what appeared to be the armoury and where they also upgraded electronics. It looked like the inside of an Apple store except less flash somehow. I loved a ship that was so huge that it could have its own electronic store. I was sure that if I looked at a map of the place that there would be a section labelled 'shopping centre'.

A silver box the size of a shoebox was passed to me by one of the crewmembers with creepily long fingers. I looked to Cameron to see if it was okay to open the metal box and he nodded enthusiastically. On one side was a wrist computer like Cameron had and beside it was a small earpiece. It was my universal translator.

"Sweet." I laughed. For some reason the two little electronic items excited me more than anything else I had seen on the Titonic.

The same slender alien came back with two thin suitcases coated in a layer of jet black metal. They were so dark that they just sucked up the light like black holes. I was about to ask Cameron what was in them when he plucked the earpiece from the silver box and uncoiled the wire. He turned my head gently with his free hand before carefully pushing the wire into my left ear. The wire was stopped on its journey down my ear canal by the eardrum. I was curious because out of the corner of my eye I could see there was still some more wire to go. To my surprise, Cameron exerted a little more force and pierced right through my eardrum. It amazingly didn't hurt at all, but my hearing out of my left ear was now cloudy.

The nanotechnology made the small wire self-guiding. It slithered through my head until it reach my brain and jabbed right in with no hesitation. I had not known how far in the wire was until I suddenly lost hearing in both ears. I had the horrible feeling something had gone awfully wrong.

I looked at Cameron. He and the captain noticed my anxious expression as I yearned for an explanation. A bolt of pain ran through my brain and my vision became foggy. Neither Cameron nor the captain seemed concerned whatsoever. Apparently this happened to everybody the first time they tried on the earpiece.

"Can you hear me?" Cameron asked after a few seconds when I stopped rubbing my eyes.

I nodded, relieved my sight and hearing were coming back. – I wasn't aware of the change in my mind yet.

"I'm aware that we weren't introduced properly Amelia. Your underdeveloped ears wouldn't be able to comprehend my name." The captain began. His pincers moving like flippers in pinball. "I am Captain Gorirtz. In Hey-terms you can call me Cap Gor."

There was one good reason I wasn't going to call him Cap Gor and I dare not mention it. If you know, you know. If you do not, it's better that way. – Trust me.

"A pleasure to meet you again." I joked. Then it suddenly clicked and my eyes popped out of their sockets. – How could I understand him now... and why did he have a British accent?

"How can I... Why are you British?" I was finding it difficult to structure a proper sentence so I just sounded like a mad rambler.

"The translator is doing it." Cameron explained. He had a huge grin spreading across his face. "It has tapped into your brain so that you're hearing all of us in English even though we're all speaking different languages." I tilted my head in curiosity. "That isn't all though. Although it looks like I'm speaking to you in English, I'm actually speaking in Kestern."

I raised my eyebrows. "But I can see your mouth moving like you're speaking English. How's that possible?"

"Your brain is just telling you that you're seeing me speak English. Clever little device the earpiece is. They made it that way so that you can tell who's talking if you're with a group of people. And in the case of Captain Gorirtz; he's been given an accent your brain will recognize because his real accent is too high pitched for the average untrained ear. Cool huh?"

"No... fucking... way." I gasped.

Cameron nodded. Hashtish 4 was a very upper-class planet and it was considered very offensive to swear there. He understood it was different on Earth and decided not to comment on the matter.

"Want to know the coolest thing?" He said as he tapped his wrist computer. I looked at my own in the silver box which was now back on the counter with the black suitcases. I was soon going to get to try out my wrist computer... maybe I could play Tetris on it!

A small blue rectangle was projected from Cameron's computer upwards for all to see. He tapped the small panel one more time and the words "can you read this?" came up in the rectangle.

"I can read it." I told him.

"I wrote that in Kestern." He deleted the letters one by one. "The translator has told your brain what it says and your brain is deceiving your eyes so you thinking you're reading English."

"Shit." I gasped again. That sounded so freaking cool! Sure, it basically meant that everything I heard and read wasn't real, but now I never had to learn a new language.

"So wait." I rubbed my spandex-covered hands together. "I can write in English, speak in English and you guys can all understand me perfectly and understand what I write?"

Cameron and Captain Gorirtz nodded.

"But be careful." Captain Gorirtz warned me. "Because of how different each language is things can get lost in translation. For instance, you may think you're saying one thing but one of us might interpret it as another thing. Technology may be advanced, but it still can't prepare us for every conversation we will have in our life."

I took note of that. The same problem still occurred on Earth sometimes. Like during a discussion for a treaty with China in the course of the war where a representative from the USA accidently said 'death' instead of 'four' in Mandarin and there was some outrage.

The wrist computer fit snugly on my right arm. It was not tight enough to cut off blood from running to my hand and was not loose enough that it would slip up and down my arm. Cameron pointed to a little button on the side before pressing it. The small screen went blue and came up with "Voice recognition ready."

"You need to tell the computer you are ready to confirm your identity." Cameron whispered, as if he did not want the computer to pick up on his voice instead of mine.

The USM computers were pretty flexible about receiving instructions. They weren't programed with algorithms in the same way as Earth computers so telling them a command in a colloquial way didn't affect their performance.

"Start identity confirmation process." I told the computer, keeping it close to my face just to make sure it misheard nothing I said.

"Please state your name." The little robotic voice said.

"Amelia Hollow."

"Information on Amelia Frank Hollow retrieved." The screen came up with a loading line as it updated its system so that it knew everything about me. "Greetings Dub First Off Am. Please state the name of this device."

I looked up in thought for a moment. What did I want my wrist computer to respond to?

"The name of this device is Data."

It had been a toss-up between the names Marvin, HAL 9000 or Data. I chose Data because he was not evil like HAL 9000 or depressing and paranoid like Marvin.

"Process complete." The voice of Data informed me. Well, that was easy.

The monitor then changed to its home screen which showed my name in the centre and my rank below it. In the bottom right corner was a GPS system telling me my location while in the top left corner was the time and date. The standard USM day was thirty Earth hours so it said it was 13:45. Then the date was 6th of Khan 212028 X.X. I didn't understand how the date worked. It had been reset years after the last major galactic civil war in history where civilians rebelled against the USM. After the civilians lost the war the USM decided to reset the date for a 'fresh start'. The 'X.X.' represented the reset, but most aliens in the USM cancelled them out and just wrote the date without them. Man, the history of the date is boring isn't it?

"Test it out." Cameron told me.

"How?"

"Scan me. Our body-gloves have various chips throughout them that has information on who we are, our rank and also traits of our species."

"How do I scan?" I asked like I was a technophobic old lady.

"Blue button in the top right corner."

I guided the sensor on the side of the computer to face Cameron and pressed the button. Ten blue lines shot out of the sensor and ran around his body in search of the chips. The information about Cameron came up on the monitor on my wrist as well as being read out to me.

"Name: Cameron Vis Homen

Hey-Name: Cam

Rank: Ensign of Tactics

Assigned Ship: Titonic

Date of Birth: 14th of Ark 212003 X.X.

Species: Harsnic X Human

Planet of Birth: Hashtish 4

Note: Harsnics tend to be a calm and peaceful species. However, the Hashtish Alliance has often used force to take over inhabited planets for colonization. There are currently 17 planets in the Hashtish Alliance. The population of harsnics consists of 84% of the whole Hashtish Alliance while 5% are gagogans, 2% are messmores, 3% are javas and 6% are kekomans. All harsnics hold Amori, the Saviour, in high regards. In terms of an Earth analogy Amori is feline-like with telepathic abilities. When the harsnics were forced to flee their Mother Planet: Hashtish Moore, after the War of Royale in 1753 pre-reset, Amori was the creature that found the new home planet 'Sanctuary' for the harsnics. Sanctuary was the first planet in the Hashtish Alliance and is also known as Hashtish 1. If Amori is degraded in any way then that is an offense to the whole Hashtish Alliance and the perpetrator of such an offense is under law required to be taken to the Hashtish High Council and be put on trial."

"Wow." I said after listening to Data. "A lot of information about your harsnic side Cameron." I joked.

But where was the information about his human side?

"Is there?" He asked. "You're aware that after you confirmed your identity that the wrist computer only communicates with your earpiece right? We can't hear what... Data says to you."

I nodded slowly. I had not been aware of that, but it made sense.

"What are those two suitcases for?" I asked, pointing at the black suitcases.

"That... is your armour." Captain Gorirtz told me. "You won't be trying it on here. Starside Academy will train you how to use it." He clapped his non-razor hands together. "Now, shall we go back the bridge to watch the ship go into hyperspace?"

"Hell yeah!" I put my hand over my mouth quickly. "I mean... yes sir."

The captain laughed. There was no equal to 'hell' in his language and the closest synonym was 'bad place'. He had heard me say: "bad place yeah!"

"Where was the information on your human side Cameron?" I asked my brother on the elevator ride back to the bridge. He was being kind and handling my duffle bag plus my two suitcases.

"Pardon?" He asked as if he did not know what I was talking about, but his poker face gave him away.

I raised my eyebrows. "Data told me all about your harsnic side but said nothing about your human side."

"That is because I edited my information and took the human information out." He said solemnly.

I was about to ask why when Captain Gorirtz interjected: "En Cam is being brave even having the 'harsnic X human' part." He explained. Obviously he had been the one who had edited the information with my brother. "His human side has really been holding him back. Around the rest of the crew he has a better chance of being accepted if they think he's fully harsnic and not mixed with a second-class species."

Captain Gorirtz did not seem to have a problem with Cameron being part human. He had actually requested the boy be assigned to the Titonic because he feared other captains would not be as accepting as he was. He couldn't protect Cameron all the time without being resented by his crew, but he did his best to make sure my brother was being given a semi-fair shot.

"The whole 'class' system doesn't seem fair at all. It's a very inequitable way of thinking." I muttered, knowing I was going to face the same issues in my life along with all the other cadets in my grade.

"I'd still take being half second-class over full third-class." Cameron laughed hesitantly.

"Third-class?" I asked. So there were species even lower on the pyramid of social hierarchy?

"Planets that have tried to start an uprising against the USM in the past are considered third-class planets. Like after the civil war when all the planets and species that were part of the 'Alliance of Freedom' were considered third-class. They can't be in the USM government or military and all third-class species are banned from interplanetary travel. They're basically considered 'independent planets' as the USM doesn't pay much attention to them." Captain Gorirtz explained. He seemed to not mind the idea.

"So third-class planets are like prisons for the people that live on them?" I asked cautiously, remembering how the same thing was happening in the USA with Florida.

"It's best not to think too much into it." Cameron reassured me. "There are so few third-class planets with third-class species living on them. Only seven-hundred and ten I think."

"Wrong. Seven-hundred and ten planets but seven-hundred and twelve species." Captain Gorirtz stated.

"Right." Cameron would've smacked his forehead in realization if he hadn't been holding my suitcases. "I forgot about simnolis and bassacs living on Ormo 34 and the kapkorts and uvens on Natarakaja. I need to go back to the academy and relearn my USM history."

"Yes you do." Captain Gorirtz laughed.

I didn't laugh. The whole class-system system made my stomach churn. The galaxy was so immense that seven-hundred and ten third-class planets seemed like a small number to Cameron and Captain Gorirtz. – It didn't seem like a small number to me. In terms of social hierarchy on Earth I would be pretty high up the pyramid, but now that I was in space I was a 'middle-class' civilian. How can humans be considered 'underdeveloped' if the USM has the exact same issues in their own government?

"So is there such thing as fourth-class planets?" I asked Cameron to continue our conversation from the elevator. We were now back in the corridor we had walked down earlier. I could tell because the alien that looked like Jabba the Hutt was passing through again except this time he/she/it was going in the opposite direction.

"Err... I don't think so." Cameron replied.

The truth of the matter was that there were fourth-class planets, yet he refused to tell me about them because he had seen my expression in the elevator during the third-class discussion. He figured telling me about them would only make me mad.

There were fourth-class planets, not fourth-class species. Fourth-class planets were battered ghosts of USM wars. There were no life forms of any kind on fourth-class planets. Most of the planets were so toxic because of the bombs that had gone off during the wars that not even plant life could grow. The USM tried to keep information about fourth-class planets concealed. Mostly because it was partly their fault the planet's life forms were gone. Most fourth-class planets were created during USM wars with space pirates or terrorists that tried to take the planet hostage as protection. They thought the USM would not dare go through civilians to kill them. – They were wrong. If the planet's inhabitants got in the crossfire between the United Systems of Mel and the pirates the USM would not consider themselves to blame for the deaths.

There were very few fourth-class planets. Only a hundred and sixty-two. They tended to be just bigger than an average dwarf planet. When they were once inhabited the populations tended to be very small due to the size of the planet. It was easy to see how poor species just got wiped out so easily with such small populations and planets where you couldn't run far enough away before coming back around again to the same spot. I was going to learn about all these bloodbaths in the USM history class I had to take, but for now I was glad Cameron had not told me all of that.

The main screen on the bridge still held the image of Earth. I stared at the little blue and green planet long and hard as everybody else continued with their work. Cameron was standing beside me. It was his shift off so he did not have to get back to his work station down in tactics. He was going to take me on a tour of the Titonic once the ship went into hyperspace.

It felt like I hadn't really left Earth at all. I was still going to have to deal with the same discriminatory issues, but now I was going to get to see how other people lived. I was going to be living without getting everything handed to me, without having people respect simply because of my last name, without my supportive friends and family, and without the benefits the first-class species got. I was a second-class alien in the eyes of the USM and they were going to treat me like one.

Earth flickered out of view in an instant. The stars stretched out like they were elastic as we shot into hyperspace.

Goodbye Earth. I thought. I'm gonna miss ya... a lot.

Sure, I was going to be treated differently and have a huge disadvantage in the USM. But there was one thing the USM hadn't counted on: my inexplicably large ego that would demand their attention. And with my ego came my bitchy side (sorry, biatchy side) because when I didn't get what I wanted I tended to make sure everyone knew how I was feeling.

I couldn't help but smile a bit. – The USM had no idea what it was in for.
12: Starside

"Yeah." The holographic image of Sven Hollow nodded his head in understanding. "I remember being briefed on the 'class' system in the USM back when I was an ambassador. Don't think less of your brother though. He doesn't know any different."

"I don't judge any of them." I reassured him. "The problems are no different on Earth so I would be a hypocrite."

It was hard to tell whether or not my call was being monitored. I tried to sound as nonchalant about the situation as possible in case somebody was listening in. I was in the glass 'phone booth' near the ship's recreation room. Cameron was leaning on the other side of the glass waiting to talk to Sven after moi because this chat was coming out of his call time. I had been told the cadets got to call people for free at Starside Academy because we had no credit income. Sadly, that also meant I was probably wasn't going to be able to call my father for as long as I would like.

"Want to talk to Geraldine?" My father asked, pointing his thumb behind him to show Geraldine was just in the other room. "He's really been missing you too."

"Nah." My head shook. "I think Cameron wants to talk to you. I'll chat with Geraldine when I get to call you guys again at Starside."

"Okay." My father nodded slowly. He was suspicious of why I was being weird about Geraldine. He would not say anything because he didn't want to ruin the conversation. "You want to send in Cameron... Wait." A smile spread across his face when he remembered something. "Deanna's getting married."

"Excuse me?" I said with maybe a little too much enthusiasm. I had actually said 'excusez-moi' but my translator had made me think I had said it in English. Don't ask me why I like to incorporate a teeny bit of French into my everyday language. Everybody does because it's a sexy language.

"She's marrying that retail guy we had over for dinner once." Sven told me. "She didn't want to say anything because she didn't want her news to distract from your move to Starside."

"That biatch." I said with a smile. "Put her on, I need to talk to her."

Sven raised his eyebrows. "Wait, you don't want to talk to Geraldine but you want to talk to Deanna?"

I bit my lip. "You're right. Never mind. I'll send Cameron in now and I'll talk to all three of you later."

"Sounds good sweetie. Have fun on your first day at the academy."

"Thanks. Love ya!"

"Love you too."

I opened the door and tapped Cameron on the shoulder. He smiled before stepping in and closing the clear door. Unsure of what to do, I just stood awkwardly outside of the phone booth with my duffle bag and suitcases watching the aliens go by.

I had a strange throbbing sensation in my eyes. At first I figured it was from my new translator that was messing with my brain. Then I realized that it also had to do with the compressed oxygen in the spaceship. It did not feel like the gravity had changed much compared to Earth. I presumed my spandex body-glove was protecting me from any real change. I had tried jumping and it felt no different either. Later Cameron would explain that my boots were 'springy' to balance out the change in gravity.

A tall orange figure scoffed as he strode by. The whole crew had been warned that a second-class cadet was coming aboard to be taken to Starside Academy so he knew who I was. Sure, there were probably other second-class crew members, but nobody could handle the fact that I was part of the first generation of second-class species that were being trained as officers. My eyes shot daggers in his direction even though his back was turned. Damn him, damn them all. Stupid class-oriented society. Yes, I was born and raised in an equally bad society where me and anyone with the last name 'Hollow' were 'top dogs' but I still have a right to hate it. Not even my ego could overcome my dislike for the pyramid of social hierarchy. Only the guys at the top benefited from the system. My friends like Tanya and Elisa were very much middle-class and often struggled with finding money. Elisa was an orphan after the last civil war and was being raised by her aunt while Tanya's parents had fled their country with no more than fifty dollars in their pocket. Money didn't just fall out of the sky for them. Then there was Kim and Aiden, filthy rich like me. We kept quiet while Tanya and Elisa were around, but if it was just us three we often discussed our stock options and what we put our money towards. All three of us funded aid work in other countries. I was surprised to discover that I was the one who put the most money into my shuttle (Liffy, you met her)... I really am a hypocrite for hating the pyramid system. I probably just hated it now more than ever because I was no longer on top of the pyramid.

Once Cameron was done talking to our father he pulled me back in so we could both say goodbye. My brother was then was kind enough to carry my duffle bag and suitcases to the recreation room... Actually, we never made it to the recreation room. We were at the door when we both received the same message.

"Dub First Off Am please report to the bridge." Data told me.

Cameron turned to me. "I think we're here."

Yes, yes we were. My jaw dropped when we entered the bridge and I saw what was on screen. The nebula itself was purple which contrasted with the bright white star in front of us. There was only one major planet in sight orbiting around the giant star... and it wasn't a planet at all.

I had to take a double look at the sphere-shaped space station known as 'Starside'. It was at least the size of Jupiter but it was entirely manmade (or alienmade). Long branches reached out from the space station with docked spaceships attached like leaves. There had millions of USM spaceships in the area... and yet they only trained four new captains every grade?

I still could not get over the size of Starside. And to know there were millions of other space stations throughout the galaxy of around the same size scared me more. Everything was just so much bigger in the USM. I suppose that was because they had to deal with a heck of a lot of planets.

"Holy shit." I gasped under my breath. Where the hell was Starside Academy in this giant place?

Captain Gorirtz came up behind Cameron and I. "Pretty extravagant eh?"

"Definitely. Which part of it is the Academy?"

"It's on the other side of the station."

The first officer was calling out commands to the crew, organizing the docking. They could have just beamed moi to the space station but the Titonic was also docking because it had no assignments. Cameron had told me earlier that he was not going to be showing me through Starside like he wanted to. Nonetheless, he would help me find where all the cadets were meeting first. I had really enjoyed spending time with Cameron. I wish we had more time together. Oh well, now that I was at Starside I would probably be seeing a lot more of him.

If there had been more time I would have sat him down so we could really talk. He was physically and mentally exhausted. He was lacking in sleep, he was incredibly stressed and he was paranoid because of his co-workers. I got the strong feeling Cameron was getting bullied. Not just verbally, but physically as well. The way he tensed up around some of the crew members as we walked by really gave it away. There were two of them... well, three I suppose seeing as one had two heads. He would've taken another route to get to our destination, but there were no other ways. Instead he just kept me by his side as we walked by. I swear they muttered something about us. Cameron did not seem to usually mind the badmouthing that went on behind his back. However, he was cautious around the pair (or trio). Some aliens really hated Cameron. He was the descendent of a second-class species and yet he was still treated like he was first-class. Most hated him because they felt cheated. Why did he get to train to be a tactics officer and they didn't?

"Thank you so much for allowing me on board the Titonic, captain." I told Captain Gorirtz after he did his usual drag-blade-like-arm-down-chest ritual.

"It was a pleasure, Am. Maybe in five years when you graduate I could have you assigned to my ship." He said sincerely.

"I'd like that."

Pulling into the docks felt like an eternity. I thought the spaceship was cool and all, but I wanted to see the space station now. I felt a little light headed which continued to feed my reoccurring idea that this was all a dream and I was going to wake up in my bed in the mansion. Nothing about this situation felt real.

There were five people in each crew. All of our uniforms had the same black outlining but the other colours were red, blue or a fully black uniform. Man, why did I have to get white?

I was glad I was not the last to arrive. An alien in the red uniform was the last to instead. They were at least a foot taller than me but as skinny as a skeleton. I could've scanned them to see who they were –everyone else was scanning each other– but I didn't want to be rude. I'm sure I would get to know everyone later. Plus I could access a replica of the spreadsheet I had been shown back at Darwin Enterprises on Data so I could always learn a little bit about everybody that way.

Cameron kissed me on the cheek. "Have fun Amelia. I'll see you... next time I see you."

"See you then." I laughed. "And you take care of yourself. I mean it."

"Err... okay."

After a moment Cameron had been engulfed in the bustling crowd of hangar four. A feeling of loneliness swept over me. The other cadets looked just as anxious as moi except for a few who either didn't show emotion, or showed emotion in a way I could not understand.

I scanned the twenty of us with my eyes to locate the other members of my dub crew (no, I still don't know what 'dub' means). Four cadets in white were all standing together awkwardly. Nobody was talking. They were merely standing together because none of us knew anybody else, so having matching uniforms was the only reason we felt a part of something. I was on my way over to them when I noticed little blue lasers running up and down my body. I turned to my right and was shocked to see another human. No, he wasn't a human (maybe not even a he!). The four-fingered hand typing on his wrist computer was the first giveaway. He was in the black uniform that matched his hair. His skin was as white as paper and his eyes... Oh, sacrebleu his eyes. It was like his corneas were made from amethyst. He was almost a foot taller than me despite the fact he was also thinner. Trying to read his face was like trying to figure out how a concrete wall was feeling. – Very impassive. A simple scan of my body and then he was gone. No explanation.

"Okay then." I muttered under my breath as I quickly made my way over to my dub crew.

The mustardy-golden boy made no effort to acknowledge me as I strode up. It was easy to guess he was the new dub captain I had heard so little about, yet I felt like I knew him enough to despise him. His eyes were as black with little yellow lightning bolts shooting down the middle. It was a sad day when his golden hair was more luscious than mine... but I'm sure it was to compensate for his unattractive mustard yellow skin.

"Hello Kel." I said politely. After all, I did not want to judge the man before I had even heard him speak.

"That's Cap Kel to you." He snapped. Apparently my translator had decided to give him an American accent like mine. However, despite the fact Kel seemed like he would be from Utah on paper, his accent made him sound like he was from California... Fresno, California.

He was shorter me, about five or more inches, and I made sure he knew that by making it obvious that I was staring down at him. He did not like that. Well... I could tell this was the start to a beautiful friendship.

My bitchy side kicked in: "If we're really getting into it; you're Dub Cap Kel. You ain't a captain yet."

The other three members of our crew stood by awkwardly. When I finally introduced myself to them I learned the tall blue one was Henn, green bulky one was Gom and the other female in our group was Ams. She was about half my height with wild hair that seemed like it could explode out of her beret at any moment. In our crew there were two boys and two girls and Gom. At first look Gom looked like a regular guy (in an alien way) then again according to my spreadsheet his gender was 'not applicable'.

I had to introduce myself under my Hey-name 'Am' because everyone else had. I did inform them that I much preferred to be called Amelia and they all understood even though they had no intention of calling me my real name. They all said their own full names as well. I could not be bothered to learn all their names (like Ams's which was just too hard to pronounce) but it was best they knew mine seeing as I was obviously more important.

I decided that if Kel was a sexist polygamist then I was going to have to prove that I was better at him at everything because I was just generally a better, more awesome person. Maybe the shame of being beaten by a woman would set him straight.

"So why did you not cut your hair? How will it fit into your helm?" Gom asked me. He sounded Spanish for some reason.

I stared blankly at him. "Err... what?"

"You know... your helm?"

"My helm?" I was bewildered in this strange environment.

Gom had come to the conclusion I was an idiot: "Yeah, it's a thing that covers your head to protect you."

I glared at him for being patronizing before quickly changing my expression to happy. I had made an enemy of Kel today. I needed Gom on my side.

I patted my blonde ponytail. "You know, I think I'll be fine."

"Whatever you say." He muttered. He had shaved his head to fit his helm, and here I was with all my hair.

We all looked up sharply when we heard a whistle-like sound. Two aliens in the traditional dark grey and black uniforms stood in front of us. One looked like he was part-blowfish while the other was like a typical zombie with sickly blue skin and white eyes. Her posture however, made her look like a peppy cheerleader. – If she was even a woman of course.

"Hello cadets." Said the one that looked like a blowfish. "Welcome to Starside. I'm Lieu Rac and this is Lieu Shaos." He said, gesturing to the zombie. "Please line up in the order of captain, first officer, science officer, engineering officer, tactics officer in your dub crew. Make two lines with Gall in front of Mar following Lieu Shaos and Ket in front of San following me... Go."

It took quite a lot of shuffling but we finally got there. I was surprised at how fast this was all going. Usually at my old high school when they asked us to line up in a particular way it took the whole day to get it done. But the USM did not take that sort of crap and nobody was going to last long if they couldn't act quickly.

It was impossible not to look around as we all strode through the hangar in our perfect lines. I was finding it difficult to find the right speed when I wouldn't be too slow but also not too fast that I would step on Kel's heels. – Though I would like to.

The crowd of USM Navy personnel split to let us through. All of us could feel their judgemental eyes on our backs as we walked past. I did not let the bastards get to me and instead smiled smugly at them as I walked by as if I hadn't noticed.

Two giant metal doors began to part for us as we reached the edge of the hangar. A nightmarish corridor was on the other side. Each light came on one at a time as they detected our presence and went off when they sensed us leaving. We were on a little island of light in the middle of a black ocean as we moved. The darkness was making it impossible to see the very end of the hellish corridor... if there was an end! The giant passageway had nothing in it except for white tape down the middle which told us which side to stick to.

Because Starside was so big, the corridor was used as the main separation tool to keep us from leaving the Academy without permission. It ran for at least three quarters of a mile and could possibly drive someone insane if they got stuck in it. The whole feeling of walking down the long passageway was so surreal I was almost positive I was in a nightmare.

The lights started coming on from the opposite direction as a group of personnel in grey were striding down the on the other side of the white tape. It was the midshipmen from the grade that had just graduated that were heading to the hangar to be assigned to their new spaceships. They were all chattering and laughing like old friends. Some were talking about how it was the last time they would walk down the corridor, others mentioned how annoying it was that they were trained as officers and yet were starting out as measly midshipmen. Luckily, they had trained to be officers which meant they would be ensigns within a matter of months.

In them, I saw my grade when we graduated it five years. With their brand new grey and black uniforms, black suitcases and bluish/grey duffle bags it was like looking into the future. Of course they gave us odd looks as we walked by each other. They could not believe they were going to be the last 'pure' grade with only first-class species.

Half an hour had passed by the time we finally reached the doors on the other end. A part of moi was thinking about how hard it would be to escape Starside Academy if bad guys invaded. With one entrance and one exit we would most likely run into the enemy in the corridor and things would become incredibly awkward. I hoped that never happened... I really did.

Starside Academy seemed pretty large for only training twenty cadets a grade. It was as dead as a ghost town when we first walked in. There were only a couple of robots whizzing around with ship parts and important files.

Most the walls had huge glass windows in them allowing us to see all the rooms in the academy as we passed. One window showed a giant white rectangular room. The robots were running around in it fixing what appeared to be damaged turrets. Most of us were looking into that room as we passed and one of cadets around me whispered: "That's the battle room. What I'm really excited to see is the simulation room, though."

What the hell is the difference between the battle room and the simulation room? I thought, but did not say because the cadet wasn't talking to me.

We passed a few more boring things: the library, some of the classrooms and our sleeping chambers before we reached a circular opening. In the centre of the room was a hovering cart that a robot appeared to be in charge of.

"Put your armour and bags on the cart and they will be taken to your chambers." Lieu Shaos commanded.

The robot made an electrical squeaking noise before zipping off with the cart. I was not sure how they would figure out who's was who's with all the luggage. Then I saw are names were printed in silver on them.

The captain of San, Donn, was the first to look up and gasp. We all followed him (if he was a 'he') and looked at the glass bubble-shaped ceiling far above us. I could not believe we were looking directly at the star without our eyes burning. Although the glass was protecting, it was still hard to believe. The bright light radiating from Nar (that's the name of the star by the way) was hypnotizing. I could not explain it. Many times I had seen Earth's Sun but Nar was different, more beautiful.

"Hey kiddies!" Lieu Rac clapped his glove-covered hands together patronizingly. "Trust me; you will be seeing plenty of old Nar later. But for now, focus."

The lieutenants led us though the largest of the doors which lead to another circular room except this one had a stage and podium in it. They lined us up with Gall in front then Mar, Ket and San at the back. Up on the stage were three personnel. A tall Amazonian-like woman with bright yellow eyes and skin black like onyx, a short mousy woman with white skin and blue hair who was not more than two feet tall and a man who looked similar to Cameron. He was definitely from the Hashtish Alliance even though his skin was a darker shade of green and his hair was more brown than orange or red which meant he likely wasn't from Hashtish 4. More likely he was from Hashtish 8 or 9. The main giveaway was the stubble and moustache he had going which harsnics from Hashtish 4 did not go for. Only harsnics from Hashtish 8 and 9 accepted such bristly faces. But what would I know? I was just going off what Cameron had told me in the past.

I began to look around the room when I realized Lieu Rac and Lieu Shaos were gone. I was a little surprised they had left without saying goodbye or explaining why we were in this room. We all just stood in our perfect rows and waited. The three aliens on stage obviously had no intention of telling us what was going on. They were just staring forward at the door we had entered in. I cautiously turned my head to look back at the door to see if anyone was coming through. Some of the other cadets who were as curious as moi turned their heads too. Soon we were all staring at the door until we heard somebody clear their throat and we all instantly turned back to the front.

There was a woman about my height at the podium. Well, she had a womanly figure at least. It was really hard to tell seeing as her body was entirely wrapped in greyish bandages. She looked like a mummy from ancient Egypt except her except her bandages were spotless. It was impossible to see her eyes through the two tiny slits that only revealed blackness. Maybe that was all she was: blackness.

She was wearing all the colours of the USM. Her tunic was blue with a black outlining. A bird that almost looked like a phoenix was printed in white on her tunic and her open silk robe was red. The hood of her robe was up over her head making her look like a Sith lord. But those weren't the features that that caught my eye first. The USM said that having five fingers (or four fingers and one thumb) was a 'primitive' trait, and yet the woman in front of us had five fingers on each hand just like me. – Fucking hypocrites!

"What a group we have." She said calmly. What was interesting was that she didn't have a translator nor wrist computer which made me question if she could understand us.

"Do any of you know how many speeches I've been given to new cadets over the years?" She asked rhetorically. "Most of you should know I'm Mel. As leader of the USM I have given thousands... millions. But I must say this is the grade that is truly different. The twenty of you will be the dawn of a new era." Dramatic pause for effect. "I will not lie: You will be pushed harder than any other grade because you have more to prove. This galaxy will work against you, but never forget you are not alone." She looked at every single one of us. She got stuck on me for a moment before she kept moving. "From your family, friends, school, you have learned that the USM Navy is a place where you fight alone. That is a lie. The USM works as a community..."

"Liar." I whispered under my breath without realizing.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Mel looked directly at me. So... I guess she could understand me without a translator.

All eyes were on moi. How could she have heard me? Nobody else around me had. I could have just lied and pretended I had said nothing... but I was Amelia Freaking Hollow, and I wasn't the type to cower.

"I called you a liar ma'am." I said bluntly. I heard some gasps from behind me. Oh God, I could get the death penalty for this!

"Did you?" There was no change in her voice. She had been around in the universe too long to care about what I thought. "And why would you call me that?"

I swallowed. My throat felt incredibly dry. "Well ma'am. You said the USM was a community... but what kind of community still has a discriminatory class system?"

She stared at me. I could feel Kel's eyes trying to pierce moi so I ignored him. Mel had asked me what I said and I had told the truth. What horrible news my father would receive if I died on my first day. But if I lived then this would work in my favour. However Mel felt, she would remember me. She would be forced to permanently remember a second-class species who questioned her so-called perfect galaxy. – Yeah, my ego was pleased.

"Indeed." She said impassively before returning to her speech as if nothing had happened. A wave of relief ran through my body. Maybe I wouldn't die on my first day after all.

"Now, as I was saying." She continued. "You are with a community. You will never be alone. You will be with your crew when you become the highest ranking commanders. I cannot say your path to reaching the top of your career will be a breeze. You are hated, hated because you are all misunderstood." Oh, fuck you. "You're second-class in the eyes of the USM." You are the USM! "You are the grade that must change the USM perception of second-class species... You must change my perception of second-class species." Well, at least she admits her bias. "How you do in this academy will determine the fate of first, second and third-class species everywhere in the galaxy. If you excel and prove to the USM you are as capable as first-class species at commanding, then in the future grades there will not only first or second-class species per grade... there will be both, learning together. And who knows, a third-class species could make it in too. However, if you fail in the academy and don't prove your worthiness to the USM, then there won't be another second-class species officer for a long time... a very long time."

All of us felt a sudden burden land on our shoulders. We were test subjects, very important test subjects.

"So my fellow cadets," Mel continued, "you are important. So important in the development of the USM. Don't fail the USM... Don't fail me. Prove you are worthy of being treated like first-class species."

On Earth we would've clapped for Mel (whether we wanted to or not), but I kept my hands by my side like everybody else as she walked off stage. A few of the cadets behind me were whispering to each other, most likely about me. Hell, so long as they knew my name I was cool with it.

Just as the three aliens on stage were leaving two wheelie robots whizzed in and zipped around to stand in front of us.

"Greetings cadets." One of them said in a very electronic voice. "You have a very long day tomorrow so you will need your rest. Please follow me to the cadet chambers where we will help you into your regeneration chambers. If you have any questions feel free to ask me. Simply address me as 'AI605' to get my attention." The robot pointed to the robot they were next to. "You can also ask AI606 for information as well."

We followed AI605 in the same two lines we had before when we were walking down the nightmarish corridor. AI606 followed behind us as if to make sure none of us broke away from the pack.

Our 'rooms' were the size of a bathroom stall if not smaller. There was a small screen on each door with our names, our crew name and a status on the condition of our chamber. All of ours currently said 'vacant' but if we stepped inside and closed the door it would change to 'occupied' and if we were regenerating it would change to... you guessed it: 'regenerating'. Wow, they were exactly like bathroom stalls.

There were ten chambers on each side of the long, narrow room. On the wall the farthest away from the door was an archway that led to the lounge area with a few grey couches. I doubted I would be spending much time in there, though it was nice to know there was extra space to hang around in seeing as we couldn't lie down in our own rooms. Not like I would be spending much time 'hanging around' in my thirty hour day where I spent twenty-four hours in classes though.

Next to the archway appeared to be the bathroom... the unisex bathroom. In the USM they did not have bathrooms just for males, females, hermaphrodites and aliens who asexually reproduced. To make it easier they just had one bathroom for all. I was not sure what to think of that. I was all for genders be treated equally, but having unisex bathrooms was just a step too far for my taste.

My room was in between Kel and Henn like on the spreadsheet. All of us were ordered to stand in front of our doors under our names as the robots confirmed we were in front of the right cubicles.

"You now all have permission to enter your chambers." AI605 informed us. "When you enter, please leave the door open until either AI606 or I come and help you into your regeneration chamber. To make our job easier, remove your uniform and body-glove and place them in the drawer on your left and retrieve them when your regeneration is complete. The drawer will steam and clean them so they are fresh every time you put them on. Once we have helped you into your regeneration chamber well will close the door for you. This is the only official time we will help you regenerate so pay attention."

When I opened the door I saw the little cell for myself. The little drawer AI605 was referring to stuck rather randomly out of the wall of the stall. It was something I could see myself easily running my stomach into every morning. My duffle bag and black suitcases were high up on the shelves on each wall of the cubicle looking like they could just too easily fall down and hit me.

I put my beret and hair tie on top of the drawer so I wouldn't lose them. I set my wrist computer on my drawer too but I kept my translator in just in seeing as it was attached to my brain. My father constantly put in his earpiece and took it out with ease. However, I wanted to give it a day or two... or a year.

I did not like the idea of stripping down while knowing the other cadets could see moi, but I did anyways because everyone else was doing it with no hesitation.

AI606 went down the one row opposite moi and AI605 went to help Kel first. Due to the low temperatures in the space station I was shivering as I stood there naked. I was trying to suss out a way to use my two arms to cover my whole body. Being free of the body-glove was a strange feeling. I almost wanted to put it back on again. It was like my extra layer of skin. Sadly, it was already steaming in the drawer so there was no chance of getting back till the morning.

From my chamber I could only see Donn and his first officer, Or. Or made no attempt to cover his alien genitals while Donn had no genitals to cover... he was under 'hermaphrodite' on my spreadsheet, but apparently he could also be asexual. He was the only alien who was aquatic in our group. He had gills on each side of his face, dark blue skin with green speckles covering his body and head crests that made him quite distinguishable from the other aliens here. He only had three fingers (or two fingers and one thumb) with very sharp fingernails which on his home planet would be used while hunting other marine life. I only noticed these features when he waved at me as if it was no big deal that we were both naked. I found it interesting his species used waving as a way of saying 'hello' as well. I did not wave back because I was currently using both arms to cover my body.

I jumped when AI605 peered into my stall. The robot was long and narrow meaning he didn't take up much space in my little cell. His long arms reached past me and hit the panel that slid the glass regeneration hatch open. The chamber was on a slight slant which made it easy for me to get into. The white padding glowed as the fluorescent light coming from the top of the chamber shined on it. The padding made a mould of my body as I sunk into it. The robot's icy hands held my shoulders as he adjusted the way I stood in the chamber. If you haven't realized: I was a person who didn't like to be touched, especially by a robot.

"You will regenerate for exactly five hours. When you are done you have one hour of before your classes begin in which time you will get dressed and eat." AI605 informed me as he used an alien marker implanted in his hand to put different coloured dots on certain parts of my body.

"This ink is permanent. It tells you where the sensors go when you put them on before you regenerate. Match the dot colour to the sensor colour for an efficient regeneration."

He pulled down the sensors from the roof. Each one was connected to a wire with a colour on it. The sensors appeared to be little suction cups. My body tensed when I noticed the tiny needles below the suction cups. AI605 matched the green sensor to the green dot on my chest first. The little sensor jabbed me like a bee sting but drew no blood. He connected the other four before stepping back to examine. This must have been how I looked when I was in the artificial womb so many years ago with all the wires.

I didn't dare to move in case one sensor detached... or cut me.

"Now. Say 'close' and once you do the hatch will shut. Then say 'start regeneration process'. Do not resist anything and avoiding moving. Close your eyes and breathe steadily. It will all be fine."

I was about to ask the robot another question, but he zipped out and slid my cell door closed behind him. There was a clicking noise meaning the door was locked. I was the only one who could unlock it now.

Nothing to fear Amelia It's just your new bed... Your new bed from hell.

"Close." I said, trying to sound calm.

Claustrophobia set in as the hatch closed. I was trapped behind a thick layer of glass now. Sweat beads formed on my forehead and under my armpits. The glass was so close to my face that every time I exhaled it fogged up.

"Start regeneration process."

The light in my chamber suddenly dimmed and I could hear the whining of the mechanics inside the body of the regeneration chamber. They sounded strained and annoyed. I couldn't help but look down when a blue gel started seeping in near my feet. I was panicking slightly but I refused to move. The cool gel rose quickly and before I knew it I could feel it at my neck. All parts of my body that gel had engulfed had gone numb and I could not move any of my limbs even if I wanted to because of it. My instinct made me cock my head up to avoid my mouth from getting gelled. I tried to inhale one last breath however the gel was too quick and seeped into my mouth. It didn't taste awful yet I gagged nonetheless. My mouth numbed up just before I had a chance to try and close it. I thought about whether or not the gel was bad for me as more poured into my mouth.

I wasn't thinking straight anymore and did not close my eyes in time. I blacked out. My head cocked up and my mouth and eyes wide open. The view of me from outside of the regeneration chamber would have been quite a sight!
13: Frekostillion Hes Canamao (Frek for short)

There was blackness for a long time. My body wasn't there, I was simply observing. Little white lights appeared randomly in front of me. Soon there were millions... stars. My non-existent body was suddenly flung forward. Like a comet, I hurdled through the universe and towards an unknown star. Truly an exhilarating experience.

I awoke suddenly as icy water splashed my entire body all at once. Still not realizing the difference between dream and reality, my first thought was: How am I being splashed with water? I'm a mother fucking comet!

The blue gel was being accompanied down the drain by the icy water. I had taken many cold showers in my life, but I was not used to taking a shower while I was still in bed. It was easy to presume that once the water stopped the madness was over... I was wrong. I was going through the routine like at an old carwash. First I was washed-down and then dried-up by warm air that shot at me from all angles. Strands of hair repeatedly smacked my face. By the time the drying process stopped my hair was as puffy as a poodle's.

The regeneration chamber hatch opened. Disoriented, I tried to step out but my legs were like jelly and I fell. Of course, I hit the drawer sticking out of the wall which caused my body to twist as I fell. Because the cell was so small I hit the back of my head on the door. I found that I had blacked out for a moment and when I regained consciousness I had my head on the ground and my knees bent. The cell was too small for me to stretch my legs out so I had fallen rather awkwardly. – Just judging by how I had woken up I knew it was going to be a great day.

Getting dressed was far more difficult in my small quarters and with a disoriented mind. I had no idea how much time I had left before my first class, but honestly I did not care. The blue gel had made my eyes temporarily red and they stung like hell. Not as bad as my mouth, though. I guess there was still some blue gel in my system as I was constantly trying to hack it up like a hairball. Next time, I would shut my eyes and close my mouth. – No question.

Only while I was putting my body-glove on did I notice I was bleeding in some areas. I had forgotten about the sensors when I stepped out of the regeneration chamber and they had been drawn through my flesh before they were finally released. Hoping the body-glove would stop the bleeding, I got dressed hurriedly and opened my door. Most of the other cadets were already out and chatting. For some reason my first thought was about how my breath smelled. I had not packed a toothbrush so my presumption was that all sanitary items were in the bathroom... The unisex bathroom!

"We're cadets." A voice said behind me in a French accent as I strode towards the bathroom. I whipped around to see who was talking. It was that creepily pale –yet sexy– alien I had seen earlier. "We only wear our berets on formal occasions."

I stared blankly at him for a moment before realizing I was the only one wearing my beret in the area. Hastily, I chucked it back into my cubicle and closed the door again. The albino still had not moved. He scanned moi with his amethyst-coloured eyes before walking away. Again, no explanation.

When his back was turned I used Data to scan him. Time to figure out who he was!

"Name: Chorstand Metccli

Hey-Name: Chorst

Rank: Dub Captain

Assigned Ship: Dub Ship Marmus

Date of Birth: 16th of Day 211993 X.X.

Species: Trinard

Planet of Birth: Okevella

Note: Trinards are a second-class species due to the fact their ancestors are freed clones from the planet Somnosia. As slaves, they were trained to never show emotion or speak their thoughts. A trinard will not speak unless spoken to or if they find necessary. In their culture, fear of expressing thoughts or feelings is a genetic phobia. When speaking to a trinard it is best to avoid using 'I' and 'think' in the same sentence as it is considered offensive. However, using 'I' to refer to your physical being is acceptable. After the years of physical abuse inflicted on their bodies, the trinards have no care for their physical wellbeing, but their mind is sacred. Back when trinards were still slave clones their thoughts could not be accessed by their masters. The trinards are the daughter race of the trinords who used them as servants, for deep-space mining and sold them on the black market as sex slaves due to their natural beauty. To tell a trinard from a trinord, you will notice a trinord's corneas are red while a trinard will have purple corneas. The trinords engineered trinards to have purple eyes and blood because purple is the colour of peasants and trinords wanted to make their dominance unquestioned. The trinards were liberated by the USM back in 141956 X.X. and given the planet Okevella to live on as compensation for their millions of years of physical and psychological abuse."

Time slowed down as Data told me about Chorst's history. It was so dark and awful, but I'm sure a human's backstory would sound bad as well.

So that is why he had chosen not to speak to me. His kind just did not do that. What I did question was why did he comment on my beret? He didn't have to comment on my silly beret but he chose to anyways. Evolution had made his kind not dare to speak unless necessary, but maybe years of being liberated had made it possible for trinards to speak when they wanted. Damn my translator though... Giving him a French accent. Really? It's like it wanted me to be attracted to him. Lord new I had a thing for pale lanky guys with beautiful eyes. Take a look at my ex-boyfriend!

There were toothbrushes in the bathroom like I had guessed. The toothpaste provided made me gag, but it did leave my mouth with a minty fresh feeling. Apparently we were supposed to only use the toothbrushes once seeing as everyone was just tossing them away right after use. Sure, I was the rich version of a bourgeois girl but even I waited till the end of the week to dump a perfectly fine toothbrush.

Afterward, I awkwardly followed the other cadets down the hall and pretended as if I knew where they were going. We actually had maps on our wrist computers that told as where the cafeteria and classrooms were, but I could not be bothered to look at mine.

There were five large tables in the cafeteria. Each seat had a screen on the back of it that said who was supposed to sit there. Of course the tables were arranged by Dub crews so I was sat between Kel and Henn. Reluctantly, I took my seat.

With my head resting on my fist I stared at the fifth table and blocked out the sound of Kel's voice as he told Gom about his wives. I wondered what fifth table was for seeing as there were only four Dub crews. I made the assumption it was for the cadets who were rejected by their own crew... I would be sitting there soon.

The robots whipped around the tables quickly giving us our breakfast judging by the back of our seats. We all ate such different things. Kel was given what like a creamy rice with an orange sauce, Henn got a dead eel-like animal, Ams was served just a drink of red liquid and Gom ate what looked like snails with colourful shells. What did I get? Classic porridge. Of course, it didn't taste very much like porridge. It had been made in the alien kitchen in a microwave-like appliance that only made it look like porridge and not taste like it. Apparently it was jam-packed with nutrients to help me perform, but I almost felt like throwing the bowl at Kel because it tasted like lime-flavoured cardboard... and also I just felt like throwing something at Kel.

"And what is Earth like?" Ams asked me. Apparently everybody thought I was part of the conversation.

I felt like only one word described my planet: "Intense."

"Intense?" Henn's elf ears perked up. "How so?"

"Because it's fucked up."

Henn and Ams nodded, greatly confused.

Our science teacher was late to class. In a stereotypical class we would all be chatting and throwing paper darts, but this was Starside Academy: land of the socially awkward. We all just sat at our assigned white mushroom desks and faced the front. It was a sad day when I was the most rebellious in the class by using my wrist computer. I was checking the timetable for the day:

05:00- Leisure

06:00- Science

12:00- Leisure

13:00- History

17:00- Leisure

18:00- Tactics

22:00- Leisure

23:00- Combat

29:00- Leisure

29:30- Report back to chambers

Judging by the timetable it was an easy guess that Starside Academy was going to drain my body of all energy. In a thirty hour day we had five hours to sleep. I cannot believe my classes were either four or six hours... My school days back on Earth had nearly been as long as one class!

Science had a semi-different meaning in the USM. Science wasn't just the usual physics, chemistry and biology. Math was considered a sub-category of science and we were most likely going to learn some stuff about medicine too. In the first two years of going to Starside Academy all of us cadets were going to learn the exact same subjects, but for the final three years we split off into our own our own classes judging by what we were training to be. Oh god, that meant Kel and I were going to be training together for the whole five years!

The white door slid open. In stepped the harsnic I had seen on the stage earlier. He looked 'ecstatic' to see us all as proven by his heavy sigh.

Then we heard him speak: "Geed merning stoodents. I'm yer scionce teacha Frekostillion Hes Canamao. Ye can call me Frek fer shert."

What... the... fuck? I looked at the all the other cadets. Some of them were tapping their earpieces to see if it they could adjust the signal. I knew very well that it wasn't the earpiece that had the problem. Frek had the ultimate accent that my translator read as a mixture between Scottish, Irish, Russian, Indian, German and a hint of Canadian. I guessed the accents really varied in the Hashtish Alliance... and Frek had all the accents.

"Naw ve just herv to git somethern cleer: Ye're all incredirbly stoopid." He said bluntly. If only we had understood him so that we knew he was insulting us. "I wernt ye all to cleer yer minds of anythong ye've eva lerned in scionce... 'cause I'ma here to teach ye averythang again the cereect way."

A very long silence followed his introduction. None of us could comprehend anything he had just said. I did not understand how we were going to learn science this year if we couldn't even understand one word our teacher said. He did not notice all of our expressions –or just didn't care– and just casually leaned against the front of his desk.

"Vi'll stert weeth soomthen easy jest so I con see vat ya all know." He began. "Vat is de ferst element on de periodic teble?"

His eyes ran across all of us. It took me a moment, but once I figured out what he had said my hand shot up. – What a terrible mistake.

"Hydrogen." I said, unaware of the mistake I had just made.

Frek raised one of his eyebrows in confusion. "Vat da fook is heedrogin?"

"The first element of the periodic table because its atomic number is one." I scoffed. "That's general knowledge."

Apparently it wasn't general knowledge. Some of the other cadets were giving me weird looks as well. How could I be wrong?

Frek shook his head patronizingly. "No serry. De ferst element on de periodic teble is akmorite weeth an atomic number of fur-hondred and serventeen."

The first element is on the periodic table has an atomic number of four-hundred and seventeen... I call bullshit!

"Vat's yer Hay-name?" He inquired. His strange accent seemed to change every passing minute. First he sounded Irish/Scottish, now he sounded Russian/German.

"Am... Dub First Off Am." I said boldly.

"Vell Am," Frek began very haughtily, "yer periodic teble is wreng. Seein' as yer sacond-clers de USM ne'er bothered to cerrect yer kond. It vould be too herd to try and teech yer whole spacies somethen new like dat 'cause ye vould'nt anderstond our coomplix scionce anyweys."

The man was speaking gibberish. The only reason humans would not be able to learn new things is if someone as wacko as Frek taught 'em!

It was strange knowing that everything I thought I knew about science was wrong. Maybe it was the USM who was wrong. Who knew? I mentally could not comprehend the idea of a new periodic table. Earth's own periodic table made perfect sense. How could it be wrong? Had I studied chemistry for years for no reason?

I didn't pay attention for most of the lesson. The longest I could handle a class for was two hours, but at Starside Academy science class was six hours. It was pretty obvious I was not paying attention seeing as I had opened a digital sketchpad on my mushroom desk and was doodling on that. Frek noticed, but honestly didn't care.

I hated feeling like the dumb kid. Most of the other students understood this new periodic table. Well, pretended to understand at least seeing as it was impossible to understand more than a quarter of what Frek said.

Frek clapped his hands together before switching the projector off. "Vell, dat's the leeson. See ya'll teemorrow."

The cadets fled quicker than the average baseball fan trying to leave the stadium parking lot before the rest of the crowd. I followed behind in a melancholy state. Was I pouting? Yes. I tended to do that when I wasn't happy. I had inherited that trait from my father. It was easy to argue that because I was a snobby rich girl, I hated not having things go my way. – This was true.

"I sew ye at Mel's preesintation." Frek said. I continued to walk as if I didn't know he was speaking to me. "I sew da way ye talked back to de mest powarful woman in da galerxy."

I came to a halt and broke off from the other cadets and turned around to face the harsnic. He didn't seem like a mean guy. We had just gotten off to a bad start. He actually reminded me a little bit of my father in some ways. Calm, intelligent... funny accent. The major difference was that I never got mad at my father.

"Ye gonna bother to learn anythong in my clers Am?" Frek asked. I couldn't detect any smugness in his voice.

"I will sir." I reassured him. "I just don't like the USM not giving me the 'heads-up' about the major changes I will have to face in my learning."

"Ya know vat I vould do if I was in yer situation?"

"What?"

"Geet the fook ovar it and take the sheet comin' like a good memba of da USM vould." He said rather bluntly.

Fuck you, Frek. My thoughts were vivid on my face.

"Ye den't have to like me Am," Frek sighed, "boot ye're gonna have to reespoct me as yer teacher. Ye're loocky Mel's been aroond too leng to cere vat a cadet thinks. Boot she desn't have to see ya every day for sex hours. If ye're goin' to pout in my clers then den't even bother comin' here. I got other stoodents to teach."

I opened my mouth to speak but stopped myself. It was true; I had never respected my teachers. Even back at my old high school Kim and I used to sit at the back of the class and snicker when the teacher got something wrong. – We were little biatches. Schools really had nothing to offer me past the age of fifteen. I had learned everything from my father because he knew more about math and science than the teachers seeing as he was a trained astronaut for science expeditions. Basically, I hadn't learned anything new in a class in years. Frek was finally going to challenge me again... and I hated him for it.

The other cadets had made some good distance from the class in the time Frek and I had had our little conversation. We only had an hour for 'leisure' time so they wanted to get to the cafeteria as soon as possible to get a snack. We were not given assigned seats seeing as the small snack prepared was meant to be edible for all species... although it didn't look it. It looked like brown Jell-O with black cubes stuck in it. Yes, it tasted awful.

I hate it here.
14: He/She/It Started It!

I'm not even going to bother giving an in-depth explanation on how my 'history of the USM' class went. To be brief: it was the most shockingly boring four hours of my life and made less sense than an episode of Star Trek. Yes, I do love Star Trek (never doubt that!) but it still does not make much sense. I'm guessing I am comparing it to that series because the history we learned was all out of date and there were quite a few plot holes. They were not giving us the whole story when it came to the creation of the universe. It wasn't explained how the Mel was born before time began and we were just supposed to accept that.

Religion was not the same as it was on Earth. Mel was like their version of God. She was the reason for the 'big bang' after all. I was an agnostic so I could accept the new circumstances. I chose to neither deny nor accept the existence of any gods that had been laid out for me because they all seemed to have their faults. The USM had been around a lot longer and had proved that Mel created the universe and everything in it. Nobody could deny the scientific evidence supporting the USM version of the creation of the universe, but that didn't mean we were hearing the whole story. For example: how did Mel exist in the first place?

Kel looked very uncomfortable with the situation. Where he came from religion played a very important role in his everyday life. The algrins believed in a god called Meshe, the god of fertility. Their version of the bible didn't state that Meshe created the universe; it said that the universe had never not existed. Yes, I read up on Kel to give myself a better understanding of my enemy. They had a god of fertility because their race was on the verge of extinction due to a genetic disorder that meant only one in a million children born were males. However, the algrin religion was also against the idea of having unnatural births which meant no cloning or bioengineering male children and no fertility clinics. I would be considered the antichrist on their planet seeing as I was a bioengineered clone conceived in a medical lab. That is why Kel despised me. – He had done his research on moi.

I felt sorry for the algrins. Because they were second-class, the USM could not be forced to save their race if they could not accept change. That's why there was polygamy on their planet. Each male had over a thousand wives but only a few 'primary wives'. It was their job to impregnate all their wives to get a higher chance of having a male born to carry on the family line. Kel was seventy-four. However, his species only hit puberty in their forties. When I looked up his profile I learned he had over a thousand wives and at least one child with every single one of them. The only reason he was different from all the other algrins was because one of his primary wives was not an algrin and he had married out of their race. Of course, this was also banned by their religion. I could not tell what this meant about Kel. Did it mean he was trying to save his race from extinction by killing of the genetic disorder, did he marry her out of spite, or was he just tired of all his algrin wives and wanted something new? Either way, according to his profile, his wife –Jaedorra– was only one month pregnant which meant they would not know if she was carrying a boy or girl yet. Either way the child would be rejected by the algrins and seen as a mongrel. I hated Kel for making me feel bad for him. It was so much easier to despise him when I just knew he was a sexist bastard, but now he had a freaking backstory!

Anyways... Our history teacher was called Wesai or Wes. She was the pale mousy one I had seen on stage. She could not project her voice farther than a few feet making it impossible to hear her properly. Dear God, was it really going to be this hard understand what all my teachers said?

But as previously stated: history was boring. We had another one hour break after class in which we all got another snack. I had already attended ten hours of class today and I still had two more classes to go. It was exhausting. How was anybody supposed to do all this on five hours of regeneration? Some of the other cadets seemed to be feeling it too. The tall demon-like guy called Us from San had just collapsed in the line at the cafeteria. I rushed to his side like Donn did. – Donn was his captain after all.

"Us?" Donn gave the demon a gentle slap on the cheek to try and induce a response. "Come on, man."

That's when I noticed that my translator had given Donn a Russian accent. Not like a normal Russian accent. More like an American trying to imitate the accent. I instinctively thought of Pavel Chekov from Star Trek and knew the freaking fish boy would be my friend. We both took one of Us's arms over our shoulders and helped him to the closest chair. I'm calling Us a 'him' even though he was technically an asexual hermaphrodite... It was just easier.

"You want me to grab him something to drink?" I asked Donn.

"It could help." He replied with a smile that revealed his shark-like teeth.

Nobody stopped me from cutting in line to pour a glass of some sort of bright blue liquid. The cafeteria robots made no attempt to help the poor demon boy. Apparently they had not been programmed to respond to people passing out on the floor. The robots here made me very uncomfortable. Their bright blue glowing eyes almost made them look insane. – Robots couldn't go on psychotic killer rampage, right?

Us was more responsive when I came back. He happily took the cup from me, but I didn't pull my hand back just in case he dropped it. About half of the blue liquid went into his mouth while the rest trickled down his chin and onto his blue and black uniform.

"That's disgusting." A female voice said behind me.

I immediately spun around to see who was judging a guy who had just passed out. It was Zand: Captain of Ket. Zand... The name had a villainous ring to it. Her red uniform also added to the evil picture. She had a very slender figure like you would see a mannequin have. The only difference was that her body was made of a magenta coloured Jell-O. C'mon... The girl (if she was a girl) didn't even have a face! How could she even see Us drinking?

My strong American accent kicked in defensively. "You gotta problem, darling?" I said rather sassily. "I'm sorry we ain't all perfect blobs like you are."

That prompted a gasp/laugh from Donn. Zand took a step closer to me. Her body was made of plasma and seemed so restrained in her body glove. I didn't understand how she ate, drank or spoke... but I didn't care.

"Zand," I began, knowing I was going to make another enemy today, "I have this thing called a 'personal bubble' and you are currently standing in it. Please clear the area."

Yeah... I shouldn't have said that. Ten seconds later I found myself in the middle of a fistfight with a blob. I hesitated when my fist went right through her head and out the other side. Zand took my moment of shock to grab my shoulders and throw me to the floor. As I tried to stand up she caught her boot in my stomach and winded me for a moment. There was no particular reason we were fighting. I'm guessing we were all just so tired and angry on our first day of school that we were searching for a way to release that tension.

As soon as I stood up, Zand scrunched her three boneless glove-covered fingers into a fist again and went in for the kill. To both of our surprise, somebody dressed in black stepped in between us and caught Zand's fist. It was Chorst. Kel was in the corner of my view glaring awfully at moi. I had repeatedly embarrassed him and we hadn't even been here two full days!

"You are a captain." Chorst told Zand in his mesmerizing French accent. "This fighting is illogical. Restrain yourself until we reach the battle room."

Zand made a strange growling noise before pulling her hand away from the Chorst aggressively. She was strong, but she was a hell of a lot shorter than him. Trying to hit him in the face would be difficult.

"In the battle room I'll tear your head off." Zand hissed. But because she had no eyes it was impossible to tell if she was talking to moi or Chorst.

The Jell-O girl still had her fists ready and looked as if she was about to take on Chorst. Instead, she made another snarling noise before storming out of the cafeteria. There was silence for a moment before everyone returned to eating and chatting like nothing had happened. Chorst returned to his table where the rest of his dub crew was sitting without even taking one look at me. There was a hand on my shoulder. It was Donn's.

"That... was awesome." He laughed. "But maybe it would be wiser to avoid getting into fist fights on your first day at the academy."

I glared at him in a semi-joking way. "Hey. She... He... It threw the first punch. I just returned the favour."

Over the fish boy's shoulder I could see the robots still serving the last of the cadets. So they did not respond to people passing out or fights. Good to know we could literally get away with murder in the academy.

Us walked over to us. He was a little embarrassed that it was sort of his fault that Zand and I had clashed.

"You can sit with us if you'd like." He offered sincerely.

I opened my mouth to answer him when I noticed Kel standing in the cafeteria archway giving me an icy glare. Like a teacher to a naughty child, he gestured me to come over. Oh, this was not going to be good.

"Sure." I told Us. "But I've got to go see my darling cap first."

Donn and Us both looked back and saw Kel.

"Want me to come with you?" Donn offered politely.

"Nah, I can take him with one arm tied behind my back." I joked.

Kel did not say a word to me when I reached him. Instead he just led me a little further down the corridor so we were a good distance away from the cafeteria. I wasn't scared. It was easy to tell he just wanted to build the suspense because he could not really do anything to me without the teachers hearing about it.

"Look Kel," I began bluntly, "sorry if I embarrassed you, but I didn't start that last fight. Zand di–"

He slapped me right across the face. And not just a slap. A backhanded slap! It stung a little more than usual seeing as I had previously sustained some bruises from my fight with Zand. My cheek was red. It had been a hard hit. Was this his way of trying to gain control of me? Not gonna happen. The boy's head barely reached my shoulder!

"It's not just the cafeteria fight I'm embarrassed about." He hissed. "On our very first day at Starside you spoke back to Mel and today I overheard you talking to Frek after class. You're a mess Am. What do you think the USM will think of me if I can't control you?"

I suspected he was asking a rhetorical question and didn't bother to answer. Instead I decided to figuratively slap him back.

"You slap your wives like that?" I asked.

Kel didn't flinch. "Only the ones I don't like."

"Well I'm not one of your thousands of wives so you don't get to try and control me with force. You'll never be a good captain if you have to hit your crewmembers."

He growled quietly. "I can bet I'll never have to strike a man like that. Reckless women like you have to be controlled. If you were allowed to do whatever you wanted the USM would implode."

"I'm not reckless because I have a vagina. In fact, it's the testes that pack men full of aggressive testosterone. No, I'm reckless because I just don't give a fuck about what others think of me."

That caught him off-guard. Even though he had had sex with over a thousand women, he still wasn't used to the word 'vagina'. That's when I realized he was young adult like I was. Sex was just as foreign sounding to him as it was to me. I hated the hell out of the bastard, but I don't think he wanted his life to be the way it was either. He had come from a world where men were so rare that they were all treated like royalty... but that wasn't true. He was just as mistreated as his wives by an even higher power. Kel must have been barely a teenager when he was married to all his wives. He was under an immense amount of pressure to produce at least one son even though it was technically all out of his control. Honestly, his life sounded like hell. I blamed his miserable life on his restricted religion. He most likely blamed it on women.

"How in the galaxy were you accepted into Starside Academy?" Kel inquired after he recuperated from my use of the 'v' word. "You're the most disgraceful women I've ever met."

"Good question." I joked.

Nothing more needed to be said. Kel flinched when I patted him on the shoulder patronizingly before I strode back to the cafeteria. He decided to wait for a moment so we would no walk back in together. There was no way the two of us were going to be able to function as crewmates. I hated him for being sexist and he hated me for being a woman. It's like the USM knew we would not be able to work together because they wanted to see us fail like the second-class species we were.

I decided it was best to keep what happened between me and Kel to myself instead of concerning Donn and his dub crew. They seemed like a much more cheerful crowd. Not to say I did not like Henn, Ams and Gom, it's just that Kel really brought the storm cloud to our table.

"So have you ever watched pod racing?" Jhan asked me. She looked like the green version of Zand. The difference was that she had visible organs through the gel and I could see her brain working away. – Very creepy.

An image of the pod racing from the Phantom Menace flashed through my head and I shuddered. For some reason my father liked the first three Star Wars episodes because he had lived through political battles in the USM that were equally stupid and murderously dull. I personally found politics boring and did not want it messing with my movies. Pointless fight scenes were much more entertaining for moi.

"Um... Sort of." I told Jhan.

My translator had given her a Canadian accent: "They're intense races, eh?"

"I guess so." I muttered. Not wanting to talk about pod racing out of all sports.

"I wish combat was at the beginning of the day instead of the end." Us mumbled. "I'm going to be so beat."

Donn took a sip of the blue liquid. "That's probably why they put it at the end."

The rest of us looked at him in confusion. He sighed as if it was so difficult explaining his idea. "I think putting combat at the end is part of the battle simulation. Because usually in wars the marines run on very little sleep and are exhausted." He explained.

"We're not marines." I mumbled. "We're commanding officers."

Donn agreed with the nod of his head. "Yeah... but we've got to be trained to fight if we have to."

Surprisingly, I was exhausted, but not sleepy in the same way. The florescent white lighting had disoriented my body. No matter what time it was my body thought it was daytime. That was a contributing factor in why we did not just 'sleep' normally. Our body clocks were so confused that we most likely wouldn't get any rest at all without our regeneration chambers. The nocturnal students like Ams and Chorst were suffering even more. They were most likely going to be blind by the end of the first year.
15: Meanwhile...

Tamarax was acting strange. Well... stranger than usual. Her sharp black nails punched numbers into her alien calculator as she went back and forth down the long corridor. It was like she was on a treasure hunt and her calculator was the map.

KC2203 followed meekly behind her in his green button-up jacket and tight black pants. Apparently a jacket with tight pants was the new fashion so that was exactly what Tamarax made him wear. He was not very well-liked by Tamarax's personnel seeing as she had basically put him on a pedestal to be admired. Her henchmen did not know what she did to the poor guy behind the scenes, they were too ignorant. It was strange how much of an interest Tamarax had in her slave, and yet she had never bothered to give him a proper name.

One of her expendable assistants stood to one side and watched her go back and forth like a madwoman. It's finally happened. He thought. She's lost her mind. The fact was that Tamarax had lost her mind long ago, but she was just very good at hiding her true insane self.

Tamarax stopped abruptly and stared at her calculator and then the floor. A sadistic smile spread across her face showing her rotten fangs. Her smile vanished for a moment when she examined the numbers again on her calculator. Then she took one step backward and smiled again.

"Vel," she glanced at her assistant, "can you come over here?"

Her assistant hesitantly walked over. The job of working for Tamarax was very dangerous, but he needed the credits. Tamarax's workers were from all over the Milky Way. She worked alongside pirates and terrorists, bought many slaves and hired aliens from second-class or third-class planets who could not get other jobs. And like most awful people; she got her money from the slaves she sent out to do deep space mining. That was the original reason she bought KC2203. His 'brothers' were out in the farther reaches of the galaxy slowly dying in the heart of giant asteroids. While they scavenged for rare minerals, KC2203 was here with Tamarax. He felt a huge amount of grief for his brothers. He would have rather been physically dying with them than spiritually dying with Tamarax.

"Draw a cross." Tamarax ordered. Using her boot-covered toes to point to where she wanted the cross.

Vel complied and got out a red marker. He wasn't sure why she wanted a cross there, but it was a death sentence to ask.

"Here it is gentlemen." She said proudly. "Here is where Amelia Hollow will die."

She sniffed. Both men thought she was crying due to her 'achievement', but it turned out she was just holding back a nosebleed.

Time was linear. But at certain points it could be tampered with. This was one of those points. She had to kill me (yes, I'm still narrating the story even though this isn't my plotline) exactly on the red cross Vel had drawn or the path where Tamarax died would be inevitable. However, if she succeeded in killing me, then Tak would successfully collide with the star that had the time energy surrounding it. By looking into the space time continuum, Tamarax had formed a telepathic connection with Tak. So when the 4th dimensional creature got the 'push' it needed to reshape the universe, she would be able to tell Tak what she wanted to be done telepathically.

(Do not ask me how Tamarax was able to figure out where the time-changing point was with just a calculator and her mind. If you saw the vast amount of equations going on in her head you would go as crazy as her.)

Vel and KC2203 joined her in smiling even though neither of them agreed with her. They both secretly wished she was wrong so that she'd die.

"See Vel?" Tamarax began. "And you said that I wouldn't be able to find the time changing point."

Her green assistant stared at her blankly. "I never said tha–"

Vel was cut-off when her sharp nail went through his eye and pierced his brain. Tamarax had a strange impulse to kill whoever said she was wrong about something.

KC2203 squeaked and covered his mouth with both hands. He hated death. Killing was against his beliefs and it tore him up inside every time he remembered he was the slave of a killer.

Tamarax instantly regretted killing Vel in front of her little blue pet. He was always so solemn after she killed someone in front him. He suffered from depression for obvious reasons. Tamarax had him on medication for it, but it just got worse every time she did something bad in front of him. It would have been easy for her to just kill him and get a new slave, yet she didn't want to do that. In spite of everything, she had feelings for him. It was an unhealthy to have a relationship based on one partner having all the control. Unfortunately Tamarax didn't know how to have any other kind. It was not as if KC2203 could complain. After all, she had 'saved' him from being sent to the deep space mines.

The blue boy stood there like a deer in the headlights. He was worried that she would go for him next. Tamarax took her nail out of Vel's head and let his body drop.

"Sorry sweetie." She said as sincerely as she could. "It's just impulse."

KC2203 nodded in understanding, but avoided eye contact. He saw no way out of his hellish life. All clones feared the USM as much as they feared their own masters. The USM did not recognize them as people and therefore weren't afraid to shoot them conflicts. Slave clones only trusted their siblings and KC2203 was alone, so he trusted no one.
16: Band of Nitwits

We had the same teacher for tactics and combat. Her name was Alk. She was the tall woman I had also seen on stage with the skin dark like onyx. Alk appeared as hard as a diamond however she seemed like one of those women who would become softer once we got to know her better.

"Donn!" She barked before pausing the video we had been watching.

The fish boy looked up from his desk. He shrunk under her glowering yellow eyes.

"Yes ma'am?" He asked.

"What were you doing?" She asked. The voice my translator had given her was low and enigmatic.

"Nothing ma'am." Donn replied sincerely.

"That's the issue." She hissed. "You weren't paying attention to the film. You know why we're watching this battle?"

"Err..." Donn mumbled.

"So that you can figure out the strategies our fleets used to take down these terrorists. You need to focus or your ship will be the first to explode in battle." She said bluntly.

Donn nodded eagerly in agreement. "Yes ma'am. Sorry ma'am."

Watching old USM wars was tremendously boring after the first three hours. We were all just waiting for the class to end so we could have our hour break before we came back for combat. I had already taken enough notes on what had happened in the wars that I felt ready to start strategizing our first battle in the battle room.

Donn's wrist computer informed him there was a new message. When Alk had her back turned he quickly opened it. It read: "You are SO rebellious".

He turned to face me before using is disturbingly long forked tongue to lick his big blue eyes. I'm not sure what that was supposed to mean, but I guessed it was similar to how humans stuck their tongues out immaturely. I had not been watching the film either. I was just really good at looking like I was focused even though I was staring off into space.

The leisure break we had next was actually for dinner. I was curious about what they intended to serve me. I wanted a chicken sandwich desperately. Or at least something that looked like a chicken sandwich.

Data had informed me that my father had scheduled in a call to me at 29:12. Everybody got to make one call a day for exactly one and a half minutes. Boy, my father was going to be so happy to hear about how I was doing. I probably would not have enough time to give him all the details on how I talked-back to Mel, got into a fist fight with a blob, got slapped by my captain and learned that everything I'd learned in science class on Earth was a lie. Sven would most likely want Geraldine to chat with me too. I really hopped Geraldine had told my father about the dusk situation by now. Otherwise it was going to be very awkward for moi.

Once tactics class finally ended we went to dinner. Surprisingly, my 'mashed potatoes' and 'steak' dinner was pretty good. None of it actually tasted like the food it was supposed to, but I was too hungry to care. We were then told to go back to our chambers and grab our armour. Finally I was going to see what the silly black dots on my uniform were for besides looking stupid.

I strolled to my chamber with my hands in the pockets of my cadet jacket. I had not realized the things had pockets until now.

The suitcases seemed a lot heavier than they did a day ago. They were basically dragging along the ground as I carried them with my hunched back. Donn zipped up behind and slapped me on the back with one of his suitcases. Surprisingly, Henn was also with him. It seemed strange that the two were friends, but here they were acting like 'chums'. I had not considered that the cadets could be friends with people outside of their dub crew. – Unless you're moi, of course.

"Have either of you tried looking in these?" Henn asked, gesturing to his black suitcases.

Donn shook his head. "Alk said it wouldn't be wise to open them."

One of my eyebrows rose. What was inside that made them dangerous?

We had about fifteen minutes before combat started so the three of us just sat against the wall outside of the battle room. Gom, Jhan and some other people from Mar and Ket were there waiting too. This was the class we were all the most eager to attend. Science was dead to me, history and tactics were boring, and then there was combat; a place where we could all knock each other's brains out. I needed to do something physical like this. Back at my old high school I enjoyed all the usual subjects, but I found the extra-curricular activities much more to be my forte.

To pass the time, Donn wanted to prove how good he was at keeping his balance. He stacked up our six suitcases and stood on top of them. This does not sound like much of an achievement, but the walls of the suitcases warped outwards meaning that they tried to slide when they were stacked.

"How impressive... But random." Jhan joked. It was obvious she had a crush on her captain.

"Donn!"

We all suddenly turned to see Alk standing in the corridor. Her arms were crossed impatiently. I was expecting to have one of those 'comedic' moments where Donn yelps and tumbles clumsily off the suitcases. Luckily, he was right about his good balance. He did yelp, but he was able to leap casually of the suitcases.

Strike two! I thought. Sure, I had a lot more strikes against me than Donn did, however they were all with different people. Donn had 'displeased' Alk twice in the past few hours.

Alk did not shame Donn like she did last time. She instead just strode past all of us and let the ID confirmation camera scan her so we could get in. Fish boy sighed out of relief before quickly picking up his two suitcases. Our names were printed in silver on the top of them so it was easy to find my two as well.

We were all led into what was apparently the overview room. It was where we got briefed on what was going to happen and also where Alk would monitor the battle from. On one side there was a large touchscreen monitor and on the other there was a long glass window that let us see most of the battle room. In-between the two were four white benches that had too thin of a seat so they looked more like balance beams.

I felt a little more anxious looking into the battle room now. It looked like a ginormous white elevator shaft on a tilt. Besides turrets everywhere, there was also a huge fan at the very end of the shaft.

Well... This should be interesting. I thought while taking my seat with the other cadets on the benches. I was right about them. They were very uncomfortable to sit on unless you were as thin as Henn.

"The battle room is meant to prepare you for any type of combat." Alk began as she turned on the large monitor. "We're not going to get straight into the battle of course. Well... unless your intent is to fly into walls and misuse your gun by stunning yourself."

None of us were sure if we were supposed to laugh at her 'joke' or not. We all just hesitantly smirked instead.

On the monitor we were seeing a 3D projection of the battle room. It emphasized where the turrets were placed and the balconies that could be used to a team's advantage. It also showed where some of the passages were that could take you through the whole room. Of course, there were some secret passages we would not be shown. They were the most useful for getting around the battle room secretly and also shooting the enemy without being seen. Alk told us that in one of them there was also a hidden gun that more powerful than any of ours. I did not care about that. I was just happy that we all got our own guns.

This may shock you; I liked the power a gun gave me... Actually, that's probably not shocking. I'm from Wyoming after all. Once the real gun freaks vanished off the face of the Earth –or were sent to Florida– the shooting ranges became much more civil and were more like posh gun clubs. My father refused to touch any weapons besides a foil, but Geraldine and I had a heck of a lot fun shooting the targets.

"We're going to start with the armour." Alk said as she led us down the corridor to the prep-room. "There is a reason all of you must wear your body gloves all day even if you have an adaptable body. The glove will protect you in water, fire and deep space. It's the same with your amour. The armour recycles the air you breathe so you can last in any conditions for long periods of time."

Alk pointed to a black box behind glass in the prep-room. It was quite thin despite the fact it was the life preserver for our armour. Sure, great, but when were we actually going to get on our armour?

"If your life preserver is damaged, you have thirty seconds to remove your helm before you lose all oxygen in your suit." Alk pressed a button that made the pedestal the life preserver was on rotate so we saw the damaged life preserver on the other side. It appeared to be damaged by laser. For some reason that excited moi more. It made me imagine the old sci-fi movies where lasers where firing rapidly from everywhere and yet doing no damage was being done.

Finally, we were going to put on our amour. Alk put hers on first of course. She attached her two black suitcases to each side of the amour chamber and stepped into the giant white and blue cylinder. I was surprised to see each individual braid of her black hair recoil back into her head until it only went to her ears. – Aliens could do the coolest things.

We all jumped a bit when she barked "activate!" and her suitcases flew open. Unrecognizable black objects flew out and at her. We could hear the objects as they slapped her body and magnetically connected to the black dots on her uniform... It looked like it hurt.

The armour looked like it had been put on her like pieces of a puzzle. What was the best about it was the helm. It looked like a more epic version of a fencing mask. We could not see her face at all through the jet-black plastic mould. It was easy to imagine how terrifying it was for civilians to see the USM personnel. They almost looked like villains themselves.

What caught my eye was the silver gun in the holster that had magically attached itself to her belt. I did not find it convenient that you had to put on your armour every time you wanted your weapons. What would happen if you weren't near an amour chamber and you needed your gun?

The San dub crew went first. Donn was not excited about being the first to go. I saw him close his eyes at the last moment when the armour came flying at him. His helm was had an odder shape to fit his head crests inside comfortably. It was going to be a lot easier spot him out in the battle room than it would be to distinguish the others in his group.

The next up was Ket, Mar and then finally us. By the time it reached Kel we were all still anxious about seeing a cadet get attacked by flying armour. The algrin tried to act manly, but I saw him flinch when both sides of his helm charged at him from each direction. I reassured myself it did not actually hurt and it was just the build-up. – I was wrong.

I set my suitcases up and stood in the centre trying to look as casual as possible. When I called 'activate' the suitcases sprung open and pieces of armour shot at me like bullets. I was thankful that I had had my breast size reduced a couple of years ago because the chest plate hit me hard. Not like my breasts had actually been big originally, but the reduction made sense for when I played basketball and somebody elbowed me in the chest.

The helm hit me like a slap in the face. I now understood why we were requested to keep our hair short. The back end of my helm squished my bun into my head and created a throbbing sensation. I ignored it. I had always kept my hair at the same length and I was not changing today!

My body felt a little numb as I stepped away from the armour chamber. I then remembered that my suitcases were still in the armoury chamber and quickly picked them off the walls with my shaky hands. Alk then directed me to go and stand by Kel while we waited for the final three to gear-up. We didn't bother to speak to each other. Instead I thought about what code names I would give out to my crew if Kel suggested we needed them. Phallic... It seemed like a good codename for Kel.

The first combat lesson was mainly going to be about learning how to use our armour and gun. We all stood in the battle room facing Alk as she gave the demonstration. She had programmed the battle room to be lying perfectly horizontally. Now we knew that the battle room could rotate with great ease. We all presumed that in the practise battles Alk would be rotating the battle room like crazy.

What I had not been aware of was that the armour that attached to our boots actually allowed us to fly. Alk was such a natural at flying. She actually made it look easy. She hit every wall in the giant rectangular prism. Her hand hit the top of the battle room before she soared back down. We all jumped back when she landed with her fist-first on the ground. She stood up properly and acted as if it was 'nothing big'.

"You can communicate with your wrist computer to start, stop and change speeds while flying." She lifted her hand so we could see the glowing blue circle of energy on her palm. "This is a stabilizer. This will help you halt in mid-flight or changed direction."

We're acting like Iron Man. I thought, loving the idea. Even though we all had masks on, it was easy to tell that the other students liked the idea of flying too.

"There is only way to learn how to fly," Alk paused for effect, "and that is by flying."

Oh yes, our first flight lesson must have been very entertaining to watch... but not fun to be a part of. As soon as I switched on my boots I found myself crashing into a wall. Only the students with 'accelerated intelligence' got the hang of it while the rest of us flew around like deflating balloons.

Just as I stabilized myself in mid-flight, I collided with another student I didn't recognize from Ket and we both ended up crashing into the corner of the battle room. He (if he was a 'he') quickly switched off his boots and ran back to the centre of the room where Alk was standing. I followed him but at my own pace. I was sore all-over. I was either going to have a dislocated shoulder or broken bone by the end of the day.

"Well... That was interesting." Alk laughed.

We knew things were serious when a girl from Mar had to be taken to the medical centre due to two broken bones. Her species had frail bones like birds. A robot zipped in with a hovering stretcher and scooped the sobbing girl up before zipping back out.

"She'll be back in a couple of minutes." Alk reassured us all. Medicine was far more advanced so a broken bone was easy to treat.

"Now we'll get started on target practise." She said as she typed something into her wrist computers.

All the cadets looked around as we heard the turrets turn on. I swallowed anxiously.

"In your Dub crews you must deactivate the ten turrets. Your guns are automatically set to 'stun' which works on living things and these turrets."

Of course, since Gall was first on the spreadsheet that meant I was up first. The other three Dub crews and Alk watched from above in the overview room. In the two minutes we had Gom ran his eyes up and down all ten turrets to figure out which we needed to take out first. He was the tactics officer after all.

"I think we should spread ourselves out across the battle room so the turrets aren't all just aiming in one direction. Two of us should be decoys who fly and distract the turrets while the other three find safe spots to fire from." Gom explained while pointing at the small 'pockets' on each side of the room that people could hide in.

The turrets started firing spontaneously. We immediately abandoned Gom's plan and scattered like insects. A laser just barely missed my leg as I dove behind a wall. I pulled my gun from its holster and got ready. A little too late did I realize that although I was protected from the turret aiming at moi originally, another had spotted me. I shot once but missed before electricity ran through my body. How could I already be out? This kind of stuff was supposed to be my forte. I didn't even hit one turret.

The other members of Gall had not done so well either. Altogether we had deactivated two turrets before we were all stunned. Robots collected the five of us and took us to the battle room medical centre to be reanimated. Alk didn't look very impressed with us when we came back into the overview room. I just hoped some of the other dub crews did poorly so we would not look as bad.

"You did good." Donn whispered. At first I thought he was mocking me, yet he seemed sincere.

Like everyone else in the overview room, I removed my helm and attached two sides to my belt. Beads of sweat rested on the back of my neck. I casually used my gloved hand to smear them away. I didn't want anybody to think I was already tired.

I noticed the girl who had broken two bones was back in with Mar. Her posture in the battle room suggested she was still a little shaken-up from the whole experience. She could still remember the pain from only a few minutes ago and now she was back in the battle where she would probably get injured again.

Mar seemed a lot more organized than us. Chorst had been one of the few cadets who had actually listened throughout the whole of tactics class so that was another card in his hand. He ordered the rest of his team to hide before sacrificing his science officer to the turrets. While the turrets were all aiming for poor Jee, the rest of the dub crew fired from their hiding places. In the end his team got five turrets. Alk nodded her head slowly when they came back in after reanimation. She was impressed. Most cadets from previous grades only got at three or four on the first go.

"Sacrifice." She noted. "A good idea, but will you have the heart for it in a real battle?"

Chorst's impassive expression didn't change. "I will do what must be done."

Jee didn't seem to like the idea very much. He did not understand how the one with 'accelerated intelligence' ended up being sacrificed.

"And why not sacrifice yourself instead?" Alk asked. She wanted to see how much Chorst had learned in tactics class.

"A crew needs a captain." He said simply.

"Excellent work Dub Cap Chorst." She looked at all of us and then back to him. "You all should keep his tactics in mind."

And of course, the two Dub crews afterwards had sacrifices as well. Ket got four turrets while San got three. When it was my crew's turn again we quickly discussed what was going to happen during the walk down the corridor. It was best to use the two minutes before the turrets turned back on to find hiding places.

"So are we doing sacrifice?" I asked Gom.

Kel answered for him: "Yes."

I raised my eyebrows. "Who're we making the bait?"

"You." Gom and Kel said simultaneously.

I scoffed and shook my head before putting my helm back on so they couldn't see my frustration. It was a ludicrous idea to give up the first officer. Kel was acting on emotion and not thinking logically. He and Gom were in a pact now, but who would Henn and Ams side with? The two of them avoided eye contact as I looked at them. Understandable, it was always best to side with the captain... even if he was a nitwit.

Lasers shot right past my head as I flew around the battle room. Some were from the turrets while others were from my dub crew as they made pathetic attempts to deactivate the turrets. I was awful at flying, but I still pulled out my own gun and decided to see if I could hit something while in mid-flight. There was a pain in my back as a laser hit me. I hit the floor with a thud and lay still in position that would be awkward if I could feel anything. The gun landed on my pelvis before sliding off. Now that I was out, the turrets would be searching for the rest of my crew. Bastards, it was probably one of them who shot me down.

This time we got three turrets. Better than last time. Still, it hardly seemed like sacrificing the first officer was worth a measly three turrets.

"Try and stay in the air longer. You make it too easy to get shot." Kel told me bluntly as we walked back to the overview room.

It's like he begging me to hit him. I thought, clenching my fists.

Alk looked as happy as I did: "What was that?"

"Sacrifice." Kel replied. He had no respect for Alk. He wasn't used to women being more powerful than him.

"Have you not considered the fact that if you and Am had been taken down first in a real battle, then there would be nobody left with the experience to command?"

"Frankly, I don't think Am's qualified to command."

That brought silence to the room. Hitting the phallic wouldn't have helped, but I sure did want to. Alk shifted her weight from one foot to the other and folded her arms. She was above getting into petty debates so she said no more on the matter. She used her hand to gesture for the next dub crew to go down.

The next hours were repetitive, then again necessary. The first team to hit all ten was Zand's. She had actually been the last one standing at the end and we were all impressed.

Even though I had been reanimated, my body had been stunned so many times that I felt numb in my hands and feet. I sat on the bench as the cadets watched San and pinched the top of my hand. All the other teams had changed sacrifices each time, but Kel always made sure it was me. – What a phallic.

When San returned from reanimation my dub crew got ready to go in for our turn. Alk stopped us and directed with her finger for us to go and sit back down on the benches.

"We're going to try something different now." She said as she turned the monitor back on.

Another 3D projection of the battle room was shown, but now it was standing up vertically. That's when we all heard a cranking noise as the whole battle room rotated. Now it looked much more like an elevator shaft.

"The turrets aren't the enemy anymore." She began. "In your Dub crews, it is your job to eliminate all the members of other crews. You must also protect your base from attack. If you lose the heart of your base then you automatically lose the whole exercise."

Shit just got real. We were all still exhausted from the previous exercise. This new game would most likely form competitive wedges between dub crews. I could see them already forming as we all eyed each other.

Four little rooms were open now that had not been open during target practise. They were each of our bases. In the centre of each little room was the 'heart' of our team. Three shots and it would be deactivated. Gall's base was not in a great location. It was below two of the other bases which meant we had been automatically disadvantaged.

I leaned against the dark grey wall as I secretly listened into Kel and Gom's conversation. They wanted to use me and Ams as decoys... Sexist.

Fuck this. I thought before slipping out unnoticed. Even though the game had technically started I would not be noticed seeing as everybody was still inside their base planning.

Near the very bottom where the fan was, there was a tucked-away pocket which I hid in. Sure, it was general knowledge that being below in a battle was not a very good idea, but nobody knew I was down there.

My wrist computer beeped. Apparently as soon as Kel realized I was gone he sent a message demanding to know where I was. I told Data to delete the message and continued to watch what was happening above. If I was not going to be respected by the rest of my crew then I might as well go rogue.

The first to leave their base was someone from Ket. The alien was like an ant as it crawled along the walls and down to San's base. Instinctively I wrote a message to Donn to warn him. Unfortunately, my screen flashed orange and an error message came up.

"I'm sorry Am, I'm afraid I can't do that." Data told me.

I slowly looked down at my wrist computer. "Why not HAL... I mean Data?"

"Dub Cap Donn is not on your team. All contact with other dub crews has been forbidden until the end of the exercise."

The insect-like alien jumped onto the San crew's balcony and drew its gun. It had to be Va, the hermaphrodite, because I recognized his/her four insect arms and large bulbous head. I drew my own gun and aimed. If Alk criticized me later I could just say I was just shooting for the hell of it and not trying to help San.

I missed, and Va spotted me. On impulse I fired again and hit the alien right in the gut. Va stumbled backwards and fell off the balcony. I looked away. – It was a long drop. The ant-like alien landed on the grate above the fan with a splat. At least Va was stunned or that would have really hurt.

Three members of San –including Donn– came out shortly afterwards. All of them went to Ket now that their crew was one short. None of them looked like they really wanted to fly but they had no choice. Two of the remaining members of Ket were already on their own balcony and firing down at the assailants.

It was surprising to see four members of the Mar crew fly out from their base and right into San's. Chorst seemed to be the most organized so none of us had prepared for him to do something as crazy as that. However, that was exactly what he had been planning on. I could see the flashes of light from the balcony as they took out the heart of San and lost one of their own in the skirmish.

"San has been eliminated." Data informed me as the heart was deactivated.

The final member of the blue crew suddenly felt an anonymous jolt of electricity run through his body and dropped like a dead fly. As soon as the heart was destroyed, no matter how many were left you'd still automatically 'die'.

The remaining members of Mar flew back to their own base. They were most likely already planning who they would attack next.

Little Ams was flying around like a wingless sprite. Gom and Kel had still decided to use her as a decoy even though I was gone. Zand was smarter than that and only had one member of her crew shoot Ams down while the other two went for my other team members. Even though I was 'rogue', I still had to make sure the Gall heart survived.

Stupidly, the three remaining members of my crew were out on the balcony firing at Ket. Nobody was defending the heart. If they had not made Ams go and get herself stunned they could've left her to defend. The last one standing at the end was Kel who realized his mistake and began to walk backwards. Zand did not let him get that far and shot him herself.

After Kel went down, three members from Mar came back out from hiding and decided to finish off Ket themselves. They succeeded, but the two of them got stunned.

"Ket has been eliminated." Data said.

Now it was time for me to get back in the fight. It was just Chorst, one of his teammates and moi. The crewmember from Mar –who wasn't Chorst– seemed rather cautious about entering the Gall base. He thought I was in there with the heart seeing as I had been missing the whole game.

"Data?" I whispered.

"Yes, Dub First Off Am?"

"If the doors to the bases can be opened automatically, can they be closed too?"

"Yes."

"Close the door to the Gall base and lock." I ordered, hoping Data had that sort of power.

There was silence for a moment as the crewmember took another step towards the Gall base before the metal door slid shut. He jumped back otherwise it would've sliced him like a knife. In this brief amount of time I got out of my hiding place and flew back up. I shut my boots off just as I reached the balcony and landed clumsily. The member of Mar quickly turned around and raised his gun, but I grabbed his arms and tried to direct the gun up into the air. He squealed like a little wounded animal but refused to submit so I screwed that plan and just pushed him away before grabbing my own gun. I got him in the chest and he dropped like a puppet had its strings cut.

Now it's just moi and Chorst. I thought. Ironically, I felt a gun pressed into the back of my helm.

"Do you surrender?" Chorst asked coldly.

I hated losing, but was surrendering actually an option?

"Yes?" I said more as a question.

"Drop your gun." He ordered.

I complied. He would have to be a real bastard to shoot me now.

"Dub Cap Chorst," Alk said over the loudspeaker, "what are you doing?"

"I have no need to kill the enemy if they surrender." He said sharply.

I looked up at Alk in the overview room. Chorst was her new favourite cadet. He was the only one of us thinking about what would happen in a real battle.

"Good answer Chorst." She said, impressed. "Mar is the winner of this exercise."

The hovering robots filed in from an entrance at the top of the room and started searching for stunned cadets. Chorst lowered his stun gun as I turned. We could not see each other's face through the helms, yet I assumed he looked impassive as usual.

I wasn't sure what to say: "Uh... Thanks for not stunning me."

He did not reply. Instead he just switched on his boots and flew to the exit.

"Okay then." I muttered before following him.
17: Homesick

Every cadet had lined-up outside the high-tech phone booth. We were all anxious to call our family and friends to brag about how 'great' Starside Academy was.

The day had droned on and seemed to last sixty hours instead of thirty. Most of us could barely stand still or stand at all because we were so tired. Although I loved my father and Geraldine, I was so tired that talking to them did not actually seem that appealing. Calling them in the morning would have been a lot easier when I had more energy.

All the cadets nearer to the front of the line were acting voyeuristic and staring into the booth to watch the calls... I was one of these cadets of course. What I found most interesting was Kel's conversation with what appeared to be his father. The man looked like the leader of an Italian mafia with his dark clothing, black desk, windowless room and heavily-armed female bodyguards. The fertility wars on the algrin planet had intensified since Kel left and his father didn't appear happy about it. It was almost sad to think of Kel as a little boy just trying to impress his father and failing. The males on the planet had a lot more baggage to carry. Kel leaving to become a cadet made his father feel as if he was trying to run away from his fate, but he would never escape.

The final thirty seconds of the conversation were the most intense. Kel's body language suggested it was taking everything he had to not raise his voice at his superior. The discussion was most likely about Jaedorra and the fear of the mongrel child she would have.

None of us were sure exactly what was said, but something made Kel crack and scream "don't you dare touch my wife" before storming out of the booth without even finishing the call.

All of the cadets at the front quickly went into 'nonchalant' mode and pretended that they had heard nothing. Kel did not look at any of us as he stormed away. Man, he was one messed-up guy. Why the hell would Starside make him a captain? He obviously wasn't emotionally fit for the job.

Three more calls and it was finally my turn. It was awkward standing in the long slender cylinder. They obviously weren't made to fit obese aliens because even I was having issues.

The cadet USM phone was different from my hologram projector at home. It was more like watching a 3D movie instead of having it projected onto a table.

I suddenly felt bubbly inside when my father and Geraldine's image appeared. A small smile spread across my lips and my tiredness was forgotten. Sven had his little translator in his ear even though he knew I spoke English. I guess it was impulse for him to put it on whenever he made universal calls. Or maybe he was calling Cameron afterwards.

A part of me wanted to tell my father about Cameron getting bullied, but that would make the situation worse on both sides. Cameron most likely wanted to deal with his situation independently and my father would just feel helpless. If Cameron wanted Sven to know, he would tell our father himself.

"Amelia!" My father exclaimed as if he hadn't expected it to be moi.

I wasn't sure how to the conversation: "Hi guys. How are ya?"

Sven waved the question away.

"Never mind about us. How are you? How's the academy?"

"Well," I began slowly, "I talked back to Mel, realized everything I had ever learned in science was a lie and my captain is a phallic."

There was a brief awkward silence as my father registered everything I said. He then smirked and shook his head. Geraldine had a slightly different reaction. He was laughing because he thought I was joking.

Sven adjusted his glasses with a smile. "I'm having an awful flashback to your first day of kindergarten when you beat up little Henry Kuttner because he said girls weren't allowed to play tag."

"Good times." I reminisced fondly.

"Wait," Geraldine squinted his eyes in suspicion, "isn't Mel the super master overlord thingy?"

"Yes." I replied casually.

"And you talked back to her?"

"I did indeed."

Geraldine put up his pedicured hands defensively as if to say 'hey, I'm not one to judge'. I could tell he was acting more coyly towards me than he would usually, because he still hadn't told my father about the dusk.

"What happened?" My father asked before he re-thought his question. "Wait... I don't want to know the answer, do I?"

"Probably not." I joked.

"So has anything good happened?" He asked hopefully.

I had to think for a moment.

"Well I befriended an aquatic hermaphrodite with a Russian accent called Donn."

My father raised his eyebrows: "He sounds... interesting."

"There's also a really hot trinard here with a French accent."

"No!" My father objected. "Stay clear of trinards... They are the most impassive creatures in the universe."

I questioned how my father knew so much about trinards. He most likely worked alongside some during his time as ambassador. There was also a good chance he slept with one, knowing my father.

"But he has a French accent." I moaned.

"Change it to something less attractive like... Finnish." He joked. – He had issues with Finland which was most likely because there was enough Finnish in him that he was judged by other Swedes.

"You can change the accents of people?" I asked in an enticed way.

"Yes."

My father and Geraldine instantly saw the maniacal smile spread across my face. Kel was about to become Scottish! No. Fresno, California suited him.

"Good." I said after my moment of insane power passed. "My science teacher, Frek, speaks gibberish at the moment so I may give him a German accent."

"He's a harsnic?" My father asked with a strange expression. I do not know how he knew Frek was a harsnic. Maybe he knew the man, or maybe he knew that I generally associated harsnics with German accents.

"He is," I nodded slowly, "but not a pompous one from Hashtish 4."

"Your brother is not pompous." My father protested.

"That's because he's your son. Della's the definition of pompous."

My father raised his index finger to object, then lowered it again. He and I were just as pretentious and arrogant as Della, and we knew that about ourselves. It didn't make sense that Cameron was so sweet and shy. The only explanation was that he generally had less confidence than the rest of us because he was a crossbreed.

Geraldine was the first to glimpse at the timer and nudged my father. We had just under twenty seconds left.

"Well darling," My father began hastily, "Geraldine and I love you very much and we hope the rest of the week is better for you. You want me to schedule in a call for tomorrow?"

I had to think for a moment. There was someone else I wanted to call.

"Can you schedule in one for the day after tomorrow? I kind of want to give Cameron a call."

My father smiled and nodded. He understood completely.

"Love you!" Geraldine squeaked.

I was about to say 'love you too' when the transmission ended. Standing there in the booth, I realized how much I missed both of them. Was it possible I was in over my head here at Starside Academy?

There was no time to think like that. Zand banged ferociously on the door to the booth and gestured for me to get out. I shot daggers her way as I strode past. Sadly, it was hard to try and make eye contact with someone that did not have eyes.

"Data?"

"Yes, Dub First Off Am?"

"Can you schedule in a call to Cameron Vis Homen on the Titonic for tomorrow?"

There was a brief silence as Data checked his records.

"Yes. The earliest time available is 29:06. Is this acceptable?"

"Perfect." I said with a smile.

Due to the exhaustion, I went to my 'bed' earlier than suggested by my timetable. The call had put me in a melancholy mood. It had been like chatting with ghosts. Earth seemed like a planet I had lived on in a past life. I could only imagine living in the present and nothing else.

My chamber didn't get the better of me this time. My eyes and mouth were tightly shut so that not even the Jaws of Life could get them to open.

I can recall having dreams that night. None of them were clear, but it seemed like I was on Earth. It was a nightmare. The entire planet was being engulfed in white flames. Above in the sky the sun was exploding while being eaten by the foreign white flames as well.

Somebody was holding my hand, and yet I did not turn to see who it was. I already knew it was Chorst. We were in a golden field near my father's estate. I wasn't actually holding Chorst's hand, I was holding was remained of his smouldered wrist. How did he lose his left hand and why was he here? Who knew?

It was just a dream after all.
18: Close Encounters of a Fourth Kind

Life became much easier once I gave Frek a German accent. The last German teacher I had went through an open window after he called two boys in my class 'shirt-lifting faeries' so I hoped for a better result with Frek. Yes, I shoved the teacher through the window on the first floor. But according to my eleventh grade history class; he 'tripped' and fell through it.

Today's lesson was on the first million elements in the USM periodic table. I went in with a better anticipation of the class than I had the day before. It was just easier to imagine I was attending science class like I would a blockbuster movie: agreeing with everything –whether it made sense or not– and accepting it as it was.

Seven magnified holographic elements hovered in front of Frek. The structures of USM atoms were very different from the ones on Earth. They were colourful coiled-up balls of yarn with an unseen bright white core.

This was hard to believe seeing as human scientists had studied the atom for so goddamned long, but I had to pretend to accept it so I could pass the freaking class.

"Now students," Frek began in his new accent, "what I'm showing you next is not part of the USM academic standards. In fact, I'm not supposed to be teaching you about it at all."

All the cadets felt anxious when a boyish smile spread across Frek's harsh face. The seven hovering atoms in front of him suddenly all untwined to reveal their white cores. The stringy outside dangled off the balls of light like a tail. As each white ball connected, the combined glowing core became larger and larger. Once all seven were fused together, the stringy tails started wrapping themselves around the new element.

"My friends," Frek addressed us patronizingly, "when these seven elements are fused together they tear a hole in the space time continuum. What you're looking at is called Bennu or in Hey-terms Ben. The only known 4th dimensional element."

Bennu... The Egyptian version of the phoenix. I thought, remembering my old mythology class. It was most likely just coincidence that the 4th dimensional element shared the same name as a magical Egyptian heron that could reincarnate itself.

"If it's not in the standards then why are we learning about it?" Jee asked. – He was incredibly annoying because he thought his 'accelerated intelligence' made him better than everyone else...Which it did.

Frek intertwined his fingers. "This element is the most dangerous thing in and out of this universe that we know of. We don't know enough about it to teach you anything. If you must know: a tear in the space time continuum made Lady Tamarax Deloro go insane."

A large ratio of the class swallowed nervously. Tamarax was one of the most famous names in the USM alongside Mel's. She was the only mortal creature to ever survive looking into the space time continuum, but she was also the largest threat the USM faced. She had too much knowledge for her own good and it drove her completely insane. – I've already mentioned this, but it's always good to have a recap.

None of us were sure why Frek was so keen to show us something we should never learn about. The truth of the matter was he did not know either. He just stepped out of his regeneration chamber that morning and knew he had to show us Bennu. He was feeling more hesitant now that the moment of madness was gone. He felt as if something else had peer pressured him into this presentation even if he did not know what.

There were some sudden gasps from cadets as Bennu changed. The element stretched vertically and began to tear at the centre to create a hole.

But it's just a hologram. Frek thought fearfully as he went back to his deck to end the simulation.

Something changed inside moi that moment. My vision and hearing blocked out everything else in the classroom. It was just me and the Bennu element. A subtle humming noise ran through my ears as the tear in the space time continuum continued to stretch. Bennu was not just an element. Whatever was on the other side of the tear was alive.

I did not flinch as three tentacles made of the white light shot from the tear. Two of them went straight through my eyes and into my brain while the third went through my mouth instead. My body went rigid as images of time and space were shown like a slideshow in my head.

For that brief moment everything in the universe made sense. All questions that had –or ever would be– asked were answered.

A horrible aching sensation rose in the centre of my brain. My mind was melting into a disgusting juice that seeped out my nostrils along with a large quantity of blood. During this time I just sat completely still and let fluids run down the front of my white uniform. I didn't question why this was happening or how I was still alive. Brains are just organs, Bennu showed me that they were not necessary for the consumption of knowledge.

A single word kept reappearing my head. It was too complex for humans to contemplate, but if shortened it was Tak.

I was awoken suddenly by an electric shock that ran through my ears. I hadn't even been aware that I was asleep until that moment. Time had not seemed to pass when I was staring into the space time continuum.

"Am?" A voice said. It sounded like it was coming from the other end of a tunnel.

As my vision began to clear I saw a blurry green man –obviously Frek– along with a silver figure with electric blue eyes.

Of course, the first words out of my mouth were: "What the fuck?"

I had forgotten everything Bennu had shown me. It was like coming out of a deep sleep which you could not recall the dreams in. A part of moi desperately wanted to have those memories back, but the other part of me knew the knowledge would kill me.

"Thank Amori." Frek said under his breath. It wouldn't look good on his record to lose a cadet to Bennu.

We were in the medical centre located near the battle room. I knew this place well after being reanimated so many times.

The front of my white jacket had a couple specks of blood on it, but not as much as in the nightmare. Apparently a river of blood and brains hadn't come from my nose. I questioned how much of my experience with Bennu had been reality and how much had been hallucination.

"That shouldn't have happened," Frek said in a strained voice, "it was just a hologram. Had it been real we wouldn't have been able to save you."

I didn't answer. That had not been a hologram. That had been the real thing. Holograms wouldn't just change into a tear in the space time continuum for no reason.

Frek looked uncomfortable when I looked at him with my glassy blue eyes. He knew very well that something was still wrong inside of me. He blamed himself, however I knew there were darker forces at work.

"How did you save me?" I asked sharply.

The robot replied for him: "We wiped your memory of the event. Mel confirmed that was the only way to be sure there was no long term damage."

Anger boiled in me. I was not even sure why. There was nothing wrong with what the robot did. I felt like I was missing something. Some very important piece of knowledge that could change the fate of the...

"We're giving you the rest of the day off classes." Frek informed me. "Hopefully you'll be back to yourself by tomorrow."

I snapped out of my strange state, but the piece of knowledge I was missing sat at the tip of my tongue.

"You told Mel?" I asked.

Frek nodded impassively.

"Aren't you in trouble?"

He let out a heavy sigh: "Not as much as I should be. I've been relieved of teaching for the two months."

"Then who will replace you?" I asked, a little annoyed that I was just starting to enjoy science again.

"A robot most likely." He said simply.

I sneered. I didn't want a robot to teach me.

Frek shifted his stance awkwardly. He had not expected his day to go like this.

"Am," He began cautiously, "can you remember anything at all?"

Something clicked inside my brain. I couldn't say exactly what it was, but I knew I maintained some of the knowledge Bennu had given me. It was just buried deep in my mind.

"Something's going to happen soon." I said more to myself than Frek.

My teacher raised an eyebrow like my father would do. "What?"

"Things are going to happen. A string of events that all lead to the biggest thing."

Yeah... I was not making much sense. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get out what I wanted to say. I did not even fully know what I wanted say.

"Could you be more descriptive?" Frek asked curiously. If I maintained any 4th dimensional knowledge, he wanted to know.

Words were hard to use in this situation. My strange hand gestures didn't help explain what I wanted to say either. "I... You see... things are going to do stuff... and I have to..."

Frek muttered something to the robot that I could not quite hear. The robot produced a syringe filled with a dark green liquid... Anaesthetic.

"I have to die!" I blurted out just before the needle went through my body glove and pierced my skin.

Surprisingly, I looked just as stunned as Frek. It was like somebody was using my body for a ventriloquist act and speaking for me. The knowledge was all in my brain, but I didn't know how to access it.

The voice speaking through me continued: "And if I don't die, then everybody dies."

There was a long silence as I waited for Frek to respond. He didn't. There was a strange look on his face as if he had been mentally prepared for moi to say something like that. On one level he was shocked while on another he knew my insanity was imminent.

My vision blurred as the anaesthetic took effect. Maybe this time the robot would wipe all my memories. I knew too much and Frek was aware of that. He just could not tell if what I knew was true or not. A tear in the space time continuum had made Tamarax lose her sanity. It was possible that even though I had only seen a hologram, I had suffered the same amount of damage as her.

The familiar icy water woke moi as it showered down. Obviously Frek and the robot doctor had decided it was best to put me into a deep sleep. My teacher hoped I would step out of the regeneration chamber remembering none of the events that took place with Bennu.

After my second mind wipe, I hardly recalled the entire science lesson. Somewhere in my brain it was still tucked away, but for now I was back to normal... and I had the day off!

My wrist computer said it was 15:32. All the other cadets would be in the middle of history class. I decided to wait until after that was done before I re-joined them.

Although I had technically been given the day off, I had to prove to Kel that no tear in the space time continuum was going to stop moi from outdoing him in the battle room. The question was, what was I going to do to pass the next hour and a half?

I went where any cadet with spare time would go: the library. The wrist computers only held summaries of the information in the library. When it came to exams –if there were exams in the USM– all the cadets would go to the library to get in-depth information on anything.

Despite the fact my memory had now been wiped twice, the thought of Bennu remained firmly implanted in my head. I took a seat at one of the white desks in the library and pulled up the touchscreen monitor.

"Access denied." A robotic voice said into my translator when I tried to open a file on Bennu. "You must have level five access privileges to open this file."

Cadets weren't level five. Hell, cadets weren't even level one!

I tried to be a little more clever. I typed in the first three atoms that created Bennu, but the same message played in my earpiece.

"What are you hiding from me?" I whispered to the monitor.

Without thinking, my fingers tapped the screen. It took me a moment to realize that I had typed 'Tak' into the search engine.

This time it was a little different. No message played. The computer searched its library in search of anything relative to the word 'Tak'.

"Did you mean Taek?" It asked.

Dear God, it was like trying to search something up on Bing! – Not that Bing existed anymore.

Tak did not exist. Well, at least not in the entire USM database. I didn't know what this meant. Maybe Tak was just something I invented in my dream. Or maybe I knew more about Bennu than the USM. – My ego was pleased.

"What are you doing?" A voice said.

I nearly fell of the mushroom stool I had been sitting on. I was slightly annoyed to turn and see Frek standing there with his arms crossed.

"You gave me the day off." I grunted. "What are you doing? You've been relieved of teaching."

"I have." He nodded. "But Mel told me to keep an eye on any strange behaviour. Why are you so interested in 4th dimensional things?"

Oh, I don't know. Maybe because you people are trying so hard to keep me from learning anything about the 4th dimension. I thought, but didn't dare say.

"What aren't you telling me, Frek?" I asked out of the blue.

He raised his eyebrows. Frek knew I had forgotten all about telling him that I was going to die.

"I believe the real question is what aren't your telling me, Am? Staring into Bennu can cause serious mental illness..."

"So you think I've gone crazy?" I growled, ironically sounding crazy.

"No," He put his hands up defensively, "but the effects of the space time continuum aren't immediate. It was a good week before Tamarax..."

My eyes narrowed. Frek thought I was going to be like Tamarax, but I figured Bennu –or Tak– had different plans in mind for me. I didn't know what they were. Nevertheless a part of moi knew I would be seeing Bennu again.

"Mind your own business, Frek." I hissed. I didn't enjoy disrespecting teachers, but the idea of Frek 'keeping an eye on me' was creepy.

The harsnic looked a little taken-back by my rudeness, yet he was the one out of place. Frek would have to be more subtle if he actually wanted to spy on me.

"Alright then." He said casually as he strode towards the exit. "If you are feeling better it would be wise to attend combat today. I believe Alk will be introducing you to the dub crew spaceships."

I liked the idea of a spaceship, but not the idea of being stuck in a small area with Kel and Gom for a long period of time. Especially after yesterday's combat lesson when they sacrificed moi before I ditched them and went rogue.

I swerved the mushroom stool so I was back facing towards the desk. There was just one more thing I wanted to search:

"Name: Tamarax Deloro

Hey-Name: Tam

Rank: Lady

Assigned Ship: Not applicable

Date of Birth: 8th of Ves 184395 X.X.

Species: Hekkit

Planet of Birth: Savina

Note: Lady Tamarax Deloro was the first hekkit to gain the rank of 'lady' or 'lord' in Mel's personal scientific research team in 194539 X.X. The ranks of 'lady' or 'lord' are only given out by Mel herself to members of the USM with highest positions or deceased war heroes. With Mel's permission, Tamarax studied the possibility of a 4th dimension existing. Taking the atoms: carson, atreides, velcosin, guanim, theodin, arkmite and zellium, Lady Deloro used a sonic fuser to..."

Okay, so I kind of spaced out at this point. It was probably the most important part because it was related to the 4th dimension, but it was boring. I instead thought about how Sven declined knighthood after he retired from being an ambassador. Space had humbled him. In his youth he was far more arrogant (like moi), but being treated like a second-class species made him more mindful. My father most likely hoped I would have a similar experience. – He underestimated my ego.

"... after the incident, Tamarax spent eight days in the private Starside Medical Centre. Although she sustained no serious physical damage, Mel diagnosed Tamarax as mentally impaired on the eighth day and ordered her to be taken to an mental institution on the third moon of Bedderk. After destroying two robots and killing one doctor, Tamarax escaped the medical centre and used her own ship to leave Starside. Lady Tamarax Deloro is known to be the largest seller of illegal minerals on the black market. This suggests that she has personnel working illegally deep space mines to retrieve these minerals. Tamarax's current whereabouts are unknown."

Obviously I missed something, but I got the jiff of it. Tamarax equalled cuckoo and that's all I needed to know

It was likely that I could have gotten that small amount of information off Data instead of a library computer. There was far more information on Tamarax than just that summary. The only problem was that all other information on Tamarax was restricted. – The USM liked to keep us second-class cadets ignorant.

After syncing up Data with the information on Tamarax, I headed to the student lounge near the regeneration chambers. I laid down on the largest grey sofa with my feet on the armrests. – The same position I used to take back on my favourite leather couch in the mansion.

If I had learned anything so far at Starside Academy, I had learned Mel was a bit of a biatch. She was a tyrannical psycho who was the main reason Tamarax was the way she was. If she worked with the all-seeing monks of Destin-Hey then wouldn't she have foreseen Tamarax's fate?

Maybe she was a biatch, or maybe she had live so long that she'd just stop caring about what happened.

My memory was hazy due to my memory being erased twice, but somehow Mel, Tamarax, Bennu, Tak and moi were all connected. At the rate I was going, it was going to be hard to find the links. Hell, I would probably never find the links if I kept getting the 'access denied' message. It was as if the USM was intentionally blocking me at every turn...

I'm a very paranoid conspiracist if you have not noticed.
19: Meanwhile in a Place Nobody Cares About...

The White House. Well, by this time in the future nobody cared about it. It wasn't even the original White House. This was its replacement as the previous one had been blown up during the civil war and the new one looked like a cheap plastic knock-off.

Whether you voted for the Left Wing or Right Wing party, everyone agreed that Clive and Harry did not deserve the last name 'Darwin'. The name had been tainted by their sick family line. Harry knew this himself, but felt powerless to do anything about it. He, after all, had never wanted to become president anyways.

His assistant, Mr. Flandry, hadn't wanted Harry to become president either. Dominic was one of those 'old fashioned' men who still believed in having a democracy instead of a dictatorship... What a silly man.

Mr. Flandry stood at the door of the Oval Office with his tablet. He had been contacted by the Russian/Chinese outpost an hour earlier and needed to report it to the president. The Russian/Chinese outpost had the most advanced technology out of all the other Mars outposts which meant they could pick up on activity deep in the Milky Way.

Before Mr. Flandry even answered the phone he knew the call would be important. The USA wasn't likely to get a call from that outpost unless something had been discovered that could affect the whole globe.

"Good morning, Mr. President." Dominic said as he stepped in. He hated having to call a boy-faced dingbat 'president' every day.

Harry was relaxing in his large chair with his feet on the desk. Something in his smile suggested that he was feeling rather haughty today. Mr. Flandry presumed his happiness was woman-related (or man-related. Dominic did not know what Harry's preference was).

Harry stretched out his arms before resting them behind his head.

"It is a good morning, isn't it?"

Dominic did not answer. He instead sent a file to Harry's computer and waited for the boy to notice. Harry did sit up properly, but not to look at the file he was sent. His email had just over a million unread emails so he would not notice another on the pile.

"You will never guess who I'm going on a date with." He said, giddily.

Mr. Flandry resisted letting out a sigh: "We are not teenage girls at a slumber party, Mr. President. Now look at the file I just..."

"Dr. Shea Hernandez!" Harry interjected.

Harry's assistant paused for a moment.

"The cybertronic hardass?" Dominic asked. "That's absurd. You two were bickering last time you met."

Harry nodded enthusiastically, ignoring the judgement in Mr. Flandry's tone.

"Yeah, she called me to apologize for the 'bicker'. Then we got talking an–"

"Please take a look at what I sent you." Dominic said sharply. Harry was like a child, and Mr. Flandry had to be firm with him.

The president complied and brought up the hologram. The video was short and simple: a white-flamed comet soaring through the universe at a great speed. The footage almost looked stop motion because it had been slowed down so much. At four seconds the video stopped. Harry looked at the email, and then back to Mr. Flandry with annoyance.

"What the hell was that?" He asked childishly.

"That," Dominic paused, "is an comet picked up by the Russian/Chinese outpost on Mars. It's currently at the other side of the galaxy, but our Sun is the only thing in its path at the moment."

"So?" Harry said naïvely, thinking because it wasn't heading for Earth than it wasn't important.

"You saw from the video it's moving at an incredible speed and it's getting faster by the moment."

"And?"

Flandry sighed: "The outpost hasn't been able to predict its maximum velocity which means we don't know when it's going to reach our Solar System. What we don't want is for our planet to be in the line of fire when the asteroid comes this way. A single day could make a difference on whether or not it hits our planet. It could get pretty damn close, Sir."

Harry was a little more intrigued now.

"How big is it?"

"Approximately the size of Metropolitan Museum of Art."

"Shit." Harry gasped. He had never been to the Met but he knew it was pretty big.

"Won't the Earth's atmosphere slow it down and break it up?" He asked with a tinge of panic in his voice.

Dominic ran through the information the outpost had sent him in search of an explanation.

"We can dream, but that thing could reach the speed of light for all we know. We don't even know what kind of extra-terrestrial minerals it's made out of which could help it survive our atmosphere. It'll be coming at us so damn quickly that even if most of it breaks up in our atmosphere, the impact will still be catastrophic."

"What if it just crashes into the ocean... or some other country?"

"That's what I'm hoping for." Dominic said honestly. "But if it crashes into US waters then we risk tidal waves."

"What if we blew it up with missiles before it reached Earth?"

Dominic sighed. Nuclear missiles were under China's control so it was up to them, not the USA. "Not a bad idea." He reassured the president.

The president intertwined his fingers before resting his chin on them. All this was so abnormal. It did not seem right even to him.

"You sure it's a comet coming this way?"

Mr. Flandry knew what Harry was thinking: "That's what we're calling it for the moment."

"Any word from the USM?"

"Those fucking bastards ain't gonna do shit if that thing turns out to be coming for us."

Harry looked a little taken-back by Mr. Flandry's sudden burst of incoherent swearing. He had almost forgotten that Dominic was from Virginia. – He was usually so good at taming his accent and pretending he was Dutch like his parents were.

"But if it's not an comet then..." Harry began before drifting off.

"Karina Asimov is going to bring it up in the next council meeting."

The president clapped his hands together and sighed. Most people were originally so excited to have first contact with aliens. Now the mere thought of the USM was enough to make anyone mad. Their zoning laws forbid any of Earth's spacecrafts to travel past Pluto (which the USM considered to be a planet) and Earth could start up no trades with other planets meaning they had no 'credit' income.

That Sven guy should've never gotten into that spaceship. Harry thought. He would rather have remained an 'independent planet' than a second-class one.

"All we can do is wait until the maximum velocity is calculated." Flandry said solemnly before a smug smile spread across his face. "I hope that doesn't ruin your date."

Harry scowled. His date with Shea seemed less important now that a giant rock could hit the Earth. Wait... Now it seemed more important. – If the USA was going to be hit by a giant hunk of rock then he wanted to 'get laid' one last time... or first time.
20: Lost in Space (Not Really)

The Dub crew spaceships were not as marvellous as any of us expected. The Galle/Gall spaceship really just looked like high-tech Winnebago with wings (like the one in Spaceballs).

Robots had done their best to polish the ships, but we could all still see the old dents and scratches from the previous dub crews who used them as bumper cars. I was not allowed to judge. My old shuttle, Liffy, was worse-off and I loved her to pieces... in a literal sense.

"I hope you were all listening during tactics." Alk said while eyeballing particular people.

Donn gulped behind me semi-jokingly. We had both become really bad about listening once we discovered how to chat on our wrist computers without being noticed.

Ams ran up and down our spaceship like a small child in a supermarket aisle. I would have joined her, but I could feel Kel's eyes burning into my back. I could not figure out why he was annoyed at me today besides the usual reasons. He was probably irritated because he had not wanted me to show up.

We all chucked our suitcases into the back room where the armour chamber was. Alk had warned us that we would not need our armour in today's class, but it was always good to have because the armour completed our spacesuit. If one of us happened to get ejected into space by Kel –like moi– we would survive so long as we had our armour on.

"It's good you're okay. We were all really worried about you." Henn said sincerely as he took his seat at the scanners.

I'm still mad at you Henn. I thought, remembering how he and Ams hadn't had my back when Gom and Kel ganged up on me.

"What did the rest of the class see when," I paused for a moment, "the Bennu element went all crazy?"

Henn looked up in thought for a moment. It was just as hazy to him as it was to me.

"Well, we saw the tear open and then... nothing."

I raised my eyebrows: "What do you mean nothing?"

He ran his hand across his blue scalp.

"I don't remember anything besides a white light. Then the next moment Frek was carrying you to the medical centre." he paused while trying to think of anything he may have missed out, "What did you see?"

I shrugged as if I did not know. By this time I really didn't know what I had seen. All the knowledge was on the tip of my tongue, but just out of a reach. – It was incredibly annoying.

Flying practice reminded me a lot of when I went to get my shuttle licence, except instead of having my instructor yell at me it was a stupid algrin.

"The right panel not the left!" Kel snarled.

Alk had started us out with some basic exercises, however Kel was taking them a little too seriously. We were just supposed to be doing laps around the red hovering posts. Kel was acting as if we were in a race and wanted to lap the other dub crews.

We were quite a few miles away from Starside. I loved looking at the giant space station from out here. It was a shame that only a handful of humans had ever seen the space station up-close.

The algrin wasn't yelling at me directly. Both moi and Gom were the ones steering the ship. Kel just chose to look at me while he dished-out commands.

"When do we get to start shooting?" I joked while hovering my hand over the attack panel.

Kel slapped me away. Obviously doing laps was no laughing matter.

It was tragic watching Ams trying to work the engine at the back. She was too little to reach all the controls and Kel was not helping by barking at her to speed up the ship.

"Lay off, phall..." I quickly saved myself, "... Kel."

He shot a cold glare in my direction which I ignored.

"Look!" Henn squealed like a child.

All of our eyes went to where he had pressed his bony finger against the window. In the distance a white light was flashing. It looked like no star. It grew larger and larger by the second as it got closer.

"Holy fu–" I gasped.

Within a moment it was rocketing right past us. Time slowed down as the giant body passed the training course. It looked like a comet, but it was far too large. Plus the rear suggested that it was being thrust forward by an engine.

The humming noise started up in my ears again. All the knowledge Tak/Bennu had given moi came flooding back. I loved knowing so much. I wanted to retain all of it. My mind couldn't take it.

I awoke to Gom kneeling over me. For some reason I had been moved to the floor despite the fact I had been sitting in my chair when the 'comet' passed.

"Damn it," I groaned, "not again."

"What's your problem, Am?" Kel asked threateningly. He was so sick of moi being the centre of attention. – His ego was somehow larger than mine.

I sat up and tossed him a fake smile: "Good to see you too."

My nose felt as if it was going to start bleeding, but it didn't. Once again, all the knowledge I had was gone. Ultimate 4th dimensional being or not, I did not like Tak fucking with me.

"How long was I out?" I asked as stumbled back to my seat.

Kel returned to his own chair: "About fifteen seconds."

"Good." I whispered to myself.

My wrist computer beeped. Alk had sent all of us a message saying: "Don't worry, it was just a comet."

I turned my head to look back at the window above the engineering controls. The comet twinkled in the distance as continued its journey. Well, there was nothing suspicious about that comet... Nothing at all.

***

Cameron rubbed his eyes with his hand before looking back to moi. He had not expected me to call him that night. He was far more exhausted than I was after attending an all-day tactics meeting for an upcoming civil war on some planet.

I decided not to mention the fact that I had looked into Bennu. There was no need to concern Cameron with my slowly developing madness. He had his own issues and I doubted he wanted me to complain about my own sanity.

"So how's your day gone?" I asked Cameron politely.

He shrugged: "Fine. Do you like Starside Academy?"

"Meh." I replied simply. "My captain's a phallic. One of those algrins."

My brother nodded in understanding. He knew what algrins were like as Della had worked with some in the past. I did not know much about Della and Cameron's relationship, but I knew she had often taken him to work so he had plenty of experiences with other aliens.

"Cameron," I began cautiously, "what access level do you have for the USM library?"

My brother raised an eyebrow: "Level three. Why?"

Damn, if only he was a level five. I grumbled in my head.

"Don't worry." I waved away his question.

There was an awkward silence for a moment. The call had seemed too quick with my father yesterday, and yet me and Cameron still had plenty of call time left.

"You're not being bullied, are you Cameron?" I asked him slowly. I knew very well he was being bullied, but I didn't want him to think that it was that obvious. – He already worried enough about what people thought of him.

Cameron could not lie: "Err... It's nothing to worry about Amelia. You have it harder. At least I get to look like a harsnic and be seen as first-class in the USM. It's different for you."

Somehow, my brother's situation seemed worse. Like all people, I wished I was the one getting bullied and that Cameron would be left alone. Starside Academy was safe for the most part seeing as the other nineteen cadets were also second-class. Cameron was in an enclosed area with a bunch of arrogant first-class aliens. There were some lower-ranking second-class aliens on his ship, but the first-class aliens were probably more annoyed by Cameron because he looked like a harsnic.

I decided to quickly change topic: "What Dub crew were in?"

My brother was relieved by the subject change. "Well... I was originally in Tron which was white at Planetarymark, but at Starside I was in San."

Tron! I screamed in my head. Oh, if only all these aliens knew these references. Hell, if any human from my generation understood the references I would be happy.

"Do you like being a cadet?" Cameron asked before looking off the screen to see how much time we had left.

I was not sure how to answer him. I really wasn't sure myself what the answer was.

"I thought it would be different." was my reply.

"What did you expect?"

"I don't know." I admitted. "I probably shouldn't have expected the academy to be like what I've seen in sci-fi movies."

My brother nodded in 'understanding'. There was no fictional television or movies on Hashtish 4. I honestly could not imagine how boring life was on that planet, but for the same reason harsnics were more educated than humans.

"You'll be okay." Cameron reassured me. "I know that you can handle Starside Academy."

My cheeks went red. I loved being complimented, but if Cameron had seen my track record he would know that the USM should've expelled me days ago.

Our goodbyes were swift. By the final twenty seconds we had nothing to say to each other.

Before going to bed, I decided to annoy Donn who was still in line for the phone booth.

"Who are you gonna call?" I asked him.

He smiled gleefully: "My best friend, Arkmonno. I've got to ask them what gender they chose."

I raised an eyebrow: "Pardon?"

"When sadamonts turn ten we decide our permanent gender. I've got three more years, but I think I want to be a dude."

Well... That was something I didn't need to know about the sadamont race. For some reason I still couldn't believe that Donn was eleven years younger than me. Then again, he aged like a fish.

"Do you get to choose your gender on your planet?" He asked as if it was no 'big deal'.

"Well, although I'm a clone of my father, he had me engineered to be a girl instead. Some people get a random gender when they're born, but we can surgically change our genders later on if we want. It's not as easy as it is for your species, though." I answered precociously.

"So... You were originally a boy?" Donn asked curiously.

I paused before answering: "I guess so. Never really thought about it that way."

Once it was Donn's turn in the phone booth I headed back to my regeneration chamber. It was difficult to attach the suction cups to my body. The little holes they left from the previous nights had crusted over making it quite painful to stab myself with the little needles inside the suction cups.

Never in my life had I yearned more for my bed back at the mansion. It was so much nicer than stepping into a cold regeneration chamber and getting pickled in blue gel. Even for just one night I would love to hop into a warm bed and sleep properly.

"Start regeneration process." I sighed.

I didn't have a normal dream that night. For a long time there was nothing but a blinding white light. After what felt like minutes there was the echo of a long sustained scream. The scream was a woman's. A young woman's judging by the pitch.

The dream stopped rather abruptly when a thunderous explosion could be heard. My mind treaded back to the usual dreams I had which mainly involved moi being back in Wyoming. For some reason I owned a horse in my dream despite the fact horses hated me like hell. – Don't ask why horses hate me. They just do.
21: Science Class Continued

I was truly sick of porridge by this point. The robots had tried to 'spice-up' my meal by giving me an orange juice, but it wasn't real orange juice. It was more like a flavourless orange Gatorade.

The other cadets seemed just as excited about their food as moi. Henn poked his dead eel with a look of dissatisfaction. None of us were going to be able to survive five more years of eating crap that looked like real food.

"So," Ams began awkwardly, "I heard Alk's going to be making us fight in a zero gravity simulation."

"Think you're 'fit to fight' today, Am?" Kel asked condescendingly. He was obviously referring how I had been repeatedly been passing out recently.

"Fuck you," I muttered, "I'm feeling fine."

Chorst was observing moi and Kel from a distance. It was impossible to figure out what he was thinking, but he most likely noticed that our Dub crew was completely dysfunctional. Hell, everybody could see that our crew was dysfunctional.

I stared back at him. Once our eyes met I glared at him as if to say 'what are you looking at?', but he didn't get the message. His planet must have been quite hard to live on if they could not even read body language.

All of us examined the new science 'teacher' as we walked in the class. The robot was a tall and gangly Cyclops with one red eye. – I missed Frek already.

"Greetings cadets." The robot said formally. "I am AI624. While Lord Frekostillion Hes Canamao is on leave I will be taking science class."

I did not hear the robot say 'lord' because I was too busy thinking about all the cadets in this class. Out of the corner of my eye I could see some of the cadets glaring at me. Right, it was my fault that Frek lost control of his Bennu presentation. They had no clue what I saw in that tear. Hell, I have no clue what I saw in that tear. If only I could remember and then I would have all the knowledge in the universe and beyond it.

"Am?"

I stopped resting my head on my fist and looked up. A single cold red eye stared down at me. – Could robots get angry?

"Please pay attention, Am." AI624 asked politely.

I did not pay attention, but I was skilled at looking like I was paying attention.

The only time any of us really started paying attention was when AI624 pulled out a large metal contraption. At a closer look it looked like one of the giant turrets that had been cut directly down the middle so we could see the inside structure.

"This is a basic automatic turret." The robot explained. "You will see these on all standard USM spaceships which is why you have to learn how they work."

I don't understand how anything works! I screamed in my head.

The only interesting part of the lesson was when the robot called Zand up to help with the demonstration. Some would say that firing a turret in the middle of the class was ludicrous. – Some would be right.

"USM turrets have perfect precision. Dub Cap Zand will demonstrate how accurate the aim is by holding this." AI624 passed Zand a small metal tile no bigger than my palm. "That is tezerdon. A metal that is commonly used to build the shell of USM spaceships."

The robot put up on display what he was typing into the turrets control system. We were supposed to note what he was programing down on our desks, but I couldn't be bothered.

I instead watched Zand awkwardly stand in front of the demonstration turret. Judging by her tense body language she did not trust the robot. On her planet AI robots were banned because her species had a conspiracy that robots would evolve beyond them and take over. Man, I had to get that girl to read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? or watch Blade Runner.

"Zand, please stand perfectly still with the tezerdon tile held out in front of you." The robot asked politely. Zand complied, but kept her Jell-O fingers at the very tips of the tile in hopes she would not get her fingers incinerated.

"We will start the laser beam off at eighty-five megs which means the beam will be two centimetres in diameter."

Zand flinched when the laser beam shot out of the turret. The little piece of tezerdon began to glow as the laser aimed directly at its centre. The metal was glowing red as it began heating up, but AI624 had chosen Zand in particular for the demonstration because he knew her species was far more immune to heat than others.

"Now we will increase laser beam by twenty megs per second." AI624 for stated as he reprogramed the turret. "Once the diameter of the laser beam surpasses the area of the tezerdon tile the turret will automatically switch off. The built-in safety system will detect Zand when the laser surpasses the tezerdon tile." Zand didn't like this idea. "This safety system was installed so that the USM spaceships could spare as many lives as possible. The turret could be programed to aim at organic life forms, but only the captain of the USM Naval ship can deactivate the safety sys–"

Zand suddenly exploded.

Magenta blobs of Jell-O splattered against the white walls and desks. I ducked before any of Zand could hit me. Donn wasn't so lucky. A big glop of Jell-O got him right in the eye.

There was silence for a moment as all the cadets tried to register what just happened. Nor from Mar screamed bloody murder after a few seconds and began hyperventilating. I suppose it was an appropriate time to scream, but her shriek was so shrill that I was worried my ears would start bleeding.

AI624 looked pretty confused for a robot. He had estimated that there was only a 0.05% chance of the turret deactivating too late. Who knew that Zand would be part of that small percentage that was killed by a turret with a safety system?

"You fucker." I gasped. Sure, I never liked Zand, but I never wished for the robotic teacher to explode her.

AI624 did not hear moi. He was in the middle of contacting the Starside medical centre and messaging them about the exploded cadet.

A look of bemusement spread across my face when the Jell-O blob on Donn slithered down his cheek and dropped to the floor. The magenta blobs on the walls and desks followed. Cadets lifted their feet off the ground as the magenta blobs slithered across the ground and back to ground zero of Zand's explosion.

I leaned over my desk to get a better look at what was happening on the floor. The blobs of Jell-O were merging together and building upwards. It was truly strange to watch Zand's body be rebuilt. You would never see anything like this on Earth.

At first Zand looked like a Jell-O snowman, but then her limbs began to tone-out as she regained her form. Her clothing had been obliterated, so she stood naked in front of us. Not like there was anything to see. She was very similar to a Barbie doll with her thin, yet curvy body. But also like a Barbie, she had no genitals.

"Excellent." AI624 said as if Zand exploding had been part of his plan all along. "We were worried, Zand."

The Jell-O girl didn't say one word. Like a feral animal she pounced on the robot and clasped its head with both hands. I hadn't known how strong Zand was until she tore AI624's head right from his shoulders.

Sparks flew from the robot's body as it fell to the ground. It twitched for a few moments and then went still.

"Znn... dn... do... thhh." AI624 muttered before the glow in his one red eye faded.

Silence fell upon the class as we stared in shock at Zand. That was probably one of the strangest incidents I would ever face at Starside.

"Fuck." Zand muttered. I doubt she actually said 'fuck', but my translator told me that's what she said.

The naked girl stormed out of the science class and took off down the corridor. Man, I felt bad for any robot that got in Zand's way.

I swerved my mushroom stool around to face Donn. He was biting his lip and breathing heavily as he tried not to be inappropriate and laugh. He looked like a cheeky little boy when he could not hold it anymore and burst into laughter. A couple of other students smirked as well and I was one of them.

"I'm beginning to like this class." Donn joked.

It was about fifteen minutes later when the door to the class opened. Frek stepped in with Zand following behind. Her body glove and uniform had been replaced. It was like she hadn't exploded at all.

"Well students," Frek began, almost laughing, "you did it. You destroyed the substitute teacher and got me back."

A small cube-shaped robot filed into the classroom. Its torso opened up as it used its hands to collect the remains of AI624.

"Not to worry. We can rebuild him. We have the technology." Frek reassured us as the cube-shaped robot zipped out of the class with the remains of AI624 in its stomach.

Merr –the furry cat-like first-officer of Ket– leaned the opposite direction of Zand as she took her seat next to him. He had every right to fear that she would rip his head off. The Jell-O girl had definitely put the other three captains on edge. The battle simulation today was going to be extra tense now that everyone knew that Zand could go off at any moment.

The rest of science class was very normal. Frek avoided giving demonstrations as he knew they would end in disaster. Instead we read up on the discovery of the first element; akmorite. Trust me; it didn't have an interesting history.

Frek looked up from his desk: "Dub Cap Chorst?"

I turned back to see what Chorst was up to. The pale boy's amethyst eyes were glued to the window. I followed his line of sight but saw nothing. Only stars.

"Chorst?" Frek asked again when the boy didn't respond.

"There is a spaceship out there." Chorst said simply.

The harsnic strolled over to the window and had a look outside.

"Look at the curvature of those stars." The pale boy drew an oval with his finger. "They've warped around the body of a cloaked ship."

"So they have." Frek whispered.

The harsnic tried to think of any undocked USM ships that would be cloaked in the area. There were none, so he dialled Starside security operator on his wrist computer.

"Uh oh." Donn gasped when two little golden lights flew from the invisible ship.

The little torpedoes were a fair distance away, but it wasn't as if the who Starside outpost could move out of the way.

"Suicide terrorists." Frek stated before striding back to his desk.

All the cadets knew what suicide terrorists were. I had first heard about them on Earth, but Alk had taught us about the ones in space. Most of them were escaped slaves, clones or slave clones who didn't care if they lived or died. All they wanted was revenge on the USM for whatever reason. Alk told us there was only one way to deal with the terrorists: kill them all before they caused too much damage.

Frek grabbed the two black briefcases from under his desk and quickly attached them to two hooks on opposite sides of the class.

"Activate." He commanded just as the torpedoes hit one of the branches of Starside.

His armour was not different from mine, but I did note that he had two electronic cylinders on his thighs instead of guns. – Frek would be the best teacher in the universe if those were lightsabers. Or if one was a lightsaber and the other was a sonic screwdriver then he would be the ultimate man.

"Beam me to the ship." He told the robotic operator.

"Warning," The robot began in his earpiece, "teleporting to a cloaked spaceship can result in–"

"I know!" Frek snapped. "Just do it!"

Within ten seconds our science teacher was completely engulfed in golden light. Most of the cadets –including moi– ran to the window to watch all the action. Only one cadet from Mar stayed seated. He was a cute little golden pixie boy called Nis who always wore huge black goggles.

Nis would become extremely depressed or scared if he saw too much violence. That was why Chorst switched on his goggles so they would just show pretty colours. Nis loved colours. He made 'ooh' and 'ah' sounds whenever a new colour appeared. The boy had been watching a colourful light show ever since Zand had exploded because Chorst had had a feeling something else bad would happen.

None of us could actually see the terrorist ship, but now that Chorst had outlined it for us we knew where it was. It was firing rapidly now, almost in a panic. The people aboard knew there time was up. They just wanted to cause as much havoc as possible before they were all killed.

The ground shuddered below us when another torpedo hit a part near Starside Academy. I was not afraid. The torpedoes that hit the central body of Starside barely left a dent. The USM knew they had enemies, so they reinforced all their outposts to withstand measly attacks. Hell, this outpost was so huge that the spaceship stood no chance.

For a brief moment the spaceship was uncloaked. It was an old rusty ship which was most likely used for smuggling slaves on the black market. That would explain how the suicidal terrorists got it in the first place. They must have killed the merchants and gone directly for the nearest USM outpost to make their statement.

I was a little taken-back when the ship suddenly imploded. First I thought wow, then I thought those poor people on-board, and finally oh shit... Frek's on-board!

What kind of academy has two science teachers killed in one day? First the AI624, now Frek. Dear God, this class will go through at least a hundred science teachers before the year was done.

A minute passed. All of us cadets –save Nis– were still glued to the window as if we expected to see the smuggler ship reappear magically.

"Nothing to see," a voice said spontaneously, "back to your seats."

We all turned to see Frek striding over to his desk. Dark purple and green blood splattered his armour and uniform. Nor and Jee from Mar along with some other cadets gasped quietly before looking at Chorst. I was obviously missing some bit of information that connected Chorst to the smuggler ship.

While Frek was removing his armour I sent Donn a message: "Why is the blood on Frek important to Chorst?"

Donn looked at me solemnly before typing back: "You know the whole trinord vs. trinard thing?"

"Yes."

"Trinords have red blood. Trinards have purple blood. I think there was some trinards on-board that smuggler ship. I'm not sure about the green blood, though."

I looked back at Frek and the stains on his grey uniform. I thought the trinards had been liberated, but I guess nobody could stop the trinords from making more. It had to be horrible for Chorst. His teacher had just killed some of his kind and he had such a tortured mind that he could not even express his feelings. He just walked quietly back to his desk and continued the work from earlier.

Frek slid the black briefcases back under his desk, but he didn't sit down. Like my brother, he could not hide his emotions. His downcast eyes explained enough.

"Can we speak outside the class, Chorst?" He asked.

The pale boy was unresponsive for a moment, but a trinard could not deny a request of their superior so he complied. As soon as the door slid shut, half the cadets leapt from their desks and crowded around it. – We weren't a very sympathetic class.

I was torn. A part of me knew it was inappropriate to listen in, yet I was incredibly nosy. I squished in next to Donn and pressed my ear against the door.

"... I was the one who pointed the spaceship out to you." I heard Chorst say in a muffled voice.

"That was the right thing to do," Frek reassured him, "but if I... If it was known ahead of time that there were trinards aboard I would have let USM security deal with the matter. They were not leading the attack. I believe the goverens had bought them off the black market to maintain the ship. I tried not to kill them, but I was in the engine room where a lot of them were so..." His words drifted off.

Frek was being careful about how he phrased his words. He had to make sure he didn't give any expression of his own thoughts. He was quite a good teacher that way. All the cadets had different psychologies and he had to familiarize himself with all of them.

"Your actions were appropriate." Chorst said impassively.

There was silence from Frek for a moment.

"The matter will be brought up in the next council meeting. If the trinords are responsible for the cloning of the trinards on that smuggler ship then they will have a price to pay."

Chorst did not answer. Then again, he wasn't expected to. Frek knew Chorst would not say anything if he did not find it necessary.

We all scattered when the door opened again. Frek scowled at us, but he had no right to judge anyone at the moment seeing as he just slaughtered some trinards.

"Right," he clapped his hands together, "I think that's enough madness for one day. Let's try and finish this lesson without any more death."

We succeeded.
22: Battle of the Sexes

History and tactics were a blur. We probably learned some important stuff, but it wasn't important enough for moi to care. I knew enough about the USM after Frek destroyed the smuggler ship. – It was a bad government.

Food during the leisure hour did not appeal to me. I instead took a trip to the regeneration chambers and pulled my old Earth phone out of the duffle bag. There was no way to charge it at Starside so I had to be careful about how long I left it on for. Right now I felt like playing Tetris.

The lights flickered on when I stepped into the cadet lounge. I got the feeling I was the only one who ever hung out in there. The room still had the 'just cleaned' smell.

My phone beeped to inform me I had a new message. I raised my eyebrows in suspicious. That was impossible seeing as I was light years from home. Elisa, Kim, Tanya and Aiden had all texted moi goodbye messages just before I beamed up to the Titonic.

A small bittersweet smile spread across my face. Even if I was hated at Starside, I still had friends out there.

"Am?" A female voice said.

I jumped off the couch: "Holy fuck!"

Chorst and his first officer, Veck, stood in the doorway. I resisted the urge to blush. Obviously I had overreacted to their presence.

Veck was supposedly a hermaphrodite, but her appearance suggested she was a girl for the moment. She was tall and pale like Chorst, but she was also more muscular like Alk. She would look like a Goth on Earth with her black uniform, eyes, lips and dark eyeliner. Veck even had a Gothic Rorschach tattoo on her scalp that looked like a withering flower.

"Why weren't you hungry?" She asked as she dropped on the couch across from moi. Chorst chose to stand. – I presumed he had a stick up his butt.

"The food is crap." I replied jokingly. Veck smirked as well even though she did not have taste buds.

Chorst was not here to make chitchat: "You and Dub Cap Kel cannot function together."

I was not surprised by his abrupt statement. He had been monitoring me and the phallic since breakfast. My real question was why Chorst thought it concerned him.

"I'm aware of the situation." I said casually.

"Chorst and I have a proposition." Veck began. "I don't think Gall is going to survive under you and Kel. You have a better shot of making it through this academy if Chorst is your captain."

Oh, how I would love to have the pale Frenchy as my captain, but I doubted that was going to happen.

"I don't think we're allowed to swap groups." I muttered.

"Cadets of the same rank are allowed to change dub crews," Chorst stated, "provided that they get permission from their captains."

Yeah, that proposition wasn't going to go down well with Kel. Even though he did not want moi in his crew, he certainly would not want Veck to replace me. She was almost a foot and a half taller than him and could beat him to a pulp without even breaking a sweat. It would be true humiliation for him to have her.

A sat up properly: "Even if we convinced Kel to let us trade, I couldn't do that to you, Veck." I sighed. "He's annoying to the point where you'd want to throw something at him."

Veck let out a low laugh. Her black eyes sparkled with amusement.

"No, you see I want to trade with you just so I can deal with Kel." She explained. "I think I can put him in his place."

"You think I can't put him in his place?"

"I'm sure you could, but I want the pleasure of breaking him." She said with a sadistic smile.

The idea of 'breaking' Kel intrigued me. Although I hated Kel, Veck could really hurt the guy.

"I'm kidding." Veck said after a few moments when I didn't respond. "I don't want to get expelled."

My fingers explored my scalp. It was surprising how luscious my hair was now that I slept in that blue gel. Not that my hair was actually that interesting. I was just stalling so I wouldn't have to give an immediate answer. The other members of Gall would most likely think I was a 'quitter' for abandoning them. Then again, they abandoned moi when Kel and Gom chose me to be their personal sacrifice.

"Fuck 'em." I grumbled. "I like your plan."

"Now all we have to do is get Kel to agree." Veck said hesitantly.

"That shouldn't be too hard." I joked.

***

Kel did not say anything. His black and yellow eyes suggested he was more amused than anything.

"Although that sounds great," he began with a smirk, "I think my answer is... no."

I shot a glance at Veck to say 'I told you so', yet she didn't notice. She just shifted her position and crossed her arms sassily.

"What's a matter Kel," she began mockingly, "afraid you wouldn't be able to control me?"

"He's having enough trouble controlling me right now." I mumbled.

The other four members of my dub crew sat across the table awkwardly. We had most likely ruined their leisure hour, but I did not feel too sorry for them at the moment.

Donn watched from his table a fair distance away. He hoped Kel would accept the offer. The fish boy would have made the same offer if he hadn't liked Or so much. I was fine with that. The two of us would actually get no work done if we were allowed to be in the same dub crew.

Kel scoffed in Veck's direction: "I have one-thousand wives. Handling you would be easy."

The main reason Kel did not want moi to trade with Veck was because it would look bad on his captain's record. In the future the USM would see on his record that I had requested to move dub crews in the first weeks. Then if Veck challenged him for power, the USM would see that Kel was unfit to be captain of his own crew and ship.

"Veck may be strong-minded," Chorst began calmly, "but she will find a way for your dub crew to function properly."

Kel's eyes narrowed: "How very kind of you to offer my crew help." He said sarcastically. "But what's in it for you?"

"The exchange would mean all dub crews worked and that we would all have a better chance of graduating from Starside Academy. Am and you don't coincide because of the difference in your belief systems. Veck has more experience with... bigamists on her planet." Chorst said, almost as if he regretted adding in the final sentence.

"I have two husbands." Veck laughed.

The algrin was somehow more offended by Veck than moi. Sure, I was unnaturally produced and was raised by a man who married a cross-dressing man, and yet he could not comprehend the idea that a woman could have two husbands. What annoyed him more was the fact that Veck and her husbands could change their gender at any time so there was no dominant sex in the relationship.

"And I presume you think that Am will work better in Mar because she fawns over you?"

Not only was I offended because Kel had implied that I had a crush on the pale boy, but he had asked Chorst about his thoughts. Everyone knew you did not ask a trinard about their thoughts or feelings. I reacted with some sort of oh-no-you-didn't look that made Kel smile.

Chorst was lost for words... literally. He opened his mouth to speak and then quickly closed it. Trinards had to be careful about how they answered questions without revealing their thoughts or feelings. Chorst had to really think about what he was going to say.

I decided to save him from answering. My hands slapped the table as I stood up.

"That's it." I snarled. "Me and you in the battle room now."

Kel was surprised, but he kept his cool. He figured I was bluffing. – I was not.

"The battle room isn't open till class starts." He said nonchalantly before taking a sip of his strange drink.

I leaned closer to him: "We will get it open."

"What exactly do you expect to do?" The algrin asked in a haughty voice that masked his actual curiosity. "Are you going to challenge me for supremacy or something?"

"You would have to be supreme for me to do that." I said with haughty voice to match his. "No, I'm just going to beat you to a pulp to get the answer I want out of you. And if you still don't agree with the trade after I'm finished, I'll beat you again."

Silence fell in the cafeteria. I had drawn everyone's attention as soon as I slapped the table. Most of the cadets knew me and Kel's relationship was going to end in a showdown. What they did not know was who was going to win.

Cadets could message their teachers whenever they wanted, so I sent Alk a message requesting for her to open the battle room. She responded by saying that we were not having our lesson in the battle room today, but I explained my plans for a showdown with the phallic and she hesitantly agreed. – The teachers had been taught to not intervene in cadet matters because we needed to learn that they weren't always going to be around to help us.

"Fighting is not necessary." Chorst informed moi as I grabbed my armour briefcases from the chambers.

"Nah," I muttered, "but somebody's got to teach the phallic a lesson."

It was awkward how mine and Kel's chambers were next-door to each other because he heard everything I said. There was a small smile on his face. Obviously he found his impending ass-kicking to be hilarious.

"Perhaps the captains should duel instead." The Frenchy suggested.

"I got this." I reassured him. He gave me the usual impassive look, but I got the feeling he was displeased.

Most of the cadets turned up to watch the duel. Alk let them into the overview room so they would not miss anything. Judging by their gestures some of them were taking bets on who would win.

It was surprising to look up and see Frek standing next to Alk. It was even more surprising to see the Amazonian woman put her hand on the harsnic's head and ruffle his dark orange hair. Frek did not seem to really notice. He just kept eating his lunch. – Were they friends, dating or married? Who knew? Sadly, now wasn't exactly the time to ask them.

"So how do you want to decide who wins?" Kel asked moi when he stepped out of the armour chamber. He chose to walk ahead of moi as we headed for the battle room.

"Either you beg for mercy or I knock you out." I said sternly. "That's how you know you've lost."

Kel smirked behind his helmet. I believe that both of our egos were so big that we were both sure we would win. The algrin's muscular build did not intimidate me, although I knew he could throw a hard punch. I could have taken away that advantage by allowing stun guns in the battle, however then the fight would've gone too quickly.

"Now are you sure this is going to be going to be a proper duel and not just a senseless brawl?" Alk asked us over the loudspeaker.

"I can neither confirm nor deny what this will be." I called back. She looked displeased.

Frek didn't seem to be very interest in the fight. He just continued to slurp down his strange noodles. I knew he was only here to keep an eye on moi. – What a creep. Obviously looking into the space time continuum meant that I had to always be watched. I could have told Frek I was feeling fine, but that wouldn't be true as proven by the fact I was about to battle another cadet.

"So how do we start the fi–?" I tried to ask before Kel tackled me.

I was caught off-guard by the algrin's attack so I lost my balance. Before I even hit the floor the phallic was repeatedly hitting my chest. See? This was another situation where it was good that I had had my breasts reduced. It still hurt like hell, still could have been worse, though.

"Bitch." I snarled before throwing Kel to the side.

Kel instantly jumped to his feet. He drew back his black armour-covered boot and slammed it right into my side. – One of the few places the armour did not cover.

You can't lose to him. I told myself. If you do, no Frenchy for you!

Spontaneously, I ignored the pain and instead smashed my wrist computer. If only I could have seen the look of surprise on Kel's face when I flew across the floor. The algrin ha not realized we were allowed to use flight in this battle.

My body twisted upwards just in time to miss the white wall of the battle room. I did not get a break, though. Kel shot at me fist-first. I flew out the way just in time and his fist smashed into the wall, leaving a dent. I would be surprised if that method had not caused him to hurt his hand and wrist.

I heard him snarl in frustration behind his helmet. Kel really wanted to hurt me. Hell, if he was given an opening he would probably try and kill me as well.

This duel was not just about moi wanting to trade with Veck. We were taking our anger out on each other. I was angry because I felt homesick, Kel pissed me off and I desperately wanted to remember what Bennu/Tak had shown me. Kel was just angry in general. He felt so uncomfortable at Starside Academy.

As Kel and I battled in the air, I had an epiphany. One of the algrin's many issues could be supressed homosexuality. Why? Because that would explain his disgust for women and his general frustration. You would grow to hate the opposite gender if you did not even like their genitals. And if Kel had been forced to have sex with women he did not find attractive daily on his home planet then I could see why he couldn't stand women.

Due to the circumstances, I doubted homosexuality was acceptable on his home planet. Kel would have been confused about why he didn't like women which would lead him to think there was something wrong with him. He probably would not have even realized his sexuality until he reached Starside and met other boys. The only other man he would have known up until the academy was his own father, and he hated his father. – Maybe there was something between the father and son that explained their hatred for one another. Something very dark that I chose not to think about seeing as this was all theory. Hell, for all I knew the reason Kel was angry was because this was the longest he had gone without sex since he hit puberty.

A major disputable variable in my theory was Jaedorra. Who was she? Did he really love her or marry her because he knew his father would not approve? Maybe her species did not feel love and they were just friends who would soon share a child, or maybe she had male qualities that would make her more appealing to Kel if he preferred boys. Who knew? Kel did... and so did the USM database. I would have to research her later.

Gay or not, Kel was a very confused man. Starside Academy was probably not the best place for him to be because of the dramatic changes he faced. I was probably wrong about him anyways. He was possibly just a douche with daddy issues and nothing more... I'm not very good at lying to myself.

I was a little soft on Kel when I considered this new theory on why he was angry. The algrin noticed my hesitance and took advantage of the moment. He slammed my back into the floor and pinned me down. My head banged around in the black helm as Kel's fist repeatedly came down. He was so feral I was almost worried he would crack my helmet.

The cadets up in the overview room gasped when Kel hit my temple and knocked the helm into two pieces. I drew the line there by grabbing the algrin's neck and squeezing. Not enough to choke him, but enough that he hesitated and I could throw him to the side.

I reached for both sides of my helm. Kel noticed and grabbed the closest one before chucking it across the battle room.

"Shit." I growled before jumping to my feet.

Kel tried to get another punch in, but I leapt backwards. He was not amused when I put my finger up to say 'give me one moment'.

Donn shook his head in disbelief as he watched from the overview room: "Oh, Am. What are you doing?"

Apparently now was not a great time to redo my hair. I really did not like having my hair in a bun, so I changed it back into my usual perky ponytail.

"Women." Kel hissed as he patiently waited for moi to adjust my hair.

This wasn't a duel anymore. It was a boxing match. Kel's only intention was to knock me out cold. I blocked most of his punches, however the ones that got through hit hard. Hitting Kel in the face was easy. Sadly it did not matter seeing as his helm protected him.

"It would be a shame if I won because you got brain damage." The algrin said snootily as I took a moment to spit blood out of my mouth like tobacco.

"I-it would be a shame if you got expelled from Starside of giving me brain damage." I stuttered. Blood was trailing from my nose and into my mouth. – It was disgusting.

"If this gets too serious then we have to stop it." Frek told Alk as they watched Kel and I attack each other like wild animals.

The Amazonian woman looked down at him: "When does it get 'too serious'?"

"When permanent damage is done."

Adrenaline kicked in as I threw Kel to side. He reacted quickly by kicking the back of my leg and making my knee buckle. We looked like toddlers as we battled each other on the floor. This was not a very elegant fight.

The battle room simply became a white blob as my vision blurred. The phallic had most likely given me a concussion. He was not nearly as injured as I was. The only chance I had to even the odds was by removing his helm. Or...

Hit him where it hurts. A voice that was not my own said in my head. That will win the duel.

I was not even sure if 'where it hurts' was the same for male algrins and humans. Regardless, there was no harm in giving it a shot. I rolled away from Kel before leaping to my feet. The algrin did the same but he took a little more time. Obviously he had hurt his foot at one point in the fight.

He was surprised when the bleeding girl came right at him and grabbed his shoulders. At first he thought I was going to do something stupid like head-butt him, then he realized too late my real intentions. My armoured knee slammed into his unprotected midsection. – Kel should really wear a codpiece.

"Oh, Amori." Frek snarled as started typing on his wrist computer.

Kel let out a surprised grunt and dropped to his knees. He had not expected moi to play dirty. I wasn't done yet. We had both agreed that the game would stop when one of us was knocked out or begged for mercy. The algrin was too proud to hold up a white flag, so I was going to have to beat him to a pulp.

Frek had other intentions. One of the turrets fired up and fired two shots. I didn't try to move out of the way. Kel and I were probably in trouble for taking the fight a little too far. Chorst was right; neither of us would graduate from the academy if we kept this up.

Three robots flew into the battle room. Two came for Kel and I while the third picked up both sides of my helm and mopped the blood off the floor.

Way to go. I thought sarcastically. The thought was directed at whatever voice in my head had urged me to knee Kel in his midsection.

He had it coming. The other voice in my head said. I did not question how there were two voices in my head. I just presumed I was going insane.

When I came to in the medical centre, I was a little surprised to see that robots had taken away my uniform. I just lay there in my body-glove staring up at the ceiling. My armour had been put back in the suitcases which were resting on the shelf beside moi. I could not see Kel. He was probably on the other side of the curtain that split the medical centre.

Alk stood at the end of the bed. She had a mixture of annoyance and amusement on her face.

"Well," she began slowly, "that was a very interesting fight. I honestly didn't know who was going to win until you hit Kel in the groin... Not exactly a fair win, but a win nonetheless."

I slowly sat up to look at her properly: "I didn't win," I confessed, "Kel and I agreed that you could only win if your opponent got knocked-out or con–"

"Conceded. I know." Alk said simply.

My expression was blank for a moment. Was Alk saying that Kel had admitted defeat? That phallic was too proud to concede!

"Darn shame really." Alk laughed. "Frek and I had a bet going. Now I owe him twenty credits."

"You bet against me?" I asked, appalled.

She shrugged: "Frek had dibs on you so I didn't have a choice."

I was Frek's first choice. I thought with a small smile. I can't tell if that's endearing or disturbing.

"Speaking of you and Frek," I began cautiously, "are you two... together?"

Alk smiled: "Depends on what you mean by 'together'."

I dropped the subject quickly. It was not any of my business.

Even though the body-glove covered moi from the neck down, I still felt incredibly naked. I closed my legs and crossed my arms over my chest. Alk did not seem to notice.

"So... What happens now?" I asked after a long pause.

"We're currently getting you and Veck new uniforms." Alk said before sidestepping away from the bed. "I'll see you in combat. Remember that we're starting out in the simulation room today and not the battle room. Dub Cap Chorst will give the full details when you get there."

"Yes ma'am." I said, trying to hide my excitement.

As soon as Alk left I scoped the room for Kel. Despite my pride, it was best that I apologized to the little douche.

It felt strange to touch the floor without my boots on. The boots usually lifted moi an extra inch off the floor so that I stood at my father's height. Sure, we had almost exactly the same DNA, but I was still one a little smaller than Sven. Not that I was short... unless you consider six feet to be short.

My index finger hooked around the white curtain and gently pulled it back so I could see the other side of the medical centre. Kel was on a bed at the far end with Frek beside him... I had not been aware that could algrins cry.

"I've got to go back. H-he's going to kill her a-and keep the rest for himself." Kel sobbed.

Frek put a hand on the miserable boy's shoulder. He did not look very sympathetic. That was because of his own bias against algrins and their insane belief system.

"Mel isn't going to let that happen." The harsnic said in a soft voice.

"When was the last time Mel gave a fuck about algrins?" Kel snapped. "The USM and algrins signed the fucking second-class treaty that says they won't intervene in our issues."

Frek kept his condescending voice: "Jaedorra is not an algrin. That treaty doesn't apply to her. She's a first-class species so the USM will protect her even if the rules of the treaty are breached."

I really should not have been eavesdropping, but I'm a bad person.

Kel looked at the harsnic in suspicion: "W-what about my other wives?"

Frek used his free hand to run his fingers through his hair. He really wished somebody else could answer these questions for Kel. But he knew the phallic would not go to either of his other teachers because they were both women and 'wouldn't understand'.

"They're not protected by the same laws." He said quietly so I could barely hear.

"Your uniform, Dub First Off Am" A robotic voice said behind me.

"Gah!" I leapt away from the curtain and spun around. Hopefully robots did not know what eavesdropping was.

The robot had not seemed to notice. It just held out my new folded up uniform. The USM logo was the only colourful part. The black diamond in the logo was practically invisible on the lustrous black uniform. Only its silver outlining proved it was there.

"Hell yeah." I gasped under my breath as accepted the new uniform.

I was actually a little too excited and I accidently let the beret and one of the boots slip off the top. The robot bent down to pick up the fallen objects but I got in first and swept them up. A part of moi was worried that the robot would take them away if I let it touch them. Nobody was taking this uniform away from me now!

Another 'gah' escaped my lips when Frek drew the curtains open. He looked displeased. Kel was still on the bed on the other side of the room with his arms wrapped around his legs. He wasn't crying anymore. However he still looked miserable.

"You were eavesdropping." He stated. Surprisingly, he did no sound very annoyed.

I stared blankly at Frek for a moment.

"I was... just checking up on him."

"Uh huh." The harsnic muttered. "I think it would be best to avoid Dub Cap Kel for the next few hours."

"Did he really concede?" I asked curiously.

Frek shrugged: "You didn't give him much choice. If you had damaged his reproductive organs then he would be useless on his home planet. He doesn't want to risk another fight with you if you're going to aim for his midsection."

I smirked inappropriately. Why should I pity a phallic who tried to give me brain damage?

I raised the folded-up uniform so it was covering my chest. Body glove or not, I didn't want my science to have any idea about my chest size.

"So apparently you bet on me?"

Frek laughed: "I did indeed. Not to say Kel is incapable of beating you, but you've proven to be more of a risk-taker."

"And it's not considered bad for teachers to bet on students?"

"Not in the USM." Frek said slyly.

This place is messed-up.
23: Back in Black

It was awkward to run into Kel in the hallway. He had been striding down the corridor until he realized that he would accidentally catch up to moi. The algrin tried to speed past me, but the little mouse-like robot in front of us was blocking him. I did not even know what the little robots were for, but they did remind me that I was on the real life Death Star.

This awkward walk alongside Kel could have been avoided if I had not wasted time in the chambers. As a gift for Chorst, Veck and my new Dub crew I was giving out those Ray-Ban sunglasses I had taken to Starside in my duffle bag. Who would need sunglasses in space? Awesome people. That's who.

"Thanks for letting me swap crews." I murmured as Kel and I strode. We were both already half an hour late to class.

Kel did not answer. He just stopped in the middle of the corridor and swung one of his suitcases into my stomach. It was such a spontaneous attack that I didn't even have time to realize what had happened before I fell backwards. Thank God I had kept all the sunglasses in their cases. Otherwise the lenses would have broken.

"Fuck!" I coughed when air flew back into my lungs.

Kel was already walking away again... What a phallic.

I scrambled to my feet without dignity and quickly picked up my suitcases and the sunglass cases. There was no point in trying to get back at Kel. He knew very well that I could knee him in the groin again.

"Looking good!" Donn shouted when I arrived at the archway to the simulation room. "Black's really your colour."

"Thanks." I held out a small black case. "Have some sunglasses."

I knew the glasses wouldn't suit his head shape. Even if they did, his eyes were too large for the Caravan style. Hell, his eyes were even too big any Earthling glasses! I had not planned on giving him a pair, but I had enough to go around.

Donn accepted them happily. He looked inside the case with a confused expression.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Just a souvenir from planet Earth." I told him as I put on my own sunglasses. – I had the Olympian style.

(Some of you may think I'm advertising for Ray-Ban, but I'm not. I just like retro sunglasses.)

I walked into the simulator's overview room where the other cadets were. Ket was currently doing the spaceship simulation. San was next like always and then Gall. At first I thought about going when Gall did, then I remembered I was in Mar now.

Alk acknowledged me with a nod as I entered before returning to watching the simulation. I was about to be a tattletale and tell her about Kel hitting me in the hallway, but a robot interrupted moi.

"May I take your armour?"

"Sure, whatever." I said before chucking it both black suitcases and striding toward the overview window.

Veck suited the Gall uniform. It matched her white skin, black makeup and tattoo. Henn and Gom did not look very happy standing next to her. Henn was tall and Gom was strong, but Veck was tall and strong. Kel just ignored her completely. The only person who was happy to see her was Ams because she wanted somebody to be able to boss Kel around.

I slipped in-between Henn and Veck to watch look through the window into the simulation room. The layout was exactly like the bridge of the Titonic except slightly smaller. Four members of Ket were in there while the fifth member was in another room that simulated engineering.

There were at least ten people besides the four members of Ket in there working the non-officer jobs. At first I thought Alk had brought in people to help with the simulation. Then I noticed Merr pawing at some of the aliens walking by. His hand went right through their sides. They were simulations... This was about to become the most awesome lesson.

"How ya doing Veck?" I asked after I got a good look at the simulation room.

The pale woman smiled: "Excellent. Like the new uniform?"

"Hell yeah." I held out the black case holding the Balorama sunglasses. "Here, for your troubles."

Veck took the gift with an intrigued expression and opened the case to look inside.

"What do they do?" She asked.

"Protect your eyes from light."

She let out a low laugh. Veck's black eyes worked better than any sunglasses in bright conditions. Her planet did not rotate as it went around their sun so one side always had day and the other always had night. Veck's eyes were adjusted to both darkness and extreme brightness... She had no need for sunglasses but she accepted them graciously anyways.

Chorst and Nor were watching moi from the other side of the room. My new dub crew looked nice. The only one I had problems with was Jee. He was one of those 'accelerated intelligence' cadets that I could see easily getting on my nerves.

"Hello." I said awkwardly when I reached Mar.

Nis waved frantically and made a happy squeaking noise. I'm not one for cute and cuddliness. However, Nis was just about the cutest thing even with his big goggles on. Sadly, I knew his own innocence would lead to his destruction. Why would the USM even bring to a naval academy? I had no doubt he would see something horrible while on a USM spaceship. It was unavoidable.

I stiffened when Nor grabbed my hand with both of hers. She looked similar to Chorst except a lot shorter and more bird-like with her beaky nose. They both shared the same black hair and white skin... Maybe that was a trait among nocturnal creatures.

"I just know we're going to be best friends." She said in an over-enthusiastic English accent. God, she was going to get annoying quickly.

"What are those?" Jee bluntly while pointing at the black sunglass cases.

I threw him the Clubmaster pair. Not much point seeing as he had three eyes. He held the sunglasses up and watched them shine in the light. Like expected, he did not seem amused by them once he figured out they were not electronic.

"Gifts from my home planet." I joked. If Earthlings were going to be known for anything, it was our sense of style.

"Ooh." Nis and Nor said simultaneously.

Nor got the Wayfarer pair while Nis got the Shooter. The little golden boy probably would never wear the glasses seeing as he had his goggles, yet he seemed amused by their shininess.

What did I give Chorst? Predator. He did not say 'thank you'. It was not something his species said because they expected the thankfulness was implied. I was a little sad that I could not see his amethyst eyes, but he still looked damn good with the dark shades.

"Thank you Dub First Off Am!" Nor squealed. "I needed these."

I raised an eyebrow: "Eh?"

"Nocturnal eyes are sensitive to light." Chorst explained blandly. "The USM does not provide eye protection to second-class cadets so these will have to suffice."

The way Chorst said it made him sound as if he was displeased. Then again, he always sounded displeased so it was hard to tell if he was being gracious or not.

"You're welcome." I muttered quietly.

It would have been wise to bring gifts for all the cadets. My father offered to buy moi nineteen pairs. My concern was that it may have had made me seem condescending and pompous to give everyone free expensive gifts. Well... I was both those things, but I didn't want everyone to know that straight off the bat.

I did not notice Chorst when he snuck away. Nor was busy telling me about how many bones she had broken since she reached Starside Academy. I only realized the pale boy had returned when he grabbed my ponytail and tugged on it. Before I even turned there was a swishing noise and my head felt a lot lighter.

"What the?" I gasped loudly when I saw Chorst standing behind me with a sharp knife in one hand and my ponytail in the other.

Okay, I was beginning to get the idea that the trinard was a disturbed creep. Try to give me brain damage in a duel, sure, but nobody touched my hair. And people did not just cut my hair. One time back in third grade a boy pulled my hair in a soccer game and I tackled him to the muddy ground. Poor Sven had to run onto the field and pull me off him. That boy never returned to soccer practice.

Alk and the cadets turned around when they heard my fist make contact with Frenchy's cheek He did not try and fight back. Chorst just absorbed the hit and stumbled backwards.

"What the hell?" I screamed like a little girl.

"Am!" Alk snapped before she noticed that my hair had shortened dramatically. "Oh, wow."

I felt a little bad about my impulsive hit when purple blood seeped from the corner of Chorst's mouth. He did not seem to notice it. Then again, he didn't care how badly his body got damaged.

"It's requested for USM personnel and cadets to keep their hair short." The trinard said like he was reading from the USM rule book which I am sure he studied relentlessly.

"I'll deal with my own hair." I snapped. "What makes you think you can just cut my hair?"

Alk rubbed her temples and breathed in heavily. She was beginning to wonder if I was going to get along with any of the captains. I'd already punched Zand (although she didn't about that), Kel and now Chorst... Donn was next.

"Trinards don't care about bodies." She explained. "He sees no damage done."

I ignored her and kept my eyes on the pale boy. He stuck his purple tongue out and licked up the blood off his lower lip. My hands went to my ghost ponytail to see the damage done. I had to say he would make a great barber. Despite the fact I now looked even more like my father with the boyish cut, Chorst had done a decent job. My hair was short at the back but it got progressively longer as it reached the front and went just past my ears. I didn't exactly like the new look. However, I could adjust to it.

"Sorry Dub Cap." I mumbled formally. It was best to apologize to the man who was going to be my superior for five years. "I overreacted."

The trinard didn't say anything he just strode away to put back the little knife (God knows where he got it from) and to dispose of the chunk of hair in his hand. I felt like Danny Boy should have been playing as my lovely golden hair was tossed in the trash. It would grow back, but it would never be the same.

Zand and her dub crew did not understand what chaos had broken out in the time they had been in the simulation room. We were doing 'negotiations' for today. Ket had had to negotiate boundaries with a ship operated by second-class aliens that were trying to leave their system. In the end Ket had disabled the ship by firing upon its engines and killing two of its crew members. According to Alk, the mission was a success.

I personally wanted to fire at something. It was all fake anyways so nobody would actually be killed. I had been desensitized to the thought of death, blood and gore. By the time I was six I had already seen the first three Alien movies and its prequels so no simulated aliens were going to scare moi.

San did not do so well. I was putting my sunglasses away where the suitcases were stored while they failed. Chorst and Nor decided to continue wearing their glasses seeing as they had sensitive eyes. I realized I probably should have saved a pair of sunglasses for Ams seeing as she was nocturnal as well. Although she seemed fine, so maybe her eyes had adjusted to the bright light. According to the spreadsheet Ams was also 'melancholy' but I she didn't seem sad or depressed. Maybe the silly notes were wrong about her. – Or maybe I had never paid enough attention to little Ams.

Alk didn't seem to mind Chorst and Nor's glasses. She understood the USM did not give second-class cadets the same medical support that they would first-class cadets. They would usually offer either contact lenses or eye surgery for first-class cadets with sensitive eyes. The only exception was Nis, without his goggles he could see something horrible that would put him into 'grey state' which was practically considered death.

When I returned to the overview window I raised my eyebrows. The bridge was falling apart. Fire spreading across the floor, sparks coming out of the dashboards, and Donn trying to maintain control. It was truly a sight. I felt for the fish boy. The San simulation involved 'negotiating' with a barbaric species called the kuue. They were a nasty insect race with no remorse. The simulations were generated at random, so Alk had no control. If she did, she would not make San negotiate with such a hard race.

While watching Donn's demise, I ran my fingers through my hair. I still wasn't used to the idea of having short hair and looking perfect to play Peter Pan.

"They're doing everything wrong." Jee mumbled. Stupid purple lizard man. I doubt he could do any better. "If they had transferred the remaining power in their generators to their shields and aimed for the kuue's bridge then they could still win the fight."

San didn't do what Jee wanted them to do. We were all blinded by a sudden orange light that represented the ship's explosion. When the light faded the bridge had gone back to normal and the kuue ship was no longer on the monitor. Donn sat in the captain's chair with his head in his hands. None of us –besides Jee– blamed him for failing. Ket had gotten such an easy one that we all expected San to have one just as easy.

"Here we go." Veck said cheerfully as San came out and Gall went in. Gom and Kel ignored her.

"You did alright, Donn." I gave the fish boy a hard pat on the shoulder. "None of us could've done any better."

"Well actuall–"

"Quiet Jee." I snarled.

Donn rubbed his large bulbous eyes and sighed: "I hope I never meet a kuue in real life."

Watching Gall's simulation made me wish I could join my old crew just for this lesson so I could go in and help. They were up against two aggressive ships that refused to uncloak in a 'no cloaking' zone. No surprise Gall was fired upon by both invisible spaceships.

Gom's tactical skills were actually pretty good. He did what Chorst did back in science class and looked at the curvature of the surrounding stars. The only problem was that this method took too long. By the time Gall had found one ship their shields were down and Ams had lost control of the engine.

"Fire!" Kel barked at one of the simulated crewmembers.

A good shot, but not good enough. They hit the lower decks of the invisible ship. Unfortunately the cloaked ship's shields were up and not much damage was caused.

The simulation ended when the oxygen ran out in the bridge and the crew 'suffocated'. Kel closed his eyes and leaned back in the captain's chair as the simulations choked to death around him. The shields had given out which meant the ship's atmosphere and the air supply were escaping through the big hole on the left side of the ship.

Merr leaned towards Zand: "I'm beginning to think we got the easy simulation." He purred.

Zand just snarled. She was happy to have succeeded in the first round (I had missed Gall and Ket's first round so I did not know if they did well), but she didn't like doing well because she got the easy simulations. The shvesn loved to be challenged. I respected this about Zand. She was not the kind of girl who was going to take easy victories well.

"We're up!" Nor said in her peppy voice.

Nis answered with a happy squeak before skipping towards the door. He had not been allowed to watch the last simulations due to the violence and had instead been treated to the colour show in his goggles.

Chorst had a little more pressure on him than the other three captains. His wrist computer was connected to Nis's goggles so he decided when to switch them on. It would be his fault if Nis saw something bad that put him into grey state. It was a good thing I wasn't captain. Only truly good people could handle that pressure. That was why I had to forgive Chorst for cutting my hair. Although he was strange and creepy, he was the kind of man who would sacrifice himself without question for the life of another. His selflessness was most likely due to his carelessness of his own body, but he was still a great guy.

I followed my new crew to the doors before suddenly hesitating. A single drop of blood dripped from my nose. It fell in slow-motion before splatting on the floor and separating into even smaller drops. I impulsively rubbed my nose without realizing that I could have stained my body-glove. Surprisingly, no blood appeared on the glove. My eyes panned down to the floor. The blood was gone.

I'm losing it. My first thought was. Or Tak is...

"Dub First Off Am?" Jee asked from the other side of the short corridor.

"Coming." I mumbled.

My thoughts of Tak from three seconds ago were already gone. For some reason I just could not hold onto thoughts of Tak or Bennu. Although I knew that I had had those thoughts. It was like trying to remember a dream. Everything was mixed-up and made no sense when I tried to recall them.

Keep it together Am. The voice that wasn't my own said.

Shut up. You're not helping!

Sorry.

Great, now I have multiple personality disorder. That's just perfect. Fuck Bennu/Tak. I knew that tear in the space time continuum had something to do with my slowly unravelling sanity.

"Yowza." Was what I said first when we entered the simulation bridge. Sure, it looked cool from the overview room, but it looked even better when you were inside.

"Good afternoon, captain." All the simulations said in cheerful voice to Chorst as they walked by him.

The briefing for this simulation flashed onto the main monitor. We were apparently going to be dealing with a spaceship at a standard USM border inspection. The ship was carrying unidentified cargo... The scandal!

"This is going to be good." Jee sarcastically hissed. For once, I agreed with the slimy bastard.

The silver ship was pretty fancy looking. It was obviously meant for space and sky seeing as it was so aerodynamic with its warped wings and slender body.

"The ship has crossed the border, sir." One of the simulations sitting at the same control panel as moi said.

"Hail them." Chorst replied. His sunglasses glinted under the artificial lighting as he looked back at the main monitor.

My heart sunk when the ship responded to the hail. Black hair, pale skin and demonic red eyes... Trinords. I glanced up at the overview window to see Alk's response. She looked rather surprised. There were very few simulations with trinords in them seeing as they were a first-class race with much influence in the USM. What were the odds that Chorst would get one of the few simulations with trinords in them?

They were a rather dashing species. Although I did love Chorst's amethyst eyes, the ruby red eyes of the trinord were entrancing. All of the trinords onscreen seemed to be wearing the same sly smile. It was not hard to imagine a trinard like Chorst expressing emotion like the 'master race'. How I would love to see that Frenchy smile... Nah. There was a good chance he had purple gums that I didn't want to see.

Maybe they don't know he's a trinard. I mused as I looked at my captain. He was still wearing the Predator glasses so they would not notice his purple eyes. I was unsure if there were any other obvious features that separated trinards from trinords. The crew seemed intrigued by Chorst seeing as they could not tell which species he was... Then again, all they had to do was wait for him to open his mouth and they would know.

The man sitting in the centre chair crossed his legs and rested his hands on them. "Greetings. I'm Cap Svan of the Armet." He said. His accent was a little different from Chorst's. It was still French, but there was a twinge to it... French Canadian!

Chorst did not bother to exchange formalities. – And obvious sign that he wasn't a trinord.

"Cap Svan, your ship has just crossed the border of the Dalowit system. We request for you to identify your cargo." He said coldly.

The captain of the trinord ship was sly: "We are a first-class race. We don't have to identify anything. If anything; you should be giving your information to us seeing as you're second-class."

Chorst did not answer. Although he couldn't show emotions, I knew the trinords terrified him. Despite the races being separated for years, the trinards still suffered from the same psychological issues their ancestors had. That is a sign of how horrible the trinords had to be if they had permanently scarred an entire race.

I leaned to the ensign sitting at the same panel as moi: "If these guys start really harassing our captain, we fire on them without question."

The simulated ensign's eyes shifted back and forth before he nodded slowly. Obviously the simulation did not like that. However, I'm sure he understood the racial conflict currently going on.

"Inform the others." I said before standing up. The ensign followed me with his eyes before returning to the panel and typing my commands into the messenger.

"New message from Off Jee." Data informed me as I strolled around the bridge.

Despite Jee being annoying, he was damn smart. The purple lizard had done an estimate of the life forms aboard. There were more life forms on-board than there would be for an average crew. Almost two-hundred more life forms than needed to run an average spaceship.

Chorst understood immediately: "I order you to hand over the list of all crewmembers and passengers on-board."

"No." Cap Svan said bluntly.

"You have to comply under USM law or there will be consequences."

"How do you feel about those laws?" The sly trinard chuckled. "They're mainly set-up to make sure that second-class people like you don't do anything 'naughty'."

Chorst was paralyzed. The superior race had just asked about his feelings and he wasn't sure what to do. I literally –and figuratively– stood by his side as he tried to fathom the question.

"Ma'am?"

I glanced back to the ensign and nodded. He swallowed, but now agreed with my plan because he feared Chorst's incompetence around trinords.

"Don't mess with my captain, motherfuckers." I hissed as I watched three light torpedoes (special torpedoes intentionally used to give warnings) head for the silver ship. That may have been an overdramatic thing to say seeing as the light torpedoes only damaged the shield... I don't care.

Alk's face was priceless. She was beginning to think I was irrational. We were barely two minutes into the simulation and I was already firing on a ship without my captain's permission.

What was even more priceless was the look on Cap Svan's face. He too thought I was crazy. The Armet didn't return fire. They were too 'civilized' for that.

"That was an illogical action I had no part in." Chorst explained very quickly. He didn't look at me. He was probably a little thankful that we had gotten him out of answering Svan's question about his feelings. "However, if this cannot be resolved civilly then we will take further action."

Chorst muted the call before Svan could open his mouth. The trinord's expression changed from sly to annoyed when he realized this.

"Do not fire upon a ship without my permission." Frenchy said firmly. "Be cautious of the other life forms aboard the Armet that are not personnel."

"Sorry sir." I paused to consider how to phrase my next words. "Is it possible that the other life forms aboard the Armet are slaves and that it's a smuggler ship?"

"Very possible." He turned the mute off and returned his attention to the monitor where Cap Svan was waiting impatiently. "We are sending personnel over to inspect your cargo."

"That's not legal." Svan objected, keeping a calm yet intimidating tone. – It was weird to think he was just a simulation because he was so developed.

"It is legal if a ship has failed to comply with USM law."

My fingers went to my throbbing left temple. The day was dawning on my brain. Humans weren't meant to go this long without sleep. Who ever thought I would yearn for my regeneration chamber? It is hard to remember what it's like to sleep in a normal bed.

"I will report your actions to higher authority in the USM Navy if you send any inspectors over." Svan huffed. "It's a violation of first-class rights."

"You can plead your case to the USM. Right now, you follow orders."

Chorst's I-don't-give-a-crap side just kicked in. I was unaware that trinards even had that side. He had to be really brave to deal with his 'father race'. Chorst was going to be a great captain in the future, I knew that for sure.

The thought of the future made me have a flashback to the dream I had where Chorst and I watched the universe end and he was missing his left hand. The thought only lasted four seconds before it was forgotten. However, I single statement popped into my head: There isn't going to be a future unless you...

The second half of the sentence was fogged as if my brain was blocking it out. Again, it was not my own voice musing. The tear in the space time continuum hadn't just shown me everything about the universe; it had also implanted something in my mind... Or maybe I'm incredibly paranoid. Yeah, that seems like the more logical answer.

The monitor returned to showing the silver ship when the trinords abruptly cut the connection. Little bastards were probably going to try and fire on us. Funny, I always presumed the trinords would be smarter than Chorst because as they were the father race. It seems that was not the case seeing as they thought they could take on a USM Naval ship.

No, they had better ideas. The ship turned on its cloaking device. It would have been idiotic to try and cross the border while cloaked seeing as we could predict their direction. Trinords were a little smarter than that. The invisible ship turner around and used their dega-drive to speed away. – Cowards.

It was a slap in the face when I realized that we had not saved the possible trinards on-board and therefore, had failed the simulation.

Chorst's grip on the armrests tightened. We all looked at him wondering if he was physically expressing emotion. He relaxed his fingers after a moment and stood up to leave the bridge.

"We could try and go after them." I said softly, but it was too late. The simulations were already dissipating.

The trinard practically stormed out of the bridge. Man, for a guy who couldn't express emotion, he expressed a lot of emotion. I ran my fingers through my hair awkwardly before I remembered my new hairstyle.

Alk bit her lip. She felt guilty about not changing the simulation. That was an unfair simulation for Chorst seeing as it had hit him on a deeper level. The fact he had not been able to save the trinard slaves aboard was a blow to his self-esteem. Her hand trailed to the panel when she decided to note why Mar had failed the simulation.

"Excellent work." She said honestly when we all returned to the overview room. "You handled it well."

Ket and San had one more go each before the first half of the class was over. Ket got a harder simulation this time and they barely succeeded. According to the statistics; thirty per cent of the crew was dead and fifty per cent was seriously injured. – Zand was displeased.

Chorst was back to his usual impassive self within a couple of minutes. He was smart enough to know that it was just a simulation. It was more the fact that it could happen in real life. The fact he had gone tense at the end of simulation suggested he may not be fully trinard. It was very likely he had some trinord in him which was the part expressing emotion.

Donn looked bewildered as he walked back into the overview room. San had gotten another hard simulation which ended in Donn having to activate the self-destruct sequence after an alien bug queen decided to use their ship as her nest and implanted her eggs in the crewmembers. Yeah, it was a pretty strange simulation to watch.

"Well..." Alk chose not to finish her sentence when she saw Donn's puzzled face.

She was saved from telling Donn the results when Frek came in from outside. A thick silver bag was slung over his shoulder and his boyish expression suggested he was excited about what was to come. This worried moi. The last time he had that smile was when he wanted to show us Bennu, and we all know how that had ended.

"No need for that look." He laughed when he saw my expression. "You'll all enjoy this, I promise."

His hand went into the bag and came back out with what looked like a bronze-covered chunky old cell phone. And I don't mean 'chunky' as in the cell phones of your time, I mean the brick cell phones.

"These are mainly for the science officers," Frek confessed as he and Alk led us down the hall. Two robots followed behind with our suitcases on a hovering cart, "but I think it would be best if you all knew how to use the science equipment in case the chief science officer is not present."

The bricks were scanners... Very chunky scanners. I guess new slimmer scanners weren't in the budget.

"You all know how to read map coordinates right?" Alk asked when we reached the hangar.

There was a mumble from the crowd of cadets. People like Jee were very sure of their map reading skills. People like Donn were less confident. That was not Donn's fault. On his planet maps were not needed because sadamonts instinctively knew the ocean like the back of their hands.

Alk shook her head condescendingly: "Well all you have to do is let the ship drive. Don't worry."

We all stood around Alk and Frek like children in kindergarten. The harsnic passed out the bronze bricks until all of us had one. Well... almost all of us. Poor Yeek from Ket missed out seeing as Frek was one short of bricks. The green alien's eye stems hung low in disappointment.

"You have all been assigned to primitive planets –and moons– in the Dalowit System for your scientific research." Alk explained. "You are to mainly focusing on geology today. Each group should collect at least three different samples today which you will be examining thoroughly tomorrow in science class."

"So get some good samples." Frek joked.

I questioned how we could find various samples on a moon seeing as they were just lumps of rock. Oh well, I sure hoped Mar didn't get a moon.

Two minutes later: "... Mar, you get the second moon of Eferos." Frek said casually before sending synopsis of the moon to our wrist computers.

"Yay." I muttered sarcastically as I skimmed the synopsis.

Some would think I had to be quite an arrogant snob to not be gracious for even getting to travel to a moon. I am an arrogant snob, but I've been to Earth's moon. Me, Sven and Geraldine visited the Moon five years ago to visit the Neil Armstrong memorial centre. The memorial centre and the colonies were awesome, but the moon itself was incredibly boring. How different could the second moon of Eferos be?

"How is this combat?" Donn asked. Good question.

"Knowing you Dub Cap Donn," Alk paused for effect, "you'll run into an aggressive alien race and then it'll be combat."

The fish boy let out a hesitant laugh. It would be just his luck.
24: Need a Hand?

I was right about the second moon of Eferos: It was boring. Well, not entirely... The gravity was low so Nis, Nor and I bounced about. Chorst and Jee remained firmly planted on the rocky terrain. This was no time for having fun.

The natural satellite was more like an asteroid that got caught in Eferos's orbit than a moon. It would only take two days to walk around the whole body and barely ten seconds to fly around at an average USM speed. Yeah... We weren't gonna find much on this moon.

Donn and his dub crew were on one side of Eferos while Ket was on the other. Looking down at it from the moon, it was a ginormous lush planet that was ninety-five per cent water. The grey dust rings that circled the planet were what really reminded me that it was not Earth.

After the fun of low gravity wore off, I pranced back to Chorst and Jee before taking one final jump. Even though I could not see Jee's face through the helm, it was he easy to presume he was not amused by childishness.

"So how much rock do we have to collect before we have enough rock?" I asked Chorst who was already one knee examining the terrain.

"We need variety." He said bluntly.

I wanted to say "the only thing here is rock", but then the Frenchy would most likely lecture moi on how many different types of rock there were. He seemed like the kind of boy who knew a lot about rocks. I should probably know more about geology. My father studied hundreds of asteroids while he was at the out rim of the Solar System. Sven always wanted me to be a scientist... That probably wasn't going to happen. Then again, my father had only become interested in space science and extra-terrestrial geology when he went to university so I still had time to change my mind.

"Digging would be logical." Chorst stood up properly and brushed the grey dirt off his knees. "Then we could compare the crust to the core."

"This may be a small satellite," I began slowly, "but I doubt we would be able to dig to the core... I don't think this moon even has a core."

"It has a core." Chorst said simply.

"Every natural satellite has a core." Jee growled. He was the chief science officer after all.

Seeing as I'm in space, I should probably catch up on my astronomy, geology and physics. "Well we still can't dig to the core." I muttered.

The pale boy examined the synopsis on wrist computer. There was not much to be said about the second moon of Eferos. Nobody had even bothered to give it a proper name. Eferos had forty moons. Only the first moon, Dakban, was considered 'special' because it was the largest and first discovered.

"The second moon of Eferos resembles Okevella. The lower layers of Okevella hold a large mineral deposit of dyphon crystals. This moon has conditions necessary for dyphon crystals to form in." Chorst explained.

Okevella, it was a moment before I remembered that it was Chorst's home planet. Wait... his home planet looked like this? Yowza, what a horrid planet it had to be. Even after 'millions of years of physical and psychological abuse' all the USM could provide the trinards with was a lifeless rock? The discrimination was crystal clear. Had the trinords needed a new home planet they would have been given something more like Eferos. But their second-class daughter-race got a shitty rock. That's not okay... I think I need to have a little talk with Mel.

Without asking for our input, Chorst sent Frek a message requesting a drill. Not a large drill like they had Earth. The sample collecting drills the USM looked more like four feet high syringes. However, the needle part was actually a slender drill bit that could go deep into planetary bodies. These are the kind of things you learn about in USM history class seeing as mining is a very controversial thing in the USM. There are all these laws around it which is why it's mainly done illegally with slave clones or second and third-class aliens who cannot get work anywhere else in the galaxy.

"Wait," I raised my finger to signify my question, "if this moon is like your home planet then can we breathe here?"

"No." Chorst replied without elaborating.

"They live in a dome." Nor explained as she bounced back to us. Nis pranced alongside her. "A big glass dome."

Why would she know that? I thought, a little jealous. Dear God, was I jealous of Nor? Sure, they looked similar and were both nocturnal, but that did not mean they had some sort of special connection. Even they did, I would be fine with it... No, I wouldn't.

Shockingly, Frek denied us a sample drill. Chorst explained that seeing as this was our first expedition, we would not be getting equipped with special gear. However, Frek did praise us for considering other alternatives for collecting samples. That is why Chorst had requested a sample drill in the first place; to get bonus points with Frek.

"We can still give a prediction of the minerals in the mantle." Jee stated as the yellow lasers from his scanner searched the foreign rocks. "Science is all about making predictions."

I nodded, actually agreeing with the purple lizard.

"Captain?" A timid voice called from the crater below. "I found something."

Chorst dropped the rock he was examining and bounced down toward Nis and Nor. At first it appeared the pair was staring at nothing, yet according to Nor's scanner they detected an organism. Nor had decided not to investigate until Chorst was there in case the organism was harmful. – A wise choice on her part. I had seen plenty of movies that would suggest the outcome involved a small alien sticking to her helm.

"Ooh." Nis squeaked as our captain switched on the goggles. In case anything bad happened Chorst did not want the innocent boy to witness it.

Like two dogs Jee and Chorst dug through the thick terrain. Sure, there were spades back at the dub ship but these boys did not mind getting their hands dirty (or rather their body gloves dirty).

After a minute Chorst slowed down as to not damage whatever they were uncovering. It was a strange squishy thing. Hard to tell what it was with all the grey dirt on it plus the apparent burn marks. I saw a hint of dirty orange and figured it was some sort of moon potato... Then I saw that it had four fingers.

"Oh." Nor choked when Jee held up the lifeless hand. She tried to take a step backwards but ended up falling.

Now Jee wasn't Mr. Smug: "H-how?" He squeaked before dropping the hand.

Chorst did not react. The yellow lasers from his scanner danced across the rotting hand in search of answers.

"What's it say?" Nor whispered as if not to 'wake' the hand.

Chorst's amethyst eyes read along the small screen of the scanner: "There is enough data in the body glove that I can identify him."

Him? Was my first thought. How does he know the hand belongs to a 'he'?

"Lieu Com Feb of the USM Navy." Chorst stated. "Disappeared sixty-two days ago on an outer-galactic rim patrol and died two days after his disappearance according to the data in his body glove." He paused intently. "Yet... according to his bio readings he has been dead five-hundred and two years."

"Five-hundred and two years?" Jee mused aloud in disbelief. "So he died... and then went missing years after?"

"He was very much alive before his disappearance." The pale boy stated. "The bio readings must be incorrect. The only other explanation would be..."

"Time travel." I said coldly. The words 'Tak' and 'Bennu' popped into my head for a brief moment before vanishing again.

Another thing we learned in our history class: time travel was utterly illegal. The USM knew how to time travel, but the information was kept secret as it was the most dangerous weapon. Only the monks of Destin-Hey and 4th dimensional minds travelled time in a psychological sense. Lieu Com Feb had obviously not allowed his hand to travel through time on purpose. He knew the consequences.

"W-where's the rest of him?" Nor whimpered.

Our captain did not answer. He immediately dialled Frek on his wrist computer. Man, our classes were just getting weirder and weirder.

The USM equivalent of NCIS arrived quickly on the scene. Com Lieu Feb was nowhere near the Dalowit System when he disappeared so they questioned how his hand could have made it there. Then there was the question of how the hand had been there for five-hundred years. Chorst's rinky dink scanner had only been wrong about one thing: Feb had died before his passing through the 4th dimension but the hand had still been there for five-hundred years. This did not exactly make the situation any easier to understand. In fact, it may have been even harder.

Frek strode up to the head of the investigation. They were digging deeper into the second mood of Eferos to see if they could find any more of the dead scout. They knew it was unlikely that they would find the rest of him, yet they wanted to be sure they had not missed anything.

"Is it what I thought?" He asked quietly seeing as I was staring at him from a fair distance away with suspicion.

"Unfortunately, yes." The head investigator muttered. "The traces of Bennu are undeniable."

Neither of them were sure what that meant. They knew Feb's hand had to have passed through the 4th dimension... but how and why? If something from the 4th dimension was intervening with the universe then the USM would be on DEFCON 1. The Hey-monks had no comment on the matter and neither did Mel. – Not a good sign.

"Any signs of Lieu Sef?"

"Sefras?" The head investigator shook his head. "If she suffered the same fate then her body parts are scattered across space and time as well."

The harsnic ran his hand across his smooth helm: "You need to do a full sweep of where their shuttle went missing. We need to know how they got in contact with Bennu."

I questioned from afar why Frek had so much influence over the NCIS team. He was just a teacher so why was he getting to tell them what to do?

Frek strolled over to the five of us after a few minutes. We were all sitting in front of our dub ship trying to be inconspicuous save Nor who was having a breakdown. She hated death, she hated bodies, and she hated finding parts of dead bodies on random moons. I felt sympathy for her... but I was sick of her high-pitched sobbing. Yes, she was tired and more emotional than most of us. That didn't mean we all had to hear about it.

Nis could not understand why she was sad. He had missed the whole thing due to Chorst switching his goggles on. This crew needed a pair like that for Nor.

"You kids have two options." Frek began without even acknowledging the hysterical daga ve. "You can either return to Starside Academy, have an early dinner and get some extra regeneration time in or you can split off into the other Dub crews and collect samples with them."

"It would be logical for all of us to return to the academy and regenerate." Chorst stated.

I sighed and nodded slowly. Sleeping sounded great... then Donn sent moi a message.

"Am, we all just heard about the whole hand incident. What are the odds?" The fish did not understand the seriousness of the situation. I liked that about him. "Would you like to come join us on Eferos to finish collecting samples?"

"Donn's invited me to Eferos." I told Chorst and Frek. "I think I'm gonna join him."

"An average human needs at least seven hours of sleep." Chorst said. I don't know where he learned that. "It would be wise of you to come back to Starside and regenerate."

"I'm not an 'average human'." Jee rolled his bulbous eyes. The lizard was a hypocrite when it came to other people's egos. "I was bioengineered to be better than the average human."

It doesn't show, but I really am supposed to be better than other humans. Most other humans right now would be passed out. Not moi. Sure, I did not like how little sleep I got, but I could survive and still go for a run.

Chorst had to practically carry Nor back into the Dub spaceship. She was a complete mess. I felt for the other three on the flight back with her. Some sleep would do the daga ve good.

"You should've chosen regeneration." Frek told me. He was going to watch me until Donn arrived. The harsnic was worried I would get involved in the investigation.

I crossed my arms nonchalantly. "I know this is related to Bennu. I don't know how it's all connected, but I will find out." Frek did not respond. I kept pushing. "What are you hiding from me Frek? Why's the 4th dimension such a big deal?"

"Ask Mel." He growled. "I can't tell you anything you don't already know... and you shouldn't know anything you shouldn't know."

"You're so conspicuous it's shocking."

Donn arrived just in time to break the awkward silence. Jhan danced out after him before jumping on his back. She was light, so the fish could easily give her a piggyback. The pair was so ignorant that they didn't even take one look at red holographic 'NCIS' tape that was floating around the crime scene. They just skipped right through it.

"You ready?" Donn asked before he noticed the man standing next moi. Because of the helm he couldn't recognize Frek.

"It's Frek." Jhan whispered in his ear.

"Oh." He nodded slowly. "Can Am join us, sir?"

"I already said yes." Frek said calmly, but not happily.

Donn, Jhan and I got out of there quickly. Frek was not in a very good mood. I understood why. A lieutenant commander's hand had just been found and they were not likely to find the rest of him. Oh well, it wasn't my problem anymore seeing as it had nothing to do with moi... Who am I kidding?

"Yowza." I gasped as we flew above Eferos. It was marvellous. Like something you would see in a decent James Cameron film. The whole planet was buzzing with enigmatic life.

"You'll find some good samples here." Donn smirked. Jhan giggled like a schoolgirl.

We all tensed when the spaceship was overshadowed. Donn's fingers danced across the panel to open the first layer of the sunroof. We all gasped when the creature above eclipsed the sun. This world was prehistoric Earth with pterodactyls and all. The giant creature soaring above was amazing and terrifying at the same time. This rinky ship could take on the beast if it was necessary, but the three of us hoped it would not come to that.

The ship shuttered as the beast pecked at the roof. Jhan wrapped her wobbly arms around Donn like she was going to fall off the ship if she let go. I just had a thought: if those two had kids they would have jellyfish. Get it? I'm a genius!

"Fuck." I muttered although I was more surprised than scared at that point. I had seen many aliens in my time at Starside, but this one somehow seemed different.

Once the giant beast realized the ship was not edible, it let out a thunderous grunt before vanishing in a literal sense. The creature could teleport. Well... I doubt the pterodactyls of prehistoric Earth had the power to teleport so the two species obviously were not related.

"Tell the others we'll be there soon." Donn told Jhan. "Am and I are going to take a scenic tour."

"Yes sir." The blob said in a peppy tone.

Scenic tour? I thought.

The side door hissed when Jhan punched the button that opened it. We did not have to worry about any of the ship's air escaping; the atmospheric shield would keep it in.

"See you soon!" The sadamont cried cheerfully over the sound of wind rushing past the atmospheric shield.

"Wha–" I grunted before Donn pushed moi out the door. Yes, Donn just pushed me out the dub spaceship. He was that kind of guy.

In the chaos I did not remember that I could fly. It was a very surreal feeling falling to my death. I was more distracted by the beauty of Eferos than I was about the fact that I was going to leave a small crater on the planet.

Donn, who was a little surprised that I had not switched on my boots, swooped down and grabbed moi around the waist. This was one of the few situations where I would let somebody 'hug' me.

"I'm gonna kill you!" I screeched in a feminine way.

Donn laughed: "Switch on your boots."

Of course, I complied. With very little flight experience in the battle room, flying above this planet seemed like a big step. Thankfully I have never had a fear of heights. At fourteen I was already skydiving with Sven. Geraldine never came. As he stated he would rather not pee himself.

"You're crazy. You know that?" I asked Donn via earpiece as we flew like we were forming a double helix.

I heard him laugh, but he didn't answer.

We dove downwards till were just sweeping the clear ocean below. All the eccentric creatures were easy to see swimming around below the water. There was a huge amount of marine life on this planet. I cannot compare it to the sea life on modern Earth seeing as it is all gone save a few stragglers.

Centuries ago the whales were the first to go after a Norwegian ship blew the crap out of the last one in existence. Yeah, everyone had been expecting the Japanese to get the final one seeing as they had the most ships looking for that little minke whale. It was a shock when the final battle was between Iceland and Norway. The Icelanders had the whale within their reach and then BAM! The Norwegians fired a torpedo, killing the whale before sailing away with its remains. Yeah... 2098 AD was a hard year with the Nordic recession (which we blame on Finland even though it was actually Denmark's fault). People had become very desperate for money. Even the extinction of a species seemed logical if money was involved. Same thing happened in Africa on land... Humanity sucks.

Spontaneously, Donn reached for his wrist computer and switched off his boots. I accidently flew right by him when he suddenly splashed into the water. Once I realized, I reached for Data and dropped in after the fish. It was no real surprise Donn wanted to go swimming. He must have really missed being in water when he's at Starside Academy.

"You think I could take my helm off?" He asked me as we swam over a coral bed.

"No."

"Why not?"

I could have explained to him how we would need to do a proper test of the water before we could swim or drink it, yet I decided to go with a different answer: "Gotta stay in full uniform while we're on missions, Donn."

The fish muttered something, but it didn't come across on the earpiece.

It was a good half an hour before we re-joined the other four members of San. They had already gotten enough samples of non-biological matter on this plentiful planet. Yeah, San got Eferos and Mar got the stupid lump of rock rotating around it.

We had not really been missed by the others except for Jhan who was happy to see Donn again. The Jell-O girl was worried that with my reputation, I would get fish boy in trouble. – She did not realize that the situation would actually be vice versa. Donn was the one who wanted to take off his helm, after all.

Or was not very impressed by our wet uniforms, but Us, Marsh and Jhan wished they had been invited to join. Those three came from planets where water was scarce so they never swam. Or came from quite an aquatic planet similar to Earth, so he didn't feel like he had missed anything.

"One of the marine creatures tried to eat us." Donn laughed as if it was no big deal.

"You okay?" Jhan asked. Her head went up and down as she scanned him for any signs of injury.

"Yes," I added to Donn's statement, "a creature did try and eat us... but it was the size of my thumb so it couldn't have done any real damage."

"It could have eaten your thumb." Donn smirked.

It really is best Donn and I weren't in the same dub crew. Together, we were nitwits.

None of us were ready to head back to Starside Academy when the time came. We were so uninspired to go that we only left at the very last moment and returned to the academy ten minutes late. – Alk and Frek weren't pleased.

The artificial lighting was sickening after we had spent the last hours in the sun. San and I made a pact to all go to Eferos on our first vacation... if there was such a thing as 'vacation' in the USM.

"I wonder how the other dub crews did." Us pondered aloud as we strode with our suitcases to the chambers.

I shrugged. "Well, you know how well my dub crew did... with that hand incident and all."

"Heh. Yeah." He muttered.

And that was the end of that conversation.

When we reached the chambers we were in for an interesting surprise. I was just chucking my briefcases back in my cubical when the chamber across from moi opened. Out stepped Nor and Chorst who were both still zipping up their jackets. Nor was surprised to see us, but Chorst didn't react.

Oh. My. God. I thought, and words were obvious in my expression. They just had sex... Sex.

My first thought was how long they had been going at it. The rest of Mar had arrived back at Starside just under three hours ago. So... had they been 'doing the nasty' for hours? Sure, I didn't know much about these aliens, but could they really go at it for that long?

"You're back." Nor said, her smile was hesitant.

"I thought you guys were going to regenerate." I snarled.

"We were." Chorst explained blandly. "However, we decided to only regenerate for two hours because we have already scheduled in our calls for tonight."

Well... at least they had only been up for a few minutes. Was I jealous? Yes. I thought Chorst was asexual. Why would he need to have sex with Nor?

The only plus to this situation was that Nor was not a depressed maniac anymore. She was downright cheerful. Even in her embarrassment she could not hide her smile.

"Heh." Donn clapped his hands together as he slowly walked backwards. "Well, Am. We're going to go grab dinner. See you there soon."

Donn and the rest of San moved like lightning to get out the shroud of awkwardness. Chorst did not acknowledge moi as he strode out after them. Then it was just Nor and I... 'Awkward' was not a strong enough word to describe the situation. I nodded at her casually before turning to leave.

"Wait." She whispered.

I was not very good at pretending to not be annoyed with someone. The smile I sent her was more aggressive than anything. It was my famous I'll-pretend-everything's-okay-even-though-I-want-to-hit-someone smile.

"Can I talk to you?" Nor asked. She had not noticed my famous smile.

We walked slowly together to dinner. I was not very hungry after having the image of Nor and Chorst having sex was fused into my brain, but I wanted to hear how the other dub crews did on their science expeditions. Hopefully Veck and Kel were getting along.

"Y-you know how I was stressed and sad b-because of that hand incident?" I nodded, intrigued by where this was going. "Well... I thought regenerating for two hours would help me calm down, b-but I was still not feeling very good." I nodded again, less understandingly. "You see, my people can become easily anxious and the only relief is... sex." Is she coming on to moi? "I do not know how, but Dub Cap Chorst what I needed so he offered t–"

"I got that part." I said abruptly.

Nor blushed a strange blue colour: "I'm not sure what sex means to your kind, but for my people the need is purely physical. It does not express any kind of feeling for another. It's a normal necessity that can be fulfilled by anyone."

"Indeed." I muttered. "Do you know what it means to Dub Cap Chorst?"

"It means nothing to him." She said simply. "You know very well that he has no care for his body."

I nodded. This was the second most awkward situation I had have ever been in. The first one happened a few months ago and involved waking up to find Iain Weber shirtless in my kitchen making flapjacks. Iain and I were in the high school's track team together. He was the last person I expected to find in the mansion. All became explained when a jaded Sven and Geraldine came downstairs for breakfast. Sure, I knew Sven and Geraldine were 'exotic' and liked to invite other men and women to join them, but shouldn't my schoolmates be off-limits? The situation became even stranger when Iain asked me when our math homework was due. Truly a scarring moment. That's probably one of the reasons I have been abstinent for so long; as soon as I had sex, I would go to the dark side and become as wild as my father.

"He's not interested in me." Nor said. A mark of sadness in her voice. "He's fascinated by you... because of your blood."

"Eh?" I raised an eyebrow. That was not something I wanted to hear.

"Your blood is red like trinord blood. Therefore, you are of a divine race."

The human race being divine; that is a hilarious thought.

"I'm not sure if trinards feel love," Nor paused, "but however he feels about you must be equivalent."

There was no proper way to finish that conversation. I could not act humble because that would make it seem as if I did not care about Chorst, and I could not act flattered because Nor obviously liked the Frenchy. She was kind of like Jhan with Donn around him but Chorst did not play into her smitten actions... Well, besides having sex with her.

She looked at me as if she wanted an answer. I just smiled at her before looking forward. Luckily, we were only a few steps away from the cafeteria so the silence would be over soon.

"I could be completely wrong." Nor whispered. "He could feel nothing for you. We'll never learn what he's thinking."

"Maybe." I muttered. God, couldn't Nor just let it go? I already had dibs on Frenchy.

***

"Love the haircut." Geraldine's holographic image smiled. "I didn't know that the USM had good barbers."

"They don't." Sven and I said at the same time. My father knew that from experience.

I shook my head. "No... my new dub captain cut it for me without any consent."

"New captain?" Sven raised an eyebrow. "What happened to the phallic?"

"We had a duel, he tried to give me brain damage and I kneed him in the gonads. So now that trinard I told you about is my captain."

His hand went to his forehead. "The gonads... really?"

"He tried to kill me!" I explained. "But now I kind of feel bad for the guy. He's got some sexuality issues he needs to work out." I said softly. The booth was practically soundproof, yet I was being cautious seeing as Kel was third in line. I do not know who he would be calling after he snapped at his father the last time.

"Sexuality issues?" Sven asked with raised eyebrows. – He loved gossip.

"He's gay but algrins aren't cool with that I'm pretty sure."

"How do ya know?" Geraldine asked.

"Well, during our duel I realized it." I said as if it was a logical explanation.

"How so?" Sven queried.

"I just had an epiphany in the midst of the duel."

Sven wasn't convinced for some reason: "So... you fought him, and now you know he's gay?"

"Yes."

"Okay." Sven put up his hands. "I just wanted to get that straight."

Geraldine giggled at the joke my father made in fake way. Obviously he still had not told Sven about the dusk incident. My God, the longer he waited the madder Sven would be. If he waited any longer then there relationship was going to hit a serious speed bump or drive off a cliff and die in a fiery explosion.

"I just have strong feeling he is gay, dad."

A strong feeling? The dark voice in my head asked. Or do you know some things about the universe you are not supposed to know?

"Shut up!" I accidently snapped out loud.

"What?" Sven asked, a little taken back.

"Nothing." My shifty eyes really helped prove my innocence.

Sven nodded slowly, displeased. Luckily, he could not push me for questions anymore seeing as our time was nearly up.

"I'll talk to you tomorrow and give you more info on my new captain, okey dokey?" I asked sweetly.

"No problem. Love ya bub."

"Bye!" Geraldine and I said at the same time.

I hopped out of the booth and acknowledged Henn who was going in next. Kel completely avoided my gaze. He was still furious at moi for embarrassing him in the duel. It was going to be awkward regenerating next to Kel for the next five years. Even though I wasn't in his dub crew anymore, the USM personnel could not be bothered to swap Veck and I's regeneration chambers.

I was zigzagged across the grey floor as my vision began to blur. The corridor got longer with every step I took. True fear set in when I fell to my knees. My head felt like it was filled with helium as blood flowed from my nostrils like two waterfalls. A small pool of blood formed at my knees, dampening them.

Just out of focus stood a shadowy creature. It did not resemble any kind of humanoid. All I could make out was its long lanky legs that led to a body too high-up for moi to see. Tak. I thought before collapsing at the creature's claw feet.

When I came-to seconds –or minutes– later, Va from Ket was cradling my torso in his (or her) four arms while Frek was kneeling next to us. Apparently the overgrown ant was the one who had found me after I passed-out. I had nothing against Va, but being close enough to his face to hear him breath was unpleasant. – His pincers were very disturbing.

"You're quite a hassle, you know that?" Frek asked semi-rhetorically.

My body felt as if it had not been moved in years. Even bending my fingers was straining. Persevering through the pain, my hand went to my face for inspection. Luckily, there was no blood so the whole incident had been a hallucination.

"Sorry." I groaned before nudging out of Va's grip. "I'm just tired."

Frek nodded. He was suspicious. I was not going to bother telling him about my constant hallucinations. The harsnic would just want to wipe my mind again. It may have been wiser to have mind wiped repeatedly until I was clean, but I didn't want that. Just knowing that I had had all that knowledge at one point made me hunger for it again. Even though I possibly risked death, I still wanted to keep the remnants of all the knowledge Bennu gave me.

"Yeah, we'll see about that." He muttered. "If you wake up tomorrow and feel tired or sick, tell me in science and I will get you sorted."

"Sorted as in another mind wipe?" I hissed. My paranoia was kicking-in.

Va was feeling very awkward during the silence. He had found me passed-out on accident, why should he have to suffer through Frek and I's strange conversation?

"You can go." Frek said. Before the harsnic even said 'go' the giant ant was on his way.

"I don't want another mind wipe." I stated boldly.

"Do you need another mind wipe, though?" His grey eyes pierced my cold blue ones. "If something's happen to you, Amelia," he said my proper name; shit was real, "then you have to ask for help before it's too late."

"Too late for what?" I asked ignorantly.

"I know you looked-up Tamarax Deloro. You know what she's become."

"You think I'm going to become her?"

"No." He shook his head. "You could become worse than her."

"How so?"

The harsnic exhaled loudly. "Just... Just keep it together for the next few days, okay? We really need you to keep it together."

Who's the 'we'? I thought, but did not ask. And why 'for the next few days'?

"What would happen if I did... fall apart?" I asked, less aggressive. Being harsh with Frek never got moi anywhere.

The harsnic stood up. "Let's just say you wouldn't be the only thing that fell apart."

"Subtle." I grumbled.

"Hey, you got your answer."

Frek left me on the floor. He could not care that much about moi if he didn't even help me up.

"You ever gonna be straight with me?" I called out.

"I could ask you the same question." He muttered so I could barely hear.

Man... I really had to get rid of his German accent. He was sounding more and more like an evil mad scientist.
25: Deep Space Nen

It was a normal morning. The regeneration chamber would act as a carwash before spitting me out like a bad prostitute. Then I would sit on the floor with my knees hugged to my chest for the next few minutes trying to recuperate. – A good way to start the day.

The little scars from the suction cups were beginning to look a red and irritated. They were most likely infected. Maybe it would be wiser if I did not rip them from my body every morning and took time to carefully pluck out each one. Meh, I'll stick to ripping them out savagely.

The only thing that was different about this morning was the fact I could not bring myself to get off the floor. It was not as if I was unmotivated. My skeleton felt as if it was made of lead.

Time flew by as I slumped against the door to my cubicle. Breakfast did not sound appealing. I would have wanted some food if I knew it wasn't going to taste like cardboard.

In my daze I thought about Dub Cap Kel and how he had had a meltdown after our duel yesterday. It already felt like all that had happened so long ago. Seeing as every minute felt like an hour here, I guess that explained why everything that occurred yesterday felt like it had happened weeks before.

I was surprised by my own surplus of empathy for Kel at that moment. Out of all the sad sacks at Starside Academy, why did I feel the worst for the phallic? It was probably because I was ashamed of myself for being a bitch to him. Yeah, he deserved a good kick to the gonads, but I wasn't the one who was supposed to have dealt him it. It was something Ams should have done. The 'melancholy' girl deserved to give the algrin a piece of her mind.

"Dub First Off Am of Mar." A voice said from the other side of my door. It was not a question, more a demand.

I had a very long title didn't I? Only Chorst would bother to call moi by full label. What was he doing out there... and what time was it?

"Yes?" I replied. I was suddenly surprised by my hoarse voice.

"You were absent from breakfast."

"I'm not hungry."

He didn't answer for a moment. So I decided to give him a little more information on my condition: "I can't get up. I...err, just can't get up."

I waited for an answer, and yet all I heard were Chorst's boots thudding away towards the exit. The trinard's anti-socialness was becoming incredibly annoying. It was not his fault, but I wished Chorst could give me proper explanations.

In the blink of an eye I heard voices. This suggested I had dozed-off since Chorst had left. It could have been minutes since he left for all I knew.

"Am, you okay?" My science teacher asked. He sounded sincere, that was a good sign.

"Yeah." I tried to reply casually, but my voice cracked.

"Could you come out?"

"Err... No."

"Why not?"

"I'm naked."

Nudity was not an issue for either of the men outside my chamber. Frek was a scientist and had studied the female anatomy for various aliens while Chorst was simply asexual. Luckily, the harsnic understood that humans had different standards around exposing their bodies. It was not acceptable for a teacher to see a student naked even if the situation was not sexual.

"Go to class, Dub Cap Chorst." Frek ordered. "I will be there soon."

Class had already started? Crap, I had been out a while.

Chorst vanished from the scene very quickly. Now it was just Frek and I. Even if I was dying, I wouldn't let the harsnic in to help moi. I doubt he wanted to come in either. Despite his scientific background, he did not want to see somebody naked if he didn't have too. Especially if said person was an obnoxious white girl from a second-class planet.

"You sure you can't stand up?"

"Give me a moment."

My hands shook violently as I tried to rest them on each wall. I paused there for a moment before attempting to push my body upwards. The plan failed, and Frek heard moi hit my back against the door as I slumped down again. – What was wrong with me?

"I'll get a robot." He called through the door as his fingers danced across his wrist computer.

"Thank you." I muttered.

"Wow." He smirked. "I never imagined those two words coming from your mouth."

"Fuck off." I hissed so quietly that the sound didn't go past my own ears.

After a minute the door abruptly slid open. My head hit the floor at the robot's wheel. It was AI605 who Frek had called. The harsnic had his back politely turned. I gotta give Frek credit for being a patient teacher.

"C-can I get dressed?" I asked him and the robot.

"Can you get dressed?" Frek asked back without turning his head.

I looked down at my trembling body as the robot helped moi to my feet. "No." I replied.

"Get Dub First Off Am dressed." Frek ordered.

The robot moved my limbs around like I was doll. I tried to cooperate, but my shaking was uncontrollable and getting on the body-glove was difficult. The robot had to be forceful to get me fully dressed. Luckily, it was not as if a robot could complain.

My feet dragged as the robot led me down the corridor. Frek walked alongside us in a stride. Even though I was slumped-over, the harsnic was still shorter than moi. He was very good at standing his ground even though over half the cadets were taller than him. The thought of him being with Alk was kind of adorable seeing as she was a foot and a half taller than him.

In the USM, height did not affect the power of a person. Mel was not outrageously tall. She was around my height, but her dark presence made her seem taller. – That woman disturbed me.

"How am I looking?" I asked as the red light scanned my body.

Frek typed something into the tablet he was holding. "Just give me a..."

I closed my eyes as the red light ran over my eyes. Once it reached my forehead, its projector switched off and folded back into the side of the bed. "... moment." The harsnic said to finish his answer.

A long silence followed. I didn't notice, though. Keeping track of time was hard when I was trying to stop my body from trembling. I felt vulnerable not having control over myself. You can ask Sven, Geraldine, my friends and my last two boyfriends (Chorst not included. We're not dating... yet), they will all tell you I hate not having control of my body. Trusting Frek to look after moi was not fun seeing as we resented each other on some levels.

"Ah." Frek hymned triumphantly. "That makes sense."

"W-what makes sense?" I asked. I slapped myself figuratively when I hear my own stutter.

"Deep Space Nen." He said as if I was supposed to know what that was. It is not surprising that I thought he said something different.

"What?"

"It's a neurological disorder that develops in the nervous system when a person spends a large amount of time deep space." He explained. "Nen is actually caused when a person psychologically changes due to their new conditions in space. Don't worry, a lot of cadets get it when they come to Starside Academy. It is like a physical expression of homesickness."

"Oh." I tried to nod my head, but it was already shaking a bit. "It's treatable, right?"

"Certainly not on your planet," Frek laughed, "but in the USM, most things are treatable."

"The USM couldn't treat Tamarax."

Frek shot dagger my direction. "I said most things are treatable."

"So what's the trea–?"

I was abruptly interrupted when my body convulsed. My nervous system had to be running on some serious electricity for my body to shake so much. When it stopped, I laid there like a ragdoll. My body was numb, but at least I was not shaking anymore.

"In mechanical terms; I'm giving your nervous system a reboot." The harsnic explained. "Tragically, you will be out for quite a while. So you are going to miss the sample analysing which I am sure you were looking forward too."

"Darn shame." I mumbled jokingly. "Will I miss history?"

"Yes."

"Thank God."

'God' didn't translate for Frek seeing as he had no god, yet he knew what I was saying. "Why does everyone hate history?" He pondered aloud.

"It's boring and untruthful." I said boldly.

Frek did not debate moi: "I felt the same way when I was fifteen."

Harsnics were very similar to humans. The main difference was how they aged. Their mind was developed by the time they were fifteen which was considered the age they became adults. That was why my brother, Cameron, went to Planetarymark Academy when he was fifteen. However, harsnics were lucky because after they turned fifteen their aging process slowed down majorly. Frek was most likely over fifty-five, yet he looked only late twenties or early thirties.

"I recall that your father, Sven, hated the history we tried to teach him." He continued. Wait, he knew my father? "He said our history 'more absurd than the plot of any given L. Ron Hubbard book'."

A smirk escaped me. "That sounds like my father. When did you meet him?" I asked curiously.

"I was a lieutenant-commander aboard the naval ship that picked him up when he breached the zoning laws of your Solar System." My eyes widened. "We actually became good acquaintances. But Earth was still an independent planet at that time so..."

"You weren't allowed to hang out with him." I finished the sentence for him coldly.

"Heh." My teacher acknowledged how discriminatory that sounded. "That did not stop Sven, though. He enjoyed forcing himself down someone's throat until they were his friend."

My father 'forcing himself down someone's throat' sounded filthy, but I am positive Frek did not mean it that way. He just meant my father was annoying –like moi– and would follow people around until they gave-in and spoke to him.

I squinted my eyes suspiciously: "Why didn't you say anything before?"

"I didn't feel the need too." He said without looking up from the tablet. "Lots of the cadets here have parents who are –or were– ambassadors. I know most of them, yet most of them probably do not know me very well."

"Name one besides my father."

"Donno's mother, Netto." He stated without one moment of thought. "Or Merrkai's mother, Raara. Even Chorstand's father..." The harsnic looked up in thought. "Jacoden. Yeah, that trinard's been ambassador for quite a while."

I found it interesting that Frek used the full names instead the Hey-names. Using our full first names was considered informal or even offensive. He had to know us –and our parents– very well if he felt comfortable enough to call us our actual names.

This conversation explained how most of us had become cadets; our parents were –or had been– in the USM. I needed to make Frek a closer ally. He could give me much more insight into the USM. Now I knew a little more about my father's time at Starside. He knew Frek and he probably knew Chorst's father as well. I would ask him if he knew the trinard during our call tonight. Well, if I could move my limbs by that time.

"Frek?" I asked after a brief silence.

"Hmm?" He looked up from his tablet.

"I can't move... at all."

He nodded understandingly. "Yes. That's normal."

Great.

"So am I just going to lie here for the next few hours?"

He shook his head. "No. AI605 is taking you back to your chamber to regenerate. When regeneration is complete you should be able to move again."

"When will I be waking up?"

The harsnic checked his wrist computer. "At 23:00. That way you can support your dub crew by attending."

"Do I get to fight?" I asked, now perkier even though I could not move. Missing all my other classes and going straight to combat sounded like a good idea.

"You will still be very weak... so no, but you can support your dub crew from the overview room."

"Yay!" I sang sarcastically.

"I cannot exactly stop you from attending combat." He warned me. "If you really want to be beaten to a pulp, you can be."

I thought about it for a moment; "Meh, I'll pass."

At the time, I did not know that the lessons we had today would be the last for some of the cadets... and I was probably one of them. Yes; I am foreshadowing. You read the title of this book, you knew this was coming.

"Deep Space Nen ain't related to the Bennu incident, is it?"

Frek paused: "No. I can promise that."

"How did Mel react when you told her about what happened during that lesson?"

"She didn't react." He said placidly. "Mel is the wisest woman in the galaxy... maybe even the universe. Why would she react to a teacher doing something stupid and showing his students Bennu?"

Frek was only telling half the truth. Mel did not react, but he had reacted when she told him some things. Mortals were not usually allowed to know too much about the future, however Mel had made that occasion the one exception.

The harsnic did not accompany moi and the robot back to the regeneration chambers. He had a science class to teach. It was naïve of me to be thinking about how low my grades were going to be this year. Back at my old high school in Wyoming my grades were excellent. What happened to that smart girl I used to be? Maybe when I learned that most things Earthlings knew about science was wrong, I had mentally given up.

It will not matter much longer. The dark voice in my head mused 'reassuringly'.

"Shut up." I muttered. "Like you would know."

Sanity is overrated. Speaking to the voice in your head is much more entertaining.

I watched the robot's electric glowing eyes from behind the thick glass. It appeared it was not going to close the door to my cubical until it was sure I was regenerating. My science teacher had probably ordered to do that so I would not sneak-off. I did not know why Frek would ask it to do that; it was impossible to sneak-off when I couldn't even move my limbs.

"Start regeneration process." I said calmly. Frek must have given me some drugs. I was feeling incredibly serene despite the fact I could not move.

As soon as the blue gel got to my ankles AI605 closed the door. The robot disturbed me... Every robot here disturbed me.

I dreamed of a black desert during my regeneration. It was like none on Earth or any other planet I had ever seen. There were such large cracks in the dark earth that they went all the way to the centre of the planet. There were no stars in the sky as if the planet was alone in the universe. And yet, there was still plenty of light from an unknown source.

My old boyfriend, Aiden, was in my dream. He did not say anything; he was just in the background for most of it. I was more focused on Chorst. The trinard was standing just a few feet ahead of moi with his back turned. Every time I took a step close to him he would be flung further away. It was incredibly frustrating. It soon reached the point where he was a mile away. I gave up on trying to reach him and turned around. When I did I finally noticed Aiden. He was older, and holding Kim's hand. I was jealous, but also happy for the imaginary man.

The wind in the dreamland desert picked-up as Chorst flew back. Like Aiden, he was older. He was dressed in a full USM captain's uniform that expressed his slender, yet now more masculine, figure. Then there were his eyes... They were so much darker than they are now. It was as if two little black holes had sucked up all their brightness and left nothing but the cold blackness underneath them.

"I hate you." He said with much resentment.

I would have been offended if I had thought he was talking to me. The way he stared past my eyes suggested he was talking to someone else. I turned around to see who he was looking at. The shadowy figure was uncomfortably familiar... it was me. Yet it was not me, it was whatever dark force had been hiding at the back of my brain since the Bennu incident.

"I hate you, too." I said to the creature, taking Chorst's side.

"You're a monster." Chorst said behind moi. This time he was not talking to the shadowy figure. It was strange how in this dream he was expressing emotion even though he never would in real life.

I opened my mouth to debate him, but something else came out; "Somebody has to make the hard decisions."

That was not my voice. That was the shadow in my head's voice. It was taking control.

Okay, those 'serene' drugs Frek had given moi were not working.

Being awoken by the freezing water was quite a relief after the dreams I had had during regeneration. My limbs felt a little stiff, yet I could at least move them. Frek was right; I definitely could not participate in combat that day.

I would have gone straight to the combat lesson, but my stomach growled at moi. My cardboard meal was un-shockingly bad. I had to basically fight my gag reflex to get anything down my throat. To add to the painfulness of the meal; the cafeteria was so quiet that my chewing echoed across the fluorescently lit room. It was just the robotic chef and I which is why I ate very quickly. – I didn't trust that creepy metal monster.

"Feeling better?" Alk looked up from the window and smiled pleasantly.

I gave her a simple nod. My stiff legs reminded her that I couldn't do combat today.

"What are 'we' learning today?" I joined her at the window.

"Right now, zero gravity."

"Without using their flight boots?"

"Of course." Alk smiled, revealing her sadistic sharp teeth.

The cadets were scattered across the battle room like dead bugs in an outdoor pool. There was no particular aim for this exercise. Alk just wanted them to adjust to zero gravity. Based on her past experiences as a USM marine, she knew that all the cadets would find themselves in a zero gravity situation at least once. It was a nauseating feeling which they had to get used to.

For Donn, this was his highlighted point. Because he was aquatic, he was used to not having his feet on the ground all the time. He was very comfortable floating upside-down and spinning around. Jhan tried to keep up with him as he circled around the battle room, but she got left behind.

While watching this, I hummed The Blue Danube. Alk's ears perked up when she heard the tune. It was not a famous song across the galaxy, but she recalled once hearing a strange blonde-haired and blue-eyed man hum it...

I sat with Mar when all the cadets were called back into the overview room while Alk set up their next exercise. Nor took pleasure in briefing me on everything I had missed since this morning without leaving a single detail out. Dear God, that girl could really talk when she wanted. She could have honestly said: 'you missed a bit of important stuff. Not to worry, you'll catch up', but not with Nor, she made me feel as if I had attended all the classes with her.

"I'll attend every class tomorrow without passing-out or getting sick." I reassured the bird-like girl. Something deep in my gut told me I was lying, and that there were not going to be any lessons tomorrow. Do not ask me how I knew that. I just had a hunch that something bad was going to happen.

"Due to the recent changes in dub crews," Alk began. Eyeballing Veck and I, "you will do the traditional 'domination' exercise where the last dub crew standing wins. It is important for dub crews to be able to work together."

I glimpsed as Kel who was just a few seats down. He had been very passive-aggressive in the past few days. Maybe taking out his aggression in the next exercise was going to be a good thing... or a really bad thing. Veck on the other hand, looked very smug. I did not know what she was planning, but knowing her personality she had a little surprise in store for the algrin.

Even though I was gone, Henn, Ams and even Gom felt very torn between Kel and Veck. Apparently the two had had a 'tiff' during yesterday's sample collecting. Kel had tried to prove his dominance by scolding Veck for disobeying him and going off to collect samples in a different location. It was not as if he cared if she got in trouble while distant, he just wanted her to know it was up to him on where she got to go. What did Veck do? She simply picked him up, told him to 'shut up' and then let him drop. Kel had been so shaken by the whole incident that he had become a passive-aggressive mute since the occasion. If that boy did not like one thing; it was being picked up by a taller woman and then being dropped again. It was not a very violent act, and yet it showed Veck's sheer strength which was something Kel feared.

The next exercise was going to be very interesting seeing as they had to work together to win.

***

"Gom," Kel pointed to the masculine man, "you and I are to assault Mar as they are one crewmember short." His finger ran to Henn. "You defend the heart from the balcony. Ams, you defend the heart from the inside in case Henn fails."

"And what about me?" Veck asked. She was leaning carelessly against the heart.

Kel scowled, although it couldn't be seen through his helm. "You do whatever you want."

"Sounds good." The argon passé whispered calmly. Kel was suspicious, but decided not to give her any more attention and turned his back on her.

"Now–" Frek clapped his hands together just as an electric bolt shocked his body.

Before he even hit the floor another shock of electricity form a stun gun got him in the back. The algrin made a clattering sound as all his remaining dignity was lost within a less than five seconds. Kel had learned the most valuable lesson: never turn your back on Veck.

"I suppose you could call this a mutiny." The argon passé hissed as she looked down at his paralysed body. Veck would get in so much trouble after the exercise and she did not care.

Gom raised his own gun. Veck could have shot him down before he even squeezed the trigger, but she wanted to appeal to his good side. If there was going to be a mutiny, it needed to be the four of them against Kel or it would not work.

She put up her hand to try and ease him. "Shoot me, and we will be another crew member short." When Gom didn't lower his gun she tried a different technique. "I am second-in-command, shooting me would get rid of all authority and then who would lead?"

"You just shot the captain." He snarled. "Of course I should shoot you!"

"Gom." A meek voice said behind him.

The green bulk was a little surprised to turn and see Ams pointing a silver gun at him. Her stern posture suggested she was serious. The yem had hated Kel since day one. Because she looked weak he presumed she was without any question. The fact that she was a girl had not helped. She was happy that Veck was taking control. The gothic woman had never doubted Ams's strength since she joined their Dub crew.

"Either help me win and prove this crew is competent without the algrin," The argon passé, said slowly, "or we are going to have to stun you too."

He looked toward Henn for support. Although he could not see through his helm, he knew the lanky blue boy was averting his eyes. Henn had always been neutral in the war for power and that was not about to change. He would just follow whoever ranked highest no matter who they were.

"Alright." Gom nodded, he understood where Ams and Henn stood now. "Then you better have a good plan. If you commit mutiny and we lose this exercise then that will not look good on our record. You have to prove that he," Gom pointed at the sad sack on the floor, "is not a competent captain."

Veck, a little surprised by Gom's change in attitude, nodded in agreement.

Kel wished he could speak because would be cursing them all to the high heavens. Even Gom had abandoned him. He had thought of the ogo mornamus as his only friend and someone he could rely on at Starside Academy. Now, he was talking about how they were going to prove Kel was an incompetent leader. The algrin's stomach twisted. Could he really be that hated? Now he knew his only friend was his wife, Jaedorra, and he had abandoned her thousands of light-years away with his father.

When the exercise started Ket was the first out. Yeek and Harm, led by Zand, flew towards my Dub crew's base. Obviously they felt they would be any easy target as Mar was short one cadet. Chorst had already prepared for this and was at the door with Jee to greet them. Harm did a very impressive cartwheel (a very acrobatic boy) to get out of the way of their fire, but he was not prepared for the fire from above. Donn was out on the balcony with Marsh sniping the members of Ket down. Mar and San had an unspoken bond seeing as Donn and I were good friends. We could never directly help each other, but we could 'conveniently' ignore the other dub crew while aiming for Gall or Ket.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend. I thought with a smile. I'm sure Zand was considering forming an alliance with Gall to win, but she knew Kel was too stubborn to be aligned with a woman.

Donn went down after one of the Ket crewmembers shot him in the shoulder... He fell a long way. At this point, a fourth member of Zand's crew, Va, came out of their base to replace the fallen Harm. The three decided to leave my Dub crew for the time being and take down their 'weaker' allies. Chorst and Jee fired upwards to stop them, but now they had a new problem.

I was a little surprised to see shots from Gall seeing as they had not even left their base. Four of them were in the doorway. Two knelt down and two standing, all firing like crazy. I noted that Kel was not with them, and yet I did not consider why.

"Shit." I muttered when Jee went down. Chorst dove back into our base. Sadly, one shot got him in the thigh. Now it was just Nis and Nor on my side. – Not good.

With this in mind, Veck and Henn flew over to shoot the heart of Mar. I bit my lip, wishing I could join the game. Alk gave me a harsh pat on the shoulder. She knew what I was thinking.

"Mar has been eliminated." Data informed me. After two more seconds he said: "San has been eliminated."

Zand must have shot the heart of San, because I knew some of their crewmembers were still standing up until this point. Now it was just Ket and Gall. Yeek had been shot down during the raid on San, so now only three members of Zand's crew were left. I figured Gall had all five members because I had seen none of them get stunned. Alk's yellow eyes trailed down to her tablet with intrigue, although she did not tell me why.

Veck, completely bypassed Zand and Va and went straight for their base. Merr was waiting for them in the doorway with a tense body. He was a clever kitty, but not a very good hand-to-hand fighter. Zand and Va tried to go for his aid, however they were being fired on by Gom and Ams.

"Ket has been eliminated."

The heart of Ket had gone untouched. Merr went down very quickly along with Va. Zand held it out like a valiant leader until Gom got her right in the chest.

Alk and I exchanged a suspicious look, but neither of us said anything. Alk's finger pressed down on the red button that switched on the loud speaker.

"Excellent work. Gall is the winner of this exercise." She announced. As soon as she took her finger off the button she looked at moi. "I think Veck has done something."

"Like what?" I asked, even though I had my own suspicions.

"According to this," Alk pointed at the tablet screen, "Kel has been down since before the official exercise started."

"Uh oh." I said with a small smile. Good on Veck in my opinion.

Sure enough, the robots carried the body of Kel from his own base. We both knew very well who shot him. Alk ran her hand through her braided hair and sighed. Despite her species lacking emotion, she felt sympathy for the algrin. Had he been kinder to others it may have not come to mutiny. Alk knew where Kel was coming from, though. If all the other cadets understood more about the algrins then they would had been nicer to him.

Ams, Veck, Gom and Henn walked into the overview room with triumphant posture. I could not see their faces yet I knew they were smiling. Even Gom was happy that they had won.

"Dub First Off Veck," Alk began sternly, "what happened?"

The other three suddenly became timid. Veck remained at her proper height and kept her focus on our combat teacher. In her opinion; she had not done anything wrong. When her species felt someone was incompetent at their job, they were simply fired without question. – They were a very harsh species.

"We won, didn't we?" She said with a shrug.

"You stunned your own captain." Alk said calmly. Behind her, I was giving Veck the 'thumbs up'.

"And we won." The argon passé insisted.

Alk raised her hands defensively. "Hey, this is between you and him. I just have to know; would you commit mutiny and kill your captain in a real situation if you felt he was incompetent?"

"Yes." She said without thinking twice.

"Tell Dub Cap Kel that." Alk said coldly. "I think he has a right to know that."

"I will." She replied haughtily.

The atmosphere was incredibly tense when Kel entered the overview room after being reanimated. He strode right past his dub crew and sat at the end of the bench. Ams and Gom followed him with their eyes, but said nothing. I felt for the algrin, sitting all alone and resenting the universe. If only he wasn't such a phallic, then I would sit with him.

My bubble of thought popped when Donn came out of nowhere and smacked my shoulder.

"Did you see that?" He asked, practically yelling.

"It was brutal, my friend." I laughed. "You had quite a fall."

"I broke both my wrists, three ribs and my left ankle." He giggled. "You know what would happen if I broke that many bones on my home planet? I would have to be euthanized!"

Wow, that seemed a little heavy for some broken bones. His species had worse healthcare than on Earth. Trust me, if you were poor and sick in the year 2808 AD then you were basically screwed. – You know very well which of the political parties you can thank for our crappy healthcare system.

"We do not break bones on my planet." Zand hissed as she strutted by. Of course she wouldn't break any bones; she had no bones to break.

Then I realized Zand had just made a joke. I had not thought her species to be the joking kind. However, it looked like the Jell-O girl had a funny bone. Ha ha, get it? I am just hilarious, aren't I?

Donn and I sat between our two dub crews on the benches. The ten of us had become a rather friendly gang. Veck would have sat with us as well, but right now she could not leave her dub crew in case they tried to snipe about her behind her back. They had won the exercise because of Veck. Now she needed to maintain her power.

"Sorry I wasn't there to help ya guys." I said semi-solemnly. I was not too sad about the loss because it was good that Veck had won.

"In your condition, it is unlikely that your presence would have changed the outcome of the exercise." Chorst explained in his usual impassive tone.

"Good to know." I muttered.

We all faced forward when Alk stood in front of us. She could sense the dark cloud of tension above all of us so she wanted to calm things down. We were supposed to have a few more domination exercises. However, Alk decided that would not be best due to the circumstances.

"Well, let's do whole-grade turret practise." She said with a beguiling smile that helped ease the tension in the overview room. "If you don't know what that is: I'm basically going to turn on all the turrets in the battle room and all of you must work together to deactivate them."

There was some excitement from the cadets, including moi. Alk was just as good of a teacher as Frek. Her understanding of all of the cadets was excellent. Even with Kel she was good despite the fact the algrin hated women.

Most of the cadets skipped into back into the battle room. The thought of being fired at by various turrets was awesome. Oh, how I wished my limbs were functioning properly so I could join them in the chaotic exercise.

Kel remained seated on the bench with his fingers intertwined and his head hanging low. I got the feeling it was my queue to leave.

"I'm gonna go to the restroom." I told Alk clearly so Kel would hear as well. "I'll be back... sometime in the near future."

I considered just going to the other side of the door and listening into the upcoming conversation. I was not that awful of a person, though. I would just wander the corridors for a while and then come back to hear the end of their conversation.

Alk watched the door slide shut after me before she looked to Kel. His face was hidden behind his helm, yet his trembling shoulders let her picture his face. She felt this boy needed a healthier ritual rather than building up anger inside and then breaking down when he couldn't take anymore. Alk's kind; the rerrev, were the masters of meditation. Tranquillity was easy to find for them... If only algrins could find inner peace.

"Are you alright, Dub Cap Kel?"

He did not answer at first. Alk took it his silence as sexist. If Frek was asking him a question, he would answer. She was not mad about it. She just wished he was more open to women who could actually help him in bad situations.

The only noise came from the battle room where the cadets were getting hammered by the turrets. Although this exercise was supposedly for fun, Alk had set the turrets on 'hard'. The only people who were taking the exercise seriously were Chorst (no shock there) and Jee. Even Zand was having fun just goofing around. She enjoyed taunting the turrets by putting her hand out from her hiding spot and snapping it back before any of them had time to shoot her.

"I want to go home." A solemn voice whispered.

Alk looked back from the window. Kel had not changed position since she last looked. However, his trembling had subsided for the moment.

"Pardon?" She asked in a soft voice.

"I want to go home." The algrin repeated.

Donn dropped like an insect after he tried to fly around the battle room. Alk ignored this and instead went to sit by Kel. It was not custom for the rerrev people to place a hand on someone as comfort, and it was not custom for algrins either. The pair just sat there for a moment unmoving. There was nothing else Alk could do. The dub crew captains were supposed to be learning how to be independent and deal with their own issues. She could not push to help him if he did not want any.

"What Veck did was inappropriate." She said once the boy did not elaborate anymore on his statement. "The cultural differences in your species are large, but there are some similarities that you will discover once you and Veck put your differences aside. The argon passé are like the algrins before the genetic disorder occurred centuries ago. They are cultured, outgoing, a bit wild and most importantly... forgiving."

Kel doubted Veck was a forgiving person. She seemed like somebody who could hold a grudge. Then again, how would he know? They barely knew each other.

"That's not it." He snivelled. "H-he has them hostage."

Alk raised her thin black eyebrows, intrigued. "Who?"

"The lord of Veldaro"

It took her a moment to realize who the boy was talking about: his father and all his wives and children. The algrin boy was so sickened by his father that he could not even use his name. Alk had never seen the maniacal man, but Frek had told her a cautionary tales about him. If anything; Kel had most likely never called the man 'father', rather 'sir' or 'master'. Lord Kelmaero: a man that just proved why the algrins were not worthy of being first-class in the USM.

"I h-have to go back before h-he... he..." His words were lost in his despair.

"The USM is dealing with the situation."

"No you're not!" He screamed. He was on his feet quickly. "You don't care about them, or us, or anything. You're all just waiting for them to die out so you don't have to hear about them anymore!"

Alk was taken back. Kel addressed her as if she was the whole of the USM. She had never considered herself to be fully aligned with the body of the United Systems of Mel. Her species had only been part of the first-class USM realm for just over a thousand years. The rerrevs still had some different beliefs that they stuck by that conflicted with the ones they had been introduced to. They were incredibly democratic so to have an algrin hold her on trial for the whole of the USM was not pleasant.

What intrigued her just as much was Kel's usage of the words 'them and 'us'. Was Kel referring to 'us' as him and the algrins and the 'them' as the other cadets, or was the 'us' him and the cadets and 'them' the algrins? It all depended on who Kel thought he was now. He had far exceeded any other algrin on his planet. He may have not considered himself an algrin anymore. In that case, what was he? A cadet, that's what he was. And that is exactly what Alk told him.

"... and you're right." She continued. "The USM is not dealing with the situation with your wives. Mel herself has taken the matter on."

Although his face was no visible, the way the algrin suddenly froze suggested he was shocked. For good reason; Mel was known for ignoring things she did not care about, especially when it came to second-class matters. Like a god, she felt she could not intervene with the affairs of mortals or they would rely on her too much. Then again, she could still perform miracles.

"Huh?" The boy grunted. He was feeling embarrassed about how much he had cried in the past few days. Frek and Alk together had only witnessed a couple of his meltdowns. What happened when he was alone was another story.

"She called Lord Kelmaero herself and warned him that if the issues surrounding Jaedorra, your other wives and all your children were not resolved, then she would be paying him a visit."

"You're lying." He said with a twinge of surprise and hope in his tone.

"Mel does not lie." Alk replied. – That was a bald-faced lie.

"W-why?" He asked after his moment of hope had passed and what remained was suspicion. There was no incentive for why Mel would help a second-class alien like himself.

"None of us will ever fully understand the mind of Mel." Alk sighed. "Just consider yourself lucky that the leader of the galaxy wants to help you in your domestic problem."

Kel was not sure how to answer that. He did not trust Mel. She had ignored his planet for so long. She had watched them collapse like the Roman Empire, mistreat women and men alike, and create a new god to pray to in desperation. The algrins had been rude to the USM when they offered help. Mel had no reason to aid one simple algrin like Kel.

My original plan of eavesdropping on the final part of the conversation never worked out. I got restrained to the bathroom due to my spontaneous nosebleed. Were my brains coming out of my nostrils? No, don't worry. My body was just feeling overworked despite the fact I had been regenerating for most of the day.

The nosebleed would have most likely ended earlier if it was not for the toilet paper in the restroom. The damn paper was irritating my nose even more. I don't know what species suggested that having sandpaper rolls in the lavatories would be a great idea. Seeing as this grade was of second-class cadets, Starside Academy had probably gone cheap. That is immediately what my old middle school did when it was announced that there would be some funding cuts to education. Decent toilet paper: always the first to go.

When I finally returned, Kel had stopped sobbing and had joined the second round on the exercise. I did 'subtly' ask Alk what the conversation was about. "You seem fine now. Would you like to join the third exercise?" Alk asked to dodge my question.

I looked down into the battle room. It was chaos, but a good kind of chaos. Most of the cadets were down and the ones that were still fighting were soon to be down. – I wanted to join them.

"Sure." I replied after watching Merr dash across the battle room. Well, I did not watch him, rather his body glove-covered tail swishing as he ran like hell. The shots from the turrets missed him by the skin of his teeth.

I enjoyed the next few exercises where we all just goofed-off and tried to taunt the turrets. I was very depressed when it had to end... because something deep inside me knew it was the last time all of us would do an exercise together. – Damn my gut feelings! I should get help. Meh, too much effort.
26: Déjà vu

President Harry Darwin arrived back at the White House very late that night, and he was not alone. He and Dr. Shea Hernandez had decided to celebrate the comet-won't-hit-Earth day by going for a night on the town. Was it inappropriate for the president of the United States to go into town at midnight? Yes, but Harry was a crap president who would do whatever the hell he wanted. Hell, he even brought a bag of alcohol from his private stash into town just to prove he was trash.

Mr. Flandry had stayed up waiting for the president to return. He had repeatedly contacted his security officers for the night and noted when Harry had moved location with the 'president tracker' application on his phone. Harry was a very despised president. Everyone in the country would recognize the boyish face of their dictator. Sure, Harry had thrown on a hat and glasses, but that was not a good enough disguise. He really had to be more careful or Mr. Flandry had no doubt the boy would be murdered.

Dominic tried to tell all the notifications he had missed since he had been out partying, yet the man-child was too tipsy to care and dismissed Mr. Flandry for the night. He was far more interested in Shea Hernandez.

Mr. Flandry felt like screaming at the idiot. There were some issues revolving around Florida and its residents. They were quiet. No riots, protests, nothing. That was disturbingly suspicious for such an unhappy state. Dominic had sent an investigation squad over –without asking Harry's permission– but they had not replied yet.

Despite it not being the real White House and only a bad copy, Harry slept in the replica of the Lincoln Bedroom. Of course, he had made many changes to make the room more 'homey'. Despite being 'president', Harry had never thought a woman would come into his room. He made Shea wait outside as he quickly cleaned his room. As soon as he let her in, he became suddenly embarrassed by his collection of chauvinist steampunk anime dolls. Shea did not notice them... or at least pretended not to notice them.

He was forced down quickly onto the bed by Shea's robotic hand. "You're not a virgin, right?" She asked. Her words slurred together which was strange seeing as she had had far less to drink than him that night. – Not that Harry took notice.

"No." He giggled: A sign he was probably lying. – Shea could have figured that out from his bedroom which just screamed 'virgin'.

"But I'm guessing you've never had sex with a cyborg."

"Is it really that different?"

Shea smiled. Harry would find out soon enough...

***

It was three in the morning and Shea still could not wipe the smile off Harry's face. The president had learned that sex with a cybertronic woman was very different from sex with a normal woman. Shea instantly regretted ever touching the boy. She felt he was beneath her with his lower IQ and disturbing doll collection. However, turning the president down would have been a hard task. Previous presidents had put men and women in jail if they rejected them.

"Wow." Harry said for the fifth time. He was still out of breath.

Dr. Hernandez noticed the bruises forming on the pale boy's chest, face and shoulders. He's going to hurt in the morning. She thought. If... there is a morning for him.

Still drunk, Harry leaned in to kiss Shea. Unfortunately, she quickly pulled back at the last moment and he missed. "Go take a shower." She said like a condescending mother.

"But I don't wanna." He moaned childishly.

Shea smiled, yet her eyes commanded him to go take a shower. She turned her head in the opposite direction when the pale naked boy stumbled towards the bathroom. Never in her life had she been more disgusted by a naked man.

"Care to join me?" Harry peeked his head around the door after a few seconds.

She smiled: "Maybe... but not right now."

The drunken president did not hear the reluctance in Shea's voice and took her 'maybe' as a 'yes' and smiled before moving back to the shower. Dr. Hernandez gagged silently.

The security cameras in the bedroom were like three little eyes all gazing at the bed. Harry had warned Shea about them before they arrived back at the White House. He promised that the cameras would be off, but Shea doubted that Mr. Flandry would permit that for safety reasons. Only Harry's private bathroom was free of cameras. Dominic only allowed this because there were no windows and only one exit.

Shea eyed the cameras as she walked beguilingly towards the bathroom. The door creaked as she pushed it, yet Harry did not hear. He was facing the nozzle, lost in his drunken thoughts. The shower door was also open. Shea raised her eyebrows. The boy had probably left it open for her.

Perfect. She mused when she stepped in the forming pool of water just beyond the shower door. This idiot is doing my job for me.

His eyes met hers when he turned and saw her standing in the shower's archway. Harry did his best to not break eye contact. However, his gaze slowly trekked down her body. Her harsh robotic limbs were surprisingly alluring to him. Then again, it was not that unexpected he found her attractive seeing as he loved anything to do with technology. A cyborg woman was something from his dreams.

"Hi." He said, blushing. Despite having just had sex with Dr. Hernandez, he was embarrassed by his own nudity. Compared to Shea who was obviously in incredibly good shape, he felt rather unfit.

The boy was dumbfounded when her robotic arm shot out like lightning and grabbed his shoulder. With no warning, he was forced out of the shower.

"Wha–?" He garbled. The weak boy tried to push himself away from Dr. Hernandez, but she was too strong.

Her robotic hand moved to the back of his head and squeezed. Before Harry could react, he was thrown down face-first at the sink. There was a cracking noise when his temple made contact with the porcelain basin. His body was limp as he lay at Shea's feet. Even his drunk father put up more of a fight. She thought. Pathetic.

The cybertronic woman did not bother to check his pulse. It would not matter if he was alive or dead because she doubted he would remember a thing if he woke up. She had done her job, now her dear allies had to do theirs. Dr. Hernandez instead and strode back into the master bedroom with a horrified expression painted on her face. She debated calling for help, or getting dressed first. Which one would an innocent person do first?

Shea hastily grabbed Harry's phone out of his pant pocket. Mr. Flandry was the number one emergency contact on the phone.

"Yes Mr. President?" He said. Dominic had been so quick to the phone Shea guessed he had not slept since Harry told him that he was going on a date.

"It's not Harry. I-I mean it's not President Harry Darwin." She stuttered. The 'fear' in her voice was incredibly obvious.

"Dr. Hernandez." Dominic noted. "What's happened?"

"Harry was t-taking a shower and I went in and... and he must have stepped out and slipped and... and..."

"I'm on my way." He said before abruptly hanging up.

It was hard to keep an anxious expression when Shea felt like celebrating. Providing Harry did not wake up within the next few hours and that her dear allies did their part, everything was going to plan. The final problem was Dominic Flandry; the man who was the reason that the thread government was hanging on by had not snapped. She would have to continue to play the innocent witness until the time was right.

Dr. Hernandez was half-dressed when the door swung open. She had decided not to get fully dressed as that would make it seem as if she had focused more on her clothing than the limp president in the bathroom. Plus the security officers that followed Dominic were intrigued by her robotic limbs. They distracted from her wonderful acting skills. The main man she had to be careful around was Mr. Flandry. He was a practically asexual man that had no care for Shea's body. He would be watching her face, her eyes, anything that could help him understand what she was thinking.

The president was carried out of the bathroom on a stretcher. He was alive, but both medics predicted that he had a cracked scull and imminently, brain damage. Dominic prayed the boy would not spend the rest of his days in a coma, yet he knew that if Harry ever woke up, he would not be the same.

There was so much to think about. Because neither of the Darwin's had had vice presidents, Mr. Flandry was the next in charge. He could not think about his pending position at that moment, but the idea was latent in the back of his mind. Pondering about taking official control of the USA would make his hair go white and fall out.

Shea watched as Harry was carried out of the Lincoln Bedroom. Dominic noticed the lack of remorse in her eyes. She was a good actress, but not good enough. He casually strolled over to her, not once looking down to her bare legs. The only reason he would ever look at her body was to admire her robotic limbs. He knew there were procedures out there that could cover her limbs with fake flesh so that she would look 'normal', however Shea did not feel the need to cover up her limbs. After all, she had nothing to hide...

"So did you hear him fall or did you just go into... join him?" He asked conspicuously.

Shea realized that she needed to look more sympathetic. Flandry was onto her. "I-I was just gonna go in a-and join him... but I heard a thud and when I opened the door h-he wa–"

"I get the picture." He said abruptly, his own remorse was hidden beneath his stern eyes. "I know this is a strange and horrific... but I we are going to need to keep you here until we get everything sorted."

The pair had a conversation with their eyes. The cybertronic woman's glowering eyes did not suit her solemn face while Mr. Flandry was obviously accusing her of Harry's fall. Neither of them said anything. Dominic would let the interrogators get the truth out of her.

Sleepless hours had made Dominic's eyes weary. Harry was in a 'stable' condition, but doctor had pronounced him brain-dead. Even with all the advanced medical technology, fixing the brain was a hard task. Mr. Flandry knew; he had watched Harry's father die with similar injuries to his son.

He looked down at the unmoving boy lying in the infirmary bed. He was hooked-up to bulky machines that separated him from death. Dominic was going to have to make the decision on when to pull the plug. The boy was never going to wake up.

As his assistant, he had not left the president's side since the incident despite the fact many people had requested his presence elsewhere. There was security outside the door and all through the halls (this was the White House after all), yet he wanted to protect the unresponsive boy until he was sure nobody was coming for him.

Dr. Hernandez had had sealed lips during interrogation. Dominic was humane, and did not let the interrogators lay a hand on her. He had expected her to give under the pressure. However, she was a strong woman and very good at playing the innocent witness.

Somehow, the media had gotten an anonymous tip-off about Harry's condition which meant Dominic was scheduled to address the country in two hours. That was not all; Florida was not quiet anymore. There was a serious breach in security and over three-hundred people had escaped. Intriguingly, the chaos had erupted less than half an hour after Harry's 'accident'. Coincidence? Unlikely.

Something clicked in Dominic's brain. He was not sure how or why, but he suddenly thought about Leona Adams, the woman suspected of murdering Clive Darwin all those years ago. With Shea's face envisioned, he searched-up Leona on his phone. There were few photos of the enigmatic woman. She had only existed for two years as a business woman and then she vanished. Her history was unknown, however she had sustained serious injuries in her past that meant she had to... have her right arm and left leg replaced with robotic limbs.

Son of a bitch! Dominic thought.

There was little resemblance between the two women. Leona had rather pale skin, curly bronze hair and a button nose. Shea was dark with black hair and a slightly longer nose. The eyes... The eyes are what told Dominic that they were the same woman. Although Leona had blue eyes and Shea had brown, he could see the same aggression in them. Dominic's theory was only a hunch, but he was sure he was right. Now he just needed some proper evidence.

"Rick," Flandry said sharply into his earpiece, "I need you to run the face matcher to compare Leona Adams and Shea Hernandez." Silence was his reply. "Rick? Richard, pick up your cell phone you idiot. This is serious." Still no answer.

There was an electronic groan as the power went out. Dominic tensed at first, but if the outage was just an accident then the backup generator would kick-in. It did not, and his head snapped to look at Harry. The medical equipment had limited battery supply and which meant Harry would be dead within minutes of the power did not return.

Dominic switched channels: "Frank, where's the power gone?" He doubted he would get an answer... and he didn't.

Two of his fingers slid between the venetian blinds. He pulled them down just enough to peer out into the courtyard. The morning sun was already in the sky yet its light was blocked by the smog.

The yard was empty, which was peculiar seeing as security guards were meant to be patrolling the yards at all times. He noted the ruffled bushes just beyond the patio deck. There was a black shape sticking out of the side of it. A shoe? Dominic pondered. Lord, I hope this is a dream.

A brash thud came from the other side of the door. They were in the White House's private infirmary that few staff had access to. He had a feeling what was happening outside, and reached for the gun concealed beneath his expensive blazer. Dominic was useless with a gun. He was a freaking civil-servant, not a security guard! His pacifist beliefs conflicted with the government he worked for. His family questioned why he would work directly for the dictator. His answer: money.

Mr. Flandry's hands trembled around the gun as he pointed it at the door. Every few seconds he would glimpse at Harry, just to check if he was still alive. Protecting a brain-dead boy who could lose life support at any moment was incredibly stressful.

It was a long time before the door opened. Obviously whoever was on the other side was being cautious. Despite the fact they had just murdered both security guards outside, they were careful with the trembling bureaucrat they suspected was in the infirmary.

Dominic did not like being scared or being out of control of a situation. Right now, he was scared about the uncontrolled situation. He always had a plan of action, but not now. At this moment, Mr. Flandry knew the only way out was death. He could fall on his sword, or let the assailants push him down onto it.

The door handle turned as the door creaked open. "How ya feeling Flandry?" A familiar voice mused.

"Leona Adams." He growled before glancing at the life support system again.

The door swung spontaneously open. Two shadowy figures stood in the doorway behind the equally shadowed woman. Her robotic hand shined in the little light there was. Dominic could have shot her right there and then. However, he wanted to know who Shea was and why she had tried to murder Harry. Many people had a reason to murder Harry, but what was her motive?

"Switch it back on, Frank." She said slyly. Mr. Flandry wondered how many people were in on this plan. A significant amount of staff had to be a part of it if the White House was so easily infiltrated.

The power came back on almost instantly. The positive to this was that Harry's life support was back on. The negative was that Dominic could now see that he was outgunned. The two men behind Shea were dressed in the typical security uniforms. Mr. Flandry recognized both of them although he could not recall their names.

His eyes widened when Shea's gun move from him, to the vulnerable president. Her sadistic smile suggested she was not bluffing.

"Y-you can't." Dominic stammered.

"Why not?" She asked, a hint of amusement in her voice.

"He's brain-dead. You can't kill him when he's this vulnerable!"

Shea spoke with her gun. Dominic screamed 'no' but the sound of the gun overpowered his voice. His heart sunk when he heard the EEG and ECG systems flat lined almost simultaneously. Harry was basically dead anyways, but he felt he should have switched off the boy's life support before Shea arrived so he could die a more humane death. Seeing Harry with blood trickling out of the hole in his eye was unpleasant. Dominic felt sick. Yes, he had been a terrible president; nonetheless he had not deserved to die.

Mr. Flandry knew he was next, so he had nothing to lose. "Are you proud of yourself?" He asked with aggression in his tone. "Does murder a brain-dead boy make you happy?"

"He was clinically dead anyways." She objected with a laugh before strolling over to turn off the annoying flat lining systems. "It's not murder if he's already dead."

Shea and Flandry stared each other down. Shea knew Dominic had a lot of questions. His expression would be priceless when he heard her motives.

"You boys can leave." Her gun was pointed at the centre of the bureaucrat's chest. "I can handle him.

The last security guard to leave closed the door. Both of them felt a little queasy after witnessing Dr. Hernandez kill the defenceless boy in cold blood, yet it had to be done if they wanted to make a statement to the public.

"Give it here." She said, pointing with her gun to Flandry's gun. She knew he did not have the guts to shoot her, however it was always better to be safe than sorry.

The assistant hesitated, yet he knew there was no real point in resisting. Even if he did manage to shoot Shea –which was unlikely– he would be killed by the various traitors roaming the halls of the White House.

He felt surprisingly tranquil about his pending fate. Maybe it was for the best. With Harry dead he would have become the leader. He did not want that roll. Harry had not wanted that roll either. The boy had had presidency forced upon him after his father's death, but all he had ever really wanted to do was play with technology and watch weird anime shows. Presidency had been the farthest from his ambitions.

"Like father, like son." She mused as she stared down at the boy. "Both men could not resist the chance to have sex."

Shea was much older than she looked. She was only a little younger than Harry's father. Cosmetic surgery and anti-aging creams had done a lot for the woman.

"So," Flandry ignored her statement, "are you actually any of the ethnicities you appear?"

Shea admired her dark hand and chuckled: "No, I'm one-hundred per cent Caucasian. I do wish I actually looked like this, though. Hernandez is quite pretty. It'll be a shame to give her up."

"Before all this, did you look more like Leona Adams or have you always changed your face?"

Her eyes darkened. "Since the incident, I have had to change my face."

"What incident?"

She raised an eyebrow: "Seeing as you were the president's right-hand man I presume you have at least some knowledge of American history." Dominic had majored in US history and politics. He had more than enough knowledge of history. "You must recall the rebellion in Montana –I'm sorry– New Utah." The pieces of the puzzle fit together in Flandry's mind. Shea saw this and continued her story. "Well, I had never directly participated in the war until the war came to my doorstep. I had a son, Dominic, would you like to know what happened to him?" No answer from the bureaucrat. "He died in my arms... well, my arm seeing as my other arm was missing along with my leg due to the drones bombing us. He would be in university right now."

What surprised Dominic the most was not the fact that Shea was a Caucasian from New Utah, but the fact that she spoke about her son almost pitilessly. He would have felt more sympathy for her if she could have emoted more. Then again, he presumed that after years of grief the woman had grown hard and detached.

"Your people didn't come to help us." She continued. "Only the rebels did. They replaced my arm and leg, changed what needed to be changed," Dominic understood what changed was Shea's appearance, "and then gave me a new identity. They sent me away to Washington D.C. to meet their secret allies. My front was a simplistic businesswoman while I got closer and closer to Clive Darwin... We were expecting Clive's death to end the tyranny." She looked at the lifeless body of Clive's son. "We had not expected his son to take on the role of 'president'. I think Harry was just as surprised as we were."

"Why did you wait so long to assassinate Harry?" Dominic asked curiously. A horrible thing to ask seeing as the corpse of Harry was in the room with him, but he needed to know.

Shea shrugged: "I wanted to get it done as soon as possible, but Leona Adams had to vanish first. The nation was out looking for her. Then Shea Hernandez had to be situated in Darwin Enterprises where I thought I would be working hand-in-hand with the president, but all I ever got to meet was his personnel when we did government projects."

"And then Amelia Hollow arrived." Mr. Flandry whispered.

"And then Amelia Hollow arrived." Shea repeated, nodding slowly with a malevolent smile. "Because of her, I got to attend lunch at the White House. I only had one shot, so I had to make sure Harry remembered me. I bickered with him, then called to apologize an–"

"I think I know the rest."

Shea smiled even though she was a little annoyed that she did not get to finish her monologue.

The woman was not working with the underground resistance to free the locked-up Right Wingers. All she wanted was revenge. Dominic questioned his own competence if he had let so many rebels and traitors pass right by him. He was the one who gave the final call for having moi (yes, I'm still narrating), Sven, Geraldine, and the scientists from Darwin Enterprises come over for a celebratory lunch. He should have done more background research on whom he was letting walk through the door.

"Tell me," Shea asked, "do you honestly think the death of two dictators is such a bad thing?"

"I don't under normal conditions." He said truthfully. "However, can you honestly tell me that you and the rebels will run this country better and bring sanity back to this hellhole?"

"I think a trained ape could run this country better than either of the Darwin's."

(I know this is not my story, but do you get Shea's 'ape' and 'Darwin' joke? And you thought my jokes were bad!)

Dominic opened the blinds properly. There were a dozen men and women in dark clothing strolling casually into the yard. This is it. He thought. America is about to have a whole new civil war.

"What's your name?" He asked while blankly watching the men and women come into the White House.

"Pardon?"

"Who were you back when you used to live in New Utah?"

Something snapped in Shea's brain and she was filled with anger. Dominic did not have time to react when he felt a bullet rip through his torso.

"It's-called-Mon-tana!" She snarled in-between shots.

Mr. Flandry looked her in the eyes as he fell like a puppet that had its strings cut. After years of being an actress, the woman was unleashing all her built-up rage. He had no final thoughts, his life did not flash before his eyes and he did not walk into the light. Dominic simply died.

The cybertronic woman looked back and forth between her two victims. For some reason she could not help laughing. Not out of joy, but relief. She was relieved that she had finally avenged her son. She could die peacefully now.

"Jane?" She asked into her earpiece.

"Yeah?" A meek voice replied.

"Harry Darwin and Dominic Flandry are dead. I'm gonna need you to hold the press conference about the situation today and warn the public who's in charge now."

"What?" Jane replied, annoyed. "Where are you going?"

"To hell."

"Besides hell."

"Where do you think? I'm going back into hiding. Seeing as I've murdered two presidents I think any of their psychotic followers are gonna be out to get me."

There was silence on the other line for a moment. "Fine." Jane finally replied. "And if you change again, go for a Northern European look so you'll be virtually unrecognizable. Well, except for the cyborg parts."

Shea smiled. Jane had been her dearest friend since the day she was recovered by the rebellion. Jane had lost two daughters so the pair could connect.

"We'll see about that." She said with a smirk. "I'll meet you in Miami when all of this is over."

"Okay. Have fun in hiding."

Jane hung up, and Shea was left alone again. For some reason she felt as if the bodies on either side of her could move at any moment. Death still felt very surreal to her despite the fact she had witnessed so much of it. When her son died, a part of her could not believe it. In the aftermath of the drone attack she continued to massage his bloody scalp with her one good arm as if to comfort the lifeless child.

Anger built up in her again when she realized she still was not satisfied. She had killed the men who caused the death of her child, but it wasn't enough. Her heart was a bottomless cup that could never be filled, and she knew that. Now that she had avenged her son she saw no point in living.

She was torn from her thoughts when she heard guns going off downstairs. After looking at both men to reassure herself they were both still dead she fled the room. She had done her part, now the rebellion could do theirs. Shea was not a natural fighter. She intended to live out the upcoming civil war on an isolated beach in Hawaii. Who knew? Maybe she would even get cosmetic surgery done so that she could look like her original self. She had not seen that woman in a while. It would be nice to meet her again.
27: The Quiet Mansion

"Sven!" Geraldine shrieked overdramatically as he ran around the mansion looking for his husband. "Harry was killed! That Shea Hernandez girl did him in. Amelia was right; that woman is a bitch!"

His voice echoed through the mansion but there was no reply. Geraldine's blue tunic rippled as he dashed up the stairs. When he could not find his husband, the first places he checked were the holo communications room and then his office on the third floor. When he was in neither of the rooms Geraldine was a little concerned.

"Geraldine?" A voice called from the floor below. It was Clara.

He jumped the last two steps and strode over to the maid. Her anxious expression was concerning. She uncurled her fingers to reveal an empty dusk syringe. Geraldine turned to stone at the sight of the dirty little thing.

Oh fuck. He thought in a panic.

"Where did you find that?" He demanded. "Did you show it to Sven?"

"Sven's the one who found it." Clara whispered. "He told me I should give it to you."

He scratched his scalp with his manicured nails. Sven was mad... Very mad. Geraldine knew how much his husband hated dusk. The number of deaths the drug had caused was nauseating. 'Dusk babies' had horrible mutations due to their parents' addiction. When they got married, Sven had made it very clear that they could not have a child –through either a surrogate mother or artificial womb–because their child would have had a high chance of having a harmful mutation. Geraldine had never wanted children anyways, but the idea that he could not produce healthy kids saddened him.

The effects of dusk were like the effects of AIDS and meth of the twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth centuries. Even if you gave up the drug the effects would never fully go away. Geraldine had been very good at concealing his addiction from Sven (and moi until I saw his arm). If he was ever showing signs of dusk poisoning, he could just say they were the aftermath effects of his 'old days of dusk'. Now Sven knew that was a bald-faced lie. – Not good.

"You know where he's gone?" He said in the calmest voice he could muster.

"For a walk, I think." She put the syringe in the pocket of her waist apron. She doubted that Geraldine wanted to hold onto it. "You better show him the press conference video. You two are probably gonna need to move country soon if you wanna miss the civil war."

He ignored her and instead sprinted down the stairs. What was he going to say to Sven? 'I'm sorry' was probably not going to cover it. The Swede had paid for all his treatment, stood by him while he was 'rehabilitated', and been huge campaigner for eradicating dusk. Sven had hated dusk for longer than he had known Geraldine. His older brother, Frank, had always been a spirited artsy fellow, but dusk had changed all of that. One night his body could not handle the poison anymore and he went into cardiac arrest. Sven was still in high school when he died. He never spoke about his brother, not even to moi despite the fact my middle name was 'Frank'.

Geraldine finally saw Sven. He was walking through the field behind their mansion. He was wearing a heavy brown jacket with the collar up, and his hands in the pockets. From where Geraldine was standing he did not appear mad, however the quick speed he was walking at let Geraldine know how Sven was feeling.

He did not call out his husband's name as he jogged after him. Alerting him that he was there would only make Sven walk faster. He had a right to be mad, but like me, he could be overdramatic, especially now that both of his children were in a dangerous navy halfway across the galaxy. He had learned about Geraldine's dusk addiction at the worst possible time in his life. The lack of control over his children's safety was tearing Sven to pieces, so learning that his husband was a dishonest drug addict was too much for him to take.

Everything was falling apart. The 'liberal' dictator had been killed by a Right Wing rebellion that had taken control, his children were in constant danger and his marriage was about to go off the cliff. Thinking rationally was out of the question for my father.

"Sven?" Geraldine whimpered.

Surprisingly, his husband came to a halt. He did not turn to face Geraldine so his husband had to walk around to face him. He appeared enigmatically calm despite the fact he was burning up inside. Geraldine wished Sven would just express how he was feeling instead of pretending to be impassive. It was an annoying trait that had not been passed onto moi. If you have not noticed; I am very outspoken about how I'm feeling.

"Yes?" He asked as if he had no idea why Geraldine looked so timid.

Geraldine was silent as he tried to figure out what to say. A part of him wished he had just stayed inside the mansion instead of coming out to chase his husband. "Are you... okay?" He asked hesitantly.

"Of course." My father replied simply. "Are you okay? Dusk can really toy with the mind and body." He said cheerfully.

"Don't do this." Geraldine muttered.

"Don't do what?"

"Don't be a condescending dick." Sven stopped acting and frowned. "I know I should have told you bu–"

"Is that why Amelia was acting funny around you?" Sven interrupted. "Did she know?"

"Yes." Geraldine admitted.

"You made my daughter keep a secret from me?" His eyes flared. "How dare you." He snarled.

"She thought that it was for me to tell you, not her."

"Oh yeah?" He folded his arms like a crossed schoolteacher. "How did that work out?"

"I was worried that you would be mad at me." Geraldine whispered with his head hung low.

My father did not buy Geraldine's remorse. He could have asked for help to stop at any point and Sven would have paid for his rehabilitation again. My father would have paid for Geraldine to be rehabilitated a thousand times if he had only just told him. Now it was too late. Sven could not handle Geraldine's issues because in honest fact; he needed help with his own issues.

"How long was it after rehabilitation that you got hooked again on dusk?" He asked. His voice cracked with emotion. "Or did you ever stop?"

Geraldine was silent which gave my father the answer he expected.

"The president was killed." Geraldine said to break the silence. "The rebellion are taking over."

"I know." Sven snapped. "I've gotten you a plane ride back to Kingston."

"Are you coming with me?"

My father ran his fingers through his hair. "No." He replied silently.

Geraldine put his hand to his mouth and shook his head. "You're not going to... Sven! I'm sorry. I promise I'll give it up!" He pleaded, on the verge of tears.

"I hope you give it for your own sake." Sven mumbled.

"You can't send me back there!"

"It's for your own safety."

"Safety?" Now it was Geraldine who was mad. "You know what I had to do before you met me? I'll have to be a fucking whore again!"

Sven shook his head. "No... We have a shared bank account. You get half of it so you'll be more than well-off."

Geraldine stepped closer and grabbed my father's trembling hands. "I want to go with you." He sobbed. "Y-you can't leave me. I'll quit dusk forever, I promise."

"It's not just the dusk." Sven said while avoiding eye contact. "It's a lot of things. I... I just want to be alone. I'm not healthy right now." Geraldine did not understand. "I-I just don't feel right in the mind right now. Now that Amelia is gone I need to rethink my life."

"That doesn't mean you have to leave me. You're going through a mid-life crisis. You'll get over it."

Sven squeezed his husband's soft dark hands. "We're not right for each other, Geraldine. We're fun together, but I think we need different people." Geraldine shook his head. "Yes, we do. I think I've known that for a while now, and when I found the syringe I knew that it was true. You want to be able to live a wild life and still have a rock to support you when you fall," Sven kissed him on the forehead, "I can't be a rock anymore, sweetie. I'm weak."

"You're not weak." His husband whispered.

"Yes, I am. I can't even handle your dusk problem anymore."

"You only just learned about it."

Sven ran his hand up to the inside of Geraldine's elbow where a few red spots were. His dusk spots were usually hidden with makeup, but still visible if you looked hard enough.

Geraldine flinched when he ran a thumb across them. "I think I was ignoring the signs. That was bad of me."

"No. It was bad of me to not tell you."

Geraldine then realized how dysfunctional they really were. He still did not want Sven to leave him. He was terrified at the thought of being alone.

"Please don't leave me." He whimpered even though he knew it was useless.

My father held him close. "We're not a healthy couple." He mused. "You're going to be fine. Just use your money for the right things. Find somebody just as wild as you are who can also support you better."

"I can support myself if you stay with me."

"I have no doubt that once you're rehabilitated, you'll handle yourself better than anybody, but I think I need to be by myself while I get my head cleared."

"I'll wait for you."

"Geraldine," My father smiled sadly, "we don't work together. We both need to make some changes to our life."

There was a long silence that followed. All that could be heard was the tall grass being swayed by the wind and Geraldine's sobs. Sven held him, but not romantically. It was a goodbye hug. In a metaphorical sense; he was saying goodbye to his old life. He had not bought a plane ticket yet. He didn't know where he wanted to go in the world. Planet Earth did not appeal to him. He wanted to go further.

Sadly, fate already had plans for where Sven was going. Both men looked down when a luminous yellow light started at the ground below my father and slowly swallowed him from the feet up. Sven quickly leapt away from Geraldine and the light came with him. At first he thought he was hallucinating. He knew exactly what it was, but why was it grabbing him?

Neither of them knew what to say. My father just stared at Geraldine with a gaping mouth as the golden light ate him up.

"Sven!" Geraldine cried as the golden light shot away into the sky.

He continued to stare at the sky even though a part of him knew that light was not coming back. Geraldine was not sure what to do, so he just dropped to his knees and kept his eyes on the sky. How would he tell the police what had happened? Could they even do anything to get Sven back?

The confused Swede found himself standing in a fluorescently lit room. The air was cool like inside a refrigerator although that was the last thing on Sven's mind. Once the room began to stop spinning he was able to make out the figures in front of him. Most of them were grey and black hulks, but in front of them stood a small figure with a white face. And on the smaller figure's left was an equally small blue figure.

He rubbed his eyes underneath his glasses. Then the figures came into focus. A normal person would be afraid of the giant rhinoceros-like creatures, yet Sven knew better. He knew to fear their leader; Lady Tamarax Deloro.

Tamarax smiled when she saw that the Earthling recognized her. They had never met, but back when Sven was an ambassador they would have informed him about her.

My father forgot about the translator in his chest pocket, however Tamarax spoke to him in perfect English. "How are you doing?" She asked tauntingly.

"What?" He asked, perplexed by the entirely random situation.

There was no time for answers. Sven dropped when a bolt of electricity ran through his body. Although he was still conscious, he could not move a muscle. One of the hulk aliens picked him up like a ragdoll and turned for the door.

"Make him a body-glove before you put him away." Tamarax called out haughtily as the henchman and my victimized father left. "We want to be courteous hosts."

"Why do you need him?" Her meek blue friend asked.

She traced his spine with one of her long black nails. He shuttered under her touch, but did not dare to move away. "If all goes well I should not need him." She hummed. "So long as Am is a good girl and follows her script everything should go down very easily. However, if something changes I will have the girl by the throat if I bring her father into the crossfire." She tapped her wrist computer and dialled the pilot. "Take us home, Vem. We're done here."

KC2203 did not ask any more questions. He knew Tamarax's brain was falling apart so hardly anything she said made any sense. That was the problem with having 4th dimensional knowledge in an organic brain. Tamarax could not differentiate her ambitions from her reality. No matter what she did, he doubted her plans would go accordingly. Seeing as the meteor/ship was already on its path for hitting the star with a lot of time energy around it, he thought she was going to get the universe, but a part of him hoped she didn't. A universe ruled by Tamarax would be terrible.
28: Saved by the Bell

It was strange to think that my last supper was a cold steak sandwich that tasted somehow even plainer than cardboard. My fellow cadets were also not enjoying their meal. While watching them eat, flashes of their deaths blinded me every few seconds. My mind was becoming mush. I knew my sanity was depleting by the second. That tear in the space time continuum had really messed with me, and yet I refused to get help. It was really my own fault if I fell apart, but according to Frek I just needed to keep it together for 'the next few days'.

I was a little concerned when Sven and Geraldine did not respond to my call. Maybe they had other plans or had just forgotten. No, something was wrong. Either it was the Bennu or the daughterly instinct, but I could sense that my father was in trouble.

With only a minute left before I had to get out of the booth I quickly called Cameron. I had not scheduled in a call with him, but hopefully he would pick up.

Ten seconds passed before I got a response. "Amelia?" He said. His image moved up and down as he walked through a corridor. He had responded to moi on his wrist computer instead of the booth. I was just happy I got to talk to him.

"Hey Cameron." I said with a smile.

Somebody said something incoherent behind Cameron. He turned back and smiled. I could tell it was not a truthful smile and he was probably embarrassed to have his little sister calling him. Having annoyingly embarrassing siblings was a galactic problem. The personnel who were smirking behind Cameron's back all had humiliating siblings as well

"What's up?" He asked to hurry along the conversation.

"Not much." I muttered. "Have you heard from dad recently?"

He thought for a moment. "No. Why?"

I shrugged casually: "Don't worry. He just missed my call."

"Oh." He looked as anxious as moi. Sven had never missed a conversation with him. "Should we exchange wrist computer IDs so that I can message you if he contacts me?"

I nodded. "Wait... I thought I could only message people from the academy off my wrist computer?"

"No." He shook his head. "You can message anyone."

"Why didn't you tell me that before?"

More crewmembers behind Cameron laughed. He shrunk below them. Poor boy. What a horrible sister I am.

"Because... err... um... your cadet wrist computer was not made to have long range contact and because the Titonic is always away it would not make much sense."

"Right." I nodded suspiciously.

"Would you like to exchange contact information with En Cam?" Data asked when Cameron sent me the request. Of course, I said 'yes'.

"Thanks Cam, I'll talk to ya later." I smiled sincerely.

"Bye-bye!"

I could not tell if the personnel walking with Cameron were his friends or enemies. Seeing as he had previously stated that he had no friends I doubted it was the first option. Hopefully they were not his enemies and just some associates that were teasing him.

Despite my lack of belief in gods; I prayed that Sven contacted me or Cameron sooner or later. The thought of my father being in trouble made my stomach churn. Was his endangerment related to Bennu and Tak? Was there anything in my life that was not related to Bennu and Tak? Am I incredibly paranoid?

My nightmares were becoming progressively worse. This one I had that night was the worst of all. It was nothing; no light, no colour, no sound, just insanity. This was the problem with sleeping in regeneration chambers; you could not wake up. I just had to continue the dream no matter how much it made moi want to scream.

Finally, the dream calmed. The room I stood in was dark, but still visible. It was made of what looked similar to limestone yet it was more luminescent. There were painted symbols etched into the walls and ceiling. Due to the darkness I could not tell what they were, but they looked familiar. I could only really make out that the wall to my right was slanted inwards. Either the work of a bad contractor or the building intentionally had a slant.

There were two exits from the room. The one behind me was closed. It most likely led through the dark interior labyrinth of this strange building. The archway in front was wide. Airy white curtains made it impossible to see what was on the other side. I could make the presumption that because the wind was coming from that direction that it led to a balcony. There was a figure waiting for me on the other side of the curtains. The same figure that had been waiting for me for a long time now.

My feet stung as I walked forward. Looking down, I realized that my skin was charred. Only my feet hurt, nothing else. I reached up to feel my scalp. My hair had been burnt off. There was no point in questioning what had happened to my body, I already vaguely knew the answer.

I lost my footing when the building shook thunderously. A crack formed in the slanted wall, and yet the building remained strong. The ground continued to vibrate for seconds after the first rumble. An earthquake? Air strike? Both?

The figure beyond the curtains seemed to have remained firmly planted. I quickly got back up and continued my slow journey to the balcony. The curtains brushed against my singed skin as I reached the archway. I would have continued if the door behind had not opened. Flat black creatures slithered along the ground from the darkness. I lifted my left foot up to let one of them pass, but it snapped up and strangled my ankle and started to wrap itself around my leg. I stumbled backwards as more began to wrap themselves around my limbs. Resistance was futile. They continued to spread across my body until they had covered everything below my head. In the dark room, my body had become invisible. Finally, one of the inanimate black creatures glided up to my head. I remained surprisingly calm as it wrapped itself around my skull.

Sadly, this dream was interrupted when icy water sprayed my body. Darn shame, I was really looking forward to where that nightmare was going. The dream had probably been some dramatic foreshadowing that could affect my future, but I had already forgotten most of it. Save the flat black snakes; those things were damn creepy.

I was enjoying my usual 'car wash' routine before I opened my eyes and was met by two amethyst ones staring back. Holy crap. What was Chorst doing out there?

The regeneration chamber hissed as it opened. A long silence followed as Chorst and I stared at each other. He was just standing in the doorway of my cubicle with his arms behind his back. Like usual; he looked like he had a stick up his butt.

Most girls would have screamed if they woke up to a man standing in front of them (unless they were fans of some sort of vampire series where it was usual for the female protagonist to wake up and see her creepy boyfriend standing above her). I did what I had been trained to do: leapt out of my chamber and tackled Chorst. Pain filled my chest when I realized that I had jumped out of my chamber without carefully removing each needle suction cup. Blood trickled from my little wounds. Damn it! Was I ever going to take those stupid suction cups off properly?

I had always been taught to have no exceptions for men who could potentially try and sexually assault me, but the trinard did not fight back. He just took my blows like a punching bag. Once I realized this, I quickly stopped and jumped off him. The Frenchy got up after moi and wiped a little bit of purple blood from his nose. If Chorst thought his beating was bad, he should have seen what I did to a boy called Ronald King when I was thirteen. The stupid boy tried to grab my breasts –despite the fact I was practically flat chested at that point– and I broke his wrist and his nose. That boy never caused me trouble again.

"Err... Sorry." I said awkwardly. "It's impulse."

"As it should be." He replied calmly.

If there has ever been a more awkward situation than this; than I would like to hear about it. Could anything be more humiliating than standing naked in front of your semi-attractive dub captain who you had just beaten up? Right then, I would have preferred to be back in my nightmarish dream than there.

Obviously it was still very early. None of the other cadets were up yet and the lights were switched off. The only light we got was from Chorst's wrist computer and my regeneration chamber. Why would Chorst wake me up so early? He had to know that I needed my sleep or I'd be very aggressive during the day.

"So," I allowed my arms to slither in front of my torso to shield my privates, "what do ya want, Chorst?"

"I found some intriguing information on Lieu Com Feb that is related to his death."

This, did interest me, but not while I was naked. "That's great. So... couldn't it have waited till morning."

There isn't going to be time in the morning.

"No." He said impassively. "The way I was able to retrieve this information was not through legal measures."

I smiled. "You hacked a library computer, didn't you?"

"Yes."

"Excellent." I snickered demonically.

Chorst turned to leave and expected me to follow, but I remained put. He turned back after a second and looked at me questioningly. My body was now feeling the chill of the icy habitat we lived in. Streaking would not be easy to do at Starside Academy seeing as you would become an icicle before you had even done your 'run'.

"Come." He commanded. I knew he did not mean it aggressively, yet that was how it came across.

"I've gotta get changed first." I muttered as I slowly stepped backward into my cubicle. Turning around would expose my behind, and I was not going to let that happen.

In a short amount of time I stepped back out still zipping up my jacket. Chorst was waiting for moi at the archway to the corridor. His face glowed above his wrist computer. Walking in the dark to meet him was a little unnerving. I knew there were no objects that could trip me over, but I liked to see my feet when I walked. Chorst did not have these problems. His nocturnal eyes had adjusted to the darkness.

"We could get in trouble." I told him.

"I could get in trouble." He emphasised. "I hacked the library computer, you are merely a witness."

A thought popped into my head: "Wait... So what level access privileges do you have?"

"The same as access as all other cadets. However, convincing the computer that the information I sought was available to level 0.5 privileged cadets was not difficult."

I bit my lip. "Could you help me get some other information from off the computer?"

"What information?"

"Bennu and the atoms that form it. Also, some information on Lady Tamarax Deloro could be nice."

Chorst was silent as he stared at me. He was probably trying to figure out why I would want to know about those two topics. He did not ask, though.

The stars acted as our primary source of light once we reached the corridor. I forgot just how beautiful the universe was. Most of my time at Starside was stolen by classes. Just stopping to look at the billions of stars was extravagant. Chorst stood beside me silently. I had a haunting flash to the dream where we both stood in a field in Wyoming and watched the universe come to an end. I looked down quickly to make sure Chorst's hand was still there and had not been burnt on. Luckily, he was fine.

"Our planet has a lot light pollution." I told him. "We cannot see this many stars from Earth.

He glanced at me once, but continued to look forward before asking a question that had apparently been bugging him: "Did you surgically have your breasts reduced in size? They look disproportionate to your body."

"Hey!" I snapped. Apparently he had glanced at my body when he saw me naked. "You've crossed the line Chorst, please step back."

He literally took a step back. I smiled; he was so cute and he didn't even know it.

"It is not acceptable among humans for a male to see a female's breasts or other genitalia." Chorst stated. I presumed that was his way of apologizing.

That sounded sexist, however it was true. Maybe I should have taken it easy on Chorst. He came from a planet where men and women were not differentiated in any way. Even in my times it was taboo for a woman to show her breasts. I had no intent of showing off my mosquito bites, but I do not think women should have to cover up more than men.

"It's okay." I patted him on the shoulder. "I'll make you return the favour one day."

"How so?"

I did not tell him what I meant. I was 'joking' after all.

We continued our walk down the dark hallway. The stars could only provide so much light which is why I stuck close to Chorst. His black uniform made him hard to follow. All that stood out in the darkness was his ghostly white skin and amethyst eyes. My own body was hard to see. Everything below my head was black... just like in that dream I had except the snakes were more like ribbons or bandages instead of spandex (or whatever alien material the uniform is made out of). I quickly changed this by making my wrist computer's screen brighter. – I feared the dark at this point.

I squinted my eyes as the library computer monitor switched on. My eyes needed to adjust to such brightness again. Chorst himself was having trouble. He blinked his eyes until he could face the screen properly.

"Why are you up so late anyways? Didn't you go to bed?"

"I did." He said while typing into the computer panel like a madman. "I have reset my regeneration chamber timer so I can choose when to wake up. Trinards do not need as much sleep time provided at Starside. One hour is adequate."

"One hour?" I gasped. "Shit. What do ya do while everyone else is asleep?"

He said nothing, but I think what he was doing right then gave me a hint about what he did in his spare time.

"How did you figure out how to hack the computers?" I asked to break the silence.

"Jacoden. He has experience with USM computers."

Jac: his father who probably knew my father if they had been second-class ambassadors at the same time.

"So your father is at Starside right now."

"Yes. On the other side in the government sector."

"Your mother must be lonely if she is back on your home planet."

How rude of me to assume Chorst had a mother. It was not exactly a norm to have a mother. I certainly did not have one.

"No." Chorst said coldly. "Levilli died during the caesarean section."

The cat got my tongue for a moment. Chorst and I had something in common; we were both motherless. He had no trouble talking about his mother's death. Not even a pause to think about it. I supposed that was mixture of his lack of expression and the fact he had never known her if she had passed away during his birth. I would expect aliens to have a low mortality rate when it came to childbirth. Then again, the trinards were poor ex-slave clones who lived in a dome with few resources. They most likely did not have the medicine to save his mother. Why couldn't the USM give them proper medical care? Oh, that's right. They were a second-class species so they get jack.

The trinard pressed the equivalent of the 'enter' key and leaned back so I could see. Page after page of information on Lieu Com Feb appeared. Chorst got to have his earpiece read it to him, but I just had to read it normally. Not that I minded. I was an excellent skim reader as proven by my old high school English results. You think I actually read Jane Eyre properly?

Most of the information on Lieu Com Feb was about his origin, grades at the Nebulacross Academy, his significant recorded activates and finally; his cause of death. He had been killed during a scouting mission at the end of the universe –which I mentally noted the coordinates for– along with his companion, Lieu Sef. From what the forensics team could tell: he had died of blood loss after he had been... eaten?

"Something ate him?" I looked at Chorst questioningly.

The pale boy did not say anything. He simply looked back to the monitor. I copied him.

Apparently he had not only been eaten, but whatever had eaten him was 4th dimensional as when he passed through their digestive system each individual piece of his body was transported through space and time to various unknown locations. That sounded like a nasty way to go, and yet I was more intrigued than disgusted. The name 'Tak' popped into my head and with that thought, I got a horrible headache.

Chorst did not say anything. He just looked at moi with a slightly tilted head as if to ask 'are you okay?'

"I-I'm fine." I reassured him. "That's some pretty interesting stuff you found out. Is there any chance you could look up Bennu or the atoms that create it?"

He was suspicious, but complied.

My sanity was fading. Paranoia was setting in. Something across the galaxy was watching me, waiting patiently for me to piece the puzzle together. Either way, I got the feeling that the time I had was precious. – There was not much time left for moi anymore. Whether I was losing my mind or something was out to get me, I was not going to last much longer.

"Fascinating." He said to get my attention. He did not meant it as in 'I find this fascinating'; he meant in general that what he had discovered was intriguing. My God, he's a Vulcan!

"What?" I asked as my headache began to clear.

"All seven elements atoms that form Bennu are available at Starside. The USM has been testing out a new explosive called a J14-7 or 'Bennu Bomb'." He brought up an image of the grenade-like device. "The seven atoms are kept in separate compartments until the Bennu Bomb is activated."

"What happens when it's activated?" I asked. This was something I needed to know.

"The seven atoms fuse and form Bennu." He said simply. "The J14-7 has had few successful results. It is the most dangerous weapon currently being tested in the USM. The main concern is that the fusion happens almost instantly so whoever detonates it will certainly be absorbed by the 4th dimensional explosion. The other problem is that the tear in the space time continuum only lasts for five seconds so its probability of being a successful weapon against assailants is low."

I ignored Chorst's warnings: "And... it's here?"

"Yes."

"Perfect."

He seemed to regret telling me such information. "If the USM learns of our prying then we could face having our minds wiped or execution."

Oh great, now that we could die it's suddenly become 'our' problem. Chorst would not take full responsibility if we were found out. He had not wanted to look up Bennu in the first place. He did not understand why I needed to know this information. Then again, I did not understand why I needed to know this information.

A long silence followed. My eyes darted back and forth as I tried to piece together how Bennu Bombs, Tak, Tamarax, Mel, Sven, Lieu Com Feb and I were all connected. I was charting all my knowledge like a suspect web with myself at the centre.

"I..."

My eyes went to Chorst. "Pardon?"

He swallowed. "I can..."

"Indeed." I laughed.

He sat silently as he tried to think about how to phrase his statement. His kind had to be careful not to offend themselves by speaking about thoughts or emotion. Poor guy, he obviously had something he wanted to say but he could not get it out. He opened his mouth to speak, then quickly closed it again and looked downward.

"It's okay Chorst." I said softly. "You can say anything you want to m–"

"Trinards can speak through telepathic mind melds." He blurted out abruptly. He was so quick at talking that all of his words had practically mushed together.

"Eh?" I raised an eyebrow, but he did not repeat. "A mind meld?"

He switched off the computer monitor. His pale face became hardly visible in the darkness.

"When trinards were first created; the trinords tortured our ancestors' minds into submission. Trinard slaves were not allowed to speak to each other verbally, so they learned to communicate telepathically at night when they were in their cells. It is the only way we can..."

Express thoughts and emotions. I finished the statement in my head. How sad. The thought of the first generation of trinard slave clones popped into my head. Them all just sitting silently in the darkness, wanting to scream, but knowing they had to stay quiet. What I was thinking about was only the tip of the iceberg. If the phobia of expression of emotion or thoughts could be passed on genetically then what the trinords did to the trinards had to be worse than anything I could ever imagine.

Chorst did not say anymore, so I had to help him: "Would you like to...?" No, that won't work. "Can I experience your mind meld thingy? I asked.

"Yes." He replied. He seemed hesitant.

I was quite honoured. For a trinard, connecting with someone on an emotional level was like losing your virginity if not more significant. The Frenchy seemed very reluctant to do anything. He just sat there staring at moi impassively. The poor boy was most likely somewhat embarrassed. Everyone else at Starside Academy could freely express their emotions. Chorst was the black sheep among the group. He probably thought I would not be impressed if our minds melded because I could already express my feelings. – He was not aware of the fact I loved the concept of mind melding.

"You don't have to show me." I reassured him.

"It will happen." He replied unemotionally.

He slowly lifted his gloved hand to my face, brushing it gently across my cheek. Because Chorst was so pale, I would have expected his touch to be icy, but it was warm like mine. Then again, maybe his fingers were warmer because he had just been typing furiously.

It did not take a mind meld for me to understand that Chorst was interested in moi. Whether he was romantically interested or just fascinated I did not know. Did his species even feel lust or love? Hopefully a good mind meld would tell me. Due to past incidences I had a suspicion that Chorst would turn out to be gay. My boyfriend before Aiden was secretly gay. He was only dating moi because he had a crush on Sven. Don't worry; my father hardly took notice of the boy. What I find interesting is the fact that my ex-boyfriend had liked my father for his looks, and yet I was a clone of my father. What the heck does that mean?

I doubt Chorst even thought in terms of gender. He was most likely an asexual/pansexual hybrid. Most aliens in the USM were because differentiating genders between species was exhausting.

"Relax." He said coldly. "Otherwise a mind meld could result in a damaged mind."

I already have a damaged mind. One side of my mind said.

Yes... Yes you do. The other replied.

"Have you ever done this before?" I asked to ruin the calm atmosphere of the situation.

Chorst did not answer. That did not exactly mean 'no' or 'yes'. The trinard was annoying. He simply would not speak if he did not feel the need. That would make him considered asocial on Earth, but it was common in the USM for aliens to have similar antisocial attributes. I was a very expressive person –if that has not been made clear– so it was strange how I liked men (or women... my bisexuality would kick-in in my later years) that were impassive and not talkative. Aiden was the perfect example. Him and Chorst were more similar than I realized.

I followed the Frenchy's lead and closed my eyes. If my gut feeling was right, and if did not live to see tomorrow, then I was happy that I got to really know Chorst before whatever happened, happened.

I nearly fell off the mushroom seat when shrill siren sounded from the speaker above us. Chorst's hand snapped back like a whip. Nobody could perform a mind meld under stressful conditions. I saw his face as the library continued to flash red. He looked his usual bland self, but I knew he was mortified. Alarm bells: the cockblocks of the telepathic world.

"We'll try again later." I yelled over the siren. I got no reply.

Sadness sat in. There was not going to be a later. This was it. I did not know what it was, but this was it.

"A security breach in the cadet regeneration chambers." Chorst called over the siren as he read the alert on his wrist computer.

My eyes widened. "We gotta get over there."

"No." He said. "We will go find Frek."

Without any further discussion the pale boy stood up and strode for the exit. I followed with my fingers in my ears. The sirens were actually the USM's best defence; they would deafen any assailant.

***

Donn was still exhausted when water splashed his face. As part of his usual morning routine; he opened his mouth to drink some of the water. The robots had warned him not to drink the regeneration chamber water, and he had chosen not to listen. It took him a moment to notice the red flashing light just beyond his chamber. The chambers were soundproof so the lights were his only way of knowing something was wrong.

With a security breach; all regeneration chambers in the Starside Academy sector had been opened. The fish boy tensed. Was this a real situation or just a drill?

Like firemen; the cadets had been informed by Alk to first put on their uniform in an emergency situation. That way the USM could keep track of them. Donn had very sensitive ears. He shrieked when he heard the alarm and dropped to his knees with his hands on head. After a few moments of recuperating he slowly reached into his drawer for the body glove. Despite the fact this was an 'emergency' situation; the fish boy almost took more time to get dressed. He could not think properly under the screaming siren. He was going to be furious if this was just a practise drill. Being so disoriented scared him.

His second boot was just barely on when the door to his cubical opened abruptly. Under the flashing red light his large bulbous eyes caught the giant monster in the doorway. The creature was so big it could not even get fit through the doorway. Instead it just threw its fat hand in and grabbed Donn's arm firmly. The fish boy screamed femininely as he was thrown out of his little safe haven. His brain rattled around in his head as he hit the floor. Beyond him were other disoriented cadets who had been forced out of their cubicles.

The sadamont then noticed the decapitated head of one of the robots that managed the regeneration chambers. This was definitely not a simulation.

After a failed attempt to fight back, a bloody-faced Veck approached a trembling Nis. One of the large beasts kept an eye on her at all times, but allowed her to go to the golden boy as he had other things to attend to.

Nis was not dressed at all. The alarm had petrified him. Veck's ears were immune to the noise. She quickly took off her jacket and draped it around the confused little boy. It was very large on his tiny frame. When he realized her presence; Nis's big black doe eyes stared up at Veck in confusion. If they were not careful he could go into his grey stage and become irretrievable. The giant rhino-like creature disapproved of Veck helping the bhe marc, but hitting her for a second time would not achieve anything except self-satisfaction. Tamarax had made it clear what they were there for and beating up USM cadets was not on the agenda until Tamarax found what she was looking for.

Like Veck, Kel had tried to make a stand. He ended up being hurdled against a wall, hurting a wrist and falling to the floor unconscious. Nobody went to his aid. They were all distracted by the giant beasts looking down upon them. The rusty and bulky armour they wore suggested they were certainly not from the USM. They were terrorists. As Alk had warned the cadets in tactics; enemies of the USM took pleasure in beating up USM personnel. Cadets were especially targeted due to their inexperience. Starside usually had top-notch security for cadets because they knew this. However, some of the smaller USM outposts in the more dangerous parts of the galaxy had a higher chance of cadets being harassed, tortured or killed.

"That all of them?" One soldier grunted as they circled the little cadets like hungry beasts. "I only count eighteen."

The soldier next to him counted the cadets with his own eyes. The red flashing lights made it difficult to spot all the cadets, but he only counted eighteen as well. "I swear none of them escaped." He said.

"It doesn't matter, then." He yelled over the alarm before dialling into his chunky wrist computer. "Beam us. It's time to go." He said into his earpiece.

The group of cadets panicked when beams of light started at their feet and worked their way up. Some of them were not even dressed properly. Nis was stark naked –until Veck gave him her jacket– while Zand only had one boot on. Certainly none of them were prepared to be teleported to the terrorist ship.

Donn looked around the flashing red room in search of any help. No security members had come to help them. That was the problem with the main entrance to the academy being down an incredibly long hallway: help could not get there for at least twenty minutes.

Most of the cadets had figured out that these weren't hack terrorists. The USM had a very advanced security system that would not allow unauthorized people to teleport in and out of the USM. Whoever these people were, they had some serious technology experts that had a lot of money... or they just had Tamarax Deloro.

Veck held Nis close as they were beamed to the rugged spaceship. The poor boy nearly fainted when he saw the spaceship they were in. He was terrified. The argon passé was afraid, nonetheless she was very good at acting strong.

Merr meowed tragically when he turned around in the teleporter and saw Starside in the distance behind them. The ship was about to go into light speed and they would be across the galaxy before any USM personnel noticed they were gone.

Everyone turned around when the door slid open. All the cadets were expecting another beast to walk in. It was surprising to see a smaller pale woman enter instead, yet the deranged look in her eyes scared them all. Also, her sharp black nails helped show that she was not friendly.

Half the cadets recognized her from tactics class, but the cadets like Donn who had been distracted during history had no clue who she was. Either way; they knew to be afraid of her.

Tamarax ran her eyes across the measly kids. "Where's Amelia?" No answer. "Am? The obnoxious Earthling?"

Donn looked around. Where was I? Chorst was missing too. He hoped we were together. He especially hoped we were not dead.

The soldiers tensed. They had gone there to get me and not just kidnap cadets. Their leader smiled and laughed manically. "Relax boys. You got what you needed."

"I don't understand ma'am." The head soldier snarled. "You wanted Am."

"I do want Am." She whispered so the cadets could not hear. "However, Amelia will come to us if we have her friends... and her father. It's all going to plan, Gremmor, don't worry your primitive brain."

He glared at her as she strolled away. He doubted Tamarax even had a plan. The woman was insane. Like most, he only worked for her because he had no choice. He was a third-class species and there was no work or resources on his spoiled planet. Rebelling against the witch-like woman would not accomplish anything. All the soldiers knew there was no 'retirement' under Tamarax. They would work until death to make a small living to support their family.

"Stun 'em." Tamarax ordered.

The cadets were like fish in a barrel when the soldiers stunned them. In less than five seconds all of them had collapsed on the cold grey surface. They did not know if they were going to live or die. All they knew was that a supreme terrorist was out looking for their fellow cadet, me, and that Tamarax probably was not well-intentioned. Man, what a horrible way to start the day.

***

Chorst and I found Frek in the corridor just beyond the cadet regeneration chambers. He had full armour on with Alk following behind with a rather large gun. Our third teacher, Wes, was nowhere to be found. She was not a fighter. The intruders would have crushed her with one boot.

Frek swore incoherently when he saw us. "Where'd you come from?" He asked aggressively. "Were you in your regeneration chambers?"

"No." Chorst replied.

Frek did not push for an explanation. He had bigger things to focus on.

We jogged alongside Alk and Frek. On Earth teachers would tell the students to stay safe and hide in an intruder situation, however at Starside Academy our teachers wanted any help they could get. The academy was so separated from the rest of Starside that help was not easy to come by in these situations. To make matters worse, the security force at the outpost was in no particular rush to come to our aid seeing as we were second-class cadets. Sure, they could have just beamed to the academy, but that would have been crazy wouldn't it?

"Could you turn off that alarm or something?" I screamed over the siren. I know this was an emergency, but the loud noise was certainly not helping the situation.

Alk complied and contacted security on her wrist computer. Just as we reached the cadet generation chambers the alarm stopped. My eyes had trouble adjusting when the normal fluorescent lights came on.

The regeneration chambers were deserted. There was no point calling out 'hello', I knew the cadets were gone. Chorst ran his boot across a spot of silver blood on the floor and smeared it.

"It is Veck's blood." He said.

"They were beamed off Starside." Frek said coldly. He was able to track the body glove of each cadet before they were too far out of range. Sadly, the cadets were long gone.

Alk answered a call on her earpiece. After listening to the message for a few seconds she turned to Frek. "Mel wants us to contact her."

"I'll be right there. You go give her a full explanation." He said. The rerrev nodded and sprinted out of the room. Being late to a holographic appointment with Mel was not wise.

"What do you want us to do?" I asked as Frek inspected each chamber with a scanner.

"Stay put."

"Are you sending out a ship to go save the other cadets?"

Frek shook his head. "We have to figure out who took them first and where."

"It was Tamarax and she took the back to her station."

He looked back at moi. Although I could not see his face behind the helm I knew he was looking at me suspiciously. "Why would you think that?"

I don't think that... I know that. I snarled internally.

I was no long speaking for myself. The dark voice in my mind took over. "Tamarax wanted me, but I was not regenerating when she sent her soldiers in."

"Why would she want you?" Frek asked. There was a peak in his voice that suggested he already knew the answer. He shook his head to brush off his own question. "You don't know that Tamarax took them."

"Yes I do." I said. "We both do."

I do not know who the 'we' was. It was either Frek and I or the dark voice in my head and I. The harsnic noticed this as well. He had a strange expression that I could not read. It was as if he had heard the voice before.

"Even if Tamarax took them," Frek began slowly, "her station has never been found."

"Lieu Com Feb died near where her station is."

Both Frek and Chorst stared at me. I probably should not have said that. Now Frek knew what Chorst and I had been up to so early this morning. The science teacher squinted his eyes. "Indeed." He said inexplicably.

"You know I'm right." The dark voice said. "That is why Feb was captured and killed in the first place. He was too close to her station." My natural voice kicked-in. "My gosh, didn't you guys send an inspection team over to where his spaceship sent its last GPS signal?"

"Mel did not allow it." He muttered.

I blinked. No, I did not blink... I passed-out. A burst of knowledge filled my brain. I understood what was going on. The thing that ate Feb, it was 4th dimensional and it was heading for my Solar System. I do not know what it was going to when it reached the Solar System, but I was going to get some answers out of Tamarax when I confronted her. Three words ran through my head: 'Tak', 'Bennu' and 'Bomb'.

I awoke on the floor with Chorst and Frek staring down at moi. The harsnic looked surprised. That was either because of the fact I just passed out, or the deranged look in my eye. I jumped up like an energetic puppy and dashed into my cubicle. Both men followed me with their eyes before the door closed. Before I could do anything, I had to wipe the blood from my nose. It was not too much blood, yet it was enough for me to realize that this was a sign.

Frek tensed when he heard the sound two suitcases being opened followed by slapping noises. The look on his face was priceless when I came back out fully dressed in my armour.

"I've gotta go get them." I said semi-insanely. "It's my fault Tamarax came here and took them."

Frek laughed so hard that his sides split. He was not exactly expecting me to pull out my stun gun and point it at his chest. "I'm gonna need your help."

Not only did Frek have the two weapons on his belt at his disposal, he also had a sharp knife concealed in the cuff of his black armour that he could have exposed at any moment, but he had been told to let this situation play out. Who told him that? Well... finish the book and you'll figure it out.

"Am," he began slowly, "do you honestly want to do this? You've lost your sanity." My eye twitched at his accusation. "Even if you were right... Tamarax would crush you."

Okay, he was right about my loss of sanity, however I knew what I was doing. My plan made sense to moi, yet if I tried to explain it Frek would have me wrapped up in a straightjacket and thrown me inside a padded room.

"Tamarax is one problem." I hissed. "There's a bigger issue I need to deal with."

"And what would that be?" He asked patronizingly.

"The 4th dimensional monster that she dispatched." I said casually. "It's heading for my Solar System."

"How in the name of Amori would you know that?" He snapped.

"I had a dream about it."

"That is not proper evidence."

At first I thought it was Frek who said that, but it turned out to be Chorst. I had almost forgotten the Frenchy was here until he spoke. Obviously he disapproved of my insanity. Oh well, I knew what I was doing.

I ignored his statement and turned back to Frek. "You know I know things I'm not supposed to know." My random sentences did not help plead my case. "But I do know that stopping Tamarax is something I need to do today... You know that too." He folded his arms. "I only need your help for one thing," I paused to let him mentally prepare himself for the worst, "I need a J14-7."

Frek certainly wasn't prepared for that. "What? How did you even know what that is?"

He answered his own question by looking at Chorst. Of course that boy knew how to hack the computers. His father had been the same way.

"That is certainly not going to happen." He rebuked. "You think those cadets are in trouble? Wait till you two are in real trouble with the USM."

"Frek." I said icily.

There was no way I could explain to either of the men what was happening inside my mind. Thoughts ran through my brain at a million a second. Everything was connecting. I truly was insane. Not like Tamarax, though. I was well-intentioned.

I put my stun gun back in its holster and took a step closer to the harsnic. Unlike before, he had his fist bent slightly upwards in case he did have to end up stabbing moi with his concealed knife.

I bit my lip as tried to get out what I needed to tell him. I had all this knowledge, and yet understanding it all was still difficult for my primitive brain. My mind could not sort out what information was important and what information was irrelevant.

"You remember when I said 'if I don't die, then everyone dies'? This is that situation." I whispered softly so that Chorst could not hear. "I swear on my father's life that I know what I'm doing. If I don't do what needs to be done, then you can say goodbye to this universe because Tamarax has some serious plans for it."

The harsnic was silent for a moment. "I think the mind wipes I gave you did not work." He sighed.

I was a little surprised when he started talking, but he was not speaking to me or Chorst. He was talking into his earpiece, and within moments a golden glow started at his feet. He did not say where he was being beamed away. He just left me and Chorst alone in the eerie cadet quarters. My first thought was that he was going to report me and the trinard to USM security. This annoyed me; there were obviously bigger issues to deal with.

"How are you going to get to Tamarax Station?" Chorst asked. None of the madness had really fazed him. All he cared about were our fellow cadets.

I thought for a moment. I then remembered that Cameron and I had exchanged contact information. He usually would not be awake at this hour, but the security alarm had rung throughout the naval part of Starside so it may have woken him up as well.

"My brother is aboard the Titonic."

"The Tit." Chorst reiterated.

"Yes." I cringed. "He's aboard... that spaceship."

"What would contacting him accomplish?"

"Err... Maybe I could hitch a ride on his ship?"

"That seems illogical."

"You seem illogical." I muttered as a pathetic comeback. Chorst did not reply to that.

"You are correct about Lieu Com Feb's last known location. Tamarax Station is almost certainly in the same area. It is peculiar that Mel did not allow the USM personnel to inspect the region."

"Wait," I pointed at him, "what are you saying?"

"If the USM is not going to do a proper investigation to find the cadets, then we need to save them."

I beamed under my helm. Alas, I needed a Bennu Bomb to complete my mission. Even if we somehow managed to save the cadets we would still lose the universe to Tamarax if I did not stop that 4th dimensional creature from reaching my Solar System. Yeah, I still do not understand that part of my objective, but it was probably the most crucial part.

"Do you have a suggestion for how we could get there?" I asked cautiously, hoping that I was not offending him by asking about his thoughts.

"There is no rational way." He said. "However, we could travel to Lieu Com Feb's last coordinates using the dub ship, Mar. The dub ship has no cloaking device or proper weapons, however it can travel at light speed."

"I like it," I said cheerfully. Having Chorst want to aid me on my insane quest was endearing. "But I think I'll call my brother first just to check with him." I quickly remembered the fact I was without a Bennu Bomb. "Wait... no. We cannot do it without that bomb."

"Why is the bomb necessary?" The trinard ask. "It the most dangerous weapon at Starside and has been proven inefficient."

"Chorst," I began slowly, "there are some things I can't explain right now, but I need that bomb."

"There are simpler ways of defeating Tamarax."

It's not for Tamarax. I thought solemnly. I was still not exactly sure who it was for and why, but the bomb was part of the algorithm in my head. "Trust me on this one." I told him firmly.

Despite everything that was improbable, impossible and ridiculous going against us, Chorst still trusted me. I do not think he trusted moi because he thought I knew what I was doing, he only trusted me because my blood was red. It was instinct for trinards to follow anyone with red blood. That was why their species had never been able to revolt against the trinords on their own. They had required help from the USM. I knew this, but I was going to need Chorst's help so I did not comment on the matter.

"There is a good chance that we will be killed before we reach the cadets." He said just to remind me.

"Yes." I nodded. "But nonetheless, we have to try."

Without a word, Chorst vanished into his own cubical. Obviously he was trying to put on his own armour in the cramped cell. Had he forgotten that he could have put his armour on in the armour chamber inside the hangar? Having the pieces of armour slap your body in such compact conditions was incredibly painful. Oh well, no point in telling him now.

"I'll give my brother a call." I told him when he stepped out. "Even if we do not get to ride the Titonic, maybe he can help us get a fast shuttle or something. Otherwise..."

"We will have to steal our dub crew spaceship." Chorst said to finish my sentence.

Both of us looked in the same direction when we heard a familiar noise. Someone was beaming into the room. We automatically drew our weapons despite the fact they were pathetic stun guns. Maybe one of Tamarax's soldiers was coming back seeing as they forgot to pick up moi.

My trigger-friendly finger eased when I realised the person beaming was far too short to be a brutish soldier of Tamarax. It was Frek. His face was still concealed, though his body language was tense. That is not was interested me, I was intrigued by what was in his fist.

"Welcome back." I joked.

He did not respond for a moment. The harsnic tightened his grip on the small black device in his hand. Finally, he stuck out his hand and showed me and Frenchy the little rectangle: the most dangerous weapon in the known universe.

I gasped. To an average person that would just look like a black rectangle. To me; I could see inside of it. The beautiful seven atoms that together formed the most beautiful element of all. Truly, the power of the universe was currently in Frek's hands... and I wanted it in mine. I understood I needed it.

"How did you get it?" I whispered.

"Why do you want it?" He waved away my question and replaced it with his own. "Tell me that."

I took a step toward him again. Chorst was probably getting annoyed with all my secrecy. If he knew exactly what bomb was needed for he would refuse to let me go.

I opened my mouth to tell Frek what I needed it for. Alas, no words came out of my mouth. I knew what I needed to tell the harsnic was on the tip of my tongue but it was stuck there.

"I don't have to tell you." I said instead. "I'm pretty sure you already know the answer better than I do. Be honest, you already knew you were going to have to get me that bomb, didn't you?"

No answer. Frek was working for a higher force, he had no incentive to tell me anything.

"Understand this," He began coldly, "I'm not giving this to you by choice."

I shuttered as he put the little weapon in my hand. It was as heavy as a moon rock. There was only one prominent switch on it. For some reason I had the extreme urge to flip the switch. Yes, I know all three of us would die, but when I saw a button or switch impulse told me to hit them.

"You gonna come with us?" I asked. "I think it will be a difficult task without some help."

"Who's the 'us'?" He asked before he noticed Chorst standing silently behind me. "Wait," Frek pointed at the trinard, "you're making him go?"

"He's going by choice." I said cheerfully. "Wanna join us on the perilous quest which we will most likely die on?"

"No." He said simply. "If you have not realized; Alk and I have to explain how eighteen cadets were stolen right from under our noses. In the USM; you can't do shit till you have explained what's happened."

"Then why are you letting us go?"

"I'm not."

Before I could question anymore, the harsnic was striding out of the cadet quarters. If the USM learned that he was going to let two cadets go off to try and find Tamarax Station, he would face a fate worth than death. Hopefully that would not the last time I saw Frek. A part of moi wanted to tell him 'thank you'. He had faced a lot of madness initiated by yours truly. The least I could do was let him know he was appreciated.

Without a second opinion, Chorst swooped in and snatched the Bennu Bomb from my hand. I watched him put it in the little pocket on his belt. The trinard had agreed to go with me on this psychotic adventure, but that did not mean he trusted me with the most powerful weapon in the known universe. – Fair enough.
29: When a Stranger Calls

Chorst and I chose not to stay in the cadet quarters. They were too creepy and quiet. Out of the corner of my eye I kept thinking I saw cadets, and then when I turned there was nothing there. We instead went to the dub ship hangar and sat next to the Mar ship. I intended to call Cameron first, but Chorst insisted that we be ready to hop on a dub spaceship in case USM security came looking for us.

Data's blue screen had three blue dots running across it as it tried to contact my brother. The harsnic was probably asleep, yet something in my gut told me he would reply.

There are pros and cons to wearing a helm when you're losing you mind: A pro is that the trinard could not see my constantly twitching eye or my blood-stained nose, the con was that I had a bleeding nose and could not deal with it properly. I just had to keep sniffing and hope it would soon go away. The Frenchy seemed to look up every time I sniffed. He probably thought I was crying. – He didn't know I was not the 'crying' type. The last recorded time I cried was when I watched the Phantom Menace back when I was still single digits. I was more or less crying out of pain than sadness.

"Amelia?" I smiled when Cameron's jaded image came up. "Are you alright? Why are you in armour?"

His panicky questions suggested that he had heard about the security breach at Starside Academy. He had just been planning to contact moi before I called him.

I sniffed. "Sorry Cam. Did I wake ya?"

The harsnic shook his head. "No. Well, in one sense you did."

"Eh?"

"I was specifically awoken when there was a breach at Starside Academy. After all, I am your brother." He ran his fingers through his hair before they reached his beret. There were subtle voices coming from behind him. Luckily, they were less aggressive than usual. "Where are the other cadets?"

"That's what I'm calling about." I muttered. He looked confused. "They've been captured. Only me and one other cadet are safe." I adjusted my wrist so the camera lens could see Chorst too. "Tamarax Deloro has the others."

"What?" The harsnic yelped before he realized he was being too loud for such an early time in the morning. "Tamarax?" He tried to say more modestly, but still very anxiously.

Now there were more voices behind Cameron. They hadn't heard what I had said –due to the fact I was speaking into Cameron's earpiece only– but they had heard him say 'Tamarax'. That name was enough to concern anybody.

"And I need your help t–" I stopped talking when another person came into view onscreen. It was First Off Tek of the Titonic. You remember the one who looked like a jellyfish fairy?

Although I could not hear her as well as I could hear Cameron, I had no doubt she was angry. My poor brother. I just repeatedly humiliate him don't I?

"One moment," Cameron looked at me meekly, "Cap Gor and First Off Tek want to talk to you."

He could not see my expression, so I subtly shook my head to tell him 'no'. The harsnic gave me a sympathetic look. He did not want to have Gor and Tek joining the conversation either. He feared he would get in more trouble than I would.

"The captain and first officer want to talk to me." I told Chorst before sniffing again.

"I will join the conversation as well." He said.

Hesitantly, I sent Chorst a call request. The screen split in half to fit him and my brother as well. Shortly after, Tek and Gor's faces split the screen into four windows. For some reason the windowed screen reminded me of the Brady Bunch opening. I hummed the theme quietly. Tek looked angry, and Gor looked just as anxious as Cameron. It was obvious who had real power in the Titonic.

"Dub First Off Am," Tek began slowly, "we heard about the tragic incident with the cadets, but we also hear you mention Tamarax Deloro. Explain!" She demanded aggressively.

"I did." I admitted while sniffing. "But that's not why I called."

"Where is your supervisor?" She asked coldly.

I shook my head. "I just need to speak to my brother... Preferably privately."

"Why did you say Tamarax's name?"

"Err..." I sighed, I would just tell her the truth. Who knew? Maybe she would help if she knew Tamarax was involved. "Tamarax Deloro has captured the cadets, and the USM cannot do anything because they do not know the coordinates of her station."

"We have found the obvious location of Tamarax Station." Chorst said.

"Yeah." I nodded. "So... we were wondering if we could have some help going to get them."

The looks on Cameron, Gor and Tek's faces were hilarious. I decided it was best not to tell them about the whole 'Bennu Bomb' thing. If I told them about that they would think I was crazy or something.

"Is this a prank call?" Gor asked. For good reason I suppose. It was a strange request.

"No." Chorst and I said simultaneously.

Gor sighed: "That explains why you kids are in armour."

"How do you know Tam has them?" Tek asked suspiciously. "We don't even know if Tam has them!"

I bit my lip. Lying was now the best option. "Well... I saw her."

"No you did not." Chorst said. I shot him a glare which he could not even see.

Cameron rubbed his left temple. He was going to be in so much trouble once this was over. Now he would never be promoted higher than ensign. If Tek had her say, Cameron would probably be demoted back to midshipman... or even lower if it was possible.

"Cam," I began, "I can't exactly explain how I know it was Tam. You just have to trust me."

My brother could not do that. He bit his lip and looked at me solemnly.

"This human is insane." Tek said harshly. "End transmission!"

"She has Sven!" I told my brother just as Tek was trailing her finger over the 'end call' button. "That's why dad did not call me back. She has him."

Cameron's eyes widened. "You don't know that." He said to hide his fears from his superiors.

"I do know that." I said sincerely even though it was the first time I had admitted it outloud. "And you'll find out I'm telling the truth if you go to the coordinates of Lieu Com Feb's last GPS transmission."

"Lieu Com Feb?" Gor and Tek both questioned.

Hastily, I switched on mute for Tek and Gor so they could not hear moi. There was no point in muting Chorst, he was sitting next to me and could hear everything I said.

My brother shook his head. We were both going to be in so much trouble. His light green complexion drained when he saw that I had sent him the coordinates to where Lieu Com Feb's shuttle had sent its last GPS broadcast. He knew very well that I had not gotten those coordinates legally.

I could hear Tek and Gor talking loudly in the background of Cameron so I had to be quick: "I don't expect the Titonic... or the USM to help, but I'm heading to those coordinates." He did not reply. "Our father is there. I know he is."

"You have no proof." He shook his head again. "You're being absurd, Am. P-please stop it."

Before I could reply to his sad plea, the call was ended. Tek was pissed that I had muted her. A wave of guilt passed over me when I realized that I had just pulled Cameron down with me.

Chorst ended the call when it was just my face on his screen. "We should get in the Mar. Now that you have told Cap Gor and First Off Tek your intentions, they could contact Starside security and lockdown the hangar."

"We did not tell them we intend to take a dub spaceship." I reassured him.

"They can assume that is our plan."

I complied and hastily followed him into the ship.

"Data?" I asked into my earpiece.

"Yes, First Off Am?"

"Send these coordinates to the dub spaceship Mar's computer."

"Coordinates sent."

"Thanks." I muttered even though the wrist computer could not accept a compliment.

Chorst was already in his seat setting up the dub spaceship. He was a trustworthy captain... and a trustworthy friend.

"Heh." I smirked before sniffing again to control the small amount of blood in my nose.

He looked up at moi questioningly.

"It's nothing." I shook my head. "I just find it funny that we, two cadets, are hijacking a dub crew spaceship and flying out to the most feared woman's space station and our only weapons are stun guns... and the Bennu Bomb of course." I pointed to his belt where the bomb was being kept in his pocket. "Most people would think we're crazy."

"Your sanity is depleted." He said icily. "However, you have a plan. It does not seem like a logical plan, however that is because you have not explained it fully."

"You trust me, Chorst?" I asked calmly.

He could not answer that. Answering would require him to express his thoughts about moi. I could assume what his answer would be. No, he did not trust me, he trusted my red blood. Disturbing, but true.

***

Cameron cowered below his two superiors. He was being blamed for his my insanity, but now I had him thinking. Did Tamarax really have Sven? Why would she have his father? Harsnics had primal instincts about their family. He had gotten a sick feeling in his stomach after I had told him about our father. Something deep inside him knew I was right, yet he could not admit it. His mind had been trained by the USM to ignore the instincts he had around his family. If I was right, then he would do anything to save his father from the horrible monster so-called Tamarax.

"Your sister is trying to spread fear." Tek hissed. "She is a liar, and unstable. You personally will contact USM security about her."

Gor felt this was mean, yet he understood why Tek was doing it. She wanted the harsnic/human boy to prove he was with the USM and not his insane sister. The look of defeat in the boy's grey eyes already told Gor where Cameron stood. He stood with the USM, but not happily.

Cameron did not reply. He desperately wanted to leave the bridge and be out of Tek's sight. I was his sister, he did not have the heart to call moi in.

"En Cam," Tek hissed, "make the call."

"No." He said quietly.

"I'm sorry," she said condescendingly, "what was that?"

"No." He repeated, this time more bravely. "I don't think my sister is crazy. I think she's telling the truth."

Don't dig yourself an early grave, boy. Gor thought while shaking his head sympathetically.

"Tamarax has the cadets... and my father." He whispered.

"Indeed." Tek was beyond displeased. "And would it matter if she did?"

Cameron looked at her with confusion. Of course it would matter, wouldn't it?

"You are not hauling the Titonic across the galaxy to dangerous area of space just to save a heap of second-class cadets."

"But my fath–"

"Your father is a human." She interrupted. "He is a second-class civilian, and risking the lives of the Tit's personnel is not worth his life."

Cameron stood up in a literal and figuratively: "He was an ambassador!"

"Was." Tek emphasised.

"Tek, that's enough." Gor said to ease the situation.

My brother rubbed his hands together. It was all he could do to not clench his hands into fists. Harsnics were peaceful, but when their loved ones were offended the anger built up inside them. Tek knew this. She liked to tweak the lower-ranking personnel just to watch them get annoyed.

He decided to go back to his point about the cadets: "If my sister is right then we have to save them. The cadets are the future captains and officers of the USM Navy!" He squeaked.

Tek just stared at him disapprovingly, so he turned to Gor.

"Cap, please." The mantis-like creature turned his head. "I cannot ask for you to take the ship to the coordinates she sent me, but let me take a shuttle. I-if my sister is wrong," Cameron bit his lip, "then you can dishonourably discharge me. I am willing to take that risk."

"Yes." Both men looked back to the haughty jellyfish fairy. "Let the mongrel go search for the seconders. Two evoks with one laser beam."

To translate what Tek said: 'seconder' does not mean the same thing as it does on Earth. It was a slur for 'second-class' species. And 'two evoks with one laser beam' was basically 'two birds with one stone' except more tragic if you knew what an evok was.

"First Off Tek," Gor objected, "that is enough."

In usual situations, nobody would defend a 'mongrel' like Cameron, but Gorirtz was a very good man. He would not let weak little creatures like my brother be bullied when he was around. What he did not know was that Cameron was not as weak as he looked. My brother snapped, clenched his fist, and caught Tek in the jaw. A very shocking scene seeing he was much shorter than her.

Now, do not think less of my brother for hitting a woman. The United Systems of Mel standards made sure men and women were treated equally. They never even thought about the different genders until it came to 'maternity leaves'. Having equal genders meant there were no double-standards. A man could hit a woman as easily as he would hit a man (or vice versa). I'm not sure where I stood on that. On Earth, although genders were equal in the western world, unless a woman was bioengineered like me they were generally not as strong as a man. That was simply because of lack of testosterone. I do not have that much testosterone in me, but I had just enough that I easily become aggressive. In the USM; the genders were genetically more equal. Woman like Veck were certainly equal to men. In fact, she was stronger than many men. Gender had no effect on how much she kicked somebody's ass. Even if it did; she was hermaphrodite so she could become a man if she felt it would help her win a fight.

Cameron instantly regretted hitting Tek, but he could only take so much crap. Nobody got to call him a mongrel, insult his father and second-class species. The first officer had pushed the little harsnic just a little too far.

Enraged, Tek grabbed his neck and squeezed until he started choking. Her species was a perfect example of equal genders. All of her kind was packed with an alien version of testosterone.

My brother grabbed her arm and tried to push her away but with no avail. Her grip continued to tighten around his small neck until a bolt of electricity ran through her body. She jittered before collapsing on the metal floor.

The harsnic coughed for a moment before looking at Gorirtz. The mantis-like alien had taken the emergency gun from the armrest of his captain's chair. His insect face could not reveal much emotion so Cameron could not figure out what he was thinking.

"You may want to report back to your chamber before she is reanimated." He said shakily. "Otherwise, she will do things to you beyond my control."

The harsnic swallowed. Despite her immobility, she still terrified him.

"Please sir." He looked pitifully at Gor. "I need to go help my sister. Whether she's right o-or just insane I have to help her." He looked down. "I promise I'll accept all charges when I return. I-I just need to make sure she... and possibly my father are safe."

Gor was torn. He knew my brother just wanted to do what was best for his family, but if he aided him he would be breaking USM law. He sighed. Gorirtz had already breached the USM laws by stunning his own first officer. Now, it really depended on how deep he wanted his grave to be.
30: A Fate Worse than Death

Sven was not reanimated. He just had to wait for the effects of the stun gun to wear off. In his daze, he had no awareness of his surroundings. The first sign that something was not right was when there was a sharp pain in his right toe. My father slowly lifted his head, straining his stiff neck, to see the cause of the annoyance. His eyes nearly fell out of their sockets when he saw a winged rat-like creature chewing through his retro black Converse shoes. He sat up instantly and tried to shake the creature off. The little pest hissed before gliding across the floor and through the bars of his cell.

The prison cell was old. The only new thing in it was Sven, and the window that stared out into blackness. My father swore in Swedish as he stood up on the grey bench to get a better look out the window. Just at the bottom of the glass he could see parts of Tamarax Station. Fear sunk into his chest. This was the last place he wanted to be in the universe.

His own body-glove covered body surprised him. My father could vaguely recall one of Tamarax's soldiers dressing him in it. He remembered that the soldiers had talked about his body in their own strange language. One may have fondled him, but the memory was a blur.

Sitting back on the bench, Sven padded his pockets in search of the little translator. He had it on him at all times in case Cameron spontaneously called him. It was buried underneath the handkerchief in the right pocket of his jacket. My father felt uncomfortable putting it in with his shaky hands. He winced we he scratched the delicate inside of his ear while putting it in. Just in time; he cocked his head when he heard mumbling coming from the cell over.

Stepping over one of the dead reptilian pests on the floor, he made his way to the invincible metal bars. Sven was greeted by an electric shock when he tried to squeeze his head through the bars to peer out into the cellblock. His left show made a squishing noise when he staggered backwards and stepped on the dead creature.

"Shit." He muttered as he dragged his foot along the ground to clean the green goo of his sole.

"Wake up already!" He heard a woman hiss a few cells down.

Sven bit his lip. Did he dare call out? He certainly did not want to get the attention of the bulky soldiers or Tamarax.

"Hello?" He called out hesitantly.

His voice echoed through the cellblock. At first, he thought there was going to be no reply, but then the woman responded: "Who's that?"

"Err... Sven Hollow?"

"Never heard of you."

"Well, who are you?" He called back. The woman was obviously not Tamarax.

"Dub First Off Veck of Starside Academy."

My father's eyes widened. "Starside Academy? Is Amelia... Am, with you?"

Veck did not reply immediately she looked around her own cell, and then to the cells across from her just to check. She had not seen me before when they were originally beamed, and that had not changed since.

"No." She called back. She then realized who Sven was. "Wait, you're her father aren't you?"

"Yeah!" He called back. "What happened? What are you doing here?"

"I was hoping you could tell me." Veck laughed. "I think all this crap has to do with your daughter. Tam's soldiers collected us when we were regenerating, but your daughter was not in her chamber."

Sven was not sure how to feel about that. Did that mean I was safe or not?

"Am's father?" Donn called out when he came-to. "Am and her dub cap aren't with us. D-did Am ever tell you anything that suggested she knew Tamarax was coming for us?"

Veck looked Donn in the cell across from her. That was the best question he had asked in his entire time as a cadet. He was in a cell with Jee, Merr, Zand, Henn, Marsh, Or, Va and Kel while Veck was with the rest. The cells were not very large, so they were incredibly cramped with most cadets still passed-out on the floor or benches. Everyone who had been captured was still present. – Good.

"No." Sven called back to the fishy boy anxiously. He questioned how much I had not told him if I was in trouble with Tamarax.

Kel jumped to his feet. "We got to get out of here."

Sven cringed we he heard the algrin moan in pain when he grasped the electrified bars. Kel landed humiliatingly Marsh who was lying peacefully below him. The gegemetelner was fully awake now.

"The bars are electric." My father called out.

"No, really?" The algrin muttered sarcastically.

"Careful." Veck told Kel haughtily. "He is Am's father. He could kick your ass just like she did."

Oh. Sven thought. So he is the phallic I've heard so much about.

"You're lucky these electric bars separate us." Kel hissed.

"Chill." Donn put his hand on the algrin's shoulders. "I really don't think now is the time."

"How are we going to get out?" Jhan asked Donn from across the cells.

Donn shrugged nonchalantly. "How should I know? I never trained for this!"

"Wait, Am's father is here too?" Merr purred as he stretched out like a cat. "Where is he?"

"Over here." Sven called out again. The conversation with the cadets was accomplishing nothing.

All of them fell silent when they heard a heavy door open. Tamarax skipped in followed by her little blue slave and two soldiers. She felt her plan was coming together... until she looked into the two cadet cells. He smile vanished.

"Wait, where's Am?" She asked Kel as he was closest. "Did she escape?"

The algrin raised an eyebrow: "You did not capture her. Remember?"

Her eye twitched, but she smiled. "Yes, forgot that we weren't following that script."

KC2203 turned away from his master. He got to see her like nobody else did. She was completely insane. Her deteriorating brain could not tell dreams form reality. She would probably ask Kel again in a few minutes where Am was. It was like she had 4th dimensional-induced Alzheimer's. He hoped I arrived soon... and killed her.

"She'll be here soon." Tamarax reassured my father as she strode up to his cell. "She has to come here to save her daddy, after all."

That was Tamarax's real reason for capturing my father. She wanted to make sure I came to Tamarax Station instead of going for the 'comet' that was heading for my Solar System's sun. If she was able draw me here instead of to the comet then she was positive her plan to kill me, Mel and reshape the universe would work. Then again, she was a lunatic so there was no guarantee her plan actually made any sense.

"How would she know to come here?" Sven asked. He tried to make sure his voice did not tremble, but Tamarax could sense his fear.

"There's a lot you don't know about your daughter." She smirked.

Sven was a little offended. He was sure that I told him everything as we were so similar. Then again, I had not told him about Geraldine's dusk addiction, so what else had I not told him?

"How do you know she's coming?" Tamarax strode back to the previous cell. The algrin was standing so close to the bars she was surprised he had not been electrocuted yet.

"Because I know everything." She said simply. "She's coming here to save you guys and also coming here to die."

"Liar." Sven muttered. Tamarax heard him, but chose to ignore the pitiful man.

"You know when she'll be here?" The hekkit looked back to Kel for an answer. KC2203 cringed, obviously his master had just forgotten that the algrin would have no idea when I would arrive.

Kel shook his head, surprised by Tamarax's apparent lack of intelligence. "No." He said simply.

The wretched woman then remembered that she already knew when I would arrive. She laughed at her own insanity before abruptly stopping to sniff. She could feel another nosebleed coming on.

Kel muttered something incoherently so that her translator could not pick up on it. "What was that?" She asked. Her eye twitched.

He opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted: "Kel." Veck said sternly from across the bars. She and Kel may have not seen eye to eye, but she certainly did not want him to suffer at the hands of Tamarax.

The phallic ignored her boldly: "I'm not sure when Am's arriving, but when she gets here she's gonna kick your ass."

Tamarax's smile shattered. She had heard those words before. Without her consent her henchmen opened the cell gate and grabbed the prideful boy. The other cadets in his cell stood up instantly. They had no chance of escaping with two beasts guarding the door. They just did not want the monsters to take Kel.

Sven was not sure what was happening. He tried to look out of his cell but just ended up getting electrocuted again. He was powerless to defend the young cadets, and he knew that. Reasoning with Tamarax was out of the question. Her humanity was long gone.

"No." She said calmly, not bothering to make eye contact with the algrin. She pointed one of her sharp nails at Veck's cell. "That one."

The soldiers looked at each other in confusion. Kel was hurdled back into his cell. Donn caught him, but stammered backwards while doing so.

At first, the argon passé thought the beasts were coming for her. Her eyes widened when the one in front reached right past her and instead grabbed the little golden boy who had been sitting on the bench. He made a squeaking noise as he was dragged out of the cell by the brutish henchman.

"No!" Veck cried as she lunged at the henchman. He swatted her away like a fly and she crashed to the floor unconscious.

After seeing what happened to Veck, the other cadets in her cell stood by reluctantly. None of them were strong enough to take on the beasts. Nis looked back to them and squealed sorrowfully. He did not know what was happening. As soon as the gate closed they all raced to the bars along with the cadets in Kel's cell. Nis had been provided with a body glove by Tamarax as she knew how delicate his body was, but that was not going to save him.

Tamarax looked at Kel and smiled. The algrin shook his head frantically. "No. Don't do it." Please... Please don't." He pleaded.

"You pushed me to." She said slyly.

"Don't hurt the cadets." Sven pleaded shakily once he realized what was happening. "Do whatever you want to me, but please don't hurt the cadets. They're just kids."

Tamarax strolled up to his cell. KC2203 and the henchmen followed her while holding the squealing boy firmly. The hekkit gave them a grave glare which told the henchman holding Nis to ease up. The boy was at a stage where he could go into grey state at any point, and she did not want that to happen just yet.

"I intend to do whatever I want to you." She told my father. "I also intend to do whatever I want to these 'kids'. You're not in a position where can tell me otherwise."

"He'll go grey." Sven stammered. He knew Nis's species well. Back when he was an ambassador he witnessed the bhe marc ambassador go into grey state when he saw a video of a previous USM war. The medics knew they could not save him, so they instead euthanized the innocent creature.

Tamarax shrugged. "I know, but what have I got to lose?"

"Please don't."

She looked back. It was not my father who said that so it had to have been one of the cadets. No, KC2203 had said it. He stood in front of the two henchmen and Nis meekly with his arms wrapped around his chest protectively. "Don't hurt him." He continued feebly. "He hasn't done anything to you."

Tamarax's eye twitched as she stared down her meek slave. Sven flinched sympathetically when she drew her hand back before slicing the blue man across the left side of his face. KC2203 whimpered when her nail cut through his eye and stammered away from her. It was lucky that Nis was too distracted to witness Tamarax's brutality; otherwise he would have gone into grey state right then.

The regret was obvious in the witch-like lady's eyes. All this time her little 'companion' had worn scars that could be hidden by layers of fancy clothing, and now he had a permanent mark on his face. On his knees, he looked up at her with his one good eye while his hand covered the other side. Anger overlapped her sympathy for her pet, and she nodded to the henchman –that did not have his hands full with Nis– to pick him up off the ground. There was a free cell across from Sven. However, a small army of alien pests occupied it as they were feasting of the corpse of its previous resident. Tamarax still had a heart for her pet, so she instead put him in Sven's cell. The henchman took pleasure in thrusting the blue boy into the cell. He had never liked the slave clone anyways.

"Consider this timeout." She told KC2203 impassively.

The witch, her henchmen and the poor golden boy started off out of the cellblock without another word. Tamarax felt she was not accomplishing anything by being with the prisoners. All she really wanted was moi.

"Tamarax!" My father called out as his last feeble attempt to save Nis. He was greeted with no reply.

Kel felt his eyes swelling with tears. It was his fault she was going to hurt Nis. He just had to open his big mouth and offend her. Donn looked at him when he heard his sniffing. There was nowhere for the algrin to hide. No little safe haven for him to cry in. He was breaking down in front of all the cadets and he could not run away. He just stormed away from the cage door and went to the corner on the opposite side of the cell. All the cadets watched him as sobbed with his back to them.

"It's not your fault." Donn told him sincerely. He took a step toward the sobbing boy even though he was afraid that the algrin would lash out and strike him.

"Am and Chorst will save him." Zand said although she doubted I was actually coming at all.

Veck's expression softened. No one ever really liked Kel, but none of them could stand to see him cry. She knew how guilty and humiliated he was feeling. In algrin culture; it was seen as weak for a man to cry. Kel had pretended he was a 'man' at Starside Academy by holding back his tears in public. However, on his own planet he felt weak because his father had managed to make him cry on a regular basis. He hoped that at Starside nobody would have thought of him as weak. He did not understand that none of the cadets saw him as weak for crying. Heck, most of them did not even know what crying was. They had only ever seen him as weak because he clung too closely to his irrational algrin beliefs and could not separate from them. None of them could tell him that. He would just feel worse if they said anything.

Sven could not hear the algrin's sobbing from his cell, but the silence of all the cadets told him something was up. He looked back from the cage door at the little blue boy in the corner. His hands were completely soaked in dark blue blood as he tried to cover the left side of his face.

KC2203 froze when Sven paced over to him. He feared that the taller man was going to beat him to a pulp because he had been with Tamarax. He backed himself up against the wall and brought his legs off the ground and onto the bench to use as shields for his body. Having been so exploited, KC2203 did not understand that he had been bioengineered to be incredibly strong because slave clones generally worked in harsh conditions. Tamarax had convinced him that he was feeble despite the fact he could have thrown my father across the cell if he had wanted to.

"It's okay." Sven hummed softly as he reached into his pocket. "I'm not gonna hurt ya."

The slave clone did not relax. He could not count the number of times he had been told that and ended up being hurt.

Sven pulled out his handkerchief and held it out to the little blue boy. KC2203 did not accept it. He just stared at it suspiciously.

"It's okay." My father said with a smile. "I haven't used it."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why do you want to help me?" He asked in almost a whisper. "You're part of the USM... I'm with her."

"You're not with her," Sven sat down on the bench, "and I'm not with the USM." KC2203 cocked his head in confusion. "I'm a second-class citizen." My father explained.

The blue boy leaned away when Sven raised the handkerchief. The Swede smiled humbly and dropped the piece of white cloth on the boy's knee for him to pick up in his own time. KC2203's one good eye shifted from the white cloth to Sven repeatedly until he picked it up and used it to cover the scarred left side of his face.

"Sorry." The slave clone said when he pulled the cloth away from his eye for a brief moment to look at it. "I think I've stained it."

"Keep it." My father waved away the apology. "I've got plenty at..."

Home. Sven pondered. With the civil war... and Geraldine. There's no real home to go back to. Well, if I survive this.

"You sure?" The blue boy asked suspiciously. "You want me to have it?"

"Yeah. It's yours."

"Thank you." He whispered meekly.

My father was not sure how much of a gift the handkerchief really was. The poor blue boy had already bled right through it. Then again, he did not understand how much possessions meant to the fragile creature. KC2203 owned nothing except his soul. Tamarax owned everything else.

"You're a human." The blue boy noted.

"And you're an... aldoren?"

"Uh huh." He nodded happily.

"Sven Hollow." My father stuck his hand out politely.

KC2203 was a little confused at first. He pinched the top of Sven's hand delicately and shook it, leaving a little dark blue blood on the pale man's hand. "KC2203." He replied.

"Wait." My father raised an eyebrow. "What?"

The blue boy repeated his liscence, but Sven did not change his confused expression. "You're a clone?"

"Yes." KC2203 shrunk as Sven looked at him.

"Where are the others like you?"

"I don't know." He shook his head. "Off mining somewhere in the galaxy... or dead."

"But Tam kept you here?"

"Yes."

"But she didn't give you a name?"

"Never felt the need to."

Sven leaned back and rested his head on the hard wall. "KC2203 is a big name to carry."

"It's not a name. It's a liscence."

"True." My father thought for a moment. "Can I just call you Cacey?"

"Huh?" The slave clone titled his head.

"Cacey." Sven repeated. "It's like K-C, but it's spelt C-A-C-E-Y. It's an Earthling name."

Although the two men did not share the same alphabet, the blue boy's translator picked up the name 'Cacey' which could easily be pronounced in his own language. The major difference was how the name would be spelt. In the aldoren language, Fweth, there was no 'C' or 'K'. Both letters were replaced by an 'S' so if his name was translated into written Fweth and then back to English it would be 'Sasey'. That's why in his own language his liscence was actually SS2203.

"Are you sure I can have it?" The boy asked, hopefully.

Sven nodded. "You deserve it."

The aldoren dropped his legs back onto the floor. He saw no point in trying to defend his body anymore. Sven was obviously his friend. The Earthling was kind to him. He'd even given him a name. Sven had been kinder to him in a few minutes than Tamarax had ever been in thirty years.

"I like the name." Cacey said cheerfully while swinging his legs like a child. Sven did not have to be a genius to know the blue boy had a crush on him. My father smiled. He was happy he had made the slave clone happy because he figured the end of both of their lives was coming soon.

"Why does Tam want my daughter?" He asked to dampen the cheerful atmosphere in the prison cell.

The blue man froze. "I-I thinking it has something to do with the 4th dimension. She needs to kill her because y-your daughter may be the only thing that stands in the way of Tam reshaping the universe... or something like that."

Sven stared blankly at the boy. The thought of moi, his daughter, being wrapped-up in 4th dimensional matters was shocking. He felt he knew less and less about his child every moment.

Cacey wiped the dark blue blood off onto his tight pant leg before putting his hand on my father's shoulder. "I'm so sorry. Your daughter, she has to stop Tamarax."

My father continued to stare blankly ahead. Confusion had set in.
31: Escape from Tamarax Station

I was forced to reside in the bathroom for most of our light speed flight. Chorst did not question why I left him so abruptly. I could no longer control my nosebleed by just sniffing when it got too intense.

The dub spaceship bathroom was even smaller than the ones on the airplanes of old. My legs were crushed between the alien toilet and the alien sink as I tried to deal with my nosebleed. The toilet paper was even coarser in the Mar than it was back at Starside Academy.

My complexion was not attractive in the mirror, and not just because of my bleeding nose. Something about my eyes was not right. I looked deranged. I wondered if Chorst noticed. That was probably why he was holding onto the Bennu Bomb instead of moi.

I stopped breathing when I noticed a shadowy figure standing behind me in the mirror. The black shadow was too hard to make-out because of the dirty mirror. Despite the cramped conditions, I was able to swivel my torso and head around to look behind. There was nothing there. – I'm not sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Are you actually appearing or am I just going insane?" I asked aloud.

Both.

I sighed. "You know, I really don't like you."

The feeling's mutual.

Once my nosebleed had subsided, I re-joined the trinard at the front of the ship. Frenchy did not acknowledge moi when I sat down in front of him. That was probably for the best. I did not want him to question what I was doing in the bathroom. I put my helm back on when I sat down. Even though my nose was done bleeding, there was always the chance that the trinard would catch my eye twitching.

"We will arrive at Lieu Com Feb's last known coordinates in approximately two minutes." He reported impassively.

"Excellent." I replied. "You ready to take on the whole of Tamarax Station?"

He answered with his own question. "The USM should have seen our ship leaving the hangar. They could have deactivated our spaceship if they had not wanted us to leave."

Chorst was right. There was no way the hunk of metal we were driving could leave the outpost without being noticed. This intrigued me as much as I presumed it intrigued Chorst. Someone inside of Starside wanted us to go. I had a hunch on who it was, but chose not to tell Chorst my suspicions.

I shrugged casually: "Maybe they have someone following us."

"Unlikely." He glanced at his wrist computer. "We can track all USM ships even if they are in light speed or are cloaked. There are no USM Naval ships for over fifty light-years."

I shrugged. "The USM probably has its reasons for not caring about us."

"All the cadets are of second-class species."

"That's probably the main reason."

I was surprised when the light speed dega-drive stopped humming loudly. According to the monitor we were staring at nothing but blackness. I inhaled sharply. Had I been wrong? Tamarax Station was most likely still in the same area as Lieu Com Feb's last GPS transmission, but we did not have the time to fly around this sector searching for it.

"What should we do?" I asked Frenchy.

Remaining silent, he rotated the ship one-hundred and eighty degrees. I sighed in relief when a lone rock body appeared in the blackness. Tamarax Station had been right behind us.

The station was larger than I had expected it to be. The lump of rock it was attached to was only about half the size of Earth's Moon, however Tamarax had really expanded on the place with much of its surface now being covered in manmade structures that made it more than three times as large. It was certainly no match for the whole of Starside. Tamarax knew that. That was why she kept such a low profile.

"Landing the ship on the far side of the station is the best option." Chorst said as he slowly drove the dub spaceship toward the wretched station. "Tamarax appears to not have as many buildings or machinery on that side. It is likely the testing ground for new weapons."

"If we manage to save the cadets, how we will get them out to the Mar?" I asked, now hesitant about my own plan. "I doubt any of them have their armour."

"Stealing one of Tamarax's ships within one of the hangars is a possibility." I nodded along. "Then we would use the Mar as a decoy for our escape. I would control the dub spaceship via my wrist computer, make it take off and prep for light speed, and while Tamarax Station was focused on the dub spaceship, we would take an inconspicuous spaceship in one of the hangars."

"Not bad." I praised. "But this is all providing we survive everything else, right?"

"Yes." He looked back at his wrist computer. "Tamarax Station may have already spotted us."

"They have." The voice within moi whispered aloud. "But Tamarax wants us to come."

Chorst said nothing. Instead, he reached down to his belt to make sure the Bennu Bomb was still in his pocket. There would come a point when I would have to get the little bomb off him. I would most likely have to get it off him by force. I shook away the thought. I could worry about that later.

***

Tamarax sat at her desk, scratching lines into the nice antique desk she had bought many years ago. She was not a patient woman. The hekkit felt she had already waited long enough for me to arrive. She would usually pass the time by exploiting her little blue friend, but he was currently locked-up and dealing with the scars on the left side of his face. She reminded herself that he needed the timeout. After all, when she reshaped the universe she could have whoever she wanted in her bedroom and the measly slave clone would seem less important. He had to remember his place or she could make sure he was never created.

Drops of black blood speckled the desk below her. Tamarax had been thinking too much recently. She was sure that after she claimed the universe, the chaos in her mind would settle. Telepathically, Tak had reassured her that her mind would be at peace once this was all over. Maybe the 4th dimensional creature's words had double meaning. Tamarax did not think about that. She only heard what she wanted to hear.

The large door to her office creaked when one of her expendable assistants entered. The new one, Dork (don't laugh), was bulkier than many of her previous ones. His leathery skin meant he was going to be a lot harder to kill when it was time. She would not be able to pierce his skin with just her sharp nails. Instead she was going to have to use some sort of gun.

"A USM ship has been detected in the area," Dork strode up to her desk, "and it's heading this way."

The lack of concern in his voice made Tamarax look up. If it was a proper USM Naval spaceship then there was going to be a real fight. "What kind of ship?" She asked curiously.

"You're not going to be believe this." He smirked before he remembered who he was in the presence of.

"Try me." She hissed.

"It's a dub spaceship."

Tamarax accompanied her assistant in laughter. The rickety old dub spaceships would fall apart if a gust of wind got them.

"Want me to blow the little thing up?" Dork asked.

She shook her head seriously. "No... this is who we've been waiting for."

Her assistant doubted that. Tamarax had made it very clear that I was a real threat, but what kind of threat would appear in a frail dub spaceship? Dork thought I had to be as crazy as Tamarax.

"Should put more security in the cellblock?" He asked. "That is likely where she's heading."

"No." Tamarax licked the blood from her nose off her lip. "Put some extra security in hangar four. Let them think they're going to escape... and then crush them at the last moment."

Dork did not know how the witch-like woman knew that the cadets and I would head for hangar four, however he didn't ask.

"But," she hissed firmly, "do not kill Amelia. The obnoxious Earthling is mine."

"Yes ma'am." He said before striding out of the room.

He's a good assistant. She thought as she leaned back in her chair. It's a darn shame he'll have to die.

***

Passing right by the main structures of Tamarax Station made my stomach feel uneasy. Not just because it was the station of the USM's most wanted woman, but also because it vaguely resembled the crappy home planet of the Psychlos from Battlefield Earth. Dear God, why did my father ever make me watch that film? That was probably the one benefit if Tamarax recreated the universe in her own vision; that film never would have been made.

"Their defence system has not locked onto us." Chorst stated.

"Let's just stick to your plan." I whispered while gazing at the monitor.

"It is possible they are going to take us captive like the other cadets."

"Very possible." I lied. I knew why Tamarax wanted me to come here. The biatch wanted moi to die by her own hand. – It was an ego thing.

The dub spaceship shuttered as Chorst landed it onto the rocky terrain. The trinard was best at landing spaceships out of the four dub captains, yet even he found it difficult to land delicately on the surface of the rough body. He was right about this area being where new weapons were tested. The surface of the asteroid was charred with many manmade craters from where bombs had been dropped.

"Computer, give me mobile control of the Mar." The Frenchy commanded of his wrist computer.

Computer is not a very original name is it? Oh well, unless you are a nerd you would never understand why I named my wrist computer Data.

The wrist computer must have complied because all the panels and control suddenly switched off. After a second they came back on, but their blue lights suggested they were hibernating.

"Tamarax has created artificial gravity." Chorst noted as we stepped off the dub spaceship.

We both floated upwards slightly when we walked. The Mar remained firmly attached to the terrain. Its claw-like feet hooked into the ground making sure it went nowhere.

I followed the trinard's lead and switched on my boots. We flew close the ground like stingrays above the seabed. It was good I was not part of Gall anymore because that white uniform would have made moi very noticeable. Our black Mar uniforms made us shadows. Of course, technology was so advanced these days that any camera or scanner would have picked-up on us. Tamarax was probably watching me from a window right now. Chorst must have known that; his hand kept brushing across his stun gun holster as we flew.

"Where do ya think the cadets are being held?" I asked him via earpiece. We were flying too far apart to speak directly. I then realized I had asked Chorst where he thought they were and quickly changed my question: "Where are the cadets?"

"Probably in Tamarax's cellblock." He replied swiftly as if he had not heard my first question.

"Tamarax has a cellblock?"

"It would make sense for her to have one. She is a terrorist to the USM."

"Right."

I swallowed when we flew underneath one of the hangars. Most people would not know this was a hangar. It really just looked like a large metal growth coming off the station. Only I knew it was a hangar due to the small electro field on the bottom. The hangar was made for a very special ship... A ship disguised as a comet that I would soon be chasing. I did not tell Chorst this. He didn't need to know about that part of my mission.

It would be hard to keep my mission from him when I needed the Bennu Bomb back. Not because I would possibly have to tell him the truth, but because I honestly could not explain what I needed to do. Trying to say my plan aloud was impossible. It was as if I was thinking in an alien language that my mouth could not cope with.

"There." Chorst pointed to a little hangar on the back of one of the large structures. According writing above it, it was 'hangar one': Tamarax's personal hangar for her own ships. Yeah, we'd be really inconspicuous going through there. I doubt Tam has any security cameras in her own hangar.

"You're the boss." I muttered.

The electro field tickled my skin as crept into the hangar. A single henchman stood at the entrance guarding the little hangar. He raised his heavy gun to fire but Chorst and I were too quick. Tamarax's henchman had stronger bodies than most so it took more than one shot form the stun gun to take them down. I noted this because Chorst and I would not want to find ourselves up against an army with only stun guns.

I admired the witch-like woman's ships as we strode through the hangar. There was something very gothic about them. The spaceship we passed had a black paintjob while its interior was black and red. I suppose they suited Tamarax's mind-set. Not just because of the colouring, but also because of the scratch marks near the door. I pictured Tamarax in my head looking like a crow. – I was not far-off from her actual appearance.

"I don't like this." I said as we stepped over the immobilized guard. "Tamarax would not leave her personal hangar to be guarded by one soldier."

Chorst did not reply. He just opened the door and walked through. I followed behind him slowly. The dark corridors created a labyrinth I could see myself easily getting lost in. What was intriguing about them was the strange equation that had been painted on all the walls. The scratch marks alongside the alien equation suggested it was Tamarax's doing. – She was more insane than I thought.

My head throbbed when I had a flashback to the dark room from my dream with the white curtains. After a few moments my mind returned to normal when Chorst grabbed my wrist firmly and dragged moi along like a parent taking a child away from their favourite ride at a theme park.

"I'm okay, cap." I told him.

He remained silent as he dragged me to the light-up map. "There is only one major cellblock." He said while pointing to the map. "We will check there for the cadets and if they are not there we will go to one of the smaller ones. There is a possibility that they are already de–"

"They're not dead." I said sharply. "Tamarax wants us to see them die."

"This would have been easier if the Tit had aided us."

I nodded in agreement. "If only we could contact the USM from here to tell them that we were right."

Actually, the USM would be able to aid us if they really wanted to. The Mar was constantly sending of a GPS transmission so they knew where we were. Maybe the Titonic would come, and maybe they would bring an armada. Unlikely; we had not moved up the pyramid of social hierarchy in the past hour so we were still worthless to them.

I waved my hand in front of Chorst's helm when he continued to stare at the ceiling. We did not have time for the Frenchy to stare at nothing. Only I was allowed to stare at nothing!

"The air vents." He said, pointing up at the grate on the ceiling. "Tamarax may be watching us, but it is unlikely she has security cameras in the vents."

"Will the vents take us all the way to the cellblock?" I asked while looking at the map.

"Yes." He said before taking a photo of the map with his wrist computer for future reference. He sent the image to my wrist computer as well even though it was unlikely I would need it if he was leading.

I followed Chorst into the air vent. The light from our wrists computers guided us. We had to move quickly in case any of Tamarax's henchmen came our way. Luckily it was not a tight squeeze for either of us. I had not been worried about Chorst fitting because although he was very tall, he was also incredibly thin. On Earth people would think he was a sickly anorexic with his lanky limbs, narrow shoulders and unhealthy pale skin. I knew better. His muscles were far denser than humans which meant he was incredibly strong for a lanky-looking fellow. Despite me knowledge of this, it was my human nature that wanted him to eat more.

"All good?" I asked him when we turned and started down a smaller vent.

He did not answer which meant he was fine and had nothing to comment on. I wish he had mentioned the corpse of an alien pest rotting in the small vent. It was difficult to shift my body to avoid it.

"How long till we reach the cellblock?" I whispered due to the fact there were henchman below us. We had been crawling for what felt like twenty minutes. We had even gone up on a slope a few minutes ago.

"We are going to have a slight delay." He replied impassively.

I looked past him to see what the problem was. The vent in front of us was a dead-end. Looking down through the grate I was above, I watched henchmen walk back and forth down the bleak corridor. There was no chance of jumping down and taking on all the beastly guards with just our stun guns.

"Should we go back and find another way?"

"That would accomplish nothing." He said while looking at the picture of the map on his wrist computer.

He tapped the dead-end vent. No surprise the little metal slate was hollow.

"What is on the other side?" I asked so quietly that my earpiece had to send my message to Chorst like we were on walkie-talkies.

I shuddered when Chorst drew his fist back and punched right through the air vent. The metal made a wrenching noise as his fist went right through it. He did not stop there. The trinard used his superhuman strength to widen the hole he had made. The metal's moaning echoed though the vent. The rhino-like guards were certainly intrigued by the noise. Due to the echoing, they could not pinpoint where the sound was coming from.

"Hurry up, Chorst." I muttered. Of course, when I looked back up he was already climbing through the hole he had made.

I scratched my helm on a dented piece of metal as I followed him. We made it through just in time. A giant pushed up the grate I had just been resting on. He swished his hand around and then retreated it when he found nothing.

"This isn't an air vent." I stated dumbly when I noticed my new surroundings. The light from our wrist computers had little effect on the impenetrable blackness. We seemed to have a heck of a lot more space horizontally, but vertically was much tighter so we could only lie down.

"We are in-between the first and second floor." He explained. "Be careful around the wires."

"Dang." I laughed quietly. "I was thinking about chewing on them and getting an electric shock."

"That would be irrational."

"I was joking."

A very long awkward silence followed.

There were far more rat-like pests in the new space. I presume that was because it was warmer here than it was in the air vent. These creatures were not cowardly like most Earthling rats, they were like racoons. They enjoyed being pests. Chorst was ruthless. He stunned all of them with his gun before they even looked up from chewing the wires.

"They are diseased." He said. "I would euthanize them if I had a proper gun."

"Nah." I shook my head. "They're on our side if they kill Tamarax's henchmen."

In a shocking turn of events, Chorst did not give me a reply.

We got more space vertically when the ceiling to the first floor ceiling slanted downwards while the second floor flooring sloped upwards. My heart sunk when we were cut off by another dead-end. The floor and the ceiling had come together abruptly in front of us and created a wall.

I had been crawling alongside Chorst until this point. While he stopped dead in his tracks I continued right up to the wall just to look for some sort of hole to crawl through. When I looked back Chorst's head was on the floor as he listened. Without a word he crawled towards the nearest light fixture –which he told me not to do– and started to lift it up. I was blinded by the artificial lighting when the trinard accidently faced the light in my direction. He pulled out one of its wires to quickly switch it off. He certainly did not want to attract anymore pests to the area with the light.

"We getting down here?" I asked as he cleared the hole where the light had been.

"We are directly one floor above the primary cellblock." He declared. "The cellblock is the basement of this building."

"And if the cadets aren't in this one?"

"Then we will have to find a quick way to the next cellblock. The quickest way to the next one is by conveyer belt which is too public. Otherwise it takes approximately an hour to get there."

"Then let's hope they're in this one."

Chorst slid through the narrow hole like he was made of soap. He looked far more elegant at it than I did. I felt a little chubby when my butt got stuck and I had to really had to push myself through while Chorst pulled moi down. Thank God my blush was hidden by my helm.

No surprise a bewildered guard turned the corner to see us. Before we could shoot him he turned around and ran for the alarm. My pale friend did not let him get far. He sprinted after him like lighting and got him four times in the back. The rhino conveniently fell just beyond the elevator and stairwell. For obvious reasons we chose not to take the elevator. You had to have an ID card to use it. The only issue was that the door to the stairwell could only be opened from the other side. The trinard fixed that by hacking into the control panel. The door made a clicking noise which suggested he had gotten it unlocked.

"I can see how you are able to hack the USM computers and stuff," I said cheerfully, "but how do you hack the electronic things here?"

"Trinords have programmed these mainframes." He said bluntly.

Oh. I thought simply. I was beginning to understand more about the trinord/trinard relationship. The trinards had been submissive slaves for so long, yet when the USM got involved and the civil war for freedom began, they had started rebelling and hacking their father race's computers.

***

Cacey had completely soaked through the fine handkerchief Sven had given him. He resorted to the nice grey jacket Tamarax had bought him to soak up the dark blue blood. Sven, who was used to seeing alien blood, wrung the blood out his old handkerchief. The poor blue boy was probably not going to stop bleeding for a while. His blood was thin like water and was not going to clot so easily.

After putting on his glasses he was able to see Cacey clearer now. The boy had been wearing a dark grey t-shirt under his jacket. Now that his jacket was off, Sven could see the end of his golden flame tattoo along with dozens of scars. The poor boy looked like he had been mauled even though all the scars were different ages.

"I think aldorens are more resistant to pain than humans." He explained when he noticed my father looking at his scars. "Even now the pain has numbed."

"The blood flow slowing yet?"

Cacey pulled his jacket away from his face to check, but no. It was not easing.

"I can't see out of my left eye." He laughed as pressed the jacket back to his face.

Won't matter for much longer.

"We can get that fixed." My father reassured him even though his eyes revealed his actual feelings.

"Why do you need those?" Cacey pointed to the glasses.

"To see better."

"On your planet can you not fix your eyes properly?"

"We have the technology."

"Then why haven't you gotten your eyes fixed? You got your skin fixed." He asked curiously.

My father ran his hand across his cheek. How could the blue boy tell he had used anti-aging cosmetics?

"Because glasses are sexy." He joked before readjusting his spectacles.

"Okay." The boy nodded along, cheerfully swinging his legs.

Veck sighed and rested her head against the wall. The cadet cells were so silent that they could hear Sven and Cacey's conversation perfectly. Most of them had figured out that Sven was happily playing into Cacey's flirting. They could not blame my father. They all felt their death was near so he had nothing to lose by chatting with the smitten slave clone. Donn knew my father was married which is why the situation made him uncomfortable. However, he was not aware that the relationship had shattered so Sven was on the rebound. – And he had told Geraldine he wanted to be alone. Haha... My father did not seem to know himself well enough.

Kel had stopped crying. He was just sitting silently in the corner with his head hidden in his arms and legs. He could not get the image of Nis being tortured out of his mind. The little golden boy had been sent to his death and it was his fault. Out of everything that had happened in Kel's life the death of such an innocent boy had really affected him the most. It had affected all the cadets. They all prayed to their different gods hoping that a miracle would save him.

Everyone in the cellblock perked up when there was a loud clanging noise. One of the large doors to the cellblock had been opened. Some were hopeful while others were fearful. Was it Tamarax? Was Nis with her? No... it was Chorst and I coming to save the day.

My own father did not recognize me with my helm on. He thought it was one of Tam's smaller soldiers until he saw the USM emblem printed on my chest plate.

"Hi daddy!" I said like a little girl when I saw him. It was a relief to know he was still alive.

"Amelia!" He practically screamed. He ran for the cage door before he remembered it was electrified.

"Am?" Other voices in the cells past him began to question. Tamarax had told them all I was coming but they hadn't believed her.

"How did you get here?" My father asked. Cacey now stood behind him.

"Long story." I muttered as Chorst fiddled with the panel that controlled the cage doors.

"Are you okay?" He asked curiously. He was not just worried about my physical being. My father feared for my mental health. Although he could not see my face from everything he had heard he knew something was wrong.

"Feelin' fine." I told him. Thank God he could not see my eye twitch. "You?"

"A little confused and overwhelmed."

He squeezed me as soon as Chorst got the gate open. I hugged him back. My father was the one thing I truly missed when I went to Starside Academy. I did not ever have to see the Earth again if he was not on it.

Cacey remained in the cell timidly. The gate was open, yet he still felt trapped. My father did not notice. He was more intrigued by his daughter appearing at the most feared terrorist's station.

"What beef does Tamarax have with you?" Sven muttered as Chorst's fingers danced across the panel to open Donn and Kel's cell.

"Dad," I began calmly. I did not want to give anything away, "I promise I'll tell you everything once we're safe. Just trust me."

He eyed me suspiciously. My father knew there was so little time for us to talk about all the drama in my life. He decided to just start with the simple questions. "Why did Tam capture me and the cadets?"

"A lot of reasons." I said. "For her own insane reasons she wants me to see you guys die."

And you're bait to keep me from my actual mission.

"Wait." He raised his eyebrows. "She knows you're here?"

"Yeap."

"Then why haven't the alarms sounded or why aren't guards coming?"

"Give us a sense of false hope." Chorst answered for me.

My father turned to look at the impassive boy working away at the panel. His voice sounded so familiar and his tall lanky appearance allowed my father to instantly know what species he was.

"That's Frenchy?" He whispered quietly in my ear.

"Yeah. You should see him with his helm off. His eyes are to die for."

"Chorstand Metccli." The trinard said. He had heard our conversation. "We have met before."

My father knew the surname, but he did not know the boy. "We have?" He asked curiously.

"You joined Jacoden during a holo communication once back when you were an ambassador. We discussed the habitat of the dome on Okevella."

"Your father is Jac?" My father asked gape-jawed.

"You were an ambassador at the same time as Jac?" I asked. It was interesting to think my father and Chorst's father had worked together and... oh. Oh God!

"You slept with Jac?" I said sharply.

My father looked surprised. There was no way I could know have that. He had never told anyone that he had touched that trinard and he doubted Jac had said anything because sex was meaningless to his species. I was not supposed to know that part of my father's history, but the information Bennu had given moi was leaking into my brain.

"Sort of. First bisexual experience at least." He said with a slight smile. He leaned in so Chorst could not overhear us. "That's why I know trinards aren't fun to have sex with."

I was stunned. Of course my father had slept with the pale boy's father. That's just how it had to be. My father and I were so similar that we were intrigued by the same men.

"Am!" Donn leapt out of the cell and wrapped his scrawny little arms around my chest. He had not overheard my conversation with Sven. He was too excited to get out of the hellish prison. "How did you find us?"

I patted him on the back and ignored the question. I noticed Kel at the back of the prison cell. All the other cadets had filed out but he had remained. – Just like Cacey in the other cell. They both felt they deserved to stay.

Veck glanced at me when Chorst got their cell open. She and I had been the harshest on Kel out of all the cadets.

"You know your way around technology." Sven noted as Chorst stepped away from the third panel he had hacked. "Your father taught you how to do that?"

"It is genetic." He said impassively. "We must go hastily. Now that you are all free Tamarax will want to kill you."

"Eh?" Donn looked at the trinard in confusion.

"Tamarax is intentionally letting us free you because she intend to have you killed in front of Amelia just as we are about to escape."

My father sighed. "Then how are we gonna get out of here?" Sven and the cadets were all less reassured now. We had come to save them only to watch them die.

"Firstly, use the dub crew spaceship we stole from the USM as a distraction, then move stealthily into the nearest hangar and steal a spaceship that can accompany all of us."

The nearest hangar was hangar four: The one Tam knew we were going to be heading for.

"Okay." Sven nodded along. The plan sounded very faulty.

Zand stepped in front of the other cadets. "We can't leave without Nis."

Chorst looked to her without saying a word. He knew what had happened. "What direction was he taken?"

The Jell-O girl pointed forward in the direction Chorst and I had come from.

"I will retrieve him alone." He said coldly before passing his stun gun to Zand. "You and Am will protect the cadets and Sven and get them to hangar four. I will meet you there with Nis. He may already have entered grey state though."

"We need to take him back to Starside." Zand insisted while accepting the stun gun.

I overheard this conversation. It helped explain why Kel was so down. I had absolutely no idea what to say to the phallic... Probably not addressing him as 'phallic' was good for starters.

"Up and at 'em, Kel." I said cheerfully.

He did not reply, although he did look up. His black and yellow eyes had never looked sadder. I had not heard the story on why Nis had been taken. I could only presume that Kel was feeling more guilt than the other cadets because he had done something that had gotten Nis taken away.

"I'm not gonna leave without ya." I told him firmly, but with heart.

Not wanting to make a scene, the algrin stood up with his head hung low and followed me out of the cell. Surprisingly, my father was having a similar incident in the cell next door.

"It's okay, Cacey." Sven said to the meek little blue boy. "We're gonna protect you."

Cacey shook his head frantically while still keeping his jacket attached to his face: "The USM doesn't like slave clones. T-they kill us."

My father raised his eyebrows. He looked back out at me and the other cadets. Chorst had already vanished to go get Nis. We did not have time to try and convince the little blue boy to come, but my father did not have the heart to leave him.

"Now, who told you that?" He asked as if he was addressing a child. "Tamarax? She's a liar. I worked for the USM. They'll find you a home."

My father was lying about Tamarax being a liar. The United Systems of Mel only spared around twenty per cent of slave clones discovered. Most had to be euthanized due to the diseases or injures they had. Most were mentally unstable and the USM did not put much money into making institutions for slave clones so they were euthanized as well. Sven knew this, yet he was sure the USM would save Cacey. The euthanizing was for massive bulks of slave clones that had nowhere to go. Cacey was just one little boy. My father would fight to save him. He would ask Della Vis Homen. She was not just an ambassador. She had taken on a second job as the Hashtish Alliance representative for the Ministry of Customs, Immigration and Asylum Assistance (MCIAA). The Hashtish Alliance had a small chain of asylums for freed slave clones on their planets. They required a lot of paperwork to get into, but Sven would do work to get Cacey there. – This was all providing that he and Cacey made it out of Tamarax Station, of course.

My father outstretched his glove-covered hand. "Trust me."

Cacey stared at him with his one good eye. Sven's heart sunk when the blue boy turned around. He thought he was walking further into the cell. It turned out the aldoren was actually just going back to pick up the blood-stained handkerchief he had left on the bench. Putting it in his pant pocket, he took my father's hand and walked out of the cell. I looked at my father suspiciously. Obviously something had happened between him and Geraldine if he was so happily holding an alien's hand. Oh well, now was not the time to ask about that.

"Zand, you guard the back. I'll lead." I said.

"Got it." She replied in a semi-amused tone. She was an aggressive girl who actually wanted to take on Tamarax's henchmen.

"Great," I clapped my together around my stun gun before, "then let's ge–"

My worst fear. The alarm sounded. My first thought was of Chorst when he tried to show me his emotions through telepathy. I was snapped back into reality when Veck put her hand on my shoulder.

"We need to move!" She screamed over the siren.

We ran like hell out of the cellblock. I had not expected Tamarax's attack to be this conspicuous. She seemed like the kind of woman who would want to surprise us with her attack and then have a huge monologue to explain her evil plan.

"Wait!" Cacey yelled as I tried to lead the group down one of the ways in the labyrinth. "This way is less used by henchmen." He said while pointing in the opposite direction.

I looked at the map on my wrist computer. The small corridor the blue boy was pointing to was apparently so insignificant that it did not even come up on the map. I wondered if he was trying to lead us into a trap, but the jacket he was using to cover his bloody face said otherwise. For so many years he had waited for a way to escape Tamarax Station. He did not want to lose his one chance at freedom.

I became less stressed when the sirens calmed. "All security personnel report to hangar four." The robotic voice said. – I was not so sure about going to hangar four now.

"It goes through one of Tamarax's smaller bioengineering labs." He explained.

The other cadets looked suspicious of him as well, but I nodded and led the way down his route. Zand was at the back with her stun gun ready, constantly looking around for any henchmen.

We all relaxed when we realized Cacey had just saved us. A dozen beastly henchmen jogged by from the direction we had originally come and went down the corridor I had originally suggested.

"We shouldn't go to hangar four if they're going to meet us there." Veck muttered as we quickly strode down the hall.

"They're gonna meet us at any hangar we go to." I said. "And we told Chorst that we'd meet him there so we have to."

The corridor turned out to be a supposed dead-end. The door to the bioengineering lab was locked and only a computer genius like Chorst would be able to hack it. None of us were too anxious about henchmen coming down this hall seeing as it wasn't even on the map. For me, it was simply a matter of time. Catching up to the 'comet' with the 4th dimensional being in it was not going to be easy.

"You wouldn't by any chance know the password would you?" My father asked the slave clone.

Without a word, Cacey passed his bloody jacket to Sven. Some of the cadets gasped when they saw the left side of the blue boy's face. The blood flow was finally slowing even though his face was still drenched with the dark blue blood. His eye was what really disturbed us all. Cacey would have to get surgery if he wanted to see out of his left eye again, but I doubt surgery like that would be provided for a slave clone. If it was up to the USM he would not even be alive.

Chorst would disapprove of how Cacey dealt with the panel. He smashed his blue fist into the panel and broke the screen. Surprisingly, the door made a clicking noise that suggested it had unlocked.

"Tamarax showed me how to do that." He told my father as he took his jacket back and pressed it against his bloody face again. "Everything always breaks around here."

"Not bad." I praised while trying to yank the door open manually.

The bioengineering lab was something out of a horror movie. Like a child I took a step closer to my father as we walked through the carnage of alien animals and humanoids. This lab appeared to have been mainly for creating implants for soldiers. I knew this because one of the dead creatures was stuffed full of electronic implants.

"These are Tamarax's personal experiments." Cacey sighed as we weaved between the benches.

Most of the cadets felt very nauseous at the sight of the carcases, but then there were others like Veck. She trailed her hand across the various weapons of pain before picking up an electronic stick. She tossed it between her hands to test its weight before carelessly switching the button on the side of it. We all jumped when a purple alien carcass jittered like it had been struck by lightning. The electrocution was so powerful that it melted the skin. The smell was nasty and we quickly moved away from the rotting corpse.

"Must be some sort of thing that makes sure the USM get no survivors." Veck stated. I ignored her. – There was no need to melt a corpse.

When Cacey said the bioengineering lab was 'little' he meant it was little compared to all bioengineering labs at Tamarax Station. This one was narrow yet long like a corridor. Its black walls made it seem smaller than it was. It was the perfect work environment for a madwoman like Tam.

We all held our breath when we reached the 'kennels' at the end of the lab. Some of the small cages had alien animals in them while others had obvious humanoids. All the creatures had strange implants or scars covering their sickly bare bodies. The humanoid aliens retained no humanity. Most of them appeared to have been lobotomized. Their impassive staring made me feel sicker than if they had looked sad or scared.

It was good that Chorst was off looking for Nis, because the sight would have made him enraged even if he didn't show it. A trinard female in a little kennel stared blankly at us as we walked by. Well, out of her one good amethyst eye. Her other eye was an electronic blue one. Her head was completely shaved to reveal the implants in her skull while her missing hand was being used for an experiment across the room on a blood-stained bench.

"We've gotta get them out!" Jhan squealed before trying to run toward the trinard's kennel. Donn grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back. He knew better.

"They're dead." Kel said lifelessly from the back of our group.

"But," Jhan tried to worm out of Donn's grip, "we have to save them. We can't be monsters!"

"Look at them." The algrin continued even though none of were sure how Jhan saw if she had no eyes. "There's only one way to save them... and we don't have time to do them all."

"What are you talking about?" Or turned around and asked the sullen boy.

"Death is their only escape."

We all knew he was right even though I chose not to think that way. My father put an arm around me. He had forgotten how harsh living in space was. He had managed to block out all of his horrendous memories and only remembered the highlights. Sadly, none of the imagery we had witnessed today was new to him. Cacey seemed used to it as well even if he did look solemn. On many occasions Tam had brought him into a lab to show him her new 'achievements' and he would have to pretend to be impressed even if he felt like vomiting.

"We can't kill them." Nor squeaked, almost in tears.

I felt a little uncomfortable to have all eyes on moi for answers. Apparently I was leading this mission so the fate of the ungodly experiments was up to me. Thank God my awkwardness was hidden by my helm. I avoided the gaze of the poor creatures in the kennels. Although they had all lost their sanity a part of them knew we were not to be feared like Tamarax was. They were intrigued by our presence.

I took a step back to address my fellow cadets, Cacey and my father. Little did I know that on the bench behind me was a tank of overgrown insects. No one bothered to mention this so I didn't notice.

Zand, being the leader she was, joined me at the front to address the others on the situation. Who knew that in the end Zand and I would be able to work so well together? At Starside Academy we had probably been enemies because we were so similar which meant we were equally stubborn. I saw now that she was a great ally. Even Chorst trusted her seeing as he gave her his stun gun to protect the group. There was a reason she was going to become a captain in the USM Navy, and I knew what it was now; she was a badass.

Even the Jell-O girl was surprised by my decision: "We leave them how we found them. They're not our problem."

Harsh words. Even though the dark voice inside my mind had actually said that, I agreed with it this time. If I was sane I'm not sure I would have agreed with my alter ego. Maybe me and the dark voice were finally merging minds and not duelling it out for my body... or maybe the dark voice was about to take over my body and I would become the voice at the back if its mind... or maybe I'm paranoid.

"Am?" Donn asked as if he was not sure it was me.

If the cadets had not known I was losing my sanity before, they knew now. They all wanted to aid the poor abominations in some way and yet I just chose to ignore them. I sounded like the perfect USM employee.

My father wished he could see my eyes. There was something not right about me. He wondered what had happened to his daughter. Sadly, I doubted there would be time later to explain to him what had happened with the tear in the space time continuum.

"We're wasting time even talking about them." I said coldly.

Everyone I stood in front of gasped when Zand picked up a scalpel from the bench behind us and jabbed it into my back. I doubted the scalpel could penetrate by armour, but I still spun around like lightning to face her. To my surprise an overgrown insect was at the end of the scalpel and Zand had taken it off my back. I was relieved she was helping moi instead of trying to literally stab me in the back.

I nodded in understanding. "Thanks."

She chucked the scalpel and the overgrown insect aside. "Anytime." She replied placidly.

"Let's move." I said before making my way around the insect-infested bench and towards the end of the lab.

Despite the fact no one agreed with my decision, they continued followed me. Besides avoiding the looks from the creatures in the kennels, I also ignored my father's judgemental gaze.

"Amelia..." He began.

"What would you have me do?" I hissed sharply. "There is no good ending for them." I pointed to the kennels. "Releasing them would accomplish nothing and murdering them would accomplish less."

Sven said no more. He was not sure what he would do if he was in my position.

"Where do we go from here?" I asked Cacey as we reached the door. "How far are we from hangar four?"

"Well, how fast do you want to get to the hangar? We can either go directly through the corridors which will most likely get us caught or we can go through the second part of the lab across the hallway which will take longer but we are less likely to get caught."

The fact there was a second part to the bioengineering lab made my stomach churn. Tamarax had a lot of experiments going in such a 'little lab'.

I sighed. "Looks like we get to go through another lab. Hooray!"

Cacey nodded and opened the door with his free hand. Luckily, the door to the second part of the lab was only a few feet away. What really intrigued me was the monitor to the side of the door. It was like the one Chorst and I had seen before that had the map on it, but this one had a message about the USM raid on it. Wait... what USM raid?

"Are we the USM raiders?" Veck asked, almost joking.

"No." I said with a smile that nobody else could see due to my helm. "I know who the raiders are."

***

Tamarax stared the bloody corpse of Dork on the floor in the corridor. It had been his job to make sure the security alarm would not go off. Tamarax wanted Chorst and I to think we were go to make it make out the station discreetly and then she wanted to crush our ambitions by killing us in the hangars. The alarms had ruined everything.

Her head snapped up when a heard a henchman jogging towards her. "Get to hangar four." She hissed.

"That's what I'm here to talk to you about." He grunted.

"Eh?" She squinted her eyes. "If Am has already escaped then yo–"

"No." He shook his head. "They haven't arrived at hangar four yet, but a USM marines have entered through hangar four and will possibly help them escape."

The witch-like woman stared blankly at the henchman. "I beg your pardon?"

"There's a USM Naval spaceship circling Tamarax Station. More may be on the way."

If my nails were sharp enough I would stab right through your tough skin and tear out your lungs. Tamarax thought with a twitching eye. In her vision of how this would all go down she did not recall a USM Naval ship appearing.

"Then you really need to get to hangar four and annihilate all USM personnel." She turned away from the soldier, and then turned back. "But leave Am... and my slave clone alive. I'll deal with those two myself."

"Yes ma'am." He grunted before sprinting to hangar four.

Once she was alone Tamarax incomprehensibly cursed in her native language while kicking the corpse Dork repeatedly. She stopped once the poor dead man's ribcage was completely shattered.

"Stick to the plan." She told herself. She wasn't even sure if she had a plan. All she knew was that Tak was on its way to collide with the star and then she would be able to recreate the universe.

We're still following that plan, right? Tam asked the dark voice at the back of her mind.

Hey, I'm doing my part. You do yours. The voice replied beguilingly.

***

Cameron Vis Home jumped when he spun around to see Cap Gor staring at him. The Titonic's hangar was bustling with anxious marines who wanted their chance to hop on a shuttle and go down to Tamarax Station. All of them had been incredibly sceptical about Gor's decision to fly across the galaxy on what appeared to be a wild goose chase, but now all they could think about was how amazing it would be to defeat Tamarax. It would look great on all of their records.

"I suppose you're going down with them." Cap Gor said to the little harsnic who was in full armour with his gun in its holster.

"My sister's down there... and if she was right about Tamarax Station than maybe she was right about Tam having my father as well."

"I was informed that Dell tried to call you."

"I'll call her back."

"Tek wants to have a word with you."

"I'll talk to her later."

Gor's pincers clicked: "She said she's impressed."

Cameron smiled behind his helm. Maybe it was possible that First Off Tek wouldn't kill him after all. She would only charge him for assault and have him dishonourably discharged. By that point, Cameron was okay with that.

"Cap." A man in full armour acknowledged as he strode by to get on a shuttle. He was a primary reason that the Titonic had left dock. The man was a professionally trained USM assassin that requested they journey to Tamarax Station because he trusted me, and Gor trusted him seeing as he was Lord Frekostillion Hes Canamao which meant he worked directly for Mel. If he trusted me, then Gor saw a reason to trust me too.

"Try not to kill everyone down there!" Gor joked. Frek spun around and blocked Gor's comment with his hand before turning back and leaving.

The ground shuttered as Tamarax Station fired on the Titonic. The heavy warship had a strong shield and an even stronger body. It would be hours before they worried about Tam doing any real damage. They would only fret if Tamarax brought out her bigger weapons that they knew she probably had.

"Are we going to receive any aid?" Cameron asked.

Gor shrugged. "I think we're going to get a little bit of aid."

"The USM is going to send a ship even though we went against orders by leaving the dock?"

"They're sending five ships... and Mel."

If Cameron had been sipping water he would have spat it out comically at that moment. Mel did not fight. Everyone in the galaxy knew that. The last recorded time Mel lifted a finger to fight was over twelve billion years ago during the early days of the United Systems of Mel. An extremely chauvinist race of aliens hated the USM for having a female leader and rebelled. They intentionally tortured and killed female USM personnel. After the fifteenth death of a female Mel took action sent all USM spaceships away from the planet while she remained. Mel returned to the original USM outpost a few months later drenched in the blood of a million people. – She singlehandedly created the first fourth-class planet.

"Is she going to f-fight?" Cameron stuttered unprofessionally.

"She did not say. She just said she would be joining us after she finished some other work."

My brother swallowed. He, like most of the crew, had conflicted feelings about Mel intervening in the fight. They all knew the story of the first fourth-class planet so they knew how ruthless she could be. She could destroy the whole of Tamarax Station by herself. Cameron just prayed that she did not confront moi and question me about how I broke so many rules and found Tamarax Station. If you made Mel a personal enemy, nothing in the universe could save you from her wrath. She may have done nothing about Tamarax Station before, but now that she was coming it could turn into a bloodbath.
32: There Goes Your Innocence

Chorst had gotten a little side-tracked from his mission when the sirens had originally gone off. Like me and the others, he had looked at the nearest monitor and discovered that a USM Naval spaceship was attacking. This certainly changed his plan to steal one of Tamarax's ships while using the dub spaceship as a decoy. That was for the best. The original plan had too many variables for him to think of it as logical.

If you had not figured it out yet; all of Tamarax's most torturous places tended to be in the same area... and they were all in the floors below her office. There was the cellblock, bioengineering lab, torture rooms and then all the computers were running on the alien equivalent of Windows Vista. Really, it was best to avoid any of the rooms in Tamarax's main building.

With all the chaos surrounding hangar four, Chorst found it easy to go unnoticed as he crept down the corridor. There were various rooms dedicated to torture. The trinard had already walked into the wrong one and was forced to beat an employed tormenter unconscious. The little torture rooms were each about the size of an average bathroom. They even seemed similar to a bathroom as they had the 'vacant' or 'occupied' signs on them. Most of the rooms were vacant save the one Chorst had walked into before. Right at the very end of the corridor was an 'occupied' torture room.

Even from the corridor Chorst could hear that the torture room was dead quiet. He only heard the clattering of utensils. Unarmed, the pale boy tightened his left fist while his other hand went to the panel. To his surprise, the door made a hissing noise as it opened even though he hadn't even touched the panel. Chorst was a deer in the headlights when he saw the tormentor standing in the doorway holding a tray of dirty utensils. The pale red-eyed man looked surprised to see Chorst. It was lucky the trinord could not see through the helm otherwise he would have immediately known that he had an advantage over the trinard. Then again, it was quite obvious he had an advantage over Chorst seeing as he was a foot taller than the pale boy.

Unlike most of the personnel at Tamarax Station, this trinord was not a slave clone or lower-class USM citizen. He was paid to be a torturer. He had taken on the job simply for fun. Humans would think that all trinords were sadistic bastards, and they were. Like it was genetic for trinards to fear expressing thoughts or feelings, it was genetic for trinords to have sadistic tendencies. That was why the USM was less rough on trinords in court when they hurt someone. They knew it was just in their nature. You know that kid you went to kindergarten with? That little shit who practically got away with murder because the caretakers knew they had a messed-up home life? Yeah, it was like that except on a larger scale.

Chorst overcame his fear of trinords. He had to. If he was ever going to become a captain in the USM Navy then he had to extinguish his phobia. He knocked the tray out of the trinord's hands. As the utensils fell he grabbed what looked like a bloody corkscrew. The trinord was bewildered. After the alarm went off a few minutes before he had hardly expected the USM to arrive at his haven.

Frenchy could have done so many things at this moment. He could have knocked the trinord out, stabbed him in the shoulder or used his knew corkscrew weapon to threaten the taller man into submission. What did Chorst end up doing? He plunged the corkscrew into the trinord's eye. The taller man's body stiffened before he dropped to his knees. He looked like he was trying to bow to Chorst.

No one will ever be sure if trinards could feel vengeful. What went on in a trinard's mind was even beyond a telepath's judgement. The only sign that Chorst felt anything at all was how he dealt with this trinord. With the pale red-eyed man on his knees dying slowly, Chorst drew his fist back before hitting the man's temple, cracking his skull, and letting him hit the floor.

Beyond the lifeless trinord sat Nis. He was locked into a cold black chair with his head hung low. His golden complexion had faded into greyness. Even his sparkly golden hair had turned the dull colour. He was not dead, but in no way was he living.

Chorst looked at the scattered utensils of torture on the floor. In the end he bent down and picked up long slender knife. On day one he had been told what he had to do if Nis ever entered grey-state.

First, he freed Nis's wrists and ankles. His body-glove was torn in most areas to reveal the grey skin underneath. Even Chorst wondered how far into the torture it was before the little boy entered grey state. Hopefully, he had gone quickly. In the state he would feel no physical pain.

Out of curiosity Chorst gently lifted Nis's head. He looked impassive like a trinard if not a little more solemn. His clear blood looked like tears as it came from where his eyes used to be. The trinard let the head drop again. He felt no need to look at the boy's face as he put him out of his misery.

He wrapped an arm around the boy's torso and pulled him into a hug. Not an expression of emotion, he simply did it because he knew Nis's species liked being close to someone. It was comforting for them as it replicated how their mothers used to hold them when they were babies. Even though Nis was in grey state, Chorst felt it was necessary.

The boy's skin became as black as Chorst's uniform as the sharp knife tore through his heart. The final stage for bhe marcs: black stage.

Without a moment to spare, Chorst checked his wrist computer to see where the others and I had gotten to (another feature I did not know we had on our wrist computers). He roughly picked up Nis's lifeless body and made a dash for it. All security and military personnel had gone to hangar four so it was unlikely he would encounter any danger in the corridors.

Looking down at the body, he did not understand why all the cadets would want the corpse of Nis. If he didn't bring it to them they would not be satisfied. It was most likely a closure thing for them. Chorst did not understand that. He kind did not need to see a corpse to have closure. When he was born through Caesarean section his father just left his mother on the operating table and went home with Chorst. The fact the pale boy was even considering taking the body of Nis back to Starside was quite unusual for his nature.

***

"So... you think it's Cameron's ship?" Sven asked as we strode through the second part of the lab. We had to ignore all the horrendous experiments and just continue forward.

"Well, he and my science teacher were the only two I told my plan to."

Despite everything, my father had a little smile on his face that said 'that's my boy. Sure, I came into Tamarax Station and saved his life, but when Cameron comes in with the mop-up crew he's prouder of him. Typical.

Cacey turned and looked at my father with his good eye. "You have two kids?" He asked as if it was the most shocking thing in the universe.

Sven shrugged: "Yes?"

"That's legal?"

"Yes. Is it different for aldorens?" Then Sven remembered the third-class laws in the USM and swallowed.

Cacey shrugged. He would not know seeing as he had never been to his own planet. He only knew the religion of his original copy and nothing about the politics of his planet. He, like Sven, knew that most third-class species were not allowed to have more than one child under normal circumstances because of population control. If a third-class population grew too large they could not move to another planet. That was why second-class was slightly better than third. Humans could move around the whole Solar System if Earth was overflowing with people (which it wasn't).

"My son is actually a first-class citizen." Sven said proudly. I glared at him even though he could not see my eyes.

That shocked Cacey even more. "How?"

"His mother's first-class."

"You had a child with a first-class citizen?"

All the cadets were listening into their conversation. They didn't really have a choice seeing as none of them had sparked up conversations. They actually found it interesting to listen to Cacey and learn what it meant to be a slave clone or third-class alien. – And they had thought their lives as second-class citizens were bad. They found it strange for a second-class citizen like Sven to have a child with a first-class alien, but Cacey had to find it even stranger. The first-class domain was so far away from his own.

Everyone turned around when the door we had originally come through slid open. If it had been one of Tamarax's personnel then they would gotten the crap beaten out of them by eighteen pissed-off cadets. I really wished it had been a henchman instead of Chorst. I didn't have to look too hard to see what was in his arms. Only after he had reached us did I dare look at the lifeless body.

Something inside all of the cadets was lost that moment; innocence. The most virtuous creature we had ever known had been tortured to death. I say death even though he had only been tortured into grey state because I considered the two to be the same things. I instinctively looked to Kel seeing as he had been the grimmest when I rescued him. He was not crying, just staring wide-eyed at the lifeless corpse the trinard was carrying. One of the female cadets whimpered 'no' although I was not sure which one it was.

"A USM Naval spaceship is orbiting Tamarax Station." Chorst stated impassively. "We will attempt to make contact with them."

He dropped the body on one of the benches so that he had easier access to his wrist computer. All of us kept our distance save Veck. She felt the least repulsed about seeing the corpse of the innocent boy. She wanted to see what had caused his death. At first she thought it was the loss of his eyes, but then she saw the large amount of clear blood coming from his chest and understood.

"Are you alright?" She asked Chorst even though she knew he could not answer. Unsurprisingly, he remained silent.

"What is Cameron Vis Homen's contact information?"

"I'll call him," I said with a gulp. I could not take my eyes of Nis, "providing he's in range."

"Can I join the call?" My father asked, tapping his earpiece.

"I don't know how to connect you to the call if you don't have a wrist computer." I muttered with a hint of embarrassment in my voice.

Back on Earth I was the master of technology. Out here, I was a technophobe. That was pretty depressing seeing as alien tech was not that different from technology I would find on Earth. Of course I had the iWatch 750 back on Earth that vaguely resembled the USM wrist computer, and yet I still could not understand how the stupid little computer worked.

"Am?" The image of a black helm appeared on my little screen.

"Cam?"

"You okay?" He yelped femininely.

"Hi!" My father said abruptly and moved into the view of the wrist computer. He was a little disappointed that Cameron had hidden his face, and he knew it was him.

As my father could not hear what I heard, Cameron just waved before returning his attention to moi.

"We're fine," I thought of Nis and Cacey. ", for the most part. Ya think you could send some USM guys to come pick us up?"

"I'm coming to get you." He said before windowing my image so he could find us via the GPS tabs in the cadet suits. I heard someone muttering behind him. Cameron looked up, a little surprised. "Oh... and apparently Frek is joining me."

"Frek?" I said aloud so the cadets could hear.

The sound of guns firing came from my brother's side of the line. "I gotta go!" He said loudly over what sounded like a bomb going off. "Stay put and we'll be there in a minute!"

I tried to say 'okay' however the harsnic had already ended the call.

My father eyed me suspiciously. "What's Frek's full name?" He asked.

"Freksen Von Blooblebottom or something weird like that." I joked before I remembered that this was not an appropriate time to be making jokes seeing as I was in the same room as a corpse.

"Frekostillion?" My father asked. "The harsnic from Hashtish 8? The science nerd assassin?"

All the cadets, including moi, exchanged looks. I recalled that Frek had said he knew my father and many of the other ambassadors, but had he just called the harsnic an assassin?

"Did you just call him a... Oh no." I shook my head. "You didn't sleep with him too did you?"

My father scowled. "No. We were friends."

"I know. He told me."

"And you know Frek?"

"He's our science teacher." I gestured to all the cadets, including the corpse of Nis. For some reason I just expected him to wake up and start being his usual jubilant self. I think all the cadets did. We were so shocked that we were denying his death.

That surprised my father. The harsnic had an excellent CV. Frek had not only trained to be a science officer, he had also been trained as a personal assassin for Mel which is why he had the title of 'lord'. Why in the universe would Frek settle for just being a science teacher?

In the silence I heard someone singing almost in a whisper. It was Veck. Her hand remained on Nis's chest as she hummed. Even though I could hardly hear her it was easy to tell that she had a lovely alto voice. She mouthed the words so faintly that I could not tell what she was singing about. Like all the other cadets I presumed it was religious hymn from her planet. The song was obviously for little Nis.

All of us had different feelings about death. Argon passés had built their culture on respect of their own bodies and the bodies of their loved ones. However, they had less care for the bodies of anyone outside of their inner circle. Nis had quite obviously been deeply integrated into Veck's circle. She felt the need to pay respect to his body.

It was different for trinards who did not care for their physical bodies at all. They saw the mind as a separate entity from the body and it was the only part of a person that had real value. Then again, they understood that beliefs were different throughout the USM which was why they paid more respect to the bodies of other species. Belief-wise, I was probably more similar to trinards than I thought. I cared for Nis's body, but certainly not as much as Veck. I felt he had been more valuable alive. I would not complain if Chorst had not brought his body back from the torture room.

"What's happened between you and Geraldine?" I asked my father spontaneously after a moment of silence.

Cacey thought who's Geraldine? While Sven wondered how I could tell something had happened between the two of them. He slowly opened his mouth to answer, but then we all became distracted when the door we had originally been heading for opened. I relaxed when I saw USM soldiers. Although of their faces were hidden, I could instantly tell Frek and Cameron from the group of USM personnel. Well, mainly Frek as his armour and weapons were slightly different from the standard USM ones.

Who did Cameron notice first? Sven of course.

"Father!" He cried before sprinting across the long lab. He slowed just as he reached the Swede so that he could do the harsnic single-arm hug. My father ignored that and just used both arms.

Frek did a headcount of all the cadets before he noticed the black figure on the bench. His heart sunk when he realized which cadet it was. In situations like these the USM did not generally collect the body of a bhe marc. They could not return Nis's body to his home planet as it could send his family into grey state. Frek knew this, and yet decided that they would take the body back to Starside and give Nis a proper cremation.

"Everyone else okay?" The teacher asked as he strode towards the group. He noted Cacey's bleeding face, and then he saw Sven and swallowed. He had been the one that ended their friendship badly because he just flat-out stopped talking to the human and never told Sven why. This was a very awkward reunion.

He looked at the alien female behind him. "Help him." He pointed to Cacey.

The woman was hesitant. She knew Cacey was an aldoren and they were not supposed to provide medical assistance to third-class citizens. If she had known he was a slave clone aldoren then she would have completely gone against Frek and denied the blue boy any assistance.

After Cameron released him, Sven gave Cacey a reassuring look to tell him that it was okay to accept aid. The blue boy looked terrified of the USM soldiers. The woman had to forcefully remove the jacket from the left side his face to as she tried to aid him.

"Oh, Nis." Frek whispered solemnly as he looked down at the cold body. Veck looked to the harsnic with sadness filling her large black eyes.

"Tamarax must die." She hissed. "When the USM finds her they cannot hesitate."

Frek agreed, although he could not say it out loud.

I will avenge Nis personally. I thought coldly. This time, it was not the dark voice at the back of my mind, it we me and me only thinking that.

"What happened?" Cam asked Sven in a whisper. My father shook his head to tell him "I'll tell you later".

"We got to get you all back to the shuttles." Frek said firmly to break the gloomy atmosphere. He then looked back at the USM soldiers. There were only eight of them including himself and Cameron. "We're going to have to be careful. Stay in a tight formation."

Zand tossed the stun gun to Chorst. "You're gonna need it more than I do." She said almost as a joke. Of course she would not need a stun gun to defend herself... She was made of Jell-O.

Not to be melodramatic or anything, but looking around at the cadets I realized that Nis was not the only one who was not going to make it back to Starside alive. Damn Bennu for showing me their fates. I could not place faces to deaths. However, I had my suspicions. Due to the dreams I vaguely remembered, I suspected something was going to happen to Chorst. Whether he lived or died, I was not sure, yet he would have the same fate as everyone else in the universe if I didn't...

"Let's move!" Frek barked when his sensitive harsnic ears picked-up on footsteps in the corridor outside the lab. He picked up Nis's small body and threw him over his soldier carelessly. He felt for the bhe marc, nonetheless he had to focus on the living at that moment.

It went without saying that Chorst and I had to assist. Our armour was weaker than the standard USM armour, but at least we had some protection. The other cadets were screwed if they got shot.

"How's Alk?" My father asked Frek. It was strange that this was the first time in years that they had spoken.

Frek adjusted his grip on the corpse as they strode towards the door. "Due to the situation she's anxious. Could you hold him?"

How could my father say 'no'? Frek passed Nis's body to Sven before grabbing his cylinder weapons. My father found it hard to look down at the dark boy even though he had hardly known him. Sven was happy to look up when Cacey caught up to him after having his scars temporarily dealt with. They were still very obvious cuts that stung, however they were no longer bleeding. The lady who had treated him had done a half-ass job because she thought he was third-class. Had she known he was a slave clone she would have just let him bleed to death.

Finally, I got to see Frek use his strange weapons. I was right about them being sabers, but sadly they weren't like lightsabers. When activated, the sabers were both light purple with very visible sword outlines. Purple electricity made them alive with vibrancy. Who knew my science teacher could be a badass? Maybe the German accent did not suit him as much as I had thought.

"We're coming your way, Dek." He said into his earpiece.

"You better get here soon." Dek replied anxiously. "We're getting hammered."

Of course they were getting hammered. Despite their great ship they were shockingly outnumbered when it came to the head-on battle in hangar four. They did not expect to win the battle with physical contact, they had just come down to rescue us and then they intended to blow the crap out of Tamarax Station once all the USM personnel had been evacuated. A part of me knew I would not be joining the others on the Titonic. I had a different route to take.

"You want me to carry him?" Cacey asked my father solemnly. "I-I don't mind as much."

A bald-faced lie. Cacey hated death and he especially hated corpses. He just wanted to be nice and take stress off Sven. The Swede already had his own two children to look-out for and holding Nis would restrain him.

My father hesitated. Was it wise to pass the body of Nis to a boy with only one good eye? There was no time to discuss. Frek had already bolted out of the lab and was decapitating the henchmen one by one. Sven carefully passed the body to Cacey and caught up to Cameron who was nearly at the door. Sure, he didn't have a gun, but my father still wanted to feel like he could defend his children.

The cadets and Cacey stood away from the lab door meekly unlike Chorst and I who were just behind the USM soldiers with our stun guns at the ready. It was established that us two would be the last line of defence seeing as our guns and armour were so weak. I was okay with this; it was better than the alternative of being sent out first to be used as distractions.

"Stand back Daddy-O." I said semi-jokingly.

Reluctantly, my father got away from the door. Just in time, all the cadets jumped like they were watching a horror movie when a laser grazed the doorway and left a smouldering black mark. This did not intrigue moi as much as Frek did. Unlike the other USM soldiers, the harsnic was fighting the henchmen head-on with his sabers. I almost felt empathy for the beastly men as Frek diced them into pieces. It reminded me of the time our teacher had beamed to the terrorist spaceship and slaughtered the crew ruthlessly. He had felt guilt after murdering the trinards on that ship, then again he was an assassin and killing was what he did.

One of the USM soldiers called looked back at the cadets, Sven and Cacey and told them to get ready to move. The cadets knew how to take an order. They ran like wolves were chasing them when the soldier gave them the signal. My father and Cacey were less obedient mainly because the aldoren had to carry literal deadweight and my father decided to stick with the boy so he didn't get left behind. He knew the USM soldiers would have loved to leave Cacey behind because he was one more person they had to look after, but Sven would not have it.

"I don't think Alk prepared us for this." I joked to Chorst as we jogged behind the other soldiers. Shockingly, the trinard did not bother to reply.

I looked ahead to Cam. He looked more like a cadet than any of the other USM personnel. They were marines while he was just a tactics officer who had come to save his family. The marine guns were large like the ones Tamarax's henchmen carried, yet they were far more glamorous. They had the same silver and black skin our stun guns had with an electric blue pulse window. However, besides size, the major difference in the guns was that they could switch between the 'stun' and 'kill' settings. Right now, none of them even considered switching to 'stun'.

It appeared to be clear sailing down the corridor after Frek disembowelled and diced up the henchmen. I could not tell if it was best to laugh or be disgusted when Donn didn't watch his footing and fell over a corpse. He looked terrified so I chose to not to react to the matter.

I was not prepared for three henchmen to meet us at the corner of the corridor. The bastards shot one of the larger USM personnel down in the instance that we all raised our guns again. My father and I both gasped when Cameron fell. I could not tell if Sven screamed or swore but he certainly made a loud noise. My father broke away from the wall –which all the cadets and Cacey were pushing themselves up against to avoid getting shot– and joined us at the corner. I thought he was getting on his knees to mourn his son. No, he was grabbing the gun Cam dropped. The USM marines were huddled up against the wall trying to avoid getting shot, and then there was my father, without armour, walking straight into the fire. Of course, the marines followed him because they were not about to be upstaged by a second-class human. All three of Tamarax's henchmen fell in an instant after the marines, led by Sven, jumped out from behind the corner. USM soldiers had shot down two of the henchmen while my father got the third right in the eye. According to the giant hole where the beast-like soldier's eye used to be, Cam's gun had not been set to stun. – My father had just killed another living creature. My father; the pacifist.

Yes, it was not the appropriate time to be thinking about my father's sudden change in heart. It took me a moment to realize that Cameron was lying on the floor. Everyone else seemed to have the realization at the same time I did. Now to worry, before Sven could even turn to look at his son Cameron was already trying to get to his feet. If I had looked hard enough beforehand I would have seen that the laser had not been a direct hit and had only grazed his side. My main concern now was how deep the graze was. There was no armour protecting the sides of his torso. The fact he was finding it easy to get to his feet suggested he was not badly wounded. Probably a little bewildered, but that wasn't going to kill him.

"You okay?" Frek asked. I could not tell if he was talking to Cameron or my father who was trembling.

"He has better aim than Am." Donn smirked with Veck before both of them realized that one USM marine was still dead on the floor and the body of Nis was only feet away in Cacey's arms.

"I-I'm fine." Cameron reassured everyone. He was a little embarrassed that he had fallen down even though the laser had only scraped him. "We should... Father, did you just kill that guy?" He looked down at the giant rhino-like henchman on the floor that was missing an eye.

"I was just trying to stun him." My father explained as we all continued our venture through the corridors. We left the dead USM soldier behind on the floor. He was too heavy to carry back easily. "How bad is the damage?" He asked Cam to quickly to change the topic.

"A little painful." The harsnic admitted. "I can handle it, though... Thanks."

Sven was not sure why his son was thanking him for killing someone. Then again, he could lie all he wanted about how he thought the gun was set to 'stun'. My father had known very well that it was set to 'kill' and he had intended to murder that giant henchman. My father was a pacifist... until it came to his children.

"You have a deadeye, dad." I muttered to Sven as we walked. "Did the gun culture Wyoming finally get to ya?"

"There isn't a gun culture in Wyoming."

"There are eight gun clubs in the Laramie region alone. Imagine how many Cheyenne has."

We both laughed at a joke nobody else here would understand. Yes, I meant the posh gun clubs where the guns were provided and you could not take the guns from the clubs, but a gun club's a gun club. When I did target practice my father had always sat in the lounge area playing on his tablet and sipping an iced tea while Geraldine and I had a riot. Apparently at some point in his life Sven had learned how to aim a gun. Maybe when he was in the space program it had been compulsorily to learn how to shoot. That would make sense.

My gut began to feel strange as we neared hangar four and encountered more henchmen that Frek quickly diced up. I looked back and took one good long look at all the cadets –and Cacey who happened to be holding a cadet– and sighed. If only I could tell them that I knew something about their fates, but I did not know what I knew about their fates. Some of them had multiple endings. Most of their fates were tied to my own. I would not be able to save all of them, then again I could save those who survived from Tamarax and her 'little friend' inside the secret spaceship heading towards a star I knew all too well.

Speaking of which; where was Tamarax? I was pretty sure that I was going to have to confront her at one point. She had to know that too, otherwise she would not have gone through the elaborate trouble of capturing all the cadets and my father. That was why I was pretty sure I was not going to die in the battle in hangar four. The biatch had probably planned for us to have some sort of dramatic duel over a sea of lava as our first and final confrontation. Maybe a battle over lava is an exaggeration. Who would be stupid enough to have a battle over lava anyways?

"We're gonna need some cover." Frek said into his earpiece. "We still control the left flank? That's the side we're closest to."

"For the most part." A voice replied. "Aim to get the cadets to shuttle nine."

Frek acknowledged before looking at the whole group and eyeing Cacey and Sven. "We're going to have some extra passengers as well. Hope that's okay."

"Who are they?" Dek replied, unimpressed.

"Ex-ambassador Sven Adalwin Hollow and... some aldoren fellow."

"Eh?"

"Excellent question. I'm still trying to understand the situation myself."

I did not like the big black door staring down at us. The dark monolith-like door knew what awaited us on the other side. I sniffed when the name 'Tak' popped into my head spontaneously. Obviously I was thinking too much for that Tak guy's liking so they wanted to remind me that my brain could melt at any moment if I thought too hard. Despite this, I looked at Chorst, mainly his belt, and thought about the Bennu Bomb he was holding for me. I was going to have to be discreet when I got it off him because I did not want anyone else to be suspicious of why I had the most powerful bomb in the known universe. Frek knew I had it, but had not said anything about it because he was thinking the same way I was. A part of me wanted to know how much he knew and know how he knew it, yet with the clock ticking so there wasn't time to ask. You would think with all the strange knowledge crammed in my brain that I would be able to figure him out. It was like his information was blocked. Was my mind a database like on a computer? No, if it was I would have a paperclip telling me what to do instead of the dark voice.

Looks like you want to know more about Lord Frekostillion Hes Canamao. Do you need help with that?

No. Stop harassing me!

"Well, it sounds like we should have a clear route to shuttle nine." Frek said. His words contradicted his actions as his grip tightened on his sabers. "Except you two." He gestured to Cacey and Sven who both froze. "Sorry, but you both have to get on a different shuttle because it's a different procedure for non-United Systems of Mel personnel."

"Shit." Sven groaned before he remembered that he was standing next to Cacey who was holding the corpse of one of the most innocent creatures in the universe. He was still frustrated, though. Poor man did not realize that that was going to be the least of his issues in a few moments.

"Right, let's get going." Frek gestured for one of the USM marines to open the door. "Keep low, go quickly, and be quiet. We should make it out okay."

Oh, cruel irony. As soon as the door slid open we were greeted by a dozen soldiers. You see, the problem was that Dek and Frek had had a misunderstanding. Dek was on the opposite side of the hangar and his right was Frek's left. The USM had actually made their territory on the other side of the hangar.

I was a little surprised when Chorst pushed moi out of the way of the lasers. I was in a bit of a haze after being moved so abruptly, but I swear that I heard Frek curse Dek's name. I watched as the harsnic used one of his sabers to deflect the lasers while using his other to attack the giant beasts single-handedly. I went stiff like a plank of wood as Chorst kept me against the wall and defended me with his own body and gun. Once I snapped out of my strange state I pushed him away from me so I could raise my own stun gun to aid Frek who was quite alone in the battle. Where the hell were the USM marines? Dead. The beasts got them right off the bat seeing as they had been closest to the door.

Cameron! I thought anxiously. Then I saw that my brother was behind me protecting a petite Nor with his body from the lasers while he fired back with his own little gun. He was still in great danger, but at least he was not dead.

Zand impressively took action. She dropped down to a dead marine and picked up the large gun. It took the Jell-O a moment to figure out how the massive thing worked, however she became trigger-happy when she figured the weapon out. She got really aggressive when Merr was shot down right in front of her. The bastards had killed her first officer; now it was personal.

I was relieved when out of the corner of my eye I saw that Sven and Cacey were safely out of the way of danger. They were against the wall where the corridor curved out of the henchmen's views. Sadly, in front of them was Donn kneeling over a deflating blue uniform as Jhan's body melted down into gel. Her body could not stay formed after she was shot directly through the brain. Donn did not know what to do. He just sat there staring in shock as the green gel began to dampen his knees. Once I realized that he wasn't going to get out of the way of the fire I stepped away from my wall and made a bold leap across the corridor to go to the other wall where the fish boy was. It was up to moi, Chorst, Cameron, Zand and Frek to defend the remaining cadets –plus my father and Cacey– until the USM marines from the other side of the hangar were able to make it over to help us.

Many of us panicked when we heard Veck shriek. The argon passé would not shriek unless she was really scared or surprised. I tried to only glimpse back, but what I saw made me stare. The pale woman was shaking as she held Kel. The algrin had a large hole blown right through the middle his chest while Veck had only a minor injury on her lower torso. Kel must have run in front of Veck to take a laser for her. That was shocking for various reasons. I was surprised that Kel was dead, but I was stunned by the fact that he had sacrificed himself for Veck out of all people. He had never liked her for his own pitiful reasons, and yet he had redeemed himself majorly by throwing himself in front of her. I thought of his wife, Jaedorra, and his other wives and children. What would happen to them if he was dead?

"Cover me." Zand commanded of me, Cameron and Chorst before sprinting for the doorway. I thought she was going to run out and help Frek, but she had other plans. "Frek!" She called out while her hand was resting on the panel that controlled the door.

Frek looked back and understood. He sidestepped back towards us. Even when one of the henchmen got him in the arm and made him drop one of his sabers he did not stop. Zand smashed her glove-covered hand down on the panel as soon as Frek was through the doorway. A wave of relief came over me as the giant door closed. The relief was short lived when I realized that Tamarax's soldiers had the power to open the door from the other side. No, Zand dealt with that by crashing the back of the large gun she was carrying down on the panel, making it shoot sparks. The clever Jell-O girl had just jammed the door electronically, but it could still be open manually even if it was a heavy door.

"It would be unwise to carry them all to the shuttle when we are short of trained personnel." Chorst said while looking at all the dead cadets and marines. "We will leave them here."

"He's right." Frek said while holding his bruised arm. Luckily he the wound was not major as he had been protected by his armour. "If we have time we will send personnel back to collect them."

Cacey trembled as he laid Nis down on the ground. He would need his arms if we were going to make it through the hangar. He, like Veck and many others, wished that they could take all the bodies back to Starside and ultimately return them to their families. That, sadly, was most likely not going to happen.

"We need to..." The harsnic looked up properly and saw who had died. "Oh, Amori." He gasped. Until he had looked up he had thought that Chorst was just talking about the dead marines, not the cadets too.

Although I could not see Frek's face, I knew he would look utterly surprised. Even though he had only been our science teacher for a short amount of time he felt responsibility for us. Even on one level he cared for us like we were his children. I was not sure where his fatherly feelings came from. Even though I could not figure out his backstory for some reason, I knew he had no children.

He had the same question I had; what was going to happen to Kel's wives and children? Legally, once Kel was dead his wives and offspring would be given to the closest male relative which happened to be his father. At that point the USM would not intervene anymore in the affairs as Kel, his wives and his children were not protected by the first-class laws. Their own laws would take over.

"What's the plan?" I asked the harsnic as the henchmen began to try and pry the door open from the other side.

Frek did not answer immediately. He was just staring down at lifeless bodies of Kel, Jhan, Merr, Nis and all the marines. How could he have let this happen?

"Frek?" I said firmly as the door began to shudder.

Cameron took control of the situation. "We'll have to move discreetly to the other side of the hangar."

I nodded along even though I wasn't sure why I was even following all the others. I was not getting on the shuttle with them. I would just play along until I was given the sign that it was time to meet Tamarax.

Cameron and Frek both froze at the same time as they got an incoming message.

"Some more USM Naval spaceships have arrived on the scene." Cam said. Even though he was wearing a helm I knew he was smiling.

Frek finished the message for my brother: "And apparently Mel has arrived... although we don't know where she's parked."

"She gonna take out Tamarax?" My father asked.

"I hope so." Frek said while looking at moi.

We all looked at the big black door when it made a vulgar creaking noise. The henchmen were about to get it open.

"Time to move." Frek said while striding down the curved corridor.

None of the remaining cadets –save Chorst– were ready to leave the fellow dead cadets behind. Not even I was ready to go. I felt for Nis, Jhan and Merr but I felt guilt around Kel. I felt that I should have apologized to him before he died. I was not sure what I would have apologized for. Maybe just a general apology. Veck was feeling the same way. We both wondered if we could have been the better people in the situation with Kel because we both knew he certainly would have never been the better man. We could have taken the high road and been nice to him even if he had been a phallic. No, we were biatches to him. And he died thinking that nobody liked him. That was what struck me most of all. What a horrible death.

I sniffed. Not out of sadness. Bennu had just informed me that Kel's final thought had been about his wife and unborn baby (babies?). Oh gee, thanks Bennu for telling me that just to make me feel sadder and also thanks for making my nose start bleeding again. Yeah, Bennu, Tak, tear in the space time continuum, whatever, you really suck.

I don't understand why Cacey started snivelling. It was most likely his years of built-up emotion and depression finally surfacing. He could not exactly cry out of his left eye but his right one was watery. He did not know these cadets and marines and he still cried for them. My father was not exactly sure what to do. Hugging was what humans to comfort someone, but maybe aldorens did something different. Cacey may have actually been offended his Sven hugged him. My father just hesitantly put a hand on the blue boy's shoulder.

"Let's go!" Frek ordered even though he too wished he had more time to mourn the dead.

We were all surprised when we heard a large amount of shooting coming from the other side of the door. Were Tamarax's henchmen really dumb enough to try and get through the door by shooting at it? No, there were plenty of thuds as the giant beasts hit the floor.

"Don't move." Dek told Cam and Frek through their earpieces. "We're coming for you."

"Hold up." The older harsnic told us while putting up his hand to signal halting.

"What's up?" I asked Cameron.

"The USM is coming to help us."

"You sure?"

"Well, we have personnel to spare now that more spaceships have arrived. Controlling hangar four should be easy."

If only they had arrived earlier and then there would have been less death. I thought cynically.

"Open the door." Dek said to the two harsnics.

Frek gestured for Zand to open the door with his one good arm. The Jell-O girl was a little hesitant. She didn't know how to open the door now that she had broken the panel. Luckily, Chorst knew what he was doing. He pulled off the front of the panel to adjust the circuit that Zand had impaired before putting it back. He had to push the 'open' button firmly because the panel was still damaged.

Zand kept her large gun at the ready as the large door slid open again, but she lowered it when she saw USM marines standing over the corpses of the henchmen. Within minutes hangar four had become completely USM territory as so many more soldiers arrived on the scene.

"You dropped this." Dek joked before tossing Frek his lost saber. The harsnic's arm trembled as he caught the cylinder. He was still in pain.

Despite the fact I could not see Dek's face, I made assumptions on what he looked like. He probably looked similar an insect with a very thin exoskeleton and yet a very large head. Like Gorirtz, he had extra arms that had slicers instead of hands. It was possible Gor and Dek were the same species, however in such a large galaxy it was likely that many species had similar features.

"My left, your right." Frek joked before realizing that cadets and marines had died because of the confusion.

The hangar was full of USM shuttles and marines. Through the electromagnetic field I could see the massive USM Naval ships orbiting Tamarax Station and blowing the crap out of their defence systems.

Dek stood with Frek as the harsnic got his arm healed by a medic. "What happened to all the marines?" He asked as soldiers marched down the dark corridor and over the dead marines and cadets.

"My left, your right." Frek repeated more solemnly this time. "The cadets and En Cam proved themselves in battle despite the fact they are not fighters.

The insect-like man glanced at Zand. The large gun was obviously not hers.

"They're going to make excellent officers and captains in the future," Frek noted before sighing, "the ones that make it that far, at least."

"Do we finally get to go home?" Donn sobbed. I did not know what he meant by 'home'. Starside certainly wasn't mine.

With his arm back in to full health, Frek typed a message to Dek so that no one else would intervene in their conversation.

"We're going to have to get some Ministry of Customs, Immigration and Asylum Assistance representatives down here. I believe that aldoren is a slave clone."

Dek looked at the message, and then at Cacey.

"We guessed that there would be some slave clones so the Hashtish Alliance representative of the MCIAA is on her way along with a few other smaller representatives. I can't guarantee what will happen, though."

"It would be wise to access Tamarax Station's database once the battle is over." Chorst said to Dek. The insect man was surprised to have a cadet telling him what to do. "Tamarax's information would be valuable to the USM."

"Speaking of which." Dek looked through the records of the current battle on his wrist computer. "We haven't seen Tam yet. I hope she didn't get away."

I hope so too. I thought. Then it hit me, it didn't matter if Tamarax got away or not. Providing I stopped her 'dear friend' Tak the woman would have no power. The 4th dimensional creature's collision with the time energy was happening very soon. So I had to get a fast enough ship to stop it.

Saving the universe can wait. The dark voice and I thought alike when we noticed a creature lurking in the dark shadows behind the window that showed a corridor. Tamarax, she was watching me. My end was near, but as long as I did not die at her hands the universe would be safe.

Now, to sneak away subtly so that no one suspects. I needed to have a 'private' talk with her about the whole Tak and Bennu thing.

"Daddy?" My father turned back to look at me. He had been talking to a marine about the process he, as a second-class non-USM personnel worker, had to go through before he went back to Earth. "I gotta go. I'll be right back."

"What?" Sven, Cameron and half the cadets asked. Cacey did not say anything. He knew who I was going to see.

"Where the fuck could you possibly be going?" My father asked, striding back to meet moi with Cameron following behind.

"There's some information I need to get." I told him equivocatingly.

"I'll come with you." Cameron said, and Chorst, who was watching me as well, was thinking the same thing. If I needed to get some information off a computer then he certainly wanted to offer his services.

"No." I shook my head. "I gotta do this alone... please trust me."

Ooh. The 'trust' card. Could Frenchy, Cameron and my father deny me if I asked them for trust?

Frek aided me. "I'm asking her to get this classified information. Don't worry; this is not a dangerous task. USM marines are meeting her on the other side of the door."

It was a good think me and Frek's faces were hidden because our eyes could not hide our dishonesty. The harsnic knew what I had seen on the other side of that window. He had been told I would see Tamarax and that he had to let me go.

Sven wasn't sure what to think of moi. Were both Frek and I lying straight to his face?

"I'll be right back." I hugged him. "I promise."

"If you're not right back then I will ground you. I don't care how many light years you live away. I have that power."

My father was making jokes. Good. I knew he still did not believe me. The fact my face was hidden by my helm made him wonder if I was actually his daughter.

I looked back at the window, Tamarax was gone, but I would find her. She wanted me to find her.

It was awkward having everyone watch me leave. They all questioned what I was doing and also my sanity. I questioned those things as well.

Sven looked to Frek. What were the harsnic and I in on that he wasn't? He knew Frek would never tell him. He did not have to. As a lord, he never had to explain anything to anyone besides Mel.

"We're not leaving without you so hurry back!" Donn called out on behalf of the cadets. I turned back and gave him the thumbs up.

Sadness filled me as I looked away from them all. I was never going to see any of those people again no matter how my confrontation with Tamarax went. I wish I could have been a real daughter for Sven just one more time instead of estranged creature hidden behind a mask. Cameron also deserved more of a sister, but he had never really had one anyways so he had lost less.

"Where the hell is she going?" Sven asked anyone who would anyone who would answer.

Chorst did not like the situation. The trinard recalled that he had taken the Bennu Bomb off moi. I had made such a big deal about getting it that he wondered how I could have forgotten about it. The answer; I was insane and wasn't thinking properly about anything anymore. While all the cadets watched me walk through the dark corridor he made his way to Frek.

"I need to give this to her." He whispered so nobody besides Frek could hear.

Frek looked at the Bennu Bomb a little surprised. "Yeah... she's probably going to need that. Get out of here discretely and then come straight back once you've given it to her."

Chorst gave no answer. He did not intend to come straight back if I was in trouble.

Dek whistled to get the attention of all the cadets, Sven and Cacey. "Right, get to shuttle nine."

"We're not leaving without Am!" Donn reiterated. All the cadets nodded in agreement.

During this time when everyone was looking at Dek, Chorst slipped away. Dek did not understand where the trinard was going, however Frek nodded to tell him it was fine that Chorst was leaving. He shrugged. It was not his job to question a lord.

"Yes, but we're still in the midst of a battle so we need you somewhere out of the fire. We won't make the shuttle take-off. We just don't want any more death." The insect man said darkly as the bodies of the cadets were carried from the corridor and to the shuttle.

"I'll stay on the ground until Amelia returns." Cameron reassured my father.

"Oh, you two go wait in shuttle twelve until representatives from the MCIAA arrive."

"Della Vis Homen is one of them," Sven sighed, "isn't she?"

Dek shrugged even though he suspected the harsnic woman would arrive seeing as she was the primary Hashtish Alliance representative.

Cameron swallowed. Once his mother learned that he had punched the first officer of the Titonic she would nag him. Even though he was an ensign his mother still nagged him like he was a little boy.

***

I daydreamed as I walked through the dark corridors. Many USM personnel questioned what I was doing out in the danger as the battle for the station continued. I did not give them an answer, I kept walking. I was not exactly sure where I was supposed to be going. I just drifted off and let the dark voice at the back of my mind lead me to where I had to go.

I don't have much time. I thought as an image of the comet/ship flashed in my mind. The thing was soon to reach its destination. It was as if I had a telepathic connection to the creature in the bowels of the disguised ship. I was going to have to have a damn fast ship to stop it. Mayb with a bit of pain pressuring her, Tamarax would reveal which of her ships was the fastest. I doubted the witch-like lady had a ship fast enough to catch up with the comet by the time I really needed it. Oh well, I would sort that out when the time came. Killing the woman who controlled the 4th dimensional creature inside the comet was the best thing to do.

I came to a point where the corridor forked into three different paths. Without even thinking I chose the one on my right. It's strange to find the USM most feared enemy standing impatiently at an alien vending machine. Her nails tapped the glass irritably as she waited for her can of alien liquid to become available. That was all for show. She had been waiting for me to turn the corner to put on this scene. While watching Tamarax suspiciously, I noted the red cross on the floor further down the corridor. That was not the only strange thing in the corridor with the on-going equation running across the walls, but I noticed the red cross because I had a feeling it had to do with moi.

This is the woman all the build-up's been to? I thought as a question for the dark voice in my mind. I got no reply.

"You like glivarks or reggens?" Tamarax asked while continuing to stare into the vending machine. I was a little surprised when her voice was more pitchy than expected.

"I'm not a fan of either." I replied calmly. I didn't know what either of those products were, but I was sure I would not enjoy them.

The corpse-like woman looked up when she realized that the vending machine was not going to give her the food she wanted. Her insane eyes paralleled my own even though we were different species. It was quite obvious that there were certain features that separated those who had looked into the space time continuum from those who hadn't. Tam and I were both rabid women that could not explain the things we knew no matter how hard we tried. If I had the time to live as long as Tamarax had then I would be exactly like her. Luckily, that was not going to happen.

"So you've come to die, then?" She asked in a prideful hiss. How Tam wished I would take my helm off so she could see my face as I died at her hands. – That wasn't gonna happen.

"No," I shook my head, "I've actually come to kill you."

"With a stun gun?"

I looked down at the pathetic little gun in my holster. Yeah, how did I intend to kill her? She was little and scrawny so strangling was not out of the question. Then again, I did not want to get too close to her. Tam's jagged black nails were not to be trifled with. For humans it was easy to break nails and they did not make great weapons, for hekkits they were harder than bones.

We circled each other like we were about to Lambada. We weren't, of course. I was not exactly sure how to start the fight. I just wanted to kill her quickly and then take-off to go stop the freaking comet Tak was aboard.

"Why are you here for me when you know very well that there is a comet heading for your solar system's star?" She asked semi-mockingly.

I had to think about this for a moment. I did not understand why the Sun had to do with time energy... I did not understand time energy, but I didn't bother to think about that. I thought it was just a conveniently natural occurrence that time energy appeared around the Sun.

"Because you're the one who wants to reconstruct the universe, not your 4th dimensional friend. What's Tak gonna do if you're not giving them orders?" I asked semi-sarcastically.

Tak shook her head. I did not realize that she was walking backwards and I was following her towards the red cross on the floor. I was keeping an eye on the red and silver gun in the holster on her thigh. It appeared to have been especially designed for her fingers and nails. She could have whipped the gun out at any moment and tried to kill me. No, she could only kill me on the red cross. If she tried anywhere else I would win this fight and kill her. – I did not know this of course at the time as I was more distracted by the various other thoughts swirling around in my head.

"No. You see, even if you somehow manage to kill me, Tak would still reach the time energy before you stopped her. And if I don't tell her what to do with the universe when the 'big bang' happens, then the universe will simply stop existing."

I felt a little lost when Tamarax told me that. Tak was a she; noted. Now I really knew why I had to save the universe from Tak and Tamarax. The universe would either be rebuilt in Tam's insane image or it would simply stop existing if I didn't stop Tak.

"How did you capture Tak?" I asked curiously. If the 4th dimensional creature was all powerful then how did a lunatic get a hold of it?

Tamarax stared at me blankly for a moment and stopped walking backwards. Despite the impenetrable blackness of her eyes, I knew her eyes were running back and forth like a Kit-Cat clock as she looked for the answer in her mind. She had no recollection of how she caught Tak. Did she even catch Tak? One day she was planning the destruction of Mel and then the next she had Tak locked up in a cage deep in the bowels of her station.

"You don't know how you caught her?" I asked, a little surprised.

Tam seemed less like the threat. It was Tak I really had to worry about. The 4th dimensional creature was using Tam –and possibly moi– as pawns in her little game. I did not understand the point of the game, but I would never understand the mind of Tak... I had never even met Tak. Maybe Tamarax sensed the faultiness in her plan when she realized she was missing some crucial memories, but she had dug her grave too deep to climb out of now.

"How much of this is real, and how much of this is just our own insanity?" I asked aloud. Even though we were enemies I knew Tamarax was asking the same question. "Tak's fucking with us, Tamarax. The Bennu element messed with our brains and now Tak is taking advantage of our insanity. Stop her, tell her to leave the universe alone." I pleaded weakly. I felt pity for the insane woman and wanted to reason with her.

You're wasting your time. One voice said in my head.

The woman is insane. Said another.

Wait, there were two dark voices in my head?

Yeah?

Didn't you know there were two of us?

I had bought a first-class flight to kooky town. That meant there were three voices in my head: My own, the dark voice at the back of my mind, and I presume Tak or someone involved in the 4th dimension was the third one. Wow, that was three too many voices speaking in my mind.

I fretted when Tamarax looked right past moi. Her smile was not a happy one... more sadistic. Chorst was standing at the start of the corridor, stun gun in hand pointing right at Tamarax.

"Wai–" I tried to tell him.

Too late. Two shots were fired. One from Chorst's stun gun, but he missed when he tried to draw back his arm when Tam whipped out her own gun and fired. Time slowed down as I witnessed Chorst's stun gun and hand being disintegrated. Luckily, his cadet armour stopped the laser from burning off his left entire arm so his arm was only disintegrated to the end of his wrist. My mind flashed to the dream where he and I stood together in a field and his left arm was smouldering. The image only lasted in my head for a moment before the dream disappeared into my subconscious again. But now I knew the dreams I had had were becoming reality. The only question was would the second part of that dream be fulfilled? Would be and Chorst stand and watch the universe die?

"Yeah." Tamarax began haughtily. Now she really wished she could see my face because my look of shock was priceless. "So I think I'm gonna stick to my plan of recreating the universe instead of sussing out your idea with Tak. Thanks for the offer, though."

I was surprised that Chorst was still standing. His body language suggested he did not really care about the loss of his hand as he looked down. The great thing about being a trinard was that he felt no obligation to protect his body. I couldn't tell the pale boy actually felt any pain. Even if he was not wearing his helm, his impassive expression would make it impossible to tell what he was feeling.

Before Tam could squeeze the trigger again to finish off Chorst, I charged at her like a bull and tackled the scrawny woman to the ground. Screw her sharp nails. She had already been the cause of Nis, Kel, Jhan and Merr's deaths. She was not about to take the trinard out of my life.

"Bitch, I'll kill you!" I barked after striking her across the face with my fist.

Despite all her insane knowledge and awareness of the future, Tam had not predicted that I would attack her so aggressively. She stared blankly at my dark mask for a moment as I drew my fist back to hit her again. Quickly, she snapped out of her state of shock and rammed her knee into my midsection.

Why did that hurt? I thought to myself as became paralyzed by the pain. The USM cadet uniforms really needed some sort of codpiece. Yes, I know I'm a girl, but I still wanted one!

While on the floor, Tamarax strained her thin neck to the point of almost snapping it just so she could see what was behind her. The red cross was mere feet away from both of us. If she could just get me there then she could kill me properly. She could try to shoot me even now as I lay in agony on the floor, but something would stop the laser from her gun from killing me. Even if I was immobile she still would not be able to kill me if I was not on the red cross. The universe worked in mysterious ways. She had done the crazy calculations in her head. The universe would not let her kill moi unless I was in the perfect spot.

Her heavy boots made a clunking noise as she jumped to her feet. I quickly followed so that we could start 'round two' of our duel. The trinard was trying to sprint toward us, however he was having a balance issue now that he was missing a hand so he had to take it slow.

I realized I was a little screwed when I noticed that Tamarax was pointing her gun at my head. She was actually bluffing because she knew I could only die on the red cross, but I didn't know that.

"Take another step and I'll blow her head off." The witch-like lady told Chorst. Her smile bared her sharp teeth that were covered in black blood from the previous blows she had sustained.

Chorst halted instantly. I don't know how he thought he was originally gonna help me fight her. The man was missing a hand. How much fighting could he do one-armed? Then again, I recalled how he had stopped Zand's boneless, but powerful, fist with nothing but his palm back when I fought her in the cafeteria. All trinards were ambidextrous so Chorst could probably still pack a hard punch despite his missing appendage.

My eyes followed Tam's sharp black nail as she pointed at the cross on the floor. "I'm going to have to ask you to go stand on that red cross if you don't mind." She said in a mockingly polite voice.

"I do mind."

"Cram it and go stand on the cross."

My haughty darker voice kicked in. "Why should I. If I don't you can't kill m–"

I tried to step back as Tamarax's claw-like hand came at me. She grabbed my arm, tearing the fabric of my jacket while doing so, and hurdled me like discus at the red cross. I could not gain my balance as I stumbled towards the deadly mark. Embarrassingly, my hind landed right on the target. – This whole situation seem kind of crazy to you or is it just me?

BANG! I closed my eyes when the shot was fired. Had I really just died? I had spent so long mentally preparing to save the universe and now I was dead. Tamarax had won and the universe would be hers unless there was someone out there who was just as crazy as moi and knew what to do. Never in my short life had I felt like more of a failure. Not even that time I got a B- in English compared.

(Long story short about the bad grade in English: I wrote an entire essay about the character of Ross from Macbeth being a bad omen and probably a demon sent by the devil to fuck with everyone. Trust me, my English teacher wished she could've given me a lower mark, but I had all the evidence to support my claim.)

It was a strange moment when I realized I wasn't in any pain... and I was still very much alive. It was possible that Tam had not actually shot moi and had gotten Chorst instead in which case I was going to throttle her.

Opening my eyes, I quickly learned what had happened. Chorst was on his knees beside me while Tamarax stood above us with a look of moderate surprise on her face. I questioned why she was not trying to shoot me or Chorst, and then I saw the large hole right through the centre of her chest. From what I could see, her innards were disgusting. Like a thousand black beetles throwing their legs around in a panic as they tried to figure out why a part of them was missing. It suited the woman to be made up of thousands of insects, but honestly rats would have suited better.

Now there was one great question: who had shot Tamarax? It could not have been either me or Chorst. There was only one stun gun between the two of us and that pathetic little gun would basically have no effect on a deranged woman like Tam.

I followed Tam's eyes to the source of the laser shot. To all of our surprise, metres away stood a woman wrapped in grey bandages and wearing a blue tunic that had a black outlining. A bird that looked like a phoenix was printed in white on her chest. Her open red silk robe seemed to defy gravity as it hovered in the non-existent wind. It was Mel. The most powerful woman in the universe had come to my aid.

But I thought I was the one who was supposed to kill Tamarax. I thought, slightly annoyed. Then I noticed that Tam was still standing. The laser had not killed her. Mel had intentionally missed because she had wanted her to be completely aware of her failed plan before she died.

Mel's bandaged hand placed the black and red gun back in the holster that had been hidden by her robe all this time. Only then did I notice the saber on her other thigh. That woman was really armed. As an immortal, she was an unstoppable killing machine. Tam had not stood a chance even if she had not already been shot.

"But she's on the mark." Tam stammered like a confused little girl. "I did the math. I should have been able to..."

Mel had the strut of a proud cat. She would not need weapons now to finish of Tamarax. The corpse-like woman was not going anywhere. The hole in her chest and the shock of seeing Mel had paralyzed her. She could not have seen the god-like woman coming. Having a 4th dimensional mind-set far more advanced than Tam's, she could not be foreseen coming as her mind did not necessarily follow the laws of time and space. Mel, also had a better understanding of what was to come. A far better understanding. That was why she had come to save moi.

"You rounded the decimal places in your head." She said in a disturbingly calm, almost amused voice. "Never round the decimal places in the middle of an equation. Am should be here." Mel used the toe of her black boot to point to the spot on the floor mere inches from where I had been sitting. I was certainly standing now that woman who put the 'M' in 'USM' was here.

"Shit." Tamarax muttered. I doubt she actually said that, but that was what my translator picked up.

Mel turned her head slightly to look at Chorst and I. Our helms hid our faces, but she knew how measly we had to look.

"You should get that checked out." She said to Chorst, gesturing to the remains of his left arm.

"The veins were cauterized by the laser from the gun." The trinard said impassively.

"Does it really end this way?" Tam asked curiously with a hint of childish annoyance in her tone. She looked at both Mel and I as if either of us would know the answer. Honestly, I had so many questions that I could never answer. For example how was Tamarax still standing with a great big hole in her chest?

"Afraid so." Mel replied... She was one of those biatchy people.

"Well... the universe is still gonna end." Tam smirked pitiably. She doubted that any part of her plan would be fulfilled.

Oh, what the hell? The insane woman thought as she decided to go out with a bang. She pointed her gun at Mel's head, but the bandaged woman was quicker than lightning. She looked like an elegant ballet dancer as her leg flew up and struck Tam in the chin. Without hesitation, her foot then pushed the scrawny woman back onto the floor. There was a tragic moment when the corpse-like creature looked up at her assailant with the knowledge of death in her eyes. If I was Mel I would have hesitated to kill such a sad woman, but I was not Mel and Mel was not me. Using the same foot, she kicked Tam onto her back on the floor before drawing her leg back and then ramming the sole of her boot down onto the pale face. I felt nauseous when a splattering noise came from Mel's boot crushing Tamarax's face. The site was more horrendous and I have chosen not to describe it in great deal. All you need to know is that Tam no longer had a face. All that remained was a bloody black hole.

Tam was awful, she had had Nis tortured to death after all, but nobody deserved to die that way. Mel had intentionally humiliated her in her final moments. Now the only people who remained in the corridor had their faces hidden while the hekkit had no face at all. There was something very cruel about Mel, and not just based off this once incident. She seemed to enjoy the pain of her adversaries despite the fact she seemed so impassive the rest of the time. Maybe after you had lived as long as her you would become so depressed that only the pain of others could make you feel anything.

"What ship did you arrive on?" Chorst asked in a tone that felt like he was addressing her as simply a commoner. That may have just been his usual dull tone, however I believed that he resented Mel because she had let his people suffer for so long. He would never say a word to her about it, he literally couldn't.

Mel did not seem to care that the pale boy was not treating her specially. She had so many other enemies that adding Chorst to the deck would not be an issue. She understood his mind far better than I ever would. The god-like woman had watched how the trinards had developed to hate her and the USM over the years. Most species loathed her, and those that didn't still feared her.

"I took my own ship." She replied calmly. "Took me half a second to get here."

"That is impossible."

I elbowed Chorst in the stomach to hush him. It was not wise to question the immortal lady who had just kicked in Tamarax's face. He looked down at me, yet remained quiet.

"Not when you have my ship." She said sassily. Mel was more teasing Chorst than anything. Everyone in the USM was patronizing to cadets. They thought kids like us didn't know anything.

My eyes popped when something clicked inside my mind. Mel's ship. If it was as fast as she said it was then I needed her ship to reach the comet in time. My mental timer had nearly run out. You would think now, I'd be in a huge rush to save the universe for nonexistence. No, I would take my time because I was a douchebag.

"Excuse me." Mel lifted up the frail corpse of Tamarax and threw it over her shoulder like she was carrying a dead animal home after the hunt. "I must be going. The USM will be happy to learn that one of the greatest enemies is dead."

"Understood." I felt like doing a curtsy, but resisted.

I need to ask her where her ship is! I thought.

"We will follow." Chorst said.

Mel turned back and looked at us. Not us, just me. You already know where my ship is. A voice said in my mind. I was not sure if Mel had spoken to me telepathically, or if that was just the dark voice in my head.

The bandaged woman said nothing as she strode away. Chorst tried to follow her, yet when he understood that I was not going anywhere he walked back to moi. It was good he couldn't see my eyes. I had a Jack Torrance look going as I tried to access the database in my brain to understand where Mel's ship was.

"We need to go back to hangar four." He said demandingly.

"You go back. I haven't finished my mission yet." I thought for a moment and then snapped my finger when I remembered something. "The Bennu Bomb. Give it to me. I need it now."

Chorst did not move his hands anywhere near his belt. Gosh, I wonder why he did not want to give the semi-insane girl the Bennu Bomb.

"Chorst," I began slowly, "there is something I need to do. I really need that bomb."

"Explain."

I brought up my hands and clenched them into fists. I could not get the words out. I understood why I needed them, but the logic would not make sense to Chorst. "I-I can't. But if Frek and Mel trust me to do this task then you should trust me too."

"Mel did not say she trusted you."

"Not aloud." I said icily. "Trust me. If she knows what I have to do then she will not stop me."

Chorst remained unmoving. I honestly wasn't making sense to him... or to myself. I sounded like Tamarax. Hopefully, I was not going to make a mistake she did and have my entire plan ruined. Dear God, how had that woman rounded her decimals in the middle of an equation? Honestly, she deserved to have her plan fail miserably with that mistake.

"I will assist you in completing your mission." He said, although I knew he was actually saying 'I will keep an eye on you and make sure you don't take a first-class trip to kooky town'.

"Heh." I smirked hesitantly. "No... Just give me the bomb, and then go get your arm fixed."

"No." He said sharply.

"Chorst," I sighed, "you can't come because..."

I'm not coming back. I admitted in my head. The words hit me like a shockwave. Even though I had been aware of my future for a while now, I had just realized that it was actually going to happen. Time was up, my brain had almost turned to mush, and now I was going to die. I refused to allow Chorst to die with moi. His death would be pointless.

"I will return this Bennu Bomb to the USM unless you allow me to assist you." He said firmly.

"Bastard." I muttered. I could have just shot him with my stun gun and made and stolen the bomb from his belt, but maybe he would not die if he came with me. Also, that way someone could return Mel's ship to her once the deed was done. "Okay... You're not allowed to ask any questions, though. You just have to go with my craziness."

No reply from the trinard, so I gave him a hint about how crazy my plan was: "I'm gonna steal Mel's ship."

"No."

"Yes." I nodded. "And I'm going to need you to return it once I'm done."

"You will face execution."

"I'm not going to worry about that." I muttered.

"Mel did not say where she had parked her ship."

"I know where it is... I hope." My eyes shifted, but the trinard could not see them through the helm.

Poor Chorst. He did not like being confused. He just chose to be completely silent and watch how my insane desolation played-out. In honest fact; he was going to have to trust me. – I can see why he was hesitant.
33: Saving Life, the Universe and Everything

It was quite obvious that the USM had taken Tamarax Station swiftly. The USM Naval spaceships had already obliterated half the station. Luckily, they had not destroyed the hangar I was heading for.

Chorst said nothing as he followed me through the station. Even when I jumped on the conveyer belt he followed. I was truly following my gut instinct. All of the henchmen ignored Frenchy and I as we walked down the final corridor. They were all far more worried about their own lives. For good reason. Despite the fact that most of the personnel at the station were not exactly there by choice for various reasons, the USM would kill them all the same. If Cacey had not been travelling with us, then he would have likely been shot. USM marines were allowed to be ruthless. The phrase 'we don't negotiate with terrorists' was taken to a whole new level and was changed to 'we don't negotiate with terrorists. We wipe them out remorselessly'.

Even the rhino-like creatures were running for their lives. It was unfair that I associated their species with evil as they appeared to be giant dumb grunts. In true fact their species tended to be very peaceful and intelligent. Sadly, they were a third-class species who had to make a living in the galaxy so half the soldiers here were poorly paid creatures while the other half were slave clones sold on the black market. Even if they survived the demise of Tamarax Station, they would still have to pay the price of working for one of the largest terrorists in the galaxy. That could either be with their lives, or with jail time that would take away their lives. That was what Sven, with the help of the MCIAA, was going to have to fight when it came to Cacey. The blue boy had been with Tamarax, but they had to prove he had actually been held there against his will and that he had never committed any major felonies. In the USM it was never easy to predict how the cases would turn out. Sven knew that which was why he was happy that Della was his friend.

"Confused?" I asked Chorst as we reached the giant doors. He was looking at the map on his wrist computer and could not find the hangar we were at. "Of course Mel would park in a place that wasn't on the map."

I looked up at the camera sensors above the large doors, and then I noticed the panel to the side that was flashing red. The sensors had been made only to allow access to Tamarax and personnel of her choice. Obviously, the screen was flashing red because Mel had changed this setting. Once we were in range the giant doors opened. The dim lights came on slowly as we entered, however I did not need them to see. I was drawn to the small square in the centre of the hangar. All that protected Chorst and I from getting sucked into the vacuum of space was the thin electromagnetic field in the square.

"There you are." I muttered triumphantly as we reached the edge of the square. The overhead entrance to a lustrous silver spaceship was just barely inside the field with its hatch wide open.

I could now see the whole exterior of the ship, but I got the feeling that Mel liked to travel in style.

"She left the hatch open on purpose." Chorst said as he walked across the plank that led to the hatch to get a better look inside. "Otherwise it was imprudent of Mel to leave the fastest spaceship in the galaxy with a hatch open."

"Told ya she trusted me." I said in a childish tone.

The poor trinard was probably screaming inside his head. He had so many questions to ask and yet he couldn't get anything out. I watched him for a moment as he looked down at the ship from the plank. It was strange to think that he would probably be the last person I ever saw. I thought about the mind meld we never got to have... I thought about everything we never got to do or say. I wondered if after today Chorst would miss the experiences we never had. Maybe not. I didn't understand anything about his mind. I just made assumptions that I knew what he was thinking. I gave him human emotions when I thought about what he was thinking. Maybe he did not feel the same emotions humans did. Maybe Chorst actually hated moi and was only drawn to me because of the red blood in my veins... Maybe I was overthinking this.

"You sure you want to come?" I asked him seeing as he had made no attempt to jump in ship. As soon as I said that he leapt in.

I hopped on the plank and followed him down. The hatch closed instantly as soon as I got in. I can now see why he was intrigued by the inside of the ship. Like the outside, the interior was lustrous and silver. What was interesting was that the walls had a strange decorative border that almost looked like writing. You would think that my earpiece would translate the writing into English for moi to understand.

"It is an artistic version of the Destin-Hey language; Hey. That is why it does not translate." Chorst explained.

The writing looked like Egyptian hieroglyphics mixed with Mandarin Chinese characters. I bet you thought those two could never mix, yet the product was quite beautiful and curious. It was even more interesting when I found myself being able to read it despite the fact it had not translated. The effects of Bennu were obviously why I could read the artistic language. From what I could tell, it said nothing important. I believe it was a Hey-monk poem or hymn. It would make sense for Mel to have the decorative border of the walls in Hey. She was very close with the people of Destin-Hey. I do not know what species Mel was, but she likely associated herself with them the most. In the history of the USM class we learned about the monks of Destin-Hey. I knew Mel was not of their species as the creatures had four arms and long prehensile tails. They kind of looked like lanky hairless monkeys.

The ship was not that large. It was only about the size of an Earthling airplane of old except according to the silver model of the spaceship on a podium we walked by, it was a delta-shaped ship. It was a very aerodynamic shape that did not seem very necessary seeing as we were in space.

The cockpit must have drove Chorst insane. There were no panels, no buttons, nothing electronic. Just below the windscreen (or that's just what I'm going to call it despite the fact there is no wind in space) sat a sat a blank desk. The top of the desk stirred like a silver ocean. As soon as Chorst tried to touch the surface the stimulated silver went rigid and smooth. The trinard was displeased that the metal would not react to him.

"This ship is un-flyable. Only Mel and Hey-monks could fly this." He complained in his usual bland tone.

I took off my helm as he said this and attached both sides of it to my belt. The muggy atmosphere inside the helm had made me sweat and I hated the feeling when my hair felt damp because of it. Looking down at the metal surface I saw my reflection. Dry blood painted my nostrils. Quickly, I licked my glove-covered thumb and index finger –a disgusting taste– and tried to discretely clean up my nose. Chorst did not seem to notice. He was too busy running his only hand across the smooth silver and trying to understand why it would not respond to him.

I took a seat at the silver egg chair associated with the desk. The silver rippled under my finger accompanied by what sounded like a harp being strummed. It was surreal. I placed my whole hand on the surface. This time the ripple was larger and the harp sound was louder and a little harsher.

"Mel programmed the ship to respond to you." Chorst stated.

The logistics behind how to fly this ship would not make sense to anyone with a normal brain. Luckily, I did not have a normal mind. I couldn't explain it, but I knew how the ship worked. This was an artistic ship not based on math or physics as we know them in this universe. Chorst would not understand that. He thought ships had to run in a particular way. Mel had a 4th dimensional mind that did not obey space and time, so why would her ship obey space and time? It did not for the most part. Her ship did whatever the hell it wanted to. It was like it had its own mind.

"Can you fly it?" Chorst asked demandingly after I had been silent for so long.

A smile cracked my complexion. "Chorst... guess what?"

No answer from the trinard as my hands dances across the silver surface. I did not think, I just acted. Literally, I was making music as the harp noise became more elaborate.

"Guess what?" I repeated.

Again, no answer, so I continued. "I've got the need, the need for..."

Too late. We were already there. 'Where' you may ask? Why, right next to the giant comet/ship Tak was in. When Mel said this ship was fast, she meant it was damn fast. This ship had no dega-drive. It did not need one because it could travel at any speed it wanted. After going far faster than the speed of light, the ship was now travelling at the same speed the comet was. We were so close to the giant rock that through the fire surrounding it that I could make out its details. Right next our left wing was a small, barely visible hatch.

"Where are we?" Chorst asked.

"Flying alongside a dangerous comet." I replied as my hands continued to dance across the silver surface. Even when I took my hands away the music continued to play. I had just told the ship to keep its current speed and stay as close as possible to the comet.

"Why?"

"Because I'm gonna go inside that comet with the Bennu Bomb and then blow the crap out of it before it reaches my system's star."

Chorst did not look at moi. He just stared at the spaceship/comet. And he thought that he had been confused before about what I was doing. Now he was really confused.

"Why does it need to be blown up?"

"Because it just has to be."

"Elaborate."

"No. But once I'm inside I need you to drive this ship back to Tamarax Station."

"You are coming back with me."

I sighed. The trinard was a little confused when I stood up on the egg chair so I could look at him at eyelevel. Surprisingly, he did not stop me when I cracked his helm like an egg and put both parts on the silver surface. I wanted to see his eyes one last time. They were beautiful if that has not been made clear by all the previous times that I complimented them.

"I'm not coming back with you." I said in almost a whisper.

"Why not?" He asked coldly.

"Because I have to go inside that comet with the Bennu Bomb."

"Explain the task, and I will do it for you."

I shook my head. "Chorst... you're missing a hand."

"What is the purpose of this task?"

"Nothing big." I laughed hesitantly. "I just need to save life, the universe and everything."

"From what?"

"That comet."

"That comet will not affect the universe."

Oh Chorst, I thought as I leaned forward and kissed him right his pale lips, if only I could explain it all to you. No shock that the trinard did not kiss back. He just followed my eyes. Now he could see how insane I looked. A part of me was still the Amelia he had originally met, but the other half was something more mysterious that even I did not understand.

The kiss meant nothing to either of us. It was cold and passionless. I was just wanted to do it before I died. I now understood why father had warned me to never have sex with a trinard. Physically, they had warm bodies, however they were very icy on-touch. So when Chorst had sex with Nor or Sven had sex with Jac it must have been terrible and not enjoyable. It would only serve one purpose (you know what that purpose is) and nothing more. Kind of like the current kiss.

Oh well, the kiss was mainly a distraction while my hand went to my holster. I pulled back just as electricity ran through Chorst's body. His expression did not change as he fell. I tried to stop his falling, however that was difficult whilst standing on the egg chair. All I did was slow the fall.

"I gotta do this, Chorst." I told him as I stepped off the chair and kneeled down next to him. I did not feel great about stunning a one-handed man, but he would have tried to stop moi from completing my task otherwise.

I sniffed as I felt blood running through my right nostril. This was accompanied by a throbbing headache. I was breaking down. The condition of my body would not matter providing that I confronted Tak with the Bennu Bomb in-hand. Do not question how I intend to use a 4th dimensional element to destroy a 4th dimensional creature. It makes sense in my head so I don't need to explain it to you!

There was now just one problem with my insane plan. The ship. With Chorst paralyzed how were he and the ship going to make it back to Tamarax Station? I needed to control the ship automatically so that I could drive it close enough to the hatch on the side of the comet, then I needed it to turn around and fly back to the station.

"Data?" I asked as I heaved Chorst into the egg chair.

"Yes Dub First Off Am?"

"Can I use you to fly a ship automatically?"

"Yes. Please state the liscence of the ship and the authorization passcode."

"Eh?"

Chorst had planned to automatically control a ship before... How had he planned it? He had known the liscence of Mar, however dub spaceships did not have authorization passcodes. What would the passcode to Mel's ship be?

Once Chorst was securely in the egg chair, I went to the little silver model of the ship on the podium. Thankfully, the liscence was on the model ship. It was a strange liscence. Actually, just a very egotistical liscence.

"The liscence is M-E-L-0-1."

"Confirmed. State the authorization passcode."

I bit my lip and thought. What would Mel's passcode be? It could be something personal or just a random bunch of letters and numbers.

"Bird of fire." The voice that was not my own stated.

"Confirmed. Accessing ship controls now."

Bird of fire? That was the passcode to the fastest ship in the universe? Anybody could guess that! But that was not the only interesting thing about that passcode: Mel had what looked like an Earthling mythological phoenix printed on the front of her tunic. Could that be the 'bird of fire'? Then again, Bennu, the 4th dimensional element was also the name of a mythological heron that was considered to be the Egyptian version of a phoenix and the decorative writing on the walls resembled hieroglyphics while Mel was wrapped-up like an Egyptian mummy and... wow. I really sound like a conspiracist on cannabis don't I?

"You'll understand why I have to do this... someday." I told Chorst as I waited for Data to access the ship's controls. "Ask Frek... or Mel. They'll tell you."

"Error." Data said calmly. "Unable to access MEL01 automatically."

"Explain." I said while going into the pocket on Chorst's belt for the Bennu Bomb. I sat there for a moment toying with it, but then snapped out of my 'power crazed' moment and put it in the pocket on my belt.

"The system cannot be controlled wirelessly."

I thought for a moment. "Okay, what if I could plug you into the ship somehow and then give you commands from my earpiece? Would that work?"

"Possibly, however the ship runs on different software to mine which may cause difficulty."

"Let's give it a try anyways."

The real question: how did I plug Data into this ship? I knew he had a pull-out plug, but there were no jacks to plug it into. Damn it, I should not have stunned Chorst so early. He would have known what to do.

I took the black cuff off followed by the wrist computer and then put the cuff back on. Unsurprisingly, there was no ripple or harp sound when I placed the computer on the silver surface. I had not expected it do anything. I really hadn't expected the wrist computer to be absorbed by the silver liquid. My hand reached out to grab it, but I was too late.

"Data?" I asked. "Are you connected to the ship?"

"Yes."

"Righteous."

Had I really just said that?

I put my helm back on as I headed for the door closest to the comet. We were down to mere minutes before Tak collided with the time energy. I patted my pocket just to make sure the Bennu Bomb was still there. It would be horrible to travel into the comet and meet Tak without even having the bomb.

"Data, expand MEL01's atmosphere to the comet we are closest to."

By doing this, I would not be left behind when I tried to hop from one ship to the other. Both ships were going so fast that even a second out of the atmosphere and I would be lost alone in space forever.

"Warning: The nearest body is not a comet. It is a non-USM spacecraft."

"Understood." I nodded. "Expand MEL01's atmosphere to the non-USM spacecraft."

"Task complete."

I walked back to Chorst for the last time. I was surprisingly calm about the fact I was going to die. Then again, I would probably be more terrified when I stared death right in the eyes. I mainly felt guilt around my father. I had hugged him goodbye and told him I would be right back. When Chorst returned to Tamarax Station Sven would learn the truth: he hadn't even seen his daughter's face one last time before I left him.

"When you return to Tamarax Station... tell everyone I'm dead." I told Chorst with a hint of sadness. "Also, tell them I'm sorry." When I said 'them' I meant my father, but everyone else probably needed to know that I had died too.

Chorst just stared up at moi. Even though I was wearing the helm, his amethyst eyes still somehow managed to meet mine. He could not say anything, though I doubt he would have said anything even if he could have.

Okay. Time was up. What were my final worlds going to be to Chorst?

"Live long and prosper and may the force be with you."

Yes! I can die now. I did not even have to care about how much dignity I lost by saying that because I was going to die within a few minutes anyways! Damn, if only I could have watched Star Wars and Star Trek one more time...

I left the trinard alone in the egg chair without another word. I do not think much needs to be said after you go full nerd and quote two retro icons.

The door made a sighing noise as it opened. A blinding light filled the cabin of the ship due to the white fire that surrounded the ship. Luckily, my helm acted as a visor and protected my eyes.

"Data, can you move this ship closer to the non-USM ship?"

"Yes. How close do you want the ship to get?"

"As close as possible without damaging this ship."

"Confirmed."

The silver ship tilted as it moved forward as if Data intended to park us on the side of the asteroid. There was no fire where the ship's atmosphere expanded to. The white flames went around the atmosphere which meant I had easy access to the hatch. Just to for precaution I commanded Data to turn on my rocket boots as I leapt toward the rock-covered hatch. It was only about a metre and a half away from Mel's ship, but with the atmosphere came gravity.

Clutching the hard handle of the hatch, I managed to get the thing opened before requesting that Data turned off my boots. The inside of the comet was completely pitch black and without my wrist computer I did not have any light. Oh well, I knew I would find my way.

I swung the hatch closed and was completely engulfed by the blackness. It was a little scary being in a cramped dark space that I could only crawl in. It was scarier knowing that I was in the same ship as the murderous 4th dimensional creature.

"Data, close MEL01's open door and contract the atmosphere back to default."

"Task complete."

I sighed. "Now, take the ship back to hangar..." I thought for a moment. If Chorst landed right in hangar four then some USM personnel would reanimate him immediately and then I knew that trinard would find a way to access my wrist computer from his earpiece which meant he would come right back. "Five, take the ship to hangar five at Tamarax Station."

Hopefully hangar five had not been blown to bits or that would be awkward.

"Dub First Off Am," Data began in a concerned robotic voice, "we will lose connection. The earpiece and I cannot keep connection due to the distance."

"I know... but do it anyways."

"Goodbye, Am."

I heard a clicking noise as Data cancelled our connection. Had my wrist computer really just said goodbye to moi? Wrist computers had probably been programmed to say that whenever they loss connection to their keeper, but it was still endearing.

I did not see the MEL01 leave, yet I could sense its departure. By now, it was already back at Tamarax Station.

The small tunnel sloped downwards as I crawled. Strangely enough, this ship was not hot like the exterior was. It was cold, icy. What surprised me was the fact it appeared to have an artificial gravity. You would think that when this ship was first detected by the USM on their scanners they would have noticed something like that. They probably had, and Mel had probably told them to 'ignore it'. Man, wouldn't life have been so much easier if Mel had just stopped this freaking ship herself?

I put my hand out and shuttered when it didn't land on anything. I pawed in the blackness in search of a surface, but nothing. Suddenly, there was a piercing shriek that seemed to shake the whole comet. It sounded like angry, scared cry, and not one you would hear from any humanoid. I lost my balance in the small tunnel and gracelessly fell out of the tunnel into deeper blackness. I thought I would fall forever into nothing. No, I hit the ground in one second. There was enough space for standing now.

"Where are you?" I whispered as I slowly walked around in the blackness. The shriek had sounded like it was coming from a hundred places at once due to the echo.

You know where I am. A dark voice said. Telepathically, of course.

I'm not sure if what happened next was all head or if it physically happened: Bright white spheres of fire appeared above my head in a line going deep into the spaceship. Their brightness illuminated most of the area. There were so many different paths. This was a labyrinth that was not made to be solved by mere mortals. Soon enough David Bowie would arrive –stuffed crotch and all– and start singing.

The rocky walls themselves were terrifying. I could not find one inch that was not covered in strange symbols that vaguely resembled the ones I had seen in Mel's ship. They appeared to have been scratched into the wall by something sharp. Possibly Tamarax's nails had created them, yet I knew that the creature deep in the bowels of this ship had carved them into the rock.

Again, these symbols did not translate. They did not need to. A part of me already understood what they said. There was no proper way to translate it to English, but a vast majority of the symbols were talking about the universe. My nose instantly started bleeding from both nostrils and not all the sniffing in the world could stop it.

I've got to start carrying tissues. I thought as the blood ran over my lips, down my neck, chin and pooled at the base of my helm. – Nasty.

I was not elegant as I followed the floating silver orbs through the ship. In fact, I ran as fast as I could. There was no point in wasting time by wandering slowly through this place leisurely. The fate of the universe was in my hands and I was not going to have it sacrificed for my own slowness. Also, if I had walked slowly I would have had more time to contemplate my fate and would have most likely chickened-out. Not that I am a coward, but how many people can actually be brave when it comes to saving the universe from a greater force that none of us will ever truly understand?

My footing was lost as I went stumbling forwards and down into the large dark hole. I was not too afraid. The balls of light had stopped directly above the giant hole which probably meant I was supposed to be going this way... even if it would hurt when I landed. Why didn't I just turn on my rocket boots? Because I needed Data to do that. Hopefully the armour would protect moi.

After a few seconds of falling I hit the ground with a loud thud followed by a crack as my left wrist broke. I grunted as pain swelled in my wrist, however all of that was soon forgotten when I looked up and to the side.

The orbs illuminated the dead-end hole I had fallen into. There was no way out unless you could fly. I did not care about that. I had no need to leave this whole. Tak, she was right in front of moi. The massive creature stood up on its pipe-thin legs and stared down at moi with black soul sucking eyes. No human would ever believe how much this creature resembled an Earthling bird. Not just any bird; a heron.

Standing up, the 4th dimensional creature was over three metres tall. Most of its height was in its long legs. They looked so thin, yet I knew they had to be incredibly strong. I saw the remains of the force field cell that had been installed to keep her inside the ship... That force field had been broken a long time ago. The shattered bits of metal suggested the bird had simply crushed the field projectors with its foot.

The fact that Tak resembled a heron was not the most interesting thing about the bird. I was intrigued by her colouring. The legs, beak (which was also yellow) and eyes were black, the primary feathers on the body were white while the head and feather crest were red and the wings were blue with the tips red. This heron had all the colours of the USM emblem on it. I had no doubt this creature was somehow associated with Mel. With the Bennu element, the phoenix on her shirt and the 'bird of fire' passcode to her ship they had to be close. The real question that remained was what did ancient Egypt have to do with all of this? C'mon, Mel dressed up like a mummy, Bennu and the 4th dimensional heron plus the alien hieroglyphics? This was all too uncanny. There was no way the ancient Egyptians were around before Mel and Tak so why did the USM have Egyptian elements? Or maybe the ancient Egyptians had USM elements...

Do you always query this much? Tak asked telepathically in a bitchy voice, if I say so myself. Oh, I already know the answer to that.

"Oh, cram it." I replied aloud to the most powerful creature in known existence.

A long, painful, silence followed. Tak cocked her head to one side and stared at me with a single eye. I knew now that I could not be spontaneous around this bird. She anticipated everything I would do.

"So..." I slowly got to my feet while clutching my broken wrist. "You're Tak. You're the dark voice that has been in my mind the whole time."

I am one of the voices in your head.

"Yeah. Whatever."

More silence. Only the humming engine of the ship could be heard.

"Are we supposed to have a big fight or are you going to try and stop me or..." My hand crept to my belt where the Bennu Bomb was.

Why? Tak asked.

"Because... you were working with Tamarax to end the universe as we know it."

Really?

"Yes," I nodded, I was suspicious of this condescending bird, "Tam and you had a telepathic connection and she was telling you what to do and..."

You honestly think Tam had any control of me? The bird cocked its head again. I took a step back when she strutted towards moi. She was a vulture circling her prey. Even her s-shaped neck was bobbing haughtily. I stood my ground, but her calmness suggested that she had had ulterior motives all along.

If you have not noticed, Lady Tamarax Deloro is now deceased. If she had been my associate don't you think I would have had the power to prevent her death?

I did not answer. I had been right, Tam and I were both just pawns in Tak's strange game. The heron had never intended to let Tam to recreate the universe. I questioned what Tak wanted to happen to the universe. Did she simply want it to stop existing?

"Well... so you won't mind if I save the universe then?"

Go ahead. Try.

Hesitantly, I pulled out the Bennu Bomb and held it in my one good hand. My thumb gently massaged the trigger, warning Tak I would do it. There were still so many questions I wanted to ask the creature. Sadly, there was no time. I would predict that we were just over one minute away from colliding with the time energy surrounding the Sun.

What would you say if your flesh suddenly combusted? No, not my armour, clothing or body-glove. I meant my flesh and more. I screamed 'holy fuck' like any human would. The pain involved with the exterior of my body being engulfed in white fire was excruciating. My USM uniform could not take the heat. The fabric parts disintegrated while the armour began to melt. Even my helm had become like hot glue on my face. The Bennu Bomb was lost in the chaos. For obvious reasons, it had fallen out of my hand.

Before any damage serious damage could be done to my internal organs the white fire snuffed. Pain. Nothing but pain. Even my delicate eyes had been scorched, blinding me.

Fight fire with fire and you just get burned. Tak said calmly, yet proudly.

I was not sobbing or screaming. Just making muffled inhuman noises. The white fire had been so hot that my helm had shrunk in size and was now glued to my skull. I did not care though. I was in so much pain that I didn't care about anything.

You have a job to do. I told myself aggressively. My body was a horrible wreck, but my own pain was not allowed to affect the fate of the universe.

There was no point in acting tough anymore. I whimpered as I moved my right arm. My flesh had almost been entirely burnt off. In normal circumstances I would have to get medical treatment immediately if I wanted to survive, but I had no intent of surviving. I felt around the ground, wincing every time my delicate hand made contact with the harsh floor.

How's that going? Tak asked. My ears were ringing. Predicting exactly where she was in the comet as she strode around on her thin legs was impossible.

She's testing you. A calm voice said in my head. I was not sure if it was my own or if it was the third voice in my head. Prove yourself to her.

I had no idea why I had to prove myself to the bird, however I did not really need an explanation. As if I could see everything clearly, my hand quickly found the Bennu Bomb. It had not been damaged in the fiery chaos. – Good.

The bomb's affects, although powerful, only had a limited impact distance. Tak and I would have to be close enough that the explosion –or whatever happened when the switch was flipped– affected her too. I went with my gut feeling and predicted that Tak was to my right... and just far away enough that the bomb affects would not reach her unless I got a little closer. She was not going to move further back or further forward. This was a test. I don't know why I was being tested, but the fate of the universe was not worth my questioning.

My inhuman cries would startle anyone as I rolled myself onto my stomach. Even with all my will power, the pain was unbearable. It is surprising that I did not pass out from the pain. That was possibly because Tak was intentionally keeping my mind awake. She had that sort of power.

I lay there on my chest whimpering for a moment. I would have probably been sobbing if my tear ducts had not been singed off. The timer in my head urgently informed moi that we were down to mere seconds before the comet reached the time energy.

Come on, you can do it. Tak said followed by a soft croak which I could not hear due to the ringing in my ears. I was not sure if the 4th dimensional creature was being sarcastic or actually trying to motive moi.

I may have wiggled an inch forward, but that was enough movement to make it feel as if thousands of needles were repeatedly jabbing themselves into my body. With a horrible groan, I put my arms out and dragged myself forward. I had briefly forgotten about my broke wrist due to all the other pain. I then I quickly remembered once I started putting pressure on it. I continued to whimper as I etched my way forward.

At one point I thought I was still moving, however when I came to my senses I realized I was just limply laying on the rocky ground. It was impossible for me to move any further forward. My body was a depleted wreck. The fact I was alive and conscious seemed to be working against the odds.

Now or never. I thought as my seared bloody thumb found the switch on the Bennu Bomb again. Let's hope this works.

Mercifully, Tak took a step closer to moi as I flipped the switch so that she was properly within the radius. Why hadn't she done that right off the bat? Who knows? Her thinking would never be understood by any creature in this universe.

With not a second to spare, both of our bodies were engulfed in the white ball of fire and sucked into the 4th dimension. No thoughts cluttered my brain as I died. I was simply peaceful.

The white portal of flame was gone within seconds, taking Tak and I with it. A second later, the comet/ship passed harmlessly through the invisible time energy and burnt up as it neared the Sun and then it was gone from existence.

***

Chorst's body jolted as he was reanimated. He had so much he wanted to do and say, but the guards held him firmly down on the ground. Wisely, the trinard chose not to speak.

"Boy... you better have an excellent reason for arriving here in Mel's ship." The thinner of the two soldiers said.

"Mel gave us access." Chorst said simply.

The two soldiers looked at one another. Had they missed the other person who had been on the ship? "Who's the 'us'?" The buffer one asked. She really hopped that the trinard just had multiple personalities and that the companion had not escaped.

"Dub First Off Am." The pale boy replied. "She is currently on a non-USM spaceship disguised as a comet which she needs to be rescued from."

"Ease up." Frek said to the two soldiers as he strode across hangar five. "That kid's telling the truth... for the most part."

Chorst did not understand. He was positive that he was telling the truth. He felt that if somebody did not take Mel's ship back towards the comet then something bad would happen to me.

Frek looked up to the silver ship. It was truly a beautiful sight to behold. True perfection. If he had the balls and had an impending fate, then he would certainly try and take the thing for a joyride. All USM personnel wanted to fly the elegant ship. The thought of the ship did not last long. His mind was heavy with other thoughts.

"Leave us." He told the two marines. Of course, they left in haste. Nobody wanted to mess with a high-ranking assassin like Frek.

"I need permission to fly the spaceship again." Chorst said as he tried to stand. That was when the harsnic noticed the boy was missing a portion of his left arm. "Which means I need connection to Am's wrist computer. That is the device that she used to control the ship automatically."

Frek sighed. Mel had just told him the good and bad news. The universe had been saved... but I was long gone.

"The comet you are talking about just burned up seconds ago when it got close to a star. It's gone." He said coldly. There was no point in remodelling the truth when it came to speaking with trinards. They just wanted the facts with no equivocation.

Chorst stared blankly at his science teacher. He questioned how he knew it. Then again, high-ranking officials like Frek got to know that sort of information. He recalled that I had even told him that Frek would know why I was hopping onto a comet.

"She committed suicide." The pale boy stated.

"More or less sacrificed herself than committed suicide." Frek replied defensively.

"Explain why she sacrificed herself."

He shook his head. "Not at the moment. All you need to be aware of is that she just saved the universe... and there are some people we need to tell about it."

Frek was almost glad that Chorst could not express emotion. The boy was probably confused and hurting, but he appeared as bland as always. The harsnic himself was feeling solemn. He had known my sacrifice was imminent for a long time, yet that did not mean he was as emotionally prepared for it as he wanted to be. He thought of Sven. Chorst would have to tell him the bad news because the Swede would refuse to take it from him. He had lied to him about I was going when I originally left and Sven would never forgive him.

"Are you alright?" Frek asked as they walked down the corridor to hangar four. "Physically, I mean." He gestured to the trinard's missing hand.

"Yes." He replied, almost dreamily as if his mind was on other things.

Mentally, Chorst was in shock. Not exactly sad, more or less surprised by my abrupt ending that apparently save the universe. He felt no real remorse about the death of my physical body. A physical death never affected trinard unless it also involved a spiritual death. That was why he had no trouble killing Nis. The golden boy had already died in his mind. The pale boy was trying to conclude exactly when my spirit died. He predicted that a part of it had died the day I stared into the space time continuum and since that point it had slowly been decaying. – He was right even if he did not know it.

Whilst Chorst contemplated the death of my soul, the remaining cadets, Sven and Cacey were all busy with their own thoughts.

Frek had told my father, Cacey and the cadets to go into the shuttles, yet the battle was over so were now hanging out in the hangar. Now that the heat was off and their adrenaline had depleted, they could finally be emotional. Donn just sat on the ground crying with Henn trying to comfort him. Zand was the only one who did not reveal her emotions. She did not even have the face to reveal them. As a captain, she felt it was her duty to stay strong for everyone else. Not even Veck shared this philosophy. She did not cry, her species never did, but the look on her face was utterly solemn.

Sven, although sad and fearful for his daughter's life, was more intrigued by the woman walking down the ramp of the MCIAA spaceship. When he first met the harsnic woman a long time ago her ruby red dress had clung tightly to her body-glove and had a long cut that went up to her thigh. Nothing had been left to the imagination when it came to her body. This was a different woman meeting him today. Although harsnics physically aged slower than humans, she had aged mentally. Her dress was no longer tight and revealing. She now wore a red harsnic stola that seemed more mature and suiting for her role as an ambassador and MCIAA representative. One thing had not changed though; her wild red hair was still out and wavy. Only one of her dark grey eyes could be seen while the other was hidden by her peek-a-boo hairstyle. Despite the fact Sven had matured as well, a boyish smile briefly spread across his face that said 'I tapped that'.

Cameron, who was across the hangar with hanging out with the marines, was just as surprised to see his mother. Never in his life did he think he would see both his parents in the same place. When he was a small child he always wanted his parents to be together because he thought that people who had children together were also in love. For harsnics couples, it was months of planning before they concluded whether or not they wanted a child. And even if they wanted a naturally conceived child, it would require much effort as harsnic males had a slightly different anatomy to human males which meant it was difficult for them to... never mind. The point is that Della had never intended to have a child and had not realized that Sven's body was different and that her risk of getting pregnant was higher with him. Della had never directly told Cameron that he was conceived by accident and even, for a brief amount of time, unwanted. He had to realize it on his own which lead him to learn why his parents were not in love. But even now, he liked seeing his mother and father together. Maybe not as lovers, but they certainly shared a connection seeing as they parented the same child. He had a warm feeling in his heart that made him smile and start jogging towards his parents.

"Long time no see." Sven said cheerfully while the cadets around him cried.

Cacey looked back and forth between Della and Sven. Obviously, it was the mother of his son. His real question was if they were in a relationship.

Della did the one armed hug that Sven knew so well. She was in great spirits despite the gravity of the situation. Providing that Cameron was okay she really could not care less about what happened to anyone else.

"What are ya doing here?" Sven asked even though he already knew the answer. He just wanted to hear it from her because she knew she would want to brag about how she was the leading Hashtish Alliance MCIAA representative.

"Well... when I heard that my two boys were in trouble I decided to pop-in and check up on them." She said, her German accent exactly how he remembered it.

My father wondered who the second boy was, and then he realized she was referring to him. It was strange how close they were despite the fact Della had kept him separated from his son for so long. Despite his sadness, he understood Della's thinking. It was not because she hated Sven, she had thought she was doing what was best for Cameron by separating him from the second-class realm.

"No. I'm here to help with the aldoren slave clone asylum conditions," Della poked Cacey's nose playfully. The blue boy leaned backward, looking bewildered, "and I'm here to help you with the official procedure to get back to Earth and then I'll give you a lift home."

"Sounds like a plan." Sven sighed when he realized how much bureaucratic crap he was going to have to deal with. "But first, I've gotta wait for Amelia to get back." Della cocked her head to one side questioningly. "She's here on the station, but our dear old friend, Frek sent her to go do some mission. I'm not leaving until she's back."

"Understood." Della nodded.

Cacey hid behind Sven, clutching my father's arm shyly, with a little smile on his face. The Swede had not lied; he was going to get help. Maybe even get to live on a pretty planet. The reassuring smile on Dell's face gave him hope that the USM would not euthanize him. He was lucky that it was the Hashtish Alliance representative coming to aid him, because other MCIAA representatives looked far less kind and more bureaucratic.

Sven and Della looked to the side when they noticed Cameron standing there. Della could not tell who it was at first due to the helm, yet her mother instincts quickly alerted her that it was her son.

It was quite a shock to Della and Sven when they realized that this was the first time the three of them had all been together. Dell and Cam considered the family to be complete, but Sven felt there was still one piece of the puzzle missing: his daughter.

What inconvenient timing. Frek and Chorst walked in just as Dell was patting her son on the shoulder. All the cadets, who were not distracted like Sven, wondered where I was. They were all ready to go back to Starside Academy.

Veck sighed as the harsnic and trinard strode towards them. She and the others knew it was going to be strange going back to Starside. They could not just go back to their normal routines and pretend nothing ever happened. Cadets were dead now, and the rest wore permanent scars. The scars were metaphorical, except in Chorst's case.

"Your arm! What happened to your arm?" Nor squeaked. She jumped off the ground and leapt over to the pale boy.

Sven then looked away from Della and noticed the pair that had walked over. When he saw that I was not with them his eyes darted to Frek. The harsnic was relieved his eyes were hidden by his helm. This next part wasn't going to be easy... which is why he had left it to Chorst. He looked to the far end of the hangar. Mel was there talking with the higher ranking officers. She probably knew he was looking at her, but did not even acknowledge him. Frek had been surprised when Mel had killed Tamarax instead of me. He had always been told I would be the one to kill Tam. Then again... Mel enjoyed being an enigma to the harsnic.

"What happened?" Zand asked Chorst when the boy shunned Nor.

"Am and I flew out to a ship disguised as a spaceship." Chorst fully had Sven's attention. "I tried to stop her from boarding the ship, however she stunned me. Frek just informed me that the spaceship she boarded just burnt up near a star." He said impassively.

You could have heard a pin drop in the silence. Had Chorst really just said that? You can imagine how confused and shocked everyone was, but then there was my father. He only looked moderately intrigued... almost angry.

"I beg your pardon?" Sven asked, now looking at Frek. He did not trust the young trinard.

"Am completed her mission." Frek said, unable to lie. "She... saved the universe."

My father did not care about the universe: "Yes... but where's my daughter?"

"Dad." Cam said, although he did not know what to say after that. Della and him exchanged a look.

"She burnt up when the spaceship got too close to a star." Chorst said bluntly.

"No." Donn shook his head and continued to sob.

My father was thinking the same thing. "No... she didn't." He shook his head. "She told me she was going to be right back."

"There is no possible way she survived." The trinard stated, not realizing that he was breaking my father's spirit.

Sven had a Schrödinger's cat philosophy. If he had not seen me die, then how could I be dead? The situation felt surreal to him. He felt as if he was leading the life of another version of himself in a parallel universe. His daughter was not dead in his own universe. This was a dream... it had to be. He tried to think of any explanation to prove that his daughter was not dead. How could I be?

He put his hands on the trinard's shoulders, not aggressively. Cameron, Della, Cacey and the cadets watched from a short distance away. They even felt that this situation did not feel right. I had just walked away from them a few minutes ago and just abruptly died 'saving the universe'. Saving the universe from what? Why did I have to save the universe at all?

"No." Sven told Chorst. "S-she isn't dead. S-she promised that she'd be right back. M-my daughter wouldn't..." He slowly dropped to his knees quivering. "She wouldn't l-lie to me. She wouldn't do that."

"Sven." Frek began, but the Swede gave him such a hateful look that he quickly went silent.

"Your daughter sacrificed herself to save the universe from a threat we will never fully comprehend." A low, calm voice said.

Sven didn't look up, but everyone else did. Mel had finally joined them.

"My condolences, Sven." She continued un-heartedly. "You may never understand the cause of her death, but you need to understand that she made a heroic sacrifice which will not be forgotten."

Sven was not crying. He was just staring blankly at the floor at Chorst's feet. Shock had kicked-in. He could not understand how his child was dead. He had not prepared for this.

"On the shuttle, now." Frek commanded of the cadets. None of them moved instantly, save Chorst. Zand practically had to carry Donn as he broke down in hysterical sobbing.

"You've done well, Chorst." The harsnic said. The trinard ignored him as he got on the shuttle.

Mel gave Frek the nod for him to depart. It was now his job to comfort the cadets and get them back to Starside safely.

"I'm so sorry." He said solemnly as he slowly walked away. Sven did not even acknowledge the harsnic. He just continued to sit alone on the floor quivering.

Cameron was not sure whether to move or not. Mel had him frozen in his place. He too felt sad about the dead of his sister, but the USM trained their personnel to overpower their emotions with rationality. Della felt the same sorrow although she had never once met me. She knew how important I was to Sven.

The aldoren jumped when a hand was put on his shoulder. He turned to see a harsnic dressed in the typical black and red MCIAA security officer uniform. His eyes changed from solemn to fearful. Was he in trouble?

"Sorry to disturb," he whispered, "but we've got to get you registered."

"But Sven is sad."

The harsnic cocked an eyebrow. He had no idea who Sven was. Then he figured it was probably the sad sack on the ground up ahead.

Cacey decided not to make a scene that would distract from this sad time. He left quietly with the harsnic security officer. While walking up the ramp to the ship, he looked back once at Sven. How he wished he could've said goodbye. Even though my father was getting a ride home on the same ship, Cacey doubted they would see each other again. Sven would be sitting with Della in the lounge while he was on one of the lower decks being registered.

"We will prepare you a ride back to Earth..." Mel said to Sven as she watched the shuttle with all the cadets and Frek on it flew up to the Titonic.

"We will take him, ma'am." Della said, gesturing to the MCIAA ship.

"Understood." The bandaged woman replied. Without another word, she strode away from the awkward scene. Now there was no one in range that could explain why I had died.

As soon the woman was a good few metres away, Della and Cameron raced to my fallen father. Cam was a little surprised to see that Sven was not crying. He was still in great shock and the tears would come later. Probably for the best; Cameron did not want his father to be humiliated by crying in front of marines. Sure, his daughter was dead, but the marines were ruthless on second-class citizens. They had even been pointing and laughing when Donn was in tears.

Cam supported his father's weight as they walked to ship. Della tried to help as well. Sven was acting like a lifeless corpse; unable to move his legs properly. The walk was silent. Neither harsnic knew what to say.

Surprisingly, out of the three, Della was the most confused. She had only just arrived when the news of my death came to them. She did not even understand how Tamarax Station had been found by me in the first place. I do not recall ever directly speaking to Dell. After all, she had only on very rare occasions spoken to my father via holographic chat sessions. And in those cases, she had usually just walked in to discover Cam sneakily chatting to his father and then she would tell Sven and Cameron off.

"Cap Gor?" Cam tapped his wrist computer.

"Yes, En Cam?" The jolly overgrown mantis replied.

"Do I have permission to assist in escorting Sven back to planet Earth? I will be back aboard the Titonic within the day."

Gor was silent for a moment as he thought. He was not aware that Cameron wanted to deal with his grieving father. All he knew was that Cam had a lot of work to do when he got back. Plus First Off Tek wanted to have a chat with him...

"I do not see why the MCIAA would need assistance in escorting Sven back to Earth." Gor said honestly.

Cam sighed. "My sister just died. I am requesting today off for family matters."

'Family matters' were not an excuse for taking a leave in the USM, however Gor was going to give in this situation. He was aware that I had to have died literally within the hour seeing as the Titonic had come to Tamarax Station because of moi. Of course he had to give the brother of the hero a day off to console his grieving father after the hero's abrupt death; Gor would have to be a jerk not to.

"I expect you to be in your regeneration chamber at the thirtieth hour mark."

"Understood." Cam replied. The Hashtish Alliance MCIAA spaceship was fast so he did not have to worry about time.

"Drace?" Della asked after typing on her wrist computer. Everyone who worked in the USM had a standard wrist computer, but the harsnic had taken her computer a step further. Hers had a gold covering that made it look more like a piece of jewellery. It was the same for her earpiece, but nobody knew that due to her hair covering it. Ambassadors got away with that sort of thing because they were not forced to wear any kind of USM uniform.

"Yeah?" Drace replied via earpiece from the cockpit of the ship.

"I'm sending the coordinates for our first stop, then we go back to Starside."

"Yes ma'am."

Sven was so distressed that he did not even noticed Cacey standing on the other side of the Plexiglas. The little blue boy ran to the window when he saw my father and got no response. He and the two harsnics just continued toward the elevator. One of the harsnic MCIAA officers in the room with him requested that Cacey return to his seat. They still had to get all of the boy's general information. Then it got into why he needed asylum, previous crimes he had committed and his relationship to Tamarax and her station. And that was only the first part of the form-filling. Up next he had to go to Starside where the MCIAA and the USM would come to a conclusion on his fate. – The poor boy. All he wanted was to feel safe.

The Hashtish Alliance had the largest of the MCIAA spaceship which was not large by USM standards. Only three floors with the capacity of an Earthling supermarket. The first two floors were for the asylum seekers with the registration offices, temporary beds and the medical area. The third floor was primarily for the Hashtish Alliance MCIAA representatives. Della, like the other high-ranking representatives, had their own little apartment aboard the ship. Their job often required them to be away from their actual homes for long periods of time so Della had made it her third home. Her first home was on Hashtish 4 while her second was at Starside. Truly a busy woman. She had only become the primary MCIAA representative after Cam was born which meant that he had only had ever call two places home instead of three. The constant commuting had been difficult on him as a youngster. Like all harsnic children with travelling parents, his schooling had been done through correspondence. That was probably why he had such a lonesome childhood. He was surrounded by adults all the time and rarely saw children his own age.

Sven was in a daze. The harsnics were on each side of him on the dark grey sofa. He had not been like this since the death of his brother. After Frank died Sven was silent at first, but then once realization set in, he would prefer isolation so he could cry alone.

"I'm so sorry, dad." Cameron said. He really was not sure what else to say.

"Where..." Sven choked on his sentence. He knew that as soon as he opened his mouth he would start sobbing... and he did. "Where's the bathroom?" My father asked in one breath before he went back to sobbing.

"At the end of this floor." Della said while pointing. "I'll take you if you wa–"

Nope. Sven was sprinting down the hall. Cameron felt hesitant about leaving his father alone when he was so unstable. Suicide was a galactic problem and to the harsnic, Sven seemed at that state.

"He just needs a moment to himself." His mother reassured him, squeezing his shoulder. "He's a clever boy. He wouldn't do anything like that."

She had read his mind. Cam just looked at his mother, he felt like crying himself. Partly because of my death, and partly because he hated seeing his father so sad.

"How do you know?"

"He's got you to live for." She said with a reassuring smile.

The boy shook his head. "I'm not enough."

"Of course you are."

"No. Amelia was his real child."

"You're his real son." She gently stroked away one of his tears with the back of her hand. "Never doubt his love for you."

"We've only met twice in real life. All the holographic calls we had weren't enough. He had a connection to Amelia which he could never have with me, mum."

A burst of regret suddenly hit the harsnic woman. Even with all the calls they shared –which she had originally condemned– Cameron still felt like he was not a real child to Sven. There was a lack of connection between the two and Della knew it was her fault. Now, with Sven having lost one child, she did not want him to lose another.

"I'll go check on him." She kissed her son on the forehead before standing up.

Cameron did not say anything. He just wiped a rogue tear from his eye. Looking at him, Della was happy she had a child. She was glad it was Sven's child as well. Thinking back, she could not imagine what life would have been like if she had given Cameron up before or after birth. Life for her simply would not have worked without him. That was how Sven felt about me. Della knew he would be deeply saddened if it had been Cameron instead of me, but it still would have been different because the death would have had less of a physical impact on his daily life. Sven had been sad when I left originally for Starside Academy because the mansion felt empty. Now, his life felt empty. His life was hollow, you could almost say. Della wanted to fill that emptiness. She felt obliged to.

Cautiously, she knocked the door. At first there was no reply which worried her. She listed the items in the bathroom. There was nothing poisonous or dangerous in there that Sven could hurt himself with. She knew that much. But if somebody wanted a way out of life, they would find a way. Della hopped Sven had no started searching just yet.

No. He opened the door. He would not do that sort of thing publically. He did not want to ruin other people's lives by taking his own. If he killed himself, there and then, Cameron –and possibly Della– would have been permanently scarred. They would both feel guilt because they would feel that they failed to save him. Or in Cameron's case: that he wasn't enough to save him. Sven was miserable, but he would never ruin the lives of others for his own relief.

My father's eyes were red and puffy even though he was not crying anymore. He tended to cry in short bursts instead of letting it all out at once.

"You're going to be okay." She whispered while hugging him.

He was unresponsive to the hug. He was busy thinking about the fact he would never see his daughter again.

"When you get back to Earth... I want you to pack your things." She said.

"Why?"

"Because we're likely going to give your little aldoren friend asylum on Hashtish 4, and I think we can make some arrangements for you as well. You probably won't fit the criteria for an asylum seeker, but you should make a fine citizen."

Sven shook his head. "Seconders don't get to do that. We don't get to leave our systems."

"Darling," Della ran her fingers through his hair harmlessly, "I don't think you are going to be a second-class citizen for much longer."

Sven gave her a questioning look. So she continued. "Your daughter saved the universe. Mel said so herself. You honestly think humans will be seen as second-class after today? I bet that right now they're already planning the proposition to bump Earth up to a first-class planet."

My father looked surprised. He had not considered that, yet he was sure Della was right. Then his brief moment of hopefulness faded and he went grim again. "I don't think moving planet would do much for me." He said coldly.

"What about starting a new life?" She asked with a small smile. "I think Cacey would like to have somebody visiting him at the asylum... and I think our son would like to be able to visit both of his parents during his days off work."

Our son. Sven thought. As he recalled, Della had always referred to Cam as her son. She wanted him to be closer to Cam, he knew that. She could never repay him for all the years she had kept him separate from his child, but at least she was trying now.

My father did not say anything. He didn't have to. Della smiled when he hugged her back. If all went well, they would start the next chapter in their relationship. Not as lovers, or rivals for Cameron, but as friends who shared a child.
34: Hall of Heroes

The USM had a tradition of preserving the memory of their heroes in holographic monuments. The so-called 'USM Hall of Heroes' was located directly at the centre of Starside. Like an art museum; the halls were white while the ceiling was incredibly high. It was so silent that every footstep could be heard. USM personnel considered it the heart of Starside. You had to accomplish great things to make it into the hall. Personnel aimed to get their name in the hall. Few would, but the glorious hall was worth working towards.

Over two months had passed since my death. Now, the other cadets and I who had died at the battle of Tamarax Station were getting our place in history. Not just because we had died in the battle (and died saving the universe in my case), but because we were the first second-class citizens to get a spot in the Hall of Heroes. Well... all of our species used to be second class. It was a shame that some of us has had not lived to see all the second-class species represented at Starside Academy be upgraded to first-class.

A lot had changed in a couple of months. The places left by the dead cadets had been replaced by a mixture of first and second-class cadets. Now our grade was not only the first grade to be made up of second-class cadets at Starside Academy, it was the first grade to have a mixture of first and second-class species. The USM's discriminative attitudes were shifting. Soon, even third-class citizens would be able to take part in the USM.

The USM was not the only thing that was shifting. The United States of America had dealt with some major changes. American blew itself apart in the most recent civil war. At first it appeared that the Right Wingers had won the remains of the country... and then China swooped in to pick up the pieces... and ultimately take over the country. My father had left the planet just as this terrible civil war began. He left Geraldine almost all of his money, but took some now that all the currency on Earth had been exchanged for USM credits. My father only took enough money to get by on; he knew Geraldine would need the rest because he was not fit to get a job. The last thing Sven heard about his ex-husband was that Geraldine had fled America. He was not sure where he moved seeing as he never used his plane ticket back to Jamaica, however he figured he would be fine.

Sven felt strange as he walked around the 'Hall of Heroes'. He knew where my monument was, but he was not quite ready to look at it. He was currently looking at Nis's. The holographic monument showed the golden boy skipping along or jumping up and down while squealing silently. He remembered Nis although he had only seen the boy once alive. A very tragic death, but he was a hero for his people.

The Swede jumped when two arms wrapped themselves around him from behind. He turned back and looked down at little aldoren. His husband, but not in eyes of the USM. Cacey was still third-class which meant he could not legally get married to Sven. However, this did not stop the couple from having a harsnic-style wedding on Hashtish 4. The blue boy legally was not allowed to leave the asylum either, but security generally turned a blind eye when Sven gave him a piggy-back ride out of the gates. Even though it had only been just over two months, Sven was away so often working with Della at the MCIAA that when he did return to Hashtish 4, he had to savour every moment with his husband. Sven was not happy about being separated from his new husband for such long amounts of time, yet he had found that constantly working had really helped with his depression.

"I remember him." Cacey said while smiling. Not because of the monument, but because this was the first time he had been off-planet since he had been moved into the asylum. Trust me; you don't know how much form-filling my father had to do just to get the aldoren off the planet for a single day.

The aldoren's scars across his eye remained although he could see well. The Hashtish Alliance asylum nurses had offered him cosmetic treatment to get rid of the scars, yet he chose to leave them. It was nice to think that he looked different from all the other clones from the same set as him.

"Poor kid." Sven said solemnly before turning around entirely.

My father smiled a little bit when he looked at his family. Cacey was there and so were Della and Cameron. Although he knew that he got to see them all the time, it was nice to have them there to see my monument with him.

"You ready?" Cameron Vis Homen asked kindly, but he also short on time. His new job as lieutenant of tactics meant his presence on the Titonic was required more. Who thought that after punching First Off Tek he would end up getting promoted?

My father just nodded and followed Cam and Dell through the hallways towards my monument. Cacey was practically glued to him as they walked. My father had still not figured out why Cacey was so clingy. Maybe that was just how his species was or maybe it was a security thing. Sven knew that after thirty years with Tamarax, the boy feared the dark. Nurses had informed the Swede that the aldoren did not sleep well when he was away. That was probably a contributing factor in why they let the blue boy go back to Sven's place whenever he returned to Hashtish 4: they knew my father would protect his husband from the nightmares.

Not much was said as they all walked. Things still were not back to normal for everyone, especially my father. He still looked youthful due to anti-aging cosmetics, yet his eyes made him look tired and older. Cacey, most of all, noticed this because he had aged internally as well. Both men were dealing with forms of depression. Luckily, in the USM there were plenty of treatment options for depression. My father did not often like having his mind tampered with. Sven found that just keeping himself occupied with work was helping. Sadly, while in asylum Cacey could not hold a proper job like his husband which meant he was just on regular medication. On paper, these men seemed to lead very tragic lives, but they had each other.

My holographic monument hardly depicted what I used to be like. The hologram either had me standing with my arms crossed looking annoyed, or fighting an invisible enemy with a sadistic smile on my face. Okay, maybe it was an accurate depiction of who I used to be. In fact, the hologram had been adapted from security footage at Starside Academy. However, the only thing that really made my monument worthwhile was where it was placed. It was in a circular room with only the most respected heroes of the USM. I guess saving the universe gets you a spot like that. The hologram next to mine was of some guy called Darnek Vess: the first USM Naval captain in history. On my other side was Shell: the Destin-Hey monk who scribed the rules of space and time. She was one of the few in the Hall of Heroes that was not a fighter. She was there because of her literacy.

Sven did not like the hologram. It was still too soon after my death for him to praise it. What disturbed him about it was that my hologram seemed so lifelike.

"A bit of a fighter, wasn't she?" Della said warmly as she watched the hologram fight ghosts.

"Yeah." Sven said quietly with a small smile.

He took a step back. It was strange making eye contact with a ghost. My father honestly felt like I was looking back at him. It was not right, and he didn't want to stare at a ghost any longer.

"Anybody feel like trying the new Starbucks over in the ambassador food court?" He asked with the clap of his hands, signifying he was done.

Yes people, the day Earth became recognized as a first-class planet was the same day eighteen Starbucks opened at Starside alone. Aliens, especially the ambassadors who had too much free time, enjoyed the morning tradition of running to get a morning coffee and muffin. Humans had always discussed globalization... now they discussed galacticlization.

"Sounds good." Della replied. She was surprised how little time it had taken for Sven to examine his daughter's holographic monument. Then again, maybe that was because he had to move on with his life without me or he would be swallowed by the sadness.

Sven did look back as he walked away with Della, Cacey and Cameron. He had felt my holographic eyes staring into his back as he left. Because the monument was so convincing, he almost felt as if he should have waved goodbye. He didn't, of course, because he did not want to look insane. My father just smiled at my holographic image and then looked forward again.
35: An Explanation

For those of you who are looking forward to the afterlife: Trust me, it's not that great. It's... nothing. The easiest way to describe it would be that it is just never-ending whiteness. I could not hear or feel anything. I was not even sure if I properly existed.

Wait. False alarm. I was not in the afterlife at all. I was in a place without time or space. The 4th dimension? Who knows? I'm not sure how long I was there for. Maybe milliseconds or maybe billions of years. There was no way to tell.

I would have shuddered if I had had a body. There was a loud screaming noise that came from every direction. It seemed to last forever even though it probably only lasted for a second.

There is no real way to explain what happened next: I just felt like I was expanding... very rapidly. I was exploding, and out of me came space and time. The dawn of the universe. Black space filled the whiteness. The shrieking sound continued, but now it was less frantic and more like a simple ringing noise.

I witnessed it all: every moment in time. The beginning and end of everything. I even witnessed my own life from birth to death. Even Chorst's life passed before my eyes. His tragic birth due to the death of his mother, his lonely childhood as his father was always away at Starside, and his years in the USM. I saw his death as well, but chose to quickly forget it like I did with my father's.

My mind travelled back to reality when I felt my body being dragged towards an incredibly large mass. There were no stars in the sky yet, only fiery explosions as the universe tried to create itself. It was terrifying to watch. It made you wonder how the universe ever settled down.

Apparently not everything was exploding. What I was being drawn towards was a planet that already had gravity and an atmosphere. From what I could see it was not a habitable planet. The ocean was made of molten rock.

This is gonna hurt. I thought as fell. Then various thoughts popped into my head. How was I still alive? I was in space without any protection. And if I was alive, then how did I not feel any pain? You know those dreams you have where you do all these crazy stunts but don't feel a thing? It was like that except something told me that this was not a dream. Surreal, but not a dream. My ability to see was the least of my thoughts despite the fact Tak had blinded me.

Wind rushed past me as I fell through the sky toward the lava planet. I was going so fast that I was going to hit this planet like a meteorite. In normal situations I would have burnt up in the atmosphere which meant I would only make it to the planet's surface in pieces, however there was nothing normal about anything that had happened to me in a while.

I wished I could have passed out when before I hit the planet because it was a terrifying. With a BANG I made a large crater in the black surface of the planet. Fully conscious, I watched as the lava slowly seeped down the crater and towards moi. I was not too afraid. Nothing else had killed me so the lava was not a threat. Right now the only threat was my own mind.

Blood hit the smouldering surface when I sneezed. There was a lot of blood which did not stop flowing after my single little sneeze. Not just my blood, my brain was going coming out of my nose as well. You could say I was feeling a little lighted-head after I lost my brain. Yes, it was nasty to the point that I wanted to vomit. Great, now I had a burnt body and I was missing my brain. How was still alive?

I'm not alive. I thought, despite the fact I had no brain to think it. Well... no organic brain. My mind was energy, 4th dimensional energy for that matter. I could store so much more knowledge. It was like upgrading from a computer from the 1980s to a computer from the 2080s. It was great to have this mind, but it did not matter now that I was being submerged in lava. I tried to swim in the molten rock, yet my body was still numb. There was no pain as the lava overcame me. Turning my rigid neck, I looked at the sky one last time before the molten rock completely swallowed me. The sky was as red as the fiery planet below it. It reminded me of how the sky looked on Earth looked at dawn. – It was beautiful.

A long time passed before the lava around moi hardened. I impassively thought about how I would be stuck there forever. It would take millions of years for civilizations to develop in the new universe. Maybe someday they would find my rotten burnt body, yet I doubted that would happen because I would be buried so deep in the planet.

This sucks. I thought.

Did time pass? How much time? Everything was a blur for a long time. After so much darkness I recalled seeing light. Real light. Possibly some blurry figures as well. Despite the fact I did not sleep, I do not recall what happened next. Maybe I closed my eyes. The light was too much for me to handle after so long.

In the blink of an eye I came-to. There was no bright light like before. I was in a dark space that had a small amount of light. As my vision cleared I managed to make out that I was looking at a ceiling. I was in a little room. As dark as it was, I could see the strange pictures on the walls. I could read them even though my translator had burnt up a long time ago.

I sat up instantly. The room from my dream. I thought, looking around. Everything matched the dream I had had so long ago. It had not been a dream, it had been a vision my future.

There was a clicking noise as the door on one side of the room closed. Somebody had just left. Who? Wait... I know who it was. I know everything. It had just been a simple Destin-Hey nurse called, Vil who had been sent to cover my ruined body in...

Looking down, I gasped. I knew everything, yet I had not seen this coming.

My body, from head to toe was wrapped up in grey bandages. Even my head was covered, only leaving two small slits in the wrapping so I could see. To a human, I have looked like an Egyptian mummy... To anyone in the USM I looked like the most powerful woman in the galaxy.

You would not believe how fast I jumped to my feet. This had to be a dream. Not a dream, a nightmare. There was no possible way that it could be me!

I considered hunting down that Vil girl and murdering her for playing a practical joke on moi, but then I felt a hand running down my back. No, not a hand. It was the end of a white curtain.

The curtains that defied gravity reached out, trying to pull me outside. On the other side of them stood a figure. That is when I forgot about Vil. The creature on the other side of the curtains was far more important.

A booming noise shook the whole building furiously. Unlike in the dream, I did not fall. Ignoring the vibrations, I walked forward. The light curtains clung to my body as I walked through them, blocking my view of what was on the other side till the bitter end. Oh, and what a bitter end it was.

I cannot say I was surprised when the figured turned out to be a giant 4th dimensional heron, because I am sure normal people expect to see huge super birds when they walk out onto a deck.

"So..." I nearly jumped at the sound of my own voice. It had been such a long time since I had heard myself speak that I had forgotten what I sounded like. "Here we are."

Indeed. Tak replied, not taking her eyes off the chaos out in front of us.

"This was always the plan." I leaned on the rail and looked down below, and then up above. "You always intended for me to travel back through time and become... this." I gestured to my bandaged body. "Tamarax, the tear in the space time continuum, the comet, everything. It was all part of your elaborate game."

I would not call it an 'elaborate' game.

I ignored her. "I'm not going to become her... ya know. I'm not going to be Mel."

You say that now.

A long silence followed. I knew I was lying to myself. Even now, Mel was taking over my body. My own true mind was slipping away. I had so little time.

"So... I'm an immortal."

Any living body that passes through the 4th dimension is automatically unaffected by time and space. Your body is permanently the way it was when you passed through the 4th dimension. Your scars will never heal, yet you can never be wounded again.

"Yippee." I muttered sarcastically. "I'm hungry. What do these Hey-monks eat?"

No you're not. You will never need to eat again.

"You're 4th dimensional... and you ate that Feb guy."

I did that so you could find his hand, and then Chorst would wake you up to research Feb and Tam would not capture you.

"Ah, right." I nodded along, a bit disgusted that Feb became fodder just so I could be woken up by Chorst.

"I created the universe." I pondered aloud.

No, you did not. You just 'sparked' the explosion.

"Meh, same thing." I thought for a moment. "So everyone was... will be wrong then?"

Wrong about what? Tak asked although she knew the question

"On Earth there is... will be this magical thing called religion. Everyone has different theories about the universe and things of that nature. So if I'm the God then they're all wrong about everything... ever."

You're not God.

"Yes I am. I'm a fucking immortal that 'sparked' the universe."

Yes... but nobody prays to you.

"True." I agreed. "So are any of the higher beings from myth on my planet actually real?"

It was strange I was asking Tak questions. I knew everything about the universe, including the answers to all my questions. I guess it was instinct to ask questions. Tak understood this, and played along.

Most of the gods from your planet are real... in their own way.

"Eh?"

Tak said no more. I just had to access the information in my head and I would know the answer.

"Yowza." I scoffed when I realized the answer. "Imagine trying to tell the humans that. So many wars over religion... so many goddamned wars."

You're going to find a lot of planets with that problem.

"So in the Milky Way is there a single true religion?"

Yes... Scientology.

Both of us chuckled. Even the 4th dimensional being found Scientology to be funny. I'm sorry if you are a Scientologist reading this, but c'mon.

"So you were the voice at the back of my mind, but who's the second voice?" I asked.

Your 4th dimensional mind can move through time even if your body cannot. The voice of who you are to be has been speaking to you. Tak explained. Soon you will be Mel, and then you will be the voice at the back of her mind.

"That ain't gonna happen." I snarled. "That biatch isn't getting out."

Time will change your mind. A voice said, and it was not Tak's.

The golden rail bent as I tightened my fists around them. I hated Mel even if she was me.

Turning around, I looked up at the tip of the pyramid we were currently standing on the deck of. This did not look exactly like an ancient Egyptian pyramid. The exterior was made of black, smooth rocks. The people of Destin-Hey had built these many pyramids within days. The universe was still young and chaotic so they had to hastily build large buildings to protect themselves from the sky that rained fire.

"We're going to take a trip to Egypt. Aren't we?" I asked Tak.

Egypt will not exist for billions of years.

"But when it does we'll go pay them a visit."

You sparked the universe and now you get to spark various civilizations. Egypt is one of the few million places you will visit.

I'm going to get to watch Earth grow. I could alter history: "Can I kill Hitler?"

Your job is to maintain history, not change it.

"I didn't hear a 'no'."

By that time you will have encountered so many horrible people, yourself included, that killing Hitler will seem pointless to you.

I did not like how Tak seemed so sure that I would change. I tried to tell her that, but when I turned back she was gone. I knew I would see her again. As 'Mel' she would be my right-hand bird.

"I'll never be her." I told myself.

Never.

***

Oh, how naïve I was back then. At first I loved life, seeing the new planets and civilizations, but nobody should live forever. I would hardly even consider it living. Soon every civilization seemed the same, and they all seemed to make the same piteous mistakes that made it impossible for me to like them.

Amelia's spirit faded after many years. She held out longer than you would suspect. Almost a thousand years. Then there was me; the 'heartless bitch' as she would call me. Earth was not my home planet like it was hers, and I did not yearn to see it like she had. Of course, I did visit Earth on a few occasions. Tak joined me for this. She upstaged me when we arrived. Yes, the very ancient Egyptians thought I was interesting, but the giant bird intrigued them more. They only cared about my existence because I laid down the blueprints for a pyramid.

I will admit, ancient Earth civilizations did have me curious, but curiosity could not overcome my resentment for the human race. I usually have no care for the internal affairs of primitives. Hell, I did not usually have any care for any affairs, but watching the humans made me disgusted by my roots. I am not sure what makes humans more imprudent: the fact they make such mistakes, or the fact they managed to make the same mistakes over and over again.

I disconnected myself from the wretched planet for a long time. However, I could not ignore the planet on one occasion. On Earth: the date was September 8th 1966. Many members of the USM who were 'close' to me wondered why I got my satellite to pick up the airwaves from Earth, but they did not understand the importance of Star Trek. I had not officially seen the show in billions of years. That show was the foundation of my youth. I do not fully understand why I was so desperate to watch the cheesy show. I believe it was the fragment of Amelia that remained a part of my mind that desperately needed to see the show. After witnessing my cruel tyranny, a part of me needed to go back to something so pure. Without that simple little show, Amelia's fascination with the universe would have never blossomed and she would not have attended Starside Academy.

For billions of years I have watched people suffer, and I have made people suffer. There was a reason I was feared and hated. I had written the history of my cruelty in the blood of trillions. I was not mean-spirited; I simply did not care. I met a young Sven and treated him no differently from any other second-class ambassador. There is a possibility I made cry at one point. Even when that imprudent blonde cadet muttered about me in the middle of my 'welcome cadets' speech I was not fazed by having my own blue eyes stare back at me. It only reminded me what a fool I had been.

The cadets of my old grade were pathetic, every last one of them. I could have saved some of them from their deaths on Tamarax Station. Time would not be affected by whether they lived or died, but why would I? They would all be dead in the long run anyways.

Despite letting him die, I still felt like I owed Kel something. Well... I did not feel as if I owed him anything. It was Amelia who had all the guilt. However, I played along because it would not require much effort on my part. The slow, painful death of Kel's father was actually rather enjoyable. There are some men in this universe that deserve to go quicker than others. Jaedorra, the intersex bride, and most of the algrin's wives were saved. Their species was on the verge of extinction, and I would not attempt to save a race as pathetic as theirs. I left it to Kel's widows to sort out the future of their species. Jaedorra was the light in the dark for them. She gave birth to twins: one girl and one boy. That was how the algrins would have to survive. The mutt children would have to carry on the algrin legacy. Not the sexist polygamy part of algrin culture; the older culture that existed before all that madness.

Save Tak, Frek and all Destin-Hey monks, no one knew who I used to be before I was Mel. Nobody would want to know my true identity even if they had access to the information. Imagine if Sven learned that his daughter had become the monster he had taught her to hate. If he had known that before Amelia was born he would have cut the life support to the artificial womb. He probably would have gone to the point of castration to prevent my existence. Amelia was dead, and it was for the best. She got to die a hero and would always be remembered fondly. If for some reason I ever vanished the galaxy would rejoice. Sadly, I was never going to vanish magically. I was destined to outlive the universe itself. Trust me, if suicide was optional for an immortal than I would have committed it billions of years ago. Eternal life was a curse, not a blessing. When you know you have an end you cherish the days you are alive. I cherish nothing because I have no end.
36: Legacy

Many years have passed for most, but I simply blinked and the years were gone. The USM had changed significantly since the death of the blonde girl who saved the universe. The class system did not have the same power it had had for the billions of years before Amelia had arrived on the scene. Many were happy about the shift, other more conservative first-class citizens were not as happy. Then there was me... and I did not care either way.

My office was larger than it needed to be. The ceiling went so far up that my entire roof was simply stars. Unlike the rest of Starside, there was little light in this office. Small lights outlined the black runner on the floor that led to the very front of my desk. Besides that, there was one little lamp right on the corner of my desk. I did not need light for any reason. I found it preferable to do work in the darkness.

Before there was even a ring, I hit the button on my desk that opened the doors at the far end of the room. There he stood: the newest captain in the USM Navy. I had already given the public speech for him and a few others that had reached the high officer rankings. He was just here to collect the symbolic 'key' to his new USM Naval spaceship.

Anyone would recognize this trinard in an instance. He had been in the news for days because he was the last person to see Amelia before she sacrificed herself. He seemed more like a man than an adolescent. His body had become a more masculine shape that made him look less skeleton-thin. One thing had not changed... his impassive expression.

In all my years I had only learned one significant thing about trinards: they could not feel happiness. No trinard had ever been happy. The trinords had moulded an entire race to face everlasting unhappiness. Yes, truly a pitiful race. It makes you wonder how their race survived while so many others became extinct.

"Cap Chorst." I acknowledged him by sitting up properly in my chair as he strode forward.

"I am here for the key." He said coldly. He was not trying to be rude, however that was how it came across.

"Yes." The drawer in my desk opened. Right on top was the black cube-shaped 'key'. I found it to be nothing special. Chorst did not think so either, he was only in here getting it because he felt obligated to.

"Lucky you," I said while passing him the floating cube with both hands underneath it, "you get one of the newly designed ships. And you are calling your ship...?"

I knew what it was called. I just wanted to hear him say it.

"The Amelia." He said while putting on the Ray-Ban sunglasses he had been give so long ago. I was not thinking about those though, when he put them on. I was watching his other hand that had the black cube hovering above it. Through the body-glove I could not see his robotic hand, yet I knew it was there. He had been given the option to get a replacement hand cloned, yet the trinard was against cloning and chose not to.

"I'm sure she would have named the ship the same thing." I joked un-heartedly. He just stared down at me. "You may go now." I said.

He treaded out quicker than he had stridden in. Leaning back in my chair, I wondered what he would have thought if I had told him I was the girl he named his spaceship after. Would it tear apart his soul to know the truth? Probably. Luckily, it was not the truth. I was not the girl he named his ship after. I just stole her body and killed her spirit.

The doors closed with a hissing noise. I was left alone in the darkness again. In the silence I thought. It turned out there was one thing Amelia and I had in common: we were both fond of the impassive trinard's amethyst eyes.
About the Author:

Edward James Bowman was born in San Mateo County, California. He lived in Auckland, New Zealand for five years He currently resides in Portland, Oregon. His pastime is writing science fiction novels.

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/EJBowman

