Staring upwards at the screen in the ceiling, a picture of a clear blue sky spread in a narrow line from one end of the airport section to the next. Roy would look away every now and then and look out the window in search for the ship that would take him away from this planet. He was tired, so very tired of this world. Everyone was focused on greed and destroying the world in the search for wealth and power. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but when there’s an overpopulation crisis as well? He was no expert, but even he could tell that disaster was just around the corner, if a discolored sky and acid rain weren’t enough clues. Short of massive depopulation, one of the few options was to move off planet, something only people with wealth could do since ship fuel wasn’t cheap. But another option existed for people like Roy, people who were young, poor and desperate. People like Roy joined the army, or at least the Galactic one. No one wanted to stay and fight for one of the shithole nations that plagued the world with their political machinations.
Honestly, Roy was lucky and he still wasn’t sure what had happened. Like everyone else who turned eighteen, he went to the local recruitments office and took the test to see if he qualified to be enlisted. They took a sample of his blood, asked some questions about his background and then sat him down in front of a computer where he answered a series of questions. He didn’t think he’d passed but when he returned up front, they were congratulating him and then he was on his way to the spaceport before he knew it. He was too happy at the moment to question how quickly he got accepted into the G.U.N. program, but now that he was here he really didn’t care.
He turned his gaze away from the artificial sky above, it was just a hologram in the ceiling after all. Looking out the window he saw the real sky, a corrupted sickly green. Chemical clouds poured upwards into the air and tainted it with every passing second. There was no hope for this world that was his home, money had consumed it and money would destroy it. Only someone with enough power to contest the might money held could change anything, but Roy wasn’t going to be that person. Like many before him, there was little chance he’d be returning.
The inside of the spaceport was bursting with noise and activity, smothering the intercom system as it tried to inform the waiting crowds. Roy wasn’t about to miss his flight, so he found a good spot near the flight schedule and was constantly checking his ticket and the board near him for any changes to his flight but everything lined up fine and he just had to wait for another thirty minutes or so.
He had a few snacks that he slowly worked through, pacing them out for the short time he had left here. Along with the few snacks he could afford, he had a duffel bag that the recruitment office provided filled with his few personal belongings and spare clothes from the shelter he was staying at. Like most people his age, Roy was living out of one of the dingy foster homes that were everywhere in the city. His heart ached as he remembered seeing the excitement, jealousy and sadness on their faces when his fellow foster children heard that he'd got accepted. The younger ones were sad but many looked up at him with hope that they too could go off world and travel the stars.
The older children who took the test and were denied looked down on him with envy and hate, but Roy couldn't blame them. After all, it was likely their only chance to make it off world and they were essentially doomed. The one person who didn't resent him was Sarah. Just thinking of how her face burned with joy brought a smile to his face, only to be replaced with gloom when he realized that it was probably the last time he'd see her again. Or any of them. He opened another one of his few snacks and tried his best to bury the surging memories, though it did little to help.
“Hey, this seat taken?” Looking up, Roy saw a young man similar to his own age pointing to the empty seat next to him. Roy shook his head and the man thanked him before sitting down.
“The name’s Josh by the way, nice to meet yah!” Still chewing his food, Roy reached over and shook his hand awkwardly as he tried to hurry and swallow. The bar he had been eating was cheap and dry, demanding him to take his time to chew. He took a quick swig of water from one his bottles to help hasten the breakdown, feeling increasingly embarrassed as Josh stared at him with a funny smile. Finally managing to swallow the food, Roy gasped slightly before he introduced himself.
“Sorry ‘bout that, I’m Roy. Nice to meet you, Josh.” Josh waved his hand, dismissing his concern casually.
“Hey man, don’t worry about it. I can’t tell you how many times a waitress would come up to me and ask how the food was when they could clearly see I had my face stuffed. It’s nice to be on the other end this time. So, what brings you here? Travelling to one of the Enclaves?” Josh must’ve not been paying attention or at least pretended not to notice the look of surprise on Roy’s face when he mentioned eating at restaurants. Roy and the other foster children of Ariana’s Hope never had been to one. To them, it was a fantasy, a place for the luxurious and the wealthy. And Josh just talked about it casually, as if it was no big deal. Still, his clothes seemed normal if a higher quality then what Roy was wearing and he hadn’t been rude, so he gave Josh the benefit of the doubt.
“I, uh, no. Not any Enclave, I’m actually waiting for the space shuttle. I got accepted into the G.U.N.” Roy said proudly. Speaking of which, he went to check his ticket and then squinted at the nearby flight panel to make sure his ship was still scheduled for the right time slot.
“Ah, you don’t say? That’s where I’m headed too, funny that. Say, what group are you in?” Confused, Roy checked his papers but couldn’t find anything that mentioned a group.
“May I?” After seeing his confusion, Josh offered a hand towards Roy who handed the papers over after hesitating a moment. The papers were his ticket off this planet and he wasn’t too eager to let just anyone see them, but if he was missing something important then he’d take his chances. Josh looked it over for a minute or two before a frown crossed his face and he turned the papers over, searching for more information. Scratching his bald head, he handed the papers back and stared back at Roy with his almost neon blue eyes.
“I’m sorry Roy, there’s no group information at all in those documents. I’ve never heard of anyone making it in without a group assigned to them. See, look at mine. Right here at the top it says group ‘E-Gamma-39’.” Sure enough, when Roy compared the documents side by side that there was something missing from his, which made him begin to worry. If there’s one thing missing, then it was possible that there were more than just the group info missing. But as he felt the panic begin to rise, he clamped down on it with logic. The papers were given to him straight from the hands of the recruiters office, if vital info was missing then it was either intentional or someone in their office dropped the ball. Either way, he wouldn’t be held accountable.
“I’m sure I can ask someone to clarify once we get on station. After all, we only have less than ten minutes left before the shuttle arrives,” Roy said while turning back to the flight panel.
“Ah, you must not have flown much. Friend, the shuttle’s been here this whole time, they’ve just been doing maintenance on it and making sure it’s ok for leaving atmo. It’s not like a plane where it can just land, refuel and go,” Josh said.
“Oh.” Feeling his face burning, Roy rubbed the back of his neck and tried to minimize his embarrassment by turning away from Josh, pretending to check the time on his ticket and the panel once more as if he didn’t know the take-off time by heart at that point. Josh cursed lightly and sighed gently before speaking.
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“Hey look, I wasn’t trying to make a fool out of you or anything, just wanted to point out the difference is all. I’m not making fun of you or any- hey, look! There’s the ship, way over there. Looks like they finished inspecting it, over there by the hangers,” in the middle of Josh’s apology, his eyes widened and he pointed towards the big glass window where a set of heavy metal doors were being pulled in the distance. Quickly forgetting his exposed ignorance, Roy turned to face where Josh was pointing and for the first time he saw something that wasn’t rusted over or covered with a thin layer of grime.
Slowly wheeling out of the tall hanger, a massive shuttle coated in brilliant white shone brightly against the petulant green sky, a beacon of hope against the dreary background and industry. Small windows lined it in three rows while a slightly wider set of windows sat in the front. As the shuttle approached, it’s true size became more clear and soon filled most of the space outside the window. Turning around, Roy jumped and grabbed all his stuff, clutching all his belongings to his chest as a large crowd gathered nearby to see the ship.
“Shit, that’s a lot of people,” Roy commented.
“Not everyday you get to see a space shuttle, especially a big passenger liner like this one. You excited about going into space, Roy?” An innocent smile rested on Josh’s face and Roy couldn’t help but smile back and look out the window and up towards the sky, as if he could see the destination somewhere in the stars.
“All passengers leaving for the G.U.N space installation Sol Invictus, please begin lining up at Gate G-32. All passengers…” The announcement looped over for the next minute or two as the crowd of people began to move and shuffle towards the gate, including Josh and Roy.
“Hey, I forgot to ask, what’s your seat? Mine’s ‘2-C-6’.” Josh asked.
“Oh, uh lemme check again. Looks like ‘1-A-8’. Doesn’t seem like we’re sitting next to each other, huh?”
“No, unfortunately. But hey, it was nice meeting you Roy. Look for me when you can once we get up there, if you can. Who knows what to expect once we land. But until then, it was nice to meet you.”
“You too Josh, thanks for the help.” After shaking hands, they separated and gathered their things. Roy threw away his trash and consolidated the rest of the food he had into his small burlap sack. Following the tight crowd towards his gate, Roy took one last look at the approaching shuttle before getting lost amidst the crowd. Roy was in line for about ten minutes before they started letting people through to the ship and another ten minutes before Roy found his seat.
The rows on the ship were divided in three, with seats running on the left, middle and right. The seats were made of a tough plastic rubber that others were complaining about, though to Roy it was plenty fine. To the people to his left and right, all they could complain about was how the hard seats hurt their ass. Underneath them was a container that popped out from underneath the seat and where Roy placed his bag after seeing others do the same. Puncturing through the back of all the seats were a metal pole that went all the way to the ceiling and the safety guard was clamped to it so that it would fold down and lock in the seat.
Once everyone was seated and had time to put their belongings away a pair of humanoid droids cast in white plastic came and made sure everyone’s safety bars were down and locked in place. When they were finished, the droids left through the front door, closing behind them. Roy and hundreds of others were locked in place, only glad that he wouldn’t have a window seat to look out from and get sick when they left atmo. Though his stomach was in knots, he was eager to be on the move. Suddenly, the lights began to dim until a faint red light filled the passenger area and the intercom crackled.
“Thank you for boarding Kass spaceways, my name is Abraham and I’ll be your captain this flight. Please refer to the hologram for demonstration on how to use the emergency safety equipment.” Suddenly, a pinkish hologram of a man and woman appeared on the two lanes, waving to the seated passengers. The captain continues his speech as the two holograms held up some of the safety equipment stowed in key locations near each passenger. They went on like this for another five minutes or so before the captain finished his speech. “Your safety bars will be in place until we have left Earth’s atmosphere, at which point you can call on the assistant droids when the call button turns green on the seat in front of you so they may escort you to the restroom. Thank you for flying with us today on the Kass Icarus, we hope you enjoy your flight.” Waving goodbye, the bright lights from the holograms disappeared and cast the area back in mostly darkness though for the few bits of sun coming in from the small windows and the lights near the doorways and buttons. A slow whine began to build-up from outside the ship and their seats began to shake as the shuttle finally began to move. It turned imperceptibly for the next few moments until the whining began to climb louder and more high pitched before forcing people into the back of their now shaking seats.
Glancing out one of the far windows, Roy saw the world blur by and he quickly turned away as he felt the knots in his stomach threaten to bunch tighter. Breathing deeply and loudly, Roy tried his best to remain calm as he glanced again and saw the world fall away from them as they climbed higher and higher. Eventually they rose to the point where the green sky faded to blue and then nothing but stars in the distance, leaving only dark space reaching out towards infinity. He shut his eyes, keeping them closed tightly as he felt the grip of gravity lessen and his stomach threatening to float out of his mouth. Hearing sounds of retching, he turned to the source and saw floating balls of bile escaping out of the mouths of other passengers near the windows. But the site of that floating vomit began to make others contribute to the putrid spheres passing Roy and the others overhead.
Before Roy himself completely let go of his stomach, the ship began to shake violently, threatening to tear itself apart. People began screaming, long hair floating upwards as if underwater while some got caught in the balls of filth and came away greenish. The crimson light that had been a constant dull red since the captain made his speech began to spin, bathing the room in waves of red. There was no announcement, no warning of what was to come. The ship had become their world ever since they’d left their old one behind, and right now it seemed like their world was about to fall apart.
But they did not die, nor was the shuttle torn asunder. The groaning of the metal frame increased as the sound of something heavy and powerful pulsed through their seats in rhythmic timings. It continued to pulse louder and heavier, adding more vibrations to the ship and shook Roy’s bones. His head began to hurt as the pulse pounded through his body at increasingly faster speeds. The speed and intensity of the pulse ceased to lessen as he turned to examine the room, he saw the strangers closest to him giving him strange looks. Feeling his veins were about to burst, he felt a pressure swell inside him.
I’m going to die, he thought to himself. He stared down at his chest where the pain continued to escalate, the tears in his eyes floating from his face like clear pearls. His body hurt, everything felt brittle and sore but nothing compared to the building pressure in his chest, as if a fire were growing inside him and ready to blow outwards any second. He knew that if whatever it was that was pulsing outward didn’t stop soon, that he’d be dead. He began to twitch uncontrollably and spasm as his muscles refused to obey him.
“Hey buddy, you okay?” Roy’s head spun loosely to face the source of the voice with gritted teeth and incredibly bloodshot eyes.
But Roy couldn’t hear him, all he could hear was the pulsing wave of noise that constantly crashed against him. Tilting his head back, the veins in his neck clenched tightly as he screamed in animalistic pain, turning purple in the face. The pressure reached its climax and Roy was just hoping for his death to come sooner, anything to end the suffering, when he felt the pressure disappear like oxygen out to vacuum. His eyes closed at some point during the avalanche of agony his body was under and he struggled to open them now that the pain was blessedly gone. When he did manage to open his eyes, millions of pulsing violet lights filled his vision, like purple webs or veins, clinging to everything and everyone. Roy stared at the lights for a moment before he began to panic, knowing that something was wrong.
He wasn’t meant to see this. His head hurt the longer he stared and he searched for an escape until his eyes landed on the shadow in front of him. The lights poured into the darkness, gleefully chasing after each other towards the dark. Faint trails of smoke curled towards Roy and began to chase away the purple light.
“Oh god, please don’t kill me. Please, I just wanted the pain to stop!” The smoke began to billow out faster and he could feel the cold weight of dread press against his chest. It closed all around him, covering his body and everything around him. But still, Roy could see a rough outline of a man through the pitch black and his hope withered as he felt his surroundings disappear faster instead of retreating into whatever cosmic dimension it came from. Soon though, only complete and endless darkness existed beyond Roy and the creature ahead of him.
Until it’s opened its eyes. Like a flash of sunlight, Roy was blinded by the pale light coming from its eyes, watching in horror as a pale light grew brighter around its silhouette. Then another pair of eyes opened across one of the shoulders, shining towards him like spotlights. And more eyes appeared across it’s shadowy figure, some small and some large. By now, Roy could hear whisperings all around him, blending together and rising in volume like an encroaching storm. Since the moment it appeared, it had remained in the same spot for minutes or hours he didn’t know. But when the last pair of eyes opened across it’s figure, the light had dimmed and was no longer blinding. The whispering remained but now Roy could fully take in it’s maddening visage.
The fear that had wrapped around his heart since the pain started squeezed when it took a step towards him. The whispers grew louder and more numerous, condensing. With every step it took closer to Roy, the tide of voices grew. The buzzing swarm that encased Roy talked over each other in earnest, begging to be heard above the others. When it was standing but a few feet away, Roy felt as if the voices were trying to crawl through his ears and towards his brain. It’s hand rose towards Roy’s face and the voices with it, grasping for him. Its fingers landed on his face and deafening silence replaced the chaos that was threatening to squeeze his grey matter.
“Soon.” Then, all the voices whispered in unified front and he blissfully sunk into the surrounding darkness of unconsciousness.