Approximately four hours passed before the brothers descended back through the main elevator of their castle. Placing their time of arrival at around ten in the morning. Immediately upon their arrival, they were charged with cleansing themselves and dressing themselves into more 'appropriate' clothing by the seventh child of the Clan, Lila.
The seemingly short order caused Jordan and his brothers to struggle for nearly a half hour before completion. After, they were tasked with ordering brunch for the entire family and overseeing the robotic arms preparing each dish.
And so started the everlasting cascade of harsh treatment, odd jobs and errand running that occupied the three brothers lives for the entirety of the week. Sparring sessions with their elder siblings. Maintaining the assortment of equipment, drones and robots scattered around the castle. Tending to gardens. Cleaning halls. Babysitting their younger siblings.
Day after day, the tasks continued until each member of the Clan to be found within New Bran had grown bored with their sudden authority rise and had relegated the three brothers to those under the protective wing of the Clan like Mr. Dakaan and and the good Dr. Creps.
By the fifth day, the fabrication of their appendages were completed and sealed in shock-proof cases before they could even judge them with their own eyes. With the help of their elders, the cases were bound to tightly to their backs and the nubs of their arms to be toiled around while they continued to attend to the Clan's business.
Day, after day.
Until midnight on their 17th birthday."
***
"Get in." Vera jerked her neck towards the train docked to the axial truss.
Jordan tilted his head and squinted as he held off on her order to study her gear. Instead of her usual slacks and collared shirt, she was dressed in a black vacuum-suit that was pulled around the contours of her body and padded with relatively thin armor along the chest, back and thighs. While her hair was pulled back tightly in a ponytail and wrapped around her neck like a scarf.
"Going on a space-walk?" Jordan chuckled rhetorically.
"Someone challenged me, so." Vera's eyes trailed away as she shrugged with her hands. Sighed heavily with severe dissatisfaction. "Down to Europa I go-"
"Got it." Jordan called from a few meters away.
He was halfway to his seat before Vera's explanation was fully formed. After his assumptions were proven correct, he saw no reason to continue listening to her ramblings and inevitable emotional display. As the youngest of their father's first, four children. Vera was as old as the Powers itself. Her generation was the one to influence thing like trials, Campaigns and Merit the most. And took such things almost too seriously.
Notions and feelings about things that were of no concern to Jordan.
So, Jordan entered the train to sit and wait patiently for his brothers to get secure. Listened absently to the gentle hum of the life support units ringing throughout the cabin, the creaking of restraints easing themselves around his body. Stared vacantly at his half-dozen siblings crowded around the airlock and their second-eldest sister.
As he continued to stare, Jordan could feel the corners of his mouth begin to twitch and wrinkle as if something was wrong with his nerves. Finding himself in the moment he'd anticipated since he could stand. The flux of emotion was more than he could bear. Coupled with the fear of the unknown, it was almost enough to induce panic.
Their trial was an event every member of the clan experienced on their 17th birthday. A pilgrimage, of sorts. Across the untamed wilderness of New Bran's second rotating drum.
There was at least one found in orbit of every Jovian moon. Half of a habitat filled with terrestrial flora and fauna for the sake of having a dedicated nature preserve. New Bran's wilds were largely unexplored, tailored to fit whatever environment their father sought to impose.
"It's not like you to look be stressed." Jacques sighed from across Jordan. As always, his face was devoid of emotion and his stared at a point just below and to the left of Jordan's head to avert his intimidating gaze.
"How many of us do you think he'll have?" Jordan asked offhandedly. "Our father?"
While the arrangements between their father and the mothers of their half-siblings were none of Jordan's concern, the fact was known to anyone within the Galilean Powers. Villan Astros, the Don of Europa, had many, many children.
Even for someone his age, even in the time of artificial gestation, it was considered an absurdity, a rarity.
The clan consisted of fifteen families, 43 individuals, that varied from only-children to quintuplets. Brothers and sisters to Jordan who ranged from being as old as the habitat beneath them, to being young enough to not know how to speak properly.
Jordan's eyes shot to James, expecting a response. The former was staring as if in a daze out the window until he noticed Jordan's gaze and turned to face them. Wiggling his wrapped up arms in an attempt to scratch his head.
"You're lying." Jacques chuckled lightly from his perch. Summoning Jordan's attention back to him. "But, I'll humor you. I think our father will have at least a hundred children."
"Hah!" James croaked from his seat, shaking his head. "He's almost at fifty. What's fifty more?"
"I would ask you, but you don't have an answer." Jacques sneered. "So instead, I'll ask. What's stressing you, big brother?"
As much as he hated to admit, Jacques was right. He was clairvoyant in a way Vera could only hope to be. The way he could analyze social cues and body language was almost uncanny. He almost always to know exactly what Jordan was speaking at any moment. Jordan just hated his condescending attitude whenever he happened to be right.
Jordan hung his head and sighed in defeat as he asked. "What do you think it's like on the other side?"
"It'll be a strange world with beasts we've never seen before." Jacques chuckled under his breath. Then shrugged coyly as he turned towards their siblings now crowding into the cabin behind them.
Jordan pursed his lips in reply but quickly swallowed the air in his mouth as a soft warning-tone range through the cabin. After the airlock sealed shut with another electronic ring, the train lunged forward with an electric whine.
Just as the cabin got up to speed and exited the through a hole in the platform's wall, it slowed abruptly to ease itself into a tunnel-like airlock at the cap of the habitat. As the seconds passed, the perpetual hum of the station infrastructure fell into an eerie silenced and was quickly replaced with the now unignorable hum of air scrubbers, fans and AC units working to keep them alive. James' seemingly deafening breathing intensified as the cabin lurched again. Swinging the large recliner-like vector-chair underneath Jordan to line him up with his change in motion.
Silently, the train glided smoothly above its magnetic rails out into the endless void and gently curved around in line with the exterior scaffold. The windows ceased their randomized adverts to allow an unobstructed view of the wrist-sized bands of rust, sand and water colored storms shearing against each other in Jupiter's atmosphere.
Though distant and therefore unimpressive to the frequented eye, Jordan knew the peaceful, awe inspiring sight was a facade that shrouded the unimaginable violence the king of planets was capable of.
He imagined himself, trapped. Kilometers below the upper atmosphere. Stuck in limbo between the overbearing pull of gravity and the uplifting force of buoyancy. His joints flailing and bending and crushing unnaturally as he's tossed and thrashed about, skinned from his very bone by speeding molecules crushed into a dense fluid.
'Power.'
It was the only thought his mind could produce. The only thought most Galilean's could conjure, in his opinion, after receiving the light of Jupiter into their eyes.
Regardless of how many improvements humanity made to its condition, be it through technological advancement or moral superiority, Jordan was confident that mother nature would always be present to tell us that there was a limit to their seemingly endless reach.
The sight, as magnificent as it was, faded just as fast as it appeared. The train continued falling along the exterior truss. Curved downwards to the cigar shaped capsule spinning silently beside their home.
Jordan's eyes traced the supportive truss ahead to where the railings diverged to curve around the cylinder. Perring from behind the structure from the base of the support structure were vast arrays of fan-like structures, radiators, glowing an ethereal red before the milky backdrop of stars.
As the structures too faded from view, their train fell through a similar airlock to enter the habitat. While cycling through the airlock, Jordan noticed his chest rhythmically bulging into his restraints, his breath becoming more erratic and hastened, drowned his ears with panic even after the background noise of the habitat returned to his perception.
The train slowly pulled forward. Providing Jordan a weak attempt to distract himself from his plaguing thoughts by craning his neck in every orientation to observe the passing greenhouse bubbles, agricultural bays and storage facilities.
After pulling into a boarding station, the train docked itself along the center axis of the habitat and prepared to match its environment to the outside pressure.
The station was a mirror image of the place they left. Barren, gray paneled walls lined each surface, broken apart by large windows and egg shaped lights that were set into the walls at repeating intervals. In the center each wall, surrounding the rectangular module, were round passages that led to the glass chambered elevators that ran the length of the support spires to the surface.
With a forewarned beep, the trains airlock unsealed with a loud hiss. Inviting a churning gelid wind to force itself through the opening and churn itself through the cabin.
Jordan bit through the cold and pushed himself into the boarding station. Where the rest of his siblings were waiting in a crowd around their eldest.
"S-so." Jacques chattered from behind Jordan as her emerged from the train and gazed through the closest window. "This is what a real forest looks like?"
"I guess so." Jordan chattered through his own teeth while his eyes roamed the white-capped, viridescent landscape looping around the entirety of the axis. "So many trees."
"Now then." Vera just barely shouted as they emerged. "The three of you will be separated during your journey. Your goal is the other end of the habitat. Instead of using the lifts, use your boots to walk up the cap of the far side of the cap and enter through the Clan's private elevator beneath the truss. Walk as straight as you can. If you run into each other, diverge immediately."
Without a further explanation from Vera, Jago appeared behind Jordan and began pushing Jordan towards one of the vacant lifts. Once inside, he remained unnaturally silent. He stood off to the wall, staring nostalgically at the nearly unbroken forest stretching beyond the glass.
Contrary to Jordan's expectations of something similar to the humid, bleak and dreary rolling hills surrounding of New Bran's residential drum, a thick layer of snow sat atop everything in visual range. Jordan could only wonder how the habitat compensated for all the extra mass as he scanned the powdered clusters of dense trees and brushes with a childlike bewilderment.
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"You should have a good idea, right" Jago randomly asked after half the descent. Without so much as a glance Jordan's way, he spoke quietly. With a warmth that was foreign to the voice of Jago Astros. "How far it is to the end? I trust that you thought of a route. Know of a way to find food. Or at least brought enough. But you'll need to protect yourself from the cold."
Jordan eyed Jago suspiciously as his elder brother quickly turned to rummage through his pack. "What're you planning?" He asked accusatorily.
"I'm planning to keep you warm. So you don't develop hypothermia." He sighed.
"But, why?" Jordan shook his head in disbelief. "You like seeing me suffer. This isn't the Jago I know."
"I may be a dick." Jago laughed heartily. "But you're still my little brother."
"You have many, many little brothers, Jago." Jordan snorted phlegmatically.
"Yeah." He grinned wide while pulling a poncho tight over Jordan's and let out a smaller, equally hearty laugh. "But out of all of my little brother's, you're my favorite. Massimo's Massimo and Leo's pretentious. Romulus and Remus are too wild for me. And then there's the J-triplets. Who, like Vera and the first litter, were birthed from two of Gale's founders."
"So." Jordan scoffed and shrugged. "Doesn't mean shit in the Powers.
Jago sighed impatiently and took a glance through the windows in the floor. The surface was only a few hundred meters away and still not slowing in its approach.
"James is too selfless and Jacques is a recluse." Jago sighed ago. "Nothing wrong with either of those. They're just boring."
"And I'm not?" Jordan tutted under his breath.
"No." Jago sighed again, impatiently. "You are however, acting too dumb for my tastes."
Jordan ignored him as the elevator finally slowed to a halt and slid its doors open. Once again inviting the cold to creep under Jordan's clothes and begin biting at his skin. Before he could take a step, the wet imprint of a boot outlined on the small of Jordan's back and pushed him forward with a dull pain.
Cursing loudly, Jordan crumpled forward under the weight of his pack, down onto the powdery grown.
"Whatever you do, don't get wet. And remember, nothing you see out here will kill you." Jago's muffled voice bellowed behind him. "This is the last thing I'll ever do for you, Jordy! After this, you're on your own!"
Jordan scrambled against the burning cold on his face to pull his legs beneath him and stand. He feared he'd pull something while trying to lift both his body and pack and let out a laborious groan as he succeeded to right himself.
He tilted his head back to the single silhouette dancing behind the light of the elevators glass and roared to the paneled sky like a feral animal.
Jordan bit at the buckles of his straps and felt a wave of relief wash over him as his pack thudded loudly to the ground behind him. Grasping control of his breath, Jordan looked to the axis once more to catch his bearings and began walking awkwardly through the dark until the straps around his nubs pulled taut behind him.
After a few hours, trudging through the snow became a little less of a burden for Jordan. Once the large panels along the axis began to bathe the habitat in a gentle light, the forest floor began to reflect a soft, blue aura above the forest floor. As the minutes passed and the glow intensified to the full intensity of morning, Jordan decided it was a good time for a pause took a fifteen minute rest period. After his strength returned, he roamed about his temporary camp with his pack dragging behind him in an attempt to explore for potentially foragable food.
Through the sound of rustling leaves. A short, ragged breathing, dampened from the dense trees fell through Jordan's ears.
He stood in place listening as the repetitive snorting sound grew louder. After waiting and waiting, the noise seemed to surround him from all sides and quickly became all Jordan could hear. Just before he decided to move, to investigate, a warm, moist gust of air pooled around the base of his neck and cooled to freezing near instantly.
Lightning sparked through his spine in an instant. Priming his body to leap haphazardly to the side, face twisted with horror as he came face-to-face with a bus-sized beast staring down at him through rock-sized eyes. The two, massive, open-palm obtrusions protruding from its head swayed and knocked against the trees uncaringly as it stared Jordan down
Suddenly, it reared backwards and waved its forelegs in Jordan's face.
Jordan's body turned on its own. Flung snow into the air and into the face of the hellspawned beast as he raced through the forest.
He ran and sprinted as hard as he could through the powdered maze. Desperate to not be thrown off balance from from his missing appendages and the hardshell crate dragging behind him. Bouncing into trees and catching on shrubs.
As a result of living in orbit, far away from the ecosystems of Earth, wild animals were something most Galileans never encountered. And as a result, never learned about. Such things were omitted in favor more useful knowledge applicable in the art of space-survival. Orbital dynamics, physics, and, in some cases, fighting.
Animals native to Earth were simply many subjects Jordan never cared to learn.
Though, even if he did, he was certain, that... thing, was something born entirely of a human mind.
He was sure of it.
***
The leaf lined patches of light radiating down on the snow through the canopy was noticeably brighter, almost blinding, by the time Jordan collapsed to his knees from exhaustion. For the first time since his arrival, he welcomed the biting cold on his skin. Openly invited the brisk air to swirl within his lungs as he gasped and choked with his face buried in the snow.
Moments later, Jordan struggled to his feet and knocked the snow accumulated on his clothes by knocking himself against a tree. In the process, he inadvertently freed the heavy powder resting on the branches above and was forced to frustratingly repeat the process.
After ten minutes he'd succeeded in clearing his body of snow and worked up a moderate sweat in the process that quickly began to refreeze. The cold numbness bit at his nubs, stung his pits and shrouded his body in a shiver inducing frost that caused his clothes to stiffen uncomfortably.
"F- F*ck!" He shrieked as his body spasmed on its own from the cold. And looked upwards to the axial truss.
Using it as his compass, Jordan snaked through the forest towards the next waypoint on his path. The support spires stretched from the floor of the habitat to the rotational axis like spokes on a wheel. Repeating through the length of the habitat every 5 kilometers, it was the simplest; and only landmark he could use.
Like a beacon, the thick column peered from above the treeline. By Jordan's estimation, It was around 200 meters from his location. Still obscured by the thick brush.
Jordan took his time approaching. Taking in his environment with open eyes now that the threat of the hoofed beast was behind him. The nature preserve held an eerie silence that seemed to ring in tune with the brisk atmosphere. His deliberate, hot breath; the steady crunching of snow under foot; the occasional bird call, fluttering of wings or rodent scampering about; rustling of leaves, were like scattered notes that played a symphony of dread in Jordan's heart.
The trees were crowded, in the sense of people during a plague. Separated by a few meters, yet condensed enough to form a vertically terraced wall of trunks. Animals could be found wherever he looked. Birds, squirrels and rabbits, the ones he knew about. While the larger, unknown beasts had yet to be seen.
Unlike the spire he arrived in, the one serving as his next waypoint lacked any visible elevators. Instead, it was covered halfway to the top in snow capped rocks in a way that made it resemble a curiously thin hill or a pillar-like mountain, probably on twenty meters around at the thickest point. At its base was a wide-mouthed cave, its interior veiled in shadows.
Jordan bustled into a jog towards the cave, pausing a few steps from the entrance to open his pack for a change of clothes. After barbarically securing the articles firmly under his arms and teeth, he cautiously toed inside inside the cave.
The shroud of darkness enveloped him after the first few steps. Looking back, the entrance seemed like a relatively small sphere of light an illusionary fair distance behind him, like he'd fallen into a black hole and could turn to see the universe he'd left behind. The air became thicker with each step. Warmer and more moist. Pungent and musty.
Jordan was well enough inside the cave to tend to his business and get on his way. But his battering heart and still pooling sweat betrayed him from taking such simple actions. He took a deep breath as he squinted to peer through the veil. Tiptoed deeper into the cave.
"Grrrrr!"
The sound hit Jordan like a shockwave. He reflexively took a step back and froze. His heart protested. Leapt and punched to escape from his chest while his mind struggled to find the next course of action.
During his moment of crises, Jordan's eyes caught sight of the shadows in the distance jolting and shuddering as another growl rumbled through the cave. Seemed to vibrate the stone itself.
Jordan's body tensed in an instant. His diaphragm squeed a shameful squeal from his lungs as he fell backwards on his ass.
Forgetting his clothes, Jordan twisted his body around. Clawed against the stone with his nubs to pull himself to his feet and scramble out of the cave. Fear seemed to pinch the nerves in the top of his spine. Caused his neck to tense and brace for an impact that most likely wasn't there. As if his body was convinced that the beast were just behind his back, lunging forward to strike at his unprotected nape.
The strings of his pack pulling taught behind him, the warmth of light falling onto his skin as he escaped, the subsequent burning of his lungs from his exertion. These stimuli scratched at the back of Jordan's mind while he ran. Were denied entry from the fearful adrenaline burning through his veins until he'd arrived to the next support spire and collapsed once again on the powdered surface.
His body burned from exhaustion and the comedown of adrenaline while the snow seeped moisture into his clothes to bite at his skin. Looking through the dense fog clouding around his face and mouth, Jordan saw he was at the edge of a large clearing that surrounded the support spire.
Satisfied with his temporary rest stop, Jordan rolled to his back, hoping he was still on the right path to the end. If that were true, he estimated he was at least halfway there. Without a change of clothes however, he wouldn't make it half that distance before succumbing to the cold.
Another two minutes passed as Jordan laid in place, staring at the sun-like panels radiating above. Summoning the strength with an animalistic groan, Jordan wearily pulled his legs to his feet.
And halted as the familiar sensation of warm breath rolled down his neck.
Jordan shot upright, staggered as he twisted about to face a pair of bulbous brown eyes. He stumbled backwards, inviting a large wet spot to instantly spread around his bottom and legs.
Jordan's guest raised its head back and took a step back in cautious surprise. Yet remained in place with its four hooved feet splayed wide across the ground. It's fur was brown with mottled spots of white along the sides. A short, bushy, white tail perched directly vertical while its seemingly oversized head swayed. Looping the branch-like extensions growing out of its head through the air with careless ease.
It was an animal Jordan was sure he knew. Albeit young. It seemed unbothered by Jordan's presence. Even his earlier outburst. More than that, it seemed curious as to his existence.
"You're a deer, aren't you." Jordan smiled as he reached out to pet it. The nub of his arm pivoted in front of him quickly and seemed to wiggle in place just below his chin.
Jordan sighed wearily as he dropped what was left of his arm back to his side and gave the deer a defeated smile.
From behind him, larger deer seemed to have been won over by curiosity and began cautiously approaching Jordan. Slowly, Jordan drug his pack behind him as he relocated himself to the middle of the herd, careful to remain hyper aware of his movements as to not startle them, and began rummaging through his pack for yet another set of clothes. And some food as well.
Around an hour after mid-day, Jordan was satiated and comfortably warm in dry, water resitant clothes. After gathering his gear and bowing goodbye to his new acquaintances, he paused at the edge of the herd to scan the cylinder around him for traces of his brothers or any other animals, caught his bearings, and began stomping through the snow once again.
After passing two more support spires, the radiant aura shimmering above the forest floor returned its glow and the lights dimmed to their golden hue. Judging from that alone, he estimated it'd been around twelve hours since he and his brothers were pulled from their beds, given their packs and told to assemble in the boarding station.
Despite his assurances, Jordan was still skeptical of his accuracy and doubled on his pace.
After another four hours of walking, the habitat was shrouded in a darkness that made the cave seem like a child's bedroom, doused in nightlights. Jordan had maintained his double pace and stopped only to relieve and satiate himself without much interference from the native fauna until he reached the last spire. Where, this far from the entrance, the layered snow became increasingly thick. And when coupled with the darkness, reduced his pace to a crawl.
It didn't take long after for the ominous, pervasive thoughts to creep into his mind. While the fog still lingered, it had lost it's luminous glow and only hugged the forest floor like a whispering blanket of impenetrable fog. A hallucination inducing entity that lapped against endless darkness like water on a riverbank. Breaking apart only to reveal the occasional tree, rock, or fleeing animal that happened to be just a few meters away.
As Vera instructed, Jordan continued past the last spire and trudged towards the cap of the habitat. Just beyond the structure, Jordan came upon his last obstacle. A river. Too deep and fast to wade across without risk of slipping or losing the sled downstream and too wide to leap across.
Arriving at the bank, Jordan decided to follow the edge of river for a few hundred meters, both up and downstream. Searching intently both for a way across, be at a fallen tree, shallow spot or, by some chance, a bridge.
From what he could find, his location was as close to the end cap as the river went. On each side, it began to snake back towards the center of the habitat, looping cleanly around the structure to a lake in the center.
If his time-keeping were correct, Jordan had only two hours to make it to his destination before their day was done. He was unsure of the consequences of not returning before the deadline. No Astros had failed to make it, yet. And he wasn't going to be the first.
He stared above the bank and followed the axial truss with his eyes to where it met the slightly curved surface. Just below the crossed girders, from Jordan's perspective, were twin torches that poured the only light to be found in the habitat through the night. If he focused, Jordan could see the rigid outlines of a stone-laid entrance flickering amongst the shadows.
"Two options, Jordan." He muttered to himself, returning his attention to the river before him. "Make my own bridge, somehow. Or, strap up and cross it."
His eyes trailed both ways downstream as he weighed each option considerably. The ease of methods, the time it'd take and the potential consequences. Each aspect as tossed and turned, analyzed within his mind before he verified his decision.
After reattaching his pack to its frame, Jordan braced himself with a deep breath and darted through the river. The water immediately pushed against him like a wall. Seeped into his boots and churned up through the inside of his pant legs.
He misjudged the depth of the water and slammed his foot onto a cluster of smooth rocks as he made it to the middle. The water steadily being pushed around him threatened to topple him over, push him downstream. st stung like daggers and nearly toppled him over. He heard himself screaming as struggle to right his numbing body and clambered out of the water in large strides.
Jordan's blood boiled after finding himself in the same situation he'd started in. He cursed under his breath while he continued stomping through the snow without pause. Grunting and growling like some wild troglodyte.