Eye contacts are a hobby I could never have. There are lots of types and they are expensive. I used to go with foster mother to find new ones when she wanted a new identity. She had a Shasi too. There's always a new version out. Mom and I would walk all levels of the open mall for hours. Non-hackable. Heat retaining. Night vision in every color you wanted. The sunset was always soft against the snow and I can still hear the tarps snapping as the neon became brighter and brighter. When it was too dark to see, only the neon remained. The open mall became a whole new world to me.

~ Lenoa. My first diary

I woke up to someone licking my wound.

“Get off me! Off me…. Kaloas!?”

I could hear the men shouting and the burst of several stray bullets. Flashers ran down the hallway and loud moaning could be heard in the metal structures all around me. A few lasers cut at the ships structure as men shouted at each other in different languages. Out in the hallways men were fighting. Someone had docked with the Mastals ship and had forced their way in. I tried to pay attention, but the whole side of my face as tight with dried blood. I felt Kaloas bite my arm and lead me to the entrance of my cell. The door was busted open and a man came in. He was some kind of mercenary. His gear was all over his body.

“Get this one to ship. I have another,” he bellowed in the radio.

I made eye contact with the man as several soldiers could be heard giving up. His blinking light overshadowed by the neon trim over his visor. On my way out I saw the dead Mastal's body still burning from an incendiary. It smelled like death. I gagged.

I ran as fast as I could down the hallway and was shoved into a crouching tunnel behind some other freed prisoners. Kaloas was behind me and I yanked him forward as soon as we hit the light hum of the mercenaries' ship. For now they were our friends. Someone paid good money for this raid.

“Why did you do that to me!” I shouted in rage.

I calmed myself enough to make eye contact with Kaloas. My fingernails were digging into his fur and not letting go.

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“I told you to stay quiet,” growled Kaloas

“What the hell would that have done!” I communicated back.

Kaloas tried to ignore me, but I pulled him back. I could tell he was relieved to see me and was trying to hide is pain. My wounds must have looked nasty and swollen.

“Quiet? What exactly does that mean!?” I demanded.

“You humans. You all react the same,” glared Kaloas.

I didn't understand. Part of me was taken back in disgust and awe that Kaloas would be that way to me. I didn't know what to think or what to say. Finally, the last prisoner came in followed by the surviving mercenaries. A few explosives were tossed into the Mastal's ship and I heard the mercenaries speaking among themselves and on the radio.

“I'm not paying for any medical costs. You get what you get.”

“We only lost two. Should've lost three and split,” chuckled another.

“Shut up! Volunteer your ass.”

“God, I hate you guys.”

“These ones have been scented and traced. We got the wrong one. Wrong Mastal.”

The radio noise was unbearable and I leaned onto the ground. Kaloas tried to look me in the eyes, but I punched him away. I hated Kaloas. He was an evil Shasi. Being quiet? How does that even matter? I was furious. In shock, I felt in my pants to make sure nothing happened to me. I never felt so vulnerable. I don't know why, but my thoughts were jumbled into fragments. I could hyper focus on one thing at a time as if it mattered when in didn't. Someone put a healing cloth on my head and told me to breathe in some pain-killing gas. It burned and tasted funny, like tangy mint, but whoever it was reassured me.

The other prisoners were in better shape than me, except one who was in a daze. Her wounds were worse than mine and she had already given up. I knew she was going to die just by what her eyes expressed. Another woman and several men were with me. They were locals who had been freed as well. I could tell by their silence they were in pain that cuts deeper than a head wound. Some were trying to talk with the mercenaries while they cussed at whoever hired them.

For a brief moment I locked eyes with Kaloas. He looked saddened like he wanted me to understand, but knew I wouldn't. The only thing I understood was that I would never forgive him. Being quiet means nothing. It would have changed nothing. Foolish Shasis don't understand. Betrayal! My eyes flicker.

“They wouldn't have hurt you if you had been quiet. They would have thought you were the one. The one who would save the undo-er. They would have had use for you. No harm would come.”

Kaloas words flashed across my eyes. I could hear them as he stole a look into my contacts. I immediately took them out and smashed them on the ground. Somehow Kaloas managed to reach me in the mess and I looked at him angrily. He seemed disappointed, but not at me. In himself. I didn't need my contacts to know that. I found a place to lean back against the wall. The sight of Elissa Moon grew larger and I knew we were making planet fall. I didn't know what this meant. I was just glad to be out of the darkness of outer space.