The sun that illuminated this planet was at least pleasant to look at, even if I still had to squint my eyes, fixing my gaze on the luminary. This is not the star that occupies a third of the sky and burns out all life on its sandy surface, not at all. This star is normal, it gives the planet enough heat to support life and at the same time is not so dim that everything on it freezes.

“Sigrun.”

Will called me over, and having come to my senses a little, I lowered my head down.

People looked sideways at me and they did this every time they noticed my coal-black skin color, characteristic of all people born on Alsis. I threw a gray hood over my head and ran up to Will, simultaneously hearing him say:

"You better not show them your face."

"I know."

I answered.

"I just decided to look at the sun."

"For what?"

"Just like that."

I answered with a smile, causing Will to look at me strangely.

"What's wrong with it?"

"Yeah, nothing special. Well, let's go?"

Now we decided to take a walk around the city and soon we will have to go to the capital to convince the king of this country to make a deal. We remain in this city until the soldiers replenish their ammunition. We can't move out right now until we do it for one simple reason: outside the city it's not safe even for us.

It is worth remembering the monsters that live on this planet, as well as Granid’s warnings about possible gangs of robbers who will decide to rob us if they notice, in general, anything can happen to us, so we need as much ammunition as possible.

I was tired of checking devices, scanners and weapons every day for breakdowns and other things, and therefore I just decided to walk around the city with Will, decided to see how these «people» live, if you can call them that, of course. Although in many places the city was, to put it mildly, terrible, there were ruined houses, a collection of tents with poor people and dumps in the middle of the streets, but the only acceptable place where life was in full swing and flourished was the rich market area, where merchants of all stripes sold anything.

I look to the right and see a merchant selling skins, and another next to him is already selling meat. I look to the left and see a woman selling rolls, and next to her a shop where a man sells cheese. Trade around was brisk, people were scurrying everywhere and shaking their bags filled with commodity money, that is, coins made of silver and gold. Often these merchants carefully examined the coins before selling the goods, apparently due to the fact that they could be some kind of fakes or made of other inexpensive material, which is quite possible.

Will and I looked around the shops for some interesting things, but so far we were not interested in anything valuable in local goods, and we had no money to buy these goods, because we did not have local money.

Damn. It turns out that people on Earth in the past once lived like this?

I was surprised, imagining the same picture on Earth a thousand years ago.

And although I did not voice my thoughts out loud, Will seemed to agree with me.

"Everyone here is so convincingly trying to sell something. I'm curious if markets like this would happen the same way on Earth?"

"Maybe."

I answered, shaking my head.

“It’s not like calling home delivery, everything is much more complicated here.”

At the moment, I was worried about a question in the form of sidelong glances directed in my direction. Every now and then I constantly hear the same phrase that I am «cursed» and I must admit it really annoyed me. When I first came to Earth, people also looked at me askance, as if I were some kind of curiosity. Some people did not hesitate to come up and ask: «are you from the African continent?». I constantly had to answer that no and that I was with Alsis. After the response «Wow» I had to explain how people live on Alsis and how it is more unique compared to the inhabitants of Earth.

The first years on Earth I tried to adapt to the conditions of the planet. The composition of the atmosphere and gravity were slightly different from the atmosphere and gravity of Alsis, and the sun did not blind my eyes every time it rose. And although many earthly cities are under domes, being there I felt like I was in paradise. Never in my life have I felt such comfort from being on the surface of the planet. Alsisian underground settlements will seem like a real prison compared to the Earthly utopia.

This is probably why I decided to join the navy as a naval engineer: I just wanted to visit many planets and enjoy being on each of them, even if those planets were even worse in conditions than Alsis. The thirst for new impressions from new worlds intrigued me, and I could not resist, being on a warship and flowing through subspace from one planetary system to another.

If my parents knew where I really was, they would tear the hair on their heads. My relatives never considered me as an equal in the family, this was one of the reasons why I ran away: I wanted freedom. And now, it would seem, the long-awaited freedom has arrived, I can do almost whatever I want, live where I want and how I want, but here I find myself on this planet, and the guys and I are in an equally deplorable situation and help each other despite differences in looks, skin color, age and limb augmentation. And then I ask myself: was it worth it? And I still don’t know the answer.

At that moment my gaze was caught on the bustle unfolding between the streets. Several people, or rather local intelligent creatures resembling people, clanged their armor, screamed and pushed their relatives aside. Based on what I saw, I realized that they were chasing someone.

"Stop!"

The guard shouted angrily, pushing a woman with a basket of fruit into the mud without even paying attention to her.

"Catch that little bitch!"

A little boy ran very deftly among the people, tightly holding loaves of bread in his hands, one of the pieces of which he had already bitten off and held in his mouth with his teeth. Apparently he was caught stealing and was chased by five guards at once, who pushed people in different directions. The boy, however, was faster, mainly because he tried not to collide with people, as the guards did in turn.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Will came closer to me to let the boy and the guards run past us, but then I saw a rather touching picture. A girl ran out from behind the crowd and snatched one of the buns from the boy, and then they ran in different directions. They worked together, stealing bread to survive. They still have their whole life ahead of them, and they are already stealing? How bad is their situation that they have sunk to this level? Are they orphans with no one looking after them?

The realization of this spoils my mood, but what finally spoiled it was the cry addressed to these children:

"There are two of them! Let's split up! Kill these little creatures!"

Hearing these menacing words, I trembled, and it was as if something was pinched in my heart.

Kill the children?

It was as if something clicked inside me and I suddenly wanted to stop all this madness.

I couldn’t accept these words, I couldn’t ignore them, I couldn’t do anything about it. If I don’t help these children, they will die either from hunger or from sweeping blows of knives. I wanted neither one nor the other. I wanted to intervene and resolve the situation peacefully.

How is this possible?! They are children!

I was angry and turned to Will:

"Will, give me the gun."

"Huh?"

The sergeant didn’t understand, looking at me with a surprised face.

"What are you planning?"

"Did you hear them? They're going to kill them."

"So what? It's not our concern."

Will said sternly and, although I saw from his face that he didn’t like it either, I understood that he simply didn’t want problems on his own head.

“Don’t be a hero in front of them, otherwise they will decide to kill us too. I wouldn’t want to shoot people.”

I understood Will, but...

I can't do this: just stand and watch, endure the pain of seeing and realizing how children are being killed. I can't.

So at that moment I remembered my childhood, how in my home underground city on Alsis I was attacked by a gang of thieves who were stealing water. On the planet, water was already rare and often acted as a currency at first, but when a water crisis broke out on the planet, the Alsis government limited water consumption. Many people did not like this and people demanded an explanation.

At that time, while still a very little girl, I found myself a victim of a gang of these water thieves. They came across me walking home from the well and tried to take the water by force, which they eventually did, but what’s even worse, they decided to kill me. I was helpless, alone, several people kicked me at once, and I, curled up in a ball, roared loudly, feeling unbearable pain from painful blows to my body.

The thieves drank the water on the spot, and when they realized that there were witnesses around, they quickly ran away, leaving me beaten on the spot. It still hurts to remember all this, I was near death, no one helped me, even ordinary people who passed by, they just looked at it and that’s all. This is why I hate them! I'm sure these bastards are still walking free somewhere and are now stealing something besides water, this really irritated me.

That old picture floats before my eyes, a picture of several adults beating a girl who did nothing wrong and just wanted to live happily, like everyone else. My family and I really needed water, so I refused to give it away, which ultimately angered them. I couldn’t share it with them, but that wasn’t a reason to beat me, right?

But these children have a good reason for stealing this food, because they were apparently hungry orphans and were forced to survive in this country as best they could. They could be sheltered, fattened, sent to be raised in some local shelter, but... killed? For what? They are still children, why kill them?

I couldn’t stand it, I just grabbed Will’s gun from his holster and ran in the direction where the boy was rushing.

"Hey! WAIT!"

Will shouted after me while I was busy disabling the biocode on the pistol.

I'm sorry, Will, but I have to help them or I'll have nightmares... horrible nightmares.

Having dealt with the pistol, I soon reached some deserted narrow alley. The boy who ran away got lost and found himself in a dead end, and behind him, three guards were approaching with weapons at the ready, intending to kill him.

“Little brat, are you planning to steal from our master?”

One of the guards spat angrily, swinging an ax.

“They cut off their hands for theft, but we will immediately kill you, you freak, and throw your guts to be eaten by pigs. I don’t want to see some armless beggar on the street. Die, brat!”

I barely had time to run when the guard swung an ax at the boy, who stood with his back to the wall of the house and, trembling with fear, closed his eyes, expecting imminent death. He held one loaf of bread tightly in his hands and cried, and constantly repeated the same thing:

"Help... someone... no... I don't want to die..."

There is no turning back.

"Stand!"

I shouted, loading the pistol with blank cartridges and pointing the barrel at the man in charge.

"Don't touch him!"

"Who else are you?"

The guard turned in my direction.

“Did you talk him into stealing?”

“Do you have a conscience? Why treat a child like that? He just wants to eat.”

“Just look at this bitch, she decided to teach us something. Are you blind or have you become insolent? He is a thief, and thieves should hang and swing dead at the gate.”

The guard said sternly and began to head towards me, but then he noticed the color of my skin.

"You... are damned."

The other two guards suddenly became agitated and took out their blades, pointing them in my direction. They looked at me with fear and expected some unexpected actions, and I just stood there and held them at gunpoint, and yet I continued to demand from them:

"Instead of killing the poor child, you could take him in as if he were your own, take care of him, and then he would never have to steal again."

"You stupid damn slut, how stupid you are."

The guard shook his head.

“Oh Sod, take me away, do you know how many of these little rats are in this city? There are hundreds of them and you whore are offering to shelter each of them so that they don’t steal? Why? It’s easier to kill them, and I’ll fucking do it.”

He turned back to the boy and prepared to make a sharp swing with his axe.

"Get ready, bastard, you're dead!"

My hands shook at that moment, my aim was off, and I pulled the trigger, firing a loud shot. All four of them flinched at the sound, and the echo of the shot rang out throughout the city. The guard who was about to kill the boy suddenly fell on his side, dropping the ax and holding his leg with both hands. He screamed heart-rendingly as blood gushed from his shaking leg.

Did I really shoot?

I tried to understand what had happened.

This was the first time in my life that I shot at a person, and from the realization of this my hands shook, and with them my whole body. It seemed like my heart was about to jump out while I slowly walked back. Of the four, only one boy took the opportunity and slipped past the shocked guards. One of them ran up to the wounded man, and the second tried to keep up with the boy, but I stopped him, pointing the barrel of the pistol in his direction.

"S-stop or else you're a corpse."

I spoke in a trembling voice, and at the same time, nervously, I swallowed air abundantly, taking deep breaths and exhalations.

What have I done?! I didn't want to hurt anyone, I just wanted the boy to be alive and that's all...

I held the guard at gunpoint while his commander grunted in pain behind him, and I walked away with my back and soon ran to the market, where many people looked around and wondered what kind of sound they had just heard, and I, standing towards one alley caught my breath. At this moment, Will called me over the phone:

"I heard the sound of a gunshot. Did you shoot?"

I didn’t answer him, there were too many people around, they would have thought I was just crazy, talking to myself.

"Hey! Where are you? Sigrun, can you hear me?"

Will spoke, and I said in a whisper:

“Yes, I hear you. I’m at the jewelry store.”

"I'm coming to you."

At this time, excitement was growing in the city, there were only more guards, it seemed they were all looking for me. They caught all the women in gray robes and dragged them to the castle. One of the guards shouted loudly, demanding that the people hand over the damned woman to them. The situation was getting out of control, my heart was pounding wildly, and I had to constantly look down without showing my face.

I kept telling myself: who gave you the idea to do this? Maybe I really should have listened to Will and just stayed out of all this? So what should I do now? Run? But where?

I thought about this for a long time, I tried to calm down at such moments, although because of the bustle it was difficult for me, and while I was thinking, someone lifted the hood from my head and grabbed my hand and shouted:

"THERE IS SHE! THE DAMNED ONE!"

And all the people's eyes turned towards me. With my right hand I turned on the radio on my earpiece and said with a bit of panic in my voice:

"Will, s-save me."