The black of the night had started to lift by the time Cain arrived home. The security camera on the front buzzed and whirred as it took Cain in from head to toe. It binged approval and the bar with the lock slid out. It was a sophisticated software Jessca had installed.

The door clicked open and he took a step inside then locked it behind him again. His adoptive sister was lying upside down on their sofa. Her Ivarozzan tail pushed up into the air while she fiddled around with a device. She typed several lines of code with her trim claws.

"Another night at the casino, big bro?" she asked, fixing him with her contagious cheeky grin.

"He's relentless," Cain replied, a smile forming on his own face. Though he wasn't really in the mood for a laugh.

"Something's up, isn't it?" she said, once again amazing him in how intuitive she was.

"How do you do that?"

She tapped her nose. "On a need to know basis, big bro," she grinned. "Your smile wasn't wide enough to catch your eyes. Pretty pips to work that one out."

Cain dropped down onto the couch opposite her and explained what happened in the meeting. Rutan made him swear to secrecy along with his two cretins. The difference was his true allegiance wasn't with the Kaarzee clan. If there was an invasion coming to Displincia, he didn't want either of them to be here when it happened.

Jessca's eyes shone with excitement. "So what was that thing then?"

Cain shook his head. "I don't know but, whatever it was, it made Rutan crap his pants."

Jessca frowned. "How did they even get on the planet without being detected?"

"Must have friends in high places," said Cain. "I wouldn't be surprised if the Kaarzee's themselves granted them safe passage."

Jessca sat up in her chair. "We need to do something about this then."

"What do you suggest?"

"Alert the authorities, report it to Mayor Hux'tarn," she said.

"As if they are going to believe me, sis," he replied. They would think he was mad until the invasion happened and then they would think he was a traitor. There was no point. "We need to get out of here."

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Jessca's eyes widened. "Are you joking? We could be the only people standing before the deaths of millions of people on this planet."

"They're not our people," Cain said and Jessca rolled her eyes. "Jessca, whoever these people are, they're going to have an army. They'll have plans they've been laying for years. We're only two people. We can't fight this thing alone."

"Which is why we recruit more people," she snapped. "We can't sit back and relax while these guys come down and cause havoc."

"We're not even officially living on this planet," Cain said. "They're going to want to know who we are. Plus, if Rutan ever found out it was me who leaked this--"

Jessca shook her head in shame. "--I can't believe you're being like this. I never had you down as such a coward, bro."

She was so ungrateful sometimes. If she only knew the pain he had saved her from. The people who were coming for them were brutal killers. Difficult decisions had to be made. They'd fled their home planet Rutilarns to come here. It was no longer safe. Attacks in the city had risen. Even the local homeless centre had been devastated by a terrorist hit. It wasn't the same place they'd grown up in. The politics had finally caught up to him. Now here they were, destined to run for eternity. Jessca couldn't take all of it.

If she knew the truth...he didn't want to think about it. In fact, there was a pretty high chance she'd see him as more than just a coward. Another reason he refused to get involved in this conflict.

"You can think whatever you want to think," he shouted, then took a deep breath. He wanted to swing for something, to show her she had to listen to him.

He noticed she was watching him. A determined look on her face. She had a good heart but she was too naive to understand. "Sis...I get you're bored here, that you want to do something useful. I'm not saying you're not talented enough to help," he said. "But your ability alone isn't going to do enough. It wouldn't be worth risking our lives for."

"I'm done with running away, Cain. I don't care who these people are that are coming after us. Some things are more important."

Cain growled. "You saw what they did to Dad. Do you think he would want that to happen to you too?"

She sunk back down onto the sofa. Her eyes glazed over as tears began to form. He felt bad for bringing Dad up but sometimes she needed to think about the consequences. If there was one thing Jessca had always been, it was stupidly impulsive.

He moved over to the sofa with her and put an arm around her shoulder. Sometimes he forgot she was only fourteen years old.

"I'm sorry," he muttered.

Jessca didn't reply. A tear rolled down her scaly cheek.

"I can't stand the idea of either of us getting caught up in all of this stuff," he said. "We need to get off this planet before these guys get here. I've got a plan, but I'm going to need your help to execute it. So, are you in?"

Jessca looked up at him. "Will there ever come a time we stop running?"

Cain thought about it. "Yeah. It might take some time but one day we'll be on a planet we call home and we won't have to move again."

She probably knew he was half lying. The truth was he didn't know if the people after them would ever stop. He just hoped that maybe one day they would settle somewhere.

For now though, they needed to get off this planet before there wasn't a planet to escape from.