[Past]

The setting sun bathed the sprawling plains of Ventano in dark orange hues. Nicoash’s tinted goggles could only do so much to keep her vision clear as her speeder zoomed directly into the light. The wind billowed through her hair, keeping it in constant motion. Since she kept it cut short, however, it never got in her eyes. She stepped on the gas, pushing the speeder to go faster. She knew she was already late, but that didn’t calm her.

The outline of her home came into view over the horizon, causing Nicoash to hold her breath in anticipation. It was a small farm compared to the others across the world. It was run only by the Vesdanis themselves. The first thing Nicoash saw was the large barn on the edge of the field of crops. Once she saw it, she was easily able to find the house nearby in the center of the stretch of land. She slowed her speeder, adjusting its course to bring her toward the garage.

The speeder continued to slow down as she got closer until it was practically inching its way forward. The garage door opened slowly, and Nicoash was immediately greeted with the sight of her frustrated father. His frown and furrowed eyebrows created more wrinkles than he already had. His tattered clothes and hairy arms were covered in a layer of dirt from a hard day’s work.

Nicoash finally let out the breath she had been holding in, morphing it into a frustrated sigh. She slowly pushed forward until the speeder was completely encased within the garage, at which point the door started to screech closed once again. Nicoash powered off the speeder, causing it to slowly drift toward the ground where it could rest comfortably. As the hum of the speeder’s engines died down, she pushed herself up and jumped out of the cockpit.

“Where were you? It has been hours! It’s almost dark out, Nicoash!” Her father immediately started scolding her when the noise died down enough for her to hear him. He stepped over toward her, extending his arm and giving her a frustrated point to accentuate his words.

“I lost track of time!” Nicoash quickly fired back as she reached into the cockpit and pulled out her bag. It was a rehearsed dance between the two of them at this point. Nicoash no longer backed down the moment voices were raised.

“Lost track of time? What could you have possibly been doing that made you lose this many hours?”

Nicoash simply rolled her eyes in response as she started walking toward the door that separated the garage from the house. “Nothing! Just playing with a friend.”

“Just playing?” Her father immediately turned as she walked past him. “We’ve been over this. You can play after you’ve finished your chores.”

Nicoash turned to look at him, resting a single foot on the step. “Ok? I’ll do them now.”

“Your brother already did them for you. They needed to get done.” As Nicoash started to turn around again, he reached forward to take her arm. “Nicoash. You know how important this is, right?”

Nicoash stopped in her tracks, staring at the white metal of the door as she listened. She didn’t respond.

“Look, I understand that you’re a kid. You want to play and have fun and explore and make friends and… be a kid. I know. But I can’t run this place without you and your brother.” He let go of her arm. “This is our life, Nicoash. This is how we survive. I know it’s not fun. I know you want more right now but… some of us just aren’t that lucky.” He took a deep breath as he gave her the chance to respond. Instead, she just stood there staring at the door. “I’m not going to be here forever. When I’m gone… you need to be able to take over for me. For your brother. For your mother. I’m trusting you with this, Nicoash, because I know you can handle it. This is going to be your life one day. I need you to take that seriously.”

Nicoash turned her head toward him only slightly so that she could see him out of the corner of her eye. The two stood in silence for a while, letting his words hang in the air. She then shook her head and turned toward the door, pressing the button to open it. “You practice that one all day?”

Her father gritted his teeth, stepping into the house behind her. He took in a deep breath and started walking toward the kitchen. “Just think about it, okay? Now go install those power converters before the sun goes down.”

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Nicoash waved her hand dismissively as she continued her path through the house and out the front door. She walked down the path and into the field toward the barn. As she neared it, she reached up and held her nose to guard it from the horrible stench emanating from the barn. “Ew yuck,” she shouted, waving a hand back and forth.

Her brother came out of the bar a few moments later, holding his nose as well. He looked so much like Nicoash that they could almost be twins if it weren’t for the fact that he was much shorter both in height and hair. He looked up to her and shrugged his shoulders apologetically.

“You scared the kriffing nerfs again.” Nicoash grimaced as she walked past him. “How many times have I told you to be careful?”

“It is supposed to be your job anyway.” He pouted at her. “Also, mom said you aren’t supposed to say that word!”

“And mom isn’t going to find out, right?” She walked over to a control panel near the side of the bar. She squatted down next to it before turning to her brother. “Right?”

“Yeah… okay.” He sighed as he turned toward the house. “I’m not doing your chores tomorrow though….”

Nicoash grinned at him before returning to her work. She dropped her hand away from her nose so that she could use it, causing her to immediately grimace again from the smell. She opened up the panel under it and reached inside, finding the old power converters and pulling them out. She then reached into her bag and pulled out the new ones that she had bought in the city. She reached inside and carefully replaced them, making sure that everything was connected properly before replacing the panel again. She then stood up and looked at the controls. She pressed a few buttons to activate it. Next to her, a bright red force field wall suddenly stretched out of a towering metal post. It slowly connected with the next post, causing that post to slowly start its connection with the next. The force field continued to connect post by post around the farm in a circle until the whole farm was surrounded by a bright red force field fence that towered high above Nicoash. “That should keep the Nexu out.”

Nicoash stepped up to the fence and inspected the posts to make sure that everything was working properly. She had been entrusted with maintaining the fence around their farm for only a year now, but she managed to figure out how it worked well. The fences had become a staple in all of the farms around the planet ever since a smuggler lost a shipment of Nexu many years ago.

Once she was sure that the fence was working as intended, she turned and stared through it. The fence was partially opaque, but it drowned the surrounding scenery in a filter of bright red. She stared out at the sun as it finally dipped under the distant hills. She breathed heavily as all the thoughts she had felt earlier that day swam into her head once again. She sighed as her gaze fell to the ground. She took a few steps backward before finally turning to walk toward the house. She walked slowly, kicking the ground every couple of steps.

The rest of the night passed uneventfully. The family ate dinner together as they always did. Though Nicoash’s mother wanted to scold her for her disobedience, her father assured her that he had already said everything that needed to be said. Nicoash could hardly eat anything as the pit in her stomach threatened to swallow her whole. She pretended to eat for a while before excusing herself and leaving before her mother could complain about her lack of appetite.

Nicoash laid in her bed restlessly, staring up at the ceiling as the moon flooded her room in light. Her thoughts simply wouldn’t calm down and let her rest. The day felt unfinished. She felt unsatisfied. This wasn’t how this day was supposed to go.

One more mark, and she would have been free. One more mark, and she would have left this planet behind. One more mark.

Nicoash sat up in her bed. She looked around the room slowly as her breathing started to quicken. She clenched her fists, giving it one more thought before twisting her body around and hopping off of her bed. She quickly grabbed her jacket that she had thrown on the ground. She pulled it on frantically as she stepped into her boots. Once she was dressed, she started for the door. She paused halfway there before turning to look at the mirror she kept in her room. When everyone else saw that girl, they just saw some kid. That isn’t what Nicoash saw. She saw the reflection of a girl with purpose. She knew what that girl was capable of, even if no one else did. Nicoash grinned before finally turning to exit her room.

Nicoash didn’t have to try too hard to be quiet. Afterall, her little night walks had become a pretty constant occurrence as she always needed some sort of midnight snack to stay asleep. She knew her parents would think nothing of it. By the time they did, she’d already be gone.

She quickly made her way into the garage. She hopped back into the driver’s seat of the speeder and opened up the garage door. She powered up the speeder and slowly pulled it out of the garage. She was very careful as she directed the speeder around and out of the farm, deactivating a section of the fence just long enough to get her through it. Once she was finally outside, she let the speeder hover for a moment as she turned to look at her house.

“One more mark.”

She then turned forward and furrowed her brow. The engines roared to life as she hit the throttle hard, pushing the speeder to max speed as fast as she possibly could. In seconds, her house was far behind her. She gripped the speeder controls tightly as she stared off into the horizon. She knew where she was going.