It was as if the world had stilled.

Yahya stared at the bright star surrounded by smaller planets and space dust. It was a system, one Yahya had never seen before.

“Kid, turn that shit off,” Ayman whispered, his eyes unblinking, unable to take them away from the display.

“What? How?” Yahya protested.

“I don't− just do it!” Ayman huffed.

Yahya scowled. Did he think Yahya had any idea how the device worked? He merely touched it and it sprung up to life. How would he be able to deactivate it? It wasn't like he turned it on on purpose. If he could he would have turned it off already.

The soft light blinked out from the hall, taking with it the star and the planets.

The device had turned off.

Yahya blinked down at it.

How...?

“It seems you came bearing a gift,” the guard drawled. “Who would have thought, you not only bring the chart, but the key along with it." A dangerous glint passed over his eerie eyes.

Ayman glared at him. His stance shifted and he stood up, sheltering Yahya and Jomaira behind his back.

“You're gonna have to get through me, first.”

A manic smile pulled at the guard's lips. “with pleasure.”

He readied his whip to strike again, but the two rebels were faster. They each struck a different junction of the wall. Yahya watched with mounting horror as the columns cracked. The building shook, damaged beyond repair by the female guard's attack, and crumbled around them.

Yahya opened his mouth to scream, but his voice got stuck in his throat as he was harshly pulled from his back, his feet leaving the ground.

Again, Ayman had picked him up and had jumped through the falling debris and dust. A quick look to the side, confirmed his thought. Mirah had Jomaira picked up princess style. He had half a mind to envy her the more comfortable position, before he squished the feeling away. It was embarrassing enough to be carried around like a sack of potatoes.

He craned his neck to look back at the guards. Typical of them. Instead of the woman using her abilities to shield her and her comrade from the falling concrete, her energy field was cocooning her alone. The other guard was busy using his whip to break the bigger chunks of stone. But for a moment, his eyes had fixed on Yahya and he smiled, his paper white skin pulling at the nightmarish expression.

Yahya shuddered.

They couldn't get far. The mass panic caused by Yahya's announcement in the square had emptied the city from its tourists and inhabitants alike. The only ones roaming around the empty streets were the city guards and the military.

They hid over another rooftops. Yahya wondered if it was where he would be taking residence, permanently.

“The pen, kid,” Ayman drawled, his hand extended towards Yahya.

Yahya thought he should feel honored that the rebel was asking instead of using his fists. He handed it to him.

“What is it? That map... What does it point to?”

Ayman hesitated, his brows furrowed in disapproval. Just when Yahya was going to drop the subject, Jomaira said, “it's earth isn't it?”

Ayman glanced at her, at his sister who shrugged, then back at Yahya. He sighed. “Yeah, the map has the coordinates of earth.”

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“Wait.” Yahya blinked. “Wasn't earth destroyed?”

Ayman snorted. “Is that what they told you in school?”

“It wasn't destroyed?” Yahya asked, disbelieving.

They had a whole chapter about how humans had destroyed their own planet and driven their species to extinction.

“No.” Ayman's voice tilted up, making it sound more of a query than an answer. “I mean, not really?”

“So what happened then?” Jomaira asked.

“We kind of lost its coordinates after the great shift.” He shrugged. “But last time it ever made contact with the universe, there was no sign of calamity or disaster threatening the survival of its inhabitants.”

“What? Really?” They both cried in unison.

Then what did they spend hours and hours studying the human race's many shortcomings for? Yahya wanted his hours back please.

He glanced at Jomaira who sported the same look as him.

“My life is a lie,” she muttered.

He still remembered how passionate she was as she debated with their astronomy teacher the merits of fixing planet earth and repopulating it. The human race might be gone, she had argued, but their planet was one of the exceptional planets in their known universe. It would be a shame to waste such potential. Their teacher had dismissed her with the usual drivel.

'The empire is a better judge of its territory.'

Jomaira had bristled for the whole month, lamenting about her luck, or lack thereof, of being stuck in their dust ball of a planet. A burrier of talents, she had called it.

“But, why?” Her face scrunched up in confusion. “Why would they lie to us?”

Ayman looked at his sister for help, but she just shrugged and turned back to surveying their surroundings.

“Their sun, was it dying?” Jomaira asked.

“Nah, it's still quite young. Still got a few millennia before you can call her mature.”

“How about the solar flares? Did they truly provoke a civilization reset?”

“Not one I heard of.”

“But… if they didn't go extinct, why didn't they make any contact?”

Yaman fidgeted under Jomaira's inquiring stare. He scratched the back of his head with his only functioning hand and shrugged. “Honestly, no one knows.”

“So they did go extinct.” Yahya said.

“Maybe. Maybe not. Like I said, no one knows. The great shift had changed the very shape of the universe, many species had gone extinct or merely lost means to communicate with the outside world.”

“But humans were the most advanced species in the universe. No matter the damage they had sustained, they could have still recovered from it. I mean, it's been a couple centuries since the great shift. Surely, the only explanation would be their extinction.”

Yaman shot Yahya an uncomfortable look, his brows furrowed in thought. His jaw tensed with unsaid words. He opened his mouth to speak, closed it again, then sighed. “I don't know, kid. Sometimes things are more complicated than they look.”

“My life is a lie,” Jomaira repeated, louder this time. Her expression was wild as she drilled Ayman for more information, the scientist inside her fully emerging.

They kept at it for a couple minutes. Yahya tuned out their rambling and observed as a new patch of soldiers joined the search. Instead of combing the streets, they started breaking down doors and inspecting inside the buildings.

“You see anyone near that ugly monstrosity?” Ayman asked, gesturing towards the huge miniature of the citadel at the center of the square.

Mirah pursed her lips, concentrating. Then she shook her head. “No.”

Ayman grinned. “Good.”

Yahya glanced warily at him. What kind of disaster was he up to again?

Jomaira who was sitting on his other side, sighed.

“You might wanna cover your ears,” she told him, covering hers in the process.

“What?” Yahya asked, but did as he was told.

Ayman took a small device from his pocket, clicked on buttons, and looked expectantly at the square. They waited and waited, but nothing happened.

“Did you arm it properly? Or is that too much to ask.” Mirah snapped, her lips twisted and face marred in an expression bordering on disappointment.

“I did rescue you, didn't I?” Yaman huffed.

“Barely.” She snorted.

He looked at the device with a frown. Did the universal fix for all electronic devices; a good tap that shook it and threatened to split the poor thing in half; clicked on it again and fortunately or unfortunately, depending on who's asking, the whole square went up in flames. The explosion was so strong, it shook the ground under them.

“I've always hated that place,” Ayman said, but there was a hint of longing in his voice.

Shouts could be heard down on the streets as the soldiers hurried towards the sound of the explosion.

The siblings carried them away. Yahya was getting quite used to being a potato sack. They didn't stop till they arrived at where Ayman had said he had hid his ship. An old docking pad next to other battered ships. Hiding in plain sight.

Or not, Yahya thought as he watched the flames devour the hull of the ship.

They were stranded on a hostile planet, without a way out.

They were as good as dead.