Hunched Cerridwen sat in the hold, leaning against the chest. She hid her hands in her pockets and pulled the hood on her face, but the cold permeated her body anyway. The Celestian girl breathed the musty air, freezing her throat, coughing from time to time. She kept telling herself in her mind that she could not cry because it would waste her energy and body warmth. She lost the sense of time and did not care about what was going on outside anymore. She was just waiting until all this would be over and somebody would take her home.
Cerridwen nestled her face in the sleeves of her sweatshirt. It reminded her of the warm and cosy couch of her home, a place where she always waited for her father to come back from work.
He won’t abandon me. He’ll keep searching for me.
She opened her eyes. The image of the bullet piercing the Union’s artery, who’d dropped dead in a stream of blood, returned to her. The blood vessels on her hands pulsed as if the bang had resounded somewhere close again.
They kill everyone who stands in their way, even those who just fulfil duties. They are the monsters. She gripped her sleeves.
Just like me.
She raised her head, hearing footsteps in the corridor. She held her breath and listened, focusing on every shuffle, even the quietest one. People headed towards the exit and left the ship.
The Celestian girl waited until the sound died away and got up. She approached the hatch, pressed the door-handle and digging her feet into the ground, she pushed the barrier. The old door did not give in.
Cerridwen crouched next to the chest and tugged the cover. Opening it, she peeked inside. She took out a grey-green camouflage tarpaulin, under which hovered various items like tiny cans, gas masks, ammunition parcels, a few guns and a long shotgun. Cerridwen hissed under her breath, trying to catch and keep them in their place, but every time she threw one thing into the chest, something else floated up and drifted away.
The Celestian girl scowled in anger and stood up. She grabbed a gun. Clenching her teeth and squinting, Cerridwen fired. She pressed her ears to stop the ringing noise, but the dull echo resonated in her head for a while, and when it subsided, she approached the door to check if the mechanism had been damaged.
After the third attempt, bruising her shoulder and straining her hands, she slid the door open. The main hatch was locked by a standard method instead of the blocking that was used during the space flights, so she opened it too and rushed outside.
Mixed smells of metal, rubber and grease struck her senses but after being in a narrow, stuffy hold for a long time, it reminded her of freedom. She strode amongst the rushing workmen, but to avoid suspicion, she did not run. The Celestian girl glanced in all directions with a hope that she would not cross paths with Antares or anyone who would recognise her.
The Annihilator’s airfield occupied four decks and extended for four kilometres. Its massive walls shone in dark, steel grey. Thick cables and ducts, some of them the width of a tiny ship, were entwined on the walls like poison ivy. Every few hundreds of metres, as high as a ten storey building, gates protected the ship’s interior from the hostile space. Thousands of different vehicles stood attached to the board with magnetic landing gear, and groups of short, skinny Celestians bustled around them, carrying equipment, repairing damages or filling fuel tanks. They all were absorbed in their duties and did not notice the young Celestian girl sneaking between the machines.
Enormous, open space helped her keep her head clear. She knew nothing about flying, she just had read on the Web one day about how to turn the engines on. She dismissed the idea of stealing a ship and headed towards the three cargo ships, standing in a row and surrounded by piles of boxes. Her plan was to pose as a worker, carry some chests inside, hide between them and wait until the ship lifted off. Cerridwen did not care about the destination; she just wanted to leave the Annihilator and get far away from the rebels.
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It cannot be that hard, she thought. She accidentally made eye contact with one of the pale Celestians and pulled her hood further on her face. Even the Governor himself could stroll in this mess, and no one would recognise him.
When Cerridwen approached the closest cargo ship, a blue afterglow lit up the entire hangar. She slowed down and turned around. All the Celestians had stopped in their tracks as if they were on command and raised their heads. Several bright rectangles appeared on the wall, on which displayed a text:
INFO UPDATE
23/5/1643
ANNIHILATOR BOARD TIME: 12.00 A.M.
Cerridwen stopped. She gazed at the holographic screen not only out of curiosity, but to not stand out from the others with her behaviour.
PLANET: JALANDHARA
SECTOR: 6
DATE: 23/5/1643
The attack of the Union ended with a massive explosion in the out of use nuclear plant. Cities in 4 districts have been destroyed. Over 100 districts endangered by radiation. Devi Kali survived without trauma.
A few more lines, giving detailed information, showed up below. Whispered, but full of emotions discussions resounded amongst the gathered. Cerridwen narrowed her eyes suspiciously. She knew exactly what had happened on that planet. The Union did not cause the explosion. Devi, however, needed a cannon-fodder, and she had fabricated the news to keep Antares away from the Kehrians’ wrath. A split like that would not be good for her.
PLANET: HELVETT
SECTOR: 12
DATE: 15/5/1643
Rebel units from Linnutee rescued the scientific facility from the Union’s hands. Losses on the enemy’s side over three times larger. Andeis Idmon, one of the two directors, eliminated. The details of the research carried out there were unknown for the time being.
The Celestian girl followed the news with increasing disbelief. She could not trust anyone. Both the Union and the rebels perverted the truth, giving it a grotesque form. The most powerful weapon of them was the lie.
On Ernef, the Union used it to cover the prevailing poverty present in hidden quarters. The population took the majority of knowledge from what was shown in the media news, so the government could sell them anything without a bigger effort.
Devi Kali tricked her people to divert their attention from her own failures and sustain the status of a divine being.
Antares played the strong warrior, but in a deadly situation, when he had to think fast, he panicked, yet keeping up the appearances of composure. Cerridwen would never forget that she’d saved his mission.
New text interrupted her speculations, arousing both curiosity and fear in her. She opened her eyes wider and pursed her lips, seeing the name of her planet.
PLANET: ERNEF SECTOR: 8
DATE: 22/5/1643
Cerridwen felt drops of icy rain flowing down her back. She stood still, clenching her fists. With every second her heart pounded more and more rapidly, and her throat parched in an instant.
The rebel cell from Ernef unjustly accused of Delian Felvennis’s assassination. According to Observer E, the main culprit is his son, Seth Felvennis. His motives remain unknown.
She scanned every line once more. The transparent words, shining in blue, worked on her like hundreds of demolition missiles being launched at the same time, tearing the ground under her feet and knocking her old life down.
"Bullshit!" she wanted to roar, but her voice remained stuck in her throat.
Shock overwhelmed her body and mind, burrowing deep into all her guts and bones, devouring her. Her consciousness turned into a vortex of amorphic scraps of thoughts that disappeared in a flash, leaving her motionless and petrified like a sculpture, with an absent gaze that bored into the space in front of her. Her eyes dried like an empty shell, shedding not a single tear.
She stopped gasping, her breaths became steady, almost mechanical as if an atomic clock counted exactly five seconds before she took a breath. Her face turned marble white, making her even more similar to a statue.
Stiff, tensed ears of the Celestian girl picked up every hum in the airfield, but her brain seemed to not experience any stimuli.
Seth...
The only word that stood out deep in her mind, reverberating and not letting her keep itself away. The word pecked and clawed at her all the time like an impatient scavenger which made its prey bleed out and die faster.
The daily report ended, and the Zetherionians walked in different directions, talking and exchanging their opinions about the current events.
Only a few of them gave a quick glance to the girl standing in their way.