My Immortal

Chapt 6: The Last Week In Space

Kiran: 

It had been twenty-four years since they last tried what they were currently doing. I was handcuffed, led through the station, and to the airlock. “Again?” They looked at me as if I had a second head. “Dude you guys tried to do this to me like twenty-four years ago.” They laughed, thinking me a lot younger than my nearly 123 years. 

“Kiran, you are seventeen.” Councilman Marcus Kane spoke, tugging me along. 

“So you are trying to float a minor? Marcus, what would your father say?” I hesitated a moment before completing that thought. “Actually never mind, I know what Alexander would say, And Thomas, and George of course. Goddess knows he was the one that wanted to float me to begin with. I mean I did deck him in the face for being a bigot. Do you share your great grandfather’s opinions, boy?” I asked, looking at the man before me. “You ok with the repercussions on that?” 

“It will be dealt with.” The lead guard spoke, pushing me into the airlock. 

“At least undo my irons. It’s not like I’ll need them, right?” I offered my arms at him. He quickly took them off, closing the airlock door. “This should be fun, just like last time.” I stood firm, in the middle of the room, as another prisoner was tossed in. An older man with graying hair. He looked at me, arched his eyebrow and waited for his inevitable end. 

“Kiran Snyder, you have been found guilty of crimes against The Ark. Bruce Miller, you have been found guilty of murder. That is a capital offence. For this you both will be floated. Is there anything you want to say?” Marcus spoke. 

The old man shook his head, staying silent. 

“I have something. First off, either you are floating a child, which is a crime. Or you are floating me for the, what, seventh time. It hasn’t worked, so why are you continuing to try?”

“You are less than a week until your eighteenth birthday, Kiran, I am sure Counselor Jaha will not fault any of us.” Marcus smiled. “Happy Birthday Kiran, it will be your last.”

With that he opened the airlock. The man beside me went flying out, as I once again stood perfectly firm. I started laughing, crossing my arms as the air left the room and my body seemed to buzz a little bit. It was like getting a high. “I told you, Marcus, just as I told your father before you, and his father before him; You can’t float me. This is number seven. If you want me off this ship, you are gonna have to send me back down there.” I pointed out the airlock and to the planet below. 

The airlock closed, leaving me in silence for a moment before Marcus and his guards opened their side of the door. “Can I go back to my cell now, or are you going to force me to stand here in the airlock, with the door open?” 

Silently, they led me back to my cell, the only non-tech cell. They had found out a few years into my stay here in the cells, that the automatic doors wouldn’t work around me. As the mechanical door shut, I looked out my small window and noticed that several of my fellow prisoners were being visited, which was unlike the normal, a dead zone this place normally was. Shrugging it off, I curled up on my bunk and fell asleep. It seemed like no time at all when my lock clicked and the lights came on. 

“Thelonious, what can I do for you today?” I asked, Chancellor Jaha never came to visit any prisoners before, excluding his son. 

"You're getting your wish, you and ninety-nine other prisoners are going back."

"Wait... what?" I looked at the man as if he had a second head. "Me and ninety-nine other people are going where?"

"Home, to the ground." He waved two guards forward, one was holding a bracelet.