To Escape From Gravity

Chapter Four

Normar hated the stars. She hated the way they mocked her, hanging in the cosmos and twinkling with a delight she wished she possessed. They'd stretch across the night sky, appearing so close that they looked ready to be snatched up. When Normar walked along the streets of Miasten, the buildings would block out those haunting stars. But on the rooftop of her housing building, she could crane her head back and be met with those infinite dots of light.

Normar's childhood friends never had the same antagonism towards the stars that she did. They could get lost in their lives and big aspirations and never raise a voice to the heavens. She, on the other hand, would spend countless nights pleading to the sky to intervene in her life.

The stars were particularly bright that night. Gazing out into the dark expanse, she could spot the occasional blinking green light of an air shuttle. They'd depart from Miasten and venture off to some fellow sky city. Normar was familiar with all the constellations hanging in space, but the feeling in the pit of her stomach was anything but regular.

With an ebb and flow to it, the sounds of the city sat beneath her. Miasten was two miles in diameter, but sometimes, when drowning in its noises, one could believe it to be a thousand miles wide.

As Normar stared into the endless night sky, a carbon knife spun with ease in her left hand. The masterfully crafted blade came from her mother the day Normar graduated from military school. The gift seemed far too special for such a common occurrence as a graduation. Half of the children raised in Miasten went through its military school, since the capital city always seeked to maintain the majority of lethal power.

Most of those kids would stop at eighteen and move into more normal jobs that the sky cities offered. Some would try to rise through the ranks of the luxury businesses, maybe managing to own a restaurant that served expensive delicacies. Some would go for more achievable things, such as running numbers in a bank or fixing machines in a shop. Normar's parents left no question that she'd stay in military school for four more years and achieve the status of Captain. In a way, it felt like such a pompous title, because the captains and generals didn't have large armies to command or wars to engage in. But the label also had a gravitas to it that Normar couldn't deny. She was sworn to protect, burdened with obligation. It reinforced her moral code, a job that should have fallen to her parents, but was another glaring area in which they came up short.

The knife rotated in the captain's hand with mindless movements. It had quickly become a habit in military school to flip it back and forth when she had reasons to fidget. Some parents would be sickened by the sight of their daughter wielding a dangerous blade with such little thought. Hers relished in the skill. Two years ago, Normar had caught the glint in her father's eyes as they followed its rotation, and she immediately resolved to never unsheath it in their presence. The soothing motion became something that was only done when alone on her rooftop.

But the feeling of steel between her fingers offered little comfort at that moment. A thousand thoughts ran through her head and she couldn't keep up with the speed at which they moved. Normar's upbringing and training refined an ability to think calmly under pressure and be rational. But that night the thoughts were impossible to track.

Her life was riddled with contrasts; the man-made lights of the city warred against the shimmering galactic lights overhead. The arrogance that infused the elite of the city clashed against Normar's desire for something genuine in life. The years forming herself a respectable military career stood in contrast to the illegal doings of her family. There was no safe space for Normar to stand.

Honor and recognition was a currency in the sky cities. People didn't care who you were, unless they were told you were important and then you'd become the most lauded person in the room. Her mother and father were also savvy in the political dance of society. It's why all four of their children spent too long in military school. They became a well-viewed and, more importantly, a well-connected family.

In Normar's world, it was rare for someone to ascend from their place in life. Moving up in both wealth and location was difficult. Her father was one of those rare stories. He grew up on the ground, but because of his intelligence, he rose quickly to an overseer of production at a factory that churned out mechanical parts that kept the sky cities afloat. Most kids on the ground led lives of hard labor, with few managing to move beyond assembly or harvesting work. As Normar's father became more prominent on the ground, it allowed him to become a frequent visitor in the sky. When he gained enough importance, he caught her mother's attention, and he solidified his position as a sky citizen.

As a child, Normar thought her parents married for love. And perhaps the oldest sections of their roots were nurtured with affection. But as she grew up, the strange visitors and secret trips started to stir up questions. None of Normar's friends had ever questioned the origin of their parents' wealth. But as their lifestyle became more lavish, Normar sought to learn more about life on the ground. It caused her to wonder how her father could have escaped. It made her wonder why her mother didn't send him away. The conclusion was chilling.

If goodness brings people together, perhaps the opposite can be true as well. Perhaps evil can be magnetic. The more they brought Normar into the 'family business,' the more she realized how alike they were in their mindset. While they didn't lack for money, they certainly lacked a moral code.

The young captain had managed to stay out of most of the unsavory things they did for riches. Her military status opened the door to many avenues, and the path that she felt most comfortable with was personal security. There were always prominent people who needed some protection. Common thugs, political enemies, and ghosts of past mistakes were always lurking in the shadows. So Normar managed to get paid a healthy amount of money to be a security detail. In the course of a week, she could work up to five jobs. Sometimes there'd be a job that put her at fancy parties and catch glimpses of the opulent lives her fellow citizens were always chasing down.

It was one of these very parties that sent her knife spinning in her hand. A few years ago, there had been a definitive moment of separation between Normar and her family. Once realizing that she had no interest in joining their activities, it was a stalemate. Because of her connections, they couldn't overplay their hand and aggravate her into spilling their secrets. Because she wanted to live a better life, she couldn't overplay her hand and expose their illegal doings. But that night was one of those nights where the unavoidable occurred. Normar was protecting Elect Andory and his wife as they attended a yearly banquet for governing officials. And that was the event that her parents favored in stirring up additional business. It was going to be tough to keep her marks safe, because aside from the normal concerns, the captain also had to keep them away from my parents, or she'd become undoubtedly connected to the biggest drug business in all the sky cities.