Panacea

Part 2

 I land on my knees, hard. Someone turned the gravity on. Today isn't a shower day. Why did they turn it on?

My question is answered by the footsteps behind my back. They hit the floor frequently, like a stampede. It made sense. I would turn the gravity off if I was chasing a thief too. In these wide corridors, it makes sense to limit mobility. A thief that can only run forward, backward, and sideways is much easier to catch than one that can escape in practically any vector.

I begin running like my heels were on fire. I keep my ears on the sound of the footsteps behind me. They are not approaching me. I start to slow down and catch my breath.

My arm hurts from gripping the wine bottle so hard. But I decide not to loosen up until it's safely in my quarters.

I begin running again. I turn a sharp corner and slam into someone. I stumble, trying to catch my balance. I'm not used to gravity, so I look stupid to the person in front of me, who stood her ground with her feet rooted into the floor.

It is an Evvie. It is obvious since she is not wearing the standard engineer outfit, with gray cargo pants and a loose fitting shirt. Her hair is also different than how we wear it. All the female engineers have their hair cut short, or have a tight bun like me and Owls. There were hardly oddballs like Donia, who has long hair that she never ties up.

This Evvie woman has on pants with no pockets and a long white coat. Her long hair was tied in a impractically high bun, with two long strands of hair loss on sides of her face. She also has a suitcase, one of the biggest I've ever seen.

She and I were the same height, but she had her chin lifted, like she is looking down at me.

"Where are you going so fast?" she ask.

"Who are you to talk to me?" I say.

"I'm the Chief Surgeon," she says, "I was informed there is a suspicious activity near here."

"It's very suspicious how you are walking around the engineers' section of the ship,"

"There are no formal designated rules on which parts are solely for the engineers,"

"It's an unspoken rule," I say. "You should respect it." I try getting around her. She doesn't move to intercept me. But someone else does.

A thing that was only as high as my hips grab the wine bottle under my jacket. I clutch my arm tightly around the jacket. It was a small boy, no older than five. I try shaking him off, but he is holding on hard.

"He is grabbing my breasts," I say to the woman. "Isn't that a sexual assault?"

Since she can't see exactly what he is grabbing onto under my jacket, it seemed like a reasonable thing to say. I wait for her to apologize and send me on my say. But she doesn't do anything. She just stares at me. I shrug and strike him with the back of my hand.He lets the wine bottle go. I prepare for a high pitch scream of a brat that didn't get his way. But instead, he laughs.

I don't have time to waste. I ignore both the kid and the surgeon woman, and take off running again.

Before my lungs tear, I got to my family's quarters. I enter, ignoring my sister Dyce, and go into my room. It's small, hardly enough to sleep and roll around in. It has a low slanted ceiling, so I have to slouch in order to get in. I shut the door behind me.

I get on my knees, and loosen the wall plating behind where I sleep. Engineers of the past removed few of the circuit boards inside my walls years ago, probably to fix more critical systems. It left just enough space to for a wine bottle. It's the perfect hiding spot. Not many engineers remove a circuit board without replacing it nowadays, so it was rare for anyone to know secret places like this exist. There's nothing precious on this ship anyway, so I've never even had the chance before to hide anything.

I make sure the wall plate is on firmly, and slide down on my mattress. I close my eyes and try to reflect on how amazing my accomplishment is.

But few minutes later, I hear a constant thudding on my door. I open it.

There standing, with disappointment on his face, is my dad. Around him, there are two ranking engineers and two Evvies that made themselves important. And behind all of them are Owls and Donia.

"Are you sure?" My dad says. He wasn't talking to me.

"Yes," Owls and Donia say together.

"Yes, she was with us," Owls finishes, and crosses her arms. Both of us look into each others eyes with the same emotion.

"You betrayed me," we say silently.