The Pandorian Experiment

Max and Her New Friends

"No, no, no, no, that's a terrible idea Avarice," Spence says eyes widening. "That's so dangerous any second now I bet I can expect a robin to fly through,"

"Oh shush, I'm tired of your silly superstitions. I'm going Spence, this is vital."

"Fine but I'm coming with. I need to protect you," He grumbles in defeat.

"Then be ready in an hour." I can't believe tonight's the night I've been waiting for. We're going to start putting our plan into action, we're going to open the dome, we're going to walk to that city and we're going to make a new life there. All because of me. I'll be the hero. One thing I don't get is why I'm the first to try? Do the others just not care what happens to them? Did they give up without even trying? I might not even save them, I might just save myself. They don't deserve my help. They didn't even help me at all.

I know I've been basically preparing for this my whole life but I'm not sure if I'm ready. I look at myself in the mirror, I can't remember the last time I did that. How did I not ever realize how blue my eyes were or the beauty mark right below my eye? Maybe I should have showered more my hair is a tangle of greasy curls. Maybe I should have taken better care of myself. My sunken cheeks show just how little I eat.

I have no clue why I'm thinking as if this is the end. It just feels like it is. Like once I finally reach the other city, my life will be over. My goal now fulfilled. Maybe then I could take better care of myself. "Ready?" I turn to see Anwir standing in the doorway with Spence by his feet. I take one last glance at the mirror.

"Yeah, I am." We gather in the middle of the giant lab I live in. "So what's the plan?" I ask Anwir.

"It's hard to get in there, but sometimes new guard recruits come from the other city, named Prometheus. We're going to sneak you in as one of those people. You're going to have to pretend for 3 days. They're already a little suspicious as to why I'm always running off. I always make some dumb excuse but that won't work for much longer," Anwir says.

"I have to pretend for 3 days? That's such a long time, though," I complain.

"Yeah, I'm supposed to go pick up a new group of recruits. When I arrive and the other carriage lets them all off. I want you to stay hidden until then and follow then, try to blend in."

"What about my clothes? I'm sure an old lab coat isn't the fashion in Promethenis or whatever it's called."

"Prometheus, you need to learn it. Just in case. I have clothes for you to change into and a bag packed containing a book about Prometheus so you can learn." I grab the bag from him nodding. "Okay then let's go." We climb out of my little door my new attire covered by a cloak. I don't want to catch someone's attention with my foreign clothes. Once we exit the woods that separate my house from the town. Anwir also has his hood up, while he may be well known in this town with him being the leader of the guard and all, him walking with a cloaked person could cause unwanted attention. As we walk I see a man look at us and quickly glance back.

"Anwir? Anwir Mai?" He asks grinning. "I haven't seen you for a while, with you being busy with training the new recruits from Prometheus. Who's this?" His eyes stray over to me in confusion. How could this guy be so happy with Anwir? He knows he's the leader of the guard yet he smiles as if he's an old friend. I open my mouth ready to say my name when Anwir's voice stops me.

"This is Max, she's one of my new recruits from Prometheus that I've been busy training actually." He never told me about changing my name. Whose name would be Max? That's such a weird name, definitely not native to Pandora.

"Oh nice to meet you, I'm Ajax. I've known Anwir since he was in diapers. I'm an old friend of Apollo's," He extends his hand as if he's offering something, yet it's empty. I look down not sure what to do and just back away a little. "I guess they don't shake hands in Prometheus," He chuckles nervously. "Well anyway I better get going, Isla is going to be wondering where I am. But it was nice seeing you Anwir make sure to tell your father hello for me," He nods at Anwir and walks off.

"What was that? Why did you act like you've never shaken someone's hand before?" He whispers at me giving me a hard look, the fear in his voice that Ajax's questions left still noticeable.

"Because I haven't," I whisper back. His eyes soften with realization.

"Your parents really never let you out? Ever?"

"They used to let me play in the woods until one day I traveled too far into the city and was seen. I've never really interacted with more than you, my parents and Spence,"

"Oh," Anwir says his eyes moving to the ground.

"Don't pity me. I can tell you do, so stop. I'm not some fragile bird that's been locked in a cage my whole life. We need to hurry anyway no need to dwell," I say speeding up to avoid the conversation continuing. As we near the end of town and the front pocket. We have two pockets surrounding the dome. One that you go into to decontaminate and they remove all of the "Poison" air from inside the of the little pocket. Once that is done they release clean air into the pocket and open it to let in whoever is there. This whole thing is watched by some of Anwir's guards in towers surrounding the pocket. Once I know that I'm within the sight of the watchtower I start walking through the brush that keeps me hidden from the tower. We reach the pocket the brush thinning a little so I crouch down.

Anwir approaches the front pocket and yells up at the guard in the watchtower telling him that he's here to pick up the new recruits. "I just got done clearing out the toxic air from the outside." Anwir gives him a thumbs up and gets in the carriage sitting in front of the pocket. A crack rings out as the pocket opens. A group of people that look to be about my age stands there in the pocket. There's about 14 of them all wearing clothes in the same style as mine. They aren't obviously foreign. It's not like they have giant pink polka dots but they do have this air about them. You can tell they're not from here, simply from the way they hold themselves. What if it's obvious that I am from here. As they all exit the pocket moving as a group towards the carriage I slide into the back of the group. I'm going to get caught. I'm trying to imitate the way they hold themselves but I feel like it's still obvious. We all walk aboard the carriage. Sitting across from me is a girl with long blonde hair and glasses typing away at her phone frantically. She reaches up and wipes away a tear that was falling from her eyes. I want to ask if she's okay but don't want to draw attention to myself.

Beside me is a boy who's teasing another boy, but the other boy doesn't look too upset just giggles and brushes off what he says. The first boy has brown hair with natural blonde highlights from the sun and a sparkle in his eyes. The boy with the sparkle in his eye catches me staring and smirks. I turn away quickly but he taps on my shoulder. "Hi I don't think we've met I'm Nyle. You are?" He says holding out his hand. Thank god I met Ajax earlier or I probably wouldn't have known what to do. I reach out shaking his hand but instead, he brings my hand to his lips kissing it. I pull away feeling my face get hot.

"I'm Ava- Max," I say quickly correcting myself.

"Avamax?" He asks raising an eyebrow smirking.

"No, just Max. Is she okay?" I whisper pointing at the girl crying over her phone in front of me.

"Yeah, she's just sad she left her boyfriend back home. How about you? Do you have a boyfriend?" He asks winking.

"Ignore him he flirts with everyone except me, I'm Jason by the way," Says the boy that Nyle was teasing earlier. He's dressed in bright pastels contrasting well with his jet black hair and pale blue eyes. He has a small crown made of flowers laid upon his head. It's not attached anywhere but somehow stays as his head bends back while he giggles.

"That's because you're a nerd, and my best friend," Nyle says looking over at Jason.

"Oh now I get it, you're in love with Jason, right?" I ask Nyle my head tilting to the side.

Nyle's face turns bright red while Jason looks like a confused puppy dog."What, no, I'm definitely not in love with Jason, he's my best friend that would be so weird. Don't be stupid," Nyle nervously defends himself.

"It's fine I'm sure she was just joking. I know you're not in love with me," Jason says smiling at Nyle. I really need to work on my people skills it seems I've said something wrong. Before I say anything else stupid the carriage stops suddenly. And then the door opens thus begins my journey.