Eelaya sat on one of the many vacant seats of an Asheeran communal as it made its way to Vouran--the commercial area. Her eyes peered through the armored glass, inhaling the clear red skies above the dome and the colorless ground beneath. It was a ruthless mix of Yin and Yang--Life and Death.
The immaculate blackened road outside the communal transporter stretched towards the main station of Asheera, carrying many similar communals and fliers alike on its metallic surface. Before the dawn of Arbium Incorporated, this road was used by Earth's most intelligent and brave souls to colonize the planet. Their actions forever changed Mars' surface to a scattering of many domes, breathing life to this once desolate red rock, and beginning a revolution. But it didn't matter now. Earth was gone. Arbium bought the city; And all that mattered was the future.
Five more years, she thought as she lately did, catching a ride on one of these cubes of Arbium powered engines.
"Ey," Ameer interrupted her gloomy mood. "Watch'a thinkin bout, gal?"
Five more years and you will disappear from my life too.
"Nothing." She said, averting her gaze from the road.
After meeting with Kaleem and discovering the Walkers, she regularly found herself brooding about many things and ignoring the reality of the world around her. Ameer was another bystander for this accident and he was noticing the change in her.
"Ya know what my dad used to say bout that," he said.
"One day at a time."
"One day at a time," he said smiling. "Ya can learn a thing or two from em, gal."
She chuckled. It was a soft laugh--one which emphasized how enclosed she was. How distant from Ameer. She couldn't break free from all which kidnapped her mind as of late--Kaleem, Umusa and the Forth.
There was a deep truth in the fabric of her dreams, and it haunted her waking life. The black-hole she saw wasn't just a figment of her imagination. It wasn't just in her head. It had a meaning which impacted thousands, maybe even millions.
The future, she remembered Kaleem's notion, and it made her sick. What kind of madness is this? Why am I a part of this radding shit? Why me?
For years now she trotted this prison, treading like a water-strider which tries to stay afloat. The balance. The smuggling. They were all fragile threads of a lethal plot with sole purpose--survival. One misstep and it's all over.
The communal dropped its velocity, pushing Eelaya forward and out of her thoughts. A stream of Martians left the vessel to the lighted and colorful Vouran to spend their hard-labored credits on useless possessions and entertainment they thought they needed for their soul's survival.
"Come on," Ameer said grabbing her arm and tugging lightly. "We'll miss the stop."
They stepped out of the flier and onto the pavement, immediately welcomed by a Corp-Sec saying "Protocol." and probing them with a scanner. It was for their own safety, but it was also what the CEO said when he closed any possibility to communicate with the outside without a similar probe by the corporation. Privacy was a privilege--one which only the highest ranked received.
"Ya can go, miners," said the officer. "stay out'a trouble."
It sounded more like an attempt for an insult. As if he wasn't a slave for the same corporation which hired Eelaya and Ameer.
As if he had a choice.
Choice, she let the thought linger. Do I have a choice?
They walked to the center of Vouran. Lights from many stores, bars and "entertainment houses" painted the black canvas with life--pouring colors to the dead pavement of the central square with their destination at the heart of it, the Miner's-Hub.
It was a honey trap for working bees--a place to waste credits, transferring wealth back to the corporation and diminishing the chances of breaking free. Eelaya never took pleasure in places like these, but being with Ameer refilled her. For the most, she didn't care where he took her, as long as he was there with her.
She held his hand, feeling the warmth of life pulsating in his palm, as they both nodded to the selector in the Hub's entrance.
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A/N - So I've reached the same chapter I'm rewriting right now. This chapter is nearly finished, but I'm not sure if I'm adding another scene to it or no.
I'll post one more scene today and the next one will be ready for next week.
This chapter will include the inciting incident (though some were already made), so it will be a slightly longer chapter :)
Thanks again for your time and comments, you guys are awesome!
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Awakening
Science FictionEelaya lived through calamities her entire life. Born in the cruel streets of Undertown, Origin--what was once known as Earth, before it lost all its green. Raised beneath the lethal blanket of pollution and radiation. Sent as a slave to repay her...