Awakening

Chapter 10 - The Hub (5/5)

Demia stood and turned towards the exit, scanning the hub and getting ready for her moment of defeat. Nothing was gained staying in the hub in the end. Deceived by the rebellion. Misled by a miner, after applying pain, nonetheless. What a dis...

A waitress crashed into a miner and Demia maxed her implant instantaneously. It wasn't a reaction she ever planned for, it was an instinct. The moment her eyes saw distress and a possible threat, her mind acted on its own.

Everything became sharper. And louder.

The waitress, clearly bemused by the incident, couldn't maintain her balance, and the grav-wheeler couldn't compensate her awkward tilt. She fell flat on her back, magneto-tray flipping and spilling Bev and ancient cuisine all over herself, the miner and her friends.

It was a rare occurrence as it was, but two other things caught her eyes and made her grin. The first one was the waitress. She held something in her hand which looked like a small metallic box--the notorious ContainerBox. This can carry anything small enough to fit--ranging from portable data to drugs. By the Martian law of personnel protection, this wasn't enough to act upon as the hand of law, but it did raise questions.

Was this the deal?

The second, and more notable discrepancy, was the miner who, apparently stumbled upon the poor waitress.

It was more her expression than anything else, really. She wasn't surprised. Her muscles tensed beneath the fabric of her jumpsuit--flexing and getting ready to pounce on her prey. She tripped her on purpose, it seemed. But...

Why?

It was the predominant question wrapping her life entirety for as long as she existed. It drilled at her mind and soul for so many hours on end. It made her stumble and crash upon a wall of confusion.

It was her motivator. Her inner-voice screaming at her to carry on with her enquiry.

She focused on the miner, narrowing her eyes. Maintaining the concentration on enhancing the implant, filtering the ambience and ignoring the rest of the chatter was a taxing feat--one which Demia learned to master over the years.

"Ey," a voice pierced her consciousness. "all good, gal?"

"Gal?!" the waitress exclaimed with her screechy voice. "ya crazy! Ya almost killed me!"

The waitress collected the tray and herself on the way, swiping some food-remains from her skirt.

"I'm sorry," the girl said. "I just wanted to go to the bathroom. Here."

It was obviously a sham. Though the miner appeared to be more relaxed now, the tension was still there, carving a hole between her and the waitress as she picked up the fallen container-box and handed it to...

Thalia, Demia remembered her name, quickly smirking after being reminded of Thalia's main feature--her voice.

"Well..." Thalia said with conviction, accepting the box. "Ya ought'a be more careful, miner."

Thalia hopped on her wheeler, rolling away from the incident while the cleaner-bot began working the mess--the noise of the vacuum piercing Demia's sanity like a thunderstorm.

"Eelaya," the same male voice from before. "ya ok?"

Demia diminished the implant as the headache from all the noise turned to a nausea. She heard enough. The day was not wasted after all--though no deal was made nor did she get the clue she was hoping for. There was obviously something wrong with that miner--either she's another wasted mind of Mars or she'd acted with reason. Her time in the service of the Hive trained her to notice these unusual events--be they puny and insignificant. The "why" had to have an answer. 

She had to have an answer.

Eelaya, she tasted the name. Welcome to my list.

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A / N - For all you readers who's still with me, so far, I will post my next chapter in two weeks time. I have a reserve duty to attend.

If, by any slim chance, I'll have time during that period, I will start posting the chapter, part by part, but bare in mind that I usually don't.

Any comment or vote are appreciated,

P.A.A