Aldo Mendoza, hard working citizen of the galaxy and space adventurer extraordinaire. An explorer by trade, she won't stop until she knows the universe like the back of her hand, even if it took her a lifetime.
She just had to ignore some things al...
"What happened next?", Grammie exclaimed, dragging Aldo back for her reminiscence.
"I was just getting to that", Also replied, giggling at the hooked like on her grandmother's face, like she was listening to the recounting of a particularly juciy telenova. Neither of them had even touched their tea, and Also realised hers had gone cold when she went to take a sip.
"Alright, so then…"
***********
The food they served her was decidedly less tasty, but also decidedly less drugged, so Aldo really couldn't complain. It also helped that people had stopped glaring at her, once they realised she wasn't just some serial kidnapper. That didn't mean they hadn't stopped staring at her though, apparently they didn't get many visitors out in the desert.
She had guessed right when she assumed they were a milita, but it turned out their purpose was less sinister than she imagined, and their goals were surprisingly pure; democracy for Hell, and regulation of the pollution that plagued the planet. Aldo couldn't say she disagreed with either of these points.
It turned out Safi and her brother had tried to follow the proper political routes, only to be attacked from every side by the elite class.
"Sometimes freedom must be paid for in blood", Blaise had said, and if that wasn't one of the grimmest statements she had ever heard, she didn't know what was.
One of the things she had quickly figured out while travelling from planet to planet, was that humans always managed to repeat history, but that they weren't the only race who did. History was a wheel that just kept on spinning, no matter how you tried to break it or what planet you escaped to.
"So, where you from outlander?", Myra asked, watching her curiously now that their original misunderstanding had been cleared up, she turned out to be surprisingly easy company.
"Apollo", Aldo replied, around a mouthful of beans, "not sure where originally".
Myra only nodded thoughtfully, probably used to the concept of people not knowing where you from. It was a common problem since humans had forsaken earth.
"I've never left this planet before", Myra replied absentmindedly, as she gazed up at the sky light above them, like she was dreaming of what lay above. The thought frightened Aldo, she had never been able to stay in the same place for too long. She didn't have anything to fight for though, so she couldn't really understand Myra's motives.
"You should, one day", she encouraged, reigning in the stories she was dying to share. She didn't want to come across as one of those people who wouldn't shut up because they'd gone off planet once they were twelve. Being able to travel was a privilege few got to enjoy.
She hoped Myra would live to see that day.
"I'm sorry about earlier", Myra continued, apologizing for what felt like the hundred time, only for Aldo to wave it away.
"No need to apologize", she said softly, "you thought I was a bounty hunter".
She had considered the job once, when her grandfather passed away and she was struggling to make ends meet, but Aldo was no murderer, and most people ended up dead once they were handed in. The act was just as bad as the deed.
"We thought you were one of Reebin's war mongerers", Myra sneered, though her anger was not directed at Aldo, who didn't recongise the name. Myra must have noticed her confusion.
"He's the worst of them, soul as black as they come", Myra spit, making an angry gesture with her hand that Aldo didn't recognise but still knew better than to repeat in polite company.
"He's one of the ones who lives up in his tower above, shitting down on the rest of us", Blaise said, appearing by their sides with a tray of steaming mugs, one of which Aldo gladly accepted. She thought of her grandmother for moment, all alone in her small cafe, but she quickly thrust the thought outside. Aldo only left so she could keep that cafe open, the last memory Grammie had left of her dead husband.
"How much of a hold does he have?", Aldo said, interested despite herself. It was dangerous to get too emotionally involved. If she got invested in every power grab and civil war she came across, she would never get anywhere. She was here to find Karim, that was all. She couldn't let Pilar down, she had been through too much to be disappointed again, when hope was just in her grasp.
"The entire place is in his back pocket", Myra said, sounding down trodden as Blaise placed a comforting hand on her arm. Aldo was curious how they had all come together, but knew better than to ask such a personal question, not unless they offered the answer themselves.
"We're trying to appeal to the better people up top, but it's hard when they're removed enough to ignore the problem", Blaise explained, and wasn't that the truth. It was a lot easier to ignore something when it didn't hurt you in anyway, easier to share a sympathetic thought than to actually do anything. No matter how far humans went out in space, some things never seemed to change.
We always manage to find another planet to destroy.
"Where does Karim come into this?", she asked, unable to avoid the question anymore. She had tried to wait as long as humanely possible, but the curiousity was killing her.
Blaise and Myra shot a look at each other, neither speaking for a moment as they seemed to share a silent conversation. In the end neither of them got the chance to make a decision, as Safi returned to their table.
"He joined our cause", Safi said, sliding into the seat beside Myra and stealing Blaise's mug. He didn't even pretend to be annoyed, shooting his sister an expectant look. They were uncannily similiar in every way, Aldo decided.
"He did?", she exclaimed, reanimated by the first information she had foun on Pilar's brother, "how did he even get here?".
"We're not quite sure", Safi said, looking through Aldo as if she was struggling to remember something. She tried not to be disappointed, but at least she knew he was alive, and had likely still been recently.
"No?", Aldo prompted, her full attention on Safi as she waited impatiently for her to speak.
"No", Safi affirmed, shooting her an exasperated look, "we nearly killed him the first time we meet".
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Author's Note: another day another chapter! I'm writing and posting this on the way home on the train, so I hope you'll forgive me for how short this! Hopefully tomorrow's will be better, because I have the day off. Please, tell me what you think, even if it's just to tell me this is crap! x
