The moonchild and the spacewalker

Prologue - Two years ago

"when you were just a wild moonchild

they deprive you of things for a while

a baptist child lives with unfair minds

looking for a reason to survive"  

- The Underground, Palaye Royale

* * * 

-Monchild, we have good news for you.

I barely look at the guard standing between the ajar door of my cell and the wall. I am sitting in front of the wall, on which I draw the phases of the moon. I remember this day very clearly. On the last day of school I stole a chalk because I knew I would have to spend the rest of my life in a cell. I lived almost half of my short life here. I know every irregularities on the walls, the exact number of bricks.

-Moonchild, you have to come with me.

This time I look at the guard. He is alone. I could run and escape but they know I won't try anything.

-Come on, stand up.

I put my hand on the full moon in front of me. Then, I stand up and gather my very long hair on my left shoudler. A reflex, but I don't even bother to hide my cheek anymore.

The guard puts handcuffs around my wrist.

-Sorry, security measure.

I don't talk. I never talk. This guard is the kindest with me anyway. In years he is the only one talking with me. Maybe he hopes I will answer him one day. And me, I hope he has a lot of patience.

He lets me walk first and guides me through white corridors. We pass in front of other metalic doors, the same as mine. Nobody speaks, not even a prisonner screams. Sometimes when a new one comes here for the first time, he spends his first 24 hours screaming for help or claiming injustice. They usually are soon floatted after that. The sweet guard seems unconfortable in this silence. He starts talking again.

-Don't worry you won't be floated today. The chancellor wants to see you.

Even if he is behind me, his hand on my arm, I can hear his smile. He may look up on Chancellor Jaha. What a waste of enjoyment. I don't like this man. If he were kind I wouldn't be in this situation. Yet, I am not nervous to be expected by him. Actually, I don't know if I've ever felt any emotion. I think I was angry the day I got arrested but... what could you feel when you spend 8 years of your life is the same room? Which contains only a bed. Not even a window.

We took some stairs and another pair of white corridors. After, we stop in front of a door. Double door. Golden. He doesn't have to knock, another soldier, way more muscular than him opens the door. We enter.

Chancellor Jaha is sitting behind his desk. In front, I recognize Dr Griffin. There are also two other men than I don't know standing next to the desk.

-Welcome, says Chancellor Jaha when he sees me.

I could almost belive I'm not a prisonner with my hands stuck behind my back.

As usual, I don't answer.

-Please Aria, have a seat.

I shiver. Jaha is the only one using my real name. I stare at him more seconds than I'm supposed to. I know he is taller than me. He smiles but I don't want to trust him. His hands are joined in front of him. He is too calm, too confident. His dark eyes don't leave mine but I give up first. I stare down at my feet. The guard takes off his hand and I sit on the chair next to Dr Giffin.

-May I present you, Sinclair and Jake Griffin. They are ingeneers. They've been working for months on something, let's say...special.

I quickly look at Sinclair. His face is stoic, but he does't seem that confident. He is rubbing his hands, and avoid looking my in the eyes, he only stares at Jaha. Jake Griffin keeps his head up. He seems proud, but he also moves the tip of his shoe against the corner of the desk. Him neither looks at me. Something is wrong.

Dr Giffin put her hand on my shoulder and I flinch. She is always kind with me. Though, she doesn't take the same precautions as the guard.

-You know we've been doing a few tests on you lately.

You mean last week when you took a liter of my blood ? I don't like hospital things.

-Aria (I squeeze my fist when he repeats my name), you will be the first to be back on Earth.

I stopped breathing for a long moment. Despite my lack of words, I must offer Jaha a weird look because he goes on in his explanation.

-we are considering to send people back on the ground. Sinclair, Jake and their teams have been doing researches and the atmosphere of the Earth might be livable. It's great news. We wanted you to be the first there.

Unfortunately, his effort to confort me are totally vain. I understand what are his motives to send me back on the ground and not his own ass. They've chosen me because I am an orphan. I am a wierdo with a huge scar on the face. I don't fit in their little society. They put me in a cell at my 10th birthday. I don't speak. Nobody ever calls me by my name. If there is something wrong once I will land, nobody will regret me. I'm the mouse in this experimentation. Lonely and defendless.

So when Sinclair explains me how  I will wear an armband to be connected to them so they could have my vitals. And the moment Jake Griffin murmurs hesitantly the day of my departure, I only look at Jaha. I promise myself that if I survive and if they have the courage to follow me on the ground, I will kill Jaha and became a legend that they will all fear.