Prosperity's Rise Book 1

Chapter 2 Mia Kidnaps A Child

Mia and the child arrived at the passenger elevator holding hands where a familiar face was doing checks.

"Oh, hey it's you!" shouted Mia.

"Sweet Dion no," muttered the Selendrie worker.

Mia smiled. "I didn't think I'd see you again. You almost killed Tygor."

The Selendrie worker grimaced. She said that last sentence so cheerfully, it was impossible to tell if she was messing with him, or just crazy. "Did you two want to go up?" he grumbled.

Mia nodded. "Yes, with my, um..." She looked down at the young Synathian and broke into a nervous sweat. "My, um-"

"Look," said the Selendrie worker. "I don't care anymore, just go on up."

Mia's eyes grew wide in surprise. "Oh, neat," she said, walking past him. She and the child grinned at each other as they stepped on board. 

***

Back at the ship Sana, Tygor, and some port workers were loading packages to deliver to other planets. Behind them, Horonoka pretended to check the ship's cargo doors.

Tygor tapped on the metal hull next to him. Horonoka jumped and clutched at his heart. "Gods, what is wrong with you?" he shouted.

"Did you install a new AI for the cleaner bots?"

Horonoka blew a lock of red hair from his eyes. "Eh, not yet. I'm sure it'll be fine. Even if they do get violent it won't be towards us cause we're not foreign elements.

Mia and the boy hid behind some crates. "Ok," said Mia, checking to make sure no one was watching. "You ready?" The boy nodded, his brown eyes sparkling in the port's white lights. Mia took both his hands. "Before we do this, is it true that all Kardonian children are taught how to tuck and roll?"

"Um?"

"Nevermind that, can you tuck and roll?"

The boy looked down. "I'm really bad at it..."

Mia patted his head. "Hey, relax, I believe in you." She made one last check to make sure the way was clear. "Ready?"

The boy nodded.

"Three," she whispered. "Two, one."

They made a mad dash for the ship's doors. As soon as Mia's foot touched the metal ramp, she picked up the boy and flung him inside. Instinctively he stretched out his arms and used his hands to hop onto his back and roll forwards. He hit the inner wall with a bang.

Tygor whipped around. "What was that?" He saw Mia. "Mia? What did you do?"

"Um," said Mia, trying to think quickly. "I bought shoes!"

"What was that noise?"

"My...shoes?"

Tygor clicked in disbelief. "Your shoes made that noise?"

"I threw them."

Tygor put his mechanical hand to his head. "Go put your shoes away Mia."

"Yes sir!" she shouted running to the boy who was leaning upside down on the wall, clutching his hands. "What was that?" she whispered.

"I did it wrong..." he sniffled.

"Oh, no, no. Don't cry." she whispered. "It's fine, come here." She scooped him off the ground. "At least not here. We can't have anyone know about you." Mia rushed through the ship to her room. She punched in a code on the wall and stepped in as the door opened.

Mia's room was a sickly pink color. The entirety of the walls were lined end to end with twinkling, rainbow lights. The same went for the bottom part of her bunk bed, which Mia had recently gotten Sana to help her replace with a desk. Strewn about the room were dozens of stuffed animals of all shapes and sizes, with a massive Pansaf-inspired bean bag chair propped in the center of the mess.