CANAISIS ∞ Chronicle One ∞ 3: A Shard Of Code

113 ∞ Balancing the Scales

A/N: This chapter is dedicated to Ray_of_Sunshine9. It was a difficult chapter to write, being both bitter and sweet.
Ray_of_Sunshine9 is a book reviewer, and when one has their book reviewed, one has to be willing to accept the hard bitter criticism with the sweet praise. It is the only way to become better writers.

We appreciate what you do, Rhea: this one is for you....

∞

A/N: The first half of the chapter is not for the squeamish.

Day 00013 Mission Nilex


The pain welled up within Ayla, fresh as the day it was born. She clenched the cup and drew strength from its heat, from Gareth's steady focus on the other side of the flickering glow.

I can do this. I have to do this. She could face the pain and survive it, just like Gareth survived his. I'm not there. Step back and observe.

Crystal cold air and the heat from the pedestal took turns drifting across her face, and she closed her eyes and pretended she was talking to the night sky and not Gareth.

∞

The work continued for another five days. The window monitor in the common area was set to livestream the asteroid so everyone could see the progress of mounting the fusion drives.

I watched with apprehension. My dreams of playing hide-and-seek were being taken away. My family was losing its hope of a better home. But at the time, I didn't understand what we were really losing. I didn't know of Father's plans to one day move it out to the Kuiper belt to mine for resources. I didn't know of the plans to one day use it to slip into the dark and sail to another star. I didn't know its true purpose was to be a generation ship. You see, we had permission to colonize another planet, but the People would not help us do so. We had to do it on our own.

The People taking our new home from us was a hard blow to my father. He was our Leader, and he'd found a way to give hope for our people. He and our Council. I'd never seen him in such despair, and it frightened me and Khalid. We were too young to know what to do to make things better, if there even was a way to make things better. But when he spoke of the Testing, we felt fear in him. Fear that made us afraid, too.

The day came when the preparations to move the asteroid were completed. A hard choice had to be made of who would pilot and maintain it, because the voyage would take four years. One of my Uncles was chosen. I tell you this to understand what happened later.

Then the day of Testing came. We'd all gathered in the loading area and waited, kneeling, everyone nervous. Father stood facing the elevator doors. When they opened, guards poured out and stationed themselves around the room. More guards than I'd ever seen. Then a second load of guards arrived. They too dispersed around the room and, as one, all of them dropped their guns into position across their chest—those half-sized, stubby ones. I could feel the nervous tension in their fingers as they held them ready.

When the doors opened the third time, the first thing I saw was two guards holding a man hanging limp between them. His head hung down—clearly unconscious. His clothes ripped into shreds and covered in blood. Open wounds and burns covering his body. They dumped him on the floor before my father.

Citizen Juandez stepped out of the elevator next, with his two bodyguards holding their guns at the ready. Their hostility filled our space with their eagerness to hurt someone. Juandez, he stopped beside the unconscious man, facing my father, and flicked his hand at someone behind him.