REBELLION VS. FREEDOM
Sabrina
“Annora will remainwith the ship while the rest of us spread out and look around,” Weston says as we finish gearing up inside the ship’s side door chamber. I check and sheath my two trusty daggers and tighten a small coil of rope to my belt before snapping open my compact mirror. Perusing my face one final time, I touch up my lips with red stain, then tuck the tube and mirror back in my hip pouch for later.
Red lips, heavy black-ringed eyes—I always feel better with my mask on. I never leave the ship without it.
“The area appears clear from my initial purview, but that doesn’t mean anything,” Weston warns. “From what I’ve gleaned from Mr. Whicker, the real danger is around the forest. We’re only several miles away from it. If you see or hear anything strange, head back to the ship immediately. Everyone understand?” Weston looks at Tata, Mickie,and me. “There are wild animals and, if the rumors onThe Dreadnautare true, aliens.”
“Understood,” I respond. “Don’t be seen and avoid contact with others. Normal reconnaissance mission, got it.”
Weston turns his tired gaze to me. “I already lost one friend today, Sabrina. I don’t want to lose another. Nobody takes any chances, okay?”
“Yes, boss,” Mickie says, shooting me a look. “We hear you.”
I sigh and nod. “I’ll be safe.”
Weston’s eyes trail over all of us. “We meet back here in an hour. Sabrina and I will head north. Mickie, Tata, you two will head east.”
He opens the side door hatch and takes the first step out, shielding his eyes from the bright sunlight. When it’s my turn, I do the same, warding my eyes quickly as they water from the intense, unfamiliar brightness. Once we’re all out, we gather, blinking and wiping collectively until we can all see again. Luckily, my makeup is waterproof, but I dab gently regardless.
“Remember, it’s not only the wildlife and atmosphere that can be dangerous. Don’t forget what happened onThe Dreadnaut. If you see another human, approach them with caution and consider them a threat until proven otherwise,” Weston says as he starts climbing over a pile of rocks toward the first building on our right.
Mickie and Tata head to the front of the ship and move out of sight while I follow Weston over the rocks, catching up to him after a few wobbly moments. Most of the stones beneath my boots crumble when I step on them, and the handholds I can find aren't much better.
All around us, everything is falling apart. Piles ofboth wreckage and garbage are scattered in and around what remains of the buildings, some only giant mounds of rubbish themselves. But it’s their heights that get to me. I’ve looked up the atriums of three of the universe’s largest colony ships, but some of these buildings seemed to go much, much higher.
And to see a bright blue sky beyond them is as unsettling as it is cool. There were screens of blue skies on some of the newer spacecrafts, but they didn’t hold a candle to the real deal.
“Careful of the glass. It’s hiding under the dust,” Weston calls over his shoulder, kicking some of the dirt up with his boot.
“If people can come back and live here again, we might want to consider staying,” I suggest casually to him, kicking some of the dirt up myself. “I wouldn’t mind all of this compared to another broken-down ship kingdom.”
Because that’s what they were, little kingdoms, each colony ship its own realm in the guise of a confederate.The Dreadnautwas no worse than any other, really, nor had it been the first to implode on itself because of greedy, incompetent leadership. It wasn’t going to be the last.
But a world is different. A whole world with an atmosphere designed specially for humans… The possibilities here… It’s crazy to think about.
“Are you thinking about settling?” he teases, glancing at me. “Never expected that from you, Sabrina.”
I shrug. “I’m only saying, if the cat’s out of the bag and Earth’s habitability gets out to the rest of the universe… We might have an advantage already being here. We could stake out a good place and make it our own. We could have a real home.”
“Oh, so now you want Annora’s job?”
“I’m just saying…” I grumble.
“I get it,” Weston says. “I do. And I hope it’s all true, that a lot of us humans come back… but life never works out as simply as that. We barely escaped from a rebellion and a nuclear explosion, and it’s a damn miracle our ship can still fly after all she’s been through. As for the rest? We’ve both listened to the radio. Let’s see what we can scavenge to barter with first?—”
“We should help the others,” I argue for the second time, the first being last night when we all gathered to watch the sunset. In awe of the beauty, we discussed our plans for today. Everyone had an opinion. And no one’s keen to jump on mine. No one’s willing to put much hope into anything.
I get it. After hearing so much begging on the radio, I’m worried about what’s going on like they are. I completely understand why my crewmates want to stick to the immediate crisis rather than thinking toward the future. Still, I don’t understand why planning is harped on so much. I never thought I’d end up on Earth, though now that I’m here…
We have resources and skills between us. We have a moderate amount of supplies—though our food stores are dwindling. We could go to the forest, offer our help, and establish something better than what we’ve got going on now. We could make allies. Build a real life.
Working odd jobs for rich criminals isn’t something I want to do forever.
I’m grateful Annora had Weston land the ship here, but it’s still more of the same old strategy. We always stay out of what’s happening. It’s what we’ve been doing since we started up this enterprise. It’s what we did whenTheDreadnaut’srebellion began: just waited and listened, bided our time, until it was almost too late for us to act.
Despite people dying, or going missing. Despite the lights flickering. Despite the ports being shut down—the rumors about an alien from Earth being on board… Weston ordered us to butt out—attributing the actions ofThe Dreadnaut’sSupreme Captain to some sort of psychosis, claiming he'd snap out of it or be deposed before shit hit the fan.
