1
A Hefty Bonus
Melanie
Iwasn’t sure what awaited me out there. This damn cell and stupid vessel became quite familiar these last few weeks. Even the guards—as stern and mean as they could be—kinda grew on me during the long trip.
But now that I could see the large station slowly rotating around the monstrous red star? No, I didn’t feel so comfy anymore. The safety of the white padded room felt like what it actually was—a fucking prison. And I guess it was my fault, really.First for being too naive, then for not running fast enough and getting caught.
“Hey!” I said through the small opening of my door to the guard I knew was stationed just outside of it. “Will you finally tell me where we’re going?”
A muffled grunt was my only answer.
“You can’t kidnap people and bring them out to space, you know? There are perfectly good prisons on Earth!”
“So you keep saying.”
“Don’t talk to the prisoner, agent seventy-eight.”
Said agent mumbled a reluctant apology as footsteps echoed, growing closer.Shit. If it was the commanderof this moving prison, I could kiss my dinner goodbye.Again.
“Well, well, well. It’s always you, isn’t it? If your test results didn’t assure me a hefty bonus, I’d have thrown you out already.”
The little mailbox-like opening lifted and the commander's cold and narrowed gaze gave me a once-over.
“Local prisons gave you a shot,” he continued, “and you blew it by escaping.Five times.” Not my brightest ideas, but quite the achievements nonetheless. “No matter the choice you make once you’re there, if you escape either of those, you won’t be able to cause trouble.”
A choice? What choice? Was it one of these places where they put the prisoners to either work or isolation? I’ve heard there were a few orbiting around our good old Earth…No. We’ve been traveling far too long for that. We had to be outside of the Solar System.
“You treat me like I’m a murderer! Why do you care about a few unpaid debts and a couple theft charges?”
He gave a small shrug. “I don’t. But the people you stole from sold your information to me to get the money you took back. And now, I’m selling you to the Zodiac Program to get my own.” He paused. “And the previously mentioned hefty bonus.”
The little door clinked shut and he left, chuckling under his breath while his footsteps retreated.
What the fuck was the Zodiac Program?
2
And to think I thought I had principles
Melanie
My legs felt weak after spending weeks in that tiny cell. Inspace. No matter how many supplements they gave me, my limbs weren’t used to the artificial atmosphere and gravity.
I wobbled after the couple of guards escorting me. We’d finally stopped moving and all shutters were closed. In fact, they were careful to close them a good hour before we docked the mysterious space station, preventing me from taking a good look at it from up-close.
“Stay here,” agent seventy-eight said as he pushed me down so that my ass landed on a chair. He hesitated, but turned his back to me before adding, “Don’t run off.”
I lifted my cuffed hands and feet with a sarcastic smile. “Not like I can.” And where would I even run to? The only exit was the vast deadly space or the station we were attached to, where I assumed people were waiting for me. It would be like running straight into the enemies’ arms.
I held a defeated sigh as I took in my surroundings. They hadn’t let me out since they stashed me in my cell, and I wasn’t expecting something so…clean and sterile. Everything was either white or steel gray—including the guards uniform and weapons. The shuttle was like a big corridor with rooms on each side and elevators on each back end. But this level was different; the room was open and would show what was happening outside if the shutters weren’t obscuring the sight. Probably where the guards and crew relaxed after spending their day working.
The agent came back and indicated to me to stand up before he walked us to stand in front of the large metal door. That was it—whatever the Zodiac program was, I was now a part of it, whether I wanted to or not.
My stomach was in knots as I was led inside the space station. The white and sterile looking shuttle paled in comparison to the luxurious decor of this place. I’ve always thought these space buildings were all metal and looked the same on the inside as they did on the outside—rough, gray, covered in huge wires and blinking lights.
But no. The people living and working here had it good, a far-cry from what life on Earth and the colonies in the Solar System were. Destroyed planets, polluted air, high crime rates, miserable people kept in poverty while the rich members of society and government officials lived in fancy space stations.
