“I know. They must’ve developed new tech.”
“But why Delta?” Mom asked, her voice straining.
The radio sputtered to life. Otto turned his full attention to it and messed with all the dials. “There we go. Didn’t think the damn thing would turn on.”
A voice crackled through. “…All belongings at home. Repeat: leave all belongings at home… station in Top Sector will launch shuttles as they are filled. Shuttles will depart for Elsha, by Council order.”
“Elsha? They’re sending us to a whole different planet?” Mom’s voice took on that high-pitched, wavering note it did when she was about to cry. Or yell.
Jace hugged his legs to his chest.
“Why not one of the moon bases?” Tayel asked.
“This is a pretty big emergency, kiddo,” Otto said. He stared at the radio as it continued to spout information.
They all went quiet. Only the sound of static warnings and the elevator’s screeching metal filled the space.
Tayel stepped to the center of the lift and sat beside Jace. “Hey.”
“I know,” he said, wiping his eyes. “I know they’re going to make it.”
She tried a smile. “They will. Do you, uh, need a hug?”
He nodded, and she wrapped her arms around him for a few seconds until he insisted he was okay. Mom waved her back to the railing.
“Is he okay?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” Tayel said.
“Are you okay? Are you scared?”
“I’m fine,” Tayel lied. “You?”
“I’m always okay.”
No she wasn’t. Tayel shifted her weight to the other foot. “Sorry about dinner.”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“And the apartment. I’m sorry we have to leave. Right after getting a computer installed, too.”
Her room came to mind, with the walls lined in posters of different faraway places and flexi-screens playing image loops of her favorite scenes from movies. Her little stuffed maul bear would still be on her pillow, facing the door to greet her, and her magball uniform would be hung on the rack ready for tomorrow’s game. Tomorrow’s game wasn’t happening, and she might never see her room again. Everything she ever owned existed in that tiny, cramped place.
“The apartment doesn’t matter either,” Mom said. She pulled Tayel into a hug while the elevator slowed to a stop.
Otto clicked the radio to his belt. “Alright, everyone off.”
Tayel didn’t visit Top Sector often. It was where the rich mask-less lived and where the best stocked shops were, so she’d come up a few times a year for primo magball equipment or a birthday dinner. It was odd seeing the streets full of smoke and dust like the lower cities.
“Leave your masks on,” Mom said.
“Damn. Look at the size o’ that.” Otto hunched over a sizeable hole in the road and emitted a mechanic whistle.
Tayel leaned to see it. The hole went through the entire road — even the base plates — revealing a clear view to Median Sector far below. She swallowed hard and stepped back.
“This city’s made to kill ya,” Otto said. “Either there’re holes in the ground or holes in the sky. We’d better be extra careful, less you wanna end up back in the Under Sector.”
He hiked his gun over his shoulder and led the way. The streets they took to the main city square weren’t empty, but they weren’t as full as the ones below, either. Tayel stayed close to Mom and kept an eye on Jace. She couldn’t believe they’d be going to another planet.
Just a few nights ago after school, her and Jace sat on her bedroom floor, pondering her flexi-screen of the Igador system. Jace had said that out of all the planets, he wanted to visit Nugaia most. Tayel had said “anywhere but here.” Regret ate away at her now.
The center of the city burned with a dozen infernos and crawled with hundreds of raiders. At the far end of the city square, the nose of a shuttle stuck out of the station. It stood as a beacon of hope, piercing the sky at the far end of the battle. If the station was a beacon of hope, then those dark, oval portals all over the square were bad omens.
Mom pushed Tayel forward. They climbed down the steps from the residential district toward the defense force station.
There, officers ran around, manning perimeters or barking orders to each other and civilians. Even though their numbers paled in comparison to the enemy, there were a lot of them. The Under Sector never had this police presence. Holographic warnings stretched like tape between two pistons, blocking off an area of caved road, and three frantic officers rushed a gurney with unseen contents into a nearby tent. Mom’s tight hand squeeze did little to comfort Tayel.
An Argel in uniform greeted them. “You people here for escort?”
“Escort to where?” Otto asked.
“The shuttle station. That’s why you’re all here, right? We don’t have the men to keep people safe here at base.”
“We can’t go on our own?”
The Argel’s beak hung open. “W-would you want to? Next group’s on its way out. Head over there.”
Tayel followed Otto to the perimeter.
The officer at the front of the gathered crowd of civilians spoke over the noise of battle behind him. “We’ll be running as a group across the square. There aren’t enough vehicles for transport, so again, if you are not fully-abled you may need to stay here at base for the time being.”
Tayel couldn’t see beyond the crowd in front of her, but the square stretched far, and the battle waged there was intense. Blood surging against her eardrums blocked out whatever else the officer said. She imagined a raider gutting her with his aether-tech blade. She imagined falling behind the rest of the group. A quake would knock her to her knees and a dark portal would swallow her up and she’d be gone forever.
The officer yelled louder, snapping her to attention. “Remember! Leave all personal belongings here!”
He signaled to maybe ten officers, who made a circle around the large group of civilians. Everyone struggled to be in the center. Tayel was mortified to be left on the edge. Jace and Otto stood side by side ahead of her.
“This is it,” Mom said. “We’re almost away from all this. Just stay close.”
Tayel squeezed Mom’s hand and tried to breathe normally. It wasn’t working, and though her knees shook, when the crowd started to run, so did she. Time and space stopped existing while she pumped her arms and legs. She didn’t dare look up. Her feet pounding on the cement were the only scenery she needed.
A shrill scream and the rat-a-tat of gunfire exploded from the opposite side of the crowd, sending everyone else into a frantic flee. Tayel’s feet were no longer interesting; her eyes scanned every direction. Her heart hammered and her legs threatened to give way.
The once compact crowd expanded like a swarm, and the security of people forming a sort of phalanx around her dissipated entirely. She and Mom ran undefended now. Some of the crowd fell behind, some ran ahead, but Jace and Otto were nearby. The officers who once escorted them had vanished in the smoke. The station seemed no closer than it had when they started — still too far away.
A person fell face first onto the cement ahead. They’d tripped over a long line of gathered wires, but Tayel pulled Mom’s hand, and they jumped over it safely. An Argel-shaped blur collapsed over the bundle, and Tayel recognized Jace’s cry over the rest of the crowd.
No.
She ground to a halt, arm pulled taut by Mom’s grip.
A raider peeled out of the murk and charged them. Mom leapt forward, unleashing a comet of fire to stop him as Tayel rose her arms to defend herself. Otto scooped Jace off the ground, the glow of Mom’s attack glinting off his frame. He hoisted Jace over his shoulder, fired a finishing shot into the damaged assailant, and kept moving.