Enceladus 2: The War

The next day Lainie, Delphinus and I did some more training.

“Amelia, I want you and Lainie to spar,” Del said.

Lainie looked at me with a hint of fear on her face. Fear that put guilt in my gut. She was still afraid of me.

“I won’t hurt you, love.”

She simply nodded.

Del clapped her hands together. “Begin.”

Lainie got in a ready position; her hands balled up in front of her face. She advanced forward, closer to me and threw a punch. I dodged it easily but she didn’t give me time to recuperate. She kneed me in the stomach while I was straightening.

“Nice!” shouted Del.

It didn’t hurt but I knew Lainie wasn’t trying to hurt me. Lainie tried to punch me again and I blocked it this time.

“Go for her legs!” Del said to Lainie.

So Lainie did. She smoothly kicked her foot under my legs and I fell on my kôô.

“Good job,” I said.

Lainie extended her arm to help me up. I grabbed it and pulled her to the ground. She fell on her back, huffing. “Not fair,” she grumbled.

“Yes, fair,” I laughed. “When you’re fighting in the real world no one is going to talk about the rules. There are no rules.”

“Okay. Get up and go again,” Delphinus ordered. “This time Lainie is on offense.”

I grimaced. I would go too easy on Lainie and she’d be able to tell. Then she’d become angry with me.

I hopped up the same time Lainie did. She stood in a protective position. I moved towards her and shot out a punch. Sadly, it struck her right in the jaw.

“Lainie, I am so sorry! Are you okay?” I took her face in my hands. Nice, Amy.

“I’m okay.” She grinned. “At least I know you’re not holding back.”

“Again!” Del called.

This time I did the same but Lainie avoided it. I tried again and she blocked my throw. I went in for a low punch and it got her in the stomach. She doubled over but recovered quickly and shot back up.

Just as I was about to go in for another hit, the ship started shaking. Lainie lost her footing and fell into my arms.

“What’s going on?” I asked Del. She didn’t respond, just ran to the control room. We chased after her.

It felt like turbulence in an airplane. I had only been on an airplane once and that was nine years ago when I flew from Asia to Ohio.

Lainie and I strapped ourselves in to the extra seats in the room. “What’s happening?”

Del was furiously pressing buttons. “The ship is going through the wormhole much sooner than expected. I was supposed to get it ready for travel by ditching the living pod. We weren’t supposed to go through a wormhole for two days.”

“So what now?” Lainie asked. She was terrified.

“Now I need to leave the living quarters behind. The ship is too heavy with it.”

“But all of our stuff is in there,” I protested.

“There’s no time to get it. Strap in. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.”

Lainie squeezed her eyes shut. She gripped the arms of her seat. I wished I could’ve held her hand but our seats were too far away.

The computer Delphinus was on kept beeping like something was denied. She cursed in Enceladian.

“What?” I asked, worried.

She spoke in Enceladian. “It’s bad, sister. The living quarters won’t dislodge. Something’s wrong. And we’re entering the wormhole too fast.”

“What do we do?”

Del was silent. “I have to get rid of the living quarters manually.”

“What? How?”

Del didn’t answer. She just got up and started putting on a spacesuit. “You two stay here. Amelia, sit in my seat. I’m going to hook myself to the inside of the ship near Lainie. Then I will fix whatever is stopping the living quarters from dislocating. When it flies off, I will be in space. I can get back on my own if the line doesn’t break.”

“’If the line doesn’t break’?” I exclaimed.

“I’m going to pull myself back in and get inside the air lock and everything should be fine after that. Amelia, I will need you to tell me when the screen says approved.” She put in an earpiece and made me do the same. She finished putting on her suit, helmet secured, and left without another word.

“Amelia, can you hear me?” Del’s voice rang in my ear.

“Yes,” I answered.

“I’m on my way.”

The ship was still going through turbulence.

“Okay, I’m here and inspecting it for damage,” Del said.

My heart was beating out of control. Even though Del was a real ðüå sometimes, I didn’t want anything bad to happen to her.

“Found it!” she yelled into my ear.

The computer in front of me dinged and the screen read approved.

“It’s approved, Delphinus. Come back.”

Then a loud crash sounded in the back of the ship.

“Del?”

“What was that?” Lainie questioned.

“Delphinus? Are you there?” All I heard was static from the other end. I started to panic. “Del!” I shouted. “Sĉôt.” I had no clue what to do. Del’s line connecting her to the ship must have snapped. She was probably floating through space. She was our pilot. I didn’t know how to fly a spacecraft.

My hands were shaking and my vision started to blur. I could vaguely hear Lainie talking to me.

Suddenly another loud bang came from the back and snapped me out of my almost panic attack. I tensed up and turned my seat around, waiting for a fight. I unbuckled the seatbelt and slowly stood up. My wings wanted to come out but they wouldn’t fit in the small space.

The door to the control room slid open and Delphinus stood on the other side. I was so happy she wasn’t dead that I hugged her. Which was a little uncomfortable. She was still wearing the big space helmet. She awkwardly patted my back.

“You’re okay!”

“Somehow.” She started taking off the suit.

“What happened?”

“When the pod flew off, I was thrown out of the craft. The line didn’t break but my earpiece stopped working. It took me a while to pull myself back to the ship.”

“I’m uh--I’m glad you’re okay,” I said quietly.

“Thanks,” she mumbled.

We sat in our seats and she navigated us through the wormhole.

We had four more days until we got to Enceladus and we spent them training Lainie. By day six, she had gotten pretty good at bow and arrow. Her aim wasn’t perfect but she was a fast learner.

The last night on the ship, Lainie and I retreated early to our make-shift room. We had thrown together some of the extra blankets and pillows the ship had stored and there was a hanging sheet separating us from the kitchen.

I was holding Lainie and thinking about all the things that could go wrong in Enceladus. Lainie could get hurt. My siblings could get hurt. We could lose the war.

“Amy? What are you thinking about?”

“All the possibilities,” I told Lainie.

“Of?” she prompted.

“When we get to Enceladus. I’m just worried. For you and for the citizens.”

“But the citizens have powers.”

“None of them know how to fight. Orion kept all the people in each sector poor and weak. He never wanted the people to have opinions or even personalities. Our people are only specialized in one power. Even if Cassiopeia abolished that law, none of them will be trained in them all. Without all their powers, I’m afraid we’ll lose.”

Orion had the citizens of Enceladus divided up into sectors according to the power he made them choose. There were four divisions.

Lainie was silent. “Can’t you train them?”

I laughed. “I can barely train myself, love. Caelum is the trainer. And Del is pretty good at it too.”

“Well, they can then. It’ll be fine. And besides, they have you on their side,” she said.

Yeah but I don’t think that’s a good thing. I was dangerous and didn’t know what I was doing.

“It’ll be okay, Amy,” Lainie reassured me.

I nodded and shortly after fell asleep.