Race to the Next World

Africa’s Commander and Commander Picses were in the same room together. We were all mixed up with Africa’s forces. I haven’t been around long enough to know what it’s like to have another nation on our ship.

The African nations were huge. Our population currently is a third of theirs. Their ship is much larger than ours and I can say without a doubt that their technology beats ours. I know that because we can’t read them on our screens. The system had to be manually shown that they’re next to us. No one knew where the African nations were for the longest time. They don’t fight with the others. They try hard to stay out of it.

Apparently this isn’t the first time they’ve come to help us. It’s just the first time in this generation.

I was excited.

“Cadets, there has been a request of a temporary treaty.” Picses told us. Sirus was about to yell something next to me. I knew because he took a deep breath and moved his hand to the side of his mouth, but I elbowed him in the ribs so he wouldn’t. He would have totally started a riot.

I saw a lot of Coordinators take that precaution with their Flyers, of course we would have to stop them from ruining this for us. Just getting a glimpse of the African ship could be the change of the century for us. I can say our system is about to get upgraded in the next couple of days if this lasts as long.

“Because Russia is siding with the European nations, its only best that we take precautions as well.” Picses said.

“Bullshit.” Sirus said under his breath.

“We need this Sirus, who knows what Russia has under their sleeves.” I whispered quietly.

“Who cares? We can take them.” he said confidently.

Most Flyers would be angry because they think we can do this ourselves, but if Russia has made a temporary treaty with other nations to get us out of the way, we can take all the help we can get.

“There will be provisions to the cooperation of Africa. But we will be helping them. Flyers, please treat them with respect.” he was pleading for them to do that, but I know it won’t happen the way he wishes.

“As a show of our gratitude, we’re extending our welcome to our ship as well.” Africa’s Commander said.

Excitement shot through me, I just wanted to know how they got past our systems, even the Main Computer had trouble recognizing a majority of them. Do they have field chips in their suits? In their ships? I want to know this.

I wasn’t the only one who wanted to know this. Of course they wouldn’t just give their secrets away without knowing ways to bypass whatever systems we create to counter act it. But I want to know, I’m sure we could do that for our suits and ships and go undetected from European and Russian computers.

We can help each other out. This is great.

“Coordinators, treat them well and make up for the Flyers lack of hospitality. You’re dismissed Cadets.” he said.

“Maybe they’ll let us on to their ships.” I said, excited.

“What’s wrong with you?” Sirus asked me. He looked at me like I was crazy.

“This is an amazing opportunity for technological advance. We can go undetected from radars. Do you know what this means?” I was smiling. He wasn’t getting it. “Sneak attacks. You always complain about not being on the offensive side, well guess what. Now’s your chance.”

“How are we going to trust these people?” he asked me.

“You heard the Commanders, this is temporary. Once all this is done, we’ll be trying to blow each other up in no time.” I said.

Sirus didn’t like it, just like the other Flyers. I didn’t mind the outcome, it was better than defending alone.

I didn’t want to change out of my normal clothes but I intended to bring my suit just in case there would be a way to make modifications to it. They might have all kinds of things we’d be able to do. I was dying of excitement, it was better than I thought it could be. Sirus was being grumpy like he usually is, and I don’t care. He doesn’t have to come with me if he doesn’t want to but I’m still going. I want to know what they use.

“You seriously aren’t thinking of actually going with them, are you?” he asked.

“You don’t have to come with me if you don’t want to, but it might be entertaining.” I tried to urge him but it won’t work; he just looked at me with a plain face. “It’s not all about the technology, Sirus. Don’t you want to see their weapons?” I tried to bait him but it didn’t work.

If anything, Sirus might be interested in their training programs but it didn’t seem like the thought crossed his mind.

“And what if something happens?”

“Then that’s our chance just blown up to pieces without even realizing it.” I said. He didn’t like that answer either.

For once, he was upset that I was doing what I wanted to. He always lets me do what I want, in context that I give him what he wants first. But it wasn’t some kind of battle here, it was him not wanting to go out and try something new.

Sirus always takes time to adjust to change.

“All of you are gullible for technology shit.” he said bitterly.

“We’re the ones who make your ships and weapons, not to mention all the defense mechanisms that you Flyers use. At least give us some credit, Sirus, you wouldn’t be doing your job if we couldn’t do ours.” I said as I reached for my belt in the closet.

I shouldn’t be trying so hard to persuade him but I guess I wanted him to come with me. Its different than before now. He still is a horrendous beast but I don’t mind. After I saw how happy he was before, I just wanted to try and keep it that way but its gotten harder because he usually has a terrible attitude. I wasn’t surprised.

“I don’t see why you’re interested in this so much, its the only thing that really makes you happy.” he said as he walked over to me. He was trying to corner me and it worked, I just didn’t get scared. I stayed up against the wall and looked up at him, standing my ground.

“I like all the technology, Sirus.” I said.

“Why can’t you see this is trouble?” he asked.

“Its a pro-visionary treaty. There won’t be anything wrong until we destroy Russia and its allies. For now, Africa is only helping us. I don’t understand why you’re so upset with this.” I said, truly wanting to know because I don’t even think he’s mad about this whole thing the way I think he is. There’s something bothering him.

And I’m giving him enough time to show him that I care.

I want to know but if he won’t talk, then I won’t force him. Sirus is like that anyway. He has the largest wall between us, and he will never let me tear it down. That’s why we barely ever see eye to eye, and I know that. I bet he knows to, yet he does nothing about it.

It’s always easier for him to avoid talking it out or letting me know how he feels. I always have to guess, and even then it’s always just him being angry, annoyed, irritated, or bored.

I can’t win.

So I wasn’t surprised when he thought he could keep me here with sex.

I wasn’t interested.

He might be anxious, but I wasn’t.

He put his hand under my chin and lifted my head up just as he kissed me. I didn’t stop him, I know there will be some things he’ll want before I leave and if I want to make it out in good conditions, I’ll have to do it. But I want to know why he’s just kissing me like this. He wasn’t touching me forcefully or roughly, he wasn’t being aggressive, he was just kissing me. And I didn’t know what to do except kiss him back. Its never been like this before. He doesn’t do this.

His body pressed harder against mine as he kept me on the wall. He has never kissed me this nicely before. I was going to take this in before it becomes something more than I could handle.

It didn’t take long though.

I became breathless after kissing him for so long. I tried but he got so much more possessive. His tongue licked over my bottom lip as I felt his knee rub on me. I was trying desperately to hold in my moans but it wasn’t working, he was slowly making me want to stay with him more and more. But he wasn’t touching me the way he usually does, his hands did nothing on me. It was only his knee that was about to make me hard. This is all my own reactions to basically nothing.

He kissed me harder, making it more difficult for me to breathe. My fingers were loosening around the things I had taken; I was about to drop them just as I pictured myself twisting my fingers in his hair and keeping him close to me. This was so different to me and I wanted to keep it like this for a while longer. His tongue rubbed on mine more just as I started to move. I wanted to believe that he was doing this without a sexual purpose, that he won’t expect me to be on all fours moaning for him to move harder. He only kissed me for now, his knee still rubbing against me.

I was turned on.

My moans came out freely as he continued to kiss me without stopping, his breath mixing with mine, his tongue dominating my mouth on its own. This is all he kept doing. Just kissing me. I felt the heat on my face rise more and more every time I heard myself moan.

I wanted him.

He knows I do too; he’s smart enough to know that this will make me stay. But I’m smarter so I won’t stay long. He’s won for now, I can accept that. But I’m still going anyway, it doesn’t matter.

I felt his teeth on my bottom lip, piercing through my skin and causing me pain.

I knew it wouldn’t last long.

My first response was to hit him, and I did. I would never feel bad for defending myself. He basically asked to be hit. He bit me hard enough to make me bleed; I tasted my own blood drip into my mouth because of the wound he inflicted.

I saw in his eyes that he was still angry with me. He was going to bite me no matter what, it just took him too long to do it. I can’t believe he would go this far. My lip burned where he bit me, small drops of blood still in my mouth. I wanted to hit him again just so he would stop glaring at me.

“There was no reason to do that!” I yelled at him.

“You’re mine, got it? You’re lucky I’m letting you go out on your own.” he said through his teeth.

What?

Does he think he has that much control over me?

Who does he think he is?

“If you haven’t noticed, I don’t take orders from you, Sirus.” I said and moved around him. He would have grabbed me, I know he would have; I even saw his hand twitch as I walked by him. “You’re the one that’s supposed to be listening to me. If you don’t like the treaty, that’s fine. But don’t you dare take your anger out on me.” I forced my clothes in a small bag.

He didn’t stop me as I left. I touched my lip to find it getting hotter, and probably swelling; there’s no doubt a scar will form. I still tasted blood in my mouth as I licked the wound. I should have hit him harder for that. He shouldn’t have bit me, I know he could have done worse but I still don’t appreciate how he did that.

I know every time I feel it, it will only remind me of what Sirus has done and can do to me.

All I wanted was to see what Africa has for their defenses, and how their systems work. Sirus will not make me feel guilty for getting interested in things I like to see and do. I don’t care what his problems are and I’m not going to force him to do something he doesn’t want to do. I won’t push my interest down because he doesn’t like it. But he can’t get mad at me because I have interest in technology. It’s my entire job.

There were more Coordinators wanting to go to Africa’s ship. At least I wasn’t the only one excited. I heard murmurs of all the rumors of things they have and that we don’t. I was so excited to see it for myself.

“Aurora!” Alara called out behind me in the group of Coordinators. I turned to her voice as she moved towards me in the crowd.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Are you kidding? They have a computerized system that can modulate how our ships are seen on screens. Do you think I want to miss out on messing with that?” she asked quickly, getting so excited.

She gets it!

“That’s your sister alright.” Hags moved by us with Taurus.

“They have things that I would love to just put my hands on, Aurora, we need those things.” she shouted. I’m not surprised that Africa got up to us next with all the things I heard they had. They got passed Russia on their screen and the Mother Ship still can’t detect that there’s a ship right next to ours. They’ve been silent for a while now.

This can have two outcomes.

But none of them is being destroyed by Russian or European defenses. For now the treaty should hold up. Its just temporary.

“I want to see how their ships run.” I said quickly.

“You’re going to change a lot of things, aren’t you?” she asked me.

“I want to. But its not up to me, Alara, you know that.” I said.

I would have to beg and plead the higher up to make changes. I’m sure thousands of Coordinators would have to beg to make these changes. I heard Africa has a much more efficient fuel source that can be reused for everyday things. We don’t have that. I think we should have that.

I need this.

We all need this.

“I can’t believe this is happening.” Alara squeaked beside me, freaking out even more. We were both excited.

Hags and Taurus looked back at us, making faces because they could hear everything. They know its true though. If they aren’t excited then why are they coming over?

We haven’t left this ship since we were born, of course we would want to go to a different nation’s ship.

We walked in the clear tube that connected our ship to theirs.

It was like walking in space which made me panic since I don’t like being out here. I looked down and there was only darkness. My body couldn’t register that I wasn’t actually in space so I started to hyperventilate quietly. I grabbed on to Alara, and she dragged me on, not even realizing how I was panicking. There were still no stars around here, but in the distance, I could see a small beam of light. That’s how everyone knows we’re close. Some people stopped to stare but Alara pulled me on so we could get inside their ship faster. We can only go so fast with all of us here.

We get to see everything they have, and they get to see what we have. Its a win win situation.

Alara left me when we were told what we could go see. She was obviously going to go touch the weapons. I can check that out later. I wanted to go to their Command Center and I wasn’t the only one that excited to go.

Everything is so different here.

I haven’t had anything to compare ourselves to.

Their forces aren’t separated like we were. They don’t have two separate occupations; their Coordinators are with their Flyers. They are always together, even in the ships. That’s pretty intense for starters. The Command Center had people who helped navigate with their Coordinators. I wondered how they were able to get along with each other. The American nations always kept the occupations separate, and I will never understand why. But this, what Africa has, is truly amazing.

I can’t wait to play with all their stuff.

“You’re from the American ship, aren’t you?” someone came to me before I could even lay a finger on one of the computers.

Did I do something wrong? Was I not supposed to be here? I drew my hand back and turned to him. He was wearing a navy blue suit with gold touch ups on it. He had a lot of badges on his chest and shoulders.

He must be one of the officials.

I’m probably doing something I’m not supposed to.

“Yeah I was just interested in-”

“Oh, I’m not here to stop you. Go ahead and try it.” he said, encouraging me to go on.

I did touch it; there was a prick on my finger when I touched the keypad. I pulled my hand away and saw the small dot of blood that had formed.

Was that supposed to happen?

“Welcome Aurora.” the Computer said.

My eyes widened.

Another system recognizes me. “How does it know who I am?” I asked, shocked.

“It takes a blood sample to recognize people. Our Commander thought it was a good idea to sync up everyone’s information because he knew most of you were coming.” He said.

I felt a tug at my heart as I had the desire to hug the system. I wanted to take it apart and put it back together again.

“That’s how you grant people access to different places, right?” I asked.

“Yes. But taking blood only happens once. After that, you don’t have to do anything else.” he explained.

“How do you weed out traitors?” I asked.

“We’ve never had that problem before so we don’t have a mechanism for that.” he said. They don’t have traitors on their ship, but we have two. “But it seems that we might want to add that in.”

“I have so many things I want to ask and know. All this is amazing.” I said, excited to see more.

I wanted to see their ships, and toy around with them. If I was really lucky, I might be able to just peak into where they have their civilians. I wanted to know what it was like.

I heard its all luxury here, and I can tell. Everything’s so shiny and looks new.

There was a lot of plant life, too. Their lights were synthetic sun light to sustain all this life.

It’s beautiful.

Their asthetic was modern nature.

“Well I have one question.” He said.

He looked a few years older than I was. He works out more too, probably from all the physical activities of space he has to endure. Their uniforms were much nicer, and had different colors. He paused for a moment and looked around, thinking of how to phrase his question.

Already, I knew it was about my hair.

He’s been staring, but not at just me, other people that had white hair.

I sort of figured it wasn’t a thing to have white hair. I guess it was rare for them but its common for us. I just got unlucky and developed white hair.

“How is it that you and some others developed white hair? Is it a dye?” he asked the question cautiously, not wanting to offend me but I don’t mind.

“Hardly.” I rolled my eyes. I wish it was a dye. “Its just a mutation that no one found the cure for. The gene expresses itself randomly.”

“There was a girl in a black suit with white hair.” he noticed me with Alara earlier.

“That’s my younger sister. She said she might dye her hair black but she doesn’t know yet.” I shrugged. Its not really common for Flyers to have white hair, but things do happen. Some people don’t express the gene until years later, and their hair starts to grow out white.

“How interesting. Some people have dyed hair and some don’t.” he was intrigued by it.

If he’s interested in just hair color, then I know he’ll be mind blown by the other things. I’ll have to show him around because we have a ton of other problems that he might find interesting. Its great.

Donri showed me all these things, and the actual system. He gave me a tour just like all the other Coordinators were getting. And in return, I dyed his hair white. He has a lot of hair, and they were in small curls too. They all had nice hair. It made me want to not cut my hair but I had to, my bangs were getting long.

I had a lot of questions and he answered absolutely everything I had.

The different colored uniforms showed what ranking they had. They had different styles of ships based on a person’s specialty. They have specialties. And their civilians aren’t restricted from seeing family members if they’re working on a fighting force. That one really got me upset because that’s not how it is for us.

He wasn’t supposed to let me up to where all the civilians were, but we went sneaking around anyway, just like some other people. I expected it to be big, after all, the ships support millions of people. They’re holding a lot more than we can. Even here, everything is so shiny. They kept plants everywhere, and there were a lot of fountains that spread water around.

I have to stay here forever. I can’t leave. Where we walked around, I saw how things were set up.

Their holograms were much prettier than ours. It was bright and colorful and people were so happy. This was just the first part of it.

Donri spent hours with me, showing me around, letting me meet other people and talk to them. Their engineers let me play around with some of their ships, and I thought just maybe I’d be able to take a few souvenirs home with me, like this entire Mother Ship.

Before Donri had to leave, he showed me one of the greatest places that I could ever set foot in to. He says this is where people go for their healing treatments.

It was dark in the large room, but the water glowed bright blue. The lights underneath the water kept the entire place lit enough for me to see. At first, I didn’t want to get in, but he had told me it was great for meditation and relaxing. I didn’t ask what was in the water but the second I got in, I didn’t care.

I sunk lower in the water, feeling a bit more relaxed.

I wasn’t anxious.

I wasn’t stressed.

It was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. I haven’t felt this relaxed in years. It was like I didn’t have to care about anything. And I enjoyed that.

I was jealous of how everything looks here, how quiet it can be if I find the right places. This was the most soothing place I’ve ever been in. I could stay here for a while.

“This is what you were so excited to see.” Sirus was standing by the entrance, his shadow forming all in the large room.

When did he get here? I didn’t want him here, I’m supposed to be calm here, not angry.

He could use a dip in the water. He won’t be so upset all the time if he added this to his daily routine.

“How’d you find me?” I asked.

“Your tracker’s on.” he said.

“Can’t you leave me alone for once, Sirus?” I was bitter. I wanted him to go away. I don’t have the energy to fight with him. He always shows up when I’m trying to be alone.

“What’s with you?” he asked.

“Leave me alone.” I said as I heard his shoes on the floor, echoing in the room. I didn’t want him to get any closer to me. “Sirus, I said leave me-” he grabbed on my hair, pulling my head back so I could look him in the eyes.

“You cut your hair.” he said, testing me.

“You should try it sometime.” I looked up at him, my hands grabbing hold of his wrist. My nails were about to dig into his skin.

I got out of his grip, and fixed my hair as I moved away. The last thing I truly need is him doing something to me and making me feel worse.

“It’s really nice here, Sirus, you’d like it if you weren’t closed minded.” I told him.

“I can’t believe that I’m the only one that sees this as a bad idea.” He crossed his arms over his chest as he stood up straight. “I wouldn’t be so worried if every single Coordinator didn’t flock over here.”

“Some of the Flyers went to play with the weapons and equipment.”

“It’s not a game, Aurora-”

“Change isn’t going to kill you, Sirus.”

There’s nothing for him to worry about. The treaty is temporary. He can go right back to blowing everything up then.

I was tired of his behavior. It’s not fair that he thinks I won’t do something because he tells me no. That’s not how this works. I got out of the water and grabbed my clothes. I didn’t take the time to dry off because I wanted to get away from Sirus.

“You don’t understand how much I want to get away from you.” I said as I put my suit on me.

“You don’t try that hard.” he said.

“I wonder when you would consider changing me as your partner because I can’t take it anymore.” I said as I zipped up my suit. “You can’t control me. I’m not going to do as you say. This isn’t how this works. We’re supposed to be partners but you treat me like I work for you.” I was getting upset again.

I’ve never... I was so mad and I’m not usually like this. I don’t usually mouth off to Sirus but I couldn’t hold it in.

“All of this isn’t working. If you don’t want to treat me like equal, then find a Coordinator who doesn’t care.”

“That’s a big thought on your mind.” he said as he took me by my arm before I could walk by him. His grip on me was strong. “You aren’t getting what you want, Aurora.” he said.

I bit the inside of my cheek and looked up at him, right in the eyes so he knows I’m being serious. “Why don’t you request a change?” I asked because I’ve been waiting for weeks to hear the news.

“How about you do it yourself, Aurora, or are you scared to?” he asked. I don’t want to do it, but I’m waiting for that moment that Sirus cracks first.

“I am not.” I said bitterly.

“Face it. You want to be Commander so bad that you would never want to give up a good spot like this.”

He’s right.

That’s why I sucked it up for so long. Sirus is good at his job, and I’ve learned to not underestimate him. But he is just so confusing and mean and I can’t take it anymore! It’s like my annoyance, fear, disgust, and anger for Sirus is right at the top near my goal to be Commander.

I can’t do this.

My heart was racing and my throat was closing up. I’m just upset and I want to be alone to get myself together.

“Get away from me, Sirus.” I stepped away from him, hoping he would let me go but he didn’t. Instead, he was pulling me back to him roughly and I couldn’t shove away.

His lips crashed into mine but it didn’t last long when his teeth pierced my skin again, the same place he bit me before.

And it hurt worse now than before.

I hit him, this time even harder, to get him away from me just as the pain surged through my body. Does he really think I won’t fight for myself? I’m not as weak as he makes me see.

My fist was throbbing.

And my anger bubbled over.

He never listens to me!

I couldn’t help the tears that welded up in my eyes as I tasted the blood in my mouth from being bit so hard. It hurt so much. I think his teeth actually pierced through. Sirus makes me so angry and its times like this I wish I could really do my worst to him. He has no respect for me, he doesn’t care that I actually can get hurt. I’m not a toy! He can’t keep hurting me like this.

“I’m not some toy, Sirus!” I yelled at him. “Why can’t you stop hurting me?” I cried because I was just so tired of how he treats me. This entire day he had nothing better to do than remind me that he thinks he controls me.

This isn’t how it’s supposed to be.

We’re supposed to be partners.

I’ve never fought with anyone the way I fight with Sirus.

“I’ve had it with your demeaning behavior and your need to show me that you’re better than me.” I said angrily. “If you want someone to treat like this, get a new partner because I’m done!”

He tried to grab me again but I snapped and lost it.

“Don’t touch me!” I screamed from the frustration.

I felt the pain in my chest as I took in air. He didn’t touch me after that but it won’t last long. I know Sirus, he has his bad habits.

I just want him to stop hurting me. I want him to stop treating me the way he does. I’m tired of it. I know his personality won’t change, but I want him to leave me alone.

I left quickly before he really had the chance to do anything else to me.

It only gets worse from here, I can feel it.

I had to find a quiet space to cry to myself. I think that’s the first time I’ve ever had a panic attack. My heart was racing so hard in my chest and I couldn’t breathe. I always knew Sirus stressed me out but this was different. This was much worse. I could barely catch my breath.

If Sirus wasn’t the way he was, I’d be more willing to talk to him. If he wasn’t the way he was, I wouldn’t be screaming at him. And he wouldn’t treat me the way he does. All of this would be more pleasant if he didn’t think all of this was for fun and games.

My lip burned again, and the pain was so much worse than before.

I wiped my tears away before anyone saw me as I left. Maybe I should go back to our own ship for now, Africa isn’t going anywhere yet.

“Aurora! Look at what I-” Taurus stopped when she saw my face. “Oh my gosh, what happened?” she asked me quickly.

“Its nothing. I should go.” I said and turned away.

“You have a horrible cut on your lip, and your eyes are red.” she said, holding on to me so she could see.

I already know but that’s not the problem here. I looked away from her but didn’t say anything to her because I couldn’t find anything to say.

“Are you okay, Aurora?” she asked.

“I’ll be fine.” I said and walked around her. I can’t talk about anything right now, maybe some other time.

I walked by myself, going the other way. I want to be alone for a while. Anything is better than all this. I sulked my way back, trying to not feel so bad for myself. I know I’m not overreacting. Its about time I stood up for myself.

Its not that I’m scared, I’m just too angry to deal with Sirus’ behavior. I’d do something stupid and he’d do something worse. That’s how it is. I need to at least calm down, and let him calm down too. There’s no way we’d be able to talk to each other if we’re both this angry.

I don’t know how he’d take it if I told him that he needs to calm down more. He’s the reason why I’m so anxious all the time. I wanted to tell him that I wanted things to change, that I hope he doesn’t enjoy the fighting because I don’t. I don’t like being angry at him all the time.

I needed to calm down so I could think clearer and get my thoughts together. Maybe then I might be able to tell him what’s really on my mind.