Rebellion in the Shadows

Questions littered my brain in no real order. Shouting them out seemed like the only way to think things through but my mouth wasn’t working. I couldn’t focus on what he was saying until a word caught my attention and snapped me out of my stunned silence.

“Rebellion, what the hell do you mean? You guys are trying to take over the Flying Force? Why

“Ever just come across something that doesn’t seem right? Disappearances like your fathers? Whole families going missing, drone crashes, or buildings catching fire randomly? With our technology how does that happen? ” Arwago had not seemed alarmed by my reaction at all.

“How does that warrant a rebellion?” I asked.

“It’s not just disappearances. We know that we’ve been lied to for centuries about certain things,” he said.

“Like what exactly?”

“Like the fact that Arkii is habitable and possibly harbors intelligent life.” He kept his face straight. Two days ago, I would have said that was the craziest thing I had ever heard. But now? It didn’t seem that way at all.

On second thought, I laughed. No way we could have lived that close to another planet with people on it and never known.

Arwago spoke over my laughter. “Listen, I don’t need to convince you and we don’t have time. Truth is now that I have told you about it, you are a part of it. How big of a role you play is up to you. Tesser is going to update your calcumat before you leave.” How many people had heard this same crazy story? Arwago was just an insane paranoid person that found a few friends.

“Who else knows about this?” I was thinking of Notawa and how she had sent me to Arwago.

“We all try to operate anonymously, it’s for the best. The only two connections you have are me and Tesser. That’s it.” I looked at him, still unsure about anything he was saying.

“Let’s go talk to Tesser. She will get you set up on the encrypted comm server so you can read some of what’s going on.” We left the blue room, I more confused and upset than when I had gone in.

Tesser pounced on us when we walked out. “OK so your comms are already encrypted. When I replaced your calcumat, I kind of added in that feature. If you are coming to this room, comm me first. That way I can override your location. Make sense?” She was holding my wrist and typing something into my calcumat.

“I think so.” I was overwhelmed. Tesser seemed too smart to fall for Arwago’s craziness. Then again, he was very handsome. She wasn’t dumb enough to go with this because of a crush, was she? She interrupted my thoughts, sensing my doubt.

“Read through the comms and come back tomorrow after lights out, but you need to leave now. Trust me, people are always watching, especially you.” She gave my wrist back to me and left me standing there. Arwago stepped forward.

“I will walk you back to your quarters. Once we leave, no questions. Got it?”

“Sure, I don’t really understand any of this anyway.”

“You already read the book right? Do you know why the end is missing?”

“Someone didn’t like it?” I joked.

“Exactly. Someone didn’t want us to know what really happened when we got to Arkii.”.

“So what did happen?”

“No one really knows. Sidarc might know, but I don’t think so. It was something they covered up before his time. But he is curious now, and that’s dangerous.”

“Why?” I asked. Arwago laughed, flashing his beautiful teeth and easy smile.

“Read the comm sheet. You can’t learn everything in a night. It’s late, or rather, super early.” He looked at his wrist. “Wow zero-two-fifteen! Yes, back to bed.”

I walked with him completely bewildered about everything he had said. It took all my will power not to constantly check over shoulders. My empty room reminded me that I had left Tomma in the lab. I sent a comm to Tesser to bring him back. All she sent back was a ‘No.’

I slept most of the next day until I awoke in a panic. Burning eyes searched through the alerts on my calcumat. About a dozen of them were from Notawa. Since they were all apologizing for canceling our upcoming study session, I swiped them away. There weren’t any from Arwago or Tesser.

I laid back on my bed, content to sleep the rest of the day away, when my stomach let out a gurgle. It was dinner time, and I hadn’t eaten for almost two days.

The cafeteria was full and there were more eyes staring at me than normal. While I wasn’t exactly happy to see him, but there was only one person in the cafeteria I knew, and I didn’t want to be alone. The thump of my tray on the table made him shift his eyes up for a brief second.

When he saw me, his face hardened.

“What the hell do you want?” He was eating a sort of soup and only looked at me through the corner of his eyes.

“Where were you?” I asked.

“I don’t owe you any explanation. Like I was really going to quit over a stupid race.”

“I’m just going to eat here.” I sat down, too hungry to go anywhere else.

“Why? So I have to smell that crap?” He used his spoon to point to my mash and fowl.

“Yes, that’s exactly why. I am here just to torture you with the smell of crappy cafeteria food. Can you try to ignore it? This has been a shit weekend and I just want to eat in peace.” More emotion came out in my voice than I had wanted.

“Oh yeah I heard. Something about your family taking a vacation without you?”

“It’s my dad and yeah,” I said softly. It was pitiful, but admitting he was gone to Kirtis made me feel better.

“Well chin up. At least you get the chance to break my nose again tomorrow.”

“What? Why? Where’s Zarleque?”

“I don’t know. I was just told I was your partner again, something about I ‘bring out the best’ in you.” His good eyebrow arched, and he scowled even deeper. If by “best,” they meant the most frustrated anger-induced sparring, they were probably right.

“I never meant to break your nose, not that you don’t deserve it.”

“Since you are going to be Master Guardian someday, you get to tell me what I deserve, is that it? Not everyone can be as privileged as you Talaya. Getting ranks handed to us on a silver platter. We actually have to work for it.”

“Because before today, it’s been a breeze.” Instead of stomping off in anger like I had planned, I leaned closer to him. “I work hard trying to keep the people closest to me safe, and they suffer regardless of my dedication. I’m up every morning running until I can’t breathe, sparring until I can’t move, and studying until I can’t think. What do I get for it? A promise of a promotion years in the future? So yeah, maybe I will break your nose. Seems like a great idea.”

He was supposed to do the same: yell back and tell me how I was being a spoiled idiot. Instead, he squinted at me. The dark blue was barely visible. The only signal that he was upset was his scars changing from a faint pink to a dark red. That must have been his version of blushing.

“We are all just trying to get through this in one piece. Other people don’t need to know how hard it is,” he said and got up to leave.

“See you in training,” he said before walking away.

My mind wandered to my dad, and to Zarleque and especially to everything that Arwago said. My food sat forgotten until a cafeteria Coordinator came to clean my spot. I left without eating and wandered back to my room to spend the night in much the same way I’d spent the day: alone and worried.