Page 9 of Rebels Rising (The Intergalactic Union #3)

Artemis

E verything was so bright, loud, and busy. I watched from my rooftop perch as people bustled about the city below, no one bothering to look to one another as they went about their business, no one pausing to breathe in the fresh air or take in the stunning view of the sunrise peeking over the mountains, staining the sky pink, purple and orange.

None of those people realised how good they had it. They took their freedoms for granted. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that if they were ever to end up in captivity, surrounded by plain, windowless walls and breathing in stale, recycled air they would wish they’d paid more attention.

It was one of the reasons I sat up here and people watched. All of those lives and not one of them ever bothered to look up. Not one of them ever bothered to slow down and just simply exist in the moment. It was always onto the next, always moving, never stopping. It was such a travesty, and I couldn’t look away.

Oh, how I would have killed to be so ignorant.

It also put some things into perspective for me. If I’d never been taken in by The Program, I never would have appreciated the everyday things everyone seemed to miss. It was like they skimmed past the parts of living that made life exciting. The things that made life worth living in the first place. The wonders of their planet and their people. The way they could enjoy their lives however they saw fit, but they chose this life of mundane boredom that they always seemed to complain about, yet they rushed into it regardless like it was their most precious priority.

I wanted to throttle them.

I wanted to be them.

Movement out of the corner of my eyes had my gaze drifting to the side, the out of place shadows drawing my attention. A man was stepping from a doorway, hair ruffled, lipstick smudges staining his skin around his mouth and his neck, and he was still in the process of buttoning up his shirt. A woman stepped out behind him, leaning over to press a kiss to the corner of his lips. He deepened the kiss, grabbing her around the waist and drawing her closer, their bodies pressed together in a heated moment of passion. When they separated the woman’s face was flushed and she gazed up at him under fluttering lashed, a shy but coy smile tilting up her bruised lips.

When the man grinned at her, teeth on full display and happiness shining through so brightly it was almost blinding, I looked away. My heart clenched with the memory of what could have been, but betrayal stung, it’s barbs digging far deeper than ever before. Before I could stop it, a single tear escaped and rolled down my cheek. I didn’t bother to wipe it away.

My loneliness was an ever-present demon that latched on and sucked the joy out of me at the most random of moments. I could never guess when it was strike, and I was never quite prepared for the onslaught of agony and longing it caused.

That life wasn’t for me. I was doomed to be alone.

But one thing was for certain. Even if I had managed to escape, even if I had done so without Libby by my side like we’d always planned, I would return for her. I would make my way back and free her from that hell. And if I had to give my life to do it, then so be it.

???

I glared at the ruins of the building I had been calling home for the past few weeks. I wasn’t sure what had set me off this time, but I was kicking myself for my lack of control. My lapses were become more frequent as of late, and I couldn’t quite pinpoint the triggers.

And I knew it was more than one, because every time I managed to figure one out, another ten would take its place.

Objectively, I was aware that I was experiencing a form of post-traumatic stress, but there wasn’t much to be done for it. It wasn’t like I could just waltz into a therapist’s office and demand they fix me. I mean, I could, but it would be like shining a beacon on my whereabouts and I’d be back with the people who had left me in this state in the first place. Sure, I intended to return, but not to stay.

This was a delicate mission, but thanks to my blackouts and meltdowns I found I needed to move on more frequently that I would have liked.

I had only been in this location for a measly three weeks. The shortest I had ever been anywhere before I needed to move on. Now, I was going to have to run and hide as far away from here as possible. Likely, I would need to stowaway on a ship and find a new planet to hide on. I was running out of places to lay low.

Frustrated with myself and my lack of control, especially when I prided myself on my control, I pulled at my hair that had grown so long I had taken to wearing it in a single braid down my back to keep the dirt and tangles at bay.

I was going to have to cut it now, anyway. Each time I left I changed another aspect of myself to avoid detection. I didn’t want anyone to recognise me if I was caught on surveillance cameras. My hair would be the next part of me I altered.

I moved it over my shoulder, stroking down the long, brown strands as sorrow filled me up until I was ready to burst. When was I going to have the freedom to simply be myself? How many times was I going to need to change a part of me to pretend I was someone else?

Would I change too much that I no longer recognised the woman I had become?

???

I blinked my eyes open and stretched my limbs out wide as I returned to consciousness. I was comfortable in this bed, more comfortable than I could remember being in a long time. It was warm and cozy, the mattress soft and pliant beneath my body, yet still firm enough to support me. It was a fantastic bed, I had to admit.

But it was the feeling of being well-rested that made me not want to leave.

A small, warm body squirmed against me, and the reason for my awakening was quickly revealed. Baldr was wriggling to get out of the covers, reaching towards Dave Junior who was glaring at him from his spot on his own bed in the corner of the room. He caught me looking and huffed, his muzzle pushing forward as if in a pout. It was adorable, quite frankly, but the jealousy he seemed to harbour over Baldr sleeping in my bed over him was something we would need to address eventually. It had nothing to do with Bal and everything to do with Junior’s sheer size. He simply wouldn’t fit.

It was clear Bal was eager and excited to explore and play with the young Kikshrut (it was nice to finally put a name to his species), but it was definitely not reciprocated. I would have to do some more research into Kikshruts to find out more on their social behaviours. I was hoping it was something Junior would grow out of, or at least learn to overcome, but I did have some concerns that they were naturally attention hoggers and sharing the limelight would cause tension.

Though when I thought more about it, it was probably just Dave Junior. He wasn’t used to my attention being split between him and any other children. After all I’d gleaned from his behavioural patterns, he acted more like a child than an animal, so I would continue to treat him as such and hope he’d mature like a person as he aged.

I picked Bal up, dodging his flailing limbs as he continued his attempts to reach Dave Junior, and walked us into the connected bathroom, placing him on top of the toilet seat. Once Dave Junior was out of sight, he seemed to forget about him, choosing to perform an incredible feat of acrobatics in order to wedge his foot firmly inside his mouth. I shook my head as drool dribbled down his chin and his leg, closing the door behind me securely so he couldn’t escape while my attention was on getting ready.

The shower was just like the ones on The Carina, so I stripped and stepped in to let it coat me with the dirt-eating bubbles and then blast me with air to dry me off. It was quick and efficient, which I was grateful for because when I stepped back out and began to dress, Baldr crawled off the toilet and toddled towards the door. The door that opened to let him out as soon as he placed his saliva-coated hands on the open button.

The button that too high for him to reach…

Everything that happened within the span of the next few ticks took me long enough to process that I didn’t immediately jump into action, stunned into a statue.

Bal was glowing the same blue that I emanated whenever I connected to my abilities, and he was levitating in the air to reach the button. The doors slid open at his request to reveal Dave Junior who had been sniffing at the door, waiting for us to come back out. Once he saw the floating, glowing toddler, he started growling in distress and confusion, his immediate response to attack and protect me from the perceived threat.

I finally snapped out of it when Bal was being dragged back down by his foot in Dave Junior’s mouth. ‘Dave Junior, you drop him this instant!’

Both children turned to look at me, shocked at the unusually sharp, shrill tone of my voice. Slowly, Dave Junior allowed Baldr’s foot to slip from his mouth, his sharp, venomous teeth snagging on the bottom of his little jumpsuit leg. Bal, however, was completely unfazed, taking my new tone as a game. He must have sensed that he wasn’t in the line of fire, but he was still levitating and steadily floating higher, right alongside my blood pressure.

‘Bal, come down now, please,’ I tried with a gentler tone, inching forward because I knew that he would dart out of my reach as soon as I got close. It was my own fault really. Mine and Libby’s. We’d played games with him just like this while trapped inside The Program’s testing facility, so he hadn’t caught on that I was being serious.

I should have realised it would backfire on me one day.

When his eyes lit up and his face split into a wide, mischievous, gap-toothed grin, I knew I was screwed. All it took was one step forward and he was shooting out the still-damaged door and into the maze of corridors in the belly of the ship.

I darted after him, calling his name and demanding he come down this instant, but he was too far gone into the fun of the game to notice I wasn’t playing.

‘Bal!’

He zipped down the hallways over everyone’s heads, and my panic rose to even greater heights when I realised what mayhem he could potentially cause with this new ability of his. To himself as well as the ship. As it was, everyone I passed gave me a strange look as I barrelled after the troublesome boy until they followed my line of sight. Some stepped out of the way to give me space to chase him down, but a few kind individuals joined me in the hunt.

Unfortunately, all that succeeded in accomplishing was adding to Bal’s excitement when he noticed there were more people joining in the chase.

‘What is going on out here?’ the captain’s exasperated voice travelled from down a subsequent hallway. A moment later he was joining us, curiosity and concern winning out. He let out a bark of laughter, his disbelief evident when he figured out what the fuss was about.

I ignored him in favour of leaping towards where Bal practically crawled on the ceiling straight for one of the air vents, desperation driving my actions. I caught him, dragging him to me in a vicelike grip. It was another tick before I realised I wasn’t dropping to the floor again. At first I thought the gravity magnets were malfunctioning until I noticed everyone else’s feet firmly planted on the floor.

I was levitating.

Baldr was giggling and clapping his little hands, his excitement over getting caught overruling any common sense a toddler could have.

Oh, who was I kidding. Toddlers had zero sense. And this ship was brimming with hundreds of them with who knew how many varieties of unknown abilities, ready to wreak as much havoc as possible.

‘Um, Artemis?’ Adara’s voice called from below, and I realised that she must have been on the captain’s heels the entire time, her small frame hidden behind his.

‘Yeah?’ I asked, strangely breathless.

‘Can you get down?’

I contemplated the question, closing my eyes as I attempted to control the new ability, but nothing happened. ‘Uh, nope. No, I don’t think so.’

The captain snickered. ‘So… you’re stuck up there?’

I shot him my best death glare, but he remained unfazed. ‘Whatever,’ I mumbled, drifting further down the corridor. When my head bumped repeatedly against the ceiling I pretending as if it was just a normal Tuesday. To be fair, I expected the unexpected at this point and rolling with the punches had become my new norm.

The bubbly giggle that trickled from Addy brought a reluctant grin to my lips, but it was quickly wiped off when Dave Junior came barrelling down the hallway, knocking over anyone in his path. He made a whimpering noise as he rose up onto his hind legs and extending his forelegs in a futile attempt to reach me. He may have been huge but even he wasn’t big enough to reach me properly just yet.

Instead, the captain’s fingers circled around my ankle and he started dragging me and Bal back up the hallway while I stared in shock at the long, thick fingers currently wrapped around me. This might have been the most casual touch he’d ever given me, and it short-circuited my brain. But then he paused, gazing up at me with a question in his eyes. ‘Where to?’

I snorted a laugh, the entire situation beyond me now, and gestured with my free hand in the direction he had already been walking. ‘I need to get these two fed, and then I was going to drop in on the infirmary for a bit before heading to the cockpit.’

‘That’s a lot of places. What, do you expect me to drag you along all day?’ he grumbled, but there was a definite note of teasing in there under all that gruff exterior.

‘Hopefully not all day, Captain. I fully expect to figure this out before then.’

His strides faltered, and I didn’t understand why until he spoke again. ‘Just call me Xander. You’re the captain now.’

I winced, the awkwardness of the situation seeping deep.

‘Ah, right.’ I hesitated for a moment, debating whether to have this conversation here or later, but decided it was better to just bite the bullet and get it over with.

‘Actually, that was something I wanted to talk to you about.’

His eyes darted up to mine briefly before settling back down onto the path ahead, but Addy shot me a curious look that lingered.

‘I’m not exactly…’ I paused, searching for the right words, ‘ equipped to… well, lead. You have experience with this particular role. I wondered if you would perhaps wish to fill the position of my second?’

I couldn’t put a finger on why exactly I was so nervous, but I found my cheeks flushing and my heartrate skyrocketing at the request. I was putting myself out there for a man I didn’t fully trust, but I was making an effort. If he shot it down, I didn’t know how we’d move forward.

The captain… no, Xander , was as taken aback as I was uncomfortable. He halted, his entire body shifting in my direction as he gave me his undivided attention. Even Addy was ignored as she gaped between the two of us with a twinkle in her eye I definitely did not want to decipher.

Xander scrutinised me, studying every muscle twitch and shift in my eyes. At one point, I even thought I caught him staring at the pulse in my neck where my blood was roaring through my veins.

He ended his perusal with a small smile tugging at his mouth and revealing a single dimple indenting his right cheek. ‘I would be more than happy to help in any way you see fit, Captain.’

I winced at the title. ‘Just Artemis. Please.’

His lips twitched as if they wanted to spread wider, but he caught the reaction and rearranged his expression into the stern, professional mask I was more used to. If he did so because he thought I would be more comfortable with that version of him then he would have been correct, but I had a feeling it was more for his comfort than mine.

‘If it is your wish, I can drop the formalities in private or personal conversations. In front of the soldiers, however, it is best to keep up the formalities to maintain a level of respect between yourself and your subordinates,’ he told me. I couldn’t fault his logic, so I simply nodded my acquiescence.

‘Kitchens first?’ he asked, and I nodded again. ‘It won’t be much. All we seem to have are case-loads of Nutri-Bars,’ he sneered.

‘The ship was fully stocked with them when I found it, but we needed more for everyone to get by until we can dock and restock,’ I admitted.

‘I enjoy missions,’ he started, but then wrinkled his nose, ‘But I must admit that I did not miss living off of those things.’

I shrugged even though he wasn’t looking, not knowing how to respond. I’d lived off of worse than Nutri-bars. At least they were filling and provided everything necessary to maintain healthy bodies. Living in The Program, sometimes we hadn’t even been given that much.

‘Will the kids eat them?’ Addy asked, concern lacing her tone.

‘It’s most likely the only food they’ve ever known,’ I confessed. ‘They won’t complain.’

‘That’s really sad,’ she said, her words hitching as emotion clogged her throat.

‘It’s more than what the rest of us got sometimes, so I wouldn’t be too upset,’ I said offhandedly. ‘At least they got the nutrients they needed on a regular basis.’

‘They starved you?’ asked the cap… Xander . I was really going to struggle to get used to calling him that.

‘Frequently.’

‘That’s awful,’ Addy said, her voice wavering with unshed tears.

‘That’s life,’ I responded curtly, cutting the conversation short with my terse tone.

The rest of the walk to the kitchens was silent with both Addy and Xander shooting me and each other not-so-surreptitious glances. Baldr and Dave Junior were the only ones making any noise with Bal trying to reach down and Dave Junior growling up at him in warning. These two were undoubtedly going to be a handful.

When we entered the mess hall on the way to the kitchens, it was clear Baldr and Dave Junior weren’t the only younglings that were going to be difficult to wrangle…

‘Stars above…’ Addy breathed.

‘What. The. Fuck?’ Xander swore, stunned.

‘Oh, stars help us,’ I groaned at the sight unfolding before us.

Previously, thirty volunteers chose to babysit the children, the group splitting in half to take shifts. Currently, all thirty of them were running around after the various groups of children, breaking up fights, pulling some down from the ceiling and attempting to block off the exits for the attempted escapees. Those thirty had increased their numbers, clearly having called for help with the unruly tots.

An array of abilities were on full display, and it was interesting to watch them all. Those born from the animal spliced parents had claws and fangs out, feathers, scales, and fur sprouting from a third of the kids. The children from the DNA altered parents were scattered about, a few of them with tails, some dangling from different objects by feet that were a hell of a lot more flexible than normal, and some simply sitting and watching the chaos with keen eyes.

What caught my attention the most, however, were the children that were levitating much like me and Bal, glowing the same bright blue and causing the most chaos. A few had managed to figure out how to mess about with magnetic fields, pushing others out of the way or even causing themselves to slide back and forth across the smooth metal flooring as their shields bounced off the walls and bounce them back in the other direction. There were even a few blackened scorch marks from where some of them had heated themselves enough to burn the floors.

There was laughter, screams, and cries. There were children on the floor, on the walls, on the ceiling, and dangling from the volunteers. Everywhere I looked there was someone trying and failing to maintain order.

It was a nightmare come to life.

‘What do we do?’ Addy squeaked out, petrified at the scene in front of her.

‘I don’t know. I don’t know what to do,’ was Xander’s equally horrified reply.

I shook my ankle free from his grip, which wasn’t difficult with his attention stuck firmly on the mess ahead, then drifted into the room, pleased to find my body following my instructions despite my failed attempts to get my feet firmly back on the floor.

‘ Quiet!’ I shouted using my vocal implants to transmit my voice loud enough to be heard over the ruckus. Surprisingly, it worked. Everyone froze and turned to face me, toddlers and adults alike, so I took the opportunity to proceed while I had their attention and their silence.

‘Who wants to play a game?’ I asked, keeping my voice chipper and excited.

‘Game! Game! Game!’ the kids chanted eagerly.

‘ Quiet!’ I shouted again to be heard over their deafening enthusiasm. As before, though this time there were a few wobbly lips at being told off a second time, they settled down.

‘Good. Now we all have to be quiet to listen to the grownups, please. Raise your hand if you understand.’

At first none of them moved, but then one little hand rose into the air, and then another, and soon enough most of them were sitting with their hands raised while they awaited further instruction.

I was well aware that their reaction was abnormal compared to children who had been raised outside of The Program, but these kids weren’t so lucky. Their parents had done a respectable job of making sure they knew their place in order to keep them safe, and I was proud of them. Though there were still a few rebellious sorts scattered throughout the crowd of tiny bodies, most of them were obedient and that was good news for us all.

‘How is she doing that?’ I heard Addy whisper to Xander behind me.

‘Not a clue,’ he whispered right back. ‘I was about to ask the same.’

I wanted to laugh, but the gravity of what these children must have suffered through to become this way blocked it from getting past the base of my throat. These children needed a firm hand, no doubt, but they also needed love, guidance, and safety. And above all, they needed their mothers.

Right now, we were all they had, and I wasn’t about to fail them.

‘You,’ I pointed at the closest volunteer. They looked behind them as if expecting to find me talking to someone else, but when they turned back and saw me still focused on them they pointed to themselves with an eyebrow raised in question. ‘Yes, you.’

‘How can I help?’ he asked.

‘Do you know any games the children could play?’

‘I know a few from when my little ones were at school,’ he admitted.

‘I’ll leave you to it, then.’ I told him. ‘Just remember, they’re used to firm commands and they will obey. Just don’t abuse that knowledge, okay?’

For a moment he looked as if he might argue, the implications behind my comment clearly causing some sort of reaction. Eventually, he gave me a single brusque nod. ‘Got it.’

When he started barking out orders to the other volunteers and they all began to round up the kids in the centre of the room, I knew the crisis had been averted and it was safe to continue on.

‘Stars, Arty. That was incredible,’ Addy said once the kitchen doors closed behind us and blocked out the rising noise.

I simply shook my head. ‘It was nothing. They deserved better than this.’

When the lovers exchanged a confused look, I knew they didn’t comprehend the full scope of what those kids had been through or how they’d been raised. I hadn’t acted any particular way to earn the trust of that many children, nor had they truly trusted me. They were simply following what they’d been taught as a means of survival, and that was the saddest thing I have ever had the displeasure of experiencing firsthand.

I debated giving the pair an explanation to what the children had endured for the entirety of their short lives. As I handed a Nutri-Bar to Bal and placed another on a plate on the floor for Dave Junior, I decided it was better if Addy and Xander retained their ignorance. It really was bliss, after all. Living within The Program was pure darkness, and it didn’t matter how much they had interacted with them thus far. They had barely scratched the surface.