ⁿᵃᶦˡᵃʰ'ˢ ᵖᵒᵛ

‧₊˚✩ 🪐✩˚₊‧

"MOM, DAD. DO YOU COPY?" my parched throat ached terribly from running for this long. Audibly speaking over the radio while your lungs and limbs were literally on fire wasn't the easiest to pull off.

Every moment of static mom and dad left me with meant yet another seed of doubt sprouting in me, wondering whether my sacrificing comfort and safety was worth it.

I consistently updated the status of their location through their comm radios, furrowing my eyebrows at their remaining idle state. I shot my eyes to the violent winds on the other side of this extended wall of glass.

As it whistled, I couldn't help but admire how enchanting and mysterious the view looked. Since it got darker, the outdoor lighting was more prominent now that if there were to be a few dozen spaceships soaring through the sky — you'd be the first to see them.

"-- Nal, have you found 'em yet?" Tyler asked over the radio. I sensed his rising anxiety with his voice heightening in pitch. It physically stung to have to give him the bad news, that I still can't even get a signal, and that they haven't moved since the moment I left our Jupiter.

"Uhh...Working on it!" I immediately turned my radio off before Tyler could make me second guess my judgement, I was already knee deep into this hide-and-seek game.

"Attention all Colonists: Please proceed to your assigned Jupiter pods. Automatic launch will commence in T-minus 3 minutes."

My panting hardened, the hard pack on my back weighing me down. I looked back to my comm to try to make sense of my parents' whereabouts when --

"N--...Nailah, baby, Is that you?" a more feminine voice called over my radio

"Mom?!" I gasped, I laughed, as I released the clench I had on my poor teeth, "Mom I -- I'm coming to get you guys, okay?" a breathy chuckle escaped me at the boost of energy I got to continue running full speed ahead.

"--Where are exactly are you, sweets?" Mom asked. Her voice sounded quieter than normal as I tried to find a significant landmark to give her a clue on where exactly I was running to.

That was when my eyes knitted towards the row of country flags hanging in front of the room with the gold sign of the 'HALL OF HEROES'.

"I'm by the H--"

A cold hard sharp object blew with full force to slash into my left cheekbone, narrowly missing temple, but the force seemed to get everything else.

And I felt myself in the air. And for a moment I flew — actually flew, only to meet my excruciating fate on the unmerciful cold tiles with the 'HALL OF HEROES' logo spread out on it, slamming my side against them.

For a moment, I felt like I was skipping through the most peaceful field of daisies. But when I finally cracked my eyes open after the second of numbness on the left side of my face, that's when every feeling flooded in all at once.

I sharply winced at the swelling sting I felt on my left cheekbone on the cold hard floor as I attempted to move.

A wave of spasming pain accompanied the violent head pounding and buzz ringing in my ears. My whole body ached unbearably from the hard impact.

I couldn't hear anything outside of my own breathing, and the heavily muffled yells of concern I felt vibrating over my comm-radio.

"...Nailah! Bro, d'you copy?!"

I couldn't even process what was actually happening, that I didn't clumsily bump myself into something, but that something, came to me.

My vision had doubled, focusing in and out of my view of the navy tiles. I fought as hard as I could to lift a finger at least, but the staggering amount of pain running through my body had completely paralysed me.

The vibration of my helmet on the ground mocking me as it rolled further away from me, was appalling.

Great use of your helmet, genius.

I whimpered at the new throbbing wave at my attempt to lift myself off the cold floor. I slowly trailed my eyes up to the dozens of golden plaques neatly framed on the gray wall, as I heard my older brother over my comm-radio yell--

"Nailah, o que está a acontecer? Your vital monitor's going nuts!" his voice heightened in pitch.

I Lifted my hand to ghost over the left of my face, and when I looked down to the doubled vision of my hand — drenched in my red insides having oozed out, my lips quavered.

"...Slight hiccup" I told Tyler over my radio, trying not to sound as disoriented as I actually was, clenching my teeth and shutting my eyes at the roaring burn on my face.

My eyes distorted everything around me as I crawled to the nearest wall for support in my fight to stand up. The agonizing scent of coffee and tobacco intensified my head pounding against my skull.

"Nal, just say the word and I'll be there, I mean it" Tyler's voice managed to overpower my ringing ears as I tried to piece myself together, "Okay, I'm coming--"

"No!" My voice was finally firm enough to yell that back, "No...Stay with Cam, he..." I couldn't believe how out of breath I was after those few words. But it crushed my soul to have to tell my brother, "He...needs you with him. I'll pull through, I always do"

"...Copy." he hesitated

I didn't know how long it would take for me to fully regain the strength I needed to pull this rescue operation off, but I was sure as hell my parents couldn't afford that wasted time — wherever they might be.

Leaning on the gray wall as support to slowly stand up, immediately regretting turning my face in view of the blinding white lights above, I flinched at the figure lurking in the far dark.

My vision made it look like three men holding a — crowbar, but it was only one.

"Brave thing you did there," the man snickered, the familiar accent running shivers down my whole body, "Though, you're quite a long way from the Jupiter's bay, aren't you, Nailah?"

I gasped my consciousness back in before it could leave me for good, that adrenaline from my horrific realisation plaguing me as the man came into view. I couldn't say I was surprised at the presence of--

"George," I slowly stepped back as he approached me with the crowbar swinging in his hand, "Where...are my parents?" I wheezed

My jaws clenched at his rictus grin staring down at me as I peered at him through my dark eyebrows, leaning my heavy head on the wall.

He clicked his tongue as he shook his head, "No," he suggested, "Where's the chip?" He lifted my chin with the sharp end of the crowbar as my breathing hardened, and my eyebrows furrowed.

Chip? What is this founding father on about?

He rolled his eyes at my blank expression, not daring to get his gray eyes off of me as he reached for something in his dark gray crossbody bag. He used the A4 glass screen with those words 'CLASSIFIED' on it, scrolling over to a photo of a clear data chip.

I suddenly became conscious of the uncomfortable little piece of plastic sliding under my strawberry sock down to my ankle, the one dad gave me before he ran off into the danger.

Oh, that chip.

"Look familiar?" he asked, smirking at my widened eyes. At that, he squeezed my face with his large hand, pushing my head back to knock it against the wall. I shrieked and groaned as he pressed me for an answer.

His hand was now smothered in freshly seeped out blood — my blood.

"I-- I don't know what you're talking about" I wheezed, a chill going down my spine at my heightened awareness of my bare wound.

As I finally met his empty eyes, he stared me down, as his smirk slowly turned into a frustrated frown, the lump in my throat nearly choked me before George could do it  himself.

"...Liar."

Squeezing his fingers into my neck, he threw me out of the Hall of Heroes room, watching me hit my back against the cold tiles. I suppressed the tears welling up in my eyes as I lifted my violently throbbing head from the ground.

This piece of plastic obviously so important to poor old George that he'd be willing to physically assault a 15 year old girl.

I grunted at his hard shoe pressing into my chest as I tried to stand, the force slamming me back to my daze, again, as he threw the crowbar beside me, mocking my lack of strength to attempt to use it.

"Attention all Colonists: Please proceed to your assigned Jupiter pods. Automatic launch will commence in T-minus 30 seconds."

"You hear that?" he ignored my attempts to shove him off of me as I felt the ground vibrate at the muffled roar of hundreds of Jupiter engines revving on, "That sounds to me, like your Colony leaving you" he wheezed that old man laugh.

My shuffling came to an abrupt stop as he squeezed my jaws, twisting them nearly beyond what was possible, to make me watch the bright blue ignition of the many Jupiters' thrusters as they soared through the murky sky and out of my reach.

I'm too late.

My lips quivered as I felt the choking lump in my throat form. I was completely helpless in George's grip as he yelled in my ear, patting me down to search for this data chip through the crevices of my spacesuit.

I was bleeding, I was aching, I was scared — I was alone.

George understood that as long as I was conscious, there was no way he'd get that chip. Kicking his boot off of my chest, I could finally breathe as he hissed, "Don't go anywhere"

As if I had the strength to.

Every muscle in my body was against my escape. I watched George rush down the hallway to break open an emergency kit on the wall, possibly looking for a syringe to sedate me with.

I whimpered as I helplessly waited for my doom on the hard floor, before --

"--Nailah, do you copy?" Tyler's voice pulled me out of my spiralling trance. I didn't even have the strength to do anything other than sob at his voice as he told me, "I don't know if you can hear this but...We tried leaving the Jupiter to get to you but...they have our path blocked. So all I can really say to you is...we're counting on you"

My tears burned with my bloody face as he informed me of his attempt to get me to safety, "Nailah, this is Cam," my heart melted at my younger brother's little voice, "I want you to know that even though your odds don't show it, I still believe in you"

I remembered the promise I made to my brothers. I still had a mission to accomplish — parents to save and a mothership in space to get to.

Everyone is counting on you, Nal.

Get up.

George was vulnerable enough not to see me through his peripheral vision. I tried to silence my erratic breathing as I slowly reached for the crowbar lying beside me.

But as I exerted all the power in me to quietly reach the metal rod, George shot his eyes to me, catching me in my act.

He kicked the crowbar further away from my reach, and I shivered at the colossal syringe of a blue substance headed my way. I blocked his path to my neck as I pulled his hair and kicked whatever I could, but he wouldn't back down.

He flicked the substance in it as he lifted the syringe to the light. And that was when the adrenaline flowing through my body dared to act before my brain did.

I pushed his hand holding the thick needle syringe, and the narrow nanosecond when the needle faced his lower neck, I plunged my hands onto his, forcing him to pierce himself with the needle.

He grabbed my throat with his free hand as his chilling yell in pain stung my ears.

But as I squeezed the substance in slowly, shutting my eyes from the gory scene of his dark blood staining his white coat, his grip he had on my neck gradually started to weaken.

And then, George dropped at my feet. My eyes finally shot wide open at his static state, staring at the syringe exhausted till its last drop.

His pulse was still intact as I shoved him off of me, shuffling through his dark gray crossbody bag, grabbing the A4 slate with glowing words from it.

And I was out of there.

"Okay!" I panted as I beeped my radio on to begin an automatic search on my mother's whereabouts, "Okay!"

"Tracking Clover Cosgrove"

"OH, YOU'VE GOTTA BE SHITTING ME." I stood directly in front of the path where mom first separated from us, I was finally where I last saw her.

But I also stood directly in front of the double glass doors that blocked me from the little chance I had at actually finding mom and dad.

'RESTRICTED AREA' the sign arrogantly blared. I huffed at the obstacle, blowing the loose curls out of my face.

As I subconsciously swiped the stubborn hairs out of my face, I had almost forgotten about the curls that stuck to the blood that ran down all over my left cheek. My dazed state of vision blurring in and out of focus, and never ending headache, was now my new normal.

The wind still howled louder than the whirring machines nearby, reminding me of my family's continuous lack of punctuality — whether it was self inflicted or just based on our circumstantial bad luck.

I paced beside the restricting glass doors, attempting to radio just anyone at this point. But all I kept getting was more static, but this static began to sound more like a whiney hiss — which means there's finally signal.

"Must be some radio interference," I whispered to myself as I turned my volume up on mom's signal, wincing at the ringing screech with low howls of — wind, "Or feedback..."

She must be close.

I pursed my lips at the glass doors — the only way in to find and hopefully save mom and dad from whatever was going on. As I stared at the glass doors, my eyes began to focus on the reflection of myself in my spacesuit.

My eyes trailed off to the bright red metal cylinder of all kinds of gaseous potassium — or my way in. Right next to it stood another metal cylinder, but of liquid helium compacted in it.

Ah, beautiful.

See, the first step to a 100% success rate in making the thickest most impenetrable glass surrender into a million pieces in front of you, is to shock it with an extreme temperature. In my case — freezing it.

The black cylinder tucked in the corner of the high ceiling flared. Shit. Cameras. I sighed. I made it this far, and they probably wont ever see me again. I winked at the cameras, someone had to be watching, might as well give 'em a show.

Twisting the nozzle of the liquid helium to face the glass doors, I pressed the faucet as hard as I could. Immediately, a white cloud hissed out and onto the doors, freezing them in place.

And the second step: Throw something at it, anything, and its defenses will come tumbling down. Yeah, you're welcome.

I grunted at the weight of the fire extinguisher  in my limited grip as I strained out, "Say we go through the looking glass?"

Throwing full force forward, I shrieked at the brittle glass surrendering, shattering over to the other side.

"Don't you just love physics for it's crazy shit like this?" I flipped my hair behind my shoulders, the smile on my face quickly fading away as I realised how long I've been talking to myself for.

The glass extinguisher broke a big enough hole for me to climb through, and sprint -- with a limp, full speed ahead, ignoring the blaring alarms and red lights flickering in the hallway I ran down.

"IF I WERE MOM, WHERE WOULD I be..." I whispered to myself as I read the labels of each door I passed by in the gloomy hallway. I winced as I cussed at the sting from the small cut on my face occasionally spasming back to bite me.

The flickering red lights only intensified the ominous chill I felt, and besides the alarms blaring in the distance, and low murmurs in the various offices, it was dead silent.

My eyes lit up at the half closed door with the label 'LABORATORY'. I slowly entered the cold lab with glitching white lights that occasionally sparked.

When the lights glowed bright enough, I could see the microscopes, test tubes with substances of all colors and sorts of loose goggles all scattered across the grey tiles.

I slowly walked in between the two counters of spilled chemicals smoking up — having already reacted, and finally looked up to the two-way mirror ahead of me — with a giant broken hole in it's center.

What happened here...

My nose scrunched at the bitter smell of chemicals burning my nostrils as I stepped on the crunching glass scattered on the tiles.

I gasped and hid behind a wall at the sound of voices in a room nearby, covering my mouth with my hand to minimise my erratic breathing.

After the noise eventually died down, I deeply exhaled as I dropped my head back on my spacesuit's headrest, lifting my left arm to read the time.

8:24.

I totally wouldn't be surprised If we were to find out that the Colony was already halfway through the galaxy reaching Alpha Centauri just in time for a late supper.

As I gathered my disjointed thoughts trying to make sense of the world after that hard fall, that's when my body froze in place at the cold hands I felt block my mouth from any scream that could escape it.

And then, I shrieked as I was yanked off my feet. I was caught so off guard that I couldn't protest against them calmly shushing me with that — strangely familiar scent to them.

I quickly twisted my body to face them, my eyes sparkling at the comforting sight of a brown skinned woman with bold red lips pulling me into a suffocating hug.

"Mom!" my muffled voice exclaimed, as I laughed into my mother's dusty shoulder. She rubbed my back as I held her tight, almost too afraid to let go. I was safe in her arms.

As I finally pulled from the hug, she gasped and cussed to herself as she ghosted her fingers over the open cut across my left cheek. Her eyebrows were deeply furrowed and her eyes were full with concern, like she could feel the pain I felt.

"Meu pobre bebê, eu sinto muito" she delicately cupped my face as I shut my eyes to calm my heavy breathing down.

"Mama I-- I tried to make it to you in time but I--" I trembled as I trailed off with each apology I tried to give. But mom gently shushed me as she held my shaky hands.

"Where's that psycho, George?" mom asked, furrowing her eyebrows at my awkwardly pursuing lips

It was only then when she spotted the glass slate of glowing words tightly tucked under my arm — the slate that belonged to George, a smile growing on her face as she shook her head and chuckled, "Don't be mad" I begged

"My brave Nailah. I'm not mad...Im proud" she smirked, hugging me tightly once again, "Now let's go get your father, I doubt he's in any better shape than us" we quietly laughed together

"Me siga, I know a quick way" I told her as I sniffed and wiped the snot and blood and tears from my face. Mom smiled at me as she squeezed my hands.

"...We're gonna be okay, sweets." she whispered to me, and because it came from her, I believed it.

ON THE OTHER SIDE OF the two-way mirror was shattered, mom followed past the white tiles of the wall as she traced for what might've happened to cause the disarray, and where the fight might've gone.

I gasped at the distant sound of more glass shattering, followed by grunts and groans of a couple of men.

I shared a look with mom as we listened in. Narrowing my eyes as I recognized one of the voices, I whispered, "Yep...That's definitely your husband."

She smirked as she rolled her eyes, following me to a quicker path out of the lab.

We followed where the noise was coming from, eventually ending up in the middle of the lengthy hallway, where there was only silence. We turned to face the direction of the glass entryway — the one I recently trespassed.

I did my best to avoid my mother's piercing gaze as she stammered at the broken glass and the fire extinguisher in the middle of the crime scene. She put two and two together, smirking as she scoffed at my methods of getting around authority.

I flinched at a distance voice yelled behind us. We shot our heads towards the source. I squinted my eyes at the figure running towards us yelling, but I couldn't for the life of me decipher what it was.

"What?" we both yelled back. But as the — bald man with a fluffy moustache came into clearer view, my heart dropped at the words he was actually screaming.

Run.

Run.

"Run, Goddammit!" dad yelled. I felt an electric boost of adrenaline as my legs started working before I could tell them to. Mom and I sprinted across the long halls just as dad ordered, running from whatever we found ourselves in the middle of.

Mom swiftly waved her inner wrist over the sensor for the doors I shattered to swing open, just to do some more running.

My chest was already burning as my limbs began to tire out. And the fact that we didn't know what we were running from, did nothing for my peace of mind.

I never imagined I'd be running away from what might've been potential murderers, and also have my mom running with me, and also have my mom be the reason for us running from potential murderers, but I guess life likes to throw us it's weirdest curveballs.

I followed mom into back into the open cafeteria where we stopped behind a wall to gather ourselves, sharply panting as mom looked out for dad's whereabouts.

She peeked over the wall as we heard an electric taser going off.

I winced at the sound of dad groaning in pain and discomfort as the people tasing him went ballistic on him. Mom and I shared an alarmed look, before she briefly took and squeezed my hand.

"Wait here." she ordered, before running off to fight the men off my father. I stuttered, blocking my ears as I heard the struggle of mom and dad trying to fight off whoever was torturing them with tasers.

My breathing hardened as I uselessly sat against the wall, looking around for some miracle that could help us get out of here.

And at that, my head shot towards the — police taser gun that slid to my view from behind the wall. It stared me in the eyes as I huffed in frustration.

Don't do it.

Don't do it.

"I'm doing it." I dismissed the last line of logic in my mind as I crawled towards the taser gun, stretching my arm to pull it towards me. I held the weapon in my hand as I tried to give myself a quick tutorial on how to work it.

Lifting myself off the ground, I prepared for the worst. Pointing the gun as far from my face as possible, I popped from behind the wall.

My eyebrows furrowed at the two men in lab coats holding dad down as a distraction so that mom could pull out pieces of paper from one of their satchel bags.

"You sickos better get off of him or I will use this" I threatened, feeling a chill go down my spine at their sudden attention towards my presence. They could obviously see how unsure I was about this weapon, snickering with each other as I awkwardly stood in front of them.

That's when I made eye contact with dad, then mom — who both gave me the nod. Without a second thought, I squeezed the trigger aiming at the one man, then at the second. As they groaned in pain, losing control of their bodies, that's when we made a run for it.

I noticed dad's limping as we entered a new unfamiliar hallway, entering an enclosed office space with a large metal door we used as a shield from the piercing gunshots. This office room had a glass view into the outsides helipad, and had a wall of disposable lab coats, gloves and gas masks.

"They're blocking our way to the Jupiter bay" dad finally strained as he grunted in pain, as he looked at both mom and I as he continued, "...We're too late"

I flinched at the series of gunshots hitting the wall we hid behind, the three of us huddling together. If we tried to run across to the other side — where the Jupiter bay was, then we'd be gunned down the moment we tried.

"This door can only delay these bullets for so long...approximately 7 minutes" mom informed

"Is this a bad time to ask you how we got into this situation in the first place?" I panted

"Yes!" dad winced

"This is a terrible time," mom chimed in, "We just need to get out of here, Noah." she turned to dad, who was — as she predicted — in a much worse state than the two of us, I could tell that much by the bruises all over his face.

"How, Clove? Who knows what'll happen the moment these doors open?" dad whined. All I could do was rake my fingers through my tangled hair as mom and dad prepared a way they would surrender and stay here on Earth without the authorities having to hurt us anymore than they have — a terrible plan, in my opinion.

This can't be it.

I knitted my view to behind where mom and dad assessed their limited options, at the vast window of darkness. And then, an idea, an insane and detestable idea popped up in my head.

"...There's still another way..." I caught their attention, the words of my older brother replaying in my mind as I slowly approached
the glass window, "We Tom Cruise the hell out of here..."

translations

O que está a acontecer - What's going on
Meu pobre bebê - my poor baby
Eu sinto muito - I'm so sorry
Me siga - Follow me
Vamos - Come on

author's note

ITS GONNA BE A BUMPY RIDE YALL

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