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Hello there! My goodness it’s been a while, again, over three months this time. Having a really loud roommate is not exactly conducive to good writing, or doing your school work for that matter. The winter break has been nice, I got to move back home for a little while and in the short amount of time I’ve been here I was able to finish chapter 6 and start work on chapters 7 and 8. It’s amazing what peace and quiet can do for you. Anyways, please enjoy this longer than average chapter, and if you liked, or didn’t like, what you read I’m always looking to improve.

JACK

The two hiked for the next several hours until the sun dipped below the horizon and the sky turned black. At this point it had become obvious that Jack had underestimated the amount of walking they had to do because they had only made it about halfway through the valley before the light disappeared again.

“Let’s stop here.” Jack said, dropping his shoulder bag onto the ground, and taking a few moments to breathe. “We can camp by the river, I’ll go find firewood and you can find us a spot to camp.”

Reni nodded, also out of breath. “Okay.”

Jack spent a few minutes around the bank of the creek collecting sticks and appropriate kindling. He picked up a long tree branch and tried cracking it over his knee but the muscles in his legs felt like they were made of gelatin and his leg refused to lift. He then opted to break the branch on a jagged rock by the bank before throwing the pieces into his pile of firewood. Jack glanced over his shoulder at the small river, the light of the stars’ reflection drawing his vision. He turned toward the creek and sat down on his knees, placing his hand into the water and letting the fast cool current rush between his fingers. Jack thought about drinking the water but, fearing any waterborne bacteria, decided against it. So he did the next best thing and splashed the cold liquid onto his face, a pleasant refreshment after a days worth of hiking and nothing but lukewarm water to drink. He sat there for a moment, trying hard not to think about what could come in the following day as a terrible sinking feeling tugged on his gut. He tried taking a few deep breaths but his lung capacity still felt like it had been halved. He let out a shaky sigh, could he still fight like this? He shook his head and splashed more water on his face, trying to break away from the thought. After collecting himself Jack picked up his pile of firewood and returned to where he had left Reni and found that she had already started a fire by using the plasma cutter.

“How did you do that?” He asked, a little puzzled. “I don’t remember teaching you.”

“That is because I figured it out myself.” She said while casually twirling the tool between her fingers.

Jack scanned her face. “Huh...”

Reni looked up from the plasma torch and inspected him for a moment. “You look sick again. Are you okay?” Reni asked with a look of unease.

“I’m fine.” Jack said, dropping what he had collected into a pile at the base of a tree.

Reni frowned, Jack could tell that she wanted to say more but wasn’t.

“What about you? You seemed pretty out of it when we got here.”

“That? I think it was just heat exhaustion. Avali and hot weather do not mix well.”

Jack pondered that piece of information for a second. That must have been why she blacked out during reentry. Evolving on Avalon probably didn’t prepare the Avali for hotter climates. Jack shook himself from his thoughts and asked. “Could you get the nutrition bars from that bag next to you?” Jack asked as he fell into a sitting position next to her, doing his best to make it look controlled.

“Of course.” Reni rustled through the bag for a second before grabbing two rectangular food items wrapped in a silvery plastic.

She placed one into the palm of his open hand. “Thank you.”

Jack tried to tear off the plastic wrapping but his fingers were having a hard time holding onto the thin edges. Eventually his tired hands were able to rip through the plastic and he could take a bite. He glanced next to him and saw that Reni was looking down at her food, fidgeting with a nervous energy. Jack was positive that she was holding something back.

“What is it?”

“What?” Reni asked, confused.

“You have something to say.”

“Oh, uh. It’s just that, you have not told me what your plan to escape is.” She said, timidly.

“Reni I said–”

“I am just worried about you is all!” Reni blurted out.

Jack sighed and paused for a moment. “Reni, I know you’re a kind and caring person but you are just going to have to let it go. Please.”

Reni folded her arms and drew her knees to her chest.

“Thank you.” Jack said quietly. “Let’s talk about something else. Ask me anything, I promise I’ll answer.”

Reni tilted her, considering the prospect. “Hmm, what was your job in the military?”

Jack raised an eyebrow. “I thought we decided not to talk about what happened.”

“I am not talking about Tormoshi. What did you do before that?”

“I have the esteemed position of ‘cargo hauler.’”

“Did you not like the flying?”

“It’s not that, I would just rather be doing something with more effect.”

“Then why did you stay a cargo hauler?”

“It wasn’t my choice. I was involved in a, uh, ‘incident’ and was told to either take leave or change specialties. I already had experience flying, and I wasn’t about to give up. So here I am.” He said, gesturing to himself.

“That makes a lot of sense actually.”

“What about you huh? I know you were Army, probably Territorial Defense or something like that. But what did you do exactly?”

“Oh I was just infantry. Nothing special like you.”

Jack shrugged. “I wouldn’t call what I do special, it’s just a job that needs to be done.”

“Hey how did you know that I was Territorial Defense?” Reni asked, puzzled.

Jack paused for a second as he came to the realization that she did not know about General Ralaka. “It’s just information we had about the area.”

Reni looked down at the fire for a moment, making Jack think that she was about to call him out on his lies. He was relieved to hear her ask another question.

“There was something else I have been thinking about. Remember the night out in the storm, how you asked me if Avali embraced one another and how you put your arm around me?”

Jack wasn’t entirely sure where she was going with this. “Yes.”

“Why?”

“Oh.” Jack said, slightly embarrassed. “Did I make you uncomfortable?”

“N-no, I mean, you do not seem like the type of person who does that kind of thing. Why did you do it?”

“I thought I was going to die there… I just didn’t want to die alone.” Jack looked over at Reni, she was watching him intently with her big blue eyes. He smiled and patted her on the head. “Even though I didn’t die, I’m glad you were with me.”

She smiled back. “I am also glad I was there.”

Jack smiled and leaned back, looking up through a large hole in the canopy. “The stars are bright on this planet, you can see so much of the Milky Way.”

Reni lied down next to him. “That is a silly name.”

“It’s the name my people have used for thousands of years, you just don’t understand.”

There was a pause before Reni responded. “Maybe someday I will…” Her voice trailing off into the night.

They lay there, watching the stars, letting the fire slowly die away, allowing the quiet darkness to climb into the corner of their eyes until sleep finally took them.


The Sun beamed directly overhead, the bright sky stretching onward forever until it made contact with the blue horizon in every direction. Jack was at the helm, the Pacific’s waters were surprisingly calm today. He heard footsteps coming from the front of the boat, suddenly a head peeked out from behind a white sail.

“We’re almost there.” He said, nearly laughing from the excitement.

“Did you secure the jib tight this time?”

“Hey, that was not my fault.”

Jack rolled his eyes and laughed. “Sure, sure. Whatever you say man.”

Jack watched as Sam walked to the rear cabin entrance near the helm and submerged below the deck. Jack looked at the GPS system to the right of the wheel, their ship icon was now within the little green circle drawn on the map, he glanced at the clock 12:25 just in time too. Jack looked to his left as the cabin doors flung open and Sam emerged with two pairs of ear muffs and some binoculars. “You ready?” he asked with excitement.

“Absolutely. They’re coming in from the east right?”

“Yup.”

“And you’re sure the boat will be fine? The last thing I need right now is to explain to my mom why all the windows are shattered.”

“It’ll be fine.” Sam said reassuringly. “These boats are built to handle much worse than this, trust me.”

“Alright, fine.”

“Come on.” Sam said while gesturing for Jack to follow. “It’s time we take our seats.”

Jack followed Sam to the bow of the ship.

Sam handed him a pair of earmuffs and said. “Any minute now…”

Before long Jack spotted two small dots in the distant sky. “Hey, over there. Give me those.” Jack said as he snatched the binoculars from his friend's hand. Jack peered through the lens and saw the two jets they had been waiting for.

“Is it them?” Sam asked impatiently.

“Oh yeah.” Jack said with excitement.

“Let me have a look!” Sam whined.

Jack watched as the small aircraft got larger and larger in the binocular’s view. “I don’t think you’re going to need them.” Jack said before placing the noise cancelers above his ears. Before they knew it, the two jet planes rocketed past the bow of the boat, going well over mach six. As they passed by, Jack got a good look at the new training craft, it was much sleeker than the last model, and judging by the space between the two afterburners, it was clear the craft was going to have a much larger drive cone than the last. Finally the sonic boom crashed into them as the jets pointed their noses upward and climbed beyond visual range. They both peeled the ear protection off their heads and laughed.

“Did you fucking see them? That’s the new trainer craft?” Sam exclaimed wildly.

“The thrust to weight ratio on that thing has got to be insane! They were going like a casual mach six just then!” Jack said gleefully

“Did you see the drive cone? It’s going to be able to hop in and out of atmosphere so easily!”

“They are beauties to be sure.”

“I know! I can’t believe we are going to be flying in those soon!”

Jack looked up at where their new trainers disappeared. “Yeah.” He said with confidence. “This is going to be the best year of our lives.”

As he said that, the image began to fade away into white until the only thing that was left was the feeling of genuine happiness, it was almost unfamiliar in its serenity.


He felt a comfortable warmth on his face as he slowly opened his eyes to see the sun shining down through the treetops. Jack sat up and looked around, at some point during the night, Reni had grabbed onto his forearm and was holding it against her chest. He slowly and carefully pulled his arm from her grasp and stood up. Unfortunately for him reality was not as pleasant as his dreams. His legs ached and his feet throbbed with every step, and not only that but his sickness seemed to have caught up with him and for the first couple of minutes he resisted the urge to vomit. He grabbed his canteen and drank from the container violently before sitting back down to let the nausea pass. He grabbed a nutrition bar and began to eat it, hoping that the food would help him feel better. As he was doing so, Reni started to stir, so he took another swig of water and sat up straight, doing his best impression of a healthy person.

Reni pushed herself onto her feet and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. “Hi Jack, how long have you been awake?”

“Good morning. I only woke up a couple minutes ago.”

Reni bent down and fished out a nutrition bar out of her pack and yawned. “We should eat and get going, the sooner we get to the source of the signal, the more time we will have to make a plan.”

Jack frowned both because he was hoping for a little longer to rest and because she still hadn't let the matter of his escape go. “Sounds good.” Part of him was glad to have someone who could help, but the other part was still worried about her allegiance to her people.  


There wasn’t much to do when they broke camp so they were able to begin the trek relatively quickly after finishing breakfast. The next several hours consisted of a hike across the uneven valley floor followed directly by an arduous climb up the mountain wall. The terrain on this side of the mountain was much steeper and unpredictable which made the journey up way slower. By the time they reached the divet in the mountain wall the sun had already dipped below the mountain range, shining God rays through the serrated mountainscape and painting them across the dark blue sky.

He sat down against a protruding rock to catch his breath. The ground was covered in a thick green moss making for a comfortable seat. Reni, who also seemed winded, sat down next to him and asked. “Is this where the signal was coming from?”

Jack nodded. “Somewhere around here.” He reached into his bag and pulled out the receiver and turned it on, Jack waited for the device to pick up something but the screen remained blank. “The receiver isn’t picking up any more signals.”

“Did we miss it?” Reni asked with a little bit of concern.

“I’m not sure. We should split up and look for a source, the area seems flat enough for a building.”

Reni looked at him for a second before pushing herself onto her feet. “Okay, if you find something we can meet back here before we do anything right?”

“Sure thing Reni.”

“I will be back here in a few minutes, I’m going to go that way.” She said pointing off into a random direction.

“Okay, I’m going to need a bit more time before I start.”

“Do not push yourself too hard, You already climbed a mountain today.”

Jack nodded without saying anything and Reni turned and walked into the mess of evergreens and jagged rocks. Jack thought about what she had said. To meet back here if they found anything, would she keep to her word? It’s a question he often thought about, whether her allegiance to her people would compromise him. Why wouldn’t she choose to be with her own people, to be the hero that captured the Human from Tormoshi base?

The emotional part of his brain felt that Reni wouldn’t be able to do it. She hadn’t tried to hurt him yet, in fact, she had many times expressed her desire to protect him.

But the logical part of his brain disagreed. It said that the only reason she hadn’t killed him was because she would have needed him to help her escape if they had been on a Human planet. And now that she knew that they were on an Avali planet, she plans to turn him in and claim the prestige. After all that time being sick and useless she probably thought that he was just a psychopathic drug abuser, she has no respect for him.

But Reni isn’t that type of person, she is kind and caring. She isn’t the type to look down on people.

Of course she looks down on you! Do you really think that she would forget what you did?

She said she forgave me though, we both agreed that we did bad things that we wish we could take back but we can’t.

Exactly, you can’t take it back! Obviously she was lying to you, she just wants you to think that she forgives you so she can betray you without you noticing.

But I can tell Reni wouldn’t do that. She wouldn’t betray me, she’s not that kind of person.

You’ve been wrong about people of your own species in the past. What makes you think you can read this Avali? Did you happen to forget that? Did you happen to forget that her people hate all Humans indiscriminately?

No, I didn’t forget that.

She hates Humans and she hates you.

She said she forgave me though!

…

She forgives me right?

A sinking feeling started to set in.


Jack was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn’t notice the red and white Avali standing next to him with a loaded handgun pointed at his head.

“Surrender Human!”

Jack flinched from being disturbed from his thoughts and turned to look at the Avali.

“I said surrender Human! Show me your hands.”

Jack lacklusterly raised his hands to about shoulder height. He studied the new Avali. He was obviously young and very inexperienced with a gun, his grip was weak and his aim was canted too low.

“What are you doing on my planet Human?”

That phrase gave Jack an uncomfortable flashback to Tormoshi. “...My ship crashed.” Jack knew he could disarm him, but his energy was spent and the young Avalil might still be able to squeeze the trigger before Jack could make a move.

“You crashed huh? Well I did not see it.” The little Avali’s tone was smug and arrogant, very similar to another Avali Jack knew.

“It happened a long time ago, I’ve lost track of the days.” Jack needed a distraction.

“A long time ago? How long?”

“I just– I lost track of the days.” Jack was getting irritated by the brat.

Without looking away the red and white Avali touched a small white device clipped to the base of his top left ear. “I think I found him… Yeah just track my signal… Okay, I will be waiting in the clearing.”

Jack was slightly concerned by his choice of words ‘I’ll be waiting in the clearing.’ If this Avali was going to shoot him it probably wouldn’t be the worst outcome, it would be far better than returning to their prison. They definitely wouldn’t treat him any better, and there wouldn't be any hope of escaping this time…

No! Why was he considering that? There was still a fight to be had.

“You know.” Jack stalled. “I think it’s important for you to know something.”

The young Avali looked at him skeptically. “What would be important for me to know?”

“That there is more than just me out in the woods.” Jack said, hoping that the kid would believe him.

“R-really?” The kid asked with nervous curiosity.

“Of course there are.” Jack said confidently.

“But, but that does not make any sense.” He squinted his eyes at Jack. “You are lying.” The kid emphasized his disbelief by pointing the gun at Jack’s face. Which was not what he wanted.

“I’m not lying, I’m just trying to tell you that there is more than just me you should be worrying about.”

“I am not worried about you! You were so easy to catch! In fact, I am not worried about any stupid Human! You are all so dumb!” The kid’s arrogance was really pissing Jack off.

“I never said it was a Human, you arrogant brat!”

And as if on que Reni’s voice rang out from the left. “Jack?!”

The young Avali looked over, a distraction. Jack quickly snatched the gun with his right hand and sent the kid flying backwards with a shove from his left. Jack then stood over the young Avali, who’s arrogance was now replaced with terror, and aimed the weapon at his head.

“Jack stop!” Reni ran up to him and pulled on his arm.

“I’m not gonna shoot him!” Jack snapped back. Did she really think he would kill a kid? Maybe she really didn’t respect him.

“Y-you will never win Human!” the young Avali said, trying to fake his confidence.

“Shut the fuck up kid!” Jack yelled.

“You cannot kill me! They will execute you if you even try.” The kid yelled back.

“They?” Asked Reni.

Without words the red and white Avali pointed into the sky behind them. Jack turned his head to face where the kid was pointing and the sight made his heart drop.


Hello there! If you actually read the entire chapter then I thank you for giving my crappy little story the time! If you liked what you read feel free to share your thoughts. Anyways, thanks for reading!