At least it had pictures. They started as drawings; men and women with furs on, then people sat on horses wearing metal suits. Tall ships with fire coming from their sides and people dressed in elegant clothes lined with gold and silver ended the paintings. The most haunting set of pictures came next, the black and white photographs. Firstly, of badly posed people staring into the camera then on to gruesome images of men and women with guns and armoured cars, around them lay the bodies of the dead, covered in mud like those on the front cover. As the photographs turned to colour they became less horrific, yes there were still graphic shots of the dead and burning buildings, but soon these were surpassed by men and women in suits, waving and writing on bits of paper. Although she could not read it, Kira realised this was the past and that it started a long, long time ago, slowly moving towards present day. She only wished she was able to understand the alien language that broke up the images.

Her gaze shot to the door, her concentration broken by another knock. She hid the book under her pillow, concerned Luka would see she had been looking at it and ask what she had learnt. Once at the door, Kira opened it tentatively, relieved by who she saw standing there.

Before Kira could say anything, Eliana thrust a book at her. Eliana appeared taller than she remembered and loomed over her. She spoke quickly and excitedly, "did you get one too?"

"Erm..." Kira did not want to admit she had a similar book. Luckily for her, Eliana's excitement got the better of her.

"It's amazing, we learnt about books in history but I've never seen one."

"What? A book?"

"Yeah, everything is on computer," Eliana said, surprised that Kira may have seen one before.

"Maybe for you," Kira tried not to sound full of disdain but could not help it, "some of us had no tech."

Rather than apologising for being insensitive, Eliana sounded more excited, "you had books?"

"Well, yeah. But not like these, just numbers and stuff to show how many credits you have."

"That's so cool. It's amazing all this, it proves everything I told you."

"Cool! Being slaves?"

"Slaves! We're not slaves, this is the resistance. I told you it was out there. That's why we have been chosen." She held up the book, "this proves it. Everything I said, Princips are lying, this is the real history of the world." She handed the book to Kira, "look in the back, can you see Princips anywhere?"

Kira shook as she opened the book from the back cover. The first couple of pages she leafed back through were blank. When she found writing she made out she was looking at the page. A few seconds later saying, in as confident a voice as she could muster, "nope, can't see it anywhere."

"You're looking at W to Z," Eliana uttered, confused.

"Oh, yeah," Kira responded as if saying, 'silly me.' She turned back another page and pretended to scan that text.

"Erm..." Eliana went on, "that's Q to V. You can read can't you?" Kira looked up sheepishly, she had been caught out. Eliana's face showed the devastation she now felt, the embarrassment turning her bright read, "oh, sorry, I just thought as you had books."

"They were just bits of wood and scrappy paper with numbers on," tears creeped down her face.

Eliana put her arms around Kira and directed her inside the small cabin, closing the door behind them. They sat on the lower bunk, saying nothing as Kira sobbed whilst Eliana held her tight. They stayed like that for some time until Kira pulled away and looked into her new friends eyes. "Sorry," she said, "I am being silly."

"No, you're not. It is just another reason we need to get rid of Princips." Eliana was in freedom fighter mode and there was no stopping her now, "if you had been born in a city like me you would be fine. You would read, you would have technology, you would be happy. It was just unlucky for you where you were born. We get rid of Princips, we get rid of this...." she never finished the sentence as an idea popped into her head, "hey, you want to be able to read don't you?" Kira nodded back weakly. "I'll teach you."

~

The lilt of her voice was beautiful, like cascading waterfalls with a symphony playing behind. It had such power, such focus. Kira had long since stopped listening to what she said, now she stared at Eliana in awe and wonder. The Russian woman's sleek black hair obscured half her face as she bent over the book, unsure of the best way to hold it. Looking at her made those strange feelings bubble up once more. Kira was unsure what to do with them, all she knew was that she felt safe with Eliana. Maybe it was her passion, Kira was being swept along by the idea of being a revolutionary and for the first time since this debacle started she was considering her future as a free woman. A future she hoped included Eliana. If their new plans worked out, they would spend a lot of time together; they would get the tech needed to teach Kira to read and Eliana would tutor her through the programs they used. A dark thought weaved its way into Kira's mind, what happened when she could read? Would Eliana leave her? Would they be torn apart? Kira could stall for a while, stop herself learning too quickly but surely Eliana would get bored and give up on her. She would have to make sure she was indispensable to Eliana and that meant making herself indispensable to the revolution, if that was where they were headed.