Year E3029

Ocea

Stopper sat on the ground with his legs on the seat before him, while Wyatt slouched and pushed his legs off. He flipped through the tablet in his lap with his brows scrunched. His hand brushed in the stubbles on the top of his head, slowly growing back the dark brown strands.

I ripped the tablet from him, crawling away. "Not like that," I said, exiting all the tabs he opened. "The lost prince said we had a mole in the Saviors, and looking at all the accounts would only flag your logs."

Thomas sat up from his lying position, looking green in the face. He snapped his fingers, pointing at the ceiling before falling back onto the metal floor with the helmet bouncing. The pod rocked to the side, causing Wyatt to fall slightly forward and Stopper to hold on to my leg.

"Dylan!" Stopper yelled. "Control the horse."

Becca gripped her chair before looking at us from around her seat with a shocked expression. The lights in the spaceship blinked off and on quickly, and Wyatt's tablet glitched, shocking me.

"Ouch," I said, tossing it.

Wyatt tried to grab it, but it electrocuted him while he jumped back. "Fuck." He glanced at Dylan. "Anything to get us on Nus? I don't think Thomas can take this much longer."

Thomas moaned on the ground with his hands over the front shield of his helmet. The lights flickered again while it rocked us to one side of the ship.

"I'm trying," Dylan said. "When I get too close to the Nus, the power glitches on the pod."

I tipped sideways, leaning against Stopper, gripping his shoulder to stand. Stumbling to the front of the spaceship, I fell into the back of the seats, bumping helmets with Beccas. My breathing echoed in the glass casing while my reflection shined with the light back at me. The blue in one eye reminded me of my father, while the purple in the other sparked darker than my mother's. I glanced past my face at the lights from the Nus while it shadowed over us, showing its size.

"Wow," I said with my jaw open and inhaled deeply into my soul while my exhale released the inner relief.

The illumination from the lights danced with the clouds, blinking in areas. Smog floated out of pipes, a black smoke painting the blue sky. Humming vibrated from the Nus. Loud beeps with flashes of orange radiance.

"This is dope," Stopper said beside me, wrapping his arm around my shoulder, ruining my moment with my father's first home.

Wyatt knocked on Stop's helmet and pushed him to the side. "Over there," he said, pointing at a darker area under the Nus. "Have you checked that?"

Dylan leaned forward, moving the ship in the direction. "How did I not see that?"

"He wants to kill me," Thomas mumbled from the ground, rolling over into a ball. "If we don't land soon, I will upchuck in this helmet."

The mother chicken jumped from a cabinet that fell open. Her baby chicks chirped in panic, chasing her. A tiny one couldn't leap the height and screamed to its mom.

"Everyone sit down and strap in!" Dylan yelled. "We are about to hook up with the Nus."

Stopper and Wyatt darted to the folding seat, fighting over it while Wyatt accidentally ripped it off the wall. Stop crackled while I rolled my eyes and tossed the ropes from the shelf. They tied themselves to the walls as I gripped Thomas.

Pulling him into a stumbled stance, I glanced at his sunken eyes caused by space sickness. I helped him to the side, wrapping a rope around me and him as he leaned on me. The helmets bounced off each other while the ship rocked.

"Everyone ready?" Dylan asked while the chicken and her babies raced to the cabinet like she knew how to speak.

"Yep," Wyatt said, nodding at us.

"Here we go!" Dylan yelled while I closed my eyes, gripping Thomas.

We all tensed up, ready for the pod to connect to the ship. I peeked one eye open, seeing everyone else rigid. Relaxing into Thomas, I saw Dylan standing from his seat, laughing.

"Connected," he said, which caused Wyatt and Stop to open their eyes.

"Fuck off," Stop said, shoving Wyatt away from him.

Becca giggled with her eyes on Wyatt. Stop shoved Dylan away from the door, slamming his fist into the button. The door steadily opened while a white light shined from the Nus into our pod.

"One step for humans is a big skip from—" Stopper scratched his head. "Or something close to that from the humans back on Earth."

"Not even close," Dylan said, stepping by him onto the Nus.

"Okay, Stop, Dylan. You head to the top floor in the public areas. Becca and I will do the lower floors with the mechanic and lower living." Wyatt glanced at me. "Ocea and Thomas will do the middle floor with the living quarters." He handed over tiny rocklock boxes with holograms of the Nus map inside.

I removed my helmet and turned to face Thomas. The others walked off the pod to their tasks. I smirked at his green expression and gripped his hood, removing it.

"You alright there, President?"

Thomas exhaled long and leaned against me to place his head on my shoulder. "No," he mumbled.

I patted his back. "Let's get onto Nus. It is a lot more stable for you."

We trailed our way into the lit-up hallway, watching the flashing lights left to die years ago but hadn't. The beeping echoed around us while I watched the shadows of the others ahead. Tightening the rocklock in my hand, I opened it before my face while Thomas focused on the hologram.

"So, why are we looking at the rooms?" He raised an eyebrow. "We are looking for the first ship to land on Safforia. Those pods would never fit in a room."

"Yes." I agreed with him. "But we are also snooping for more information on the MOS." I clicked on the map until the name Doxon appeared, showing me our destination. "Like my father's old home from his days here." Closing the rocklock, I pocketed it. "And the others are looking for where they stored any pods left on the Nus. Keep your fingers crossed that ship three-zero-five could be on here and not destroyed."

"This could be a dead end." Thomas straightened his shoulders before following me to an elevator.

"Yes, but Coachman died telling me the clue for the ship, so why would he give us a dead end?"

Thomas hummed in agreement while the elevator zipped us up to the floor of family living. The doors opened to black hallways. We stepped out, and the motion caused the upper lights to flicker on. I pulled on the end of my shirt, loving the baggie men's shirt over the see-through dress I had been in.

"Here," I said, pointing at a door, seeing the name Doxon on the plack.

Opening the door, we saw the old papers covering the ground, not seen fresh air in years. Our movement sang in the air and moved the drawings of my mother at a young age, flying in circles.

✧✧✧

"The leader?" Dan asked my mother, scrunching his brows together. "What are you talking about?"

She pulled at her hair, fidgeting with her fingers between the strands. "Do you know who is behind the Men of Suits? You knew they were coming, right?"

Dan smiled, placing his hand on his hip, not flinching at the loud noises in the distance. "My father would have to answer these questions, but I believe it was hearsay and became true."

I reached and grabbed my mother's wrist. "What's wrong?" I asked her, feeling the uneasiness from her.

"Nothing, Ocea, I'm sorry for scaring you." She shook her head. "This has to be someone else."

"Who?"

Her violet eyes glanced over my shoulder with a smile. I shifted, seeing my dad down the street with Wyatt's father. They waved toward us, but paused before racing in our direction.

My mouth opened, looking at my mother in confusion. She froze, touching her chest and pulling it away, watching a maroon drip from her fingers. Blood pooled on her shirt while everyone around me moved in slow motion.

✧✧✧

"Ocea, are you okay?" Thomas jumped me out of my memory. "Maybe we should find the others. We had been shifting through the room for hours."

"And nothing," I replied, realizing my grip on a drawing wrinkled the picture of my mother's smiling face.

My knees ached from the position I sat in on the cold floor. Thomas crawled over to me, removing the image from my hand. He brushed the paper flat, fixing what I did.

"She had always been beautiful." His voice was deep with vibration. "You look like her."

I smiled, biting my lip. "That's what everyone says."

"I mean it," he replied, leaning closer with his curls covering his eyes. "Do you know where your parents are at? With everything happening, I assumed they were—"

"Gone," I said, standing. "Let's go find the others."

"Ocea," Thomas said, jumping up and grabbing my wrist. "I'm sorry."

I shook my head. "It's part of this world we live in."

Walking out of the place my father called home, Thomas followed behind me while we looked for the others. The elevator rang as we waited for the doors to slide open. Stopper's laugh vibrated in the box before we saw him and Dylan waiting inside.

"You find anything?" Dylan asked, leaning against the broken mirror wall.

"Nothing but memories," I replied, stepping in after Thomas.

"Headed down?" Stop asked. "Are we sure we want to walk into them two doing something?" He wiggled his eyebrows with a smirk. "Maybe we can do the same?" His eyes bounced off my baggie shirt.

I rolled my eyes, about to respond.

"Can we go one day without you making sex comments to her?" Dylan asked with a deadpan expression.

"Nope," Stop said, pointing at the ceiling as the doors opened.

Water dripped from the pipes above while giggles from Becca echoed from the dark hallway. The tiny lights flickered, and the air blew from pinholes in the metal walls, hurting the ears with the high pitch.

Wyatt and Becca sat on the floor in the mechanical room, watching a robot bird. Smoke blew from Wyatt's lips, and he handed over a glass pipe to Becca while she sucked in on the earth's drugs. The bird chirped before bouncing in place, and Becca held her stomach, laughing.

"Wow," Dylan said, shaking his head.

"Give me some of that alien drugs." Stop jumped at Becca, grabbing the tube device from the floor. "What is that?" He pointed at the robot bird.

"It's a birdroid," I replied, sitting next to Becca with Thomas hovering close in the shadows. "They had used them for communication. Like the cell phone but cuter."

"Walkie-talkie is what your dad called it," Thomas said from behind us.

Becca leaned into me. "Father?" she asked in a sad voice. "I could have a father someplace out there." Her head perked up. "Or a sister. A little sister that misses me, but I don't remember her, and she is dying in the streets waiting for me to save her." A tear slipped from her eye.

"Oh, don't cry now, beautiful," Wyatt said, crawling across our circle to bring her into his arms.

Stopper inhaled deeply into the pipe and exhaled the smoke above our heads. "Here, have another hit." His smile stretched from ear to ear while his eyes focused on nothing, dazed.

Dylan yanked the pipe from him and set it on the ground next to the birdroid. The little yellow bird ticked before dancing with its head. Its chirp changed to a computer beep in an obnoxious tone.

"What can I get for you, Mr. Lixon?" the birdroid said before spinning in circles until smoke formed and caught on fire.

"Shit!" Stop yelled while Wyatt grabbed the bird and threw it across the room.

The fireball hit the wall, knocking a sheet down and catching flames. A loud chirp screamed, and an electric shock exploded. Thomas and Dylan ran to the fire, stepping on it until the flame died.

"Nice," Stop said with a lazy tongue.

A red light blinked in the distance as I stood from the ground. I walked to the spot where the sheet once hung, seeing a hole in the door. Peeking into the opening, I saw more red lights flickering while rows of pods lined a massive dark room.

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