A bucket of cold water hit Aniya's face. Ruthlessly, which burned her skin. However, she was still groggy from the immense thirst she felt earlier. Her throat was hydrated, the thirst already gone. When she opened her eyes, she wasn't in some dark basement anymore. Somehow she was transported somewhere else, and her body was not strapped to the cold steel chair anymore. She was inside a container van, the air humid as sweat dripped on her face and under her pits. She wasn't alone with the Velocity soldiers. Instead, she was surrounded by people around her age—ranging from ages 18-25—who shared the same look on her face: despair, desperation, and fright.

Aniya was as not as frightened as some other people, whose knees trembled in sheer fear whenever a soldier approached them. She could not blame them. Their appearance was not amicable.

The soldier who made fun of her earlier—a few days ago, perhaps for she had no proper recollection of time—bent her knee in front of her so that her silver eyes met her dark orbs. The soldier smirked, and said, "Here's a free meal the Points have lovingly prepared for you." She almost threw the bag to Aniya but she perfectly caught it, everyone else's eyes were on her. She ignored the looks they threw at her, but their gazes felt like holes piercing her skin.

The soldier proceeded to distribute food for the others.

Aniya opened the meal the Points—another institution created by the highest governing body—lovingly made for them. The smell made her stomach growl, a meal better than what her mother usually prepared. The meat looked juicy and before she could dig in to her meal, she felt someone's presence beside her. She turned around and was met by a pair of green eyes.

"Hi," he greeted. "I'm James."

She only stared at him, confusion settling her features. "I'm Johann van Buren's son," he added. He hadn't touched his meal, the warmth slowly dissipating. "I knew about your mother, Ariadna." She flinched at the mention of her mother's name.

"Well, I don't know any van Buren or Johann," she replied coldly, returning the greeting, and slowly inched away from him. A look of dejection flashed his features.

"And I knew you'd be as cold as your mother," he stated as a matter-of-fact. "My father used to complain about his meetings with her whenever he comes home from work."

"That's nice to know," she commented flatly. "I'm neither interested with your personal life nor your father's musings about my mother." She looked at him straight in the eye. "If you'll excuse me, I'd rather eat my food in silence before it gets too cold."

James van Buren did not say another word and thankfully, let her eat in peace. Her stomach gurgled at the sight of food and within minutes, her meal disappeared. Everyone shared the same sentiment, their eyes smiling in glee. No one had tasted a luxurious meal as the one they had eaten earlier.

Vector-098 might have a few top notch restaurants, but the meat they served wasn't as tasty as Aniya had eaten. It was gammy, but it would suffice to quell the hunger for them to survive. "Listen up," the leader of the Velocity soldiers yelled, gathering everyone's attention. There was the fear that settled in their eyes once more. Everyone was frightened of what they did not know. The soldier knew it all too well, for she seemed too keen on stretching time as if it was nothing important.

"I hope this isn't bad news," Aniya heard James muttering under his breath. His scrawny arms were wrapped around his torso, his green eyes fixated at the soldier. There was curiosity—mixed with fear—in his eyes.

"I hope so," Aniya whispered, audible enough for her to hear. She did not know what to expect. Would what they say be worse news? It was already bad news that they had been kidnapped—or taken—without being given a reason why. Aniya knew she was not guilty of anything, she had not broken any Vector laws, but what the leader told her echoed through her mind.

"We are here to take her as hostage." For what? It made her head spin, and she did not want to think. Worrying about her mother's whereabouts already dreaded her.

"I know you're wondering why you're taken here with us in this state-of-the-art technology, asking yourself questions, 'Why me? Why not someone else?' Well, the answer to that is that you're all direct relatives to the members of the rebel group the North Star. Some of you are nephews, daughters, sons, or whatever relation you have with them."

There were low gasps echoing the container van but Aniya's mind echoed something else. Her mind was reeling in the fact her mother was a part of a rebel group, not just any rebel group but the most infamous North Star. But why? What would her mother gain from going up against the most powerful institution in the Vector system?

"And the leader of the North Star is Ariadna. Her daughter is Aniya." The soldier turned to her, her silver eyes filled with disgust, as if Aniya's mere existence disgusted her. Aniya held her stare back, and never backed away from the soldier's dead silver eyes. The soldier broke their staring contest, examining the room to gauge everyone's reactions.

Aniya could feel James's eyes were on her. She turned her head and he immediately looked away, his cheeks flushing at being caught in the act. She looked at everyone else's reactions; most of them mirroring the soldier's disgusted expression. She was still reeling in to the idea her mother was the leader, an unpleasant knot forming at the pit of her stomach. All those blueprints her mother had in her study, were they all blueprints used to infiltrate all of Vector-211's buildings?

She felt stupid. Here she was thinking her mother was some sort of architect, or an engineer perhaps. What she did not expect was that she was a rebel. Her heartbeat quickened, her breaths growing shorter and her sight was starting to blur. She turned her head vehemently from left to right. People's disgusted expressions were imprinted at the back of her mind, and suddenly voices around her crowded. She clutched her throat, to give herself some oxygen, but everything had gone black.

"Thank heavens you're awake," James said when Aniya's eyes peeled open. She was lying on a soft bed, her wrists strapped to the edges, as well as her ankles to keep her from making vehement movements. "I thought you were acting out but when you passed out, the Velocity soldiers handled you pretty well," he blabbered, his green eyes everywhere but at her.

"I'm fine," she said weakly, but her breath literally got caught in her throat and she coughed, almost choking in on her breathing as she gasped for air. James looked frazzled, his feet treading in the air as he looked for water. Two soldiers marched in with their stoic composure while he looked like a madman, his green eyes searching for something that could help Aniya.

"What's happening here?" one of the soldiers asked, a brow raised.

"S-She's... she's..." James stuttered, his hands up on his hair dishevelled. "She can't breathe."

Medical doctors went in as soon as they saw Aniya gasping for air, placing a cup of cold water to Aniya's lips. Aniya swallowed the water which stabilised her breathing, but on the second round of drinking the water she spat it out to the doctor. A look of malice flashed through her features.

"You are not keeping me here," she said imperatively, shooting the doctor a murderous look who only returned it with a mischievous grin on her face. "Unstrap me," she ordered coldly but the doctor's smile only widened, her eyes gleaming ominously.

"Or what? You'll strangle me? You're basically tied on the bed." The doctor was concealing poorly the laugh from reverberating in her throat. It was an empty laugh. Before Aniya could spat retorts at her, the doctor disappeared. Velocity soldiers were at every corner of Aniya's bed, their eyes commanding James to leave the room.

It made her stomach curdle like milk, James's absence made her feel alone. She had wished at the back of her mind that James would leave her alone, and now that he did, an unpleasant feeling formed in her chest. Her eyes darted from the four Velocity soldiers, whose backs were on her vision. Their taut muscles looked intimidating, with huge guns slinging across their chest.

She stared at the steel ceiling. She felt the whole room moving which meant they were still inside the container van. Where were these soldiers taking them? Why did they take them as hostages?

What would her mother do now that she was abducted? Aniya hoped her mother had some plans up in her sleeve. She was unsure if she should believe the soldiers about her mother being the leader of the infamous rebel group but if she wasn't, she wouldn't have been captured along other young adolescents like her. Did they know their relatives were part of the rebellion?

What really stung was the fact that she didn't know about her mother being a rebel. Aniya thought she knew her mother so well because she was entirely open to her—or maybe that was what her mother made her think. Everything now made sense, all those long months she was gone. Her mother told her it was her work, needing to travel to different planets. Her work was actually being a rebel.

Was James van Buren's father a rebel, too? Did he know his father was a rebel?

Her head hurt from thinking too much, taking a hefty amount of information all at once. She tried closing her eyes to drown all of her thoughts but her mind was filled with images of her mother talking to her in cryptic sentences at random points in her life.

"Whatever those Velocity soldiers do, don't ever, ever get affected by their games." Her mother once said while they were out on a picnic. It was a few hundred metres away from their house and the weather was perfect for a picnic. Her mother had toasted some bread with margarine, and brought a bottle of white wine. Aniya was only thirteen when she took her first glass of wine. Her mother insisted she should drink.

Aniya only gave her a funny face, her brows scrunching in confusion. Aniya sighed. If only she knew what her mother meant, she would've been smarter with her life choices.

A few hours later of staring blankly at the ceiling the medical doctor was back. Aniya looked at the nameplate of her lab coat. Engraved on her nameplate was Victoria Galloway. Aniya gulped. She was Victor Galloway's daughter. She did not look a day over twenty-five, her skin wrinkle-free. No one knew about Victor and Victoria Galloway's real ages, but the people knew they lived longer to see the old Earth dead.

She had grey-green eyes that matched her father's. The same smirk, and the hollowness of it all. She could kill Aniya whenever she wanted, which made her deadly. Aniya could sense the tense of the Velocity soldiers' muscles through their uniforms when she entered.

"How are you holding up little Ariadna?" Victoria asked sweetly. The way she said her mother's name was poison. It made her stomach acidic.

"I'm fine," Aniya replied, hoping her voice was as firm as she intended it to be. She stared at Victoria's hollow eyes, and surveyed her face. She had an oval face, auburn bangs covering her forehead and her hair tied into a ponytail.

"Now that you're fine I'm going to discharge you to see your little boyfriend," she cooed, as if Aniya was just a child being set up with a playdate. She felt a little relieved, but her face soured when she realised at Victoria's implication. She said nothing, however, as she replayed her mother's words in her head.

"Where are you taking me?" she asked, a little boldly. Velocity soldiers were unstrapping her from her bed, but they barrelled in front of Victoria as if they were human shields. "Where are you taking us?"

Victoria's eyes lit up, mockingly. "What a wonderful question!"

Aniya was already sitting on the bed, an unpleasant feeling settling stronger and stronger in her gut. She donned a poker face on, hoping to whatever higher being was listening to her. "We're all going to The Points!"

The Points was an institution created by the highest governing body, an intelligence agency that kept track of citizens' daily lives residing in the four Vector planets. It kept surveillance for any malicious actions. They also controlled calendars of the Vector planets as well as announcements made by the highest governing body. It was the highest governing body's right-hand man.

Aniya gulped, her stomach twisting into complicated knots. She had no inkling what The Points had planned for them, but she knew it was not going to be good. She hoped it was not going to be bad, either. But who was she kidding?

When Victoria saw the worried look on Aniya's face as she slowly exited from the clinic of the container van, her devilish grin grew, a spark glinting in her eyes. She was a sick, twisted woman. Was she human in the first place? She was worse than the Velocity soldiers who held no emotional attachments.

Victoria's cold hand fell onto one of Aniya's shoulder and she froze, sending shivers onto her spine. Victoria's cold soft lips grazed on Aniya's earlobe, and whispered, "Don't worry. They will all take good care of you."

Goosebumps decorated her skin.