By Ayisha Saniya Ambalavan
Ship AY-208 hovers above me a full-on zelest shield around it, no amount of laser-dials able to penetrate through.
So much for being head of the operation, I can't seem to think of a way to complete this mission without compromising my morality or good sleep, not that I sleep very well either way.
The boy is rumored to be about twelve years old, not a kid, not after everything he's been through. And as soon the hatch opens, I watch as Nero holds the boy at laser point, moving towards the edge, that little piece of molvorian slop is gonna push the kid - not kid, from about over four thousand meters in the sky. Even with whatever blessed or rather cursed potentials this kid has, he would not survive the drop, not into the icy Larnean waters below.
Survival instinct is what your body calls when your mind loses all rationale and you struggle to survive, I watch as the boy zaps the ship with everything he's got. Which might momentarily shock it, but ship AY-208 was built to withstand much more than that, everyone on board not so much. But I am already moving by then, not by survival instinct, no I'm moving ahead with a very bad plan to salvage the remains of my shredded conscience.
As I angle my ship, a glorious natch-78, built with the finest blue xerbanium and speed up to 8.0 mach, I touched it up myself. I spot a hole wide enough to get her through.
So I push her hard and before they see me coming I'm already heading at 8.5 mach towards them. I watch as Nero pushes the boy seconds before he registers my deadly income, but it's too late.
The laser-dial coming at my ship is enough to put her down, but I learned early on, that in order to gain something one must always be ready to lose something. While my ship might be very precious to me it is not mine entirely, it belongs to Aztech Corp. So before I can talk myself out of this unbelievably ludicrous decision, I unlock my overhead glass and jump out of the cockpit.
I am running along my wings, sleek blue, built for speed and even then as I slide down using the gravitational force to propel myself forward, I am mesmerized by her beauty before I slide off the edge and push myself in the boy’s direction.
The thing about flying is that one cannot be afraid to fall, and in that moment I am infinite, terrified yes but free. Perhaps this is how Icarus felt. I had planned my jump in the direction of the boy and I crash into him spinning just as we exit the zelest shield.
Then we're both plummeting towards only possible death, a flimsy parachute straining to keep us alive, but even with a single parachute between us, we will land in the cold icy Larnean waters, enemy waters.
As I mentioned earlier, terrible plan, but one rarely has many options in the air. I can only hope Zalgot would send someone, surely he would track us down. The boy is valuable after all, not that I intend on anyone getting to him.
Twelve is too young to be pulled into matters of war and death, but we don't have many choices now. And that is a worry for later if we manage live that long.
We plunge into the icy surface, hard enough to kill. Just as my natch-78 collides with ship AY-208. My zelo suit preventing most of the trauma as I disentangle from the parachute, getting caught in that is imminent death, I notice the boy sinking below likely unconscious.
Swearing. I take in a deep breath swimming fast enough to reach him, through my peripheral I can see pieces of metal crash into the water around us. Holding the little kid-not kid ‘s hand I pull him towards the surface.
Breaking through I am gasping for air, before I find a wooden crate floating nearby, pulling us both on to it. I start shaking the boy, if he dies now after that crazy stunt I pulled, no he can’t die now. I wont allow it. If I have to fight the death spirits for his soul I will. After all I’ve fought off worse and won.
Performing compression's I begin cursing everything I can around me, I’ve never really been one for prayers, before the boy jolts awake sputtering water. He looks up eyes wide shivering violently, craning my neck, we both watch as the metal rains around us and a giggle worms its way through me. The boy turns to me then eyes wide, as I start laughing out loud like I’m possessed by one of mirth spirits.
I turn to look at him then grinning widely,” Welcome to Zhargosa” I say.
By Ayisha Saniya Ambalavan
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