Chapter One: The Blood Moon

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. Turns out, the laws of physics no longer apply when you’re dead.

The scream echoed through the void of my mind, resonating in my soul’s ears as I ripped free of my body. Then, I felt nothing.

I could see myself, floating through the void of space. A slight air hiss as the oxygen leaked from my suit. My bot, MAB3, was trying to save me. In the form of a snake, it wrapped around my wrist and dragged me towards the disabled ship floating nearby. I could see the frantic movement from inside the ship, as its passenger fought to get to me. I watched numbly… helplessly… as my friends tried to save me.

***

It all started when I snuck aboard the Blood Moon. I didn’t know it was a pirate ship, though the name should’ve clued me in. I just wanted to get off-world in a hurry. 

It took me years before I was brave enough to get out of a bad situation. I was great at hiding bruises with makeup and the right filter. My ARS, Augmented Reality Suit, projected a beautiful woman wearing exotic and sexy clothes that showed off my curves, when really, I was terrified all the time that the solar charge would go bad and show the black and blue that hid beneath the pretty colors.  

I planned my escape for weeks. I programmed the apartment to respond on my behalf, in case he called. It recorded my voice and learned to say what I would say, the correct response for each of his moods. I skimmed a little money at a time from the grocery fund for a fake passport. I even started programming nondescript clothes into my ARS wardrobe simulator so that I could hide in plain sight. 

When he left for a two-day conference, I made my move. I grabbed a small bag of essentials that I had hidden in an air vent. My hand was on the door, and I was almost free—

“You’re gonna get caught,” an electronic voice buzzed in my ear. 

I turned and looked at my simbot, MAB3, its silvery surface held the form of a parakeet as it hovered above my shoulder. “Only if you give me away,” I replied. 

It swooped down and seamlessly morphed into a cat shape. It rubbed against my legs, humming with a simulated purr. “You were leaving without me?”  

I hesitated. The bot was not part of the plan, but it had been my only companion during my darkest days. I couldn’t leave it behind. If I did, he would destroy it. 

I sighed. “Fine. Just keep quiet.” 

It shifted into a mouse and ran up my leg, climbing into a pocket in my suit. “I can keep quiet. I excel at quiet.” It vibrated against my hip in its excitement. 

“Did you turn off your tracking?”

“Yes,” my pocket chirped. 

I regretted it immediately, worrying if its sounds would give me away, but the gentle hum from my pocket was comforting. I suddenly didn’t feel so alone.  

I glanced once more around the apartment. Over the years, I tried to make it a comfortable space, full of plants and serenity fountains… All I saw now were the dents in the wall and drips of bloodstains on the floor, walls, even one place on the ceiling. I wouldn’t miss the place at all. The worst years of my life were in that space.

I shut the door firmly behind me.

I took every back alley I could find. I circled back on myself and took sporadic directions. I knew the cameras were still picking me up, but I hoped I was erratic enough that the surveillance wouldn’t be able to guess my destination. If they caught me, I knew they would take me back. I needed as much of a head-start as I could get. 

I breathed in relief when I finally saw the Altean Spaceport. I lost myself in the crowd as transports whizzed overhead. As I got closer to the security checkpoint, my palms turned sweaty. 

This was it. Months of planning boiled down to a single moment. The passport that I had spent most of my saved money on would hold up to scrutiny. It had an official barcode, and would scan without an issue. 

I just had to hope I wasn’t missed yet. If he raised an alarm, the facial scanners would look for me. He had that sort of power, working for the government of the United Earth Federation.

The guard scanned my ID. 

I held my breath as he compared it to the computer. 

Then I was through. 

Somehow, the apartment had fooled him with his frequent check-ins. I had bought myself enough time. I felt the blood rush to my head. I was dizzy with the relief, and my body forgot to function for a moment.

“Ma’am?” 

I realized I had stopped in the middle of the path when a kind couple was trying to get around me. “Sorry,” I muttered.

I quickly dipped into the bathroom, wiping the tears that fell down my face. I sat in the stall and rested my forehead against the cold metal door.

MAB3 took on the shape of a salamander, snaking up my arm to nestle against my neck. Its movement tickled and my tears turned to a strangled laugh. 

“Thanks.” I pet it lightly with a finger.

It buzzed in response. “You’re running out of time.”

“I know…”

I left the stall and washed my face. I altered the display on my suit, hiding with a generic gray jumpsuit that I had in my arsenal of pre-programed clothes. I braided my blonde hair back and dabbed some makeup on the purplish dark circles under my eyes. ARS could only get me so far. I needed my concealer.

Once I could pass as a spaceport employee, I slipped back into the crowded terminal.

I avoided the main passenger lines and slipped into the less crowded cargo hallways. There wasn’t as much security in this area of the port. There were just as many cameras, but they were using crate-scanners instead of face-scanning bots. 

I grabbed a broom from a nearby cleaning cart and tried to look like I belonged, sweeping up and down the hallways in my search to find the perfect ship.

When I saw the Blood Moon, I instantly fell in love. It was long and sleek, and looked like it could outrun most of the bulky UEF ships. Its silver wings were painted with red drips to look like blood. It was the opposite of an official government ship in every way. 

I watched as men in black jumpsuits were loading crates up a ramp into the main hold. A few bots buzzed around, scanning barcodes and counting boxes, but otherwise, no real security. The only guards were two burly looking men with blasters, stationed on either side of the loading ramp.

I leaned the broom against a doorway, and tapped a button on my wrist, changing my jumpsuit to black. When the next crate went by, I started pushing it from the back.

No one looked at me twice, but I still held my breath when we got to the ramp. I tilted my head away from the guards, leaning with my shoulder against the heavy wooden crate. The person pulling the crate nodded a greeting. They recognized him, and assumed that the person helping him was crew too. 

I tried not to sigh audibly once I was on the ship.

I waited until we were fully in the hold before breaking away from the crate. I slipped between other crates as the crew secured the one I brought in to fasteners in the ground.

There weren’t many places to hide, but I found a corner that was shrouded in shadow. Aided by the black of my ARS, I stuck through the darkness. I crawled up and on top of a crate, laying flat against the indented top. It completely hid me from view, unless you climbed on the crate with me or unless you stood in just the right spot on the railing above, looking down. 

Once I was still, the weight of my situation crashed down on me, and every feeling I’d been putting off flooded into my mind. I still wasn’t completely free. At any moment, I expected to be found and hauled back to the hell I had been living. But for now… I was safe. 

Overwhelmed, I fell into a fitful sleep while tears of joy streaked the makeup down my face.

***

I felt a tickle against my ear. “You’re gonna miss the best part,” MAB3 said.

I startled awake, grabbing the edge of the crate in confusion as the ship moved. At first, it lurched forward, as if getting in the right position. Then it shot upward. 

My body flattened against the crate as the ship picked up speed. The G-forces held me in place. My lips pulled back from my mouth, and my body threatened to black out from the sheer force of it.

Then, my stomach flip-flopped and my body raised up off the crate, floating in the zero gravity.

It reminded me of the time I went to an amusement park. I begged my dad to take me to the Drop Tower. It shot me in the air, and when I reached the top, I separated from my seat, and for one terrifying moment, I flew. It was that same weightlessness, that same free-fall feeling before the gravity adjusters kicked in and I slammed back against the crate.

“Ow!” I rubbed my shoulder, which had taken the brunt of the landing.

That was when I noticed the window. The whole side of the ship was see-through, and the view took my breath away. The earth, still large in the window, was more beautiful than I could ever imagine. Pictures didn’t do it justice. The perfect blue of the ocean. The green and brown continents. The faint outline of blue haze that was the atmosphere. And over the Atlantic Ocean, the clouds formed a perfect spiral as a huge hurricane raced towards land. 

Tears streamed freely down my face as I looked at my home. I had done it. I was free. For the first time in months, I felt like I could breathe easy. 

My bot chittered excitedly, shifting between a monkey and a puppy in its excitement. Then, suddenly, it went still. Voices carried, and I ducked low as two people approached.

“The cap’ain says it’s a month ride to Fandalfoelg. I reckon we can fetch a damn good price there.”

My breath caught in my chest. Fandalfoelg was one of the Lawless Lands. I chewed my lip in worry. It was not the sort of place respectable people went. 

The other one muttered something unintelligible. 

The first one hissed in response. “We ought to maroon him after the way he treated ya…”

I shivered. I’d heard of people being marooned in space, either being abandoned on a planet with no life-sustaining features, or being left on a disabled ship to starve in the vacuum of space. It was one of the cruelest things you could do to a person. I wasn’t sure what people would do that to another, but I knew I didn’t want to find out.

Once they had passed, MAB3 shifted to a bug, climbing between the cracks in the crate. “MAB3?” I whispered. “Come back!”

It crawled back after a moment. Dread filled me as I saw it shake its head. “What is it?”

“Automatic sub-repeaters and scatter missiles.” It shifted to a mouse, flicking its tail in irritation. 

Illegal weapons. They were going to the Lawless Lands to sell illegal weapons.

“Smugglers,” I breathed the word out. I didn’t know what to think. I had left one bad situation and jumped into another. I needed to get off the ship.

“We prefer the term ‘pirates,’” an amused voice came from behind me. “We only smuggle when we can’t find ships to loot.”

I turned, slowly, to look into the most piercing green eyes I had ever seen. His eyes were framed with dark lashes and a hint of black eyeliner. His coveralls were only a shade darker green than his eyes. He sported a five o’clock shadow, with a thin scar going from just under his eye to his chin. He was standing on the top rung of a ladder, inches away from my hiding place.

“Nice ARSe,” he said with a smirk. I knew he meant my suit, but the way he said it sent shivers up my spine as he checked out my body.

I rolled my eyes. “Never heard that one before.”

He reached out to grab my arm, and I flinched, expecting him to strike me.

His bravado lessened when he saw my fear. His eyes scanned me up and down, and I knew he could see through the illusion of my suit. His eyes lingered on the bruises on my arm. I self-consciously rubbed at them, feeling completely naked under his gaze. 

“I won’t hurt you, but I cannot say the same for the rest of the crew.” He offered his arm to help me down from the crate. “I can take you somewhere safe.”

I didn’t trust him. I couldn’t trust anyone anymore. My bot slipped into my pocket and quivered against my side, mirroring my own emotions.

“I can stay here.” I knew it wasn’t logical. I didn’t have enough food, and I could already feel the icy cold seeping through the less temperature-regulated area.

“No.” His voice held authority, and I knew I had no choice. “It’s with me or the brig. Either way, you are not staying here.”

I hesitated, still not trusting him.

“Or you can walk the plank.” His eyes turned a shade mischievous. “Mind you, it’s a little different on a spaceship, but I’m sure we could figure something out.”

I glared at him and grabbed his out-stretched arm. The icy shield that I was used to replaced the brief elation I felt at being free. The front I put up so that no one knew what I was going through. I had traded one cage for another, and my new jailor was a dangerous pirate.