ANAMI (Science Fiction Smackdown Round 1 Entry)

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"Welcome back," said one in my own language.

"Where--" my voice was weak from neglect, "where am I?"

"You're on the Daunting," said one of the doctors, "safe. We have restored you to full health."

"A starship?"

"Yes," said the same doctor, "we're taking you to Behraan. You have been handpicked to participate in a very special project--"

"How long? How long was I in there?"

The doctors looked to each other. The second one then spoke, "ten of your years."

"Ten!?" I gasped, my voice scratching still from lack of use.

"Things have changed for Kelvik," he continued, "since your occupation, Kelvik had been allowed to become a vassal state. It has had nearly all its rights and freedoms restored, in exchange for pledging allegiance to Behraan willingly."

I shook my head as heated rage summoned within me, "you could not restore my wings. My family. My home. You took that from me. You all did. All of you!"

"We know," the first Doctor said quietly, "that's why you were chosen for ANAMI."

I looked at the doctor, my eyes cold and calculative, "Chosen, yet still not given the choice."

The doctors did not speak.

"What is ANAMI?" I asked shakily.

"Your second chance to fly," said a third man who walked in, dressed in typical Behraanese Navy garbs. He could not be more than thirty years old. He tipped his hat, "I'm Captain Alvoa of the Daunting."

"Second--chance?"

"We're trying to give back something for everything we took from you," said Alvoa, "I'm sorry you had to go through all of that. I hope Behraan can redeem itself in your eyes as time goes on."

"I watched innocent lives be raped and slaughtered when your kind invaded," I spit to the side, "there is no Redeeming you. You will all surely be punished in Bentor for eternity for this atrocity!"

"Relax," Alvoa shook his head, "I wasn't even in the Navy when that happened. I know what they did ten years ago was awful. I really do. But it's not my fault. We're actually trying to help you, Grace Lafiere."

"You want to help me?" I leaned forward, "shoot me. Send me to Kabaiila, with my family."

"I am afraid that is not up to me," said Alvoa, "you had best come to terms with your reality. We will arrive at Behraan in one hour."

I wanted nothing more than for the ship to burn up in the atmosphere, but it never happened.

Even while conscious, my mind wandered to the dream. The two worlds in one. For ten years, it was my home. I longed to rest in the cool sands there again. To stand upon the tallest rooves, and dive, then glide forever on my own two wings.

I was taken out of the landed carrier, down a long ramp, where I entered a train. We knew what they were, but never had use for them.

The world was heavy. The air was thin. The sky was green. The whole of the land was covered in city, congested by traffic on all levels, ground and air.

This was not a world fit for my kind.

Off in the distance, kilometers away, a giant building could be seen. It resembled a pyramid, a particularly common shape used by those civilizations that prized themselves to be superior to all those around them. The pyramid was dotted with lit windows and irregular shingling, imperfections of all kinds.

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