Rosetta

20

"Establish vidlink with Prime Minister Celestia Bloom of Luna."

The vidlink connected almost instantly, revealing a flustered woman with greying hair that stopped short by her chin.

Celestia Bloom had been elected as the first Prime Minister of Luna. She had shown true loyalty to the crown, and had also helped the lead scientist to create the bio electricity block, which she had also had implanted in herself.

"Your Imperial Majesty!" She exclaimed, straightening herself up in her chair.

"I-I am so sorry about Her Majesty's disappearance," she continued. "Have you had any luck yet?"

Kai pressed his hands into the desk. The rest of the crew were standing out of view of the camera, but where showing him comforting looks to continue. Even the boy, Carlos, was showing support.

"Actually, Prime Minister Bloom, we have.  After taking a closer look at the tranquillisers darts that where shot into our security guards, we found that they were made of regolith," Kai said in his most confident voice.

The Prime Minister looked horrified. "Your Majesty, I can assure you I had nothing do to with this. I shall check the regolith sector blacksmiths to see if any darts have been manufactured. I shall comm you when I receive more information."

"Thank you for the offer, but that will not be necessary," he replied.

"Whatever do you mean, Your Majesty?" She asked, tilting her head.

"Me and my party are coming to Luna," He straightened himself in his chair as he spoke.

"O-of course. And I am sorry to pry, but where shall you stay? Artemisia Palace is welcome if you choose," she stammered, obviously surprised by his choice.

"And, may I add, Your Majesty, why come? You have my trust that I will inform you," she continued.

"One of my party's members has accommodation there." Kai felt that he wanted to collapse. He didn't even know if she was there or not. But he continued to support himself with the table and said, "This is my wife we are talking about. Her life is not one I would toss around in the hands of others."

*

Wolf gently pushed open the door, taking in a deep breath as they walked in to his childhood home.

Kai knew this would be hard for him. To return to the place he had so badly wanted to escape. He knew that memories of his mother would haunt her, and was selfishly glad that Cinder wasn't here; she would blame herself for her death.

Scarlet was next to Wolf, and she tried to hide her pain and his grip on her had grew tighter. He faced her and relaxed his hand.

"Sorry," he whispered.

They all walked in and spread out one of the food packs they had brought on the table. He felt more comfortable with the absence of his guards, which he had insisted to stay behind.

Thorne opened the food pack to reveal some biscuits, and shared them out between each other in silence.

"We need a plan," Jacin started.

Cress pulled out her portscreen and projected a holographic map of Luna.

She dragged her finger down a row of domes. "These are all the mining sectors. We could split up?"

"No," Kai said. "We can't risk anyone else getting taken. We can search each one together."

The all exchanged looks. If they were to search each individual sector together, how long would they be on Luna? By the time they found Cinder, she could already be dead. And what about the Commonwealth? Torin would be able to help for now, but the search could go on for weeks.

"We can search this sector first. We can all go and see if anyone has seen anything or has got her," Scarlet offered.

Winter placed the empty biscuit wrapper in the bin. "How will we know that they are not lying?"

"Me, Cress and Winter are the only ones that can't be manipulated," Iko said. "If we were to go into groups to search the sector, you would need one of us there."

Kai took in a deep breath. "When can we start searching?"

"The workday finishes in about three hours. If we wait until then, we can be sure that everyone is home," Wolf answered.

"But the curfew laws got scrapped, remember?" Thorne stated. "People don't need to come back."

Kai groaned. "She might not even be in the mining sectors! Stars, she might not even be on Luna!"

"Doesn't the Empress have a chip?" Carlos asked. Everyone turned to him, making him shy away.

"Sorry, never mind." He had lost almost all
the confidence he had had when he came to the palace. Kai knew that this a was a hard time for him as well; one person knew how he felt.

"I've tried to trace it," Cress said. "It hasn't been destroyed, but it's inactive."

"Where was she last tracked to?" Jacin asked.

"It says that she was last seen at New Beijing Palace," Cress replied, picking up the portscreen and shoving it in her back pocket.

Kai sighed. "What are the groups going to be?"

"Iko, you can go with Wolf and Scarlet. Thorne and Cress can go with Carlos. Kai, you can come with me and Winter," Jacin ordered.

"Just a question, what if we do find Cinder?" Thorne asked.

Cress dug for something in her back pocket, and pulled out a small silver case.

"I made up earpieces. Since comms can be tracked, I thought this would be safer."
She gave everyone a pair of small silver earpieces. They looked like perfect marbles, and they fitted comfortably in Kai's ear.

"Aces Cress, you're a genius!" Thorne exclaimed. Cress blushed.

"I-I haven't tested it yet. Can we try it first?" she asked.

"Sure," he replied.

Kai went upstairs, and went into Wolf's room, which now also had two blankets laid out on the floor for the rest of the crew.

He heard shuffling below him.

"Hello?"

Cress's voice was soft and clear as it came through the earpiece.

"It works!" Kai exclaimed.

He came down the stairs to see everyone huddled around Wolf.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

Wolf stared at him, his eyes looking a little more curious than earlier.

Wolf scratched behind his ear. "It-it's probably nothing, but I thought I smelled...I thought I smelled Cinder."