The Truth of Past and Present

Chapter 7: We tell lies and I want the truth

"SLAVE DJ-745, COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP! WE'VE GOT YOU SURROUNDED!" the bullhorn sounded again, this time right outside of the stand in which we were hiding.

Daniel's face melted. He was caught. He turned to me.

"Stay here. Don't say anything, don't do anything. I know you're the Governor's daughter," he said as I opened my mouth, "But your intervention will only make it worse. Your dad will be furious, and everyone will know that you are in the lower sectors, a perfect place to kidnap you if they want to hold you for ransom. It will bring so many criminals out of hiding, the lower sectors will no longer be safe for anyone."

"But I-"

"Don't worry about me. This isn't the first time I've been put in a cage," he said, smiling sadly. His eyes told me otherwise. He didn't have a plan.

He stepped out from behind the cloth, making sure I was obscured. "I'm here," he said, holding up his hands.

"AND THE OTHER ONE!" the bullhorn bellowed. I froze, my stomach lurching to a halt.

"What other one?" Daniel said, playing dumb.

"WE PICKED UP TWO HEAT SIGNATURES ON OUR SCANNERS! COME ON OUT, WHOEVER YOU ARE!"

"That's just my...sister!" Daniel lied. "She's mute, a little crazy, but I wanted to see her again."

"YOU! COME OUT WHERE WE CAN SEE YOU!"

"You'll never get her out like that!" Daniel yelled at them patronizingly. I was amazed that his attitude was still intact, even after being captured.

"BRING HER OUT OR WE WILL BLOW UP THIS ENTIRE MARKET!"

I was really starting to hate that bullhorn voice.

"All right, all right! Keep your skirt on!" Daniel yelled. I held back a snort of laughter. I admired his courage and audacity, insulting EG officials like that. "Come on out, Ginger," he coaxed, "These men want to talk to you."

In a few moments, I had mussed up my hair, put a veil over my head, and gone cross-eyed before I peeked out timidly. I saw that Daniel had already been cuffed, but I also saw his glance of approval at my transformation.

"Come here, girl," said the captain, reaching to pull off my veil. "Let's see your-Ow!"

I shrieked and tried to bite him, making contact with one of his fingers.

"Did I mention not to touch her veil?" Daniel said, grinning. 

"You'll pay for that, scum!" The captain jerked his hand out of my mouth and backhanded me before I could dodge, sending me flying backward with a crash.

"Ner-Ginger!" Daniel cried out. I saw black spots and stars in my vision. "You dirty rotten bastard!" There were sounds of a scuffle. I shook off the woozy feeling and saw Daniel trying to get to me. "Ginger, are you-oof!" Outnumbered and alone, I could only watch helplessly as he was overpowered and knocked out, then dragged away into a government prison transport. 

While all the attention was on him, I slipped away, clutching my throbbing cheek. How was I going to explain the bruise to my father?

More importantly, what was I going to do about Daniel?

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After the excitement wore off, I was able to find Warren and get a ride back home just as the first moon rose. I ran to my suite, showered, changed into some new clothes, and put a bit of ice-balm and makeup on my purpling bruise. Then I ran to the kitchen and pulled out the Arentile fruits to make a pie.

My bodyguards entered the kitchen soon after, looking very tired and angry, but also relieved. I winked at them. 

"I won't say anything if you won't," I told them confidentially.

Once they left the room, I began preparing the fruits. As I did, I found my mind wandering, back to the cantina, back to Wadser, the market, and Daniel. What should I do?

"We are all equal. We all matter." his words echoed in my head.

By the time the pie was in the oven, my father entered the kitchen, taking off his robes of state at the door.

"Neri, darling, how was AT?" he hugged me.

"It was okay. A cute boy spoke to me at mealtime." I told him, smiling slightly. I tried to hide my disgust for Garek, to keep up the act.

"A...a boy?" my father stammered. "You...you called him...cute..."

I smiled, for real this time, as I watched my father struggle with this revelation. 

When I thought he had had enough torment, I threw a knife, making it stick in the thick wooden slab on the kitchen wall. It was something we often did, another of our practice sessions, during our kitchen times together. I was definitely the better thrower, and I held it over Father's head every single time. 

I grinned at him. "Don't worry. Anything wrong happens to me, that," I gestured to the wall, "will happen to him." 

Father looked relieved, and proud. "I know. Why would I ever doubt you?"

For a second, I faltered, but then I handed him another knife as I pulled mine out of the wall.

"Come on. Supper will not make itself."

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That night, I couldn't sleep.

My cheek was numbed by the ice-balm, but I kept touching it, thinking about everything that had happened that day.

"It's the EG that is evil!" Daniel had said. "There was once freedom and equality in the galaxy!"

It echoed, again and again, in my head. Pounding on the barrier I put up against it. Why should I believe him?

The barrier was uncertain and weak. I hadn't the resolve to keep it at bay. The words flooded my consciousness, making me think of nothing else. More questions than I could answer pounded in my skull. What did I believe? I remembered how methodically I had said those things to Daniel, after I found out he was a slave. Was that what I believed? That I was better than another person? If I did believe that, then why did I hate myself for saying that to him?

There was no way that I could sleep with all those uncertainties. I sighed in frustration and got up, wrapping my robe around me and walking out onto my balcony.

The fourth moon was shining brightly in the sky,making a vertical line with the other three, perpendicular to the horizon. The moons were surrounded by constellations and galaxies, which I now gazed at with longing. Ever since I was little, I had begged my father to take me with him to the stars, to see the universe. 

That dream had never faded. 

All those worlds were out there, waiting for me.

I wanted to see them all.

EG...evil...there was...freedom...Daniel's words kept echoing in my head. They wouldn't stop...

Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. I swept through my door, put on my softest slippers, and slipped down the hallway and down the stairs. It was too noisy to take the elevator, and nobody took them anymore except for me. Silently, I crept past the squeaky spots, which I had memorized by heart, going down, floor after floor.

My destination: Father's study.

It was time to learn the truth.