Intergalactic Affairs [FINAL CHAPTER OUT NOW!!]

Dreaming

"They're coming! Michelle, you need to get away, or else they'll take you too!"

"I can't leave you!"

"Go! Run, run away, run far!"

Gunshots. The door burst open, and Michelle couldn't go anywhere. Her mother shoved her into a cupboard under the kitchen counter.

"Please, we haven't done anything. Please, no!"

More gunshots. Screaming. Heavy footsteps. Running.

Michelle stared through the crack between the door and the edge of the cupboard at the lifeless body of her mom laying on the metal floor. A death-ray was on the floor beside her.

Michelle reached for the gun.

There was a man in front of her. They were in the hallway. She pulled the trigger. More men came, and she just kept pulling the trigger, kept firing until they all lay like her mother.

She was back in the cupboard, shaking and crying. Her parents... The men... She had to leave, but she was stuck. She couldn't move. She had to get away, to run, to blot the memory from her mind, but she was stuck in the metal cabinet, suffocating, choking on tears, unable to breathe, dying, just like the men, just like her mom.

Michelle woke in a cold sweat. She hadn't had that dream in years. It was 23:00, too late to get dinner, but Michelle couldn't go back to sleep. She was terrified that more dreams would haunt her if she slept, and now her brain was too busy analyzing and reasoning to let her fall asleep anyway. Instead, she sat on her bed and thought about her mission tomorrow. Anything to get her mind off of the dream.

As she remembered the training, her thoughts snagged on one memory: the abandoned corridor. Michelle needed to see the hallway again. At this point, she couldn't be sure that it wasn't something she'd dreamed up. Of course, she'd be in so much trouble if she was caught. It was bad enough that the corridor was restricted, but she was also out of bed, and had an important mission in the morning. But Michelle had to see it again. She had to investigate and answer questions. She got up quickly.

Lights out was at 22:00, so she couldn't turn a light on, but she did have the port-light that was in the sleeve of the uniform she still wore. It was meant to be for power outages, which were rare but intense. Michelle switched it on, and was nearly blinded by the light reflecting off of the metal walls in her room. The hallway walls were also made of metal, which was as much for the light reflecting quality as for safety, though they were coated in dust from the plaster ceiling as well as smudges from years of trainees doing stars knew what. They didn't do too much to amplify the small glow of her port-light, but it illuminated a few yards down the hall.

Michelle closed her bunk door behind her as she slipped out of the room and down the hallway. She could easily remember the path she'd taken. In the dark, she took a few wrong turns, but eventually found herself in the top secret hallway she'd seen earlier that day. She shone her light on the dusty doors. The print was fading on some of them, but still readable. All of the labels were things that would've been used in a war base, not a normal training base. She entered the room marked Galactic Strategies. She wasn't really surprised that the door was unlocked, but she was surprised when she heard a gasp as she entered the room. She shined her light into the space, taking in the large table, and the numerous e-screens, before her eyes finally came to rest on a boy. Nikolas.

He was staring at her with just as much surprise as she felt. In that moment, however fleeting, their argument was forgotten.

"Michelle. Wh-what are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question."

"But, how did you find this place? I thought it was totally secret..."

"Probably the same way you did. I was wandering around, and I found it. Why are you out of bed?"

"What are you, the security guard?"

She rolled her eyes. "There aren't any security guards, idiot." The banter was normal, but their words held more of an edge than usual.

"I couldn't sleep, that's all. What about you?"

"Same. I..." She took a deep breath. "I had a dream." The concern in his eyes was instant, surpassing even the wariness that was apparent. She was grateful that he cared more for her than his ego. Most boys Michelle had met would hold a grudge for a very, very long time no matter what the circumstances. "I don't want to talk about it, though." She looked around the room. "What is this place?"

"I'm not sure. I found it a while ago, and it's where I go when I need space, or I need to think. I tried to ask my dad once, but he got all defensive and wouldn't talk about it."

"I saw him today, your dad."

Nikolas raised an eyebrow.

She sighed. "I'm going on a secret mission to the enemy base. They want me to gather info so that they can kill them more effectively." She made a face. "I won't be able to do it. I hope you know that. I can't just let them kill people for no reason. I mean, even if it would win the war, there has to be a better way. I don't want to be an instrument of destruction." Her breath hiccuped, and she sat down in the hard metal chair beside Nikolas.

"I just want this to be over. I should never have joined this stupid school. I was heartbroken and desperate. I was reckless, and now look where I am. Not everyone in that other camp is like those men who came all those years ago. I guarantee most of them probably don't even want to be there, but I still have to kill them because they might be fighting for a reason."

Nikolas put his arm around her shoulder, awkwardly pulling her against his body. She leaned against him and fought back yet more tears.

"It'll be okay. You could...give them false information? We could make up a bunch of lies to tell them. When do you leave?"

"At 07:00. There's no time to do anything about it. I have to go." The sentence ended in a sort of anguished moan.

"You have to go, okay, but you don't have to tell them everything you learn. Stars know they don't tell us everything."

Michelle sat bolt upright. "This hallway!"

Nikolas looked at her like she was insane. "What?"

"This hall shouldn't be here. It would only really be here if this was a military operations base, not a training facility. And why is it abandoned? I'm willing to bet the operators of this base have more secrets than we thought."

"My dad's one of the operators of the base," Nikolas volunteered hesitantly.

"I can ask him in the morning, though I doubt he'll willingly tell us anything... I wonder if this has anything to do with my mission. If I can find out more about the base, maybe I can stop the war before anyone else dies."

"I hope you can, Michelle, but you're just one person."

"And one person can't change everything?" she challenged.

"Well, they can, but it takes so much work. You have, what, seven and a half hours until you leave? You need to sleep."

"I can't." She sounded like a whiny child, but she didn't care. She couldn't go back to her room and sleep. She would dream.

"Please, Michelle. Listen to music while you fall asleep. It'll take your mind off of your dream."

She blinked. "I haven't got any music on my port-comm."

"I'll send you some of mine, okay. Just go back to your bunk."

Michelle sighed. "Fine."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in her bunk, she lay on her bed, the light in her sleeve extinguished, waiting for Nikolas to send her the music files. Her port-comm pinged softly, and she downloaded the songs, then pressed play. She fell asleep to the sounds of old forests and streams that blended into a beautiful melody.