HAWK

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: TRAUMA (5/6)

Kas stared out of the window, watching the world pass by in a depressing blur. She felt very tired all of a sudden, but she couldn't think why.

How long have we been driving for, anyway...?

'You know,' said a voice, 'you still haven't said thank you.'

Kas turned away from the window and met Astell's stare across the cabin of his Kamari. 'Thank you, lieutenant.'

'You're welcome. And it's flight lieutenant if you insist on calling me that. I'm not in the army, you know.'

'You're a cap. That puts you in the GFA. What did you think the 'A' stood for?'

'You've just got a smart answer for everything, don't you?'

'Might seem smart to you. This is just how I talk.'

Kas spoke without thinking, the words pouring from her mouth seemingly by themselves. She shook her head to try and rid herself of her fatigue. This wasn't like her.

'So what's this lead you've got on Selva?' Astell asked.

'What do you care? You don't believe me anyway.'

'Of course I do. Besides, you said you'd tell me if I got you out. Promised, actually.'

Kas looked back out the window and saw two middle-aged women fighting on the pavement. It seemed familiar to her, but the car sped past before Kas could figure out why. She was left gazing at her own reflection. 'I picked up some kind of transmission at the site of Selva's destruction. A signal.'

'What kind of signal?'

'I don't know, it's just raw data at the moment. I've got a friend who's working on analysing it, but it's got something to do with what happened to Selva. I know it does.'

'You think someone destroyed Selva with a transmission?'

'Why not?' she shrugged. 'Anything's possible.'

'Yeah, well... it sounds dumb to me.'

Kas opened her mouth to respond, but something gave her pause. A little yellow light had appeared outside the window, flying beside the car like it was chasing her. She tilted her head and squinted at it.

'What's that?' she whispered. The little yellow light came closer to the glass. Kas realised it was a firefly. It seemed familiar to her somehow, but she couldn't quite place it.

'Hello,' the firefly said. Although it was outside the car, Kas could hear it very clearly.

'Uh... hello,' she replied.

'You shouldn't be here. You need to leave.'

'I do?'

'Yeah, well... it sounds dumb to me,' Astell said randomly.

Kas turned back to look at him. 'What did you say?'

'You think someone destroyed Selva with a transmission?'

'You just asked me that...' Astell was looking at her with a blank stare.

'What kind of signal?' he asked.

'I don't--' But Kas stopped herself when the firefly appeared right in front of Astell's face. Strangely, he didn't seem to even notice it.

'You need to leave,' the firefly said.

'What do you mean?' Kas asked.

'Leave.'

'You said you'd tell me,' Astell continued. 'Promised, actually.'

Kas looked from Astell to the firefly and back again. She studied his flawless complexion, his perfect, wavy blonde hair... and beneath the beauty she sensed darkness.

'This isn't real...' she said.

'So what's this lead you've got on Selva?'

'This isn't real...'

'You've just got a smart answer for everything, don't you?'

The firefly was floating straight towards her now. She couldn't look away from it; it had her in a trance.

'This isn't real...' she whispered.

Astell's face was void of any thought or emotion or intelligence. Suddenly everything began to fade. Everything but the firefly, which only grew larger and brighter. It became so bright, Kas couldn't see anything at all but the consuming yellow light, though it didn't hurt her eyes. It began shrinking, only now it was a circle contracting in her peripherals. Soon it was nothing but a small white loop in the centre of her vision, hovering just out of reach.

Kas blinked once, and it was gone.