The 10th Circle - Abyss [Complete]

9. Engram: Tribulations (2)

The music was loud, rich in bass and drums, and heterodyned electronic sounds that barred any verbal description. It was nothing like the kind of music I liked to listen to when I was on my own. But I didn't care about the genre, the artist or the time of creation - whether or not music was able to capture me had much more to do with how it made me feel. The kind of music they played in the hangar was supposed to make you want to dance, and it succeeded at that quite well. By now, the hangar had filled considerably and the dance floor was densely populated. It didn't matter whether you could dance or not, because everyone was just moving as one, big, messy collective.

The glowing baubles floating above our heads seemed to be dancing too and changed their colors with the rhythm of the music, and with every step, the illusionary pool beneath our feet quivered and trembled in its glow. The music had become a liquid that filled my veins and coursed through my body, a fuel that drove my heart to pound in synchrony with the beat, while the heavy bass reverberated through every fiber of my body with every jump, twirl, and sway of my hips. I threw back my head and basked in the rainbow glow of the lights. I reveled in the feeling of absolute, blissful ignorance of anything around me but the sound. Until I could feel a hand on my arm, and was snapped back to reality.

"You dance pretty well for someone who's sober," Moon commented. She had to yell over the music.

"I thought I might have to get you drunk before you dance, but it seems I misjudged you... and your abilities."

"You expected me to move better when I'm intoxicated?" I asked.

She cracked a grin. "If all these years at the academy have taught me something, it's that dancing is one of the two things that get much better when you're just a little bit tipsy... and much worse when you overdo it."

"Ah. I bet the founders would be delighted to know that their honorable institution has served its educative purpose," I replied drily.

"...I could do with a break, though. And a drink."

"You know... for a top partygoer, you seem a tad bit lacking in the stamina department, don't you think?"

She stuck out her tongue at me in response, but grinned as she did so. We maneuvered through the crowd and away from the dancefloor, where it was easier to talk and catch one's breath. Moon seemed about to say something when all of a sudden, her gaze darted past me and her expression turned blank.

"Hey, uhm... do you mind if I leave you alone for a second?" she asked, sounding absent minded.

I turned to the direction she was looking in, but I couldn't spot anybody I knew, and bit back a comment about her supposed mystery crush.

"I.... I'm fine, go ahead," I replied, somewhat hesitantly.

"Awesome. Okay, I'll find you later...Oh, and Sky? Carpe noctem!"

She winked at me and then dashed off to find whomever it was she had spotted.

Feeling somewhat lost, I wandered around the hangar aimlessly, wondering what to do now. There were a couple of people around that I knew, from my cohort or from the dorm, but I felt awkward at the thought of just barging in on their conversations.

Finally, I found myself a spot on a pile of pallets that had been covered with pillows to turn it into a makeshift couch. It was only as I sank down on it with a heavy sigh that I realized how long I had been dancing. I bent down to massage my ankles, and I wondered how I would survive the rest of the night wearing those damned shoes.

"I don't think I've ever seen you in the hangar before."

As I straightened up again and turned to the side, I found myself face to face with the mohawk-wearing Talos guy from before. Bones, I recalled his name. He seemed to have appeared on the couch next to me out of thin air, except that that figure of speech seemed highly inappropriate, considering the air around him was so heavy with the scent of alcohol that I began to feel tipsy just breathing next to him.