Red watched Ember walk away. Her shoulders were hunched with her fists tightened at her sides. She was tense and there was no hiding it. Based on what he knew she had every right to be. To most in here, she was the enemy. Hell, he considered her just that until 5 minutes ago. There would be no explaining that she had switched sides to the mob he knew would ensue as soon as her true identity was revealed.
She was a tiny person in a sea of people that towered over her.
The rest of the prisoners gave way readily, no one bothered to challenge her although several whispered and watched, even casting a few glances their way. The buzz in the room rose as she departed and he couldn't only imagine the rumors that were flying.
He kept staring long after she'd gone outside and Dag elbowed him, nudging him several times before he finally responded. He turned and caught Dag's glare.
"What?" Red lifted his hands in the air, what did I do?
"Don't be angry with her," Dag warned. He gathered up the trays and bowls and pushed them at Red.
"I'm not," Red protested. "I want her help."
"Seriously," Dag said getting up. "Think about what you say then, if she doesn't want to reveal her identity, probably means that she's a daughter of someone pretty high up."
"I got that much," Red muttered. He grabbed the trays. "How do we convince her to be on our side?"
"Start caring whether she lives or dies," Dag snapped. "And that's just for starters. We all live together or we die, out here there is no such thing as a Neo-Tokyan in here. Not anymore. We're all trash here. Your dislike is as clear as water." Dag paused. "And we need to find her a ship. A Vesper is the only thing that will get through a blockade unscathed."
Red only nodded, he was only half paying attention now, deep in thought. He scooped up the trays. He heard Ember's words again. I'm being punished.
Punished for what? What the hell did she do for them to cast one of their own in here? His curiosity was piqued. He'd find out...
The truth was they were all dead here anyway. It was a slow death, but death all the same.
"I've learned Captain that as long as there is life in someone there is always hope for a changed mind."
"Not all people change, Lars."
"You did, Sir."
Lars's voice floated out of the past as he followed Dag.
"This isn't the same Lars," he muttered. "I don't need to change my mind, just get out of here."
"You took a while because you were very stubborn, Sir."
Red rolled his eyes at the memory and yet he knew Lars wasn't wrong. It had taken him some time to get used to having an AI as his second in command. Many of his crew did not like the idea of taking orders from a machine. But Lars offered to train Red to fight against machines if it became a necessity and he'd won the crew over just as quickly.
Not that any of that had helped Lars in the end. His loyalty had been his undoing as far as Red was concerned. Both of them gave too much.
Red pushed the past away. He hated the intrusion. He hated the flashbacks. But mostly he hated the way it cut through him after he thought he was over it. The barbs still struck home in a way that made him feel sick on the inside, a thorn that would never be removed and never completely healed.
Dag headed towards the doors and after leaving the dishes on the counter Red followed him out. it was somebody else's day to do dishes. The inmates learned the hard way that unless they took care of themselves, no one would.
Red suddenly laughed at Dag as he caught up to him. "Hinging it all on one girl, aren't you?" He felt his own mind moving over the possibilities. They were Augs. Augmented humans, in a mechanical prison designed to keep them in place. It shouldn't have been a problem to get out for them.
And yet they'd grown up in a world where you could interface with almost everything. The world was at your fingertips, literally behind your eyelids and then...
They'd pulled the plug.
This place had nothing they were used to... It wasn't exactly stone age technology but to most of them, it might as well have been. There was nothing for him to hack into, and he had no extra-physical abilities for scaling the walls...
The prison seemed more mental than physical. He mulled that over with his mind. Sometimes the worst barriers were in your head, the worst enemy standing in your way: Yourself...
He moved through the doors and felt the heat hit him. He should be able to feel this anytime he wanted, or move away from it anytime he didn't want to...
Or drift through the black of deep space just to see what was on that black horizon.
And just like that, the old anger returned. His fists tightened. He paused and let Dag get ahead of him as he took a deep breath. Ember hadn't put him in here herself, she had probably been pulled in and "disposed of" in the same manner that he had.
He closed his eyes remembering the man who'd taken such pleasure in his disposal.
"This is the best part..." that voice in his mind, harsh, arrogant, as Red lay on the ground, in pain, half of his systems down...not fully understanding what was happening. Lars was simply gone.
He shook his head before the memory could wrap him fully in its embrace. He'd often dreamed about that moment but he needed to step out of the past if he wanted to get out of here.
Humanity had carried their prejudices with them out into space. And just when they got over their old ones, they invented new ones.
They just had to find something to hate, he mused. Hatred was more of a unifying concept than love. It was far easier to grasp than loving your enemies. What was that from? Some verse? He couldn't remember, Lars would have told him if he'd asked. Lars had employed the same concept in the past. It's how he'd won over the crew of the Aphelion.
And Red.
That or they were just amused at an AI extolling the virtues of owning a cat, a luxury few people took the time for these days.
Red's gaze moved across the prison yard and settled on Ember speaking to both Dag and T. The little boy's name was Tristin and his crime was simply having a mechanical spine. It tore at Red to no end that the boy had no chance among "pure" humans.
Because of the newest propaganda that said augs were to be feared. They could be programmed to do the worst at any time. There would be no stopping if augments suddenly rose up and went on a mass killing spree. He chuckled at the thought of T even being capable of such a thing. He was small for his age and his spine was visibly curved to the side.
Red was sure that the spinal adjustments T had were never going to be an issue in life. No one was going to be able to program them with a virus. It was simply the wrong technology.
But the Purge had been merciless.
Again he wondered how so many people could turn over their own family members. He'd never known his own parents so he'd had nothing to go on... He'd had the military academy where he'd shown so much promise they'd signed him up for officer candidate school and special augmentation. For a while that had worked for him, his family was all around him, moving through the ranks, all with one goal in mind. To serve Neo-Tokyo.
He walked over to where he could hear T excitedly explaining to Ember that his parents would eventually get him out. He was eight and pretty much doomed to die a slow death when his body outgrew his spine.
"Hey," Red approached. He wasn't sure what to say when an idea popped into his head. His brow furrowed. He couldn't believe he hadn't thought of it before. "Can you broadcast?"
"I can..." Ember crossed her arms. She hadn't forgiven him for his earlier behavior.
"You can have my breakfast for a month! Everyday!" Dag looked down at Ember with something that resembled hope and resignation. He'd caught onto Red's plan immediately. If Ember had received a message could she send one back as well? "Especially if there's a satellite out there."
"Dag has family that he hasn't seen in a while," Red said in a lowered voice. He stopped short of finishing with "Because of Neo-Tokyo." It was implied however as he struggled to keep his emotions off of his face.
It didn't work.
"Look I'm sorry for whatever you went through," Ember said, "But I'll do whatever I can to help you escape. I swear it."
Red only nodded. He still wasn't even sure they had a shot at escape. "It's kind of a long shot... We've been here for seven years," he replied indicating himself and Dag.
"Seven?" She chanced a glance over at T who was watching the whole exchange.
"Seven years with this guy," Dag confirmed. "So if you can figure out why *I'd* be desperate for escape..." He winked at her.
Red gave an exasperated sigh this time. But he was grateful at the same time. Dag had managed to keep his cheery disposition through the years, no matter what. He always looked for a silver lining, even in the darkest of places. Even if he didn't see his family in this life, he'd told Red repeatedly, they would in the hereafter. Red always scoffed at this but secretly wondered what it felt like to have that kind of surety.
He sure didn't.
"Look, I'm sorry," Red ran a hand through his hair and stared at the ground for a moment.
Ember nodded, her expression went front guarded to surprise. "Ok," she said finally. "I'm going to head up, now..." She turned and walked away, turning back to look at them once before she climbed to the top of the bleachers.
Red watched her go, his head cocked to the side.
Dag held a hand out when T started to follow. "Give our new friend a minute, T?" He nodded over to Red. "Why don't you go make nice?"
"Why?"
"Because you are the one with the problem."
"What?"
Dag ruffled T's blonde hair as he waited. Dag's silence spoke louder than his words on occasion. He didn't berate Red into a corner but sometimes he would let Red come to his own conclusion by simply not saying a word.
Red rolled his eyes and started climbing to join Ember leaving Dag and T behind. The boy had let out a disappointed sigh. Red wished he'd thought to argue about him coming. T could break the ice way better than Red was capable of. I can make nice, he told himself. He would have to.
She stood up at the top, her head cocked to the side. He knew instantly she was listening to any signals that were passing through. For a moment an intense jealousy bit at him. It had been years since he'd heard anything on the outside world. He simply did not have the capabilities or the right augments. He'd needed to be connected to the Aphelion to amplify his own signal and for that he needed an interface. His fingers itched to touch one again, reach out and see across the net, transcend the cosmos.
His augments flared for a couple of seconds he could see Ember's inner being at work. It was amazing that she had that much hardware and was still so...
...human.
Completely the opposite of what they were supposed to be.
He sat next to her and simply watched, the way her hair floated around her head as the wind caught it. The way she kept tucking her hair behind her ear as it moved out of place. In no way was she threatening and yet a scan of her told him she could tear him apart if she had to. Her augments were extensive, hardly civilian and he had to keep telling himself that she was military grade just like he was.
She interrupted his observation by turning to him. "What do I say?" She whispered. "They are trying to reach you. And Dag."
"They?"
"It's a satellite, a signal being bounced to it and then broadcast here...I mean I could send one back, but...it could take some time for them to receive it and respond..."
"How much time?"
She stared at him, "I'm not even sure where it's coming from. There's no way for me to know that." Her expression told him he should have known that.
He ran a hand over his face, scrubbing away at his discomfort as the thought about the question.
"How about, Red here, find us a Vesper ship?"
Her eyes widened as she stared at him. "Seriously?"
"Dag too?" Red thought a moment. That meant possibly his family had made it to New Elysium. Red remembered Dag's family, his wife was named Leah and his son was named Desmond, affectionately known as Dex. Dex would be a teenager now. "It means they haven't left us for dead."
"What makes you think there will be a ship?"
"There will be a ship," Red muttered. "They're fanatics...which means they are stupid."
"Wishful thinking." She looked down at her hands and then up at him again, letting her hair blow around her face, this time without tucking it behind her ear. Red fought the urge to do it himself. He knew that would not be welcome. "Although, this place is a junk heap, there are literally thousands of old vessels just sitting out there."
"I know," he replied cracking a grin at her words. "Which is why I'm hoping..."
"You are hoping against hope."
"Yeah well, I have no idea what's outside this prison, I was unconscious when they brought me here. For whatever reason...they didn't shave me down... Make me unrecognizable..."
"You have a big name?" She finally tucked her hair behind her ear, and Red sighed with relief not quite believing his own urge to reach out to her.
"No..." That wasn't entirely true. But if she didn't know who he was, then there was no need to know. He'd committed quite a few thefts after changing his identity to get the things they needed for New Elysium. Not that he'd gotten to see it happen... But if there was a satellite out there... And Ember, a Neo-Tokyan had heard it...
He hesitated. He didn't trust her... She could be a spy, who else would they send in here with a deathwish? She like, him, remained mostly intact, while others vanished, supposedly they'd died. He wasn't sure whether to believe it or not... None of them ever came back.
She waited, staring at him for some kind of answer. He wasn't being fair to her. While Red wasn't going to pretend that escape wasn't his main motivation for talking to her he was liking her more and more by the second. Probably because like himself she'd been stripped of her authority as a Vesper and set aside as trash when at one time she protected the very same people who threw her out.
Like him, he could understand her hesitation to trust anybody with her identity.
And like him, she wasn't taking shit from anyone, including him.
He sighed, "I may have stolen a few things..."
"If you are high enough, high value enough, they'll keep you the same to show you off... Red, who were you before?"
"A dead man," he looked away. "I changed my identity..."
"But there are so many ways to detect--"
"I hacked my way into the server and changed my dna readings, my tags, anything registered to Capt--" He hesitated.
"A captain?" She studied him. "It would make sense if they knew." Her lilt sounded more musical now and less grating. It helped that her attitude resembled nothing of the Neo-Tokyans he'd encountered in the service. The ones who expected you to kiss their ass because they owned everything you walked on, including you.
"They don't know...at least, not that part. I stole a few things and got caught." Getting caught had not been his proudest moment and he didn't want to go into it with her. Not here, not now...
Not ever...
"How did you get caught?" She asked anyway.
He stared for a moment... "Trade is it? I'll tell you mine... If you'll tell me yours."
Her lips thinned and she shook her head, but a ghost of a smile crossed her lips. She sank down to the seat and closed her eyes drawing her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around it.
He had nothing better to do, so he sat down and waited with her, watching the sun move across the sky. It wasn't the original Sol that every human knew as "the sun," but humanity had grown up calling every start that lit up their world "The sun."
It didn't matter what planet they were on.
This one happened to be called Saiph, which sounded neither as poetic or normal as "Old Sol" the sun on a world humanity had left behind, supposedly in darkness.
Ember watched the sky and Red stole occasional glances at her as he traced Saiph's path. The heat was searing, which meant they were alone, and would be hot, sweaty, and exhausted when they climbed down.
She sat in silence most of the day staring at the sky, head half-cocked, "listening" although Red knew she was also broadcasting. Her range would be impressive, and if they hadn't caught the satellite yet there was a good chance she could send a signal back undetected.
It was a companionable silence, he liked it and he could study her while she was looking up. Her brown hair was lighter and only went to her shoulders. It was tangled at the moment, but she kept running a hand through it and pulling in front of her face.
He had the same habit with his own. He hid half of his face behind it, pulling it forward to cover his eye when he was agitated.
He studied the shifts of the guards all day, there wasn't much to see; they moved around at different hours staying indoors ontop of the walls. They could see into the inmates though. Rats in a cage, an experiment gone horribly wrong.
"You know there is a gap," he said, suddenly. "They are getting lazy."
"A gap?" Ember's eyes focused on him. "In the guards?"
"Yeah, they aren't even pretending we're a threat. No discipline, a few of us could take them out."
"WE aren't all military trained though," Ember pointed out.
He noticed her use the term "we" and for a moment it sliced into him as he mentally battled with himself. There was no "we" here, she was Neo-Tokyan, they'd escape and then... He decided to ignore that for once.
"There's a few..." Red was lost in thought. A plan was taking shape in his mind. He was lacking something. Mechanical machines worked through basic levers and pulleys. Old school, ancient technology. Basic electricity for lights and heating, but nothing you could hack. Not even cameras to see the inmates. Just gears, knobs, and springs. A clockwork prison.
The design looked foolproof but Red realized there was always a way. Human error always caused something to blow up. Everything tended toward chaos in the end, you grew old and you died. There was no rhyme or reason for it, it just was.
Gaps from initial installation, humans were faulty, there had to be a flaw in this place by design.
"My systems in decline, embracing entropy..." he hummed in a low tone as he pondered the mechanics. A break down of this system would start somewhere, it would be small...but it would start...
"What was that?" She snapped him out of his thoughts with a whisper. Her eyes were curious.
"Just an old song," he replied before turning back to study the walls.
It had never been designed for someone like Ember. Technically those like her were dead. They just needed a response for Ember; a way off world. Hell, he could probably wire her into any ship given enough time, but time was against them. Against her, mostly. If she died, he'd still be here.
But she wouldn't. A small voice whispered in his ear. What if death is the only way out? He pushed that thought away, he wasn't ready to concede. Not yet.
He switched his gaze towards the bottom of the bleachers and watched as Dag chatted away with T. His hand fidgeted at his sides as they slipped back into silence again.
The shadows grew longer.
"It's done." Ember sagged in her seat. She looked exhausted. Red realized she must have been pushing the signal as much as she could. Bags were starting to appear under her eyes, and she looked strained. Sweat poured off of her as it did him.
She started to stand, and then sat again quickly, Red held a hand out to her as she half fell.
"You ok?" He asked holding his arms out. He noted, that she looked pale, even for a spacer. Dag hadn't been kidding about her going downhill fast. Even he could see it now.
"I'm fine," She snapped and pushed his hands away. "Don't pretend to care now Red, it was starting to get fun."
He dropped both of his hands, sensing some truth in her words. She wasn't as ignorant of him as he'd liked to think. Part of him was glad, another part of him was ashamed.
"Hey, a good friend of mine said we all get out of here or no one does." Red countered quietly thanking Dag for his sage advice. It was either the best advice or the worst pickup line ever. "What now?"
"Now, we wait for a reply," Ember said. She stood up slowly this time and Red reached out and took her hand firmly in his. If she protested this time, he would simply sweep her up in his arms and carry her down. She probably weighed nothing in this state.
But this time she accepted Red's hand and stared at it and then looked up at his face for a moment.
"What is it?" He asked. His hand tingled where he gripped hers. Her whole body was tense and he wondered if she felt the same...
Same? What? Nervousness? Dislike? Stop being an idiot, Red.
"I'm just throwing my lot in with total strangers," she looked up at him again. "Guess we wait and see if I'm right." She stumbled a bit as she moved and Red was alarmed at how weak she felt. She had really been pushing herself for them.
"And now we wait," he agreed mentally calculating how long she had. His grip tightened on her hand as they climbed down. She looked more bone-tired and exhausted than when she climbed up a few hours ago.
How long would she last? He walked her down never letting go until they reached the bottom. Dag gave a start when he saw them and Red laughed inwardly before releasing Ember's hand.
Did I play nice enough Dag?