Chương 72: Chapter 34: One More Time

Flint brought the ship slowly above the trees as I scrambled forward, getting into the cockpit with him and settling into the side seat just before he reached for a large throttle and started to push it forward. The world outside was dark, but the massive blue headlights illuminated more than enough of the landscape ahead of us to see where we were going.

The transporter shook as we gained speed, giving me a good reminder of how I'd felt last time I took off from Earth as I reached to my side, holding the handle on the side of the seat, appreciating that I wasn't just getting tossed around in the cabin like last time. Leaving Earth for the second time felt incredibly strange.

The first time I had no intention of going back, but just like before, I was filled with hope for what was ahead of me, but instead of throwing myself into the unknown, I felt like I had direction. Although Artemis wouldn't tell me what it was that I was supposed to do, I felt like he was telling the truth. He seemed to want to help me, even though his help felt counterintuitive at times, I knew if he wanted to hurt me, he could have done so at just about any time.

He was on the melodian's side, despite his methods feeling obtuse at times.

"You left this place?" Flint asked as we started climbing into the upper parts of the atmosphere, climbing above some small clouds, giving us a view of the black horizon ahead of us and the cities below us. I knew the question was rhetorical, but I had an answer for him.

"I guess I didn't know what I had until I lost it" I said. The engines cut off, causing the cabin to go nearly silent as the air outside continued to thin out. I was once again weightless, feeling myself starting to float up from my chair before I grabbed and pulled on the handles to hold myself down. Flint and I watched as the atmosphere cleared from above us as the horizon started to light up with a deep red hue.

"It's so much nicer without the rotation," Flint said quietly.

"I wish you could have stayed a bit longer so we could see it from the ground" I said. He nodded, looking over to me for a moment before looking back as the sun peaked through the atmosphere.

"Soon" he said as he reached out, grabbing my hand, "I'll see it soon." The engines roared to life once more, pushing us further forward for a few seconds before they cut off once more. Flint let go of my hand, moving forward in the cockpit to look up through the windows.

"Hey Flint?" I asked, moving up next to him.

"What's up?" he asked as his eyes stayed on the sunrise.

"You know what the plan is, right?" I asked.

"I do" he said.

"So… You said you can't tell me the details. Is there anything you can say?" I asked. He sighed, taking his eyes off the sunrise for a moment to look at me.

"I'm sorry but it won't work if I tell you" he said. I shook my head.

"I'm sorry but how does that make any sense? Isn't the point of a plan to… You know… Plan?" I asked. He turned back the sunrise, his ears folding back.

"I want to tell you but it's… complicated. You'll do great. Just do what he says, it'll all make sense by the end of it" he said.

"So Artemis will ask me to do something?" I asked, trying to think of whatever he might have planned. Flint sighed as he turned himself toward me, giving me his full attention.

"Tess, when we get on board, you're going to go where Artemis tells you to go" he said, "Don't ask questions, don't stray from the path. He's set everything up for you already. Once he's done showing you what he needs to show you, you'll know what to do."

"Wait" I asked, tilting my head, "You're not joining me?" He shook his head, "Not at first, but we'll meet up later, I promise."

"What are you gonna be doing?" I asked. He crossed his arms, looking a little annoyed.

"Ah right, secrets. Got it" I said. Our ship started rotating gradually upward, taking away our view of the sky as we rotated around, flipping us until we were nearly upside down compared to earth and giving us a view of the lifeboats. They were orbiting behind us, but they seemed to be approaching rather quickly.

"Oh right, before I forget" Flint said as he gestured toward the cabin door, "He gave me your old clothes. He figured you should wear those on the ship." It took me a moment to remember that when I first arrived on the lifeboats I'd left my clothes behind in the little closet at the forward part of the cabin. It made sense that Artemis took them at some point and stored them somewhere.

"Why would I wear those?" I asked.

"So you stand out" he said, gesturing to the door again.

"Why would I want to…" I started to ask as he reached forward, pushing my weightless body toward the door.

"Just do it! Ugh!" he said, his smile betraying his faux frustration. It took a moment to awkwardly pull myself through the door and out into the cabin. The feeling I had felt strange. I had no idea what I was supposed to do, or what the plan was, nor did I have any sense of what danger I could be putting myself in. But at the same time, I was tired of running, I was tired of not knowing what would happen next and I was tired of feeling like an outcast.

Like Artemis had said, even if I failed, I could at least know that I did my best. I couldn't stand the thought of staying home, watching the lifeboats leave earth and feeling like I could have helped. I'd live the rest of my life knowing that the melodians were doomed to be slaves, potentially forever. Although I'd be safe, I wouldn't want to live that life. The melodians deserved better than that.

I pulled the closet door open to find the drawer I'd given Flint floating inside it with all the mp3 players scattered around the little room. My clothes were sitting on the far wall, held down by some sort of velcro-like strip. Carefully, I reached inside, not wanting to cause the mp3 players to fly out into the main cabin area. After a few minutes, I had changed into my old clothes, the ones I had with me when I initially left earth.

My jeans fit just right, my big green t-shirt with the blue sweatshirt over it felt almost nostalgic. Since arriving on the lifeboats I'd only worn the clothes they had on the ship. It was nice with how it formed to my body, but I'd grown up my entire life with fairly loose fitting cotton and the feeling of being back in it made me feel like I was myself again. I closed the door to the little closet as I was met with a warped reflection of myself in the metallic panel of the door.

With a sigh I looked into my own eyes. Seeing the old clothes on me felt strange. It was like seeing the old version of myself. The version of me that felt overwhelmed at the idea of a simple conversation, the version of me that never left my safe place and sat idly by while the world continued on without me. I decided a long time ago to leave that bubble. I had no idea what was lying ahead of me and so many times I wished I could go back and do it all over again.

I had wanted so badly to have chosen to continue living in that safe bubble I'd been raised in. Yet in that moment, it all felt so different. I was happier living the life I chose to live, rather than the one that was chosen for me. It forced me to grow as a person, to forge my own path, and to believe in myself. To the melodians on the ship, the assembler was their bubble, into which they were being forced further into until their choices would be taken away from them.

It was possible they'd like it, but it was an empty life. They deserved better. In a way, they were a lot like the old version of myself. But after everything I'd seen, after everything I'd done, I never wanted to go back to that life and I was sure they'd feel the same way. I needed to save them, I needed to break them free of that bubble.

"I'm ready for this" I said quietly, "Whatever it is, I'm ready. I can do this." With a gentle push, I started making my way back to the front of the ship, pulling my way through the door to find Flint looking incredibly concerned.

"What's wrong?" I asked as I approached.

"It's… Too early… It wasn't supposed to start until later. Something's wrong" he said. I was about to ask him what he was talking about, but as I turned my gaze toward the windows I saw what he was concerned about. We were approaching Lifeboat eight, but to my surprise, the central ring was rotating along with the two large engines that were attached to it.

"Gravity games?" I asked.

"No, it's going the wrong way" he said. I didn't notice until he said it, but he was right. Rather than the central ring rotating in the direction that made it stop, it was rotating the other way, going faster than the rest of the ship.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Contingency plan" Flint said. Before I could ask him what he was talking about he reached for the controls, pushing us forward as we started rapidly closing the gap between us and the lifeboat.

"Remember!" he yelled out over the sound of the engines as he reversed them, slowing us down as we approached the slowly opening airlock ahead of us "Follow his instructions, he'll show you what to do. You can do this Tess!" A flash of regret hit me as I realized I had no idea what I was doing, but I shook my head. No, no, I can do this I said to myself as the ship flew through the airlock door, a loud hissing sound surrounding the ship for a few seconds before the next airlock opened.

"Go to the door, follow instructions" Flint said as we started moving off the central axis. I turned to leave, but a pair of arms wrapped around me just before leaving the cabin. He didn't say anything, just hugged me tightly around the chest for a moment before letting me go. I turned back to say something but he motioned for me to leave as he went back to the controls. There was the smallest hint of gravity in the cabin as I started making my way back toward the large entry door.

Through the window I could see several melodians standing near the entrance. Although I expected it, I was disheartened to see all of their eyes were glowing bright white. I'll put an end to that I thought to myself as the ship took a hard landing, nearly knocking me off my feet. As the door opened several mechara entered the hangar from the hallway, spreading out along the walls, each carrying a familiar looking flashlight in their hand.

"Stop there!" yelled out one of the mecharan guards as he lifted his flashlight, "You weren't authorized entrance into the lifeboat. The ship is on lockdown until further notice. Please follow me toward the…" The was cut off as one of the melodians turned, leaping toward him and grabbing the flashlight out of his hand.

"Gah! What are you doing?!" he yelled out as he tried to take it back from the melodian, his strength paling in comparison. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings. The other guards lifted their flashlights, but before they could turn them on, the melodians in the room each chose a target, jumping out toward the mechara guards and pulling the flashlights from them.

In unison, the melodians all threw the flashlights to the ground, shattering them on the ground and sending metal parts flying in all directions as the parts encountered little resistance in the nearly zero G environment. I stood at the doorway of the ship, watching the scene unfold in front of me and wondering if I was supposed to be doing anything. Before I could ask, the melodians all looked toward me and each raised up a hand, pointing out toward the exit.

Flint joined me, looking out at the scene ahead of us as the mechara were scrambling out the entrance, the melodians all ignoring them as they pointed toward the door.

"Go ahead, you don't have much time" Flint said as he pushed me forward. Although it had only been a few days, it felt strange to be back on the lifeboat.

"Right, right" I said as I started hopping forward, the low gravity making it hard to run normally.

"You're sure this will break?" I heard Flint ask from behind me. I turned to see he was looking up at the large wall opposite the airlock. I was concerned about what he was going to do, but I didn't have time, I had to follow Artemis's directions. Down the hall several mechara were running, a loud whining noise carrying through the ship as if it was emanating from the walls themselves as I heard alarms somewhere in the distance.

I moved down a familiar set of stairs, the ones Flint and I had taken to get up to the platform back when I'd left. Each step down bringing the odd sensation of me feeling a little heavier. At the bottom of the stairway another melodian waited for me, his hand pointing at a doorway leading out of the hall where I could see sunlight coming from the other side.

With the heavier gravity I was able to run properly as I ran out toward the exit, the loud whine of the ship getting louder as I exited the hallway to find a chaotic scene ahead of me. I was near the center of the ship still, looking out from the forest toward the rest of the ship. The central ring was spinning incredibly fast with the front of the ship looking like it had slowed down, looking like it had nearly matched the speed of the spinning earth through the large glass windows at the front of the ship.

Like Flint had said, the central ring was spinning the wrong way. The scent of burning oil filling the air. With the treeshrooms surrounding me, the loud whine of the massive ship spinning in a way that tested its very limits, the scent of the burning oil, the screams of the terrified mechara in the forward part of the ship, it all hit me like a brick wall. I'd seen it before. I was alone, scared, afraid, as I watched the central ring of Lifeboat seven burning, filling the air with smoke.

I remembered the figure flying out of the smoke, up toward the glass viewing platform in the center just before mecharan and melodian blood filled the chamber, splattering across the inner walls. A loud explosion rang through the air behind me, snapping me out of the memory as I turned to see the massive ring from the gravity games explode into several large pieces, falling out into the treeshroom forest in all directions.

I screamed as I ran for cover, jumping under a large treeshroom as the parts of the wall came tumbling down around me. I closed my eyes, a sense of panic running through me as I felt like I was suddenly over my head. I could have stayed home. I could have stayed safe. A hand grabbed my shoulder, firmly shaking me until I opened my eyes. It was a melodian, his eyes were white as he gave me a stern look and pointed down the hill where I saw another melodian looking up at me, her hand raised to grab my attention.

"Right, right" I said to him as I turned and continued down the hill as smaller pieces of debris were falling around me. The old me would have run away. The old me would have hidden. I wasn't the old me. I was there to do a job and nothing was going to stop me. With a deep breath I pushed my fears aside and continued down the hill toward the other melodian. As I made my way down I noticed melodians throughout the forest, getting more densely populated as I made my way down.

Near the central ring itself I could barely see any of the ground beneath the crowd of melodians that stretched across the entire circumference of the ship. They seemed to all be in the assembler. Looking forward, I only saw mechara on the front half of the ship. It was hard to see any individuals since they were so far away, but I didn't see any glowing eyes, they all seemed to be at the back half of the ship.

I didn't remember much from the destruction of Lifeboat seven, but I knew they hadn't segregated themselves like they were doing at that moment. Something was different. Artemis seemed to have a plan, I just didn't know what that plan could be. I reached the melodian who was standing at the top of a small cliff that was looking down over the ship, giving me a better view of the chaos below. The melodian looked at me for a moment, nodding her head as she stepped to the side, revealing a vent.

"Do… You want me to go down that?" I asked. She nodded, reaching forward and lifting the vent, opening on a hinge. I looked at it for a moment, feeling a little confused.

"But… There's no ladder" I said as I saw it had four straight metal walls.

"No no no!" I heard from somewhere on the other side of the hole "It's happening again, it's happening again!" I heard the mechara screaming. It was Nori. I'd never heard so much fear in her voice.

"Someone make it stop! Please!" she screamed. I leaned forward, listening as I looked down the hole when I suddenly felt a hand grab the back of my shirt and push me forward. Before I could react I found myself falling down the hole, as I was surrounded by darkness for the briefest of moments before I was in the sunlight once more.

"Aaaah!" I screamed as I found myself falling down into what looked like a large control room. I slammed onto the floor, thankfully with much less force than I was expecting due to the low gravity. The room went silent as I lifted myself up, getting my bearings as I stood up on my feet to find at least twenty mechara staring at me from behind their consoles with a few mechara and a melodian standing up at a large circular area near the top.

To my surprise, the melodian at the top of the room was not using the assembler. There was one other melodian in the room. He was standing next to me, looking like he had been waiting for me, knowing where I was going to make my grand entrance. He had a large visor in his hand. I huffed, looking at him in frustration.

"Well that was rude" I said in English in order to not wake up the melodian underneath. He smiled, looking rather pleased with himself "My apologies, you were taking too long."

"T-Tess?!" I heard Nori cry out from the crowd ahead of me. I looked around the control room, wondering what Artemis had planned for me to do, but before I could ask, Nori had stormed across the room, her eyes locked on Artemis.

"You! Y-you promised you just needed to talk to her! You promised you weren't bringing her back here!" she yelled at him as she grabbed one of his ears, pulling his face up to look her in the eyes. Her fear had turned to anger as she yelled at Artemis.

"Now Nori" Artemis responded in mecharan "I assure you, there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for all this." He spoke in a perfectly calm voice, as if completely oblivious to the chaos surrounding us.

"Yeah?! What?!" she yelled, her beak clapping together as she spoke. Artemis was quiet as I saw a smile reaching across his face as he looked directly into Nori's eyes.

"I lied" he said softly. Nori's face contorted as she glared at him, her hand squeezing tighter around his ear.

"Nori? What's going on?!" I heard a male mechara yell out from his position at the top of the room. I heard his voice before. He was the one that had entered Nori's apartment after the car crash. From what I gathered, he was the head of the ship. Nori turned to look at Sedim, but before she could say anything another mechara yelled out from behind their console.

"T-the airlock! It's opening again!" he screamed out as he frantically pressed the buttons on the panel.

"Then close it!" Sedim yelled back. The mechara at the panel was panicking, pressing a large red button over and over to no avail.

"It's not working sir!" he yelled out.

"Artemis!" Sedim yelled out. Nori loosened her grip, but her scowl remained as she stepped to the side to let the melodian see past her.

"Yes sir? What can I do for you sir?" he asked with a palpable amount of sarcasm lacing his voice.

"What's going on here? What have you done?!" he yelled as he slammed his fist on the table next to him. Artemis curled his lips into an exaggerated frown.

"Why, I'm only following my directives sir. I apologize if it causes any distress" he said. Sedim dug his claws into the desk, his breathing intensifying as he was trying to think of a response. Everyone around me was in a state of panic. Looking between Artemis Sedim and Nori, hoping one of them would know what to do. I paused, noticing one exception. The melodian with the white fur, standing next to Sedim and her large pink eyes locked onto me.

She wasn't panicking like the others, instead she looked at me in a state of shock, like she was seeing a ghost. The loud roaring of the transporter engines pulled my attention away as the windows at the front of the control room reverberated to the noise. A moment later the ship came into view, careening through the interior of the lifeboat as it flew toward the center. I knew I should be panicking, I knew Sloan was on that ship, but I felt like I was being drawn in by Rosa's stare.

She knew something nobody else did, and she wasn't panicking. Sedim yelled from behind me.

"Stop that ship! Don't let it land! Do whatever you can! I don't care if you have to blow the whole fucking thing up just don't let it land!" he screamed out.

"No!" yelled Rosa, her voice firm, commanding.

"No?!" Sedim yelled, turning to look at her, "Do I have to remind you again of who-" He was cut off as Rosa reached up, grabbing his beak and pulling him to the ground. Her eyes however never left me.

"No Sedim, I'm afraid you've already lost. We've been tricked" she said, her voice getting quieter as she started to walk toward me.

"Rosa?" Nori asked, looking away from the windows, "W-what are you talking about?" I couldn't look away from Rosa's intense glare, her eyes not leaving mine as she slowly approached, her face slowly changing from shock, to sadness as she stared into my eyes. She couldn't seem to take her eyes off me, but her head turned toward Artemis as she addressed him.

"You've… Been lying to me this entire time?" she asked, sounding remorseful.

"Seems I've been doing that a lot lately" he said as I could hear the smile in his voice.

"Rosa, what's going-" Nori started to ask before Rosa firmly raised her hand to cut her off.

"I'm sorry" she said, her voice quivering. I felt like the chaos from the lifeboat had disappeared, a strange sense of calmness coming over me as my curiosity won out over all other emotions.

"What for?" I asked. Rosa didn't respond at first as she looked like she was lost in her thoughts as she tried to think of a response until eventually she whispered a single word.

"Everything" she said. I didn't know Rosa all that well, but I'd only ever seen her as being strong, confident, in control and taking charge, but in that moment she looked weak, sad, fearful, as if she had completely lost control.

"What was your name girl?" she asked. I swallowed, my stomach feeling like it was tying itself in a knot as I responded.

"T-Tess" I said quietly.

"Tess…" she said, repeating it back to me.

"Do you know her?" Nori asked. Rosa reached her hand forward, putting her fingers on the underside of my chin, tilting my head up a little.

"Know her? Of course" she said quietly, just loud enough for Nori and I to hear, "She's the one that's haunted me since Lifeboat seven. I'm the one responsible for her death." I was taken aback by her statement, it didn't make any sense.

"Trust me" she said, her eye staring into my very soul, "I'm as surprised as you are."

"H-how do you know me?" I managed to ask. A frown crossed her face as she slumped her shoulders.

"I… Oh… I see" she said as she looked like her thoughts were being drawn away from the moment, as if a pile of puzzle pieces in her mind were all coming together at once. She turned to Artemis, "She doesn't know?" Artemis shook his head.

"No, but that's what I'll be showing her" he said as he lifted the visor up. I blinked, remembering a conversation with Flint.

"Is that the assembler two?" I asked. Rather than respond to my question, Rosa turned her attention to Artemis.

"Is it true? There's another?" she asked. Artemis nodded, "It appears there is."

"Sorry, sorry, are you expecting me to use that?" I asked, gesturing toward the visor. Whatever was going on with Rosa, with Artemis, with Sloan and the lifeboats, I couldn't help but feel like they faded away as I realized Artemis was expecting me to use the assembler.

"I'm sorry, no you didn't say anything about using that" I said, stepping back away from them.

"Artemis, she's never used it. Not properly" Nori said, as she grabbed his shoulder, "She's only ever used the nodes, you can't expect her to use that" she said, pleading. I remembered back to my previous experiences with the node, the memories, encountering the monster inside them, my other half telling me how it hurt him. I couldn't. I couldn't use it, I didn't sign up for that. I was about to turn, to run back to the ship, hopefully manage to find my way back on it.

I could get there before anything else happened, I could escape. Artemis wouldn't let me get hurt, he would have to let me through. Rosa grabbed me, pulling me out of my thoughts as she placed her hand on my shoulder, her eyes on me once more.

"I'm sorry I lost hope" she said quietly. Once again those words went echoing through my head. First from Lampro, then from Artemis, now from Rosa. They knew something. I couldn't help but notice that Rosa and Artemis seemed to be the only people in the room that weren't afraid. Whatever they knew, it had to do with me. I took a deep breath, looking over to Artemis who had reached out, holding the assembler two for me to take. My hand shook as I reached out, taking it from him.

"Tess don't!" Nori yelled as she reached forward, but Artemis grabbed her hand, pulling her back. I was shaking, my eyes darting between the three, feeling like I was about to make a major mistake, but I didn't see what else I could do.

I came all this way I said to myself as I lifted the visor over my head, placing it down in front of me as the glass element covered my vision in front of me, showing a series of concentric circles in front of me between the clear glass, the two sets of circles hovering just over each eye.

"Stop! Please!" Nori screamed out as Artemis grabbed her with his other hand, holding her firmly in place. I looked to Rosa who had reached up to the side of the visor.

"Good luck" she said softly. Before I could respond, the circles in my vision lit up with a bright white light, the room around me instantly disappearing as the world around me turned white.