The silhouette of the mountains on the other side of the horizon blackened the sky. That, however, did not stop the miner from gazing up at the starry sky. She wondered what was beyond the ground she stood on and the mines in which she worked for the majority of the long days.
She had barely gotten any sleep, and already she had to go back into the mines, harvesting as much orange rock as she could and load them into containers before the carrier spaceships took them and left. She had been living this life since she was little, but the time seemed to meld together, when every single day was the same task. A few dozen days prior, she had gotten enough experience to be allowed to mine on her own, as long as she was consistent in the amount of containers she filled each day.
That was not hard to do when she set the expectations low.
The miner grabbed a red cube, which she ate the next second for energy. It tasted the exact same as the rest of the food she had eaten in her life. After the morning meal, she headed down into the mines along with three containers, each her size.
The day was spent in mines of swirling orange and blue rock, mostly of her imagining what would be among the stars, what that orange rock was used for. The rest of the day was spent exploding the rocks and putting them in the containers. Embedded in her hands were indigo crystals. She had almost no memory of a time before she had those crystals but they were not given to her when she was very small either. If she focused intently, she would be able to make a halo of white steam appear on her head and then after imagining a circular explosion, purple streaks would circle through the halo faster and faster until a circular explosion of purple flames appeared in the rocks in front of her as the purple streaks disappeared. The halo would still be above her head, unless her thoughts drifted elsewhere.
Compared to the other miners, her explosion was the most powerful she’d seen, but it was far from close in comparison to the mechanical explosives the managers used to trap those that didn’t work hard enough into the mines they created.
The night that followed would be the beginning of what would change her life. In the sky, she saw a ton of strange new stars. These ones moved quite quickly across the sky, sometimes in elegant patterns, and sometimes they would explode, then come crashing down into the ground in a ball of fire. The miner could barely sleep that night, with the ground constantly shaking and the screaming of the metal slashing across the sky.
This continued for several days. Some nights were less active than the first day, but the majority of the time, the nights were getting increasingly more active. The miner did not know if she could tell the difference between the real stars and the fakes anymore.
When the miner returned from the mines after filling her three containers, she did not expect to see strange machines by the tent in which she would rest. These machines were full of circles and loops, having an aesthetic that the miner appreciated. As the miner got closer, she saw the shape of two figures that were moving and seemed to command the machines.
She tried to stay quiet as she approached, leaving the containers by the exit of the mine. She hoped that these newcomers would not be here for long as the managers would come in the night to get the containers she filled and leave new ones. If the managers saw anything strange, she would be reported and her life would likely end.
She could not make an explosion outside the mine, because that would be suspicious as well.
Inching closer, she heard the two figures speaking. They both had fairly deep voices and she could slowly make out more and more details about them. The first had blond hair and paler skin than hers. The other had much darker skin, but hair arranged like he was wearing a massive sphere on his head.
The miner got closer, but after a point, the two figures stopped talking. Many of the words they said the miner did not recognize, but she felt like the figures knew of her presence. The one with spherical hair readied a device, and held it like a weapon while the other simply dusted off his clothes.
The miner started to creep back towards the mines, but that must have been a mistake as the blond figure spotted her.
“Hello,” he said. “I’m Chamwik. What’s your name?”
Chamwik was aboard one of the Finälian commanding vessels. Currently, the Finälian empire was at war with the Olmian empire, trying to defend their empire of solar systems against the Olmians. At this point in the war, the Finälians were nearing victory here, pushing the Olmians out of the Finälian solar systems and back into their empire.
Chamwik was one of the commanders of a Finälian fleet. But he was a Human, thus the other Finälian commanders did not respect him. He was not the only Human on this spaceship, however. His best friend, Daniel, was here as well, his lieutenant.
Chamwik was supposed to meet Daniel, then go to a meeting of commanders. There were a few others on this vessel, but the meeting was made such that commanders from vessels all over the galaxy would be able to convene together under the watch of the current emperor of the Finälians, Lirthions.
Chamwik knew the walk to Daniel’s room by heart, and as soon as he knocked on the door, Daniel opened it.
“I hear that there is some big news that will be uncovered in this meeting,” Daniel said.
“Good morning, Daniel,” Chamwik replied. “What do you think it’s about?”
“Probably the Human empire.”
The Human empire was peaceful and took no sides in this war. Chamwik would have fought for them if they took part, but his father got Chamwik into the ranks of the Finälians. Chamwik did not even want to fight in the first place. All he wanted to do was build a city that he had designed with Daniel. Chamwik was curious. “What makes you say that,” he asked.
“I saw on the news last night that the Olmians brought the fight into solar systems within the frontiers of the Human empire.”
“How? Is it because of the Berm?”
The Berm, as Chamwik understood it, is a space within space, where it allows vessels to travel from one solar system to another in a matter of days, as long as the solar systems in question both have Bermgates. During the war, the Olmians and the Finälians started to fight in that space rather than in the solar systems themselves. It started as a way to intercept reinforcements, but it quickly became a secondary battlefield, disrupting the commerce and travel of empires that had nothing to do with the war. Chamwik thought that it would be much better if the empires that did not want to fight did not have to be dragged into something that did them no good. Hundreds of thousands of neutral passerby vessels had already been destroyed, with billions of casualties just because of the fights in the Berm itself, not to mention the chaos and the slaughtering in the solar systems themselves.
“It probably is because of the Berm,” Daniel said. “Should we go to the meeting now?”
“Yes,” Chamwik replied as he started to walk down the circular hallways of the Finälian vessel. He heard Daniel’s footsteps echo his own, the crunching of his soles on the sandy substance that covered the walkway. The Finälians had a strange way they made their vessels. Circles were everywhere, as if the whole vessel was one never-ending loop. And yet it was orderly, and stunningly gorgeous. Chamwik could continue thinking about the Finälian architecture for ages, but as Chamwik and Daniel walked at a slower pace, two teenagers rushed past them in the hallway. Chamwik knew he would be seeing those twins in the meeting, they did not have to run.
The twins’ parents were kind to Chamwik, and became his friends. After all, that’s why they were on the same ship. All the other commanders were connected to the meeting from their own vessels, except those who were in currently commanding a fleet in battle. Those would get a summary of the meeting afterwards. The most important person here was Lirthions was imposing. His skin was just like any other Finälian, like slightly rough marble, with golden cracks running through it. He was adorned in golden armour, streaked with silver.
“As many of you know already, the Olmians have brought the battle into the confines of the Human empire,” Lirthions said. “That was a day ago when the first Olmian vessel entered the Human empire with hostility. The Federated Senate of the Human empire has, within a day, decided to enter the war. The Grand Council of the Human empire then confirmed their plans and sent me a communication. They would like it if a part of our fleet would be taken to the solar system that was attacked and retaliate against the Olmians.”
The majority of the commanders in the meeting clapped.
Lirthions continued to talk. “Their condition was, however, that the commander of the fleet to do this mission has to be a Human.”
The commanders immediately fell silent. Chamwik had a reputation, so all the commanders knew where this meeting was going.
“We have one commander here that would fit the role. Chamwik Tehradhon. I’ll be sending you a communication later including details and a briefing of what you must accomplish. Await that message,” Lirthions said.
Lirthions went on to talk about coordinating attacks in other solar systems, but the bulk of the meeting was over. At least, the part that concerned Chamwik. The twins came up to Chamwik as he was about to leave the meeting with Daniel.
“Wow,” the closest one said. “You’re going to be famous, Chamwik!”
“I am already famous within your ranks, Cerillia.”
“No, but you’ll be known all across the Human empire after this! The man that brings the Human empire to war. That’s you! You’ll be respected and you’ll be able to do whatever you need there! You can build that city that you’re always telling Corillis and I about!”
Chamwik ruffled Cerillia’s rock-like strands of hair. “Yeah, I will.”
Cerillia smiled and stepped aside, letting Chamwik and Daniel leave the room. As soon as the door closed behind them, Chamwik took a deep breath. “I don’t think that I’ll be ready for this, Daniel. Not only leading a massive battle, but also being the representative for the Human empire.”
“Do you think that I’d be ready for this too? But I’ll be with you. Just don’t make any dense mistakes and you should be good.”
“Alright.” Chamwik paused for a few seconds. “Do you know the solar system that we have to go to?”
“It’s a solar system for a planet called Solmarin II. It was built as an experimental project after the failure of Solmarin I. The Federated Senate wanted to build a planet that would be at least half covered in photovoltaic cells in order to get as much energy from that solar system’s sun and distribute it around the Human empire. Instead of building a planet, Solmarin II was mostly made by covering an existing planet with such photovoltaic cells near the equator. However, it became very costly. A corporation purchased the planet with intentions to finish the project, but instead turned it into a mining planet where solely the corporation governs it and hides much information of what goes down on the surface.”
“That sounds very sketchy,” Chamwik replied.
“Of course,” Daniel said.
“I’m going to go to my room. Hopefully Lirthions will be quick with his communication.”
A few hours later, Chamwik got his orders. He was supposed to go to Solmarin II with around a third of the fleet he was currently travelling with. That would be around a hundred vessels. He was to arrive as soon as possible and fight for as long as possible until the Olmians would be dispelled from the Solmarin II solar system. Reinforcements would arrive periodically until the Olmians would leave, to ensure that Chamwik does not run out of vessels in his fleet.
That sounded simple enough.
The next hour went by quickly as Chamwik and Daniel gathered their belongings and packed it into a regular infantry vessel. He wanted it so that the Olmians would not be able to tell which vessel was the commander and shoot that one down immediately. Hundreds of other Finälians were also getting their belongings, and saying their goodbyes to their loved ones.
As Chamwik put the last of his supplies into the vessel, he turned around and saw the twins’ family. “I have confidence in you, even though this is your first time commanding alone.” their father said. Chamwik nodded.
“In a few weeks, I hope that you don’t come back here with injuries all over your body for me to tend to,” their mother added.
The twins themselves were quiet, but they waved Chamwik goodbye nonetheless.
The travel to Solmarin II took upwards of two days in the Berm. On the night of the second day, as the lights in his spaceship turned a deep blue, the Bermgate to Solmarin II came into view. Seeing the pure blackness of space instead of the passing streaks of gold, green and blue in the Berm sent a shiver down Chamwik’s spine. Daniel patted Chamwik on the back before heading towards the cockpit. Chamwik followed him and once seated, he disengaged the autopilot.
Turning on his radio connection to his fleet, Chamwik spoke. “The Bermgate exits directly over Solmarin II, so be prepared for the Olmian vessels shooting at you. Do not fire back for now, I need to see their formation first.”
As soon as his vessel exited the Bermgate, he fired the reverse thrusters to slow down. Turning off his radio, Chamwik spoke directly to Daniel. “See that massive cylindrical vessel?” Chamwik pointed to a vessel that was heavily surrounded in other smaller cubic spaceships. “That is the commanding one, I think. We’re going to attack that one with our bombers.”
“You think?”
“Yes.”
“Chamwik! Just attack a few of the stray cubic vessels first. We might not have enough vessels to brute force an attack on their commanding vessel. Look they’re already shooting at us with all their firepower! You’re speaking out of nervousness, not your logic. Get it together, Chamwik.”
Chamwik nodded and turned his radio on again. “We’re going to attack the stray Olmian vessels. Make groups of three and attack whichever one is closest.”
As soon as Chamwik issued the orders, space lit up with cannonfire from the Finälian spaceships. Caught by surprise, Chamwik could start to see the Olmians scramble together a defensive formation.
Chamwik turned off the radio again. “I am going to attack as well. Get the guns ready, Daniel.”
Daniel did as Chamwik instructed and fired at nearby Olmian vessels. It was chaos as Chamwik piloted the vessel through and between the Olmian retaliative fire. But the Olmians did have in-battle skill, while Chamwik did not.
Chamwik had kept this on for days. If he had to sleep, Daniel would take his place. On the fourth night, Chamwik’s vessel was hit.
“I’m losing control of the engines, Daniel!” Daniel jolted awake and ran to the cockpit.
“I know. Try to keep the ship under control and land safely. That’s our main priority now.”
Turning on the radio, Chamwik said “I’ve been shot. Form a defensive formation. Guard the Bermgate and stop any Olmians from coming through.” He hoped that the message got through before getting out of range of the rest of his army.
The crash was blur. Speed kept increasing as the vessel descended the atmosphere, but Daniel managed to find a way to slow the spaceship into safe landing speeds. The land here seemed completely opposite the interior of the Finälian commanding vessel he called home. Sharp mountains rose from the horizon, and though the smell of burning was suffocating his nose, Chamwik could not help but admire the beauty of his surroundings. He must have landed somewhere in the northern hemisphere where no photovoltaic cells were, Chamwik considered himself lucky that there seemed to be a shelter already erected near the crash location.
The doors were still working, allowing Chamwik and Daniel to step out of the vessel. “The air is breathable here, don’t worry,” Daniel said.
“I know. What I am worried about is our army. I hope they’re safe. We need to get back up there.”
“You were the one that was too ambitious. Normally, an army commander would stay back and command the army from the back without endangering himself.”
“Sorry for trying to be a part of the army and assisting them with their job.”
“You already are a part of the army! The most important part right now.”
“And our army is small, we need as many vessels as we can. We had to take advantage of the Olmians’ moment of surprise and deal the most damage then.”
Daniel sighed. In the moment of silence, he heard something moving. Making hand signals, Daniel conveyed that there was someone nearby. Chamwik nodded. Daniel detached his crossbow from his back and readied it. Chamwik dusted off his clothes as Daniel looked at him strangely. Chamwik shook his head and followed the noises of whatever was moving.
It was then that he saw her. She was wearing clothes in poor condition, covered from head to toe in orange and blue rock dust, and her wide eyes stared at both him and Daniel.
“Hello,” he said. “I’m Chamwik. What’s your name?”
She looked at him with her head slightly turned.
“I don’t think she understands,” Daniel said.
“I understand,” she said. Her voice was rough, however, and the words did not seem like they strung together naturally coming from her mouth. She spoke again. “I understand words, not your meaning.”
Chamwik looked towards Daniel. “What meaning do you suppose she doesn’t understand?”
Daniel shrugged.
“What is your name?” Chamwik asked.
“What is that?” she asked.
Chamwik sighed. Daniel simply looked at her with curiosity. He turned towards Chamwik. “The corporation here must not treat their miners with education and individuality. She might just consider her identity as a miner and nothing more.”
Chamwik thought for a bit. The silence might have been an indicator for the stranger to speak, though.
“Need yous to go,” she said. “Manager come, I’d die.”
“Do you want to come with us?” Chamwik asked.
As soon as Chamwik said that, Daniel pulled him away. “Chamwik… what are you saying? We cannot bring someone random from Solmarin II with us back into space. Much less into a battle. Do you want her to die?”
“Oh really, Daniel? I want her to die? Look at this place. Look at her! She doesn’t have a name, and she’s already sentenced to death from, what is it? Her manager. We cannot leave and repair our vessel in time for whenever that it. It’s best if we take her with us.”
“What about the other miners doomed on this planet? We need to think about the collective, Chamwik.”
“I am! See, if we bring her with us and get out of this battle, we can go to the Federated Senate on Venus and do something to free Solmarin II from the corporation. With her with us, she can testify as a victim and help her friends leave this place as well. They might even make good citizens in the city we’re building, since we do need citizens, after all. Not to include the resources on this planet. Once it’s ethically sourced, we could use the rock and metal from this planet to build.”
“Fine,” Daniel said.
“You’re stressed,” Chamwik said. “Or else you would have thought about all this before me.” He smiled a little, and turned back to the miner. “Do you want to come with us?” he asked again.
“Escape?” she asked as if the word itself were a myth.
“Yes, and if you want, for all of the other miners as well.”
“They like here,” she said. “I don’t. I see moving stars and I want to go there.”
Chamwik nodded. “Okay. Come, let me show you what there is in the sky.” He turned back to Daniel, who was eyeing the conversation. “Daniel, could you get to work on fixing the vessel and the radio, please?”
Daniel nodded, and Chamwik went with the miner to fetch a black tablet from inside the crashed vessel, then sat with her on a rock outside. “I’ll tell you about my home planet. Noxrin.”
The miner looked in interest as Chamwik pulled out a stone tablet and rubbed one of his fingers along the side. The top of the largest surface immediately bounced up, as if it were black sand particles. The particles arranged themselves into the shape of a round ball.
“This is a planet,” Chamwik said. “It’s a ball of rock that spins around a star. This planet in particular has a name, which is just something we use to call something. Or, I suppose, identify that one over some other similar thing. So, my name is Chamwik and his name,” Chamwik pointed to the other newcomer, “is Daniel. That is how we differentiate between me and him. And every other person in the galaxy.”
The miner saw Daniel nodding, and she supposed it was a marker of agreement. The miner tried to imitate it.
Chamwik’s mouth turned into a smile and made a funny sound. The miner had only heard such a sound come out of a manager, either if another miner was suffering. She dragged herself away. “Oh, was I not supposed to laugh,” Chamwik said.
“Laugh?” the miner asked.
“I just made that sound. When I find that I’m happy or hear something joyful, that’s what I do. I laugh.”
So, the managers found joy in harming the miners. The miner did not know what to think. “Managers joyful when they hurt us,” she said.
“I understand,” Chamwik said. His expression quickly changed from joy to sadness. “I’m not going to hurt you. Come sit.”
The miner reluctantly sat next to Chamwik as he continued to speak. “On Noxrin, we have a lot of what we call glass mountains.” The sand on the tablet rearranged into pyramids like what lie on the horizon. “It has some of the best glass in the galaxy, but just like you on this planet didn’t have access to much, we didn’t either.” Chamwik drifted away into silence but quickly came back to his senses. “We also have trees there. This one is called a willow tree.” the sand from the tablet arranged itself into a cylinder with strange appendages at the bottom and a fluffy expanse at the top, resembling the miner’s hair. The appendages at the bottom reminded her of her arms and legs.
“It looks a bit like you,” Chamwik said.
It was at that point that the miner knew her name. “Willow,” she said.
“Yes, that’s the kind of tree it is,” Chamwik replied.
“No, that’s my name,” the miner replied.
All Chamwik could think was that the miner, Willow, must have been even more impulsive than him for picking a name. Though, he could not fault her. “That’s a pretty name,” he said.
Willow stayed silent. This continued for a few minutes until Chamwik asked her something. “What happened to your hands?”
“Don’t know. Helps when I mine.”
Chamwik did not know what to think. He did not want to think about it at all, for maybe Willow did not have a say on if she wanted implants in her in the first place. “What do you want to do with your manager when he comes? I’ll help you, just ask.”
“Hurt him. Hurt him like he hurt miners. Miners die after managers. Managers need die. Miners need like you escape Noxrin. Manager coming soon.”
That might have been the most that Chamwik ever heard Willow speak. But Chamwik would help kill the manager when he came around. Though, he felt like Willow would want to take part in it as well. Out in the distance, Chamwik heard the roaring of a vehicle making its way to the crash site. Chamwik pulled out a knife from his belt and readied it. Luckily, the manager was coming from a direction in which he’d meet Chamwik and Willow first before the encampment.
Chamwik closed one of his eyes and threw his knife.
It hit the vehicle at one of the wheels, jamming it. Chamwik turned towards Willow, but her eyes were closed as a halo of white mist flickered above her head. Slowly, streaks of violet circled faster and faster inside the halo as the crystals in her palm glowed stronger. She opened her eyes, the streaks disappeared, and a circular indigo explosion appeared where the manager’s vehicle was located.
Chamwik ran over to the corpse of the vehicle and saw the manager crawling away from it, bleeding out of holes where his legs once were. Willow was not too far behind him and after caught up with Chamwik by the manager, she spat on his face. She made a hand gesture, and Chamwik assumed she wanted him to use the knife.
Chamwik found his knife in the debris of the vehicle and brought it close to the manager’s neck as he sat down.
“No!” the manager screamed. “No, don’t do it. Use it on the filthy miner, it should have reported to you to me. If you do, I’ll pay you! I’ll pay you!”
Chamwik’s doubt turned into fury as he heard the manager refer to Willow as an ‘it’. But he could not bring himself to look at the manager’s face as he precisely cut a slit in the manager’s neck.
Standing up, and keeping his eyes down, Chamwik spoke. “He will bleed out very soon. I am going to go back to Daniel and help him repair the spaceship. Do you want to come?”
Willow nodded, this time much less viciously as her first attempt.
“I have an idea,” Chamwik told Daniel.
Daniel put down a cylindrical tool that he was using to repair a broken plate that used to be part of the spaceship’s engine. “What is it?”
“We don’t have a very big fleet right now. But, based on the design of the manager’s vehicle, if their spaceships follow a similar design, and I frankly don’t see why not, then they might have guns that they use to mine.”
“Are we going to get the managers to pilot the vessels? Because I doubt the miners have the necessary skills to do that.”
“Never mind, it was a dumb idea,” Chamwik said as he got back to repairing another plate of the vessel.
A few seconds of silence later, Willow had a suggestion. “Most ships are piloted by machine people.”
“Robots?” Daniel asked.
“Yes. Robots.”
“Are you sure?” Daniel inquired.
“Yes. Why do you not believe me?”
“It’s not that I don’t. I just want to be sure.”
“Daniel,” Chamwik said, as a small smile curled on his face. “Would you be able to make a set of programs to make them a part of our army?”
“I think so. You and Willow should stick to repairing the vessel. But, you know, my programs will be fairly crude.”
“As long as it works, we will be good. They’re robots, so even if there’s gaps in the program, there will not be any living casualties.”
As Daniel walked into the remnants of the spaceship, Chamwik turned towards Willow. “Do you know where all the spaceships are kept?”
“Yes.”
“Can you lead us there?”
“Yes.”
Chamwik nodded and got back to repairing the plates of the vessel. With Willow’s help, it did not take very long to get the spaceship in working conditions. Chamwik found that since she was accustomed to following people’s orders her whole life, she never opposed Chamwik’s instructions.
“You need to stop doing that,” Chamwik said.
“Doing what?” she replied.
“Just following what I say.”
“What else am I supposed to do?”
Chamwik was horrified. But not only that, he did not know how to reply. “I am going to ask you to do one thing, and for the rest of your life can you follow what I’m asking?”
“What is it?”
“Don’t follow any orders. Only do something if you want to do it yourself.”
Willow nodded as Chamwik sighed. He did not know if it was a good idea to ask that of Willow, because she might take it too far. Hopefully it would help her integrate better with people elsewhere in the galaxy. Chamwik walked towards the door of the spaceship as Willow followed him. “I think the vessel is fixed,” he shouted.
“I was waiting for you to finish,” Daniel shouted back. “Come in, let me show you the program.” Chamwik opened the door and entered, Willow still like his shadow.
Daniel continued. “This plan will fail if the robots don’t have a universal port in which you can insert data into it. But since I think they should, all you have to do is plug this socket,” Daniel gestured to a needle-like appendage that extended from a blue cylinder he held in his right hand, “into the robots’ port.”
“How does it work?” Willow asked.
Daniel smiled as he started to explain. “I made two programs. The first one that activates is an eraser, clearing the memory and instructions originally given to the robot. This one took the longest to wire, as I had to make sure it was as efficient and effective as possible. Of course, it would not be the best I could make, but in this limited time that I have, it is the best I can do. The other program takes over once the eraser is finished its job. It links all the robots to this vessel here. I also rewrote the gunfire module here to accommodate the new army positioning and ordering programs that will link to the robots. Of course, that means that this vessel’s guns are incapacitated, but when we get back to Venus after this battle, I’ll be able to make this less rudimentary.” Daniel exhaled as he finished his explanation. “Do you understand, Willow?”
The only reply he got was a single “Yes” from Willow.
Chamwik shouldn’t have been as surprised as he had been that Willow had been listening intently to everything Daniel said.
“What is the plan now?” Daniel asked.
“After you make sure everything is working properly with the vessel, I am going to pilot it to the launchpads using Willow’s directions. Then, I’ll give you control of the vessel as you drop us off a few kilometers from the launchpads. Willow and I will use your device to take control of as many vessels as we can, while you monitor our progress. Then we will all come back to this vessel and bring our army into space,” Chamwik said.
“Excellent. Let’s not tardy any further,” Daniel said.
Willow and Chamwik left the vessel as Daniel ran diagnostics, and it allowed them more time to talk as they both sat down on a rock. “When we go there,” Chamwik said. “I would appreciate it if you don’t go around exploding all the managers because of what they did to you. Don’t get me wrong, I understand why you would want to do that, but we need to be controlled. Collected. Intentional.”
“No. Don’t want to do that. They all need to die,” Willow replied.
“Willow, I understand, and they will get justice when the time comes.”
“No, you don’t understand. One second of life they do not deserve.” Willow was starting to stutter with her words, taking much longer to piece them together, but Chamwik was able to understand what Willow meant to say.
Chamwik inhaled deeply. He had to quickly think of something that would satisfy Willow. “Okay, how about this? We will kill any managers we encounter, but let me do it precisely and quietly.”
“Want to kill them. Me.”
“Willow,” Chamwik pleaded. “Your explosions will draw attention to us. We need to be quiet and hidden.”
“Then I use knife.”
Chamwik nodded slowly. “You can do that, but let me guide your hand. We don’t want the managers to scream and reveal our location, do we?”
“Can you tell about Noxrin to me?”
“Of course,” Chamwik replied. “Across the land, there are puddles of water. It reflects the gold colour of the sky, but sometimes, the water is different colours because of impurities in the water. The roots of the trees, they get entangled…”
The diagnostics took a dozen more minutes after Chamwik started to go on and on about Noxrin. At some point during Chamwik’s ramble, Willow’s head leaned on his shoulder. Chamwik thought it must have been because she was tired. From what he understood, she had not slept for a day.
Daniel poked his head out of the spaceship’s door. “The spaceship is in working condition. The two of you can come in now.”
Chamwik got up slowly, careful not to hurt Willow’s head in the process. Instinctively, Willow latched on to Chamwik’s hand and held it tightly. Chamwik tried not to show any discomfort, but it did hurt, especially with the crystals in Willow’s hand digging deeply into Chamwik’s palm. Chamwik swore he felt blood pouring down.
Together, Willow and Chamwik went into the vessel.
Daniel looked ecstatic when he saw Chamwik and Willow. He got his mouth close to Chamwik’s ear and whispered. “I’m really happy that you found romance, Chamwik, but now is not the time for it.”
Chamwik scowled and whispered back. “It’s her, she’s clinging to me. Whatever I have to do to make her comfortable, I’ll do.”
Daniel nodded, and sat in the chair for the gunfire module.
Chamwik sat in the pilot seat, with Willow in the co-pilot seat, still holding hands. Chamwik gently tugged his hand away to get both hands on the vessel’s controls. Willow’s release was reluctant, but it happened. Chamwik adjusted his position in his seat. “Okay, Willow. Tell me where to go.”
Willow tried to speak, but her words did not seem to come out at first. Chamwik had an inkling of why that would be the case. But eventually, Willow became the one giving orders rather than anyone else, directing Chamwik over the rocky plains of Solmarin II.
Soon enough, the launchpad was within view. Chamwik was surprised that there were barely any guards at all. Only a few in a place that Willow said was where the young miners took their slumber. Chamwik was starting to think that this would be much easier than he thought it would be.
Daniel dropped Chamwik and Willow down at the far end of the launchpad, where the least amount of guards were. Chamwik supposed that if the entire population was scared into submission, then they all the corporation would need to enforce that would be a small group of guards to reinforce the fear. That was probably why there were no barriers. Though it was equally possible that the corporation simply wanted to save as much money as possible and barriers around their launchpads were not considered as worthwhile funds.
There were hundreds of vessels here, and Chamwik wanted to be as quick as possible. For the first few dozen vessels, the doors were all open and there were no managers to be seen. The upload of Daniel’s program took close to two minutes each time, but the more Chamwik did it, the longer each one felt.
It was at the thirteenth vessel that Chamwik and Willow spotted their first manager. Willow and Chamwik hid behind the twelfth vessel until the manager walked around the thirteenth, to a place that was concealed from the rest of the launchpad zone. Chamwik ran quietly towards the manager, with Willow copying Chamwik’s movements.
In an instant, Chamwik’s palm was over the manager’s mouth, and he used his body to block the manager from falling to the ground loudly. With his other hand, Chamwik took the knife out of his belt and outstretched his arm towards Willow, inviting her to hold the knife with him. Chamwik turned away as Willow looked intently while the knife cut the throat of the manager. Chamwik let the body drop slowly to the ground, then looked around to make sure no one else was near. He nodded to Willow, and the two of them brought the body of the manager into the vessel. Chamwik uploaded the program into the robot, while Willow experimented with the knife on the dead manager’s body.
“It’s time to go,” Chamwik whispered two minutes later as the robot’s eyes started to glow lightly.
Willow nodded slightly and held Chamwik’s hand a second time. “If we keep going like this, we’ll be finished very quickly,” he said.
He was correct. Both Chamwik and Willow acted according to plan, getting all the vessels of the launchpad linked to the vessel Daniel was currently in. As Chamwik and Willow were about to head back to Daniel, Willow caught a close glimpse of the area surrounded by the managers. Where the young miners were.
She stopped in her tracks.
Chamwik was running, but he quickly caught on to Willow, staying back. He ran back and gently pulled her behind one of the vessels nearby. “I know what you’re thinking,” he said.
“Need to free them.”
“Willow, we talked about this already. We will come back for them and all the rest of the miners when we get off of this planet.”
“Have to,” Willow cried, almost shouting.
“I’m sorry, Willow! We absolutely need to go now. We have done what we must here.”
Willow’s teeth started to get clenched.
Chamwik’s soft stare started to get a glimpse of cold. “Willow, don’t do anything brash.”
Willow’s eyes closed and Chamwik saw the flickering of the white halo above her head.
“Willow, don’t make me do something that I don’t want to.”
Violet streaks started circling faster and faster within the halo, as the crystals in Willow’s palm started to glow faintly.
Chamwik wanted to do something to stop Willow from acting like this. This training told him that he should kill her, like he had for the managers. He had to stop Willow, but at the same time he could not bring the knife anywhere close to her body. Instead, all he could do was put the knife in his belt and give her a deep and strong hug.
As Chamwik hugged Willow, her eyes opened, and a grand explosion blasted a hole in the walls of the building containing the young miners. Many of the managers were caught in the fire. Chamwik felt wetness on his clothes where Willow’s eyes were. Chamwik held the hug for a few more seconds before pulling back to see Willow’s eyes flooded with tears. “Come,” he said softly.
Willow nodded and held Chamwik’s hand as the two ran back to the vessel Daniel was in, hoping that the young miners would be able to find their way.
“What happened?” Daniel asked as soon as both Willow and Chamwik entered the vessel.
Chamwik could feel the distaste in his voice.
“We were supposed to be discreet! Chamwik, what has gotten into you? Why did you not stop Willow from making the explosion?”
“I stopped her from doing more damage than she was intended to. We got all the vessels linked to your system, and we are ready for launch, unless you have anything else you want to say?”
Daniel was strangely understanding. He nodded slowly and turned his chair back to the screen in front of him. “We’ll try to approach the Olmian army in the direction of the sun here. That will conceal our approach for now. When we get high enough in the atmosphere, I expect we’ll get back into contact with the rest of our army in space.”
Chamwik got into the pilot’s seat and Willow took the co-pilot seat again. Chamwik worked the controls and smiled at Willow. “Your first time in space, right?”
Willow nodded.
“I wish it were under better circumstances. I’m sorry for that.”
“You said that word twice. Don’t understand meaning.”
“You mean the word ‘sorry’?”
“Yes.”
“It’s regret. Or sympathy. It means that I should have done something different. It means that I made a mistake, and I would like you to understand that I recognize it. But it’s up to you if you want to let me back in after a mistake.”
Willow nodded again.
Chamwik smiled lightly and turned back to the front, focusing on where the vessel was going.
“But you make no mistake here. Why sorry?” Willow suddenly said a few dozen seconds later.
“I just am, Willow. I’m sorry for everything that has happened in your life, and I wish you didn’t have to go through any of this.”
The rest of the flight was in silence, until a connection was reestablished with the army in space. “Here’s the plan,” Chamwick said.
As soon as those words left his mouth, the Finälians started cheering for his return.
“I’m coming from the side of the sun. I have close to one hundred vessels I can control from my own,” Chamwik continued. “The Olmians are in between me and our original fleet. Like a hammer on an anvil, my fleet will push them towards you, while we eliminate them from Solmarin II. Human and Finälian vessels together in one army.”
Cheers of assent in dozens of voices rang through the radio. Chamwik looked at the passengers in his vessel. Daniel had a small smile across his face, while Willow was absolutely beaming.
Chamwik turned off the radio, now talking only to those in his vessel. “This will certainly a tale that will echo through the streets of our city, Daniel. Not only of how the Human empire went to war, but of how even the smallest misfortunes produce the biggest advantages.”