Submission.5
It wasn't long after that their shift ended, and they were escorted back to the classroom where the Forge Master promptly distributed Chits and requisition stubs to everyone within the class. The Forge Master called for attention moments before any could leave, all heads turned to him. The centuries old human spoke curtly, his time precious as well as their own, a quick announcement was all he made; that the southern district would be increasing the curfew time by two hours; all residents would need to be home by 30:00. He gave no reason as to why, he didn't need to, they had already heard about the killings; no amount of government sponsored media suppression could keep word from spreading after that many deaths. sixteen in the last week alone perhaps even more, as bodies have cropped up everywhere. Bodies wasn't the right word though, these 'remains' were mutilated things holding only the vague impression of humanity To combat the rising panic, CA guard patrols had been increased, and curfews set, never was their an explanation as to why such a thing happened, but they could guess as to why. Daniel only half listened, he didn't really care whether or not he had a curfew, and he lived close enough so that he could walk home in only a matter of minutes while there was still daylight. He glanced over at Gwen who was fidgeting slightly where she stood, wringing her hands over and over. He was surprised, she seemed nervous, and because of that she seemed strangely human. He didn't know what to think of that. ... It was still light out when they were released. Light enough so that the sporadic street-side lamps had no need to come on, otherwise this place felt as if it was always plunged into an eternal night. Grey light filtered through ashen clouds, Gwen breathed silently behind her filter-mask. Around her other students plodded into the courtyard and out through the open gates, iron black partitions that surrounded the massive complex for miles. Someone brushed past her and murmured an apology without looking, she was surprised, and felt compelled to squeeze the spot where she had been bumped. She could count the times someone had touched her on one hand-- in public at least. She came to the edge of the street now, she moved to step forward, as she always did on her way home to her sequestered district housing. She paused mid step, her shoulders hunched down and eyes blazing. She didn't want to go, she never did. That damn time of the month, that one day she dreaded above all others. A closed door Meeting with the DAS; she clenched her hands, teeth set; she turned to the right, and began walking. It was either this, or the labor camps. And everyone has heard the stories of the labor camps... some would rather choose death over such a fate. Her legs felt like leaden blocks as she moved, each step more resisting then the last. Thoughts and memories screamed through her mind, yet she sought to silence them as she could almost feel her damnable collar pulling towards the Southern district CAO o the Civilian Affairs Office. She turned the last corner, and was greeted by the all too familiar architecture of the CAO Her light footsteps faltered, fear and loathing overwhelming her as she lay eyes upon the entrance way. Stronger then ever now was the desire to turn, to flee and keep running until her feet bled and legs turned purple. Every step forward would be another tear if she were weak, she rebelled against such weakness and shuffled forward, her eyes stinging. The door opened of it's own accord, folding inwards like a trap box. The lobby greeted her eyes. The only thing that served, as seats in the barren room were two metal benches pressed against the wall on either side. Two adjacent doors lead out of the room while ahead of her was a self-service reception booth, she penned in her serial number.
She felt invisible eyes watching her; she knew all to well about the countless micro-cameras that would be scanning her form, every inch of her suspect to search. The holographic display on the check-in station floated before her eyes, she placed the hand with her PDD on the molted brown hologram, it flickered briefly then flashed green, her designation scrolled across the interface before it vanished back into the projector. She then sat on the cold, metal bench, her blood already chilled to the point She waited nearly three minutes, eyes occasionally cast up at the doors before narrowing on her watch, counting the ticks down to the last second. She waited no longer when the door across from her clicked and was pushed open, shadows obscured a face and Gwen wished her heart to cease it's insistent beat. Her thoughts drifted back into her mind, and thus the cycle began again. ... His footsteps echoed through the street, dampened by the thick smog that washed over the ground, a cold stagnant air weighed against him. Daniel wiped the lenses of his mask clean from the condensation that built upon it, the street was ever warm from ten meter wide and tall tubes under the streets that carried boiling water away from the forge works, yet the air was cool from thick layer of smog clouds that forever blotted out the sun. This led to a complete, and total darkness on particular days when the forges ran hot, and much water was needed to cool the ever-burning burners lest they turn molten themselves. Today was one such day, and great gouts of steam rose from the street, curling about his ankles and grasping at his heavy coat and mask edges. Like dread fingers clawing at him from beyond what was believed to be the end. . It was getting late, it had been a few hours since the morning shift at the forge works had ended and the night shift took over, but even so Daniel still had to maintain the set time of the curfew, fortunately he still had plenty of time to make it back to his hab-bloc before too late. His pace set at his leisure, he strolled down the fog-coated streets. He cast a tentative glance upwards, once again the only thing he saw were those ever-present clouds of gas and ash rolling above him, gorged on a constant supply of smoke from the towering vents of the forge-works. He searched the skies for a break, any possible hint of what lay beyond would be enough or him so long as he could glimpse of what stars truly were and a true sun's warmth. They say Orion had twin moons, though he had seen neither. He stumbled as his foot caught in a depression in the road and he fought to right himself before he fell.
He nearly connected his face to the hard asphalt had he not righted himself, he cursed at his own carelessness, the roads were rarely maintained and he had been stargazing at an overcast sky.
He cast off any shame he had, he took pride in it even, he was probably the only one who even thought past the grim nature of these factories to the world above and the possibilities further out. He was unique, and he was damn proud of it. He glanced at his PDD, he had to get home or he would face significant reprisal if he missed the curfew. Such things would be detrimental to his goal of leaving this cesspit and ascending to the Northern district as a person of wealth and influence. While his dreams ran wild, he let his local knowledge take him through the streets of the southern district, long has he walked these roads and he knew them as well as he knew himself. Aside from the occasional stray turn he managed his way into the southern district central plaza where he had a straight path back to his hab-block, he let thoughts of a warm bed and much needed dinner carry his legs a little faster. Needless to say he came by the Plaza often, the CBU had several commerce stores centered around here, and he had often stood behind the Plexiglas windows, marveling at the exotic oddities that were housed inside; be it in the form Alien literature, grav skippers, personalized PDD's and other paraphernalia that drew his eyes. But for now, they were mainly closed, usual neon lights darkened and windows shuttered with steel girders. The Plaza always looked oddly peculiar during the night cycle, as it was with everything at night, it seemed different- hostile even, like he didn't belong here, that he was unwelcome at this time. The only thing of any familiarity was the lone figure that sat alone on one of the many benches that surrounded the statue in the center of the southern district plaza Gwen D. The Hybrid girl from his class. Daniel didn't recognize her at first, the shroud of fog did well to occlude her from view, but as he drew closer he saw it was indeed her. With her face hid by shadow and the heavy coat she wore he could only see that it was Gwen by the telltale traits she and her kind carried; the exotic ears and overall small stature. One of her ears twitched, and she shifted. Daniel had no doubt she seen him, her and her natural senses far surpassed his own, it was said that they could see in the dark as if it were day. Daniel set aside his mental conjecture; he left her to her own devices. He had to get home and had no time to waste it on a moody half-breed.
...
She often came her to the Plaza, often she would come to sample the various different shops, other times she came here simply for the subtle companionship that came with being amongst a crowed. She would sit against the polished marble bench, beneath the shadow of an iron replica of an armored soldier, a rifle of some sort held above him. People always said that it was raised in victory, Gwen thought otherwise. She wondered if it was rather raised in the relief of his survival. Proud that he fought against the myriad of horrors the galaxy had to throw at him and came out still breathing and whole. Gwen knew herself well enough to know that she would never to be able to do such a thing; she wouldn't try to fool herself into thinking that there was no idle threat waiting out there amongst the stars. Humanity was already locked in conflict with the Fyrainians. Who knew how many more unsightly creatures lurked in the shadows, waiting to strike. She would be weak and frail in facing such a storm. She was surprised at first, the sound of steady footfalls carrying through the clouded plaza street. Her exotic ears twitched, focusing in on the sound of the steps; they sounded familiar. She glanced around as the stranger passed her by, she recognized Daniel almost instantly, the snobbish smirk was incriminating. "Hey." She nearly jumped at the sound of her own voice, it sounded foreign to her, "Hey, Daniel?" She called again, her voice cutting through the tuneless night. Daniel glanced over his shoulder at her with a tired look of expectation, Gwen paused, she hadn't really thought that he would stop to listen to her, she hadn't thought of what she would say if someone had. She felt the treacherous glimmer of hope flair inside her, clawing at the need for companionship of any kind. "...If you don't get moving your gonna get locked out." He called back to her, once more his stride carrying him off into the dimly lit streets of the Hab-blocks. A wave of alarm rushed over her, he was right, Gwen chanced a look at her PDD and was stunned as she observed the time, her heart had to be reminded of what its job was, after several seconds. She scrambled to her feet, her uniform crumpled and dirty with sweat. "Daniel, stop." She ran after him, "Daniel please! Stop!" she shouted now, her voice echoing off the frigid steel walls of the various establishments within the plaza. For a moment Daniel seemed not to hear her, or care. If so, he took pity on her as he turned to stare at her from over his shoulder, his eyes filled with a callousness that caused that forgotten spark of anger to flare within her and give her strength she forgot she had possessed. "Daniel-" She was cut off as she began. "What? I'm fucking busy." He shouted as he continued along the path that would lead him to his bed, and then a restless sleep. Gwen stared at his back, unbelieving of what she was hearing. "What do you mean, busy? This is your fucking off hours you git!" She grabbed his shoulder and spun him around without thinking, and for a moment she was horrified by her actions, the metal band around her neck felt like razor wire as she remembered once again, who -and what- she was. She couldn't pull her hand back fast enough. "What the hell!" He snapped when the damned gene-freak grabbed him, she spun him to face her; he felt the strength of her grip and shrank back. She was strong, far stronger then her wiry frame would say otherwise and it scared him. "Fuck! Calm down!" He said as he looked Gwen in the eyes and he tried to steel his resolve yet he felt it weaken instead. He saw that Gwen was more frightened of herself at that moment then him- if he intimidated her at all. He swallowed hard, words coming shakily as he beheld the fire in her eyes. "Ok, fine what do you want? I'm listening." He did listen, yet he rubbed the spot where he was sure would bruise later in the morning. Gwen didn't recover her wits as quickly, she never let her emotions control her before; out of habit she fingered the metal band that dictated her life, half expecting it to kill her on the spot. "I need a place to spend the night." She spoke, catching his gaze she saw him try to mask his fear, but only cause more. She would find it funny had it not been her that was the object of his fright. Even so, she thought she didn't grab him that hard. "I can't make it to my hab-block in time, I need to stay at yours." She repeated herself, her voice free of the shake it had before as she put the past behind her and blocked it off as she always did, the only thing that the past harbored were mistakes waiting to be unearthed and realized once again, and it didn't take long for them to burrow their way to the surface. Why encourage it to come sooner? "Why would I help you?" Daniel said, breaking her reverie. He hardly could believe it, a damned Gene-Freak asking him for help? He would think that he really did get a suit puncture, and this was all some sort of insane high before he choked on his own vomit had it not been for the soreness of his arm. She surprised herself with how calm she was at that moment, even with the flood of emotions coursing over her mind the same anger she fell prey too before fell over her features. "I think you know why." The arrogant smirk that always seemed glued to his lips fell from his face for the second time that night. ... It was fast reaching time when the 'grid' was set to lock down the southern district housing, yet two shadowy figures seemed eerily unhurried to the thought of being locked out at night; thrown to the elements and whatever else lurked beneath the streets 'till nightfall. They stood at the edge of the Southern Plaza, their faces obscured by full masks. These two beings that seemed almost alien behind their industrial masks, bug-eyed lenses and coiling tubes, but they knew better, they've seen real xenos species and knew enough to know that this visage bore no resemblance to any known sentient beings in the universe. The naturally conceived ones at least. "Att'a girl," The shorter one chortled, his eyes fixated at the seen playing out across the plaza. "Good to know the youngsters still have some fight in them these days." "They're leaving. We can continue." The tall man stated, his eyes never leaving the retreating pair, the Abhuman marching the young man through the night. "Why? Does the scenery upset you?" The short man sighed, his boots smacking the moist concrete ground with loud smacks of rubber on rock, the tall man seemed more at ease to stride soundlessly. "You know as well as I do that it's dangerous in these parts, I'd rather not end up like the others." The tall man cut his shorter compatriot off, his tone was needlessly urgent. The shorter portly man eyed his compatriot, clearly annoyed with the interruption. "Are you talking about the 'situation' or these Spies you never shut up about, or just the general fact that these buildings look read to fall down at any time." The shorter man noted, his covered face leaning close to inspect a nasty spot of rust at the base of a store with dust grey windows they passed. The Tall man looked down at the short man, seeming to glare, but with eyes hidden behind thick lenses he could just as well be laughing. The Short man prattled on, "I don't know why you are so insistent on all this buggery about stealth and such, and we're not in an active war zone you know." "You don't know that, this place could come under siege at any moment, it's bad enough that this had happened." The Tall man snapped his eyes trailing on each and every alley they passed by. "Besides, this is an important depot planet for the western front-lines, the 425th, 897th, 233rd, and 52nd Forward Armies get the majority of their munitions from this worlds star-port, and let's not forget that it houses the largest orbital repair station for our Dreadnaughts in the western outer-systems. If we were to lose this planet, our entire counteroffensive in this part of the galaxy grinds to a halt, and crumbles, and the Fyrainians have an open door leading right to our inner systems." Even with this grave news settling upon him, the small man was just as cheery as ever. "Then we'd best make sure we don't lose it, Major, that's why we're here after all, is it not?"