Aniisa's Tale

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. So, how did I get here? Well, buckle in tight because it’s quite a tale.

Growing up, I was always a curious little thing. My mom had a rule: no questions after 8pm. I can’t blame her; I did ask a lot of questions. With my dad gone most of the time, having found work to support us on Xanitelle– yes, that one; the conservation planet with all of the fuzzy blue monkey-type creatures. What can I say, he cared about saving as many creatures as possible– it was just me and my older sister, Satriij. Oh, you thought mom would be around raising us… No, not really.

On my thirteenth birthday, I remember her saying I’ll be back with a present as she kissed me on the head and walked out the door. It took my sister a week of telling me she’s not coming back for me to stop sitting and staring at the door, waiting for her to walk through it. Who knows if things would’ve turned out differently had she been there to raise us, or if dad had found work here on Akiieve, a perfectly good planet if I do say so myself. I mean, it’s not much, being one of the smaller planets in the mid-ring, but it’s damn sure better than the Capital. That planet is nuts. There are so many stories of people going missing or getting evaporated– yeah, you read that correctly, evaporated. Back in 5027 the Capital military created a weapon that basically busts all of your cells open; and since we’re a majority water-based creature… what’s left is just a pile of tissue. Don’t even get me started on sound guns, you think the ancient guns are bad with the metal bullets, try picturing guns that shoot sound bullets (no physical casings, just a focused burst of sound at a frequency that disrupts cells). I’ve heard those take a long time to regenerate from one of those hitting you.

But, I digress, back to my small little planet that has everything you need on it, food, water, shelter, friends, and the good ole outback. My favourite pastime was taking my solar-foil out and racing around the rocky outcrops nearby. I was able to convince Reniir to build one, too. As my neighbour and best friend, he was my one competitor who always challenged me. The only times I was able to beat him was when he was going through his growth spurt and was unfamiliar with the new length of his extremities; something he had gotten over annoyingly quickly, actually.

One day, during my last year of high school, my sister said he was a good influence on me and that she appreciated him hanging out with me. To which, I had rolled my eyes and gone outside to jump on the back of his airbike, laughing maniacally as he sped away, leaving her in a big cloud of dust. Except, I had come home to a note that said she had to leave for work, but would be back as soon as she could. Reniir was there for me and got me through. He even encouraged me to apply for the planetarium academy, which I snorted at because only the best and the brightest get in there. He had gone serious and had not taken no for an answer. For the rest of the year he held my nose to the grindstone and somehow, somewhat miraculously, I got accepted. It’s not a surprise that had been accepted, too. As much of as the goofy, dick-around that he was, he was brilliant.

~ ~ ~

Four years later, as Reniir and I were heading back to the house after celebrating our graduation from the planetarium academy, we noticed an unfamiliar ship out front and Raniir had told me to stay put while he did the macho man thing and went to check out the vehicle. I had snuck closer to the house, trying to peek through the window when I heard my sister call out to me. Without a second thought, I bolted inside. Only, it wasn’t her. It was a recording of her that was playing on the wall screen. She had looked so skinny and fragile, with big bags under her eyes. I had sunk to my knees and wept as recording her apologized for not protecting me better. “I’m so sorry Aniisa” she had cried straight into the lens, “I’m so sorry.” It hadn’t occurred to me that it was a trap until a big shape moved out of the shadows. I yelped and shot to my feet, but was too slow. The feeling of shackles twisting themselves around my ankles and my hands being bound behind my back, the perfect cherry on top of the story of my life.

Reniir had busted through the door, to save me, I had hoped. The words “traders” fading on his tongue when he was shot with a sound gun, and I knew that, if he survived, he wouldn’t be able to do anything for a long while yet. I cried out as I stumbled toward him, the shackles bringing down to the ground. Coughing from the impact, I crawled toward him but only made it a couple of feet before rough hands hauled me back to my feet. Anger had flashed through me, at my sister, at my parents, at these traders– now, when I say traders, I don’t mean the ones who transport grains and water. They shoved me out the door toward the open belly of their ship. I had struggled and screamed until something hard had hit me on the side of the head and my vision had gone black.

I was startled awake by a disembodied voice that had started to laugh. My head had pounded so hard that my eyes watered. I reached my hands up and wiped my eyes clear, but at that point I was made aware that I wasn’t the only one in the bay, and we were all glancing around for the source of the laughter. A screen had flickered to life, replacing the window to a black void outside. A figure in a tailored suit and a malicious grin sat behind a manicured desk, “Hello lovelies. As you are discovering, you have just been purchased for my entertainment. Now, as you will see, there is only one space suit available and twenty-one of you. I’ll give you…” he trailed off with a dramatic, hand wave gesture, “twenty-one minutes until the airlock releases. Let’s see which one of you has the guts to survive.” A light flashed and a single space suit dropped down from the ceiling. It dangled just far enough out of reach that it would be difficult for anyone to get to. On the screen behind it giant numbers appeared: 21:00.00.

The room had frozen as we all took in our situation; then the countdown started and all hell broke loose. Those who were more physically able to, started punching their way through the people around them. I had fled behind a couple of piles of pallets nearby, and thanked my lucky stars that I was petite because I was able to squeeze in between them and flatten myself to the ground. My game plan was to hide there until the chaos sorted itself out. Which worked until one person was pinned to the top of one of the piles I was under. The victim tried to get something out of their waistband, but with hands around their throat, their attention went back to fighting their attacker’s grip. In their struggle, the item fell and landed in front of me. It was a sound gun. Why that person didn’t have it out earlier and just blasted their way through everyone, I will never know. But in that moment, I had known that I had just been handed my chance at survival.

I scrambled for it, my movements alerting the attacker that I was there. With the last breaths of their first victim having come and gone, their focus had shifted to getting through the pallets to me. I flipped onto my back and held the gun in both hands as I aimed at the body that barrelled toward me. In my desperation, I closed my eyes and pulled the trigger. The movement above me ceased and I cracked an eye open to see a hole through their abdomen where their heart should’ve been. I rolled over and puked until there was nothing left to come up. I knew I had to move because my spot was compromised, so I wiped my mouth on my sleeve and extracted myself from the pile.

I felt so exposed and in over my head, but knew that I was truly in a ‘do or die’ situation. I had no choice but to square my shoulders and confront the other surviving members of this messed up situation. I crouched and slowly worked my way around the pile, scanning for any movement. When I had a view of the entire room, I paused, confused. Twenty bodies. No, what? I thought to myself and counted again. Twenty. I glanced at the clock: 00:02:47. SHIT. Panic had set in at that point. I had run in a circle, not knowing what to do next, when my gaze settled on the pile of pallets. If I could stack them under the suit, I could reach them. I ran over, as a fresh wave of adrenaline hit my system. In what felt like too much time, I had piled several pallets on top of each other and had climbed on top. I reached up and was able to grab the waist of the suit. I pulled, but nothing happened, it was stuck. Cursing, I glanced at the clock: 00:01:23.

I jumped off the pile, my ankles stinging with the impact, I dragged another pallet over and told my burning lungs to shut up as I hauled it onto the top. With the extra height I was able to release the hook and stare down at the suit in my hands, realizing that I had no idea how to put it on. There was a zipper going around the top, which I guessed pulled over your head, but it kind of looked like a strange piece of fabric with an odd garter attached. I slipped my legs through the loops and pulled it up. I shoved my arms through two holes and hoped like hell I was doing it correctly. The biggest section of the fabric fell over my chest and I ran my hand over it. Apparently that had been the trick because all of a sudden the suit was expanding and wrapping itself around me. An inflatable helmet-like thing burst out of the unzipped section around my neck. When I ran my hands along the edge, it sealed me into the suit.

Awkwardly, I somehow manoeuvred myself down from the pile and braced myself as the clock ran down to zero. When nothing happened for a second, I relaxed slightly; until clapping sounded behind me as a different man in a suit appeared. “Well, that was magnificent, what a production.”

My anger had risen as my mind whirled, processing that I somehow wasn’t floating in space at the moment and that this asshole was very smug. I glared at the stranger, not trusting my voice. I shifted my weight, ready for a fight.

“Now, now. We will not be having any of that,” he said, as he raised his hand. Sections of the walls dropped as more people filed in. These ones, however, were dressed to fight and were packing some big guns. “You’ll find that you are severely outnumbered…” he trailed off while gesturing beside him. I scanned the room, counting the new occupants. Forty-five. Well, shit. A red button caught my eye on the far wall and an idea popped into my head. I turned to face the man in the suit and started slowly backing up. He smirked, thinking I was just trying to get away from him. Internally, I rolled my eyes at his overconfidence.

“Now, I know you must be scared, but it’s okay. Come with us, be a good girl, and everything will be just fine.” AS IF! I screamed in my head. I took a deep breath and kept my pace slow but even. “It’s okay,” he repeated in a fake calming voice, “we won’t hurt you. You just earned your freedom.” I couldn’t hold back the snort that came out of me. His eyes sharpened on me, “If you listen to me, you won’t have to end up like Satriij.” Ice flooded my veins and my steps had faltered at the mention of her name. This guy had had something to do with her capture and potential torture, or knew of it, which was as good as. He didn’t know it, but his revealing of information strengthened my resolve. I turned around and sprinted as fast as I could in the bulky suit. “STOP HER!” he shouted. All forty-five armed bodies moved at once. But they were too late. I took my last step and launched myself at the button. “NOO–” his voice was cut short by the air being sucked out of the room.

The weightlessness of space is not something someone forgets. It goes against everything your body is used to knowing.

As I am sucked out of the airlock I witness forty-six bodies struggle for air. A struggle that only lasts for about 20 seconds as their lives leave them; their bodies turning into frozen masses. My body rotates and I see the original man in a suit standing on the bridge. A grin spreads over his face as a woman is dragged up to him. He grips her face in his hands and then turns her face toward me. My heart skips a beat. The face he holds is my sister’s. She was on the ship the whole time.

I scream in frustration. The sound of my screams travelling no further than my own ears. I take a breath and stare him down, vowing to find him and put an end to his life myself, by any means necessary. He holds my gaze until it flicks to something above my head; he blanches and barks an order to his crew. The ship turns around and warps away, the force slowly spins me around. Ah, shit. Out of the frying pan, into the fire, I think to myself as I stare at the exterior of the most infamous looting ship known to every citizen of the Huukigan system: The Rakugaard.