Aries

The pain pounded at Caelum’s temples, a sensation that he’d never felt before in his life. No one felt anything other than a serene fog with muted emotions. He remembered being a small child and cutting his knee on the playground. The skin split open, the blood welled up, a stark contrast against his pale complexion, and he only stared at the wound, curious at the change in his body.

The Leaders said no one needed to feel anymore. The special gas pumped into the atmosphere, Aries, allowed all the citizens to live an orderly existence. No pain, no fear, nothing except routine and work. The Leaders said this would always be better than the chaos Before, the constant wars and bloodshed with neighboring countries and worlds. Now their whole planet had been united, the alien forces pushed back. Aries allowed them to live in absolute peace. Everyone had an occupation, chosen by random lottery at age sixteen, and all jobs had equal importance.

The pain in his head worried him.

At least, he thought pain felt like this—the slow, pounding pressure, making him want to close his eyes and rest outside of his mandated sleep times. He’d heard whispers of other citizens who started showing these same symptoms. They faced reconditioning. He had no idea what reconditioning meant, just knew that those citizens did not appear in their city ever again. The Leaders said they got redeployed to other cities. His coworker at the security border believed those citizens had become immune to Aries, making them a threat to the city and the planet.

Had he become immune to Aries?

His job as a border guard entailed the same work each day. At precisely five-thirty in the morning, he arrived at the cafeteria in his sector and ate his assigned meal, always calculated based on his nutritional needs. He mostly received oatmeal and fruit, but occasionally got powdered eggs and bacon. He preferred the bacon. At five-forty-five, he left the cafeteria and walked to the border guard locker room. He changed into his uniform, leaving his regular clothing in his locker. No locks. No one would take anything that did not belong to them. Shortly before six, he got his requisitioned equipment—flashlight, taser and rifle—and by six o’clock sharp, he stood atop one of the city’s border walls, scanning for activity. He never saw anyone approach the city. Only the approved planet transport vehicles.

He laid in bed, willing the pain to go away.

One of their team leaders had reached the age of retirement and would step down to join the elderly in their sector in the city. Caelum had performed well in his job and the team leader had recommended him for the position. This meant he could move to another living sector and apply for a marriage. He could technically have applied for a marriage now, but he wanted a slightly better job.

The thought made him pause.

Why should his job matter for marriage? All citizens got the same basic care, including housing, meals, clothing and medicine. When had he decided that he needed a promotion at work to be a viable marriage candidate? He already qualified.

The pain in his head started three days ago.

But he’d decided months ago he needed the promotion for marriage.

Did he even want to get married?

Did he want to be a team leader for the border guards? Being a team leader meant he would be responsible for scheduling all the guards and inventorying the equipment room, ultimately accountable if any equipment went missing, which nothing ever did. He would get no additional meals or clothing for taking on more responsibility. He would only get to move to another housing sector based on his job classification. As a supervisor that meant slightly more square footage.

He did not want to be here.

The thought shocked and jarred him. Never before had he thought about wanting a different life or leaving. No one left. Only those reconditioned citizens went to other cities to be redeployed. He did not want to leave. He had order and food and…

But did he?

He would not be able to hide the pain in his head forever. Exhaling harshly and heart pounding, he sat up in bed, eyes going to the drawer on his nightstand. His hands shook and he frowned. Another new symptom. Another reason he could be sent for reconditioning. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and opened the drawer. On top of the citizen guidebook, standard for all adult citizens, laid a heart-shaped locket. On his normal walk home, the sun glinted off the metal, thrown in an alley near a dumpster. Caelum had no idea how other citizens had not spotted this. The streets always remained exceptionally clean, and any stray trash got picked up by citizens. He had approached the locket with every intention of throwing the jewelry in the dumpster.

But he paused.

Citizens did not wear or own jewelry, so he could not fathom where the locket had come from… or even how he knew the proper name for the piece. The heart-shaped pendant had a hinge and opened… his mind felt fuzzy, but the word tugged at distant memories, too buried for him to remember. The pictures inside had faded, but he could make out a man and a woman, neither of whom he recognized. And the outside of the locket, engraved over the heart, the Cygnus constellation. As with the word locket, the name of the constellation came to him in a burst, like floating through the fog of his subconscious.

Who had owned this locket? And why had they left the locket in an alley?

He would be questioned if he turned the locket in to the peace officers, so he shoved the locket deep in his pocket and continued home.

Now, he stared at the locket, the same questions coming to mind.

But more… the constellation reminded him… they’d learned in school that their planet had many cities and continents, and so did other planets. The universe held many people and wonders, but their purpose in life had been determined by the Leaders. Serve their city.

Why would he be regulated to serving just their city?

Caelum stopped, thoughts articulating for the first time.

No one expected citizens to rebel and, if they did, everyone reported them. But Caelum had a job as a border guard, meaning he could very plausibly be around supply transport vehicles. Those same vehicles dropped off supplies and then went to the interplanetary transport hub orbiting the planet. This place had been terraformed and made habitable by citizens of Earth generations ago, and the Leaders held holidays to pay respect to those people that gave them their way of life. The leaders said all planets operated like theirs, but Caelum did not know if he believed that. All planets used Aries? The people bringing the supply transports always looked tired, but did not wear the same clothes as them and sometimes talked about other worlds, in quiet, hushed tones.

He knew what he had to do.

Moving quickly, he got up and got dressed. He grabbed the locket from the drawer and shoved the locket deep into his pocket again. He didn’t know why, but the locket seemed significant to him. He left his living quarters and walked to the cafeteria.

When he arrived, the worker at the counter, Bert, raised an eyebrow. “Early start?”

Caelum felt himself trip internally. No! He’d arrived before five-thirty. The large clock in the cafeteria read four-thirty, meaning the supply trucks would be arriving any moment. “Yes,” he replied quickly and smoothly. “I have been assigned extra work with the supply vehicles.”

“The yearly requisitions came in today,” Bert commented, meaning he understood why Caelum had been assigned extra work. He tapped a button on his terminal and announced, “Today you get bacon and powdered eggs.”

Caelum did not believe in concepts like luck or coincidence, but he decided to take the breakfast he preferred as a good sign. He sat down at an empty table and ate quickly, hardly tasting the food, even though the normally savored the taste of bacon. He finished eating and dropped his tray off at the recycling station. The pain continued to pound at his temples and the shaking grew worse, making him feel dizzy. But he managed not to stumble as he walked out of the cafeteria and down to the border hub. The supply vehicles had arrived, and workers moved the pallets of supplies off the transports and to their designated area to be stored and distributed.

No one acknowledged Caelum as he approached the transports.

He scanned the vehicles for a long moment, before settling on an empty one. The back remained open, but the driver had returned to the driver’s seat. Without thinking too much, Caelum strode to the transport and climbed in the back. Nothing but packing blankets and empty pallets inside. He grabbed a blanket to obscure himself and waited.

His heart pounded in his chest, sure he would be caught and reconditioned.

Time passed slowly.

No one looked inside the vehicle.

Then the door closed, and the transport lurched forward.

He had been correct that no one reported unusual things because no one did unusual things. Perhaps all the workers had been too focused on moving the supplies to pay attention to Caelum. He did not know the reason, but hoped the interplanetary hub would not send him back.

After a few moments, the transport began to rumble as the propulsion system kicked in and he knew the transport had gone into flight mode. Only a few minutes before they would arrive at the interplanetary hub orbiting the planet.

Caelum closed his eyes. His headache felt worse, and he just wanted to close his eyes and sleep. He would feel the transport land, so what would be the harm in sleeping for a moment? His body felt heavy and strange, and he didn’t understand the sensations. He closed his eyes, allowing the shaking of the transport to lull him back to sleep.

“You’re going to be okay.”

Caelum jerked awake.

He wasn’t inside the transport anymore. He laid on the ground in a large loading zone of vehicles, a medic kneeling beside him with a kit.

“Oh good, you’re awake,” she said. “Never had a stowaway from Derry-1 before.” She smiled. “What’s your name?”

“Caelum,” he choked out.

“Well, Caelum, you’re going to feel pretty lousy as the Aries effects wear off. I was here checking out the drivers who just came back and someone was clearing out the supplies and found you.” She gave him an appraising look.

“Don’t send me back!” he begged, raw panic filling his system.

“Caelum, the hubs are neutral territory. No extradition. You can do whatever you want from here. Although I wouldn’t recommend going back to Derry-1.”

He reached into his pocket, clutching the locket.

“I don’t want to go back.”

The medic smiled. “I wouldn’t imagine you would. Can you stand?” He nodded and slowly pushed himself to his feet. “Let’s go over to the help center. They’ll get you set up with identification and help you travel to another planet.” She added, “Welcome to your new life.”

Suddenly, he remembered watching the stars with his mother.

She wanted him to do more than stay on their planet. Had Aries always been pumped into the atmosphere of their planet? Did he know anything about the other worlds out there? He didn’t, and he still had a headache, but for the first time, his head felt clear. He knew what he wanted.

He’d gotten away.

And a whole new life awaited him.