“And we still have our heads. No harm, no foul.”
We rounded the corner and made our way toward the lift that would take us back to the heart of the Atria . But before we could, Tel rounded on me, forcing me to stop lest I run square into her. “Tell me this,” she said, crossing her arms in front of her as she peered down at me. “Why do you want to go to Earth?”
“Because,” I began, and tried to make myself a little taller, “I want to know what it’s like to have a normal human life. And when I asked my family about it, they told me that if I moved there permanently, I would never see them again. I couldn’t live with myself if I just…cut my parents out of my life. And I don’t want to make a rash decision about up and moving to Earth before I’ve even seen it.”
“Yeah,” she begrudgingly conceded, “but what if it’s awful?”
“Exactly. What if it’s awful? So I just want to check it out a little. I thought if I could travel aboard the transport vessel, I could just see a little bit of it and come back. Maybe sate my curiosity.” She nodded. I had her hooked. “And hey, what if I help you out a little, huh? I know your job is to load the transport vessel, so I could do some manual labor for you. Make it a little easier. What do you say?”
Her nostrils flared as she exhaled sharply through them, and I could see the wheels turning in her mind as she considered my proposition. People of all different shapes, colors, and sizes were filing past us in both directions; we were the only still creatures in a hive of activity.
“Well,” she said at length, “I haven’t really seen any of Earth, the two times I’ve flown out there.”
“See? And now you’ll have an excuse to do a little sightseeing while you’re there! It’ll be fun, like spring break all over again.”
“Except without ending up with automatic laser rifles pointed at us.”
“Except for that.”
And thus, we had an accord. It was great, actually, in the days preceding the launch. We had dinner or drinks every night, and talked about the things we wanted to do or see when we were on Earth, with our tablets on the table between us as we scrolled through images and articles about the things to do and see. We'd be landing in the middle of the ocean, whereupon the spaceship would disguise itself as a water ship and we’d end up somewhere in a place called Florida, which looked pretty nice all things considered. Lots of palm trees and beaches. I couldn’t wait.
The plan was that Tel would list me as a labor hand on the ship roster. She’d have me sneak on board the night before launch, and that would be that. We’d be en route before anyone became aware that I was somewhere I shouldn’t be, but they wouldn’t halt the mission for one inconsequential stowaway, so I’d be allowed to go on with the ship and face a slap on the wrist when I got back. Free and easy.
Except that’s never how things work out, is it?
CHAPTER TWO: LORELEI VAUSS
The transport vessel didn't get far before it was intercepted and ripped violently out of lightspeed travel, slamming to a lurching halt. I’d strapped myself in, and I gritted my teeth against the force that pressed me forward into my restraints as my stomach pitched and turned over when I settled back again.
I wasn’t alone in the passenger’s quarters, and the other three people looked just as green as I felt. We were seated in a small chamber with a foot or so of space around each of us.
“Oh, God,” I muttered, and turned as far as my chair would allow to be sick onto the cold metal flooring, away from the rest of the passengers. “Sorry,” I murmured, but the act had a sort of chain reaction, and the blonde Europax sitting next to me vomited up bright green bile. For a second, I thought I recognized her from somewhere, but couldn’t place her.
When I was confident that the vessel wasn’t going to shoot back into faster-than-light travel, I unlatched my harness