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NOTE: This chapter contains content that might be disturbing to some.



Chapter Eighteen


"What's on your mind?"

The question came from Sanya and it brought Lauren back to the present. How long had she been spaced out like that? Her mind had been a million miles away, or maybe more. That depends on the answer to her question.

"Oh I was just thinking about Earth." she answers softly as she absent mindedly traces the brim of the small cup she holds with her right index finger, her gaze settled on a small rock by the river bank. "How far away from Earth do you think we are?" As the question leaves her mouth, she turns a hopeful eye to Sanya.

Sanya, unsure what it is that Lauren's hoping to hear, decides to play it as safe as she can. "Hard to say. I haven't spoken with Aaron about the details yet, so I don't have any idea how fast we're going."

"Well that's why I said 'how far do you think we are', and not 'how far are we'."

"You really can have a smart mouth when you want to, you know that?" Sanya's tone says she's mostly teasing but that she also didn't appreciate the comment.

"Well I mean you could have just said you didn't know what you were talking about" Lauren flashes a playful smile to show that this is merely friendly banter "instead of giving such a weak excuse of an answer to save your pride, Sanya. You can be honest with me after all. It isn't like I'll make fun of you or anything."


"Well why didn't you say so to begin with? Let's see... in the average consumer ship the top speed falls somewhere between one hundred and one hundred twenty samai per hour when the auto has launched." Sanya begins, being sure to get as technical as possible "This being a high end restricted Milariman model, it's probably equipped with an E-238 special edition drive and an N5 or N6 hypercore, which, if Aaron engaged it, could have boosted us up to restricted levels, possibly as much as one seventy to two hundred samai per hour. But then accounting for the size and energy requirements of this ship that would probably take us back down quite a bit, so say...anywhere from thirty six hundred to seven thousand samai, depending on several factors and whether or not Aaron has engaged the hypercore and is pushing top speed, or flying more reservedly to avoid drawing attention to us."

"On second thought, maybe you should just stick with the vague, dumbed down answers." Lauren says with a sniff.

"Okay, well depending on what parts this thing is equipped with, and whether Aaron chose to play it safe or fly at top speed, we're anywhere from thirty six million to seven hundred million miles away from Earth by now."

With a slight gasp, Lauren drops her cup on the ground, causing it to break. Glancing toward Sanya she sees the surprise on her face, and quickly turns her attention to the cup — it'll make for a good diversion for now.

"Oh dear, look at what I did." she exclaims as she slides down off of the rock that she was seated on and kneels beside the broken cup.

"Lauren, are you okay?" Sanya asks as she watches her scramble to pick up all of the pieces.

"I'm fine, I just lost my grip on the cup, and now look at it." Lauren tries to explain her reaction away, and notices her hands becoming more clumsy by the second. "I can be so absent minded sometimes." she adds with a fake laugh.

Sanya isn't fooled. She's the queen of hiding her emotions, and she won't be turned away so easily. "What has you so upset, Lauren? That wasn't just a bad grip. You were—"

"I'm fine, Sanya." she answers with another fake laugh, this one even more failed than the previous attempt "I was simply distracted, trying to figure out what you had said and my hand slipped is all. Really."

"Lauren, something is bothering you. Now—"

"I said I'm fine!" Lauren shouts and makes a note to keep her head turned now as she feels tears spilling down her face. That emotional outburst had pushed her beyond the point of holding them back.


The silence that follows leaves Lauren as uncomfortable as she's ever been. She feels sorry that she shouted at Sanya that way when she had done nothing to her, and was well meaning. She also feels awkward sitting here pretending that she's still inspecting the broken cup, but she can't turn around and face Sanya for fear of her seeing the tears and pressing the matter further. But this silence — it isn't like Sanya. Normally Sanya would be snapping back at her or at the very least acknowledging what she had said.

Several more moments pass before Lauren finally probes to see why Sanya is so silent still. "I hope Aaron doesn't get too upset with me for this. It looked expensive." the comment was meant to draw a reaction; she knows Aaron won't be upset.

Nothing.

Turning slightly to look over her shoulder, Lauren tries to peek and see what Sanya is doing back there without revealing her reddened eyes, but to her dismay, Sanya isn't there.

How... with her leg like that, she couldn't have gotten up and walked off. Lauren surmises She would have made too much noise for me not to notice her if she crawled.

Her thoughts of curiosity however, are soon replaced by a feeling of guilt: had she hurt Sanya so badly that retreating was her only viable option? Made her feel about the way she herself is feeling right now? Why? Why had she done that to her friend?


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


The sound of iron clanging resounds through the dark and damp stone corridor, causing Officer Sylas Kelbany, or 211 as they know him here, to rouse. Lifting his head, his eyes fall on the queen herself walking around the corner holding what could be classified as either a very long dagger or a very short sword.

"Look lively, Sylas." the man chained next to 211 whispers to him. He's been here for a year, which is approximately eleven months longer than any other prisoner. He knows how to maximize his chances of staying here another twelve months, and he tries to help his fellow inmates to do so as well. Though sometimes he wonders if it's really better than the alternative that so many others have chosen — just facing her wrath.

"Good morning." she taunts as she walks near, a guard on each side of her as though anyone in here could hurt her if they tried. "How did you enjoy your stay here last night, 211?"

"Oh it was just lovely. We had a grand ol' time in here like always." the prisoner shackled to the wall across from Sylas answers.

Turning to face the other man, Gaelia addresses him with a condescending smile "Oh you thought that was funny? That wasn't funny." she says, as she plunges a dagger through his midsection and pulls it upward a few inches before removing it. "Ha! Now that was funny."

Sylas turns his head to spare himself the sight, and in doing so he notices that the man chained next to him simply shakes his head sadly. Clearly this wasn't the first time he'd seen this, and Sylas had guessed as much by the red stains on the walls and floors.

"Look at me when I'm addressing you, worm!" Gaelia shouts just as the baton from one of her guards crashes into Sylas' side.

His arms chained to the wall, over his head leaving his rib cage was exposed and vulnerable, Sylas cries out in pain and turns his eyes back to the queen. She's every bit as menacing in appearance through his blurred vision as she was before, if not more so now that he cannot see her expression to guess what she's thinking.

"I've come to take you with me." Gaelia continues, and Sylas wonders if this means that she has decided to follow his plan, or kill him. "Release him."

At her word, the guard on her right, the same guard that had struck him, unlocks Sylas' arm and leg restraints. As he does so he turns Sylas and pushes him forward, causing him to stumble a few steps, and barks the order to move. Sylas obeys, trying to shut out the noises coming from the dying man that had been chained across from him as he does so.

"Well 211, after sleeping on it, I've decided that your plan is, how can I say this properly? Stupid? Foolish? Moronic? Which do you think is most appropriate here, Tygan?"

"I think moronic sums it up nicely, my lady." the guard behind Sylas answers.

"Very well, moronic it is." Gaelia stops in place and turns toward Sylas, and, holding her bloodied dagger still, continues "But, given who we're dealing with — the lunatic that your pea brain decided to hire in the first place — it seems like the best choice we have. This is your chance, 211. Succeed, and live. Fail and you'll wish you'd died with some dignity before Ontiss. Am I clear?"

"Yes your highness." Sylas answers calmly. All of those years appearing before her and that icy, threatening gaze had paid off finally.

"Good." Gaelia answers with pat on the cheek that is intentionally harder than necessary. "Tygan, you'll see 211 on his way while I await breakfast in my chambers."

Silently the guard nudges Sylas onward, as Gaelia wanders off in the opposite direction. This is it: it's do or die. Literally.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Sitting together at dinner, Lauren manages halfway through the meal to push past her shame and look up at Sanya. The smile that she offers Lauren as their eyes meet serves to make her feel better, even if it does cause her to regret what she had done even more. At least there are no hard feelings.

"So Aaron," Lauren begins "Sanya and I were talking earlier and we were wondering how fast we we're travelling."

"We're holding steady at one ninety five."

"Really?" Sanya is so shocked that she nearly shouts the word, and her eyes go wide.

"Mmm." Aaron confirms, his mouth full of water. Swallowing he expounds further on his grunt "Yeah, grandpa designed the hypercore himself. If it weren't for the power needed to run the bioplex, and the size of the ship itself, it could easily get close to three hundred."

"Um... i-in Imperial, please?" Lauren quietly asks.

"Oh, right. Sorry about that." Aaron answers sheepishly as he turns to look at Lauren before continuing "When I say we're traveling at one ninety five, I mean one hundred and ninety five samai. A samai is equal to a thousand qorks, and a qork is equal to a hundred kimet, which in turn, are each equal to one mile. So we're travelling at around nineteen and a half million miles an hour. Pretty crazy, huh?"

Lauren's mouth suddenly goes dry. Reaching for her glass, she takes a drink and speaks up again "So that... that makes us how far from home... I mean Earth?"

"Oh gosh, we'd have to be close to a billion miles away by now." Aaron answers every bit as innocently as Sanya had earlier. "Why?"

"No reason in particular." Lauren manages to say calmly, as though nothing is wrong with her. "Aaron, do you think you could take care of the dishes tonight? I'm really quite exhausted."

"Oh, yeah sure. No problem." Aaron answers, unaware as ever of the turmoil inside of his friend. "You really must be tired after all that's happened. This is a lot to take in, ya know? Go get some rest."

"Thank you." Lauren nods and turns to leave.

"Hey, wait up." Sanya calls before she can make it very far. "Help me go too? I'm kind of bushed myself."

Great. She sees through me, doesn't she? Lauren thinks as she turns toward Sanya and goes to help her up. "Of course. Come on."

And together, the two women slowly walk out of the dining hall and to their house, leaving Aaron alone in the silence, bored out of his mind once more.


____________________________


"Liar." Lauren says curtly as she helps Sanya take a seat.

"What are you talking about?" Sanya feigns innocence, but the smile that she fights manages to overcome the willpower of the left corner of her mouth, telling off on her.

"Nice try, but you know full well that you were able to get away from that table on your own, just like you did at the river bank this morning." Lauren says as she turns for the bathroom, scooping up her gown as she goes and throwing it across her arm.

"Yeah well I know that, and you know that," Sanya answers as her half smile conquers the rest of her lips "but Aaron doesn't know that."

With a humph, Lauren reaches for the bathroom doorknob "So I suppose that means only the two of us are privy to your lies then."

"And yours." Sanya says, but her voice holds no malice.

Lauren freezes in place for a moment, staring off thoughtfully. Then lowering her gaze to the floor, she replies before closing the door "And mine."


"So what exactly is bothering you?" Sanya calls loud enough to be heard through the door.

No answer comes at first, but after a few minutes of silence the door opens and Lauren emerges in her gown, her hair tucked away protectively.

"Can't I even get changed in peace?" she asks as she heads for her bed where she sits and looks across the room at Sanya.

"Wow, whatever it is has you even grouchier than usual tonight — not an easy feat."

"Oh whatever." Lauren lies down, pulls the blanket up to her neck and turns her back to Sanya.

"And Aaron didn't even do anything this time. I don't know what could be getting under your skin so badly."

"I wonder."

"You know I don't like that accusing tone in your voice. Surely you aren't blaming your moodiness on me."

A huff is the only reply given,

"You are blaming me, aren't you? Geez princess, you really need to get over yourself. You've been uptight and looking for trouble for days now."

"This has absolutely nothing to do with what happened before." Lauren snaps straight up in her bed and turns to glare at Sanya "And what it is that's bothering me is none of your concern, so I would appreciate it if for once you would stay out of my business!"

"You know" Sanya laughs "your little tantrums get more and more adorable every time you throw them."

"Shut up!" Lauren shouts as she clutches the blankets that are now laying in a crumpled heap on her lap.

Sanya's outburst of laughter at that comment causes Lauren's anger to reach an all new high with the woman, and she immediately begins thinking of some way to make her pay for the way she's treating her all of a sudden. A quick look reveals that there's nothing within arm's length that could serve as a projectile.

Worked up and unable to retaliate, Lauren shouts through tears "I hate you!"

Sanya's laughter stops instantly, and for a moment Lauren almost feels satisfied — that seems to have hurt her worse than any thrown object could have.

"No ya don't." Sanya says with a smirk.

"I think I know what I do and don't feel, thank you." Lauren nearly whimpers as she closes her eyes and wipes her tears in embarrassment. She keeps having these childish outbursts. Why can't she grow up already? Lately she's acting more immature than she has in years, and it kills her that she keeps proving Sanya right.

"You're right, you do." Sanya answers, still seated across the room with her leg propped up.

Feeling a suddenly close presence Lauren looks up from the tear wiping and nearly jumps off of the bed with fright — Sanya is sitting on the edge of her bed! Looking at the couch where Sanya had sat moments ago with her still broken leg propped up, Lauren wants to ask how she moved so quickly with her leg the way it is. That and to thank Aaron for putting the bed against the wall; otherwise she would have jumped out of it with that start.

"And you also know that you don't really hate me," Sanya continues as though this whole thing isn't strange, and anyone could run across the room with a broken knee "don't you?"

"I...well I..." Lauren stammers, and the tears start all over again. great "Oh Sanya." she cries as she buries her face in her friend's shoulder.



______________________________


Sitting, one at each end of Lauren's bed, the two women talk about what just happened. To Lauren's dismay, while she was comforting her, Sanya revealed that she had only trying to anger Lauren because she knew it was the only way she would get a reaction and hopefully the truth about what it is that's bothering her. And sure enough, she got both.

"So you're homesick huh?" Sanya asks sympathetically. She knows the feeling all too well. She's felt it a few times herself, having left Deylon at the age of seven. Why hadn't she figured out what was wrong with Lauren herself? Is it already setting in? So soon?

"Sanya?" Lauren calls out, bringing Sanya back to the present. "Hey, where were you? You just zoned out on me."

"I-I'm sorry. I was just thinking about what you said about missing your home." Sanya answers. It's at least a partial truth. That's better than a full on lie, right?

"Are you sure you're telling me the truth?" Lauren probes further. Something seems off here.

"Of course I am." Sanya assures her with a sincere looking smile "I promise, I was just thinking about how you must feel being so far away from home. But don't worry — You'll get to go back soon, I'm sure."

Satisfied that Sanya is being completely honest with her, Lauren takes heart and smiles back. "Yes, I suppose you're right."

"Aren't I always?"

"I wouldn't go that far with it, but you are right at least thirty percent of the time."

"Oh really now? Thirty percent?"

"Well... yes." Lauren teases "Give or take five percent."

"You flatter me."

"I know."

"Alright, alright. We should probably get some sleep. It's one in the morning. You're gonna be dead on your feet tomorrow."

"Oh my, I hadn't realized how long we'd been talking." Lauren answers "Do you need help getting to your bed?"

Sanya doesn't answer, instead a raised eyebrow says all that needs to be.

"Alright," Lauren laughs and lies down with her back to Sanya once more. "Good night."

Then from the other side of the room already, Sanya returns the wishes.


_________________________________



"Sanya! Sanya answer me!" Lauren's panicked shouts ring out, but they're only met with low groans from Sanya who refuses to open her eyes. "What do I do?" Lauren wonders aloud as her mind races. "Maybe Aaron will know what's wrong."

Standing up straight she rushes out of the house to get him. What he could possibly do to help, she doesn't know, but his efforts can't be any more futile than hers were. All she can do is hope and pray that Sanya will be okay, and that's exactly what she does the whole way to the control suite where Aaron's room is located.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


So this is it, huh? I knew it would be soon, but I didn't expect it to happen so quickly. Sanya struggles to open her eyes still, but they feel as though they're made of lead they're so heavy. Poor Lauren. I really should have told her last night, but she already had so much to deal with. Not like waking up to this was any better...

As she continues to struggle with her weighty eyelids, she can hear Lauren and Aaron rushing in. She can also hear that Lauren is still in hysterics.

"Her pulse is weak." Aaron relays.

No duh, Sherlock. Sanya's almost surprised that her sense of sarcasm is still so strong even in this state. Almost.

"Did anything happen to her last night? Any signs that she was sick or hurt?" Aaron inquires.

"N-No, noth-ing" Lauren answers between sob induced hiccups.

"I can't find anything wrong either." Aaron continues as he checks her ribs and limbs.

Hey, watch where you're putting your hands, moron. If I could move right now, you'd be the one in this place. Watch it... watch it... watch... HEY!

"Oops. Hand slipped."

As Aaron continues poking and prodding, trying to figure out what's wrong, Lauren continues her hysterics behind him. It isn't really helping his nerves any, but what can he do? Tell her to stop the shouting already?


"Her mouth moved!" Aaron shouts and Lauren presently stops crying. "She's trying to say something."

"Move!" Lauren shoves him out of the way, sending him to the floor, and gets down by Sanya's face. "What is it?"

In a voice that could barely even be called a whisper, Sanya repeats the words "Stop screaming, please."


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