June 7, 3028
Meeki pushed through the door to the tiny passenger cabin of an Asterian bus. She threw her purse into the little storage bin and fell upon the hard bench beside the door, grumbling to the thought of being trapped in the cramped little box of a cabin for hours.
Braya followed her in, enshrouded in the new cloak and a veil Kiluana loaned her. She sprawled across the other side of the bench and took a deep breath. Considering how old she claimed to be, Meeki supposed she would have enough patience for the flight.
One more person walked in and threw herself onto the opposite bench. She was Kinjeur, the fourth of Kiluana's young associates. She was to accompany Meeki on this little errand as a chaperon, but Meeki was uncomfortable with the girl. She seemed to enjoy styling herself after mischievous street hoodlums and employed a poor attitude to go with it. For this mission her outfit included a black bodysuit adorned with baggy brown pants and a soft brown shirt, all of which had numerous rips and tears. Meeki was especially questioning of the spiked bracelets on both of her wrists.
“How long is it to Newhope?” Braya asked.
“Depends. 'bout four hours maybe.” Kinjeur muttered.
“Four? Hm, I thought it would be longer, but it's my first time in a ship like this,” Braya said as she withdrew the cloak from her head.
Kinjeur groaned and turned her back to them. She brushed one of the brown pigtails away from her face and sighed. “Don't get all excited. It's going to be pretty damn boring.”
On that optimistic note the bus engines rumbled out of their quiet idling. The ship shook slightly and the captain made his announcement through the communication system. From the sound of it, the flight would be rather typical. After enduring two days of intensive gun training with Kiluana, Meeki thought it would be a blessing to have some time to relax.
A beep was sounded throughout the bus. The engine's rough vibration built up until the bus wobbled into the air like a flimsy toy. Once the landing gear settled into the floor with a loud metallic clang, the bus lifted off, rapidly leaving the bus station behind and soon the cityscape as well. In five minutes the planet already seemed distant. Braya seemed unusually interested in watching the land shrink away.
“It's definitely your first flight. You're staring out like my daughter did when we had a Newhope vacation.”
“I like to watch the planet like this. I only flew into space one time when they flew from Earth to Heaven,” Braya explained.
“Heaven, was that another planet or something?”
That statement seemed to perplex Braya. She shook her head to deny the guess but said nothing more.
Music started playing over the speakers. They were all very campy tunes that just barely helped to pass the time, but Meeki began to feel drowsy after a while. It wasn't much longer until she entirely fell asleep.
The sound of Kinjeur thumping the floor with her feet soon shook Meeki out of her slumber.
“I'm going to go to the snack bar or whatever they have,” Kinjeur mumbled as she left.
Meeki closed her eyes and tried to resume her nap, but Braya tapped her shoulder. “Meeki, I want to talk about something, if you don't mind.”
Meeki pushed herself back into a more suitable position against the bench. She rubbed her eyes slightly and looked to Braya's ears, which always seemed to captivate her.
“There's more to me that I didn't tell you,” Braya said.
“It isn't bad, is it?” Meeki asked.
Braya shook her head, her ears flattened back. “I'm not really sure, but there is something you should at least hear.”
Meeki smiled and folded her hands over her knee. Being a history student allowed her a great natural interest toward these sort of talks.
“There was someone I worked with back on Earth.”
“A friend? I never really paid much attention to the story, but they make you out to be the loner,” Meeki said.
“Yeah. Well, this other person, um, it was you.”
Meeki felt confused and thought she simply misunderstood.
“Aren't you surprised? I mean, you were with me back then. Even your name was Meeki. You used to be a cat and we were almost like sisters together.”
Meeki wasn't expecting this. She stared at Braya and wondered what the girl was up to. “I don't remember anything about this, maybe the name's just a coincidence.”
A fierce glare shot out from Braya's eyes and her face stiffened with stubborn ambition. “You probably don't remember because you were reincarnated like everyone else.”
“What does that mean?”
“You and everyone on Earth died in the end, and it was arranged that you would all be reborn on Newhope and Aster,” she explained.
Meeki wasn't sure how to respond to that. Braya rested her soft gray hand on Meeki's own. “Come on, you've got to be the same Meeki. I . . . I missed you so much, and I wanted to see you again after all this time. Please, you have to believe me!”
Braya's eyes began to fill with tears and she held Meeki's hand tightly. Knowing what dangerous adventures this cat girl went through over her many years, it was strange that she would beg like a child.
“Maybe you're right about the memory thing, but what difference does it make? I can't be the person you want me to be without those memories. All I know is that I've lived on Aster my entire life.”
Braya dropped her gaze to the floor in disappointment. “I guess you're right. Sorry, I shouldn't have bothered you.”
There was silence between them for something like fifteen minutes afterwards. Braya gradually curled up on the bench and rested her head on her knees to watch the stars. Her ears were still laid down and she barely moved. Meeki felt like she had done something terrible to the poor girl, but she was glad to have answered honestly. If this friend of Braya's was so important, Meeki wouldn't get away with telling a lie. Still, it felt awful to let Braya down so badly.
“I'm also sorry, I know how it is to be lonely,” Meeki said, even though the conversation had long ended.
Braya turned to look to Meeki. Her cheeks were moist with the tears she shed in silence. “If it is you, maybe it's for the best that you don't remember. Some things you guys left out of the story were sick. Nothing for a kid's story.”
Meeki felt like she had to change the subject. A shriek and the sound of people running through the corridor provided such an opportunity.
Meeki leaned to the door and listened. She couldn't make sense of anything, there was a commotion somewhere in the train. Many people were gathered and talking somewhere, though the sound of their chatter was becoming distant.
“Wait here, I'm going to check it out,” she said to Braya.
There was nothing in this section of the hall, but the door ahead was left open. Several blood red splotches of blood trailed along the gray metal floor towards the front. Meeki stepped back into the room and grabbed her purse, where she kept her pistol for the trip. She prayed that it wouldn't come to use.
Seeing Meeki take the gun, Braya immediately got up from the bench and covered her head with the cloak. “I'll go with you.”
The blood continued into the next section. Meeki and Braya walked carefully through the hall. With the exception of the noisy crowd in the next hall, it was unusually quiet. Meeki kept her hand in the purse and became a bit frantic, thinking she would have to whip the gun out at any moment.
They stopped just before the corner to the door. The crowd in the next section sounded like they were looking onto something. There were talks of an injury, perhaps something fatal. Meeki trembled and gripped her gun tight as she turned the corner and slowly walked in. A dozen people were huddled around something.
“What's going on?” she asked an older man in the back.
“A pilot's been attacked. He isn't in good shape.”
Meeki pushed her way through the crowd to find an android laying on the floor. His blue uniform and artificial skin were torn at the abdomen. The attacker somehow blew the structure of the android open, revealing a damaged mess of robotic parts near the wound. Sparks were flying and the android seemed to squirm in discomfort. Whoever attacked him had to have a powerful weapon specially designed for it. Androids were seldom prone to any kind of violent attack.
“Who did this?” Meeki asked.
“Whoever did it's in there, in the cockpit. Some girl chased him in, but the door's locked from this side.”
Meeki looked to the solid door and knew there wouldn't be any breaking in, so it was a mystery what was happening in there. Then a beep sounded throughout the ship and the door slid open. A thin monkey-like man dressed in farmer's overalls and a straw hat dashed out. He shoved Meeki and several others aside until Braya grabbed a strap of his outfit. She pulled off the hat and almost snarled upon recognizing him.
“Jacques?” Braya hissed. “What are you doing here?”
Kinjeur suddenly walked in from the pilot's room. She seemed unharmed and rather happy as she waved a little gun shaped device around. “He shot the pilot with this, don't let him go.”
Hearing this was more than enough for all but one of the crowd to run and hide elsewhere. Braya swung Jacques aside to slam him against the wall. “Why'd you do that?”
“I came to k—kill you guys. That crazy girl found me out before I even tried, so I panicked and had to do something, you know how the boss is if you fail him!”
Meeki walked up to him. “So your leader knew we'd be here?”
Jacques nodded. “You know how pointless it is to avoid him.”
Braya frowned and looked around. She let go of Jacques and jumped at Meeki to push her aside. Meeki had no idea what was going on but turned to see a bolt of red energy fly across the hall. It hit Braya's shoulder and flung her against the wall, where she collapsed to the ground.
“Bray—” Meeki almost said before the sound of a huge thud on the other side of the hall distracted her. Kinjeur had knocked the huge man's body to the ground, and she shoved her foot into his chest to hold him down. The man tried to aim his gun to fire again, but Kinjeur leaned down to grab it out of his hand.
Meeki ran to Braya and felt sick with panic, fearing the girl wouldn't survive long. But Braya looked up to her rather mildly without any indication of trauma or pain.
“Are you alright? Let me see your shoulder,” Meeki said.
“I'm alright.”
Meeki scowled at her like a mother would to a dishonest child. “Nobody's alright after getting shot.”
“Samara's tough, she's taken a number of hits in her day. She's tougher than anyone I know,” Jacques said.
“She's a freak,” the large man grumbled. Hearing his voice, Meeki realized it was James. He was wearing an ugly Newhope outfit of blues and greens with a blond wig draped over his head. Now that Meeki knew who he was, the disguise seemed almost laughably silly.
“Shut up,” Kinjeur said. She kicked at his head, easily knocking him unconscious.
Meeki undid Braya's robe just enough to see the girl's gray shoulder. The fur was disturbed, but there was no sign of any injury whatsoever. Meeki wasn't sure if to believe it.
“Wow,” was all she could say.
“Told ya,” Jacques said. He seemed happy to have proven a point despite his situation.
“The other pilot's fine. Let's lock these idiots up in a cabin,” Kinjeur said.
Kinjeur playfully shoved at Jacques to force him along the halls. After testing James' weight, Meeki and Braya reluctantly teamed up to drag him along. The others on the bus poked their heads out and especially stared at James. There was a great relief on all their faces that the situation was under control, though not everyone was happy. Some of them took to arguing endlessly about bus safety as it related to ticket prices, but that wasn't anything unexpected. The more unyielding Asterians were always quick to question the value of their purchases.
While Kinjeur visited the remaining android pilot to have him lock the prison, Meeki and Braya stood by to guard Jacques in case he wanted any more trouble. The hall was silent and Meeki wondered how to express her gratitude. She figured it was best to just come right out and say it.
“I owe you for taking that shot for me. I know I'm a disappointment for not being who you wanted me to be,” Meeki said.
“It's no problem, and I wouldn't worry about it.” Braya patted Meeki on the shoulder. “You aren't so bad. I'm going to stay with you and help out for now.”
Meeki nodded and sighed. For the rest of the flight she tried to think of ways to make it up to Braya, but there was no easy solution.