After a gentle nudging by the man, clearly eager at the thought ofescape, you take a step forward through the entryway and replace yourself in ablank white room, with solid walls instead of coding. The man with the shieldsighs, as if a heavy weight has been released from his shoulders. You areafraid of what this might mean, though you have an idea.
He takes a step forward and you grab his wrist. You do not want tobe Alone, you tell him. He tilts his head to the side as if he doesn’tunderstand what you are saying. He hands you the shield, and you take it,feeling the weight of it in your hands. For the first time since arriving youare armed, but not prepared.
The man who previously wielded a shield steps to one of the wallsand touches it lightly at first, as one would dip their fingers into a pondthat they were not yet sure of the temperature, and then presses his palm flushto the smooth surface. You want to cry out but no sound leaves your lips. Youthink you may understand why he was familiar to you. Predictably, he fades intocode as all the rest did and you are left with a shield and an open pathway.
What do you do?
The next area seemed tobe lighter than the previous one, blinding halogen lights once again ignitingthe path before them - or at least, the small cubic room they were now in. Theroom was the smallest place they had been so far, barely the size of an averageliving pod. In the center of the room sitting on the floor was a basic lookinglaptop, with a cursor flashing waiting for an input command.
Amaya was about to go infor a closer inspection when the ravenette on her right stopped her. “It couldbe a bomb,” Zeke cautioned, narrowing his black rimmed eyes.
“Do you trust anything?”Myos scoffed, waving a hand dismissively, the small star charm that hung aroundhis wrist by a thin cord jangling as he did so. “This thing is the only wayforward so we don’t really have a choice,” he shrugged. “Razzy, you’re goodwith computers, why don’t you take a look at it?”
Razzy nodded without aword, sitting gracefully on crossed legs in front of the homey glow of the computerscreen. The screen itself was devoid of any character, merely a black screenwith a flashing white cursor like something of which their great, greatgrandparents would’ve used back on their now long gone home planet. Amayapeeked over her shoulder, the youthful girl confused at that such a technologystill existed on this ship, much less in a place that guarded the Empress.Achernar tapped her foot impatiently, wishing she could just go back tostabbing at things to fix the problem.
The girl with achromatichair typed a few commands in the keyboard, the computer responding accordingly,and when it seemed like the sound of victory would play over head a small textmessage appeared on the screen and stumped her process.
Password?
The word flashed tauntinglyin and out and Razzy scowled at it, eyebrows furrowing and jostling the twopiercings there. “There’s no way past this screen. You have to type in thepassword and there’s no way to reset or alter the software to disable thepassword protection.”
Myos’s shoulders slumpedin defeat. Pushing the sanguine bangs from his forehead with the palm of hisheel in frustration, he leaned back against one of the four walls that enclosedthem in the small room that was currently their prison. No way forward, no wayback. Was that how it ended? Stumped by a password? Myos shook his head,unwillingly to just let it be. They had come this far, and they were going togo all the way. He couldn’t let his team down - he was their leader, the wholereason this started was because of him. Lightly brushing the star outline onthe back of his neck with his fingertips, he regained confidence. “Well, then,we’ll just type in the password won’t we?” Myos grinned.
“He's right!” Amayanodded excitedly, pumping a fist in the air. “We can do it!”
“Mind if I try?” Zekeasked, stepping up to next to the girl sitting on the floor. Razzy stood upafter eyeing the man beside her. The pallid girl was six inches shorter thanthe other, but she still held his gaze. Myos was worried for a moment that theusually calm and detached girl would break out of the norm and punch his friendafter a flash of some undeterminable emotion flickered in both of their eyes.Razzy stepped to the side with a nod, allowing Zeke to take a seat in the spaceshe had previously occupied.
Zeke stared at thekeyboard for a moment, before his gloved hands flashed over the keyboards totype something too fast for the rest of them to see. The screen went blank fora moment, and then with an ancient sounding noise powered off for good. Thespoils of victory were now theirs, signaled by the resounding of bells.
Achernar, Amaya, andMyos stood with mouths agape, the same thought surely running in all of theirminds. How did he know the password on the first try? Myos pondered, narrowinghis pale viridian eyes in distrust for a moment before shaking the negativethoughts away.
There was no way hisbest friend could be a traitor. They were all on the same team right?
Right?
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