You instinctively put your arms to block your face, but as theswordswoman lunges the man steps in and blocks the blow with his shield. You aresure you should hear a loud clanging on impact but only silence surrounds you. Seeminglysatisfied by the simple sparring, the swordswoman sheaths her weapon andgestures to the room around her, wondering if you or the man knows how to getout, or better yet how you got here. You shake your head and the man does thesame. You suppose that answers your question if he knew any more than you. Youare still too unsure of yourself to wonder if these strangers could be lying.
You wonder if either of them heard whispering, but keep thequestion to yourself. Moments later, a pathway out of the swordswoman’s virtualspace opens and you are the first to step towards it with your new companionsfollowing you. You hope the next area is the exit, and you don’t have to askthe others to know they feel the same.
The next area is back like the first two rooms, with identicalwalls of identical coding of identical shape and size. In the middle lies asleeping girl with arms clutched protectively around a scepter like some sortof sorceress.
What do you do?
Later that day, afterwishing his goodbyes to Achernar and watching Zeke slink back uncomfortably tohis post, Myos was walking back to his living pod with an easy grace when hebumped into a small energetic girl with frazzled blonde hair streaked withuneven strands of black, purple, and teal. He was about to apologize when thegirl opened her mouth first and launched into a spiel.
“Hey! Do you have amoment to spare for my Rights for Robots campaign?” The girl asked, amethysteyes impossibly wide. Myos could swear they were bigger than some of the dinnerplates he owned.
“Rights for Robots?”Myos questioned, giving her a sideways glance. If he hadn't removed hiseyebrows long ago for a better gaming connection one of them would’ve beenquirked. “Sorry I’ve got somewhere to be,” he replied finally when a red dotsuddenly blipped onto his screen. He may be in the middle of plotting to takedown the Empress, but every hero needed a little downtime, right?
“Please, sir!” The shortgirl persisted, jogging along behind him when he started running. She was muchfaster than she looked, and Myos was surprised the girl could keep up with him.The heels of her short ankle length boots clicked along, and she held out theelectronic clipboard towards him. Glancing at it for a moment, Myos saw it heldvery few signatures. “Currently if a robot is mistreated by the person who ownsit, which is like another matter entirely because nothing that expressessentient thought should even be owned anymore because that’s slavery and ourforefathers way way forever ago banned it, and right now robots are beingoppressed which shouldn’t they be given rights like everybody else? You wouldthink with, like, as far as we have come as human beings and a race andtechnologically advanced-wise and stuff we would move past that as a culture?I’m hoping to raise enough signatures to submit it as a proposal to thegovernment. So sir if you could please sign this,” she paused, her thoughtsthat were flowing faster than a flood to take a breath that she desperatelyneeded, “it would really help a lot.”
“This really means a lotto you, doesn’t it?” Myos asked, finally slowing down to really look at thegirl, seeing a spark of innocence in her eyes along with determination. Itreminded him considerably of himself.
“Yes, it really reallydoes,” the blonde replied, shaking her head vigorously. Finally getting amoment to stop, she was able to catch her breath – just as Myos was able tocatch the slight tremble in her shoulders.
He didn’t know thisgirl, but he had the urge to explain the Empress’s plan to her - they neededall the help they could get so there was really no harm in telling her. Heknew, judging by the ideals she had just extrapolated to him and her campaignin the first place, the girl wouldn’t turn him in and would most likely beconsiderably interested in helping. Besides, Myos always trusted a personunless they proved themselves to be the opposite. “Hey, what’s your name?”
“My name? It’s Amaya!”She smiled wider, her thin pink lips adorned with a small silver ring in themiddle of the lower one. The girl seemed to be the very definition of bubblingenergy – she was never still for a moment and her emotions seemed to alwaysshine brightly on her face. The blonde fidgeted with her delicate looking blueand purple computer glasses, fixing the curved wire that curled around her ear.
“Amaya, will you start arevolution with me and my friends?” Myos asked, taking her black gloved handsin his own, that same fire burning in his eyes. He didn’t explain the situationjust yet, but he could tell the passion in his eyes resonated somewhere withinthe young woman in front of him. The girl was taken aback for only a moment atthe stranger’s forwardness before excitedly squeezing his hands.
“Of course! That’s aquicker way to change things around here!” Amaya replied, voice sounding as ifit were the embodiment of a fizzy Cola. “What are we revolutionizing?”
Myos brought the girlclose, out of the way of the rest of the pedestrian traffic that was millingabout the residential area of the ship – it wouldn’t do for the two of them tobe turned in before they were able to do anything - and explained what healready had twice before, eyes continuing to flicker brighter and brighter withsparks of emerald as he once again got completely lost in his own heroics tocome. As Amaya listened, she also quivered with excitement at the chance ofbeing a part of something bigger than herself and being able to make a differencein this space that had grown stagnant with complacency.
Even though the spaceoutside them was ever changing - albeit they were slow to notice the changes -with bangs of lights, different combinations of constellations, and beautifulnew collections of color at every turn, it seemed as though the ship Astraiawas stuck in a past that was linked to the desolate Earth. The same Empress hadruled over them for what seemed like eons, epochs even, though none had everseen her in person; and even though life was pleasant it seemed like living ina perfectly organized terrarium that one would keep a house pet in. Steadily,the human race had lost the inner value of independence and innovation thatpushed them to fight injustices done to them on Earth. Now was the time for change. Now was the timeto grab tomorrow’s future and mold it into something new and exciting, like thedazzling galaxies around them.
“The Empress will neverguess what’s coming for her,” Amaya giggled, the picture of innocence.
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