Elena

Nimbus Planet

Nimbus planet isn’t at all what I expect it to be when we finally arrive. We land in the Fliden District at night in the midst of a snow storm. We’re the only ship around, the station has already closed down for the night and I’m quickly realizing that Vruzzy has a lot of connections. I’m just happy we don’t have to endure another screening from patrols. Vruzzy assures us that we’re safe on Nimbus, especially the Fliden district. He was very convincing when he told us that no one cares where you come from or what you’ve done. It’s the perfect place for a new start.

As we make our descent, I stand at the back of the bridge, watching through the huge window, Bane right behind me. The buildings are tall and clustered together, looming in the darkness. There are no lights, everything is quiet. We all seem to be waiting for something, holding our breath as we wait to finally rest on the ground again, safe and undisturbed.

“Why is it so deserted?” I finally ask.

“Unlike other space stations, this one is smaller. It can’t accommodate as many ships so many will land further north of here. Whether it was intentional or not, only ships arriving in the Fliden District tend to land here now. So, it doesn’t generally operate at night,” Vruzzy says.

“More private, I like it,” Bane says. He’s standing so close behind me I can feel his breath on the back of my neck when he talks and the slow rumble of his voice vibrates softly in my chest.

“It is nice to think we don’t need to worry about anyone finding us here while we wait to see what the fall out will be after I expose the dirty deeds of our government. It would make me feel better if we could do that sooner rather than later, by the way.” I’m speaking to both Bane and Vruzzy. He’s going to be the one to work his magic and get my story out there for all to see. Let the bastards suffer for their deceit.

“I have a place,” Vruzzy says. “Not far from here. We can do it tonight if you want.”

“That would be awesome,” I say. “Will they be able to track where the story came from? Find our location?”

“No, I can cover my tracks. No one will trace the origins of the story back here.”

“Everyone back on Earth thinks you’re dead anyway,” Bane says. “After the explosives I set off at the embassy.”

“You set the explosives off?” I turn around and look at him, surprised that I didn’t think of that earlier.

“Of course. It created the distraction I needed to get you to come with me and then the added bonus of everyone thinking you were already dead. It would have stayed that way, too, if I wasn’t involved with Phantom. You would’ve been safe if not for me.”

“Stop.” I put my hand on his chest and he looks down at me. “That’s all in the past. This is our fresh start.”

I smile at him, indicating that my forgiveness is true. He reciprocates but there’s hesitation in it. One thing I’ve learned about him in the short time we’ve known each other is that he doesn’t forgive himself easily. There’s more to say about it but this isn’t the time or the place. The ship lands with a thud and we’ve officially reached our destination.

“Like I said,” Vruzzy says as he gets ready to disembark. “I have a place. I know eventually you’ll want something that’s your own, but for now, you can stay with me.”

“Thank you,” I say.

We follow Vruzzy off of the bridge and down the corridor to the ramp. As we step down, there’s a vehicle waiting off to the side, the only lights around. I walk toward it but as we get closer, I notice there isn’t anyone inside.

Bane opens the door for me and I hesitantly crawl into the back seat. I’m about to ask where the driver is when I notice the front panel of the car is full of screens and buttons. Vruzzy gets in the front and presses his palm to one of the screens. A voice says, “Welcome Trudai Vruzzark, please enter your destination.”

I look at Bane, confused. But I’m not going to get any answers from him, he looks just as confused as I am.

“These cars can drive on their own,” Vruzzy says by way of explanation. “I put in a request for the time and place and they show up.”

“Well that’s handy,” I say.

The rest of Vruzzy’s team puts their supplies in the trunk of the car and then climb in. The vehicle is large, able to seat at least ten. The rest of the men climb into the seats behind us and then Vruzzy presses a button and we start to move. I look out the window as we drive down the streets, trying to get a good look at the place I’ll be calling home. It wasn’t really that difficult of a decision to stay here when it came right down to it. From the beginning of this whole ordeal, Bane had my heart. I knew it wasn’t smart, but it happened nonetheless. The only reason I wanted to return to Earth was to deliver my story; to expose the corruption of our times and as a nice fuck you to my colleagues that never thought I had it in me.

When I found out I was pregnant with Bane’s child, the last thing I wanted to do was leave. So instead of having any regrets, I’m really excited to start a new life in the Fliden District.

“Are you going to tell your father?” Bane asks.

“Tell him what?”

“That you’re alive. I’m sure he thinks you died in the explosion.”

I think about that for a moment. “Maybe,” I finally say. It sounds too harsh even to my ears to say that he probably doesn’t care one way or the other. But, unfortunately it’s the truth. He probably prefers the attention that my death has afforded him.

Thankfully Bane leaves it alone.

I pull my cloak tightly around me and watch the snow swirl down around us. It’s a thick, wet snow that leaves large white splatters on everything it touches.

“I’m going to need to go shopping for some warmer clothes,” I say.

Bane chuckles, something so rare that I live for the sound of it. “I’d say.” His hand tugs the especially large pants that I’m wearing until we can find something more suitable. I had to roll the waist over about four times and roll the pant legs up about four times to keep them on my body. As long as they keep me warm in this weather, I don’t really care.

We drive for about half an hour when we finally pull up outside of a tall building. There’s a long row of them that all look the same.

“Welcome to Guffinhoss Row,” Vruzzy says. “A nice residential area and the perfect location to hide all of my fun toys from the all too curious patrols.”

We get out of the car and walk up the steps. The inside is quiet and dark, clearly no one has been here in a while.

“How many places do you have, Vruzzy?” I ask.

“Just three.” He sets his large case down on the floor and flicks on the lights. There’s a tall staircase right in front of us that leads up to the bedrooms. The kitchen is straight back with the living area to our left. It has just enough simple furniture to make it look occupied, but not necessarily lived in.

“You two can choose a bedroom upstairs. The guys and I have rooms downstairs, where we spend most of our time. You want to see?”

“Yes,” I say immediately. I’m extremely curious to see what kind of set up he has down there.

Vruzzy has to unlock the door that leads downstairs. The staircase is made of sturdy thick wood slabs, giving the intended illusion that there’s nothing more than a cement floored storage space down there. At the bottom, there’s another door that Vruzzy unlocks before we’re standing inside of his room with all of his toys.

“It’s running,” I say, looking around at all of the flashing lights, indicating that the system has been functioning the entire time he has been gone.

“Yes, I set it to run diagnostics and keep all of the necessary updates current, even when I’m away.”

He sits down and turns on the screens. There’s some whirring as everything comes alive before us. “So Elena,” he says, turning around in his chair. “Do you have your story ready to go or does it need some more work?”

“It’s ready.” I take off my watch and remove the small chip from the back before handing it over to Vruzzy. “My story, the real treaty files, and photographic evidence of the facility. We’ll start there.”

He takes the chip and spins back around in his chair, inserting it into one of the drives of his main computer.

“This will take a while to reach them, but they’ll get it and it’s going to blow their minds.”

I watch with anticipation as he starts to work. “Connection speeds through space are slow, I won’t lie. I have to utilize a network of tracking and data relay satellites and just the sheer distance that the information has to travel takes time.” He works for a few more minutes until finally, he stops, his finger hovering over a key. “Ready?”

“Ready,” I say.

He presses the button.