The familiar coo of a Luba wakes me. He’s got his wet nose pressed against the window of my parent’s Silo, as if he knows that I’m in need of comfort.

“Hey there big guy,” I say as I open the window and scratch him behind his floppy ears. “Did you travel all this way just for me?”

The Luba coos in what I interpret as agreement.

“You’re a good boy,” I say. “A very good boy.”

It’s been a disorienting 24 hours. The GAC forced me to take time off, and my parents insisted on me sleeping on their couch.

Now, everyone knows that I’m… different.

During that moment, that explosion of anger when I somehow bent the Silo’s roof itself, I felt… connected.

Like my heart was joined with another.

And the Rift appeared a moment later… surely that can’t be a coincidence?

No one knows what the purpose of that vortex is, but then again, news usually doesn’t travel to outposts like Garna. If there’s a new gadget, we’re the last to know.

All I heard on the ‘feeds is that it might be a gate into another galaxy, or an entirely new dimension.

I can’t renew my contract with the Galactic Aid Corps with new dimensions shimmering on the horizon! Whatever it is, whatever this means, I have to see it through.

“There you are,” my father says. His low voice startles me.

“I-I’m sorry,” I say.

He freezes. “For what?”

“Embarrassing you. Last night.”

My father shakes his head. “You did no such thing, my child. Come, sit. There are things I must tell you.”

I sit down and anxiously await his words.

“Those symbols…”

I instinctively pull my sleeves down.

“Leah, please. You don’t have to hide them from me.”

“But they make me feel like a freak,” I confess.

“You are not a freak. In fact, you are the opposite. You, my child, are one of the Chosen.”

“The Chosen?”

He nods. “That is what those symbols indicate. Now, I never joined the Sacred Order, so I don’t know all of my prophecies and legends by heart, but I know that much.”

It’s a start. For the longest time he would avoid any questions about New Exon, or what it means to be a Zoran.

“What am I chosen for, father?”

He sighs. “I wish I could tell you that, my dear. To be honest, I never anticipated this. I figured that, by joining the GAC and moving to Garna, we could escape the tendrils of fate that seem to coil around us Zorans… but it seems my efforts have been in vain. The universe has plans for you, I’m afraid. We’ll figure it out. Together.”

I spent the rest of the day helping my mom around the house, tidying up and preparing dinner together. I know she’s pretending nothing has changed, and I don’t want to break the spell. It’s nice to pretend that everything is okay, even if I know deep down that it won’t last.

The moment I place the pan of Darna stew down on the table, the sector alarm rings, its high-pitched wail making the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

It seems the universe just won’t let me eat in peace!

I storm outside, my stomach up in knots. The other aid workers have rushed outside as well, and together we peer up at the sky.

Lights flicker in the distance as unidentified vessels pepper the sky.

“What are those?” I ask. “Are we being invaded? Are those pirates?!”

There is nothing of value on Garna, save our equipment, but even that is very bare-bones. I can’t think of anyone who would be interested in us… except for… slavers.

Gulp.

My father grabs my hand and shakes his head.

“Those ships are too new for pirates… but whoever they are, they are looking for trouble.”

The ships come closer, and I squint my eyes trying to get a better look. Slowly but surely, the logo of SINTRA Corp. becomes visible on the side of the metal ships.

One of the ships touches down in the clearing on front of our silo’s, and my father instinctively pulls me and mother close.

A walkway extends automatically, and I hold my breath as the doors slide open.

A figure clad in all black, save for a green logo on his chest that reads Takeshi Biocorp, exits the vessel.

“Who is in charge here?” He bellows.

The other workers glance toward my father. As the only Zoran on Garna, he’s a natural leader. He doesn’t shy away from the fact, and takes a step forward. I try to pull him back, but it’s no use.

“Who is asking?” Father replies.

The man reaches into his back-pocket and pulls out an order.

“Straight from the Federation’s desk,” the man says. “SINTRA has received the order to surveil Garna’s surface.”

My father’s golden eyes scour the page.

“Nonsense,” he bristles. “There’s nothing worthwhile on Garna, no minerals, no natural resources, nothing that could interest you. It’s been scanned extensively before. What are you really doing here?”

Irate, the man snatches the order out of my father’s hand.

“I told you already. Now, it’s in your best interest to stay out of our way, you hear? Just go about your business, we’ll be gone in a few days time.”

He stalks off, and the pit in my stomach grows. More ships touch down, and soldiers pour out of them. They begin to unload more than a few day’s worth of equipment, that’s for sure!

The curious contraptions, raised up high on tripods that flash red lights intermittently worry me the most…

“Damn it,” Father growls.

In all my years, the times I heard my father utter anything close to a curse is exactly zero, so this has my eyes opening wide.

“I can’t get through to the GAC Headquarters,” he sighs.

We’re all seated around out dinner table, the room filled to the brim with the other aid workers. Father has been trying to contact command via his radio, but for some reason, his signal is being jammed.

“What do we do now?” One of the men asks. “I don’t trust these guys.”

“Neither do I,” father says. “They’re bad news. We’ve got to prepare for the worst.”

I watch breathlessly as my father takes command of the group, and starts dishing out orders. He splits everyone into groups, small enough so that they won’t arouse too much suspicions from our would-be captors, and gives them orders to stash all the weapons, the food and the medicine we have in various hidden places across Garna.

“We know the land better than SINTRA does. If push comes to shove, they’ll come for our supplies first, which will cripple us if we’re not prepared.”

I wonder how my father knows so much about fighting a guerrilla war. Is there more to his past than he ever told me?

“For Garna,” Larry says.

“For Garna!” Everyone chants with grim determination.

As the room clears out, I scoot closer to father. “What can I do?” I ask.

He forgot to give me a task. Probably just an oversight, right?

“You won’t do anything,” he says resolutely, crushing my hopes. “You’ll stay inside.”

“What?!” I bristle. “And let everyone else have all the fun?”

He turns to me, his colorful eyes narrowed. In all my life I’ve never seen him so angry.

“This is not fun,” he growls, his nostrils flaring. “This is war. Those men, SINTRA — they are not unloading scanning equipment, I can tell you that. It’s all weapons and containment fields. We are their prisoners. It’s not safe for you outside, not with your… condition.”

I narrow my eyes. “I’m not some fragile little flower,” I hiss. “I’m not a baby anymore. I can stand on my own two feet!”

“It’s not safe,” he repeats.

“It’s not safe for anyone! I won’t let everyone risk their lives, while I sit here and twiddle my thumbs!”

He crosses his arms. “Fine,” he sighs. “You can keep doing your regular job feeding the Luba then. But no heroics! And if you feel another episode coming up, you rush home, understood?”

I roll my eyes. “Yes, father. Understood.”

Two days later the bomb bursts.

SINTRA has been erecting more tripods than I can count, as the aid workers smuggle out all the food, medicine and weapons they can carry.

Still, I don’t see how we could ever win an armed conflict against these guys. We’ve got weapons, yeah, but they’re just about sturdy enough to put down a rabid Rinjin if the situation calls for it.

Taking on an armored SINTRA soldier? That’s a whole different can of beans.

Speaking of Rinjin, my nemeses don’t show their face anymore, thank goodness. It seams my episode scared them something fierce.

Good.

I don’t need their shenanigans, with the whole being-occupied-by-mercenaries thing we’ve got going on at the moment.

On the second day, as I’m on my way to feed the Luba, the SINTRA soldiers activate their tripods.

Laser beams connect between the different contraptions, forming an electric fence that they begin heavy-handedly herding Luba into.

“Hey!” I curse, my protective instincts getting the better of me. “What do you think you’re doing?!”

I march towards the guard’s outpost, dead set on asking who they hell they think they are, messing with my Luba.

The Luba are like family to me. They’re my little babies, each and every one of them.

As I pass one of the tripods it starts beeping erratically. At that sound the head honcho, a man with a mean scar across his face, exits the outpost.

“Hey,” he mutters while huffing on a cigarette. “That’s the bloody signal!”

“Are you in charge?!” I ask point blank.

The man looks me over, his dark eyes scanning my frame from head to toe like I’m a piece of meat, and it gives me the creeps.

“I might be,” he says, puffing out his chest. “You’re here as a peace offering? A bit of entertainment?”

“What?” I stammer. “No! What are you doing to my Luba?!”

“Your what? Oh, you mean those cows? They were getting in the way of things, bloody dumb runts.”

He exhales, blowing a cloud of smoke my way, and then throws the cigarette down on the ground.

“Don’t worry your pretty little head girl, they’re safe. What’s it to you?”

“The only bloody dumb runt I see here is you,” I bristle.

The man’s mouth just about falls open.

“The Luba are kind, sensitive animals! They need to be loved, they need to be free. You can’t keep them locked up, like a bunch of…”

“Animals?” He says, finishing my sentence. “That’s what they are. It seems the fresh mountain air has made you a bit dim, girl. There are people back home starving, and you spend your days feeding a bunch of alien cows? You GAC types are dumber than I thought.”

He reaches out and grabs my wrist.

“Don’t worry, I can make you see the light,” he says with a mean grin. The smell of cigarettes and booze surrounds me, and my heart is thumping like mad. “One night in our barracks we’ll cure that GAC-fever right out of you, I reckon. I’ve been looking for some entertainment…”

I feel it — another episode.

Another surge of power, rising out of my very depths. I can’t control it, I can’t stop it, and at this point, I don’t know if I want to.

What this man is suggesting is… so horrid, I don’t want to spend too much time thinking about it.

Instead, I scream, and unlock my powers.

“Let me GO!”

I yank myself free, adrenaline surging through my veins, and then it happens.

It’s like a strike of lightning. Over in a flash, but with a brilliant intensity that leaves me reeling and gasping.

The tripods come crashing down one by one with an enormous racket. They tumble over as if a giant is blowing them down. The laser fence is broken, and the Luba spill out, cooing happily.

“It’s you!” The man breathes, his dark eyes now tinged with madness. “So the readings were true! I couldn’t imagine, one of you on such a backwater planet, but it seems Dr. Pavla wasn’t lying!”

“Wh-what are you talking about?” I stammer, trying to appear innocent, and failing miserably.

All around me the SINTRA soldiers close in on me, their guns raised.

They’ve found me out, and my chest is tied up in knots. It seems they’ve traveled all this way… for me.

“Seize her!”

The soldiers descend upon me like a pack of rabid wolves, and then, it happens.

Lightning.

Thunder.

The Rift!

I feel it’s impact, knocking the breath right out of me. I feel… the beating of another heart. It’s so close, so soothing, and it’s calling me. Bright, blinding light surrounds me on all sides, and all I can do is close my eyes.

It feels like I’m falling, like my limbs are being stretched, like my mind is being warped, and then…

Then I feel water. Refreshingly cold water splashing down on me. And I hear my own voice.

I’m screaming.

Powerful arms catch me. I open my eyes, my heart still racing, and find myself in the arms of a surprised and impossibly hot warrior.

A Zoran warrior.

A naked Zoran warrior.

And those eyes…

I have seen those before.

So beautiful, so perfect, so… blue.

They are the eyes I’ve been seeing in my dreams, the eyes that have been haunting me… the eyes that I’ve pined for.

We’re standing under a waterfall, and with a jolt, I realize my tunic is becoming very see through at the moment. I try to cover myself as best as I’m able, which is to say, quite poorly.

I look up and see his eyes are filled with animalistic lust. I feel something hard press against my bottom which makes my cheeks even more flushed than they already are. His hand cradles the back of my neck, and just like that, he leans in and kisses me right on the lips.

And I kiss him back.

It’s not even a decision, it just… happens.

The moments our lips touch, it’s nothing but fireworks. Pure energy races through every vein in my body, and it feels like I’m floating.

I’ve kissed before, but that was awkward fumbling behind a Silo. Nothing can compare to this. Absolutely nothing.

His tongue brushes against my bottom lip, and I grab hold of his silver hair, savoring every single nanosecond of this kiss.

He pulls back, a wide smile on his face, and I realize that I’m more exhausted than I’ve ever been. Before I can even speak, before I can find the words to ask him where the hell we are, I pass out. Before the darkness takes me, one last thought reaches my cortex, and it fills me with sadness.

I’m far, far away from Garna — just when it needs me the most.