• I sat in my room, folding clothes that the ship had given me. I packed them in the draws of the nightstand. In the background was the silent song of the music I had asked the room to play as I worked slowly. I had been beyond tired for the last few days after the pain attack. Narrow had dropped half the doctors but I was to report to him at least three times a day. I was five weeks, and the heartbeat of the things was strong. I still didn’t like it.
    The bear that Narrow had given me sat in a relaxed pose on my bed. I had placed him there for the fun of it. He was there when I needed him, and I night I’d whisper things that disturbed me to him before going to sleep. One of which was staying stuck on a ship with nothing to do sense I’d been banned from the shooting range but Rig had asked me to make more guns.
    I looked up; the music had turned to something I remembered from when I was in the school chorus. I thought the sound louder and it was. I hummed for a while before the words came to me. I asked the room to start it over.
    “Who am I,” I sang, picking the bear up slowly. “Who shall I become? Who am I to dare to dream that I will be the one who will change the world, who will make a difference, who will reach beyond the stars? Who am I?”
    I turned quickly as the tempo changed. I knew a waltz wasn’t going to fit the song, but it was fun for once.
    “I am Imagination, I am creativity, I am determination, I am every possibility. I am the present, I am the future, I have so much to give to the world! I am love! I am hope! I am a servant! I am Peace!”
    I smiled widely. It was such an uplifting song, though it was so old. Credo by Mark Hayes. I laughed, thinking of the other songs we sang in chorus. I spun around with the bear in my arms, feeling light as a feather.
    “I am a voice that’s singing,” I sang on, feeling the new high of the song, “a message of beauty and light! I am brightly shining, a star that illumines the night! I am the voice of the future! I am a gift to the world! I am love! I am hope! I am a servant! I am Peace!”
    I noticed something off about the last note. I stopped dancing and turned around. My door was ajar, filled with Middnight, Amethyst, Thorwn, Narrow, and Rig. I dropped the bear. Not only was I dancing and singing, but in front of people. I was used to being in a group, not alone. I shrunk back in shame.
    “That was beautiful,” Rig said in an astonished voice.
    “Cool,” Middnight gave me a thumb up.
    “Is there more?” Narrow asked.
    “I forgot the rest,” I lied. I hated performing in front of people when I was the only one performing. This was my meek side. I was fine with shooting, fine with fighting, fine with talking, but when it came to singing, I froze. “So, what do you want? I was doing something.”
    “Well,” Middnight stepped forward. “We have good news. We’ve finally left the Golden District.”
    I looked back at them. “What do you mean by that?”
    “That means we’ve passed the bounties were The Golden mostly stay,” Narrow said quickly. “They usually don’t come out here. We’re on free grounds-er-space.”
    I still wasn’t catching on and I think the computer thought that was funny. It gave a sudden automatic laugh that startled the group in the doorway.
    “It means that we can go wherever we want without having to worry about Boomer finding you!” Amethyst squealed happily.
    My eyes widened. I felt a big smile flash across my face. I wanted to finish the song and I didn’t care who was listening. I screamed, spinning around in circles, hugging the bear tightly. I felt my excitement grow into a powerful blaze in my soul.
    “This is great!” I said. I looked at the group. “Oh, this is great! I could just-oh, thank you! I feel safe-well, after you saved me I felt safe, but now I feel like I could just fly! Oh! I don’t know what to say!” I shrieked.
    “I have an idea,” Amethyst said loudly. She looked at Rig. “There’s a station about thirty miles from here; stealth mode. I know Discovery definitely doesn’t like being trapped in here like an experiment. Do you think-?”
    Rig nodded quickly. I didn’t fully understand. Amethyst and Middnight jumped around happily.
    “Alright,” Middnight smiled. “You go get the shuttle ready and I’ll get Disco ready! Oh, this is gonna be fun! We can go get something to eat and do karaoke and hit the mall!” She squealed.
    “What are you talking about?” I asked slowly.
    “A stealth station,” Middnight searched through my draws, quickly. “It’s a station put completely on stealth mode. No war ship can tell where they are, but this ship, because it was a cruise ship, can pick up on the stations. They’re mostly tourist attractions.”
    I smiled again. “You mean we’re getting off the ship?” I asked. “I can get off the ship?!”
    “Yes,” Narrow said solemnly. “But if you feel anything isn’t right, just call us and we’ll pick you up as soon as possible.”
    I wasn’t listening. I was with Middnight, shuffling through my clothes to find something cute. There wasn’t anything else that could take me down from the place I was.

    X-Tran Omega was a station with flashy advertisements. I had seen pictures of a place on Earth named Las Vegas. There were showy clubs and hotels everywhere. Some had amusement parks while others had gambling stations.
    "Welcome to X-Tran Omega!" Middnight said happily. "The number one place for shopping, eating, and making an escape from Them."
    "Wow," I cooed.
    One the street several people drove by on motorcycles.
    "What do you feel like?" Middnight asked. "I'm thinking Chinese."
    "Sushi," Amethyst said.
    "I could go for Italian," I said quietly.
    "Sushi beats Italian any day!" Amethyst coughed.
    “But I can’t eat sushi,” I whispered slowly. “Salmonella, ya know?” I hissed. I loved sushi, but at the moment I was craving Italian. "How about that place?” I pointed down the street. There was a buffet with a small red sign on the door.
    "All cultured foods," Middnight read.
    "Includes Chinese, Japanese and Italian," Amethyst finished.
    "How convenient," I said slowly.
    Amethyst and Middnight pulled me down the street. Middnight chose a table close to the buffet. I sat there while they went and fixed their plates. The thing was; I had noticed Middnight placed her cell phone conveniently in the middle of the table. My parents came to mind. I looked around, finding the two girls in a line for drinks, and took the phone, dialing quickly.
    I heard the dial tone with much relief. The phone rang three times before a sleepy voice groaned in my ear.
    “Do you have any idea what time it is?”
    I cringed. My mom was mad, major mad; beyond the point of boiling in which her words would kill someone in a matter of sentences.
    “Wake up, numb nuts, I can hear you breath,” She hissed.
    “W-well hi to you, too,” I said weakly.
    “Who are you and what do you want?” She asked. I heard my father give a growling mumbled next to her.
    It was five weeks. How could someone forget something so traumatic in five weeks? I couldn’t.
    “Mom, it’s me.”
    I heard a gasp; the phone hit the floor and a quick curse. She fumbled the phone and pressed it to her ear. I could feel her shock as she breathed. “Discovery?”
    “Hey,” I whispered.
    “Oh thank heaven!” she breathed. “Disco, I thought you were dead. Your father told me what happened and Boomer wouldn’t answer our questions and when they left with you I thought I’d never see or hear from you again.”
    I laughed. That was one of the longest run on sentences I heard her say. “I missed you, too, mom.”
    “Where are you?” she asked.
    “I was on his ship for about three weeks,” I sighed, “and then the Resistance came and now I’m with them. We’re on a stealth station, at the moment. Apparently no war ship can spot it.”
    “Are you alright?” Mom asked.
    All’s well in the belly bakery. I rolled my eyes. “No, mom,” I whispered. “I hate to break it to you, to everyone, but I’m pr-”
    “What are you doing?” Amethyst shrieked. I looked up in shock. Middnight and she were looming over the table, both looking at me in astonishment.
    “Um,” I whispered. “I’m, ah, talking to my mom?”
    “What were you saying dear,” Mom asked. “Who are you talking to?”
    “The two girls from the Resistance,” I whispered. “Hold on,” I looked back at them, eyes begging for mercy. “Please, Middnight. Let me talk to her. I haven’t seen them in weeks and from what everyone’s been telling me I might not see them ever again. Can’t I just have this one time?”
    Middnight looked from me to Amethyst. “Go ahead. We’ll go make you a plate.”
    “Thank you,” I smiled. I turned my attention back to the phone. “Mom?”
    “It is her!” Aprils voice said in a loud whisper. “Oh, Discovery! This is great!”
    “For who?” Dad asked. “She’s who knows were doing who knows what with this Resistance. For all we know they could be working for-”
    “Hey, were all here and happy,” I said quickly, not wanting to here his name. But my mind shot the next words out without my consent. “And you know what makes everyone happy; a baby, that’s what! Yeah, April was right when she said being pregnant was hard and I definitely didn’t think I was going to be pregnant anytime soon, but hey! Destiny is destiny!”
    There was silence. I closed my eyes tightly, cursing myself for saying such a thing so kindly.
    “Pregnant?” Dad whispered.
    “It was an accident?” I offered.
    “PREGNACY ISN’T AN ACCIDENT!” He exploded.
    I felt his anger wash over me. My blood was boiling; my heart beat racing and my mouth gone dry. “Well you try resisting when you’re father’s about to have every bone in his body broken and you’re cuffed to a metal table while a 130 year old man pumps a mixture of nano bots and sperm into you!” I spat, growling under my breath.
    More silence. I shook the anger off quickly. My link made it possible for me to feel what others felt and translate it into my own emotions.
    “Sorry,” I whispered.
    “He did this?” Dad asked weakly.
    “Yeah,” I sighed.
    “But he didn’t touch you,” Dad said quickly. “He never touched you, so that’s impossible, you can’t be pregnant.”
    “I can’t hold my food down for more than three hours; I get nauseas every time I wake up, and I think my body is starting to reject my liver,” I said quickly. “I saw the monitor when one of my doctors gave me an ultrasound. Dad, I don’t want it.”
    “Then get rid of it!” My mom shouted.
    “You know how your mother will react to that,” Dad said to her. “And once the whole family hears about this they’ll be quick to judge. We can’t fight it. But if you really don’t want this, then get rid of it. We won’t tell a soul.”
    “That’s the thing,” I whispered, “I-I can’t.”
    “What?” Mom asked.
    I had this feeling in the pit of my gut; if I got rid of it, it would get rid of me. If I tried to do something about it, something would happen to me. The pain through my body that happened only nights ago was something I had dreamed that night as a punishment for trying my gun.
    “If I try,” I whispered, “the nanos in my body might kill me.”
    There was more silence. “I can’t take this all in one night,” Mom said.
    “I can call back soon,” I offered.
    “We love you, Discovery,” my dad said quietly. “And whatever choice you make with that thing in you, we always will. Be safe.”
    I still had the phone when they hung up. I listened to the dead line and then closed it. I sat there.
    “So what did they say?” Middnight asked.
    “They said they loved me,” I smiled widely.
    “Do you like karaoke,” Amethyst asked, placing a plate in front of me. I pushed it back, not hungry any more. “I mean, you sing really well. Why not try?”
    The stage was set. I was getting curious. Everything was suddenly new to me. I stepped up to the mike, placing my hands gently around it. I sighed, thinking of Credo. I was going to start, when I felt something different stir my soul.
    “I heard it said, that people come into our lives, for a reason,” I sang slowly, thinking of the first time I sang it. I had no passion for it the first time I sang, but in the situation I was in, it was deep and lovely.
    I ran through to the chorus quickly. “Like a comet pulled from orbit, as it passes a sun; like a stream that meets a boulder, halfway through the wood; who can say that I’ve been changed for the better, but, Because I knew you,” I paused, looking around slowly. “I have been changed for good.”
    “Discovery.”
    I looked up quickly. I squinted against the bright lights. “Jamie?”

    Jamie stood slowly. He smiled widely. I ran off the stage and right up to him. He wrapped his arms around me gently.
    “I thought you were back on the station,” He whispered.
    I felt a sudden wash of anger. I pushed him back roughly. “I don’t know why you’re here either!” I spat.
    “I didn’t mean it that way,” he said quickly. “I meant; I heard that the station was taken over and that they took you away.”
    “Oh,” I said, still angry. “Yeah, that did happen. But I had some help.”
    “What did that freak do to you?” He asked slowly. “They say your father came back on the ship and was saying that they gave you some kind of shot.”
    I rolled my eyes. I turned back to the stage. I forgot to finish and the words were still flashing on the small screen. I had an idea, devious and sinful. I pushed it in the back of my mind, and turned my attention back to Jamie.
    “You know that deal we made years ago,” I asked. He froze, wide eyed. “Yeah, that’s what I did when I heard you married that slut cheerleader. Are you still with her?”
    He held up his hand. A gold ring caught the light like a glowing halo.
    “Good for you,” I hissed, “but you hurt me when you broke your promise.”
    “I know,” Jamie sighed, “and I’m sorry for that. I know now if I hadn’t broken that promise none of this would have happened.”
    “Just shut up and join the Resistance,” I hissed.
    “What?” He looked at me with surprise.
    “You want Julie back, right?” I asked. “Join the resistance. If you do, someday they’ll return to our station and free everyone.”
    “Are you sure,” He asked.
    ‘As sure as you promised to marry me,’ my mind hissed.