New Enemies

Lena saw the look of terror on my face when I saw the ship and she immediately broke out into a wicked smile at my discomfort. That smile faded when she realized I was not going into the ship. My feet were glued to the docks, my head shaking no. "Come," she commanded.

My head was still shaking and I softly whispered, "no." I took a step back to leave, but Lena was much faster than me. Before I knew it she was at my side, her hand tightly gripping my arm as she proceeded to drag me to the ship. "No, please," I begged as I tried to pull away from her. She didn't glance my way, but I could see the tired irritation in her eyes.

Using all my strength I yanked my arm out of her grasp. She spun towards me in surprise and released a feral snarl. I knew I would not get away from her and put my hands up in surrender.

"I get sick," I said and rubbed my stomach, hoping she would understand what I meant. She puzzled over the signals I gave her for a moment before letting out a disgusted huff. She shoved me up the ramp and into the ship while yelling at a dock worker, "Bring me some sick bags! And hurry!"

The dock worker rushed to grab the bags and brought them to our ship. He nodded to Lena, out of respect or fear I didn't know, before stealing a glance at me. "Is she ill?" he boldly inquired. I am sure he had heard about me being in quarantine just yesterday and was afraid.

Lena cast a sideways glance at me, "No, not ill. Just weak." The dock worker looked at me curiously before he nodded and left. My chest tightened from anger and embarrassment while Lena's smirk made its way back on her face as she handed me the bags. I quickly snatched them from her and turned to take my seat. I would not show her any more weaknesses.

I sat up straight and took deep breaths as the ship rumbled to life, my skin already clammy from nerves. When I felt my body lift from the seat in zero-g I swallowed hard and did my best to calm my beating heart. There were no windows to look out of and the only other person in the cargo hold of the ship was Lena. I opted to close my eyes for the remainder of the trip and pray that it was short. My prayers were answered because I soon felt gravity return and the ship land.

As I stood up my legs began to wobble, but I willed myself to stay strong in front of Lena. When the cargo door opened I saw that we had landed in a small dock, at least it was smaller in comparison to the one at Central. The most it could fit was five ships at any one time. It barely had enough space for the single isolation room in the back corner. Directly across from the isolation room was the only entrance in and out of the shuttle which was secured by coded lock. In front of the entrance stood the scowling Councilwoman Nera. Recalling how much she didn't care for me during the trial, my shoulders drooped slightly as we made our way over to her.

"Where is Albin?" Nera asked frostily.

Lena bristled at her tone and lack of introduction. "Hello to you too, Councilwoman Nera," she replied with a fake smile.

"Enough with the false pleasantries. I asked you a question: where is Albin?"

My ears perked up with curiosity. I also wondered why Albin did not meet me himself and why I was stuck with the bossy scarred woman. "He's busy," Lena replied with a smirk, her eyes dancing with wicked amusement from defying the councilwoman.

Nera's mouth formed a tight line but she kept her composure. "You may leave now," she told Lena dismissively, "but the Ancient will stay." Her tone was skeptical as she said the word 'ancient,' as if she still didn't believe my story.

Lena stood her ground and stared down Nera, challenging her. "I was ordered to shadow her today," she said as she nodded towards me. "That includes going into the sporos."

The wrinkled corner of Nera's mouth twisted into a smirk. "Do not dare to challenge me, Lena of Navis. I am a council member of this pod and what I say here in these sporos goes. Councilman Albin would have been able to follow the Ancient had he come like he was supposed to, not just anyone." Her eyes narrowed and her voice dripped with venom, "And especially not you."

Lena's face darkened, but she did not back away from the challenge. The two continued to stare each other down as I watched awkwardly from the side, realizing no matter who won it was not going to end especially well for me. Eventually Lena huffed and calmly walked back to the ship, leaving me alone with Nera. The councilwoman watched in satisfaction as Lena walked away and only turned to me after she had boarded the ship.

She eyed me up and down before bluntly saying, "you look horrible. Have you gotten even more ill?" I caught my reflection in a piece of glass and realized I was quite pale.

"I am fine, thank you. I just get a little motion sick in space," I admitted with embarrassment. Nera looked at me curiously before shaking her head. She reached into her pocket and fished out a small strawberry. She quickly inspected it and then handed it to me.

"Eat this, the sugar will help. Just pop your mask back on when you are done. We have to decontaminate anyhow." Surprised by her kindness I froze for a second before doing as she asked. Nera entered the code for the door, covering the keypad from my eyes with her body. The large door slid open and we stepped into the large decontamination antechamber.

After we were sprayed down Nera turned to me. "Here," she said as she handed me a pair of sunglasses. "You are going to need these." Once we both had our glasses on Nera pushed a button near the door. As it slowly slid open everything became bathed in a purple light, and I gasped upon seeing the largest grow room I had ever seen.

The purple light came from the grow lights hanging down from the ceiling. The air was a touch more humid here than in Central, and everywhere I looked there was something green growing. In short, it was a paradise! In the corner of my eye I could tell Nera was watching me, and she seemed amused at the sparkle in my eyes as I looked at all of her plants. What gardener wouldn't soften at seeing someone appreciate their work?

"This is amazing!" I confess wholeheartedly while turning to get a full view of the room. My heart ached for my garden back on Earth, and my fingers tingled at the prospect of growing again. When I turned back to face Nera I noticed that for the first time since I had met the woman she was actually smiling a soft smile.

"Thank you," she said humbly, "but it has not been easy." The smile quickly left her face and her eyes hardened. "Councilwoman Thana sentenced you to consult on crops. Now let us see if you truly are an ancient that has information worth keeping," she said as she turned and began walking to the end of the room. She looked over her shoulder to make sure I was following, but I was lagging behind trying to look at everything.

"What is this place?" I asked when I finally caught up to her. She looked surprised, "I didn't realize no one informed you!" She made a sweeping gesture across the room, "This is Sporo03."