Chapter Two

The market was located in an old warehouse building. It had been gutted and cleaned out, presumably before the move to Aether took place. Now it was just an enormous rectangular room with a rusted metal roof and walls to match. The concrete floor had massive cracks running through it but held its shape well for something hundreds of years old. While there were giant fans that hung twenty or so feet above the booths, today was especially hot and they didn’t seem to be doing much. As they entered the market a wave of heat washed over them. It didn’t help that it was definitely busier today than usual. Queenie was not looking forward to maneuvering through this crowd of people. As they shuffled slowly toward the center of the market Queenie couldn’t help but grimace as the cornucopia of smells hit her. Showering hadn’t been a priority for a while on Old Earth. Queenie’s head was on a constant swivel, making sure her group stayed together in a tight group. She could already feel a crick forming in the side of her neck. Unfortunately, this meant she wasn’t always exactly looking where she was going. A large man that looked more hippopotamus than human ran into her. 

“Watch where you’re going why don’t you?” He spat angrily. She made a point of diverting her eyes as quickly as possible and leading the others hastily in the opposite direction.

The people that ran the booths that lined the walls in the market were, to put it politely, strange. Most were people who had opted out of the move due to lack of funds or stubbornness. Some were modern day pirates that stole from Live Tech for a living and sold what they had here. But there were also some free lance scavengers unlike Queenie and her crew, they were not owned by Live Tech. Queenie dreamed that her team could stay in one place long enough to open a booth.

“Stay close and let either me or Knight do the talking,” Queenie said in a hushed but stern tone. Bishop realized this comment was pointed at him and opened his mouth to argue but Queenie cut him off “I don’t think I need to remind you what happened last time”. Bishop’s mouth clamped shut as a shiver visibly took over his body while he relived the memory. Queenie couldn’t help but relive it as well. Rook and Knight had the same trouble and they all shuddered silently together. After a minute of quiet and uncomfortable contemplation the group started to walk toward where the food and water vendors were stationed. 

The two booths were both run by one married couple. Edna, a sweet elderly woman with glasses that were too big for her face, ran the food side, while Edgar, a fairly crusty old man, ran the water side. Unlike Edna, Edgar didn’t like anyone and most dealings with him were left to Knight. Everyone could tell he respected her the most, that was to say at all, because of how straightforward she was. As they approached the table, the group separated. Knight headed straight for Edgar, never breaking eye contact with him, and Queenie could swear she saw Knight smiling. The rest of them skirted around the corner to talk with Edna. 

Edna was there looking as sweet as ever, she was back behind the counter just concentrating on cooking. There was someone new running the counter. A young girl around their age was staring at them. She had frizzy, bright blue hair that she kept tied up in a ponytail and on top of her head sat a pair of engineer goggles that looked too big for her. She had an ancient mechanics jumpsuit on, the top of which was tied around her waist revealing a battered white tank top underneath. From what Queenie could see the girl was completely covered in oil smudges, all of which were at different stages of fading.

“What is happening guys? What can I getcha?” she said through a charming smirk. 

“Er… we were just hoping to grab two weeks’ worth of rations,” Queenie pulled out what little credits they had slowly. Her eyes flickered from the stranger to Edna, who didn’t seem to notice they had showed up. Rook peeked out from behind Queenie’s back trying to sneak glances and size up the stranger behind the counter. Bishop, on the other hand, wouldn’t stop staring at her and Queenie could see it was making her uncomfortable. As if on queue, Knight walked around the corner holding two massive sacks of water. This was the fastest she had ever dealt with Edgar and that was saying something. Queenie could tell by the way that Knight’s shoulders sagged with relief after putting the sacks down, Edgar had been pretty generous; he always did treat Knight with an uncharacteristic kindness.

Knight looked at Bishop, following his gaze, still unbroken, to the stranger behind the counter. “Who the hell are you?” Knight said through a deliberate smile, simultaneously punching Bishop so hard in the arm he had to work very hard to keep upright. 

“Ow!” he half-laughed through gritted teeth. His cheeks flushed and he clutched his arm as he walked over to sit behind Queenie with Rook. 

“Uhhh… name’s Tizzy,” the poor girl behind the counter looked confused and more than a little defensive. “I’m Edna’s granddaughter, I help out here during the lunch rushes. Oh and, hey! I have my own booth down in the corner. Tizzy’s Tinker-shop! Just opened! I sell any gadgets you could possibly need to survive out there!” Queenie saw her trying her best not to make eye contact with Knight. “Why don’t you guys come see me? I trade too and I’m off here in a few minutes!” 

“Well, we don’t have much but we’ll swing by if we get the chance and check out what you have,” Queenie was doing her best to be polite, like they’d actually have time to shop . “Now um… about the food rations that we ordered?”

“Oh right-right, sorry!” Tizzy said hastily. She disappeared from the counter and they could see her behind in the kitchen talking with Edna, putting in their order. She re-emerged a few minutes later with sixty ration packets. “She said these extra ones are for Rook and that you don’t feed him enough,” Tizzy said, shrugging and handing the packets over to Queenie. Queenie made a point to laugh extra loud so Edna could hear her. Rook jumped out from behind Queenie and yelled, “Thanks Grammy! Come meet Snuffles!”

Edna made her way out of the kitchen and smiled. Rook loved Edna and Queenie could tell he was having a lot of fun recounting the tale of how he had saved Snuffles from a whole pack of mutated rats. This was the first time Queenie was hearing this version of the story, and by the time Rook was finally finished acting out how he had valiantly fought of the last of the rats, Queenie realized they were sorely behind schedule. She thanked Edna deeply for the extra food packets and let her know that they were leaving. Sadness swept over the old lady’s face. She then told them to wait for just a moment more and disappeared again through the kitchen. She reappeared quickly with even more food packets and extra water. “You take this and I will hear nothing more on the matter. And don’t you dare forget to visit,” Her mouth was set in a tight line but Queenie caught the corners turning down as she spun and returned to kitchen without looking back. 

Rook hadn’t thought about not seeing Edna for a while and Queenie saw his eyes watering before he picked up Snuffles and threw his face into the mutt’s fur. 

By the time they had re-organized their bags to accommodate the extra rations and water, it was starting to get dark outside. Queenie decided it would be better to eat dinner at the market, go back to spend one more night at the hideout, and set out fresh in the morning. Edna always seemed to make her rations taste better than any others the crew had ever had. All the ones supplied by Live Tech’s Collectors were just crammed with basic proteins and nutrients to keep scavenging teams alive while on their missions. They looked and tasted like ash and they were one of the many things Queenie knew she wasn’t alone in not missing. In fact they missed almost nothing about life on Aether. 

Queenie usually didn’t enjoy reliving the memories she had growing up under Live Tech’s thumb. She was born a slave, and while up to a certain age slave children are kept with their parents, they are not allowed to have a name. Only a string of numbers to identify them. Everyone she knew back on Aether was a slave, except for her owner of course. It could have been worse though, in fact she considered herself lucky. Her family and the families of her crew had been owned by the same person. They all lived on the same floor of slave housing 1-118. Rook and Bishop’s family had volunteered to be slaves like Queenie’s. They hadn’t been able to afford the tickets either. Even though the list of what slaves could bring with them was practically non existent, they had managed to smuggle in an Old Earth board game. 

From a very early age Queenie and all her friends had learned how to play and master the game of chess. When their plans for escape were just daydreams they gave each other their nicknames in secret. It was their first in a long list of rebellions against Live Tech before they finally broke out. The memories of King came rushing into Queenie’s head like an avalanche. She could see his wheat colored hair and stark blue eyes. She could hear his howl of a laugh. sometimes she forgot that he’s only two years older than her. Queenie cringed. She kept getting it wrong. Was. He was only two years older than her. 

Their escape plan went bad at the worst possible time and he stayed behind so the others could escape. The last thing they saw was King getting beaten into submission and dragged out of the pod bay. Live Tech really didn’t like deviations. Before they had started their escape plan they accepted that capture meant death. Queenie never imagined that one of them would be apprehended, their plan seemed so fool-proof. Now Queenie felt like she had to be responsible for everyone. That was always King’s job. She knew she wasn’t doing as well as he would have. Most of the time she couldn’t help thinking that it should have been her.

Pots and pans clanging in Edna’s kitchen jostled Queenie out of her thoughts. She did her best to shake off these feelings. Zoning out wasn’t like her, she usually couldn’t afford to. She roused the rest of her group and they began to make their way to the exit at the back of the warehouse. Bishop and Rook were talking about who knows what. Knight was looking at all the merchant stands they passed, eyeing the wares for good deals. 

“Hey! You guys came! That’s fantastic, go on then have a look!” Queenie, who had settled on the back of Rook’s head as a good focal point to rest on, whirled around and saw Tizzy standing at her booth looking expectantly at them. Queenie noticed that everyone else had also stopped dead in their tracks. After quite an awkward pause, Knight was the first to move. She had obviously seen something she actually liked and walked up to the table to inspect it further. Queenie, Bishop, and Rook slowly followed all of them, mesmerized by what Tizzy had for sale. 

“Tizzy, did you make all these?” Queenie was in utter disbelief of what she was looking at. The entire table was filled with weapons of all shapes and sizes and every single one looked like Frankenstein’s monster. There was a pole arm with a motorized blade on the end, they could see a mechanized crossbow that seemed to be able to shoot anything you loaded it with, a handful of different blasters, and pretty much any other combination of weapons they could think of.

“Yup! Made these all myself! Also I make armor. Pretty cool right?” Tizzy was apparently very happy to have someone admiring her handy work. “I’ll trade for parts or other stuff you have if I like it, I also take credits and rations.” Tizzy was looking up, apparently trying to recall if she had forgotten anything. When she shrugged slightly and went on smiling, Queenie assumed she hadn’t. 

The other members of her team immediately started inspecting all the wares displayed in the booth; they seemed to be very excited at the idea of weapons for defense. It’s something they had talked about before they had escaped Live Tech, but Queenie thought they had all agreed that just running would be the best route to take. None of them were particularly inclined to violence— Queenie caught herself forgetting about Knight’s seemingly supernatural affinity for finding pressure points. Queenie saw Rook eyeing a massive blaster and decided it was time to intervene. 

“Rook, that weapon is bigger than you. Do you really think you’ll be able to use it?” Queenie was trying to hide her discomfort from showing on her face. Weapons made her uneasy and she didn’t think they were needed. If anything they would just slow them down. On top of that, they had no training; they could have the most powerful weapons in the universe and still get destroyed by one guy. Queenie was sure that just staying ahead of Live Tech’s plan was the best way to avoid capture. But Knight had been campaigning for weapons since day one and the boys were always behind her. It hadn’t been an issue for a while because Queenie was able to hide behind the argument that they didn’t have the credits to afford anything sold by the pirates, and finding weapons was nearly impossible. 

“Oh come on Queenie, this is it! We need these! We finally have a chance to go on the offensive. I don’t want to be running for the rest of my life. Aren’t you tired of it?” Knight’s face was starting to flush. Great. It wasn’t hard to read Knight, she was getting worked up over this now. And Queenie couldn’t exactly say no here, none of her usual arguments would work.

“Fine, but you guys are on your own, I’m not going to be a part of this. Tizzy, it was nice meeting you.” It didn’t look like Tizzy believed her, but she was too frustrated to care. None of them understood her point of view. They didn’t even try to. She had been trying. She had been trying for so long to keep them safe and violence, at this point, would be the kiss of death. They didn’t even know what half the things on the table were called. Queenie had been glaring at Knight, but switched her focus to Bishop. 

“I know this is probably going to be hard for you, but at least try to think about your brother’s best interest.”  The words came out angry, almost feral and they were laced with venom Queenie couldn’t recall intending. Part of her already regret it, especially seeing the pain flash across Bishop’s face. She was going to have to apologize. She didn’t want to think about that right now, so she turned toward the door fuming and began her dramatic exit. All she wanted to do now was be mad, and why shouldn’t she be? She felt her sleeve catch on something and whipped around angrily. She looked down and saw Rook’s hand attached to her. His eyes were watering and Queenie could tell he was fighting very hard to keep back the tears. The rage she was feeling melted instantly. She couldn’t be mad at him. He had always been her greatest weakness. She kneeled down so she could talk to him without the others hearing.

“Look, I’m sorry I exploded back there. I’m just… I don’t want anything to happen to you. I need you to be safe ok? I’m not mad at you, I promise.” Queenie was frantically monitoring Rook’s reactions. He slowly nodded his head and rubbed his eyes before looking up at her. 

“Do me a favor and try not to pick anything too big, alright?” Rook was smiling again and wrapped his gangly arms around Queenie’s neck. Queenie tussled his hair before standing back upright. Even though she thought she was controlling her expression she could see that he noticed her knees had given her problems standing up again. Why was he so good at noticing things?

“I’m ok, don’t worry,” Queenie said forcing a smile she already knew looked fake. Rook wavered for a moment, then from behind him came an excited yelp from Bishop followed by a chorus of laughter from Tizzy and Knight. He turned around quickly, but hesitated another moment looking back at Queenie.

“Go ahead kid, have fun for both of us.” Queenie was smiling naturally now because the pain in her knees had already disappeared.

“You could still come back, Bishop has already forgiven you and Knight is just happy she finally got her way.” Rook shouldn’t feel like he had to beg. He didn’t like it when they were separated in big crowds. 

“Nah, I’ll just wait outside. It’s starting to get dark anyway so it will be cooler out there.” Queenie patted his head and watched as he ran back to Tizzy’s booth. She waited until she saw him latch onto his brother’s leg before turning and exiting the market through the massive warehouse doors.

Outside, the cool night breezes had already started to blow. The air danced it’s way up her arms and down her back. Queenie loosed a sigh of relief to finally be out of that awful, hot warehouse. She found a nice enough spot, close to the door, to sit down and wait for the others. Queenie closed her eyes and rested her head on the wall of the market building. She couldn’t do much to stop the things she had said to her friends play over and over in her mind. She should have controlled her temper better. It wasn’t like her to be so volatile. She just couldn’t understand why they wouldn’t listen. King had always preached non-violence and none of them argued when he was in charge. Why were they questioning her now? She was drafting a list of rules for the new weapons when there was a tug on her pack, someone was trying pull it from behind her. She quickly grasped for the place where the thief’s hand ought to be, but latched on to a wrist instead. Her eyes shot open, she was going to do her best to menacingly stare down who or whatever was trying to steal her few precious belongings. Eye contact wasn’t really her strong suit, but these green eyes made it really easy.

“Sorry! Sorry…” the human attached to the eyes said, clearly startled.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” She had definitely scared the guy, but he still hadn’t let go of the backpack. She gave it one hard tug in her direction and the boy let go at once. 

“I super thought you were dead, that’s on me, I really am sorry.” He spoke through a half smile and Queenie’s stomach jumped. 

“Well… I’m obviously not dead so… you can’t have my stuff.” How was she supposed to deal with this situation? This was probably one of the weirdest things that had ever happened to her. She wasn’t really a fan of any sort of confrontation; Knight was always the one who stood up to people. She did her best to ignore the feelings of uncertainty that were welling up inside her. On the up side, she was in desperate need of a distraction from all this weapons nonsense. And this guy had distraction written all over him. If she could just focus all her attention on this conversation she could cool off about the guys and potentially make an ally, all in one go. 

The boy’s words cut through the fog of thoughts that was consuming her. She snapped back to attention, realizing that she kinda spaced out again. But this time, instead of staring at a harmless warehouse ceiling, she was staring at this strange boy’s face. Great. 

“Like what you see?” He was smirking now. Good, of course he’s sarcastic. Leave it to Queenie to find the one boy on Old Earth that still has a sense of humor. Queenie decided this guy deserved the most snark she could muster. 

“I’ve seen better.” She knew it wasn’t the best, but Queenie was fairly sure that was about as sassy as she could be right now. Mental back pat. 

Instead of wiping the smirk off his face, which was the mission statement of that last jab, he just smiled wider. You could even call it beaming. The audacity.

Next Chapter: Chapter 3