“Please make sure all luggage is safely stored in the overhead compartments,” roared a voice on the overhead speaker as John sat down. The shuttle was almost in the same crappy condition as the filthy planet he was about to leave. He sat back against the broken seat rubbing his eyes, traveling the galaxy was what John had always wanted to do, but this was not the way he had pictured it. There had been no fantastic adventures no damsels in distress and no civilizations in need of his amazing and daring heroics. Well maybe that was a little over ambitious. But nothing had really changed since he left his home on Iso, except now he had even less money than he had set out with, a lower sense personal hygiene, and a knack for getting in trouble with the law. No, being a space hobo moving from place to place with just enough money to get by was not how he had pictured his life John thought as the shuttle started to rise up into the air. With the nose of the shuttle pointed up, it blasted towards space. John looked out the window to see fire jetting past caused by friction of the atmosphere. His fingers squeezed into the seat, his eyes closed tight. And then the rattling of the shuttle suddenly stopped. “Thank you for your patience, we have just left atmosphere. We shall arrive at the main docking ship in 30 minutes which will take you to your final destination on Polaris.” John opened his eyes, the sweat pouring down his face and fear leaving his body. He hated flying. After a while, once his body had calmed down, he let himself sit back and smile. He was finally off that rock. That crappy scummy excuse for a planet. Whoever had let it get into that condition should have been ashamed of themselves. The pollution that you could see floating around in the grey sky, the horrendous stale air, and worst of all, the dead ground. No wildlife was left, just buildings and wrecks of buildings, and the burnt ground of an old war long forgotten. Who in their right mind could do that to a planet? The voice came on the speaker again “Ladies and Gentleman, we thank you for visiting Earth.”
The woman inside the cargo hold was grinning with excitement imagining how many places she could hide in on the mother ship. She knew she was just in a transport ship that took passengers to the main ship that was docked out in space and this main ship would travel from planet to planet. She imagined the halls, corridors, and ventilation shafts. It gave her goose bumps just thinking of all the fun she was going to have. This was going to be the best game of hide and seek she had ever played.
John awoke with a start he had dozed off. He rubbed his eyes and jumped as the man next to him gave him a sharp nudge in the side. “Glad your up, here, look out the window we’ve arrived at the mother ship”. John looked out the shuttle window in utter awe and amazement. There was another ship out there. If you could call it a ship. It was a flying city! It was the largest ship John had ever seen. Its lights dancing off of every surface. John consulted his little pamphlet in front of him. It said that the designers modeled this floating goliath after the Titanic of the 20th century, but this was no Titanic, this was at least 5 if not 6 combined into one to make the ultimate form of elegant travel through out the Galaxy. John put on the biggest smile as he gazed out the window and just thought of all the possibilities awaiting him on that ship.
The woman sat and waited for the opportune moment to move. She felt the ship jolt as it collided with the docking station of the mother ship and counted down, 3. She heard the clamps come down on the shuttle, 2. She heard the depressurization of the shuttle, 1! The woman burst out from her hiding place pushing open an emergency hatch and landed in a hallway. Then she saw it, the ventilation grill, a system of overhead crawl spaces that stretched across the whole ship. The woman climbed into it grinning to herself. Jade had always been good at hide and seek.
John walked through the magnificent ship is jaw dropping almost to the floor. This was the life he was always meant to live he thought as he paused every once in a while to gaze at the artwork plastered on the walls. “This is how it’s supposed to be!” thought John to himself as he walked up to a lady sitting behind a desk, who looked like she had come straight from a beauty products commercial. With his head held high John approached the woman. “Can I help you sir?” said the woman “yeah, id like to apply for citizenship for Polaris so I don’t have to do it when I get there” replied John. “May I see your identification card and passport please?” with a smile on his face John happily handed over his card. This was his only possession that he protected and cared for, and the only one worth taking care of and protecting for that matter. “Alright sir, everything checks out.” Said the woman as she handed Johns card back “If you will just step over here and follow these guards they will get you situated on board”. John was about half way to the 2 guards when he heard the slight whisper of the receptionist say “another one for slave labor on Polaris”. Everything around John stopped. He stood there looking at the guards coming towards him; they knew he over heard the woman at the desk. John turned on the spot and ran the only thing going through his head at that moment was escape.
Jade waddled through the ventilation shafts looking for the ideal place to exit. Finally she found one and jumped down from the shaft. Jade walked around the ship admiring its clean white walls and shining floors. Artwork lined the walls and friendly people smiling as they went by. Jade decided that the first thing she was going to do was have a good drink. She'd earned it after her hard days escaping. As she walked around looking for a bar, she wondered in her head how long she could stay here. As she walked through two metal bars suspended in the doors, her question was answered just as quickly as it was asked, because suddenly alarms were going off, and red lights were flashing. All eyes turned to Jade, but she was already running.
“This cant be happening…I have to escape…this cant be happening” those words were the only thing going through Johns head as he raced down the dazzling corridors of the ship taking random lefts and random rights trying to evade the guards. He couldn’t keep running like this, he thought to himself, he had to hide until he thought of something.
Jade was running as fast as she could glancing behind her every so often to see weather she was being followed. I gotta hide someplace until I think of a plan she thought to herself. “Ah Ha!” she said as she dove into an abandoned broom closet and shut the door behind her.
John looked behind him to make sure he had lost the guards then looked around for an empty room, he couldn’t find one so he ran into a broom closet thinking they would never find him there. As he opened the door he was met face to face with a strikingly beautiful woman who looked just as surprised to see him as he did her. But instantly his surprise turned into fear as the woman’s hands clasped around his neck.
Jade griped the mans neck without even thinking. A random man opens one in a million doors and just happens to find you Jade thought to herself…or, that man was following you trying to capture you, a bounty hunter maybe. She gripped his neck a little tighter as the thought of capture raced through her head. Choking and gasping for air the man let out a mumble sort of like “please…let…go…don’t…kill me!” Jade thought to herself for a moment. A bounty hunter would have more skill than this weakling…and most of the time they don’t beg for their lives. Jade let go of his neck then glared at him.
John gasped for air as the strange woman let him go. “What do you want? Who are you working for? How much are they paying you?” the woman seemed to attack John with questions as though she was interrogating him. “I’m not working for anyone…im not being paid…and I don’t want any thing...I just want to get off of this ship! This SLAVE ship!” the woman gasped and knelt down next to John. “My name is Jade and im a resistance fighter against the slave trading and labor of the Republic.” John looked up shocked “You’re the fugitive, the one that’s all over the news!” Jade held her head high “I didn’t know I was on the news…how did I look?” John couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Yes you looked wonderful! My name is John now can we please try and get out off this ship?!” “Oh, right, sorry”.
The two felons were now running down the hallways of the humongous ship with alarms blaring and lights flashing and their names and picture on every tele screen on board. John smiled to himself even though he didn’t know why. The pair rounded another corner and stopped suddenly, the breath being knocked out of John, and Jade having a fun expression on her face like she had just lost a game or been tagged. 2 guards stood there, guns raised pointing straight at Jade and John. “Turn around and put your hands on your head!” barked one of the guards. Jade gave John a little nod as thought telling him to comply. They both turned around as the guards began to search them, Jades eyes not leaving Johns. “You know what they say,” whispered Jade “just close your eyes, click your heels, and say there’s no place like home” she gave John a little wink, he caught the signal. John closed his eyes, Jade clicked her heels, and every thing went white.
John could see lights dancing even though his eyes were closed. “You can open them now” said Jade. John opened his eyes and was still a little dazed “what did you do?” “I had flash powder hidden in the heels of my shoes,” exclaimed Jade “they never see it coming” she gave another wink and a smile gave John one of the guards guns, pocketed the other one, and set off down the hall. John followed suite passing the wriggling guards on the floor holding their eyes.
The two of them ran down the hallway stopping at a door at the end, the only door there. Jade took out a little black box and typed in some words, John just stood there looking down the hall to make sure no one was coming. After a minute or so john turned around to see a large 3D image of the interior of the ship and a little blinking light at the end of a corridor, John assumed that was them. “Alright, right through this door and then a room should be the escape pods, that’s our ticket out of here.” Jade said. “So, what’s the plan?” asked John his voice becoming excited and his body becoming anxious. “Here’s what we do,” replied Jade “you open the door and ill go inside with the gun and clear the room…make sure no one is in there I mean” she corrected herself after looking at Johns horrified look. “Don’t worry, I wont kill any innocent people,” she said reassuringly. “One” John put his hand on the door “two” Jade cocked the gun and raised it to eye level “three!” Jade shouted as John opened the door, John closed his eyes waiting for the gunshots, but he heard none. He came around next to Jade who was standing in the doorway and looked in. John’s eyes widened and his body froze. Him and Jade were starring into a room full of guards, 15 at most. John looked on the wall next to the door, and there it sat, a little sign that said in bold letters GUARDS QUARTERS, John looked back in the room. One of the guards looked at a tele screen in the room then back at John and Jade, then back at the tele screen. “GET THEM!” the guard barked as all the other guards reached for their guns. John and Jade hopped out of the door way and on to either side of the doorframe firing random shots into the room, bullets blazing past them. “We need to get through that room, it’s the only way out!” exclaimed Jade. “Are you sure? Is it the ONLY way out?” asked John “yeah I checked, believe me!” replied Jade in an annoyed voice as an empty clip slid out from the bottom of the gun. She took out a full clip from her pocket, slid it into the gun, and looked over at John, bullets still blazing past them through the door, “Last clip, I better make them count.” Jade turned the corner of the door and stood in the doorway hoisted the gun up, took aim, and fired. Round after round cutting through the guards as the slumped to the floor. Jade looked as serious as ever, not even blinking, her arm staying straight and strong not flinching even from the powerful recoil of the gun. Hope and awe flickered through John’s mind as guard after guard fell. Shot after shot rang from Jades gun, the empty cartages falling to the floor. The 10th bullet fired from Jades gun, John held his breath as the empty clip fell from Jade’s gun the two of them following it as it fell, as if everything was going in slow motion. John’s image of hope suddenly cracked as the first bullet hit Jade in the thigh, blood streaming down her leg. John winced unblinkingly as the second bullet hit her in her right side and again directly in the center of her chest. The events occurring continuing in slow motion as Jade fell backwards her hair flowing in front of her face closer and closer she came to the ground. John went to his knees and held out his arms, everything now sped up to pace, bullets wising past John’s head. He pulled her over to where he was and propped her against the wall, rage now boiling inside of him. He looked at his gun one bullet was left. John paused, might as well make it worthwhile and take one of them with me, he thought to himself. John gripped the handle of the gun as hard as he could, took a deep breath, rounded the corner, stood in the doorway eyes closed and fired. The bullet John fired missed the guards. The bullet went past the guards and hit a fire extinguisher. The bullets impact set of a spark, that was enough to set off a chemical reaction. The fire extinguisher exploded and the shrapnel sprayed around the room, ricocheting everywhere, and killing the remaining guards instantly and by the grace of God or John just being lucky, none of the shrapnel hit John. He opened his eyes looked around, took a deep breath and let the oxygen rush through his body. John glanced over his shoulder in hops that, by a miracle, Jade stood up and was fine. To his astonishment half of the miracle was true. Jade seemed to be fine but wasn’t standing up. “Can we go now?” she asked as she unzipped her vest. “Wha…but…. how…you got shot, directly in your chest! How are you still alive?!” asked john in sheer amazement. “Bullet proof vest” replied Jade “you should never leave home without one.” Jade ripped off the sleeve of her shirt and wrapped it around her leg, “I guess a vest wouldn’t protect my legs,” she said smiling slightly, straining to get up. “Let me help you” John said as he walked over to her and put her arm around his neck. The couple hobbled into the guards quarters and through the doors on the other side. They both clambered into one of the escape pods as the door sealed shut behind them. They now sat in a tiny escape pod that looked only big enough for 4 people. “Have you got any idea how to pilot one of these?” said Jade quietly. “No,” replied John, “I thought you knew how!” his voice becoming suddenly less confident, as his brain conjured images of what his body would look like when they crashed. “Figure it out quickly please.” Said Jade quite calmly. “Because I now need to remove a bullet with my fingers, and nothing to ease the pain.” John fumbled with the controls for a bit. This was an ESCAPE pod. It shouldn't be that hard to work! John was right, for the first time that day. For an advanced spacecraft, it was pretty amazing that the controls were limited to a big red button. He reached for the button... but hesitated. What would happen next? Where would they go? Could they help the slaves? Could they run from the Republic? Would Jade and him have a child? John gave a wild smile and looked into the air as the last image came into view. “HEY! You wanna quit daydreaming and get us off this ship already?” yelled Jade. “Oh…right…sorry” and John hit the button as hard as he could. Then tried to remember what he was thinking about. Oh yeah, he thought, I was thinking about what was going to happen when I pressed that big red button. John’s eyes widened and he looked out of the window back at the mother ship that was drifting further and further away until it was alone, with its two occupants at its mercy, thinking about what they were going to do next.
