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Twyla
I heard the low hum of the bopper meeting ground in front of the house. A thought flitted across my mind: I was a little surprised to see a bopper on a Star—although they were common as dirt in Royal One, most starpeople preferred land travel over air. Less pollution, and cheaper.
I opened the front door just as Cedra and Ana slid out of the small vehicle. Even with the weight of worry on my shoulders, I was shocked to see how big Ana was. It hadn’t been evident on video but she was almost a head taller than Cedra—who was pretty tall herself—and had shoulders so broad I wondered if she’d fit through the front door. Her skin was a shade darker than mine, gleaming as the noon sun hit it.
“Any news?” I asked as they bounded up the front steps in unison in their heavy work boots.
“Walk with us,” Ana said, barreling into the house as though she were familiar with it. Which she probably was.
Cedra’s fingers clasped mine as she hurried me through the house and down into the basement. As they explained what was happening, my vision became blurry with tears. I could just imagine the underdeveloped little babies fighting for their lives. And all because of what? Because I’d wanted power back in the house so I could watch some cooking vids? Ugh.
They got to work in the small space, unplugging different wires from the wall and cursing when the wires stuck to the rusty machine.
“Wait, what happened to the panel? Why is the power down in the first place?” I asked as Ana stripped off her work shirt to use as leverage to pull on the slippery wires.
“The panels are really old. We’ve been trying to replace them for decades but we just can’t come up with the money. The community doesn’t have it. So over the years, we kept replacing parts and finding quick solutions to get it working and I guess our luck finally ran out.”
“Well, how much would it cost to replace it?”
“The cheapest one I’ve found from a dealer I trust is about half a million,” Ana said distractedly from her crouch on the floor. “We don’t have that kind of credit lying around.”
Don’t we?
I moved so quickly that the back of my heel caught on the stairs, almost sending me sprawling backwards.
“Wait here,” I told both of them, pushing myself back up with my palms.
The house had cooled significantly in a matter of hours and my bare feet slid along the chilly plasti-wood floors as I hurried to the service room.
While I’d been spending my nights with Cedra, the nestle of her arms taking away any doubts I may have had about my future, I’d forgotten the little keepsake I’d tucked away under the little bed by the window.
My knees hit the ground with a thud as I reached under the flimsy mattress, feeling for the familiar grooves of the thick rope of gold that had pressed against my breasts on the long journey from Royal One. It had been my father’s sixteenth birthday gift to me—a lovely necklace that looked like a gold braid with three interweaving chains.
All those years ago, the gift had come with a warning. I was not allowed to wear the flashy piece of jewelry anywhere outside the house. The gold mines on Earth had gone dry centuries ago, and any old gold that remained was worth an indecent sum. Their finite nature combined with the “vintage” tag made the shiny metal one of the most sought-after resources in the New World.
My father had been a collector. From ostentatious watches to large gold buckles on his vintage shoes, he loved adding little pieces of expensive jewelry to his everyday look.
I hadn’t been so keen on the necklace, but he seemed to love the idea of his daughter having something that few others could afford. He’d specially request that I wear it to parties he hosted at home, just to show off the extravagant purchase to his friends.
On hindsight, perhaps I should be grateful for that. If he hadn’t insisted I wear the necklace to my engagement party, I never would have left with it in the first place.
My fingers wrapped around the cool metal, dragging the necklace out from under the mattress. Even without any light in the room, it seemed to glint ethereally, its weight heavy in my palm.
I didn’t know the exact value of it, but as I ran my thumb across the grooved detailing, I hoped it would be enough.
Please. Let it be enough.
There was a little nagging voice at the back of my mind that tried to interfere—to tell me that I should keep this contingency plan close to my chest. It was the only thing I had left in this world that could promise me a better life.
But that wasn’t true, was it? Perhaps this necklace was the only item of monetary value I had in my possession, but it wasn’t what made me feel whole. I knew from personal experience that credit didn’t keep you warm at night. It didn’t sit next to you on the sofa asking about your childhood so it could understand you a little better. It didn’t give you a massage at the end of a long day. And it certainly didn’t put warm socks on your feet in the middle of the night so your toes wouldn’t feel like icicles in the morning.
I stared at the gold in my hands, feeling foolish that I’d once thought this could guarantee my happiness somewhere other than Royal One. There was no doubt that it would’ve secured me a new life, but happiness? Nothing could replicate the joy I’d found on this Star, with a person I could sit still with and enjoy our peace.
My knees protested as I rose too quickly, trying to catch Cedra and Ana before they left the house. They were already at the top of the stairs, each lugging one end of the ancient, rusty generator, the strain evident on their faces.
“Wait,” I said, almost skidding to a stop in front of them.
“We don’t have time to spare.” Ana frowned at me and I almost stepped away—almost. There was something about the Beast hybrid that was a little terrifying but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Could it be the aura of authority she wore around herself? Or the rigid set of her shoulders?
