Rising Shards

Help Rem at all costs. Laenie kept telling herself that over and over in her head. Work with Ovie Chirhart? If it’ll help Rem, sure. Join her mission into the void to rescue her girlfriend? Well, her girlfriend’s captured by the same people deep in the void who captured Rem apparently, so obviously. She had to tell herself that a lot when Narkissa convinced Ovie of a spot they should head to next to gather more information. With only a brief, scary description of “Void Station Spero,” the group got onto the void ship.

It was fairly spacious inside the ship, even though it had the same, somehow anxiety inducing clinical feeling the void entry garage had. While Narkissa went to the pilot’s seat with Ovie, Laenie sat down with Aira and waited in a room that looked like one of the study areas back at Rising Shards. A little nook that was kind of like a restaurant booth mixed with a desk.

“I’m not sure how this is gonna feel.” Aira said. “Like, different than a usual void jump? Or are we gonna feel like we’re on a plane?”

“I dunno…” Laenie said.

Help Rem at all costs. Laenie knew that Aira needed to talk things out when she was nervous, and she knew Laenie well enough to know that her short response wasn’t intended to be rude, just the inverse reaction. Laenie would rather speak less when she was scared, become quieter. If she could shrink down her volume, maybe she could shrink down her fear.

“Another question,” Aira said. “Those robots the Wildfire Hearts folks sent out for us to fight on Fang Moon Web. Do you think we’d get to use those? It might make this rescue mission easier having them back us up. Though we all did tear through them so maybe they’d just slow us down.”

Laenie didn’t remember the robot drones too well. She drove past a bunch of them while her group all rode in a minivan in a can, but she was in her Exa form when she was fighting most of them. Memories of the robots were blurry at best, and even then all she could remember was mostly shattered parts.

The ship lurched, and Laenie felt the familiar reality warping sense of entering the void. The ship’s engines hummed like a refrigerator, a low sound that didn’t suggest they were rocketing around.

“Are you alright?” Aira asked.

Laenie nodded.

“I’m glad it’s not all roller coaster-y.” Laenie said. “I was expecting that.”

“Same here, I was thinking either roller coaster or something like the Dropping Tower of Doom.” Aira said.

“I still can’t believe you went on that one twice in a row!” Laenie said, thinking back to the last time they went to ChunkFair, an amusement park about an hour away from Sky Clay.

“We should go back soon!” Aira said. “Or, in spring I guess, they’re closed for winter…but…” Aira trailed off as Ovie joined them.

“Where is that thing…Narkissa said it’s kind of hidden…” Ovie didn’t acknowledge the two at first, she just searched around the room until she clicked at a panel, which revealed a small door. “Here!” It was a mini fridge embedded into the wall. She got out a drink for herself, then looked over at Aira and Laenie, and got two more. Ovie opened her soda first, before awkwardly leaving the other two on the table for Aira and Laenie, as if making a basic polite gesture was a lot for her, enough to make her sit down with a huff. The sodas were all just generic cola, but a basic cold drink at least felt normal, and normal was good when surrounded by weird.

“Well, it’ll apparently be forty-five minutes before we get there,” Ovie said. “The navigation said an hour, but Narkissa thinks she can beat the estimation. To me, it just looked like nothing outside the window, there aren’t even stars. Just a lot of nothing we have to wade through. Plus side, we don’t have to be around Narkissa for up to an hour, right?”

Aira didn’t react. Laenie got it, Ovie had been terrible to them at Rising Shards, and she wasn’t at all great since they’d gotten to Wildfire Hearts either. But they were all stuck together, especially more so now, so Laenie thought she’d try a bit to at least have some basic communication going.

“Do you know anything about this void station we’re going to?” Laenie asked.

“A bit,” Ovie said. “I’ve had some lessons on Spero. It’s a big hub for underworld types in the void and from back home. Lots of Cani who want to get away from it all go there. And a lot of sludgy types from all the void nodes around, the concrete and the dream, you know, that kind of void type thing that never makes sense to anyone. All of them on one space station like thing, all scrambling to get by. Lots of information, apparently, so that’s what we want. But lots of danger, too.”

“But not so dangerous that a group of high school girls can go there, right?” Laenie asked.

Ovie shrugged. “I would be more worried about anyone who gets in our way with the powers our team has.”

“So what is our plan from here, exactly?” Aira asked. She now had her arms crossed and was slouching, clearly not enjoying having to sit by Ovie. “You and Narkissa kinda just told us to get aboard. I’d appreciate more of a team vote next time.”

“I said it already, information,” Ovie said. Aira rolled her eyes. “We go in, find a lead towards the Sharai and Jeans, and—”

“And Rem.” Laenie said.

“Right, and Rem, and then we’re back on track, we go to the Harmony node, find the Sharai, get them out, and be hailed as heroes! I’m sure Wildfire Hearts will reward us nicely for this, too. And I get Jeans back, which is the most important thing.”

“And Rem.” Laenie said.

“Alright, little problem!” Narkissa shouted.

Laenie started breathing heavily immediately. Aira reached out to hold Laenie’s shoulders, which calmed her a little.   

Help Rem at all costs.

“What?” Ovie barked. “What is it? Did you forget how to fly? I thought you said you were the best—”

A scratchy sound made Laenie jump, but it was just the ship’s speakers.

“Alright, figured out how to use the intercom so I don’t have to shout.” Narkissa said.

“Just tell us what the hell the problem is!” Ovie yelled.

“Right,” Narkissa said over the intercom. “It seems like we’re being followed. And they’re approaching us very rapidly and haphazardly. I can dodge them if they get frisky, but just…a head’s up.”

Without being able to see or sense the ship Narkissa said was closing in on them, Laenie clamped her eyes shut and tried not to picture it, which of course made her picture a ship crashing into them over and over.

Help Rem at all costs. Help Rem at all costs. Help Rem at all costs. Thinking that was all she could do to remain stable in the face of such an unknown threat.