Made of Honor

To: ID Designate BL01-01 - Shaw Tlaa

From: ID Designate XX01-01 - Niobe Tlaa

Date: 914.06.01.23 AE

I didn't expect Roman to burst into the gun range. I really didn't expect her to face down the barrel of my gun and tell me, “Come on, Niobe. We're crashing a wedding.”

It's not because she doesn't do that all the time. Go where she isn't supposed to be, I mean. I am used to her cutting through the military academy on her way home from school. There is no way she has the clearance to walk into a Marine compound. But I haven't heard anyone else complain, and I'm not going to call it out. The instructors know I walk home with her every day. So, if they knew Roman was breaking rules, then they would check if I am breaking rules. They would not need to look far to implicate me by association. And I don't want to sit in the Commander’s office again, explaining some misadventure with Roman…

Why am I even thinking about that? I just graduated.

Anyway, of course I heard her walking towards me  in spite of the loud discharge of my laser rifle. So I still have zero range incidents and I also didn't kill my best friend today. But I was completely unprepared for her to stop my routine firing drill. And then she just strode out of the room, apparently about to crash a wedding, so I dropped the rifle and chased after her.

D.O.G. didn't care that our schedule had been figuratively shot all to hell. It got to its four feet and lumbered obediently behind me. I'm glad it did. I would soon need the oversized duffel bag that D.O.G. was carrying on its robotic back.

“Roman, we can't go anywhere nice while looking like this,” I tried to reason with her as we walked down the echoing hall towards the academy exit, “I’m in gym clothes. You are in club wear. We aren't even in our school uniforms!”

My academy uniform was a XXL men’s fit because nothing else was long enough. But I haven’t worn that since I recently graduated. Since then I’ve made use of the largest Marine fatigues that I could find.

So there I was, walking out into public in cargo pants that didn't make it to my ankles and a tank top that could barely stretch over the top half of my torso.

I have a question for you, Aunt Shaw. Mom and Dad tell me that your clothes are tailored to your size. My parents say it was the same for them when they were in the military.

I can't wait.

I only have two dresses that were made for someone of my size and I already wore one to Prom. The other is for… The Day!

But let me tell you about Roman. Ugh. Roman… Where to start. She used to wear a normal uniform. Used to. I’ve watched her interest in looking formal just… Evaporate over the last year. It’s not simply that she doesn’t care. I'm sure she is actively trying to look like a menace.

What the book calls “out of uniform” Roman calls “a hot mess.” Lately she's wearing all day what she used to save for late nights with the gang. Strappy heels, torn glossy black jumpsuit, loose mesh neon blouse, and shimmering lipstick.

Her auburn hair is a wild mane. At least she has me to do her makeup each morning. I usually do my makeup simple so the daily drills don't make it run. Roman, though, goes to normal school and not the military academy, so she doesn’t have to worry about sweat or laser burns.

So I get to paint Roman’s face with crazy wings and lines and colors, while not obscuring her natural freckles! It's all practice for The Day!

Huh. I was today years old when I realized how much Roman changed in her junior year. The prim girl that I moved in with is long gone. Instead I walked out of the academy with a punk who looked ready for a rave or a street fight.

Honestly, Roman couldn't look more like one of those Rebs on the wanted posters.

Me, I know what I look like. There is only one name for people like me, like my parents, and like you, Aunt Shaw. That’s the word that I search for in the ship library and video archives. That’s how I know that the stories my parents tell me are true. I know about how people like us can fly between worlds on our warships. There are so many movies about us! I’ve watched every one. I've tried to learn everything I can so that, when I finally meet you, I won't just be some clueless hick from a backwater colony ship.

I have imagined for so long what it would be like to meet someone new. Someone like you. Someone… Like me.

And, since my parents left, I’m the only one here like this.

So, yeah, here on Sideways… I’m weird. I am the elephant in the room. At least there is nothing shocking about my natural skin or hair color, which is kind of a mid-brown tone. I don't even mind the thick Afro-texture of my hair. It's normal. If you saw me from far enough away then I might look human. Assuming that no normal humans were standing beside me.

But the actual color of my hair is second only to Roman’s neon top…

Oh God, my hair. It's one long-ass braid. And I mean ass because it's grown all the way to my waist. Yeah, I used to do the Marine style buzzcut like Mom and Dad. But I haven't been a literal jarhead since I met Vitra.

That brings me to my one attempt to stop the walking cyclone called Roman Pretorius. I took a long step ahead of her and held out my braid. “Roman, I know you don't care that I'm a year older than you. But listen for once! Let's stop home first. I'll get the dress I wore to senior prom. Right now I'm wearing olive drab which doesn't match my hair at all.”

“Uh huh,” Roman seemed to expect an argument like this. She kept walking, forcing me back, pushing me with her strength of will since she could never move me physically. 

Roman looked closely at my single long braid which I was trying to use like a stop sign. Undeterred, she named from bottom to top, “Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet.”

Yes, my braid is dyed in four bold blocks of colors. Every year, for the last four years, I have dyed the new growth a bold color. If you look at me from behind then be prepared for the rainbow spectacle.

Then Roman named the women who were the reason behind the colors, “Gertrude, Bosa, Ingrid… Vistra.”

I have caught mid-air an engine block that broke free from a hoist. No problem. But the way Roman drew out that last name, and let it hang in the air… That realization almost knocked me over.

“Vistra? It's her wedding?” I screamed at Roman, “Now!?”

And I added, “Here?!?” Because we had stepped out of the academy and into the trash heap that we call home.

Aunt Shaw, are you on a planet right now? I learned in school that most people are. Our school was supposed to have been built under a normal blue sky. All the prefab stuff we live in was meant to go on a habitable planet like Old Earth.

But the Sideways has been stuck in space our whole lives. I know the adults planned on raising us kids on a normal world. There were spare supplies on the ship to keep everyone going until the colony was ‘Ready’.

‘Ready’ was supposed to be a few months, tops.

Reality is that we have been stuck in space for almost two decades.

Our parents have really screwed this up.

There are about a hundred thousand of us kids living in Sideways. That's more than the number of adults who were on the ship when it departed Niobe.

Yeah, that is the planet I'm named after, obviously. My parents are so creative, right?

So, after getting the whole damn ship stalled in space, our parents tried to assemble all the buildings, including the school and the military academy and all our houses, inside the ship’s storage area. All pre-stamped with the corporate logo “SHENSIG”.

It's cramped.

And I guess people eventually stopped saying “We are the Shensig expedition” and just started saying “it all went Sideways.” With a capital S. And that's the most interesting thing about our busted ass home.

So I normally would have been like, “That's weird,” walking out of the academy and not seeing anyone around. We had left behind the smell of sweat and ozone that permeates the military academy. The smell of the street was the odor of too many humans recently packed together, mixed with sickly sweet coolant leaks. The ship was already carrying twice as many people as it ever should have. And on top of it they filled every space with ‘expandable’ buildings that don't have room to expand.

But all I could do is try to make sense of the bombshell that Roman had just dropped on me.

Roman gave me a reassuring smile and patted my arm. “You look fine!”

That did nothing to help. “Literally no-one has ever told me that,” I informed her.

I didn't mean to be funny but Roman laughed anyway. It's infuriating but also what makes her my best friend.

Then my best friend got on her monocycle and took off.

Did I mention how infuriating she is?

I ran after her. It took a few moments to catch up. Her one-wheeled vehicle is great for navigating the cramped alleys of Sideways. The modular structures from Shensig are made exclusively from these big square modular planks. Some have doors, some have pipes, others have electronics. You can put them together however you need. They are supposed to be assembled according to some plan with aesthetics. It might have looked nice. Instead these planks make Sideways look like nothing but a chaotic patchwork of walls and floors and ceilings in a pattern that somehow never repeats and also goes on as far as you can see in every direction.

Open spaces don't really exist here. All those turns mean that Roman’s monocycle does not manage more speed than what is a brisk jog for my long legs.

D.O.G. usually follows us home like this. It is an old bot but it can keep pace when its four legs are at a full gallop.

I had a moment to think by the time I was beside Roman. I wasn't out of breath so I could just scold her, “This is the wrong way to go home! I need my dress! My makeup! The gifts! All my stuff for The Day is at home!”

Not slowing, Roman said, “We can't go home! They closed the bulkheads!”

The vast starship we live in is divided by bulkheads. They are always open… Except in emergencies. I was starting to understand why no-one was daring to be out on the streets today.

But the ship’s bridge always broadcast warnings when the bulkheads were closed. “What? No way! That would have been posted to the Net!” I was now shouting. That was the first time today that I started to feel scared.

“The Net is down!” laughed Roman.

While running I pulled out my phone. I hadn't noticed the Net was down because there just was… Nothing. I didn't see any texts from my friends. The news feeds stopped hours ago. The live streams were all down.

It wasn't like part of the Net was down. There were no notifications or warnings. It was like a cartoon where someone pulls a power plug and the world turns off. It was ridiculous. Impossible.

We have had the ship’s internal Net our whole lives. It is what connects the thousands of us through our pocket phones. Just like that, it was gone.

Somehow, Roman thought that was funny.

Just as suddenly as Roman started driving, she stopped and got off her monocycle. I came to a halt beside her. D.O.G. obediently stopped behind me and waited for whatever we did next. I had no clue. This place was as spookily empty as everywhere else we had passed since leaving the academy.

I looked around at where the Shensig panels ended as they reached the ship’s inner hull. The sweet smell of coolant was now mixed with a pungent odor of burnt rubber and petroleum. “We are at the docks. Why the docks? No-one has ever used the docks. Well, besides when my parents traded with the Forge.”

“Someone is at the docks today,” Roman said. She was looking at her phone.

“How are you so sure?” I demanded. My parents would have told me if they were coming back so soon.

Roman held out her phone so I could see it. “SubNet. It's still working.” Text was scrolling by on her screen at a frantic speed. I could not make sense of it. It seemed everything on it was mid-conversation. The conversations were all, to put it in one word… Angry.

“Roman, what is this? Why didn't you tell me before today? Why am I not on… SubNet?” I could not stop making demands. I felt so off balance.

I watched Roman’s face closely. She leaned forward, she took a big breath that swelled her chest, her lips started to move. She looked me in the eyes. I knew she was overflowing with things she wanted to say.

Then Roman deflated and just murmured, “If I tried to get you on SubNet, the others… Well, the others would… Freak out.”

That deflated me too. I rocked back and forth on my heels. “That's… What always happens,” I had to agree, “Everyone freaked out when my parents wanted me to go to school. I was already, uh, tall… Then they freaked out when my parents took me to the academy. And your parents freaked out when I asked if I could stay at your place while my parents are gone. And… Everything I do freaks someone out. I just freak people out.”

Suddenly Roman had me in a tight hug. Her arms were around my waist and her head was buried into my midriff. I looked down at her wild auburn hair. I smelled her raspberry scented shampoo. She said, “You don't deserve it. You're a good person. I trust you, Niobe.”

This is what Roman means to me in a nutshell. 99% of the time she includes me in things that no-one else ever would. I would not have a life without her. If she ever decides to leave me out so she can talk to normal people, then… Then it's totally understandable.

So, ogre that I am, I did my damndest to gently hug her back.

I'm glad I did. It is a good memory that I can hold onto. Neither of us knew then that we were in the last minutes of our friendship.

We were interrupted by a beep from Roman’s phone. We let go of each other. Looking at the screen she excitedly chirped, “It's Teddy!”

Oh yeah, Teddy.

Teddy’s nice.

But I screwed up my face and complained, “Of course you dragged Teddy into this. Why even bring me when you have Teddy?”

“I'm coming too,” is how the Yndij announced himself as he swung down from the pipes above.

Of course I heard the soft sound of his four palms and twenty fingers climbing down towards us. I just didn't want to recognize a deadbeat school dropout like him. I was hoping he would return the favor and not bother us. I was 100% wrong.

“Itz’nogo, Nice of you to… Drop in on us,” quipped Roman. She clearly expected this too. What did she know…?

Well, I don't know if Yndij all act like man-sized chimpanzees or if this guy just thinks he’s cute. But he looped a hairy arm over Roman’s shoulder and said, “Roman, babe, I thought we were friends! Just call me Nogo!”

I picked up Nogo by the scruff of his neck.

From what I've told you about Roman, you probably aren't surprised this is not the first time I pulled a boy off her like this. I mean, I have to let Teddy get close. But no-one else gets the privilege.

Nogo went slack as I lifted him. To quell his whimpering I told the Yndij, “We are crashing a wedding. And you are not invited!”

I put Nogo down. His spunk returned instantly and he taunted, “If you're crashing a wedding then I don't think you were invited either.”

“I know I’m invited,” I proudly told the pest. I didn't want to get into the details of why Roman thought we were wedding crashers because I didn't know why myself. Not right now. I wanted to stay focused. So I turned to Roman, pointedly ignoring Nogo, and confirmed, “We are going to the dock checkpoint, right?”

“Yeah, that's the plan,” said Roman, “The checkpoint is where Teddy is stationed. He’ll help us.”

“Ok, one sec,” I told them and took a moment to compose myself.

Since we were at the hull of the ship that meant there were portholes. I went and looked out. A lot of people don't like the emptiness of space. I get it. The one thing the Sideways has always done right is separate us from the cold embrace of the void.

But there is one thing outside that I love to look at. It is a star. I don't think it even has a name or designation. That is how far off the map that Sideways got stranded. Probably a big reason why there hasn't been any rescue attempt by Shensig.

The star looks small through the porthole but that is an illusion. It is the closest thing for light-years. There are no asteroids, no planets, nothing else around. And it actually is much larger than a normal star like the one humans evolved next to. It just looks normal from a distance. Up close and you would realize how massive it is.

That star seems a lot like me.

Sideways has been in orbit of this star my whole life. Its light is a big reason we have been able to stay alive so long. Solar panels saved us when the reactors ran out of fuel.

So, thanks, nameless giant star. I would be dead without you.

I took one more look around at the space outside the porthole. Something weird was that I could not see any other stars except the one we orbited. Just blackness. That is especially strange since my eyesight is really good.

Weird.

Probably some trick of the light. I did not trust my thinking anyway with all the chaos happening today. I cleared my mind and turned from the porthole.

I saw that Roman and Nogo were furiously texting on their phones. “What the hell?” I complained, “Even Nogo has SubNet?”

The human and the Yndij traded glances. “Don't freak out…” Roman reminded me.

My best friend is really good at stopping my angry side. Well, maybe just keeping my anger focused on her, usually. This time she just made me think of all the people who got upset when I wanted to be included in the past. So, yeah, including Nogo was… Her choice?

Nogo is the only Yndij that I know of on Sideways. So he is like me. Just, I toughed it out. I got through all those lonely days in class. I got my big butt in those small school chairs. I got my diploma.

Nogo, he gave up.

But I guess I had my parents who wanted me to stay in school. Nogo didn't even have that. No parents I know of on Sideways. Yet another example of how we get zero decent parenting on this wreck.

So, yeah, don't freak out. Makes sense.

I know Roman has standards with who she is friends with. Exhibit A: She's dating Teddy.

Speaking of trying to not freak out, we next went and saw Teddy.

What a sight. There he was… Teddy. As charming as ever.

Some women may be turned off by how he looks like an absolute unit in his Marine fatigues. First pick on any sports team (teachers always told me to sit out). Top of the class academically (I was excluded from any rankings). I'm saying that other women might find him… Intimidating.

Not me, though. And it's not just because I stand a head taller than him. What I saw was his dark brown curls that never touched the ballistic helmet which he casually keeps under one arm. Why would he need protection? He exuded calm control.

Anyway, I was telling you about the military checkpoint. I saw how Teddy leaned lightly against the oversized that the checkpoint guarded. Beyond the door was the bay where smaller starships could dock with our gargantuan colony ship. No doubt this was Roman’s destination.

Teddy’s casual air was deliberately disarming, for sure. It didn't matter that the ship was experiencing some kind of unannounced emergency. He had such a natural and genuine smile. His hazel eyes twinkled as he shared a joke with the sergeant.

It didn't matter that Teddy had a lieutenant’s rank. It’s always been so easy for anyone to become Teddy’s friend.

I envy him so much.

Around Teddy was the military checkpoint. It was neat and tidy. Two other Marines stood guard but their hands were off their guns. A Marine engineer was keeping an eye on some squat spiderlike weaponized drones that were stamped with the ubiquitous “SHENSIG” logo. Teddy had everything and everyone by the book and he made it look effortless.

And, well, Roman is smart. She's always been smart. She figured out long ago that Teddy was a good catch. She had snagged him before he even transferred to the academy.

You could tell. When we rounded the corner, Teddy saw Roman first, even though I am a much larger target. And his casual smile transformed into a conspiratorial grin.

Roman silently replied by giving Teddy a smirk that said ‘look at what I brought’. Teddy’s gaze slid over and up to my face.

And this is what makes Teddy truly special. His grin returned to a wide smile when he saw me.

He kept smiling!

At me!

Not in the wincing way that some other guys try to be macho. He's genuine. I know this after we shared academy classes in my senior year. He's the same at Roman’s parties. I've never known anyone so easy to talk to.

Oh, Roman. You could have had any guy on Sideways.

Why did it have to be Teddy…

The sergeant followed Teddy’s gaze and he turned to see us. I recognized that the sergeant was one of the popular jocks from our class. Any happiness on the Marine’s face fled the moment he saw me. He blurted out, “What the hell is she doing here?”

That's a normal reaction to my existence.

Teddy stood up for me. His warm hazel eyes were smiling as he told the sergeant, “Come on, Slick. It's Niobe! We graduated from the academy together. You danced with her at prom!”

Slick turned to Teddy so I couldn't see his face. “Because you told me to!” Slick whispered to Teddy.

Teddy froze his smile and glanced at me.

Yeah, I heard that.

I guess something about my expression made that clear to Teddy. He did not give up the friendly smile. But he did stop leaning against the wall and took an official stance. “Sergeant, just go talk to her. We are all Shensig here.” Teddy’s tone was still warm but now was unmistakably spoken by a commanding officer.

Sergeant Slick snapped to attention and marched towards me. “Weapons at the ready,” he commanded the two Marines beside him. They instantly took their rifles in hand and glared at us.

“Deactivate drones,” Teddy ordered. Slick scowled as the engineer complied. I don't know why Slick cared. Like Teddy said, everyone on Sideways was under the Shensig contract. The drones wouldn't attack their own.

I didn't like how Slick was escalating things. In spite of Teddy, or perhaps to spite, it seemed Slick wanted a fight. I gestured for my friends to get behind cover. They did, including D.O.G. It followed my unspoken command and bounded to a spot on top of some cargo containers.

I kept walking towards the checkpoint. That kept the Marines’ attention on me and away from my friends. I looked down my nose at Slick and told him, “I got a wedding to go to. You're in my way.”

Slick snorted, “What, you? Give me a better excuse. Or better yet, go back. No-one gets through but us Marines.”

With my hands on my hips, I bent at the waist to bring myself closer to his eye level. “I am honor bound to attend this wedding. You have to let bridesmaids through. I am in the wedding party.”

It was just like I told Roman. I don't look the part in my cargo pants and tank top. But I knew Slick had issues with my whole deal. Most people do, but most people leave me alone. Slick, though, he was really asking for it. He laughed in my face, which was awfully bold for someone half my size.

“It's not a laughing matter,” I informed the snark, “Do you have any idea how much the bridesmaids have to do before a wedding? We have outfits to coordinate. We need to help with the reception.”

The two Marines flanking the sergeant had the rank of private and were both women. They couldn't help but agree with me. One said, “The bachelorette party is a whole event to itself. That takes so much planning and effort.”

“You have to be anticipating the needs of the bride and answering any distracting questions,” mused the other female Marine.

The first woman added, “It’s not just dealing with the staff. Good bridesmaids are there for the bride herself. Like choosing and fitting the wedding dress.”

“The best bridesmaids sneak into the honeymoon suite and put rose petals on the bed…” added the other Marine coily. The two privates giggled together.

I summarized for the sergeant, “Yeah, all that, and we should have had months to prepare. But somehow, probably because of this Net outage, I am late and in a really big hurry. So let me go.” 

Slick was not persuaded by any of this. “We have authority from Marine command to remove you by force,” asserted the sergeant to me. His two Marines dropped their candor and tightened their grips on their rifles.

I glanced at Teddy. He was grinning at me. I knew him well enough from the last year at the academy. I was sure that he was not taunting me. He was actually encouraging me. He had the same look when we would pair up for group homework at the academy. I could tell that Teddy was curious to see how I would handle this roadblock.

So I stared the sergeant down. “Remove me? But you can't,” I told Slick matter-of-factly.

Slick snarled, “Listen, behemoth, I'm not talking about picking you up and carrying you. I would need a forklift.” He put his hand on the pistol slung at his hip like his tone wasn’t threatening enough.

I didn’t fall for his intimidation tactics. I knew I had already outplayed him. Confidently, I straightened up and spread my arms. “I am talking about military science. You can't do anything because your defensive position is completely compromised. You and your Marines are standing in the open… And I have a clear line of fire.”

Slick looked at my empty hands and started to protest. I cut him off. “You allowed me to put a Deployable Offensive Gun robot…” I gestured to D.O.G., “...In an elevated position. And then you walked into its range.”

Taking my cue, Roman unzipped the duffle bag on D.O.G.’s back. This revealed the massive cannon that the robot carried. Roman stood proudly beside it. The gun was clearly as tall and heavy as she was. She loved it. If you thought Roman was confident, Roman with artillery looked ready to lay down the wrath of God.

Why do I go everywhere with a walking cannon? Well, my parents always insisted on self-defense.

I was still watching Teddy out of the corner of my eye. He was smiling. He saw this as a lesson among classmates, like I did. Also, he was in no danger, because he had stayed out of the cannon's range by not marching up like Slick. No doubt he recognized my Deployable Offensive Gun the moment we walked in. Did I mention that Teddy was smart?

The two other Marines suddenly got smart too, let go of their weapons, and backed away. Slick was too dumb and/or too angry. “You are under arrest for threatening Corporate Marines!”

“Irrelevant,” I replied cooly, “You lost. Now get lost.”

“You tell that bastard!” cheered Roman from beside D.O.G., who agreed with a synthetic woof.

Then the barrel of Slick’s pistol was pressing against my chest.

It shouldn’t have been a surprise. It wasn’t. I watched Slick pull the weapon from its holster. I saw it was some old style revolver that shoots lead instead of lasers. I saw him raise the pistol. It would have been a flash of movement to normal humans… But to me it happened with agonizing slowness. The problem with me was that I couldn't believe it. I could not believe that Slick would be so dumb. And now, having let this happen, I was the dumb one.

“Niobe!” cried Roman. D.O.G. whined.

“Ok, I'm sorry,” I gushed, “I'll go. D.O.G.’s gun isn't even loaded. I don't keep it loaded…” I realized this might have been a dumb choice too.

Teddy was walking towards us. His smile was gone. He said calmly but firmly, “Sergeant, I am sure I don't have to tell you that a civilian is within lethal range of your firearm.”

Lethal range. I could have died.

Slick was screaming now, “It doesn't matter! None of them matter! They're all going to die anyway!”

“Who told you that?” demanded Teddy.

I wish I could tell you that I then did something cool and everyone was ok. Whatever happened was not like the movies. I just kind of blanked out…

…My next coherent thought was… That my chest hurt.

I could hear people talking. Nogo was saying, “You are crazy for bringing her! You saw what happened! She could have killed that sergeant!”

“I could have killed that sergeant!” growled Roman, “He shot Niobe in cold blood!”

“Blood, eh? Shouldn't there be more of that?” Nogo pressed, “Niobe didn't even flinch! And then she pulled the bullet out of her chest with her own fingers!”

My sight was hazy until then. I looked down at my torso. I had wrapped bandages around myself. I bet the wound had closed a moment after I removed the bullet.

There was red stuff on my hands. I didn't smell like human blood. That was good. That meant it was my blood and not that sergeant’s blood. I might not have hurt him… Too bad.

Nogo was now shouting at Roman, “Niobe was shot, point blank, in the center of her chest. How is she anywhere right now other than in a hospital? How is she here? She should have died!”

I finally found my voice. I said mechanically, “Non-Newtonian fluid in my veins. It turns my blood into armor.”

They gasped. My vision cleared just in time to see them react. I guess they didn't know I was listening.

We were sitting in some kind of shuttlecraft together. It was just me, Nogo, Roman and Teddy. I should have felt elated. I had finally left Sideways even if I couldn't remember how. We had left our home spaceship for the first time in our lives.

But all I could see is how they recoiled. Nogo climbed the wall. Roman, my best friend, shrieked and covered her face.

Worst of all was Teddy. Teddy, Theo, Theodore… I don't know what he would want me to call him now. I don't know if he ever will speak to me again.

Because what Teddy did, his instinct, his reflex on seeing me sit up was that he threw himself between me and Roman. Protectively. There was no warmth in his hazel eyes. He looked at me like I was an out-of-control truck barreling towards him. Like I couldn't be stopped but he was still going to try.

I stood up, frightening them more. My hands just started reaching out to them. They started screaming.

I tried to calmly tell them what had happened. “The injected fluid is under my skin, all around my body, especially in my chest. It instantly hardens to stop anything that pierces my flesh. The trillions of replicating microscopic robots in my veins then immediately clot the wound and simulate tissue regeneration. I inherited my parent’s engineered nervous system which shuts off pain. I don’t even feel it. I don’t… I…”

I replaced my blood, my humanity. It should have hurt. But, I was born unable to feel pain. The upgrades to my body… They didn’t hurt. When I was younger and I fought the Nightstalkers, and the Veer-Myn… They claws… They should have hurt. A human should have died.

Nogo was right. A human shot right in the chest, she should have died.

But not me. I have upgrades. I traded my humanity to protect humanity. I tell myself these facts so I’m not scared of who I am. It helps me.

It didn’t help them. I don’t know if my… Friends… Heard a word. If they did, maybe I just proved my… Inhumanity.

I just sat back down, curled up and looked away. They all did too. We're on our phones now. Who knows what they are doing on SubNet. I'm sure they are texting each other about whether they should shoot me out an airlock. That would stop me for sure.

The public Net is still down, or we're out of range, or both. Either way I got nothing on my phone. But, D.O.G. followed me here. It's such a good bot. And, with nothing else to do, I connected my phone to D.O.G.’s network. That is how I found the Q-band transceiver hidden inside.

Now I know that's how my parents have been talking to you, Aunt Shaw. Your ID is the only one on their contact list.

I know I sound like a child who misses her parents. But I'm alone here, surrounded by my friends who now hate me, and I don't know where we are or where we’re going. If things were going to plan for The Day then I should be with Gertrude now. Everything I prepared for The Day is getting further and further away.

And the three of them, my friends, or whatever we are now… They did all call me something before they turned away from me. They called me a word that they never say on Sideways. But it's in the books and the movies. It is a word for heroes. It is a word for the most honorable warriors in the galaxy. But, apparently, it is also a word for something terrible.

My friends shouted at me, “She's an Enforcer!”

My parents are Enforcers. I was born an Enforcer. You, Aunt Shaw, are an Enforcer. And you lead thousands of other Enforcers to keep the galaxy safe from evil.

Everyone knows we swore an oath. On our honor, we swore to protect the Corporation. And every human is part of the Corporation from birth. Good aliens like the Yndij too, they’re under Corporation protection. Roman, Teddy, Nogo, they should be comforted, knowing us Enforcers are watching over them. How could they see that as anything but a good thing?

So, please, can you tell me, Aunt Shaw… Why are my friends scared of Enforcers?

Why are they scared of us?

Why are they scared of… Me?