Page 2 of Fighting Gravity
I’ve had the same argument before and I’d lost my voice having shouting matches with Rebecca more than once. I was too tired to do it again and too unmotivated. I doubted I had any expression on my face at all because I barely felt anything. I wasn’t worried. I wasn’t upset or angry. I was just… numb.
“We’ll give you a little to be on your way, but that’s it,” Rebecca continued. “Your brother is away at college making a name for himself in the tech industry. Your father could have paid your way into an elite education, too. Your sister is winning awards for ballet all the way in France. And you are in the hospital after an overdose… again. Last time we had to bail you out of jail for street racing, Quinn. Street racing! A girl shouldn’t…” She stopped herself. “If you want to destroy yourself, go ahead.”
Normally, I would threaten to destroy our family name or burn the house down or kill myself, but I was as done as she was. Done hating her for something she and my father didn’t even know I knew about. Yeah, I was well aware that they’d gotten together before my real mother left. I was aware that it was thereasonshe left. The reason she turned to alcohol. Pretending you love the father of your children for thesakeof your children could really fuck someone up apparently.
So, mom left. My brother and sister resented her for it but me? I knew. I knew why she did it and when Rebecca moved in two months later, I hated everything about her. To everyone else, she was the angel that came to pick up the pieces my mother left behind. To me, she was a siren there to tear us apart.
And I let her know it.
Becca kept yelling at me as I turned my head back to the TV. The Nexus commercial was still going. 3D tours of the space city moved in the background. Ships sored through the black expanse of space, disappearing into FTL.
It looked fun. Better than sitting at a desk looking through a microscope, anyways. Discovering new viruses wasn’t appealing, but discovering new worlds? I could get behind that. Mostly because I despised mine.
Becca kept chiding me and I kept losing myself in my thoughts.
I’m smart. Smarter than people think. School, however, wasn’t for me. I knew cars. I knew speed because speed made me feel like I was escaping even if I wasn’t. I’d always wanted to find a way to go faster. I knew about FTL. About warp. About shuttles and freighters and drones. No one would know it, though. Because I was the problem. I didn’t want to go to school for dance or technology or engineering. I didn’t want to invent things or be famous or pretty or walk down a runway wearing ridiculously dysfunctional dresses.
I wanted to leave.
I wanted to go far away.
I wanted to go fast.
So, if they were going to clip my gnarled little wings, maybe I would fall. But I was going to fall with style.
Or something. *Insert profound self-advice here.*
2: Quinn
Age 32
I wasn’t fighting for my life. I was falling with style…
We’re gonna call it that.
Imagine hitting rock bottom and then sinking a little further into the Earth’s crust to burn a little before pulling yourself out and making something of your life. Then imagine all of it leading to getting kidnapped off a spacecraft after fleeing from an alien attack.
I know, it sounds ridiculous.
As awesome and underappreciated a pilot as I was, I couldn’t outrun the giant alien warship that decided to chase down our little transport shuttle when we fled from the obliterated freighter they blew up. Apparently, the gek’tal didn’t like humans doing business with the valerians. So they intercepted a trade and by “intercepted,” I mean they killed everyone.
And even my skills as a pilot couldn’t save me and the two women I managed to drag with me out of the rubble. It didn’t take long for the aliens to catch up and suck us into the bowls of their big ship. And what’s worse? I was the only one taken off the shuttle before valerians interrupted the abduction!
More on why that was so unfair later…
Three big brutes marched right onto the shuttle and I was first to try and attack them. I really didn’t think it would work. I’m not stupid. Protective? Yes. It’s a flaw that has gotten me in trouble too often…
One swing toward one of the tall, leather-clad aliens and I ended up over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. All my kicking and screaming and favorite curse words couldn’t save me.
I heard Innifer shouting behind me as I was taken away. She called my name desperately.
Aww. At least she cared. Unfortunately, caring didn’t knock anyone out so I was still being kidnapped…
Ten strides from my shuttle, the warship shuddered. The big aliens exchanged words with each other in an urgent, deep tone and the next thing I knew, a giant explosion burst through the wall of what I deduced was a cargo bay. My captor tightened his grip, sharp nails biting into my thighs as he rushed forward. A gust of chilled air hit us and I screamed with frustration until a pressure door was closed behind us, cutting us off from the cargo bay.
As angry as I was that I was the only one taken, I was glad Innifer and her blonde, motion-sick friend hadn’t been. They weren’t nearly as tough as me…
I was, however, a little worried they’d blown up. Best case scenario? The valerians I sent a distress call to before we were attacked showed up to help. Worst case? The shuttle’s AI got a wild hair up his virtual ass to self-destruct when he realized we were compromised.
