Another hard day of work was done at long last. It was a particularly painful day as Mara's body hadn't fully recovered from working the previous evening shift before working today's morning shift. But, in spite of that, Mara's day was significantly better than the previous one. That idiot, Nick, was off and, more importantly, nobody had died. The trauma of Jose's death was still fresh in Mara's mind. She had nightmares all throughout the night.
She left the Wakefield Factory, with her bulky oxygen bag at her side, physically and mentally exhausted as she fought her way through the Wakefield Crowds to get to the Transit-Terminal. Only, this time, home wasn't her destination. No, Mara's day was only half over. There was a reason why she forced herself awake to get to the morning shift, she had somewhere else to be during the afternoon. A place that Mara was actually excited to visit. And, with an actual smile on her face, Mara swiped her credit-card at the entrance of the Transit-Terminal to book her trip to the other side of Wakefield.
She didn't care that the Transit-Car was so crowded that she needed to keep the heavy oxygen tank on her lap. She didn't care how long the ride took, nearly 2 hours with all the steps. She didn't even care the cost to make the trip was an expense that she really couldn't afford to make. All she cared about were the looks on all the kids' faces when she got there. She never grew tired of them.
Eventually, the Transit-Car reached Mara's stop. She climbed over the passenger who was sitting next to her, apologizing as she did so. The oxygen bag made it difficult to get around as she fought through her aching muscles. She stepped off the Transit-Car, swiped her credit-card again, and moved on. The walk wasn't as long as it was when she traveled home which was a relief. Mara felt downright relaxed when she arrived at the Wakefield Orphanage.
Mara had been here many times. In fact, she had lived at the orphanage for 6 years. She hated it for the longest time but, by the time she had left, it was home. And now it was the only place in Wakefield she could find any happiness.
She entered the Orphanage and was immediately greeted by it's headmistress, Elizabeth Lowell. "Mara, so good to see you."
She gave Mara a hug. Liz, well into her fifties, stood more than a foot shorter than the tall Mara, had short blonde hair, glasses, and generally had a bookish appearance. Liz looked at Mara's face. "You haven't been sleeping."
Mara shrugged. "I've been very busy."
"I'm sure you have." Liz sighed. After the loss of her parents, Liz had become a bit of a surrogate mother to Mara. Just as she did for all the orphans who came into her care. Liz dedicated her entire to the care of the lost children of Wakefield, and she never stopped worrying for them. "You can always not come here, Mara. Get some rest."
Mara shook her head. "I would prefer to spend as little time at home as possible."
"Ok." Liz said with a smile. "Well, the kids are always happy to see you."
The Orphanage, one of four facilities in the city, was the home of several hundred children of various ages. The youngest kid there was 5 years old and the children were housed there until the age of 18. Though, Liz did everything she could to bend the rules for those who needed a little help getting on their feet out in the city. Mara had actually stayed there until she was 20 when she decided to leave to make room for new orphans. But to this day Liz did whatever she could to help Mara out. As much help that Mara would accept.
The Facility was large but mostly plain in design. With its grey walls, long hallways, designated living areas, and cafeteria, it was a rather sterile environment. It was lightened up by the drawings and paintings done by the orphans over the years. They were mostly of extinct animals and images of Earth-Bound cities and forests. Things that were once real but now were the stuff of children's fantasies. Mara spotted one that had been done by her when she was 14. it was a Lion, a recent addition to the extinct-list.
Mara and Liz walked up to the entrance to one of the classrooms in the orphanage. One of the tutors, Hillary, was finishing up the day's lesson for preteen kids. "And so, it was after the Rhea-Dredar Accords were agreed to that the Madralen Nebula become the official border between Human and Madralen space."
Hillary pushed the button on her remote to trigger the screen on the wall in front of all the desks to update it's an image. A simulated display of the large Madralen Nebula zoomed out to allow a red-line spread out from forming a wall between the areas of Space labeled as 'Human' and 'Madralen'. Hillary then continued. "No human vessel may cross the red line. Same for the Madralens."
"What about the nebula?" One of the kids asked.
"The Nebula." Hillary answered. "It is a neutral zone. Neither side can build anything within but they can send scout ships to ensure that the terms of the accords are followed."
"I heard no one has ever seen a Madralen." Another Kid chimed in. "How did we sign the accords?"
"That's true. There was no middle ground for us to meet on and neither side would agree to meet each on the other's ships. And that was after the days it took for us to translate each other languages so that we could negotiate the accords to begin with."
"But why would the Madralens even agree to the accords if they are so strong?" One of the boys asked. "And why didn't the Union want to fight back after what they did to Rhea? How many planets do they actually have?"
Hillary shrugged. "We don't know. And they don't know how many planets we have?"
"But we don't have any planets."
"They don't know that. And does anyone here know why?"
"Mutual-Assured-Uncertainty'. Several of the kids answered in unison.
"Very good, Mutual-Assured-Uncertainty. The distance between Human and Madralen space massive and it takes so long for light to travel between the stars. Even with the most powerful telescopes, any pictures of Madralen space would be hundreds or thousands of years old. Because of this, the Madralens simply don't know how many of us there are or that we don't have any planets."
"So, we're bluffing them." The boy asked.
"Yes." Hillary answered. "That is why the Union has taken such measures to protect the flow of information."
Mara could practically feel Hillary's frustration at using the word 'protect' instead of 'control'. The Union-Government used the Madralen threat to seize complete control of the flow of data within the United-Sector, control they quickly used to their advantage. But Hillary carried on with the government-approved lesson. "It is the duty of the Union to ensure that the truth about the state of the human race doesn't leak to the Madralens. A job that we all must trust in their ability to do so."
From the back of the classroom, Liz held up her arm and motioned to her watch to signal to Hillary it was time to wrap the lesson. Hillary, having just then noticed Mara standing there with Liz, nodded and said to the kids. "Alright everyone, that's the end of today's class. Remember, next Monday, After Rhea Day, we're going to be visiting the Memorial at Wakefield Central Park."
The kids all stood up from their desks and immediately took notice of Mara. The bulk of them cheered with excitement. Mara was the favorite tutor of many of the kids in the orphanage, though she wasn't technically one of the tutors. They all rushed over each other to try to give Mara a welcoming hug but Liz quickly put an end to that. "Alright, everyone. She just got here, so go put your school stuff away and you can see her in the cafeteria."
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