So here I am, lying asleep in a spaceship.

The very thought is too fantastic to be true.

The destination of my journey is completely unknown to me, as is what I will experience when I get there.

After everything that has happened in the past few days, and all that I have learned, I would really like to keep sleeping for a long time.

If the unknown has its way, I will likely never see my home planet again.

The man I thought was my father isn’t even of my race, which seems to be nearly extinct.

My mother was supposedly once a slave, murderer, and schemer.

And all of that wrapped up in a package for my birthday, to be handed to me a few days later.

I need to cope with this first!

Then there are these two strange people: Torsos, who apparently rules over several planets, and the wild Kaia.

It couldn’t get worse!

Or could it?

 ⭑*•̩̩͙⊱••••✩••••̩̩͙⊰•*⭑

"Wake up, sweetie!" a chirpingly bright woman’s voice breaks through the darkness of my dreamless sleep.

Like the gentle touch of a mother or friend.

Which we are not!

At first, I can't place her voice, but with this realization, everything comes crashing down on me.

The entire previous night, in all its details.

The last thing I remember is an unknown man who took me somewhere and then gave me a sedative.

No woman!

She was supposed to take my mother to another place. Why is she here with me now?

"Hey! You’ve slept long enough!" She gets rougher, shakes me, then suddenly stops.

"Great!" she exclaims, as she falls backward into a crouch. A dull sound echoes as her butt hits the ground.

As if the surface I'm lying on is made of metal.

Where am I?

"What does he think? How does he imagine this? You won’t survive down there for a month!"

She has an encouraging opinion of me as a person!

I mentally replay the last few days. Now I also remember who this woman is.

She introduced herself in the transmission as Kaia.

This realization leads me to the next question.

What does she mean by ‘down there’?

I’ll only get the answer if I open my eyes!

So I just do it.

I vaguely perceive a dark room around me, dimly lit by the glow of a soft light shining down on us.

"Awake?" Kaia asks me.

Two fascinating eyes with fiery red irises curiously watch me.

I can't tear myself away from that impressive color. It lures me to study the woman further and dive in.

Suddenly, Kaia bursts into laughter.

"You’re probably not used to sitting across from a different species, are you?"

My cheeks turn the same color as her glowing irises. I realize now that I’ve been staring at her the whole time.

"Not really," I answer with a sigh, immediately putting on an apologetic expression.

"If you want to learn more about the planet your race comes from, you should ask the sweetest guy here," Kaia advises me.

My eyebrows rise in acknowledgment that I don’t follow.

"You know that cute guy you owe your presence here to."

She winks at me as if that says it all.

I shake my head.

"Sorry, but I didn’t catch everything last night."

Or was it the night before? How long have I been asleep?

"Oh!" she says. "I thought he introduced himself to you. Wouldn’t that be the least he could do?"

She pauses briefly, seemingly waiting for my reaction.

"Well. Trust me, he stands out!"

She winks at me again.

This time as a promise to me.

And I must admit that I’m curious about this stranger with his impressive dark eyes.

What he said to my parents was terrible! He wanted to torment them, and that hurt me too.

Given what Mom said, I can partially understand his reaction.

On the other hand, he had a pleasant aura around me, which makes me curious about him.

The woman extends her hand to me.

"My name is Kaia!" she introduces herself to me.

I accept the offered greeting with a handshake.

"Janine."

She seems nice. Just a bit over the top.

I like her!

Kaia withdraws her hand and runs it through her short, red hair.

She is older than I am, yet she still looks very young. Too young to have consciously met Mom!

Then there was a man who claimed to have once been with her and also didn’t seem very old.

My parents talked about cryosleep.

There’s such a mess in my head. Can Kaia help me with it?

I look at the petite woman sitting across from me at the moment.

Standing up, Kaia would surely be about a head shorter than me, if not more. Her figure is accentuated by a tight black jumpsuit with red stripes on the shoulders.

It’s similar to the one the men wore who kidnapped Nora and Andy.

My mother called them monsters in her story.

A creature that can read a person’s thoughts. Even that their kind can kill with this ability.

Is that true? Does she have such power over others?

But then again, there are aliens! I didn’t believe in them before all this either.

I decide to wait and see what awaits me here and to observe.

Kaia suddenly bursts into laughter, and I don’t know the reason why.

Is there something about me? Or ... is she using her gift right now?

"It looks like ... I’ll have to explain it to you," she says, interrupted by her fit of laughter.

"Maybe I can take away your fear with that!"

She wipes away a tear that formed while she laughed.

Her hands reach up toward the ceiling, then she lets herself fall backward.

"Your mother is right about what she says about me and my kind," she replies to me.

Instinctively, I flinch at the thought that she might be reading my thoughts. Right now. In this moment.

Damn! That’s embarrassing! What if she heard what I think about her? That I find her interesting but also ... la la la la ...

Exactly! Just don’t think anything! Na ... na ... na ...

Instead of saying anything, she leans to the side and smiles at me.

"I don’t need to read your thoughts, but I think I know what you’re thinking."

She winks at me before looking back up at the ceiling.

"Torsos and Gasard keep telling me not to do that. But it’s too tempting to know what’s going on inside someone else."

I can understand that! So I nod.

If I had such power, I wouldn’t be able to resist it either!

The strange feeling that the other person can know your thoughts can’t be shaken off.

"First of all! As long as you don’t look me in the eyes, I can’t do it."

There’s a heaviness in her voice that I can’t understand.

"My race is powerful! Depending on how high we stand in the hierarchy of our people, it’s stronger or weaker.

Born as the daughter of servants to my former king, I’m under strong restrictions in using it.

I need to make eye contact with the other person to read them or influence them.

And as for killing someone... I can create a reality where a knife is stuck in their chest. If the shock doesn’t kill them, then their body, unable to withstand the attack, will shut down as it would with a real injury."

A hard swallow crosses my lips. My eyes widen in horror.

A tempting yet terrifying gift.

On Kaia's lips, that smile still lingers, the one that envelops me in such warmth that I trust her words willingly.

"Don't worry! I only do something like that when I have to defend myself. Or when someone deserves it!"

As my calm returns, so does my curiosity about the delicate woman who hides her strength behind a single glance.

"In the royal family of my people, the ability is most pronounced!" she continues her explanation. "There are legends told that the great warriors of our people have wiped out entire armies in battles as a single person. Exaggerated nonsense!" Her voice shifts from calm to cold arrogance. She nearly raises her voice to a shout. "Cowards! That's what they are! These stories are just foolish drivel from the frightened creatures of the universe, meant to fuel their fear of us!"

With a swift movement, she sits up again.

"That's how they justify their decisions regarding how to deal with our kind. When our former ruler Makkos decided on their extermination, I was still too young to be aware of my own power. I don't know if some managed to escape, and thus if there are others of our kind out there. And the only one who could tell me how strong our race could become doesn't care about his power at all."

An explanation that sounds so fantastic to my ears that I can hardly believe it.

Does this delicate redhead really possess such powers, or is she just putting on a show for me?

As much as I'd like proof of it, it doesn't have to be at my expense.

The rest of it sounds sad.

I can't understand how the fact that the second person of her kind leaves these abilities unused upsets Kaia more than the destruction of her species.

As for me, I'd be incredibly furious if something happened to Mum and everyone I know!

Thinking about it almost dispels my fear of her, but it also awakens a desire to learn more about her.

My first impression isn't bad at all.

A nice and interesting woman.

"As for my age," she continues, "I'm 20!"

Kaia pauses again, then starts laughing as if that's already the punchline of the joke, which completely escapes me.

"The few centuries before that don't matter to anyone anyway!"

Centuries?

I look at her with a silent question: where does she hide those? How is that even possible?

She starts laughing again, enjoying how she's thrown me off balance with this.

"As long as you're here, you'll be amazed more often!" I believe her promise instantly.

Kaia spreads her arms as if she wants to embrace everything around us.

"This is one of our spaceships! More precisely, the Politaris. The best spaceship in our fleet! This ship belongs to the great, handsome, black-haired guy, to whom you owe your presence here. Our great ruler!"

All I can make out in this metal thing is a dark room, but her words must be true.

Why would she lie to me?

"You won't get to see our spaceships from the inside too often while you're here."

I rub my neck with my hand.

A slight pain lingers where Mum gave me her supposed sleeping aid.

From there, my fingers travel to the two puncture marks on my right arm. One is from the drug Torsos used to lift the paralysis, and the other is from the real sleeping aid he administered.

A few more, and they can start calling me a pincushion!

I continue down to my wrist, where I pause at a touch.

Hidden beneath the fabric of my long-sleeved shirt, I feel the hard contours of a metal bracelet.

I hadn't put on any jewelry the night we fled.

Who would I wear it for?

Our potential pursuers?

I push the sleeve up a bit until a golden bracelet adorned with colorful stones comes into view.

It's decorated, but I wrinkle my nose at it.

Not my taste!

Without any warning or acknowledging me, Kaia grabs my arm and yanks it towards her to get a closer look at the bracelet.

My arm stiffens at the sudden movement. Her pull feels as if she's trying to tear it off.

I scream out.

Startled, Kaia immediately lets go of me.

"Sorry," she exclaims, looking so remorseful that I forgive her instantly.

At the same time, it sparks my curiosity about her interest in it.

"You won't survive down there for a week!"

Her voice sounds sad, raising more questions within me than it answers.

What does she mean by that? And most importantly, what place is she referring to?

"What is that guy thinking?" Kaia shouts more to herself than to me. "If anyone notices that bracelet, you're dead!" She emphasizes the last three words as if the threat wasn't already terrifying enough.

I swallow my fear.

She can't mean it as seriously as it sounds.

Hopefully!

"Torsos must have had some reason for it." Kaia looks down at the floor, troubled. "And I had hoped you'd be on the station longer than just a few days. We could have become friends. It's nice here, surrounded by all these well-built guys, but it's also terribly lonely. The few women here don't like me!"

As for me, I find Kaia nice at first glance. I don't know what anyone could have against her.

Character-wise, she seems like a good mix of a woman who likes to keep a secret and one with a pleasant aura.

I point to the bracelet.

"What does this thing mean?"

"Okay!" the redhead exclaims. "This space station is considered our main base. There are a few other stations within Torsos' territory, but this one is the largest of them all. Most of the people here are crew members and our recruits. Then there are those who aren't here by choice: rebels, exposed spies, or common criminals. Their area, the prison, is called the Death Zone."

Death Zone.

On the night of our failed escape, Torsos mentioned this place. Right before he drugged me.

It doesn’t sound very inviting. More like it makes me want to scream out loud.

Who would want to visit a prison voluntarily?

"We do have prisons on planets, but this is quite practical! This way, we can keep some on the station if we ever need to use them again. Interrogations for gathering information about the enemy or their mission."

Her explanation doesn’t exactly make the thought of being there any more appealing.

Maybe even for the rest of my life, which she considers very short. Nevertheless, I continue listening to her words as she sits up.

"We constantly monitor the prisoners. Well, there's also a bit of exploitation involved." She winks at me. "Most of them are cheap labor. They usually repair and maintain the spaceships and other machines. Anything we can trust them with. The name Death Zone was coined by the prisoners or the guards at some point because of the harsh environment down there. When two prisoners get into a fight, the guards rarely intervene. Their job is more to ensure that things generally follow the rules and that the prisoners don’t band together against their wardens and attack them."

She raises her finger.

"Above all rules, the most important is: no tampering with the spaceships! If anyone gets the idea to manipulate them, everyone gets punished. Depending on the severity of the damage, the punishment ranges from food deprivation to death. Though that’s rarely carried out."

I swallow at her words, as she doesn’t imply that the punishment is just a threat.

"Most of the prisoners are small fry! They wouldn’t dare to cause trouble. If any of them get too pushy with you, go to the guards. They don’t carry anything. Then there are prisoners who wear a smooth, gold-colored bracelet. It has a chip in it to mark them and monitor their movements. It’s still unclear what will happen to them. They might be moved to another place later."

She pauses briefly to give her words more weight.

"Finally, there’s a small group of prisoners who wear a black collar around their necks. Please be very, very careful with them!" Kaia raises her finger. "They pose an acute threat to the guards. The collars aren’t just for decoration! They can deliver electric shocks to discipline the prisoners. That also happens if the prisoners try to remove the collars on their own."

I swallow audibly.