Dead-liner

By Mori Grant

Humanity's last hope rests with Lune, but aboard the starship, danger lurks in the shadows, and time is running out.

In a bleak future where Earth is dying, a starship becomes the last refuge for humanity.

The starship's mission is clear: deliver the last descendants of Earth's refugees to the

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rachel Parkhurst
• Release date: Jan 20, 2023
• ISBN: 9798987673317

Mori Grant

Mori Grant is a pen name based on the Latin phrase, "Memento Mori." Mori lives in a small town in California and has been writing novels since she was a young girl. She works in cybersecurity and lives with her 16-year-old dog.

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Mori Grant

Dead-liner

First published by Mori Grant 2023

Copyright © 2023 by Mori Grant

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

First edition

This book was professionally typeset on Reedsy

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Dedicated to my sister, who is everything I aspire to be

To my mother, who taught me that generosity is not a currency. To my father, whose wisdom could write a book much longer than this one. To my older brother, who inspires me. To my little brother, who always brings a smile to my face.

And to my sixteen-year-old dog, who inspired Scruff Bag.

It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.

Jiddu Krishnamurti

This page contains Content Warnings for the novel.

If you do not wish to read through the warnings, please skip ahead to the next page.

Content Warnings

Pandemic/virus/hospitals

PTSD

Death - maternal

Cesarean birth/pregnancy

Violence - gore/blood

Lucia - View From Above

Lucia - View From the Front

Nomenclature

Journey Archive: newsletters automatically sent out during Lucia’s journey

GenExpand Magazine: Lucia’s founding company’s magazine, released on Earth before Lucia’s departure

A.D. After Departure - after Lucia left Earth

B.A. Before Arrival - before Lucia arrives on Vencus

** please note: articles and advertisements featured are not in chronological order

Prologue

Lucia departed from Earth in the year 2097. The generation starship, bound for a human inhabited planet 701 years away, is 689 years into its journey. Lucia, which once housed over eight million inhabitants, now dwindles at 151,892. There is a heavy presence on the right-side of the ship which holds 151,789 of the surviving crew members. The right-side of the ship succeeded thus far in maintaining a sizable population simply because it never faced the devastating plagues which demolished the left-side. However, if one were to ask the right-siders how they manage to survive they might say it’s because of the ‘ordained bloodline’ that continues to lead them into ‘the hand of Aether.’

The two sides of the ship are separated by a steel wall and prohibited from meeting until they arrive on the new planet. This was Adonia’s idea, the creator of Lucia, who believed in the case of a complete catastrophe on one side or the other, the mission must continue. Therefore, the wall serves as a fail-safe which allows two separate populations to live on the same ship. Since departure, generations have continued naturally, finding mates according to the Compatibility Test, and will do so until the ship arrives at ‘Vencus,’ the habitable planet which is its destination.

The ‘mission members,’ or inhabitants, of Lucia have a common mission, despite being separated by the ‘Steel Dam.’ The professor, a member of the left-side of the ship, nicknamed the wall thus because after 689 years in space, each side culminated its own culture, customs, and religious beliefs. According to the professor, the Steel Dam holds back a flood of concepts quite outside of our imagination, conceived reality, and fabricated beliefs that the withered left side is not prepared to handle.

Both sides share the mission to preserve Earth’s culture for the duration of the journey. Each mission member undergoes schooling, tasks, and ‘experiences’ in order to learn and pass life on Earth down to the arrival generation. Adonia stated the goal was to share human culture from Earth with the humans on the new planet. She envisioned that the ‘aliens’ on the new planet would be quite curious as to how humanity lived on Earth and, equally as important, it was a grave possibility that the Earth race Lucia left behind was no longer inhabiting their mother planet. With Earth’s population past the carrying capacity, Adonia found no hope in her home planet but instead looked to space to turn the dying sigh of humanity into living breath.

___________________________________________________

Lucia is shaped like a teardrop. She’s 92 miles long and 30 miles wide. Her interior is similar to a pen. The outside of the pen touches space. The plastic casing contains the food, water, air supply, and the robots that grow the food. It’s called the ‘Outer Shell,’ and is off limits for humans in order to avoid contamination of the food and water supply. The ink is where society lives. If one cuts the pen in half the long way, that is where the Steel Dam is located. To create a sky, the Steel Dam runs between the right and left sides and is covered in pixels that simulate the atmosphere of Earth.

The blueprint of the two sides of the ship are identical. However, it is forbidden for these sides to communicate, interact intelligently, or converge their societies. This was put into place in order to maintain Adonia’s fail-safe plan to populate the new planet. Each side has three living sectors, counting upwards from one (which is located toward the tip of the teardrop) to three (located at the roundest, largest part of the ship).

The first section is referred to as Sector 1, and it is the closest to the pointed end of the teardrop. If one moves from Sector 1 further toward the tip of the teardrop, they will reach the Departure Room (where members go to die), and after the Departure Room is the ‘Forbidden Sector.’ Rumor has it that the Forbidden Sector contains disease archives and research centers that the ship uses to create vaccines and medicine for the ongoing population. This section of the ship is said to be extremely dangerous and is off limits to all passengers.

Sector 2 is the thinnest and longest stretch of housing as it is accompanied by the wide and identically long ‘Memory Forest.’ The forest has been present for every generation aboard the ship and was established before Lucia departed.

Sector 3 is located at the head of the teardrop. It is the only part of the ship that touches the ‘Filtered Contact Barrier.’ This barrier is a section of the Steel Damn where passengers from the left-side can interact with passengers on the right-side. It was made for children to play with children from the other side. It’s three miles long and contains steel pegs that can be pushed in by one side and stick out of the wall on the other. This way, children can pass the peg back and forth to each other across the barrier.

It also contains shapes (approximately four feet tall, differing widths) that consist of the strongest, stretchable rubber that exists. One can put their hand against it and feel the pressure of someone from the other side. Children used to love running into these shapes and trying to rip them open, but they are secure and impossible to tear.

‘The Filter,’ as it’s called in short, has been inactive from the right-side for three hundred years. The left-siders have their own theories about why the right-side went silent, but none are so convincing to be accepted by all. Most assume that the right-side simply moved out of Sector 3, and therefore no longer live next to The Filter. There are other theories, darker ones, that suggest aliens took over the right-side of the ship and the high population count is a result of the alien population, not humans. Others believe that the right-siders are pretentious and high-nosed, and don’t want to ‘interact’ with the lowly hundred on the left-side. Whatever the case, it’s a mystery that has lasted for three hundred years, but not one that will last forever.

Blood Underground

There were three forms of transportation on the ship. There were self-driving double-decker buses, personal cars that relied on an underground track system, and one metro line that ran from the front of the ship to the Departure Room.

The metro was dark on the inside except when it was arriving and departing. This was because the tunnel through which it ran was outfitted with light displays. The lights showed features of Earth’s solar system such as shooting stars, the sun, the planets, and other related visual lessons for those aboard.

There was a pocket of the tunnel that was Lune’s favorite place, aside from her workshop and Memory Forest. Leading up to it was the longest gap between holographs on the metro, reaching thirty seconds of pure darkness. Lifting the subway out of the clutches of night was a rainbow light display. The rainbow stretched over the top of the transparent subway cars and was a stunning sight.

The rainbow had seen its share of wear and tear over the years. Humans weren’t allowed to go outside of the cars, so there was no chance of them fixing it. Jovian, the leader of the left-side, reported it to the fixer bots but apparently they also didn’t know how to make the repair.

The deformity in the tunnel didn’t bother Lune. The malfunction prevented all of the colors from shining together in a familiar rainbow succession, and instead put extra energy into the red line. It alone was so bright that it soaked the entire tunnel in vibrant blood.

Lune could sit in that oscillating subway for hours, going from one end of the ship to the other, waiting to be soaked and immersed in her favorite color. It was so rarely used that she could go back and forth a hundred times and never encounter another mission member, and that was where she found herself on a chilly, September night.

She was pondering tomorrow’s Great Centenary Move, as she often used the metro as a think tank, when suddenly the double-doors slid open and a fluorescent light made her cover her eyes. Cold air leaked into the car and turned the tips of her fingers pink. Forming a silhouette against the glare, a person approached from the boarding platform. Lune squinted through the gaps in her fingers and saw them stumble through the doorway and into the car. They were stooped over at an intense angle and had a thick cardigan stretched across their shoulders.

The heavy doors locked behind the pair and the metro climbed back up to its careening speed. As the hunched figure stood before her, Lune tried to recount what stop they boarded at. If she remembered right, it was near the edge of Sector 1, right near Sector 2 and Memory Forest.

Their hands twisted around the pole in front of them and they suddenly let out a painful cry. They doubled over even more, if it were possible, and desperately clutched their arms around their frontside.

They cried out again and latched onto the overhead handle with their right hand. They forced themself to stand up and a long, red braid fell down across their back. There was only one mission member with that color of hair.

Zosia?

Zosia’s dark green eyes searched the subway with a glossy stare. She found Lune behind her. Her eyebrows were arched with pain and her forehead was the color of her burning hair.

I w-was going for a walk… I don’t know where Mateos is.

Lune sprang from her seat and jumped to her side. She saw her hand clamped across her rotund abdomen.

Is it the-

The baby is- Zosia clenched her jaw. I-I think it’s coming.

There was blood running down Zosia’s legs onto the metal floor.

I’ve gotta make it to the-the hospital.

Lune’s eyes widened and her hands shot to her forehead.

I’ve gotta get there, Zosia whimpered, clinging onto the pole. It’s not safe out here.

Against her forehead, Lune’s hands turned to clenched fists and her fingernails dug into her palms.

Please, Zosia begged. Help me.

The blood drained from Lune’s face and she grew as pale as a ghost. She teetered back and forth and searched the walls for the time until the next stop, something she’d never looked for before. She found the red timer at the end of the car. 13 seconds.

She wiped her sweaty palms down her pants and took a shallow breath. We need to get off at the next stop. Here, put your arm around my neck.

It hurts, Zosia breathed. She wrapped a sweaty arm around the back of Lune’s neck. And I think I’m bleeding.

The doors rushed open and the air of Sector 1 flew past them. It smelled of coffee and baked bread, but the aroma was neither energizing nor cozy. Lune took the brunt of Zosia’s weight when she released the handle and stuck her free hand forward so the door wouldn’t close.

The hospital’s at the edge of the intersection, Lune promised.

Y-yeah, okay, Zosia managed. She clung to Lune’s neck and stumbled with her through the doorway. Drops of fresh blood followed after her.

Lune led them to the escalator. It went into motion and lifted them up toward the street. They could be at the hospital in less than a minute. She clutched Zosia as tightly as she was clutching her. Zosia’s labored breathing was in her ear. It was getting harder for her to breathe through the pain.

Come on, hurry up, Lune begged the machine.

The escalator reached the top and they stumbled onto the pavement.

Will you call Mateos? Zosia huffed.

Once we get inside.

Lune held her waist and lifted her as much as she could. Zosia’s legs were growing weaker and her right one could no longer hold her. She collapsed onto Lune’s back. Lune buckled under her full weight and struggled not to drop her.

Her arms screamed at her, but she managed to keep Zosia off of the ground. She moved behind her and locked her hands across her chest. She dragged her backwards through the intersection while Zosia’s legs scraped the metal floor behind them. The hospital’s fluorescent lobby lights were thirty feet away.

We’re almost there, Lune managed through clenched teeth.

Zosia looked after the blood trail. A dismal feeling lingered near her heart. She looked up at the artificial moon and sucked in her tears. She didn’t feel strong, but she had to be. She didn’t feel ready, but she had to be. It didn’t feel like something she was born to do, but it had to be.

The doors parted and she watched the lights come on overhead. She watched the lobby fade as they rounded a corner into a room. Lune was speaking to her but she heard nothing. The world turned into a dream: blurry and unreal. It wasn’t like the dreams she had leading up to that day. There wasn’t a red-haired baby in her arms, laughing at the sound of her voice, gazing at her with wide green eyes and a beautiful smile. Mateos wasn’t next to her, her head against his chest, chuckling along with the baby. It wasn’t that familiar dream, it was a nightmare.

Lune hoisted her onto a metal framed bed. The mattress was white as snow and had a thin blanket on top. Overhead, attached to the ceiling was the sole remaining doctor on the left-side: Lucia. The ominous claw glowered down at Zosia.

Wh-where’s my baby? Zosia cried, grabbing Lune’s hand. She’s gonna take my baby!

Lune caught the glare of the diabolical claw. It waited as still as a statue, like a lion stalking its prey.

Zosia clutched her abdomen desperately. I can’t stay here! The nape of her neck was drenched with sweat and her hand was shivering in Lune’s.

Lune clutched her and glanced at the door.

Don’t let her take my baby, Zosia mumbled, her trembling lips growing pale. She smelled rust. It was the bitter odor of her own blood.

Lune gripped her hand tighter. Zosia, stay with me.

Zosia’s eyes dropped to Lune. Her expression hardened as her cheeks and forehead whitened.

Zosia! Lune urged again. It’s gonna come out, you just… you’ve gotta push or something!

Zosia’s frightened eyes turned gloomy. Her lips parted as she wanted to say something, but she didn’t have the strength to add sound to her voice.

Lune rubbed her hand aggressively. Zosia?

Zosia’s right arm released its grip from her stomach. It slid across her belly and landed on her other side.

Lune took Zosia’s shoulder in her hands and shook her violently. Zosia!

A lifeless stare dominated the green eyes. The red blush faded from the cheeks, and the entire body tousled under Lune’s shakes. Lune felt for a pulse but there was nothing. She tried her wrists, her neck, then listened to her chest. Her body was absent of sound. She was gone.

No! Lune gasped, shaking her again. No.

The claw came alive. Dubiously, it lowered dangerously close to Lune’s back. Lune squeezed out from under it and pointed an impassioned finger at its eye.

Why didn’t you do something? she seethed.

The claw struck her in the chest, throwing her back against the wall.

Lune’s wide-eyes stared up at the claw, her chest throbbed from the pain.

A scalpel extended from the belly of the claw.

Lune wouldn’t have dared to watch if she wasn’t frozen in fear.

The scalpel plunged into Zosia’s abdomen and cut a smooth line. Blood leaked out and joined the puddle between her thighs.

The knife receded and a plunger and blanket emerged. The plunger entered the wound and puckered the baby. It dragged the baby from her womb and swaddled it in a blanket.

Lune’s hands fell to the nape of her neck. Her teeth chattered violently.

The swaddled baby was placed into a crib at the side of the bed. The crib, motorized on its own, moved the baby out of the room.

Wait. She reached absently after the child that disappeared.

The iron hand came at her and she shrieked. It gripped her around the arm and dragged her to her feet. She was too scared to scream again. Her vocal chords were frozen, she was at the mercy of the metal beast. It threw her out the doorway after the baby. The door closed behind her and a terrible sucking sound arose.

Lune lay against the wall of the hallway too stunned to move. She heard a sucking noise like a vacuum moving a cotton ball down its tube. As suddenly as the sound came, it vanished. The door opened to reveal a fresh, clean, empty bed.

Her hands flew to her mouth and she screamed. She screamed so loud that the apartments in Sector 1 could hear. She screamed so loud that her mother, who floated thousands of miles away in a departure capsule, could hear. She screamed so loud that her energy left her and she passed out on the frozen ground.

Motherless

Lune sat in the hospital lobby with the child clutched in her arms. The tiny thing was fidgeting. She held onto it like she was holding onto life itself and didn’t dare let go. She sat in the chair closest to the door, fearing the metal arm that lingered in the room forty feet away.

A polished, black car pulled up outside. Out jumped Mateos. His eyes were wide and his hair was tucked under a baseball cap. He wore dark pajamas and sneakers without socks. He raced to the lobby and whipped the door open.

Sliding to a stop when he spotted Lune, his long hair rushed past him and smacked against his forehead.

How is she?

Lune’s eyes were raw and red.

Where is she? he demanded. Where’s Zo-

Don’t! Lune urged, fear brimming her eyelids. Don’t say her name.

She shuddered and clutched the infant tighter against her chest.

His eyebrows furrowed. Wh… he started but his voice trailed off. He leaned forward and supported himself on his knees. He shook his head again and again. He shook it so much it might’ve fallen off.

Where? he said at last. Where is she?

He breathed heavily five feet in front of her. His breaths were labored as Zosia’s had been.

He staggered past Lune and the child. He searched the hallway and open doors. Honey! he bellowed as he paced up and down. Hon?

A rush of wind blew through her hair and stung her raw, dry eyes.

Lune?

She was relieved at the familiar voice. She raised her head and found Solace just inside the entrance.

He rushed to her side. What the hell happened? He gently relieved her of the baby and cradled it in his arms. She buckled forward and hugged her legs.

What the fuck happened? Are you okay? I got a call that you were… That’s not your blood is it?

Mateos came back from searching the hallways. She’s gone! he called to Solace. I can’t find her!

We’ll find her.

Lune swallowed. She’s departed, she mouthed to Solace.

Solace looked over at Mateos’ tapping fingers and panicked stare.

I don’t know where the fuck she is, man, Mateos said. "She just went for a walk and I got this alert on my Lucialogue that she was here and I- the pitch of his voice heightened. I came as fast as I could."

What’s going on? Jovian’s voice arose from the lobby doors. I got a birth alert, but- oh… He saw the baby in Solace’s hands and Mateos standing near the front counter. Zo-

Don’t, Solace warned. You can’t.

Mateos closed the distance between them and clasped onto Jovian’s jacket. I don’t know where she is! I can’t find her!

Jovian glanced at the pair on the chairs. He looked back at Mateos. I’ll help you look. I’ll be there in a second.

Yeah! Mateos agreed, releasing the leader from his iron grip. "It’s just Lucia said she was in Room 1 but she’s not there and I keep looking and looking but I don’t see her and… I’ll look again. I’ll check again. He hurried around the corner, his fingers tapping his sides and the sweat trickling down his arms. She wasn’t due and last time-" his voice disappeared around the corner.

Jovian waited until he was gone before approaching the pair. His fists clenched the air and fury showed itself on his face. "What the hell are you thinking? he growled, foaming at the mouth. Give it to me! He ripped the precious little thing from Solace’s arms. He sucked it in close as if he was sheltering it from a monster. Are you fucking mad?"

Solace wasn’t rattled and he wasn’t hurt. Twenty years of being treated like the terminally ill, his feelings died long ago from the ailment they attested to his body.

She’s dead. Lune broke in, sitting up and glowering at Jovian. "Lucia made sure of that."

Jovian’s head whipped back. "You should know better than to talk about Lucia like-"

The group heard a cry from the hallway which drew Jovian’s attention. He leaned and tried to peek at Mateos. He looked back at the pair. I mean it. You’re in trouble if this baby dies, Sol. He gave them a warning stare before disappearing around the corner.

Solace leaned forward and looked down at his hands.

Lune stared after Jovian and the tiny thing. She crossed her arms against her chest and looked down at her black sneakers on the floor. The knee that crossed over the other was trembling.

Solace, by her side, soaked in the aftermath of what Jovian said. He twiddled his fingers together and retreated into deep thought.

Lune’s fixation on her trembling knee helped her concentrate on the present. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She couldn’t hear what was going on in the room but she vowed to never step foot in it again.

It’s not like how they said it was, she muttered.

He noticed her knee. What do you mean? He saw her put her hand on it to keep it steady.

"Lucia waited for her to die, then it had this… scalpel hidden inside it and it used it to cut her open and take the baby out. It didn’t even try to help her."

His nostrils flared. Don’t tell Mateos that.

"I thought Lucia had some like built-in protocol for birth."

She wasn’t due for another month… Something was wrong.

Maybe. I mean maybe she could’ve had it on the subway or something and she’d still be here.

On the subway?

I found her there, I brought her here.

It’s not your fault.

What if I should’ve done something else?

You know how deadly it is. Being in a subway or being in a hospital with ten doctors doesn’t make a difference anymore.

Lune pressed down on her knee with a tight fist. She was so scared.

He put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her against him.

She stayed, pulled tight against his chest, and listened to his racing heart. She could feel her own heartbeat raging like a bull in a cage trying to break free. As strong as it was, she was exhausted. She was drained of her tears, of her fight, of her strength. Her senses failed her and she drifted away. Puffy black dots formed at the sides of her vision and she fell asleep.

Journey Archive: January 1st, 3 A.D.

Happy New Year, Mission Members!

**This is an automated newsletter, written by Macy Herron before departure**

You’ve been aboard this luxurious starship for three whole years, congratulations! As a new year rolls around, don’t forget to join the Future Family Initiative program. To enter the program, you will need to take the Compatibility Test and find a lifelong partner. This Compatibility Test will match you based on personality so that you’re paired with your soulmate!

The Future Family Initiative is the most important program aboard the ship. It’s the best way for your familial lineage to make it all the way from Earth to the new planet. Make your family line proud and contribute to the future in a way that matters!

The Future Family Initiative program has several awards given throughout the year to participating families. The rewards will be given based on the following:

Number of children

Number of sets (twins, triplets, quads)

Frequency of birthing

Contribute to the mission and earn while you’re at it! See how many rewards and achievements you can earn and set forth a family tradition!

** Unexpected death due to childbirth or maternal mortality will result in zero rewards given.

The Great Centenary Move

The sun peeked through the skyscrapers and tickled the streets of the Whitmith Suburbs. The residents, who should have been asleep in their beds, were on their third cup of coffee, buzzed and wired for The Great Centenary Move. They were nervous yet giddy for the big day and were completely unaware of the horror that transgressed the night before.

There were stacks of crates on their front lawns, rotund and bulging with clothes, stuffed animals, baby toys, coffee makers, and more. Soon, the moving trolleys would arrive to escort the boxes to their new home.

The living residents aboard Lucia had never moved houses before, so their attempts at planning were morosely frivolous. Therefore they found themselves, on the day of the big move, fluttering about like chickens with their heads cut off, heaving boxes onto the front yard for the moving trolleys to scoop up just in time.

Despite the frantic shouts and thumping boxes, Lune lay asleep on a wooden and cream chesterfield couch inside a simple, one-story house. The horror of last night left her exhausted and the murmur of Solace’s car rocked her back to sleep when she woke. The dawning sun warmed her nose and a tangle of hair shaded her eyes, allowing the illusion of nighttime to creep into morning.

As she slept, she dreamed about a young man with a pale gray eye patch. He lay in the middle of a lively meadow. One hand rested beneath his head, giving him a pillow of sorts. The other sat on his chest and held a soft bundle of feathers. The small animal was navy blue with a black and white stripe running from its head to its tail. He stroked it endearingly like it was his pet. There was golden sunlight on his face, neck, and ears. He’d been there so long that the sun turned his features pink, but still he held the magpie.

There was a sound coming from the woods behind him. It was the ear-piercing cry of a newborn. The young man rose from his resting place and held the chirping animal in his hands. He left the safety of the meadow and went after the sound. The forest bent in front of him, the trees cracking and the undergrowth scampering out of sight. The forest opened itself to reveal a bloody, crying infant on a wooden stump. By its side was a young woman with her back facing her child. Her skin was pale and her hair was burning red. Her pale shoulders shook violently and bumps formed across her back and down her spine. The bumps grew horrendously and distorted her spine and shoulder blades. The bumps grew longer and thin, protruding from her and stretching her skin in unnatural directions. They pushed and pushed until her skin ripped open and a metal claw sprang out of her.

A deep rumble pulled her from the nightmare. The image of the claw in the woods lifted and was replaced by a crisp, white living room.

Solace.

She found herself sitting, sweating, and panting. She wiped the sweat off of her face and the front of her neck.

Sol? she called out, unable to use his full name. She was surprised at how raspy and thin her voice was.

She cleared her throat.

Sol? she called louder.

In here!

She peered over the back of the couch and found him in the kitchen.

Are you okay? she asked dumbly, still lifting from the hellish dream.

Yeah! he called back naturally. I’m almost done. He thought for a second, then turned to look at her. Are you okay?

She nodded and tied her hair back in a ponytail. He was wearing an evergreen eye patch, not like the one in her dream.

Why are you up so early? she asked, wondering how he dragged himself out of bed after last night’s ordeal.

It’s moving day.

Oh! She almost forgot the most important day of the year. She glanced out the window and saw a few of Solace’s boxes waiting on the front lawn. Do you have any more that need to go out?

Nah, those are the last ones.

Her head shot back. How long was she asleep? Feeling lazy, she pulled herself off of the couch and headed into the kitchen. Sorry.

Why? You helped me pack, that was the hard part.

She leaned against the counter and watched him put a loaf of Cinnamon Honey Breakfast Cake into a metal bread holder. It was the last time he would ever bake in his mother’s kitchen, it was only natural that he baked her most famous recipe.

Want a piece?

I’m not hungry. It did smell delicious, but after last night she had no appetite.

Well if you change your mind it’ll be with us. Not like I can leave it here. He said the last sentence begrudgingly.

What happened last night? She shook away the remnants of the nightmare. With um… Jovian and Mateos I mean.

Not sure… I got us out of there after you fell asleep.

She glanced out the window to find the street still empty. You could’ve woken me up, I would’ve helped you put everything out.

Honestly I did most of it last night. I couldn’t sleep.

I’m sorry. She realized that as tired as she was, he was moreso. Have they come by yet?

Two so far, next one should be coming like- he glanced at the clock on the stove. Now.

Her eyes brightened. So… what do they look like?

He laughed and shrugged. Well, I guess they look like we’re going to war.

She gave him a look.

They do, he teased. You’ll see.

She glanced out the window and was disappointed to find it still empty. She waited for him to fasten the edges of the bread holder while she studied the kitchen one last time. It was barren and gutted. The memories of his parents had been removed from the walls and placed in moving crates. Their pictures, his mother’s rose-embroidered oven mitts, and his father’s counter-top wine rack with the salamander climbing up the side, were all tucked away inside mounds of tape and bubble wrap.

Despite the gutting of the house, there remained one piece of Solace’s parents that was impossible to erase. It was so worn down that if one didn’t know to look for it they would likely pass it over. It was a thin carving in the metal cabinet above the counter. She couldn’t read it anymore, but she read it a thousand times when they were teenagers. Astello and Helenes. Amamus, ergo sumus.

She recited their names silently in her head, the only place they were out of reach from Lucia’s deadly ears.

Astello and Helenes. We love, therefore we are.

Metal Caterpillar

She thought she gathered enough information about Lucia to know what the beast was capable of. She collected her findings in a mental logbook she called ‘The Lucia Manual.’ The real manual was too thick and mundane to read all the way through, so she learned the do’s and don’ts from watching others and observing their punishments and rewards.

The don’ts were easy. ‘Don’t commit a crime.’ ‘Don’t kill anyone.’ ‘Don’t speak a departed member’s name.’ ‘Don’t tamper with the robots.’ The do’s list was longer and consisted of both Lucia’s laws and societal standards. ‘Do get a job.’ That one was easy. ‘Do partake in the community.’ ‘Do join the Future Family Initiative program.’ ‘Do obey Lucia’s policies and procedures.’

Aside from the do’s and don’ts that she observed there were a few that she inferred even if no one had done them before. One of these was ‘do experience anything new.’ Lucia had been in space for 689 years and the experiences aboard the ship were recurring and stale.

The Great Centenary Move occurred once every century meaning it was a new experience for the living every time a century’s turning point rolled around. Luckily, she woke up just in time to witness the coming of the last moving trolley.

She rocked on the street curb outside of Solace’s house and waited. Soon, the trolley would come down the street to take the remainder of Solace’s boxes to his new house. Once a century, these moving trolleys made their appearance. In under an hour, they would disappear back into the Outer Shell of the ship where the robots lived.

A puff of white steam came from her nose as she breathed out. With September came the frozen air and changing leaves, it was her favorite time of the year.

A few feet away, Solace stood on the curb as she was. His eye patch was flipped up so he could see the moving trolley as good as nature would allow.

They both thought about the night before but neither brought it up.

Solace wondered how Mateos was doing. Although Solace didn’t have friends in the community anymore, he knew Mateos was honest, kind, and good-hearted. Out of anyone, he didn’t deserve a tragedy like that to befall him.

Lune thought about Zosia. She ran the events over and over in her mind. What she’d seen was so evil that she wanted to believe it was a hallucination. It wasn’t, and that made her think about the previous five birth-related deaths that year. Did they all end up on the white bed begging Lucia not to take their child?

So how’d you do it? Solace asked.

Her thoughts were still on Zosia. Do what? she asked absently.

"Trick Lucia and get out of moving?"

Oh. Maybe at times, Lune blended the do’s with the don’ts. "You know those resident plates that the bots are scanning? I just switched the plate from my door with one from Sector 1. So Lucia thinks I moved."

He raised his eyebrows. That worked?

So far.

A trundling moving trolley came into view at the end of the street. Its rotund sections gave it the body of a caterpillar. Six sets of wheels dropped below its belly and propelled it forward like legs. It had hooks and wires coming off at all angles, giving it a furry appearance. At the front of the trolley were two round, bulging headlights that were glowing despite the daylight. It rolled to a stop next to the neighbor’s house. With its side pincher, it lifted a few of the neighbor’s boxes onto its back.

Would you look at that, we’re getting evicted by a caterpillar.

Lune marveled at the gargantuan machine. She had never seen a moving thing so big. Behind the headlights protruded two stiff, six-foot antennas. They wiggled up and down when it moved. How could Lucia be so merry, innocent, and childlike after what she did last night?

What do you think the chances are that thing moonlights as a secret weapon?

She scoffed. Wouldn’t surprise me.

Kasei could help us out. You know, like be our own metal weapon of mass destruction… I mean protection.

She gave him a look.

Come on, he teased. "She just looks like she could rip your head off."

Lune laughed because it was painfully true. Kasei, her android, needed some updating. I’m working on it.

She doesn’t need any work, she’s perfect for the robot battle as it is. Here and maybe even on Vencus, who knows.

Do you think they look the same on the right-side? Lune asked curiously. The caterpillars, I mean.

No idea. But I don’t think the aliens would like them too much over there.

Lune imagined the metal caterpillars fighting the aliens on the right-side of the ship. Wounded and defeated, the caterpillars would limp back to their homes, leaving the aliens to resume control. She wondered where the caterpillars would go when it was all over. Was there a cave deep in the shell where they hibernated for a hundred years like a dragon with no treasure to guard? Were there other metallic creatures Lucia was hiding? After what she’d witnessed last night, she was sure Lucia had darker secrets festering inside the shell.

The trolley squeaked to a halt in front of the yard. One by one, it clamped the crates full of Solace’s mementos and loaded them onto its back.

Solace remembered when his parents would joke about The Great Centenary Move. His father, Astello, heard from his grandfather that the trolleys were quite the sight. He joked about ‘taming’ one and parking it in his garage. He brought Helenes to tears of laughter when he acted out breaking the trolley like a wild mustang.

They would’ve loved this, he muttered, watching after the caterpillar as it trundled away with his boxes.

They should’ve been here, she agreed.

He looked back at the house that raised him. "I just can’t believe I have to leave after all these years. You’d think Lucia would’ve canceled this or something after half the population was wiped out."

He looked up at the artificial clouds splattered across the sky. ‘Cotton candy clouds,’ his mother used to call them. ‘Fluffier than the others. Sweeter, too.’ They were stationary, like confections on a sky-blue stand. There wasn’t a breeze to give them flight. The street was absent of their childlike charm. It was abandoned and silent, with a whisper of the trolley moving onto the next street, and an olfactory pinch of the Cinnamon Honey Breakfast Cake packaged in his hands.

In the cotton candy clouds, he saw the warmth and love of his mother, who he lost too long ago. Without her here, the clouds didn’t dry the tears that welled in his eyes.

Lune studied the ground between her black tennis shoes. The cement was smooth and cool. In twelve years they would be free. They would make a new home on Vencus.

The humans didn’t know they were coming but she hoped they would accept them as their own kind. It was Lucia who was the other. In twelve years, Lucia would weep when the mission members descended onto the new planet, never to return again. She would grieve when her womb was gutted and emptied.

Thinking of Lucia mourning the loss of her children brought Lune comfort. She would know the pain and grief she inflicted on Zosia. She would know what it was to lose. She would become the dead mother, the retired name. She would be left behind and forgotten.

In thirteen years time, who would Lucia be? What power would that name hold? She would be nothing more than a circular, pale shadow left on the pavement from a falling teardrop. She would dry up in the summer sun and even the eye she fell from would blink and forget she ever existed.

GenExpand Magazine: 1/12/2078 Advertisement

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*Written by Amy Tarleton

Rubber Alien

Konslin Street was vivid, marvelous, and abstract by day. There were shapes painted across its pavement. They were connected to one another by dotted outlines, making the shapes look like they were being crawled on by an army of vibrant ants.

The street ran adjacent to The Filtered Contact Barrier that resided inside Sector 3. ‘The Filter’ was a part of the Steel Dam, the unopenable wall that divided the two sides of the ship. The Filter offered the only access the sides had to one another. It was meant for children and consisted of rubber shapes, moveable pegs, and LED lights. This interactive section was meant for children from one side to ‘play’ with children on the other side. Communication of any intelligent kind was strictly prohibited and punishable by departure.