“Nah, it’s great,” Tilly said, trying her hardest to laugh. They’d shared a cell for as long as Dylan could remember.

  “You sure?” Dylan said and took off her vest to clean the blood off of Tilly.

  “It hurts, but it was worth it. You should have seen the fucker. Exploded and started throwing things.”

  Dylan got Tilly as clean as she could, then put the blood stained vest back on. “Why do you do things like that?” Dylan asked.

  “Because it gives us something to talk about,” Tilly said. “Do you really want me to come back and say ‘I put batteries into a machine for twelve-fucking-hours’ do you?”

  Dylan let a smile slip. “I don’t wanna see your face punched in.”

  The door opened, Dylan shielding her eyes from the light. Two figures stood in the doorway. Dylan recognized Boone, but the other was unknown to her. He was tall, with thick brown hair and a beard. He wore a blue jacket, with a gold badge. Dylan didn’t know it at the time, but that man was Brandt.

  Boone pointed at the two girls. “These are the only kids we got. I still don’t get why you don’t go for one of the older guys. We’ve got them beaten into submission pretty good.”

  “I have my reasons.”

  “Suit yourself, big guy. Though, personally I recommend taking Dylan. She’s the least of a bitch between the two.”

  “Is she the one with the bloody shirt, or the one actually bleeding?”

  “Bloody shirt,” Boone said and gestured for Dylan to stand. “She’s normally a pretty good worker, though I’ve had to ‘motivate’ her to work faster at times.”

  “I’ll take her then,” Brandt said and started walking away. “Clean her up and give her new clothes. I don’t want her to look like a dying rat.”

  Boone stepped into the room. “Dylan, you’re to come with me.”

  Tilly stood up and grabbed Dylan’s arm. “You’re not going.”

  “Tilly…”

  “You can’t go! I won’t let you.”

  Boone grabbed Dylan and tore her off Tilly. “C’mon you little brat. Let’s get you cleaned up.”

  Tilly’s eyes were wide with fear. “Fight him! If you fight back, Brandt won’t take you cause you’re too violent!”

  Dylan looked at the ground.

  “Dylan! Don’t go!”

  Boone tugged on Dylan’s arm. She followed.

  “Please don’t!” Tilly screamed as they stepped out of the cell, “I need you…”

  The cell door slammed shut. Dylan wouldn’t see Tilly for a few years. By then, the Tilly that Dylan knew had died. Years of work and beatings killed the friend she once knew. When Dylan saw her again, Tilly barely recognized her. Dylan had grown so much in the few short years.

  During their first reunion, there were no words exchanged aside from business. Dylan needed batteries, and Tilly gave them to her. Dylan looked into the girl’s eyes, but saw nothing but hatred. She never wanted to see those eyes again, but she knew she had to. Tilly was the only one who would tell her where Boone was.

  Dylan walked past the generator and into the battery storage room. Tilly was stacking batteries into a shelf, making sure they were categorized properly. The room itself was large, yet cluttered. Ceiling high selves were arranged in rows, all stacked with batteries. Dozens of tools and spare parts littered the floor, which Dylan needed to walk over. Tilly was in charge of this room.

  “Hello Tilly,” Dylan said.

  Tilly stopped her work. “It’s Till. You know that.”

  “Sorry.”

  “Why are you here? More batteries?”

  “I’m looking for Boone.”

  “Like I’d tell you that.”

  “Tilly, you have to tell me where Boone is.”

  “No I don’t. You have no authority over me.”

  Dylan’s fists tightened. “Maybe I’ll just go back to Brandt and tell him a certain Gray Vest won’t tell me where Boone is. Then we’ll see how fast you’ll open your mouth.”

  Tilly laughed. “You’re wearing the wrong vest.”

  “What?”

  “Your vest is gray, but you walk around acting like it’s not. You act like you have power over us. Like you’re not worthless.”

  Dylan started walking away.

  “Boone’s doing checkups in sector two,” Tilly said. “He should be returning to his office in ten minutes. Give or take.”

  “Thank you,” Dylan said.

  “No. Don’t thank me.”

  The walk back to his office felt longer than it should. Dylan felt ill. Tilly had fallen so far since Dylan last saw her and it hurt Dylan to see her like that. When she arrived at the office, she took a seat on the ground by the door. Tilly might have lied about the time, so Dylan prepared for a long wait. Boone took twenty minutes to arrive.

  “What are you doing here?” Boone asked, holding a binder under his arm. He’d gotten old since Dylan first arrived. His back was hunched and his hair thinning.

  “Brandt sent me,” Dylan said and stood up.

  Boone unlocked his office door. “Step inside with me.”

  Dylan went in and stood at attention in front of his desk. Boone sat on the other side, putting the binder into a drawer. His desk had pornographic drawings laying on it. He didn’t bother hiding them.

  “What does Brandt want this time?”

  Dylan hesitated for a second. “Brandt asked me to deliver a message to Echo,” Dylan said, the words pouring from her mouth in a panic. This isn’t what Brandt asked me to do. Stop it.

  “What’s the message? I’ll pass it along.”

  You need to tell her that we found her ship. “He said that she’d believe it more if it came from my mouth.”

  Boone paused. He stood up and walked out of the room. Dylan followed.

  They stopped in front of cell eleven. “Knock in two sets of three and I’ll let you out,” he said and opened the door. “If she holds you as a hostage, we won’t save you.”

  Dylan nodded and stepped inside. Echo sat against the back end of the room, her arms shielding the light from her eyes. Once the door shut, Echo lowered her arms and met eyes with Dylan.

  “Why are you here?” Echo asked, sitting up straight.

  "They wanted me to tell you that we found your ship."

  Echo's eyes widened. "What?"

  "Once they found it, they scrapped it for parts. Now there’s no way for you to get off this ship even if you escape this cell."

  Echo swallowed. Her arms were laying slack and her eyes red.

  Dylan raised her hand to knock on the door. That's all you need to say, Dylan thought as she hesitated on knocking. You have nothing more to say, go back to Brandt. "There's something else I need to tell you."

  "What could you possibly have to say?"

  "When you break free," Dylan said, "Find me and take me with you to your ship."

  Chapter 6

  Echo had trouble sleeping. Dylan’s words played back in her head.

  The girl told me to take her to my ship once I escaped. That must mean that my ship is fine and what she told me was just a lie they got her to tell me. No, there's no 'must', that's a fact. Unless the kid was lying to me about lying, but what would she gain from that? Was it just to give me false hope? No, that doesn’t make any sense.

  She groaned in frustration. Nothing was making sense at the moment. She just wanted to sleep on a proper bed and have a proper meal. She missed her ship, and she missed her paintings.

  The sound of a door opening broke Echo's thoughts. She scampered to a sitting position, blocking the light from her eyes. No words were spoken as Boone escorted her to the generator room. It looked the same as the night before, only there was no cart of batteries this time.

  Echo looked around. “Hello?” she yelled down the hallway, wondering where the Gray Vest was.

  She heard wheels rolling. Soon, the familiar Gray Vest rolled up with a cart full of batteries.

  “You’re late,” Echo said with a grin.

  “I’m sorry,” she said and parked the cart. “I’ll start the clock from now.”

  When the girl came closer, Echo could see the dirt washed from her eyes. She’d been crying.

  “Are you okay?” Echo asked.

  “Just shut up,” the girl said. She walked away. Echo wanted to follow her, but decided against it. She had a plan and needed to act it out.

  Echo started by taking a hundred drained batteries from the generator and tossing them into the cart. Once that was finished, she grabbed the first full one. Instead of putting it in the generator, she popped off the lid with her knife.

  From experience, she knew that most batteries had different settings for how quickly they transfer energy. The energy going from the battery need to be drained at the same rate the generator is being used. The batteries were set to the lowest out of three possible speeds.

  Echo connected the two other wires, them put it into the generator. Echo’s plan was to change the settings in each of the batteries, which would cause the generator to overheat. If Echo knew her batteries, the overheated generator would eventually shut down. Then, the lights on the ship would blink off in an instant. If there were no lights, people wouldn’t be able to recognize Echo and she could escape with ease.

  After a few carts, she noticed a definite humming coming from the generator. The room was heating, and the vibrations were more noticeable. Her plan was working.

  She took one battery and slipped it into the waterproof pouch on her belt. She needed to make sure this trip was at least worth it. Plus, the bulb on the end of the battery would let her see where she was going once the lights were out.

  She ran through a dozen more carts. The room was growing unbearably hot, and the generator was whistling.

  The Gray Vest arrived with another cart and stopped. “Is that thing okay?”

  “What are you talking about?” Echo said, trying her hardest not to smile.

  “It’s really hot in here and the machine is making noises,” she said. Then she saw that Echo was smiling. “What did you do?”

  “Well, if the generator is about to do what I think it does. I’ll be off this ship within the hour.”

  “What?” the girl said. “What’s it going to do?”

  “Any second now, the generator’s going to shut off and the Cobalt’s going into blackout.”

  “You idiot!” she screamed and slammed her fist against the cart. “What the fuck were you thinking?”

  “What’s the matter? If you really want me to, I can help you get out of here too.”

  The girl collapsed onto her knees. “He’s going to murder you. And then he’ll think I talked you into it and I’ll be tortured again,” she said.

  The generator groaned. Only seconds remained before it overheated. “Didn’t you hear a word I said? Blackout. We can get out of here.”

  “This isn’t the only fucking generator on this ship!”

  The color drained from Echo’s face. “What?”

  “All you did was break one of our generators. He’s going to ki-”

  The deck shook, knocking Echo and the girl over. A violent explosion could be heard from the room over. The sound of metal snapping and flames bursting. One cart tumbled and spilled its batteries. The lights flickered off for a second, but turned back on.

  From the hallway, smoke poured out. Echo ran over and grabbed the girl by the arm and pulled her to her feet. “We need to go now!”

  “We can’t, they’ll kill us,” she said.

  “If we stay, we’re already dead,” Echo said and pulled on the girl’s arm.

  Then Echo noticed the water. Her feet were submerged in an inch of sea water. A steady stream poured from the hallway, growing faster with each passing second. Echo heard the sound of flames being extinguished from down the hall.

  Echo yanked on the girl’s arm, “We’re leaving, now!”

  They ran to the main room of the engine deck. Water was filling fast, and they needed to get out of there. The guards had already left and there wasn’t a Blue Vest in sight. The cell doors were all closed. Echo made a turn for the doors while the girl was still heading for the stairs.

  “Where are you going?” the girl asked.

  “There’s thirty cells,” Echo said, wading through the water.

  She felt the water reach her hips once she got to the first cell. The water pressure was intense against the door. Echo put her foot against the wall and used every muscle she had to pull, but it wouldn’t budge.

  “We need to go,” the girl said, taking a double-take at the stairs.

  The water was to Echo’s chest. She looked down the row of cells and hesitated before swimming to the stairs.

  The ship was already listing once they got out of the engine deck. A thin stream of water flowed along the floor as they ran down the hall of the lower deck.

  “You know your way around the ship?” Echo asked between breaths.

  “Not at all,” she said, almost cracking a smile.

  The Cobalts had already fled the lower decks. Echo wasn’t sure which direction they were running, but as long as it was away from the water it was good enough for her. They were already ankle deep as it is.

  The ship gave a sudden lurch downwards and threw them off balance. Echo kept on her feet, but the girl fell face first. The deck started to flood. Echo had to grab the girl and pull her onto her feet.

  “We need to get off this deck or we’ll drown!” Echo said, having to screaming to be heard above the rushing water.

  The lights flickered and the hull groaned. Echo felt salt water rush against her. She fought against the current, straining her legs until the water was above her hips, lifting her up with it. Her hands reached out, trying to grab anything solid. Her feet lifted off the floor and head hit the ceiling. She managed to grab hold of the cage that covered the lights. The current tried to push her back, but she held on tight and didn’t budge.

  She took her last breath of air before the water touched the ceiling and left them in the darkness.

  Chapter 7

  Dylan was sitting on her bed. In front of her was a small container. She shuffled through the items inside. A piece of cloth from a Cobalt vest. A postcard from the old world depicting a magnificent ship greater than the Cobalt. A drawing of someone from a city Dylan had never seen. Most of the scraps had written words on them. Dylan couldn’t read, but she liked looking at them.

  If Brandt ever found out about that box, Dylan would have been in trouble. She wasn’t allowed to keep any personal items aside from her clothing. Dylan knew it was forbidden, but couldn’t help but steal things that interested her. Normally she’d wait until Brandt had retired for the night to look through them, but she couldn’t resist this time.

  The ground shuddered, and the lights flickered for a second. Dylan panicked and crammed her toys into the box and stuffed it inside the mattress. Dylan looked around the room, not sure what happened. She got off the bed and noticed that the floor was uneven.

  A hard knocking shook the room. Dylan’s heart jumped. She straightened her clothes and hair before answering the door. Brant was standing in the doorway.

  “Did you noticed that as well?” he asked.

  She nodded her head, “The whole place shook, and the lights turned off and then back on. Now the floor looks tilted.”

  Brandt let out a groan and walked to the office door. He opened it and grabbed the nearest Blue Vest by the collar and looked him in the eye. “You, what happened?”

  “I, um, don’t know, sir!” he said. “The city just kinda shook and things fell down and I just don’t know.”

  Brandt threw him and slammed the door shut. He paced the room, mumbling to himself as he thought. Dylan stood at the entrance to her room, stiff and nervous. She’d only seen Brandt mad a few times and didn’t want to see it again.

  “Dylan, I need you to get to the engine deck,” Brandt said with a growl in his voice. “Ask Boone was the hell happened.”

  Dylan left the room as quick as she could.

  Cobalts were already piling into the lobby. Dylan had never seen the ship this busy before. It seemed like every Cobalt in the sector was here. The buzzing of conversation was loud. Dylan had trouble crossing the room, bumping into Cobalts as she tried to maneuver around them. One of them tapped her on the shoulder as she tried to pass.

  He was a short Cobalt, about Dylan’s height, and had curly blonde hair and a shaven face. “Do you know what’s going on?” he asked. “That shaking and the lights flickering. I’ve never seen anything like that.”

  “That’s what I’m trying to find out,” Dylan said and pushed past him. No other Gray Vest would have gotten away with blowing off a Blue Vest like that, Dylan thought as she made her way through the crowd.

  The main staircase was far from the lobby. All of the Blue Vests had steered clear of it. Dylan needed to run down nine flights of stairs to get to the hallway that led to the engine deck. She only made it seven flights before stopping.

  Her eyes went wide. The entire second deck was underwater. Dylan knelt down and put her hand in the cold fluid. It was frigid, and the salt stung between her fingernails. Panic washed over her. Why is there water?

  The idea of the Cobalt being able to sink never crossed her mind before. It was the only world she’d ever known. To her, nothing existed beyond these walls.

  She stepped into the water, shivering as the cold liquid submerged her bare feet. The water wasn’t still. Dylan felt it climbing up her legs with each passing minute. Once the water hit her knees, she walked back up the stairs.

  The hull groaned, shaking the floor beneath her. The Cobalt sounded like it was dying. The floor was steeper than when she was in Brandt’s office. Dylan had to hold the wall to keep her balance as she walked up the stairs.

  The lobby was more crowded than before. Blue Vest and Gray Vests packed together as they struggled to figure out what was going on. As Dylan squirmed through the crowd she picked up fragments of conversation.

  “I spoke to the head of the engine deck and he claims the Cobalt is going under.”

 

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