After three weeks, the fifth moon is on the rise. We watched with our hearts in our mouths as the fourth moon took its stand, and as the days wore on, Major Santorez got even crazier. He had a lot of ideas about escaping that filled him with a feverish excitement. Although none of his plans involved outright battle. We were thankful for that.

  The first thing Major Santorez did was to supervise the makeshift store room where the food supplies were stacked. Aunty Petri's fiancé was in charge of the distribution. So it came as a surprise when Major Santorez came into the pantry and began to cart off gargantuan amounts of food that would last many people.

  "sir, what is going on?" He asked. Me, Emma, and Akio had been sitting close to the pantry, discussing some of our fond memories from earth while Akio taught us a little bit of his language, Japanese. Emma could already speak it fluently. We had been teasing ourselves when the altercation between Major Santorez and Aunty Petti's fiancé began.

  "What does it look like?" Major Santorez retorted as he stacked up more bags of food.

  "You have not filled me in on the purpose of this, sir?"

  Akio and I exchanged looks. Everyone on the team knew Major Santorez had a mind of his own, and this often led him to become uncooperative.

  "I am stacking this up because we need a plan to be nourished, even when we hide from the attackers. Of course, people like me will be on the front lines."

  Major Santorez spike feverishly, almost manically. He spoke fast and gesticulated wildly, and he often had the propensity to blow things out of proportion these days. I wanted to tell him that I knew a herb grown here that could calm his nerves. But just like Winston, Major Santorez did not completely trust the plants on this planet as a source of food, even though Aunty Petti had run several tests through them. She had selected those which did not have the ability to latch onto your system like some did on my skin. J had them because I could not differentiate so I ate them all. Yet, even with all her sophisticated proofs of edibility, Aunty Petti could not convince Major Santorez to try out the food.

  Aunty Petti's fiancé spoke to Major Santorez and they seemed to come to an agreement. We were all going to be filled in on the plan after all.

  Major Santorez mobilized the entire crew of which I was now oddly a part of. We all sat around the center of the hovel, while Major Santorez stood to address us.

  "As you all know, we had planned earlier to safeguard ourselves rather than find a way to fight back or counter attack. That being said, I have come to the conclusion that the safest place would be the site of the crash. We would he taking all of the necessary things we have, such as in a lay experimental tools from out lab, and of course, food."

  "So we are going into hiding?" Zuri asked.

  Major Santorez swallowed. He paused before speaking next, "Yes, Miss Zuri. We are going into hiding."

  It sounded cowardly at that moment, but it was the best option.

  "What about the Hiermochts? Aren't we going to help them?" I ask.

  Everyone turns to me. Sometimes they forget that I am not completely a part of them and my loyalties are divided.

  "They are the ones under direct attack. We are. I consider myself a part of them too. Are you going to leave them like that?"

  "They have not enlisted our help." Major Santorez replied. He was apparently not convinced himself.

  I stand up to drive the severity of my point in. "You are in the outland. Living under our shelter. You have to help. It is your obligation to help."

  Major Santorez sighed. "Well, that is why a number of us will be coming out to fight while the rest will be hidden safely away in the space ship. Is that satisfactory, Peter?"

  I consider, then I nod. It was better than nothing. Plans were out in place immediately. Austin was under the security team. As well as Aunt Petti's fiancé. Major Santorez came to the conclusion that I was too much of a distraction to fight. The attackers would leave the Hiermochts and the humans to take me because they were interested in anything that seemed exotic and foreign. The war would be baseless if all the energy was channeled towards the capture of one person. I reluctantly agreed to stay. Still, I feared for Mundas and the rest of the villagers.

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  On the night of the fine moons, we were placed on lockdown in the space ship. Alyonna was at the forefront as well as Mikael and Jason. Aunty Petti paced back and forth in the space ship. Just outside, we could see the moons from only a thick sluice by the window. The entire spaceship was made opaque. It was apparently a beautiful night and Emma commented on it. It was too beautiful to be a witness to so much fear and violence.

  "I feel guilty as hell just sitting Here and doing nothing. I feel like I ought to protect other people. Why exactly are we here?" Emma whispered. We were to avoid talking too loudly for fear of attracting the attackers.

  "To ensure the continuity of the class of 2140. We can't all die. Some of us need to stay alive to report what we have seen." Aunty Petti whispered back. She too was terribly shaken.

  "What is the point? We lost communication with the UNCF several, what has it been? Weeks? Months ago? For all we know, we could be dead to them. Just like they forgot Peter too."

  Everyone fell silent when she mentioned me. I presume it was out of politeness. I tried to make a joke out of it but the situation was too grave. They all wore a mournful expression.

  "All of this," Emma began, stretching her hands past the width of her body, "All of this is a capitalist scheme. They do not give a fuck about extraterrestrial life or whatever they claim to care about. The main aim is to accrue a measure of power for themselves."

  " Maybe that's not true." Zuri said.

  Suddenly, we heard the sound of hoofs circling the space ship. It grew closer and more powerful as the seconds passed.

  "They came on the Daemon horses." I whispered to Emma, dread choking my voice.

  "What are those?"

  I shook my head. "Something you wouldn't like to know."

  Emma was about to say something when we heard Aunty Petti flinging the weight of her body against the little window that was on her side of the ship.

  "Aunty Petti, stop!" Emma shrieked. It seemed as though it wasn't Ay Petti standing there anymore. There was a crazed, wild look in her eyes and her bottom lip trembled as she spoke. Her hair which was always perfectly laid stood around in jagged ends, in perfect disarray.

  She turned around to look at all of us. "What do you Kids know? What do you know or care about how I feel? My fiancé is out there, possibly being murdered in cold blood and Major Santorez wants me to sit here and do absolutely nothing? I can't do that, Emma. I would never let him die out there like that."

  With that, she ran into the pilot's compartment and we followed. The window she was hurling herself against did not budge. Her stride was purposeful, strong, resilient. We knew we did not stand a chance to convince her to do otherwise. To keep herself safe at least. Grief had begun to rear its head around her, pushing her to take uncalculated decisions. Was it grief of the thought, the idea of it? Was it so powerful that it could dictate one's reaction before it even established itself in one's mind at all?

  Aunty Petti spoke to herself as she looked around hurriedly, searching for a means of escape.

  "Who does Major Santorez think he is?" She asked no one in particular. "Why did we agree to such a stupid plan? Why are we hiding here? What is this?" She flung a box of pliers and other tools out from her path. "This is stupid. All of this. Stupid, stupid. Major Santorez acts like he is a God. It is not his place to predominate over every single decision. We didn't even have the time to decide what we wanted for ourselves."

  She was out of breath from all the pushing and shoving she was doing. The rest of us regarded her solemnly. It would be foolhardy to do anything else because there was a dangerous look in her eyes. She was ready to eliminate everything in her path, as long as she got to her fiancé. We stood at a respectful distance, giving her the needed space to express her rage.

  Finally, she came across an escape scoot in the pilot's cabinet and jumped before we even knew what was happening. Emma tried to go after her but I held her back. Few seconds later, we heard Aunty Petti screaming and the sound of hoofs riding away. Aunty Petti had been captured.

  ***

  After she left, the rest of the ship was thrown into a state of pandemonium. Some panicked, blabbered, paced, hyperventilated, came close to having a panic attack. Even Emma was not spared.

  After pacing for a while, she came up with an idea to rewire the doors and let everyone out at the same time.

  "It was easy for them to capture Aunty Petti because she was alone, " She reasoned. "But we would not be."

  "It does not work like that, Emma. What about the others who were captured? Austin is gone, Major Santorez is and..."

  "Austin is gone?! " Emma asked, horror spreading across her face. I regretted telling her that.

  "The attackers on Daemon horses are relentless and really dangerous. It would be crazy to go out there."

  "Then call me crazy."

  I sighed. "We don't know how many there are out there. This, coupled with the fact that we have no weapons with us. How can we possibly take them on? I understand that you want to save Austin and the rest, it is necessary that we do not just sit here and fold out hands. But, we also have to employ tact and common sense. If we all die, we all go down. You me, the captured, all of us on this ship, the Hiermochts, Mundas. We all go down."

  As I spoke, Emma was furiously tugging at the doors, checking for the skeleton of the ship and the place where the wiring might be.

  After a while, she stopped. I continued to speak to her, pointing out how we needed to calm down and think of a better way to take on the attackers. She crumpled down by one of the doors and fought back tears.