“I’ve never seen flowers like this before,” Rey said, looking at rows of flowers on dispy at the front of the small shop. There were hyacinths, chrysanthemums, lilies, and many other types of colorful flowers in pots. Through the rge window, she could see grow lights on the ceiling shining down on shelves full of pnts.

  “I want to go in,” she said, eyeing several bulbous pnts hanging from the ceiling.

  “We’re not here to go window shopping,” Zan said from behind her. He was wearing a new set of clothes, and had a hood pulled up over his head to hide his unusual hair color. Rey was wearing a brown wig for her part, but found it slightly too rge.

  Four days ter, and after much insisting on Zan’s part, Andun had let them go into the nearby town of Mek, where Zan wanted to check out the spaceport. They were currently headed there right now, but Rey had gotten sidetracked looking at the various shops.

  To Zan, it looked like a normal town, full of things he’d seen before, but to Rey it was a whole new world.

  The town was centered on a small public square in front of a rge building that he could only assume belonged to the local military. Right now, they were in the shopping district, which y near the spaceport.

  “Come on, or I’ll leave you behind,” he said, tugging at her sleeve.

  “Fine,” she said reluctantly.

  She was about to turn and follow him when she saw someone walk out from behind a shelf. It was a girl who looked a few years younger than Rey. She was dressed nicely, with her light brown hair up in a bun, an attractive face, and a slim figure. She was carrying an expensive looking purse, gncing at the pnts around her. She turned and saw Rey through the window, and for a moment their eyes met. Then Rey turned away and hurried after Zan.

  They continued winding their way through the streets until the entrance to the spaceport came into sight. It was a rather rge building, set on the edge of a rge field covered in nding pads, some of which were occupied. There were several small military ships, and two rger commercial ones. It was a retively small spaceport, but it would be enough to get them off this pnet.

  But Zan knew they would have to be careful. The bounty hunter was almost certainly observing the spaceport. After he’d lost them in the forest, he would’ve figured out that the only method of escape for them would be this spaceport. Zan didn’t know where exactly, but it was highly probable that the bounty hunter was currently in this town as well.

  But that wasn’t the only hazard in this town. He’d been carefully observing his surroundings and had noticed an abnormal amount of security cameras, most of which were small and pced where they would be hard to spot. It seemed as if the entire town was being watched. Although things looked mostly normal on the surface, Zan felt a strange tension in the air, like people were aware that they were under constant observation.

  He watched the entrance to the spaceport from a nearby bench, pretending to read a book he’d just bought from a bookstore across the street, while Rey continued to browse inside.

  The bookstore was small and tidy, but the thing that stood out to Rey was the ck of books on the shelves. There were some, but it seemed like most of the shelves had more empty space than books.

  Rey looked around at the books that were left, and some of them turned out to be interesting.

  Andun had given them each a small amount of money before they left, but it was only enough for a meal, or perhaps one book.

  She sighed, then noticed a young woman looking at her. She had shoulder length brown hair in a bob-cut, a nice face, and soft, blue eyes. She was shorter than Rey, with a small frame and ft chest. Rey found her simple looks and clothes attractive though. She wasn’t fshy or eye-catching, and there didn’t seem to be anything particurly unique about her, but she was the kind of girl who was easy to look at.

  “Can I help you find something?” she asked. Rey thought she had a pleasant voice.

  “Ah, I was just looking around. I only have enough money to buy one book, probably.”

  “That’s alright, I was just wondering since you’ve been in here a while.”

  Rey realized that she’d been wandering through the aisles for at least an hour, even though the store itself wasn’t that rge.

  “I think I’ll take this one, " she said, deciding on a sci-fi novel that had caught her eye earlier. It was barely within budget, but she wasn’t particurly hungry after the filling breakfast Andun had made that morning anyway.

  The girl was the owner of the bookstore, and helped her check out.

  “You seem really interested in books,” she commented.

  “Yeah, I would like to read a lot more in the future if I can. Is there a reason that so many of the shelves are empty?”

  “I’m sorry, but these are all the books avaible right now. You must be new here. Where are you from?” the girl asked curiously.

  “Oh…um…I’m from a vilge on the other side of the pnet,” Rey said, caught slightly off guard.

  “On vacation then?” the girl asked, watching her.

  “Yes.”

  “I see. Here you go,” said the girl, handing her the book.

  “Thanks,” Rey replied. “Hmm? The price is slightly less,” she said, looking at the receipt.

  “It’s just a small discount. It’s nice to see someone who’s as interested in books as you are,” she said with a smile. “And this shop probably won’t be in business much longer anyway.”

  “Is it something to do with the Seynian occupation?” Rey asked.

  “Shh! They’ll hear you!” she said in a loud whisper, gncing at a camera on one corner of the ceiling. “How much longer will you be staying here?”

  “I don’t know, maybe a few days…or a week? Once we find a ship, we’ll be able to leave.”

  “Well, good luck. And have a nice day.”

  Rey left the shop and found Zan still outside.

  “I think we should go soon,” she said.

  “What, something happen?” he asked, not taking his eyes off the spaceport entrance.

  “No, well, we might get recognized if we stay in one pce for too long, right?”

  “We’ll be fine.”

  Rey looked around at the people walking past them, or looking at shops nearby. She nervously held her book up to her face, only looking over the top with her eyes. She felt like she was being watched, but didn’t know where from.

  She looked around, but didn’t see anyone. She breathed out, thinking that she was just being paranoid, and that was when she saw the figure on the other side of the street, dressed in a hooded cloak so that Rey couldn’t see their face, but undoubtedly staring in her direction.

  She quickly turned away, then sat down next to Zan.

  “Zan, I think someone’s watching us,” she said in a hurried whisper.

  “Where from?” he asked, not moving his head.

  “Over there…” Rey turned back to look at the figure only to find them gone.

  “They left,” she said, even more nervous now that they were out of sight.

  “Alright, we should get going,” Zan said, standing up. They began to walk back, trying to act as normal as possible.

  “What did they look like?” he asked.

  “I don’t know. They were wearing a cloak to hide their identity.”

  “Think it was the Bounty Hunter?”

  “Probably not, they seemed too small, and if I had to say, it looked like a woman’s figure.”

  “Then we should run,” Zan said, picking up the pace. “The only reason someone would hide their identity is if they don’t want us to recognize them, and the only people who wouldn’t want that are people we would recognize on sight. We don’t know what the bounty hunter looks like, but what about the girl with him?!”

  Rey remembered the girl with the metal colr.

  “In here!” Zan pulled Rey by her arm into a jewelry store on the street corner. Dispys of various pieces of jewelry lined the walls and y on tables. Afternoon light poured in from several rge, rectangur windows lining one of the walls. The shop itself wasn’t rge, but it felt clean and organized, even though the building was clearly older than the surrounding shops.

  “Um…why did we go in here?” Rey asked, noticing that he was still holding her arm.

  “I had a bad feeling,” Zan replied. “Try not to draw attention to yourself.”

  “But why wouldn’t he just come in person?”

  “Because, if he did find us, he wouldn’t be prepared without his armor, and wearing it around town would make him too conspicuous. He’ll use that girl to find us, then show up as soon as she contacts him. I’m guessing he won’t hesitate to attack us in the middle of town.”

  “What’ll we do?”

  “Wait here until we’re sure the coast is clear.”

  They retreated toward the back of the store, pretending to look at the dispy cases. A certain silver neckce caught her eye. It was a simple, thin silver chain, with a single red jewel as the centerpiece. She looked at the price tag, but as she’d suspected, it was far beyond anything she could afford.

  “I never saw these things in the empire, but people here seem to value them. I wonder if something like this would be special to me if I had one. I don’t know…”

  Just then, an old woman, presumably the owner of the store, approached her.

  “That caught your eye?” she asked.

  “Well, yes, but I can’t afford it,” Rey said.

  “That’s alright; after all, jewelry is meant to be looked at and admired, even if it’s not being worn.”

  Zan approached the two women.

  “Is there anything you’re interested in?” the woman asked Zan, who had taken off his hood so he didn’t look suspicious. “I have a few things you could get for anniversaries, or birthdays. There’s also some rings if you’re interested.”

  “Ah, no, nothing in particur, thank you,” said Zan, thinking that it was about time they left.

  “Well, if you come back in the future, there's lots of pieces that would look lovely on your girlfriend,” she said, turning away from them.

  He started to deny it, but at that moment a thought popped into his head.

  “Wait, we ate, walked around, and shopped together…isn’t this basically a date?”

  “It’s not like that!” Zan said. “Friends do this too!”

  “We’re friends?”

  “No, I mean… are we?”

  “Why do you look embarrassed?”

  “I’m not.”

  He walked toward the entrance, and after a moment she followed him. The te afternoon light had turned the streets and buildings a bright orange, the shadows stretching. They walked down the street back towards their temporary home.

  “I thought of a pn for getting out of here,” Zan said.

  Across the street, a girl watched them through the window of a storefront. She’d been watching them for quite a while now, ever since she’d seen Rey looking in through the window of the botanical shop.

  She watched until they were out of sight, breathing heavily.

  “It’s happening again,” she breathed. “No, no, no no no no…now she’s in my head too!”

  She bit the nails on her left hand, while holding her purse with her right.

  “It’s not fair…” She squeezed her eyes shut.

  ***

  Over the next few days, Zan went back into town to meet with Andun’s friend, hoping to secure a flight out without the soldiers finding out. He’d decided to trust Andun since he figured he would’ve turned them in already if he wasn’t on their side, and since Andun vouched for his friend, Zan cautiously began to work out a pn with him.

  Rey remained in the house, unaware of the details of the pn.

  One morning, Zan asked her to come with him, telling her that this would likely be the st day.

  She followed him out onto the dirt road as they began their short journey into town, unaware that they were being watched through a camera mounted on a drone the size of a fly.

  ***

  The room was dark, lit only by the glow from the numerous monitors lining the walls.

  Several men sat in front of them, watching silently and occasionally taking notes. Behind them stood three more men. One wore a Seynian military uniform, the other two were dressed in the local Temurian military uniforms.

  “It appears that several unknown figures have entered the town,” the one in the Seynian military uniform said.

  “Do you think they could be resistance fighters?” said one of the two others.

  “It’s possible; we’ve had several recent uprisings in the Avont region. We should be cautious, especially since we border that region. The military had to annihite the rebels, but you can imagine the sort of problems that caused. I don’t really want to have to call in reinforcements. It’d just complicate things and give me more paperwork.”

  “What should we do?”

  “Tail them, and if they make any suspicious movements, bring them in for questioning. One appears to have made contact with a spaceport employee, so if you can, bring him in too.”

  “Then their goal could be to stowaway on a ship.”

  “Or a terrorist attack. Some of the first facilities hit in Avont were airports and spaceports, so reinforcements took longer to arrive.”

  “Anyway, two of them are staying at that old man’s house on the outskirts of town. He hasn’t been causing any trouble, so I’ve let him be, but this is a good opportunity to take care of him as well, especially if he’s harboring dangerous people.”

  “Yes sir.”

  The two in Temurian uniforms left the room, and the remaining man returned to his private office; a small adjoining room in that underground complex that y under the base in the center of town. They had erected the structure four years ago to serve as a headquarters for this region.

  The two men who left the room continued along a short corridor before ascending a staircase that led out into the ground level in the restricted zone near the back of the complex.

  “Do you think this has anything to do with those unsolved murders?” one of them wondered aloud.

  “Oh, you mean the ones from two years ago? Or the two young women this st year? Either way, I doubt it. After all, these people only appeared a few days ago when that ship crashed.”

  “Have our teams reported any new findings?”

  “No, only the four decapitated bodies and the extra arm we found. One was a cyborg, but we haven’t identified any of them yet. There was evidence of another ship nding nearby, but we can’t conclude anything yet.”

  “I’ll bet some of them are from that ship.”

  “There’s a high possibility they were involved in something illegal. Perhaps they had a falling out or were attacked by a rival. We’ll have to apprehend them to get answers though.”

  “These problems are gonna eat up all my free time,” the man said, sighing. “Well, let’s get this over with.”

  ***

  Zan and Rey entered a small alley that led into a space behind several buildings. Trash was piled against one wall, and a low humming noise came from a generator nearby. It was an older section of town, and the ground was slightly dirty.

  A man was waiting for them, dressed in simple, beige clothes. He looked to be in his early twenties, had olive skin, straight dark hair combed back, and a handsome face. His eyes were dark, but didn’t seem unfriendly.

  “This is the girl?” he asked as soon as he saw them.

  “Yes.”

  “Alright, I can get you out on a ship tonight, so just wait for me to contact you through this,” he said, throwing Zan an earpiece.

  “It’s a small ship, but enough for the four of you. The pilot agreed to take you to the nearest Alliance controlled pnet, Ezerse.”

  “Good. I’ll make sure they have a pce to stay,” Zan said.

  Most of this conversation was going straight over Rey’s head.

  The man gnced around, and Zan gave him a questioning look.

  “We’re currently being watched.”

  “I thought you said there weren't any cameras here!”

  “There aren’t. They’ve surrounded us. They must’ve tracked one or both of us.”

  Zan became aware of a slight movement through one of the windows on the backside of an old building adjacent to them.

  “Damn it!” Zan said angrily. “Landen, do you think we can still get out?”

  “I’ll do my best; after all, you’re not the only ones who want this to work. Meet me by the designated spot when I send the signal. Keep the transmitter with you at all times. If I don’t send it by nightfall, the pn failed.”

  Suddenly, they heard footsteps in the alleyway behind them. Zan turned and saw three men in dark uniforms emerge from the alley. Two more appeared from an alley behind Landen, and Zan saw another through the dirty window. A shadow fell across his face, and he saw someone standing on a rooftop above them, looking down over the scene. He counted seven in total; they were completely surrounded.

  One of the three behind Zan stepped forward. He was a man in his mid-fifties, but Zan could tell that he was still physically fit, and felt his commanding presence.

  “Excuse me, but we’re going to bring you in under suspicion of illegal activity. We ask that you come quietly,” he said with a dangerous gleam in his eye.

  “We’re just-” Zan started to say, but was cut off.

  “If you refuse, we have no choice but to assume you’re hostile, and resort to using force,” he said, as all the other men in uniforms drew their guns.

  Zan’s mind was racing, but he was having trouble thinking of a way out of this.

  Suddenly, there was a small tremor in the earth, and a moment ter everyone heard what sounded like a cannon going off in the distance.

  For a moment, no one knew what had happened. The sound hadn’t been very loud, but it was clearly some sort of explosion, and nobody present had any idea what had caused it.

  “Are you terrorists?!” the man said, pulling out his handgun and pointing it at Zan. “What was that?! Do you have more allies?!”

  “It wasn’t us! I don’t know what that was!” Zan said, realizing what a bad situation this was.

  “Come with us immediately! Everyone here is under arrest!” the man shouted. His men began to close in on them.

  Zan raised his arm, and the other two decided to do the same, when suddenly the man in charge got a message in his earpiece. He held up his hand to signal his men to wait while he listened to the voice speaking into his ear. His expression went from shock to anger as he listened, then he lowered his hand.

  “A bomb damaged the electric pnt, and it’ll take a while to repair,” he said to his men.

  “We’re to bring them in and see if they know anything. Restrain them immediately!”

  Just then, there was a short yelp from the rooftop, and a moment ter a body thudded onto the ground, a gaping wound across its torso.

  It was the man that’d been watching from the roof. Zan looked up and his eyes widened in fear as he saw a figure standing on the rooftop, the morning sunlight gleaming off their dark armor.