EASHA~

We return to the homeworld. "We need to buy a bigger ship," I tell her. "Are you kidding?" she asks. "Even if I sold my fighter, we would be way off for even the smallest model!" "So sell your weapons," I tell her.

In the end we have 3,455 Motes and 19 Glimmer. Riches, but to buy a small long-distance ship we need 10,000 Motes. 

Syra~

That isn't nearly enough. I take to collecting bounties. I get home with 4,567 Motes from bounties. 8,022 in all. 1,978 to go. And no more bounties available. I hunt, sell meat at the market. Here, the populace is richer, denser. I get home with a good haul of 211 motes. 1,767 to go.

EASHA~

I get a job fixing gadgets and end up home that day with 312. 1,455 to go. 

Sorry I haven't written in so long!

Laurel~

I got up early to milk the quixmala. At first my hands were clumsy, but they soon found a rhythm and the pearly-white milk shot out in tiny torrents. Once the milking was done, I ripped off a strip from my skirt and used it as a sieve to rid the milk of any quixmala hairs and dust. I took three jars with lids I'd bought last market-day, poured in the milk, and shook them until the milk turned to butter. Then I heard Octavia tromp down the stairs. "Hi, Laurel." She glanced at the jars of butter. "Market day, then?"

"Yes. We're also going to sell some of the lizards, and the Auth meat," I replied.

"Oh, speaking of lizards, I have another surprise. I skinned some lizards and made fingerless gloves after the hunt before last. They are roughly sewn, but still pretty good, I think."

"Great," I grinned. We mounted the hover board and flew off. 

(Side note; Nephina's brother's name is Po)

~Nephina~

"I wanna!" 

"No."

"Nephi! I wanna see my new shirt!"

"Not right now, little bro," I say, rubbing the top of his head. He slaps my hand away.

"Neph! Come on! Please!" 

I pull Po to one side of the road, near a stall selling animal hides. I kneel to his height, and glare at him.

"You have a really shrill voice, do you know that?"

"Yeah, yeah." He rolls his big blue-grey eyes. I stifle a small laugh. The rough fabric of the bundle rasps against my hands as I remove it from under my left arm, and place it on the hard-packed market dirt. Quickly, I untie the twine and the fabric falls open revealing its contents.

After rifling through it for a few moments, I find the shirt and lift it to Po's view.

"You happy now?"

He snatches it from my fingers, lifting it, turning it every-which-way, and inspecting it all over. He grins at me. "Thanks!"

Now it's my turn to roll my eyes. Why mother had to leave him with me, I don't know, but really, one can't blame her for wanting to shop without the pesky little dude. I just wish she wouldn't have left him with me. 

I look back down at the fabric and twine, and just before I'm about to tie it up again, I spot something. A little brown paper bag. I snatch it from the folds of cloth and tear the little seal, opening the packet. Tentatively, I dip my finger inside. On the inside, I feel a gritty, rough substance, slightly wet. But when I remove my finger, I see patches of brilliant, vibrant green from where the stuff stuck.

I fell a wide, goofy smile spread across my face.

Po stops his inspection of the shirt to glance questioningly at me.

"What's with you?" 

I close the packet and slip it quickly into my pocket, then retie the bundle and stuff it under my arm.

"Nothing." Trying with difficulty to hide my smile, I take my little brother briskly by the hand and lead him decisively towards nowhere in particular.  

"Uh . . . Let's go see how Grandma's doing. She set up the stall a little while ago."

"That's the other direction."

"Hush, kid." 

Hope~

"REALLY!"

I shrug at him.

"HOPE, YOU ARE SO STUPID! WHY'D YOU DO THAT?!"
Lito's ears and cheeks are turning a bright red as he swears at me.

She needed help, I write in the sand.

"So do we!"
Hey, she sews for a living. We have plenty of other stuff to sell.

"Hope, get out."
I look up, my expression showing inquiry.

"I said get out! And go away! I don't need someone as stupid as you in this booth with me!"
I can tell he means it. He's in the kind of mood that would make him hit me, and I'm obviously not welcome. I slink out of the booth a start walking away.

C'mon, guys! Let's not let this thread fall to the second page!

Shiden~

Nephina and her family walk away, and I don't blame them. Two Enforcers visiting in one day -- first the one who scared Nisha and took our money, then this one? We're not hiding anything, I think. Please don't hurt us. Please don't find us out.

The Enforcer looks almost unsure, which puts me on edge. Is he faking? Why is he here? He has short black hair, and his skin is paler than most Enforcers' -- most don't work, so they're unnaturally pale. But he looks worried, not just the usual Enforcer emotionlessness. He doesn't have his earpiece on, either. Something is really wrong here. I clench my fists under the stall top and bite my lip.

"Where do you live?" he asks. His voice shakes a little. Yep, definitely wrong.

"Badlands."

"I need you."

"What for?" I glare at him. He can't just take me away, I've got Nisha and Hope and the others to look after. He has no reason to. 

"Don't ask questions." He pulls out a neuronic blaster. I gasp. He wouldn't dare use that on a civilian. I've done no harm. In fact, he needs my help. But I put my hands up.

"Come on, and don't speak." He keeps the blaster up, and the safety down, but looks over his shoulder nervously as he herds me out of the stall and out of the market, into the Badlands.   

Guys, I got an idea for the past:
What happened was, humans' technology started getting REALLY advanced. Soon, a good portion of the earth was overrun by robots-- but they were good, with no viruses or glitches or anything.

Until the closest aliens found out. They decided to take our world, our Earth, because their planet was about to fall apart. They had higher technology than us, so they secretly reprogrammed the robots to turn on the humans.

There was a huge war, and the humans came out victorious. And then the aliens came in to finish the job. And we just beat them, too.

Anyway:
Hope~

"Hope, wait up!"

I turn around to see the girl I met before running after me. I wave.

"What happened? Why's that boy so mad at you?"
His name's Lito, I write. He's a jerk. We were selling fabrics, and there was a girl who seemed like she really wanted some. But she didn't seem to have enough money. I tried to tell him that we should give her a discount, but he ignored me. But I really thought she should get it, she looked so entranced, so I wrapped one up and put it by her. Let's say he wasn't happy.

_____

Clode says robz. Rob? Are you talking about here? Hmm.... hey, not bad! Someone should rob Lito's stall! (mwahaha...)

Just to add something, somehow when Thompson (the Enforcer) was kidnapping Shiden, no one noticed and Thompson took the hovercraft, too. I don't think I mentioned that, oopsies.

Anywhoo, back to the story.

Shiden~

The Enforcer stops the hovercraft. We're in the middle of nowhere -- in the Badlands, everything looks the same. Dust, sand, cloudy-but-still-hot-and-dry climate. The Enforcer obviously is lost -- no one knows where they're based, but it's definitely not the Badlands. Every time we see Enforcers, they have the earpiece. I've heard their base controls satellites that can beam down information to them. 

This Enforcer doesn't have his earpiece. He's kidnapped me, taken me out to the Badlands. I don't know what's going on.

"Why are we here?" I ask. "I haven't done anything. You cannot do this!"

He turns around and faces me slowly. "Silence! You will only know what you need to know."

I snarl, pointing two fingers down at the dirt -- symbolizing spitting. "You've brought me out here. You owe me an explanation. If you want to survive out here, Enforcer, you need me." I'm sounding a lot more confident than I feel. Sure, I've lived in the Badlands since I was three, since my parents left me with a card and a spindle. But guiding an Enforcer? I can guide Hope, and Lito, and Nisha. They're like me. The Enforcer isn't. 

His eyes travel up and down my face. He doesn't know the symbol. I meet his eyes with my own grey ones. "Well?" I ask. "Enforcer?"

He turns away, tapping his blaster against one black boot. "My name... is Thompson. I was an Enforcer."

I'm a little surprised. Most Enforcers wouldn't respond to that.

"Who are you?"

"I..." I bite my lip. He doesn't need to know my name. But he's told me his.

"Kathari." I've hidden behind that to every Enforcer I've ever seen. This one should be no different.  

EASHA~

"Well, we finally have enough money to buy the ship," I say. "I sold the fighter."

Syra's expression turns from one of happiness to one of shock. "YOU WHAT?!"

"Let me say this to you slowly and clearly. I-sold-the-fighter."

Syra sighs. "Well, we at least can buy the ship now." 

Shiden~

I roll my eyes at the Enforcer. He turns away.

The whole scheme seems so... fake. I never act like this -- rolling my eyes, being so sarcastic. I'm just Shiden. I just weave my cloth, sell at the market every day, take care of Hope and Lito and Nisha and the rest of them. I guess that's why I'm hiding. Hiding behind my dead mother's name. I shiver a little at the thought. I don't know where her grave is. It's not possible she's still alive. I wonder what she would think of me -- leading an Enforcer. 

Even the Enforcer -- Thompson -- feels wrong. He's not an Enforcer? What is he doing? Why does he want to go to the Junkyard? He's acting strange. His hand shakes with the blaster, his voice when he's threatening me.

This whole thing is wrong. What's propelling him? Why is he propelling me? 

I dig in the pocket of my shirt. The rough ranth is smooth with wear -- it's comforting. I have my spindle, not the one we use every day to make the thread we sell and weave, but the first one, the one my mother gave me, the one I took apart to learn to carve the others. Its wood is faded, bleached, and smooth. I wrap my fingers around its handle as I look at the Enforcer.

"You need to go to the Junkyard." It's not a question.

"Yes, and?"

"If we can't use your hovercraft, we won't get there anytime soon. It's at the edge of the Badlands, nearly a week's journey on foot without pack animals or vehicles."

"Money is no object."

I struggle to keep the anger out of my voice. The money he has is probably stolen, from someone like me or Hope, looking just for their own survival. "We need to go back to the market for the supplies and beasts. But you should stay here, if you want to avoid the others. I need the money."

I hold out my hand, and he drops his pouch, heavy with motes and glimmer, into my hand. I'm surprised he doesn't blast me, or refuse to give me the pouch. I put the pouch into my shirt pocket.

"I'll be back with water and transport."

He just stands there as I turn and head back to the market, with his pouch.  

-Thompson-

It takes about . . . maybe, a half an hour before I realize just how big an idiot I am? Maybe more. By the time I do realize, however, the girl is long gone.

Leaving me with no money, no transportation.

At least The Marketplace is within walking distance. Maybe I can catch up with Kathari, get my money back, rent a hovercraft . . . .

I sigh, and begin walking. 

___________________________