Ayumi was sure that if she closed her eyes tightly enough, she could imagine that she was doing her regular nighttime scan and not helping a Rebel get into the Center. Still, it didn’t help that Artemis just had her jam her gun into one of the pockets of the civilian pants. The young woman followed Apollo on her recovered airsurfer as they climbed towards one of the Cities and over the wall. Stopping so they could get oriented, the Rebel whispered, “You’re taking this a little too well. What’s with that?”

“We’re trained at a young age to view everything in an analytical and calm manner,” Ayumi replied, taking the lead. Hoping she wouldn’t be spotted by a Night Worker, she took the other woman through the streets, past the stage. The blood had already been removed, showing no sign that anything happened. She wondered if anyone would remember the massacre after a few years; it was eerie in a certain light.

Finally, they had made it to a large, threatening building. Ayumi opened the door for her partner, whispering, “I’ve never seen the file room, but I know where it is. If there really is any of your apparent evidence, it’ll be there.” Apollo nodded, hid her sailing board and the airsurfer, and stepped through. The pair felt their way through the dark hallways, only making noises when it was absolutely inevitable. At last, they reached a door with light around the edges and turned the knob.

The boiling room was large enough to fit hundreds of apartments inside and reeked of something burning. The front was filled with enormous boilers attached to pipes wires and machines of all sorts, but neither woman could see in the back. They hid as a group of people in gas masks slowly walked towards the machinery dragging carts; Ayumi tried valiantly not to scream when she saw what they were bringing. The bodies of some of the Talented were heaped together like a pile of garbage. The masked people opened each of the boilers and tossed them in carelessly.

“Ayumi, member of Guard Squad number 24601. Here we thought you’d died to protect us. How ironic,” a voice stated. Ayumi and Apollo swerved around to see a middle-aged man in a lab coat holding a laptop with a Skinscanner attached. Typing into the laptop, he stated absent-mindedly, “I suppose you want to know what’s going on.” He looked up, and the duo nodded quickly, too shocked to speak.

“Don’t be so frightened. All that’s going on here is a little energy renewal. You see, hundreds of years ago, we ran out of the necessary fuel. It just so happened at that time, we were shown a new process to replace those crude methods of the past,” he declared calmly, almost casually, motioning towards the thinning pile of corpses. “The Talented continue to help the community and God, for those with a larger muscle mass provide the energy we need while the intelligent Talented make sure everything continues to work properly.

“It really isn’t anything to worry about, Miss Ayumi. Now, why don’t we leave this place and discuss your return, I promise that it won’t be too hard. I just hope you understand that you can’t mention any of this. If you want, we can accept you friend here and bring God into her life—“

“What God?” Ayumi whispered. Then, without really thinking, she whipped her stun gun out and fired at the man. The woman grabbed Apollo’s wrist and dragged her over the incapacitated body, ignoring the ensuing sirens. The pair crashed through the hallways until they were back outside. Snatching their respective vehicles, they sped past the buildings and back over the wall.

Neither one spoke the entire trip, although this partially due to an inability to be heard in the roaring wind. Ayumi was still in a trance, so she just followed Apollo back to Earf. She couldn’t help but wonder what would happen to her next. She certainly couldn’t just go back to the way things were; she doubted she could just act normal when such atrocities were being committed. Besides, with the now ex-guards recent reaction probably sealed her fate. Still, why did that man think she would return?

“Perhaps I’ll just rest and work from there,” the young woman thought, “Maybe the Rebels will take me.” Could she even consider them Rebels anymore, though?

When they landed, the first thing Ayumi did was to bend over vomiting all over the groun over the course of several minutes. Apollo waited patiently for her to finish before murmuring gently, “Hey, it’s Ayumi, right? Look, I’m sorry. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have, I mean… yeah…” The ex-Guard wiped her mouth.

“No, it’s better I learned this way,” she replied blankly. “If it’s any consolation, it looks like you won.” Apollo looked ready to say something, but she cut her off. “If you want to help, distract me. Tell me more about those families you mentioned before. Or tell me about the flowers, or what a sister is.”

The Rebel smiled faintly and rubbed the other’s back. “Well, the woman who gave birth to a child was called a mother. If a girl came from the same mother as you, she was your sister…”