onward. Nearby in the hanger, he saw a man not much older than him, dressed in a brown military uniform.
“Hey,” Julian said to the officer, carrying nothing but the clothes he wore. “I guess I’m a refugee.”
Chapter 7
Julian sat on the ground, huddled against a wall. He had just woken up, another blood-stained nightmare, another piece of his broken past, disturbing his sleep. He felt the side of his head, only to relinquish his hold, and notice the bleeding was gone.
Just the same memory, he thought. Pulling the blanket away, he looked around and found that nothing had changed. He was still here, inside this cold and dim storage space — his new, albeit temporary home.
The auditorium-like room had been taken over two days ago, the smell of metal freight lingering in the air. Now, more than a hundred refugees laid across it, stripped of all the daily comforts they once had and instead given a hard floor to sleep on. He felt alone in that first week on the base, just another vague figure in a mass of lost people.
The authorities in the form of flustered officers had simply directed him to where the civilian populace of Haven had been told to stay. Display screens across the base broadcasted a repeating list of where to go for certain services, such as for food or clothing. But most of the facility was still off-limits, including the medical wings, where Nalia was likely to be. He had heard nothing about what happened to her, and could only assume that she was being cared for.
Official information had been made short and concise: Haven had been invaded, but contingency plans were in place. What that entailed was left up to speculation. For now, all Haven citizens across the sector had been ordered to retreat to Bydandia, a star system the government had colonized decades ago.
Julian had found himself in a military facility located on this little moon. He did not know how many, but he saw hundreds maybe thousands of civilians crowded throughout the base’s confines. Many of the refugees had come from other star systems that had neighbored Haven and had been forced to evacuate. Now each day, more refugees came pouring in, taking up every available space the authorities could find for them.
Julian looked through the crowds and checked the public databases to see if anyone he had known from Haven had made it out alive. So far, however, there was no one. He sat in the storage room, feeling the gloom in the air.
Across from him was a large window, the sunset of the star bleeding through. The crimson sun fell back behind the rising gas giant, the white fog of its surface tinted red as the glare declined into total darkness. He sat there staring, wondering where he was going.
Next to him, empty expressions weighed on people’s faces. Parents held their children, hugging them in their arms. Then came the murmurs of doom.
Julian could hear the sudden shuffling of footsteps. Rows of people were moving toward a pair of large display screens installed across a wall in the room. He could see and listen to them whisper; some were voicing disbelief, others venting curses. Julian moved in behind them to watch what was happening.
The display screen showed footage of Haven, taken from probes left in the system. He expected to see the same view he had days ago, one of a blue world spiraling in the darkness.
It was not there. In its place was the remnants of a habitable planet, but this time surrounded by a structure stretching across its periphery. To Julian, it was like an alien skin had grown over the blue skies of Haven. Eventually, the shell would cover the entire planet as it had so many others.
“The Endervar shield,” Julian said to himself. “They’ve started building it.”
The shield: it was the greatest technology the enemy possessed, and the core reason the threat could never be vanquished. No one understood what it was made of, or how such a thing could be constructed so quickly. But once
“Hey,” Julian said to the officer, carrying nothing but the clothes he wore. “I guess I’m a refugee.”
Chapter 7
Julian sat on the ground, huddled against a wall. He had just woken up, another blood-stained nightmare, another piece of his broken past, disturbing his sleep. He felt the side of his head, only to relinquish his hold, and notice the bleeding was gone.
Just the same memory, he thought. Pulling the blanket away, he looked around and found that nothing had changed. He was still here, inside this cold and dim storage space — his new, albeit temporary home.
The auditorium-like room had been taken over two days ago, the smell of metal freight lingering in the air. Now, more than a hundred refugees laid across it, stripped of all the daily comforts they once had and instead given a hard floor to sleep on. He felt alone in that first week on the base, just another vague figure in a mass of lost people.
The authorities in the form of flustered officers had simply directed him to where the civilian populace of Haven had been told to stay. Display screens across the base broadcasted a repeating list of where to go for certain services, such as for food or clothing. But most of the facility was still off-limits, including the medical wings, where Nalia was likely to be. He had heard nothing about what happened to her, and could only assume that she was being cared for.
Official information had been made short and concise: Haven had been invaded, but contingency plans were in place. What that entailed was left up to speculation. For now, all Haven citizens across the sector had been ordered to retreat to Bydandia, a star system the government had colonized decades ago.
Julian had found himself in a military facility located on this little moon. He did not know how many, but he saw hundreds maybe thousands of civilians crowded throughout the base’s confines. Many of the refugees had come from other star systems that had neighbored Haven and had been forced to evacuate. Now each day, more refugees came pouring in, taking up every available space the authorities could find for them.
Julian looked through the crowds and checked the public databases to see if anyone he had known from Haven had made it out alive. So far, however, there was no one. He sat in the storage room, feeling the gloom in the air.
Across from him was a large window, the sunset of the star bleeding through. The crimson sun fell back behind the rising gas giant, the white fog of its surface tinted red as the glare declined into total darkness. He sat there staring, wondering where he was going.
Next to him, empty expressions weighed on people’s faces. Parents held their children, hugging them in their arms. Then came the murmurs of doom.
Julian could hear the sudden shuffling of footsteps. Rows of people were moving toward a pair of large display screens installed across a wall in the room. He could see and listen to them whisper; some were voicing disbelief, others venting curses. Julian moved in behind them to watch what was happening.
The display screen showed footage of Haven, taken from probes left in the system. He expected to see the same view he had days ago, one of a blue world spiraling in the darkness.
It was not there. In its place was the remnants of a habitable planet, but this time surrounded by a structure stretching across its periphery. To Julian, it was like an alien skin had grown over the blue skies of Haven. Eventually, the shell would cover the entire planet as it had so many others.
“The Endervar shield,” Julian said to himself. “They’ve started building it.”
The shield: it was the greatest technology the enemy possessed, and the core reason the threat could never be vanquished. No one understood what it was made of, or how such a thing could be constructed so quickly. But once
Similar Books
