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[jupite2]

chapter two ⋆ surprise

[The Presidential Suite, Haven]

OCCASIONALLY, the leaders of the floaters met to share information, discuss treaties and implement measures where necessary. These leaders were unanimously called ‘The Collective’.

The Collective once consisted of representation from Haven, the Red Star, Korra, the Citadel of Helios, Olympus, the Vanguard, Station 61, and the Kila Retreat. Now, only half of these stations remained afloat. Korra was engulfed by the Citadel of Helios during its vulnerable state of internal conflict. The Vanguard unwillingly submitted to the Red Star’s imperialistic tendencies, for the sake of steady food and oxygen supply. Station 61 depleted its supplies while enjoying a hedonistic lifestyle of gluttonous parties. Kila Retreat was overpopulated, consequently exhausting their oxygen tanks.

And thus, two stations became rocks drifting aimlessly in space with its ghost passengers.

Aloysius Crane, Mischa Bortnik, Naomi Ren, and Karl Neumann sat at the wooden round table. At Haven’s Presidential Suite, only Crane’s physical body could be found sitting to warm up one of the meticulously carpentered mahogany chairs. The rest, who were attending, were mere holograms projected in real time.

“I have called for this meeting today, in final resort, as it has come to my attention that Haven has exceeded its capacity limits,” Crane announced. His expression was intense, reflecting the urgency of the situation. “It is critical that Haven receives aid immediately. We have less than six months if we go on like this.”

Crane’s hair was unkempt and his eyes neared bloodshot. His mustache also appeared to outgrow its shape.

Bortnik scoffs, “why should any of us lend an arm to Haven, President Crane?”

“Innocent lives are at stake here,” Crane gritted his teeth at the moving image of the pale, well-built man with sharp, unsettling blue eyes.

“Hypothetically, by supplementing tanks to Haven, President Crane, don’t you think there may be a possible contingency of the Red Star’s own citizens facing struggle? Keeping headcount is difficult, especially given our innate instincts to breed. Have you not thought about families hiding illegitimate children under their floorboards? Considering your applaudable diplomatic strategies, I assumed Haven to be more intelligent and prepared in these affairs,” Bortnik mocked.

To preserve order around the round table, a frail woman, smartly dressed in cerulean, interjected to stop the men’s squabble.

“The Citadel maintains its appreciation for the gift of wheat provided by Haven in the past,” Ren spoke in a composed manner, her face unreadable in terms of sincerity. “However, it is unfortunate that we will not be able to provide any aid in this matter as we ourselves are on the brink of meeting critical oxygen conditions.”

Crane sighed, shaking his head. “How about Olympus?” He asked sternly, desperately looking at the young man sat furthest from him.

“We do have an allowance of tanks to spare,” Neumann responded.

“But?” Crane’s eyebrows furrowed as he interrogated him.

“Olympus would like to propose a tit for tat,” Neumann suggested confidently. He was the newly elected Governor of Olympus and the youngest leader in the Collective. His eyes were bright, full of hope and fresh ideas. Something the rest of them grew to lack in the course of time.

Crane sighed again, some relief releasing from his tense shoulders. He pursed his uncalloused hands together before he spoke again, “What did you have in mind?”

All eyes were on the lively young man, anticipating his proposition to Haven.

“Protection,” Neumann stated. “Olympus requests Haven to provide five of its best guards, alongside ammunition, in exchange for 3 per cent of our oxygen supply.”

Crane was astonished, unable to speak as he continued to process Neumann’s offer. Ren remained silent, her angular face still expressionless; Bortnik chuckled richly to belittle Neumann.

“In the meantime, if you can, I recommend you locate your leeches and exterminate them.” Neumann advised, his coldness provoking a reaction from Crane. Under the table, Crane’s fingers tightly dug into his knees.

“I accept your deal, Neumann. Thank you.” Crane’s chair creaked, dragging against the metal flooring as he got up to shake his hand with Neumann. “The people of Haven thanks Olympus for its generosity.” His tone exuded an effort to maintain calm and collected.

[Hallway 49, Haven]

Emmeline continued to make her way back to her residence hall. She hummed a small tune that was stuck in her head from morning, possibly when she was eating breakfast with the radio switched on. Unexpectedly, she came across a line of people that snaked around the hallway and into Med Bay. A friend caught her eye.

“Lucas, what’s going on?” Emmeline asked curiously.

“This.” Lucas rolled up his sleeve and presented his arm. There was a bluish-red, lace like pattern on his slightly pruned skin.

“What the hell is that?” Emmeline blurted out, slightly disgusted.

“I don’t know. That’s why I’m here aren’t I?” Lucas retorted flippantly.

“Does everyone in this line have those same things on their skin?” She whispered, her eyes expressing concern.

“Seems like it,” he replied.

Emmeline nodded, “Let me go ask my mom. Give me a sec.”

She beelined to the inside of Med Bay, squeezing around the many, fractious patients getting checked up by the limited healing hands of Haven.

She finally caught her mother who was examining a young boy.

“Hi Emmeline.” The boy waved at her.

“Hi Percy.” Emmeline greeted back in a friendly manner.

Her eyes quickly focused back onto her mother, gently grabbing her by her wrist.

“Can we talk? What’s going on?” She whispered.

Magnolia Chung pulled her daughter aside into a large closet. They were surrounded by pharmaceuticals and other medical supplies.

Magnolia quickly pulled up Emmeline’s sleeves in urgency.

“What are you?- Mom, I don’t have the weird marks.” Emmeline assured, her pale forearms possessing no markings of sort.

Magnolia let go of her daughter’s arms and drew a breath of relief.

“Hypoxia,” she said quietly, looking at Emmeline with all seriousness. “Their skin looks like that because there’s not enough oxygen in the station.”

Emmeline’s eyes widened.

“What do you mean there’s not enough oxygen?” She scoffed, declaring absurdity.

“I can’t tell you why, but there isn’t.” Magnolia stated.

“President Crane is working on something right?” Emmeline asked anxiously, looking into her mother’s eyes for an answer, “we won’t be another Kila Retreat..?”

Her mother nodded.

“Crane is talking with the rest of the Collective.” Magnolia explained, trying to calm Emmeline, “optimistically, we’ll receive more oxygen tanks from one of the other floats.”

“If we don’t?” Emmeline looked at her mother intensely.

“We’ll all die.”

Emmeline bursted out in manic laughter. She was in disbelief.

Magnolia sighed at her daughter.

“Don’t run your mouth, Emmeline,” Magnolia ordered. “We don’t want panic and we don't want it to fizzle into chaos.”

She then put her hands on Emmeline’s shoulders, pulling her in to leave a kiss on her forehead.

“Percy is waiting for you,” Emmeline reminds.

Magnolia nods, heading back to the main room.

Emmeline sighed in the closet, feeling helpless. She could do nothing, but hope for the best.

The line appeared to shorten at a very tedious pace. Once she returned to the hallways, she noticed that she caught Lucas’ eyes. Emmeline swiftly turned around, pretending to not have seen him.

“Mel!- What happened?- MEL!” He yelled, remaining in the queue.

Emmeline continued towards her living quarters. She felt bad about ignoring Lucas and she also felt weird thinking about dying. With heavy thoughts occupying her mind, her steps was almost automated.

“Ow!” Emmeline winced.

A little girl with blonde hair glared at her with her chocolate brown, round, bug-like eyes before hurriedly running past.

“You’re not even gonna say sorry?” Emmeline shouted, still rubbing her sore arm from the collision.

She had never seen this little girl before. However, while Emmeline believed that she knew the faces of every resident in Haven, she thought very little of this encounter. She was distracted by the possible dire fate of Haven. Also, she was busy thinking about preparing Kai’s gift.

Emmeline lowered herself onto her uncomfortable, yet familiar metal chair in her room.

Residences in Haven were heavily inspired by Scandinavian holding cells for their size and practicality. There was a sink, a single bed, a table of productive length, shelves above the table, and two lamps — one illuminating the bed and one under the shelf, shining on the table. And the metal chair, of course. It lacked the wooden, natural aesthetic of the Scandinavian holding cells and in contrast, was completely constructed by dull metal. There were no windows to look out of, apparently for the safety of the station and its inhabitants.

Her busy hands placed a tin lunch-box on the table, next to the bunch of strawberries resting in the cotton bag. Emmeline then pulled out a switch blade from her drawer and rinsed it under the sink. A reflection of light danced on her walls as the blade trimmed the plump strawberries under the lamp. She selectively aligned healthy strawberries, their green calyces absent, neatly into the lunchbox. A smile formed on her face as she admired her handiwork. Its complimentary metal lid was pressed shut onto the lunch-box. She took it in her hands as she got up to leave her room.

Emmeline lightly skipped through the hallways once again, humming the same lingering tune. Soon, she arrived at the budding mechanics’ residential hall. She proudly stood in front of Kai’s door with her well-thought out gift.

Knock.

Knock.

Knock.

There was no response.

A disappointed frown started to form, most distinctively in between her eyebrows.

He was supposed to be in.

Knock.

Knock.

Knock.

“Kai?” Emmeline called out.

A door swung open. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the one she had been staring at for the past two minutes. It was Kai’s neighbor’s, Valerie Braun’s.

Emmeline’s eyes widened as she saw Kai emerge from Valerie’s room.

“Mel-,“ Kai called her nervously. He looked like a puppy caught doing wrong by his owner. His hair was messy and his clothes seemed to have been put on in a rush. His shirt was crinkled and buttoned wrong. The fly on his trousers were unzipped and he had no shoes on.

Emmeline was quick to catch on.

She pushed past him and halted at the entrance of Valerie’s room.

Valerie appeared uneasy and embarrassed at the sight of Emmeline. Her hands desperately tugged at her bedsheets to cover, presumably, her unclothed body.

Emmeline clenched her jaw.

Kai quickly stood in between them, his back towards Valerie, as if protecting her. Emmeline’s eyebrows furrowed, betrayed all the more by his behavior.

“Mel, I’m sorry-“ He apologised.

“No, you’re not.” Emmeline spat, her cheeks warming in anger.

“Mel-“

“If you were sorry, you wouldn’t have stepped foot in her room. We wouldn’t be standing here right now.” Emmeline spoke bitterly, holding back the vain tears assembling in her eyes, “was I not…enough for you?”

Before he could answer, she declared in an instant, “Have a good life, Kai. We’re done.”

Tightening her grip onto the metal lunch-box, now meaningless, she walked away lifelessly into the hallways. Two years of caring, supporting, and loving had gone down the drain. Like a moth drawn into flame, a simple misdemeanor ended and ruined everything. What was the point of all this?

Kai sighed, looking apologetically at Valerie. He didn’t go after Emmeline.

He didn’t need to.

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[jupite2]

chapter one ⋆ chase

YEAR 2108.

[Hallway 47, Haven]

HASTILY, rugged military boots stroke down against the open steel flooring. Loud and heavy thumping echoed through the brightly lit, metal hallways, accompanied by buzzing vibrations and hissing pipes.

Running, was a young lady — Emmeline Chung. Her long, black ponytail danced behind her, reflecting the thrill and adrenaline of committing a innocuous crime. Her playful lips grinned from ear to ear as she ran determined, narrowly escaping her arrest by the two guards who strenuously chased behind her.

Assuming a safe distance after turning corner after corner, she finally slowed down and steadily rested her right hand on the metal wall, panting like a small dog on a hot summer’s day.

All the hallways of this station looked identical. The walls made mechanical sounds  of tireless whispering and whizzing all day, all throughout. Without the plastered signs indicating which direction to go, a stranger in Haven would indefinitely get lost in its silver labyrinth. Unnatural, intense white lighting exposed the hallways completely, sharply flowing from the the long cylinder lamps that were drilled horizontally into the walls of each section. The walls were cold and smooth, an installation of bolted panels making a hollow, low pitched gurgle when knocked.

“Please don’t tell me you snuck into hydroponics again.”

The annoyed voice belonged to Cory Hansen, who suddenly appeared on Emmeline’s left.

This young man, with somewhat slicked back hair, had a fed up look in his dirt-colored eyes. He was dressed in a dark navy uniform, a guard’s badge on his left chest, and the crest of Haven sitting on his left upper sleeve. A walkie-talkie hung reliably on his belt, alongside a taser and a ring of few keys. Below, he wore boring, black, work trousers and black military boots, which looked similar to Emmeline’s.

Emmeline’s chest tightened as if she had been caught. She swiftly turned herself to face the owner of the voice, no longer needing to support herself with the wall. Immediately recognizing his serious, softly chiseled, chin dimpled face, she let out a sigh of relief, her hand now clasping over her chest.

“Jesus, Cory, you scared me,” she complained.

Cory rolled his almond eyes and huffed, “so what did you nick this time?”

He crossed his arms, causing his biceps to slightly stretch out the sleeves of his uniform.

“For your information, every trip I have made prior to this was to put my helpful green thumb to use-"

“What did you steal, Mel?” Cory asked sternly, stopping her from rambling on.

Emmeline sighed before reluctantly rummaging inside her forest green, sack-looking, drawstring bag that hung weightily across her body. She eventually pulled out a thin, ivory, cotton pouch. The pouch drooped slightly at its bottom as Emmeline held it by the neck. Appearing somewhat dense, weak-reddish patches also leaked through the pouch.

 Cory leaned in suspiciously to take a closer look.

She finally undid the string that tied the pouch shut, and inside, Cory saw a bunch of harmless strawberries that were crowded together.

His face was now relaxed, revealing a more gentle countenance. He glanced at Emmeline, curiously looking at her, as if asking how she got her hands on these scarce items.

The hydroponics department harvested crops to feed the mouths of the station. At Haven, this included onions, peas, radishes, lettuce, wheat, garlic, cucumbers, potatoes, parsley and dill. Very rarely, on special occasions, did they grow fruit.

“Are those- strawberries?” Cory asked.

“Yeah,” Emmeline proudly replies with a smile, quickly tying up the pouch and gently dropping it back into her forest green bag. She then pulled the drawstrings of her bag, securing her goods.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

The guards’ heavy footsteps returned, their thuds growing nearer by the second. 

Right, she was amidst a chase.

“Shit.” Emmeline cursed, instantaneously peeking behind the corner and witnessing the two guards as they walked through the end of that hallway.

While she saw them, that didn’t mean that they saw her.

She decided to make a run for it.

“Wait,” Cory grabbed her lightly by her arm. 

Emmeline furrowed her eyebrows at Cory, unamused.

“No time,” she impatiently replied, pulling her arm out from Cory’s grasp and grabbing his arm instead. She dragged him straight through the hallway behind him.

“They’re over there!” The guards exclaimed, hearing Emmeline and Cory’s stomping, and quickening their pace.

As she ran, Emmeline saw a nearby door up front. She darted towards it with the intention to hide, Cory unwillingly following behind her. She opened the door at once, hopping inside and pulling Cory in. She then quietly closed the door, causing a small click.

The room was dark and stuffy. She could almost feel Cory’s breath hitting her head.

Recalling a pull-string for the light on the way in, she noticed a bead moving in the dark. She yanked it, uncovering the layer of dust that fell on the two of them. Her eyes twitched at the sudden brightness of the room, disarming her, and simultaneously her nose was tickled by the fine particles.

“AH-”

As she was about to sneeze, Cory jolted in alarm, eyes widened, and mouthed “no-.” Instinctively, he covered the bottom half of her face tightly with his calloused hands.

He muffled her sneeze successfully.

The two of them stay frozen in this position, Emmeline doe-eyed, in surprise.

The guards outside seemed to have neither noticed nor heard anything. They heedlessly scurried past their hiding spot.

As their authoritative footsteps faded, Cory loosened his hold. At this opportunity, Emmeline pushed his hand away, dramatically breathing in, then subsequently coughing hysterically into her hands due to the dust bunnies.

Paying attention to his current surroundings, Cory realized that they were standing in a janitor’s closet. It was compact, but still shared the same metallic interior as the hallways. The two of them were barely standing an arms length away, facing each other.

As her coughing fit ended, Emmeline casually closed her eyes and tiredly leaned back on the shelf behind her. The shelf, around Cory’s height, appeared feeble, housing very few cleaning products. It rumbled and creaked at Emmeline’s pressure. Flustered by its instability, Emmeline immediately withdrew her weight and turned her head around, startled. However, the shelf rocked back and forth, finally tilting towards the two. Watching the fall, Emmeline automatically shut her eyes in fear of getting hit. She crouched down with her hands above her head.

Thanks to his fast reflexes, Cory halted the shelf from crashing onto them. His masculine hands gripped tightly on the top ends of the shelf. Some cleaning sprays fell to the ground, but Emmeline was safe.

After stabilizing the shelf, Cory let out a tired sigh. Emmeline reopened her eyes and stood back up. She was slightly embarrassed. She then looked into Cory’s eyes, in anticipation of some nagging.

“Don’t try anything else. Stand straight,” Cory ordered, “You’re still so clumsy.”

“Sorry,” Emmeline whispered, an apologetic look on her face before glancing down at her boots.

Cory sighed again, “so what’s with the strawberries?”

She looked back up at Cory to reply.

“They’re for Kai,” she said softly.

Cory nodded nonchalantly.

Kai was Emmeline’s boyfriend. He was taller than Cory and a year younger than Emmeline. He had black hair, thick eyebrows, and hazel eyes like hers. He was en route to becoming an engineer. She liked how they had different interests. Kai liked to build tangible things, while Emmeline liked to think. He wasn’t really friends with Cory, but they knew of each other— all the kids in the station knew of each other, there were only so many of them.

Also, it was Kai’s birthday tomorrow.

“So you’re gonna let me go?” Emmeline asked nicely.

Cory stared at Emmeline, examining her current disheveled look. Her ponytail was loose, her fringe messily framed her face, and her cheeks were reddened from exertion. Yet her round eyes were still full of life and determination. He let out a scoff.

“What?” Emmeline questioned his behavior.

“Nothing. You can go. But promise me you’ll start staying out of trouble,” Cory stated, “I can’t keep turning a blind eye for you. It’s my job, for God’s sake, to catch miscreants like you.”

Emmeline chuckles, mistaking his tone to be banter, “stop being such a hard-ass, you were a miscreant like me.”

“Well I’m not. Anymore,” Cory said in all seriousness.

Emmeline’s smile fell as she nodded quietly.

“How did your uh- exams go?” Cory asked, regretting the tension he manifested and quickly wanting to change the subject. His hands were now resting in his pockets as he leaned on the wall.

A small grin reappeared on Emmeline’s lips, “I passed them. I get sworn in a few months, then I’ll become a government dog like you.”

Cory laughed, shaking his head, “You? A government dog? I thought you wanted to make change happen in this place-“

“I do! I still do, but I definitely need to blend in, before sneaking up on them with my ridiculous proposes.”

“They’re not ridiculous.” Cory stated.

A silence fell between them as Emmeline tried to read his eyes, wondering if he really meant it. She unexpectedly scoffed, rolling her eyes coolly. A smile was still plastered on her face.

“Thanks.”

Cory’s left hand rustled in his pocket, pulling it out to peek at his watch. Observing him look at the time, Emmeline decided it was time to leave. She carefully pushed down on the handle of the door, creating a sliver of an opening. 

Her brown eyes peered as thoroughly as they could through this small gap, making sure there were no passersby.

“I think the coast is clear.” Cory muttered, pushing the door wider and gesturing Emmeline to move.

She walked through the door back into the well-lit hallways. Cory followed behind her. Outside, they faced each other again, Cory opening his mouth to speak.

“You should get going,” he said.

There was a pause before he spoke again.

“And stop getting yourself into trouble.”

In response, Emmeline flashed a radiant smile at him before childishly sticking her tongue out at him. She then turned around in an instant and ran off, disappearing into the hallways. Cory sighed and shook his head. Accustomed to her cheeky tendencies, however, a smirk lingered on his lips.

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[jupite2]

prologue

Ignoring isn't the same as ignorance, you have to work at it. — Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale (1985)

2026 was indeed a terrible year for the homo sapiens. The tragic assortment of global issues were actualized — overpopulation, over-depletion of resources, and the aggravation of climate change — creating irrepressible chaos. But they didn’t care. Wicked and selfish. Arrogant and conceited; Hobbes would have laughed terribly until he cried, observing the calamity unfolding in his vivarium in present time.

Affluent countries, those wealthy enough to breed and equip intelligent minds, had prepared vigorously for this catastrophe. They sent seven stations up in space. Each possessed unique code names created by their individual governments, but collectively we called them ‘floaters’ or ‘floats’. The countries adopted a lottery system in deciding who could inhabit these stations. But what was the point? It was pay-to-participate and they only chose three families from each occupations that were held to be ‘noble pursuits’. This included the fields of medicine, law, business, and engineering. The rest of the inhabitants were the powerful. Yet, not even they could completely veil themselves from the law. Within a family, only three could be eligible for the lottery — naturally, this would be two parents and a child. This was in consideration of the weight and carbon dioxide capacity of the stations.

All this noise inherently marked the end of humanity on Earth. Pity the lives of other unfortunate Earthlings that had no choice but to co-exist with them.

Once they flew out the Founding Families, the governments on the ground dissolved and the anarchists took over. We sat and watched the wasteland that formed beneath us.

Life on a floater wasn’t so bad. At least we were alive.

But what does a guinea pig know about the world beyond its cage?