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Description
She was in one of those dreams again. The ones she loved so much- except right now she didn’t know it was a dream and for all she cared it could be reality. Renee was nine again, laying on the playground and facing the sky. Kindle was laying on his back beside her, tail wagging comfortably. He smiled a little and pointed at the clouds. “That one looks like my dad.”
“You think they all look like your dad.” She giggled. Garth was such a nice man. She kind of envied Kindle for his father, not that hers wasn’t cool. He was just… clumsy. The boy sat up on his haunches, making a mess of the tall grass and getting little blades of it in his fur. Across the playground the norm was going on- Jonah trying to con some kid out of a unibuck by doing a magic quarter trick, Alexia coming up with some plan to get rich off of the little bits of coal she found in the soil, and the Gummers harassing anyone that crossed their path.
“So what? It does look like him.” Kindle pointed out the cloud again. Renee glanced up at it and, gasping, realized it DID bear an uncanny resemblance to her friend’s dad. Garth actually seemed to be standing in the sky. He looked down, smiling, and waved before dissipating into a cloud of smog. “See?”
“If that isn’t insane,” Renee looked at the sky. “I don’t know what is.”
“What about this!” Jonah popped up behind her. He held up a small wild onion that he had picked off the yard. With a flourish it disappeared. He went to bow and the onion slipped out of his sleeve.
“It’s funny, but not insane.” Renee laughed. Kindle looked at Jonah with a little jealousy. He grinned darkly at her. Smiling, Renee stood up.
Kindle grabbed her by the foot. “Don’t get up, Renee. Stay right here.”
“Make me.” Renee laughed. His grip tightened, claws threatening to cut into her ankle. She looked down at him and frowned. “Let me go. Seriously.”
“I told you not to leave.” He growled. Jonah ran away, smiling, like it was a joke.
“Jonah?” Renee tried to get out of Kindle’s grip. She tripped and fell into the dirt. “Jonah, make him let me go! Somebody!” She rolled over painfully and saw that it was no longer Kindle holding onto her but the energy vampire. “Somebody make him let me go!!” She shrieked.
~~~~~~~
There was a short crackle and a small flash of light as something in the room blew a fuse. Alan rolled over and looked at Renee. She was sitting up in her bunk. There was a short, pained grimace on her face. Her right eye was panicked. She shuddered for a second and relaxed. It was only a dream; an unsavory dream, but less than a nightmare.
She pressed a paw against her left temple apprehensively. Gently the girl traced the pink scars to her bionic eye. Renee shuddered again and looked at her dad, who was staring at her worriedly. “Um, dad, it shorted out again.”
“I kind of figured.” He propped himself up on his elbows. Her eye had been giving them trouble lately, shorting out and electrocuting her often and without warning. The chocolate brown fur on his bare back glowed silkily in the starlight. His eyes shown faintly in the dark, hauntingly green like his daughter’s. He rolled out of bed and went to see what he could do. Alan may have been bad with his hands when it came to nearly everything, but he could work mechanical magic. “Did it electrocute you this time?”
“Just a little. Enough to wake me up.” She gave him a reassuring smile. They were on Star Command for the summer, in his dorm. Right now it was- Renee checked her watch- three forty-five in the morning. The space station’s temperature went down at night and she hugged her blanket tight around her. The thin tank top she had on wasn’t doing much for preserving body heat. Her dad seemed okay in only his Star Command issue pajama pants though, and that was weird. Zephyr had an average temperature of between ninety and ninety-five degrees and was humid. With no oceans, it was a gigantic rainforest. The only reason Zephyrites had fur was to keep the pests and parasites off.
He took the cover off of her eye and looked into the machinery dejectedly. “It’s just a blown fuse. We might need to replace this thing if it does it again.” He tinkered with the busted fuse for a second. The teenager shifted slightly, still unused to and uncomfortable with people reaching into her head to fiddle with that darned cybernetic eye.
There was a short pang of pain in her eye, rejecting the idea. “Will we be able to keep the operating chip?” Renee touched her temple again, wishing that the stupid spark would go away. It was neither a blessing nor a curse that Nos-4-a2 had done whatever it was that he did to her that evening two years ago. She looked back, sort of pleased with the memory, to the day that she had gotten out of the hospital and he had put her under his control. She shook off the feeling and looked at her dad for an answer.
“We can keep it.” Her father nodded. “We’d only have to replace that if the whole eye blew out or something.”
Renee smiled gratefully. “Good.” For some reason that Alan could not understand his daughter always got worried about that chip when he needed to fix something about the eye, which was becoming more and more often.
He patted her lovingly on the shoulder. “Kitten, I’m sure you’ll be okay if we replace it. For now it’s uncertain if we have to, though.” He yawned. “Alright, it’s late, I’ll fix the fuse tomorrow but we need our sleep. Or at least I do.”
“More training tomorrow?” She was surprised at how much training was required to apply as a researcher. He had signed up in the late spring as soon as school got out for Renee. It was nearly August now.
“Yep, I have to go through the obstacle course. You wouldn’t believe how many times I got caught in that thing with Ty eighteen years ago.” He stood up and went back to bed, snickering. “I remember once we sat in there for three hours before somebody remembered we were trapped.”
Renee laid back on the cot and stared up at the ceiling with her good eye, thinking about all the time that had passed. She was seventeen now, and getting a much better idea of what the world treated people such as her like. She would be a senior in high school next year, and then go on to college. Her mom and dad were always pestering her about what she was going to do for a living. They were always given the same answer: machinist. That wasn’t exactly right, though. She wanted to do black- market robot repairs on trade world. It was dangerous and against the law, two things she a grown a very definite taste for.
Being on Star Command didn’t help that plan any, though. In the winter after she turned sixteen the war between Zephyr and Cryos had ended and peace was, for the most part, restored. Renee was glad to move back to Zephyr because of Mrs. Andromeda, Kindle’s mother. She lost most of her family that summer and decided to blame Renee, who was practically her niece, for her son’s death. She constantly harassed the girl about it after she was decided not guilty for both crimes- aiding a universally feared villain in attempted kidnapping and murder and the murder of Kindle Andromeda. Both were ruled as self-defense.
Even if Renee was free from her neighbor’s terror the girl had a lasting feeling of regret. Kindle had been one of her childhood friends. And Ty was a pretty nice guy, when he wasn’t being annoyed by buzz. She had decided quickly that he hadn’t deserved what Nos was planning for him. Whenever she thought about it, though, that little bit of will that he had left within her began working. Whether he could feel it or not she got that reminder that she was supposed to hate Ty Parsec nearly every day, expressed in a short but painful and commanding shock along with the message ‘You know better, little one.’. She shoved it away most of the time now, ignoring what the energy vampire wanted her to feel.
Renee smiled at the ceiling calmly. She was pretty pleased here on Star Command, for the moment. She may have been stuck with Lightyear, and, worse, XR, but she would live. There were other people she got along with well enough to make it worthwhile. At least it was better than staying at home. Alan would have always been gone because of training, leaving her alone. Ginger wasn’t home enough because of business to ever really count. Thinking of this, the girl finally drifted off to sleep again for what little time she had left in the night.

Description
She was in one of those dreams again. The ones she loved so much- except right now she didn’t know it was a dream and for all she cared it could be reality. Renee was nine again, laying on the playground and facing the sky. Kindle was laying on his back beside her, tail wagging comfortably. He smiled a little and pointed at the clouds. “That one looks like my dad.”
“You think they all look like your dad.” She giggled. Garth was such a nice man. She kind of envied Kindle for his father, not that hers wasn’t cool. He was just… clumsy. The boy sat up on his haunches, making a mess of the tall grass and getting little blades of it in his fur. Across the playground the norm was going on- Jonah trying to con some kid out of a unibuck by doing a magic quarter trick, Alexia coming up with some plan to get rich off of the little bits of coal she found in the soil, and the Gummers harassing anyone that crossed their path.
“So what? It does look like him.” Kindle pointed out the cloud again. Renee glanced up at it and, gasping, realized it DID bear an uncanny resemblance to her friend’s dad. Garth actually seemed to be standing in the sky. He looked down, smiling, and waved before dissipating into a cloud of smog. “See?”
“If that isn’t insane,” Renee looked at the sky. “I don’t know what is.”
“What about this!” Jonah popped up behind her. He held up a small wild onion that he had picked off the yard. With a flourish it disappeared. He went to bow and the onion slipped out of his sleeve.
“It’s funny, but not insane.” Renee laughed. Kindle looked at Jonah with a little jealousy. He grinned darkly at her. Smiling, Renee stood up.
Kindle grabbed her by the foot. “Don’t get up, Renee. Stay right here.”
“Make me.” Renee laughed. His grip tightened, claws threatening to cut into her ankle. She looked down at him and frowned. “Let me go. Seriously.”
“I told you not to leave.” He growled. Jonah ran away, smiling, like it was a joke.
“Jonah?” Renee tried to get out of Kindle’s grip. She tripped and fell into the dirt. “Jonah, make him let me go! Somebody!” She rolled over painfully and saw that it was no longer Kindle holding onto her but the energy vampire. “Somebody make him let me go!!” She shrieked.
~~~~~~~
There was a short crackle and a small flash of light as something in the room blew a fuse. Alan rolled over and looked at Renee. She was sitting up in her bunk. There was a short, pained grimace on her face. Her right eye was panicked. She shuddered for a second and relaxed. It was only a dream; an unsavory dream, but less than a nightmare.
She pressed a paw against her left temple apprehensively. Gently the girl traced the pink scars to her bionic eye. Renee shuddered again and looked at her dad, who was staring at her worriedly. “Um, dad, it shorted out again.”
“I kind of figured.” He propped himself up on his elbows. Her eye had been giving them trouble lately, shorting out and electrocuting her often and without warning. The chocolate brown fur on his bare back glowed silkily in the starlight. His eyes shown faintly in the dark, hauntingly green like his daughter’s. He rolled out of bed and went to see what he could do. Alan may have been bad with his hands when it came to nearly everything, but he could work mechanical magic. “Did it electrocute you this time?”
“Just a little. Enough to wake me up.” She gave him a reassuring smile. They were on Star Command for the summer, in his dorm. Right now it was- Renee checked her watch- three forty-five in the morning. The space station’s temperature went down at night and she hugged her blanket tight around her. The thin tank top she had on wasn’t doing much for preserving body heat. Her dad seemed okay in only his Star Command issue pajama pants though, and that was weird. Zephyr had an average temperature of between ninety and ninety-five degrees and was humid. With no oceans, it was a gigantic rainforest. The only reason Zephyrites had fur was to keep the pests and parasites off.
He took the cover off of her eye and looked into the machinery dejectedly. “It’s just a blown fuse. We might need to replace this thing if it does it again.” He tinkered with the busted fuse for a second. The teenager shifted slightly, still unused to and uncomfortable with people reaching into her head to fiddle with that darned cybernetic eye.
There was a short pang of pain in her eye, rejecting the idea. “Will we be able to keep the operating chip?” Renee touched her temple again, wishing that the stupid spark would go away. It was neither a blessing nor a curse that Nos-4-a2 had done whatever it was that he did to her that evening two years ago. She looked back, sort of pleased with the memory, to the day that she had gotten out of the hospital and he had put her under his control. She shook off the feeling and looked at her dad for an answer.
“We can keep it.” Her father nodded. “We’d only have to replace that if the whole eye blew out or something.”
Renee smiled gratefully. “Good.” For some reason that Alan could not understand his daughter always got worried about that chip when he needed to fix something about the eye, which was becoming more and more often.
He patted her lovingly on the shoulder. “Kitten, I’m sure you’ll be okay if we replace it. For now it’s uncertain if we have to, though.” He yawned. “Alright, it’s late, I’ll fix the fuse tomorrow but we need our sleep. Or at least I do.”
“More training tomorrow?” She was surprised at how much training was required to apply as a researcher. He had signed up in the late spring as soon as school got out for Renee. It was nearly August now.
“Yep, I have to go through the obstacle course. You wouldn’t believe how many times I got caught in that thing with Ty eighteen years ago.” He stood up and went back to bed, snickering. “I remember once we sat in there for three hours before somebody remembered we were trapped.”
Renee laid back on the cot and stared up at the ceiling with her good eye, thinking about all the time that had passed. She was seventeen now, and getting a much better idea of what the world treated people such as her like. She would be a senior in high school next year, and then go on to college. Her mom and dad were always pestering her about what she was going to do for a living. They were always given the same answer: machinist. That wasn’t exactly right, though. She wanted to do black- market robot repairs on trade world. It was dangerous and against the law, two things she a grown a very definite taste for.
Being on Star Command didn’t help that plan any, though. In the winter after she turned sixteen the war between Zephyr and Cryos had ended and peace was, for the most part, restored. Renee was glad to move back to Zephyr because of Mrs. Andromeda, Kindle’s mother. She lost most of her family that summer and decided to blame Renee, who was practically her niece, for her son’s death. She constantly harassed the girl about it after she was decided not guilty for both crimes- aiding a universally feared villain in attempted kidnapping and murder and the murder of Kindle Andromeda. Both were ruled as self-defense.
Even if Renee was free from her neighbor’s terror the girl had a lasting feeling of regret. Kindle had been one of her childhood friends. And Ty was a pretty nice guy, when he wasn’t being annoyed by buzz. She had decided quickly that he hadn’t deserved what Nos was planning for him. Whenever she thought about it, though, that little bit of will that he had left within her began working. Whether he could feel it or not she got that reminder that she was supposed to hate Ty Parsec nearly every day, expressed in a short but painful and commanding shock along with the message ‘You know better, little one.’. She shoved it away most of the time now, ignoring what the energy vampire wanted her to feel.
Renee smiled at the ceiling calmly. She was pretty pleased here on Star Command, for the moment. She may have been stuck with Lightyear, and, worse, XR, but she would live. There were other people she got along with well enough to make it worthwhile. At least it was better than staying at home. Alan would have always been gone because of training, leaving her alone. Ginger wasn’t home enough because of business to ever really count. Thinking of this, the girl finally drifted off to sleep again for what little time she had left in the night.