The Event

15.

I watched carefully as Kayne and KaRayna busied themselves in front of the monitors in her egg pod. I hadn't noticed at first with all of the commotion, but hers was at least twice the size of Kayne's and her computer systems seemed to be much more advanced.

"If we take the original images of Her Holiness, I'm sure we can use one of my programs to overlay a new message that they will trust enough to do as she asks." KaRayna was speaking fast, her voice a quick sprint of words that mostly went over my head. "I'll edit the images to change the color of her clothes and slide her part to the opposite side so it'll appear to be a new message." She said under her breath. "Once they're uncensored, then I will send a second message that will be both encrypted and in a code that only the Mundi would understand."

Kayne smiled at her as he watched her move a few pages around on the screens and start typing. "TagSpat?" He asked and she grinned too, too busy with her work to look away.

"Exactly." She agreed. "There is a chance some of the Mundi won't understand it, but we can't risk giving ourselves away either. The best plan is to make sure that the encryptions are strong enough that the other Mundi even get the messages, and then we need to get as many safely to us as we can without giving away our position or who we are."

"Thank you for doing this." I kicked my foot around in the thick dust that covered the cracked wooden boards.

I didn't bother looking at her as I spoke because I knew she was too wrapped up to look at me either. "I want to do what is right." She said dismissively. I nodded, assuming that must mean just because she is helping us, doesn't mean we're suddenly going to become friends or something now like with Kayne.

Kayne? Am I friends with him?

I shook off the bluntness of her tone and left them to their busywork. It wasn't like I understood all of their little alien banter anyway. To only further prove my point the two of them started laughing together as I went.

"So, I've been thinking," She'd said.

"That's a new feeling, isn't it?" Kayne asked her before the laughing fit.

I tuned them out once she started stammering on and on about rewiring her device to keep her other enhancements but drop the emotion stabilizing mechanism. Looks like I've been replaced as Kayne's favorite person.

"Feeling left out?" Tommy asked from the floor where he was sitting cross-legged and picking at a piece of hay. He didn't wait for my response before he patted the spot next to him and smiled up. "Welcome to my world."

My heart sank a little. "I've made you feel left out?"

He reached out and smacked my arm playfully. "Come on, Row, I'm just giving you a hard time. What kind of friend would I be if I didn't?" I tried to read his face to see if there was any hidden emotion behind the façade, but he looked genuine.

"Whatever." I mumbled, keeping back my smile. "I'm sorry if I have, you know. I don't mean to, there's just been a lot..."

"You don't have to tell me that." He snipped, his quick reaction giving away his sore feelings. "I've been going through stuff too."

I tried to hold his hand but he pulled it back, pulling up his knees and wrapping his arms around them.

"I didn't mean it like that." I sighed. "I know I was never really good at anything before all of this happened, but seems like I'm even worse now. I only ever seem to mess stuff up anymore." Just thinking of all that's happened since the world ended makes it abundantly clear that I shouldn't have been one of the few survivors. I feel like wasted space now more than ever when everyone else is doing their part to try to piece things back together and I only get into trouble.