The Moon Fortress

Chapter 8: What Lies Beneath the Sands

Kara was flying over a green scenery, so unlike her home planet, so otherworldly. The rush of wind pulled her hair backwards as she dived over a magnificent blue lake and felt exhilarated. Kara saw a

That was when she noticed the sun was glowing yellow. That wasn't right... Rao is red!

And suddenly Kara was falling. A scream hitched in her throat as she threw her hands to grab at something. Kicking in the air willing her power to come back, Kara saw the water surface coming closer and closer, as a loud buzzing sound filled her ears.

Kara jolted awake with a racing heart. In a haze, sweaty and out of breath, holding a small knife in front of her. The buzzing sound continued. Kara pushed the blanket aside and looked frantically around her for the source.

It took her a few seconds to recognize her surroundings. She had slept in the staff room on a couch in the corner with her rolled up jacket as her pillow and her blanket – Mr. Kar had fortunately neglected to rip it apart. As a habit she always slept with her knife under the pillow. The only weapon she could own that wouldn't raise suspicion.

She followed the persistent buzzing sound with a foggy mind. Her eyelids still felt heavy and her mind had yet to catch up. She stood in front of a locker and as soon as she realized that it was her own, everything became clear. It was the sound of her beacon device! Last night she had briefly reported about her little adventure. Only sent the pictures and deliberately skipped the part about her near death and screw up experience. Even as she knew it was against her code, but last night was overwhelming and she hadn't actually withheld information, it was just summarized and without details.

Kara rushed to open the locker and scrambled through her clothes and found it with the torn chain. It was glowing orange and it grew silent as soon as she touched it. A message. Kara looked around. No one was in the room. It was still too early for the staff to come she guessed. She had no idea what the time was. There was no windows.

She hurried to the rest room just to be sure no one would walk in on her, and opened the encrypted message.

<<B35 DELAYED. >>

B35 was Alex. Alex was delayed?! What has happened? Another message appeared.

<<PROCEED...>>

She was about to shout at the stupid device for giving her the same words even in the face of Alex being in trouble, but then it glowed orange and more words appeared.

<<PROCEED TO CONTACT A MEMBER. >>

A member was referring to a member of the rebellion. They had agreed to call them simply as members. But Kara didn't have any contacts! Alex was supposed to take her to them! Kara felt really concerned. Something was wrong. She thought Alex would call her about these days, and not to mention she was planning to send her a beacon today to tell her about what was going on with her. She hesitantly typed in a message telling them about her lack of contact with a member and waited for an answer. Meanwhile she decided to send a message to Alex anyway.

After a full ten minutes, while Kara was fidgeting with the chain nervously, her answer came through from the base.

<<A LOCATION WILL BE TRANSMITTED IN A FEW DAYS. FIND B35 STAT>>

Find 35 stat? That meant Alex was missing! Kara was now beyond worried. Now her mission was to find out what had happened to Alex. She confirmed her new mission before the device turned off.

Kara went to wash her face. Apart from her wide worried eyes, she looked much better than last night. Changing back into her uniform, Kara checked her watch. It was noon already and she was starving. They didn't serve meals to the staff in the club, but there were some snacks and she decided to go hunting for them in the kitchens.