Plan(et) B [Short Story]

The Planet

"Welcome to Bjorcka."

The guy jovially slapped Avery's back as she watched the crowd in the atrium below. Surprised, Avery turned around to face him. He had smiling green eyes, dishevelled brown hair falling down to his ears, and a crooked smile. His uniform was blue.

"What?"

"Welcome to planet Bjorcka," he said. "Technically it's a moon, but meh. I call it Planet B. Like Plan B? The place where all the rich people will end up when we finally destroy Earth."

"Bjorcka? As in Andreas Bjorcka?" Avery asked. "The CEO of the fertiliser company that makes Verdant Dune Dirt?"

"The one and only," the guy responded with a nod.

"And we're on a planet named after him?"

"Technically, it's a moon. And it's not only named after him; he owns it."

"Owns it...? What?"

"Money. As always," came the reply. The guy offered his hand. "I'm Joseph, but you can call me Joe."

Avery shook his hand. "Avery."

"I know," Joe said with a grin. He turned to walk down to the atrium. "Come on. You must be hungry."

Joe was right. Avery followed him. Joe kept hammering on about how happy he was that she was in his fleet. They ended up at a cafeteria that looked more like a food court, with different options to choose from. The delicious aroma blanketing the space made Avery's stomach rumble. She headed for the TexMex option and piled her place up high with everything on offer. A bite of skirt steak had her closing her eyes in absolute pleasure. This answered the mystery of all that good food she'd been eating in solitary.

"Can I ask you something?" Avery asked Joe once they'd found a table.

"Sure, anything."

"Why is everyone looking at me?"

Joe laughed. "It's not because of who you are, per se. It's because of who's backing you."

"Backing me?"

Joe smiled. He pointed at her plate. "Eat. Don't worry about it right now. It'll make sense soon."

*

Avery and Talia walked away from the Carnival Fare with Talia struggling to carry her bounty of stuffed animals. Talia had spent a ton of money on all the games just so she could win what she wanted.

"You do know that all those games are rigged?" Avery said, laughing.

"I know," Talia said smugly. "But I wanted these, so I got them."

"You can't always get what you want," Avery said.

"But I do," Talia replied. Talia bumped her shoulder against Avery and smiled. It was the smile that made Avery's knees go weak.

Avery woke up to a female robotic voice coming from the walls of her cell. The dream world blurred around her. The last image to disintegrate was that of Talia. Her smile. Avery's heart broke all over again. She choked back a sob.

"Good morning. It's time for daily combat training. Please make your way to the yard," said the robotic voice.

"Combat training?" Avery wondered.

Her door swished open and she saw the line of other inmates forming outside her door. They walked past her cell, silent and in sync, like a squadron of soldiers not criminals. Avery joined them, matching in time with the others. Once on the yard, she followed their pattern of order, falling in place into an elaborate parade of colour-coded, uniformed delinquents. She looked around at the stoic faces. She couldn't be the only one who thought this was weird.