Amy clicked on the voice recorder in her ear.

“Is everyone clear?”

“I’m on standby.” Sophia nodded.

“So am I-just-Avril stop kicking me!” Kip’s voice hissed.

“I shoved her into position.” Avril huffed from the other end.

“Okay, everyone just-make sure to stay out of the open.” Amy hissed. She slid her key card across the access room, then stepped in.

The room was damp and freezing. The only sound was Amyi’s combat boots which went tack tack tack in the dark. Shadows criss-crossed the room, the only sign of life being a broken pipe which dripped to the sound of her heartbeat.

Amy walked towards the man, head bent over his desk.

“I assume you decided to take up the offer to give me a status report.”

Amy hesitated over her words. “Of course.” Her stomach squirmed, as if there were words on the tip of her tongue in which she couldn’t say out loud.

She wasn’t considering these options before, but was it really worth it? 

She nodded towards the small screen to the right side of the room, which was tracking the numbers on the screen.

“We have clear footage. All our security breaches from the last alien invasion have been patched up. Our raiding parties have successfully infiltrated the other planets in order to repair parts of the ship.” She said breathlessly.

Her father clapped her on the back. “Well done. Since it’s your birthday, we should celebrate.”

He slid a bowl of seaweed soup in her direction.

“For you, my perfection.”

Amy sat down, the spoon grasping in her hands. She swirled it around two times, blowing on the hot soup softly.

“I know you don’t seem that delighted that I’m eighteen.” She pressed.

His father scribbled down something in his notebook. “I am busy. Eat your soup.” 

His tone felt almost forceful. Something felt off. Amy looked at her seaweed soup, the infected aroma blasting her senses.

She put the seaweed in her mouth, made a few crunching sounds, then spat it back out when her father wasn’t looking.

“I suppose this qualifies me as a defect now.” Amy stated.

“Whatever do you mean?”

Amy abandoned her meal, walking towards him. “You never spent time with me as a child, instead attempting to fix what cannot be broken.”

She scanned the files. “And now? You will dispose of me, too.”

Her father didn’t say a word. Then he reached out, and tugged on the wire. It snapped in half.

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

Amy walked backwards, hitting against the wall. She tried opening the doors. It wouldn’t budge.

“I thought I could use you as reference. But now I can’t do that…” He slowly fired his stun baton towards her. “I need to dispose of you too.”

—

“RUN! RUN!” Avril shoved Sophia forward. The two were running towards the head of the pilot station.

They suddenly stopped at the sound of-BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

“Is that…” Sophia whispered.

“We have no time. They found us.” At the sound of the alarm, the purifiers were running out of their dens, walking forward with weapons at their disposal.

Avril unleashed her dual pistols. “You take care of the ship. I’ll handle these guys.”

Sophia ran towards the front, shoving aside a cadet.

Sprinting, she clicked on her device. “Amy? Are you still there?”

The line on the other end went static. She looked back to hear a gunshot. Avril and another cadet-was it Sprite? Was wrestling a purifier to the floor. His hand was outstretched, tugging on Sprite’s hair. She screamed as she flayed around, thrashing wildly.

Sophia took a sharp turn, her palms scrabbling across the tile floor. She made a beeline straight towards the pilot’s wheel.

—

“LOCK THE DOORS!” Sophia called to Kip, who used her elbows to bear her weight down on the hatch.

The metallic clang signified that they were sealed shut. Sophia walked up to the control panel. She tapped on the loading screen. From the exterior of the ship, she could hear the sound of several cadets charging forward, battle cries drowning out whatever trace of Amythere was.

Sophia’s palms sweated as the screen fully loaded up. “Kip, report.”

“Go forward slightly more.” Kip walked up beside Sophia. She clicked into her hearing device. “Avril, are you there?”

Avril let out a scream from the other end. “I’m fine-just-START THE DAMN ENGINE ALREADY!”

“Not yet.” Kip whispered. 

BANG. BANG. BANG. The pounding of nails screeching against metal could be heard from the outside.

“They found us.” Kip breathed out. 

Sophia kicked the lever, using her fingerprint to access the device.

‘WELCOME, CADET NUMBER 87. PLEASE STATE YOUR INQUIRY.’

“Fuck, uh-” Sophia cleared her throat. “Permission for us to drive you!…please?”

A large scanner checked Sophia up and down. Sophia held her breath. 

‘PERMISSION GRANTED.’

As soon as the ship had finished her statement, Sophia immediately hurled her foot down on the accelerator. The ship launched forward, sending it tilting downwards. Kip shrieked, holding onto one edge of the control panel.

“We’re too far down. UP!”

Sophia shifted her weight into her back muscles, rapidly increasing speed whilst the ship rocket launched itself upwards. The ship did a quick 360. Sophia’s fingers flew across the console.

“Let the games begin.”

—

The hull shuddered, alarms shrieking. Amy stumbled back, trying to catch her landing.

“You don’t want to do this.” She called out to Tak, his stun baton drawing closer.

“I. Trusted. You.” He lunged forward, the ship practically tilting downwards.

Jaeyi’s foot slipped from behind her, slamming herself against the wall. She brought her arms up to stop the stun baton just out of reach from her head. Electricity crackled, sparks shooting over the headtops of the ship.

“You’ll find no use bringing anyone down, I came alone.”

Tak’s wild and unfocused eyes bore down on her weight. Amy’’s muscles cramped, baring her teeth as she struggled. The ship tottered back and forth. 

“A ship without a captain is dysfunctional.” He wildly swung his baton, Amy ducking out of the way to avoid his grasp. She staggered on her footing, arms swaying back and forth.

“You don’t want to do this.” She breathed. “They aren’t your children.”

“I AM YOUR FATHER.” He thundered, the stun baton raised over his head. Amy reached down into her holster. Her neon rifle clicked, desperately searching in the dark for him. She spun her gun backwards, one eye closed to scan the perimeter.

She didn’t notice him approaching from behind…

—

“Engines at 81 percent!” Kip squealed.

Sophia swiped away the audible warnings. “Let me think.” She snapped. From her viewscreen, she could see the stars which quickly streaked into just plain white lines. The metal against the ship groaned-she should have tested earlier that larger ships weren’t designed for fast-driving mobility. Something snapped from the back.

Sophia tugged on the thrusters, practically swimming through the deep end of the void. 

“Raise the velocity!” Kip hollered.

Her vision swam. Sophia chucked the ship as hard as she could.

‘WARNING. SHIP DANGER. WARNING.’

“We’re going to run out of steam!” Kip warned.

“Nothing I can’t handle.” Sophia checked on the chip. Was it working?

CREAKKKKKK. The doors slowly slammed open, one head of the purifiers sticking out. Kip bolted towards the door, trying to pry it closed.

“We need more power!”

“On it.” Sophia flicked on the air bag, then slid her hand across the speed projectile.

—-

Pebbles scraped as Amy shuffled on her feet. She was slammed backwards, arms pinned above her head. 

“It’s too bad you won’t be able to witness my utopia.” Tak grabbed her forearm, twisting it back. Amy screamed, pushing them back towards the edge. There was a loud KABOOM, the projectile going static.

“Fuck. You.” She hissed, angling her gun weakly upwards.

Tak laughed without humor. “Are you trying to tamper with my ideals? My philosophy?”

Amy pushed herself up, kicking her legs backwards. Blood dribbled down from her head, causing her to hallucinate. 

The monitors crackled back and forth. Tak was beaming from above her, his radiant smile shining through the ceiling.

“Was it worth it?”

Amy looked at him for a long moment. “No.” She pummeled her foot, shoving him backwards. Dragging herself onto her gun, she grasped the gun handle against his head.

BANG. She shot him straight through the head. Tak weakly gasped, staggering backwards. The scientist who was once fated to change humanity was now only a fable, dropping to the back of the wall.

Amy slowly breathed out, clutching her forehead. She then allowed herself to fully weep, the gun tossed aside. Her hands grasped onto his dirty lab coat, the wound stinging to her brain.

“Happy birthday.” He whispered softly.

—

The ship swerved upwards. Kip was using her whole body force in order to shove the door closed.

Sophia’s gaze flitted to the screen, then back. She was losing grip on the console. Opening up the data search, it read;

‘ACCELERATION-60 M/S’

Sophia let out a loud cry of relief. “We hit it!”

She suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. She fell to the floor, screaming. The chip which was attached to her rattled her body, slowly peeling off from her skin.

Kip screeched too, blood veins shooting out. The chip glowed faintly red, detaching itself.

“Kip, what’s going on?” She yelled.

Kip’s eyes squeezed shut. “It’s all a part of the plan. Don’t fly too high or else-ARGH!” She hissed, the chip fully detached. “We experience a lot more pain than we should!”

Sophia lowered the controls. “Avril, are you there? Round up all the cadets. We need every purifier dead.”

Avril on the other line, already out of breath, could be heard amidst all the shouts. The sound of a gun was clicking. 

“My pistols are out of ammo. I’m going to need to-” the line cut off. 

Everyone now dechipped, she rushed to help Kip.

“What are you-”

Sophia leveled her whip. “Someone has to guard this ship with you.” She nodded towards the door. “Let it open. See if they can take me on.”

—

Amy stumbled out the doors, to an open brawl. 

Cadets were hurling themselves at their purifiers, one yelling at them to drive them back, another yelling to get the pistols.

“Dude!” One cried out in relief. “Thank god you’re here-help me get this in place.”

Amy ducked behind a wall, firing her bullet straight in the upper jaw of the cadet. A trail of blood spewed through his lip, falling face-forward.

The cadet looked at Jaeyi’s puffy eyes as she reloaded. “Are you okay…?”

“I will be when they are all dead.” She raked her gun across another, the two standing back to back. 

“Get me to the announcer’s deck. They need to know that their leader is alive.”

—

The door swung open, the purifiers launching forward-sloppy, yet full of rage. Sophia automatically feints left.

She’s fast, muscles firing with inhuman speed. She strikes her whip out, slamming into the ribs of one. They fumbled back, the boots clattering against the floor. 

Kip pulls out her own selective choice, a glinting neon sword. She splices it, blocking the angled direction of the purifier’s shoulder, bringing her sword in an upper motion.

The purifier easily parried her attacks, ducking out of the way. Sophia closed the distance, her whip enclosing around her enemy’s wrist. The purifier’s guard came up-as if he was practicing for this moment all along.

Sophia lashed the whip once before pulling him backwards, hard launching into his ribs. The impact resulted in a hard thud-the ship clanged outside. The purifier hissed, catching himself on one hand. Air punched out of his lungs, wheezing to catch his breath, his wrists still tangled up. 

Kip was like a wild animal, driving her knee up once-twice-against another’s shoulder. She drove the sword against his head. It slowly slid off with a thunk, the clean tiles now stained with blood.

“Get behind me.” Sophia ordered.

Kip stood back to back with Sophia, the two looking at the mob approaching.

It was going to be harder than they thought.

—

Amy pulled the cadet along beside her, her brain even so buzzing.

“We need to use the back staircase.” She huffed. Slowly sliding the hard concrete door open, she ran down, the two running downwards.

Amy flicked on the lights. She clicked the mouse on the tabs, the small microphone icon tapping against the wall.

“Hello, cadets.” She spoke into the mic. Her voice echoed across the walls. “This is your captain speaking.”

She let out a brief pause. Exclaims of joy could be heard from above deck. 

“I am here to let you know that our commander in chief is no longer with us, and his lab has been safely demolished.”

There were mixed responses-some yelling at Amy that that couldn’t be true, others letting out their uproars of approval.

“TRAITOR!” Could be heard from at least two stories up.

“I am here to stay. And my first order as your commander in chief is to declare absolute mutiny.”

—-

The cadets on the front lines were pushing back the others, forming a defense squadron.

“We’re winning!” Nathan said with glee.

“We would win more if ALL OF YOU OBEYED MY ORDERS!” Avril snapped.

There was a loud creaking of the floor behind them, the ship tottering.

Avril forcefully used the hilt of her gun in order to slam it straight against one of the purifier’s head. His noggin crashed against the floor, using his foot to trap Avril. 

Avril’s hair flew backwards, crawling on all fours. She rushed up to meet him, body weight slamming against body weight, driving him backwards. She hooked her arms under his elbows, tossing him to the window. He hollered, the glass shattering floating out into the void.

“It’s fine! Oxygen levels are safe so long as we are in the ship.” Sprite called, the dagger dripping from where the eye sockets of her nemesis had been driven out. The purifier outside lay lifeless, his back turned just floating in space.

Nathan slightly winded, shook her arms up in a fighting stance, her knees slightly bruised. “Where’s Amy? We need her on the battlefield.”

“Worry about her later.” Avril angled her gun towards the next line. “She always gets all the fun.”

—

The next body was tossed aside, slumped against the floor like a ragdoll. 

“Is that all of them?” Kip called. 

“Don’t lower your guard.” Sophia retorted. Her whip weakly flickered between her hands. Footsteps could be heard from the other end. She braced herself, the door creaking slightly open.

The door dinged, and a familiar face at least half a head taller walked in. 

Sophia lowered the weapon she was holding. “…Amy?”

Wordlessly, Amy pulled her into an embrace. Sophia’s whip fell to the floor.

“He’s gone.” Amy said simply. Not in a victorious or devastating announcement-just a blank statement.

“I know.” Sophia whispered. “I know.” 

Pulling away, Amy looked up at the console. “So we really did do it.”

“How is it out there?” Kip asked.

“Enough for it to look like a prayer where we are going to have to rely on luck.” Amy stated bluntly. “I don’t know how many of these purifiers are out there.” 

“What do we do?” Sophia asked. 

Kip pondered. “There has to be a way to knock them all out in one go.”

Amy smiled. “I think that I can help with that.”

—

“You want. To gas the ship.”

The two were in the gas chamber, the large tanks boiling. 

Sophia sniffed. “God, corpses stink.”

Amy tapped the tank. “The air is warm enough here for liquid to evaporate into gas.”

“But how will the cadets live?”

Amy smiled. “Sophia, show me your arm.”

Sophia extended it as to where the chip was previously being attached to her.

“Memory storage is a part of the brain which is what the chip’s intended use is-in other words, it fuses with it for maximum quantity. Kip was able to survive in liquid room temperature-your bodies were conditioned for immortality to be the goal, is it not?”

“He didn’t succeed.” Sophia murmured. 

“Even so, if you survived, then the cadets definitely will. You were…practically programmed for these cases.”

“Won’t we be knocked unconscious though?”

“Honestly, if we point towards the data, I don’t think so.” Amy tapped on her chin. “The chips were reactant to not only force, but also towards heat. The chips disabled the more in which we went up, yet it hurt only your skin-not your lungs.” She slowly inhaled through her nose.

“So my theory is that the chips somewhat tampered with the brains while they were still attached, resulting in rare cases of high metabolism. Not effective at all.”

“What about you? You’re the goddamn control group.”

Amy smiled. “Want to know a secret, Sophia?” She leaned in close. 

“Mutiny was my first act as commander. But it would also be my last.”

Before Sophia could reach out an arm to grab her, Amy kicked down the hatch. The voluminous tank rippled, the foam steaming out.

Amy smiled at her. “Thank you for everything. You’re the best friend I could have ever had.”

The world turned black for Amy, and she fell to the floor.