Chapter Thirteen

Mego woke to a pounding throb at the base of her skull. Her head felt like a bird's nest, and her mouth was parched dry as a biscuit.

Slumped against a cold, metal slab, she felt an icy sensation running through her arms. Stretching up, she blinked through Kaleidoscopic blotches, swimming in a matrix behind her eyes. How long had she been unconscious?

Mego tried to shift the chair, but found it bolted to the floor.

Pushing herself upright, she sat back as an intense glare made her retinas burn. For now, all she could do was ride the nausea until her vision cleared. Several blinks later, everything became clear with a bit more detail.

The cold slab turned out to be a steel table in an empty room with a two-way mirror.

Definitely Police. She thought, before spotting a pair of pink fluffy slippers in the corner. Really weird Police.

Still in the throes of a dizzy spell, Mego got to her feet and cupped her hands against the mirror. She paced around and raked back the damp fringe across her scalp. The idea that her mother could be capable of drugging and kidnapping her child was a horrifying possibility. After everything they had been through, nothing seemed to make sense.

All Mego wanted was a typical summer; go to the beach with her dog, toss a Frisbee and frolic in the surf of the rolling waves. Maybe in time, she would have found peace with everything that had taken place. Learn to forgive, to understand. A promise that became increasingly distant the longer she remained.

The pacing quickened, her mind roiling with betrayal. The hate intensified with every drop of raw bitterness. She could feel her lungs tighten with every bark of frustration, tinged with burning resentment. Every plea for release was met with cold silence. She unloaded a flurry of punches against the wall and cried out to be set free, cried out to see Ami so she could: 'Tear her lying tongue out!

Finally, the dark fury boiled over.

"LET ME OUT YOU C-!" She roared.

Without thinking, she picked up the bolted chair and launched it.

Operators on the other side of the mirror rushed to safety, as the metal chair sailed toward them.

"Whoa!"

A stunned silence followed.

"I did not teach her that word," Ami said, unmoved.

Dressed in an Oxford blue tunic with gold piping, her only reaction to the chaos was to smooth back the sides of a crisp, clean ponytail. A grave-looking Warrant Officer named Simons stepped to her side.

"Ma'am, how would you like to proceed?"

"Now she's had her moment," Ami said. "It's time for a friendly chat."

They left 'Observation' and stopped by the nearby door. Simons looked like he had something to say, but had trouble finding the words.

"Uh, ma'am?"

"You might want to speak up, Simons, before she climbs through the mirror."

"Shall I inform the Air Marshal?"

"I'm the only one who can calm her down. If you feel the need to report it upstairs, do so."

"With respect, ma'am, your presence might exacerbate the situation; the subject was taken against her will."

"Rest assured, she won't try anything while I am there."

"All the same, as a precaution..."

"As you were, Simons."

"Ma'am."

Ami strolled into the room and yanked the chair free from the mirror. Mego sat curled up in the far right corner of the room, auburn hair plastered across her face.

"Get up," Ami said. There was no response except for the occasional sniffle. Impatiently, she repeated the words like a threat: "Get. UP." Mego knew that tone, one she had heard throughout her entire childhood. It was the voice of someone who was not open to negotiation. She slowly used the sides of the corner to pull herself upright. Ami opened a hand: "Take a seat."

The wet, clammy bangs hung down across Mego’s face like leeches. Her bloodshot eyes stared through the table.

"Thanks for ruining ice cream for me." She said. It was so quiet, it barely registered. "What else did you ruin? Oh yeah, parental trust."

"Yes," Ami said. "What I did was unforgivable, but sometimes drastic times..." She rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Look, it's been going around in my head, wondering what I could say, but the more I do, the more it sounds like a stream of clichés."

"Once you let me go, you can tell everyone your sob story."

"Not until we are on the same page, Mego. If that takes me all night, so be it."

"Do what must be done."

Incensed, Ami thumped the table and pointed a finger.

"Don't you dare! Don't you throw my Mum's words back in my face." Calming herself down, she lowered her voice. "But I see where you are coming from."

"At least you had a mother who cared for your well-being. I used to have one of those."

"You still do," Ami said. Her face was stone, but her eyes had softened.

"Really?" Mego said, "Last time I checked, drugging your own child wasn't featured in any maternity class.”

"I know this looks bad, but I just wanted to show how desperate things have got."

"I have a pretty good idea of how desperate things have got."

"You don't know the half of it."

"Then leave out the other half and take me HOME."

Ami scraped her hair back. "We are going around in circles."

"All you had to do was ask," Mego said. "It would have been so much easier."

"You would have freaked out on the way here."

"I guess this is what is known as an 'Impasse'."

"Thank you, Jane Austen, I am aware of the word."

"I’m more into Mary Shelley; Austen is too frilly."

"Can we get back on track? I don't have a speech prepared, because you'll see through that. All I will say is that things are going on with you that scare the hell out of me. You’ve just ripped up a chair bolted to the floor, and you don’t seem bothered."

"Maybe I don't care anymore,” Mego said, shrugging. “Just add it to the rest of the weird shit I’ve been through. Who knows? Maybe I'll get my own Anime series. How’s this for a title? 'Kill Kill Taboo Star Harbinger'. "

"Be serious Mego, you could do a lot of damage."

"That's the kind of person you want to keep around?"

"The kind of person that can be monitored, yes."

"Like a caged beast,” Mego said. “So what next? Interrogation?"

"This is not an interrogation; you are here for your own safety and the safety of others."

"I would never hurt others."

"Tell that to Miriam Stosur," Ami said.

"Wow,” Mego said. "Cheap shot, Mum, or whatever you are." She then frowned and shot a cursory look. "What the hell are you wearing, anyway?"

"All questions will be answered soon enough."

"Oh, good, that helps me as a prisoner."

"Once again, not a prisoner."

"Then there's nothing to stop me walking out right now."

"You think we'd let you go, after that little stunt?"

"Argh!" Mego said. "Make your mind up. I'm not a prisoner, but I can't leave?"

"You are free to leave the room," Ami said. "But within the confines of the building, where every guard will shoot on site."

"What's to stop me from rampaging around the high street?"

Ami nodded to the mirror. "It's just as well you are nowhere near it."

Mego watched dumbfounded as the tiled wall slowly parted in the middle, revealing the Earth in all its splendour. She could see a webwork of yellow lights twinkle across mainland Europe's nighttime, dusted with glowing specks like embers.

"Mother of Dios," She said, slowly approaching the screen. "We're in space?"

"We are approximately two hundred and fifty miles above the planet's surface," Ami said, her hands folded behind her back. The Galverston is an outpost, one of many triangulating the globe."

Mego held her breath until her sense of awe evaporated and she started to giggle. She had to steady herself against the tabletop as it became a full-blown laugh.

"It's fake!" She said. "It's all CGI! Good graphics I'll admit, but it's sooo obvious.”

Ami nodded and picked up the pink fluffy slippers.

"Watch carefully."

Turning the wheel on a nearby airlock, she placed the slippers inside and spun the wheel back. With a nod, the outer door slid open, sending the slippers into the void of space.

Mego watched as the slippers floated aimlessly by.

A moment of disbelief struck her, followed by a creeping sense of panic. The tiled wall drew slowly back.

"W-We're in space," Mego said, her voice quivering. "We're in space! Why-why are we in space? Oh God-Oh God!" She curled into a ball and wrapped both arms around a table leg. "Why am I here? I can't be here."

"Breath Mego, breath," Ami said. "You're hyperventilating."

"We're gonna fall into space; we're gonna fall into space."

Ami gestured to the people behind the mirror to cut the feed with a slicing motion across her neck. She then sat right on the floor next to Mego.

"No one is going to fall into space, Bab." She said softly. "But right now, you are on the verge of a panic attack, so you need to calm down"

"Calm down?" Mego said. Her words fell between gulps of breath. "How is this possible? We can't survive; there's not enough room. We have to save oxygen. Is there oxygen? I can't feel the air. Why am I trapped here? "

"There is plenty of Oxygen, and you’re not trapped. We are in 'SACo'. Strategic Astronautical Command.”

"What's it for?"

"After the attack on Osaka, there was a worldwide rush to defend the Earth. SACo formed in the wake of that."

"Why not call it SAC?"

"That means something else in English."

"Medacium…was part of the plan."

Ami nodded. "It was your Father's idea for you or your Brother to join. He created an aptitude test in the form of a computer game so that you or others could defend the Earth from invaders."

A quiet moment passed between them.

"Invaders?" Mego said.

"You saw it on the news," Ami said. "When a spaceship wiped out one of our cities, it didn't just shake the world: it woke everyone up. So, a plan was set into motion, and that plan is this. For now, we are in a constant state of readiness."

"Wait," Mego said. "Let me get this straight. Dad made a computer game used to recruit future defenders of Earth?" Ami smiled slyly; she knew where this was going. "That's literally the plot of The Last Starfighter, which you made me watch every year."

"Every New Year, to be precise," Ami said. "It's a family tradition."

"Why me?"

"Your father wanted his kids to follow in his footsteps," Ami said, helping Mego up. "But first, he had to know if they were up to the task."

"I guess the game wasn't the only thing being played."

Ami chuckled. "Touché."

"I still haven't forgiven you,” Mego said. “After everything I went through, I thought you'd have my back."

"I will always have your back. Right now, things have escalated beyond our control. The one advantage is we know someone or something is after you." She touched Mego's hand. "We don't know what it is, but we can protect you."

"You're not even sorry," Mego said, slipping her hand back. "How could you do this to your daughter?"

"It was the hardest thing I had to do. Choose family or the fate of the Earth."

"Well, I guess it's easier now you don't have a family anymore."

Ami visibly fought back tears.

"I guess so." She said.

Mego looked around as the shock of the news bled off.

“Is there a cash prize or something?”

“For what?”

“Winning the game. I’d like to know there’s some kind of reward.”

“I would think that helping people is its own reward.”

“I’ve met people, I’d rather take the cash.”

Ami scoffed. “I guess it’s true what they say, you can never impress a fifteen-year-old girl.”

“I’m not fifteen.”

“Point still stands.”

“Yeah well, it’s not every day you find out your Mum is a total sell-out.”

Ami glared at her with both barrels.

“I know you’re in shock,” She said. “So I’m gonna let that slide. But you call me that again, and - my girl - you will taste the floor so fast.”

Mego put her hands up. “Fine. I am sorry.”

“Yeah, well, I can’t talk.”

"You expect me to fly into the thick of battle?"

"Not yet, but eventually. The plane you found in the deserted Hangar is a Helix-class reconnaissance fighter. It can be used to fly at low altitude, take photographs, sweep G.T.A flak.”

"I hated those missions."

"You'd better be on my good side."

"Did you say G.T.A.?" Mego said. "Nice."

"Ground to Air, Mego. Strictly gun and run. What do you think?"

"You haven't asked me what I want to do," Mego said. She fished out a photo of a rundown cottage with a broken waterwheel. "It’s in Scotland. I was going to put all my money into doing it up."

"Lovely.”

"You can't help, though; I have to do this alone.”

"Of course. I understand.”

"You're disappointed?"

“I can never be disappointed with you, Bab. The person you've become, I couldn't have wished for more. Well, minus the weird drawing phase."

"It's not a phase."

Ami addressed the mirror.

"Please escort my..." She quickly caught herself. "Ms Green to hangar eighteen."

"Leaving me alone to Rust in Peace?" Mego said, with a sly smile.

"Thought you might like it."

"But you are leaving me on my own. What happened to me being a danger to society?"

“You’ll be transported to a secret location. It will have everything you can possibly want: a massive TV, a heated pool, a hot tub, the latest console and a mini-cinema. If you need fancy new clothes, we can provide them. All expenses. Every week, you will get a fruit and veg care package, which you will use.”

“So I am a prisoner?”

“Trust me, with all the pampering, you’ll change your tune.”

“What if I want to go out and about?”

"We have precautions in place. Call it Plan B."

"You mean birth control?"

"NO!" Ami said. "Jesus. What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I just assumed..."

"That is a discussion for another day, God help me. For now, have a crazy party. Just run the vacuum around once in a while,"

"I need friends to have a party."

"No party then. That is both comforting and depressing to learn."

Mego looked around. "Will I see you again?"

"Right now, I must stay behind and organise the fleet."

"I was plan A, wasn't I?"

"Partly. Your dad believed in it."

"You didn't, though?"

"It's not my place to say," Ami said, tracing a loose strand back over her daughter's ear. "I hope we get past this."

"Yeah, me too," Mego said. "I'll sulk for a bit, then chill out, I guess.”

“There you go.”

“Sure you're not upset?"

"Far from it," Ami said. There was an awkward pause until the door buzzed.

“Well, goodbye," Mego said.

She smiled weakly, which quickly fell away as the door slid open to reveal her escort in a Navy shirt and pants.

It was Shin.