Jake sat in a Lunar restaurant, It was similar to the cafeteria where he had an anxiety attack three years ago. He didn't fear crowds any longer, not since the pirates attacked the Metanoia and her crew last month.
They'd arrived at Luna two days prior. His uncle was engaged in closing deals and procuring supplies for their trip back to the asteroid belt. A miner's work was never done.
Thanks to Jake, they had mined an asteroid so rich in minerals that they couldn't sell all the ore to the same contractor, so they had to spread it around, which took longer than expected. Then there was the salvage from the pirate vessel, which brought extra money into their already full pockets.
He sat in silence as he absent-mindedly watched the buzz of people around him. He failed to notice a very attractive young woman eyeing him with curiosity, which was unusual for a young man his age, especially him.
His mind was elsewhere.
"Do you think he believes me?"
he thought.
His uncle was dismayed when he discovered his particular predicament, and what happened with the pirates. Jake had to explain the situation to him but his uncle simply couldn't wrap his mind around it. His uncle used to call his virtual assistant a witch, and he wondered what he'd consider Siren to be, calling her a demon wouldn't be too far fetched.
"Yes, your uncle loves you unconditionally, Jake. If you say something happened then he will believe you."
Siren responded.
His relationship with Siren had been strained ever since the incident with the pirates, when he accidentally killed an innocent woman using powers she enabled him, in his blind rage to avenge his then thought-to-be-dead uncle. He had even tried to get rid of her completely, but she convinced him not to do it by revealing a secret that would change his life.
"What about Hannah?"
He was worried about the girl. Ever since she discovered the nature of his powers, she had been keeping her distance from him, which sat well and fine with him; but that was not like her at all.
"I think she'll keep quiet. She knows how dangerous this is, and despite your objections; she cares about you, Jake."
He grunted out loud and regretted it immediately once he got a bunch of questioning looks from people around him.
He picked up the tab and left. His steak sat untouched.
***
Jake was passing through a narrow alley on his way back to the flight terminals when they ambushed him.
He was wearing Luna's customary magnetic greaves, which were designed to prevent injury and make one's steps surer in the low gravity environment, but they made it difficult to leap on short notice.
The Lunar slums were a dangerous place to be. Populated by society's dejects who barely got by and didn't have enough credits to go anywhere else. The slums surrounded the flight terminal and you had to take the monorail just to avoid walking through the dangerous neighbourhood.
But he'd needed a long thoughtful walk.
"Well, well, look what we got here boys." a hulking thug said as he eyed the data-pad tucked in his belt.
"I wonder how many credits he's got on that fancy 'pad." another chimed in.
"Let's find out now, shall we?"
Jake took one step back as his fists crackled loudly with electricity. They looked at him in awe as his eyes emitted a very faint but noticeable glow.
"I think you're about to take a bite too big to chew, now get out of here." he warned.
They scrambled and made a run for it. He watched in amusement as they disappeared amongst the poorly lit alleyways.
With Siren's help, he'd managed to barely control his new ability in the weeks it took them to reach Luna, and it looked like it was finally paying off. He was worried he might get carried away, but Siren helped him keep it under control. It was somehow tied to his emotional state, or so she told him.
What he failed to notice was the dark shape observing him around a corner.
***
He felt his stomach lurch as he heard his uncle yelling at him.
"Jake, get over here now!"
"What's going on, uncle?" he asked as he switched off his greaves and leapt across the tunnel towards him.
"Get in the shuttle, we'll talk once we're back on the ship."
He hopped in next to his uncle. He heard police sirens closing the distance as the Lunar glider craft approached their position.
"What's happening?" he asked his uncle loudly, trying to overcome the roar of the shuttle's reactor as it started up.
"The police are looking for you."
"What? Why?"
"That can wait for now, let me start up this shuttle so we can get out of here!" his uncle yelled.
"But..."
"Close that hatch!" his uncle commanded.
He closed the hatch and strapped himself in.
The air outside the shuttle was getting thin already as the powerful pumps worked to equalise the landing bay's atmosphere with the vacuum outside. He watched his uncle lift off with the shuttle.
The docking hatch opened automatically as they lifted and the domed landing bay was suddenly open to the elements.
"Shuttle 4012DA, you are not cleared for launch, power down your reactor." he heard the commanding voice over the comms.
His uncle was accelerating fast.
"I repeat, 4012DA, you are not cleared for launch. Return to the landing pad and power down your reactor. If you do not, deterring action will be taken. "
"Uncle, they'll shoot us down!" he voiced with worry.
"Don't worry about it, I can handle it." his uncle said assuredly.
He looked down and saw the police swarming the landing pad where they sat only seconds ago.
"Brace yourself!" his uncle shouted as he pulled hard on the steering stick.
He held on tightly as the shuttle lurched to the left, a missile streaked by and missed them by a hair's length.
Their altitude rose as his uncle made a sharp climb and turn to the right, which took them away from the incoming missiles and to a direct intercept with the city's dome. The missiles turned and gave chase.
Luna City closed quickly as they rushed past it, the missiles followed them as his uncle brushed the dome.
***
"Disaster struck at Luna City this morning when a shuttle accidentally..." Jake turned off the news broadcast. It was the 4
th
time he'd seen it. He hated half-truths and the media's tendency to cover up for the government's screw ups.
They were back aboard the Metanoia. His uncle had nearly crash-landed the shuttle in his haste to get out of the domed city.
The crew gathered in wonder as they climbed out of the shuttle, asking all kinds of questions, but his uncle waved them off as they headed to his private quarters. Hannah followed and he didn't object.
But now it was time for answers.
"What's going on, uncle? Why is the police after me?"
"Either somebody talked..." he looked at Hannah, who looked hurt by his suggestion.
His expression softened as he continued "...or they recovered some footage from the pirate ship when we delivered the wrecked computer cores with the evidence. I can't believe I missed it!" his uncle said as he slammed his hand on the bulkhead.
"Shit." Jake's heart sank as he heard the words.
"We should head out for the colonies." said Hannah.
"What?" he asked, surprised at her suggestion.
"It's the only way to be safe. They'll come after us otherwise." she said.
"Us? They're only after me, why should you expose yourself to danger for my sake?" he asked.
"Jake, you saved us. We can't just abandon you. They'll try to study you! They'll perform experiments on you!" she exclaimed.
His uncle was rubbing his eyes, it looked like he was experiencing the onset of a terrible headache all of a sudden.
"Well, if they weren't after us, they certainly are now. We wrecked their dome and they're probably requesting armed ships from Earth to take us out as we speak." his uncle sounded tired.
"I'll go. You can tell them I was the one flying the shuttle." he said.
"No, son. We're all in this together. We don't abandon our own." his uncle said stubbornly.
***
Everyone got into the acceleration pods as fast as they could. The acceleration pods were another ingenious invention made by humanity. Once inside, the pod was filled with ferrogel, a magnetised material that could soften and harden based on the intensity of a magnetic field. At their lowest setting the gel was water-like and didn't impede movement at all, and at their highest it was hard as steel. The pods were fitted with a miniature mass field that reduced the mass of its contents to counter inertia.
Unfortunately, you had to breathe through a tube or even intravenously at higher acceleration, and the same went for feeding and various other bodily functions. The pod's AI monitored the occupant and managed the administration of nutrients and stimulants for each individual with precision only computers could achieve.
Despite the inertial dampeners, which normally managed the crushing g-forces experienced through acceleration, the pods were commonly used in cases where higher acceleration was required.
