There's a kind of a...tense, expectant atmosphere in the air today. We're going to leave again today. For the second time.
There's no doubt some cruel, potentially deadly test coming. But what's more important than the alien's plans for us is our own plans.
I don't know how we're going to make contact with the rebels. According to the man...
Ivan.
He said to call him Ivan.
According to Ivan, they'll contact us this time, instead of Eric managing to send out a covert single to them.
Then....
Then we give them the information. Then they make the plans. Then we start toward...
Actually doing something real to get home.
I don't think any of us have ever done anything quite this important before. It feels like there's electricity in the air, a kind of excitement, a buzz, and I don't think it's just from me. The others seem to be just as on edge. They're quiet, their eyes unfocused. I'm not sure what's going through their minds, and I can't really imagine it, either. We all want different things, after all.
Eric is focused on getting back to Earth, to go to the Olympics.
Mia is focused on...I'm not sure. Her family? She has a lot of friends, a lot of people to go home to.
Me...
I don't know if I have anything I'm going home for.
But I still want to.
I don't know if my parents even really miss me or care. But I still want to see them. And...maybe that's too cruel to think of, for them. It's not like they're neglectful or cruel, not really. I just. Can't imagine them being broken up about my vanishing. It's not that I think they're terrible parents.
Maybe I just never cared enough for them.
I didn't really know the life I had until it was taken away.
And Hestia.
I don't know anything about her life. I don't even know how long she's been trapped here.
But I know she wants to go home. I see the hope and the wonder in her eyes when we talk about it in front of her. I see how close she is to tears when she's thinking about it.
She wants to go home, too.
We all do.
I wonder what's going through Eric's head right now, or Mia's? They've got it harder than I do, in this.
Eric has to be the point of contact for the rebels, and Mia is trying to get a sense of how much she can get away with and where, so that we can exploit it later.
Whatever the plans will be, I can pretty much assume Eric and Mia will be given more vital roles than myself and Hestia, simply because neither of us can do much even if we want to. Hestia is still mute, and I don't speak their language. So it would be hard to utilize us when communication is so important. Eric is an athlete, and he's picked things up very fast. Mia has a good mind for this kind of subterfuge, it seems like. I think that she'd be an excellent leader for any rebellion. She has all the qualities I think one needs to be successful at it.
I have to admit, though...even though I'm sure she'd be incredible at it...
It's a really funny image to imagine her doing it. She's just so. Peppy. Compact. Everything about her manages to be cheerful even after over a year on this hellish planet.
I know she'd be a good rebel leader.
If she had to be.
But...
That's Ivan's role.
We're just going to be cogs in the machine. A machine that's going to carry us back home. Eric to his Olympic dreams, Mia to her forests. And I...
I don't have any big dreams. I still don't. Not before, and not now.
But going home is...
That's enough of a dream for me right now. It's something worth fighting for. Worth trying for.
Worth risking it all for, too, if that's what it comes down to.
Even though...
It's not just me risking.
It's all of us. Hestia. Eric. Mia. All of us. We're all putting our lives on the line.
Eric flicks my forehead, making me jump. "Snap out of it." His words are harsh, his tone soft.
"Sorry." I say, rubbing the spot where he struck. It stings a little, though not enough to be a bother. It just brought me out of the sort of daze I was falling into, which I appreciate.
He huffs, sitting down next to me on my cot. "...Don't worry about what's not here yet."
I sigh. "...I know." I glance up and meet his gaze. "...It's hard to think of anything but that, though." My eyes narrow, and I tilt my head back. "...What about you?"
"I'm fine." Eric says it so fast I doubt he even knows what I was asking.
"What?"
"Ah-" He blinks, and his eyes widen, his cheeks turning slightly red. "I- what I mean is that I'm not thinking about anything, so there's no problem."
"...Eric..."
"Shh." He waves a hand dismissively. "...It's fine. We're gonna go through this, and we'll get back, and that'll be the end of it. First, though, we have to get to the meet up without you getting all starry-eyed and getting them suspicious."
"I...!" My eyes narrow. "...Fine."
He smiles, abruptly, and reaches up to viciously rustle my hair. "Don't worry so much, okay?"
I grumble under my breath and slap at his hand, which just makes him laugh.
"Eric-!" I glare at him. "Stop!"
He smirks. "Stop worrying so much."
"I'm not worried."
"Sure you aren't." His tone is mocking, and it just makes me glare more. "You know if you do that any more, your face is gonna get stuck like that. They'll think it's the aliens that did it, but it's just you."
I respond in the only reasonable and mature manner I can.
By snatching up my pillow and whacking him in the face with it.