Chapter 2 | Ethan | Descent

Ethan thought he wouldn't be able to sleep, but upon waking he realizes he's well-rested. Della’s bed is empty. Melissa is sleeping on her bed, snoring lightly. The room feels vacuous now, with two of its occupants not present. According to Della, soon the room will have only one member left in it...and four beds still. When he gets off the bed, the bed’s wooden legs make a creaking sound that wakes Melissa up. He stares at her for a few seconds, wondering if he should ask the obvious.

“She’s gone,” Melissa says. “She took quite a lot of stuff with her…but don’t look so worried. Her plan isn’t that bad. I was surprised. She actually gave something a lot of thought—for months, even.”

“What was her plan?” Ethan asks.

“She told me not to tell you about it. You might follow her otherwise, after all.”

Ethan purses his lips and nods slowly. Of course.

Melissa yawns and sits against the bed’s headrest, looking at him. “We can talk about your plan instead. Richard has dreamt of taking the Numen for many years now...but it wasn’t allowed. I believe that he has a lot of things recorded about it in his notebook, but don’t think it’ll be easy for humans..”

“You think I'll see Dad in the Numen? Why don’t you tell us why they took Dad away?” Ethan asks, walking between the door and his bed, distracting his urge to get out of the room and to the loo.

Melissa shakes her head. “No. He wouldn’t be allowed. Forget about him for now. You need to work for the physical part of the exam. The entire Numen exam has many stages to it, but Richard said that one of the stages is always physical evaluation based. The Gorons want only the best of humans to serve them, and that includes being physically fit."

“I’ll be fine in the physical aspects,” Ethan says.

“What about Ikari and Math?”

“My generation has a much better Ikari than yours,” he says, shrugging, still walking between the door and his bed, distracting himself. “Anyway, we can talk about this later. I need to hit the toilet.”

“Wait!” Melissa hisses. “We need others to remain unaware about Della’s disappearance. You know how much some people like to suck up to the Kix."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Just cough when you go outside for a few days. Make them think Della has severe flu, which is why she’s resting.”

Ethan tilts his head, “How are the Kix going to come to find Della if nobody knows that she’s missing?”

“She has everything planned, don’t worry. I will report her anonymously in special requests—that way, no human will try to find her until the Kix descends. Now, off with you. I just want you to pretend you’re sick whenever you’re outside."

Ethan goes outside and starts walking through the corridor, thinking. The Kix provides each household of the district with a certain amount of food and water every week, but sometimes people need some special help. There is a box in the middle of the district in which every week requests are collected and then sent to the Kix governing the district. Often the requests are just increased food requirements for households that just had a baby or some toys, or removal of poisonous insects and bugs. It is allowed to request specific clothing once a few months too. However, sometimes, people also use it to tip Kix about suspicious activities.

On his way to the common toilet room, he spies a couple of young boys walking around the corridor. He only somewhat knows two of them—Royce and Časlav, just because they are Della’s friends. He also meets Wuisan just outside the toilet, the district head of the 17th district. An older man in his fifties who went all bald not long ago. “Did you find out what happened to Richard?” He asks in his fluent Ikari, and Ethan shakes his head, then coughs in his elbow. “They didn’t let us know.”

“I see,” Wuisan says, looking up at the ceiling. “I wonder what that was all about. Anyhow, I haven’t heard your sister getting in any trouble for 24 hours now—that must be a new record for it.”

“Della might have caught the flu. I think I've caught a little bit of the same,” Ethan says, “although not as serious.”

“That explains it that troublemaker’s absence...I still haven’t forgotten how she made twelve Krots run around the whole district chasing after a non-existent wild fox.”

“She wasn’t the only one who saw it,” Ethan retorts.

Wuisan sighs. “I found out later that she had bribed the other kids to talk about seeing a fox with some sweets. It would have been impossible for a fox not to be discovered in all of these years. We're lucky that the Kix never figured out that she lied and had Krots waste so much time hunting a fox around the district.”

Ethan laughs and walks away, hoping he didn’t appear off as too anxious.

That night Melissa drops an anonymous tip about Della disappearing in the ‘special requests’, and then they wait as planned. Ethan exercises indoors, trying out various callisthenics exercises that are described in one of his father’s books, not leaving the room except to go to the bathroom.

After four long days, the Kix descend on the district, their airship hissing loudly.

Wuisan storms inside the room. “I just heard,” he says. “Now what has she done?”

Melissa shakes her head. “I don’t know where she is."

"Argh," Wuisan smashes his fist against a wall. “The Human Council will have my head for this. Please just stop playing pranks and tell me where she’s hiding.”

“She’s not hiding. She’s gone,” Ethan says and Wuisan shakes his head, looking at him. “That can’t be. They’re coming here—just be truthful to them, if you care for all of our lives—including yours.”

Wuisan turns to ago and a Kix arrives with five Krots as his bodyguards. Ethan can see some of the other members of the district standing behind the Kix, trying to eavesdrop. The Kix slowly walks towards them, a large stick in his hand. The Earth’s gravity is too much for the Kix species as they are already weak. This is the reason why despite controlling the Earth and wanting to live on it, they live on the moon.

They have a humanoid shape, but with blue skin, thin legs, and four large yellow eyes that cover more than half of their face. “Della Gray,” it says, its voice croaky, but in perfect Ikari, “Where is she?”

“We don’t know,” Melissa says. “She went missing a couple of days ago—I searched for her yesterday but couldn’t find her, so I filled in the request.”

“Reports say that she has a habit of going missing,” it says, looking down at something.

“Not for more than a day,” Melissa says.

“Where does she go?”

“Usually she’s just playing around with some kids in vacant rooms.”

“…And you searched these places, of course?”

“Thrice,” Melissa says.

The Kix turns at Wuisan. “Depending on where she is found, there may be consequences. She didn’t leave from the main gate and there is no other exit to the district. I doubt anyone could have created any other exit but if we find one...I will hold the entire district responsible.”

Wuisan flinches. “There’s no exit except the main gate. We would have reported it if there was,” he says.

The Kix turns to Melissa, then says, “If it does indeed turn out that Della Gray has escaped, I will have you moved to a different district. You have until tomorrow night to pack your belongings…but this is only if we don’t find her, of course. I’m sure we’ll find her. No one has escaped for eighteen earth-years.”

Then the Kix turns away, beginning to walk away as he orders Krots. “I'll be returning now—I just need one of you with me. Coordinate with the main gate guards and search. You must find her by the end of the day."

Chapter 2 | Della | Ascent & Descent

The hole that Della is hiding in is still hot, dark, and more smelly than before but she knows two things better now. The first is that there aren't any big bugs in the hole, and the smaller ones are not many. Even lesser since Della has moved in. The second is that she still hates waiting.

Her routine is simple—sleep, eat food, drink water conservatively, excrete in the hole within the hole, and then wait, wait, wait and wait. Waiting does give her ample time to think, so she thinks, wondering how far the Gorons would go to catch her. She doesn't understand why the Gorons care so much for a single human or even a fox when they go missing. Foremost of all, she doesn't understand why Gorons just straight out don't kill humans. The entire practice of keeping a species trapped until they grow docile and start serving the Gorons seems absurd to her.

Ethan is becoming docile too—she can tell. He is going to take on Numen and serve them. She curses her mother under her breath. It has to be because of her meekness that Ethan has grown so docile.

Oh well. No point in thinking about the past. But then thinking is all she can do in the hole, and she wonders how fast the Krots could search the district. Three hours, she decides.

Not that she was going to give them so much time to search for her. She would be gone much sooner than that. She has earlier made up a fake fox to find out how Krots conduct their searches—and it was simple, yet efficient. They search in pairs and start with the buildings first. That will give her time if she needs it.

Della ponders so much that she second-guesses herself when she feels the earth tremble. She covers her ears to weaken the loud obnoxious sound of the airship descending. The air becomes heavier, and she breathes faster. The sound gets louder and louder. She removes a pair of clothes, most of the remaining food and water from her bag, and throws it down on the ground. Can’t be carrying too much baggage. She takes the longest looking at her mother's medicine pouch, debating whether she should throw it but decides against it. It seems light enough.

She gets out of the hole, covering her eyes as the sun stares down at her. She basks in the sunlight for a minute, then starts covering the hole back up. They would find it someday, of course, but she didn't want them to think she has escaped without letting them run around. The noise of the airship gradually comes to a halt as it lands, and she starts moving slowly towards the district centre.

Della has caused the airships to descend enough times to know how the people in her district react to it. There are only two kinds of people when airships descend and both help her plan. The first ones are that stay closeted in their room due to fear and the other ones are those that approach the descended Kix, trying to suck up to them.

She starts walking slower as she makes her way towards the Kix's airship. She knows where it always lands—at an open field very close to the 4th building of the district where there is nothing but the grass. The airship has a black surface, and although it has wings just like Della has seen in photos of the human planes, they are somewhat wider. She can see only two Krots guarding the airship which is to be expected since the Kix is out of the airship. What they guard is the Kix, not the airship.

She sees two boys—a young teenager with a thick Ikari accent, Časlav and her childhood friend, Royce—sitting on a bench, and they wave at her as soon as she’s in vision.

“Oh, so you guys really did come,” Della says.

Časlav says, “Your mother told us.”

Royce remains silent, arms crossed, staring at Della, and she says, “So you’re here too, Royce? Thanks.”

“I convinced him,” Časlav says, nudging his elbow into Royce’s sides.

“You mean you begged and annoyed me,” Royce says, clicking his tongue.

“Oooh, good job, Cas,” Della says, patting his shoulder.

Časlav sighs. “He was concerned about you. It didn’t take much to convince him.”

“I only came to see how stupid your plan is,” Royce says. Then after a second, he asks, “So? What do you need us to do?”

“I need a distraction,” Della says. “All you have to do is keep the Krots busy while talking in front of their faces. Just be annoying, but don’t cause an issue.”

“And what next?” One of Royce’s eyebrows rise.

“Just that,” Della smiles. “You know how you were arguing with Cas earlier? Just keep doing that in front of Krots and annoy it.”

Royce frowns, saying, “I wasn’t arguing with him. He was arguing with me.”

“No, no. You started this argument three days ago,” Časlav says, as they both start walking towards the Krots, continuing their quarrel.

Della then takes a long circular detour across the field, hiding amongst the trees. Krots have a decent hearing—not as good as canines as she had first suspected—but she hopes that it isn’t good enough for them to notice her with Royce and Cas arguing.

Once she’s circled all the way to the back, she looks around and sees no one around. She tiptoes until she’s just below the airship and touches it. It’s somewhat hot. She takes a few steps back and jumps, digging her nails deep into the side of the airship. "Ow," she whispers. The hot material almost makes her loosen the grip.

She climbs up the side of the airship and reaches the top in a minute. Lying down, she tries to take shallower breaths. She cannot afford to be seen or heard—not when she’s so close to getting out. If she is caught, she would be imprisoned, not killed. Gorons don't kill humans unless they harm or kill a Krot, a Thran, a Kix, or a Goron. A higher being. She almost spits out, disgusted. No, Della, she thinks. Keep the disgust inside you. It may drive you mad, but at least it will drive you away from this prison.

The hot surface begins to become bearable, but her heart is still uncertain. Will it work? Can she do it? Surely many others have tried doing the same thing. How difficult can it be to climb up an airship? These aren’t spaceships, equipped with deathly weapons to destroy an entire planet. These are simple airships. But no, it isn’t about climbing up the airship. Not anymore. Most people don’t even think of rebelling against the Gorons. They don’t understand that the Kix ships were not as well protected and well-made as Goron ships. They have accepted their fate—accepted that nothing could be done to change their predicament.

She waits until the Kix decides to return, exhausted from standing on Earth due to their weak legs. Every time any of the Kix have descended, they have left within an hour.

She only knows that the Kix has returned despite not being able to see it because she starts hearing people. That means they must be trailing behind the Kix, begging it to be not too harsh on them, or requesting them to add something like a new bathroom.

“You better work,” she whispers to one of her bags. “Or else I’m going to be crushed. Literally.” She then puts the parachute bag on her back, keeping the parachute switch in her left hand and the other bag in her right hand. She has to jump at the right moment. There are too many ways in which she can make a mistake. She could jump early and fall back into the district again. She could jump late and get blown up by the pressure. Thankfully, despite their speed, the airships always accelerate and decelerate slowly. The Kix ones, at least.

The airship starts making loud cranking noises again and Della’s heartbeat quickens. The airship starts moving up, and Della falls against the surface, gripping it as hard as she can. It gets faster and faster and faster, and she screams as the surface gets hotter. She can feel her hands and knees burning, but she has managed to lift her chest enough using her limbs to not have her torso burnt by the ship.

The ship starts accelerating faster, and she can no longer afford to keep her body up with just her limbs. She falls flat against the surface, grabbing it as if her life depends on it—and it probably does, she thinks. Cold, strong wind blows past her, and it keeps getting chillier. Funny that. Cold wind up in the air, but her body is touching an extremely hot surface. Getting the worst of both worlds. Her lungs feel as if they will explode as her vision becomes blurry and breathing becomes quick. Her hands and chest feel like they're on fire and once she can no longer bear it, she loosens her grip and falls down from the ship.

After some struggle against gravity, she manages to press the parachute button and starts to glide down to the forest.

She looks down on the Earth, still some tears on her face, still her entire torso and limbs burning with pain, still regretful about leaving her family. But as soon as the tears get blown away by the wind, she can see clearly. It is the most beautiful thing she has seen. She can see thousands of trees, many large hills, valleys, a river—that’s what they are called, she thinks—and a thousand things that are supposed to be theirs. Hers. Good lord, the Earth is huge. “Goddamn,” she says, laughing in the air, “goddamn.”