Dru pawed at the rat.

It was tumbling end-over-end, attempting to use its tail to control the spin. He saw it shiver, and a tiny plume of steam escaped as it exhaled.

He finally managed to snatch it, then he stuffed it into the pocket in the front of his suit. It didn't even struggle, the cold having sapped its remaining energy. He hoped that there was enough residual body heat leaking through the suit to keep the rat alive.

Glancing back he could see Galan and his companion, Gin, pulling themselves into the storage chamber. They were both large men, still well-muscled despite the rationing. If they caught up with him, he was doomed.

Galan saw his look and snarled at him, "Come here, you little bugger!"

Dru boosted off the wall, away from them. As he floated across the chamber toward the inner wall, he pulled on his glove, which proved difficult. His hand hurt from the bites, and the freezing cold.

Behind, Dru heard a grunt of exertion from Galan as he and Gin chased after him, boosting with their legs. Much faster than Dru.

He had never liked Galan. The feeling was mutual. That would have been fine had Galan not been Gar's dad. Fortunately, Galan had spent most of his time either doing maintenance duties outside the Habitat or with his friends at one of the Afterlife distilleries. As a result, they hadn't seen much of one another. Whenever Galan was home, Dru stayed well away. Although he had never told Gar, Galan frightened him. Gar, for his part had once said, the less he saw of Galan the better for everyone.

Dru wondered what had happened to Gar after he fled. He hoped he had found somewhere to hide, safe and secure with a decent supply of food.

The Grownups were gaining on him. While he had a decent headstart, it was only a matter of time before the caught up with him. He needed to find a way out of the chamber.

There should be other portals, either to the Rear Hangar or to The Reactors. Would they be open? There might even be vents he could use to escape. That would be best. The Grownups would find them more difficult to traverse.

He deftly bounced off the inner wall, then used the safety rungs to pull himself along it. That gave him a boost of speed, but the Grownups were still gaining.

The cargo chamber was a giant torus that enclosed the hangars and engineering section. Maybe if his strength held,he could traverse all the way around and escape out the way he had entered.

As if reading his mind, he heard Gin shout, "I'll circle around the other way."

Whereas Galan was bulky, Gin was tall and wiry, looking more like a Di Ren than a Weller. Dru didn't know Gin very well, just that he only ever saw him in Galan's presence, and that he had an annoying high-pitched laugh.

Dru glanced back. Galan was close. Much closer than he had hoped.

"Give up, kid. It's over." Galan called out.

Even though it was freezing, Dru could clearly see sweat covering Galan's face. He also saw the heavily bandage on his wrist, a legacy of Dru's knife. He suspected that his death would be slow and painful if Galan got his hands on him.

The curved wall made boosting at pace tortuous. Dru couldn't just propel himself straight forward. He would float too far away from the rungs, and then they'd catch him easily. His body kept swinging outward away from the inner wall. The muscles in his abdomen ached from the effort. His injured hand was starting to throb as well.

As he curled around, he saw a thick bulkhead cutting across the entire width of the cargo bay, with a pair of massive pressure doors placed in the middle.

Of course! It's compartmentalised, in case of blow-outs, Dru thought.

His heart sank.

Pressure doors take a long time to cycle. There was no way he could open and close the doors before Galan caught him.

Then he spied the smaller personnel door on the coreward side. If Dru could get through and lock it, he might escape.

He ignored the pain and growing lethargy in his arms, and increased his pace.

Behind, Galan screamed in frustration, "I'm going to do to you what I did to my Gar!"

Gar had disappeared weeks before. He was just the latest kid to disappear. It was the reason that Dru had planned his own escape.

Months earlier, all the children had been placed in a camp in the Assembly Room. They called it the Giant Sleepover but everyone knew it was an internment camp. None of the kids could leave, and their Brethren overseers severely punished any that tried.

The children were told it was for their own safety. In order to alleviate the resources shortage all the fittings, furniture and almost everything else, were being converted to food and other necessities. It was dangerous work and the Grownups didn't want the kids getting in the way

For the first few months of Internment, they were treated well. If you discount the food, that is.

Then one day, Milly's parents arrived to take her on a tour. That was unusual, because up until then most of the kids didn't get to see their parents.

Initially Dru and Meri got regular visits from theirs, but his mother always wore a pained expression and she kept stroking their hair. She looked like she hadn't slept in weeks. It made Dru uncomfortable. However, even that stopped eventually.

Dru barely knew Milly, she was only about four years old. Meri had played with her a few times, but they weren't, what Dru would call, friends.

The others kids didn't think much of the incident at first. However when Milly hadn't returned by the next day, some of the elder children became concerned.

"Where's she gone?" Mel had asked Marg, one of the Brethren Mothers.

Mel was a few years older than Dru. She was almost old enough to become a Brethren Mother herself. Her hair was black and she liked to let it grow as long as the regulations allowed (and sometimes longer, whenever she could get away with it).

"She's been moved." Marg answered, dismissively.

Mel, being Mel, pursued it, "Moved where?"

"We're setting up another facility." Marg paused and a smile broke her usually stern features. It wasn't a warm smile, but thin and forced. Marg didn't particularly like the children she oversaw every day, and she did not attempt to hide that fact from her charges. "Just for families," she completed.

"Facility? Where? I want to see it." Mel demanded.

"In time you will all be moved there," Marg said and her smile broadened, as though amused by her own witticism.

Then she excused herself before Mel could follow-up. Dru had overheard the conversation, but its significance eluded him until much later.

Mel had steamed for a while, however she was as powerless as everyone else was in the camp. Eventually, even she dropped it.

They all knew The War was causing problems. They were repeatedly told, sacrifices have to be made. They all hated that phrase, but had no choice but to accept it.

When other parents arrived to take their children, Dru, Mel and the others watched passively. Some of the younger kids even wondered aloud why their own parents hadn't arrived for them.

A few weeks later, Gren's mother arrived to retrieve him. Dru and Gren weren't close but Dru's mother had taken him and Meri to their apartment for dinner once, just before the Internment. They had eaten a hearty meat stew. Dru remembered thinking how rich they must be to have so much meat they could share it with guests.

Gar and Gren were related, although Dru didn't know how. Gar used to call Gren, Cuz.

"Sup, Cuz?" he'd say or, "You good, Cuz?"

Initially Dru thought it was some sort of swear word – Gar always had the best ones – but he soon learnt that wasn't the case. The term seemed to be only delivered one way. Gren always called Gar sir, or by his name.

"Yes, sir," or "Sorry, Gar."

Dru wasn't sure what a cuz was, but there seemed to be a bond between Gar and Gren and truth be told, Dru was a little bit jealous of it.

"Where are you taking him?" Gar had asked Gren's mother.

She had tried to smile, but instead it became the exact same pained expression Dru's mother always had. Her eyes moved to Marg in a silent plea.

"To the facility," Marg had stated. She repeated it slowly, "To. The. Facility."

This was directed at Gren's mother. Gren's mother nodded, tears welling-up in her eyes. She kept stroking Gren's hair the entire time.

"Say it, Minny," Marg insisted. "To the facility."

With tears running down her cheeks Gren's mother forced a smile, "Yes. To the facility."

Then she had beaten a hasty retreat shepherding Gren with her.

"Something's wrong," Gar had said quietly to Dru as they waited for the food to be served.

"What?"

"Dunno, but I plan to find out. If it's bad. I'm going to call for help."

"How?"

"I know where the comms room is."

"So do I. It's guarded."

Gar just winked at Dru, then headed over towards the serving table.

Dru was about to follow when he felt eyes upon him. He turned to discover Marg watching him. That was never a good sign.

The following morning, Dru awoke to discover Gar missing.