“No. No.” I heard gasped quietly from Peggy’s side of the room and rolled over, trying to keep my weak grasp on sleepiness.

It was still mostly dark in the room. I needed more sleep.

“This is just like the readings from Noviel. But it can’t be!”

I groaned and rolled over again, trying to block out Peggy’s reaction to whatever book she was reading and hoping that she would react quieter next time. She always got so invested in books, this wouldn’t be the first time I’d woken up to her mourning some character.

Sleep came again but too soon I was awakened again, but this time by Peggy shaking my arm.

“Aries. Aries! Wake up! Please!”

I tried to roll away from her, desperate for more sleep but she continued shaking me.

I opened my eyes slightly, just enough to see tear tracks on her face. I was immediately fully awake, my heart pounded as I scrambled out of bed.

“What is it? Are you hurt?” I asked, looking around for signs of struggle or an intruder or something that could have hurt her.

The door was still closed, the room looked almost the same as when I fell asleep apart from her bed which was now covered in books and screens. I turned back to Peggy who was trembling visibly.

“I need help. I... I want your advice. I think something bad is about to happen.” She whispered, grabbing my hand and clinging to it.

“Okay.”

Her urgency confused me. I checked the time above the door. It was a little after three in the morning but her eyes were bright and glassy like she had been staring at screens for a long time. She led me over to her bed, picked up one of her screens and projecting it to the larger screen on the wall.

“Okay, so you know how I’ve been doing that essay for Andy about the mining community on Irision and how it has impacted their evolution and development?” Her voice shook as she spoke.

She’d been passionately telling us about it for weeks, of course I remembered. I must have read four drafts already.

“Yes. Do we really need to do this now, Peg? I can read through your latest version in the morning?”

“I don’t need you to read through my essay!” She raised her voice causing Gem to groan in her sleep. “Sorry, sorry. Please, just listen.”

“Alright, go on.”

Peggy never raised her voice normally so something must have really shaken her. I looked back at the screen, trying to work out what could have happened.

“So… I’ve been trying to find out more about the structural integrity of the planet for some time because obviously, it isn’t an infinite resource like the Council said and they’ve been mining for almost 400 years and if you compare it to Noviel, it’s a concern, right?”

She looked at me to see if I was keeping up which I was, barely, so I nodded.

“Right? Because, yes Noviel was smaller and Irision is more technologically advanced, but surely you can’t keep mining forever. It’s a finite resource, it will run out at some point. And then what? What about the health of the planet? And that got me thinking. Have these concerns been voiced by anyone else?”

Peggy pulled up what appeared to be a chat room up on the big screen and I started trying to read it to catch up with what she was saying.

“So, it turns out production has almost halved in the last year and even that is a third of what they were doing five years ago. The Irisians have gone on strike repeatedly because they're worried but apparently, the Council threatens them and sends Guardians to make sure they keep working.”

I felt my eyebrows draw together.

“That’s not right.”

“But that’s not the end of it! They were protesting because they were concerned about the internal structure of the planet because their analysis shows it’s weakening. They’re worried that it’ll be just like what happened to Noviel!”

I scanned my memory trying to remember what happened but came up blank.

“Remind me about Noviel?”

“Aries! We covered this last year! Noviel was a mining planet but at the end of the last century, the mines all ran dry and the planet ended up crumbling into basically just dust! The Council were able to catch it before it was too late and saved almost seventy percent of the population but it could happen ago! The Council won’t let them stop!”

“So… The Irisians are worried about the planet crumbling into nothing?” I clarified slowly, my brain working sluggishly.

“No! They aren’t a minor planet like Noviel! The internal temperature and pressure of the planet means that they wouldn’t just crumble away, it would explode. They think some of the machinery that the Council sent so they could mine deeper has caused irreparable damage. Apparently, they can’t even turn it off now because of the Council! There’s nothing they can do! Look!”

Peggy pulled up a diagram of the structure of Irision and began pointing at various mining channels that didn’t mean anything to me.

“Okay but do they have any proof or is it just a concern for now?”

“Well, that’s the thing! Someone reached out to me through one of the back channels. It’s technically illegal to even use them.” She paused, looking at me anxiously as if worried I’d tell her off for using them.

“Go on.”

She took a deep breath.

“They’ve picked up rumbles.”

“Rumbles?” Again, I didn’t know what she was talking about.

Rumbles didn’t sound bad.

“Yeah, rumbles! At first, I thought it was nothing too but they’ve sent me the seismic data. I think the planet might be about to go. It’s just like the data from Noviel and even Earth. We need to help.”

Tears formed in her eyes as she clutched my hand desperately.

“Show me.”

She pulled up the reading from Irision and the readings they recovered from Earth and Noviel. Even I could see that the patterns were the same.

My stomach clenched as my brain kicked into action.

“Okay. Is there any way to access this data legally?” I asked, trying to plan our next moves.

“No. Not from outside the Council.” She whispered, unable to tear her eyes away from the readings which appeared to be continuously updating and getting worse.

“Okay… Okay. We report them to the Council. We’ll say it was anonymously sent to you and that you opened them not knowing what they were and recognised the pattern because of your studies. They can’t punish you for that, surely.”

She nodded hesitantly.

“Should we wake Gem?”

“Yes, and we should probably get the guys too.”

“What horrible timing. They haven’t slept in their dorm for like a year and the one time they do, this happens.” Peggy pushed her hair back from her face, still not looking away from the screens.

I shook my wrist monitor to wake it up and clicked on Cas’ picture to call him. I watched Peggy checking her calculations on the screen whilst I waited for Cas to answer.

“Hey. Couldn’t wait until morning to talk to me?” He drawled sleepily.

“It’s not that… Can you come here?”

“Sure. Are you okay?”

I bit my lip, watching Peggy stare at the readings with wide eyes.

“Yeah… Can you bring Cory to our room… now?”

“Now? Is everything okay?” His voice was more awake now, worried.

“Yeah… I’ll explain when you get here?” I didn’t want to tell him like this.

“Is everyone okay? Cory, mate, wake up.” I could hear him moving about their dorm and pulling clothes on.

“Cas... Do you have your flight kit in our dorm?”

He stopped.

“Yeah.”

I heard Cory mutter something in the background.

“Should Cory bring his medic bag?” Cas asked

I hoped we didn’t need to use it but just in case.

“Yeah.”

“We’ll be there in three minutes.”

He ended the call.

I took a deep breath and looked back up at Peggy. “How’s it going, Peg?”

“Not good. The tremors are getting worse. That person who sent me the seismic data messaged me again. He said they’ve tried to call the Council and they keep just saying that there is nothing to be worried about.”

“Okay, I’ll wake Gem and then we can talk through our plan.”

I walked over to her bed and shook her shoulder gently.

“Gem, time to wake up.”

She groaned loudly and tried to roll away from me.

“Come on Gem, you gotta get up.”

Gem groaned even louder and blinked up at me, her eyes darting to the clock to check the time.

“Urgh, this had better be an emergency or I’m going to be so angry. The world had better be on the brink of death.”

Peggy let out a cross between a laugh and a sob causing Gem to sit up and look around, concerned.

“What’s going on? Have you gotten any sleep, Peg?”

“No, but that’s not important. The guys are almost here, we’ll explain it then.”

Gem rubbed her eyes and stretched, looking around the room intently before standing up. I tried to smile at her as she walked into the bathroom before going back to where Peggy was still sitting and staring at the data on her screen.

“We’ll make everything okay, Peg,” I promised stupidly.

The door opened and the boys rushed into the room, clutching their bags.

“What’s going on?” Cory asked, breathing heavily.

Cas’ eyes took in the room, from the books and screens strewn on Peggy’s bed to the light peeking under the bathroom door where Gem could be heard splashing water on her face to wake herself up. He looked at me, his eyebrows drawing together in concern.

“We’ll explain when Gem gets out.” I cocked my head at the door, not wanting to have to explain this twice.

It would be hard enough explaining it once and I still hadn’t quite wrapped my head around it all.

Gem opened the door and strode out, dropping onto the bed next to Peggy and taking Cory with her

“Okay, what’s the emergency?” She asked.

“I think Irision is going to explode…” Peggy voice was just above a whisper.

Everyone froze, staring at Peggy.

“You’re joking.” Gem looked between Peggy and me hopefully.

I shook my head grimly.

“Peg, you better start at the beginning.”

She took a deep breath.

“So, basically Irision has been cutting down their mining for years because they’re running out and worried about the planet but they think that the machinery that the Council has sent has damaged the structure of the planet. That’s the real reason they’ve been going on strikes and stopped production.”

“But Felix said that it was due to fluctuating market price of materials and hasn’t production continued again?” Cory recalled from our Advanced Planet Politics class.

“Yeah but that’s actually because when they told the Council their concerns, they sent Guardians and started publicly beating people when they refused to work.”

“They didn’t!” Gem gasped quietly, her eyes troubled.

“Someone contacted me through the back channels… They sent videos of it.” Peggy’s eyes filled up with tears that didn’t fall.

I swallowed, not wanting to accept this.

“Show me.” Cas requested, his fists clenching, his voice flat.

“I don’t think we need to see it,” Cory said, glancing at Cas worriedly.

“I want to see it.”

Peg nodded and tapped on her screen until she found the right video, projecting it onto the screen on the wall. Shaky footage of a demonstration started, people were standing in what I recognised from class to be the entrance to one of the mines on Irision, blocking the entrance and refusing to enter.

Guardians formed a wall outside of the entrance to the mine, their blocky dark coloured ships silhouetted against the barren landscape behind them. The land was mostly flat and even from the slightly grainy video footage, I could see that it was covered with a thick layer of ash.

“If you do not return to your posts, lethal force will be used.” The command blared out of the helmets of the Guardians.

Whispers rippled through the crowd and a few people seemed to disappear back into the depth of the mine but the majority stayed, their shoulders squared and their faces determined. One of the Guardians stepped forwards and grabbed someone from the crowd seemingly at random before stepping back behind the line. The other Guardians moved forwards, pushing back against the crowd who were fighting to get the person back. The camera lifted higher, trying to see over the Guardians to the person who had been taken but only the tops of the Guardian’s helmets and a glimpse of the person could be seen. I squinted at the screen, trying to see the persons face but it was mostly obstructed by the Guardians. The camera turned and moved deeper into the mines, weaving between Irisians as they did. Every single Irisian who was passed by the camera was pale with gaunt cheeks and bags under their eyes. Some were streaked with dust or blood but they all looked resolute. In stark contrast to the Guardians outside the mine, not a single person that I saw was holding a weapon.

“The Council has authorised the use of force and capital punishment if production does not resume.” The Guardian’s voice blared out again.

There was an edge to their voice this time. Almost like they were panicked too.

Whoever was holding the camera squeezed behind a small shack further inside the entrance of the mine and began climbing the metal slats, grunting with effort.

“You’ll kill us all!” Someone in the crowd screamed at the Guardians as the person holding the camera reached the top of the flat metal hut and slid forwards, peering over the crowd at the Guardians.

From this angle, the person the Guardians grabbed could be seen over the wall of other Guardians. They were fighting to get free but two more Guardians step forwards to hold them back. The camera zoomed in on their face and I heard Cory gasp quietly.

It was a kid. They looked about our age, maybe even younger.

“No.” Cas breathed softly as one of the Guardians pulled their baton from their belt and jammed it into the kid’s neck.

They jerked violently as electricity ran through them before slumping forwards, barely being held up by the other Guardians. Another Guardian stepped forwards and stabbed their baton forwards at the unconscious child again. She fell from their grasp and crumpled motionless on the ground. The crowd grew silent, trying to see past the Guardians and waiting for the child to move again.

She didn’t.

“This is a message to all of you. If you do not return to your work you will be punished, regardless of age.”

Gem gasped.

“They knew she was a kid?”

I said nothing, continuing to watch as the Guardians stood waiting for the crowd’s decision.

Some turned immediately and disappeared into the mines, shoulders sagging in defeat, but some stayed, facing the Guardians defiantly. They didn’t last long. The Guardians continued to stare them down until eventually, almost everyone had returned to the mines. All that remained was one single woman, refusing to move.

I could almost see the Guardians decide that she wasn't worth the effort. They turned as one and walked away, stepping carelessly over the motionless child. Once they were gone, the woman ran to her, throwing herself down on the ground and clutching the child tightly but the child didn’t move.

Peggy turned off the video, waiting for someone to say something. I glanced at Cas who’s hands were so tightly clenched his knuckles were white.

“That’s horrible. Did the girl survive?” Gem whispered, looking at Peggy for an answer.

She couldn’t bring herself to speak, instead she just shook her head and confirmed what we all already knew.

“What evidence do you have that Irision is going to explode?” Cas asked, his voice strained.

Peggy pulled up the seismic data she’d shown me earlier.

“The same person sent me this. This is the data from the last few days compared to last year and then this is Noviel’s data from before it exploded and Earth’s.”

Cas’ eyes scanned the screens, flicking back and forth between them.

“Have you verified the data?”

Peggy shook her head. “I didn’t know how.”

“Okay, I can try and access the Council planetary data.”

He sat down and pulled a screen towards himself.

“Aries, what do we do?” Cory asked me.