Chapter Text
After six hours of waiting and mindlessly tracing patterns in the sand Jumper was starting to worry that they weren’t coming for her. She could use her watch to reach out to Minute to come get her but she wasn’t sure if it was too soon. So much was at stake and this was a one time opportunity. She swiped her hand through her sand drawing, erasing her work to start again.
She had eighteen hours of oxygen left, a number jumper would rather not think about. There were tons of ruined ships on this planet which could in theory have the tech Jumper would need to restock on Oxygen but she couldn’t be sure she would find a system that worked with her O Tank, and she had no way of knowing how long it would take Minute to get back to her if she needed him. As Jumper waited, hoping that her emergency plans could all stay theoretical, a small breeze tossed up the sand distorting her outline of the Shard. For just a moment the Abyss ship blocked out the sun.
When the large Abyss ship had landed, Jumper watched as Zam scampered over the rocky hills, smiling wide as ever. She grabbed Jumper’s hands and lifted her up off her up off the rock where she was sitting.
“Oh- I have been so excited to properly meet you!” He smiled through his teeth like it would be a crime for Jumper to not see them.
Zam was so different then how she had been during the attack on the Intergalactic Space Station or in Minute’s memories. The glint in her eyes was so warm and genuine that Jumper couldn’t help but smile with her.
Still grasping her hand Zam led her up the ramp of his imposing ship. The ceilings were high and the halls were wide and lined with door after door as far as she could see. As they walked Jumper caught side of a storage room with unmarked crates, a kitchen busy with workers, and a room lined with bunks where a few soldiers chatted out of uniform. The sheer scale of the vessel made the Shard seem pitiful, to say nothing of the sleek state of the art technology. The entry room had an incredibly advanced atmospheric stabilizer that kept the air of the ship and the outside atmosphere separated even while the entry ramp was open. She doffed her space suit and kept following Zam, sure to keep close at his heels. She needed to ask Zam to let her take a look at the engine room at some point, she was sure she would have the time of her life in there.
There was a small group of people walking down the hall carrying trays of food and laughing among themselves. They were all dressed in flowing black robes that flowed in and out of full padded armor, they were also carrying weapons. Jumper tensed, instinctively reaching to her hip where she usually fastened her holster but there was nothing there. Fuck, right, she had left it on the Shard with Minute. She was unguarded and unprepared. One of the soldiers caught sight of Zam and gave him a curt nod before turning back to their friends. It was all so shockingly normal, it was too much.
She was too vulnerable here. She had no allies, no friends, she didn’t have her weapon. She wanted to slip into the darkness and hide but there were no hiding spots, and even if there were, she didn’t know them, so she was forced to stay morbidly on display.
Zam came to a stop outside a side room and held the door open for her.
“Our crew should be taking off to bring us to our base soon. I was hoping you would sit with me for the journey.
Jumper stuttered, she hesitated. Where else could she go though? If she refused she could be throwing away a chance at getting important information. This was her first important opportunity so she smiled back at him and walked into the sitting room.
It was decadently decorated with plush velvet chairs and a polished dark oak table that gleamed in the low lighting. She stood tentatively by a chair as she watched Zam walk to a thin table at the back of the room. He picked up a crystal carafe and turned back to her.
“I noticed your suit didn’t have a water tank and I know you were out there for a while, would you like a drink?”
“Um, yeah sure! Thank you” she chirped. Fuck, she could hear the nervousness in her own voice, the way she stumbled over her own words. She glanced back over at Zam but he was just pouring her a glass as though nothing were the matter.
“You know, I’ve heard so many wonderful things about you!” He said as he handed her the glass. Once he had handed off the glass Zam sat down and all of a sudden she felt way more awkward standing so she quickly sat down in the chair opposite him.
It was nice to think that Pentar spoke highly of her even after so long apart. She wondered what kind of things he had talked about but she honestly wanted to ask Pentar herself rather than get it from Zam.
“I’m so glad. I know my brother said plenty of nice things about you too.” And he had, Pentar had spoken very highly of the Abyss despite some of the undercurrents that Jumper had noticed.
“If you don’t mind me asking, how did you end up stranded on Exo-5205 without a ship? You must have gotten there somehow.”
Finally something where Jumper knew the script. She had prepared for this.
“I told Minute I wanted to join you, he seemed agreeable at first, he even said he would come with me and join too but,” Jumper cut herself off, she tried to fake a sob and it sounded so real she had to school her expression to stop herself from smiling in celebration. “The moment I stepped off the ramp he locked me out of my own ship and left me there. I don’t even know if he knew I had a way to contact you or if he knew I had enough Oxygen to last. For all I know he was fine condemning me to die.” Jumper sniffled a little and breathed in sharp gasping breaths. Did Zam believe her, was her performance convincing enough? As much as she wanted to know she couldn’t risk checking so she just kept her eyes down and pantomimed calming her breathing as the two of them sat in silence.
“I’m sorry Zam, It was-” She took another breath “A lot, today was rough. I just,” She stopped and let her sentence trail off into the still silence of the room. She chanced a look over at Zam and she was nodding with a closed mouth and sympathetic smile.
“Ya know, when I saw you at the intergalactic space station I knew it was finally your time to join us. I was so disappointed when that gentleman swept you away.” Zam paused awkwardly looking at her with a pitying gaze. “I know he was your friend Jumper, I’m so sorry that he didn’t understand. It's truly awful that he would hurt you like that. We can hope he is simply misguided, there are many who oppose our cause because they believe they are taking the moral high ground. We can hope he comes to his senses and can stand at your side again someday.”
Jumper tried not to flinch as Zam placed a clawed hand on her shoulder. She hoped her face wasn’t betraying her. She hoped she looked crushed, imitating a wounded deer as the wolf circled closer.
“I miss him” The words escaped her like a breath, feathery and barely there like the words themselves were light as air. “I hope he changes his mind and comes back. If he doesn’t I hope he stays far away.” She wasn’t lying when she said it, but she wasn’t talking about Minute either. This whole conversation was reminding her too much of Vitalasy but she couldn’t think about him now.
She has to choose her words carefully. It was an interesting line she was walking trying to protect herself and her allies seemed nearly impossible because to fit in here she has to act as though her friends were her greatest enemies. She also hoped that if she made it clear that despite her ‘hurt’ Minute still mattered to her, they might be more reluctant to target him.
“I understand your position, Jumper. You will find that almost everyone with Abyss has had similar experiences. Our consolation is that one day our loved ones will see that our work will bring them and the entire universe so much joy and deliverance.” He said leaning forward with a dark intensity in his eyes, that sharpness returning to his smile.
“I am so excited to meet everyone!” She said “And I wanted to thank you for giving my brother such a welcoming place to live for the last year”
Zam’s eyes softened and she leaned back and laughed gently.
“I’m glad he settled here so well too. Speaking of introductions though, there is someone special I want you to meet when we arrive.” As if on cue, Jumper felt the ship hum with life underneath her.
“I know that you’re a very experienced pilot, have you ever been on a ship this size before?”
“Not since my school took us to the off planet campus. I haven’t been back since and I ended up specializing in much smaller starships.”
“Well then, we can teach you to fly ships like this, it will be a valuable skill. Though I would much rather let you stick with your existing skills. Mapicc just coordinated the purchase of a fleet of small fighter ships and I think you should be involved in that operation.”
“That sounds incredible!” Jumper said and for once she didn’t have to fake her astonishment. Why were they involving her in such key projects when they had only met her a few days ago? She wanted to push Zam for answers but was too afraid of making her suspicious. “Thank you so much, that’s an incredible opportunity.”
“You were destined for this Jumper, we would be foolish to let you slip through our fingers.” There it is again, the implication that her presence here is something more than chance. Jumper nodded anyway, not really sure what to say to something like that. She must have let some of her confusion shine through on her face because Zam noticed something was off.
“You look a little tired, I’m sure you’ve had a very long day, stressful too. Why don’t I show you to your room and you can get settled. We have provided some uniforms for you and hopefully we will have arrived by morning so I encourage you to get some sleep if you can.”
Ok this was good. Sleeping quarters would surely have other people in them and she might be able to forge connections or even start gathering information. Jumper planned what she might say to the people she was going to be rooming with, how she might go about making friends. She couldn’t be too direct but she could try to connect by appealing to their lives outside of Abyss as a starting point. Hopefully that would work. Zam led her upstairs a few flights to a hall lined with identical doors. He held out a keycard and pointed at a room labeled 632.
“This is your room. I will leave you for now” She said, pushing the card into Jumper’s hands. She turned and Jumper watched as she quickly, though still quite gracefully rushed down the hallway.
“Zam wait.” She turned around, looking at Jumper with sharp eyes. “I just wanted to thank you for giving me a home for now Zam” She said. She didn’t really know why she said it. She could have just let her leave, turned away and gone to bed but as the words left her mouth Jumper could see Zam’s face softening.
“It is good this place feels like home to you Jumper. Tomorrow I will introduce you to the Void and you will understand the full extent of your homecoming. I think the two of you will be incredibly happy to finally meet after all this time.” Zam said. Once again her voice took on that ceremonial tone, her words seemed to echo through the hall.
“I can’t wait,” Jumper said and turned away. Of all the lies she had told all day, somehow that was the worst one. She wished the night between now and that meeting would last forever so she could exist in this little pocket of safety forever. Jumper swung the door open more gently than she usually would expect to see a handful of roommates on the other side but instead the door opened into a surprisingly spacious room that was all her own.
It was her own room, her own private room. Maybe there would have been times when Jumper would have been overjoyed to have a large bed and plenty of space, a luxury she was never afforded on The Shard or even in her home back on earth but this time it felt like a punch to the gut.
If she wasn’t being treated like all the other recruits then it would be so much harder to properly do reconnaissance and report back to Minute and maybe even impossible to talk to other low rank people. Did they suspect her? I mean why wouldn’t they? Just days before they likely wouldn’t have considered her an ally and due to her connection to Minute they might even have labeled her as a threat. Of course they would isolate her of course they wouldn’t trust her with access to others, at least not at first.
That probably meant there could be recording devices in the room as well so Jumper would have to look for them subtly and without giving herself away. Those were all problems for morning Jumper though, especially as she felt her eyes beginning to grow heavy. She was like a clockwork rabbit whose key had wound out. As she settled into bed, still wearing the clothes she had been wearing all day, Jumper could already feel the sleep over taking her.
Tomorrow she would meet the person Zam had been telling her about. Tomorrow she would start her mission for real. Tomorrow she would get in touch with Minute. But tonight she was tired so as her head hit the pillow and her eyelids fell like closing curtains Jumper let sleep take her into the darkness.