Honorable Mention
The Starling And The Savior
by Ali’imanu Luna-Kuwamura
“Calling Handyman Donovan Cho to Sector 10!” a voice said over the intercom. Donovan got up from his bed, and grabbed his repair kit. He looked out the window, and gazed at the star the station was surrounding.
Donovan was on a space station known as the Solar Ring. On his way to Sector 10, he overhears an interview of the owner explaining the station’s purpose. “My idea is to collect solar energy from the star. There are solar panels around the station that store energy we would ship to other stations, and at the sight of damage we send out Donovan Cho’s team to fix it immediately. People could even live here. This place is perfect!”
Donovan chuckled to himself. Perfect? Yeah right, if you only knew. Donovan reached the damaged area and put on a TITAN suit, something made for space exploration. He leaves to go outside the station after answering a call from headquarters.
“There’s an anomaly that was launched from the star, shattering the solar panels. You don’t need to repair them by hand, just use some of the excess nanobots from your TITAN suit to repair the damage. Also, retrieve whatever broke the panels. See you when you get back, Scarlet,” HQ told him.
Donovan, or his Red Clan name, Scarlet, reached the anomaly, which turned out to be a small ball of light, around an inch and a half in diameter. He tried to grab it, but it shifted into a blank slate of a humanoid figure.
Donovan backed up as it formed. He threw a capsule of nanobots at the solar panel to propel himself away from the creature.
When it formed, it made a woman, light skin, and not a light tone of skin color, but actually skin made from light. When fully formed, she looked around, and started talking, but Donovan couldn’t hear her because sound doesn’t travel through space.
On Donovan’s UI in the TITAN suit, the repair was marked complete. Soon after, the cord tethering him to the space station pulled him back inside.
The star girl tried to follow but was stopped by the artificial gravity field. Eventually she gets inside, and as soon as she hits the floor from the artificial gravity, three guards shot at her with a taser, then took her away.
Donovan carried his equipment to his designated room, reflecting on his moral compass, telling him he should have helped her.
Knock Knock Knock.
Donovan went to the door, but a man in a white labcoat was already opening the door with a master keycard. He let himself in with two armed guards beside him.
“What is this?” Donovan demanded to know, but the guards stayed quiet, grabbing him. They took him to an interrogation room with the man in charge. The guards shoved him into a chair and cuffed him to the table, so he couldn’t leave. The guards stood by the door, and the man spoke. “Donovan, right?”
“What is this about?”
“You found something, we need you to tell us what it is,” the man said with a stern voice.
“How am I supposed to know?” Donovan said angrily, as he secretly began to pick the lock of the handcuffs.
“You grabbed it?” the man said, as if it were obvious.
“I was removing the anomaly as requested by HQ, I don’t know what she is,” Donovan said, sighing.
“You’re part of the Red Clan, the universal hands for hire. Tell us what it is, or we’ll send you into the cold void of space.”
“So, who would repair the solar panels for you? Who would help you get paid?” Donovan questioned.
“I, along with all other important people, have specialized pods with as much resources needed to reach another station. I. Don’t. Need. Yo,” the man said, leaning over the table as an attempt to intimidate Donovan.
Click!
Donovan unlocked the handcuffs. With a jolt, he got up and tried to push through the door.
“What? I thought you cuffed him!” the man barked at the guards.
“You said I’m not needed, so I’ll show myself out!” Donovan said, but was pulled down by the guards. “Augh! Let go of me!” he said before being tased. Bzzzz!
Donovan awoke who knows how much later, and noticed he was in a padded room. There was a camera in the corner along with a microphone in front of a one way window. On the other side of the window was her. The star girl.
Rrriiinnnggg!
Feedback from the speaker above him.
“Donovan Cho, we will keep you here until you tell us what that thing is,” he heard the man from earlier say.
“I already said I don’t know! Do you think she’ll just tell me or something?”
“Yes, and we have implemented a microphone in its room for you to get information. Once you do this for us, we’ll set you free.”
Click!
The transmission ended. Donovan went to the window and turned on the microphone underneath it. He heard feedback from the star girl’s room. The star girl looked up and stopped crying.
“What?” she muttered under her breath.
“I’m… the guy who you saw outside the station… I… I’m sorry about what happened… but I have a job to do. They are forcing me to get information out of you.” “Of course they are…” she said, dropping her head back into her knees. “I just want to help you.”
“That’s what the others said, the ones who tried taking me apart…”
“I’m not going to hurt you, you have my word. I’m Donovan Cho, aka Scarlet, second in command of technology of the Red Clan.”
The star girl’s head moved up. “The… Red Clan?”
“You’ve heard of us?” Donovan asked.
“I’m Ikehu Korinas, I was sent out from my home star to find Ikai Karvos, who was sent out to get help from the Red Clan. They’ve helped my people before.”
“So, you do know about us. That means you know that I want to help,” Donovan said as he looked around Ikehu’s room. “Can you find a way out?”
“Yes, there is a vent but I haven’t mastered shapeshifting.”
“Wait! Shapeshifting?” Donovan said, confused.
“I’m a Starling… a species that lives in the stars. We can shapeshift and manipulate light,” Ikehu explained. “I’ll try to get through the vent, it should lead to the-” Rrriiinnnggg!
The speaker in his room goes off.
“Donovan, what are you doing?” the man asked.
“Getting information, what? You can’t hear the conversation?”
“The microphone is only in your room, an oversight by the repair team. What have you gotten so far?”
“Just wait and see,” Donovan said, looking into the room and noticing that Ikehu is through the vent. He hears creaking above him, and then he turns invisible.
“What? Where did you go!” the man said through the speakers.
“Huh?” Donovan said, confused.
“Psst” whispered a disembodied voice. “I turned you invisible by manipulating the light hitting your body. We need to leave. Lead the way, Scarlet,” Ikehu told him. Donovan goes over to the door, but it’s locked. Ikehu had it covered though, using her hand, which is made of light, she slowly melted the door.
Alarms blared and Ikehu’s invisibility stopped working. Guards armed with weapons started firing at the two.
They ran through the halls and made it to the TITAN suit area. Donning one suit each, they now had some protection against the lasers. Donovan spotted advanced oxygen tanks used for when someone is spending a long time outside the Solar Ring.
“Here, we’re leaving, I’ll contact Burgundy, he’s the first in command of technology, he’ll rescue us,” Donovan said, putting one of the oxygen tanks on and handing the other to Ikehu.
“I don’t need oxygen. Starling, remember?”
“I guess, well, let’s go,” Donovan said, as he activated his helmet and jumped past the artificial gravity field, followed by Ikehu.
About six hours later, Burgundy arrived in a spaceship. Upon arrival at Earth, where the Red Clan resides, they were greeted by the Red Clan leader, Red himself.
Red turned to Ikehu first, “Ikehu, You were helping one of our own come back safely, and if it suits your interests, you could work to earn your name, Rose.” Red then turned to Donovan, telling him, “You left your post, but for a good reason. You left to save this Starling’s life. You helped the ones in need,” Red said as he put his hand in his cloak to grab something.
“Scarlet, you’ve officially earned your mask,” Red said, “your badge of honor. Take it with pride. Your mask has been marked with The Savior, you’ve earned it.” Red placed a clay mask in Scarlet’s palms. Scarlet put it on.
“That sounds right, The Savior,” Donvan thought.
