---    Exodus


Shannon filled Miranda in on some of the lesser known details of her own escape from the family business.  She didn't have time to tell her everything, but it was enough to make her realize that it was not a viable option for them, or anyone.

"Dolan did a good job hiding out here, but here I am", said Shannon.  "I managed to find you, and its only a matter of time before they figure it out as well."

"So what's your plan?  How are you going to hide us better than Dolan has?", asked Miranda.

"I am going to start with these", Shannon dug into her bag and produced a pair of unformatted Ident cards.  "Courtesy of Internal Security.  I just need to transfer some of your details onto them, and you could be anyone."

"They look real enough", said Miranda.

"They are real.  These are blank stock, and exceedingly illegal to possess.  Once we install your biometrics and some background data of your choosing, Miranda and Merissa Uwuru will cease to exist.  You will start your new lives as whoever you choose to be on these cards."     

"I also have a VIP cabin for two booked on a transport leaving in two days, and prearranged travel passes to three possible locations.  You can pick which ever destination you like, but don't tell me which one you choose.  I don't want to know where you go.  One less data point to be discovered."  

Miranda began shaking her head, "No, no, this is too much.  I cant do this.  I would rather take the risk of remaining here."

Shannon sighed and walked over to the pair, squatting down so she was at the same level as Merissa.  "Do you have any toys?", she asked the little girl.

Still frightened, Merissa stared wide eyed at Shannon and nodded almost imperceptibly.

"Do you have a favorite one?"

Again, a tiny nod.

"Would you go get it for me?", asked Shannon smiling. "I would like to see it."

The little girl increased her grip on her mother's clothes, and looked up at her for reassurance.

Miranda nodded. "Go get your doll, so you can show it to Shannon."

Merissa slowly let go of her mother as she stood up, then took a few tentative steps toward the door, keeping an eye on Shannon.  Then turned and bolted through the door, her bare feet making almost no noise.  Once she was gone, Shannon quickly turned on Miranda.

"Are you willing to kill your own daughter?", she hissed.

Miranda's eyes narrowed, the anger returning. "NO!", she spat, "Of course not."

"Then you need to let me help you.  Because if they figure out she exists, nothing short of her death is going to stop them from hunting down the pair of you", said Shannon, her own eyes beginning to show anger.  "They will take you both, and begin grooming her to be the new matriarch.  They will threaten to take her away from you, if you don't comply, and later they will threaten to take you away from her, to keep her in line."

Miranda recoiled away from Shannon, not wanting to believe, but knowing that what she said was true.

Merissa padded back into the room and resumed her position in front of her mother.  Clasped in her hands was a small hand-made doll of an orange fox.  She held it up and manipulated its stubby legs with her fingers to make it wave at Shannon.

Shannon grinned. "So cute.  Does it have a name?"

The little girl, suddenly shy again, shook her head and clutched her mothers knee.

Shannon looked at Miranda.

Miranda's eyes suddenly looked tired and defeated, as if all the years of the stress, and fear of being found, had caught up with her all at once.  Rubbing her face with both hands, she sniffled and fought off tears.  "Alright.  What do we need to do?"

"First, I need to make more cocoa", replied Shannon, offering her hand to help Miranda to her feet.  "Then we go shopping."

---

Miranda made her usual rounds through the mining outpost.  Selling the half-load of raw ore, and buying a months worth of supplies with the take.  So nothing would appear out of the ordinary, she bought the same quantities as she always had in the past.

Shannon stayed in the back of the transport with Merissa, hidden from view, with the slug thrower across her lap.  She knew it was only a matter of time before the Oroyo managed to find this place the same way she had.  "They may already be here", she had warned Miranda.  "Just act normally, and do what you always do in town.  They wont do anything in public, they will follow you and wait until you are alone."

Miranda returned to the transport with the supplies, loaded them up, then climbed in.

"I didn't see anyone", said Miranda as she prepped the vehicle.

"Did anyone see you?", asked Shannon.

"The only person who recognized me was Varian, the grocer.  He called me Melinda, always does."

"So you know him?"

"Everybody does.  He's a sweet old man.  Been here since the founding of the encampment."

The transports engine rumbled to life, and they began to pull away.

"This is it then", said Shannon, "Take a long route to the ship yards, just to make sure we aren't followed."

They took nearly half an hour to travel the less than five kilometer distance from the outpost to the shipyard, and it would have been nearing sundown, if the sun had been visible.  The wind had picked up, and the dust in the air made it impossible to tell the time by the sun, and difficult to see any vehicles at all.  If anyone were following them, they would have to stay so close, as to be obvious.  So much dust was in the air that they failed to notice the main gates of the shipyard until they were passing through them.

"Pad five", said Shannon, as they drove down the access road.

Powerful lights on the ground around each pad, meant to be beacons for landing ships, or provide highlighting for ships already parked, now only lit vast columns of brown dust as it churned over the empty pads.  At the edge of each pad, nearest the road was a partially recessed bunker, where customs officials and crew could exchange legalities, and take refuge from the back blast of ships engines.  When they reached pad five, the faint outline of an enormous ship could periodically be seen in the floodlit clouds of swirling dust.

Miranda parked the truck a few meters from a bunker with a giant '5' painted on its side.  "We're here", she said, with a note of apprehension.

"Alright, give me your ID cards, and anything else that could identify you", said Shannon.

"Merissa doesn't have one", said Miranda, as she handed Shannon her Ident and two Cred cards from her wallet.

"She will, as soon as you fill these out", said Shannon as she handed Miranda the blank Ident cards.  "Use the data pad to fill them out."

Miranda thought hard about the choice for a new name.  An identity that she and her daughter would have to live with for the rest of their lives.  "What if someone asks?  She is only five, she is likely to give her real name."

"You will have to improvise and avoid", said Shannon. "I hadn't considered this outcome in my planning.  These were supposed to be for you and Dolan."

Miranda nodded, and sniffled a bit as she filled in the required details for the cards.

"When you are finished, throw the cards on the floor and stomp on them a bit."

"What?", cried Miranda.

"Scratch them up, make them look a little worn. A pristine ID would raise questions out here", replied Shannon.

After uploading the data onto the cards, she threw them on the floor and shuffled her feet on them.  Merissa joined in giggling.  Miranda then hung a newly minted and weathered Ident card around Merissa's neck on a lanyard, and inserted the other into her wallet.

"Anything else?  Anything with Dolan on it?", asked Shannon.

Miranda flipped through her wallet again, and found a tattered picture of Dolan holding Merissa when she was a year old.  She looked at the picture hard, memorizing every detail, then reluctantly handed it to Shannon.

"I'm sorry", said Shannon, taking the picture, and handing Miranda her boarding passes. "There cant be any trace."

They spent a couple minutes in silence as they bundled up their meager belongings.

"You go first.  I'll wait a few minutes, then do my part", said Shannon.

Miranda nodded, stepped out of the truck and helped Merissa down.  Then reached back in and took Shannon's hand in hers.  "Thank you."

Shannon held her hand with both of hers. "Its all for her", she said inclining her head toward Merissa.

"I know, and thank you", she replied trying not to tear up.

---

Shannon watched the silhouettes of a young mephatine and her mother, their tails blown almost horizontal, as they made their way to, and down the entrance ramp to the bunker.  Placing the gun on the floor behind the seats, she buttoned up her flight jacket, wrapped her face in a scarf, and pulled up her hood, before making her way to the bunker as well.

Upon entering the bunker, she found Miranda and Merissa already engaged with a customs official, looking over their credentials and passes.  Avoiding familiarity with them, she made her way to the other side of the room, where Reg and his chief engineer sat with a warm pot of something.

"There she is", said the ferret with a smile. "What's this Reg says about you staying in this shit hole, Addy?"

"He's right, Chief", replied Shannon, responding to the false name she had traveled under.  "I only booked the outbound.  I have always wanted to see the fringe."

"Well, now you've seen it", he said gesturing all around with both hands, "This is it.  There isn't anything else.  Just more of the same."

Reg sipped from his cup, watching the customs official with his two soon-to-be passengers.  He caught Shannon's eye and made a hand gesture indicating a very small person, then raised a questioning eyebrow.

Shannon nodded.

"Going to miss having you around.  You did a proper job of fixing some of those temporary patches I made.  I was beginning to think Reg had found someone to replace me.  Eh Reg?", he said, cuffing the rabbit on the shoulder.

"Oh, and don't forget your bag", said Chief, as he dropped Shannon's duffel unceremoniously on the table with a heavy thud.

Shannon winced, then let out a sigh of relief before glowered at the engineer.

"Oh, I'm sorry, is it fragile?", asked the ferret.

"No, but you are", replied Shannon, before glancing nervously at Reg.

Reg leaned forward to offer her a drink. "I don't want to know", he said under his breath.

"No, you don't", she quietly confirmed, as she accepted the cup of brown liquid.

The little girl was becoming agitated.  It was probably well past her usual bedtime, and all of the recent activity had worn her to a frazzle.  She would crawl under the customs table, or walk in circles around her mother's legs, or tug at her mother's coat for attention while she dealt with the official.

Shannon sipped from the cup to avoid eye contact with the little girl.  She didn't want her to have a reason to interact with someone who should be a complete stranger.  Shannon cringed and looked into the cup. "What is this?  It tastes like someone's old socks!"

Reg took another sip and considered it. "No, it doesn't."

The customs official finally cleared their paperwork and waved to Reg.

Shannon turned to Reg and shook his hand and said, "Take care."

Reg looked past Shannon at the little girl and the woman. "I will."

Shannon and the engineer helped Reg to stand, then the chief offered his shoulder for support.  Reg took a firm grip and hobbled his way over to the customs official.  Shannon took Reg's chair and absent-mindedly refilled her cup.

"These are your two passengers", said the official, handing Reg their boarding passes.

Reg gave the paperwork a cursory glance, then offered his hand to the woman. "Welcome aboard the Lyandra."

Miranda took his hand and shook it. "Thank you, and this is my daughter", she said, glancing down.

Reg turned his attention to the little girl who was now hiding behind her mother.  Despite his physical condition, Reg managed to kneel down and address the child. "And what is your name, little one?", he asked.  

Shannon finished her cup, regretted it, then swept from the bunker into the roaring wind while everyone was distracted.

Once she was in the truck, she could see four shadowy silhouettes making their way onto the landing pad toward the ship.  One leaning heavily on the other, while also being 'helped' by the smallest.  The forth was lagging behind a few paces, one hand held up to shield its face from the wind.

Shannon started the truck, and continued watching until she was sure everyone was on board.  As she pulled away, the landing pad lights shifted from white to red, warning everyone on the ground that the ship was about to leave.  As she followed the road back into town, she could see the faint glow of the ships engines ascending into the dust storm, and then it was gone.