Jiho had averted Myungsoo for a whole day after she drove him out of her room. This morning, the day in which she was scheduled to ship out, marked the first time they met since. He was frying some eggs, a cup of milk in his hand. His lips curled up as he saw her stop at the kitchen entrance. It was a half smile b with devious mirth, not a genuine sign of affection.  

 "You want some breakfast honey?" He scanned her body, lingering on her neck. "You look gorgeous today, y'know? I'm sure you do since you like to stare at the mirror so much."

 Jiho's eyebrow raised up, wondering if he intruded on an occasion when she may have sat staring at her mirror, hoping for Han to speak again. 

 "I was right?" He chuckled. "I was only kidding, but c'mon. It's common knowledge for women to doll themselves up, especially for their beloved husband."

 "You're my husband by mandate, but not my beloved," she remarked as she walked over to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of orange juice. Out of pride she drank. The juice was hers to begin with so why shouldn't she drink? Just because Myungsoo was there? That wasn't enough of a reason. She felt she would be capitulating to him if she didn't drink.

Myungsoo snickered at her comment. He eyed every bit of her, resting his sight on the hand that shut the fridge door after putting the juice away.

 "You take care of your skin," he said as he grasped her hand. It smelled like lotion, a scent he was sure to sniff in with closed eyes.

The act perturbed her and just as she was about to pull it away, he rubbed his cheek against it over and over. Her muscles stiffened as the tiny beard hairs his razor missed scraped against her soft hand.

 "Let me go!"

 With that he released his grip and grinned at her. "I am your husband. This is perfectly fine."

 She scowled at him, disgusted by the leer he aimed at her. When she turned, he started up again, "Who were you talking to two nights ago? All alone in your room?"

 "Wonho," she replied without looking back, "He is my commander and I will now report to him at the Inner Circle."

 "A loyal Rocketfellow indeed! A newlywed and off to serve the Motherland! You are an inspiration, Jiho. Can't wait to see you back, honey. We can get started on building a family as soon as you return."

Fists clenched with knuckles totally white, she held her peace as she walked towards the door leading outside. She chided herself for listening to her pride. Even if in some way or form it meant losing a battle, this unpleasant confrontation could have been avoided had she chosen to not drink. 

Her pace was brisk as she walked to the bus stop three blocks away from her home. It was due any moment and she swore to have seen it in the distance, quickly approaching. If only her mother's car would have been given over to her...

Crossing the intersection just before the bus stop, she froze. The hulking white car that comes for those invited to the Promise was moving down the street to the left of her. It stopped at a home and within the minute, the holy ones exited the vehicle and greeted a man standing at the curb. The man went inside the vehicle swiftly, and just as swiftly, the vehicle moved away from the home, becoming a white dot, on its way to pick up more passengers.

A sudden gust of wind finally snapped Jiho out of her trance. It was the speeding bus that drove towards the stop. She yelled for the driver to wait and pulled up her long skirt so she wouldn't trip on it as she ran like a wild stallion the remainder of the distance. Luckily for her, she made it just as the bus door was about to close.

Taking a seat in the far back with her head leaned against the window, she decided to rest her eyes awhile. Every now and then she would open them to see which new person would board the coach, but for the most part they stayed closed as she thought on things. There was always an inexhaustible amount of things for her to focus on, more so now that Han existed. He was an enigma, a riddle she wished she had an answer to. She saw Death and Decay in vivid colors, yet could they have been mere illusion? What if Han was a figment of her imagination? Could it be true what Wonho said, that it was out of exhaustion that she heard the voice of Han?

Who was right? Wonho? Han? Maybe it was insanity thriving inside her head...

Insanity, like sorrow, is not a plague- a horrible disease. Rather, it is only a tiny problem, a small problem that is no task for the Motherland. It finds its answers in the only place where they could be found, at the Inner Circle. Jiho knew that much. She also knew that the answer to insanity usually meant a one way trip to the Promise. 

And what about that? Was Han in truth speaking when he claimed it a lie? But if there's no Promise to hold on to- where did her mother go? Is there any point in looking forward to a nonexistent place?

 "Jiho! Jiho, hi!"

 Jiho blinked repetitively. To sigh or say hi back, her mind didn't know, but her body, instinct, knew. opened to greet Jennie with a smile.

 "I'm happy to sit next to you again. Wanna' talk? Yeah? Ok, me first."

She was as affable as always, that Jennie, whenever she talked. Maybe she lives to talk, Jiho mused with a subtle grin. On and on she talked for over an hour about her new job. It turns out being a mechanic nowadays involved more than repairing faulty cars and other miscellaneous machines. Since their educational books and programming were last updated a decade ago, the term mechanic had changed to include those who monitored the world and reported problems that were in need of fixing...

 "Yup, aha. Yeah. Oh, isn't that nice," Jiho would respond to the chatter machine. She would try to pay attention but couldn't seem to retain much of what Jennie said because of just how much she talked.

 "Thanks for listening, girlfriend. I talk a lot, don't I?"

 "Well..."

 "But how about you?" Jennie interjected without giving Jiho a chance to answer. "You know, I was thinking about the other day, how you said it was fine to not marry and be content with your parent, and I think you're right. I sat by my father yesterday the whole night, until curfew of course, and it was quite swell." 

 "What did you guys talk about?"

 "Nothing. We just sat and I felt happy to be next to him. Every now and then he would glance at me and make sure I was not shivering from the cold. Your mom's fine?"

 "She went into the Promise..."

 "Oh! That's great! I can't wait to go there, too. When the Motherland let's me in, of course."

 "Is it? Is it great, Jennie? How do we know it's great if we've never been there before? We always talk about it as if we know what it means to be there but we don't. It's full of all 'true delights' they say, but what exactly does that mean? How come our loved ones that go in there never come back if they're fine within that place? Surely a small visit from them wouldn't be too much of a problem... Is it really that great?"

 Jennie was perplexed. Her forehead was wrinkly and eyes were squinting as she noted the manner in which Jiho spoke. There was tension in her friend.

 "That's what the Motherland says, Jiho. That's all we know and we ought to trust the Motherland."

 It was a voice of apathy that came out of Jiho, "And what if the Motherland isn't telling us the truth?"

 "Don't say that, Jiho! You're just sad, be happy!"

 "I was given a husband, too. I don't like him. Something about the way he smiles and looks at me reminds me of that slithering reptile, the one called snake. You remember that from the programming we received as children?"

 "I do. But, it's just the awkward phase all newlyweds go through. We have to do our part and trust in the Motherland, Jiho. Please don't stay melancholic."

For the following hour, silence reigned over them. To no surprise, it was Jennie who broke the ice again.

 "That Source of yours is very wonderful. It tracks you, monitors your blood pressure and heart rate- all because the Motherland cares for you, you know. There's also a feature I discovered. You can store things inside an empty nourishment capsule, no matter the size, by pointing the Source at the item and then at the empty canister once you input a set of commands on the buttons. Here, lemme' show you." Jennie tried to lift Jiho's blouse to uncover the gadget on her belly, but she wouldn't give at first. It took much persistence for Jennie to get her way. 

After she was shown the commands, including the ones that ejected the stored item out, Jiho questioned why the Motherland kept this feature a secret. Why didn't she know at the first?

 "It's in the testing phase, this feature. They don't want soldiers to depend on it when it may not even work."

She continued to cheer up Jiho against all odds and when she cracked a joke, she finally laughed. The hours left to reach the Inner Circle seemed shorter whenever Jennie talked. One moment it was talking about the surveillance cameras, the next it was about the zoos and aquariums, the one after that was about the dancers and singers of the Inner Circle, then it would be about her father and what they ate; you would think she held in every second of her day precisely memorized just to share it with Jiho. 

They went their individual ways when they touched ground, Jennie to her job, and Jiho to the launching pad at the far side of the fortress that was the Inner Circle. It was another hour in total before she even saw Wonho. Why did she have to travel so much just to work? What most annoyed her now was the fact that she had to engage her armor in a room far away from the designated launching pad, all because her male peers may otherwise oggle her and all other females. This meant more walking for her...

It was standard procedure she followed. First was stripping off all her clothes and then was putting on the form-fitting navy blue undersuit to prevent chafing from the armor. She also had to tie her hair into a tight bun with a special elastic that would never rot or loose its elasticity so stray hairs would not impede her vision; that or cut it like a boy's, the one thing Jiho would never do. Next was putting on the signet ring that denoted her corps, hers depicting a Phoenix, being a Rocketfellow. What was left after that was simply engaging the Metal Skin. The only thing different about the process today was that she was not alone while doing it.

The first time she did it, though her memory of that instance is murky, was after the hypersleep with the mental programming; it was by herself in the booth that held the incubation tank. Now there were no dividing partitions and she was running through the steps with other female soldiers, some of which laughed and giggled at each other's bodies. She dreaded this but knew for a fact that the process would've been worst if done in front of the males. Why couldn't everyone be quiet and not stare at each other? 

At the launch site she met up with Wonho and all the other Rocketfellows. While giving a drawn out pep talk, he spotted her standing at the far back. She saluted him and he acknowledged her with a nod. As he talked on and on about the Motherland's greatness, his eye would occasionally drift to the girl whose slouching posture communicated something to him. He perceived a hint of doubt in the Motherland. Why? He already knew: the sudden changes that overtook her were the perpetrators.

  A chord was struck in him. He was once affected by similar drastic changes and as a result had been acquainted with the dread of doubt, but it was more than that. He realized he had seen someone stand just like her in the past. He saw a small boy standing in her place, antsy, who rubbed his limp arm and constantly peered in every direction. What was the name of that boy? Wonho couldn't remember.

 He wrapped up his speech and began to lead his team of twenty nine soldiers to their craft. While walking he felt compelled to bring Jiho to his side that he may keep an eye on her. That's what he assumed he would've done to the boy: keep him by his side so he wouldn't run off whenever the cars screeched their wheels, keep an eye on him while their parents were away... 

It was his duty. It was his job as the older one to keep an eye on him and now on her.

It was noon when they departed from Earth and it was just as dawn broke, two weeks later, that they landed at their destination, a desert planet.

"Alright, Rocketfellows, listen up! As I said aboard the ship, a probe detected life on this arid planet. The outer stratum may be nothing but sand, but deep inside," Wonho stomped on the ochre grains, "Life is thriving. The extreme weather patterns of this land with its freezing nights and blazing days have no real effect on the world underneath the outer crust."

It was below a short mesa where the ship was stationed. This was an entrance the locals used, Wonho assured. Using their rocket packs, they skipped the laborious task of hiking up the sandy hill and alighted on the flat top. It was completely smooth with a giant rectangular indentation directly centered on it. On Wonho's order, several Rocketfellows unsheathed their swords and traced the rectangle with the end of their blades.  

 "No need to strain our brains on how to open this gate," Wonho remarked, "When we could just cut it open!"

 He was right. The barrier to the chute was a thick black metal, yet thanks to their special swords, quick work was made of it. Clouds of dust floated up as the gate sunk deep into place. The sunlight, as bright as it may be, failed to fully illuminate the yawning abyss down below. From her vantage point, Jiho guessed it would be miles of steps hewn out of the solid rock before they may glimpse at a chance of life. 

Half a day was spent cautiously walking down the chute leading to the underworld. Most of it would've been spent in opaque darkness had their armor not possess a glow in the dark feature. Down and down they went until at last, at the end of the steps, a light, brighter than their armor, alluded to a junction of some kind. They crossed a threshold and craned their necks up to study that which illuminated this peculiar realm.

 "It's beautiful," Jiho said in a whisper, thankful to have become a Rocketfellow for once.

Millions of large crystals that hung from the lofty ceiling emitted a brilliant glow that rivaled that of the sun's so that, while it was true that they were now miles below the surface, it appeared like day. Beyond the threshold where the soldiers stood, the signs of intelligent life were abundant. This alien race was quite civilized, as evidenced in the architecture of their towering buildings, ornate with scintillating gems encrusted into every nook and cranny in a manner as to depict the appreciation of aesthetics and not sloppy design. 

 "Alright, Rocketfellows! Here, I will take a group of five with me and ask for the leader of these people. The rest will stay here, but be on alert at all times. The probe only managed to detect intelligence, not friendliness."

There was a single path that led away from the exit up above and it was through this road that Jiho and four others, besides Wonho, walked. Judging by the sheer height of the doors to the edifices that flanked each side, Jiho assumed it was a race of giants that occupied this world. How terrifying would it be to stand like grasshoppers before these mighty men? It was to her surprise then, when a native came out from a building standing at a measly thirteen to fifteen inches in height.

It was a pigmy, green skinned, with a vague similarity to her version of humanity but with an extra pair of limbs attached below the upper set of arms. Its hair was nicely trimmed, short cropped, with a magnificent pair of grey eyes that carried an air of mystique and beauty. The pigmy, goblin like person, was save some straps of leather which wound around its waist, upon which depended a short sword. 

The being swayed on its tiny feet as it meandered on the broad avenue, swerving side to side until it finally realized it was not alone. It was drunk, its upper body still swinging even when standing on stiff erect legs as it marveled at Jiho and the metal men. Of a sudden, with lightning quick speed, the sword on its hip was withdrawn by the lower right hand and just as quickly, it launched itself at Wonho. A tiny jolt of electricity, the work of the Source transfixing the navel, traveled down Jiho's arm. In an instant, the little bugger on Wonho disappeared. 

 "You sent it to the Promise," Wonho remarked. "It appears these beings possess an intrinsic urge to lash out, to engage in hostility. Great job, Jiho."

 From the same building the vanished pigmy had quitted, a gang of five more of its species exited onto the street. These appeared in much the same manner as the first, careening to the left and right, and all were quite identical. Only one stood out from the crowd, a dwarf with a grey ponytail that hung behind its rounded shoulders. It would take no expert to guess this was the wise one, the elder who was in charge. Unlike its fellows, the grey one was sober and though small it may be, it bore the carriage of a true and tried leader.

When the pigmy's companions might've engaged in violence, the elder raised a wiry finger, and the others, without complaints, sheathed their swords. It approached Wonho, who in a similar vein had commanded his troop to lower their pistols. They talked, the two leaders. First it was in gestures and then soon in actual language. The computer stored within the helmet of the Rocketfellows' contained a host of languages from many a planet and was able to pick up speech patterns based on cross referencing from the archives to determine the correct language in which to address an alien. This pigmy spoke a language, for instance, that resembled an ancient tongue spoken in the planet of Amra.

In the passing of ten minutes, the sage pigmy had invited Jiho and her group into the very building from which they had originally manifested. At one point it may have resembled a spacious, luxurious chamber decked in gold with all the amenities you could desire, but now it existed in distress. The violet drapery that hung on the marble walls was torn by swordpoint, broken furniture laid in gigantic mounds, enormous statuary shattered and defaced created a plume of dust whenever a foot fell near it, and a green liquid was splattered all across the chamber. Signs of a struggle were obvious here. 

Then the voice spoke again to Jiho. "That is death," Han said. "Not only that but life as well."

 "What?"

 One of the dwarf aliens was crouching by a large red thing on the floor. That is how Jiho saw this object as, a giant red thing which served as a meal of sorts to the green man. She didn't understand why Wonho rushed his Rocketfellows out of the room; she only followed orders.

By the entrance she waited for her commander, doing her best to suppress the innate curiosity that tickled her spine until she could no longer resist. She got a better view at the "thing". She made out features in the object that made her tremble. Her plated hands caressed her sides as she retched just a little. What the thing was was a body, one distinctly human to her despite its stature and deep scarlet skin. The head was facing her so that the wide opened eyes that never moved locked with hers. Its tongue was sticking out, not only that but its insides too.  

These entrails that squirmed out of the torso, that looked like wet green worms, were the main snack of the pigmy alien that gobbled them up, handful after handful. Every now and then as the short alien grabbed a handful of guts, the body appeared to jerk as though it lived, but deep inside Jiho knew the body could not, nor would it ever once more, live. Not with a giant cavity in its torso.

"Why is it eating a human?!" Jiho shrieked. "Humans are meat? Doesn't meat grow on meat trees as it does in the Motherland?!"

 "No, Princess. What you know to be meat, as I reckon, is not meat but rather, the product of weird science. Fake meat. What the goblin eats, that is actual meat. Deplorable! Eating its enemy, yet that is life."