8 Kara's Theory

In each engine room consist of one energy core, that powers the engines using a condensed form of radiation. It took Country Q's space program years to make. The early trials resulted in explosions of first ships, and radiation poisoning for its crew.

Standing in the engine room, Kara stared at the very thing that took years to complete and what thousands on this ship couldn't fix, the energy cores.

"F*** this sh*t." Kara thought as she didn't even want to stand too close to this thing.

In all the years of schooling, Kara has never been able to understand the physics behind the engines. Even when Lila would explain everything at a basic level, she still couldn't apprehend it in the end.

Frustrated and jealous of Lila's capacity at comprehending the engines, led Kara to steal Lila's skills and glory for her own. And now it's back to bite her in the ass.

"That's it!" Kara shouted out loud, forgetting the other people in the room with her.

"Kara, do you know where the problem lays with the engines? We haven't even touched the controls yet, and you already know. You truly are a genius..." Pace one of the two boys woken up alongside Kara declared sarcastically.

When the crew was escorting him to the Commander General's office, Pace thought the Commander General pacifically asked for his help, yet when he entered the office he saw three seats and two people already occupied two. Who would have thought the General not only woken him but two others.

The boy, Pace didn't give much mind to, but the girl caught his eye as he saw the Commander General was showing a particular enthusiasm to her.

When they left the Commander General's office, and the soldiers were escorting them to the engine room, Pace had decided to introduce himself to the two.

"Hello, I'm Pace."

"Kara.

"Kai."

With the introductions out of the way, Pace observed the Kai and Kara the whole way. Kai was showing the excitement of a four-year-old kid who just got his first toy, which is understandable.

Pace himself was thrilled to be working on the very engines that have taken them to outer space, though he has taught himself better self-control.

On the other hand, this Kara was showing traces of dread though she kept her face as still as stone, her eyes gave her away.

"This girl is a fraud." Pace laughed in his head.

In his life, Pace had met many people who have claimed to be geniuses, until put to the test.

Not thinking much of Kara, Pace removed her from his thought as a rival.

Pace's family was not wealthy, in truth, they were close to being destitute. Despite this fact, he had always placed number one in his school. When he received his ticket and gained recognition from his peers and teachers, Pace knew this was the life he was meant to live. And he never wanted to look back.

So this Kara didn't matter, he was destiny to be number one he couldn't waste his precious time on trash.

Pace had stepped into the engine room fully prepared to fix the problem, little did he know what the engine room actually looks like.

He had seen it many times in the books and on blueprints in school but standing up close before it made all of his confidence seep out of his feet.

At this time, Kara's shout had bought him out of his trance.

"How could she have a plan when I couldn't even come up with anything yet?" Pace sneered in his mind, while his face was full of false smiles.

Kara had seen the scornful looks Pace was giving her throughout their walk to the engine room, but her mind was too busy on thinking of all the way she can get out of this situation to deal with him.

However, now that she has found her solution...

"Yes. Do you still need extra time standing around?"

Annoyed at being called out by trash, Pace wanted to see what she actually came up with.

"Really? So what is the problem? What solution do you have, can't you tell us?" Pace pointed to himself and Kai.

Kara could see the disbelief in his eyes and the call of her bluff, but if she couldn't handle this all her years of stealing Lila's skills would have been for nothing.

"It's just a theory right now, I need to run it by the Commander General first. I'll leave the two of you to continue looking around... in case my method fails..." Not leaving a further chance for questioning Kara left the room swiftly.

_____

By now most of the crew knew who Kara was, so when she asked where she might find Lila, they quickly searched the mainframe and gave her location.

Though her and Zoey (Tweetle Dimwit) weren't on the same ship, they were able to keep in contact with each other during the first couple of months in space. Zoey happened to tell her of a discovery she found on her ship.

Apparently, Lila was able to get a ticket at the last minute. This news initially made Kara nervous, but now she saw that fate was always on her side.

Reaching a stock room, Kara saw Lila standing there counting the supplies.

"I can't take this anymore! If I have to count one more hemorrhoid cream case, I'm going to lose it." Lila said as she lifted the last case of hemorrhoid cream back onto the shelf.

Evidently, space food is not all that it's cracked up to be. Kara thought, taking a look at the cases and cases of cream, Lila had to count.

"So, this is what they have you doing?" When Lila heard this voice, her mood which was already low went down into the seventh layer of hell.

Not bothering to waste her time, Lila didn't turn around and just continued her work.

"Do you want to work somewhere else? I can get you a better position..." Still receiving no reply, Kara tried a different tactic.

"Lila...look I want to make amends..." Seeing that Lila wasn't outright pushing her away, joy jumped in her heart. "I know I ruined our friendship, and I'm sorry for that, but can't we start over? I miss my best friend..." Kara knew that though Lila was intelligent, like most smart people, she lacks emotional intelligence.

Attacking her emotions was the best way for her to get Lila back under her control.

*SLAM*

Kara jumped at the loud noise.

The clipboard in Lila's hand was slammed to the floor. Looking into Lila's eyes, Kara could see so much contained fury. Even though Lila's petite body stood still as stone, her chest was rising and falling with each breath she took.

"In childhood, you had been my only friend...the person who I thought would never hurt me and yet, you were the first to teach me what betray was." Lila bent down to pick up the fallen clipboard.

"I told you at the park that day, never again can we be like how we were. That time has passed and won't come back." Turning around Lila returned to her work, "Now leave, I don't need anything from you."

Exiting the room, Kara thought her plan would work.

"Damn, I even apologized to her, and she still has that attitude towards me. Does she think I really want to be her friend again?...tsk!" Kara muttered as she looked back at the closed storage room.

Leaving in disappointment Kara failed to realize the person standing in the next door's darkened entryway.

Pace came out of hiding when Kara left the hallway, he had followed her from the engine room. Thinking he'll get a chance to hear her theory, but instead, he heard her apologizing to an ex-friend?

"Why would she rush here? Wasn't she going to the Commander General's office?" Peeking into the room, Pace saw a petite girl restocking the shelves.

"Who are you?" Pace thought.