A Dragon's Bite - Part I

14th March

Former DELOS Offices, Artemis, Freehold territory

I'm sitting down in front of my desk, in my office. At last, everything's silent, even if only for a couple of minutes. I feel exhausted. I haven't had more than four hours of sleep at a time in the last few days. Just before, I had finished reassuring the Singaporean Prime Minister that the shipments of Helium-3 would continue as usual, and that is the plan, but if things that are outside of my control happen down on Earth, that might not be possible. It looks like it's raining outside, but that can't be the case. It must be smoke coming out of a laboratory somewhere. Smoke like that causes huge problems in Artemis, as it gets trapped down in the cavern, and is far too difficult to get rid of. Adding regulations and restrictions on lab activities within the settlements should be something I should look into. After a knock on the door, Kyle walks into my office.

"Kyle? What are you doing here?"

"Sorry, Frank. I know you were resting, but I have some urgent news."

I sigh, "what is it now?"

"Aria. We found Aria."

"Where is she?" I ask, leaping to my feet. Everything can go on hold for Aria. If they found her, I need to go see her and talk to her. Where could Aria, the one who I shared my dream with, be? Where has she been? Why did she leave all those years ago? I have to know. I have to hear her explain it.

"Right here on the moon," Kyle replies, "follow me."

Kyle leads me down a maze of twisting tunnels and alleys, up stairways, and across hazardous walkways connecting blocks to each other, until I'm lost and I don't know where we are. The construction throughout most of the city was formatted into regular squares, so for such corners to exist we must be somewhere near the cavern wall. As if to confirm my suspicions, I see a glimpse of a wall through the mess of blocks, not that far away.

We enter an unassuming block, and make our way up through a number of largely empty floors, before coming to a stop at an equally unassuming apartment. I'm not even sure what floor we're on. At least the fifth, but it might even be the tenth.

"She's in here," Kyle says, moving to the side, as he opens the door.

I make my way into the room. It's completely empty. Apartments in Artemis all have some rudimentary furniture, but they have been known to be stolen from empty apartments by the city's denizens, to replace broken furniture. For the whole room to be stripped like this, though... that is a surprise. I make my way further into the apartment, in a bit of a rush. Aria is in here. I need to find where she is. Where is she? Kyle said she was in here, so she must be. I check the bedroom to the right of the living space, as well as the bathroom, which leaves just the second bedroom. She must be in here, right? What am I going to do when I see her? I don't think I'll be able to control my emotions, or hold back in any way. Will I lash out at her? Will I cry?

I walk into the bedroom, and I see her. Aria is turned away from me, looking out the window. Her hair, this smell, it's definitely her. I can remember this from seven years ago. This is and can only be, Aria James.

"Aria."

I hear her name, and it didn't sound like my voice, but it must have been me that said it. She jumps slightly at hearing her name, then turns to face me. And that's when I see it. The front of her shirt is stained dark, in what I can only think is blood. Her hand still holding the window sill has been gnawed to the bone by a rat. Aria's cheeks are gaunt and hollow. Her eyes, her once beautiful eyes, have been turned into deep dark holes, and I can see a worm crawling into the left one. The sigh makes me scream, I turn away to puke.

I wake with a start. Where am I? This ceiling I'm looking at... it's my office ceiling, isn't it? I'm all sweaty, and my neck hurts. I think I was dreaming, but I can't remember what it was. I just remember it being rather vivid. I must've dozed off in my office chair. Lack of sleep is dangerous. Maybe I need to start delegating more of my tasks to others. No, I don't think there's anyone I can trust with some stuff. The only person I could've trusted was Aria. Aid if I have to be honest with myself, it's more than likely she's dead, isn't it? There aren't many people I can ask to help me. I'll just have to bear with it for a few more days. Keep alive, keep moving from call to call, appointment to appointment, decision to decision, until it's all over. Speaking of, what do I have to do next? I check my phone. The next appointment I have is... a call with the American President. And then after that, Yohn is coming here to brief me on some other matters. I guess I'll have a quick shower before I receive the President then. It'll help me calm down, and gather my thoughts.