A story from the Space Squad 51 Universe…

Her comm link blinking with a new message in her Rhea University inbox, Saverna dumped her crate of books on her unmade dorm room bed and summoned open her holoscreen. She rubbed her clammy hands on her gray pants, wondering who it was and how she should reply. For the professors and senior students she wanted to sound smart and grownup. She wasn’t a kid anymore.

“Is everything all right?” her father asked, coming in behind her with the rest of her belongings loaded in a cart pulled by a bot.

“Yeah.” She licked her lips and opened her inbox, blinking at the message from the Rhea University Housing Authority. The subject line read, How to Kill a Rat. A gruesome public service video showed how to corner the creature then chop its head off with a shovel.

Saverna blanched, backing away from her inbox.

Her father peered over her shoulder. “Oh, rats. I’d forgotten about them. Now you know for certain you’ve entered the Inner Sol.”

Struggling to regain her composure, Saverna placed her hand over her rapidly beating heart. “Did you have them on Europa? That’s more Innling than Rhea.”

“We did,” her father admitted.

“How could you forget?” She pointed at the gruesome video. “How many did you kill?”

“My family left Europa when I was young, and us humans tend to forget unpleasant things. Like you’ll forget what you didn’t like about Orcus soon enough.” His large gray eyes were arresting and one of the physical attributes he had passed on to Saverna. She liked how this similarity linked them as family to everyone else. “But I never hunted rats with a shovel. I wouldn’t advise taking that measure. A cornered animal is a very dangerous one.” He handed her a wrapped box. “That’s something the Outling worlds couldn’t teach you because of the lack of animals.”

“I have more huckamucka asshole citizens to deal with now too.” She took the box, eagerly waving away the holowrapping.

“Language, Savs. You’ve grown up, but I’m still your father.”

“Sorry, Dad.” She opened the box, grinning at the Gyver Everything tool. “This is better than a shovel.”

“It’s for more than killing rats.”

“Thanks.” She wrapped her arms around him and kissed his cheek. “You don’t have to hang around.”

“You’ll be okay?”

She held up the Gyver Everything tool. “Of course. I’ll send a comm when I need you.”

“Send one even when you don’t and keep in touch. I don’t want to lose how close we’ve become.”

Since her mother had broken down and left them in every way which mattered, the two of them had become a tight family unit. “You’ll never lose me, Dad. You be good to Chaquita. I don’t want to lose her either.” The woman he had fallen in love with sometimes took the place of Saverna’s mother. Saverna had grown to depend on Chaquita as much as her father.

He held her close, rocking her in his arms, giving her cheek a warm kiss. “Cha Cha and I are going to miss you, kiddo.” He let go and stepped back. “But I know you’re eager to start this new chapter in your life. So, I’ll leave you here.”

“I am eager. The professors here are the top minds in the Sol. I’m going to learn so much.”

“And the Sol will open up to you. I’m so proud.” He kissed her one more time and left with the bot and the now empty cart.

Saverna set to work making up her bed and arranging her things, turning the room into her new home. She was surprised at the emptiness her father’s leaving stirred up. She hadn’t expected to feel his absence so pronouncedly. “Huckamucka, he’s only been gone a few minutes.” But he had never left her and had always been there. She hadn’t realized until now how much his presence had been part of who she was, how he was essential to her core being and her foundation.

Before the realization grew into a full ache, her inbox became flooded with assignments to complete before her first classes met. She set her holoscreen to virtual and went shopping at the college bookstore, loading up her virtual bookshelf with tomes required for classes and books the professors highly recommended. She was really excited about introductory bio engineering, cracking open the book before she left the virtual store.

A door chime announced the RA, who invited her out to the communal lounge to meet the other students on her floor. Most were bright and buzzing with the same voltage she felt, except one, who glowered, arms crossed, eyes narrowed.

“I’ve heard of you, Raeder,” the girl said, her voice polished and cool. “The Spaceberg thing. Must be nice to be in the right place at the right time.”

Saverna blinked. “You seem to know a lot about me.”

“If not for your mother being the hero of the Sol, you’d be nothing. You wouldn’t be here.” The girl lifted her chin with the unthinking ease of someone who had never been told no. Her scalp shone; she had shaved it clean, making herself the focus of attention in any room. “She’s not here to save you now.”

“That’s Dathia Baneer,” Saverna’s neighbor from across the hall murmured, as if the name explained everything.

“Okay. Well, I’ve got work to do,” Saverna said, heading for her room.

Dathia slid ahead, shoulder brushing Saverna into the wall. When she reached her own room, she leaned back from the doorway, smirking. “Enjoy the head start,” she said softly. “It won’t last.” She disappeared and her door hissed shut.

“Wow.” Saverna shook her head and shut herself in her room. Making herself comfortable at her desk, she started on her assignments.

Four hours later, the alarm chimed on her comm link. Saverna sprang up from her studies and rifled through her closet looking for the perfect thing to wear. She couldn’t decide if she wanted to look younger like when she had been loved by both her parents or the grown-up citizen she had come to Rhea to be. She picked out a mature tunic in a soft green with embroidered accents and pulled her hair back into a triple bun, one under the other. She fussed with a little makeup until her alarm chimed again.

“I should have left by now.” She worried at her reflection a moment longer, then hurried out of the dorms to the Demetehar docks.

Her heart fluttered when the line of red Hueys appeared, arriving from the Outer Sol. The fleet of rescue ships gladdened every citizen’s heart, filling everyone with hope. But her heart sped up triple. One of those Hueys contained her mother, who was moving to Rhea so they could spend more time together, so they could repair their relationship, so Saverna would no longer feel abandoned.

As exciting as starting on her path at university was, it couldn’t contend with the chance to get her mother back. There was no other way to mend the hole in her heart, no other way to embark on the best future possible.