“I think I found it,” Aki calls.  

“I’m working on the firewall now.” Masego’s voice sounds far away. “Wait there for me and see what happens. I’m just trying…” 

The boulder explodes, slamming Aki into the cavern wall. 

Her lungs feel as though they’ve deflated, and her head is spinning. She wheezes and splutters, trying to drag herself to her feet.

“What happened?” 

But Aki can’t answer. She crawls through the debris and sees it. 

She picks up a tiny memory stick. 

So this is the weapon that everyone is trying to get their hands on. The corrupt government, the ‘Empire’, wanted it for themselves. They paid bounty hunters millions to find it for them. Aki wonders what could possibly have made it so valuable.

The cavern goes dark. 

For a moment, Aki can only hear herself breathing. 

“Masego?” 

There’s no answer. 

“Masego?”

Suddenly, the lights come on again and Aki is blinded. When her vision returns to normal, she sees… 

“Aster?”

“Hello, Aki.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I should be asking you the same thing.” 

“Where’s Masego?”

“Don’t worry about her. She’ll be fine.” 

Aki says nothing. Aster is slowly moving closer. 

“I see you found the weapon,” he says. “Good work, Aki. Very good work.” 

He takes another step. 

“Give it to me.”

She doesn’t move. “No. Not until you tell me what’s going on.”

“Do you even know what’s on that memory stick? The nuclear codes on that thing can launch an attack that would destroy whole continents. Do you know how much power we could have?”

“What are you talking about? You said we were going to destroy it. You said the Empire wanted to use it for war.”

“I’ve changed my mind. They’re offering a lot of money for it. We could just give it to them. All of our problems would be solved. No more scavenging for food, no more hiding away.”

Aki only notices it now. Aster’s hand is wrapped around the handle of a gun. 

“You wanted it for yourself all along,” she says. “I can’t believe I trusted you.”

“Neither can I, honestly,” says Aster, laughing. “I just needed you to find it.” 

“Don’t do this, Aster. It’s not worth it.”

“Give it to me. Or I’ll make you.”

He raises his arm, aiming the gun at her. 

Time seems to move slowly, like everything’s underwater. At that moment, Masego emerges, blood running down her cheek. 

A gunshot rings in the still air. 

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