Chris was doubled over with laughter, almost to the point of hysteria, at his friend’s face. He looked at his girlfriend, Carbine, who looked at Vinnie. Vinnie just remained stricken; eyes practically out on stalks at the news that his two closest friends were now, officially an item. He just stood, mouth agape at the thought of Carbine and Chris, as in, best friends for all time, and now they were…together? Vinnie had always thought himself to be Gods’ gift to Women, but now his friend was upstaging him. He couldn’t believe it, not at all. Carbine was hard to tie down, and didn’t like to throw herself around too much. Vinnie was still completely stricken as Chris started choking and Carbine whacked him a couple of times on the back, hard.

Suddenly Vinnie started making wild accusations. "You’re quitting the squad, aren’t you, Carbine? Chris, you dirty old…thing! She makes a great cheerleader! Now you’re taking that from her as well? Soon you’ll be getting her to join the army!"

This time, it was Carbine who fell into fits of giggles. "Me? In the army? Oh my gods! Never, I’d hate it! And yes, I am dropping the squad. I’m sick of waving pom-poms and yelling out for you guys to win games that everyone knows you are fated to lose! It’s so demeaning!"

Vinnie stopped laughing right away. "We are not fated to lose! We’re just unlucky, that’s all! It’s the other teams they’re…"

But Chris cut him off. "Better than us, yeah we know." He stifled a laugh at the enraged expression on his friend’s face. "Come on Vinnie, we’re never gonna win. It’s a stupid custom, and I’ll probably drop out sooner or later. I got more important things to think about." He looked adoringly at Carbine. Vinnie pulled a disgusted face to show his utter disapproval. "But Chris," he moaned, "you’re our only hope against them! They’ll thrash us! Anyway, you be careful with her," he motioned to Carbine who scowled at him. Vinnie looked injured. "Look, Carbine, sweetheart! No offence, but you’re only twelve! You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into!"

Carbine was touched at her friend’s sweet thought, but still angry. "Look, you’re not much better, I mean, you’re only a couple of years older than I am!"

Chris nodded. "She’s right. If a man chases a blind rabbit…" he began his usual lecture on hypocrisy.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know, don’t be a hypocrite. But Carbine’s different, not like you’re average female. She needs more looking after." Vinnie actually thought that Carbine was going to beat the hell out of him when he said this, but she didn’t. Just looked murderously at him, which was much more serious.

Chris suddenly caught a glimpse of Vinnie’s watch, and grabbed his arm, twisting the wrist in order to see it better, despite Vinnie’s injured remarks. Chris looked at Carbine, "We’re late, better get out of here fast." Then, turning to Vinnie, "Sorry, buddy, maybe my girlfriend can beat you up some other time. No, seriously man, we’ll see you later, yeah?"

"Where’re you taking her?" Vinnie wanted to know.

"Some place she’s not allowed to go until she’s eight years older than she is now." Was Chris’s answer, but noticing that both faces looking at him looked both shocked and confused, he confessed, "Only joking. You know I’d never do anything bad like that." Which brought wild laughter from Vinnie and a sideways glance from Carbine. "I’m just taking her out. Nothing serious, just a walk, but we want to get going before she’s called home. I swear that family of hers has spies everywhere watching out for their precious daughter." He looked evilly at Carbine who looked evilly back at him.

"So if you try anything naughty on, then I can turn you in to my Daddy!"

Chris’s face showed a look of mock horror. "Good grief!" he cried, pretending to faint in terror, "Not your ‘Daddy’!"

They left, laughing, leaving Vinnie to go find his other friend, Modo, who had said earlier that there was a new guy about their age just moved in, with a really bizarre name. He wandered off, wondering whether Carbine and Chris would last long, and if they’d lose touch with him as they got closer. He sighed. He still had Modo and the new guy. Then he pulled himself together. Carbine and him would always be friends, and the same with Chris.

***

Carbine and Chris wandered off down the street together, hand in hand, chatting, feeling happy, when Chris suddenly lead Carbine down an alleyway and stood in front of her. Carbine was a little worried, since she didn’t know quite where she was and what Chris was doing. He put his arms around her and just whispered in her ear, "I love you so much. Just wanted to tell you. I don’t think I’ll ever love anyone like this ever again."

Carbine whispered back, with tears in her eyes, "I love you too sweetie. You know that, right?"

Chris nodded silently and held her to him. Then he took her arm and led her back out onto the main street. Neither of them was aware that they were being watched. They had already broken the first rule of their code that they’d made with Vinnie when they were little. Always check to see you’re not being followed. Then, they went down toward the park. It was pretty much abandoned now, and they sat on a bench and chatted about different things. What they wanted to do when they grew up, why Stoker had lasted so long, how Vinnie’s ego had swelled to the size of Jupiter overnight since Stacey, the little blonde idiot who was the Cheer squad leader had told him he was cute. Vinnie hadn’t been the same since. Again, they were being watched, but this time, they sensed it. This was bad. Chris leaped up and drew out his Blaster that he carried everywhere, including school. Carbine took out her hunting knife. Despite her name, she was much better with knives than anything with a trigger, and could now throw knives at any target and not miss. They heard rustling in a nearby bush, and stood back. Then it fell silent, but they knew better than to look. It would most probably be a trap. Chris leaned over to Carbine and whispered sharply in her ear, "On my mark, ok?" Carbine nodded. Chris counted out the seconds, the rule for all fighters. If in doubt, wait thirty seconds, and if you see any action, run for it. If you don’t, run for it anyway and get someone more experienced to see to it. Thirty was up, and they turned and ran out of the gates, down the road, to Stoker’s house right next to the Freedom Fighter base. They rang on the doorbell, and a woman opened the door. That was Lisa, Harley’s older sister. She knew Carbine well, and saw instantly that something was wrong. She ushered them both inside, and yelled for Stoker, who was in his study, looking over some Plutarkian code or other. When Lisa called for the third time, and he still didn’t come, she led the two worried teenagers up to his room and opened the door. Stoker looked up, with tired eyes. Carbine walked over to the code and looked over his shoulder. She turned to him and said, "If I can crack that for you, will you help us?" Stoker looked at her, dumbfounded as she skimmed the strange code.

"’Course I’ll help. You don’t need to worry yourself with that, it’s impossible. Been working in it since Gods only know when."

Chris shook his head. "Give her a minute. I’ll explain what happened." While Chris explained, Carbine read the message. It was simple, a plutarkian language that she had learned when she was held captive about four years ago. There was writing on the walls, and she had picked it up from there, using the guards to tell her indirectly what it meant. She would look interestedly at the writing, and the guards would translate it in their thick, but still slightly useful heads and she would take the information. She could do that, enter into someone’s head to see what they were thinking without them knowing. It annoyed people, but she never did it to people unless she was really worried about them or she hated them enough not to care about their feelings. Either way, she read it effortlessly, and turned to Stoker, just as Chris was explaining that they waited thirty seconds and then came back. Stoker commended them ,and then Carbine asked him for a piece of paper. He looked at her with a weird smile creeping across his face as he handed her a sheet of paper and a pen. She translated the code as though she was translating runes, another thing she was fluent in. She handed the piece of paper saying "Operation mousetrap is well underway, and should be in action by 35r: 42x". Stoker looked at her in wonder, and took the piece of paper, made a couple of phone calls, and then turned to them, still eyeing Carbine with a mixture of wonder and confusion. "Let’s go see what we can do about finding who was following you, ok?"

***

Later that evening, when Stoker took them home, he told them that they should steer clear of areas like that, and try and stay close to a main road with people on. They agreed, and went out together to these ‘safer’ places, which weren’t so bad. Stoker spent a long time talking to Carbine’s parents about her talent for these languages, and her mother, Arrhiyah, sighed inwardly. Her little girl was growing up and saving mars. Diesel, Carbine’s father was a picture of pride. He totally adored his little Carbine, and even though he loved all his other children dearly, those two always had a special bond. Stoker asked where she had learned all these languages, and Diesel explained that she had been captured along with her big brother, Kast a couple of years back, and she had learned most of the codes there. No one had any idea how she had learned to read Saturnite runes, however. They were some of the most difficult symbols to remember, since they were completely bizarre and probably the earliest language in the galaxy, since it has been proven that all known languages contain at least some of its grammatical rules, and some run almost entirely on it. Carbine just sort of knew it. It was a very odd set-up, but since Carbine had about a million close friends on Saturn, including the heir thereof, it was hardly surprising that she knew so much of the old language and culture. Stoker offered to employ her, but Arrhiyah wasn’t having her working that much until she was fifteen, and so Carbine was only called upon when she was really needed. She enjoyed helping Stoker and he made her laugh. She remembered when Stoker used to take her and her little sister Zandra to the park when they were younger, but since the occupation, he hadn’t had time, and she knew how much Zandra missed him. He was like a second but much younger father to her. So she often arranged for everyone to be out so she had to bring Zandra with her while she worked, and seeing them smiling again was worth it. Zandra was five years old back then.

***

A couple of months later, Vinnie surprised everyone by helping the school to win the traditional eight-a-side game of Carva, a game that involved using the bike to help catch a flying disc, much like a Frisbee, and then get it into the goal. It seemed harmless except that the disc had sharp enough edges to cut through just about anything, so special protective clothing was worn. Vinnie had often thought that the sadists who invented the game must have thought violence was aerobic or something, because nothing short of removing parts of the body, vital organs or life from your opponent was prohibited. Despite all odds, Vinnie brought the school to their first victory in eight years.

Vinnie’s head swelled further, and on his victory celebration night, he took all his friends out for his favourite meal in an earth-style restaurant. Can you guess what they ate? So, anyway, having been stuffed with hotdogs and root beer, the friends, who now included Throttle, walked off in their own directions. Throttle, Modo and Vinnie went towards Vinnie’s place to watch the video of Vinnie’s triumph for the eighteenth time, while Carbine and Chris went towards Carbine’s house. On their way, they chatted about various things, how Vinnie’s ego was now so massive that if it expanded much further, he’d have to get it its own bike, and stuff like that, when they both stopped dead. They were being watched, again, and they realised, just too late that they were all alone. Drawing their weapons, they heard soft steps in the shadows, and felt the adrenaline rise. Suddenly, out of the darkness came a huge mouse. Dull black eyes, dull black fur, black clothes, all painted up with silver. He bared his teeth in a savage smile and looked at the teenagers, both standing their ground at least two feet below him. In a second he had aimed his Blaster at Carbine, and she felt a sharp pain in her chest, as she aimed with her knife, and for the first time since she was seven, went off target as she fell. The knife caught the mouse straight through the shoulder, and he yelped with pain as a furious Chris went in for the kill. Carbine opened her eyes slightly, and saw the fight. Chris was strong, but the other mouse was stronger. He drew a dagger and aimed at Chris. Carbine took another knife and lashed out at him, cutting right across his face, damaging one eye. He still managed to get Chris, though, who fell to his knees with a gasp, staring at the dagger that seemed to have grown from his middle. Carbine was livid, lashing out at the dark creature with everything she had. He suddenly pushed her back, and she fell into a wall, semi-conscious. He was about to make the final shot, when Chris jumped out of no where and took the blow. He fell to the ground, and before Carbine could even scream, the nightmare had gone. She tried bridging someone, but couldn’t. She realised that she’d damaged the part of her antennae that did the transmitting, and so fell to taking care of Chris. He lay with his head in her lap, breathing softly with short, ragged breaths. "Baby, please…" he begged. "Please lie down, you won’t survive with those injuries if you don’t lie down and wait for help". He shuddered violently. Carbine stroked the hair out of his eyes, applying pressure to all his wounds and yelling out for help at the same time. She looked at Chris, and he was smiling. She put her head on his chest. "No…Chris…please, don’t go, please…" her voice broke with tears, and Chris smiled up at her.

"Shhh now, pretty one. It’ll be ok. I’ll always be with you, ok?"

"No…please…please, someone’ll come, and it’ll all be fine. Don’t even think about leaving me here." Her voice was full of mock severity, and Chris laughed, and coughed a little. Carbine looked down at him again. "I’m so sorry, Chris. I’m just so sorry." But Chris didn’t answer. She stroked his hair once more, and just whispered "I love you" in his ear, when he took his last, long, shuddering breath, and released his grip on her hand.

"No…" Carbine’s voice was barely above a whisper. "No, Chris, please wake up, someone’s going to come and help us." She prayed and prayed for an answer, but knew it was no good. She looked at his face, full of youth, smiling, even in death, up at her. The only girl he ever loved.