Taken by the Young Marshal

“I’m home!”

Skillfully turning on the light, I went straight to the small kitchen five steps away from me. The heavy grocery bag made a thud as I placed it on the countertop. I did not see any trace of my roommate. She was probably with her boyfriend again.

After washing up, I simply followed my monotonous daily habit. I immediately opened the refrigerator—took some eggs and tomatoes. I planned to eat scrambled eggs before taking a bath.

As I stood in the kitchen, my muscles relaxed. My consciousness entered a calm state that only I could achieve while being alone in this shared apartment as I hummed a tune that I only made up in the spur of a moment.

The sound of the door opening stopped me from singing. As soon as I turned around, I saw my roommates Nathan and Atasha. After talking to them about random things, they volunteered to clean up the dishes while I trotted straight to my room.

My room was equipped with a shower room, something I fought for against the couple roommates in exchange to cooking for them every dinner.

The cold water hitting my face immediately eased the fatigue that I had endured the entire day. As a corporate slave, I knew I did not have the right to feel aggrieve but sometimes I would wonder if my existence has any significance at all. Like my roommates, I felt as if I have lived a monotonous life for these past twenty something years.

After the shower, I stopped in front of the wall on the mirror and stared straight into my reflection. All I saw was endless exhaustion.

Sighing, I turned to open the door connecting to my room when all of a sudden… my vision blackened and my weight seemed to lighten.

The next thing I barely noticed were the sound of the loud thud followed by the strong smell of iron that seemed to blanket my entire existence.

Then there was complete darkness…

x-x-x-x-x

YEAR 3168

GARBAGE STAR (Planet for exile)

Holy shit! Holy mackerel! Holy cow!

My eyes never stopped wandering around. If my eyes could shift to 360 degrees, I am sure I have already done it!

Where am I? Who am I? Why am I here?

From fear to shock then to excitement back to fear, my whole mood was in complete rollercoaster as soon as I regained consciousness.

Thud!

Taking a step back, I tripped over. My butt landed on the rough surface as I stared straight at the flying ships hovering over the vast dumpsite. Metals and other precious minerals in various sizes seemed to rain down from the amazing vehicle over me.

It was as if I stepped into SciFi movie set!

There were mountains of ‘garbage’ around me. The sun was yet to set but I am the only one in this vast area aside from the flying ship hovering over me which continued throwing countless of scrap metals and minerals.

No matter where I looked, all I could see was parts of robots—big and small—around me. There were boxes, but when I opened them, I saw tubes like those from the hospitals but these tubes had colorful liquid in them. Some where full but most tubes where empty or cracked.

While staring at the tube in my hand, a foreign memory flashed in my mind.

A life an eighteen-year-old girl played inside my head. Bit by bit, as a headache appeared slowly, I have learned who am I and where am I right now.

The Layla from year 2024, I did not know how, somehow transmigrated into this time which was a thousand years later from my original time—yet I am still Layla. This Layla is an eighteen-year-old girl who was born in the Garbage Star—a planet for those who were exiled by the Federation or Empire.

The Layla, who I am now, lived day by day through scavenging in this dumpsite—hoping to find half-finished nutrient solutions. Yes, these nutrient solutions were the ‘tubes’ I thought earlier.

This Layla was born timid with no hope of the future. Maybe because this original body had no parents who nurtured her, she did not have any desire. Just living day by day was enough for her. In the memories I inherited, this young Layla of the future did not even mind going hungry for days.

In the Garbage Star, being hungry for two to three days was normal. After all, aside from the traces of robots and the frequent visits of gigantic flying ships called ‘Starships’, the residents of this planet was not far from the old Earth.

Thinking about the Earth, in the memory, the reason why the humans created the Interstellar era was because Earth was destroyed—no, the Blue Star also known as ‘Earth’ died when it reached the end of its star’s life.

Sighing for the nth time, I grabbed the meager amount of nutrient solutions and hid it inside the pocket of this tattered jacket I am wearing.

With the memory in my mind clearly imprinted, I followed the familiar path back to my residence.

Ten minutes later, I stood in front of a shack.

Yes, a shack.

I am in an interstellar era yet the original body lived in a shack. I could not help but feel sympathy to this young Layla.

As I entered the shack, there were no traces of anything high-tech. Just a single bed, a small door leading to the bathroom, and a small couch that was clearly picked up from the dumpsite. In the corner, I saw a box.

In the memory, there were body parts of home steward robot here. For months, the original body collected the parts that were needed to repair it. As I opened the box, a dirty white robot was curled and assembled in it.

Before I could pick it up, a series of urgent knocks stopped me.

“Layla? Are you there?”

I put down the box and closed its tattered lid before I opened the door. A chubby young man equipped with patched clothes grinned at me. His bright big teeth were really dazzling!

“Chino, is there any news about optical brains?”

This was the only dream of the young Layla and I wanted to at least make this come true. But optical brains were relatively hard to find. In the memory, this Chino was the only one—within three miles—who cared for the original body as a childhood friend.

“Layla, quick!” He pulled my bony wrist and went inside my small home. “I heard from the others that a caravan from the Empire is selling second-hand optical brains! Where’s the ore you dug last month? They are accepting it!”

The ore?

I flipped my bed and took the black stone wrapped with my handkerchief. “Is this it?”

“Yeah! Let’s go!” Chino, who was about to go out, turned back to me as if he just remembered something. “Oh! Don’t forget to take your nutrient solution. Wait… do you still have one? You did not secretly starve yourself again, did you?”

This Chino reminded me of a nagging chicken.

“Don’t worry, I will bring one.”

They walked side by side to certain direction led by Chino. Along the way, I gobbled up one pink-colored nutrient solution I found from the hidden corner of my shack. I almost spit the bitter liquid, but when I felt that my fatigue was gone, I realized why people in the interstellar strived for these nutrient solutions instead of eating authentic dishes!

Chino and I successfully bought the optical brain terminal. He helped me put it on when he saw me fumbled the nail-sized chip. In an instant, the chip seemed to be absorbed by the white mist that came out from my brows and the next thing I knew, I had a brain terminal in my mind—like a system I only read from scifi novels!

Awesome!

After Chino left, I was left alone in my shack. Without the hunger and fatigue, as per instruction, I relaxed myself, closed my eyes, and entered the world of virtual.

After inputting my basic information, my sea of consciousness awakened resulting to a small throb in my head. Despite this, I still explored the optical brain while lying down.

It was simple. Transactions in this interstellar world were all made using optical brains. People would use this to communicate even across stars—like a cellphone with internet!

Scrolling left and right, I found out about the Star Mall where I could buy nutrient solutions in any flavors and other necessities and luxuries. There was also Star Net that was comparable to Earth’s social media where people from different stars could communicate, post thoughts, chase Star Net celebrities, and even set up live broadcast!

Scanning the topics and posts in the Star Net, one post caught my attention.

[FEDERAL MILITARY ACADEMY: Marshal Reznik’s conquest to Milky Way C54 is a complete success! Congratulations to the youngest marshal of the galaxy!]

Attached to this was a photo of a young man in his twenties. His black hair swayed by the wind as he held his helmet while he stood next to his huge silver mecha.

Unruliness and righteousness intertwined… seemingly contrasting yet it matched the aura of this imposing young marshal.

“Marshal Reznik…” I whispered as I stared straight at the depleted ceiling above me.

There were three more nutrient solutions left in my safe. I need to earn star coins. But how? Find those ores?

According to the memories of how I found that ore, it was only a lucky encounter in the dumpsite—like a blind cat encountering a dead mouse! I could not possibly pin my survival on that.

Broadcast? How?

From the Star Net broadcast forum, all I saw were broadcasts about planting mutated vegetables and fruits, cooking mutated animals, and mecha virtual matches.

I did not have anything in common!

With these thoughts in my mind, I fell asleep.

When the next day came, all these thoughts were thrown at the back of her mind. She first changed her tattered jacket and pants with the only clean black shirt and gray-colored patched jogging pants. I did not forget to chug one yellow-colored nutrient solution before I locked my small house.

With a sack in my gloved hands, I trotted to the dumpsite before the sun could rise. Still in my territory, I surveyed that more and more people came but they just passed by my place. Maybe there was another starship dumping a mountain of industrial garbage to that place.

“Layla! Why are you here?”

When I turned around, I saw Chino indeed.

“With so many people, why bother to waste my time? I rather collect some minerals here and let the scrap station weigh them for star coins—”

“Sshh!” Chino covered my mouth with his dirty and smelly hand so I struggled for a moment yet he still refused to let go. “Not all people in the Garbage Star have optical brain. Most of them are willing to commit murder to steal someone else’s optical brain! The young girl before us who also bought the optical brain was murdered last night! Her optical brain was forcibly taken away from her spiritual consciousness. She was only at Level D and she could not stand the sudden attack so… alas!”

He finally let me go when he saw that no one was around which was fortunate for me. As someone who had lived in Earth’s peaceful time, the fact that I was careless and almost made myself a living target made me shiver!

I was still so careless! This was not Earth! This was the interstellar era where zergs existed and plants mutated! This was a Garbage Star where crime rate was second only to pirate stars!

When Chino saw I was finally clearheaded, he finally left me alone. Maybe because of paranoia, I decided to move away from my usual area and headed northwest—the exact opposite direction where people were going to.

Thirty minutes later, when I saw no one around, I started rummaging from one scrap metal to another damaged mineral ore. Selecting only the ones with the least damage, two hours already passed and I realized I had walked three kilometers away from my starting point.

“I should go back.” I looked up and the bright sun made me squint. Weighing the sack, the smile on my lips could not be stopped when I imagined myself earning my first pot of gold. “This should be enough to buy three nutrient solutions.”

I was about to turn around when a low and pained moan broke the silence of the place.