Fee Green woke to a pounding throb at the base of her skull. Her head felt like a bird's nest, mouth parched dry as a biscuit. She was slumped against a cold, metal slab, which partly explained the icy sensation running through her arms. Stretching up, she blinked through Kaleidoscopic blotches, that swam in a matrix behind the eyes. How long had she been unconscious? She tried to shift the chair, but it was bolted to the floor. Pushing herself upright, she was met with an intense glare that made her retinas burn. For now, all she could do was ride the nausea until her vision cleared. Several blinks later, everything resolved into view with a bit more detail. The cold slab turned out to be a steel table in an empty room with a two-way mirror.

  Definitely Police. She thought, before spotting a pair of pink fluffy slippers in the corner. Really weird Police.

  Still in the throes of a dizzy spell, Fee got to her feet and cupped her hands against the mirror. She paced around and raked back the damp fringe across her scalp. The idea that her mother could be capable of drugging and kidnapping her own child was a horrifying possibility. After everything they had been through, nothing made sense. All Fee wanted was a typical summer. Go to the beach with her dog Ruby, toss a Frisbee and frolic in the surf of the rolling waves. Maybe in time, she would have found peace with everything that had taken place. Learn to forgive, to understand. A promise that became increasingly distant, the longer she remained. The pacing started to quicken, leaving her mind roiling with betrayal. The hate intensified with every drop of raw bitterness. She could feel her lungs tighten with every bark of frustration, tipped with burning resentment. Every plea to be released was met with a cold silence. She unloaded a flurry of punches against the wall and cried out to be released, cried out to see Amy so she could: 'Tear her lying tongue out! '. Finally, a crescendo of dark fury peaked when she tore the bolted chair free.

  "LET ME OUT YOU C-!" She roared.

  The operators rushed to safety on the other side of the mirror as the metal chair was hurled toward them.

  "Whoa!"

  A stunned silence followed.

  "I did not teach her that word," Amy said, unmoved.

  Dressed in an Oxford blue tunic with gold piping, her only reaction to the chaos was to smooth back the sides of a crisp, clean ponytail. A grave-looking Warrant Officer named Simons stepped to her side.

  "Ma'am, how would you like to proceed?"

  "Now she's had her moment," Amy said. "It's time for a friendly chat."

  They left 'Observation' and stopped by the nearby door. Simons looked like he had something to say, but had trouble finding the words.

  "Uh, ma'am?"

  "You might want to speak up, Simons, before she climbs through the mirror."

  "Shall I inform the Air Marshal?"

  "I'm the only one who can calm her down. If you feel the need to report it upstairs, do so."

  "With respect, ma'am, your presence might exacerbate the situation; the subject was taken against her will."

  "I appreciate you dancing around that the 'subject' is my daughter," Amy said. "Rest assured, she won't try anything with me there."

  "All the same, as a precaution..."

  "As you were, Simons."

  "Ma'am."

  Amy strolled into the room and yanked the chair free from the mirror. Fee was curled up in the far right corner of the room, auburn hair plastered across her face.

  "Get up," Amy said. There was no response except for the occasional sniffle. Impatiently, she repeated the words like a threat: "Get. UP." Fee knew that tone, one she heard throughout her entire childhood. It was the voice of someone who was not open to negotiation. She slowly used the sides of the corner to pull herself upright. Amy opened a hand: "Take a seat.".

  The wet, clammy bangs hung down across Fee’s face like leeches. Her bloodshot eyes stared through the table.

  "Thanks for ruining ice cream for me." She said. It was so quiet, it barely registered. "What else did you ruin? Oh yeah, parental trust."

  "Yes," Amy said. "What I did was unforgivable, but sometimes drastic times..." She rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Look, it's been going around in my head, wondering what I could say, but the more I do, the more it sounds like a stream of clichés."

  "Once you let me go, you can tell everyone your sob story."

  "Not until we are on the same page, Fee. If that takes me all night, so be it."

  "Do what must be done."

  Incensed, Amy thumped the table and pointed a finger.

  "Don't you dare, don't you throw my mum's words back in my face." Remembering she was being monitored, she composed herself. "But I see where you are coming from."

  "At least you had a mother who cared for your well-being. I used to have one of those."

  "You still do," Amy said. Her face was stone, but her eyes had softened.

  "Really?" Fee said, "Last time I checked, drugging your own child wasn't featured in any maternity class.”

  "I know this looks bad, but I just wanted to show how desperate things have got."

  "I have a pretty good idea of how desperate things have got."

  "You don't know the half of it."

  "Then leave out the other half and take me HOME."

  Amy scraped her hair back. "We are going around in circles."

  "All you had to do was ask." Fee said. "It would have been so much easier."

  "You would have freaked out on the way here."

  "I guess this is what is known as an 'Impasse'."

  "Thank you, Jane Austen, I am aware of the word."

  "I’m more into Mary Shelley; Austen is too frilly."

  "Can we get back on track? I don't have a speech prepared because you will see through that, all I will say is there are things going on with you, which scare the hell out of me. You’ve just ripped up a chair that was bolted to the floor, and you don’t seem bothered."

  Fee shrugged "Maybe I don't care anymore. Just add it to rest of the weird shit I’ve been through. Who knows? Maybe I'll get my own Anime series. How’s this for a title? 'Kill Kill Taboo Star Harbinger'. "

  "Be serious Fee, you could do a lot of damage."

  "That's the kind of person you want to keep around?"

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  "The kind of person that can be monitored, yes."

  "Like a caged beast.” Fee said. “So what next? Interrogation?"

  "This is not an interrogation; you are here for your own safety and the safety of others."

  "I would never hurt others."

  "Tell that to Miriam Stosur." Amy said.

  "Wow.” Fee said. "Cheap shot, Mum, or whatever you are." She then frowned and shot a cursory look. "What the hell are you wearing, anyway?"

  "All questions will be answered soon enough."

  "Oh, good, that helps me as a prisoner."

  "Once again, not a prisoner."

  "Then there's nothing to stop me walking out right now."

  "You think we'd let you go, after that little stunt?"

  "Argh!" Fee said. "Make your mind up. I'm not a prisoner, but I can't leave?"

  "You are free to leave the room," Amy said. "But within the confines of the building, where every guard is permitted to shoot on site."

  "What's to stop me from rampaging around the high street?"

  Amy nodded to the mirror. "It's just as well you are nowhere near it."

  Fee watched dumbfounded as the tiled wall slowly parted in the middle, revealing the Earth in all its splendour. She could see a webwork of yellow lights twinkle across mainland Europe's nighttime, dusted with glowing specks like embers.

  "Mother of Dios," She said, slowly approaching the screen." We're in space?"

  "We are approximately two hundred and fifty miles above the planet's surface," Amy said, her hands folded behind her back. This is an outpost, one of many triangulating the globe."

  Fee held her breath until her sense of awe evaporated and she started to giggle. She had to steady herself against the tabletop as it became a full-blown laugh.

  "It's fake!" She said. "It's all CGI! Good graphics I'll admit, but it's sooo obvious.”

  Amy nodded and picked up the pink fluffy slippers.

  "Watch carefully."

  Turning the wheel on a nearby airlock, she placed the slippers inside and spun the wheel back. After a wave, the outer door slid open, sending the slippers into the void of space.

  Fee watched as the slippers floated aimlessly by. A moment of disbelief struck her, followed by a creeping sense of panic. The tiled wall drew slowly back.

  "W-We're in space," Fee said, her voice quivering. "We're in space! Why-why are we in space? Oh God-Oh God!" She curled into a ball and wrapped both arms around a table leg. "Why am I here? I can't be here."

  "Breath Fee, breath," Amy said. "You're hyperventilating."

  "We're gonna fall into space, we're gonna fall into space."

  Amy gestured to the people behind the mirror to cut the feed with a slicing motion across her neck. She then sat right on the floor next to Fee.

  "No one is going to fall into space, Bab." She said softly. "But right now, you are on the verge of a panic attack, so you need to calm down"

  "Calm down?" Fee said. Her words fell between gulps of breath. "How is this possible? We can't survive, there's not enough room. We have to save oxygen. Is there oxygen? I can't feel the air. Why am I trapped here? "

  "There is plenty of Oxygen, you are not trapped. We are in 'SACo'. Strategic Astronautical Command. It's a collaboration with Europe and North American Aerospace.”

  "What's it for?"

  "After the attack on Coventry, there was a worldwide rush to defend the Earth. SACo was formed in the wake of that."

  "Why not call it SAC?"

  "That means something else in America."

  "That game I played. This is part of it?"

  Amy nodded. "It was your Father's idea for you and/or your Brother to join. He created an aptitude test in the form of a computer game so that you or others could defend the Earth from invaders."

  A quiet moment passed between them.

  "Invaders?" Fee said.

  "You saw it on the news," Amy said. "When a spaceship wiped out one of our cities, it didn't just shake the world, it woke everyone up. So, a plan was set into motion, and that plan is this. For now, we are in a constant state of readiness."

  "Wait," Fee said. "Let me get this straight. Dad made a computer game that was secretly used to recruit future defenders of Earth?" Amy smiled slyly; she knew where this was going. "That's literally the plot of The Last Starfighter, which you made me watch every year."

  "Every New Year, to be precise," Amy said. "It's a family tradition."

  "Why me?"

  "Your father wanted his kids to follow in his footsteps," Amy said, helping Fee up. "But first, he had to know if they were up to the task."

  "I guess the game wasn't the only thing being played."

  Amy chuckled. "Touché."

  "I still haven't forgiven you.” Fee said. “After everything I went through, I thought you'd have my back."

  "I will always have your back. Right now, things have escalated beyond our control. The one advantage is we know someone or something is after you." She touched Fee's hand. "We don't know what it is, but we can protect you."

  "You're not even sorry," Fee said, slipping her hand back. "How could you do this to your daughter?"

  "It was the hardest thing I had to do. Choose family or the fate of the Earth."

  "Well, I guess it's easier now you don't have a family anymore."

  Amy visibly fought back tears.

  "I guess so." She said.

  Fee looked around as the shock of the news bled off.

  “Is there a cash prize or something?”

  “For what?”

  “Winning the game. I’d like to know there’s some kind of reward.”

  “I would think that helping people is its own reward.”

  “I’ve met people, I’d rather take the cash.”

  Amy scoffed. “I guess it’s true what they say, you can never impress a fifteen-year-old girl.”

  “I’m not fifteen.”

  “Point still stands.”

  “Yeah well, it’s not every day you find out your Mum is a total sell-out.”

  Amy glared at her with both barrels.

  “I know you’re in shock,” She said. “So I’m gonna let that slide. But you call me that again, and - my girl - you will taste the floor so fast.”

  Fee put her hands up. “Fine. I am sorry.”

  “Yeah, well, I can’t really talk.”

  "You expect me to fly into the thick of battle?"

  "Not yet, but eventually. The plane you found in the deserted Hangar is a Helix-class reconnaissance fighter. It can be used to fly at low altitude, take photographs, sweep G.T.A flak.”

  "I hated those missions."

  "You'd better be on my good side."

  "Did you say G.T.A.?" Fee said. "Nice."

  "Ground to Air, Fee. Strictly gun and run. What do you think?"

  "You haven't asked me what I want to do." Fee said. She fished out a photo of a rundown cottage with a broken waterwheel. "It’s in Scotland. I was going to put all my money into doing it up."

  "Lovely.”

  "You can't help, though; I have to do this alone.”

  "Of course. I understand.”

  "You're disappointed?"

  “I can never be disappointed with you Bab, the person you've become, I couldn't have wished for more. Well, minus the weird drawing phase."

  "It's not a phase."

  Amy addressed the mirror.

  "Please escort my..." She quickly caught herself. "Ms Green to hangar eighteen."

  "Leaving me alone to Rust in Peace?" Fee said, with a sly smile.

  "Thought you might like it."

  "But you are leaving me on my own. What happened to me being a danger to society?"

  “You’ll be transported to a secret location. It will have everything you can possibly want: a massive TV, a heated pool, a hot tub, the latest console and a mini-cinema. If you are in need of fancy new clothes, we can provide them. All expenses. Every week, you will get a fruit and veg care package, which you will use.”

  “So I am a prisoner?”

  “Trust me, with all the pampering, you’ll change your tune.”

  “What if I want to go out and about?”

  "We have precautions in place. Call it Plan B."

  "You mean birth control?"

  "NO!" Amy said. "Jesus. What the hell is wrong with you?"

  "I just assumed..."

  "That is a discussion for another day, God help me. For now, have a crazy party. Just run the vacuum around once in a while,"

  "I need friends to have a party."

  "No party then. That is both comforting and depressing to learn."

  Fee looked around. "Will I see you again?"

  "Right now, I must stay behind and organise the fleet."

  "I was plan A, wasn't I?"

  "Partly. Your dad believed in it."

  "You didn't, though?"

  "It's not my place to say," Amy said, tracing a loose strand back over her daughter's ear. "I hope we get past this."

  "Yeah, me too." Fee said. "I'll sulk for a bit, then chill out, I guess.”

  “There you go.”

  “Sure you're not upset?"

  "Far from it," Amy said. There was an awkward pause until the door buzzed.

  “Well, goodbye." Fee said.

  She smiled weakly, which quickly fell away as the door slid open to reveal her escort in full military dress.

  It was Rick.