The neon orange sign in her memory pulsated in time with her heartbeat. Clenching the gray fabric over her chest, she blew out a long breath to expel the lingering sadness of the last time she had seen her family. After another breath, she slid her hand under her thin pillow to pull out a small pouch. The earthly smell of the few pinches of soil it contained reached her and transported her into another memory.

Her family had gone out to their first and only picnic the day before their lives were uprooted. Father led them to his favorite meadow, where they unpacked all the food they had prepared earlier that morning, before the sun peeked over the horizon. As she and her little sister munched on their sandwiches with matching grins, Father regaled them with his childhood stories of his family's cabin in the woods, which wasn't too far from where they sat. His favorite place was about a half-day trek to the north, through the line of trees. There, Father promised, was the most wondrous sight in this world: soil reflecting the gentle sunlight reaching through the leafy canopy. How something so worldly could produce such brilliant colors, Father said, no one could explain with science.

With a sigh, she opened her eyes.

The metal walls curved around her. Like a cave, she repeated to herself as she strained to hold a mental image of a natural cave hidden deep in the forest.

This was nothing like a cave.

After carefully returning the pouch to its safe place under her pillow, she reached under her cot and pulled out her ratchet set. Her face contorted in a slight grimace as she stood up and tested her weight on her left leg. Deciding she didn't need her cane today, she limped to the door.

With her ratchet set in hand and her left leg trailing but moving, she made her way through the corridor and up the stairs. After spending eight months on this battleship, she barely noticed the metallic scent of gunpowder as it entered her nostrils and clung to her lungs.

Just as the ship cut through the heaps of pollution along the coast, she made her way through the dining area, through another corridor, and into the engine room. She had work to do.