"Lazarus, let go of me or else," My body stiffens under his touch like never before. Every muscle locks in defense mode, my heart racing, anticipating an attack. My other hand instinctively wraps around the hilt of my fork. 

"Or else?" Lazarus mimics making fun of me, completely oblivious to the panic rushing through my entire body. 

I lift my fork and he winces, gaze far away as if a memory just flitted through his mind. He immediately releases me, jolting back like I was about to electrocute him. I know which memory he had, the one of his father stabbing his hand with a fork and then laughing about it afterwards. 

Lazarus's face is blank, eyes wide but unreadable. Guilt consumes me and I want to reach out and reassure him that I would never hurt him like that but is it the truth? If he had continued to hurt my hand would I have stabbed him?

After all it would be self defense. 

I proceed to cut my meat into pieces, pretending to ignore his temporary catatonic state. He sometimes gets like this and he's always requested that we do nothing about it. If less people fuss about it, the faster he recovers. 

He blinks a few times and just like that it's over. 

"Where do you think the rebels are residing? We haven't been able to track them down in months. How have they been able to evade us for so long?" I swallow a few pieces of the delicious meat and then gulp down the saccharine wine before me. 

"I have my theories. Not sure if you'd like to hear them though," Lazarus stuffs a large piece of wargol into his mouth and begins to chew. 

I stop eating and stare at him, looking slightly annoyed. "And why is that?" 

He simply shrugs, pretending to busy himself with his food while my frustration grows. 

"Let me guess, you think Lucian is behind this. Just like every other thing." 

He leans back in his seat, using a napkin to wipe his mouth before chugging down some of that wine we love. "I do think they might have inside help and while he isn't my only suspect, he certainly is one." 

"I swear you're obsessed with him. Lucian can't be involved in every single controversy involving Pluto, Lazarus. The plutonian needs his sleep as well, you know." 

Lazarus scoffs and then he starts to laugh, like I'd just told him the funniest joke. "Obsessed? Hardly. He's just always been suspicious. The type who would side with aliens. He's a sympathizer for sure. I see it every time I look at him." 

My lips purse and I busy myself with the assortment of vegetables between us, pine flowers, roasted roots and starchy greens all sautéed with our premium oil from Cixin. The rebels are smart to target the planets we depend on the most. 

Almost all of our vegetables and roots are imported from Cixin. I would dare say, our economy could collapse without this planet, or we'd certainly suffer finding other alternatives. 

But maybe Lazarus has a point. Maybe not Lucian but someone else, a Plutonian who believes in the rebel cause? Although unlikely it is some food for thought, a theory I shouldn't ignore. 

"You think I'm being ridiculous, right? Especially since you can't trust me at all." Lazarus adds when I don't say anything. 

"On the contrary, you might have a point." I tell him earning a look of surprise. "Or not. But we shouldn't disregard any theory, the attacks have grown in frequency. They're more brazen because we haven't caught them." 

His smile turns smug, like he knows something no one else does. 

"What are you hiding in that brain of yours?" I ask him earning a chuckle. 

"Maybe I'm on to something. Maybe I'm not." He says, crossing his arms over his chest. I catch his biceps flexing under his uniform, the muscles in his chest prominent under his fitted suit. Suddenly I'm hungry for a different kind of food. 

Lazarus notices, he always notices when I yearn for him. It's what gives him the power between us. I have to tear my gaze away, refusing to give him any more satisfaction. 

Once dinner is over, we proceed to the control room with our drinks. An officer is manning the cruise controls so we sit back and look out into the vast space around us, a blanket of nothingness so large, so infinite. 

So much potential for exploration, for discovery, for power. 

"What would you do to a Plutonian who has been supplying intel to an alien rebel group?" Lazarus suddenly asks me and I wonder if he's already caught someone. 

The insinuation that one of us could betray an entire empire and risk what we have built for millennia burns me up inside. 

"There wouldn't be any need for torture since we have our memory devices from Elca, but if it were true a little torture before death would be warranted. To betray the empire is the highest treason, no Plutonian should be exempt." I say it with so much angst that he smiles at me in admiration. 

"When you say things like that it makes me want to do all sorts of things." Lazarus pauses and stares at my lips, making me gulp. "To you."

His heated stare makes me swallow hard, the room growing smaller with each passing second. 

"You make it sound like you've caught the culprit already." I wrap myself under a small blanket for comfort and pretend to study our view instead of him. "Have you?" 

"Darling, if we caught the rebels, the entire universe would know." Lazarus leans closer, his proximity making me nervous. "Now tell me, what would you do if the rebels caught were aliens? Humans perhaps?" 

I scoff in response. "Humans would hardly be able to achieve such a feat. Look at how they are on Earth and Pluto." 

The humans fate has not been as favourable as I would have liked. They are treated so poorly on Pluto, their weaknesses constantly exploited and most of them die out because of it. To be honest I was never in favour of the intergration, but Planet X will wipe us out within a few years and Earth was our discovery to begin with. 

I can only hope that when we move to Earth and amalgamate on a larger scale that our two species will eventually become one. And then there will be no exploitation of the weaker species because our genes will be predominantly the same. 

No Plutonians, halfbreeds or humans. Only Plutonians. 

But this would be blasphemy if I said this out loud to the the general public so I've kept these sentiments to myself. Everyone wants slaves they can control but wouldn't it be better to compensate the service workers appropriately instead of enslaving them? We are certainly rich enough to pay those who serve us, so why don't we?

Lazarus is waiting for my answer and just like any other question I know this is a test. One that I must pass in order to gain more intel. 

"An alien should receive a harsher punishment, don't you think? We've helped them so benevolently, any betrayal on their part would be the height of ungratefulness." 

He nods slowly, smile widening slightly at my answer. "I agree wholly. If we do not hold the empire with an iron fist, cracks are bound to form." 

"That is true." I say after another pause and Lazarus looks like he wants to touch my hand. He reaches out for me but stops realising I'm buried under the blanket. 

"It's good to know where you stand, Luna. I always know where Lucian does but with you I can never tell." 

His statement somewhat offends me. "Lazarus, I have always been vocal with my thoughts on command. It is you who choose not to see me." 

He nods, face falling with disappointment. "I'm sorry." 

I look ahead, not wanting to engage further. I've proven myself to him countlessly, it's about time he made a choice to trust me or not. 

"The time I went to Earth, I visited Antartica not Africa. It was not a diplomatic visit and I had no interactions with the SA minister." He says it so quickly, so quietly that I'm the only one who can hear him. 

I turn to him and he nods at the officer by the console, gesturing for him to leave us. 

"Cameras?" I mouth and he shakes his head, dismissing my worries.

"The timing was purely coincidence. Someone else must want the two of you dead, Luna. I would be lying if I said a Pluto with Lucian would be ideal. But I can't imagine an existence without you, I would have destroyed Earth if it had been you who was killed." 

His sentiment warms me and I half joke. "We can't annihilate an entire planet, Lazarus. That's just wishful thinking." 

We have bombs that can start fires, freeze entire continents but we have never created anything that could result in such destruction. The Plutonians are meant to save planets not destroy them. 

"What if I told you that we might be able to soon?" Lazarus quirks an eyebrow and a shot of fear runs down my spine.

"What do you mean? Is that why you have been going to Earth?" I ask him and this time he reaches out for me. 

He hand glides past my blanket and he squeezes my palm, fingers interlacing with mine. "You're so smart it's hard to refrain from taking you right here, right now." 

I scoot closer, studying his manic smile while my heart thumps with trepidation. "How? To create something like that you'd need a generals backing? The by laws don't allow it." 

Lazarus chuckles, brushing his nose with mine, looking like he wants to kiss me. 

"Darling, I think you know the answer to that as well." 

The approved flight paths, my parents closeness with Lazarus, the fact that my father is backing him for leadership. Suddenly it all makes so much sense. 

I nod slowly. "What is it you have created?" 

"Something magical, Luna. We will be presenting the entire thing to the council soon and it would be an honour to have you by my side. I appreciate your father's trust but it is always yours that I have desired." 

The problem is I don't like the idea of this at all. It goes against our very cause as Plutonians. 

I pull my hand out of his and wrap my arms around my knees to hug myself. "You need to give me more information than that. I can't back something I have no idea about." 

"Of course Luna. I understand." His voice is tight when he replies and he's much colder when we disembark on Cixin. 

We stand side by side but we might as well be worlds apart. It irks me to know that he'd dote on me only if I agreed to his every ideal. One disagreement and I'm cast aside like a bad piece of meat. It's probably for the best that we broke up, I can't spend my life pretending to be someone I'm not. 

The pleasantries are short and concise, our Cixin representatives leading us to the damaged factory immediately. 

"It's always an honour to have you here. I assumed PG Lucian would be coming as well," Commander Vera tries her best to hide her disappointment as she guides us past a pair of metal barriers taking us through a nursery of herbs. 

"It's unnecessary for all of the Trinity to be here," Lazarus replies succintly. "I only accompanied PG Luna because we suspect some of the attackers might still be here."

"That's impossible. We scoured the entire planet and found nothing." Vera answers in alarm. 

"Seems rather an impossible feat to scour the entire planet in a few cycles." I tell her and her face turns beet red. 

We finally reach the area of maximum damage and I take my time to study the pattern of the explosion, looking for any clues as to what kind of explosives were used. 

"See the way the ash has spread over the other side, away from the rubble?" Lazarus notes from my side. Our squads are all over the sprawling factory, taking videos and pictures, some tracing the debris and keeping samples for study. 

"Like the materials were sucked in before being blasted in the opposite direction?" I murmur, thoughts racing. "Like a suction bomb?" 

"Either that or anti matter but where would they get that kind of supply? Not to mention the machinery to activate such an explosive?" He puts his fingers to his chin, gaze focused on the zig zagged cracks along one of the only intact walls. 

Around us the machines are non functioning and destroyed to oblivion. Pieces of shrapnel and wires lying haphazardly everywhere. No one was allowed to move anything until we arrived. 

I spot something in a small store room by the corner and walk over to it. Words have been spray painted over the walls inside which is odd. 

"Your time as colonisers are over. Enjoy it while it lasts." 

Why would they write a warning in this inconspicuous supply closet instead of outside for everyone to see. I step inside and feel the ground tremble below me. My hand reaches for my gun just as the roof gives away as another explosion sets off.