STANDING UP FOR WHAT YOU BELIEVE IN

August 15th, 12,006 (actual time frame: 8:14PM, Sunday; August 26th, 2007)___________________________________________________________________

I guess--from my perspective--Trell had it coming.

Mom yelling at him and all.

But I could have none of that. I simply could not. After all, the little shrimp is my brother. And since mom didn't have any kids after Trell was born, it would make no sense killing him for doing what he did.

But grounding him did.

Again, mom didn't know from what. We had very little as it was, and Trell was very much needed around the house while I was out doing my things.

And since Dad wasn't here to pick up the slack...?

However, that didn't stop my mom from chewing him out. I got the distinct feeling that Maye took great satisfaction that she could still carry weight and authority with her voice.

Like her, I was also worried about my brother becoming an addict.

After all, there were no documented reports of someone remotely surviving after eating 3 cases of energy bar rations. Especially those that are tailored to my metabolism. (Maybe it was because he was younger--and his body still had yet to get rid of all that energy?)

My own battles with addiction is fairly evident--and it was so much easier becoming one in the world I now grew up in. Nobody I knew didn't have a dark and secret past--one tinged with embarrassment or scandal.

We all had something to hide from the outside world. Humanity may have advanced technologically in some areas over the last 10,000 years--but there were still some arenas which basic instinct was still very much the barbarian.

Cruelty, selfishness, depravity...?

They still had their place. This world of mine just made them all that much stronger.

And harder to ignore.

I partly listened to my mom still going on about her own worst-case scenarios involving my stupid brother--until I hit on an idea.

“I can go into town tomorrow and get a vial of Viraxain from Calis and give it to Trell by injecting him with a hypo spray.” I recall volunteering. “It should shut down the excess energy and jumpstart his body back to normal.”

(Heh. Whatever the hell that was. But I said this to calm my irate mother--and shock her back to her senses. Nobody was in any real danger of dying. My brother ate the 3 cases over a period of a month or so--not all at once. But even that much excess was too much for the average human body.)

I waited until Trell finished eating and then watched him scoot off for bed. I took care of the mess he left behind on the table and got myself something to eat--then sat down.

What I was going to tell her was damned difficult as it was.

When I did open my mouth to tell her--my mom blew everything out of proportion by instantly thinking that I had become addicted!

Worse...

She thought I was pregnant! (laughing here)

I may be naive at times, but stupid I wasn't. There was no way in hell I was going to get knocked up at such an early age! (But you know moms these days...?)

I tried to soother her fears by letting her know that I was neither--and then told her what Calis wanted me to go an do.

Like a bomb going off, my mother laid down the letter of the law:
“You are not going!” She told me in a tight voice, one that spoke of heavy menace. “And that’s that!”

(Moms...you gotta give them points for being up front with their feelings--especially those that involve their kids.)

Naturally, I agreed with her. I thought the old man was crazy too. But what else could I have done?

Mom told me all the "horrible" things that go up in Stratos City (y'know: The horror stories which adults use to scare kids with), and I told her not to worry. I had a blaster, my martial arts--I could handle myself in a pinch if needed.

Typically, mom wasn't convinced. But I told her that I was going anyway. I had to.

Maye asked me why.

I told her about the things which Calis told me. Things which made sense to my ears. Mom blew it all off as some 'wishful thinking' and 'an old man's fantasy'.

I countered her of course--as any good daughter would. I may be upstart and 14-years-old, but I never backed down from a fight or a challenge.

Even those from my own mother--no matter how much I loved and respected her.

Mom thought I was just gulliable, but I told her I wasn't. But her remarks sowed some self-doubt in me. I asked her what I should really do.

She told me it was up to me. I was old enough to make my own decisions (even though in the modern world--that was usually reserved for teens 18 or 19 years of age. Not those who were just on the edge of turning 15--like me--for instance.)

I told her that I would go--seeing how a surface dweller hadn't been up there for 300 years or something to that effect. Mom corrected me--of course--but I had always been under the distinct impression that nobody from the surface had actually visited the space complex in so long. (Of course, Calis would later tell me that it had been no less than 50 years since he last visited.)

Maye grew concerned over my lack of accurate historical knowledge--and asked me what it was that Calis was using for my study periods. I told her what we had gone through--and it confirmed my mom's earlier suspicions.

She told me flat out that my views were skewed and I fired back with some logic of my own--dropping me into an argument which borderlined on surface dweller prejudice. I used everything at my disposal--which set my mother back a bit.

I guess she wasn't expecting me to debate her in such an adult manner. But my outbursts with her reminded her of herself--when she was my age. However, nothing could change the time-honored friction which lay between both mother and daughter.

And that's what made me and my mom so...different...in our views of the world around us.

Isis