The Circadia Chronicles: Omnibus: The Complete Colonization Sci-Fi Series by Heather Heckadon (books to read to get smarter .txt) 📗

light grey walls. The space was relatively empty except the front, which featured two beige chairs with a plant in between. Tall stands held large lights that illuminated Mrs. Brach sitting in one of the seats.

She was beautiful. Bleached blonde hair tumbled over her electric blue tweed dress. Mrs. Brach exuded polish from her head to her toes. "Aella! Come on in and have a seat!" She patted the seat next to her in a clear invitation.

I drew a deep breath. She seemed nice enough.

"I'm really nervous," I blurted. I didn't mean to say it. I reached out to shake hands. She chuckled and returned the gesture.

"Have a seat." She showed me the chair. "There's nothing to be nervous about. I'm going to ask you questions you already know the answer to, and you're going to answer how you want to answer. Simple as that." She flashed a bright white smile and sat back in her chair.

"Will I have a warning before they start recording?" I asked.

"Of course." She looked at the camera. "The cameraman will count down from three after we’re all ready and I'll start by introducing you."

"Okay." My reply was flat since I was scared of looking too inflated or too shy. How was I supposed to look?

"Are you ready to begin?" Mrs. Brach asked.

"Ready as I'll ever be, I guess."

She looked out toward the camera. "Let's do this then!"

The cameraman held up three fingers and counted down with them. As soon as he held a solid fist with no time remaining, Mrs. Brach began her spiel. Her voice took on a different tone than the one she'd used to talk to me earlier. More assertive and excitable.

"This is Sarah Brach with CNSTV, and this is The Hour. We’re here with Aella Toms, our neighbor Circadia's rebel leader, and Earth's revolution catalyst for an interview about the current state of the global war and what the future is poised to hold. Aella, how are you?"

I sat in shock and silence. How had she described me? Did she really introduce me as a revolution catalyst and rebel leader? Yikes. I didn't have time to process what she'd said before she asked, "Aella?"

My subconscious took over. "Yes, Mrs. Brach. I'm well, thank you."

She returned a tight smile. "Wonderful. Let's begin with the interview then! So my first question is, how big of a shock was it to come back to Earth from Circadia? I know you came back after the nuclear winter and lots of changes. There had to be tremendous differences from when you left, right?"

"Yes, of course! It was a huge shock. When I left, we’d barely started to recover from Circadia’s approach so close to Earth, so things weren't perfect, but they weren't like this." I caught my mind wandering to the imagery outside the compound from the other night, and quickly noticed I sat in silence again. "So yes, there were a lot of changes I wasn't prepared for."

"You weren't prepared for them?"

"I mean, I knew a general idea of what had happened, but you can't prepare your mind for seeing something like that until you've seen it. We didn't have access to a lot of news from Earth on Circadia, so a lot of the information I learned once we landed on Earth was all new."

"So you didn't have access to news on Circadia, but you did have access to transmit information and video clips here? That's strange."

I wasn't sure what she was getting at, but I immediately felt defensive. I smiled anyway. "Apparently. It was harder to receive information than to send it. It still took lots of time to transmit info, but it took less time than receiving."

"Oh, I see. So it was fairly easy and simple for you to send the video that started our revolution?"

That took me back. "First of all, I didn't know they sent the video. Second, it wasn't intended to start a war here. It was a call for help."

"A call for help from what?"

"From Leslie Marshall. I'm sure you saw the video."

She gave a small laugh and composed herself before answering. "We all saw the video."

I couldn't figure out what she was trying to say. She was beating around the bush, and it was pissing me off. "What are you trying to say? I was there. Leslie ordered innocent people to die and unfairly took over Circadia. We were practically slaves. We had to rise and fight back. We had no other option." I eagerly waited for her answer.

"Slavery? Is that what the rebels of Circadia called it?"

"What would you call being forced to work for an unwanted and unappointed ruler with minimal food and tiers of citizenship? I call that slavery or at the very least, communism!" The words came out louder than I expected, but I was furious!

"Most on Earth call what happened on Circadia selfish."

"How so?" I asked.

"People on Earth were down here suffering. Starving. You had bounties of harvest on Circadia. Leslie Marshall was appointed by the global government to aid us here on Earth, and you fought him. Some would say you fought back against Earth by not helping us."

I was shaking and had to take a moment to calm myself. My mother always said, “Don't let your emotions eat your intelligence,” but I was close. A deep breath in and out and the shaking stopped. I looked back at Mrs. Brach with a clear mind. I hadn't realized this was a setup, but I was ready to fire back. "If most people thought that, the way you said, we wouldn't have a revolution on Earth. When my team and I landed, we would have been captured and incarcerated, but we weren't. Probably because the government knows if they touch me, they'll only make me a martyr for a cause that is just and right. Everyone knows I wasn't fighting against an appointed leader. We fought a tyrant. The same kind of tyranny was happening here on Earth. When people saw