Leanna O’Regan leaned out of the door of the orange conical life raft and reached into the dark ocean water, splashing it on her face. She gasped, surprised by how cold the water was, and looked up into the starry night sky. The crescent moon was hidden behind some solitary thick clouds, so she could clearly see the broad band of stars making up the Milky Way stretch across the sky. She shivered a bit and scanned the watery horizon that she could see from the life raft entrance. “You know, it almost looks like we’re floating in space…” she said, her voice weak. She leaned back inside the dark life raft, and zipped up the fabric door so that it closed out the ocean spray and cool ocean breezes. The only light that then came into the raft was from the transparent plastic windows near the top of the cone cover. She felt her way back across the uneven floor that gave way to each step, and jumped back a bit when her outstretched hand touched warm skin.

“What were you saying?” a man’s voice said. “Come sit next to me; I think we know we can trust each other, my Sister of the Cooperative.”

“You can trust me, yes, but for me to trust you, Mr. Stockard?” Leanna said, almost collapsing to sit down beside him, “Let’s keep talking, James, we need to stay awake for as long as possible.” Leanna held on to James’s strong muscular arm, and pulled herself close to him. Both Leanna and James were only wearing white t-shirts and shorts, the exposed skin of their arms and legs touched each other. “I was saying that the two of us floating alone in the Pacific Ocean with only the night sky above us was like floating in spaceship between the stars. Have you ever wondered if there is life out there?”

James relaxed a bit and said, “No, not really. I’ve never bought into that UFO business you read about in science fiction books or comics, or see on TV. It all seems like kid-stuff to me; you might as well be talking about dragons and unicorns.”

“Is that so?” Leanna retorted, “Maybe there are such things as dragons and unicorns!”

“If there were such a things, well, I’ve never seen them myself. Say, you don’t seem like the kind of person that would be interested in fantastical beasts,” James said and shifted himself so that he could put his arm around Leanna’s shoulders.

“I’m not… you got me,” Leanna said, resting her head on his chest. “But you have to agree with me that there’s more to the Universe than just us?” James didn’t answer, and didn’t sound like he was preparing an answer, so Leanna continue on, “So here we are, abandoned to drift between the stars.” She put her hand on James chest, next to her head, and could feel the four-point gold star necklace under his shirt. “So how did you come to know of the Gold Star of the Cooperative?”

“Before I was stationed on the QuadriStar battlestation, I attended a CIM meeting in San Francisco,” James answered, and then offered in anticipation of Leanna’s next question, “I only found out about it from a flyer that was pushed into my hand when I was walking through Chinatown. I was curious, I mean, you have to be intrigued to learn more about any group that identifies itself as the ‘California Independence Movement’.”

“And what did you learn at this meeting?” Leanna asked, lifting her head from his chest. “What made you decide to join the Movement?”

“I learned the four principles: Perseverance, Empathy, Positivity and Collaboration. They were explained in the meeting the same way you did just now. And I learned how to calm my mind and connect with other members of CIM, by the unclenching of fists together and staring into each other’s eyes in silence. I learned to listen to radio broadcasts for secret message transmission through poetry. I’m a big fan of Preacher Bob!” James then laughed, “I’ve always wondered how much of a secret his transmissions actually were when anyone can hear them!”

“Anyone might hear them, but only a few can interpret them,” Leanna explained, and pulled herself away from James. “Now, you said that Presidential troops are being issued the same gold star necklace?”

“Er, yeah. It’s meant to represent the QuadriStar and the four commandments of Piety, Entitlement, Punishment and Competition. And they mean- hey, were are you going?” James said feeling around in the darkness for Leanna.

“I need to go to take a leak,” she said unzipping the door to the raft again, “Go on, what were you told about the four commandments of the QuadriStar? It’s all starting to come together now, especially Dante’s role in all this. Look away, please, if you don’t mind…”

The clouds that were concealing the moon had drifted past and the moonlight slipped inside the raft, lighting up the dark figure of James still seated on the floor. He obliged Leanna her privacy and looked away from the inflatable raft’s door, continuing to speak. “Piety – You are better than anyone else and are destined for greatness. Entitlement – You deserve everything that is given to you. Punishment – Follow the President without question or face the consequences. Competition – All conflicts are settled by a winner taking it all… Leanna, are you done yet? Can I look back? I need to go, too.”

Not getting an answer, James looked from the corner of his eye at the entrance to the raft, and saw that it was empty. “Leanna!” he shouted and crawled quickly to the opening, leaning out and frantically searching the choppy waves around him. “Where are you? Are you OK? Leanna!” James jumped out into the frigid black water and clung onto the rope fastened around the perimeter of the raft, pulling himself around the edge of the raft, looking for Leanna.

James saw a flash of light in the far distance, just below the horizon and between the swell of the waves. A dot of white light lifted up into the sky, and grew brighter as it leveled out. James alternated hands to grasp the rope around the raft, still not seeing any sign of Leanna and pulling himself back to the raft’s entrance, which was now zipped closed. The light in the sky was getting bright and closer, which he watched between looking back to the closed entrance to slap his free hand against it. “Leanna! Let me back in! It’s freezing out here! Leanna, please!”

James’s pleas were then drowned out by the roar of the approaching bright light, which screamed past the raft and continued on it’s pre-determined path, steady and low over the ocean’s surface. James, stopped shouting at Leanna inside the raft, and mumbled to himself as his wide eyes followed the quickly vanishing rocket, “A QuadriStar self-guiding missile! I pity the poor souls at its target; they won’t know what hit them!”

*** This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. ***