“You can’t claim that,” another girl called.

“Just watch her, Freya,” Eddie stammered. Nancy threw him a look. There was no missing the fondness sparkling in her purple eyes.

For the next hour Romy practised with the baby gun. She hadn’t missed the target since the second shot, and had even hit the bulls-eye several times.

She clicked the safety on and dangled the weapon at her side.

“I wanna see the sky girl shoot the AK-103,” a larger boy called. His name was Fred, and he was the one who’d gotten so excited by her “battler” comment.

A chorus of “me too’s” chimed from the others. Nancy approached with her gun—the largest gun. A challenging gleam lit her eye. Romy had watched the girl shoot it. She was good. Hadn’t missed once.

“You game?” she asked.

Romy wasn’t sure. But she didn’t want to lose face in front of the young Earth humans. “Sure.”

Whoops and shouts followed Romy as she made her way to the rightmost area, where Nancy had practised. She could barely see the target in the distance. It was much farther than the few she’d practised on.

“Now this one’s gonna kick. Make sure you prop it on your chest. And brace yourself or you’ll end up flat on your back. Not that that wouldn’t be funny and all, but I don’t want to have to explain a broken nose to Dr H. or Tina.”

“I don’t think she’d care,” Romy muttered.

Nancy sniggered. “Probably not. I’ve seen her look at scorpions with more fondness. All right, you’ve got the target. Pretend it’s a poacher, or something.”

Romy chose the “or something” as she peered through the front sight of the much longer weapon. The gun was heavy. If she held it too long, her arms would begin to tremble. She inhaled slowly, thinking of the Orbito soldiers hundreds of kilometres above her, fighting for a useless cause. Fighting because of greed and politics.

In other words, fighting for the exact same reasons global warming had occurred in the first place.

Whatever happened to her knot, Romy knew she’d never blindly follow anyone ever again.

She squeezed the trigger. And the target exploded down the way.

Silence greeted her ears as she replaced the safety and pointed the rifle to the ground, absently rubbing her shoulder.

Nancy had her mouth open. “Holy shite. You just blew up the target. On your first try.”

Romy shrugged a shoulder up and rubbed the back of her neck. “Well, I’d already practised for a while with the other gun.”

Nancy grabbed the rifle. “You did not just seriously compare a Glock to an AK-103?”

Romy flexed her fingers, studying the target. “I think I prefer the big one.”

“A woman after my own heart.” Nancy sighed dramatically. “But hands off. This one is mine.”

* * *