The Message.
09 Sep 2021Isabella Adair-Levine
A continuation from Log #33
Isabella sat on the edge of her bed after finally getting time to wash and eat a well-made cooked meal. With her was her personal tablet she kept close as a means of communication when away from her ship or not suited up. She opened up her recent messages and saw one from Rosemary Ware. Her non-biological mother. In the message she sent was an attached audio file. Her message was simply; "This message was from your father and was meant for you." She tapped the screen and listened as her father's voice began:
"This video message will originally go to you Rose. I know I'm probably the last person you want to ever hear from but I'm sending this to you so that you can send this to our daughter...Isabella. And yes, I do mean OUR daughter. You know her because I mentioned her before she was born but you never met her. By the time you get this and listen, I'm hoping that you've met her and gotten to know her. She's a special woman and I ask you to give her a chance. I know she's not your blood-related daughter but in a perfect world...she was meant to be ours.."
He smiled.
"As I said before, this message is ultimately meant for her. So...my little princess. Yes, I know you hate me calling you that at this age but you'll always be that to me. You always have. I never got to say my proper goodbyes before leaving so I wanted to take this quick time that I have to tell you a few things, clear up some confusion you might have or anything like that. So for starters, I want you to know that I'm terribly sorry for anything that I've done that's upset you and pushed you farther away from me than closer. I know all during your life I've been rough and I've pushed you extremely hard to be the best that you can be. I could sit here and give you an excuse on why I wanted this to be but I've realized now that this wasn't what you wanted and I pushed upon you something that was never wished for. I also want to apologize for any grief or pain I caused in revealing that I paid certain people a lot of credits to have you, my daughter, genetically modified to have genetics that surpass the average human birthed naturally. You most likely know this but these genetic alterations don't give you anything like super strength or speed. Simply better immunity, function of the endocrine system and less prone to disease or other chronic health conditions. That's only scratching the surface of genetic alterations and I'm not a scientist nor do I have a list. There is much more to you that meets the eye in more ways than one. But as you know, these genetic alterations are highly illegal and most of the credits spent were to cover any trace of these genetic alterations added to you during your growth period and to pay off the ones who monitored the gestation process."
"This is the part where you have every right to be absolutely furious at this revelation as I stole from you a normal life. It's partly why I never wanted to tell you. So you could live a normal life of growing up without the back thought of knowing you were...for lack of better terminology...a lab experiment. Although to me, you are nothing even close to that but simply instead, just my beautiful daughter. The only reason why I went through all this was to later in your adult life, encourage you to marry into an Imperial family of merit and one day have children starting a strong lineage coming from you. I did try to indoctrinate you with Imperial beliefs and to train you at an incredibly young age on being more proficient at your early adult life with weapons and without. I must say, I did partly succeed in my mission as I successfully trained you adequately in self-defence. But, and I must point out, where I failed was with teaching you obedience and following directives. This might have been for the best perhaps as I know you hated following Imperial traditions. Really you hated being told to di anything. This might have been something that naturally occurred in your personality….to resist authority and be a little rebel. I'm glad for it in hindsight. It made you who you are today. A brave woman who won't stand for bullshit if she smells it."
He chuckled.
"These are the things I could have done differently but...if I did. I might not have you here today. But, I did want to reminisce over the good we had with each other. One of my fondest memories to this day was when I took you into the large forested park on Ekono. You remember? You were 6 or 7 and you were full of adventure and never-ending energy. I figured we'd go to the park and walk the trail to the huge waterfall. It would get you to burn some of that built-up energy off and boy you burned energy. Haha. You burned completely out chasing small critters and looking for weird things on the forest ground. You probably remember but it was one of the hottest days of the year. Thirty-Five degrees Fahrenheit. We were halfway out on the trail and you were cranky, hot and tired. I carried you all the way back and I promised ice cream once we made it. I got you your favourite type, cookies 'n' cream. After that, you passed completely out in the car ride back home. Told our caretaker all about it after I carried you inside and put you in bed. I suppose it's my favourite memory because of the time and bonding we had together. It was fun, we got to talk and have our father-daughter moment. We had our little dilemma with tiredness, being hot and cranky and having to walk all the way back when we were so close to that waterfall. You refused to go further. But getting to see you enjoy your favourite ice cream and then pass out from such a long day….it just made me feel like a true father. I never got many chances to see you and I know most of the time that I did, I was pushing you on something or what we had was too short. I wanted to take one opportunity to actually be with you for a day and for me that was the most memorable. One that I hope stays with you.
"The last thing I wanted to say to wrap this up was for you not to worry about me. I know to you it makes no sense on why I chose to lead this piece of garbage to the wrong location but it's to protect your mother. I know he might not have made it far in his suicide mission but a man with nothing to lose is a dangerous man and I couldn't chance it. Look, if you're seeing this then you're out and my plan on having...now fiancé...put together a small extraction team worked out. I wish you told me about that, Isabella. Even just about you and James more. You guys have been seeing each other for a while I hear. He proposed to you and you accepted. I can't be anything but proud of you, sweetheart. It's a large commitment on both parties of the relationship but you two seem great for each other or so it seems. I never got to see you or him much. Whatever makes you happy. Again, I just wish you talked more about him. I understand you like to keep your relationships subtle and between you. Buuut I am your father, missy. Also, since we're on this topic, I want to see grandkids when I walk out of this unfortunate situation. Not...rushing you just saying. Family's important and continuing it is necessary."
"Well I've talked enough at this point and need to go now. I don't know what might happen after this and I hate to make this all sound like final goodbyes but I don't know how I'm getting out of this one, sweet pea. I need to do something to stop him because he won't stop if I don't. There's a White Dwarf here and the exclusion zone is huge so it's maybe possible to get the ship to hit it at a high enough speed to shake everyone up and make my final move. It's the only thing I can think of. Whatever. I want you to know that I love you, Isabella. As I said, you're my little princess and you're perfect to me. You turned out to be the greatest woman I know. Keep it that way. I know you will."
There were 4 audible metallic knocks over the recording.
"Damn. Times up. I love you, sweetie. Always have. Stay strong and keep being you. Oh, and please stop putting yourself into horrible situations like this...and the last time with the IISS. You really pissed them off by the way."
Another 4 louder metallic knocks echoed over the audio
"Gotta seriously go. Love you!
The recording ended and Isabella whipped away a few tears from her face. She knew more now about what happened and she found herself more frustrated with herself for getting into this mess in the first place. Part of her even wanted to blame her mother but she couldn't. It wouldn't be right. Especially after hearing her side when talking to her. The biggest regret she faced was always being angry at her father. Her only blood-related family member just died and now more than ever did she feel alone. She wished for a mother she knew all her life and a father that was always around and not gone. A two-parent household was important and she dreaded the fact she never got one. Isabella tossed the tablet to her side and laid back in the bed looking at the ceiling. She closed her eyes and tried to think about the best times she had with her father and imagined what it might have been like having him and her mother together as a family in one house. These thoughts were exactly that. Thoughts and it only led to more and more tears running down her face.