Absolution
15 Sep 2018User1355
We come from nothing, the chasm we call the Void. And to the nothing we return.I am alone, on the bridge of the Hecate’s Crown, making final preparations for a journey. A journey unlike any ever taken.
I have given everything. My power, my name, my unborn child. And in return, I will receive that which no mortal has been granted: entrance into the divine plane. Sola knew of this place, saw it for what it was. I, however, shall reside there.
Everything is prepared. Some would call the modifications I’ve made to my ship an act of madness. I call them inspired.
It’s the only way. The only way to escape her, the demoness who torments me from the aftervoid. She waits for me, in the shadows; in my sleep, in my waking hours. I must flee, flee to the domain of one wiser and stronger than the demoness. There I will bask in my eternal reward, never to suffer or love again.
The time has come to depart the realm of mortals.
Yet even one like me has her final farewells to make.
I turn in my seat, glancing behind me at the sound of heels on the metal bridge floor approaching. It’s Nikki, looking more beautiful than I remembered; her long blonde hair shimmers, her face is youthful, her limbs are all present and intact. This was the woman in her prime, who opened the first pleasure-house on Clair Dock, not the aged Madame whose establishment I so brutally seized.
I watch her silently as she takes the co-pilot’s seat, her perfume lightly scenting the cabin.
“Caesar ran a better brothel than you,” she states flatly, glancing over to me.
I nod, replying matter-of-factly; “Hers is still standing. Mine is not.”
Nikki laughs without humour; “You’ve only got yourself to blame for that! And you know she was right about you?”
I glance over the panel, making sure that all systems are ready for lift-off. “About what?”
“You don’t remember what she told you in the Olive Grove?” Nikki runs her fingers through her hair, reciting Caesar’s words verbatim; “‘You'll be all alone, Morgan, and you'll have only one thing to defend. Yourself.’”
The Crown rumbles as the engines come online. “I’m not alone though. The Crone is with me.”
Nikki sighs, standing from the seat and looking down at me, her emerald eyes flashing.
“You believe what you want to believe, Morgan. The Crone is with you as much as I am.”
With that, she offers me the faintest hint of a sad smile, before striding out of my bridge and into the darkness of the access corridor.
I continue with the lift-off, pushing the Crown’s thrusters to raise the aged freighter up from the landing pad and gently easing the stick back whilst pushing the throttle forward. The rolling hills of New Cambria stretch out before me, green and glorious in the morning sun. How beautiful it is, how beautiful could it have been? A sadness wells up in me as I take in the sight of my homeworld for what will be the last time.
“After all this time, I still haven’t managed to get the damned stench of cow’s blood out of this,”
I jump, startled at the voice next to me. Lehman’s in the co-pilot’s seat, inspecting a dark stain on his leather jacket.
“Had I known where your damned yokel rituals would’ve lead me, I would’ve told Gideon to go fuck himself!”
My lips move; “Matt…” but no sound comes out.
“Tell me, darlin’”, he asks, turning to face me, “how can one take so much from everyone else, and yet end up with nothing?”
“I have everything I need, Matt,” I answer quietly, “there is nothing more to take.”
He smiles grimly; “Not now, there ain’t. Almost had me, you know? Almost.”
He stands, slinging his jacket over his shoulder and touching my arm.
“So long, darlin’.”
I put a hand over his. Throughout his life, he strived to do what he thought was the right thing, leading him to that fateful night in Chun where we were pledged to one another. A simple fool, with a good heart. My warrior-mate. The father of my child. By the Void, I miss his silly accent and quirks.
He pulls his hand away, leaving me alone once more as the Crown begins to break through New Cambria’s atmosphere. I check my instruments again; the frame-shift drive is lit up - operational and ready to engage. I bank the Crown into a lazy orbit of the blue planet, appreciating it from afar. It won’t be long now.
“Even your father had a soft spot for New Cambria, girl.”
The voice is so familiar; comforting, reassuring, the voice that gave me hope and confidence when I had none.
I turn, breaking into a beaming smile. “Deggie.”
The old man stands next to my seat, smiling warmly in return, his broken-piano of grin a sight I’ve sorely missed.
“That was quite a ride. I think we both got a little more than we bargained for!” he laughs, raising a flask of Rotgut to his lips.
I nod, my eyes stinging on the brink of tears.
“Your star burned fast and hot, girl. You were destined to end in a supernova, engulfing everything in your orbit.”
He passes me the flask, which I take gratefully, happy to have something ease the tightness in my throat.
“Thank you. For everything,” I tell him, my voice breaking as I hand the flask back. He leans down to kiss me gently on the forehead. He nods, a satisfied smile on his weathered face.
“I’ve got my last wish, girl. I hope you find yours.”
I close my eyes as the tears break, my breath shaking. When I open them again, he’s gone. I’m alone again, New Cambria eclipsing the star as the ship’s orbit moves into the planet’s night cycle, darkness engulfing the bridge.
The time is near.
In the darkness, my hand nudges something near the throttle stick; it’s a small metal plate. Holding it up against the pale yellow light from the HUD, I see that it’s a stock plating from a carbine, the kind that Rabat’s arms factories would make. There’s what looks like writing on it. I look closer.
My name is Serai
My breath catches in my chest. The first words from the only person I ever called a friend; the young girl Serai who wrote me messages on gun plates, who Rabat forced me to space out of an airlock for daring to soften the daughter of the notorious pirate lord. The heart-wrenching and sickening feelings of guilt, anger, regret and loss overwhelm me. I break down, sobbing uncontrollably, gripping the plating so tightly it cuts into my hands.
You came from nothing.
I look up through the tears, at the lever that will engage the frame-shift drive and lock it permanently in Witchspace.
You will return to nothing.
I reach forward and place my hand on the stock of the lever. All sounds on the bridge subside; there is only my heartbeat and my own breath. And then, a small voice;
“I have a friend,” I look down to see the little girl, clad in slave-rags yet looking happy and healthy, “and her name is Marra.”
Through my tears I smile, taking my hand from the lever to caress her beautiful young face.
“I have a friend,” I reply in kind, choking up, “and her name is Serai.”
Her tiny hand takes mine and together we push the lever.
Frame Shift Drive Charging announces the ship’s computer, followed by a klaxon and the warning; Frame Shift Drive malfunction.
Lifting Serai into my lap, we watch the space around us bend and distort, red warning lights and klaxons ignored, failsafes overridden. We hold each other tightly as dark tendrils creep forth from the forming tunnel, embracing the ship, consuming the bridge. We hold no fear. The tears dry up as the computer finishes its deadpan countdown, the frame-shift drive buckling and heaving as it engages.
I exchange a smile with Serai as the tunnel opens and draws us into Witchspace; our true home.
We become one, forever: Maiden, Mother, Crone.
And so ends the tale of Marra Morgan.
Thank you for reading and following her journey with me
Cari
