The siren call
25 Dec 2020Teafox
The kid's got the right kind of a sense of humor and a good heart, really. I didn't try to push the whole make-believe part of the Christmas celebrations, given that chimneys and fire places haven't really existed in centuries, but I still made sure to put the two bars of chocolate I've been keeping into the socks we hung over the air lock. I was surprised to find that there was a pouch of the banana and apple puree, and the needle and thread from the first aid box added to mine, when I woke up. Making sure it's fair, he's got the last one with strawberries. Truly, Santa and his reindeer think we've been good boys this year. I mean, who else could have put that stuff in there, right?Honestly, we didn't feel like staying station side for the celebrations for long. There's minerals to mine out there, and very few gifts greater in the galaxy than the depths of space and someone who appreciates bad food and a good cup of tea.
He's been distant since the incident, but it's taken on a slightly different air of late. It starts out the same, a tense look to his eye, perhaps a wince of regret and then it will soften. That stare that goes a thousand yards will suddenly go a lot further, but it's not unfocussed. Sure, there's trauma there, but he pushes it aside, there's resolve. It's a different look and it's one I've seen before.
The call of the void used to mean something different back in centuries past. It used to refer to the feeling you might experience when standing on the edge of a cliff. Now, every survival instinct you have will normally tell you to back away and retreat to safer ground. But some people will feel an urge to run forward and jump. That urge is the call of the void. That little voice that whispers to you to try it out, it'll probably kill you, but you never know until you try. It can be quite a disturbing sensation when you might be depressed, tired, or, more worryingly in this case, traumatized. In more recent society, however, such instantly fatal opportunities are rather fewer and further between, but there is a void out there. And to some of us, it does call.
Beyond the bubble lies a wider galaxy. A hundred billion stars, infinite space, new worlds, and even aliens. We've met one species of them already, and at the slightest mention of them, the kid's eyes light up. As an experiment, I raise the legend of Raxxla with him. In medieval history, they searched for the holy grail, now they search for Raxxla. Kid was hanging on every word.
The void's calling to him and I've seen this before. Friends I've known, perhaps a few folks that would have been friends if I'd treated them better too. The deep black has reached out and taken grip on the kid, it's a gentle tug at first, but it always starts gently or it doesn't start at all. I can almost taste the inevitability. Kid wasn't made to be a miner, well, I guess he was made to be a fighter pilot, but that's not what he's going to wind up doing.
We reached the goal we set out for back in Diso some while ago. I haven't told the kid. I foresee a few additional expenses in his near future.
I've spent a little time on the grapevine. It turns out that the supratech corporation is looking for some early adopters of their new Artemis system, a spot on a soon-to-be commissioned independently owned carrier suits their needs just as much as an independently owned alternative to Remlok suits... suits ours. We're slowly working our way back to Diso now, stopping in at all the belter camps we can find, just leaving word that I'll be recruiting crew for some key positions about a carrier soon.
It's not that I don't trust the Brewer corporation and the Alliance to provide good personnel. All said and done, the Alliance has really helped us out, but a mercenary crew is one thing. A crew of our own people, that's something else.
Someone out there has been transmitting old world Christmas songs via the voice comms, just on a broadband transmission to anyone out there that doesn't filter it out. If only they didn't pass that restriction on outfitting ships for atmospheric flight. It puts me in a mood to find a planet with snow and build an actual snowman. I've only ever seen it done at a themed area with artificial snow back on some imperial station years ago. It'd be nice to try it with real snow and leave it there for someone else to find.
We're planet side tonight. A night or two in gravity is good for the muscles, and I'm not giving this new body enough exercise. It's a small settlement that recently lost their communications array, so we volunteered to deliver some equipment to repair it. Even if anyone raises an eyebrow at the kid, I don't think anyone would think to report it to anyone who'd pay any kind of attention. Kid's nervous about spending time with folks again... But these are decent folks, Imperials, but still every-day folk without too much in the way of airs and graces. Good food, polite company... And very willing to invite a pair of vagabonds to their table in exchange for a three quarter bottle of Lavian brandy and a few tall tales.
It's good to remind myself that there are decent folk outside of the belts.