Personal Log 58: 21st - 27th September, 3301 (Part Two)
28 Sep 2016Jemine Caesar
21st - 27th September, 3301 (Part Two) Once back in my room I called Sam by k-cast to tell him about my meeting with Nagita.
"Sam, I hope you don't mind," I said, "but I'm going to stay here for a few more days. Nagita's being discharged tomorrow, and she's doing well, but I think she wants friendly company for her first flight back into space again."
Sam was quite happy for me to do this, and added that he had moved to the system of Nevermore. "I seem to keep getting shot at in Gateway!" he said.
Next day, September 24th, I met Nagita as she was discharged from the medicentre. She was dressed in her flightsuit and still leaning on her stick for support.
"I had an accident when I was 14," she told me. "I was hit by a snowjet. It broke my tibia. There was a sudden snowstorm, and the driver couldn't see me. He was an honest guy. He took me to the town's medicentre and waited with me until my parents came. The guy became a friend of my dad."
Nagita took me to see her ship, the Darkangel.
"Oh!" I exclaimed. "It's a Fer De Lance!"
Nagita beamed at me. "A whole year of hard work has been put into this ship."
I admired the sleek, black-painted vessel. "It's beautiful," I said. "Are you ready to go out in her?"
Nagita nodded. "It feels strange to be wearing my flightsuit again," she said. "But it's... it's my life, in a way."
I changed into my own flightsuit and took The Last Thing out of the station to meet Nagita in the Darkangel. We manoeuvred happily around one another for a few minutes, waving at each other like schoolgirls.
"What do you want to do, Nagita?" I asked. The answer was quick in coming.
"I want to go home, to 31 Aquilae," she said, "to my parents." Glad that I'd had the forethought to load my luggage, I asked if I could accompany her. "Oh, yes," she said. "I would like that very much."
Our course took us through Frog, LP 694-16 and LHS 3505, as well as a few dark systems. After dropping down into the 31 Aquilae system we docked at Isherwood Gateway, in orbit around Nagita's homeworld. Snow covered landmasses were clearly visible on the planet's surface. It certainly looked cold!
*****
We met later for a drink at a bar called Rick's Tavern. Nagita preferred to keep her flightsuit on, to cover her badly bruised legs.
The bar's owner, Rick, turned out to be a very friendly man in his 70's. He greeted Nagita warmly, and served us with glasses of Chardonnay.
Unfortunately, the planetbound shuttle service was suspended for maintenance, so Nagita's reunion with her parents would have to wait a little longer.
"Jem, what you said about Duval and your mother... who told you all that?" asked Nagita.
"My mama," I answered. "Sort of. She recorded a holo-message for me before she died. It's in this locket. I wear it always. And this other locket was a gift from Sam. It projects a holo-image of my daughter, Bekka. Look."
I opened the locket, and Bekka's smiling face shone out at us.
"She's so cute," said Nagita. "Like her mama."
I nodded, sadly. "She actually looked much more like my mama," I said. "I still call her mama, even though she was really my half-sister."
Nagita laid her hand on mine. "She raised you as her daughter, Jem. And I can bet that she loves you like a mom, and not sister's love."
That started me crying. I told Nagita about how my parents had died in the atomostove explosion. Nagita consoled me by rubbing my back gently. "Oh," I said, "that feels nice, Nagita! You could be a masseuse."
We stayed a little longer at Rick's Tavern. I felt sure that Nagita didn't want to be left alone, so I booked us a double room on my dataslate.
"Tomorrow," I said, "we'll go shopping for some new clothes for you, and then take the shuttle down to see your parents."
Later, in our room, we settled down for the night. As I undressed, I could see that Nagita was struggling to remove her flightsuit.
"Here," I said. "Let me help you. Lean on my shoulder. Careful! Don't fall over! Why do they make these things so tight?"
The suit slowly peeled off to reveal Nagita's badly bruised and scarred legs.
"You know, Nagita," I said, as we lay on the bed together, "you are the first true female friend I've ever had. Oh, I've met Sam's sisters, and they are lovely, they made me very welcome. And there was a woman called Reshanna, who I spoke to a couple of times through the Pilot's Federation social media site. But I feel that you and I have a special bond. We've somehow been drawn together."
Nagita brushed my cheek with her fingers. "I'm honoured to be your first female friend, Jem," she said.
We snuggled up in each other's arms, and slept contentedly.