Vera's Memorial Service
29 Sep 2021Aylin Ouyang
It was a nice enough evening for a sad event. The place was beautiful, a grassy field bordered by trees and a lake. Guests were arriving at the lake side, where a podium had been set up. Curiously, a stand of some kind had been set up across the lake as well. There was a light breeze, and I remember staring at the sky and the setting star; it was mesmerising to see it in person, and a good distraction for me at the memorial service. I didn't really know anyone there, and everyone seemed to have out-dressed me. I might as well have put on my old tech overalls, it wouldn't have made much difference.Mr Vadamee must have seen me, because he appeared by my side to greet me. Mr Miller followed shortly, and I think I must've been a little too awkward, since Mr Vadamee left when Mr Miller and I were saying our hellos. Mr Miller was nice enough, and gave me a little background on Mr Vadamee's family. Also he explained the reasoning behind the little surprise the both of them gave me that day on Chelomey Orbital; I'm still stunned at the "tip" I received!
Before we got any further in our conversation, Mr Vadamee got on to the podium and started the service. He said a few words, and introduced Vera's twin, Ophelia. I still remember her from when she boarded the rescue Sidewinder together with the rest of the team.
Ophelia spoke, and it was a really touching send off. It was pretty sad. I still wonder if I could have done more.
The evening then took a turn for a potential disaster when Mr Vadamee took over the podium after Ophelia's eulogy and called out, by name, of those involved in the rescue, including mine. I was frozen at first, since I really wasn't sure if I wanted the attention, then I saw a number of servants comes up on the podium as well, wheeling something up.
I focused my gaze on what was being pushed, and realised it looked like a rack of some sort, and cradled in it, were several curved shapes with a string tied taut to each of the ends. I was trying to figure out what they were. Some kind religious device for a funeral ritual?
Mr Miller broke my train of thought as he urged me to go up; the two vets, Angelina and Pinpoint were up on stage, and it seems they were just waiting for me. I nervously half-ran up to the front and on to the podium as Mr Miller's encouraging words faded in my consciousness — I know a bad set up when I see one, even as a tech you know when unfamiliar hardware shows up, it's rarely a good thing.
Mr Vadamee's wife, Cora, starts handing out those things, and I bow to her as I take one and stare at it. What is it meant to do? I grasped the centre of the contraption, and pointed the curved ends forward, turning it left and right. Is it like some mechanical tool? A couple of slender and long sticks with what looks like fins on one end and a small bulbous knot on the other end are thrust to me as well, and I look at them, internally panicking as I wondered what the heck was I supposed to do with them.
At that point Angelina comes over to me, takes the long curved thing, flips it around so the device's ends now curve towards me, and presses it back in my hand. She then takes her own, takes one of those sticks, and puts the finned end of the stick against the string, rests the other end of the stick against the middle of the curve of the thing. She pulls at the string with the stick a few times, then nods at me.
At that moment I realised with an ever increasing sense of dread that this contraption was actually a projectile launching device. I looked across the lake, and came to another realisation: That was not some stand on the other side. It was Vera's final resting place. We were going to light it up with these!
I was now trembling; I've not even fired a modern firearm, and I was going to launch a projectile using this contraption that I had not seen before until today? I wanted to drop everything and run, but was very much aware that everyone in the crowd had their eyes on us, me included. And I didn't want to ruin Mr Vadamee's day; he had suffered enough already. I stared at the objects in my hand, trying to see how it all fit together one last time. It seemed simple enough: The two ends of the curved limbs were elastic in nature, and was pulled tight by the string containing the two ends. When pulled, these limbs build up potential energy, which I assumed increases the more it is pulled. The sticks were held in place in the string on the finned end by a notch at the base of the stick...
At that point, I realised everyone had lit up their sticks, and I rushed over to the small fire that had been prepared for this part of the ceremony/ritual/whatever, lit the stick up, then quickly set up the contraption and stick. Angelina and Pinpoint already had taken position, so I stood next to Angelina and eyed her as I tried to follow her posture. I lifted up the entire projectile launching apparatus, flinching a little as tiny sparks from the fiery end of the stick started to scatter around me.
I heard Mr Vadamee call out. "Ready!"
I stepped forward in line with Angelina, and pulled on the string, which was a lot heavier than I expected. Probably explained why this unassuming thing can launch the fin-stabilised stick across the river. I strained some more and tried my best.
"Aim!"
I hadn't done any kind of projectile-aiming sport or activity in years; what was Cubeo III's gravity again? I decided to just mimic Angelina's arc and hope for the best.
"Fire!"
I gave my last bit of strength to pulling the string back some more while holding the contraption as steady as possible. My fingers released the string. The flaming stick whizzed out into the night sky.
Angelina had already released hers, and it hit the target as mine was sailing over. Vera's final resting place lit up and the flames started flickering.
I watched as the flying ball of flame from my attempt hit the apex of its arc then dived down... and down.
And down as it hit the target where it should, adding more flame to the ongoing fire. I heaved a sigh of relief, and realised my entire body was shaking. I did a half-squat and put my hands on my knees. trying to catch my breath. I was breathing really heavily, and my entire brow was drenched with sweat.
Angelina came up to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. Nice shot, she said.
I thanked her and could barely form a smile. I was just so relieved. Never seen one of those things before I told her.
She pat my shoulder and smiled, saying she had a hunch. Guess it was pretty obvious.
I looked up, and saw a tree on the other side of the lake on fire, with some people putting it out. I guess Pinpoint missed his. I felt a little better after that.
*
The rest of the evening was far less stressful; Mr Vadamee invited us to his home, Vadamee Manor, a huge huge place, which I swear can fit an entire shift's worth of crew in there. We had drinks, of which, Mr Vadamee introduced me to this wonderous drink called "scotch;" I'm never ever going to be able to go back to station bars and their cheap alcohol after that. It was a pleasant night, though I still didn't dare to bring up the subject of payment. It would have been too crass, wouldn't it?