Full Circle
30 Mar 2022Aurora Bael
The shape the future takes is often deeply ironic.A month and a half ago, Reorte went to war over a Sirius megaship sitting pretty in their space. The whole bubble agreed, and anyone but Sirius Sycophants and those ordered to stand and die for Li Yong Rui's market share threw in behind them. Lots of big talk about freedom and self determination and independence followed, and after a very embarrassing weekend, Sirius limped home, tail between its legs.
This past week the Reorte Mining Coalition cried out for independence from the "tyranny" of a government too impotent to enforce its own edicts, and the actual people living there said "nah, point made, we're good." Not sure exactly why I supported Reorte's Alliance membership... Just seemed like the right thing to do. Also the straight up bribery of giving anyone who helped out access to a new Heatsink module did not hurt. And in whichever case, babysitting Mammon while she shuttled building fabricators back and forth to a megaship orbiting one of Reorte's prettier ringed giants didn't hurt, either. Gave me some time to catch up on some light reading and plan out my next moves into the black.
Barrett, bless his little heart, spent the week flying Ashteroth around making the trades we need to beef up the Gambit's hull, shields, and power system for the big trip. Honestly I think he's just glad to be sitting behind the stick again after spending several white-knuckle days in Paimon's co-pilot seat, picking targets and managing subsystems. Practically leapt at the chance to fly our little work truck around on errands. That left me alone, in an downright cavernous ship, to haul cargo, evade pirates, and forget that I just made coffee at least three times a day. It's the weirdest thing. I'd get up with the idea of performing some routine maintenance while the dock crews loaded or unloaded, and by the time I made it to the subsystem I was trying to check, fresh repairs were already made and a hot cup was waiting for me in the galley. And I'm reading some old supernatural horror short stories I found (or, well, listening to them over the coms while I fly) so it freaked me out a bit. But I checked the sensor logs and sure enough, it was just me being absent minded. I must be working too hard or something. It's happened before while I'm burning the candle at both ends.
But speaking of strange shit... I saw her today. Moira Templeton. Remember her? The one who was owned by the same Baron that made my life a living hell. I spotted her at a port in Ededleen, all panicked and pale, scanning the crowd with comingled hope and fear on her face. When she saw me, I saw the flash of recognition on her face, tinged with a kind of desperate plea for help. I started pushing through the bodies toward her, and I felt my stomach turn to knots, like I swallowed a bag of rocks or something. I had to swallow back the rising tide of vomit just to get near her. Flashes of half and wholly forgotten memories shot through my brain. Closeness. Gentle loving feelings. A soft hand on my cheek coming away covered in blood. And all of it tainted by this thick layer of liquid sick. About three meters from one another we both stopped dead. I tried to take another step but I just... couldn't. It felt like one more step would be death for us both and I couldn't hurt her like that. We stood, hunched over, panting like that for what felt like hours. She looked up at me and her eyes turned flat black. Thick tarry darkness oozed from her tear ducts and nose. And when she finally opened her mouth to speak, the only sound to come out was a roar of black noise.
... I woke up in a cold sweat with an alert on my tablet that Mammon was fully loaded and ready to fly. I'm forced to conclude it was a dream, but it felt so real. The resistance of my lightly magnetized boots, the taste of recycled air, even that uneasy gut-feel of coriolis "gravity" felt right. I don't know if all that grizzly horror got in my head or if I was just pushing too hard to get everything ready for this trip but... Whatever it is I'm doing, I gotta knock it off. Expedition's supposed to start in two days and I still have engineering appointments to keep to get the Gambit up and running at top spec.
This is...altogether too much. I gotta get out of the Bubble. Fast.
Take care of yourself,
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