Alice, Whats The Matter: Ashes to Ashes
30 Jan 2023Willow Thorn
Bio-Scans collected 0Distance from Guardian site 0 ly
I've been to this site before. I think its like, the closest to the bubble or something. Maybe it just the safest site coz a bunch of Carrier Commands chose to offer their services to the people coming for stuff they need for Goid resistant modules and weapons. What ever, I like Guardian sites, they are quiet and restful. I mean the Goid sites are not noisy, but they are alive you know? They look like they are growing, and those cutie little drone guys float around taking care of the place. So, Goid sites are real pretty too, and you get that exciting sense of danger because a Cyclops could turn up at any moment, right? You're always a little on edge, but here, your visiting a tomb so you feel like you need to tread softly and show a bit of respect you know?
But like, I'm not here for a visit, I'm here to get what I need for the licence to buy caustic resistant hull reinforcements and modal protection, so I better get to work. Like, It's nice to be working in starlight for a change; like you can bet every time I turn up at a work-site without prep, its in its night cycle you know?
So I wake the place up and go for the crystal. What ever is going on underground at Guardian ruins must be real special, right? I mean, they got to have some crazy complex synthesizers under there you know, but I'm just here for data. I mean, I'm not in to desecrating tombs, you have to draw a line somewhere when you scavange for a living, right? Like the job that awakens my passion for a craft is like, preparing people for their last residence in places like this after all, right?
Yeah so, once I got what I need in the SRV, its time to be a little hypocritical. Like, what is it with us? We interact with everything by pulling a fuckin trigger; is it any wonder the Goids don't like us? I mean shit! If some guy walks up to me and says "Hi, can I buy you a drink" and then shot me in the face with a wine gun, I'd be pretty fucking hostile too.
What ever, I got no choice if I want sensible protection from the Goids, and the engineer in me knows it no good doing a job if you haven't got the right tools. So, speaking of the right tools, the Guardian Beacons respond very well to plasma when it comes to energy transfer. I mean, it takes three shots from my pistol, and like, a full charge from the distributor using the SRVs Repeater.
The SRVs weapons are going to get a lot of use anyway as I zip around powering pylons. Like, the Guardians didn't leave their monuments unguarded. Yeah, so, I wonder what Guardians called themselves? I mean, we call them Guardians, and they live up to that name if you start poking around their house, but they have to have been more than just custodians right? I mean, what were they supposed to have been guarding for us to call them Guardians?
Like, they left behind machines that can endlessly produce these things; and man, if I was a Guardian expert, that's what I'd be working on reverse engineering. But like, no, its all weapons armour and fighters. I mean, what ever, but at least put a saddle and handle bars on one of these Guardian skimmers. Like, can you imagine how cool it would be to fly around in no-to-low gravity? Like wow, maybe if I come back, I'll spend some time here and make a Guardian Skimmer-Bike.
So anyway, I got everything I needed to do done, and took a moment to look around in the star-light while everything was powered up before stealing the main data-block. The Guardian sites really are a monument to a lost people and like, we need to respect that you know? Because there is no one but us to guard what is left of the Guardians.
So yeah, I'm kind of feeling at peace out here; I mean I know the sky is full of carriers and like, there are hundreds of people with in a few light seconds, but right now its just me and the remembrance of a lost civilisation. Like, I know it sounds as if I'm playing on the mortician thing, and the gloomy goth stereotype, but I honestly do appreciate monuments, and I try to give respect to what it is supposed to represent. I mean, that's the reason my family brought a plot on the earth-like back in my home system for my sister.
Last month.
Reconstruction ward, Angel Station Hospital. Calhuacan
Willow opened her eyes. She'd been awake for a little while, but she had pretended to be asleep so she didn't have to deal with her mom. Only one person was making a noise to counter the hum of the monitoring equipment; a man sleeping took long shallow breaths as he slumbered in the padded char with his large feet on the end of Willows bed. Willow looked at her hand in its support; a brace strapped to her wrist with its adjustable splits kept her fingers open and apart. It made it look like her hand was under construction with scaffolding around it for the little workers. That was almost true, nano-surgeons were reconstructing her hand.
She listened for more of her family outside her room, but right now it looked like Oak was the only one on duty, and he was taking a nap. The nano-surgeons had been at work for days, and Willow had been using that time to make a plan in between placating her family. Step one was getting her ship back from Oak. They were alone right now, but that wouldn't last long so Willow gathered up her courage and kicked Oak's foot until he woke up with a start.
"Hey Will, how you doing today" asked the big man sitting up straight in his chair so he could stretch.
"I want you to sell me my ship back" answered Willow in her quiet level voice.
"Arh, no need to worry ab.."
"Yes there is Oak, I want my ship back please" interrupted Willow making an effort to keep her voice level and determined.
You needed to know Willow very well to detect any change in the tone of her quiet voice, and Oak had known Willow for all twenty-five years of her life. He could tell his little sister meant it, and wouldn't be put off. It was more than just unusual for Willow to interrupt, let alone put her foot down. This was going to be a difficult conversation.
"Hey sis, look, you've been through a thing and you need to recover, right? You don't need to worry about getting back to work any time soon; besides, you've got plenty of credits, so you can stay here with your feet up as long as you like" he explained pushing Willows jar of extract in reach in case his little sister wanted it.
Inhaling a deep but silent breath through her nose, Willow turned her big dark eyes on her brother. She recognised the look he was giving her. There was Oak, the oldest brother in their big family, and the self-appointed protector of every one trying to put a shield around his fragile little sister that reminded him of Ash. Birch was bigger and stronger than Oak, but Oak was still the eldest brother, and defacto head of the family, only ever over ruled their mom and dad.
Ash was one of the middle sisters, when Willow was a little girl she saw Ash as everything Willow wanted to be when she grew up. That quickly made her Ash's favourite sibling, and Ash was the one Oak got on with the best, so that meant the three spent a lot of time together. Willow would have been a perfect copy of her big sister if she was tall, confident, and enjoyed smiling as much as she enjoyed making people smile in return. Losing Ash had hit everyone hard, but Oak and Willow still felt the hole she had left in their life keenly.
While Willow was still in school, well, of school age, her Dad, Oak, Birch, Hazel, and Ash were the families 'Survey Team'. At the time, Willow believed her big brothers and sisters did just go down to a site to see what needed to be done and get a quote sorted out. when ever they went ahead after the family has accepted a contract, Willow imagined they would just be prepping the site before mom would bring the ship and the younger kids down. In fact, they went with dad to clear out squatters or raiders that were using a vacant site so it was safe for for the rest of the family.
On one of these 'survey trips' Ash didn't come back. Although Willow never learned what actually happened, everyone knew Oak blamed him self for loosing her. No one else blamed him, but Oak can't let go of that guilt, and right now, Oak was struggling with little Willow being hurt and insisting he let her go too. While it was infuriating to be coddled by everyone in the family, even some of her little brothers and sisters, Willow had sympathy for Oak's position.
"Look Oak, I'm like, twenty-five, not fifteen right? I'm.. Like, thanks for loaning me the money when I fucked up, but I know you're keeping the ship in your name so you can keep track of me. You think Ash would have put up with that?"
Oak knew the answer and smiled, imagining the creative ways Ash would let him know spying on her was a bad idea. "Yeah, but you're not Ash, and I think you'll .." He looked at his little sister and saw the slight change in the shape of her eyes that told him he'd pissed her off. "You need to recover and deal with what's happened to you Will" he said with a slight pleading in his voice.
"Your right, I'm not Ash, I'm Willow. Like I know your here when I need you," said Willow poking him in the chest with her good hand "but I don't need you all the time you know? So its like this Oak, you will sell my ship back to me, or I will scuttle it and buy a new one. All you are doing is wasting my time and money, when I could be using both of those things to sort my head out. Understand?"
That was that, Willow had her ship back. Oak sat further back in the chair knowing it was pointless fighting it. His little sister almost never put her foot down about anything, she was far too timid, but now something had changed.
"Ok Will, let me get my pad and we'll sort out the transfer" he said, thinking Willow was more like Ash than she had ever been.
Memory Concluded
So yeah, after I finished getting the big data blocks, I had to hang around until I'd fished all the Greek numbered data I needed from the monoliths, and like that took aaages. As night fell, I got out my SRV and took a wander around the ruins. Like, if it wasn't for the pulsing monoliths, and the lights of my black SRV, I wouldn't have seen it at all.
Before I set off, I'm going to stop at one of the carriers here and brighten up my buggy. I'll get some damn light strips fitted to it. I don't want to come back to an SRV who’s batteries are drained because I lefts the main lights on, and I definitely don't want have a problem getting back to it in the dark because I can't see the damn thing.