Alice Whats the matter: Waking from the Nightmare
12 Apr 2023Willow Thorn
Bio-Scans collected 193Distance from Guardian site 16.917 ly
Power Plant Integrity 99%
So its today, like it always is, like everyday you know? The only date that matters; but this today is a special one, coz I'm where I need to be, and that's a good thing. I came out here for one reason and I'm like, a few jumps away from reaching the halfway point, and giving an evil bitch the same chance she gave my friend. Well, kind of.
Ok so when I stopped at that carrier a while back I had everything repaired, but I didn't have the Wisps paint redone. Like if I did, I wouldn't have any visual mark to show the light years we've covered. Like, I'm still gathering Bio samples and sometimes we land on a planet with like, blue skies and a yellow sun and I'm like, there for it you know? I stand there checking out my ship and remembering what it was like when mom and dad would take us to the surface of Stapled. Yeah, I guess this is what they call a bitter sweet moment. Like, she deserves what's coming, but she's been the only company I've had since we left the bubble, the only person I've been able to sit down and talk about my day with you know?
I bounced along the rim for a while looking for the most distant star I could reach before I like realised I was putting it off you know? I mean like, what constitutes the most distant star in my opinion? Dose it really matter? I'm on the rim and I came here to drop Emmeline where she had just the dimmest glimmer of hope of being saved, so why the fuck am I looking at her pod on my manifest as if she deserves any of my sympathy? Like she clearly doesn't, and after what I did to her, she's gonna want to tear me apart barehanded if she ever gets out of the pod.
This is it, like the Wisp can cover 140 light years in one jump, but I guess 116 ly is enough. So, as long as I don't see anyone's name on the star when I arrive, I'll make this system Emmeline's new home. But what ever, I've been out here for like, 3 or 4 months now and I want to go home, or at least back to somewhere I'm going to meet people that I can like, have awkward interactions with and then avoided. Back to normal you know? Yeah, so that's normal for my standard a guess. So there's no more putting it off. I went to the cargo bay and told Emmeline we'd arrived. Like, I'd taken her keyboard away weeks ago because I was totally done with the vile shit she was typing at me, but like, this was our last chance to talk before I left her here.
Like, I don't know what I was expecting, but she wasn't very nice to me. So I had cut her larynges months ago, and strapped tight to a gurney with pipes in just about every hole she's got to feed and take care of her needs, and like, put her in a life supporting escape pod. But what ever, she'd done pretty much the same thing to Descartes, so ..
Like I don't know where I was going with that, but I feel like Emmeline should have at least had a little appreciation for how she got her self here. So after truing off her keyboard again, I flipped her the bird and loaded her pod in to the evacuation launcher.
Thats like, it. Its done. Like the whole reason I came out here was for Emmeline. Her mercenary group started it you know? They took Descartes and stuffed her in a pod so some crusty old prick with a paper fetish could pick her up later. Then they came after me just because I happened to find her pod first. Emmeline had enjoyed hurting me and came by my cell a few times just to look at me in there, but I'm not like her, I still care for my fellow man you know? So I'm kind of glade Emmeline reminded me she's an evil bitch that deserves months and months of isolation and a slow death as the pod desperately tries to keep her alive. Fuck that bitch.
I'm a few days closer to the bubble after dropping off Emmeline, but I'm still stopping when I see an interesting enough Bio to scan. Like, when its not on an ice moon, or I get a Bio signal with a Geo or two as well. So on one such stop I find these, like biological crystal spiers. I mean, that's a thing you know? After doing what I decided to do, its nice to remind my self there are still things out there that are just beautiful. So I haven't got anyone to go and tell about it over a cup of tea now, so I'll make tracks and try real hard to get home soon. I hope I can find Descartes when I get back, I want to talk to her again, but I don't think I'll tell her what I did to Emmeline, or the guys that accompanied her when they came for Alice.
So yeah, I guess I'll keep this log to myself until I know how much I got from the data and like, work out what the hell to do about the payback that's coming my way. There has to be something I can do, some way to stop this turning into like, a tit for tat of violence you know?
A copy of the letter sent to Marshall. Owner and leader of The Outfit mercenary group.
Dear Mr. Espinoza
I am writing on behalf of Miss W. Thorn in an effort to elevate any tensions between your good self and the young lady. I do not presume you a fool Mr. Espinoza, and have no doubt you are enthusiastically following the trail of one Alice Liddell and her ship Dinah.
I am expertly informed that your investigators will soon follow the digital trail to a Diamondback Explorer with witch you and your organisation are already familiar. I will happily save you some time, as I am sure you are duly worried about your operative Emmeline, and the small team of gentlemen that accompanied her in your organisations endeavour to execute a contract against my self a few months ago.
Your men are dead, undone in a system where the term self-defence is egregiously malleable, and Emmeline has been left on the very southern edge of the galactic plane. She is in a life pod that will keep her alive for a good few months yet, so if you dedicate your fleet to the search, there is a very slim chance you will find her before it is too late.
I am under no illusions that you are not going to seek retribution, and by this stage of reading, I imagine you are are unfathomably angered. Miss Thorn was also very upset by the treatment she endured while subjected to your hospitality. After undertaking the long trip to the southern rim, Miss Thorn returned, and sold twenty-six pages of cartography data, and four pages of Biological samples. Her diligent cataloguing endowed Miss Thorn with a small but generous fortune that she considered turning into a carrier, but with carful council, she has made other more preservative investments.
For two week now, Miss Thorn has undertaken intense training with a rival mercenary organisation so not to present such an, as you would say, easy mark in the future. She has also payed some extremely capable and motivated people an obscene amount of credits to keep an eye on her nearest and dearest. Some professionals, just as capable and dedicated are, as you read, diligently keeping watch over your loved ones too.
I must say, I was unpleasantly surprised to find that your trade in blood manages to support young Chase in such a prestigious Academy of higher learning, and I am confident form what I have read, that he will follow his older sisters example. I do hope you will be free to attend Cortney's recital this spring, you may spot my people there, though given their standing orders, I hope not.
Kindest regards, Alice Liddell
