Rust and Water: Part Twelve - Hard Landing

Part 12: Hard Landing “We can survive this, right?” She asked her ghost. Toby, she wasn’t sure if that was his real name but he didn’t object when she chose it, had done the best he could with what he had, but the navigation systems in the escape pod were rudimentary at best. “Um…” “Okay, let me rephrase that.” She continued, watching the holographic representation of the Earth and reading off the rapidly falling digits beside it. The pod hadn’t come with an exterior view port, which made sense, as it was utilitarian and not intended for the use to which they had put it. “You can survive this, and bring me back,” She looked at Toby. “Right?” It had taken three weeks to give her the basic rundown of what had happened since the Traveler’s arrival in the solar system, and another week for her to process it. She already had experience with his ability to resurrect so she didn’t doubt that aspect, no matter how unbelievable it may seem at first. She wasn’t quite sure about the ‘wielding light as a weapon’ part, but he assured her that that would come in time. Her hands twinged painfully, and she looked down to see her knuckles had turned a paler blue. With an effort she peeled her fingers away from the safety harness and rubbed the feeling back into the digits. She knew it wouldn’t help anything, and yet she couldn’t keep her eyes from drifting to the readouts her ghost hovered over, his shell twitching in concentration. At least that’s what she hoped it was. Was he just pretending to do something to make her feel better about… The capsule jolted, pushing her against the harness and pushing out all thoughts of duplicity on the part of her ghost out her mind as her fingers once again clutched at the harness compulsively. “Hold on! Entering upper atmosphere.” Toby called out. Did he sound nervous? “Um…just hold on. I’ve got this.” The pod shook, making her teeth rattle in her skull. It jolted again and she felt the muscles in her neck strain against the sudden movement. Her eyes sealed themselves shut as she tried to brace. “Hold on!” Toby called again. “I’m going to…” She felt something unsettling, as though an alien presence had made itself at home in a corner of her mind. [i]It’s going to be a rough but…it’s going to be okay.[/i] Toby’s voice sounded intimately in her head. [i]I’m not going to lose you now.[/i] “Reassuring.” She strangled before there was one last shock and everything went hot and dark. --- A frisson of energy skated across every nerve, reawakening, reviving, restoring. She gasped, her eyes popping open, silver staring into blue. She groaned, rolling to her hands and knees and shaking her head to clear the…she wasn’t sure what. Not a memory, exactly, but a fading awareness of something in between then and now. “Alia! You’re okay!” “That.” She grunted, pushing herself to her feet, “Remains to be seen.” She glanced at her ghost then at the flaming wreckage surrounding her. “And I’d probably be better if you didn’t sound so surprised.” Toby managed to look chastened. “I’m sorry. I’m still new at this, you know.” Alia took a moment to look for a good way out that wouldn’t involve being sliced or charred along the way. With a sigh she picked the most likely route and began to make her way out, Toby hovering over her shoulder like a concerned mechanical hummingbird. “Do you know where we landed?” She asked. “The navigation systems weren’t terribly accurate, but I have a general idea.” He hesitated. She carefully grabbed a piece of twisted metal and heaved it to the side. “What is it?” “Do you feel it?” Her mouth opened to ask what he meant before she found herself slowly closing it again. The thing was, now that he had pointed it out, she did feel something. It was similar to that odd sensation of rightness she felt when Toby had pointed the escape pod towards Earth. She finally clambered free of the last of the wreckage, finding herself in a small clearing, formed, apparently, from their hard landing, given the state of the surrounding trees. She turned, following that feeling as though it were true north and she the lodestone. There. “What is it?” She found herself whispering. The ghost floated up beside her cheek, following her gaze. “That’s the Traveler. The Light. You feel it calling you?” “Yes.” She agreed, still whispering. “It’s so strange.” The ghost bobbed, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. “We’d best scavenge what we can. It’s a long road ahead.” Alia found herself reluctant to turn and search the wreckage, but Ghost had told her a lot in their month-long journey, and she knew he was right. “Did anything hear us land?” Toby gave his equivalent of a shrug. “We weren’t exactly subtle, so we might want to leave here as quickly as possible before someone or something comes to investigate.” She nodded, rummaging. She held up one of the charred survival blankets, eyeing it speculatively. “Toby?” “Yes, Alia?” “I don’t suppose you know how to sew?” The ghost made a noise suspiciously like a laugh. --- Part Thirteen: https://www.bungie.net/en/Clan/Post/1371758/228464529/0/0 Table of Contents: https://www.bungie.net/en/Clan/Post/1371758/226526566/0/0