Rust and Water: Part 11- Waking Between

Part 11: Waking Between The first words she heard spoken upon receiving her second life, and shortly before her second death, were spoken by her ghost. She had just enough time to open her eyes on nothing but void before her lungs failed to draw and the cold pulled her back. Just enough time to hear [i]I’m so sorry![/i] piped somewhere in her head, bypassing ears and vacuum. She had just enough time to begin a question before darkness stole it away. Such an inauspicious beginning. “Are you awake?” She rolled her eyes open. She felt strange, but she did not know why. She felt different, but couldn’t say how. “Do you…remember anything?” She took a minute to focus in the flickering and uncertain illumination. One little light hovered before her eyes, blue, shifting. She blinked and shook her head. A shell of some unfamiliar material surrounded the light itself like a mechanical eye. It blinked back at her. “Life support?” She asked, frowning, lifting a hand to rub at the bridge of her nose. “Oh.” The light drew back, looking chastened, somehow. “So you…uh…do remember. Sorry about that. I found you and got…excited.” She didn’t really pay much attention as he continued to apologize, too distracted by the sight of her own skin. She watched the filaments of glowing silver shift beneath the pale blue epidermis on the back of her hand, transfixed. “Are you…okay?” The little drone asked, hesitantly. She turned her attention back to it, or him, she supposed, since the voice sounded masculine. “What?” She asked. “Are you okay?” He asked again, drawing back a little. She frowned. “No, what are you?” The light of his optic seemed to brighten. “I’m a ghost. I’m your ghost.” She squinted at him and he hastened to explain. She listened with half an ear, working her fingers under the restraining bar that lay over her chest. It moved grudgingly after she applied quite a bit of pressure and she quickly found herself floating in zero-g. Not too surprising given the earlier lack of breathable atmosphere. She pushed herself away from the wall. The ghost that was hers broke off what he was saying to hover in front of her face. “You…may not want to look…“ Impatiently she brushed him aside before immediately regretting it. She had not been the only one in this place. Vacuum preserved…very well. They hung there in their safety harnesses, frozen, though quickly thawing, faces staring at her before she averted her eyes, pushing herself towards what looked like the exit. Thankfully the hatch was open and had no doubt been the way the ghost had entered. “Can’t you bring them back?” She asked. The ghost swung from side to side. “No. I’m [i]your[/i] ghost.” He said. His optic rolled back to the line of frozen corpses for an instant. “And none of them have your connection to the light.” There was a finality in his tone, and she nodded though she didn’t truly understand. “Make sure you stay close, some parts of the ship are open to space.” “So what am I?” she asked as they floated through cold and empty corridors. “When I left Earth some were calling those like you the ‘Risen.’” “There are others?” He bobbed. “Not many, but we’re still looking.” “Who?” “The other ghosts.” “Should I…remember…any of this?” She finally asked. Apparently she was no stranger to zero-g because she moved instinctively as though she had done this a hundred times before. The problem was she couldn’t remember any of those times. She couldn’t remember going to space, or even putting on the maroon colored jumpsuit she was wearing. She couldn’t remember… The ghost hesitated, falling behind. She turned herself to look at him. “We don’t know why…” He started slowly. “But no, not many of you seem to remember anything. Usually one or two things, and little flashes of…memories, but nothing else.” “What do we usually remember?” She asked. “What’s your name?” The words bubbled out, instinctively, though she couldn’t have said she’d known them before that moment. “Anything else?” He asked. She shook her head. They floated for a while in silence. She deliberately avoided looking into any of the warped hatches they passed. “What happened here?” “I would guess you were fleeing the Collapse…and didn’t make it. This looks like it was a piece of a colony ship that got broken off and drifted back towards the inner planets.” “The Collapse?” she asked. “It’s a long story.” He told her before stopping in the middle of the passage and scanning one of the doors. “This leads to the escape pods. I can hack one and program it to take us back to Earth.” She felt a little tug when he spoke, as though somewhere deep inside something was agreeing with him. She watched as he worked at the controls, finally getting the hatch open. She would have hesitated before climbing inside, but if she were honest, this prospect looked a lot better than endlessly drifting in the void. She settled into the jumpseat, watching as the ghost made his final inputs. “Before we detach…turn the life support back off.” He glanced at her and bobbed in agreement. “Ready to go in a moment.” He told her, all strained cheer. Just then she felt something. Like a string of musical notes, or a shimmer of starlight. A wordless invitation. The pod released and oriented itself before moving in the opposite direction to where she felt that…peculiar feeling. This was a moment of choice. “Alia?” the ghost asked. She shook her head. “I’m fine. On course to Earth?” “We should be there in a month.” She stared at him. “Food?” “There are emergency rations, though I think you’ll find you don’t actually need them.” “Good.” She told him, settling back in the seat and straightening her jumpsuit, “Then I think there’s time to tell me a long story. Starting with the Collapse.” “Actually.” The little drone said thoughtfully. “I think it would be best if we start with the Traveler.” --- Part Twelve: https://www.bungie.net/en/Clan/Post/1371758/228393466/0/0 Table of Contents: https://www.bungie.net/en/Clan/Post/1371758/226526566/0/0