Chapter Three: Troubled
Memories
The Red Rose thudded through the skies on the way to Alexandria, it’s newly fitted steam engine providing the power needed to keep the airship in the air.
Thunderchild stood on the main deck, leaning against a wall, watching the scenery go past, Domino sat on the deck next to him, she swatted at a passing fly every now and then to relieve the boredom.
“What do you think we’re gonna find at Mardain Sari?” she asked me
I shrugged, I was still getting the hang of this world, gods alone know what the hell we were going to find at this ‘village of the summoners’ as I’d heard it referred to.
Deep inside of me something was ill at ease, I could feel it striking into my heart…not a piercing pain…more of a dull ache, I pressed my hand over it and rubbed it trying to remove the uncomfortable feeling and for a time I succeeded, but then it came back again, nagging at me.
“Are you alright Thu?” asked Domino beside of me
I looked back down at her and put on a calm and collected face while inside I was deeply troubled by the ache.
“Oh…probably indigestion or something.” I shrugged it off and returned to watching the scenery, Alexandria was approaching on the horizon, I could see the castles sword stretching high up into the sky.
“You guys alright?” asked Zidane as he walked up on the deck behind us
“Yeah…fine.” I muttered back, trying to concentrate on stopping the ache.
“Yeah I’m ok…so, where’d you keep the Invincible?” asked Domino
“It should be waiting for us when we get then, I’ve sent a message on ahead to inform them of our return and what we need. We can be at Mardain Sari by nightfall.”
I nodded and grunted an approval, relief flooding across my face as the ache vanished as suddenly as it had arrived. Zidane of course, took my relief as excitement.
“Looking forward to piloting the Invincible again?” he asked, grinning at me
“Well…I’ve never actually piloted the Invincible, just escorted it…So I’m not responsible for any mountains we visit, ok?” I said, cracking a lopsided grin at Zidane who snorted with laughter, below me Domino joined him with the laughter.
And they think I’m kidding I thought
The Invincible and my fighter craft were two completely different things, I mean, I could pilot the Invincible after a time I guess as most Terran ships were designed with the same specifications. However the Invincible was a good three or four times bigger than my fighter craft so its turning circle, etc would take a while to get used to.
Could be worse I thought It could be the legendary Sentinel
I let myself drift in fantasy for a moment, the Sentinel was the stuff of Terran legend, something we told our kids at night, how long ago a race of aliens protected our world with technology way beyond ours, but the aliens were pushed away by other powerful aliens…but before they went they left a ship for us to protect ourselves with.
What I could have done with that ship when we attacked
the Borg I thought to myself, I could have smashed them back to their
home world and turned it and all of them into ashes!!
But the Borg were long gone I reminded myself and were not going to return…and if they did at least we had knowledge of them, that was our downfall on Terra I was sure of it.
I put the horrifying thought of the Borg behind me and sat down next to Domino, she sighed and put her head on my shoulder and I rested my head on hers.
“You sure you guys are alright?” Zidane asked again
<Are we alright?> Domino asked me
<Of course we are…I’ve just had a bit of heartburn that’s all.>
<I thought you said it was indigestion?>
<Sorry, Indigestion.> I mentally cursed as I realised I’d given her the wrong excuse and she had remembered
“Yeah…we’re ok Zidane.” Said Domino, her hand finding its way around my waist.
Zidane nodded and walked off
“Except we aren’t are we Thunderchild?” she asked me, pulling her head away from me and looking at me expectantly
“Oh…it’s nothing.” I said, giving her a smile
Domino looked at me with her piercing purple eyes and I found it hard to keep the truth from her. She seemed such a picture of innocence at times, and I found it hard to remember that underneath in that beautiful genome ran the blood of a killer.
Sighing deeply I laid my head on her shoulder and felt the breeze rustle gently across my face.
“All will be well.” I assured her, but a hint of doubt tainted my voice as I worried about the ache, was it a heart attack? It would be a stupid end for a hero of Gaia to be killed by a heart attack but fate plays cruel games with the lives of mortals.
I whispered an old song under my breath as the birds flew overhead, following the Red Rose alongside us.
“An old traveller came home one day
Said that he had come back to stay
Hung up his walking boots and his stick
Sat by the fireplace and heard the clock tick
His feet were restless, the spirit was strong
As time slipped past he had to move on
So back to the open road he went
People he left knew what he meant
He said I cannot stay, it’s not my way
Cannot wait, it’ll be too late
I’ll see you on the road one day
But on that road I’m gonna stay.”
Domino squeezed me slightly with the arm she had around me
“That was lovely,” she said “But sad at the same time…what is it?”
“It’s the travellers song…I used to sing that at the Mended Drum.” I replied, my mind drifting back to the impromptu performances I used to give at the bar, usually after I’d had one too many drinks.
“Do you miss the Discworld?” she asked me, the question coming completely out of the blue
“Not really…there’s nothing really there for me anymore, it’s not my home…my foster parents are dead, my mothers dead and my father is on another planet somewhere.”
“Well…when you put it like that.” She said
“I do miss some of the people I met there…but…life goes on.” I said, cuddling her with my right arm as we sat by the mast.
“Yes…it does, doesn’t it.” She replied
“Alexandria ahead!!” shouted someone from behind us.
Sure enough I could see the sword of the castle over the bow of the ship now, we couldn’t be too far from the city. I stood up to see once again the city of Alexandria and was confronted with a ghost from my past.
The Invincible was waiting just outside the city, it’s blue and gold paint glistening in the sunlight and it’s glowing red cannon underneath making me catch my breath.
Memories of that disastrous trial run of the prototype Invincible came flooding back.
“I’m picking up a strange energy reading from the Invincible.”
There I was, back in my fighters cockpit, flying above the desert region of Terra, the Invincible prototype was close by on my right.
“I’m showing the same readings…what’s going on over there?” I asked
“Echo flight to Big Bird…is everything alright over there?” asked my squadron leader, using the flight name of the Invincible…well, compared to our small fighters the Invincible was a very large ship.
“Echo flight, this is Big Bird…we have some power fluctuations…but nothing to worry about.” Came the reply
My target scanner bleeped as it picked up information from a target source ahead of us.
“Echo leader, this is Echo three, target, target, target bearing 355.”
“Roger Echo three, do you copy that Big Bird?”
“Roger Echo flight, bringing main cannon online.”
Underneath the Invincible the heavy assault cannon glowed a bright red, the cannon was designed to be able to use a multitude of fire power at surface targets, and even penetrate small scale bunkers. The red light was beautiful and yet completely terrifying at the same time, almost like the flames of a fire which capture the eye but burn the hand.
“Echo flight, this is Big Bird…we’re showing a…” the transmission from the Invincible suddenly cut off.
Beside me, a fireball suddenly erupted from the heavy assault cannon, the hull around the cannon cracked and burst into flames.
“Oh shit!” I yelled as I flung the stick hard to the left and flipped my ship away from the Invincible, debris from the exploding ship struck my own and I felt several short but heavy hits. As I levelled out I saw the Invincible angle its nose down and begin a descent into the desert floor.
“Come in Big Bird, come in!!” tried my squadron leader but in vain, looking at the ferocity of the detonations which rippled through the ship, no-one could have survived that.
A bright flash indicated that the ship had hit the ground and had erupted totally in flames.
I heard the voice of our control centre crackle into life on our intercom.
“Echo flight…we have lost contact with Big Bird, can you confirm the status of Big Bird?”
There was no response as our squadron circled the burning wreck of what, only moments ago had been the pride and joy of the Terran ground forces, there were nearly a hundred people working on that ship, I personally knew a couple of them quite well, none of them could have made it out from that flaming hell.
I ran a quick diagnostic on my ship, all systems checked out ok despite moderate external damage from the flying debris so I was in no danger for now.
“Come in Echo Flight…Can you hear us?” repeated the control centre, with a hint of panic in the controllers voice, I couldn’t blame him, they’d lost contact with the main test ship and now its escort squadron weren’t reporting. As the rest of our squadron seemed too shocked for words, I spoke up.
“Control, this is Echo three Echo flight is safe, I repeat Echo flight is safe.”
“Roger that Echo three but what about Big Bird?” came the slightly relieved reply.
I looked at the burning wreckage of the Invincible and sighed
“Control, Big Bird is down, I repeat Big Bird is down. I’m transmitting the co-ordinates to you now.”
“Thank you Echo three. Echo squadron return to base, mission is terminated. I repeat Echo squadron return to base, your mission is terminated.”
Too right the mission is terminated I thought as the
squadron banked away from the cloud of smoke that marked the resting place of
the Invincible, We haven’t got a mission to complete!
Someone, somewhere was
going to get a strong reprimand for this…but at the cost of 100 brave
colleagues.
Then I was back on the Red Rose as we moved alongside the Invincible and began to slow down.
“It’s just like I remember it…” I whispered quietly
“Beautiful isn’t she?” said Zidanes voice from behind me
“Yes…beautiful but deadly.” I agreed, aware of the firepower of the ship
“You ready to go on board?” asked Zidane
I stood there for a moment, lost in my memories, the size of the ship, the colour, the shape…all exactly how I remembered it…it was as though she had been locked in a museum for all these years and only just let out. Although saying that, I could see some scorch marks on the side, looking closer they appeared to have been caused by fireballs.
“What caused that damage?” I asked Zidane
“Oh…that was Silver Dragons, we were attacked by loads of them on our way to the Ilfa tree and Memoria,” he replied “We fought them off with the help of the Lindblum fleet…and this ship I might add.” He said, indicating the ship we stood on.
I looked around at the front of the Red Rose
“This ship?!” I asked incredulously, the Red Rose seemed hopelessly underpowered and under gunned
Zidane, standing beside me, nodded
“Yep…you wouldn’t have thought it would you?”
“Are we going already?” asked a complaining voice from behind us
I turned around to see Mikoto standing there tapping her foot with impatience, Reiganna stood next to her, a mysterious smile on her face.
Domino stood up next to me and I joined arms with her, before turning back to Zidane and asking him
“So…how do we get there?” I asked
Zidane smiled at me and winked
Confused I blinked at him as the world suddenly went white.
We all suddenly appeared in the control room of the Invincible, it was the first time I’d ever seen the inside of the ship…it had been locked up in Alexandria ever since its return from Memoria.
“Whoa…forgot about Terran teleporters.” Said Thunderchild from beside me, he turned and looked around.
“It’s bigger than I thought it would be.” He said, his eyes taking in every last detail of the room.
“We control the ship from this stand here.” Said Zidane, indicating a small semi-circle control table and stand in the middle of the room.
Thunderchild nodded and walked over to the table, as he stood on the white platform on which the table was situated it lit up and lights came on around the bridge.
“What the…?” said Zidane as he jumped back from my husbands side.
Holographic screens flickered into life on the walls around the room, from deep inside the ship there was the sound of immense power returning to life.
“What’s it doing?!” shouted Thunderchild over the sound of starting machinery, Zidane merely looked back at him in surprise
“I don’t know…it never did this for me!!”
“Welcome…Yissan Gojenta.” rumbled a deep voice from within the ship itself
“It knows my name!”
“Of course I do…Ensign Gojenta, number 13447Delta, joined Terran Space Corps on the 14th day of Grunis in the year 3042.” Boomed the voice
“Whoa…” I muttered “It knows more about you than I do!”
Thunderchild appeared to be in a mild form of panic, he looked around him.
“All these screens…what do they do?” he asked himself quietly
“All systems are fully operational Ensign, the Invincible is ready for flight.”
Zidane stood on the platform and shouted to the computer
“Hey…why didn’t you do this with me!?”
“Creature not recognised…full systems not enabled.” Replied the computer as a way of explanation.
“I think it means that you’re not Terran.” Said Thunderchild
Zidanes tail whipped left and right in indignation
“But I AM Terran!!”
Thunderchild shook his head and put his hand up
“You’re not fully Terran…you’re a genome, and you were never a member of the Terran Space Corps, they must have programmed the computer with the names and bios of all the current members of the TSC…hmm, I wonder.”
I walked over to my husbands side as he examined the control panel in front of him.
“Wonder what?”
He didn’t reply but looked up at the ceiling.
“Computer…display Kilhara, Ashilla, Ensign.”
A holographic image of a woman in her middle twenties appeared in front of the control panel, her short blonde hair swept back behind her ears and her blue eyes lifeless, it reminded me of the genomes before they were animated, of my own forms birth.
“Display…Gilha, Marcus, Lieutenant.”
A man in his late thirties appeared in holographic form appeared, his brown hair cut short but spiky and his lips curved up in a sly smile.
Thunderchild seemed to in a daze, almost as though he wasn’t aware of his surroundings, his eyes took in faces and forms of people we hadn’t seen in years, people who were long dead.
“Display Jilsov, Rutger, Commander.”
A stern faced grey haired man appeared, he had a scar down his right eye, he looked a lot like my husband but a lot older. His hand was poised over his heart in a salute I recognised as being the TSC fighter salute.
“All these people…gone.” Whispered Thunderchild next to me.
I put my hand on his back and patted it.
“I’m here for you Yissan.”
He turned and looked at me, an incredible sadness in his eyes.
“I know my sweet…thank you.” He managed, tears welling up.
“What do you mean…all gone?” asked the computer
“You mean you don’t know?” asked Zidane
“Computer…Terra was wiped out six years ago by the Borg…there may be survivors out there somewhere…but for now…” said my husband
“You are the last of the Terrans?” asked the computer, it’s mechanical voice sounding almost surprised
“Yes…I am now.” Sighed Thunderchild, I knew why he was so upset about it, the only other Terran he had known…my previous form who had turned evil, he had had to kill a year ago.
There was a silence as the computer processed the information.
“This is terrible…all of the cities of Terra, all its people?” it tried
“Gone…”
The computer went into silence again and Thunderchild took the opportunity to stand away from the control panel, the light under the panel remained on but dimmer than before.
Reiganna walked past me and gave Thunderchild a brief hug
“It’s ok Yissan…as long as you live they live on through your memories.”
“But memories are so limited…” he muttered
I walked over to him and also hugged him, letting him cry on my shoulder.
“All those people…” he sobbed
“I know, I know…” I whispered to him holding him close to me.
Through my telepathic link to him, which worked better the closer we were together, I felt intense sorrow, loss and pain, but I also felt anger…and hate, something I’d never felt inside him before. I didn’t think anymore of it and dismissed it as a random side-effect of his emotions at the time.
Gasping with the sorrow, he continued to cry on my shoulder, one hand reaching down to clasp the area around his heart, I presumed he was attempting to honour the dead with a salute.
But that anger, that hate bothered me…troubled me, I had never felt that from him…not at a time like this before…