Transmigrant - Chapter 22
Copyright © 2024 Stephen B. Anthony
The pain of that loss etched itself into his soul, transforming the boy I knew into someone hardened, who now sees the world through the lens of grief and survival. The innocence of youth is fragile, and once shattered, it never returns.
—Roman Decker
CHAPTER 22
The star looked like Earth’s sun. Despite the ship’s tinted forward viewers, the brightness made it impossible to gaze at for an extended period.
“It’s actually a little brighter and larger than Sol, but not by much,” Ray said, as he shut down the forward viewer and returned the bridge to its normal illumination.
It took Kaylie a few seconds for her normal vision to return. She looked down at her hands and rubbed them together, trying to erase the indentations her own fingernails had left in her palms during the firefight with the other ship. Logically, the events on Eden Station had been more dangerous, but they’d happened so fast that she hadn’t fully processed them until a week later. She had been fully present for the firefight, and it had lasted longer, making it more frightening for her.
“So, this is your home system?” she asked, trying to put the fight behind her.
“Yes. The star is called Eos,” Ray said. “We’ll be at Tellarius in thirty-five minutes. We can go to a place I know and work on this artifact in peace, undisturbed, for as long as it takes. I know Tellarius better than anyone else—certainly better than anyone at Niruku. We won’t be able to repair the starboard cargo bay until we land. But we have extra titanium plating and a plasma welder, so I’ll be able to fix it. I just don’t know about the artifact. We won’t be able to tell until we get there.”
A half-hour later, Ray brought them into a medium orbit over Tellarius with the stealth drive engaged. Its beauty, compared to Tempus, mesmerized Kaylie.
“It’s so green,” she said.
“Wait until you see it up close,” Ray said.
He transitioned the ship to gravitic-assisted atmospheric flight and brought the Shinobi in low over New Virginia before circling his farmland. To Ray’s surprise, someone had taken the time to keep his farm running.
“That’s where you lived?” Kaylie asked.
“I lived in town, but I worked here for ten years,” Ray said. “I farmed that myself. Not that I was particularly good, mind you. Garner must have assigned that to someone else in my absence. They would not understand where I’ve gone. We’re just days away from harvest now.”
“It looks beautiful to me,” she said.
“I need to land here and get some things,” Ray said. “It doesn’t look like there’s anyone here. But it is the weekend, so I’m not surprised.”
“Is it safe?” Estia asked.
“Time will tell,” Ray said.