Space Cowboy Arc
16th April
The smell in this room and the feel of the sheets feel all too familiar to me. It's as if I've been here a thousand times before. The pale woman's hand slides up and down my chest, her fingers stroke me and dance playfully across my torso.
"Do you know what a supernova is?"
"No, tell me. What is it?"
"The death of a star. It burns brighter and sharper than it ever has for a time, then returns to nothing."
I wake up to a faint banging noise, which stops as suddenly as it started. My vision's blurry, and I have a pounding headache. There's a fading feeling that I had remembered something important, in a dream or something. I realise that the reason my vision is blurry is because I've been crying. I swing myself into a sitting position whilst rubbing my eyes, only for the headache to come on twice as hard. My feet hit what I can only guess is a beer can. I groan at the pain in both my skull and my big toe. The banging noise picks up again, and this time I realise that it's coming from my door.
"Who is it?" I call out, wondering whether they'll even be able to hear me.
"It's me Ahmad," the doorknocker says back to me, "can I come in, Sayyad?"
Ahmad, what's he doing here? I vaguely remember him asking if he could come over to talk about something, but I can't be sure if that's correct or not. As my eyes focus, I'm glad to see that I'm dressed, though my overalls are somewhat crumpled. The room, however, is a mess. Cans, clothes, and something that might've been last night's dinner cover the room. I'll clean up after he leaves. It isn't like he'll come into this room anyway.
"Come in," I say, as I stagger out of the bedroom.
Ahmad sees me as he closes the door behind himself, and shakes his head.
"For Allah's sake, Sayyad, what are you doing?"
"Trying to forget what I was doing," I mutter under my breath. Whether he heard me or not, Ahmad ignores me, and brings me over a cup of water from my sink. The two of us sit down across from each other, and Ahmad looks at me patiently. I suppose I should be ashamed of the fact he's become so used to this, that he's giving me time to orientate myself.
"You wanted to talk about something, yes?" I say, before taking a drink out of my glass.
"You know that the Proserpina arrives tomorrow?"
"I heard, yes."
"My daughter's on the ship."
"And?"
"And I'd like to delay our launch."
I sigh. I had a feeling that it might be this. Ahmad and I work together, alongside a man named Petr, on a mining ship called the Jaeger. We are scheduled to leave tomorrow, for an asteroid that Petr believes has a large quantity of golden ore. We were supposed to leave for it a week ago, but delayed to allow Ahmad to see his daughter when she arrived. After we made that decision, however, the arrival of the Proserpina was further delayed, and now we are scheduled to leave in two days' time, the day after the ship in from Luna arrives. As I had guessed, Ahmad wants us to wait so that he can have more time with his daughter before we go.
"Me and Petr are both running thin on credits, Ahmad. We can't afford to wait another week-"
"Maybe if you didn't spend your credits on alcohol, that wouldn't be a problem."
I look at Ahmad, "we can't spend that time waiting here. We need to leave soon. It was already hard enough to convince Petr to remain here another week. He's worried that we'll lose this asteroid to another ship if we wait too long. He reckons we can fill the hull with gold."
"I know but… just give me another few days. Then we can leave. I haven't seen my daughter since she was five years old… I need to see her face again before we leave. Please, you must understand."
I don't understand, not really. I haven't had any family since years before I even left for Ceres. But I see the family of us early miners arriving every now and then. The joy and happiness that it brings them. Ahmad has been a close friend of mine since shortly after he arrived nine years ago. Can I really rob him of that happiness?
"I get it… I'll talk to Petr. But it'll only be for an extra day or two."
"Thank you, Sayyad," Ahmad says.
The two of us sit in silence for a little bit. I drain my glass of water, and then head over to the sink for another. I'm feeling better now, whether that's because I'm wide awake now, or because the water's working to fix my headache, I can't tell. As I'm filling my glass, I hear Ahmad say something.
"Sorry, what was that?" I ask, as I turn around, my glass fill to the brim, back towards our seats.
"I said, did you hear about the moonchild?"
Moonchild. The name given to the children of the moon. Originally, the term referred to children born with albinism, but the name is certainly fitting for the children of Luna, with their pale skin and red eyes.
"What about a moonchild."
"There's one onboard the Proserpina apparently. On their way here to Ceres."
"Who is it?"
"I'm not sure," Ahmad replied, "but I heard a rumour that it's a child of Consul Scuderi, the ruler of the Freehold."
Consul Frank Scuderi is the de facto ruler of the Freehold. Whilst nominally he co-rules alongside Consul Chee, the senate wields significant power, and each planet has varying degrees of independence, the real power of the Freehold ultimately rests with him. A child of his may one day rule the Freehold as he now does. It definitely seems like a possibility, and that makes me curious. Curious about this moonchild of the Scuderi clan.
"I might come with you tomorrow," I say to Ahmad, "to see this moonchild."
The Cererian colony can vaguely be divided into three sections: the settlement proper, the tunnels, and the hangars. The hangars, the only part located on the surface, are for the most part usually quite empty, or at least I've never seen them as busy as they are today. There must be almost a hundred people up here, and I doubt that all of them are here to greet friends and family. Ahmad's rumour that a moonchild and heir apparent to Consul Scuderi, is onboard the Proserpina, appears to be quite widespread.
Due to its' gargantuan size, the Proserpina will be landing a couple of kilometres away from the settlement. From there, the passengers will be ferried across the surface in transports designed to traverse the barren surface, and will then enter the settlement via one of the hangar airlocks. Me and Ahmad were standing quite far back, near the entrance to the settlement proper where it reaches up to the surface, but then Ahmad decided to move toward the front since it's so difficult to see from back here. I decided to stay at the back here. I can see well enough for my intention today. I'm not planning to wait around for Ahmad and his daughter. I'm going to leave after I see this moonchild for myself.
Even from back here, I can see as the first transport makes its' slow, painful journey across the surface. In fact, it's so slow that even once I spot it, it takes me a while to realise that it's already headed back in our direction. As the transport approaches, the crowd backs up, parting around the airlock. I see military uniforms. The uniforms of the Freehold Space Fleet. Since Ceres is a colony of the Freehold rather than a state or province, it doesn't have the right to an independent military or police force. Therefore, all defence and security are managed by the Space Fleet, an interplanetary force directly under the command of the Consulship. About a dozen or so soldiers set up a perimeter around the airlock. In the middle of all the soldiers I see Governor Kyle Matthews standing there, looking around. Kyle Matthews has served as Governor for about eleven years now. During his rule here, life has been difficult. If I had to blame people for that, he would be high up the list. No, he would be at the top of the list. And I think that goes for most of the population here on Ceres. At least the Palestinians anyway. His eyes meet mine, and the two of us stare each other down for a while. Eventually he blinks and looks away, returning his attention back to the airlock. The two of us have some history together. Though that probably goes for most any two people who've been here since the early days, the two of us more so than most people, have a complicated history, often being at odds with each other.
The lights on the airlock change from red to blue. It's safe to breath in there now. The first arrivals – those in the airlock will walk out of there in thirty seconds when the light changes to green. I've been through those locks so many times, most of us here have. When the light does finally change to green, and the doors begin to slide open, the crowd pushes forward craning for a look. The one who can only be the moonchild walks through the door. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but somehow, I find her strangely beautiful. The moonchild has incredibly pale skin, almost to the point of reflecting the light. And whilst I can't tell from here, I imagine her skin's smooth to the touch. The shape of her face is elongated, but that only accentuates her high cheekbones. Her long straight hair, dyed a bubble-gum pink colour, falls down to around her shoulders, and her eyes, which are a strange crimson colour seem both eerie and dazzling at the same time. She has to bend to make it through the airlock door, but once she stands up straight, I see that she is a full three metres tall. I see her greet the Governor with a knowing smile. One that both scares and fascinates me at the same time. It reminds me a little of someone…
I turn around and start walking away, trying to forget that last thought that I had. I don't need thoughts like that anymore.