NaNoWriMo: Days 18-20
Dec. 3rd, 2012 01:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
polychrome_penPrompt 18: Beach
The sim-sun shone down over a beautiful day in Biosphere Two. Granted, when you controlled the weather conditions it was always a beautiful day, Aaron thought with a chuckle as he shaded his eyes and looked over the sparkling waters of their ocean habitat.
It had taken pleading, cajoling, and massive amounts of shift trading, but for the first time in several years Aaron, his four children, Orak, his niece and nephew, and all the children’s significant others had managed to get a holiday off together. Aaron had even managed to get his son Dram back to Airlandis today.
New Year was always a special day of celebration in their community. There were parties hosted all across the city, gifts were given to family and friends, and a general air of goodwill permeated the floating city. Dragonators worked hard leading up to the holiday to gather a huge stash of amber crystals, in order to have a few well-deserved weeks of rest.
Aaron and Apex had come early to pitch a few umbrellas in the sand and get all the food set up. Between the two of them, Aaron was delighted that they’d been able to override a food replicator’s protocols and produce a lavish feast. Orak had even promised he would bring a fire canister later so that they could roast the marshmallows.
Summit and Miriam arrived first, dressed in their beach clothes and carrying a load of rebreathers for swimming.
“I’ve never gotten to see the whales up close!” Miriam exclaimed with excitement. “This is going to be wonderful.”
“See, there are advantages to dating Summit after all,” Apex quipped.
“Aside from always being in the presence of such a handsome specimen?” Summit teased. Apex whacked him on the arm and Miriam laughed.
The four of them chatted amicably and continued setting up for a few minutes before Peak and Nora flew in, dressed in their dragonator gear. “What’s the emergency?” Nora asked, obviously having been told there was something other than a party day going on in Biosphere Three.
Summit pinched the bridge of his nose. “Really, Peak?”
“What? How else was I supposed to get her here?” the young dragonator asked.
Apex sighed and looked at the bewildered Nora. “There’s no emergency Nora. Unless you can count Peak’s rapid loss of brain function an emergency. He was supposed to just invite you here to spend New Year’s with us.”
Light dawned in Nora’s eyes. “So that’s why he didn’t want me to volunteer for the extra shift today.” Whirling on Peak, she added, “You could have just asked! I’m not dressed for a day at the beach!”
“Not a problem, Nora,” Aaron said, floating over to a locker set off from the beach area. He entered a code and pulled out two diving outfits, throwing one each to Peak and Nora. “Changing rooms are back that way,” he said with a grin.
“Yes sir,” Nora said with a salute.
Aaron shook his head and sighed. “Please, today I am simply Aaron, and you are the charming companion my son has decided to bring to a family gathering.”
Nora reddened. “Yes si- I mean Aaron,” she said.
Aaron laid a hand on Nora’s shoulder. “We’re glad you’re here today. Please just relax and have a good time.”
Turning back to the group, Aaron saw Orak, Zarkan, and Amod had arrived. “Look who I found to carry all my junk!” the old engineer cackled as Zarkan and Amod lugged the fire canister between them.
“Always delighted to be your packdragon, Uncle,” Zarkan said, dropping the canister with a groan.
Apex laughed. “Well, you will be delighted when you taste the toasted marshmallows! I even found something in the historical database called S’mores that I can’t wait to try.”
Amod looked around. “Where’s Z’neth? Wasn’t he able to get the day off?”
“That’s been a point of…contention,” Aaron admitted.
“He wants to bring the mutie,” Peak added as he and Nora emerged wearing their swimming gear. “And Apex got a little threatening.”
Apex sniffed. “I simply said I wasn’t wild about him bringing her to a family day.”
“Now Apex,” Aaron said, “I’m sure Nocturna is just as nervous as you are about this. Please at least try to get along; for me if nothing else.”
Apex kissed her father on the cheek. “For you, daddy. But that doesn’t mean I have to enjoy it.”
*****
“I feel stupid, Z’neth,” Nocturna said bluntly as the two of them walked down the golden hallways on their way to the biosphere chamber. “Your family obviously doesn’t want me there, and the feeling is pretty mutual.”
The white-haired dragonator simply shook his head and sighed. “We’ve been over this a thousand times, Lady Blue. If you don’t get out there and show people they don’t need to be afraid of you, nothing will ever change.”
“What if I don’t want anything to change?” Nocturna retorted. “What if I’m perfectly fine with the way things are now?”
“And what if I don’t believe that for a second?” Z’neth answered. Nocturna let out an exasperated breath, obviously admitting defeat for the moment.
“Just promise me that you’ll let me leave if things start to get ugly?” she pleaded.
“Sure – but I’m counting on you to not let things get to that point,” Z’neth said with a wink.
They arrived in the central dome that housed the biospheres, and Z’neth called down one of the floating elevators. As it slid into place and they boarded, Dram came running in and joined them. Z’neth hugged his brother, and Nocturna gave a quiet nod, which Dram returned.
The elevator moved swiftly and silently to its docking position on the outer ring of Biosphere Three. Z’neth led them through the decontamination room, and into the balmy air of the Ocean Biosphere. Nocturna was surprised at the beauty – the white sand and blue water, with lush vegetation growing at the far edges. Truly no place still existed like this on Old Earth.
Z’neth and Dram waved to their family, and Nocturna followed meekly behind, unsure of what to do. Z’neth was still largely the only person she associated with in Airlandis since she had taken Sanctuary there several months ago. This large of a group made her keenly uncomfortable. As they came up on the group, Nocturna saw they were playing with a rousing game of hoverball, bouncing the floating sphere back and forth.
“Welcome to an Airlandean New Year,” Aaron said as he noticed their arrival, extending a hand of friendship to her.
“Delighted,” Nocturna replied, taking his hand with some trepidation. Z’neth beckoned her to join the game, but Nocturna waved him off, opting instead to sit underneath a shade tree. Despite her fondest hopes of being left alone, Aaron came to sit by her.
“How are you adjusting to life here in Airlandis?” he asked.
Nocturna couldn’t look him in the eye. “It is more…difficult than I had expected. I am feared, hated. Not without good reason, of course. But I have nothing to do here; I feel more useless than ever.”
Aaron simply nodded. “You come from a position of some power in Warnado. It is only natural you mourn that. But if I may, I would like to offer you an opportunity. My son Dram has recently started a position as Ambassador to the United Dramen Council, leaving a position open on Dragonator Team Two. I was wondering if you would like to fill that position?”
Nocturna was stunned. Could the father of the Dragon Flyz actually be offering her a position as one of them? “I’m not sure; please give me time to consider your offer,” she answered truthfully.
“I understand. This is a large decision, though I promise you won’t be bored and you would have the opportunity to stretch your wings,” Aaron said. He got up and floated over to the food spread.
The rest of the day passed in a blur for Nocturna. Z’neth finally managed to drag her into a hoverball game, much to some of the rest of the group’s barely hidden displeasure. The best part of the day, however, was seeing the creatures that lived beneath the crystal clear waters in the biosphere. There were no large bodies of water so clear on Old Earth, and no animals as beautiful as the whales to fill them. Nocturna felt her world expanding as she gazed endlessly at the huge animals’ graceful aquatic movements.
The sun was setting as the group emerged from the water, and Orak and Aaron had lighted the fire canister. A warm glow surrounded them, and Nocturna didn’t immediately dismiss the strange food Z’neth called a ‘S’more.’ In fact, she found she quite liked it.
It was a strange feeling, this liking things. But one she could definitely become accustomed to.
Prompt 19: Lost
Iranda turned slowly on the piano bench, startled by the voice behind her. The stranger - or was he? - looked so familiar, like a face remembered from a dream. Iranda often dreamed of dragonators, so it was no surprise that this figment of her imagination looked like one.
"Mother, is it really you? It's me, Peak!" he said.
Peak, my baby. What cruel tricks was her mind playing on her now? But in her dreams, Peak had always been a small child. This was a young man - sixteen, seventeen - standing before her.
He looked the right age to be her son...could it really be?
Filled with a mixture of dread and joy, Iranda reached out her hand toward the young man standing in front of her. His face was written across with such intense emotions, mirroring her own. Suddenly, violently, his body vanished in an intense flash of light, leaving Iranda alone in the music room.
She stood in a daze for what seemed like hours. What had just transpired? Was it simply a delusion of a lonely mind, cooking up an image of her Peak?
I'm a scientist, dammit, Iranda thought. Pushing aside her wistful thoughts, she ran down the glass hallway to the transporter pad. She had lived in the apartment closest to the teleporter for years now, with the hope that someday someone from Old Earth would come through and find her. In the seventeen years she had been stuck on the Starship Explorer, Iranda had never given up hope that her family would find her. She had tried for years to rig the teleportation system to send her back to Earth, but it was a one-way trip designed to be controlled from the Star Ridge control center pyramid only. She couldn't even send back a communication to her family.
When she had arrived, Iranda created quite a stir among the humans living on the Explorer. No one had come through the portal in hundreds of years. The Explorer was a generation ship by now – the many times great grandchildren of the original explorers still continued their journey through the cosmos. Often, large groups of travelers had disembarked on favorable planets, and it gladdened Iranda to know that humankind existed in places throughout the galaxy.
Iranda had met with Captain Suri Lands (the descendant of Capt. Jonathan Lands), and told her of the fate that had befallen Earth since the ship’s departure. Iranda had told her story hundreds of times to any group that wanted to hear it, in the hopes that someone would know how to help send her home. When it became apparent that the secrets of the long-distance portal technology had been lost to the current generation, Iranda had made it her work to restore that knowledge.
Iranda arrived in the transporter room and performed a service sweep of the pad. With a sigh of relief, she noted that it had recently accepted a human. So I’m not going completely crazy after all, she thought. Iranda had long ago set up a holo-recorder to capture the image of anyone who came across. Pulling the data, Iranda felt hot tears streaming down her cheeks as the image of Peak materialized into focus. She scrutinized every detail - he had her face, but his eyes – oh, his eyes were still the same sky blue as Aaron’s. There was now no doubt that her son had been here, if even only for a moment. She wept openly, deep sobs wracking her body, thinking of her husband and everything she had so foolishly left behind in pursuit of her quest for a new home. Iranda understood now that the only home that meant anything to her was where her family was. Airlandis.
If Peak was here, did that mean he had forgiven her for all the lost years? Iranda hoped so.
Iranda was nearly climbing the walls with frustration as the days passed by after that. She kept the holo of Peak on a chain around her neck, staring at it endlessly. Days turned into weeks, and weeks to months, however, with no new sign of her family. If they had been able to send Peak through, why hadn’t a second attempt been made? Had something happened to the Star Ridge?
In an attempt to take her mind off of the problem at hand, Iranda threw herself back into her work of understanding the portal. If – no, when – she returned to Old Earth, Iranda wanted to at least bring as much scientific knowledge with her as possible. The computer systems on the Explorer might not be as elegant as the amber-based ones from Airlandis, but there were still many wonderful technologies she could share with her old friend Orak.
When she became simply too frustrated to bear it any longer, Iranda went to the piano and played her song. It soothed her frayed nerves every time, the lilting melody washing away all her stress and letting her refocus, even if only for a moment.
"Um...hello," a voice ruptured her reverie.
Iranda turned around, bewildered by the man’s sudden appearance. He was tall and broad shouldered, with a military outfit and a mohawk haircut. He was certainly unlike anyone she had ever met on the ship. "Who are you?" she asked.
"My name is Cifex," he answered. "I'm from Old Earth. Who are you, and where am I?"
"You are on the Starship Explorer," Iranda answered, a huge grin suddenly splitting her face. "And my name is Iranda."
The man seemed to look at her, as if trying to place her face. “Pardon me for saying, but you seem very familiar to me,” he said.
“You say you’re from Old Earth?” she answered. “I originally came from Airlandis.”
His eyes widened at the mention of the name. “You’re from the floating city? How is that possible? From what I can tell, people haven’t used the portals in a few hundred years.”
Iranda nodded. “That’s right. I was the most recent, up until you.”
“So you went through the portal in the desert canyon?” he asked.
“No…the portal I went through was in a star-shaped ridge,” Iranda said. Suddenly very excited, she added, “Do you know the coordinates of the portal you came through?”
Cifex gave her the coordinates, which she plugged into her map of Old Earth on a data pad. Comparing the two locations, Iranda was shocked to see they were on completely different continents. “How long have you been travelling from Airlandis, Cifex?” she said. “I wasn’t aware that the city sanctioned long-term field missions.”
Cifex gave her a little quirky smile. “I said I was from Old Earth, but I didn’t say Airlandis. I visited once and met someone very special,” he said, and Iranda saw him fingering a small holocube in his hand. “I’ve been on a mission since then to search for any survivors left on Old Earth and destroy Cataclysm-era weapon caches.”
“But how have you survived on Old Earth for so long? Between the mutants, Dark Dramen, and the lava beasts, most humans wouldn’t survive a week on their own,” Iranda said.
Cifex sighed. “I’m…not exactly human. I’m an android genetic construct.”
Iranda’s hand went to her mouth involuntarily. “But then you’re from…”
Cifex sat down on the floor. “Yes. I originally came online in the 30th Century.”
Iranda looked down on him from her piano bench. “It’s a story I want to hear, Cifex. Which, by the way, you’ll have plenty of time to tell. In case you didn’t know, it’s a one-way trip to the Explorer. I’ve been stuck here for seventeen years.”
“Not anymore, Miss,” he answered. “I’m fairly sure I rigged the portal system to bring me back in an hour.”
Iranda could hear the gentle hum of the ship’s engines, as suddenly everything had gone quiet. “You mean…I could go back?” she whispered, afraid to say it out loud, lest she find herself awakening from another dream.
“Well, theoretically anyway,” Cifex answered. “I have to see if it will work on me.”
Iranda glanced and her chrono and realized that Cifex’s time was almost up. “Then before you leave, Cifex, let me ask you something.”
“Of course,” he said. “What can I tell you?”
Iranda sucked in a deep breath. “When you were in Airlandis, did you see any of my family? My husband is named Aaron and I have four children: Z’neth, Summit, Apex, and Peak. They are likely all dragonators like their father.”
It was Cifex’s turn to go completely silent for almost a minute before he activated his holocube. An image of a beautiful, smiling young woman materialized.
“Apex,” Iranda breathed, tears running down her face. “My daughter.” She held up her own holocube, and Peak’s image came into focus next to Apex.
“I think we have a lot to talk about,” Cifex said, throwing his arms around Iranda in a tight hug, “If we’re going to bring you home.”
Prompt 20: Cry
Apex recoiled as a blast erupted from her Wind Jammer, roaring through a cluster of Gremwings and sending them plummeting back to Old Earth. She fired again and again at the monstrous creatures, trying to protect her dragon Blaze Wind - and their precious amber crystal cargo - from the razor teeth and needle-sharp talons of the Gremwings. All around Apex, her brothers Z’neth, Summit, and Peak were engaged in similar battles.
Picking off the few remaining Gremwings with ease, Apex scanned the battle for any sign of the mutant overlord Dread Wing or one of his generals. At first she couldn’t see anything, but after a moment her eyes spied the gruesome Fryte flying on a collision course for Z’neth. Yelling with rage, Apex jumped off of Blaze and activated her Exo-wings. The wings spread from her armored suit, carrying Apex hurtling through the air toward Fryte.
Just as the mutant general was activating his plasma cannon and firing toward Z’neth, Apex slammed into him, sending the fiery discharge into a group of Gremwings, incinerating them. Apex wrestled with Fryte as they plummeted toward the magma lake below. She landed a few good punches on the mutant, but heard a sickening crack in her arm as he struck back.
“Nobody harms my family, monster!” she yelled, discharging her Wind Jammer right in Fryte’s face. The force blew them apart and sent Fryte flying as fast as he could in the opposite direction.
Apex was about to chase after him despite her likely broken arm, but heard Z’neth calling to her. “Let him go, Apex! It’s more important that we get these Ambers back to Airlandis.”
She nodded grimly, remounting Blaze Wind and retracting her exo-wings. The Dragon Flyz made their way to the nearest series of Wind Pits - the huge hollow mountains scattered across the continent that provided safe passage through the Warp Winds. Without the protection of the Winds Pits, attempting to cross through the Warp Winds and get back to the floating city of Airlandis wound be tantamount to suicide.
Apex’s arm pulsed with an intense, throbbing pain. Angry with herself for letting Fryte injure her so badly, Apex rooted around in her saddle compartment for one of the sublingual analgesic tablets. Apex placed it under her tongue and felt a cooling sensation as it dissolved and took the edge off of her aching arm.
Blaze wove through the honeycomb spikes and protrusions inside the Wind Pit as they flew toward the top. Stay with me, Apex, her dragon mentally commanded. Leaving the fetid stench of Old Earth behind, the air began to turn clearer and colder the higher the dragonators flew. They emerged from the Wind Pit above a sea of clouds, with bright sunlight shining everywhere. Apex’s helmet adjusted its tint automatically to shield her eyes.
The tops of a few smaller Wind Pits broke through the cloud layer that covered the Warp Winds, but what dominated the view was Airlandis itself, coming to meet them.
The floating city, with its golden domes and soaring spires, was the last great refuge of humanity. Constructed shortly after the Great Cataclysm that had decimated the Earth’s surface and created the Warp Winds over a millennia before, Airlandis was kept aloft by the precious cargo of Amber crystals that the Dragon Flyz carried back from the lava pits of Old Earth.
“Skywatch, this is Dragonator One. Please prepare for landing,” Apex heard her brother Z’neth call through the vox box. He looked over at Apex and their brother Summit. “Please have the medical team meet us at the landing as well.”
Blaze Wind landed on the golden promontory, his thoughts swimming with concern for his rider, and Apex dismounted, cradling her right arm and moving with some difficulty. Glancing at Summit, she could see a nasty plasma burn on his leg. Her field analgesic was beginning to wear off, and as the pain of her broken arm began to overtake her, Apex collapsed on the waiting anti-grav stretcher.
Her little brother Peak’s face was hovering over her as her vision swam. “What’s wrong? Is she going…” Apex heard him say before she succumbed to the pain and blacked out.
*****
When Apex awoke, she was lying in a bio-bed in the medical bay. Her arm throbbed, but was sealed in a stasis field.
"Glad to see you finally woke up," Summit said from the bed beside her. His leg was in a stasis field, and Apex grimaced as she saw the nasty plasma burn fully revealed.
"How long was I out?" Apex croaked, her throat dry as the desert.
Summit shrugged as best he could in a supine position. "A few hours. Z'neth is mad, by the way. He said you took an unnecessary risk in going head-on with Fryte."
Apex snorted. "Like he doesn't take worse risks all the time. It's part of the business."
Miriam - Summit's girlfriend and a genetic researcher for Airlandis - appeared in the doorway to their room. "Well, neither of you will be taking any such risks for at least a good week. You, Apex, came back to us with a particularly nasty multiple fracture, and you," she whirled on Summit, "had to have wound debridement in order to have any chance of that burn healing up nicely."
"A week?" Apex groaned. "What am I supposed to do for a week? Z'neth has us on active duty for three more crystal runs in the next few days!"
Miriam pushed her glasses back up on her nose and shot Apex an irritated look. "I don't care if Joshua himself orders you out on a run. My medical clearance overrules, and I'm confining you to inactive duty until I deem that arm is in good enough shape. I'm sure Aaron will find some lovely desk job to occupy the two of you for a week. The man has mountains of reports to sift through from the Aristotle mission, you know. Or you could help out in Skywatch."
Apex's head fell back on the pillow with a sigh. The last thing she wanted right now was a load of free time for her brain to spin itself a few more webs. She needed to work it out, to concentrate on her job instead of the memories that threatened to overwhelm her.
“You two will be staying overnight,” Miriam said, “but I should be able to release you tomorrow morning. Just try not to move your injured limbs and let the stasis field do its job.” Miriam adjusted a few of the settings on their stasis fields before leaving the room.
Apex tried to sleep. Oh, she tried harder than anything to lose herself in the peaceful bliss of oblivion. But after hours of listening to Summit’s slow, steady breathing, Apex knew it would be a long night. Memories swirled through her head – memories of Cifex, of her mother.
Why does it feel like I lose everyone I love? she mused. Apex loved her brothers and her father more than anything, of course, but losing Cifex had re-opened the wounds left by her mother Iranda’s absence. Apex could hear her mother’s haunting piano melody ringing through her head.
Dark clouds swirled outside of Apex’s window in the light of the full moon. Tomorrow, Airlandis would likely enter that storm in order to collect fresh rain water. Looking at the chrono, Apex cursed, seeing it was just past o-three-hundred. Rolling over with a groan, Apex hit her call light. A nurse appeared a moment later, and Apex requested a sleeping pill, which finally let her enter a dreamless unconsciousness.
The next morning, Apex and Summit were released to Aaron’s care. Father fussed over the two of them before Apex shooed him out of the door of their quarters and off to Skywatch. He promised to check up on them later that day.
Rain from the storm pattered against their windows, and Summit put on old holofilms to pass the time. The two of them laughed and cried, and Apex couldn’t remember the last time she and her siblings had all sat down to spend some time together; sometimes it felt like dragonator duties consumed all of them. Mid-afternoon, Apex scrounged up some soup from the food replicator (because she was the one who could walk, after all, even though maneuvering soup bowls with one arm proved to be trickier than she would have guessed).
“Play me a song, Summit,” Apex asked after she tried to clear the dishes.
Summit leaned back in the chair and gave her a skeptical look. “You sure? I’m pretty rusty on the piano these days.”
“Don’t try and play modest with me, Summit,” she replied. “You’re the one who inherited mother’s musical sense, and I know you’ve been practicing for Miriam.”
Summit reddened at that. “Well, I did want to surprise her at the talent show.”
Apex smiled as she helped her brother over to the piano bench. “Good, then pretend I’m Miri and show me your dress rehearsal.”
Summit rolled his eyes. “Just don’t get your expectations up. The song is far from perfect.”
As Summit’s long fingers danced over the keys, Apex closed her eyes and sat up against her brother on the piano bench. The song started out soft, with graceful trills and arpeggios, before Summit abruptly changed to dark minor chords. In her mind’s eye, Apex could see graceful dragon shapes soaring through the skies in a pitched battle as the song reached its climax. After the pounding chords of the climax, Apex sucked in a breath as Summit weaved their mother’s theme into the finale. Tears stung at the corners of her closed eyes as the final notes reverberated through the apartment.
“That was wonderful, Summit,” Apex said quietly. “The end was especially lovely.”
He turned his head slowly toward her. “Ever since we saw mother’s message, I wasn’t able to get that song out of my head again,” he said sadly.
Apex nodded. “Me either,” she added simply, using her good arm to wrap around Summit’s broad shoulders.
“Yo, how are my fave invalids?” Peak’s voice sounded across the apartment as the door slid open.
“Still alive, little bro,” Summit said, as Apex helped him up from the piano.
Peak made a sad face. “Aw man, I missed Summie playing some tunes! I wanna get sick now too!”
Apex laughed hard, losing her grip on Summit and sending them both tumbling to the floor in a pile of twisted limbs.
“What’s going on in here?” Z’neth said, appearing in the doorway. “It sounds like a circus.”
“Oh, the usual,” Apex replied, accepting her older brother’s hand as he helped her up and rechecked her arm. Despite the pain of the fall, Apex found herself smiling. It had been ages since she had just spent time with one of her brothers. Maybe breaking her arm would turn out better than expected after all.
