( Read the previous episodes of Journey to Centauri.) |
Journey to Centauri : Episode 28 part 2 Deirdre Skye felt the gravity of the Unity lessen, just slightly, and could see the lights of the ship dim down it’s length. "Nightfall," she murmured, referring to a mode the ship moved into at regular intervals to help maintain the crew’s circadian rhythms. She stretched and stared out the tinted panels of the Greenhouse. She felt languid, mesmerized by the startling beauty of Planet, its breathtaking presence against the lonely infinite. They were so close now, and Planet seemed to sparkle with mystery, calling to her. She had to pull her eyes away as they grew heavy with the need for sleep. "Tara, I am retiring for now," she alerted her second in command, and walked back through her gardens and tiny forests, her green worlds, toward a series of light partitions she had set up next to a grouping of white pine. She passed by a small white bunk where Tara, loyal Tara, now slept, her presence reassuring to Deirdre, and then went behind the shaded partitions. She pulled off her uniform and let it fall, feeling the patterns of warmth and coolness in the Greenhouse. She smelled the tingly, refreshing scent of the pine and kneeled next to their bins, pushing her hands into the soil which was dry and sandy, but still better than the metal and plastic that made up most of the Unity. Her eyes crossed the bright sphere of a thermal lamp and she closed them and watched the afterimage burn against her eyelids, mirroring the bright sphere of Planet. The afterimage fragmented and wavered and then took shape again…Planet…and she heard a roaring in her ears, and it sounded like wind and sea, but not quite like Earth wind or Earth sea. And somewhere beneath it all, beneath the roaring, as she reached out her pale arms and dug her fingers into the earth…a voice, harmonic and faint, but rich with age…"earth". And then… "being" "earthbeing." Her eyes snapped open. Her heart pounded in her chest, and a chill rippled across her torso. "Deirdre." She turned. Tara stood at the partition, looking concerned. "Is everything OK here?" Deirdre nodded and stood, brushed the dirt from her hands and moved silently to her own simple cot. She lay down and pulled a lightweight Unity blanket over her. "I’m just retiring. I am all right." "Shall I turn off the thermal lamp there, Officer?" "No," Deirdre said, with an edge. "Leave it." "Very well." She heard Tara pad away. Deirdre stared at the light and then closed her eyes again, as a planet dream took shape against the darkness of her sleep.
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