Mother of your children, why here have you come? Bearer of your daughter, bearer of your son.
Kalathi Song of the Dead, first verse
StarCraft: Ghosts and Shadows
Chapter 1: The Shadow
It was the third night. The Shadow would come again.
Liddy was ready. Ready to do what she'd been doing for the last three days. Ready to do what she always did alone. Ready to protect her household.
She did what she always did. Light shirt to ensure mobility? Check. Old chain rifle? Check. A fully lit household to keep the Shadow away? Check. Peace of mind? Uncheck. That was something she didn't have. Not while Jim was away at Mar Sara City, doing his best to get in touch with Tarsonis. Not while her Johnny was away. Not while she had the knowledge that her baby boy was never coming back…and even if Jim got the answers they needed, that wouldn't change the fact that he was gone.
If only the Shadow would go away as well.
The weapon felt strange in her hands. She'd learnt how to use firearms growing up-that was practically a requirement of every citizen of Mar Sara. But guns were Jim's line of expertise, and she'd gladly let him have it when he was appointed as marshal. But the gun was needed. The gun kept her safe. The gun, now rested on her lap as she sat under the doorway of the house. It was winter, it was freezing and an icy wind blew through the dry air. Rustling the leaves…moving the swing…
The swing!
Liddy swung the rifle round. That was John's swing. John swung on it. She'd even sat on it less than a week ago, holding the notification that her son had been killed in a shuttle accident (or so went the official line). That swing…was his…
It wasn't the Shadow's.
Maybe it knew it. Maybe that was why this time it came straight at her. Stumbling out of the dark, as if lost. Moving like a child, yet with all the maliciousness of a demon. Like something out of an Old Earth mythology, made manifest on the other side of the galaxy. Gripping the rifle, ignoring the chill and the aches in her chest, Liddy aimed at the beast. Daring it to cross over into the light the house cast. Daring it to attack. To take her son…
Your son's been taken.
The rifle was gripped even harder. Lies…weren't they?
They're not lies. You're freezing. You'll catch a cold.
Children always told lies.
Not my John. He never…
Here, let me…
Liddy fired.
The Shadow didn't move. Had she hit it? Had the bullet gone through? Did it even exist? Looking down to let out a series of coughs (she'd been doing that a lot lately), Liddy peered through the gloom. Maybe she needed to let it into the light. Maybe that would weaken it.
Let me help you…
"Go away…" she whispered. "You're not coming in…"
The Shadow and terran faced each other down. It was a staring contest that only ended when the swing creaked again, caught in the breeze.
The wind. Nothing more.
It was getting colder…she thought…she wasn't sure anymore. Her mind was torn between focussing on the Shadow and her own aches and pains.
You're coming down with something…
Liddy ignored its words. Lies. All of them. She was fine physically. This thing only wanted to harm her, even if it could only do so emotionally. Somewhere in the back of her mind there was the suggestion that she should go indoors. That she was letting her grief get to her. That she should go to sleep, grieve, wait for Jim to come back, and then try and move on from the pain that came from losing a son.
Good idea. You…
Liddy shook her head, ignoring the pounding in the forehead area. More tricks. More lies.
You should call Jim. You can't take me out. He'll come swinging by, brandishing his revolver…
Call Jim…no, she couldn't do that. He had work to do. He had to contact the Institute that took her son away
Come on, you can't take me.
It was strange…it was as if the Shadow was mocking her. Yet its voice was just the same old neutral tone it always was. As keen as it was on tormenting her, it didn't really seem to care how well it did.
Maybe it won't hurt me…Liddy thought to herself. Maybe…maybe…
Maybe it was a ghost. Maybe it was John. Maybe there was something…anything…something in this universe that would make it possible for her to see her son and…
You're crazy. You know that don't you?
And as she stepped into the gloom, she found nothing. No Shadow. No Jim. No John.
Of course not. Jim's at the capital doing daddy stuff, and John's in the place where all the bad boys go.
Shut up.
Remember how you once told him that if he didn't behave, a lyote would gobble him up? I wonder what that was like for him? Do you think he remembered it when he died?
"Shut up," Liddy whispered.
I mean, crashing in a shuttle…and let's suppose that's even true…what's it like, do you think? To be blown up. Think he'd feel his skin boiling away and all that?
"Shut up!"
Liddy fell to the cool earth, her mind racing, her head thumping and her throat letting out a series of wheezing coughs.
Go back inside.
More words from the Shadow. She was fine. It could make her cough and headachy all it wanted. It wouldn't win.
Something was ahead of her. Something solid. Something that caused her to recoil, grip her rifle and get ready to fire.
The lyote simply stared at her.
Liddy laughed sadly. A lyote. A bloody scavenger creature-potentially dangerous, but generally ambivalent to terrans. A lyote that from the looks of it, was still a juvenile. Probably had its own mother somewhere.
"John would have liked you…" Liddy whispered. "He would have…would have…"
She stopped talking. Her throat was too sore. And the tears were starting to come back.
And the lyote kept staring.