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Fallen Frontier: Hollow Wish
Chapter 1: Earth
The coffin felt hollow.
Chia Alignak knew it wasn't. The coffin contained her brother's body. The coffin was on its way to Karori Crematorium. The coffin currently had six pall bearers, including herself, but it was so light Chia thought it could do with two.
But she still carried it. Down the steps of the All Saints Church. Down through the dry summer air. Down under the beat of the afternoon sun, its light shining brightly, as if to mock her. Down to the waiting crematorium hearse.
PLACE CASKET ON GROUND BY REAR. DO NOT APPROACH. Chia looked at the sign on the truck's side. She looked up at the driver in the cabin above, idly thumping is fingers on the wheel. She looked at Father Cerritos, giving his last blessings.
"May the son return to the father."
Nik…
"May he join the side of his mother."
Why? Why did you die?
"May all be united under the father of us all."
Why?
"Amen."
Why?!
Fighting the storm of emotion inside her, Chia kept her gaze passive as the coffin was lowered onto the ground, and picked up by a robotic claw, the same way garbage used to be collected back in the days of landfill. She glanced up as it entered the cavernous maw that was its trailer, the frame holding dozens of coffins like it. All deceased, mostly from malaria, heat-waves, and other climate-related afflictions. All bodies waiting to be incinerated. Not enough room to be buried nowadays. Too much time taken also. No-one got buried nowadays unless they had the money for it, Chia reflected. And despite the human race's stupidity, most people had the sense to spend money during their life than on death.
Chia lowered her gaze as the truck sped off, as did the rest of the procession. She would never see her brother again, she reflected. Never. Not even at the crematorium. Visitors would only interfere with operations. Nik had been twelve, ten years her junior. She had been his sister. His foster mother after their parents died. And now, he was dead.
Dead.
Chia glanced at those around her. Some friends of hers. A few of Nik's. None of them she'd call close.
Dead.
They smiled at her. Some stayed. Others left.
Dead.
What was one more death in the world, they seemed to ask?
Dead.
It…left her mind, as her phone began to vibrate. She picked it up, half expecting to see the Grim Reaper to look back at her.
Dead…oh God…oh God!
It was Phoebe's face.
"Coffee?"
"You can afford coffee?"
"Centaurus can afford constructing a colonization ship to take people to Alpha Centauri. So yes, we can afford coffee."
Chia watched as Phoebe pressed a button on a desk. She watched when a few seconds later, a she watched a hover tray come in through the open door, bearing two mugs of steaming liquid. She watched as Phoebe picked up the mugs, sent the tray out, closed the door, and set both of the beverages on the desk. Chia just sat there.
"You're meant to drink it you know."
"I'll wait until it cools down."
"Fine."
Chia watched as Phoebe took a sip of her own cup, as sky traffic passed by outside the window, dotted throughout the Wellington skyline. She looked at her acquaintance.
"Listen, since we're friends-"
"Phoebe, I haven't seen you in five years. I think we're acquaintances at best."
"As friends," Phoebe repeated, "and as family, I'd like to say I'm sorry about Nik's death."
"Nikkal," Chia murmured.
"Nik, as you called him, and as a friend, as his cousin also, I'd like to think I could call him that as well."
"Well, call him what you want. His ashes are probably floating outside your window right now."
Phoebe looked at her. Taking a sip of the coffee and swallowing the liquid despite its bitter taste, Chia met her gaze. Phoebe appeared much the same when last she saw her, she reflected. Back when she'd been hired. Back when she announced that she wouldn't be seeing much of her or Nik since she announced she'd be spending the next five years in admin on Centaurus's Europa base. A little older, a little ganglier, but otherwise, much the same. Southeast Asian, elements of Caucasian and Maori somewhere down the family tree. Much like herself.
"You look…well," Chia began.
"I spent three months in zero-g on my way back from Europa," Phoebe said. "So before you ask, no, I don't feel one-hundred percent If I was at that, I would have been at the funeral." She sighed as she laid back in her seat, rubbing her eyes. "I didn't mean to call you during the funeral Chia. If I'd known that Nik was dead…" She trailed off, removing her hands from her eyes. "Well, you're here. That was a few days ago. And I've somehow managed to take time out of my schedule to see you."
"Why?"
"Because you're a friend. It's what friends do." She got to her feet, resting one hand on her desk, while stretching another to a cabinet. "And after Nik, I think you need a helping hand."
"Don't bring my brother into this Phoebe."
"Fine. But I'd like to bring you into this."
Chia looked at "this" as Phoebe handed it to her. It amounted to forms, a diagram of a starship, and even more forms. It was the second thing that caught her eye.
"CSV Zodiac," she murmured. She looked up at her cousin. "You pick that name?"
"No, Centaurus did. First colony ship to Alpha Centauri, figured it should have a good title."
"I thought colony ships had been sent years ago."
"Thirty-four years ago to be specific." Phoebe took another sip of her coffee before setting down the empty mug on the table. "All automated, all headed for Centauri Three. And while Centaurus hasn't announced this yet, we've just got a signal sent back. Colony's started to be constructed. Atmosphere and gravity are optimal. Six months from now we'll be sending our first human colonists, and twenty-five years from then, they'll be taking small steps for women and giant steps for womankind."
"And men?"
"Fine, men too." Phoebe let out a chuckle. "Even men have their uses. Still, everyone has a use, and since we're friends, I figured I could get you on the list." She gestured to the forms. "Requires paperwork of course."
Chia glanced at the forms. They seemed to involve everything from date of birth and nationality, to full disclosure of being under extra-national jurisdiction to the prospect of never seeing Earth again. Not that many people who embarked on the trip would want to, she thought.
"Well?" Phoebe asked. "It's twenty-five years on ice. But since you've got no immediate family-"
"Is that why you waited?" Chia snapped. "For Nik to die? To say, 'oh so sorry pal, brother's dead, why don't you run away to-"
"Chia, that isn't fair."
"Fair," she sneered. She got to her feet and walked out to the window, watching as the sun set over the Wellington skyline. "You think it's fair that I spent five months watching my brother succumb to malaria? You think it's fair that I spent all that time hoping, wishing, hell, even praying that some miracle might happen? You think it's fair that people like you get to zoom off to other planets while the rest of us dwell in the mud."
"Don't talk to me about mud Chia, you don't know the half of it. You think it's bad here, just wait until you see what things are like from orbit."
"Oh, I'll see alright." Chia turned around. "That's why I took a job with Artemis Mining."
Phoebe turned pale. "The moon?" she asked.
"Yeah, the moon. Five years of my life, set up for the rest of it."
"The moon," Phoebe repeated. "Chia, have you any idea what the casualty rates are like up there?"
"Can't be worse than down here."
"Oh, so you do want to leave. You just don't want to take that next big step, is that it?"
"Phoebe, you can take all the steps you want. You can step on Europa, on Earth, on Centauri number-something if you want. But don't drag me into it, don't call me friend-"
"Chee-"
"Don't call me that!" Chia yelled, slamming her fist on the table and causing her coffee to spill over. "You're my cousin, and that's all! Once you got your job, you said you'd help us! Mum, dad, Nik, and me! And you just take off instead and leave us to rot!"
"I-"
"No Phoebe, I've had it. Nik's dead. My parents are dead. And since you'll be leaving this dump forever in six months' time, I guess I won't be able to consider you family anymore. So I'm doing my own thing, on my own terms, and I won't let you make me do otherwise."
"No-one's making you do anything Chee," Phoebe murmured. She leant back in her chair. "I just thought-"
"Don't think." Chia got up and headed for the door. "And don't presume." She opened it.
"I'll keep the place open," Phoebe said. "Just in case you-"
Chia slammed the door. She kept on walking. Through the office. To the elevators.
It was only when she got in one that she allowed the tears to come.