Dr. Alysson Drew, an astounding success. Daughter to a family of farmers. A genius from birth, always three steps ahead of anyone else her age. And now she was finally away from home, finally leaving her small little planet in the corner of human space and heading into the beyond. The final frontier. The battle for humanity's survival.
The UNSC Everlasting was far from a warship, but she would fill a job just as important- the patrol and protection of colonies, surveillence, and (hidden inconspicuously among the other duties, of course) the research and development of some of ONI's most cutting edge technological projects.
Dr. Alysson Drew. Civillian doctor of microtechnology and weaponry. The tip of the spear of the human civilization, the tip of the spear that will be launched into the heart of the Covenant and release us from their choking grasp. That's who she was.
That's…
That's who I am.
I've never been to space before, and here I am- watching my home planet shrink into a little ball as I ascend the space elevator. It's every bit as exciting as I hoped it would be. The moment I've been waiting for all my life has arrived. Above me, the space station looms colossally, and docked within it is my new home. The Everlasting.
I make my way towards the ship, every step shuddering with anticipation. The airlock opens, and then I meet the Captain- the rank I pick up from his twin insignias. A man in his middle ages, black of hair, dark of eyes, bulky. And beside him, with his back to me and seemingly in some kind of argument was another man. A man for which I have an air of familiarity.
"Doctor Drew, welcome aboard. I am Captain J. Putters. This here is your CO, Leutenant Cedric Ceyx. I'm afraid we have very little time for introductions as we have to speed off and away from this place. We will talk again this evening. Cedric, show the doctor to her room."
He turns to see me as the Captain speaks, his face alarmed, angry. It's him, just as I thought. The worst has happened…
… the worst thing possible…
The worst thing that could happen to the human race was unfolding before her very eyes. One ship, and another, and a third, and a dozen more- they kept coming and coming, a fleet bigger than all the ships she had ever seen multiplied a dozen times over. It was frightening to behold.
The Colonel was similarly awestruck, and he remained frozen in place- watching the battle unfold from the safety of an Ares station window. Around them, the station was bursting with action- forces evacuating, computers being folded and taken, or alternatively destroyed, civillians being ushered around to the shuttles… it was a giant mess, but one far less tragic and magnetizing than what would soon unfold just outside their windows, out in the emptyness of space.
"We're both staying, Halcyon. That's final," the Corporal said.
"Colonel… I can finish our recalibrations alone, I can upload them to the network alone, and I can send them alone as well. You don't need to be here. You shouldn't be here. Don't you understand?"
"This… this is my project," he said. "I'm not leaving without you. Without it. I said it's final."
Through the window, they gazed at the image of a massive spacial battle unfold- the UNSC throwing everything they had to offer at the Covenant fleet, to pitiful results. Fire and death rained down the sky, and the cold corpses of dead ships began their cellestial orbit. It wouldn't be long before all the remaining UNSC ships will join them, or escape, and should that happen… Ares was next. "Sir, what you're suggesting is suicide. I can't allow it," she argued, though she knew him well enough to understand nothing would stand in his way.
"You can and you will, Alice," he said, typing violently into his datapad, fixing a line of code wired into the blueprint. His great obsession. "That's an order."
That's an order…?
… an order…
"I wasn't asking, Alysson," Cedric says, wearing his stone cold grimace. "That was an order."
"Oh, an order? Is that it?" I say, so angry there are tears in my eyes.
"Yes. An order. You may be a civillian, but so long as you're working in my team you will have to respect the chain of command," he says. "Now do as I say, Doctor. Don't make me ask you again."
"Screw you, Cedric!" I say, storming off. I do my best to hold the tears in, to keep them from escaping my eyes and showing just how much this hurts.
Ever since I arrived at this ship, he's been ignoring me. His eyes, which looked beautiful to me the night we first met, have become cold and malevolent. And yet, whenever he looks at me, I feel naked again- I feel ashamed, and I know he does, too.
I've been on the Everlasting for over a year now, and he is the bane of my existence here. Everything else is exactly what I hoped it would be- ambitious projects, limitless resources, a crew of smart, likeminded folk and edible food. But Cedric...
He was supposed to be a one night stand. Fun. A celebration, with no strings attached. But nothing's that simple, nothing ever is. If we wouldn't have slept together that cursed night, he wouldn't have hated me. And I… I wouldn't have loved him.
"Are you alright, Alysson?" Jonah asks. Where did he come from?
"Yes, Jonah," I answer, stiffening and whisking away my agitation. "We're going to have to scrap section C from the report."
"All section C?" Jonah asks, astounded.
"Yep. All of it."
"That's two weeks worth of setbacks."
"Tell that to our benevolent CO."
"Shit. On what grounds?"
"On the grounds of him being a big stinking asshole," I say. "Don't take it personal."
Anger. Rage. Pulsing like...
Like a fire.
Fire...
… death…
... the consuming darkness of space...
And silence.
"Colonel, the battle is over," Halcyon announced.
"And?" his rugged old face fills with a glimmer of hope.
"All remaining UNSC ships have fallen back. Covenant ships have destroyed all orbital MACs and are fastly approaching the surface. Glassing cannons are charged and ready, Colonel. Reach is lost."
His hands, which were gripping the sides of the holographic panel, began to shake. "How long have we got, Alice?"
"The station has been evacuated, sir. We are the last two souls aboard. As a result, I've been able to shut off energy and life support on most of the station's sectors. I have also ceased the emmitting of radio waves to and from the station. The Covenant shouldn't notice our presence right away, but… they'll find us, soon enough."
"Give me an estimate, Halcyon. I know you have one."
"Approximately five hours, Colonel," she answered.
"Five hours… that might not be enough."
"Not with that attitude. Sie, we can finish this- you and I. I won't let you sacrifice yourself for nothing," Halcyon said. "I've been examining our test results from the last firing- we were very close, there's only software calibration and scanning left. And then we can send the schematics over to Project Infinity."
"Yes. Yes…" he said. "Come, see this."
Her lean holigraphic image approached him, the toga dragging across the floor behind it. She came close, so very close she could touch him- though she knew if she tried her hand would only go through him. She knew she was nothing but a ghost. "What is it, Colonel?"
"This adjustment here, do you see it?" he asked her.
"I see."
"If we dial it back, just by three or four percent, then alternate the emitters consistently… do you understand?" the Colonel asked.
"That should work," Halcyon said, allowing a smile to wrinkle her holographic face.
They were alone in Ares Station, a Colonel and his AI. Outside, the wreckage of hundreds of UNSC ships floated motionlessly, and down below the planet was burning. Covenant Super-carriers were blasting the surface even as they spoke, boiling the very earth and turning it into fermented glass. Halcyon knew, though, that it wasn't just earth the beam was blasting… there were cities down there, and towns, and many a military base. There were woods and wastelands and snowy peaks. There was the sea, a raging ocean brimming with wildlife. And there was life- human life, animal life- all of which would also be lost in the wake. The Colonel turned away from the sight in disgust, though she couldn't avert her gaze. Her eyes were glued.
"For all the terrors I've suffered, I haven't ever watched a real glassing," the Colonel said after a moment of silence. "There is a haunting beauty to it, isn't there?" She did not answer, forcing the Colonel to call out again. "Alice!" he yelled, realizing her image was gone.
Glassing.
Boiling earth.
Fire.
Death…
… Mother…
… glass, again.
The cup shatters into a dozen shards of sharpened glass after falling from my hand. The Waypoint news takes me by surprise. The war has reached every nook and cranny of human populated space in some way or another, but never have I imagined it'd come so close to home. And never… never like this.
"Alysson? Alysson?" Jonas calls out to me. "Didn't you say you were from Argo?"
Suddenly everyone's looking at me, and I feel my facade shimmering into nothing. If I let it break here, in front of them, there'll be no way to stop the tears. And so, I simply walk away, stepping over the glistening shards with all the crewmates' eyes on me.
I found myself climbing down below, into the engineering storage room where only wrenches, tools and computerized activation units called home. And now I will make it my own. My home, my only home. Now the tears are pouring out of my eyes, now I can't contain the pain any longer. I wail disgustingly- a very ugly, very infantile cry. But I don't care anymore- I don't care about anything.
The last time I spoke to my mother was almost a year ago. I recorded a message for her, in case the Everlasting runs into trouble, in case I died- but never did I expect that I wasn't at all the one in danger. My mother… a colonist. An outer colonist. My house- the house I remember, the house I've always remembered…
Gone.
Gone and replaced by a thick layer of glass. Frozen in time, a single moment everlasting. And me, here, so far away- so far from home. The home I tried so passionately to escape. The boredom of the farm life. Feeling trapped within an unambitious ecosystem where the only thing that matters is family. And I leave that world behind, so arrogantly. I leave it behind thinking I'm better, thinking it's the last thing in this world I'll ever miss. Knowing just how good this job makes me feel about myself.
And now, now there's no going back. The farm. That lonely little farm, surrounded by fields of wilderness. Father, who was as stern as he was loving, who always pushed me further and further- even after the tumor took his life and left me and mother alone. And mother, my lovely mother, the woman with neverending kindness, with everpresent worry for her single daughter. Lonely. Afraid. The very earth boiling under her feet. And the UNSC- the army that was supposed to defend colonies just like Argo- were nowhere to be seen. The UNSC, whom I serve. The UNSC…
Cedric enters the room. Gone from his face is the distance, the coldness that remained between us for years and years. Now there is a sadness. An understanding. A tear, shimmering in the side of his eye. His arms wrap around me organically, as they did the first night we met. I feel his warmth against mine, the soft beating of his heart. The smell of lavender in his hair. The strength of his grip. I feel… I feel…
I feel like he is all I've got- this terrible, cold, monstrous officer. This man which I was too busy hating to realize I loved. This man who, despite everything I think of him, is always there for me. Cedric… Cedric…
My hands, as if by themselves, reach out to his cheeks and touch them lightly. I pull him close for a kiss, and though he pulls back at first he quickly gives in to me. He wants me just as much as I do him. He needs me, just as much. Alone, we are both broken, incomplete, homeless- together we are more.
Because we are everything, we are the only thing, and we are nothing at all.