"Spike."
The voice kept whispering his name, the echoes of his past reverberating with it.. Spike heard it over and over, ringing like a church bell in his head, or whatever part of his being could still hear. The funny thing was, he felt no different than he had when he was alive, except for the pain. That was going to take some getting used to. I thought you weren't supposed to feel pain anymore once you were dead, he thought.
He could still feel Julia's last breath on his face, and he wondered whether or not he would be reunited with her in death as he had always hoped he would. But then again, they probably didn't end up going to the same place.
"Spike."
There it was again. Was it really her? Was she trying to find him? Or maybe it was his memory playing tricks on him. Either way, he wished it would just let him rest. I just died a violent, traumatic death here, he thought. Can't I just have a few minutes of rest in the afterlife?
And then the visions came again. Spike had always heard that one saw bright lights ahead when they died, but he didn't understand why they were arranged in rows rather than just one big light which one used as a guide into the hereafter. Spike groaned and looked left, only to be surprised by yet more lights and a faint beeping noise that he couldn't place.
Before he could wonder exactly what it was, he saw her walking toward him. His vision was blurry, but he was sure it was Julia. She wore white, her blonde hair tied back. He must have made it to Heaven after all, he decided. After all, angels wore white, didn't they?
As she approached, Spike waited for his eyes to focus. He couldn't make out what she was holding or why she seemed to be wearing glasses. He thought he should at least be able to see clearly in death, but all was a blur. He reached out to his beloved, but before he could call out to her, she had turned and gone away. Confused, Spike rubbed his eyes. Death sure was confusing. He stirred and looked to his right, his eyes slowly focusing until he saw something… someone he didn't expect to see.
Faye hated jobs like this. Stuck for hours in her Redtail, with nothing to do but watch the radar. The bounty head would be by in due time, Jet had assured her. All she had to do was follow him, wait for him to land and bring him in. He wouldn't put up a fight. This guy was supposed to be a shrimp, she remembered, but still worth ten and a half million woolongs. Not bad change for a little weasel named Serj Harashi who had just stolen a little information.
Faye looked down at her hands. Her nails were a mess. The blood-red polish she liked to wear had all but chipped off, and two of the nails were cracked. She could just bite them off, she thought, like Ed. Old weird Edward, she thought to herself. I wonder where she is right now, what she's up to. Faye smiled to herself. The crew on the Bebop wasn't so bad. At least she felt like she belonged somewhere when she was there. As much as she hated to admit it to herself, she cared about all of them. That was why she was saddened at the realization that Edward was gone. That was why she had cried for Spike.
The blip on the radar screen snapped Faye back to reality. She blinked hard and checked the heading on the monitor. She locked on its signal and asked the computer for an ID. A Martian-made C-Class MONO racer. Just what she was looking for.
Faye started the engines and began to slowly pitch forward. He was going pretty fast, so she would need to have some momentum going to stay on his tail. She knew he would be headed for Carces, a small satellite of Mars, but Jet hadn't told her why. No point in calling him now to ask, she decided.
She steered the Redtail down toward Mars, gaining speed as she got closer to its orbit. If she timed it right, she could slingshot around the planet and end up right behind the bounty head.
The radar beeped faster, telling her she'd better get a move on. Faye hit the accelerator on the Redtail and felt the aft end rise up as she gained speed. The controls were stiff, thanks to Jet's repairs, and the force of Mars' gravity made the instruments shake as she raced around the orbit. She looked down at the radar again. Serj was getting closer. A few more seconds and she'd be able to see him.
Faye had to be careful not to get too close, or she'd burn up as the gravity pulled her in. The Redtail was a sturdy cruiser, but it wasn't built for testing the atmosphere of a planet like Mars, especially when cutting across the surface as she was. She tried to pull up a bit, but much to her annoyance, the gravity had sucked her in more than she'd anticipated. She was gaining speed way too fast.
"Aah, damn it!" Faye cried, trying to pull up as gently as possible. It wasn't working.
"Come on, goddamn it," she said aloud, glancing at her radar just long enough to notice that Serj was almost in sight range.
As the Redtail came around for a full orbit, Faye knew she didn't have many options. If she didn't break orbit now, the gravity would keep forcing her around and down until she went into a spin and lost control – or simply burned up in orbit. The radar was beeping almost continuously now, sounding more like a heart monitor flatlined than a tracking device. She was going to lose this guy if she didn't do something fast.
Finally, Faye jerked up on the controls and fired her landing exhaust, hoping the blast of air from under the ship would push her up and out of the orbit. The Redtail jerked up, but Faye gasped as she realized she'd forgotten to let go of the throttle. She was no longer in orbit of the planet, but now she was headed right toward the bounty head at thirty times the speed of sound. For a moment, Faye could see the horrified expression on Serj's face as he did the only thing there was time left to do – brace for impact.