Author's Notes:
Once again, before starting this chapter of this story of mine, I would like to thank all my reviewers – RichardRahl, Agent Regina and scifimimi. Thank you, wonderful people, for reading and reviewing this humble story of mine!
Heh, RichardRahl, as you can see, I kind of took to heart your advice about not hurrying up, for it took me quite a long time to write this chapter of this story of mine, a little bit more then a month to be more precise. Well, truth to tell, I was also a little bit busy with a few of my others projects, one or even few of which will probably see the light more or less soon; well, if everything will go on the way it goes right now, that's it.
Agent Regina, as you probably noticed by now, I tend to mention and usually thank all my reviewers for the previous chapter in each new chapter of my fanfictional stories. I am terribly sorry for not mentioning you in the seventh chapter of this story of mine, but it looks like you have forgiven me, haven't you? Oh, and didn't I told you that you should never worry about lazy me overworking myself?
Yeah, you are of course right, scifimimi, Millie and Sandro are Centaurians. I like Centaurians very much, especially one particular Centaurian lord, who will possibly be mentioned or even show up more or less soon. But, either way, I hope that you will enjoy this new chapter of this story of mine, scifimimi.
By the way, in this chapter of this story of mine, I (or, to speak more precisely, one of the characters) will be using such term as parsec. For those who don't know this term, parsec is one of the means of measurement of extremely long distances, such as the distances between stars. One parsec is equal to 3,26 light years, or 3,08 X 1013 kilometers. However, naturally I am not astronomer myself, and so, I may be wrong about actual distances between the stars. If so, please forgive me.
Oh, I would like to mention, that I am changing the genre of this story to "Sci-Fi/Drama". I have though about this story's genre for quite some time now, and I a have finally decided, that "Sci-Fi/Drama" genre will be most appropriate for this story of mine. If you have any comments about whether "Sci-Fi/Drama" genre will be appropriate for this story of mine or no, please give them to me in your reviews, okay?
I would also like to mention, that I have decided to change this story's title from "NGE: the River of Souls" to "Beyond the End: the last ones of humankind". IMHO (in my humble opinion), the new title will suit this story much better then the previous one. But if you have any comments and/or objections, please give them to me in your reviews, okay?
Oh, and by the way, since everything spoken in this chapter of this story of mine will be spoken in alien speech (in Shinji's case through already programmed translation device), alien speech won't be marked with italic type any longer. The way the speech will appear in this chapter of this story of mine is more or less how Shinji is hearing it, although of course in this chapter of this story of mine the text is written in English language, not in Japanese language. Although in certain parts there will be certain expressions, which were taken from Japanese language.
Speaking about certain expressions, which were taken from Japanese language, suffix "-sama" is a way to address somebody with uttermost respect in Japanese language. In translation, suffix "-sama" may either be omitted, or be translated as "Lord", "Lady" or some similar appropriate highly respectful title.
Okay, and now, without further ado, let this story continue!
A Streamlet of Hope, an Ocean of Hopelessness"Creator be damned!" Sandro swore aloud, and Millie visibly winced.
While Centauri weren't overly religious people, it wasn't in common practice to blame the Creator for whatever misfortunates were falling upon either race as whole, some of its members or a single member of the race.
Shinji, who has just finished telling Millie and Sandro what little he knew about the Third Impact, looked at Sandro with a slight but badly hidden disgust. While Shinji wasn't overly religious himself nowadays, nobody would remain religious after going through killing those who were supposed to be messengers of God, Shinji didn't liked the fact that one of the first comprehensible phrases, which he heard from Sandro, turned out to be a swearing.
Shinji didn't really know what he had been expecting from this translating device, but it surprised it with its simple design and effective functioning. The device was extremely simple in construction – a single earplug and a speaker, which was placed just under his mouth. Both of earplug and a speaker were connected through a small metal box, which was fastened on his neck, and as far as Shinji understood, was something like a central memory block for this translating device. Now, when this translating device was programmed and fastened, whatever Shinji said in Japanese language seemed to be automatically translated into Centauri language, and vice versa, whatever was said in Centauri language was automatically translated into Japanese language for Shinji. Naturally, Shinji could notice no difference anyway, since everything was translated back into a Japanese language for him; but he couldn't fail to notice, that at least now he was able to understand what Millie and Sandro were saying, and they seemed to be perfectly understanding what he was saying as well. Strange enough, the way Sandro was addressing Millie always sounded as "Millie-sama" for Shinji, while Millie never bothered with such formalities while addressing Sandro. For this, Shinji realized that Millie was something like a leader of the two, although he never seen her really giving and enforcing orders, at least, not yet.
"Sandro…" Millie said softly meanwhile, turning to her companion.
"You don't get it, do you?!" Sandro said angrily, almost shouting.
And then, after a short pause, Sandro added. "Millie-sama."
"I know, how you must feel about mother, captain and everybody, but…" Millie started to speak, trying to sound at least more or less calm.
"We get stuck at this effectively dead planet!" Sandro interrupted her. "Stiletto, like all the starfighters of Centauri fleet, isn't equipped with Hyperspace Portal Spawner, it is too large and too expensive to place on a tiny starfighter! And moreover, our scanner and communication system aren't strong enough to send a Hyperspace message. And this basically means that we have absolutely no way to contact with our people, just as we have absolutely no way to return home."
"But maybe…" Millie started to speak once again, unable to hide uncertainness in her voice this time.
"Maybe what?!" Sandro asked angrily. "You don't seriously believe that we will be able to find a Station Hyperspace Portal, Millie-sama, do you?! We are no less then twenty or so parsecs form the nearest more or less civilized space! Probably even farther, I don't remember it correctly! There is no way for us to cross such distance in the normal space, especially on just a starfighter!"
Millie remained silent, not really knowing what to say, especially since it seemed that her companion was absolutely right. Still, she didn't like the way her companion behaved right now. Perhaps for the first time in her short life, Millie wished that she spent more time developing her telepathic powers. She never had much use for her telepathic powers in the past, even though according to her mother and some others telepaths, her telepathic powers were strong enough to be reckoning with, and after certain "special modifications", which she had passed, many more ways of using her powers were opened before her. But now, Millie wished that she could use her telepathic powers to calm her companion down or maybe even put him into sleep. But no matter how strong one's powers were, one was simply unable to do what he or she wasn't taught to do. And Millie was forced to admit, that her telepathic training was very brief.
Returning her thoughts to the cause of her wish – Sandro, Millie mentally sighed. Before now, Sandro was quite a pleasant companion, for as long as she knew him, which however wasn't especially long time. Ever since their mother ship took off to this exploring mission, Millie's mother – Lady Malindra insisted upon appointing Sandro to the position of Millie's bodyguard. There seem to be no need for that at all, at least while they were on the mother ship, but nobody was going to argue with Lady Malindra's orders, especially since most of the time Lady Malindra knew what she was doing. At first neither Sandro nor Millie herself were especially pleased about that order, but in time Millie started to find Sandro's company more or less pleasant, even though from time to time her tend to bore her with his occasional talks about various starships and technologies. These were the subjects, which Millie knew almost nothing about, and truth to tell, they weren't interesting to her in any way. Yet, Millie always was polite enough not to tell her "bodyguard" to shut up. But despite the differences in their interests, Millie and Sandro were getting along more or less well. Now, however, Millie was learning about the other side of her companion, the side, which she didn't like at all.
"Um, so you get stuck here, didn't you?" Shinji asked carefully, trying to learn more about situation and not to enrage one of his new companions even more. "May I ask, how could it happen? I mean, you managed to get here somehow, didn't you? Why can't you get back the same why as you get here?"
Shinji was slightly surprised and confused, when in response to his questions, Millie lowered her head, looking very sad indeed. However, Shinji's confusion didn't last for long…
"We got here upon our mother ship." Sandro replied, turning to face his new companion. "However, soon after we entered Sol Three's…"
"Sol Three's?" Shinji asked, interrupting Sandro.
"This planet." Sandro explained. "What do you call it?"
"Earth." Shinji said.
"Very well, Earth then." Sandro said and then continued. "As I was saying, soon after we entered Earth's atmosphere, first Malindra-sama, who was…" Sandro made a short pause. "…I will try to explain it later, as it is not important right now, and besides, I don't really understand much of it. Anyway, first Malindra-sama and then our mother ship were attacked by some unidentified enemy. Because of attack on Malindra-sama, our mother ship was crippled and effectively defenseless against this unidentified enemy, and so, Malindra-sama ordered for Millie-sama and me to be sent to Earth surface, so that at least we get a chance to survive our mother ship's destruction. And even though we indeed managed to survive our mother ship's destruction, it does us little good right now, as we have no way of either returning to our people or even to send a distress signal to them. Also, neither Millie-sama nor me really know the reasons for our mother ship's exploring mission, although I am quite sure that Millie-sama have some thoughts about this matter."
"As Sandro rightly said, I don't know anything for sure." Millie said quietly. "Mother and captain kept almost everything to themselves. However, I believe that whatever the reasons were, they had something or maybe even everything to do with this Third Impact, which you told us about. Who knows, perhaps, should we arrive in time, the history of your race would take a dramatically different turn. We'll never know it now. But also, there is possibly something else…" Millie turned to Sandro and raised her heard to look in his eyes before continuing. "…You know about the Shadows, Sandro, don't you?"
"The Shadows?" Sandro made a rather large pause, apparently trying to remember.
"Were they some long-gone ancient race or another?" Sandro asked after his rather large pause.
"In a way, yes." Millie replied. "Only they aren't truly gone. Some say that they will return."
"Some say?" Sandro asked, then his face suddenly brightened, and he continued. "Oh yeah, I remember now. They were the ones whom Minbari warned us about the year before they broke off all the relations with us, weren't they? Well, who cares about all these ancient legends except for these self-righteous Minbari?"
"Mother spoke about them." Millie said meaningfully. "And we used their technology to…"
"And how much good have it done to us, eh?" Sandro asked, interrupting Millie. " Whoever attacked us, he has made us defenseless in no time! It even looked almost like he turned our own technology against us, at least, I don't think that we would be beaten so easily if your… if Malindra-sama wasn't somehow linked with our mother ship, and if the single telepathic, or whatever it was, attack upon her wouldn't make our mother ship absolutely defenseless! What can you say on this, Millie-sama?"
"I say that while you speak the truth, you don't interpret it correctly." Millie said calmly. "If the Shadows have indeed returned, they would possibly indeed be able to turn our mother ship, which has been modified with some of their technologies, defenseless without much difficulty. If the Shadows wouldn't be somehow involved in this, I seriously doubt that such thing would be possible. This suggests, that it is quite possible that the Shadows have already returned, moreover, that the Shadows viewed our mother ship's exploring mission as something dangerous to their plans."
"If so, why haven't they finished two of us off?" Sandro asked. "If they are as ancient and powerful as those Minbari claimed, I serious doubt that they would miss two of us."
"This is something I don't know." Millie replied. "Perhaps, they didn't view two of us as any significant danger to their plans. After all, two of us know almost nothing about mother and captain's plans. And…" Millie made a short pause, but then sighed and continued. "…And as you rightly said, Sandro, we indeed seem to have no way of either returning to our people or even to send a distress signal to them. What danger can we possibly pose?"
An uneasy silence fell upon them, until finally Shinji decided to speak once again.
"Okay, I get it, so you can neither return back to your people by yourself nor even contact them in some way." Shinji said, and then asked. "But some of your people know that you are here, don't they? And so, sooner or later someone will come to rescue you, won't they?"
Sandro though for a several seconds, and shook his head and said. "Truthfully, I don't know. Of course, our captain received an official permission from the Emperor to take our mother ship off on this exploring mission of his, however, very few in the court or in the military know about our mission or our destination…"
"Molari-sama…" Millie muttered.
"Huh?" Shinji asked, turning his attention to Millie.
"He is our late captain's friend…" Millie said.
"Well, I am not sure whether you can call Molari-sama our late captain's friend…" Sandro said, interrupting Millie. "Personally, I'd say that term 'healthy competitor' would be far more appropriate…"
"But you know that he may send somebody after are or even come after us himself, don't you?" Millie said, in turn interrupting Sandro. "He is one of the few lords who actually cares about something other then his own wealth, reputation and status…" Millie went silent for a few moments, and then added. "…At least, mother was sure about this…"
"So, our situation isn't such a hopeless one, is it?" Shinji asked, hoping to get some reassurance from Millie and Sandro.
Both Millie and Sandro nodded, but said nothing; for while Shinji couldn't really get grasp on their situation because he knew virtually nothing about Centauri people as well as their customs and politics, both Millie and Sandro perfectly understood, that their hope was very slim indeed. Even if Lord Londo Molari was indeed something like a friend for their captain, it would be highly unlikely that he would aid them in some way unless he would have a good reason to do so.
"So, do you have any ides what should we do now? While we are waiting, I mean." Shinji asked a couple of minutes later to break the silence.
"Considering that our wait can be a long one, it would be wise of us to get some food and water." Sandro replied. "We have some here aboard Stiletto, but it won't last long. Do you have any ideas where can we find some food and water in this city of yours?"
"Well, I'm sure there is a plenty of it around." Shinji replied. "I will be able to recognize food store more or less easily when we will walk into the one."
"Very well, we better go together then." Sandro said to Shinji.
Then Sandro turned to Millie and continued. "Millie-sama, I believe that you better to accompany us as well."
"Thanks you, Sandro, but I would rather prefer to stay here aboard Stiletto for a while." Millie replied, for even though she tried her best not to show it, prolonged telepathic contact with Shinji exhausted Millie greatly.
"But it might be dangerous for you to stay here alone." Sandro objected. "While Stiletto is on the ground, its scanners aren't of any use, and so, if somebody will approach you, you won't know it until it will be too late."
"I doubt that there is somebody to approach me apart from two of you." Millie objected. "From what we have seen and from what Shinji told us, I'd say there is no living being upon this planet except for us."
Then Millie noticed a pained expression that crossed Shinji's face, and quickly added. "I'm sorry, Shinji."
"No, it is more or less okay." Shinji said. "It is just…" Shinji made a very short pause, and then continued. "…It is just that all of it is my fault."
"I don't think it is fully your fault, Shinji." Millie said gently. "From what I know, I'd say you were just a victim of circumstances. Either way, there is no use to blame yourself now. What's done is done."
"If you say so." Shinji said, nodding, yet still remaining somewhat unconvinced.
"Alright, either way, we will try to return as soon as possible, Millie-sama." Sandro said to Millie.
Then Sandro turned back to Shinji and said. "Alright, let's get going, Shinji."
And so, shortly afterwards Sandro and Shinji left Stiletto and went into the partially devastated city to get some food and drink, leaving Millie alone in Stiletto…
Author's Notes:
Once again, I wanna say sorry to you, people, because this chapter of this story was a rather short one, especially with various author's notes occupying quite a large part of it, and also because it took me quite a long time to write this chapter of this story of mine, a little bit more then a month to be more precise. Well, truth to tell, apart from me being busy with a few other projects of mine, one or even few of which will probably see the light more or less soon, and of course relaxing; this story is also becoming a little bit difficult to me to write at this pointing, especially since I am currently considering two different ways, in one of which this story of mine is going to unfold. That is why the time between my updates of this story of mine is getting quite long, and will possible get even longer in the future. Once again, I am very sorry about that, people.
Well, as usually, people, if you have half a minute or so to drop me a few lines in your review, I will be very happy and grateful. It makes me truly happy to know that at least some people are reading this story of mine. Oh, and keep in mind, people, that the good and positive reviews usually motivate me to write much faster, while negative and critical reviews can possibly help me to improve my writing skills. So, I'll repeat myself, if you have half a minute or so to drop me a few lines, please, do so!
However, people, please avoid using the review options only to advertise others stories, for this makes me feel like people are reviewing this story of mine without even reading it, and besides, as I have already told you, you won't get much of a advertisement in reviews for my stories anyway, since only few people seem to read my stories, and even fewer people bother to review my stories.