Authors: Max Feinstein
The light was almost blinding, forming a radiating halo around everything as he tried to squint and shield his eyes. It wasn’t just the light either, the noise coming from all directions was deafening to his ears. He couldn’t make out anything of what was being said around him, but he knew it was the sound of people conversing in a crowded enclosed space. Where he was
, was not at all apparent to him at the moment, but somehow it all felt strangely familiar to him, as if he had witnessed all of this before.
A certain something brushed pasted him from behind and caused him to turn his head in that direction. He couldn’t make out what it was, however, only that it was a dark shape and that is seemed to tower over him before receding into the distance. Whatever the shape was, it neither seemed to pause or look around, acting as if he was not important enough to acknowledge.
The shape was not alone, he saw as more and more of them appeared all around him, pushing their way towards destinations unknown. They were all around him, but none seemed to notice him standing there. It was almost like he was invisible to the world. That realization seemed to bring anger into his mind. The anger in turn allowed him to realize other emotions that he was feeling inside, emotions that had been hidden all this time.
He tried to filter out the emotions
as if they were not his own, as if they were being pushed down inside him for reasons he did not yet understand. Once the emotional dam ruptured, however, he could not stop them from enveloping him. There was the initial anger, which then brought forth sadness and longing. Confusion followed these at first, but then instantly combined with pain and tremendous loss. It was from these that memories began to emerge. Memories that had been locked away deep inside. Memories that had shaped his entire life and had helped create the person he had become. These were memories of his past, but this was the present, wasn’t it?
The hazy corona of the world around him began to fade and soften in proportion to his increased awareness of where he was.
It was still difficult to observe everything directly in front of him, but everything else on either side of him slowly came into focus. He finally saw that the towering shapes moving around him were different people. Some were just walking around alone talking on their communicators or reading off their wrist-mounted netcom units. Still others in the crowd were in more of a hurry and pushed their way through with their families as carts full of luggage floated behind them. He followed some of these people with his eyes to their destinations and saw them getting into long lines that in turn lead to a large entrance-way set into a curved transparent wall, beyond which rested a large blue and white vessel.
Everything started to come back to him quicker from the moment he recognized this curved barrier and the dozens
of space shuttles sitting on designated landing pads on the other side of that transteel wall. This place was the Sheltonek Departure Terminal. He hadn’t set foot into the terminal since over thirty years ago and that had been the first and last time he had ever done so. That day had been the worst day of his life and only now did he realize that he was in the process of reliving it. The thought of going through it again caused his heart to race. Panic threatened to almost overtake him. He wanted this to stop and quickly closed his eyes to make it go away.
This isn’t real. It’s just a dream. Snap out of it!
He shouted within his mind as his breathe quickened, willing himself to wake up from the coming nightmare. When his eyes opened, however, nothing had changed. He was still standing in the very same place he had been from the start.
“Everything is going to be just fine Dunny. Trust me
,”
a familiar voice said to him from directly in front. Just the sound of that voice caused Duntan Slaige’s heart to skip a beat and tears to swell in his eyes.
It was then that the bright aura in front of him completely faded and a middle aged man leaned down towards him with a big smile on his warm face. He reached over and ran his hand through Duntan’s long sandy hair and kneeled down on one knee in front of him. Duntan could feel the man’s big hand cradle the back of his head as he gazed down towards him with kind sparkling eyes.
“Dad…”
Duntan managed to get out slowly while emotions swelling inside him like a rising tide as he recognized the father he had not seen since youth.
“Don’t you worry Dunny
boy, everything will be alright,” he
began to say in that ever soft, but semi-deep voice.
“Hunny come on, we have to hurry. You know how much I hate to be late. Duntan is a big boy, he’ll be just fine at his uncle
’s,”
Duntan heard in another quickly distinct voice, one of his mother, call out to them. He finally noticed her standing there slightly behind his father. These were the very same words she had spoken on that fateful day, but his father didn’t acknowledge her.
“
I’m proud of the man you have become Dunny and all that you have accomplished. I always knew you would make something of yourself and help those in need,” h
is father continued with the same warm smile on his face. These were words never spoken to him before. “
We have to go, but just know that we love you son, with all our hearts. You were always our world and we will never forget you.”
“You can’t…please dad,
”
Duntan finally said as his father started to get up. Begging him,
“you… you wont come back. You’ll both die.... Stay…please…stay with me.”
The man paused and leaned back down towards Duntan, putting his hand on the boy’s h
eart and looked him in the eyes,
“I know son, but you have to let us go. It’s just destiny. You can’t stop it and nor should you. For our sake and for yours as well, you have to let us go.”
With that he leaned all the way in to hug Duntan tig
htly and whispered into his ear,
“there are people counting on you Dunny and you can’t let them down. You have to do your job and help them. I believe in you, always. Goodbye son…I love you.”
Duntan tried to hug his father tighter in order to prevent him from going, letting the tears flow freely for the first time in his life, but the man dissipated in his arms, leaving him standing there alone in the large spaceport terminal. Duntan moved his hand through the air in front of him, hoping to feel the last remains of his father, and saw how small and young his hands looked. He studied them carefully for only a moment before looking back towards the curved barrier in front of him. All of the shuttles had disappeared except for one.
As he watched the craft slowly lifted off the ground and pulled back away from the walkway that connected to the terminal. It only took seconds for the ship to accelerate into the air and Duntan knew what was to happen next. Even with his sad knowledge, however, he finally realized that he was not crying. He was surprisingly calm as his eyes followed the shuttle’s ascent. It only took a minute for the ship to reach the proper altitude and Duntan watched with wide open eyes as it blossomed in a brilliant explosion, shattering pieces in all directions.
Duntan took a deep breath and ran his hands over his eyes and for the first time in a long time a genuine smile appeared on his lips
,
“goodbye dad…goodbye mom, I’ll never forget you. I miss you and love you.”
With those last words a surprising calmness and relief flowed through him before the lights all around him switched off and he was thrust into utter darkness once more. Duntan’s first assumption was that he was no longer among the living, but the weight pressing down against him just below his waist assured him that he was still very much alive. For a moment he didn’t know where he was or what had happened to him, but the memories of the explosive shockwave came back to him quickly.
He moved his hands slowly at first, making them into fists as he assessed his situation. His body was stiff and ached almost throughout as he tried to move a little. Duntan’s mind tried to pull him towards the sweet embrace of sleep almost as soon as he started to try and open his eyes, but he willed himself to focus. There was no time to rest. His Federation was at war
and he needed to do everything within his power to help in that effort.
His continued determination was rewarded with the appearance of two slits of light as his eyes began to open.
It also became apparent to him that almost instantly the pain throughout his body had subsided into nothingness and the urge to rest dissolved with it. Duntan was puzzled, but quickly realized that his combat suit had probably sensed his discomfort and had administered the proper medication to keep him fully functional. He was actually relieved that someone was looking out for him, even if it was a system designed with the directive of helping to keep him in top fighting form.
This same system was also designed to constantly monitor all of the suit’s sensors and inform the wearer of any dangers within the surrounding environment, as it now did with a rapid vibration on Duntan’s right shoulder. The veteran soldier’s muscle memory reflexes took over without second thought and his right hand shot out
to point him wrist-mounted DRF emitter into the distant direction of the simulated vibration, the speed of which assisted by the exoskeleton suit’s muscle-like fiber network, even before his eyes had time to snap open. It took a few seconds for his eyes to focus properly, but he was thankful for the wait as he registered the green “friendly” IFF icon within his visor display. Inside Duntan knew that the armor suit would never have let him discharge any of his weapons at a friendly soldier, though it was still encouraging to him that he was in full control of his body and reactions once again.
“Sir, are you alright?”
Duntan heard through his TacLink as he turned his head towards the direction of the approaching figure and saw another soldier running towards him.
As the figure presented itself, t
he colonel’s visor identified him as Captain Weslow Fuentes of the Federation Army Air and Space Command and brought up the pilot’s profile in the HUD. The confirmation allowed Duntan a momentary respite from his sudden awakening. He pulled his arm back towards him, allowing the two focusing prongs to retract back into their wrist mount as he deactivated the directional repulsion field emitter.
It took several seconds, but the captain’s question finally registered inside Duntan’s mind.
Frankly he should have never survived a crash of such magnitude, but against all odds he had. Thinking about the statistical probability of the event was not highly productive at the moment, however, as there were more pressing matters to deal with, so Duntan pushed the thought away. His combat armor was not so deterred, though, and read his thoughts on the subject. A diagnostic window opened in his visor and started to sift through the data gathered during the crash. It took only seconds for the system to find the most likely explanation to his indirect query. The data showed that the transport craft broke apart in midair and ejected all of its occupants. Just before Duntan had impacted the ground at terminal velocity the suit had registered his loss of consciousness and used its own logic processor to activate a repulsor field around Duntan, greatly diminishing the speed at which he hit the ground. Usually the field is activated only during a controlled descent in high altitude covert drops, but had worked sufficiently well in this instance.
A diagram of the entire suit appeared on the screen beside the diagnostic window and let Duntan know about its current condition. Besides a few minor external systems there was surprisingly little damage to the suit’s usability. Some of the armored nanofiber weave had sustained some damaged along the limbs, but was actually in the process of completely repairing itself. As he looked over the data, Duntan realized that he hadn’t even
inquired about his own health condition. It only took another thought to bring up the internal vitals monitor, which did a thorough body scan and assessment of the soldier wearing the suit. The scans appeared on his HUD and indicated that he had suffered a minor concussion and multiple bruises throughout his body. Other than that his condition was coded green, meaning full operational status.
With relief Duntan finally tilted his head and reached out to grab the large piece of transport fuselage that covered his lower half wit
h both hands. The suit’s fiber structure contracted like muscle and allowed him to use only a small amount of effort to lift the piece and heave it away from himself. With the weight lifted off of him, Duntan sat up and finally took a good look around. There was debris strewn in all directions, sticking out of the soft ground at weird angles, where it had impacted at high speeds. Off in the distance the sun had already risen, but was partially obscured by large plumes of smoke and dust from multiple missile detonations.
“Ye
ah, I’m just fine Captain,” Colonel Slaige finally answered with a sign as he pushed himself to his feet and stood up from the small crater his fall had created, “give me a sitrep.”
“
Still working that out, sir,” Weslow acknowledged as he came to a stop beside the colonel, “we were hit by the concussive wave from those detonations, but Daisy and I were able to get the Buzzard stabilized. At least before it got hit. Not sure by what, though, sir. All I know is that she came apart quickly after the hit. The system auto-ejected both of us right after that.”