As Pioneer walks down the quarry-side path, the night is gradually brightening, morning is looming on the horizon with the first sun soon to rise.
Greeting them into a new day, where, contrary to popular belief, things would be much the same as before. It would take more than the turning of the day to fix what had been broken.
Pioneer’s communicator beeps, it's a text message from Luna’s mother:
> “After careful consideration with my husband, we have determined that the best for her is to bury her on Midnight Iris.
> Luna would have wanted to stay on the same planet as Amethyst, whom she so admired.
> Also, being part of your show was a dream come true for her, so she should get to stay on that journey forever. Please send the official statements and other paperwork about this incident when you can and we will direct them to our lawyer.”
Attached to the message are documents that give Pioneer the right to bury Luna’s body on Midnight Iris.
These were good to have, to show it had all been done according to protocol, and to avoid any Galactic Police interference after her funeral proceedings.
Albeit, if he really wanted to, Pioneer could just use ISSA’s authority to do it anyway, even without her parent’s consent. This planet and everyone here was under their jurisdiction.
Pioneer responds to the message respectfully, hiding his surprise and not wishing to undermine their decision.
He promises compensation from ISSA, and to quickly send them a statement about the incident.
The tinge of guilt grows into a maelstrom.
Is this how Luna truly felt…? Her dream finally came true only for her to...
He stops there, as he didn’t dare—didn’t want to—undermine her wish with doubt and suspicion.
Even if Luna had been working for Intergalactic in secret, there’s no reason to think, this also couldn't be true.
It wouldn't be fair for him to decide what the dead had wanted to accomplish in life.
Pioneer returns to the lab, to find only Grent there, sitting before his computer. He turns around as he hears him arrive.
“Luna’s parents gave me permission to bury her here.”
“Here…?” Even Grent, who's not a fan of pointless questions, has to do a double-take. “As in at Midnight Iris?”
“Yes… We should hold her a small service immediately.”
“Already? But we just put her away.” He sighs and shakes his head but one glance at Pioneer’s face is enough to dissuade him from arguing.
“Very well… I shall prepare her… for the final trip.” He stands up and looks towards the morgue cabinets
“I don’t think we have any caskets, so a biodegradable body bag will have to do.”
He goes and takes out a bag from near the morgue shelves in the walls, spreading it on the table.
Sort of a zipper made of a wood-like substance adorns the otherwise plastic-looking bag which he opens.
“Pioneer, give me a hand, let’s move her to the table and I’ll do the rest. Strip her of her-”
“Y-yes, yes.” Pioneer interrupts him, wishing to hear no more, though not really wishing to see the dead from any closer than he need be either.
Grent opens the freezer and pulls the metal shelf forward. Luna’s skin gleams with sparkles of frost all over her face and her eyelashes.
The rest of her body is adorned with what was left of her torn purple dress, snowflakes of ice made it sparkle even more too.
Thankfully, Grent handles the head’s side, and Pioneer gets to just grab Luna’s freezing ankles.
But… from here, how Grent supported the head with his body and also lifted her from the shoulders, only made it look like she was watching him.
Staring with closed eyes, behind those shut eyelids, secretly judging him for her fate. “Why did you let this happen to me, Pioneer? Why did I have to die?”
He could almost hear her voice asking those questions. “You didn’t like me, did you? Is that why you didn’t do anything to stop this?”
No, that’s not true! Pioneer lightly shakes his head, to try and dispel this illusion of his conscience.
“You’re planning on letting those two go without punishment? Aren’t you? Because you all hated me.”
I… will hear them out, and determine what should be done. For all your accusations, remember you are not innocent either.
With that, Luna’s imaginary, accusatory voice stays silent.
After what felt like ages, Pioneer gets to set her down on the table. He rubs his chilly hands together. They felt cold… and dirty.
“I will keep the door locked for the time being to keep—anyone—from stumbling before her remains as I bag her up.”
Grent looks at Pioneer, who recovers from his stupor with his comment. It was time for him to finally leave, and he was glad for it, to escape this oppressive space.
As he’s about to move, his leg pulls on Luna’s satchel, its brown leather strap around his shoe.
Pioneer lifts his leg out of it and picks it up.
“I forgot to ask her mother, what to do with her belongings…” He looks at Grent. “If you don’t mind, I should probably take these with me, place them somewhere where I won’t forget, and leave them behind.”
“Go ahead. Though, you might want to look through its contents first, before deciding if you wish to return it.”
Pioneer is about to open the satchel-
“But not here, or now! Come on, leave, so I can start, or do you wish to be watching, hmm?”
“Right, no, sorry…”
Pioneer leaves the lab with the bag, and Grent locks the door behind him.
----------------------------------------
While Grent is preparing Luna’s body, he feels a strange gaze on his back, causing a sudden chill to run down his spine. Although, the gaze itself didn’t feel threatening in itself.
As he looks behind him, he sees the Amandebot on the floor.
He could be imagining it, but was her head slightly turned his way?
It feels as if Amande is watching him, that she is in this room with him somehow.
Maybe, she technically is, at least, her robotic shell laid on the floor. And her last ‘physical’ remnants were in the drawer inside the mindray as well.
The soul and the body; are both here but separated, incompatible, and lost. Like deserted islands across the seas, like planets on the different sides of the universe.
The thing that bound them both together, the intangible spirit was still missing.
The medium that crossed between the ethereal soul, and the physical body, the one which stirred and combined them, held them together like glue in its nest.
This sapient will, that somehow manages to make oil and water mixable perfectly.
We might never know for sure, but this may be what gave him the idea.
What drove him to ultimately do, what he did.
To do, what needed to be done, but not what should have been done.
----------------------------------------
Grent swipes his sweaty forehead with the back of his palm, after the surprisingly strenuous job.
That’s all of it… right?
He puts the scalpel away on the metal cart, among the bloody tissues, tossing the final strip of her dress into a trash bag.
At least Luna wouldn't pollute the soil with her clothes now. Though he decided to leave the bandages and other dressings on her, those should be non-toxic enough to bury.
Grent has had mixed feelings about the tradition of burying bodies into a planet’s surface.
Though, he ultimately concluded that it was natural enough: animals, plants, and insects all die and become part of the earth again, anyhow.
So why shouldn’t humans and other sapient creatures follow suit? As long the grave wasn’t too deep, and the person was pure.
I… I’ll just… bag her up now.
Grent stuffs her hair respectfully inside of the biodegradable bag’s confines, then starts zipping her up.
As he closes the bag up to her chest, he realizes she’s still wearing her necklace and earrings.
He takes off the deep red and faint purple metal earrings, from her thawing, but rigid earlobes.
They jingle slightly as he lifts the square earrings consisting of two interlaced, decorated square-shaped plates.
And then, her large necklace, the neckpiece wide and long, with large garnet-like gemstones, shaped like teardrops attached to it.
He couldn't help but wonder if it had a story. Surely, something so extravagant had to have something.
For some reason, three of the gems seem… a bit brighter from the middle than the others, maybe it was just the lighting…?
He takes the necklace off her neck and sets it aside. As he lays it on the metal table, his hand brushes against the necklace, and one of the gemstones opens and shoots something out.
Its fast speed causes it to hit the ceiling with a silent ting and with a light clatter it drops back down to the floor.
Is that…?
Grent searches around and finds the dart, identical to what Amethyst and Frank had been slept by.
Though this one has the Mosquitollibri head completely crushed due to the impact, it seeps out runny translucent liquid from the broken seam between the head and the capsule.
So that’s how… the necklace must be fully loaded with these things…?
The gemstone that shot the dart out, has already closed on its own and is colored lighter now.
He cleans his hands and peers at the necklace, rewinding the situation in his head, on how he accidentally touched it before.
Knowing what he does now, he can almost make out the darker shade in the gemstones as the dart’s barely visible outline.
Hmm…
I think I swiped to the side of it last time… so…
Grent presses a finger directly on top of a darker gemstone, and a dart is ejected from the bottom of the gem, bottom first, falling onto the table.
So this is how she got one to the back of Amethyst’s thigh.
Shoot, or manual placement; quite an ingenious design…
Well, I’ve got time to research it later…
I have to hurry before they get suspicious.
He gets back to Luna, to zip shut her body bag.
Don’t look so sad… I’m sorry, okay? You don’t need them anymore.
Her lifeless face stares back unyielding with closed eyes, the thawed eyelashes have melted their icy crystals into small pools of liquid around her sockets.
Even though he had only seen her on the screen before and heard Frank bitching about her in the sauna… death was always sad, no matter whose it was.
Not even Grent was immune to this fact, or perhaps, he was the weakest of them all to it, even if he was adamant to not show it.
Death… is a part of life.
A fact, Grent had sworn to reject, on the day he heard the news of Amande's passing.
The first expedition party, ‘needed’ a medical expert to go with them.
As they explored deeper into the wilderness of Midnight Iris, scouting for more metal veins, the operation only made themselves that much more known, practically serving themselves to the merciless forest on a silver platter. Her body was never recovered, but the survivors said she was slain by a great violet blade.
Not a day went by that he didn’t wish that he had stopped Amande from going. Done something, stood up against Larsenia, against the stupid regulations and rules.
Insisted on at least going with her.
Done something.
...
Larsenia had stopped coming to the clinic at all after Amande’s death, even to the sauna. Maybe she felt guilty, or pitied him…
In fact, they hadn’t spoken a single word since.
Grent had been left in the dark, so much so, that he wasn’t sure if he had stopped officially being a part of Intergalactic Resources that day.
Well… none of that mattered now…
One could only wish, that somehow, someway, even something so tragic, was just a stepping stone on the path to a better and brighter tomorrow.
Even if it all looked dark, grim, and hopeless, like standing at the bridge of a ship, on the precipice of a Black Hole’s gravitational radius, unable to escape the pull to oblivion.
Even if he was on course to his inescapable demise, he still had one thing to do, to strive for with all his being before the impact, and he might just be one step closer to achieving it.
----------------------------------------
As Pioneer leaves Grent’s lab behind, he goes to the ward. Hoping to find Amethyst and Frank, to finally give him a clear statement, and a consistent course of events that led to this tragedy.
However, as he arrives, he also finds Carol and Friday inside. He speaks, to let them all know: “I… I called her parents, and-”
“Shh… can you speak a little quieter?” Carol sits at a bedside, Friday laying on the bed itself, buried in bed sheets.
Her makeup is spread on her face, and her brunette hair is messy and all over the place. But regardless, she's fast asleep.
“I finally got her to calm down and rest…”
“Sorry…” Pioneer says quieter and looks to Amethyst and Frank, who both look down, sitting next to each other on a bedside too.
“K-keep breathing…” Suddenly, Friday mutters in her sleep and she turns to her side. Her hands grip onto Carol’s arm, pulling on the white cloth of the nurse’s jacket.
“Please… don’t go...” A tear streaks down her cheek and permeates into the pillow, leaving a stain of dark behind, her uneven breathing is audible for a moment.
Everyone is quiet until the silence is broken by Pioneer whispering barely audibly. “Luna will be buried here, on Midnight Iris. We will have her funeral shortly.”
“H-here…?” Amethyst looks at Pioneer and then to Frank. “A funeral…”
“We’re burying her… so… soon?” Frank looks at Pioneer with a raised eyebrow.
“I think it’s for the better… to not delay,” Carol says without looking at the others, she just gently pets the sleeping Friday’s hair.
She leans closer and whispers only to her: “It’s okay… do not be afraid. I’m still here.”
Friday stirs and mumbles something indecipherable.
Pioneer acknowledges Carol’s support for his idea with a nod.
“The sooner we can bury her, the sooner we will all get peace of mind...”
I don’t mean to rush her into the grave, but… there’s no reason to delay.
There’s no question as to what caused her death after all…
It’ll only bring more pain to wait, to prolong the healing that we all must do to some degree.
…
“Amethyst, Frank, a moment?”
Pioneer gestures to the corridor’s door that leads to the kitchen.
They look at each other and stand up, following after Pioneer who takes them to the dining room.
Pioneer lifts up the knocked-over chair and takes a seat by the dinner table.
“If it’s alright with you, I would like to hear both of your stories regarding the events of the night.
Neither of you is in trouble as it stands, I just wish to know and understand how this happened.”
They both agree, and Pioneer asks Amethyst to start.
She tells of the party, how they split up with Frank, how she was helped by Carol, Friday, and Lyra, and then when Luna came to fulfill the promise she had made before.
How Luna then made empty promises to lure her along, and then the small sting that caused her to lose consciousness at the forest clearing.
Pioneer nods along, without interrupting her story until the end, when he fills them in with the darts in turn, before asking:
“What do you think her motives were?”
Frank answers.
“She worked for Intergalactic, so it must have something to do with Amethyst. Perhaps to capture her, to sell or experiment on her.”
Frank looks pointedly at Amethyst, with a hint of nervousness, like gauging her reaction.
Pioneer raises her eyebrows as Frank answers instead of Amethyst who he asked the question from.
“Yes, what Frank said.” Amethyst and Frank exchange glances.
“I see.” Pioneer lifts Luna’s satchel to the side of the table and takes out a plastic box with divided compartments.
It houses purple wing shards, a vial of green blood, and Pango berries in their own segments.
Pioneer opens it up and also lifts out two items in clear plastic bags: a moist crumpled-up paper ball that has misted up the bag slightly and a lock of purple hair.
“What can you tell me of these items?”
“Is that… that’s your hair…? Isn’t it Amethyst? And your signature...”
“I… well… she… asked me to exchange locks of hair with her…”
Amethyst trails off and after a pause, tells both of them about her talks and exchanges with Luna, about how she talked about men in general and of Frank.
However, she leaves out her asking about how Tyrchids reproduce, she hadn’t felt comfortable in divulging that information then and didn’t feel like she could talk about it now either.
“Despicable…” Pioneer holds his head, shaking it and holding on to the bridge of his nose as he leans forward.
Frank leans back with his arms crossed, looking serious.
“I’m sorry Frank, I… I tried to argue against her claims, I just didn’t know how to... And I don’t really believe all the things she said, but it was just so, so…”
“Hard to disprove…? So… convenient to believe?” Frank says glum.
“Yes… And despite everything she said… I felt she needed… a friend. I just couldn't say no.”
Frank is silent, and in the meantime, Pioneer puts away all the things Luna had gathered, then speaks up:
“There's also a camera with lots of photographs of well, everything, many of their subject being Amethyst.
But, we don't need to get into that, it's already abundantly clear what happened with Amethyst. However, what about you Frank?”
“I… Well, I had a bad feeling about Luna all along, from our various interactions, as you may have gathered from what Amethyst just told us.
So, when G-, our um, Scientist friend told me of this secret between Luna and Amethyst just before the celebration, I was starting to get very worried.
Harboring suspicions of Luna’s motives, origin, and danger, I decided to hide my laser rifle in the forest, in case something happened. You know, just to use as a bargaining chip.”
Frank tells how they split up with Amethyst, and how this trio of women, Fanny, Bridget, and Stacy spoke all these awful things about Amethyst and kept him from leaving.
Pioneer gets stuck on Frank’s words, on the lack of details, feeling there’s something more and digs deeper:
“How did they keep you there? Did they do something else than hold you…?”
“They… well…” Frank looks nervous and glances at Amethyst.
“If you don’t mind, Amethyst, can you… wait outside for a moment?” Pioneer asks politely.
“Oh…?” Amethyst looks at Frank, who nods: “I-I’ll tell you later if you wish to hear.”
“Okay…” Amethyst gets up and leaves the room.
“So… these three girls? What did they do exactly? They held onto you tightly, and then?”
“I feel silly just talking about it… it’s not...” Frank looks away, glancing at the door.
“Stop, don’t say it's not important, or that it’s not a big deal. If it's easier, just tell me: what did you feel in that moment?”
“I felt… threatened and helpless. I was bound and I felt alone with them, even in the big crowd. Like everyone could see me, my distress, but nobody would do anything.”
Frank's brow starts to sweat, and he looks down at the table.
“It felt like only a second, and like it stretched on for hours. Panic built up inside me the longer it went on, I feared for my safety. Ridiculous, right?”
“No, of course not.” Pioneer looks at Frank with deep compassion, who just stares down at the table.
“And… after you broke free of them?”
Pioneer leans forward, his elbows against the table, holding two fingers of concentration against his chin as he listens attentively.
Frank rubs his neck. “I felt… used and exploited... Violated. I could still feel their… dirty hands on me, and their bodies rubbing against mine… and her disgusting tongue...”
Pioneer’s head falls off his hands he leaned against but quickly recovers before it strikes the table. He frowns deeply and holds his head with both hands as if a sudden headache racked him.
Frank snaps out of his thoughts and looks at Pioneer confused.
“Sorry about that, please, continue,” Pioneer says with a grimace, one eye closed.
“I… I think that was it.”
“Thank you, Frank, you’ve been very brave.” Pioneer's voice wavers slightly.
“I-… thanks? I did feel awful at the time, still do… a little. It’s hard to… talk about. But, it’s over now, I’ll be fine.”
Frank smiles a careful grin, “I… I’ve got bigger things to worry about…” then becomes solemn again.
“That’s great to hear.” Pioneer flinches. “I mean, thank you for telling me. We will locate these women and administer appropriate punishment. ISSA, and I, take these matters very seriously.”
“I… that’s… Thank you...” A wholesome smile blooms on his lips.
Pioneer calls Amethyst back in, and they continue the discussion:
Frank tells what he heard in Luna’s phone call, talk of extraction and how she admitted that she had arranged for the three women to come distract him.
And in broader and simpler terms, tells what went through his head, and how he was forced to ultimately shoot Luna due to being hit by, what he now knows to have been, one of those darts.
“Thank you for telling me all this, both of you.”
Pioneer says and leans back, a harsh rumination is visible in his creased eyebrows, and in the restless way he fiddles with his golden ring.
“Personally, I think of this as an... accident. The result of a ploy by Luna in which the both of you were victims.
So, there won’t be any charges from my side, but I will have to submit a report to ISSA about this.
Pioneer quickly adds before his stars' demeanors darken further.
Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
“Don’t worry, ISSA will shield you from any legal repercussions, if Luna’s mother takes any action against us later down the line.”
“I see… that’s good,” Frank adds dryly, seeming out of sorts, but the hints of relief visible on his face.
“That’s all I wanted to know, you may go now.”
“Alright…” Amethyst adds and looks at Frank with melancholy and then at Pioneer. “Will this… affect our ISSA court case?”
“They are likely to bring this incident to light there again. In what way, I could not say, but it may not reflect favorably on the Tyrchids.”
Pioneer gets up from the chair and pours himself something to drink from the various bottles brought to the table.
“But I was the shooter? What do the Tyrchids have to do with this?!” Frank bolts up from the chair, planting his palms on the table, leaning forward.
“Are you not their representative? And how do you think they’ll react for a casualty to have happened not even a week after their application’s processing started?”
Pioneer shakes his head and sips the drink. “Try to consider it as just an extra hurdle to prepare for. You weren't going to waltz in without considering how to best make your case, right?”
“Right…” Frank trails off and heads for the door, Amethyst gets up to leave with him in a hurry.
“I’ll let you know of the schedule for your proceedings before we leave!”
They step into the lobby closing the door behind them, not responding to Pioneer’s farewell shout.
Frank stomps to one of the many sofas of the lobby, next to the ward’s door and takes a frustrated seat, practically slamming himself onto its teal-green cushions.
Amethyst has stopped next to the kitchen door and looks nervous.
“Sorry… I… I heard everything… about the three women after Pioneer asked me to leave.”
“Oh…” Frank spreads his arms along the backrest and looks up at the gray stone ceiling. “It’s not nice to eavesdrop, but I guess your hearing’s just too good.”
Amethyst doesn’t comment.
Frank looks conflicted for a second but soon shrugs lazily. “Well, it saves me the trouble of explaining at least.”
“I’m sorry for what happened to you. And for everything else.” Amethyst looks down, still standing alone, further away.
“Thank you, but never mind that now.” Frank taps the sofa’s cushion next to her. Amethyst nods, and with a smile takes a careful seat next to him.
Suddenly, a brief vibrating sound from inside Frank’s tuxedo pocket sounds.
“Huh…? Sorry Amethyst, I just got a message.”
Frank takes out the communicator and checks the sender.
“Galactic Police.”
His heart skips a beat as he reads those words aloud, but there’s no way they could already know what happened here…
Then, he remembers that he’s actually expecting an email from them and takes a deep breath, calming down.
“Frank…? Are you okay?”
“Oh… it’s… well, no need to worry, it’s just about the aftermath of the Viridian Macula.”
“I see.”
Frank opens the message and leans closer to Amethyst, allowing her to see the message over his shoulder.
> “Greetings Frank,
>
>
> Attached, you will find the official paperwork of your criminal record’s erasure and immunity to any legal repercussions from your past activities.
> I apologize for how long it took to do and thank you for your patience.
> We are still processing through Intergalactic’s personnel, as the documents found at Viridian Macula led to further arrests in other Intergalactic facilities as well.
> So, we’ve had our hands quite full in dealing with them.
>
>
>
> I must thank you again for your exemplary service to Justice. You make the United Galaxy proud with your deeds and upstanding morals.
> If you come across any further criminal activities, please do not hesitate to report them to us, just try not to get too deeply involved the next time.
>
>
>
> Best regards,
>
> Aldricht Argo.”
“Looks like you started some sort of a… chain of events?”
“Seems that way...”
…
No, this is a good thing.
Pablo and the others, and whoever got caught in the net of the Galactic Police deserved it, they know what they signed up for...
I’m just… lucky… to have gotten off that ride before it was too late…
They would have sold me out too, Rocco especially, if given the chance…
I just did it first…
Frank lifts his solemn gaze, to see Amethyst looking at him.
“Are you sure… you’re alright?”
“I… don’t know.”
The door to the kitchen opens up and Pioneer appears, he spots them and says:
“One more thing, I hate to ask this of you, but could you look for a burial spot for Luna?
You know the lay of the land the best, and it’s your planet, you should get to decide the place.”
“Oh, a-alright…?” Frank says and looks at Amethyst.
“Perfect, just grab a few of my staff to help you dig out the grave,” Pioneer adds and looks at Amethyst as well.
“Yes… we will do this for her.” She answers resolutely.
----------------------------------------
At the forest’s edge, atop the quarry, a small hill on a meadow lies. The beautiful flowers of red, white, and blue sway in the late-night breeze.
A fresh hole has been dug into the soil, a few meters deep, wide, and long enough for a person.
Grent, Pioneer, Carol, and Friday show up with a gray slab of thick metal, pushing it along from the sides; the floating hoverplate, a makeshift funeral procession.
The air ripples along the four corners of the platform, humming along its sad, steady tune.
On top of it, a black body bag with various flowers, big and small, lying around it.
At the back of the plate, two sets of ropes, as well as a set of electrical lanterns, ride along.
Amethyst and Frank stand a few meters away from the grave, their heads held down. The procession passes them, and the rest join their row, all except Pioneer.
With his hand, he makes two circles in the air.
The first around his mouth, and the next above around his nose, completing this figure of an eight. Or, as it was known in this service, a vertical infinity symbol.
Pioneer puts down his hand, and speaks, in a loud and clear voice:
“From stardust,
to starfall,
may you find peace,
amongst them all.
May you soar through the void,
between the planets and suns,
find her sanctum,
the supernova of life.
She fought for us,
paved our future,
may her scarlet locks catch you,
and pull you back home.
By the blood, life, and death,
your time shan’t be over just yet,
etched in our memories, bound in our hearts,
for good or evil, all are equal on her palm.
May the Red Goddess cast her crimson eyes on you,
and staunch your sorrow in her bosom,
may your tears dry in the warmth of her embrace.
As Pioneer ends his rites, the first sun slowly crests the horizon, casting its glow and long shadows across the meadow.
The Red Goddess is said to reside in the Sun of Metropolis but believed to be able to see through all of the stars of the Galaxy, and beyond.
She casts her first gaze of the morning upon them.
Grent, Friday, Carol, and Pioneer lay Luna’s body carefully into the grave, each holding a piece of rope, that goes through the body bag’s handles at the bottom of it.
Caskets with the same biodegradable time as a human body were in use in Metropolis and other civilized, advanced, planets but outposts often used these body bags as replacements instead.
Less glorious and dignified perhaps, but it would do when the survival and continued existence on such planets were the number one worry.
They lay her to the bottom, Friday and Grent let go of the ropes, and their pair on the other side pulls the rope that runs underneath the bag, back up from the open grave.
They return to their places a bit further out, Friday picks up a flower she brought with her from the ground and returns next to the grave. Her head downcast, she looks into it.
“I will miss you, Luna… Even if people said you were a bad person. Or even if that were true.
I saw you for who you really were. I believe you could have changed if needed, you deserved better.”
Friday drops the flower into the hole. A half-purple, half-red petal separates from it, that floats down slower after the rest of it.
“You were my friend, and you will always continue to be. Live on with me, in my memories...
May your soul fly free, be one with the stars.”
Friday returns to stand in her place and loudly blows her nose to a handkerchief. Carol pats her on the shoulder, and then steps forwards herself, holding a flower too.
Amethyst fidgets, this was something completely new to her.
Even if it did remind her of putting her kin to rest by setting their remains on fire, there is some other component here.
Something almost divine in the air, something more emotional, spoken in words, which the somber atmosphere reflected.
Should I do the same?
Step forward, and express my condolences, speak up my feelings?
Would that be seen as… disrespectful?
Am I allowed to express my regrets, when I am responsible?
She opts to just watch and listens to Carol finish paying her respects.
She really is gone…
Forever.
I’ll never get to ask her why she did it, who she really is.
I can’t say anything else to her, not even see her.
It’s so cruel, so final.
So… irreversible.
…
Even with everything that happened, I can’t say I would have wished it to end this way...
“If only I hadn’t followed her to the forest...”
“I don’t think it would have made a difference in the end. Maybe just made things a bit more difficult for her.
She… would have found another way to accomplish... whatever she wanted to do.” Frank answers softly.
“Probably… she was very stubborn after all.”
“Yeah… I’m sorry Amethyst.”
“Me too...”
Pioneer steps forward next.
Frank watches the funeral proceedings while conversing within his head, with himself, with his conscience, or perhaps, with somebody else.
Have you ever killed anyone before?
Even indirectly, by accident or… being forced to, like me?
I sincerely hope not.
I wouldn't wish this upon anyone.
…
I- I didn’t have a choice!
I know… she… she deserved it!
Didn’t she…?
Frank’s hands curl up into tight fists, and he cannot bear to look at Pioneer who stammers over his words red-faced, holding back tears, talking with a low, wavering voice.
His sunglasses try their best to hide his dismay.
I should have found another way.
But… what could I have done differently?
Regardless!
Killing… a murder… cannot be the answer!
Nobody has the right to take another’s life.
Who am I to say, to decide, she was worthless, evil, irredeemable?
Of being any less deserving to live.
Even after what she said of me, what she did to us.
…
I suppose… sometimes, you just have to make tough choices.
Do what you can, in the split second that’ll decide your whole future, which dictates the flow of the rest of your life.
Time truly is the cruelest mistress of all.
In the end, all you can do is hope that you made the right call.
That you spent those precious moments well and arrived at the right solution.
As you’re the one who has to live with the consequences.
Frank holds his head, covering up his eyes.
I can’t know if Friday was right.
Could Luna have been saved, and redeemed?
Maybe she knew her well, saw something in her I couldn’t.
Or maybe, she was just another victim of Luna’s manipulations.
Could Amethyst have helped Luna turn a new page in her life, free from Intergalactic?
Like me… and Grent have done?
Does it matter…?
Really, truly, matter anymore?
...
She’s dead, and nothing is going to change that.
The permanence of mortality takes this secret, this unknown future, down with its ice-cold hands of bare bone, leaving us guessing.
…
Please… say it doesn’t matter.
Three staff members with shovels come from the background and start to slowly fill the grave up.
As Frank lifts his gaze, he notices Carol hugging Friday, the older medic's back to him.
Friday’s head over her shoulder, she stares straight at Frank, her eyes partially red, mascara slightly smudged around them, she looks at him hateful.
She stares daggers, her face neutral, but her brown irises were like they were ready to kill, to strangle his neck, snap it clean off.
In that moment, it felt like this nurse was ready to take his life, instead of saving it.
Finally, she closes her eyes and buries her face onto Carol’s shoulder.
I truly am, the lowest of the low.
“Come when you can, Carol.” Pioneer is walking away, speaking without looking back.
“We have things to take care of, the party is soon ending. As for what comes to the rest of you, I suggest you all get some rest.”
“Okay…” Amethyst says solemnly.
“That includes you too, Friday,” Carol says and gives her a final pat on the shoulder before going after Pioneer.
Her gaze wanders between them all: the leaving Pioneer and Carol, lingering on Frank and Amethyst but ending up back at the grave. “I’ll stay a while longer…”
Pioneer turns around, and Carol catches up to him.
“Fine, but I’m serious about resting up!”
“I hear you, I will.”
Amethyst looks at Friday who’s stepped up to the very edge of the grave, like she’d jump in herself. Standing partly in the way of the filling operation of the staff.
“Come on, Amethyst. Let’s go.”
Amethyst eyes linger on Friday’s back for a moment more, before she turns to him. “Right. Let’s… give her some space.”
However, instead of back to the clinic, Frank leads her down the small hill, across the meadow, near the edge of the Quarry’s side, approximately above the clinic itself.
Behind them, a few hundred meters away, was a fenced and cleared area, on which large solar panels were propped up. In the growing morning light, they turn towards the sun.
“What I used to do when the walls felt like falling on me back home, was to bask in the sun.”
Frank lies himself on the flowery grass, not minding the state of his tuxedo, it was already dusty and a little dirty.
“Lie among nature, in serenity and solitude. Just exist in silence for a while. Why not give it a try?”
Amethyst looks down at Frank for a moment, but sets herself down too, following his example.
Albeit having a bit more trouble lying down, having to crouch with all her legs, and her torso touches the ground first.
Then, she lays herself on her back, a few meters away from Frank, and looks to the sky.
The sparse gray clouds in the sky are gradually illuminated by the rising sun, and a gentle breeze blows over the two of them.
The dawn highlights the purple of the atmosphere at the edges of the horizon, but the rest of the sky is mostly blue.
It feels good to lie down with the scent of nature around. For just a second to stop after all of the terrible things that have come to pass.
A sonorous but beautiful-sounding bird sings its serene song in the trees behind and Frank breathes in the atmosphere, feeling calm for the first time in a while.
Suddenly, Amethyst speaks.
“What is… death?
…
Is it when a person’s body stops working? When you can no longer ask how they are doing?
Ask, what their plans for tomorrow are, what dreams they hold?
Does a life end, only once they are buried? Once their body is laid to rest?
Can somebody live on in memories, like Friday said? What about if they forget about her? Or if everyone that knew her dies too?”
Amethyst speaks calmly, with a heartbreaking undertone, Frank is taken aback, and once he finally thinks to respond something, Amethyst continues:
“Can somebody live on due to their actions? Like… the Red Goddess, she seems like an important person.
Does she still live, since people remember her?
Does one still live on if something they once created exists, even if others don’t know they made it?
Or if somebody writes about them and their story is remembered after their so-called death?”
Frank listens to Amethyst’s deep thoughts, letting her speak. Clearly, the experience had invoked many things in her newly sapient mind.
“Death is permanent, but what if one is somehow brought back, in another body, like Grent is trying to do with Amande?
Would they still be the same person? Or if that person still did die, then who is that new person then?
Or even if Amande would somehow be brought back in her original body, would it even then be her, just another person with the same name and body?”
...
“Why did Luna have to die?”
Amethyst’s question feels awfully pointed and dangerous to answer.
“Why do I have this blood that others covet? Why… why can’t we all just live in peace…?”
Frank finally speaks up to answer Amethyst’s collected, but glum ranting.
“If only we could, but perhaps one day, we will. The United Galaxy isn’t called that for no reason.
Many sentient species are working together, to make it happen. And we can help in that too, once you are an official member.”
“I see… that’s good... But, how come trouble always finds us? What if I die before it happens? What will happen when I die? Why... do we have to die?
I don’t think that’s fair! Why does it all have to end?”
“I’m not sure what will happen in death...
Some people believe that the Red Goddess will reincarnate us as new life, others that she takes us to her paradise, and a few that she just burns our soul from existence in her suns as a mercy…
It’s also possible, nothing happens, that death is the end.” Frank speaks in a woeful tone.
“I don’t think it’s fair either. But, it’s said, that life just isn’t fair. Though, personally, I feel that’s an understatement. ‘Nothing is fair, by definition’, would be more accurate.
There is nothing, that is objectively good for everyone. But still, we must go on.
Perhaps to try and find that elusive fairness, or to try to get close enough to that perfection as we can and live as we see best.”
Frank pauses for a moment.
“Because, if we don’t seek it, if we give up on life, just because we will die someday… All will be lost—we will be lost—and nothing will ever have a chance to be fair again.”
“You sound like you have thought about it a lot.”
Frank gazes at the sky, and stays silent for a good while, before saying softly: “Yeah.”
The wind sweeps and plays with his blond bangs, whisking it across his vision, as he continues to look up, into infinity.
They are silent, as they bask in the growing glow that slowly chips away at the invisible veil of trepidation and death that blanketed them.
The sun always brings in a new dawn, a start of the present moment, and the beginning of the future.
Like the twin suns of Midnight Iris that chase each other across the cosmic canvas, inevitably future paves the way for the present moment, but the present may never catch the future.
And after them both, trails the dark matter, the invisible and formless, the past left behind, that which can never be found again. Not even by the brightest of lights.
You are forced to move on, to not be buried and lost in the past itself.
Time is never fair, but it always makes us strive to go on, to do better, and face tomorrow.
The next morning, forever illuminated by the future on the horizon.
----------------------------------------
Friday sits on a large stone, its surface gray, with veins of lustrous black. She’s been watching Frank and Amethyst for a while, having noticed them from up on the funeral hill.
That could have been us, Antai.
That could have been us… Luna.
All of us...
Frank is right. Life just isn’t fair.
No matter how many good deeds you do, the Universe doesn’t owe you anything. No matter how innocent or pure you are, bad things will still befall you all the same.
And the crimes of the Universe, cannot be punished, it cannot be reasoned with, not trialed or made to serve its time.
No amount of pleading is going to make it change its ways.
Friday’s hand curls into a tight fist, and she looks down at the two lying among the swaying flowers.
I suppose you were right Carol. We should extol life, and cling to it tooth and nail, but when it is time, we must let it go.
To let those who are gone, and ourselves, rest.
That was the intent behind your wish, woven into your last words, too, wasn’t it, Antai? And yet, I could never forget you.
...
But it’s fine, carrying you within my memories, is not a burden, but a privilege. And I need you to remind me of your advice, and my dreams.
Without you, I would have never left home, leaving behind the opulence of my parent’s wealth, and become… a savior.
Friday’s fist unfurls, and she sighs, casting her eyes into the azure sky, with silhouettes of exotic birds high among the clouds.
Thank you, Antai, my best friend, who I will never see again. But… today you made a new friend. May Luna keep you company, where I cannot.
She plucks a flower next to the stone, its stalk is blue, with white and yellow in its puffy and wavy petals. She walks back to the now filled grave of Luna.
I never got to go to her funeral back home. Do you mind Luna, my friend, if I lay Antai to rest with you? Can you go and look after her for me?
…
Thank you, I knew you’d understand.
She crouches down, places the colorful flower atop the dirt pile, and then stands up.
Friday makes a circle with both hands and presses them together to form the infinity symbol.
May the Red Goddess receive both of your souls, cradling them in the safety of her suns.
And perhaps one day, guide you to a new future with her illumination.