"Are you sure it's her?" I asked the doctor again.
"It's a perfect DNA match. There is no question. It's her, it's Ashley Sullivan." She replied. "She was born in this hospital, as was her mother, father, and all grandparents, on both sides. Our records are independent of the Galactic Center; it's her."
This whole thing keeps getting better and better. Trillion Biggs, is Ashley Sullivan; the most well known name this side of the Galaxy. If she is Ashley Sullivan, then who is the woman running Sullivan Enterprises?
Well thank goodness I've been given exclusive rights to speak with her. Whenever she wakes up anyway. That's the deal the other news channels brokered to be able to use our footage of the ship's planet fall.
Right now the poor woman is covered in bandages, both legs in a cast, and one of her arms. There are scars all over her body, and a magic expert had to be called in to assist with her surgeries, as there was an enchantment circuit tattooed onto her back. We still don't know what it's for.
I walk back into the room, and sit down in the chair next to her. I run my fingers through her chocolate colored hair, cut so short that I can't curl a lock around my finger. Her eyes slowly open, and violet irises look at me, the vivid flash of mana being called ran through the fibers of her eyes, I pulled my hand back, and smiled at her.
"good morning, Trillion; do you remember me?" I asked cautiously. Mana only flashes like that if the Mage in question intends to kill with whatever they have planned. "I'm Elizabeth Fern, we spoke while you were falling. Do you remember that?" She nods, and I see the flash of mana again as she recalls whatever spell she had prepared. "I need to call the doctor back, don't be alarmed." She nodded again, slower.
"Doctor Chalmers! She is awake!" I shouted, my eyes never leaving hers. I saw her cringe at the noise, but her eyes also didn't leave mine.
The woman I had just been talking to came back into the room, and looked straight at the woman in the bed. "There are those Sullivan Eyes." The doctor said, the flash of mana occurred again, and the doctor saw it, and all her enthusiasm stopped. "That's new. You weren't a listed as a mage." The doctor turned all business quickly, but I noticed that Trillion hadn't recalled the spell yet. Checking vitals, and going through her professional routine, pointedly ignoring the fact that she was checking on a patient that has already shown a lethal intent. "Trillion, I don't know what you've been through the last year; but I am here to help you. Not cause you pain. Since you're awake, can you state your name for me."
"Trillion Biggs."
the doctor nodded, "and your legal name."
"Trillion Biggs." She sighed, "my grandmother's last will and testament was quite clear. I followed it to the letter. My legal name is Trillion Biggs."
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
the doctor looked at me, and I nodded; left the room, and called Steven. I asked him to find Carolyn Sullivan's last will and testament, as well as research Trillion Biggs name change after Carolyn's death last year, as well as anyone who changed their name to Ashley Sullivan in the past decade. By what I was asking for, he gathered what was going on.
As I walked back into the room, I put away the communicator. I needed to be on point while I was around this girl. The way she says things tells me that she is used to hiding things while telling the truth.
"...plenty of fluids; you're mildly malnourished. Now none of our records show you as having awakened to magic, but it's obvious, now, that you have. Sometimes this changes food preferences; so don't be afraid to tell us not to bring certain foods to you."
Trillion nodded, and the doctor left the room.
"you're a reporter?" She asked. I pointed to the airbrushed emblem on my cheek, and nodded.
"last year they started requiring us to do this whenever we aren't in front of cameras. Too many reporters were reporting real news, and ignoring smokescreens, so they took away our choice, and made us publicize who we are when we aren't in front of a camera."
"Sounds like something the politicians would do. So why are you here?"
"Anything dealing with Serindipity is huge news, and my channel brokered an exclusivity contract with all the other channels."
"And being on the Starliner makes me your exclusive." She rolled her eyes. "Great! More publicity!" She said with mock excitement.
"what do you mean?" I ask, making it obvious I'm recording her response, but not her.
"Serindipity malfunctioned when it's Extra-Orbital burn shut down. Partly because it was crewed by pirates instead of who should have been there, and partly because of a mechanical failure in the core output boosters; they weren't shielded from residual Bosen particles reacting with the trapped photons of the core boosters."
"That's an aweful technical response from a, once, trading baroness."
"turn off the recorder." She says. So I comply, and move next to her, instead of across the room. "The effect forced us into a time-dilation bubble, something that isn't supposed to exist. My mind tells me I have lived nearly three hundred years, but I know that I didn't. As far as food, we figured out fairly quickly that we needed a way to survive without it. One of the rats was an artificer, guess who his artifact experiments were tried on. It took six weeks to perfect the part that makes me not need food. Nearly a month to be able to breath with as little as one part per zillion oxygen in the air; by this point, five hundred of the original passengers had died. Either being shot for attempting to rebel, or the fact that their bodies didn't take the enchantment ink well, and they died of an alergic reaction. By the end of our first year, we all started studying the ship, we knew it was keeping us in that pocket. One by one, people slowly gave up. Strangely, the Pirates gave up first, and killed themselves in various ways. By the time the last pirate died, only one hundred passengers remained."
"you don't want people to know this?" I asked, honestly.
"no. The masses need confidence in starship construction, and their design engineers. I know how to fix the flaws that Serindipity had, so my situation doesn't happen again. But the effect of the flaw that caused this; should never be revealed. I'm telling you, because if it's ever leaked, I know who it came from."
"So you're testing me."
"I'm giving you a chance to prove humanity isn't as corrupt as the last three centuries has taught me; or if you prefer, the last year."