/circling the drain
894 words
"Do you think that we can fix it?"
Brontide shook his head at the mess of engine "I doubt it. Even if we could it would take too long. Vectora will simply have to come retrieve us. You are certain she received the transmission?"
"Positive," Trance said "They replied that they had us on scans, but it'd take at least 3 cycles to reach our position. I didn't realize it was possible to jump that far."
"Nevertheless we did," Brontide turned "Veem, help Trance clear away the debris from the engines, it'll make repairs go easier once we're back on the star craft."
"Yes, sir," Veem tilted his head "Sir?"
"Yes."
"He has a name," Trance muttered.
"You'll let us come with you, right? At least until Tovoth's better?"
"Yes, of course. You may stay with us as long as you find necessary, or long if you decide to join us."
"Thank you...I'll ask Tovoth about it when he's feeling better."
"Hey Brontide?" Sororal's voice came over the comms "Come here a minute? Just you?"
"Coming Doctor."
As Brontide left, Trance and Veem felt to work cleaning out the space dust and asteroid fragments from the engines.
"So, what where you two doing way out here on that freighter anyways?" Trance asked as they began.
"Well... I suppose the simplest way to put it is, we were running away," Veem ducked his head, eyes focused on his working fingers.
"Yeah, that's about what we were doing too."
"Really?"
"Mm-hmm," Trance went quiet for a minute as she pulled on an obstinate fragment of rock "After Kataria was destroyed, Brontide and Vectora decided they'd had enough of the fighting, so they gathered up some other Vives, from both sides, and off we all went."
"So, you're looking for another planet to live on?"
"That seems to be the gist of our plight," Trance gave up on pulling the fragment and glared at it.
"What?" Veem reached out for the rock and removed it with a sharp tug.
"Yeah, that's about what we're doing," she simplified "Thanks."
"You're welcome. I'm not sure what Tovoth had planned."
"Do you just let Tovoth plan everything?"
"He's good at it. Better than I am."
"Fair enough," she laughed "If I let my friend pick out everything we did, I'd have been dead twenty Orbitals ago."
He laughed with her "To be fair, Tovoth killed me once."
Trance paused and gave him an odd look
----
"Is something wrong Doctor?" Brontide asked as he stepped into the tiny medical bay. Sororal was perched on the edge of the surgical table, near the injured Tovoth's head.
"Yes," Sororal took off into the air and held out a small tablet "Y'know how I said he wasn't dying?"
"I recall."
"Well, he's dying now."
Brontide looked at the stats on the screen and shook his head "I don't understand. Did the landing injure him further?"
"No, it appears the jump did," Sororal took the tablet back and flew over to one of the consoles "It seems like he'd been infected with a virus of a sort, but it either was or it had gone dormant but never was cleared out of his systems. The jump reactivated the virus and its completely devouring him, degrading all his internal works and... I think, stilling his Light."
"I didn't know such a thing was possible."
"Me either, but, unfortunately, it seems to be real enough."
"There's nothing you can do to stop it?"
Sororal shook his head "If I knew how the virus went dormant in the first place, I might be able to put it back to sleep so to speak, but I don't have the faintest clue."
Brontide sighed and looked down at the dying Vive "Then I suppose there's nothing we can do. I'll tell Veem."
"Do you want me to do it? It is part of my job."
Brontide paused, then shook his head "No. I will. How long does he have left?"
"Scans say he probably won't make it past the end of the Cycle."
"Right," Brontide touched the middle of his forehead as if it ached "Of course."
----
"No," Veem reached out for the wall to steady himself "No. They said he was better. They said he was better!"
"His body hadn't purged out the virus and the jump reactivated it. Sororal says there's nothing he can do."
"No. Can't you do what they did last time?"
"Do you know what they did last time?"
Veem froze, his wings drooping down, and shook his head.
"Does Tovoth know? If Sororal could manage to wake him up maybe-" Trance trailed off as Brontide shook his head.
"Sororal said that he has less than a Cycle left, all mental actvity is already shutting down."
Veem put his hand over face and didn't move it away from his eyes "Okay...okay..." his voice cracked and his shoulders hunched against his neck.
Trance reached out and put a sympathetic hand on his elbow.
"Would you like to say goodbye?" Brontide asked "If only to put yourself at mind's ease."
"Yes, please," Veem dropped his had down, wet with tears "Please."
Brontide nodded and led Veem back towards the medical bay "Trance are you going to continue working on the engines?"
"No," she had a thoughtful look on her face "I'm going to make a quick call."
894 words
"Do you think that we can fix it?"
Brontide shook his head at the mess of engine "I doubt it. Even if we could it would take too long. Vectora will simply have to come retrieve us. You are certain she received the transmission?"
"Positive," Trance said "They replied that they had us on scans, but it'd take at least 3 cycles to reach our position. I didn't realize it was possible to jump that far."
"Nevertheless we did," Brontide turned "Veem, help Trance clear away the debris from the engines, it'll make repairs go easier once we're back on the star craft."
"Yes, sir," Veem tilted his head "Sir?"
"Yes."
"He has a name," Trance muttered.
"You'll let us come with you, right? At least until Tovoth's better?"
"Yes, of course. You may stay with us as long as you find necessary, or long if you decide to join us."
"Thank you...I'll ask Tovoth about it when he's feeling better."
"Hey Brontide?" Sororal's voice came over the comms "Come here a minute? Just you?"
"Coming Doctor."
As Brontide left, Trance and Veem felt to work cleaning out the space dust and asteroid fragments from the engines.
"So, what where you two doing way out here on that freighter anyways?" Trance asked as they began.
"Well... I suppose the simplest way to put it is, we were running away," Veem ducked his head, eyes focused on his working fingers.
"Yeah, that's about what we were doing too."
"Really?"
"Mm-hmm," Trance went quiet for a minute as she pulled on an obstinate fragment of rock "After Kataria was destroyed, Brontide and Vectora decided they'd had enough of the fighting, so they gathered up some other Vives, from both sides, and off we all went."
"So, you're looking for another planet to live on?"
"That seems to be the gist of our plight," Trance gave up on pulling the fragment and glared at it.
"What?" Veem reached out for the rock and removed it with a sharp tug.
"Yeah, that's about what we're doing," she simplified "Thanks."
"You're welcome. I'm not sure what Tovoth had planned."
"Do you just let Tovoth plan everything?"
"He's good at it. Better than I am."
"Fair enough," she laughed "If I let my friend pick out everything we did, I'd have been dead twenty Orbitals ago."
He laughed with her "To be fair, Tovoth killed me once."
Trance paused and gave him an odd look
----
"Is something wrong Doctor?" Brontide asked as he stepped into the tiny medical bay. Sororal was perched on the edge of the surgical table, near the injured Tovoth's head.
"Yes," Sororal took off into the air and held out a small tablet "Y'know how I said he wasn't dying?"
"I recall."
"Well, he's dying now."
Brontide looked at the stats on the screen and shook his head "I don't understand. Did the landing injure him further?"
"No, it appears the jump did," Sororal took the tablet back and flew over to one of the consoles "It seems like he'd been infected with a virus of a sort, but it either was or it had gone dormant but never was cleared out of his systems. The jump reactivated the virus and its completely devouring him, degrading all his internal works and... I think, stilling his Light."
"I didn't know such a thing was possible."
"Me either, but, unfortunately, it seems to be real enough."
"There's nothing you can do to stop it?"
Sororal shook his head "If I knew how the virus went dormant in the first place, I might be able to put it back to sleep so to speak, but I don't have the faintest clue."
Brontide sighed and looked down at the dying Vive "Then I suppose there's nothing we can do. I'll tell Veem."
"Do you want me to do it? It is part of my job."
Brontide paused, then shook his head "No. I will. How long does he have left?"
"Scans say he probably won't make it past the end of the Cycle."
"Right," Brontide touched the middle of his forehead as if it ached "Of course."
----
"No," Veem reached out for the wall to steady himself "No. They said he was better. They said he was better!"
"His body hadn't purged out the virus and the jump reactivated it. Sororal says there's nothing he can do."
"No. Can't you do what they did last time?"
"Do you know what they did last time?"
Veem froze, his wings drooping down, and shook his head.
"Does Tovoth know? If Sororal could manage to wake him up maybe-" Trance trailed off as Brontide shook his head.
"Sororal said that he has less than a Cycle left, all mental actvity is already shutting down."
Veem put his hand over face and didn't move it away from his eyes "Okay...okay..." his voice cracked and his shoulders hunched against his neck.
Trance reached out and put a sympathetic hand on his elbow.
"Would you like to say goodbye?" Brontide asked "If only to put yourself at mind's ease."
"Yes, please," Veem dropped his had down, wet with tears "Please."
Brontide nodded and led Veem back towards the medical bay "Trance are you going to continue working on the engines?"
"No," she had a thoughtful look on her face "I'm going to make a quick call."