Chapter 53: The Deep Dark Beyond
The ship had been flying for three days now.
K knew because he had counted them.
He sat alone in the cockpit, one elbow resting against the armrest while the stars drifted silently across the windshield. Meredith had disappeared behind him days ago. Now there was nothing but darkness, asteroids, distant planets, and the occasional streak of light from something crossing the ship’s path.
The navigation system displayed their destination in the corner of the main screen.
’QASHKA’ — 17 DAYS REMAINING.
He labeled the route after Thira’s planet not because he knew it was where the coordinates led but because he hoped it was.
K stared at the number.
Seventeen.
He tapped his finger against the armrest.
"One."
The next day, he marked a small line into the metal beside his seat.
Then another.
He had decided that he would count every day.
The ship already knew the time but he simply wanted something he could control.
A small ritual.
Every time the ship completed another dsy cycle, he would carve another mark.
Three marks now.
He ran his thumb across them.
Three days since he had left Meredith.
Three days since Lex and Iniko had been asleep.
He smiled.
The mental image of their sleeping faces flashed across his mind.
They were strong and would rouse easily if he had tried to leave so he had to use an unorthodox method.
Sleeper pills.
Three days since he had stolen the ship and left without telling anyone except Kagu. Although the whole of Command would know by now too.
He leaned back.
For a moment, he wondered what their faces had looked like when they woke.
Iniko would probably have panicked.
Lex would have been furious and Kagu would have pretended she had nothing to do with it.
K glanced toward the empty seat beside him.
"Shira."
Her figure grew into existence next to him.
For the past days, she had been his silent companion.
Yes?
"It’s nothing. I just wanted to know if you’re still here."
K looked back through the windshield.
Is that so?
Shira tilted her head.
"Yes."
K looked down at his hands. His fingers flexed slowly. He remembered another pair of hands.
Small.
Human.
His own.
A memory surfaced.
A white room.
Cold metal beneath his back.
A voice speaking above him.
Then darkness.
He frowned.
The memory vanished before he could grasp it.
He closed his eyes.
This particular occurrence had been happening for a while now.
You must be so lonely.
K opened his eyes again. Shira floated above him, her lips parted showing her jagged teeth.
"Why was Lex afraid of me?"
I don’t know.
"You’re lying."
I am.
"You know something then tell me."
I know many things and nothing.
K’s jaw tightened.
"That isn’t what I asked."
Shira looked away.
He hated when she did that.
He turned back toward the windshield.
"Forget it."
Silence filled the cockpit and the ship continued forward.
Four days.
He carved another mark.
Five.
Another.
By the sixth day, the silence had become almost comfortable.
K began checking the ship’s systems every morning.
Power levels.
Fuel.
Weapons.
Navigation.
Life support.
Everything remained stable.
The ship was old, but it was reliable. He understood why Kagu had chosen it. It had been built before newer systems became dependent on centralized UDF control was in the process of that integration making it easier to hijack.
Fewer remote locks.
Fewer restrictions.
Less chance of someone deciding they could turn the ship around.
K smiled faintly, "You planned this very well." He praised her silently.
Kagu appeared beside him.
"I plan everything well."
"You’re arrogant."
"I learned from you."
K glanced at her.
"Did you?"
"No."
She smiled.
K shook his head.
For a few seconds, he almost forgot she wasn’t on the ship with him. He chuckled to himself and headed back to the pilot seat.
Qashka appeared on the navigation display.
Still impossibly far away.
His smile vanished.
Thira.
His thoughts returned to Meredith.
Thira standing over his laboratory tables, surrounded by failed experiments.
Thira complaining whenever K touched something he wasn’t supposed to, pretending not to care when K disappeared for too long but unable to hide it.
The Miwa’s voice. His strange laugh.
His porcelain face.
K leaned forward.
"You better still be alive."
The words left his mouth quietly.
He didn’t know whether he was speaking to Thira or himself.
Another memory surfaced.
The first time he had met Thira.
The Miwa had stared at him for several seconds before saying something completely incomprehensible.
Thira had been fascinated by him.
K had thought he was scary.
Of course a child would find a Vashki terrifying.
And now?
He wanted him back to answer his numerous questions and... he missed him.
K looked down at the marks carved into the armrest.
Six.
He added another.
Seven.
More passed.
The stars began to change.
The ship continued deeper into unfamiliar space.
K began sleeping in short intervals.
He would wake, check the navigation display, check the ship, and stare at the countdown.
13 DAYS.
He would eat.
Exercise.
Train.
Sleep.
Repeat.
Sometimes he would stand in the empty cargo bay and fight against virtual training drones.
Sometimes he simply sat on the floor.
On the ninth day, he pulled out his old weapon.
The Wasp.
He turned it over in his hands.
Lex had once complained about him stealing it and not returning it.
He remembered the look she’d given him.
That irritated expression then the tiny pause before she inevitably let him keep it.
K smiled.
Then the smile disappeared.
He remembered the forest.
Ira.
The strange sensation that had filled his body.
He remembered nothing clearly.
But his body remembered.
His fingers tightened around the pistol.
Something had happened to him.
Something he couldn’t explain.
His eyes drifted toward the reflection in the cockpit glass.
Blue eyes stared back. The gold swirl was long gone.
Normal.
Human.
At least, they looked human.
K looked away.
"Who am I?"
The cockpit remained silent except for Shira floating next to it.
She didn’t answer.
Days continued passing.
Ten.
Eleven.
Twelve.
Each mark joined the others.
The neat little lines slowly became a row.
A physical record of time for him. He wanted to know exactly how long he’d been gone, how long he’d been traveling and how long Thira had been missing.
On the eighteenth day, he woke from a nightmare.
He was standing somewhere unfamiliar, the ground beneath him was white and a figure stood in the distance.
Tall, porcelain and faceless.
K tried to move but his body wouldn’t respond.
The figure raised one hand.
Something whispered.
Come home... to your death.
K’s eyes snapped open.
He sat upright, breathing heavily. The cockpit was dark safe for the stars outside. He looked around for any signs of something out of place but there was nothing.
No figure. No voice.
Nothing.
He rubbed his face.
"Shira."
She appeared instantly.
Yes?
"Did you say something?"
No.
K stared at her. "Are you sure?"
I am most positive, I have been as quiet as the night.
He looked toward the windshield.
Qashka’s coordinates glowed faintly on the display.
He reached for the armrest.
Eighteen marks.
His fingers traced each one.
Then he picked up the knife and carved the nineteenth.
The sound of metal scraping beneath the blade echoed through the empty cockpit.
He leaned back.
"Nineteen days."
Shira glanced at the countdown.
Eighteen.
K looked at her.
"What?"
You have been counting incorrectly.
He stared at the display.
2 DAYS, 1 HOUR, 42 MINUTES.
K looked down at his nineteen marks then laughed quietly.
"I’m in a bit of rush, huh?"
Shira smiled.
He placed the knife down and he looked ahead.
The darkness beyond the windshield no longer seemed endless.
Somewhere beyond it was a planet he had never seen.
A place he knew almost nothing about.
And somewhere on that planet was someone waiting for him. Someone who wasn’t Thira.
The ship accelerated into the darkness.