Fiction logo

Sparrow

Synastry Chapter 1 (Science Fiction)

By K.T. SetoPublished 2 years ago Updated 2 years ago 14 min read
Like

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. She was holding back her screams, so in this instance, they were right. No one could hear them. But the statement itself? Not right at all. Typical of the all-knowing ‘they’. They say a lot of things that aren’t true. Not that lies bother her particularly, her job is essentially lying. It’s just this statement. Or maybe just the last part, the part about space being a vacuum.

The word vacuum implies an immeasurable sucking emptiness spreading out in all directions. Pulling everything in so that it un-becomes. Nothingness. Which is an incredibly inadequate analogy at best, especially since it's just plain wrong. There’s so much out there, and most of it wants to kill you. She was thinking about space when it started. And from there, on to screams. Plenty of reasons to scream looking out into the vastness of space, and most of them exist only in your head. When you scream because of them, there is always someone or something that will hear. Even if you can’t see it.

It’s funny what makes people scream, actually. Humans are rather eclectic about what they find terrifying. Although, some things are universal. Folks see them and no matter where they are or what they are doing, it invokes a level of terror that reduces life to a pinpoint instant and outer space to only what you can see. Like fire.

Fire is the great equalizer. Nothing in nature stands still when faced with it. Birds fly away, crawling creatures burrow or flee. Only humanity seems to forget the lessons learned in flame and smoke. But she hadn’t. She knew exactly what it could do, which was why she was holding back her screams. Screaming is pointless in fire. Pointless in a fight for survival unless having someone else around could help. Tatsuyana Muolo coughed instead, her screams taking a backseat to the struggle to breathe air that was suddenly too thick. Her ears rang with sounds of struggle. It surrounded her but was barely audible over the roar of the growing flames. Only humans would ignore the danger and stand uncaring while the world went up around them. Would the sounds of their fighting fly out through the heavens and travel on through the vastness of space? She didn’t know. Maybe that was something she should ponder when this was over.

“Kris, come on. Please,” she said, and dodged a blow, pushing her unseen attacker away, then wincing at the sound of wood cracking and his scream as his clothing caught fire. Kris struggled with someone, his face in shadows and a gun went off somewhere to her right. She dodged again and kicked the man grappling with Kris in the side of his knee, the crack of breaking bones barely audible above the roar of the fire. Kris used her attack to disengage himself and she pulled him away, just as the man delivered a blow to his head. Kris crumpled to the ground, pulling her off balance and fear spread like a heavy cloak wrapping her in its suffocating cocoon.

Around her, the sounds of battle intensified. Screams and grunts echoed in her ears, warring with the sound of the growing inferno. Her heart raced as she spun wildly, stopping to look as something gleaming caught her eye. A data chip lay just out of reach, shining oddly, as if lying in a beam of sunlight on the floor in the middle of the combatants. She crawled away from where Kris lay and grabbed for it, feeling the packed earth beneath her crumble and heat as it covered her clothes with a fine layer of soot. The chip slid from her fingers again and again as the oblivious men and women fighting around her jostled and trampled her in their desire to reach their chosen opponents. She lunged and grabbed it with both hands, uncaring that the action caused her to face-plant. Rolling to avoid a boot to the head, she secured it and slid it into her pocket. She wanted to lie still for a moment to calm her racing heart but didn’t dare, crawling back to where she’d left Kris and giving him a shake. He was out cold.

Have to get out of here, have to get away. She repeated those words like a mantra as she half carried, half dragged Kris towards the back door. A wall of flame rose between her and escaping. She looked down and could no longer see Kris. No longer see anyone. Shaking her head, she ran for the side door and reached up to open it, realizing she was holding her gun. When had she pulled it from her holster? As if compelled, she lifted it so the barrel pointed at Kris’ head where he lay in front of her, arms outstretched. Flames licked at the thick soles of his boots where his body sprawled just inside the doorway. A shout caused her to look up and without pausing for thought, she raised her gun and shot the person through the head. Then she slid the gun into her holster and dragged Kris the rest of the way outside before leaning into the door to shut it. Her mind cleared of everything but the need to keep moving. Running from entrance to entrance, seeing the bars on the doors of the barn and hearing the screams. Banging. Voices whispering- let us out- an impossibility. No whispers in the flames, no sounds but the roar of the fire. Yet she could hear them; and see fingers- blackened husks prying at the wooden bars over the barn doors. Let us out. She shook her head, backing away from the burning building, her gun somehow in her hands again- firing round after round at the fingers prying at the latches. Then she looked down at her hands again and saw they were free of soot and blood. She closed her eyes. When she opened them, the only flames she saw were in the large holographic fireplace on the far wall of her hotel suite.

Tatsuyana looked around, shaking herself free of the last vestiges of her flashback. Her chest heaved as she struggled to catch her breath and push the fear and panic back where they belonged. She knew what PTSD was, but it felt so ridiculous to call what happened to her when the memories got too close an anxiety attack. Sweat plastered her thin pajamas to her body, making her skin feel clammy. Kris lay sleeping on the bed, undisturbed. He never seemed to notice her difficulty sleeping. Had no difficulty himself, even though he’d lived through the same thing. She was holding her gun in one hand and standing in a puddle of water from the cup she’d knocked off the side table during her attack. Thankfully, she kept her magazine and gun separate, or they’d be trying to explain laser burned walls to the hotel management. Tatsuyana used her balled fist to wipe the tears from her eyes and put the gun back under her pillow before taking the five steps to the bathroom attached to their side of the suite. She hadn’t even realized she was crying. She never cried. Crying was pointless too. When the door slid shut behind her, she peeled the clothes from her body and stepped onto the shower platform.

“Pulse spray, 7 minutes, 42 degrees,” she stated, turning to palm the wall panel to activate the enclosure. She scooped out a handful of soap crystals from the functional but decorative jar that lay on the niche in the rear wall and rubbed her hands together until she had a good bit of foam to use and began her meditation.

My limbs are tools, my mind is clear. My steps upon this path of fear. Reveal your face and set me free. I push beyond what’s left is me. My life is measured, every breath- my joy, my hunger, every step. Release my pain, my ego flees, my vow has firmed my choice to see. I rule my fear it won’t rule me. I rule my pain. It won’t rule me, I choose my pain like it chose me. I know my fear like it knows me. This is our way, I own my fear. Meet fear with fire. This is the way.

She let the water wash away the soap and the remnants of her attack, feeling her mind settle as it always did when she meditated, using the remaining two minutes to rinse her hair and face before the water shut off. While the warm air blew her dry, she closed her eyes and tilted her head back towards the ceiling in thought. When she worked, she kept it in check, but as soon as she stopped moving or closed her eyes, it returned. Especially when she managed a few hours of rest. No amount of conditioning or meditation had come up with a way to control a mind in sleep. Tatsuyana scrubbed her teeth and brushed her hair until it was clean and dry, the sanitizing brush using ions and the remaining dampness from her shower to tame it into her habitual low ponytail. She didn’t bother with makeup, inserting the contacts that made her eyes look normal before walking naked back into the main area of the suite to dress.

Kris slumbered peacefully where she’d left him behind the partition that separated their sleeping area from the rest of the suite. Each bed sat behind an opaque glass wall that gave a bit of privacy while still allowing light to filter through. A balance of beauty and function, something she found soothing after so many years on Earth. Earth. Where you could drive five miles from the modern, technically advanced walled cities and find yourself in a barren no man’s land where fanatics hid from computers and killed each other over stupid things. Living in underground cities and only gathering rarely above groung in the crumbling 21st century huts that somehow clung to existence despite the passage of centuries. She was born there outside the safety of city walls, but she never felt like she was home until she got to Luna. The moment she’d set foot on the moon at age 12, she’d known she never wanted to live anywhere else. The domes were home. The open air of Earth where anything could come at you from any direction and often did was chaotic and frightening by comparison. Tatsuyana stood for a moment looking out the large picture window that made up the front of the suite, the five sleeping areas arranged above and behind in a semi-circle around the sunken common area. How long would it take for her to move past this? She shook her head and then began the movements of the Öno Mafŏ. Each form was crisp and practiced, flowing one to the other. Her head cleared, the fear retreating to a tiny corner of her mind. She didn’t have room for it, not living with Kris and his compatriots. Tatsuyana needed to stay one step ahead of them and free of distraction.

Looking around again, she realized that two of the five beds were empty, one of which belonged to their leader. Which made it the perfect time to take care of a little business. She walked over to the kitchenette at the rear of the common area closest to the door, ran her fingers over the touch pad to pull up the menu for in-room amenities and ordered a pot of coffee from the fabricator inset in the wall. While she waited, she pulled out a mug and then walked back to the low sofa in front of the window then pulled out the communal digi-pad that came with the room making a show of using it to find a program to watch on the viewer before running a finger absently behind her ear as if scratching. Tatsuyana replaced the digi-pad in its charger and tapped her fingers on the table as she watched the news program, setting the volume on low to prevent waking the suite’s other occupants. A click and a flash of light behind her eyes was the only sign she got they received her message. Behind her, the fabricator beeped, so she rose and walked back to pour herself a cup before returning to her seat and taking a long sip. The quiet of early morning finished the job, her meditation and exercises started.

“Denied.” A low voice said in her ear. She stood and walked to the window, pretending to look outside. The tiny implant vibrated with the sound of the word, but no one but her could hear the voice. Tatsuyana frowned and tapped her fingers on the windowsill in a quick pattern.

‘Confirmed attempt coming soon, exact time unknown. All parties on Luna.’

“Insufficient.” The word sounded almost as soon as she sent her reply and she sighed. ‘Acknowledged.’ She tapped and walked back to the sofa to resume drinking her coffee. A soft noise behind her drew her attention. She turned her head, using her enhanced hearing to find it, and saw Kris stirring. Tatsuyana put her mug on the table and went back to the sleeping area they shared, leaning down to give him a kiss.

“How do you do that, Ana? I just opened my eyes and didn’t make a sound.” He smiled pulling her down atop him.

“The heart knows what it knows. That’s a true,” Tatsuyana said, spreading her legs to straddle him as she took the good morning kiss from soft welcome to blooming passion. When she pulled back a long moment later, their hearts beat out the rapid cadence of longing. He arched beneath her, and she smiled.

“I wish we really were on vacation. We need to get away, get some rest. You’re still not sleeping.” He rolled to his side, taking her with him. She frowned but wanted to smile because he had noticed after all.

“I slept a little. It’s hard for me being back here on Luna.” She prevaricated, and he frowned.

“I didn’t think about that when I insisted you come with me. I just didn’t want to be without you after what happened.” He placed a chaste kiss on her down-turned lips, and she smiled.

“I felt the same way. That’s why I didn’t say anything.”

“Is this the first time you have been back since you escaped?” he asked, and she frowned, accessing her memory bank for the story she’d told him.

“No, I stopped off here before getting passage back home. Well, Terra. My Under was gone two months after they took me away.” She leaned into him, taking strength from his embrace. The memory was supposed to upset her. That’s what you do when you are upset, you cling.

“That’s right, you did say you had to live in the Under here for a bit before you could get passage. I should have remembered since your connections helped us get here.” He rolled again, this time so he was atop her. Kris reached out with one hand to hit the button on the privacy screen, so two more partitions came up between them and the rest of the suite. Soundproof and opaque, it granted them the privacy they hadn’t had moments before. Tatsuyana gave herself over to the passion. Ignoring the analytical voice in the back of her mind, offering instructions on how to move and react. She was biologically human; she knew how to make love to someone. Although she couldn’t actually call what they did making love. She cared for him. It was impossible for her not to after living with him for so long. But he didn’t have her heart. That was a true.

Tatsuyana finally gave voice to the screams she’d held back earlier, encouraging Kris as he strained above her. She closed her eyes and when they were done a long while later, she went with him into the shower, silencing the small, unhappy voice that wished this was real. Wished she could have what she pretended. When they lowered the privacy partitions and joined the rest of the members of their team, she gave a shy grin to Kris every time he looked at her with the smug, contented look he always wore for hours after they were together. After all, pretending was part of the job. Screaming wasn’t.

Sci Fi
Like

About the Creator

K.T. Seto

In a little-known corner of Maryland dwells a tiny curvemudgeon. Despite permanent foot in mouth disease, she has a epistemophilic instinct which makes her ask what-if. Vocal is her repository for the odd bits that don't fit her series.

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.