Arz: Helium Sonata — Part 1

This is the first part of an ongoing science fiction series

“Lochart to Actual, passing delta now.”

Light dripped through the cracked ceiling, virtual drops cascading as she walked across the shattered floor far below. Purpose sped up her stride, more light spilling out from under a baroque door at the far end. Each step echoed off the empty space, dust catching the light on the way down. Alone with the echoes only her thoughts kept her company, and the knowledge of what might await.

Pausing three steps from the door she took in the intricate carvings inlaid within the tarnished gold. Motifs of the Unifier and his marcher hosts cast in neat squares, martial and resolute. Around each panel fine filigree writing in archaic common made her smile as she read the homilies and rubrics; of courage, of sacrifice, and most of all perseverance in the longest nights. Here was all the Unified Code writ large for literate and illiterate alike, though in the dusty time since the Unifer’s ascension such things as illiteracy were long past.

Thoughts of childhood sermons and admonishments fluttered like the dusts of mote around her, intrusive and not entirely unwelcome. For all the rigours of duty and completing the mission, there was still time to appreciate the small things.