Ball of Silence

Ball of Silence - Chapter 19

Chapter 19

         We are stuck on Barlam for a few days because we can't find a good cargo offer. The longer we stay in one place, the greater the danger that Blan and his cursed NLS will find us. Or if the bounty hunter survived, he'll want revenge.

         A system-wide warrant and a reward are out for Blan. His unnamed terrorist group made Unity-wide news and caused popular outrage across the worlds. Bender bars shut down, some temporarily, and others because of a lack of customers. Benders are afraid; bodyguard employment soars.

         Sad and frightened, we sit in the mess hall and watch the news. No one mentions the NLS. Nobody has proof yet that it's them, but the reporter speaks of a "secret organization that hides behind a harmless name."

Sina leans towards me and wants a hug.

         "Time to get outta here, I don't like being at the same place for too long," Priar says.

         "I couldn't agree more," I mumble.

         They show a hologram of Blan, the only person wanted in connection with the bender attacks. The hologram hovers over our mess hall table. He killed Flin, maybe even personally.

My stomach knots and my muscles tighten. I want to skin him alive. I want to hear his skin peeling off his body. I'm afraid of myself. What if that is the most beautiful sound in the universe?

         The anger lingers long after the news moved on to another story. It rumbles through my guts, an acid mix of hatred and bloodlust. The crystal bubbles with equal upset. I have no idea anymore where the crystal's feelings end and mine begin.

#

         The next day, I receive a message from Hriff. The Heelith have completed preparations. Sina shall now jump us to the rendezvous point. I show the coordinates to her; the numbers don't mean anything to me. She compares them to her star maps and the coordinates for Conlam. The rendezvous point lies precisely between Conlam's sun and its closest neighboring star, two point eight light years equidistant to either star, in the middle of interstellar nowhere.

         She shudders and looks at me. Her skin glows so much darker and browner inside my newly painted room—so beautiful.  

         "Let's jump right now before I panic," she says.

         "Okay." I touch the intercom button on my desk. "Priar, we have jump coordinates. Come to the bridge as soon as you can."

         "Great. I'm on my way."

         Sina and I go to the bridge. I conduct the departure formalities and steer us away from the space station into jump orbit. We tell the station that our next destination is Celam. Then we wait for Barlam to clear us to jump.

         Priar and I avoid looking at Sina, not wanting to put any more pressure on her. I concentrate on the coming sound of the jump.

         When it comes, I hold my breath and listen to a shriek in the endless darkness of space. Not fright, more an astonished "whoops" that living creatures defy space and time, asking how we dare do that. The voice doesn't accuse us. Quite the opposite, it admires and appreciates our boldness, encouraging us to go on and dare.

The universe, like the crystal, seems to have a mind of its own. The thought makes me shiver. I have the odd sensation that the entire universe is alive and we, all living creatures in it, are only parts of a greater body. We are its blood, the crystals are its brain, the stars its organs....