The dream of their ancestors returned after that, and room after room was restored. The pages of the logbook once again resembled those before the accident, and the ship began to take the shape of how it had once been.
As for Alicia, she never asked what happened that time in the corridor, but whatever Bianca had decided, she stayed with it. Her presence never left Alicia after that, and wherever she went, she could feel Bianca's heart and mind, as if she was standing next to her. She tried to explain it to the other members, but the sparks in the air and the particles carrying the memories of the past were difficult to put into words. Maybe, one day, they too, would be able to experience the suit, when Bianca felt ready to share it.
Several years later, they saw an object approaching them on their scanners. As it came closer, Alicia recognised it from the hologram she'd seen so many years before, and Bianca announced that it was indeed another Dreamship. Someone had found them. As the crew boarded Einstein, they told them they had been searching for Bianca, and the distress signal she'd sent out had arrived in the end. They had come to take her back and offered the people of Einstein to come with them, promising them a place in their world to live in.
To their surprise, the members refused, saying they would find a place of their own. That was what their ancestors had set out to do, and they wouldn't let that vision fall. So instead, the people from Bianca's world offered them the coordinates to a place they would be able to settle in. There would be many generations until they arrived, but knowing that they would fulfil their duty and fulfil what their ancestors had set out to do was enough, and they gladly accepted them.
Only Kim decided differently and when he asked if he could go back with Bianca's people they accepted, and he was promised that he would be able to study and learn about their technology.
As for Bianca, they told her it was time to come home, promising she would have a new Dreamship, and once again live as a navigator. But she looked at them, and then at the members standing around her and Alicia holding her hand. And she knew that she had already found her home. Knew that her place in the world was here. And that she had fulfilled the last wish of Hermes.
YOU ARE READING
The Last Wish of Hermes
Science FictionBianca is left alone when Hermes, her DreamShip and only friend, dies in an accident. How will she be able to trust and open up to someone else again after the loss? A story about friendship, love and finding your place in this world.
