Blue Decay

CHAPTER NINE

When I was a young girl, I used to think the world of my mother. Strong, fierce, and determined – she was like a rock in a sea of chaos. She never faltered, not even once; and, as a result, the station flourished under her leadership for three glorious decades. Then tragedy struck.

Ten years ago, on the eve of my seventeenth birthday, she was exiled. About a month before that, she came into my room one night. Woke me from my slumber. Held my hands in hers. I can still remember the intensity of her grip.

She looked exhausted and fearful – two things I had never seen my mother express before. It made me feel uneasy, and scared, because I didn't know what was going on.

When she opened her mouth to speak, my heart sank. Why? I don't know. I just got this feeling she was about to drop something terrible on me, and she did. She was sick. Had been for a very long time.

My jaw nearly dropped when she told me she had cancer. Stage 4 lymphoma. She said she had been living with it for many years; and that everything was fine. She had undergone advanced chemotherapy, and was continuing to receive routine stem cell treatments.

But she refused to listen to her doctors, year after year, and inform the Council of her health issues. She was worried it would make her look weak in their eyes. I asked her why that even mattered.

She said it mattered because, as a Station Commander, she had an image to uphold. If the Council knew of her cancer, they would view it as a sign of weakness; and deem her unfit for duty. Ruin her reputation. Strip her of her rank, and exile her to a life of misery in the Catacombs. At the time, I didn't understand the message my mother was trying to get across to me.

So, a month later, when my mother's fears became a reality, I put my head down; and got to work. Determined to forever change her fate, I joined the station's Mobile Task Force; and worked my way up the ranks until, eventually, I was promoted to Mobile General – the highest rank obtainable within the MTF. Once I donned that uniform, I knew it was time. I petitioned the Council for the Office of Station Commander, and ran for election the first chance I got.

A few short months later, the election came to an end; and I was finally right where I needed to be. But, by then, it was already too late. The week before I could be sworn in, I was approached by a Counselor – one of the Council's many lapdogs.

He seemed mournful when he informed me of my mother's passing. Said he was sorry for my loss. Even made a show of handing me her official death certificate. But that's all it was – a show. A seemingly clever ploy by the Council to keep their dissenters at bay.

According to the death certificate, my mother died from dehydration and hysteria. I refused to believe that, though, and decided to use all the authority that came with my newfound position to do some digging. What I found was shocking, but not really a surprise. Without the proper medical care, her cancer had become aggressive; and lethal. She died in her sleep.

Not too long after I found that out, it dawned on me. The message my mother had been trying to get across to me all that time ago. In order to make it in this world, I must abide by the Council; and maintain their reputation as well as my own. For their word is law, and our combined image order. If I try to make even the slightest deviation, my mother's fate could very well become my own.

Now that I'm sitting here, across from that very same Counselor, I'm glad I took a few minutes to compose myself. My only regret is confiding in Mr. Hopper. If he wanted to, he could use everything I told him back at his desk to have me exiled.

Luckily for me, I don't think he's that type of man. He swore his loyalty to me the day my mother passed; and if he broke that, he'd also face exile. Still, though..., something seems off about him.