Ragnarok

Chapter 45 - Departure

Mia's departure had taken several days to prepare, so she had been given plenty of time to sleep. Perversely, the more she stayed huddled in her bed, sleeping away the hours, the more tired she seemed to feel. Micah had made several attempts to contact her, all of which she had rebuffed without even looking at his messages. She felt bad about that, in a vague sort of way, but she felt so bad about everything in general that she could hardly distinguish between the reasons behind her misery.

Her dreams had been a confused mess. She saw a dozen different ways Earth's defenses might attack the coming colossus, and she saw just as many ways it would fail. She saw Luna's colonies burning, their precious atmospheres venting out into space and colonists flung out into the freezing vacuum to die in moments, or huddling in sealed chambers to die more slowly as the life support systems failed. On Earth itself, she saw earthquakes and tsunamis ravaging the land, the ground itself cracking open to pour forth magma and ash in great clouds. The nightmares were almost as bad as waking up and knowing that the monster in her dreams was real, and relentlessly heading towards her homeworld.

When the day finally came, it was something of a relief. She had woken up from one final nightmarish vision of apocalypse, about four in the morning, and had decided that she had slept more than enough. She stroked the top of Draco's head, alerting him that he was needed. His eyes flashed once, then rolled up towards his mistress. "Good morning, mistress," Draco said, a touch of irony in his voice. "Are you feeling better? You have been sleeping an alarming amount the past few days. If it wasn't for the automatic overrides, you barely would have eaten since you got back."

"'Better' is a relative term," Mia said, stretching. "I've at least had enough of lying in bed and feeling sorry for myself. When am I departing again?"

"0800 hours, exactly," Draco replied promptly. "It is presently 0440. What would you like to do for the next three hours?"

She ran her fingers through her hair, discovering a distressing number of snarls and tangles and a distinctively oily feeling. Her own fault for staying in bed for three days, she supposed. "I imagine the centrifuge workout spots aren't terribly crowded at this hour of the night," she said, gathering her unruly hair into a ponytail.

"Just one, looks like one of the control room workers getting in a late-night workout after her shift. Shall I check in with the Overminds and let them know where you'll be?"

"Suppose you might as well, otherwise they'll worry that I've gotten cold feet and am trying to hide out somewhere. Let them know I'll be on time, once I work up a good sweat, then have a shower and a light breakfast. It's been years since I've set foot on Earth, it'll be good to be on a full-sized planet again ... no offense to my Lunar home."

* * *

Despite the fact that nothing in her overall situation had changed, Mia had to admit it felt good to finally stop lying in bed and feeling sorry for herself, even if all she was throwing herself against was simple resistance machines. Her muscles burned after several days of inactivity, but it was a satisfying ache, nonetheless. A shower had definitely helped, as well. She even felt well enough to meet Micah before she left, the two embracing each other almost tight enough to leave bruises. The two said their goodbyes, each of them trying not to wonder if this would be the last time they were this close. The final kiss was a bittersweet one, salty with tears.

Before she knew it, she was wiping her eyes and headed towards the shuttle bay, there to catch a ride to the nearest space elevator. From there, it would be a long trip straight down, towards the state-turned-nation of Texas, and from there, a high-speed jet to whatever obscure location the Overminds had discovered in the mountains of South America. They had given her a general sense that it was somewhere in the mountains of Peru, but she had been in a daze the past few days and she hadn't bothered to ask further questions.

Reflecting upon how she'd acted, she felt a sense of shame at her near-catatonia. She may not have any idea what the Overminds expected from her, but they seemed to think that whatever was in those mountains was the key to stopping Ragnarok. If she had any chance at all of preventing her nightmares from coming to pass, she had an obligation to her home planet to do everything she could.

So thinking, she watched as her scheduled shuttle taxied across the lunar surface, slowly trundling along on three oversized tires until it rolled to a stop in front of the airlock. The lock cycled open slowly, revealing a short passage that turned quickly and widened into compact interior lined with seats, four to a row.

She had expected to be the only one on the ship, but in that she had been incorrect. Sitting in the second seat on the right was a tall, middle-aged man, dressed in a surprisingly well-pressed suit. He was unremarkable except for the shape of his nose, which was long and had a noticable hook at the end of it. Despite the odd shape, it did not lend him an air of ugliness, merely oddity.

The older gentleman, who Mia could see was completely bald, turned and looked over at Mia as she was hesitating at the front of the cabin. "Greetings, Ms. Mia Haddad. You may call me Mr. Ibis. Please, have a seat. We have much to discuss on our way down to the Gates of the Gods."