In A Starship's Wake

Chapter 18: Parting Sorrows

The cockpit window darkened as they emerged from Couradeen Station into the sunlight. Tyrone shaded his eyes and gazed in-system to see if he could spot the bright specks of the system's inner planets. He wasn't successful. After a minute or so of trying, he turned his attention back to the copilot's console.

A gloomy mood had been creeping up on Tyrone and Joseph all day. Both managed to fend it off long enough to help Allison move some of the Carvers' excess furniture into her apartment and to say goodby. They managed to return the smile and wave she gave them from behind the observation windows as the ship slid backward out of the Carver's docking bay. It began to take hold immediately thereafter. All the logic in the world couldn't stop them from being sad to leave her behind.

Jolting himself out of his reverie, Tyrone noticed they were a couple miles past the edge of the station. "I'm going to turn artificial gravity back on."

Joseph grunted an acknowledgment and shifted slightly in his seat. Tyrone flipped the switch and sank a little more firmly into his chair. "Nice to be back where it'll stay put."

Joseph grunted agreeably. Neither of them were talking much this evening. They managed to fake it at the second docking bay to be friendly with the workers, but once Garden Variety Animal left port conversation ceased.

Tyrone leaned back with a cynical laugh. "We spent so much time reassuring Allison that we would be back, that she didn't need to miss us or regret her decision. Just so much wasted breath. Here we are moping because she's gone like we didn't even hear ourselves."

"Just human nature I guess." Joseph chuckled wistfully. "If we heard ourselves, we certainly weren't listening. Circumstances of her arrival aside, it was nice to have her here for a while."

"That it was." Tyrone waited for Joseph to continue, then realized he wasn't going to. He changed topics before the doleful silence could settle in again. "You didn't say very much about Allison's parents at dinner last night."

"No." Joseph scratched his chin. "Well, I wasn't about to tell an eighteen year old that I think her parents are behaving like idiots."

"It's an accurate assessment of the situation. Why not say so?"

"I don't want her to take that too much to heart." Joseph rotated the ship to point away from the sun and began accelerating toward their jump point. "She could react too strongly to something they say and stop listening to them altogether. Frankly we may be reacting too strongly ourselves."

Tyrone crossed his arms, considering that while Joseph flew. It was entirely justifiable for Allison's parents to be upset at her decision to move several hundred light-years away. Even Justine's parents hadn't been thrilled by that. It wasn't out of line for them to want her at home, either.

Where they parted from Tyrone's sense of the acceptable was their obstinance. It was what irked him most about them. No matter how much information they were given about the danger their daughter was in, they refused to revise their opinions. They continued to insist every plan that didn't come from them was a bad one, especially if it was coming from Allison.

Allison had explained to them repeatedly how dangerous Temorran was for her now. She had told them of what the Temorran Kindred had done to prevent her escape, falsifying the government record of her life. Tyrone wasn't sure whether her parents didn't believe it or were just ignoring it. There was no logic in their dismissal of the danger she was in. Gary, their Immigration officer, had even called and given them the same information, along with explaining what the Teton Sector had done and would do to keep her safe. It wasn't enough for them.