Arynthe's Story

Begin again

(continuation)

"Where are we now?" one of the girls asked once we finally slowed down. 
"Honestly?" I laughed. "I have no idea."

My mind was exhausted after the dangerous manoeuvre and the long, crazy flight, but it was nothing compared to the kids. They looked like they hadn't slept at all for at least a week. 

"If you guys are hungry, there's a box in the back where I keep food," I said. "Have as much as you need and then go to sleep. You need to be ready for tomorrow." 

I hadn't even finished my sentence when all of them ran to the back of the shuttle to the food box. They were no longer paying attention to me. That was good, because I didn't want them to see what I did next. I took my familiar blue mnegoy out of my pocket, placed it against my mouth and inhaled deeply. My eyes fell shut for a moment as I felt my strength flood back into me. 
"Better, better, better," I whispered softly to myself. 
Then I quickly put the mnegoy back into my pocket and looked behind. It seemed to have gone unnoticed. Good. The longer they were as pure and independent as they were now, the better. I didn't want to bring them to bad ideas. 

After a few minutes I heard soft footsteps behind me. I turned on my chair and found the girl of earlier standing behind me. 
"Arynthe," she asked, "are you the Arynthe I'm named after?"
I laughed. "Girl, if I am, they really quite overstated me."
She looked disappointed. "You didn't cure all Ashirians?"
"Oh, I did that," I said, "but I doubt that makes me amazing enough to name your children after. Especially because all the aliens I killed probably neutralize the amazingness."
"What?" Arynthe asked. "No! They're only aliens!"

My eyes looked away from hers and found the other children, that had curled up against each other and slowly drifted off to sleep. 

"Did your parents name your sister after someone too?" 
"Yes," Arynthe said. "My sister's called Eylire, after the alien that took care of our parents before aliens became mean. And my little brother is called Mitor, after your father."
I smiled. At least my father also got some honour. I asked: "I take it the older boy isn't part of your family?"
She shook her head. "I don't even know his name. He never speaks." 
"I see."

Arynthe kept standing there, staring at me in admiration, thoughtlessly scratching her cheek. I didn't even want to know what legend they made of me. It had been pure luck and too much audacity. 

"Aren't you tired?" I asked. 
"Not at all," she replied. 

I gave her face a good look. Her eyes were weary, her skin was greyish and her lips trembled out of control. She looked as if she was about to drop dead from sleep deprivation. 

"Arynthe," I said, "I know enough of Ashirian physiology to call myself a doctor. And from that I strongly recommend you to go sleep. Do you understand me?"
She nodded, but remained standing there behind my chair.
I turned back to the computer and scanned the area to figure out where I was and where I should go. 
"You're not strict enough to raise a kid," Arynthe stated.
"You're smart enough to raise yourself," I said. "I'm not your mother."
She giggled.

I navigated through the unknown territory. I seemed to have ended up somewhere I had never been before; quite a prestation, and quite comforting as well. It may just be that there are no enemies here. 

I still had to be careful, though. I couldn't know if our reputation had spread to here. This could be a brand new start or just another level of the doom arena. I had to test if that was the case, so I searched the area for life signs. 

After a while I detected a space station of unknown origin. I set a course on autopilot and then childishly spun around on my chair. I saw Arynthe was now part of the tangle of curled up, sleeping bodies. She already looked better. It was such a peaceful and yet such a terrifying image to me, that I had trouble looking away. I wondered if my father had felt like this when he watched over me. 

Probably not, I thought. My father wasn't afraid of sleeping. As far as I knew he feared nothing, except that he'd lose his sense of humor. 

I swung my feet onto my desk and enjoyed one of the few moments of relaxation I had. Tomorrow I would arrive. Tonight I would do nothing at all.