All of Space and Time

Haunted Memories

(AN: to make up for yesterday's super short chapter I made an extra long memory/flashback scene for y'all. But believe me, you may not like this particular trip down memory lane.)

"Can you believe it Yaz? An alien planet." Ryan asked looking over at his friend. I sat next to the Doctor as we all rode down the river. There wasn't much room on the benches. Yaz sat in between Ryan, and Graham, while the Doctor sat between me and Epzo.

"I know." She seemed both excited and scared at the realization.

I smiled before glancing at the Doctor. "This planet doesn't make any sense. No other life forms except us and the microbes in the water. No people, no animals, no insects, no nothing. But he talked about the old settlements. What happened here?" She asked.

"No one cares." Epzo chimed in. He was really getting on my nerves.

"Don't take him personally, he treats everyone like this." Angstrom defended.

I heard him huff in amusement. "I don't need other people."

"We all need other people, mate." Hopefully Graham could talk some sense into him, or at the least get him to change his attitude.

"We're all alone." Epzo said. Or maybe not... "That's how we start and end. And the natural state of all points in between."

"Were you born that miserable? Or did you work at it?" He chuckled slightly at that.

"You know when I was four," Epzo began. "My mum told me to climb a tree, she made me climb until I was too scared to climb any higher." I listened as he told his story as was everyone else. "Then she told me to jump into her arms. 'Don't worry' she said 'I'm your mum. I'm here for you. I'll catch you.' So I jumped." He held a small smile on his face as if he enjoyed this memory. "And she moved out of the way."

"What?" Yaz asked. "I'm sorry, you say your mum did this to you?"

"Smashed into the ground. Broke this arm, shattered that ankle. And she stood over me, and she said 'Now, you've learned.' You can never trust anyone in this life."

"That's messed up." Ryan said.

"That's horrible..." I whispered. The Doctor reached out and held onto my hand.

"Best thing she ever did for me. I loved my mum." Epzo leaned back and closed his eyes.

"Yeah she sound terrific." Graham said sarcastically. I glanced back at Epzo and he was fast asleep. "I see your mate has dropped off. It's nice to see him quiet."

Angstrom smiled. "Yeah, he can nap anywhere. He's famous for it."

"How many stages are there in the rally?" I glanced from the Doctor back to Angstrom.

"This time? 209 terrains, 94 planets. We start the race with nothing and barter our way up."

"Is it worth it?" She asked.

"To ensure enough for my family's safety? Yeah. Albar is being systematically cleansed." She explained and I felt my heart sink. I felt for her, how much I couldn't possibly even begin to understand. I had no idea what she was going through so nothing I could've said would've helped, so I just kept my mouth closed and listened. "Half my family are in hiding. The others are on the run. This is my only chance to bring us back together."

"So you left your family to do this?"

"No yaz, she's doing this to save her family. The grand prize for this race, 'Enough to provide a lifetime of comfort on a safe world. For the winning pilot and their entire clan.' That's what he said wasn't it?" I said looking towards Angstrom and she nodded.