Requiem (79 page)

'Are you
alright?' asked Sear.

'I'm fine,' she
said. 'But... I want to follow her.' She looked directly into
Tialus's eyes. 'I
need
to be there when she goes.'

Tialus stared
at her for a long time. Seline knew she was going to have to argue,
to fight.

'If she fails
then we're dead no matter where we are, but I need to see her,'
said Seline, 'not through a screen, but with my own eyes. I can't
let her die alone. I-'

'Then that is
what we'll do,' said Tialus.

Seline's voice
caught in her throat. She held back the tears that were filling up
behind her eyes.

Tialus moved to
the console in the centre of the room. She entered in the
co-ordinates for the local Atlas Gate and a command to follow the
probe that they'd sent ahead.

'Brace
yourselves,' said Tialus. 'We'll begin acceleration
immediately.'

They all moved
across to the wall which, as soon Tialus gave the command for the
autopilot, immediately became the floor.

The Doctor
approached Sear to check that he wasn't injured but Sear walked
straight past him.

'How bad is
it?' he asked Tialus. 'How bad is the damage to Saranture? We could
see some of the fires but-'

'Tialus, do you
know what happened to my partner?' interrupted Carex. 'She would've
been working in the Ondur Central Hospital as part of the emergency
response. Is she still alive?'

Tialus turned
to Carex. 'She made it,' she said. 'I had that confirmed before I
left the planet. She's still stationed at what remains of the
Central Hospital.'

Carex found one
of the seats at the engineers station and dropped himself into it,
exhausted and relieved. He looked up at Tialus.

'Thank you,' he
said.

'That may be
the only good news I can bring,' she said. 'The damage on ground
level is catastrophic.' She looked at no one in particular, at
least as far as Seline could tell. There was a hint of pain and
sadness in her voice but even now, she kept her composure. 'The
dead number in the tens of millions. The major infrastructure of
Ondur, Hyrule and Dremaar, have been almost completely destroyed.
All but one satellite has been lost and only a handful of
space-faring ships are still operational. The prototype shields
brought us some time but it wasn't enough to make any real
difference. They were destroyed in minutes.'

The Doctor was
shining a light into Seline's eyes, trying to get her to hold her
head still but she was trying to concentrate on what Tialus was
saying and on how Sear was reacting.

Tialus
continued. 'We still have one, possibly two manufacturing
facilities up and running. Most of the hospitals were early targets
but... when it comes to dealing with sentinels, there aren't many
treatable casualties. They either wiped people's minds and left the
empty bodies where they fell or they blew them into nothing. Most
of the power plants have also been destroyed. There we so
many...'

Tialus stopped
herself. She closed her eyes for a second, breathed in then opened
them again.

'But it's not
all lost is it?' said Seline. 'We stopped it in time?'

'In time?' said
Tialus. 'In time would have been several weeks... months... years
ago. But if you hadn't pulled it off us when you did then there
wouldn't have been anything left to save.' She paused. 'We will
mourn Mercer and the others when or if the time comes, but with
Icarus still alive, there is no cause for celebration. I'll send a
brief report back to the command on Saranture to keep them
informed.' Tialus turned to leave the room but stopped herself.

She turned to
Seline first.

'Thank you,
Seline, for doing what you could to save us. We can only hope that
your mother has as much strength as you.' She looked at the others.
'Sear, Therin, Carex, and to Mercer as well. You've all given us
hope where there was none before. Even after all the destruction,
the reaction on Saranture's surface when the sentinels retreated
was like nothing I've ever known before, nor will I ever forget.
The shear relief and happiness... I cannot put into words and so I
will not try. But thank you for all you've done.'

And with that,
Tialus walked from the bridge.

'You need to
rest,' the Doctor said to Seline, breaking the silence that had
come over the crew.

Seline looked
at the Doctor. His skin was pale. His eyes looked somehow darker
than usual.

'I could say
the same to you,' she said.

'And I want to
do an FMRI as well,' he continued. 'I need to check that your brain
hasn't been damaged in some way.'

'I don't think
I could sit still long enough for you take another brain scan.'

'It can wait,'
said Sear, 'until we're back on Saranture.'

The Doctor
reluctantly agreed and moved over to Therin. He shone the light in
her eyes but she slapped him away.

'I'm fine,' she
said.

'Funny, I
didn't know you were a Doctor, Therin.'

'I didn't know
you were either,' she said.

The Doctor
sighed. 'I walked right into that didn't I?'

'Where's
Athene?' asked Therin.

'She's in a
stable condition in one of the emergency hospitals,' said Belameir.
He took a deep breath and let it out. 'I was with her when it
happened. The sentinels had shot out the foundations for one of the
walls. A big chunk of the wall came down on top of us. A piece of
it must have knocked me out because that's the last thing I
remember before waking up with blood pouring down the side of my
face and then seeing Athene pinned to the ground by a slab from the
wall.'

'… She lost
both her legs,' said the Doctor.

'It was near
the end,' continued Belameir. 'Just before the sentinels retreated,
when it happened. They would've wiped us out if you hadn't stopped
them. But it would've been nice if you guys could've stopped them
before they ruined my modelling career.'

'Does it hurt?'
asked Therin.

'It did but the
Doc slipped me some pills to take care of it.'

'Given the
amount of painkillers I've put into your system you shouldn't even
be able to stand right now,' said the Doctor.

'I was going to
stay with Athene,' said Belameir, 'but they got her stabilised
pretty quick and I couldn't do her any good just sitting there. So
I went looking for Tialus to see if she knew what the hell was
going on. I found her and the Doc just before they were about to
take off to look for you guys.'

'What about the
ships with the refugees? The Ordonians and humans and the others?'
asked Carex who was still seated at the engineer's desk.

'They fled to
the far side of the system,' said the Doctor. 'They got as far as
the asteroid belt. Most of the ships managed to survive. Icarus was
pretty intent on Saranture.'

'Did you manage
to kill any sentinels?' Seline asked Belameir.

'Well...
actually...'

'If I recall,'
said Therin, 'you were supposed to shoot Icarus out of the sky. By
yourself. Wasn't that the deal we made?'

'Two sentinels
is pretty good, I think. Considering my test results on the
shooting range.'

'Two?' said
Seline, actually surprised and a little dubious. She looked at the
Doctor to see if he would confirm it but he was busy running his
portable scanner over Therin's side. She'd given up resisting.

'Well, it was
actually kind of a team effort. The sentinels ran into a shield
that we flicked on at the last second. It stunned them for a bit.
We had about fifteen guns trained on them, half of them aimed at
one sentinel, the other half aimed at the other one. We all aimed
for the eyes. It must have been too much for their repair functions
to take because the next thing you know, the bullets were running
right through their insides.'

'So
you
didn't actually kill a sentinel by yourself?' asked Therin.

'The last few
bullets were mine, I'm sure of it.'

'I think the
technical term is 'kill-stealing',' said Therin.

Belameir waved
his hand dismissively. 'Whatever. We can't all kill sentinels with
our mind like Sel.'

There was a
faint ringing sound in Seline's ears. Belameir said something else
to Therin but Seline didn't pay attention to it. More than anything
she wanted to feel her feet on solid ground. She wanted to feel
some kind of permanence. But she knew that it wouldn't be right.
She had no right to be comfortable. Not this close to the end. Not
while her mother was out there, dying for her.

Seline raised
her hand to her head again. Sear and Belameir eyed her
carefully.

'It's like I
can still feel her inside my head,' she said.

'Maybe we
should get the scan done now rather than later,' said Sear.

'No,' said
Seline. 'It's alright. Really.'

'What happened
in there?' asked Belameir.

'It's hard to
explain because I don't fully understand it myself.' She looked at
Belameir. His scruffy hair poked up between the bandages covering
the side of his face. She could almost laugh.

He saw the
familiar look in her eyes. 'Maybe when they take these bandages off
I'll be as pretty as you.'

Her lips
cracked into a smile. She thought for a moment and the smile fell
away.

'When I was
inside it,' she said, 'everything was confused. It kind of felt
like I was still in my body, like I was trapped inside some kind of
physical space. Kind of like hanging out there,' she pointed out
the window, 'trapped in space but there were no stars, nothing to
give you any bearing. And I couldn't actually see my body, just
feel it very faintly.'

'What was it
like talking to your mum?' asked Belameir.

Seline cleared
her throat and concentrated. 'We weren't speaking like we are now.
It was... it was like our minds were touching and we could
feel
the words, as thoughts inside each other's heads. She
could reach inside my head, could see my memories and I could do
the same to her.'

'Trippy,' said
Belameir.

'I don't know
how to describe it. The only word I can think of is... empathy.
Complete, perfect, empathy.' But Seline shook her head, still
unsure of the word.

'When that
sentinel came aboard the cruiser and dropped dead in front of you.
It was your mother that stopped it, wasn't it?' said Sear.

'It was,' said
Seline. 'She managed to gain the smallest bit of control over
Icarus and override the sentinel. That was why she thought she
might be able to control Icarus. With the virus to distract it she
thought she might stand a chance.'

'You should
rest,' said the Doctor. 'There's time before we catch up to
Icarus.'

'Assuming we
can
,' said Carex.

'You still
might be able to get some sleep in,' said the Doctor.

'No,' said
Seline. 'I don't think I can relax anyway. It's quiet in here
but... it shouldn't be. The war isn't over yet.' She held her hand
to her chest. 'My heart is still going crazy.'

The Doctor was
looking at her, suspicious.

'She is
struggling,' said Seline.

'You mean your
mother? You can feel her?' asked Belameir.

Seline nodded.
'I think so.'

'Are you saying
you're still connected to her somehow?'

'I... I don't
really know. I might just be imagining it. It might just be some
kind of residue from being inside of Icarus but...' she sighed. 'I
need to think.'

'Do you think
she can still feel you?' asked Sear.

'I don't know
but... I hope that she can. I don't want her to be alone out
there.' She looked at the Doctor. 'Is there an observation room on
this ship?'

'There is. One
level down. Follow the blue floor lights.'

'Thanks,' said
Seline.

'Do you mind if
I come?' asked Sear.

'I'd like
that,' she said.

'Then I'm
coming too,' said Belameir.

Seline looked
at Therin then at Carex. She felt like she should say something to
them after all they'd been through.

'You can come
down if you want,' she said. 'I just need to be somewhere quiet.
Away from the computers.'

'I might join
you later,' said Therin. 'But I want to stay up here for a bit. I
like the sound. It's comforting.'

Seline
nodded.

'I'm going to
try to get a little rest,' said Carex. 'I'll come down with
Therin.'

'Alright,' said
Seline and she started walking towards the lift. She looked at the
Doctor and asked him what he was going to do.

'I'll come down
and check on you in an hour or so,' he said and Seline realised
that he was actually smiling at her. Not a wide, grinning smile
like Belameir's, but a small, polite one. She wondered if he'd been
practising it. It was an unusual thing to see on his face but she
couldn't help smiling back.

She entered the
lift with Sear and Belameir.

She slipped out
of her space suit. Sear offered her some clean clothes but she
declined. Her singlet and under-shorts were enough. She sat down on
the observation room floor, crossed her legs and looked out the
window. She took a deep breath and tried to concentrate on exactly
what it was she was doing and what it was she actually wanted.

'I need to see
her one last time,' she said, 'and to help her in whatever way I
can. It may just be wishful thinking and it may not even make a
difference but I have to try.'

'What exactly
are you trying to do?' asked Belameir.

Seline looked
up at him. 'I don't really know... I think there's still some kind
of connection between me and my mum. And if there is, I need to use
it to help her.'

'But you don't
know for sure?'

'No... I can
only hope...'

She looked like
she wanted to say more but her voice trailed off as her eyes turned
to the window and her thoughts wandered in search of her mother, of
any trace of her that she could find and pull together and try to
bring to life inside herself.