Endless Ocean. Chapter 4, Fear.

Chapter 4, Fear.

Out there, in that endless expanse of eternity, there exist three which never end. The Immortals.
One drifts through the vacuum endlessly. Frozen to the bones and unable to do anything. He drifts hoping someone will find him but knowing no one will. He has been floating for the same amount of time as it takes to transverse the whole of all the explored galaxies themselves. In this time he has seen two ships. One, near the beginning. It was a small ship and it was drifting slowly towards some unknown destination. The other only a few hundred million years ago. It was a large ship, off to a war he assumed. It was blazing fast.
The second lies somewhere hidden. He is the bitter one. Filled with anger and vengeful thoughts. He was put away for fear of what he might do if let to his own. This one can do things the other two cannot. Meld metal. He has been asleep in his hidden place for so long that when he wakes an eternity of fury shall spill out across the expanse.
The third one simply waits. He is calm and tired. He has lived far too long. He waits for the end of all things or for someone to come and expel him from here. He is not angry about anything, and he is not bitter. He simply is at peace and now waits for what will happen next. He can be found and can be talked with. But he is hard to find.

The man with the elven ears and the bright green hair stared up at the stars. He stood outside a small bar, on a small hunk of rock. He was waiting for someone. He brought a bottle of liquor up to his mouth. But before taking a swig a smile slid across his face. "He's on his way."
He drank from his bottle and then returned to the bar.

Cartine loaded his men, Ged included, into a ship and stared up at the black clouds. It had been a very long time since he has left the planet. Even longer since he's seen the sun. Jacob was out there and with him that precious chip of his that he needed back.
Hext stood outside his shack which sat down below the ships next to the fuel reserves. He smiled. The two had fled this place and now so would Cartine. Hopelessly chasing after them; looking for the chip that was now his. What a good bargaining chip it would be. Later.

The ship was quietly loud. Oppressively so. The dull hum that was inescapable that flowed to all parts of the ship was starting to wane on Jacob's mind. He was exploring the cargo bay on the bottom section of the ship. It was spacious, cavernous, and dark. He had hoped he could escape the quiet sounds of nothing down below but even down there was something. A small container lay the very stern of the cargo bay. A bright green light shone on the side of the case and it, like the ship, was making a humming sound.
Jacob looked over the whole case. It was large enough to fit a person, a small person, about Kat's size. Aside from the green light there were no switches or latches to open the case. Jacob picked it up, or made the attempt to, but the case is inhumanly heavy. He groaned, it would still be a couple hours till they arrived at Garusse. He needed something to take his mind.
He emerged from the cargo bay when he thought to ask G Minor. He didn't want to though. G had been quiet for the last hour, not even humming her simple tune. He knew that their conversation would become much more than just a simple discourse of the case. She would ask him innumerable questions about existence and of the world around her. He didn't have the patience for that. Maybe I could get Kat to do it; she loves to talk to her so much.
He entered the kitchen of the ship to find the ever growing familiarity of G’s humming. The tune however was something that Jacob recognized. He could hear Kat singing along to the humming. The song was Can’t Take My Eyes Off You. It was the only song she could remember fully from home. As he walked up she stopped singing and looked over her shoulder at Jacob. “Hey there.”
Jacob nodded towards her. “So you taught her the song hmm.”
G chimed in, “Oh yes, I really do enjoy it. It has been so long since anyone has sang with me,” speaking jovially and nostalgically.
Jacob again looked to the roof. He was still not quite sure where he should look, “Well it’s good to see you two getting along so well,” He paused, not wanting to have a needlessly long discussion with G, and scratched at his neck. “Say G, I need to ask you about something.”
“Is it about the case in the cargo bay?” G responded with surprising accuracy.
Jacob moved his hand off his neck and just stared baffled and stupidly up at the roof. Spinning on his heels in slight surprise, “How did you know-“He began.
“My eyes are all over the ship. I see everything onboard.” G replied in her serious monotone voice. “This allows me to regulate functions with perfect efficiency.”
“So then you know what the case is?” Jacob asked hoping that G would not respond with an existential question.
“Nope, I was not awake when it was put there,” G paused for a moment, “Or my memory was altered so that I would not recollect.”
Jacob looked out the door of the kitchen. An uneasy feeling washed over him like a cold shower. He shivered. He did not like the case in the dark corner of the cargo bay. He did not like that it was an enigma to him. G Minor sees everything on the ship. Someone must have blocked that out. He dread to think of why someone would hide that away.
Jacob left the kitchen and stood awkwardly in the main hallway of the ship. One end the bridge, the other end the engine room. Between the kitchen and bridge lay a special quarters for him and Kat, on the opposite side of the kitchen lay a medium sized six person crew quarters. The bunks in the crew quarters were self-contained pods that offered privacy to the owner and were a comfortable size. The opposite side from the hall to that was the entrance to the cargo hold. The entrance was itself an extension of the hold. Directly across from the kitchen entrance was the hall that led to the air lock. Next to that right next to the bridge was the medical bay.
He hated to get lost, so this was right for him. Soon this ship would have a small number of people inside it, and he looked forward to it. He began to walk toward the engine room. That would need to be one of the first things that he would need to find, a mechanic. The engine room was a mess of coils and wires and piping. Spinning things covered in lights. Panels giving readings that Jacob didn’t understand.
The ship had three flux drives, which powered the engines. The thing was that there are three flux drives and only two engines. The Flux drive works by generating a field of artificial gravity around a vessel. The ships are essentially in a state of constant falling. But due to the way of space, once a ship accelerates to maximum speed the engines disable and allow the vacuum to do the rest.
Jacob didn’t care how it worked, as long as it worked. He left the engine and its noise and walked back up to the front of the ship. He opened the door to his personal quarters which were larger and much nice than the crews.
His quarters were already mostly outfitted with everything. A bed, queen’s sized. A walk in closet, which is sure to be mostly filled with Kat’s belongings. A full bathroom, all sterile and white like most of the ship. A stand up shower. A desk for maybe managing star charts or something. A dresser with a large screen over it. The dresser had 16 drawers. He smiled, one would be for guns. He stepped out into the hall.
The ship had a low hum. So low he could barely hear it. But it was deafening. He was glad that Kat seemed to enjoy G’s company. Kat’s never really had a friend. He doesn’t count. They met because they were forced to, and they have been in love ever since. They always had terrible luck though. Jacob stared down at his dirty shoes. The floors were immaculate. He cocked his head.
Kat exited the kitchen and dining room to find Jacob dashing up and down the hall. He stopped when he started down the hall back towards the kitchen from the rear of the ship. He stopped and just stared at her like a deer in headlights.
“Jacob?” She paused for a moment, looking him up and down. “What are you doing?”
“My shoes. They’re dirty.” He looked down at his shoes. “The floors are so clean.”
She just stared at him.

He remembered so little of the place he came from. The years spent in the rain had fogged his memory. All he could remember was living in total fear of his father. He hated him when he could remember him. Just a fiery hatred rising up from some sense that he didn’t understand. He couldn’t see his face. All he remembered were the final moments.
He awoke in a panic. Cold sweat all over him. Another nightmare. He put his hand to his head and brushed back his hair. He sighed.
Out in the hall the ship was alight with a dim glow of lights on the floor. The lights let off an ambient blue light that reminded him of mornings. He was thirsty.
The kitchen and dining room were lit with red light along the edges of the walls. He staggered in. All that could be heard was that humming of the ship existing. He loved the sound as much as it droned. He opened a cabinet to find several glass cups all lined nicely within. Hext had not lied, she was fully loaded. He looked up at the roof aimlessly. It was humorous to him, that it was a she. G.
He drank down the liquid. It was almost like water but water was not the most common liquid in space. This stuff, Erser, was the most common liquid in space. It was a touch thicker than water and had the slightest taste of peaches. Of course most people in space would say that it simply tastes like Erser since none of them have ever eaten a peach before, most but not all. He sat down at the large table that was off from the kitchen. He rubbed his hand along its smooth surface. A smile slowly came across his face. A feeling, in his core, the smile weakened a bit.

Overwhelmed. I am in too deep. Sinking. Drowning. Falling. Shards of glass. The scars. The scars. Lights. The lights in the sky. Zellen. Zellen.

Dead.

The tears were back. He forced them. He tried to at least. The moved slowly down his scar ridden cheek. They were small but noticeable. Several little scars all around his face. He tried to forget they were there every day. But maybe it was better they were. He touched his face. They reminded him, they gave him a reason.

He found himself back in the cargo hold. At that back corner, staring at the case with the green light. It just simply blinked at him. He walked around it looking all over its blank surface for some kind of marking or anything aside from that light. He knelt down and decided to check underneath. He lifted the container on to its side. There it was, staring him right in the face. The insignia he had never seen. He cocked his head.
“G, have you ever seen this?” He asked into the air.
He waited but no reply came. He looked up at the roof of the cargo hold. An eyebrow raised and a grimace was made. He stood. “Hey! G!?” There was still no noise. “G! Don’t tell me you’re asleep?”
“Of course not, that’d be silly.”
Jacob was upset. G had seemed to gain a sense of humor. He looked in the general direction of his quarters. Probably from Kat, he thought. He was right. In fact Kat had told G that Jacob is prone to waking in the middle of the night, and that if he asks a question she think it’d be funny if G pretended to be asleep. Of course the punch line would be G telling Jacob how silly that would be since G is a computer and does not require sleep. The real joke was that Kat would never be awake to hear this.
“Did I do it right?” G asked.
Jacob stared into space. “Yeah,” He turned back to the container, crouching again. “You nailed it,” He put his hand on the container. “Now, can you tell me what this insignia is?”
G was quiet for a moment. Though this time she was thinking. “That is the crest of H…” Her voice suddenly turned to static. “He was the last owner of this vessel.”
Jacob stared horrified at the space above him. What the fuck was that, he thought. He stood slowly. “G…say that name one more time.”
Only static.
Jacob looked at the insignia. It terrified him. It was some primal fear instinctual, Perhaps the fear of the unknown. Or maybe it had a reason, maybe deep down inside he knew what it meant but could just not find the words in himself to make sense of it. The symbol meant something. He could feel that he should be terrified. He left. He tried to push the thought from his mind.
When he returned to the bed, Kat was smiling in her sleep.