Requiem (15 page)

She sighed to
herself.
Fine
.

She seated
herself on the bed and opened the panel on her arm. She projected a
holographic display in front of herself and opened a menu to search
for whatever databases might be available to connect to. Only one
appeared.
Yurrick Database CRQSF.
She opened it. A blank
page appeared with a search bar in the middle of the screen.

Seline typed
her name into the search bar. Two files were listed.
Seline
Esher
was the first.
Florence Esher
was the second. She
opened the file with her name on it.

The first thing
that appeared was the same picture of her that had been taken for
her ID at Zackry's Bar. She looked horrible; half squinting, one
eye bigger than the other, mouth slightly ajar, and loose bits of
hair sticking up every which way. Seline cringed at the photo and
quickly scrolled down the page. Beneath the image, everything about
her was listed. Her gender, weight, place of birth, place of
residence, the amount of money she earned; they knew more about her
than she did. She read her date of birth. She was twenty five.
She'd thought she was at least twenty eight. Under the heading
'Father' was the word that had become the story of her life:
'unknown'. The words 'presumed dead' were also appropriate, she
thought.

Relationship
with NeoCorp: Has been under casual surveillance for majority of
life. Has been monitored much more closely since returning to
Earth. Possible target for 'information extraction' regarding
information on mother, Florence Esher.

She skimmed
through the few pages of description. Several words stood out to
her as if highlighted and underlined in red.
Orphaned...
probable schizophrenic... possible drug addiction... moderate to
severe social anxiety... unskilled labourer... severe
post-traumatic stress...

She closed the
page and returned to the previous menu. She stared at her mother's
name then at her own hand. It was shaking again. She pinched the
bridge of her nose then rubbed her eyes and opened the folder.
There was a picture of a tired middle-aged woman. Dark hair, wide
set jaw. There were numbers behind her head indicating her height,
like a prisoner. Seline swallowed.

Her mother.
Without the romanticised gloss of memory. Her mother. As real as
she would ever be.

She scrolled
past the image and read.

Born: 2072.
Corporate Zone 2.

Siblings: None
known

Offspring:
Seline Esher (Daughter)

Education:
Received PH.D in astrophysics and xenotechnology in the year
2094.

Date of
disappearance: (Information retrieved from NeoCorp data files).
Disappeared circa 28-09-2113, conducting work on Tier One Atlas
Gate in [redacted] star system beyond Tryil Gate. Catastrophic
damage to research station during unreported test sequence. Tier
One Atlas Gate damaged, still non-operational. No body found.
Assumed dead. Daughter placed under low priority surveillance.

Seline realised
that this was as much certainty as she'd ever had in her life.

Assumed
dead.

Her mother in a
nutshell.

Seline slammed
her palm into the display on her forearm. It flickered away. She
leaned her elbows on her knees and rested her head in her
hands.

So her mother
had left her on Earth, a twelve year old girl, so she could run off
to a secret NeoCorp space station and get herself turned into dust.
Assumed dead. There was no satisfaction in knowing that. No sweet
relief or moment of clarity. Just a bitter taste in her mouth and
an anchor in her gut. Her mother had left her. Abandoned her. All
the more reason to forget her, to repay the favour.

She wanted to
kick something. She wanted to punch something – someone. Blame
needed to be placed. It needed a face. She slammed her right hand
into the frame of the bed. The bracket bent, cracked, and gave way.
She collapsed with it to the floor but didn't get up. She rested
her head back on the broken bed frame and stared up at the ceiling
and wondered how many rivets there were.

She started
counting but only got to fifty-six when a knock came from the door.
Seline opened her eyes. She cleared her throat. 'Come in.'

The door
opened. Sear walked in. He held her new white overalls.

'The Doctor hid
them well,' he said.

Seline said
nothing.

Sear looked at
the broken bed. 'I didn't think you weighed that much,' he
said.

Seline began to
mumble an explanation but gave up after the first broken syllable.
Sear approached and looked closely at the bent frame where Seline
had hit it.

'I'll get this
fixed for you. Is there anything else you need?'

She thought for
a moment. Sighed. 'I could use a coffee.'

'I'll get some
for you while you change. That suit can't be very comfortable.'

He handed her
the overalls and left. Seline looked around the room for any hidden
cameras before undressing. As she unzipped, the material slackened
and released its grip on her body. Her skin could breathe again.
She stepped out of the overalls and fit herself into the new ones.
They pulled taught over her skin. Less of a straight jacket, more
like an uncomfortable hug from a stranger. She folded the other
pair of overalls and placed them by the door.

Sear knocked
before entering, coffee in hand. He passed it to Seline.

'I have a free
moment if you have any questions,' he said as he placed a
replacement bracket for the bed on the floor.

'I just want to
know what's going on,' said Seline. 'All I know is that we're going
to Saranture and that I'm apparently in some kind of
quarantine.'

'This isn't
quarantine.'

'Then what is
it?'

'It's a
transition period, as much for everyone else as for you.'

'I feel a
little out of the loop here and I doubt that it's an accident.'

'If you want to
know what will happen when we get to Saranture, I can't be sure.
Decisions can't be made until we have all the right information. We
will be arriving shortly so I ask you to wait just a moment
longer.'

'That's easy
for you to say.'

'I can't force
you to trust me.'

She waited,
expecting him to say something more but he only stood there. She
couldn't even tell what direction he was looking. She ran her
fingers through her hair. 'Fine. Do you know what happened to
Abigail?'

'She is
probably out of the hands of NeoCorp.'

'What makes you
think she got away?'

'There are no
census records in the insolvency bar the various lists for
extortion and execution that have been issued by NeoCorp. We found
her name on one of these lists. She has been identified as a known
terrorist. There's a bounty on her head. Twenty thousand credits.
Dead or alive. I also found a familiar face on the same list.'

Seline looked
up. Sear had a small holographic display set up, projecting a
screen in the middle of the room. She saw her name and the same
picture that had been on her bar ID. She would have been
embarrassed if the description next to her picture hadn't caught
her attention.

It read: Fifty
thousand credits. Alive.

She frowned.
'Shit.'

'This has been
posted to all human run stations including Yarfor Station.'

'Shit.'

'I am not
saying this to frighten you but it is important you understand just
how serious our alliance has become.'

'But what about
Abigail?'

He closed the
holographic display. 'At this point there is nothing we can do. If
she managed to evade NeoCorp by herself, then she may be more
resourceful than you think.'

Seline sighed
and leaned back uncomfortably on the wall, resigning herself to her
guilt.

'Have you had a
chance to look over the information in the database?' asked
Sear.

'Some of it.
I'm not really sure what to make of it.'

'What do you
mean?'

'Well, where
did you get the information from?'

'The
information on you and your mother was lifted from a NeoCorp
database.'

She sipped her
coffee. 'How accurate is it?'

'It's not
fabricated if that's your concern.'

She said
nothing.

He looked at
Seline's bag on the floor beneath the broken bed. 'What of the
blackbox? Have you had any success recalling the memory?'

'No. Not yet.
There hasn't been some great epiphany or anything like you were
hoping for. I don't know. It's like I'm reading about someone else.
Someone else's mother I mean. It all feels so detached.'

'That's fine,'
said Sear. 'This isn't something we should be pushing right
now.'

'I only
promised that I'd try. I didn't make any guarantees.'

'Yes. I haven't
forgotten.'

She gestured
towards the door. 'As long as
they
remember that.'

'I'll try my
best to convince them. Do you have any more questions?'

'Nothing
important,' she said.

'If there is
something unimportant you wish to ask then I will not stop you.' He
picked the bracket up and knelt down next to the bed and unfastened
the broken hinge. He was about to ask how she did it but noticed
that she was holding her right arm behind her back.

Seline was
watching him work and found herself speaking before she could pull
the thought back. 'How come you look the way you do?'
Shit. Now
I sound like a racist.
'Like me. Uh... I mean, as far as I can
tell everyone on this ship is Yurrick right? I've seen a couple of
Yurrick before but you all look different from one another –
especially you – you look almost human.'

He watched her
curiously for a moment.

'Sorry if
I-'

'Are you aware
of what Yurrick are?' Sear asked.

'… No, I
guess.'

'You aren't
aware that Yurrick share DNA with humans?'

'Oh, well, I've
heard the stories but... they're just stories. There's no truth to
them.'

'I can tell you
the stories are true. We've known it for decades. Homo erectus is
our common ancestor. We have millions of years of shared evolution
and the records we've found on Earth prove it just as the marked
absence of hominid fossils on Saranture suggests most of our own
evolution took place somewhere else.'

Seline was
looking at Sear. Her eyes stuck on the green, stained-glass skin
and the undead eyes.

'You're very
untrusting, aren't you?' he said. 'What did you think the Atlas
Gates connecting our systems were there for? They're the only Gates
we know of that connect in such a way. Hundreds of thousands of
years ago the Sceril must have travelled from beyond the Yeta
System and connected Sol and Saranture and then seeded Saranture
with life from Earth. At least that's how the theory goes.'

'It's not that
I don't accept the theory,' said Seline. 'I've just never had a
reason to believe it. But... anyway, you still look more human than
the others.'

'There is
little variation in the physiological traits of Yurrick at birth.
Most of our physical development takes place between the ages of
ten and thirty. Our physical appearance depends on where we are
during this period of life. I spent a lot of time on Earth so I've
evolved to look more like modern day humans than other
Yurrick.'

'So all the
others have spent time on other planets as well?'

'It is
compulsory for those who serve upon this ship to spend time among
other species. A form of participant observation.'

'They don't
look as... severe as you do.'

'I remained for
an extended period – longer than is normally required.'

'Why?'

'There was a
lot to learn.'

'You said that
before.'

'As did
you.'

Sear had
removed the broken bracket and was refitting its replacement.

'What's
Saranture like?' asked Seline.

'It's quite
humid. You probably won't require a jersey or long sleeved
shirt.'

'I mean what's
it like as a place to live?'

He thought
again as if struggling to find the correct memories. 'It is the
safest place I know. It has its moments of beauty just like every
other. I think you will find it to your liking. It is similar to
Earth in many respects. Carbon based lifeforms. Liquid water.
Oxygen and nitrogen based atmosphere. The planet itself is slightly
smaller and is actually classed as a moon orbiting the gas giant
Darinus. A lot of the surface has been returned to its natural
state while Yurrick have generally isolated themselves to major
cities and several smaller towns and settlements.'

'No offence but
you sound like an encyclopaedia entry. Have you been back there
since you came to Earth?'

'No.'

She thought
about herself and her recent return to Earth. 'Eleven years is a
long time. It might have changed.'

'It has but I
have kept myself informed.'

'Do you think
you'll return to Earth at some point?'

'It's difficult
to say. I might but then again I might not. I imagine you feel the
same way.'

'I have no
reason to go back again. I barely had one to start with. I should
really tell Zackry about what's happened.'

'When were you
expected back?'

'About
now.'

'I can't
suggest going back to work, let alone Yarfor Station.'

Seline rested
her head back on the wall and closed her eyes. She sighed. 'I've
been looking for a reason to leave that place. Well... not so much
looking for a reason – I have enough of those – but looking more
for a way out.'

'How long have
you worked for Zackry?'

'Don't you
already know that?'

'I do, but
let's pretend this is a normal conversation.'