This is a closed-loop storyline as it is presented.]
Jude 1:23 - Save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.
I can't remember when these dreams first started. The lull of the sun against my face, the grass that tickles the back of my neck and the warm breeze that chases invisible hares through the forest of my hair. So bright, I raise my hand to shield my squinting eyes though I separate my fingers allowing the rays through. It hurts but it's a beauty that can't be comparable to anywhere else in life. She calls to me and I lean my head back into the sea of green with my eyes tilting to the back of my head, catching her red sundress with the white polka dots. Anyone else might have found it tacky but to me it was simply right.
Everything feels so right and then she stops and looks at me, her smile fading into a white dwarf from her VY Canis Majoris. Her hair stops blowing behind her and I see something else in her eyes. I feel the world churning beneath me and I see her begin to stumble as the horizon shifts and trees begin to turn sideways. I begin to slide on the grass, trying to get a hold on anything that I can- but I can't take my eyes off of her. She falls to her bottom and I can hear her screaming my name.
"%&*$!" She's scrambling, trying to get a hold of anything solid as she begins to slide.
She finds a hold onto a water fountain beside the restrooms and it occurs to me that the branch I'm now hanging from is the last thing remaining between me and the pit of blue below. Birds are perched on their inverted stoops, frantically searching for their upside down baskets. I hear the chaos around me as though I'm in a womb of my own, cars are falling from the streets they were just driving on, people are screaming, holding onto anything they can for dear life. My eyes remain on her though. I feel drowsy and I can't comprehend why but the blood is rushing to my skull. My sight is starting to blur and I can no longer make out what she's yelling. The tears in her eyes stab me like a thousand needles and I scream, a blood curdling scream and my throat is on fire, but it's silent to the impact of the semi against the water fountain.
Thickets begin to lacerate my hands as my grip fails me and I'm overcome by the black hole of despair in my stomach. Between the sweat and the blood I lose my grip and I begin to spiral. I can't keep awake for much longer but I can see her holding her hand out to me; when I reach for it...
I vomit into zero g. My throat is on fire from the stomach acids that quickly go back down, but I'm stuck in my straps against the thin layers of metal that partition me from the endless space outside the Orpheus II.
"Not again with this..." Cold sweat is before me drifting into my console that's flickering with the updates on my position.
1090 days and fifteen hours since my departure and I'm due for one more sleep before I arrive. I don't know if I can make it through another of those dreams at this rate. All the nightmares in the world won't get between me and a nice shower though.
"Play Schubert, Ellens Gessang III." He was one hell of a composer and I don't think I could stand another dreamstate if I didn't have something from home to get me through it.
It's a good thing the cylindrical showers come with a display panel built in the glass so I can keep track of the time because when I get into Schubert, there's nothing that'll knock me out of it. 00:49 the sky blue led display flickered from 48 as I blinked, leaving me with the same question I always asked myself. Time is different here than home, so why do I keep track" I received the last transmission over four hundred days ago and I don't think I will be seeing any more until I return; it's the next best thing to my photographs back in the quarters. Before I could queue up the next song the familiar *ding* of an incoming message interrupts me on the display.
Help.
Solitary the word stares me right back through the fogged glass. I flick it now, thinking it's a display bug. There is no code before or after or any discernible warnings that the computer is at fault. Then the *ding* happens again.
Ndihm".
No break in the text the next word pops up beside the first and in half the given time between them, a third *ding* pops up.
Oգնություն. *ding* K"mək. *ding* Laguntza.
I turn the shower knob to a halt because now there is no separation between the notifications. They just begin pouring in and the dings cease to be dings but are now a constant stream.
Дапамаж& #1099;це, সাহায্য, U pomoć, Помощ, Ajuda, Thandizeni, 救命, Pomoći, Hj"lp, Aitama, Tulong, Apua, Aidez-Moi, Hilfe, Βοήθεια, Ede, Seg"ts"g, Hj"lp, Membantu, Aiuto, 助けて, 도와주세요, Auxilium, Palīdzēt, Padėkite, Socorro, помогит& #1077;, Pomaga, Ayuda, Ku caawi, Hj"lp, Yardım, Допомож& #1110;ть, Gi"p...
My eyes are failing to keep up with the pace of these words, these messages. To whoever is sending these the purpose is clear. A translation is proposed beside each entry automatically by the onboard computer. Each word is accompanied by the same counterpart every single line: help. From their perspective I imagine this is a frantic message in a bottle and to me, it's a ruined shower.
I hold my breath at my console, still needing to apply a follow up disinfectant to the screen after my episode previously, but I start pinpointing the source of this distress code en-mass. A satellite to a nearby planet has been pitching each one on a clockwork rotation since I drew within its radio distance. I'm coming up on my next sleep semester and as I view my on-board clock flicking closer to 01:00, I look tentatively back to the blip on my map.
How could a detour really hurt me"
Jude 1:23 - Save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.
I can't remember when these dreams first started. The lull of the sun against my face, the grass that tickles the back of my neck and the warm breeze that chases invisible hares through the forest of my hair. So bright, I raise my hand to shield my squinting eyes though I separate my fingers allowing the rays through. It hurts but it's a beauty that can't be comparable to anywhere else in life. She calls to me and I lean my head back into the sea of green with my eyes tilting to the back of my head, catching her red sundress with the white polka dots. Anyone else might have found it tacky but to me it was simply right.
Everything feels so right and then she stops and looks at me, her smile fading into a white dwarf from her VY Canis Majoris. Her hair stops blowing behind her and I see something else in her eyes. I feel the world churning beneath me and I see her begin to stumble as the horizon shifts and trees begin to turn sideways. I begin to slide on the grass, trying to get a hold on anything that I can- but I can't take my eyes off of her. She falls to her bottom and I can hear her screaming my name.
"%&*$!" She's scrambling, trying to get a hold of anything solid as she begins to slide.
She finds a hold onto a water fountain beside the restrooms and it occurs to me that the branch I'm now hanging from is the last thing remaining between me and the pit of blue below. Birds are perched on their inverted stoops, frantically searching for their upside down baskets. I hear the chaos around me as though I'm in a womb of my own, cars are falling from the streets they were just driving on, people are screaming, holding onto anything they can for dear life. My eyes remain on her though. I feel drowsy and I can't comprehend why but the blood is rushing to my skull. My sight is starting to blur and I can no longer make out what she's yelling. The tears in her eyes stab me like a thousand needles and I scream, a blood curdling scream and my throat is on fire, but it's silent to the impact of the semi against the water fountain.
Thickets begin to lacerate my hands as my grip fails me and I'm overcome by the black hole of despair in my stomach. Between the sweat and the blood I lose my grip and I begin to spiral. I can't keep awake for much longer but I can see her holding her hand out to me; when I reach for it...
I vomit into zero g. My throat is on fire from the stomach acids that quickly go back down, but I'm stuck in my straps against the thin layers of metal that partition me from the endless space outside the Orpheus II.
"Not again with this..." Cold sweat is before me drifting into my console that's flickering with the updates on my position.
1090 days and fifteen hours since my departure and I'm due for one more sleep before I arrive. I don't know if I can make it through another of those dreams at this rate. All the nightmares in the world won't get between me and a nice shower though.
"Play Schubert, Ellens Gessang III." He was one hell of a composer and I don't think I could stand another dreamstate if I didn't have something from home to get me through it.
It's a good thing the cylindrical showers come with a display panel built in the glass so I can keep track of the time because when I get into Schubert, there's nothing that'll knock me out of it. 00:49 the sky blue led display flickered from 48 as I blinked, leaving me with the same question I always asked myself. Time is different here than home, so why do I keep track" I received the last transmission over four hundred days ago and I don't think I will be seeing any more until I return; it's the next best thing to my photographs back in the quarters. Before I could queue up the next song the familiar *ding* of an incoming message interrupts me on the display.
Help.
Solitary the word stares me right back through the fogged glass. I flick it now, thinking it's a display bug. There is no code before or after or any discernible warnings that the computer is at fault. Then the *ding* happens again.
Ndihm".
No break in the text the next word pops up beside the first and in half the given time between them, a third *ding* pops up.
Oգնություն. *ding* K"mək. *ding* Laguntza.
I turn the shower knob to a halt because now there is no separation between the notifications. They just begin pouring in and the dings cease to be dings but are now a constant stream.
Дапамаж& #1099;це, সাহায্য, U pomoć, Помощ, Ajuda, Thandizeni, 救命, Pomoći, Hj"lp, Aitama, Tulong, Apua, Aidez-Moi, Hilfe, Βοήθεια, Ede, Seg"ts"g, Hj"lp, Membantu, Aiuto, 助けて, 도와주세요, Auxilium, Palīdzēt, Padėkite, Socorro, помогит& #1077;, Pomaga, Ayuda, Ku caawi, Hj"lp, Yardım, Допомож& #1110;ть, Gi"p...
My eyes are failing to keep up with the pace of these words, these messages. To whoever is sending these the purpose is clear. A translation is proposed beside each entry automatically by the onboard computer. Each word is accompanied by the same counterpart every single line: help. From their perspective I imagine this is a frantic message in a bottle and to me, it's a ruined shower.
I hold my breath at my console, still needing to apply a follow up disinfectant to the screen after my episode previously, but I start pinpointing the source of this distress code en-mass. A satellite to a nearby planet has been pitching each one on a clockwork rotation since I drew within its radio distance. I'm coming up on my next sleep semester and as I view my on-board clock flicking closer to 01:00, I look tentatively back to the blip on my map.
How could a detour really hurt me"