Smells Like Home

Posted on Sat Nov 14th, 2020 @ 2:40pm by Lieutenant Dessame Sar

Mission: The Shadow of Arachne
Location: Corridors, Science Lab, USS Athena
825 words - 1.7 OF Standard Post Measure

Their entry into fluidic space had been a surprise, although she did not think anyone would intentionally bring themselves here. Dessame had been using the ships sensors to look for a way out, looking for a star, a void, anything that looked like her version of normal. Sadly, she had came up empty handed so far.

She had decided to take a walk to clear her head before trying again, trying to find something different that would lead them home. She had left the bridge and almost got ran over by a speeding crewman. As she went to open her mouth to ask if everything was alright the man was fast out of sight.

”Odd. They were in quite a hurry…” she thought to herself before shaking her head and moving on.

As she walked, she began to go over the problem in her mind. She was no scientist and she damn sure could not shoot it or blow it up to get out. This was extremely frustrating. For a moment she felt like something caught her eye and as she looked there was nothing.

Then there was a smell. A Secana plant.

They grow on the world her colony once was, on Kolacia. Dessame was sure they had never been transported off world and even more confusing was why she was smelling it in a corridor on the Athena.

Laughter. She heard laughter now, but that of a child.

As she looked behind her, she saw the flash of a person. For a moment she caught sight of her face, then the back of her head as she began to skip away playfully.

“Ubil?” she asked confused. Her sister was 22 now, something was not right here. Dessame began to move towards the direction of the elusive child. As she turned the next junction she was standing there, right in front of her, waiting.

“Ubil?” she asked once more. “You can’t be here. What has happened to you?” Dessame knelt so she was level with her younger sister and gripped her shoulders.

“They are coming.” She said rather sinisterly before letting out a piercing scream that made Dessame cover her ears and let Ubil go.

As the scream ended Dessame looked up and saw Ubil run into a near by room. She followed and once through the doors she was back in her old house back on Kolacia. Everything was as she remembered it and her heart began to beat that little bit faster.

Openly, and audibly, she questioned her environment. Moving to the window she saw a blue sky, a beautiful day like the ones she remembered.

Behind her there was a scuffle and she saw Ubil standing with a phaser. “They are coming.” She said once more as there was a boom. Multiple explosive sounds and the sky turned red.

“No…” Dessame said. “I cannot go through this again.” She pleaded with her sister.

“This is who you are sister.” Ubil responded with a lack of emotion attached to those words. “You exist here.” She added.

There was a boom outside the house door. He was coming. “Ubil you need to hide. I will not let him find you. I will stop him this time.” Dessame said taking the phaser. The booms grew louder, the door began to bend and warp through sheer power.

The large Orion that haunted her dreams still walked through with a smile on his face. An expectant smile, one of recognition.

Dessame’s hands began to shake, she was struggling to keep her composure and her legs began to weaken. “You are not real.” She said closing her eyes and wishing him away.

Even as she kept repeating those words, she felt a large hand over her throat. His warm breath on her ear as the words came, “I exist here too.” He stated.

Dessame screamed and fired the phaser before dropping to the floor in defeat.

On her knees, her head dropped she wondered why he had not finished her.

Looking up she noticed she was in a lab and she had destroyed equipment across the other side of the room with the phaser she had fired. Security officers rushed in due to the security notifications sent if a weapon is fired.

“Ma’am are you okay?” one asked. “What happened? Are you in danger?”

Regaining enough composure, she rose to her feet and did her best to look as if she had not just blown a hole in the wall. She wanted to tell them, but she was sure that if she did that the ship would know before long and quite frankly, she was not for having her personal history dragged through the corridors of the Athena. “I am fine Crewman. Must be something wrong with the phaser. I will… eh… take it for maintenance. Thank you.” She said as she rushed past them to get out of there.

Anywhere would do.