//------------------------------//
// Journey 
// Story: Homeworld Conflict 
// by Lily Lain 
//------------------------------//

The advisor made his way through the most abandoned, and yet most crowded room of the Mothership – the cryogenic bays. It was spacious and cold. The generators here were solid ones, those built to provide their services until the end of time and a day more. As he walked through row after row of cylindrical chambers, he didn’t pay them any heed. Only one of them mattered.
 
He knew the way, its length gave him some time to think, to formulate the words. There was much to tell. He opted not to take anything with him, no calming pills, no electric cigars, nothing. The road stretched indefinitely, and he wanted to already be there so badly, like a child who couldn’t wait for a new toy.
 
He’d considered asking for a walking cane at some point. Not because he had problems with walking, not at all, but rather to accentuate his age, and supposed wisdom. He chuckled at the idea.
 
There it hung. On metal wires, strapped to metal bars, the chamber he was looking for. It hanged always in the same place, and yet he always felt a bit surprised to see it still there, always waiting. He never really said anything while visiting, only thought. Today he would change it.
 
He ran his fingers across the metallic surface. He couldn’t see inside, but perhaps that was better. With each day he was closer to seeing her again.
 
“I know you hated that Scout we first built back at Kharak. I know, we both thought we’d be alone out there, just us and the void. How bloody romantic.” He fiddled with the ring on his finger. He never took it off, and never would, but how it itched sometimes!
 
“We’ve used that Scout. We’ve used the Interceptors, the Corvettes, the Frigates, the Carriers. We’ve used all of that. And here we were, thinking that we’re alone out there, that we can study other worlds in peace, and that no one would ever drag us into a war again. Guess how bloody wrong we were.” The chambers were silent. No one was there to answer, no one would.
 
The advisor remembered her standing up at the summit, all eyes turned toward her. “It’s an exploration mission!” she’d say, fire burning in those blue eyes, the black mess of a hair a bit more messy than usual. “Will we welcome whoever is out there with mass drivers and cannons?” She had a point. Some applauded, some didn’t. In the end it mattered little.
 
“We welcomed them with mass drivers and cannons,” the advisor said. “Just as they welcomed us.”
 
She’d not been listened to, a botanical expert among military engineers and men of war. At least she had a drive. Wonder how she’d react... “I killed too,” he said. “Four bodies, blasted to death. Not Kushan, though, I’m not mad. Aliens, with heads of eagles and bodies of cats. Ridiculous, isn’t it? Well, not if you see their lifeless corpses at your feet.”
 
“Remember Kharak? You remember only Kharak. The roasting hell-hole of a world, where we all left the kids and the old. You know what happened to it? It doesn’t exist.” A tear fell down his cheek, then another, and another. “Your parents, my mother, gone. Kids from that Paktu family, gone too. There are no children on the Mothership, never were.”
 
She was waiting in the line to be put in her chamber. In the cold. He remembered her looking at the city, at the sands, the people doomed to stay. “We’ll return for them someday, right?” she’d ask. “I swear,” she called to them, “we’ll return for you!” They smiled, and waved, and kissed their loved ones. The advisor made the same promise. Now there was nothing to return to.
 
“What did we think Hiigara would be? I’ve no idea. Perhaps some kind of paradise. The world we ended up on, here, is a paradise, don’t you think? Grass everywhere, water everywhere. None of the damn sand, not in the Kharak quantities. We never would’ve thought it’d be populated.”
 
He recalled how even those not included in the Journey would talk about Hiigara. How wonderful it was supposed to be. How the birds and the trees would populate it whole, how the clear water would be a house to fish, otters, and whatnot. No one took into consideration there wouldn’t be enough place for them.
 
“And the world we’ve found, the bloody paradise with no place for us, isn’t Hiigara. Hiigara is the place we’re going to. Again we’ve a clear goal in mind. The Journey isn’t over yet, but maybe Fleet Command will make up her mind and lead us somewhere for once.” He tapped the metal surface of the chamber. “See you home, Eliin.” He walked away.
 
The end.