Breaking Orbit

by milesprower06


Sins of the Father

The last vestiges of sunlight disappeared behind the Neighvada mountains, and the only thing that kept the brilliant display of stars at bay was the cloud cover, and a bit of the light pollution from downtown Las Pegasus some 40 miles away. One would have to get another 50 or so miles out to really appreciate the view.

By now, Apogee probably had a view unlike any other.

Jet Stream slowly walked down the otherwise empty dirt road headed south, one of his old black turtlenecks and a light jacket keeping him warm against the evening wind. The only light keeping him out of pitch black were the traces of moonlight coming through the intermittent cloud cover, and a street lamp overhead every 200 feet or so. The only sounds tonight were his hooves brushing the dirt, the occasional barking dog as he passed a cluster of shanties, the rustle of trees, or the occasional tumbleweed as they crossed the road on their journey through the Neighvada Desert.

He reached into the left inner pocket of his jacket and pulled out a small flask-shaped glass bottle, containing barely a half pint of Appleoosa Honey Whiskey. He couldn't remember the last time he drank before tonight as he took a sip before returning it to inside his jacket, but it seemed to be the only thing that even slightly dulled the worsening pain in his stomach. He wasn't drunk, nowhere close, just a little buzzed. He hadn't had a single bite to eat since his flight to Cape Caneighveral. Not at the visitor complex, or on the flight back, or even when he got home. He had completely lost his appetite, and the bags under his eyes made it clear that he hadn't slept in over 48 hours. All he had was water and whiskey, and all he heard were voices in his head, from months, years, and decades past.

'Stop! You're not going to do to me what you did to her!'

'I know I wasn't an accident.'

'Some family it turned out to be.'

'If you ever take the opportunity to stallion up and apologize, you know where she is.'

He looked up, and realized that he had arrived. He almost didn't recognize it, but the single pole with the dozen floodlights 50 feet above illuminated the entire lot, along with the three halogen lights that lit up the sign bolted above the entrance.

VEE'S JUNKYARD AND SPACESHIP PARTS

What he remembered as a rusty old sign had been restored to brand new, or at least it had four-and-a-half years ago, when Apogee had told him what she had actually gone and done over the summer before leaving for college. The sign, and the floodlights above were the only thing he remotely recognized about the place.

The barbed wire fence had been removed, and 30 desert palms now bordered the property line where it had been. The arched workshop, the magnet crane, the pile of scrap, the fuel tank, the trailer... They were all gone. Every piece of metal had vanished and it was an entirely empty dirt and sand lot surrounded by the palms...

...Except for the very center.

Jet's lips began to dry as he slowly stepped under the sign and onto the lot proper.

'Psst. What's the answer to question number 7?'

Apogee had every piece of metal on the lot melted down, compressed, and milled into construction materials. She had cremated her mom's remains, and buried her in the very center of the lot. With those recycled materials, she had built a small launch pad on top of the burial plot.

'L4 and L5.'
'Thank you. Also, would you like to go for waffles after the exam?'
'Maybe if you pass me the answer to question 18, yuppie.'
'It's the square root of molecular weight over combustion chamber pressure. And my name is Jet Stream.'
'See you after class then, Jet. I'm Delta.'

He took another step closer, and saw the silver plaque that had been bolted onto the base of the pad.

HERE RESTS DELTA VEE
ENGINEER, BUILDER, AND MOTHER
1954 - 1994 CE

'Move to my place. You won't need a job, and we can live together, work on the project, have a family, start our own company...'
'We've already discussed this, Jet, I'm sorry. I loved working and spending time with you, but I can't miss this interview. It's what I've always dreamed of.'

Jet's heart crept up to his throat as his eyes rose to the steel floor of the pad, where an old Rocketdyne LR79 engine sat. It had been scrubbed clean, polished, and weather-sealed to protect against the elements, looking as if it was connected to the rest of an unseen rocket, ready to shoot for the stars.

'You lied to me for four fucking years! You forced a foal into our life to keep me around. You said it was an accident...'
'I did what I thought was best for both of us'
'Best for YOU! I didn't get a choice.'
'You didn't give me a choice either. You were going to leave the city, the project, and us!'
'YOU USED ME!'

The last three words of that memory was the breaking point, as Jet, legs shaking, dropped to all four knees and lowered his head as he let out a guttural wail of agony, and began sobbing uncontrollably as his whole body heaved.

"Oh gods... I'm sorry Delta... I'm so sorry... I was so dead set in my my plans for a family and a business... I was so obsessed with my dream that I destroyed your dream... I destroyed you, to get it. It was so presumptuous of me to assume that you'd never come back. Maybe you would have, maybe you wouldn't have, what does it matter? It was supposed to be your choice, your life, and I took that away from you... And... And..."

And as his words failed him, he knew there was absolutely nothing he would be able to do to fix any of it. It was a quarter century too late.

"...And I should have let you go..."

There was nothing more to say as he knelt there baring his sins and soul to his long departed ex. His eyes burned, his throat was sore, his heart ached... But the pain in his stomach started to slowly lessen. He shuddered for a few moments, and then slowly got to his hooves. Sniffling and wiping away the last of his tears, he pulled out the bottle of whiskey and removed the cap to pour it out, but then paused at the last moment.

No. Not here. He wouldn't taint this hallowed ground with another single drop of this poison.

As he capped and pocketed the bottle again, he began to wonder how he could possibly make up for his mistakes to Apogee. As his eyes settled on the LR79 again, the painful answer came to him.

Don't.

He was emotionally traumatized. He had made a desperate split-second decision 25 years ago with his girlfriend, doing what he thought was best, and it slowly destroyed them.

He wouldn't dare do the same to his daughter. No matter what he thought was best, he needed to stop. It would hurt like hell, but he knew the best way would be to let her go. Maybe she would come back. And if she didn't, that was okay too.

He took a deep breath, and looked up at the starry night as the clouds began to clear. A tiny mote of light, the ESS, soared across the sky.

"I love you, sweetheart. Best of luck up there."