ch 3
darkness. the sort of darkness you can only find out beyond the outer edges of the galactic fringe, where the few dim specks of light in the distance are other galaxies and the one brightest glow from behind is the one you call home. it's where i'm floating now, just outside of the fringes of reality, and those dim pinpricks out there are some other reality, some other places where the rules don't apply in the way we're used to. that's what alien truly is, like meeting a grumin for the first time. totally alien in every respect to what your imagination can even begin to expect about what life is. about reality. and out of that darkness one of those distant needle points of light is drawing nearer, growing brighter, more intense. it is roaring with life, with closeness. it is breathing in the fire of my soul.
i wake up screaming. i've been screaming for a while longer than i've been concious, judging by the rawness of my lungs. and then the memories, my memories flood back, and i'm not so sure. i've never been so unsure of myself. i've never been at a loss of confidence whatsoever. my 10 years in exile. my two years in trial. the 10 minutes it took to betray my emperor. 15 years in his service. the 18 years i spent preparing to be in that service. i had always known sureness. always been certain. even if it was that i could not be certain of anything, confidence was always mine. today it was not. i did not know where i was, my PMRMD was beside the bed i occupied and sitting up i strapped it to my back before checking my sidearm. still there. if i was a hostage access would not be so easy. i was a guest here. wherever here was. i would treat such courtesy in turn. manners were a part of strategy too many officers overlooked.
i took in my surroundings. a cabin by the spartanisity of it, probaly an officer's cabin on a ship. by the lack of personal effects, an unoccupied one. a woman's voice sounded over the com, "i hear you're awake padre. if you'd like to join me in the bridge, it's right out the door and the 2nd corridor on the left, you can't miss it."
padre? no matter, i might as well see who my benefactor is. i followed her instructions. it appeared a small cargo vessel. probaly for shipping small quantities of volitile cargo between short distances. or for smuggling. the emperor allowed small amounts of such practices. they could be utilized to ferret out larger threats to the peace, when controlled without their notice. i found myself in a small cockpit with a lone women at the controls.
"glad you found it alright, padre not much to look at but the senyr is a good fast little ship. she does me proud. if you want to strap in, we're just about to start descent. i'll have you home in a jiff. i hope the homeward passage reward is still in effect. no offence but none of us lay people like to visit earth if we can help it."
"earth, padre?" did she think i was? it could not be. i was no jaduriin. if she responded it was drowned out by the roar of atmosphere accepting the vessel into itself. i could only roll my head at the ever more terrible turns of fate dealt to me as we descended to the place those haf mad priests named after the mythical birthplace of mankind lost during the fall of the last galctic empire thousands of years ago. before the emperor was given birth and restored order or kindness to the universe. this was the place of testing, where the left hand of the emperor lay, from where the voice of canon spoke. where my benefactor and i would both most likely suffer a fate worse than exile, worse than death.
Chapter 4
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