Sojourn Sol (Eternal Sol) (7 page)

She raced through the sand towards the silvery complex, but it exploded in front of her. The ground shook and she watched the spiders scampering out. She picked up as many of the children as she could find and motioned for the others to climb on her. She had to get them to safety. She knew that the humans were attacking because pieces of shrapnel had fallen not far from where she was standing, and she saw one with a 3 painted on it. They were using third level weapons.

She was almost to the ship. She could see it. All she had to do was make her way out of the system and she would be able to survive the supernova. She could even save a few of them so they could live on in another world. All she had to do was make it.

When she finally leaned down onto the cold metal and rested for just a moment, she felt like she'd ran a marathon. The spiders were climbing up over to her chest so they could look up at her. She smiled down at them, but the gesture would be meaningless.

She opened the cargo hatch and placed them inside. Some of them tried to leave, but others grabbed them and brought them back in. They knew they could trust her; she didn't know how though. She interfaced with the ship's systems through her cognitive console, trying to find a way to jump, but she felt the wave of radiation already. Her thoughts quickly turned to Tamil, who was employed by the same organization that would end up killing her. She entered the sanctuary as she lay down flat on the cold metal floor and began her speech.

“Tamil, these are my last words. I love you more than my own life, which I gave up to come to you. I'm not sure if I will ever see you again, but something tells me that our bond is too strong to be broken like this. You are the most amazing man I've ever met, and my soul's mission is to find you.”

She saw it from above space itself, an ethereal creature seeing a firework burst below her as trillions upon trillions of tiny souls were brought to her side. She saw Tamil fleeing and wailing, and she understood. She wished that she could show him where she was, that she was finally happy and that it was OK, but she would have to wait. They would see each other again.