Flash Fiction - 'Departure'

Departure

by

Andrew Bruce Fisk (September 2012)

The twin vapour trails of her father’s shuttle faded with the rise of the sun. The light from the deep red orb drowned out the last sparks of hope in her heart. She would not cry. Andearies was a princess of her people and on a day such as this weakness, if it was such, must be hidden deep.

The soft ambient glow of morning crept across the horizon of her ancient homeland. The tall minarets of the capital pierced the sky, but even these failed to reach the heights to which her beloved father now ascended.  The ships left every hour now. The time was near when the final vessel would depart.

Soft chimes form the temples below announced the beginning of the working day. The princess turned her back on the heavens and left the balcony on which she had stood.  The aroma of spice and hot beverages rose from the interior of the palace. She was not interested. How could she eat on a day like this?

The sun rose higher. Its glory resplendent. She ignored its beauty. The complexity of its nature meant only one thing to her.

Judgement.


The Ark was busy. The passengers and cargo contained safely within cryogenic chambers. Only the flight crew now remained awake. Ready to execute the final sequence that would ignite the Drive. Edulanous observed the final preparation of his creation. This device marked the pinnacle of his career. The power to warp space time had been his goal for his entire life. His people would be saved by this work. Some of his people.

The great engineer, as he was called, looked out at the burning furnace that was the home star for his people. He knew that the fires raged far too hot. They would rage hotter still, consuming everything in their path. Nothing would stop the destruction of everything he had known. His civilisation was doomed. Or would have been if the Ark had not been conceived.

To escape into the void was the only option and yet the distances were vast. A stardrive was required. His life had taken on a new meaning. He would warp space and time compressing the fabric of reality as they escaped from the inevitable inferno.

So he had built the ship. Some would be saved from certain death. The very best would be carried to a new home on some distant world. Life would continue.

But not for his daughter.

The tears ran freely now. Edulanous struggled to see the meaning behind his achievement. How could any father abandon his child? He would sleepwalk into a dark future alone. The void was too great for his mind to vanquish.

There was one hope. The data encoders had recorded the genetic traces of the ones that would be left behind. The technologies of the future could restore the forgotten ones. He clung to this feeble gesture, a mere sliver of light in an otherwise bleak universe.

Systems deep within the ark signalled the start of the ignition process. The Drive would soon take him away from this world of darkness. He would be born again on some far world. Fear would be conquered in the same way that he had bent the rules of physics. For now he must sleep with the others. A surrender to the temporary death of the cryogenesis. He turned and made his way from the star portal. His eyes were dry now. The Engineer reached into his shirt pocket and retrieved a capsule. The script on its label said one thing.

‘Andearies.’

The darkened finality of the moment was ended. The engines buried deep inside the ship roared into life, ripping the past at from his grasp. Edulanous slipped away from the pain.

On the surface of the world below his daughter was at peace. Safe in the knowledge that, one day, somewhere far from home, she would once again breath the air of a new world.