Excerpt 004: Frontier Trail

[rekindledtitan]

TYPE: Personal log

LOCATION: Orbit, Earth

PARTIES: Three [3]. One [1] Ghost-type, One [1] Guardian-type, designate Blaze-37, Class Titan [rekindledtitan], One [1] Unconfirmed, designate Jesse [notalldead]


ASSOCIATIONS: Multiversal Nexus; Jesse; the Rotten; Earth; Multiversal Phenomena; Blaze-37; Revivification; Demeter Effect


It’s funny, Blaze never expected her ship to be a place for more than herself and her Ghost. A sanctuary of sorts, and a fine sturdy little vessel, but a place for little more than work and storage in the end. And yet now she’s showing it to the fourth friend in just a few months. Not even a Guardian… or at least not the kind she’d expected to befriend.

It’s enough to make her a little conscious of how bare and rough it looks; even the padded pilot’s chair is sort of squashed and worn from bearing the metal weight of an armored Exo several years in a row. Nonetheless, it’s the only comfortable place to sit in the small cabin space, and Blaze steers Jesse that way once he’s defrosted enough to stand.

“So everything’s built into the walls,” she explains, gesturing at one apparently-solid surface after another. “Weapon and armor storage on that side, material supplies over there, workbenches and stuff on the port side. I’ll pull down the wash unit if you want to let your coat dry off.”

Comments

[rekindledtitan]

She's never seen anyone react with so much awe. Granted, how many people has she shown this to for the first time? She was dead on her feet and arguing with Hughes when he came. And she... well. Everything and nothing is wholly new to her.

It's nice, in an unfamiliar way. How often does someone like her get to share something like this?

"Just got to locate it," she says easily. She moves back as Ghost dips in over the controls, trying not to block Jesse's view.

"I'm cross-referencing our geographical database now. Do you know roughly where it... is?" The little bot's brought up a map in one corner display. It is, at least, limited to Canada so apparently they know that one for sure. "...I'm getting quite a few literary and religious references- no, those can't be right..."

[notalldead]

Jesse finally pulls his eyes away from the view of the planet to look over the map that Ghost has kindly provided on the screen. "Uhh, think it's about there?" He taps a green finger against the left side of the country. Hopefully, it's not a touch pad that does something from his contact. Jesse seems to realize that too late and crooks his finger back, pulling a face and glancing at Ghost apologetically. Whoops?

[rekindledtitan]

The display ripples around his finger and makes a 'bloop!' sound, but nothing bad happens aside from leaving a glowing green dot on that spot. Ghost doesn't seem worried, perhaps because he's still in control of the ship's systems. Blaze leans over to take a look.

"I don't think we've been that way before," she comments, transferring the co-ordinates to the navigational controls and setting a course. "Let's fly by and take a look!"

"Right- oh! I think I've found it. We have records of a city in that area... refining the co-ordinates."

"Thanks." Blaze stays near the controls as they bank right and northward. Until they hit atmosphere she only needs some of her attention on the controls, so she glances at Jesse. "You know this city from your Earth?"

[notalldead]

"Yeah. Well...Kinda." He rubs the back of his neck self-consciously, which reminds him he let the blanket fall off of him. He bends down to pick it up and put back around his shoulders as he talks.

"I talked to this slick-lookin' fella in the Nexus once, right? Had all these masks fer some kinda Japanese festival. I tried one out and it gave me this weird-...Made me remember some stuff from when I was livin'. I always just kinda assumed I was from Seattle, y'know? I woke up there. But somethin' made me remember livin' in Calgary once upon a time. Back when I still had a pulse and everythin'. And I just wonder...I dunno, will seein' it mean anything?"

Jesse shrugs and rubs his neck again. "Kinda weird, heh. Sorry."

[rekindledtitan]

Blaze seems to go a little quieter as he explains; perhaps it’s a trick of the eye, from the way those mechanical hands still at the controls, her motor circuits redirected to the task of piloting instead of mimicking organic motions. She shoots a look at Jesse - surprised, frowning – but he might miss it while he’s grabbing his blanket.

“Actually, that sounds interesting,” the Ghost says, first to chip in. Its gaze flicks up to Blaze for just a moment, then back to Jesse, bright and blue. “And we’re happy to help.”

Blaze nods at that. She has to. And she’s not objecting as she lets the ship descend into atmosphere (a jolt and rattle through the hull, quickly damped to a soft rumble). “Well, yeah. Just a heads-up, though, it might look very different from your Earth. It’s been centuries since anyone inhabited this region- anyone human, that is.”

[notalldead]

"Heck, maybe it'll give me an idea of what our earth is gonna be iffen humans go outta style and things get back to nature, y'know?" Assuming that this is a post-societal situation where wildlife still exists and greenery is left to reclaim what it will.

Jesse looks a little startled at the rattle of descent, but settles down when it's clear that's standard by the way neither Ghost or Blaze react to it. The zed eases back down into the pilot's seat, tugging the blanket into place here and there. He's back to watching the view, the look of wonder soon back on his withered features. "I don't even remember what it was like to be in a plane, so this is-...Wow. It's amazin'."

[rekindledtitan]

It’s easier to push unwanted thoughts aside, with Jesse getting so excited right there. Easy to just be glad that he’s happy and let him see what he wants to see. No need to think any further than that. What’re the odds it’ll spark a memory anyhow?

“Only planes I know are on the scrap pile.” Blaze shoots him another look, and this time her gaze seems to soften a bit. So does her voice when she adds, “Glad you’ll get something worth remembering out of this day. Seems fair.”

She swoops them in on a steep arc, to minimize the time spent in low atmosphere. For a while all is dark below, without any city lights or traffic to break the shadow. The ship's somewhere over Ontario and high enough to see Hudson Bay on their right when the sun brightens sharply above them. They’re crossing the day-night line now, chasing the setting sun and gaining every moment. By the time they reach Old Alberta they’re low enough to have a clear view of prairies and tree stands and the odd hint of regular structures flashing by. Blaze slows their flight steadily, compensating for winds at this altitude and bringing up a second feed so they can see the view from under the ship’s nose.

“See, you tap and hold here, it'll change the magnification,” she explains with a quick demonstration. “Zoom right in and out. We can bank round for another pass if you want a second look at anything.” If Jesse’s this happy about a simple fly-by, then she’s –they’re – going to do it right.

And happily, this does look to be a future where nature survives. The small clumps of buildings they can see right now are overgrown with grass and sometimes trees; Blaze has to redirect their path around a flight of geese, and there’s more than a few groups of deer and bison visible down there. Perhaps not as many as one might expect in man’s prolonged absence, but this is definitely their land now.

[notalldead]

He nods at the explanation, already trying it out and smiling without realizing when it does as advertised. A patch of trees is now closer, in higher detail. Another tap and it's zoomed back out again. Neat.

Once they're flying over the requested region, Jesse's gone quiet again, just watching intensely. When there's a glimpse of a deer, though, he points. "Did y'all see that!" They get a zoom in, of course, before they're out of view. And when there's bison? Well, that gets an honest-to-goodness gasp from Jesse, eyes only going wider and leaning closer to the secondary view, looking back and forth between the actual windscreen and it.

"Those're-...! Like in goldarn Dances With Wolves down there! Holy-...!"

[rekindledtitan]

Blaze looks surprised when he gasps, taking another look at the secondary view and the big shaggy mammals roaming around down there. Good time to do a little loop round: they're high enough that the animals don't seem bothered.

"Bison? Don't have those in your time?" she asks, unaware why they might be so remarkable to Jesse. Even if she hasn't run across a lot of big wildlife since she awoke. Apparently Golden Age conservation (and a long period of noninterference) was good enough that they don't remember it was ever necessary. "They're native to this continent, right? Haven't seen 'em elsewhere."

She might love this planet, but there's so much she doesn't know about it any more.

[notalldead]

"Dunno if they're still out there. Might all be gone like the horses are. Ain't never seen one either way. Heck, but they're big. Lookit how big they are! Y'all could ride one if y'all could tame one." Jesse watches the herd animals with downright childlike wonder, his smile big and bright, eyes wide and shining.

"Ain't seen an animal 'scept for cats 'n dogs 'n pigeons for a long time. Not since the sickness came."

[rekindledtitan]

“So it didn’t just hit humans?” That’s saddening. Can’t be good for the ecosystems. Blaze leans against the seat for a couple of minutes while they sweep around, optics flicking between the view and the way Jesse’s face just lit up. “Or is it just the zed that kill them? I don’t know if our enemies bother to hunt animals.”

She checks the sensors, adds offhand: “Better keep moving.” It’s a shame, but the city ruins aren’t far and she wants to fulfill Jesse’s request before the other locals come nosing after them. Can’t fight in the air, short of gaining the height and dropping out of a hatch onto the enemy…

Which might be worth trying, one of these days. She toys with the calculations, makes some rough mental notes.

[notalldead]

"Zed. Zed and overhuntin', prolly. They go nuts and kill anythin' with a pulse. Animals what're slow enough or trust somethin' humanshaped enough didn't do so good." He sits back again, twisting his mouth to one side wistfully. "Main reason I figgur there ain't no more horses out there. Which is somethin' I get bummed out over every now and again. Ain't never gonna get to see one unless I do it in the Nexus or in another goldarn world. Let alone ride one. Animals don't react so good to undead sort, I've found."

[rekindledtitan]

“Huh. Sorry to hear that.” She doesn’t quite share that gut sadness at the loss – she knows horses feature pretty significantly in Old Earth cultures but that’s an intellectual knowledge, and just leaves it as one more thing missing among so many others. Jesse obviously loves them, though. She can feel sorry about that. “Maybe there’re some still running wild? Horses are fast.”

She checks their height as the broken spires of the city become visible ahead, adds, “Kinda hard to think of what it’d be like. Riding another being. We’ve got smart guns, but that’s different.”

[notalldead]

"Bet it's great. Somethin' just neat about it, y'know? It'd be a little like y'all and Ghost, I think. Not that yer ridin' around on him, though that'd be a hoot to see y'try. I mean just havin' this partnership with another livin' thing. Y'all dependin' on one another, havin' this understandin' between y'all, seein' the world together..." He smiles a little at the thought. "It'd be swell. Real swell."

Jesse straightens up some when he spots the same as Blaze; those incoming ruined towers. "That it? Calgary? Or what's left of it anyhow."

[rekindledtitan]

Blaze grunts in sudden understanding. “Put that way, I see what you mean. A companion like that is a fine thing to have.”

“If these co-ordinates are correct, that must be it. Old Calgary.” The Ghost, too, is watching the viewscreens with fascination. Post-Golden Age the city’s towers are taller and sleeker and much more numerous. On the outskirts, they fly past some sort of ancient aerospace port, a couple of chunky transport ships lying abandoned around the main terminal. The stretches of visible highways are lined with dark blots of rusted-out vehicles.

Blaze doesn’t think to comment on that: it’s what she expects to see around a city, and her attention is on getting them safely in to wherever this city kept its heart. To the old old city, where Jesse might recognize some of the weathered buildings and shifted park outlines and overgrown monuments.

“All right, I’m taking us right in. Give me the heads-up if any landmarks look familiar.”

[notalldead]

Jesse is suddenly attentive again, sitting forward in his seat again, craning his neck to see all he can and looking from one catch of the eye to another.

Seeing this place overgrown and abandoned, destroyed in some spots, is...not sad, but it's something along those lines. Haunting? That might be it. Sobering? Though he does take some comfort in seeing that plant life continues to thrive and is hard at work taking back the land.

Everything that looks like a distinctive building, a landmark, an important street, he stares hard at it. Hoping something like a memory or at least a stirring of one will take place in his head. Even if it's not HIS Calgary, it's still Calgary, right? Maybe even just the lay of the land, a particular route, something, will conjure some kind of recognition.

But the further they go and the longer he goes without anything resembling an epiphany or recollection, the more Jesse starts to realize that's just not how these things work. Because that is what he hoped for, wasn't it? Something would spark inside him and he'd suddenly remember who he was and what he did before he died. In whole, not just the vague patches that feel more like he's remembering facts about another person entirely. But nothing. There's nothing. Just a city as dead as he is.

"What happened here anyhow?" he finally asks, determined not to dwell on his disappointment. It was irrational, what he was hoping for.

[rekindledtitan]

Even a slow cruise means they’re sweeping through the city fast, but Blaze cuts their speed as much as she can. Once in a while she glances back at Jesse, optics searching his expression for any sign of recognition. Instead there’s just the dawning of disappointment; she looks back to the viewscreen with mixed feelings. Regret, for her friend. But perhaps also relief.

“Can’t give you a good answer on that. We don’t know much about what happened during the Collapse. Might have been taken by Fallen armies – I know they tore into Earth hard back then. Maybe people had the chance to evacuate first – try to get offworld if they could.”

It’s not a story with much chance for a happy ending, at least not for any one group. She knows what they’d find in there if they landed. Cracked open a shelter or checked the wrong pit. There’s a milder climate here, and plenty of scavengers, but she’s seen how deep the bones are piled in places with less of either.

[notalldead]

"Who're the Fallen? They got somethin' against humans in particular?" The name makes him think of the zed and he sort of hopes that wasn't the case. He hates to think of other worlds facing the same tides of undead he deals with on a daily basis.

"I'm guessin' there ain't no hope of resettlin' this city or any other like it, huh. Somethin' nasty's moved in or left it in such a state that it's a bad idea."

[rekindledtitan]

“The Fallen are pirates. Killers and thieves.” Since they’re aboard ship, it’s easy for the Ghost to pull up a handy pair of reference pictures of the four-armed Devils in their red cloaks. “They fight with every other species they encounter, but they do seem to be focused on humanity. Time and time again they’ve tried to break the City’s defenses.”

“Tried and failed.” Blaze considers the streets below for a moment before she answers Jesse’s other question. “Fallen are just one reason it’s not safe out here. You’re right – the Darkness touches everything outside our walls. That’s why one of our duties as Guardians is to help any refugees we find back to the City. Some of our orders make that their first priority.

“But one day-” and she dismisses the image of the Fallen, wiping it firmly away and tapping at that view of Old Calgary below, “one day when the Darkness is broken, we’re going to reclaim our world. All our worlds. Might take centuries before we have the population and the resources to spread out so far, but we’ll settle places like this again. Even if we have to rebuild from the foundations up.”

Speech aside- she catches movement on the sensors. There’s a red-marked dropship slipping in on their tail, lean and shark-like against the sky. She banks left and swoops behind another tower. “Seen anything you want to go back for? Don’t mean to rush you, but we’re running short on time. And Ghost, show him how to clip on the security harness.”

[notalldead]

Jesse can appreciate the sentiment of resettlement. Someday going back, cleaning and chasing out what's ruined it in the first place and taking back their homes. He nods along with Blaze's words, but the smile he'd been wearing fades when he realizes they might be in trouble.

"Uh, naw. We can skedaddle iffen things are lookin' to git hairy. Wait, security harness?" Are things about to Get Real in here?

[rekindledtitan]

Something flashes on the lower sensor display just before a trio of cannon rounds hit the nearest apartment block, explosively breaking the silence outside. Birds scatter and surge in flight behind them; lucky that the swift little ship is long out of the way before they crowd the air.

Yep, things are about to get a little too real for comfort.

“We can outrun them,” Blaze assures Jesse, her gaze locked on the displays. They bank around to weave between another pair of broken towers, and she spares a hand from the controls to clamp over Jesse’s shoulder briefly. She remembers how light her friend is. The Ghost hastily dips down t point out where the harness straps can be pulled out from the seat. They’re stiff with disuse, but still clip together solid and securely. Who knows if Jesse really needs them, but – dead man or not – he’s had a rough enough ride already today.

When she spots another couple of skiffs dropping out of warp above them, Blaze snorts. “Times like this I really wish this ship was armed. You secured there, Jesse?”

[notalldead]

He appreciates the moment of being held in place, or else he'd have been knocked all around the cockpit for lack of a seatbelt. When Ghost's bobbing catches his eye, Jesse hastily grabs for it and clicks everything in place. At least he thinks he did. It's all clipped in, but things might be mixed up. But hey, who cares, it's secure!

"Kick the tires and light the fires, Blaze!"

[rekindledtitan]

She shoots a look back at him, optics flaring bright golden for a moment, and just maybe one can imagine the grin that might lie behind them. Then her attention’s all ahead, and there’s a happy chuckle from her vocalizer as she fires the drives and brings their nose up hard.

The buildings ahead of them drop from view, their entire field of vision filling with sky and the two lean dark shapes above them. They’re accelerating against gravity, pushing the cabin’s occupants backward as the compensators lag in keeping up with their maneuver. Almost absent-mindedly the Exo reaches up for a handhold, wedging her feet against the chair’s mounting. The ship is rattling around them, prompting Ghost to hover nervously over the controls at Blaze’s side.

The two skiffs they’re aiming to bolt between are already swinging about. Blaze adjusts their course, keeps a steady optic on the screen. The skiffs cross their forward cannons’ fire as they spin, trying to catch the rising jumpship. Too slow. She knows it. Trusts her ship.

They blow between the sluggish dropships, cracking the sky with supersonic velocity. The hull rocks once, twice under cannon rounds. But the engines burn steady, taking them up and out through the clouds.

[notalldead]

Jesse had been sitting forward, ready to see how this rodeo shakes out, but then ends up thumps back against the chair he's strapped into, pushed into it by gravity and the g-force of their ascent. Eyes wide and teeth gritted in a nervous grimace, the zed claps a hand onto his hat, keeping it in place as the rattling picks up.

But the second they whip between those two other ships, Jesse gives an excited whoop, yanking his hat off to wave it. He stomps a few times for good measure too.

"Good NIGHT, Irene! Rustlers ain't got nothin' on yer ride! Ain't got NOTHIN'!"

[rekindledtitan]

“Damn right!” Blaze laughs heartily. Jesse’s turn of phrase may be unfamiliar, but his enthusiasm is infectious and very much mutual.

“We’ve taken some damage,” Ghost notes. The little bot’s managed to keep his position through all their shaking about, but his voice is distinctly relieved. “Still, it’s not every day we get to pull off a risky aerial maneuver like that.”

“Risky, hah. Wasn’t bad though.” Blaze steadies their ascent. They’re breaking out of the cloud layer, the sky darkening above them as they head for orbit. “Good to see what she can do once in a while. You all right there, Jesse?”