Excerpt 005: The Dead and the Gone

[rekindledtitan]

TYPE: Personal log

LOCATION: Nexus

PARTIES: Three [3]. One [1] Ghost-type, One [1] [UNCONFIRMED], designate Marshall, Brynhild [rekindledtitan], One [1] Unconfirmed, designate Jesse [notalldead]



ASSOCIATIONS: Multiversal Nexus; Jesse; the Rotten; Multiversal Phenomena; Blaze-37; Revivification; Bryn Marshall; Deep Stone Crypt; Golden Age; Clovis Bray


It’s well past the twenty-four-hour mark after Bryn assumed the place of her Exo counterpart (or descendant, if one wanted to look at it that way). Though a little more used to her company, Ghost is starting to feel anxious again. He expected to have his Guardian back by now, and her absence (albeit partial) is distressing on a very fundamental level. He communicates nothing to Bryn, of course: it would serve no purpose and quite possibly insult her.

On the bright side, he’s made it through twenty-four hours with only minor bruises for his human companion, and with a little medical attention she’s mostly recovered from the effects of the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster she drank last night. That’s better than he can claim for Blaze, most days.

So now they’re strolling through one of the Nexus markets, one Ghost and one young blonde in a borrowed leather jacket. The little bot is not-coincidentally leading her along one of Blaze’s usual patrol routes. He has a faint hope he can jog her memory with familiar stimuli. Either way, Bryn’s happy to check out the stalls and their wares, peculiar and mundane… and sometimes mundane things that just seem peculiar to a Golden Age colony girl. It’s everything Ghost can do not to get left behind when she makes another sharp turn and beelines for the next thing to catch her curiosity.

Comments

[rekindledtitan]

She can't help giving a little laugh at his enthusiasm. You know a guy's from Earth when he loves steak that much. It's the kind of thing you hear a lot from new arrivals in the Sink...

For all her intentions, it's hard to stop her thoughts circling back to home as they walk. Jesse's question doesn't come as all that jarring to her. "Um, the last time I checked? I'm twenty-four. I only- only left home to try and join up about a week ago. I don't have any sisters or brothers, just my parents back on Venus. And a whole bunch of cousins and grandparents and great.... great great grandparents on Earth." Kind of hard to try and joke about that, now. Sticking to the present tense, though? That's a very good idea. She'll try.

"I've only been to Earth a couple of times, but I figure- figured I'd see a lot more of it soon. You, uh, you said you're from Seattle? That's... Nnnnorth America, right?"

[notalldead]

"Venus? What the goldarn heck?" Jesse even stops walking, so taken aback by that tidbit of info. "Now, I ain't a science learned man; I leave that t'Mitchell, my engineer in the gang. But ain't Venus, like...All covered up with poison gas or somethin'? Pretty sure I read that in a book once." He hurries to add, though, "I ain't doubting y'all! I just gotta wonder what the heck yer people did to figure out livin' there iffen that's the case." He's soon walking again now, shaking his head in amazement. "Venus. Shoot."

Jesse nods when asked about Seattle. "Yeah! West coast North America. In a state called Washington. Pretty nice place. Google the Space Needle sometime iffen y'all wanna see somethin' cool from that neck o' the woods. Is Google still a thing where yer from? It was this computer thing that searched the internet fer what you were after. Like I said, I ain't science-minded, so that's probably a bad description. But yeah!"

The cowboy suddenly has a surge of self-consciousness, certain he's talking too much. He coughs lightly into a fist. "Found out I actually am from Calgary thanks to the Nexus, but I don't remember a whole lotta that. That's up in Canada instead. Who knows what I was doin' in Seattle when the zed hit."

[rekindledtitan]

"It was." Bryn stops when he does and turns to look back at him; she's smiling at his surprise even though, really, it makes sense. "Did- did Ghost ever tell you about the Traveler? It's an alien that came to our system a couple of hundred years ago. It changed Venus into a place where humans could live. Fixed the atmosphere, put the oceans back... even seeded it with new life. It's covered in jungles there, now... and a few volcanoes. Okay, a lot of volcanoes. But they don't erupt very much."

Bryn loves her homeworld; it brings a warmth to her voice that doesn't quite fade when she comes back to the present. "I've read about Google, sure." They love social history around the Ishtar Academy. "And a Space Needle definitely sounds like my kind of thing..."

She's trying to put some enthusiasm into it, encouraging him to share, but that last part quietens her. She shoots him a sidelong glance. "So you... you don't remember much from before, either?"

[notalldead]

Jesse shakes his head with a sigh. "Little shreds here'n there. But nothin' big. Nothin' longer 'n a snippet. An image. A face. A place. A voice." He pauses, reaching up to adjust his hat. "Same thing that tol' me about Calgary? Showed me a memory from before when I still had a pulse and weren't so green. I was talkin' on the phone to a guy. My brother, apparently. An' I was-...Well, I had a real burr in my haunches over whatever he was tellin' me. Somethin' about wantin' me to travel someplace I didn't want to. Real kick in the pants that the one memory I got back with any sorta clarity was one so nasty, huh. But hey! Better'n nothin'."

As he keeps walking, Jesse's hands slip into the pockets of his duster. "But I guess that's one way to look at the situation y'all are presently in. Just gettin' a chance to remember. An' I hope to high heaven y'get to remember too. Maybe y'should record some stuff with Ghost, give him some records or files, just t'make sure. Cuz the future bein' unknown is a given. But lookin' back at yer trail and seein' it's been washed out completely... Makes y'feel kinda stranded. Lonely. Eggheads are big on history for a reason, right?" He gives Bryn a lopsided smile.

[rekindledtitan]

Bryn's sympathetic concern is written all over her face as she listens, with every little glance she sends Jesse's way. "I'm sorry. I'd hate if some row was the only thing I remembered about my family..."

She broods over it for a minute. "...But you're right. Not remembering them at all would be worse. I don't... I don't want to forget them, or my home, or... being me." Doesn't want to end up in the place Jesse's describing. She's never felt alone or disconnected in her life before and she doesn't want to. Hates the idea of Jesse having to feel like that.

She's afraid of ending up there. Afraid she already has. But determination colors her voice. If there is anything she can do, she'll do it.

"I can- I can leave a message, just in case." She looks to Ghost, the little bot blinking at her. "Tell you everything I can think of, so you'll... I'll have at least that much to go on."

"It's a good idea..." It really is. Though Ghost sounds uncertain as he looks between them. Bryn doesn't pay it any mind. She's nodding, frowning in fierce thought.