Free Tide of Shadows and Other Stories by Aidan Moher Page B
Authors: Aidan Moher
illusory as the lives of the men and women who crewed her—captain, engineers, medical staff, cooks, quality-of-life coordinators, soldiers like me.
"Was..." Rummage bit her lip as the word trailed into regretful nothingness.
"She was taken in the Tide of Shadows," I said. I thought about her every day, sang to her spirit every night—but the thought of her right then, of describing her to this stranger, put a lump in my throat. The hair on my arm prickled in response to Rummage's warm hand brushing against my own. She wrapped her fingers in mine, transferring heat and affection.
Human companionship was not difficult to find on a spacecraft. After four and a half years aboard The Spirit of a Sudden Wind , and nearly eleven years before that flitting from station to station as refugees, we were all desperate for whatever social norms we could establish in the rote routine of daily life aboard a military vessel. Wake, mess, training, mess, training, free time, sleep. Wash, rinse, repeat. Free time, at least for me, was often spent seeking comfort with fellow spacefarers. I didn't date other soldiers—too many shared demons, and there were enough auxiliary staff aboard that we could mix freely. But Rummage, well... I couldn't ignore the way she looked at me.
I reached over and turned off the holophoto. "I'll tell you about her someday," I said.
Rummage crossed her arms in mock offence.
"What?" I said. "I have to make sure you're the type of girl she'd like." I smiled, then winked.
Damn it, Sligh. A wink? Who the fuck winks?
Instead of laughing at me or turning heel and leaving me to wallow in embarrassed misery, she winked back at me.
We both laughed. I reached out and gently trailed my fingers along one of her arms, tracing the outline of her lean muscles. With that touch and the devilish twinkle in her eye, I finally allowed the tension to melt away. It felt so good to let it go.
"Should we go get a bite?" she said. "I know just the place..."
397 days 16:42:04 until drop
We fucked. Fucked 'til the morning lights blushed pink on the luminescent circadian walls.
Rise and shine.
Then the morning alarm blared, crashing through our calm, sated entanglement. No rest for the wicked.
We both dressed and were in the mess in minutes.
220 days 08:57:12 until drop
Uwe'hhieyth.
It was home. You could ask anyone outside of our system, and they'd shake their head, mutter something about how they'd never heard of it.
We were happy once, when no one had heard of us. Uwe'hhieyth gave us a chance to create a world that did not forget itself at every opportunity. On Uwe'hhieyth, we found the spirits who had fled Earth. Did the spirits flee that scorched world alongside us, or did we find new ones waiting on Uwe'hhieyth? We haven't found that answer. If you ask me, though, they're one and the same. Ancient as anything in the universe, vaster than the entirety of the blanket of stars, and newborn by the strengths of our beliefs, our need for something good and pure. One and the same.
In the dark days following the Tide of Shadows, many wondered why the Unitarian government, whose very existence is based on the idea of a unified, amalgamated human race, would gift a planet to a group of people who had been so long trivialized. Our culture, history, and origins were, for so long, ground under the heel of bureaucracy and societal values that we didn't fit into or care for, yet Uwe'hhieyth was given to us. No strings attached. Except that our departure meant that the small corner that still remained of our once-vast homeland, unblemished by the cumulative horror of capitalism's avalanche of “progress,” could finally be covered in concrete and steel. Our green planet gone grey.
Uwe'hhieyth was a second chance. And, doubly important, we colonized it without displacing another group of people. That was very important to the leaders of my people. Chief Hul'qim'ee demanded it, and, for once, our voice was heard. My ancestors,
"Was..." Rummage bit her lip as the word trailed into regretful nothingness.
"She was taken in the Tide of Shadows," I said. I thought about her every day, sang to her spirit every night—but the thought of her right then, of describing her to this stranger, put a lump in my throat. The hair on my arm prickled in response to Rummage's warm hand brushing against my own. She wrapped her fingers in mine, transferring heat and affection.
Human companionship was not difficult to find on a spacecraft. After four and a half years aboard The Spirit of a Sudden Wind , and nearly eleven years before that flitting from station to station as refugees, we were all desperate for whatever social norms we could establish in the rote routine of daily life aboard a military vessel. Wake, mess, training, mess, training, free time, sleep. Wash, rinse, repeat. Free time, at least for me, was often spent seeking comfort with fellow spacefarers. I didn't date other soldiers—too many shared demons, and there were enough auxiliary staff aboard that we could mix freely. But Rummage, well... I couldn't ignore the way she looked at me.
I reached over and turned off the holophoto. "I'll tell you about her someday," I said.
Rummage crossed her arms in mock offence.
"What?" I said. "I have to make sure you're the type of girl she'd like." I smiled, then winked.
Damn it, Sligh. A wink? Who the fuck winks?
Instead of laughing at me or turning heel and leaving me to wallow in embarrassed misery, she winked back at me.
We both laughed. I reached out and gently trailed my fingers along one of her arms, tracing the outline of her lean muscles. With that touch and the devilish twinkle in her eye, I finally allowed the tension to melt away. It felt so good to let it go.
"Should we go get a bite?" she said. "I know just the place..."
397 days 16:42:04 until drop
We fucked. Fucked 'til the morning lights blushed pink on the luminescent circadian walls.
Rise and shine.
Then the morning alarm blared, crashing through our calm, sated entanglement. No rest for the wicked.
We both dressed and were in the mess in minutes.
220 days 08:57:12 until drop
Uwe'hhieyth.
It was home. You could ask anyone outside of our system, and they'd shake their head, mutter something about how they'd never heard of it.
We were happy once, when no one had heard of us. Uwe'hhieyth gave us a chance to create a world that did not forget itself at every opportunity. On Uwe'hhieyth, we found the spirits who had fled Earth. Did the spirits flee that scorched world alongside us, or did we find new ones waiting on Uwe'hhieyth? We haven't found that answer. If you ask me, though, they're one and the same. Ancient as anything in the universe, vaster than the entirety of the blanket of stars, and newborn by the strengths of our beliefs, our need for something good and pure. One and the same.
In the dark days following the Tide of Shadows, many wondered why the Unitarian government, whose very existence is based on the idea of a unified, amalgamated human race, would gift a planet to a group of people who had been so long trivialized. Our culture, history, and origins were, for so long, ground under the heel of bureaucracy and societal values that we didn't fit into or care for, yet Uwe'hhieyth was given to us. No strings attached. Except that our departure meant that the small corner that still remained of our once-vast homeland, unblemished by the cumulative horror of capitalism's avalanche of “progress,” could finally be covered in concrete and steel. Our green planet gone grey.
Uwe'hhieyth was a second chance. And, doubly important, we colonized it without displacing another group of people. That was very important to the leaders of my people. Chief Hul'qim'ee demanded it, and, for once, our voice was heard. My ancestors,
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