24 (DSV Nautica) Lost in Time, Lost in Space...
Aki opened her eyes to blue skies. She frowned and raised her head ever so slightly. She was lying nude in a clearing of trees. Feeling herself and the surroundings for anything that might be with her, finding nothing. It was weird. The clearing was too perfect for nature. And this place felt way too weird to be natural. She tried to get in between the trees. It was a tight squeeze."I'm not fat..." she mumbled to herself. She groaned, making her way through the absurdly spaced trees. It was not natural for this close of growth for trees this big. It reminded her of home, almost. Minus the eerie feeling."Aki..."At first she thought she was imagining things, wind in the trees. Until she realized there was no wind. It came stronger."Aki."Someone was definitely whispering to her. She reached the edge of the woods. What the hell.She was standing on the edge of a cliff that had no bottom."Aki.""WHO IS THAT!?"May'ael had been monitoring her for the last several hours. No change. Absurdly high brain function, but behavior consistent with a comatose patient. She sighed, looking up at De'an, whom was stony faced.
"She isn't waking up. At least for awhile."De'an wordlessly left the captains quarters. He was in charge now. They would do what the captain had last ordered them. Pick the team up, and investigate the signal. But that wasn't the primary concern. Why was Aki like this?The crew already knew the situation. They also knew he was in charge. They didn't have the affection they shared for Aki. Sure, Aki didn't go out of the way to be a charmer, but she had a good, motherly aura about her. Good for a commander to have, especially with her attitude. She was like a mother and a commander all rolled into one. That was pretty rare. De'an himself was all commander. He wasn't sure if that was good or not. He sure knew how others felt. He got back in the pilots chair and watched the stars sail by. Still half a cycle until they reached their destination. All there was left to do was wait. Wait and pray to any stellar beings or deities whom watched over them. And Aki.Lyn stared at the new appendage she had gotten. Her new hand flexed, made of some kind of armor made of multiple overlapping plates and chain mail. An inner light shone through the cracks. It she felt an aura around her hand. She could feel hot, cold, hard, soft. But she couldn't feel pain or pleasure. Hitting her hands normal sensations were just of the metal. Hard. Cold. She sighed, feeling a small sense of loss. A deep sorrow. They had taken the limb she had held for hundreds of years. The one she was born with. She hugged her legs and turned her gaze out of the starport.
The library acolytes were idle. Sorting through the piled up knowledge. This was as organized as the
entire library had ever been. They had usually been bogged down by the Celeste packets, but now that it was no longer able to contact them, they could use the spare time to organize. The entire complex moved with a sadness. A depression had set in. Their crown jewel was too far from home to ever call them again.The curator sat in the receiving room. Why had it fallen on her to be the one? She was the one Celeste had quit on. The Matriarch had already assured her it would happen eventually and that it wasnt her fault. But it had actually happened.The star map indicated a point 3.7 Billion light years away. That was where Celeste was supposedly. The Matriarch was in a conclave, discussing the possibility of using their jump drives to get close enough. Maybe erect a relay system. Even jump all the way to Celeste. But it was highly unlikely.There was a small beeping from the control console. She ignored it at first, but then, it hit her full force. She nearly fell over, hyperventilating.
Celeste was contacting them. But how? Aki had worked her way around the cliff, but it was bottomless all the way around. She was on an island in the sky. It was terrifying. She had one more thing she could try. She stretched her wings out and jumped, gliding on air currents that suddenly sprang to life, she lowered herself. Sure enough. The cliff tapered down to a point. The piece of land was really floating. After touching down and making her way back into the clearing she woke in, the second oddity struck her. The sun had not moved and she had been here for hours.The voice was gone too. Ever since she shouted at it, it had stayed silent. "Please tell me I'm not dead.""You aren't"Aki damn near jumped out of her skin. Whipping around with a rock in her hand, she found herself face to face with an elderly Ayr'een. It was nude, but genderless. No genitalia, had both wings and horns. This was beyond whacked."Who-""I am Celeste."