Home
Caydie opened her eyes and promptly panicked the moment she realized she didn't know where she was. She shot up from the metal floor, whimpering. Mute sat on the opposite side of the ship, and stood up when he heard her. "Caydie? It's okay." Caydie took in her surroundings as her heart rate slowed. "A ship?" "Yeah, an earth ship too." "How?" She asked. She stared with wide eyes as Mute filled her in. Questions formed quicker than he could answer them. Why would an exile save her? Why stay behind? She chose to ask the most important question of all, "Where are we going?" Mute smiled. "Home. I've heard stories, but never thought I'd actually go there. The ship is just flying itself. I've never seen an autopilot work like this." "Earth tech is special," she said, crossing her legs and fidgeting with her fingers. "Thanks for carrying me. Sorry I got sick." Mute shook his head, "Sorry? It wasn't your fault." She nodded but didn't reply. It took several moments of silence for Mute to speak, "So how long does this take?" "No idea. How long have we been traveling?" "I… well I don't really know. A couple days at least." He said. Their conversation ended when an electronic voice rang out from the on board computer, "prepare for warp drive activation." "This thing has a warp drive?" Caydie said, standing and rushing to the cockpit. Mute followed behind as he spoke, "It hasn't gone to warp at all since we left." Caydie smiled and nodded. "Distance matters in a ship this small. It'd be a waste of power. We probably couldn't sustain warp for more than a few minutes before running out of air." "What does that mean?" He asked. Caydie jumped into the pilot's chair, scanning the screens as she strapped herself in. "It means we're minutes away from Safeharbor. Buckle up." Mute sat in the chair beside her and strapped in as well. "I've never done this before." "Don't worry. We'll be fine." The ship's lights flashed, and darkness followed, the last thing they could see was the hull of the vessel warping. They heard the sound of metal bending as the hull fought against the strain. After a few minutes, the ship stopped. The lights flickered back on and the cockpit display activated, revealing the view from outside the ship. Caydie could already feel the tears welling in her eyes. Mute simply stared as the red planet grew with every passing second. His attention was drawn to a blinking yellow light on the comms panel. "Are we being hailed?" Caydie caught the sight of a massive vessel hovering over where the three colonies should. A dreadnought. "That's new." She pressed a button and a voice spoke on the intercom, "Unidentified vessel, this is admiral Thrace of The SVN Tudor. You're in occupied space. State your business or I'm gonna test out that really big gun over there." Caydie beamed, her voice soft and shuddering as she gave a reply. "Miranda?" Silence followed, only broken by Caydie's labored breathing. Finally, the voice answered in disbelief, "Caydie?" "I didn't know you were made admiral. Congratulations." Miranda's voice broke as she tried to form the words, "You died. How can you be here?" "It's a long story. Can we land? I'll tell you all about it." "Of course, we'll take over from here and guide you in. I'll make sure you get a warm welcome." "You know her?" Mute asked. Caydie wiped away tears as she replied, "She's the one who taught me how to fly." They touched down and Caydie's eyes went wide when she saw the crowd gathered around the landing pad. Mute hugged the outside of the ship as she waved. She stepped out of the shuttle and into the blue sunlight. Autumn looked so different, but it was somehow still the same. She caught the sight of her father and sobbed. "Daddy?" He stared in awe, unable to speak through tears of his own. Caydie held out her hand. "I'm home." He wrapped his arms around her. He took in a sharp breath, the skin to skin contact hurting just as much as it brought him joy. Caydie scanned the crowed as they cheered. She locked eyes with old friends and feared the worst when she realized some were missing. Her smile faded when all fell silent. Everyone's attention shifted from Caydie as The Archivist emerged from the crowd. It was a long walk from the archive. He must have been running. She beamed at him as he approached. His hands shook and flailed, unsure of what to do, or where to be. Caydie nodded and stepped forward, embracing his metal frame and squeezing him tight. "I missed you, Lorne." She whispered. "Miss Caydie," he began, pulling away, so he could see her face. He gave her a soft pat on her shoulders. "Welcome home."
Excellent. I'm getting Destiny 2 'Darkness' vibes from these... well since they seem to have a connection to 'hell' I'm gonna call them Demons. And it does seem like I was right that the chlorine flood was a means for Invicta to stop a form of zombie apocalypse. Did I interpret this right that the Demons are invisible? I'd say they had a purely gaseous form except for the fact that you describe thuds and clangs when they impact with physical objects. The pearly gates hallucination raises a few questions. First off, if it's the sort of hallucination that shows you what you expect to see, does Invicta beleive in Heaven? if it's the sort of vision that shows something that's real, do the pearly gates really exist? Is it purely digital? The only other option I can think of is that the image is from the memories or imaginations of the Demons, designed to lull folks into false security. either way, it seems way more likely to me now that heaven is a real, physical place in this universe, which is an odd thought, since it kinda crosses the fantasy and sci-fi sides of my brain. I mean, I was thinking there would be a real place that folks would CALL heaven, but I was expecting more geometric metal walls and neon lines...
Ooo ok so here we go. The entities are cloaked, one of the only forms of cloaking ever encountered. They will be the next article that begins season two. More will be revealed then. No zombies though. I played that card already. Similar, but... hmmm. Ok. Sneak peak. Three pieces of info for speculation. 1. They have been called demons by other species, but the exiles refer to them as sin eaters. Now if other species have a name for them... they cant be from earth. 2. The hallucinations are tied to one's past due to the chemical reaction in the brain but it doesnt have to be literal. That pearly Gate illusion can mean anything. She says not here for a reason, but it's not because she's physically been there. 3. Last but not least, the sin eaters are inspired by the necromongers from the chronicles of riddick.
I will also add, theywill have scientific backing. No fantasy here.
Okay, so it's more like showing Invicta the pearly gates because she's not yet ready to die or something; she still has work to do, so the hallucinations show her what she fears most; that is, not being able to continue. or some such thing. Also I find it interesting that in the vision Invicta is wearing a white dress; I can hardly imagine her wearing something like that. 'sin eaters' is an interesting way to put it. It implies that they are, much like the outcasts, still doing what they believe is best for humanity, even if it pushes themselves beyond redemption. or, at least, at one point they did, and it turned them into something else. I am not familiar with the chronicles of Riddick. gonna have to look that one up on google... Interesting. I assume that you mean the sin eaters are on a quest to 'convert' all life to their cause in some way or another. can't just be killing everything like the Necromongers because Invicta would have just been helping them by flooding the station with poisonous gas. They have to be 'compatible' somehow, like Invicta wasn't; which seems like the only reason she survived. Oh and also I'm glad the size of the archivist's ego didn't prevent him from squeezing out the door to meet caydie. (; Anyway, this story seems to be going in an interesting direction; there are stories where humans are special, and those where they are simply another race in a huge galactic community. You seem to be slowly steering us in the direction of "what if humans were the chosen ones, and we just totally messed everything up by accident anyway?"
YOURE SO CLOSE OMG. I may have revealed to much on the sin eaters... lol. A few minor tweaks and you'd be damn near spot on. Really think about their name. Why would the exiles call them that? My absolute favorite part of this world is how different people interpret it. I want to make headcanon as credible as canon if that makes sense. I just love that and seek to give every interpretation on humanity and earth evidence that it could be true. Because so much is centered on bias and perspective, I really try to ponder as many different interpretations as I can, using the feedback I get to add to the ever growing list of theories. In many ways, you guys reading and filling the blanks with your interpretation helps steer the story of the world, so long as it fits the themes. I think this notion that they botched being the chosen one would be a wonderful thing to explore cause I dont think I've ever seen that.