Ripples in the Water

Posted on Mon May 22nd, 2023 @ 5:15am by Lieutenant Commander Lyra Cassiel
Edited on on Sat Jun 10th, 2023 @ 8:20am

Mission: S1 Episode 5: Ex Post Facto
Location: Unknown
Timeline: Date 2371-08-17 at 1100
1034 words - 2.1 OF Standard Post Measure

ON

“Stop. Stop. This still isn’t working. We’re getting the information in bits and pieces but just look at her.”

Lyra was breathing hard, her body trembling slightly from the physical and mental strain she was experiencing between re-living Jalak’s murder from his perspective for the fourth time as well as whatever they were doing to her. They were trying to extract something from within her mind… from within this fabricated memory she was being forced to relive. She didn’t know what it was, but that seemed to be the case… and they couldn’t just sedate her for whatever reason.

So she suffered.

Her usually healthy, beautiful brown skin was pallid, a sheen of sweat could be seen on her exposed flesh. She could taste the metallic, salty flavor of her blood as a rivulet flowed from her nose over her top lip. Her hands flexed, unbound but restrained, and she tested the rest with a press of her body against them. Truthfully, it was a reflex more than a conscious attempt to escape. They were arguing above her and around her, but she couldn’t make out the words clearly. Bits and pieces again as the memory continued to play.

Then came the blade. She gasped and her body jerked with the sensation of the pain. It was intense - more than it had been the other times - but she could bear it. After the blade came some amount of relief; a small amount. The pain in her head lessened and she brought herself around to focus as much as she could manage in the moment.

“I’m afraid this is killing her. Look at these readings.”

“We can’t know that for sure. She’s an alien and we don’t know anything about their bodies.”

“Just use your eyes, man! She might be alien but they have the same general systems as us. You just don’t want to admit it.”

Lyra saw a female Banean shifting above her; she had been the one speaking. She licked her lips, dragging more of her own blood into her mouth and sighed against the taste. Killing her? At this point, she believed it. She felt awful. Killing her apparently wasn’t intentional though, so there was that. They were all still wearing Banean disguises… whatever they were doing, these Numiri were going to try to pin it on the Baneans. Too bad for them Lyra was keen on their game.

“Take her back to her cell carefully. Make sure she has food and water. I’m going to sedate her now.”

“Don’t you fucking d-“ the protest died on Lyra’s lips as the woman ignored her completely and pressed the device to her shoulder again.

She was floating on the water, blue sky above, black depths below. It was comfortable here, this place she knew so well between both worlds she had learned to live in and embrace equally, never drifting too far into one or the other. She closed her eyes again and began to drift.

“We need to find a way out of here.” The voice came to her clearly despite her ears being submerged. What was once her own voice, but not anymore. She felt fingers lace with her own, similar but different, and the presence floating next to her.

“Andrei will come back.” Lyra replied quietly.

The scoff was an answer. “Andrei is the reason I’m even here.”

“I wasn’t blameless in that.” Lyra pointed out, opening her eyes and looking up to the blue sky. “I could have pressed, said no.”

“And then he would have thought me weak. I can’t be weak. Weak is so… ordinary.”

“I suppose that's right.” Lyra admitted with a sigh and finally turned her head, her dark eyes falling on Madeline floating next to her.

“I usually am right.” Madeline replied and looked at Lyra with a matching gaze. “Do I trust him to come for me?”

Lyra considered the question a moment. “In this, I do. I don’t trust him in all things nor does he trust me, but I trust him to come for me.”

“If nothing else for the fact that he considers me his.” Madeline pointed out and looked back to the sky. “He doesn’t like to lose.”

“No, he doesn’t. I do love him for that.” Lyra smiled, small, but there. “I’m sure I will regret it someday.”

“Oh I will.” Madeline confirmed as if it were written in stone.

“Maybe he will surprise me.” Lyra countered.

“Maybe, but I have doubts. Hopefully by the time I do end up regretting that, it won’t matter as much.” Madeline shrugged, making the water ripple around them.

“I always have doubts, that’s just how I am.” Lyra pointed out with a chuckle. “But circumstances required a leap of faith in this case that was unavoidable and Andrei… he understands me on a level no one else really has.”

“I know,” Madeline sighed, “and I understand him in the same way. He loves me for that, I think.”

“I think so too.”

“Seven sons is a lot.” Madeline pointed out.

“Seven sons it will be, though.” Lyra returned simply. “Of my sons. I’m not nearly as understanding as his mother.”

“Oh heavens no, I am not.” Madeline grinned.

The two shared a laugh and then fell silent for a moment, briefly mulling over how far that particular fact extended, then Madeline spoke again.

“I’ll give him time, but I refuse to die here. I refuse.”

Lyra didn’t get a chance to reply, she felt the presence fade from next to her and she was left floating alone again. She refused to die here, so she wouldn’t die here. Her eyes closed, opened, closed, then opened again.

To the darkness of the room and the hardness of the cot underneath her. The pain in her head and body didn’t even phase her anymore. She whispered softly into the inky darkness.

“Ne zabyvay menya, moy lyubimyy…”

She wouldn’t die here.

END