CANAISIS ∞ Chronicle One: The Last Living Ship ∞ 1: A New Mission

35 ∞ Crumbling Walls

A voice came to her via an earpiece, Canaisis' voice, "You're in extreme danger, Captain. You must return."

"I'm fine," Ayla heard herself answer aloud in Gareth's voice.

"No, you're not. Your vitals are in distress."

"I don't care," Ayla again heard herself say, despair and hopeless rage engulfing her.

"Captain," Canaisis said more urgently into her ear, "you must return for the others on board. This ship needs you."

"It doesn't matter." She pulled herself another step along the rope. The wind had picked up again.

"It matters to me, Captain."

"We blew it, Canaisis!" Ayla heard herself scream inside the helmet. "We killed ourselves! And for what? What could've been so damn important that we destroyed ourselves? We deserve extinction for being so stupid!"

She found herself rapidly sucking air, her chest heaving as she pulled on the rope to push the ash out of the way. It was up to her thighs—she couldn't step over it, she had to push through it. The feeling of Human bones under her feet only annoyed her now, she was long past being upset at such things.

"Captain, I still need you." Canaisis' voice had gone soft with sorrow. "Who will sail the few to the survival base?"

Ayla gave a short, scornful laugh. "Revive one of them and make them take command."

"No, I won't. You're my Captain. If you want this ship to leave Earth orbit, then you need to be on board."

"You have to take them, Canaisis. They're all that's left."

"No, not all. There remain a few Humans surviving on the surface. You know this."

"Have you looked at Earth?" Ayla's male, Captain's voice was full of scorn. "This world is already dead. What's left just hasn't realized it."

"Captain, Humanity needs you. I need you, and your life is in danger."

Ayla felt the stake holding the end of the rope in her hands, she'd arrived at the next stage of the search. Reaching behind her waist, she found the tow rope tied there. She tugged it hard and the sled behind her made a grating sound as it slid up next to her. She eyed the stacked oxygen bottles and battery packs, barely discernable under mounds of ash.

"I'm doing this, Canaisis."

∞

Ayla's senses came back to her, and she found herself staring at a bright light filled with hundreds of flickering colors. Her fingers and feet were not cold, her muscles did not ache. But her mind, her walls were crumbling.

She started doing her breathing as she'd been taught. Her eyes focused on the flashing colors and she became aware that they were Butterflies. She was in the Garden, she remembered, but she was on her back looking at the ceiling.

Her mental walls strengthened with the focused breathing and she was beginning to gain clarity. She tried to sit up but she was weak, so weak.

"No, Ayla, don't move," Canaisis said from the pool ledge a hand's span away. "We're moving you to Med-bay immediately, so please remain calm."

She fell back on the grass and, as she rested, she at first felt through the ground and then heard pounding feet approaching. The feet slid to a stop beside her.

"It's okay, Ayla," she heard Gareth say. "I'm here."

Ayla turned her gaze and saw him looking down at her, worry etching his face. Seeing him made her walls weaken again and her senses started spinning. She found it hard to think, but she remembered one thing. Reaching with all her strength, she placed her hand on his cheek.