Even Stars Go Cold

Chapter 9 - Semper Gumby

The Change That Breaks

"Can I... talk to you for a minute?"

Elissa looked up from her bunk. It was difficult for her to describe the expression on Sam's face, but the first words springing to mind were "miserable" and "devastated".

"Sure..." Elissa replied, standing up immediately. "Are you okay?" The words left her mouth before she had properly filtered her response. Lame, lame, lame...

Sam pursed her lips and shook her head. Silently, she tilted her head towards the door and led the way out of the barracks. Concerned and a little confused, Elissa followed. This was not behaviour she had seen in her lover before and it filled her with unease.

The evening was relatively kind. Rain and mud were a near constant feature of life on Cordoba, but at least it wasn't raining at that moment. What little sky she could see through the trees was turning to red and gold. The huge dark green leaves were still shiny from an earlier deluge but did little to reflect the dying light.

Sam finally stopped at the base of one of the enormous trees; her head tilting back, her gaze running up its mighty trunk. Now side on, rather than following behind, Elissa could see she had been crying.

"Babe..." Elissa wrapped her arms around Sam's waist. "Tell me what the hell is going on."

Still seemingly dumbstruck, Sam extricated her arms from Elissa's embrace and activated her omni-tool. A few swipes of her fingers and the assignment instructions popped up.

Except they were not the expected instructions.

Elissa breath hissed inward as she tried to absorb the text. "That... looks like..."

Sam nodded before she finally surrendered to the overwhelming despair. In Elissa's arms she began to convulse as the sobbing took hold. Caught off guard, Elissa found her face wet with her own tears as Sam turned to bury her face in her lover's shoulder.

Elissa tried to process what she had seen. The omni-tool had clicked off, but the image was etched into her mind. Eventually she eased herself back out of Sam's arms.

Trembling, she struggled to give herself a voice. "Why didn't you tell me about the transfer before?"

Sam sniffed and wiped her face. "You're only the second person I've spoken to, right after checking in with Master Guns... wait, you think I applied for this?"

Elissa, wary of the implications of her train of thought, derailed it. "I don't know what to think. What I know is that it looks like I'll be on my way to Ice Pick... without you."

"I didn't ask for this," Sam protested, vehemently. "This is exactly what happened two years ago, when I got transferred from the Army." The anger tore through her grief like wet tissue paper. "They talked about it like it was a great opportunity... but, back then, I didn't care."

Silence became an uncomfortable shroud about them both, persisting for less than a minute but feeling like an eternity to Elissa while Sam kicked at the tree roots, still fuming.

"Do you know where they're sending you? Maybe I could apply?" Elissa asked at last.

"Some intelligence branch, I think." Sam rubbed her nose, then reactivated her omni-tool. "I didn't even read it properly, sorry; just knew it was not to Ice Pick." The text popped into existence over her wrist. "Never in my life wanted to go anywhere cold before."

In the transfer, they saw her destination would be the Navy Criminal Investigative Service.

"En-Cis? That's a... good thing, I guess, career-wise." Elissa's heart was not in keeping with her words. "I'd have thought we were a little young to get into that, though. I thought they only took on more experienced personnel."