Maysie's Galaxy ONC 2023

Last Lonely Miles

"Maysie, it's time to wake up."

"Hrm?"

"Wake up. I'll try to stay with you for this."

It was as miserable as ever, waking up to low oxygen and atmosphere dropoff of not even fully covering her head as she stood. Unfortunately, this was the better view, so she controlled her breathing in the too-thin envelope, trying to avoid panic--a practice from very hard-won experience.

Nothing.

Maysie could hear the echo of Talon's voice in her head. It felt weird, but she couldn't respond as silently. "Nothing's been swallowed in the 6 hours I was down."

Turn around.

Maysie obeyed the command without a second thought. Once her vision cleared, she saw that the globe of the asteroid that had passed her was not far away, maybe two days of running, but not like this.

Looks like another one got stuck.

"Only thing big enough in the asteroid belt was Ceres, and this bird swallows the moon for its first meal--over 3x bigger."

The egg's moon was made for the bird to eat, probably cracked along unknown fault lines for it to swallow. This one isn't cracking right. Sit down before you pass out.

Maysie fell to her knees more than sat, lightheaded, seeing black spots instead of the bird's stretchy skin.

Unfortunately, you're far enough out that the atmosphere from the head will drop to nothing if you stay here. You're going to have to move on while miserable.

"I can't even catch my breath fully now."

Quit talking, respond in your head. I will be with you until you make it.

What if I don't?

I won't leave you, and you will always be a part of me. So, pack and move, I want to meet your mind for many years to come Maysie-May.

The first part of this hellish trip was reassuring, having another being to talk to. It made crawling like a gorilla bearable--knucklewalking hurt so much and was hard to keep up for long periods. Unlike the running she did less than a day ago, she couldn't breathe right and fought against falling over. The minute she resorted to crawling, this trip was essentially over.

Nearly a full day into this march came the joint pain. Maysie remembered vaguely that Alder used to talk about some pilots having the scuba diver's sickness--the bends. Gasses were pooling in the joints, causing arthritis-like pain.

Maysie-May, you're staggering. Slow down a hair and keep yourself straight.

Fuck. I'm tired.

You've read about the bends. You're not as tired as you feel. You shouldn't be as bad as someone who had oxygen tanks for half their trip.

This better stay at joint pain. The rest could be killer. Damn, I can't turn my head.

Swollen lymph nodes. Try to keep your head still.

It amazed her how immense the looming bulge of the asteroid was--so large that it never seemed to get bigger, as it filled her whole world.

I'm not going to make it.

Don't give up on me.

Eventually, the crouching run no longer worked and she was forced into crawling on.

Why am I still doing this?

Keep trying for me.

How soon could she give up? The fear of dying alone was what drove her out this far, in the first place, but now that she was self-assured that she wasn't alone, what was she fighting for? Both their planets were dead, what did it matter?

I can see some of your thoughts, May. If they lay eggs, they can have children. We will have worlds again. There are things to live for.

That shocked Maysie into staggering back into the damn ape-stagger, but now she was walking blind--whether the spots were that bad or she was too delirious to process what vision she had, she couldn't tell. She hated it, but let her hatred fuel her anger and she walked with a rage she couldn't see the end of, trying to reach this Ceres.

At least she'd be able to breathe, there. Possibly it would be close enough to the shell to keep her alive even if the rock finally broke as it was swallowed.

Beyond the joint pain, the skin of her knuckles felt raw. If she could figure out how to make delicate gloves, she would have, but the strips binding her hands had worn out after nearly two months of this hell.

She idly wondered if she would lose fingers for wanting to be with people again.

Even with Talon at her side--mentally--there came a point where humanity deserted her. It was all urge to move, no thoughts, no person, all pain, and no ability to reason why it hurt.

Still, she fell to her knees and crawled, making no headway.

Then there was nothing left to give and oblivion took her.

~~~

Maysie slowly became aware of her surroundings--not the stars she remembered, or her aching body that she willingly shattered over and over again, just for a single step forward. There was no pain here, and she didn't wake up from sleep. She stood-- holding flowers, wearing a dress the style of which she'd never seen before--not from her head looking down at herself at least.

Some bizarre man in a white robe full of gold foil stood with an encyclopedia book reading about cranes in front of her. "Likewise the lowly beaver has one beloved for life."

"Maysie are you awake?" Talon stood at her side.

"I'm surprised I'm still alive."

"You need to go back out there. You've been out of it for a good half hour. "

"I don't think I can. I won't be able to see. I'm sure I have frostbite by now. It's probably best to go out this way... what's going on? "

"Not sure--it's not my customs, but I think it's a wedding?"

Reality snapped into place. Maysie had never seen a wedding, never had a chance to read a religious text. The only book she respected was the old encyclopedias. Instead of a priest marrying them, it was Elvis Presley. She could vaguely remember Alder telling her about a book series that had a cult of Elvis Presley for their religion.

She found herself laughing hysterically, while the "priest" droned on. As soon as she could coherently respond, she tried explaining what she was seeing. "Talon, I've never seen a wedding. I've stitched together different memories that have nothing to do with each other."

"You need to wake up because I swore I could hear other people out there, in your last minutes."

"Fuck."

"You may now kiss the bride, Ohnhuh!"

Talon turned towards Maysie and kissed her forehead. "Hopefully, it's your turn to search after me."

He abruptly forced her out of her mind but didn't go with her this time.

Something looked over her, had the vague shape of a man, which caused Maysie to panic as she remembered one crazy ass shooting a gun into the bird's skin. It slipped a mask over her face. For a moment she gasped in fear of being choked off further before the hiss of air fed a new atmosphere up her nose.

"You're going to be alright, miss." The voice was metallic and high-pitched. The strange creature holding her was likely a woman. Maysie didn't know how to process this all, but for the moment, she was safe enough.