Ball of Silence

Ball of Silence - Chapter 10

Chapter 10

         Sina is pissed, so very pissed. She stares at me as if I'm a traitor, a monster, the worst man in the universe. I ask her to spend the night with me, upon our return to the ship, but she refuses and locks herself away in her cabin.

I let her be and retreat to my soundproof room. I sit heavily into my armchair, cup the ball in my hands and enjoy heaven. Finally. Silence. No wind, no water gurgling through the shuttle pipes, no snoring Flin, no tossing Priar. The crystal hums contently because I am content. After a while, I drift off to sleep.

         I jerk awake as the door bursts open. Sina flies in and tears the crystal out of my hands. She throws it into the velvet hole of its box and slaps the lid shut. She then sits on my lap and grabs me by the collar.

         "I won't lose you to that damned ball," she says, her voice quivering with anger.

         "You won't lose me. May I remind you that you won me because of that ball? I could never make love to you the way I do without it."

         "Bastard," she says and kisses me.

         She rips my clothes off and drags me to the bed. Her lovemaking is full of anger and pent-up desire. An hour later, we cry in each other's arms.

         "I have to do this, Sina, I have to try. Please try to understand."

         "Shut the fuck up."

         "I'm sure it'll be all right."

         "I said, shut the fuck up."

         I keep my mouth shut.

         We lie naked in each other's arms. As we silently hold each other, I hear her heart beating and my own. Her breath gets calmer.

         "I hate you," she says.

         "I know."

#

         I instruct the computer to monitor my life-signs. Priar, Sina, and Flin will take turns watching these life-signs while I try to bond with the crystal. They will leave me alone in my soundproof room and start a countdown of seven hours and thirty minutes. If nothing alarming happens to my life-signs, they will check on me only after the countdown finished.

I eat a good breakfast. Flin has prepared lots of stuff I love, pancakes with maple syrup, scrambled eggs with jam, and so forth. I refrain from telling him that this feels like a last supper and enjoy my meal with a smile.

         I make as little fuss about this as possible and offer no "good-bye" to Flin or Priar. I finish my meal, use the bathroom, and then sit down comfortably in my armchair. The ball waits on the table, singing inside its box.

Sina looks anxiously at me. "Are you really sure about this, Jaiah?" she asks for the hundredth time.

         "I am, Sina. It's gonna be okay."

         "Don't say such empty things. No one knows whether this is gonna be okay."

         "Sina, please. I have to try."

         She sighs and shakes her head. She bends down, kisses my forehead, then leaves without looking back. I open the box, and take out the crystal. Leaning back in my chair, I stare at the ball. Sina will go to the bridge now and start the countdown.

I stare and stare at the ball. I concentrate on it; I study every millimeter of the streaks of red and green inside the ball, every line of white. The ball hums neutrally, content. Nothing special is going on.