The Paragon of Eden

Part 2

Without her will to live, Deelia was a husk of her former self. Would that husk be filled so easily again? Sure, she was saved. Her parents weren't. Her friends weren't. It was easy now to just ignore that fact. It was her mind blocking it, whether it was against her conscious will or not. The fact was real, she could acknowledge that. The nature of this reality, however, could not come to light. The stage lights. Yes, her mind was like a stage, and only some of it was lit. That dark spot illuded the audience, and it made the show incomplete. Deelia was not quite Deelia without the fullness of her mind, and now, that husk of her former self floated peacefully in the cockpit of the Paragon, more unthinking than it had ever been before.

But she should allow herself to think. That man who stood there in the air, suspended in space and peering through the invisible wall, was something she should be thinking about. He had just saved her, but hadn't he murdered all those who were in the pirate base with her? Just like her people were on their home world...

No! don't think of that. Or rather, here is that wall that prevents you from thinking of it. Deelia was still not aware that it was any doing of her own that her thoughts were dimmed.

That man... Where were they going? What was his name? That's right, people had names. Her name was Deelia.

"Deelia..." she spoke softly.

Having heard, the pilot cocked his head slightly. He wasn't too focused on keeping the spaceship going. They had only been drifting for a few minutes, though Deelia did not know how fast they were going. Her home world had come close to being a functional cog for one of the two major factions in Ookon, but it never got to fully explore the span and technologies of either side. How did they go from system to system in such a short time? Well, the officials of her home world knew that, but she was just an average girl. And here she was, experiencing the wonders of what used to be the unknown. And how did this come to pass? No method that was worth thinking about at the moment.

"What was that?" the pilot asked.

Deelia said nothing. She simply looked at the man, unsure of what to do. This kind of situation did nothing in the way of comforting her. This man could be anybody behind his appearance. The nature of humanity had come into question these last few weeks.

But he spoke her language. Deelia didn't even realize it until now, but of all the people she had come across now, he was the only one who spoke despite being of one of the two factions. He was part of one of those two governments, wasn't he? The UPOA, and the other one she couldn't remember. And he wasn't part of the UPOA because of what he had said in the prison.

"Hey," he said.

Deelia felt cornered. She still didn't feel like talking.

"Once the TH engine powers up, we'll be near a place where we can relax. It's that cool city I was talking about. Some place far away from the UPOA and the Empire. Think of it as a safe haven, if you are thinking at all. Are you doing any thinking?"

Deelia looked at him, amazed at the relaxed tone he used with her. Some part of her had expected to be treated like a delicate flower by anybody with good intentions, especially now. But, was he different? He almost seemed to relieve the tension within her. And she still didn't feel like responding. For all he was doing for her, she might have only been heightening the tension. Christ, she was most likely the source of any tension. And was she doing any thinking? For all she could control herself, she would rather not have been.

"Listen," he began, "I'll make sure you have a clear head while we're there. If not then, maybe later. Still, you can rest easy. I'll make this easy for you, okay? Okay. We can get some ice cream, get less shabby clothing, maybe a few other trinkets. We can have ourselves a fine time for a little while over there."