Chapter 77 A final Word
And with that, we've come to the end of Captain Wil Litang's journal. A very unsatisfactory ending. And, I'm afraid, there's little I can do to make it any less so.
I'm only aware of it because he stored this memoir on the captain's accounting system rather than on a private drive, where I happened upon it in the course of my duties as captain. I suspect this was intentional, though that's anyone's guess. He never mentioned his memoir, but he'd have known – if he'd thought about it – that as acting captain, I'd eventually come across it. I suspect that there are things in here he wanted me to know, but could not tell me unless he didn't return.
He clearly began with the idea of publishing this account as a window into the everyday life aboard an interplanetary freighter. It seems to have evolved over time as more of a memoir, filled as it is with his private musings. Still, from some of his comments, he remained intent on publishing it some day, but, of course, not all of it. Even if we overlook his account of Min and his, well, romantic encounter – I always knew he had it in him to win her if he cared to – his full account of the Pela would certainly not have gone beyond this record, and even this private record verges on being ill advised.
I guess, I won't worry about it now, I'll just bring one copy along when we exchange the ship for the SilverStar liner and he can decide what he wants to do with it when we cross orbits again. I will, on the chance that we don't cross orbits again, add this brief foot note.
The first day he was allowed out of the medic bay, he took a tour of his ship. Most of the damage was to no. 4 hold and the awning deck. The meteor that had holed us, made a complete shamble of our treasured awning deck, destroying most of the view-panels and the dining salon in the process. Only the fact that the rock was partially deflected by the reinforced bulkheads of the no. 4 hold's strong rooms prevented it from gutting the entire ship. I pointed that out and added that while a lot of the sleeper-pods stored in the storeroom had been damaged, our dogs' and cats' pods had survived, which cheered him up for a while. Most of the other damage was to the equipment located between the hulls, damaged by dents and small holes in the hull, repairs that would keep us busy for several weeks, but repairable. We'd lost several of our balancing rockets, yet again, and the entire bow of the ship is a twisted wreck, leaving the ship fit only for the flats of & Kin. I think the sight of his ship, illuminated by the surviving cargo lights of no. 3 hold as we circled the ship in the gig, pretty much broke his heart.
He tried to act like before, but then, we'd catch him when he was quiet and he wasn't the Wil Litang we'd known these many years. Really, he hadn't been the same since his assassin had been taken by Vinden. He blamed himself for that – it was as if he'd killed her. And well, I'd been there, so I knew how much it affected him. Four days after he was on his feet, he announced that he was buying the Rift Raven's gig – which had been left behind when we took in the old flier – and was going back to the Pela to warn Min and hold Vinden to account. I've no doubt his stated reasons were true – as far as they go. Since we had enough work to keep us busy for two, or even three more weeks, before we could sail comfortably, he could do so without causing a delay. And well, as captain, he could do as he pleased, so we had no way to dissuade him, though Illy and I did our best. We said he still had treatments to take, but he countered that he could take them aboard the gig. We suggested that he take someone along to get the gig through the shell-reef – Dici or Sar would've jumped at the chance – but he refused. Botts would pilot the gig remotely until he reached the Pela where he'd lost radio contact with the ship.
He ordered me to wait two weeks and then to depart when repairs permitted and logged me in as 'acting captain'. I said it was dangerous, Vinden would never allow him back. He said he'd not get within missile range of Vinden. All he need to do was to contact Ten with the evidence of Vinden's treachery. He seemed to have a sensible plan, and well, short of mutiny, we couldn't stop him. Despite his grimness, his was clearly not a suicide mission. Suicide missions were not Wil's cup of cha. As he would tell you himself, he was far too cautious for anything like that. He was determined to find that cha garden in the mist and settle down to grow the Unity's finest cha once we returned to the Neb.
He departed and Botts piloted the gig through the shell-reef and to the fringe of the Pela proper. He said he was unable to reach the Raven so he was going on to Redoubt Island. And yes, he'd be very cautious. When radio communications became too intermittent for Botts to pilot the gig, and Wil took over, and once again ordered me to sail in two weeks or as soon as our repairs were complete. I assured him that as acting captain, I would operate just as he'd taught me over the years. He warned me not to do that, but to obey the letter of his final order, this one time. But, as I said, radio communication had become intermittent, and I didn't catch that over the static. Which annoyed him.
I waited the required two weeks and when he failed to return, Dici, Sar, and I took the ship's gig into the Pela to see if we could discover, well, what, I don't know, and do something – if something needed doing.
We also were unable to raise either Wil's gig, or Tenry on the Raven in the inner space, and on arriving at what should have been Redoubt Island found that both it and the fleet had vanished without a trace. They simply were not where we had left them, less than a month ago. We searched for both, and a day later, found the gig's battered black box embedded in a great tangle of vines amongst some jumbled islands, after picking up its weak radio signal. We also found several pieces of debris, likely from the gig. The black box offered little insight as to what happened. It seems Wil had actually landed, I presume on Redoubt Island, since the timing would've been about right, opened the hatch and less than five minutes later, closed it again, only to be followed within seconds by a violent episode that took the black box offline without providing any additional information. We spent two days searching the islands in widening circles without any sign of Wil or any other debris, until I very reluctantly concluded that my duty now lay with my shipmates and my ship and that I needed to return to the ship.
And so, with repairs completed and Botts at the helm, we've started our long, long journey home, without Wil Litang.
'Wil is the luckiest spaceer I've ever known,' said Illy softly, finding me alone and crying in the ship's office shortly after my return. 'I'm certain we'll cross his orbit again, a decade or two from now, likely on one of Belbania's white sand beaches, with a tall glass of iced cha at hand.'
'Yes, of course. I'm sure you're right,' I sniffed. 'Hopefully not as Sunny Day.'
Illy smiled. 'A chance we'll have to take.'
Wil Litang was no more superstitious than most spaceers. Most spaceers are very superstitious. I know that one of Wil's greatest fears was the luck he ascribed to his success, would some day either run out or need to be paid for. I know he did what he could to pay for that luck, but I can't help but wonder, here – wherever here is – in the absolute blackness of the great sea of space, if his luck did, indeed run out.
It's time for me to find my sleeper-pod and turn the ship completely over to Botts, until we emerge from this black reef. I'll put these black thoughts down to the loneliness of the time and place. Hopefully when I awake the Nebula will be burning brighter than it is at the moment.
--- Molaye Merlun, Captain (Acting), Starry Shore Nee Lost Star and a dozen other names
The End
The Lost Star Tales #2 The Castaways of the Lost Star
This first episode in a new series of Lost Star Tales is now available where ever fine ebooks are sold.
For more information on this release please visit my blog at: C. Litka's Works in Words Blog
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