Kaitlyn Hardy
in collaboration with @Leya, @WeepingWisteria, @Zyria, @JazzElectroBass, @herbalhour and @Spearmint
Kate looked out at the faces before her. So much promise. So much emotion. So much hurt. It was always painful to look upon the latest crop headed for the ol' trash dump. But this one was especially bad.
The door behind her beeped.
"We've reached cruising altitude Princess Hardy."
"Thank you Tachy. Hold her steady for me. Keep us just under the speed limit. I do not want another lecture from Krane."
"You have three incoming messages from Krane."
"Huh?"
"According to their contents, you have and I quote "Made a Living farce out of Terran Space Traffic Laws".
"Blame it on Vankous please."
"Of course Princess."
"Thank you Tachy."
She turned around, rolling her eyes. Give a crab a helmet and he decides to walk all over you. She couldn't smile about it for long though. She allowed herself a little breath. She didn't know how Vankous looked so casual. She'd made peace with the fact that it was one of the few things she'd never understand.
She focused on her first area of concern. Bo Hartman. Twelve years old. A blink of an eye in this vast multiverse. The impact he'd left on this world was so miniscule that there'd been pieces of dust more famous and yet here he was. Heading to a place reserved for the worst of the worst. How the system allowed this she still couldn't fathom. Well she could. She wrote it, but the fact she could do nothing about it never sat well with her.
He was...searching for mouthwash? She allowed herself a small smile. Better to be worried about bad breath than the horrors of a world designed to break you so completely that the very concept of happiness would be exorcised out of you.
Bo noticed Kate looking at him. He hesitated to open his mouth, "Um. Excuse me, miss?"
"Yeah sweetie?"
"I'm sorry to be a burden, but I left my superhero comic back in the VIP lounge. I've had it since I was a baby. Is there any way I can go back and get it? I-I understand if not, b-but..."
"Aww honey, its hardly a burden. That sounds like something you couldn't possibly leave behind. Do you remember where you were sitting honey?"
"In the corner, by the window," Bo responded, turning red as an apple, "T-thank you, miss."
:"You're quite welcome honey."
Bo hesitated again, "No... really, thank you. You're very kind," he flashed a quick smile. Kate smiled back. "Well you're very sweet."
Kate turned to Vankous. "Bunny Boy, keep us from crashing will you."
He grunted. "Can of who?"
"Stop ship from crashing."
"Are we crashing? Where? Who?"
"I swear one day I'm going to find a way to... you know what... never mind. Just like pay attention for three seconds."
"This is a ranked match."
Kate blinked.
"Fine. Fine. I'll stop the ship if it starts to crash. Jeez."
"I'm going to turn your controls upside down again. And this time I'll get Ray to lock it behind his firewall."
"You wouldn't."
Kate just looked at him.
"You... are a monster."
"I am the Darkness." She winked and jumped through the window. Taking a second to gather her bearings she spread her wings. Spaceport. Spaceport. That way.
Kate flew towards it, letting her breathing slowly shut down as she flew. It didn't take long as she accelerated, they'd only been flying for a couple of hours now. Soon the little green and blue outline of Earth swum into view nestled amongst the Milky Way. Darting towards it, she dodged past the moon as she entered the atmosphere.
"Terra Space Traffic, its Kate. Don't worry just extracting a high priority item from the spaceport. Not an emergency."
"Copy that Princess Hardy."
She swooped in, going through the first window she found. She raced through the port, headed for the VIP wing. A quick scan revealed a comic book left abandoned on a chair. She breathed a little sigh of relief. The lost and found hadn't got to it. She gingerly picked it up. She looked around for a bag to put it in. Oh dear.
She peered into the local security office. Aha. She nipped in.
"Officer...Shower Handel can you hand me a evidence bag please?"
He looked very confused, then glanced at his tag. He marched off swearing towards another officer. Kate blinked but didn't question it, reaching behind the counter and taking one of the little evidence bags. They wouldn't miss it.
She tucked the comic safely into it jumped through the nearest window again. Taking into the air, she glanced at her communicator, checking the GPS. The ship was about four light years away from where it had been. She flew after it, accelerating past Andromeda and Aikorina. It didn't take long for it to swim into view.
She dropped in through the window, landing carefully. She smiled and pulled out the book. Waking up to Bo, she offered the package to him.
"Is this the one sweetie?"
Bo's eyes lit up as he opened the evidence bag, "Yes! Thank you!" he smiled wide.
"You're welcome. Enjoy. It was a very interesting read."
"It is! I love the part where Batman slains his enemies with his batarangs," Bo held the comic to his chest, letting out a gentle sigh of relief.
"It was very cool." She hesitated for a moment before giving him a gentle pat on the shoulder, trying to hold in the love force to avoid overwhelming the poor thing.
Bo flinched at her touch, but soon relaxed. He brought his legs up on the seat and began to read.
Kate allowed herself a small smile and turned away for the moment. There were others she also needed to tend to. She sized up the smallest member of their little group. Kate had seen rotting corpses that looked more full of life.
She let out a soft sigh. Looking through her past, Kate couldn't help but flash back to a time long, long ago. Two weeks old and facing down her first opponent in the ring. She'd only just learnt that you had to hold a sword by the handle. Blades were sharp. She shook her head. There it was already. A few million light years to go and yet its energy was already affecting her.
"Honey?"
Brinley, as Kate learned her name was, didn't seem to hear her.
"Sweetie?" She tried a little louder.
Brinley still didn't respond.
"Darling?" She leaned a little closer.
Brinley flinched, looking to Kate. "Hmm? You talking to me?"
She nodded. "Just wanted to say hi. Do you need anything?"
"Oh. Hi." She chewed on her thumbnail. "Um. Maybe?"
"Ask away honey."
"That box. What does it do?"
"Its a snack machine sweetheart. Think of what you want and reach in, and you'll find it. If it's edible of course."
"So it can summon... anything edible?"
"Yup. We cater to all species, so pretty much anything really."
Brinley nodded. "Thanks."
"You can ask Susan over there if you need help. She knows how to use it. And you're welcome honey."
"Mhm."
Sensing the conversation was over Kate stepped back leaving the girl to her... questionable thoughts. She had a feeling she didn't need to be broken down much further.
She walked back to the front of the ship, turning to the other person with a nose buried in a book. Ananta Tritiya Akshaya. Now that was an enigma. The oldest among this particular group. Hardly a child against the cosmos, but filled with enough trauma to cover the lifetime of the average asteroid.
And yet so calm on the surface. Kate couldn't help but be a little impressed. To hold back quite so much, to appear so steadfast despite the fragile little bundle held inside of it all. It was a maturity she didn't see in most gods. And they'd usually had a few million more years to learn.
She cleared her throat. "Excuse me? Ananta?"
The nebulon glanced up. "Yes?"
"Are you holding up alright sweetie? Do you need anything?"
"No thank you, I am quite alright," dysis gave a well practiced smile.
"Alright honey. Do let me know if you do."
Ananta had already turned back to oriens book.
Kate backed off quietly. That would be a conversation for a different time. She let out a soft sigh as she returned to her little station. Three broken souls already.
"Status Report Tachy?"
"All readings are nominal Princess Hardy."
"T-Minus?"
"One hour and thirty minutes to destination Princess Hardy."
"Sounds good Tachy. Did Vankous behave?"
"He did in fact spend the time between you leaving the visible radius and the time until you reappeared in the visual radius actively monitoring the status. Although of course, he did pretend he was playing his game the entire time."
"Delightful news Tachy. Keep me updated then, and warn me once we're within thirty minutes would you?"
"Of course Princess Hardy."
Kate nodded and turned back to the little group. The sound of music caught her attention. Right near the corner, a little isolated from everyone. Well everyone was lost in their own world, but this one was also physically isolated from everyone. Killian Jaegar. A little spitfire. Kate allowed herself a small smile. At least there was one who wasn't a complete shell of their former self.
She walked up to her and cleared her throat a little louder than strictly necessary. "Honey?"
Killian turned her head to look at Kate. Her expression was unclear on what she was thinking about. "What?"
"Terribly sorry to disturb you but I just wanted to check in, see if there was anything you needed."
"My sentence shortened? Or nonexistent. How about a different life?"
"Well you are on your way towards acquiring all three of those things. Anything else honey?"
"A little bit of a better music choice?"
"Ohh what would you like sweetie?"
"You have any classic rock?"
"Yes indeed we do. Any specific artists or years you would like? And planets of course but I assume you're referring to Earth music here."
"Well, yes, Earth artists. Do you have the Eagles?"
"We sure do. Is there a specific album you would like or just a collection of their complete works?"
"A collection works."
"Lovely. That will be with you shortly. Is there anything else you would like?"
"Yes, what time are we arriving at our lovely destination of paradise?" She smiled, very much being sarcastic.
"Around one hours and twenty six more minutes now sweetie." Kate smiled back as genuinely as she could.
"Great." She muttered, and looked back out the window.
"Anything else you'd like?"
"A deaf dog?" She asked, doing her best to sound completely sarcastic to make sure they didn't actually conjure up a deaf dog.
"That's a bit of an odd request but I'm sure we can provide one for you. Do you have a preference on breed and age?"
Killian stopped for a second, not expecting that. But then again she was curious to see if that would actually go through. "I was joking on the deaf part, but if you could actually conjure up a German Shepard that would be nice."
"Well conjuring life is a little frowned upon but we could absolutely get a dog from the nearest shelter. Any preference on age or gender?"
"Well- not literally conjuring-" She leaned back. "A female would be preferable, and if it could be less than 3 years old, that'd be perfect."
"Of course. One collection of rock music and one German Shepard. Anything else?"
She hummed in thought. "Just those two things and I'll be happier than a frog."
"Wonderful." Kate tapped on her communicator bringing up a collection of music, typing in the required parameters. She cleared her throat before announcing.
"Tachy could you port over this collection I'm sending you to Killian's device here. Please and thank you."
The intercom rang out. "Of course Princess Hardy."
She turned back to Killian. "Alright then Killian, that should be arriving..." There was a small ding. "Right now. I'll be back with your dog."
"Great."
Kate dive out of the window for the second time now, swimming once again to Earth. It was the easiest place to pick up a dog. It didn't take long for her to fly her way back, this time going straight to the agency's shelter. She quickly stopped by the counter.
"Hi Jane, could I get like a German Shepard, female, a puppy if that's available."
"Should I ask?"
"I'll send in a report. In a tiny bit of a hurry Jane."
"Of course Kate."
She practically ran to the back of the store. She appeared less than ten minutes later with a small puppy. Kate scanned it. Female. 1 year and 210 days.
"That will do nicely Jane. Thank you very much. Does she have a name?"
"She does not."
"Alright that'll be all then."
"Of course Kate. See you at the Sunday office party?"
"I'll see you there." Kate smiled and nodded gingerly picking up the puppy.
Stepping out she yelled as loudly as she could. "Chudnofsky I need a portal to The Last Doughnut stat, carrying a puppy."
She giggled as the familiar swirling mass of blue energy appeared before her. Chudnofsky was actually maintaining his promise to not ask questions.
She quickly stepped through arriving on the ship in seconds. "Thank you Chud," she yelled into the portal as it closed behind her.
She walked carefully up to Killian and presented her with the puppy. "There you go. She does not have a name. So you can go ahead and name her."
Killian was actually speechless for once. She took the puppy and looked it over. "Thanks."
"You're most welcome sweetie. Sure you're alright for now then?"
Killian nodded, distracted by the puppy.
"Well give me a holler if there's anything else you need. I'll be right here till we land."
"Yeah, alright." The dog put her paws on Killian's legs, taking to Killian and started to lick her face. Killian spluttered, and fell out of her chair.
Kate allowed herself a little smile before she let herself drift around to face the one person who seemed to give off even the tiniest sense of happiness. Lyle Hemworth.
She approached him a little cautiously. She didn't want to startle a man with spiky objects in his hands.
"Hello there?"
"Hello! Just give me a moment to end off this thread."
"Of course sweetie."
Lyle grabbed a small pair of scissors from his bag and snippet the remaining thread off his needle. "What can i do for you?"
"Oh. Well funnily I was about to ask if there was anything I could do for you?"
"Not really... Ah! Could I have a glass of cranberry juice? No ice."
"Oh of course. Is there some sort of brand you want, artificial, or just actual cranberry juice straight from the source?"
"Hm... Tropicana."
"Oooh excellent choice. The owner owes me a favor so we actually have a little discount on that." Kate quickly walked over to the snack box and picked out a carton, walking over. She paused to quickly conjure a serving tray out of the air with a whispered command before placing it on there and offering it to Lyle.
"Thank you, Kate."
"You're most welcome Lyle." She vanished the tray and turned back to him. "So how are you holding up? Is your embroidery going well?"
"Quite well, thanks. It's turning out so well, I mean look!" Lyle flipped around his embroidery circle which revealed 'veni, vidi, vici" in pretty blue font.
"Oooh that's mighty fine work there. I might just ask you to make me something." She grinned. "You have a wonderful hand there Mr. Hemworth."
"Aww, stop you're making me blush!" Lyle teased, as he put his embroidery circle into his bag. "Where did Vankous go?"
"I'm simply stating facts honey." Kate giggled. "As for Vankous. I believe he is currently with the ship's AuI. Something about it shutting off his connection to the game servers because he yelled at her."
"Poor AI. Gah! Is that a dog?"
"That is in fact a dog. Assuming you are referring to the Terran species commonly kept as household pets and not the blood sucking demons from the Andorran galaxy."
"I'm allergic to dogs!"
"Oh dearie me. Well we would've taken precautions but that dog was a rather last minute addition. Could I perhaps interest you in some precautionary medicine for that? Or a spell?"
"Ah, no, i wouldn't want to be a nuisance."
"Nuu sweetie. Not at all. It'll hardly be a second. Don't you worry about that. Do you want it honey?"
"Well, sure. If it wouldn't be too much trouble."
"Absolutely not. It really wouldn't. So a spell or medicine? Pick your poison sir."
"A spell then, please."
Kate nodded and put a gentle hand on his forehead. "Zashchitite etogo nezhnogo cheloveka ot nepriyatnostey sobach'yey porody." The words burned bright in the air shimmering an iridescent blue before a warm blue glow sunk into Lyle. "There you go honey."
"Thank you. Really." Lyle smiled faintly then continued embroidering.
Kate nodded, "Your Welcome." She was about to turn away but well, she wasn't the goddess of love for nothing, so she couldn't resist. "Do you want to talk to Vankous?"
"I mean, sure? He's kind of in a bubble for a reason though, right?"
"Well. You'd be surprised at that reason and that's him to tell you. I will say though it is not a message to not talk to him. Its something else that's...necessary."
"I'm always up for some idle conversation."
"Well track him down then. Just umm...don't throw something at him the first three times you get the urge to. And you'll be good."
Lyle got up, and started walking away from Kate, still holding the embroidery circle.
Kate smiled to herself. She might be the patron goddess of lesbians but love was love. She ended up glancing at the snack table next. The smile fell. The one familiar face amongst all these strangers. Susie. Oh gosh had she grown up from the little naive angel Kate had first met. She'd been 17 then, actually seventeen, not just frozen in time by Death. But really she'd hardly been more than a baby, exposed to nothing but the happiest of things in her life. It had been a little worrying seeing her have to grow up so fast in the unforgiving world of time policing but she'd grown into it so well. Kate was truly proud of her when and had genuinely cried the day Susie and her sisters had been returned to their lives, knowing she'd miss her terribly. Seeing her come back after living her life had been one of Kate's happiest moment. Never did she think it would come to this.
Well, Kate wasn't surprised. It was hard to be surprised when the future lay bare before you, but she hadn't thought for a second Sue would chose this path. She should've known. Sue had always been a little impulsive and quick to jump to decision when loved ones were at stake.
She walked up to her quietly. She just stood there for a second, smiling quietly as Susan did what she always did with food, savoring it, and not really eating. Not that she could eat if she tried. The dead don't need sustenance after all.
Susan looked up after a little. "Kate."
"Susan."
"Are you.."
Kate couldn't help it. She scooped her into a tight hug. "Kate?"
"I'm sorry."
"Why are y.y.ou. I should be so.r"
"No. No. You were alone and helpless. You did the only thing you could think to do in that time."
"I should've be.."
"Don't get me started. I told you think already."
"But.."
"No buts Sue. You know it."
Susan just huffed and melted into her. Kate could tell she wasn't remotely convinced but Kate could sense the beginnings of something forming deep down there. That was good enough for the moment. She held the hug as long as she dared letting Susan soak it in before she pulled away.
"You should tend to everyone else."
Kate nodded after a moment. "I'm still proud of you little phantom."
Sue looked on the verge of tears now. "Th..thank y..you." The cheetos in her hand were suddenly the most interesting thing in the room. She quietly stepped away. There was one person she had yet to inquire after. One Jennifer Kumonkan. Who was currently the only one actively tearing up.
She walked over.
"Sweetie? Do you need another pack of gummies?"
Jen immediately wiped her eyes on her sleeve and smothered her sniffles. "No, I'm fine." She dropped the uneaten gummies on the table and brushed some wisps of blonde hair back from her face. Then she looked up suspiciously at Kate with dull gray eyes. "Does the snack box access our memories?"
"It doesn't honey."
"Then how did it get the brand exactly right?" Jen pointed almost accusingly at the colorful letters and shapes on the packaging. "Don't tell me you're going to experiment on us to test human reactions to various things that remind them of home. Or, wait, don't tell me it's entertainment on alien worlds to watch humans suffer. Because both of those are clearly more plausible explanations, than, what, a chance at redemption?"
Kate giggled. "No sweetie. If you ask it for an exact brand, its going to purchase said brand and transport it here. Nothing that complicated. Its a little snack machine after all."
Jen looked miffed at Kate's giggle. "Just a little snack machine. Very comforting, if just a little machine is so much more powerful than our most advanced technology on Earth." She sighed. "Why do you even need our help to solve a murder?"
"Oh honey, this is from Earth. 49th Century technology of course so there's a little ways to go. But well. We need it now and so we have it. And we don't. This is your chance to prove that you can be innocent. Well that's the official designation for the mission. I really don't care for it. You've earned your freedom. So let's call it the farce we all have to act out so that you guys can go free like you deserve to."
"Annnnd now there's time travel in play. Of course. As for this farce? Makes sense that whatever higher powers have access to time travel would also be bogged down by ridiculous requirements and procedures. For the first time, I feel at home," Jen said sarcastically. By now, the redness was fading from her eyes and she was crinkling the edge of the still-unopened pack of gummies.
"Well time travel is quite common sweetie. I'm sorry it hasn't taken hold in Earth 36 yet. But it'll get there. Eventually. And well, its the price you sometimes pay to have a little order in all the chaos. We just have to patch it up as best we can and keep going." Kate shrugged.
Jen snorted. "Yeah. Keep going." She turned away and stared at the gummies listlessly, as if reminded of whatever she'd been sobbing about. Finally, she curled her hand into a fist and stood up, leaving the gummies on the table. "Is there time to sleep before we reach our destination?"
"Alright. You do you. I'm sorry if I somehow offend you." Kate sighed softly. This was better than crying at least. They were right to hate her. "And you have about an hour at 14 minutes. If that's sufficient time for a nap."
Jen nodded and left wordlessly. Kate knew a dismissal when she saw one. Stepping away she returned to her post at the front. She sighed quietly to herself. That had been a good wake up call. So many of them too drenched in their sorrows or trying to hard to keep them at bay to call her out. She was a big part of what was going to be quite literally worse than hell for all of them. She knew all too well. After all, she had made the place.
She needed to keep her distance from them. Getting too attached wouldn't be wise. After all when they finally made it to the end and had to escape, weren't they all trying to get away from her, well her creation. She was the enemy here. The big bad of the story. She should probably remember. Not for the last time she wished she could disappear into another world as easily as Vankous. Or pretend like it didn't hurt her. She chuckled. What was the count. Three hundred and sixteen billion. You'd think she'd stop feeling hurt by now. She gave her head a shake and closed her ancillary eyelids. There shouldn't be enough water in the air around her for tears but just in case.
"One hour left Princess Hardy." Kate did her best to compose herself. That AuI did not need to be on her case right now. Honestly she created her. Why did Tachy have to act like her mother sometimes?
"Thank you Tachy. Keep me updated will you. You're doing great."
"Why thank you Princess Hardy. Its honestly been quite an uneventful journey. We've only had to dodge thirteen pirate raids."
"Oh that is quite low actually. Well good job regardless. The Last Doughnut isn't exactly as equipped as the Anti Quark or the Tachyon and yet our journey has been just as smooth."
"The threatening smiley face Vankous attached to the front is proving surprisingly effective."
"The oldest form of language." Kate allowed herself a small chuckle. "The bucket load of intimidation wards don't hurt either."
"They certainly don't."
"Well keep us steady Tachy. Let me know when you spot the first mists."
"Aye Princess Hardy. Oh I do have one more report."
"Go on Tachy."
"Vankous replied to the General's messages."
"Lemme guess we're barred from Terran space for the next two million years?"
"Actually no, Vankous turned General Krane into a rabbit so we're being charged with assault."
"Forward that to Ray please."
"Should I also send him that gift basket Princess Hardy."
"Two gift baskets. And maybe a sacrificial portrait of Vankous for him to shoot."
"I will send in the order Princess Hardy."
"And when Jason eventually calls me to yell, just like put him on voicemail."
"And when he eventually marches upto you personally?"
"Hopefully Jen gets the message by then and comes to defend me?"
"That will be arranged Princess Hardy."
"Thank you Tachy. You're the best as always."
"You flatter me Princess Hardy."
"I simply tell the truth."
"So you insist."
Kate smiled to herself. She let out a little fist pump. Scolding dodged.
"And I know you're on the verge of tears Princess Hardy so get inside this cockpit and close the door behind you." Kate spluttered uselessly. "I. Well I never." She gave into it, slipping inside. Maybe she could do with a small speech of reassurance. She could go back to crying after landing. She sighed as the door locked behind her.Statistics: Posted by KateHardy — Fri Mar 15, 2024 12:24 am
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