Requiem Read Free

time she thought of that jagged piece of metal
protruding from her arm. She wondered how faithfully her memory
could recreate the pain. She remembered every second being
stretched and pried open yet the physical pain was now entirely
isolated to a faint, harmless memory, sitting high up on a shelf,
jarred, pickled, and sealed somewhere forever out of reach. She
could look at it but could never re-experience the pain. All that
remained was the knowledge that having her arm run through by a
piece of space station and subsequently amputated on the dining
room table of a transport ship was not something she'd ever want to
experience again.
    She ran her
fingers through her hair. She looked at the time displayed in her
optics. An hour had passed. The Yurrick had only moved once to
cross his legs before resuming his slightly reclined position on
the uncomfortable looking seat in front of her. He had then sat
motionless for the duration.
    She looked out
from the shelter. The sandstorm was weakening. Seline left the
small waiting bay and walked to the edge of the platform. She
watched as the storm slowly peeled away. A single cracked and
disfigured road could be made out in the foreground. An almost
ethereal division across a slowly unveiling red sea. The road kept
stretching through the relenting sand. The first vestige of a city
came into view as the silhouettes of a small collection of office
buildings appeared. The structures stood huddled together, bowed
and distorted, leaning against each other for support.
    The horizon
itself could not have done a better job of levelling the city. Only
at the centre, in the old business district, could vertical lines
still be found. A cloud of grey dust was resting over the city. The
sandstorms weren’t wasting their time in grinding down and burying
its remains.
    She stepped
back from the railing. Her attention turned to the platform she was
standing on. Flakes of rust peeled from its thin steel guard rails.
Orange oxidised blood trickled from under its canyoning skin,
staining the surface of the platform. An unhinged, unreadable sign,
still fighting off gravity, clung to the station’s one remaining
wall. The Yurrick had gotten up from his seat and approached the
handrail next to Seline.
    'It's been a
long time since I've been here,' said Seline. 'Did it always look
like this?'
    The Yurrick
raised his hand onto the rusted guard rail. 'It gets worse every
day.'
    'What happened
here?'
    He glanced down
at her then back to the city. 'You mean you really don't know?'
    'I've been away
for a long time.'
    'But you still
probably know the story, don't you?'
    Seline didn't
answer.
    'Your cities
weren't built to last,' said the Yurrick, 'they were built to fail.
NeoCorp stripped almost everything that was usable in Vale and
replaced them with “new generation” materials to placate the
population while they did it.' He gestured towards the city. 'Most
of what you're looking at are new generation buildings.'
    That low
rasping voice still echoed and rattled at the back of her throat.
She ran her eyes up and down the length of the road.
    'It's a long
walk to Sinn,' the Yurrick said. He stepped back from the rail. 'I
happen to be going that way you know?' He immediately turned and
headed towards a lone staircase spiralling down from the platform.
Seline stood looking at the horizon and listened to the metallic
ringing of his steps as he descended. It was hot but she pulled her
hood back over her head to block out what remained of the wind and
sand, and followed him down.
    He was already
walking towards the city when she reached the bottom of the stairs.
She started after him, trailing several metres behind at what felt
like a comfortable distance. Seline watched the sand shift across
the surrounding dunes, sailing in the wisps and spirals of the
gusts still lingering from the storm. Memories of Vale, of Sinn,
and of Earth danced somewhere in the back of her mind, jeering and
hollering at her from behind