Cath

Song Reference time

I can see the headlights and pavements
My legs can't carry me that far
If this distance isn't enough they'll cry
Another river to see you drown (see you drown)

The Cradle

Wallace smiled encouragingly to Marae, tropical rain flattening her hair against her porcelain face. She nodded to Alderney, who began clearing a path back to the ship. Leading the Rothian scientist away, the Plenipotentiary looked back and nodded to Chirtsey, who turned and followed after Nirann. They drew a hard-light wakizashi from the folds of their robes and held it at their side as they pushed through the crowds.

---

“Heyy, get off!” Freyr slurred, taking another hit of her stim stick while pulling at the hand which held her, one knee on the barrier. “Watch it!” The person carrying her yelled as a stray foot caught him in the face.

“All of a sudden, I'm hypnotized
You're the one that I can't deny."
The bassist pointed out into the crowd. The music built toward a crescendo.
“I just want to tell them the truth!” Freyr screeched, straining with all her might to free herself, looking back towards the stage.

”Every time that I say I'm gonna walk away…”
The band looked at each other and smiled, then everyone jumped up or flailed their arms as they hit the chorus.

”YOU TURN ME ON LIKE A LIGHTSWITCH.”
The music paused for dramatic effect and an array of white strobe lights flashed across the stage. Cheering took over for a second before they launched back into action.

”When you’re moving your body around and arounnnnd.”
Suddenly, a much brighter light appeared in the background. An empyrean lance, reaching down from the clouds above to touch ground somewhere in the city behind. Another soon followed, further off to the left. The noise from the crowd reached a deafening level, including from Freyr.

”Now, I don't wanna fight this, no. You know how to just make me want…”
The band continued attacking their instruments, unaware of what was happening behind them.

Freyr’s breath caught in her throat, and she choked. Somehow, she could feel her pupils dilating as she stared into the thread of energy pulsing down from orbit. Then, as soon as they’d appeared, the lances disappeared.

”You turn me on like a light switch! When you're movin' your body around and arounnndd…”

Freyr threw up. Chunks of her dinner cascaded down in front of the person holding her up, who recoiled in terror. She felt herself falling, and even as Nirann manoeuvred into position, her nose hit the barrier below her. Everything in her vision erupted in a shower of sparks, before going black.

“You got me in a tight grip yeah.”
Her vision erupted into a shower of sparks, and Freyr closed her eyes unconscious.

---

Her eyes opened again, and though it was hard to stay awake, she knew she was looking through someone else’s eyes. Harsh sunlight reflected off sand dunes as they whooshed past. They were going fast, and the ride was bumpy; Freyr could feel her host’s hands gripping the gunwale as they surveyed the desert. Loud engines thumped behind them. The air smelled of acrid smoke and…
Salt?

Her host’s hands released the gunwale. “Doctor Lang?” A voice said out loud - one Freyr would recognise anywhere.

595.

The Cradle

“I can’t really see Skopec agreeing to a party, can you?” Wallace laughed. “Anyway, psycho-analysis aside, we should go. The situation is deteriorating - the Skinner’s Guild knows the military will overreact to provocation and alienate the citizenry. I was very clear on this, but naturally I can only do so much!” She said this while still moving to the music, though her majordomos could’ve been mistaken for statues either side of her.

Freyr looked around in the crowd to try and identify the voice in her head. “I don’t wanna go yet! The party is just getting started.” Freyr raised her stim stick to her lips and breathed deeply. The colour green billowed across her vision. The crowd throbbed around her, nearly knocking the stick from her lips. A hand crawled under her arm and another grabbed her thigh; she felt herself leave the ground as someone lifted her up and towards the top of the barrier.

From her elevated position, Freyr could make out Réunion in its full glory. Flashing blue lights, like the ones on police vehicles, raced up and down the lakefront promenade. “Ooh, pretty.” She said to herself, as whoever it was placed her on their shoulders. From there, she could see just a small gap between the otherside of the barrier and the stage.

“Give it up for Miss Marchenko on bass!” The singer screamed, as the music changed again to a more electronic type sound. The tall, willowy, black clad girl standing off to one side of the stage with a large bass guitar leaned into her mic.

“Why you callin’ at 11:30, when you only wanna do me dirty?”

The rest of the band cooed into their mics in response. Freyr tapped into the lyrics with her implant and shouted along, waving her hands in the air.

“Oh, fuck!” Wallace breathed, eyes glazed over as she received another report from the ship. The dancing stopped. “No, no, no, what are they doing!? Nirann, grab Dr Lang and meet us back on the ship. She then turned to Marae and put a reassuring hand on the Rothian’s shoulder. “Come on dear, lets head back. We need to be inside the ship, just to be safe.”

“Why’d you always wanna act like lovers? But you never wanna be each other’s?” Miss Marchenko crooned while fingering her bass. Everyone else in the band pounded the beat as hard as they could. Even the singer had picked up a drumstick and was working on one of the drummer’s crash cymbals.

“Wooo!” Freyr slurred. “Put me over the barrier!” she shouted. The man between her legs obliged, holding onto the barrier and leaning forward so she could clamber over.

The Cradle

Wallace surveyed the crowd, swaying gently to the rhythm. Then she leaned in and called over the music. “I’d love to stay. I would! But I’m getting reports of unrest in the city. Protests and ‘subversive’ maneouvers - stuff you would never see on Rothia. My ship can protect us from almost anything, but it is the Institute I'm most worried about. They know I've kidnapped one of their officers and a VIP and they want both back!” She was smiling, but Wallace’s eyes were dark.

Someone tripped over a buoyancy aid behind Wallace and fell over. Chirtsey smartly shoved them away from the Plenipotentiary and into the water. The band carried on playing, the singer’s previously ragged voice hitting an impressive range of notes. Wallace looked around for Freyr again. “Besides, I saw what happened just now. Dr Lang needs therapy - an environment like this isn’t helping her.”

---

Freyr smiled around at the maelstrom of faces swirling in front of her eyes. Spots of warm water pattered down onto her forehead and dripped into her mouth. She pushed quickly through the crowds forcing the bottle up from her side to take another sip. “Hey, gorgeous.” A voice said in her ear. Freyr turned her head. “Give me a boost up onto the stage.” She slurred.

The Cradle

Freyr pantomimed thinking for a second, stroking her imaginary beard. “I’ve never been up on stage at a music thing before.” She raised one eyebrow as the singer, not too far away now, ripped his sweat-drenched shirt off, swung it around his head and chucked it into the crowd. A dozen arms reached out to grab it at the front. The band started playing slower but harder as they transitioned from one song to the next.

“Ah, there you are!” A voice called out from the throng around them. Alderney pushed through the crowd and stepped aside to let Wallace through. She’d somehow changed her stola for a lightweight purple jumpsuit. “You’re all wet! Good, well, I think we should head back inside now. I’m afraid we’re attracting a bit of attention…Dr Lang?”

Freyr pushed through the crowd towards the stage. Liquid from the bottle she’d stolen spilled all over her mask when someone’s elbow jogged her as she tried to drink. “Hey, cool outfit!” Someone shouted in her ear. “You’re an amazing crowd, and we’re Precept. You’re listening to the early 21st, right here on Réunion beach!” The singer shouted as the song ended. “This one is for our new government - fuck you!”
The band started playing again, playing with new vigour. Lights shone up into the sky from around the stage, and large gouts of smoke puffed out and around the ensemble. Freyr pushed on towards the front.

Wallace just smiled as Freyr ran away, then looked at the two Rothians. “I’m going to put a shield out, but we should really leave soon. Want to head back to the ship and I’ll collect Dr Lang?” As she spoke, a subtle oil-slick bubble extended from the partly visible Cradle ship to encompass the concert within it. If you were listening carefully, you could hear a sound like undersea cables being pulled taut.

Song Reference time

Literate and stylish
(Literate and stylish)
Kissable and quiet
(Kissable and quiet)
Well that's what girls'
Dreams are made of
And that's all you need to know
(And that's all you need to know)
You have it or you don't
(You have it or you)
You have it or you
(Don't)

Halo: Aegis Team

While listening to the others discuss options, Tar sniffed the air and looked around. A tingle ran all the way down her arms and into her chest, taking cues from atmospheric pressure. Thinking back to when she was last here, Tar finally understood what was coming. “A rolling bank approaches… I say we use speed over stealth; take those buildings to shelter if it passes over.”

She scraped a couple of steps forward and looked through her carbine’s scope just as the rapidly darkening sky suddenly lit up like daylight for a split-second. Tar studied the platform, looking for any signs they had been spotted. After a few seconds, a deafening boom washed over the mountainside they were on. The sky lit up again, and Tar growled. “We’re exposed - whatever we do, we have to do it quickly!” The Commando looked over at the squad leader.

The Cradle

The hit from her stim stick moments before rushed up Freyr’s spine, like a thick fog. The music slowed in tempo slightly and rose in pitch.

“Who says we need Wallace? We have a bar right here, all around us!” As if to demonstrate, Freyr snatched a square green bottle away from the lips of a teenager with orange trunks. She effected a sweet smile when he looked angrily her way, and pushed him off the side with one almighty shove.

The soaking wet biologist upended the bottle and took in a mouthful of the pungent liquid. It tasted like liquorice and chilli peppers. Freyr winced as she swallowed, then took another smaller sip. “We can make our own party.”

---

A long bike whirred out of the long lines of air traffic above the city centre and dropped down to the promenade overlooking the lake. A girl in a full body protective suit and helmet parked it next to the man who was watching the concert and hopped off the bike. He looked over and offered her his binoculars, which she took wordlessly and moved to the parapet.

“I marked them. The mask is back on now, but body language matches known records.” He remarked. The girl quickly rewound the footage recorded in the device until she got a look at half of Freyr’s face. “Any shields?”

“I can’t detect anything. The lizards might.”

The girl clucked her tongue softly, tapping the parapet with a fingernail.

The Cradle

Freyr hung awkwardly in Marae’s embrace for a moment, feet softly kicking to help them float. Then she wrapped her arms around the scientist’s muscular form and gave her a squeeze. She wanted to say ‘thank you’, but couldn’t. The mental congestion was the same as if she were crying out of the water.

“My son is missing too. Wallace’s voice entered Freyr’s head. It was clear she had been listening in, somehow. ”That was why I called on you specifically. You may not know it yet, but you have influence with our people, Dr Lang. More than you know. We can help each other.”

Freyr didn’t say anything, but released Marae after a few seconds. ”Let's go up. I’m ready for a drink.” She signalled in a monotone fashion. The music had been in a lull for a little bit, but was building up to a crescendo again.

“Just forget
All about fate
While I unlock this gentleman’s promise.”

The sound of the band exploded back into Freyr’s ears as she broke the surface of the water. Turning her head, she could just about see the singer on their raised platform, holding onto the microphone stand while knocking their knees together.

“With flesh like fire, but it lacks the colour
And chemical laughs fly round like drama.”

Freyr grabbed onto the nearest pontoon and dragged herself up, clothes releasing large amounts of water back into the lake. ”I don’t understand what you mean.” Freyr sent back to Wallace. She looked back at the ship, which was mobbed by partygoers.

The Cradle

Freyr did smile a tiny bit at Nirann’s deadpan humour. It didn’t last long though. “I’m just finding it hard to be optimistic right now. I spent my whole adult life so far trying to understand the next phase in synthetic life. Now we have the greatest chance I'm ever going to see, sitting in my lap, and all I want to do is find my family and get far away. Go live in the wild somewhere. As long as I have them, the rest of this galaxy can burn for all I care.” Even as she said it, Freyr was surprised by the vitriolic words emerging from her head. But she knew they were real, if buried deep down like white embers in a dying fire.