Categories > Books > Harry Potter > Scenes from a Different Life
What might have been
0 reviewsSometimes the only warning you get is enough to say goodbye. Not written from life, simply something that had to work it's way out.
-1OOC
Scenes from a Different Life, Somewhere in the prologue
Michael walked off the bridge of the HTA-S "Pandemonium" with a weary sigh. Another sixteen hour watch, but that's what happens when your crew consists of six. Well, six and a couple hangers-on, but no one in their right mind would let Urd stand a watch. He made his way slowly back to his quarters, unlocked the door, and flopped down on the bed tiredly. Sixteen hours of making sure they didn't hit anything, that the AI didn't have the equivalent of a disc head crash, that no one decided to be stupid today and try to rob a corvette that obviously carried firepower at least equal to a destroyer. It'd actually happened twice last month, and was getting old.
That's the problem, he thought to himself, with being so far out of the normal space lanes. I've already read everything in the library twice, computer games pall after so much time, and this deep in space, there isn't even any GalacticNet broadcast to surf.
Michael picked up a book at random out of the pile beside the bed, and started to read anyway. He actually managed a whole ten pages before he fell asleep. And started to dream.
It was about four hours into Adrienne's watch when Skuld appeared out of the main viewscreen. She jumped slightly, but over the years had mostly gotten used to the goddesses' abrupt entrances. Skuld floated lightly down to the deck, and stood there for a moment, looking troubled. Turning toward Adrienne, she forced a smile to her face.
"Hi, " Skuld said, "It's been a while."
Adrienne looked deep in thought for a moment. "Four months, I think. What brings you today?"
"I need to talk to Michael, actually... Do you know where he is?" asked Skuld.
"He should be in his quarters asleep. He just stood last watch, and you know how much that bores him."
"Well, I don't want to wake him, but..." Skuld trailed off. Without a word, she walked back toward the crew compartments.
Michael was sitting up in bed, wiping the nightmare out of his eyes as the doorchime rang.
"Come in," he said blearily.
The door slid open, and Skuld stepped in. The room was dark, but she could see that it was fairly neat. Or, at least neat for a bachelor's apartment. There was only a small pile of books, and a slightly larger pile of clothes in the corner. She stopped a scant step into the room, eyes troubled. Michael crawled out of bed, took off his uniform jacket, and tossed it at the pile. Lighting a cigarette, he gestured to the room's most comfortable chair.
He took a long drag, and let it out with a sigh. But before he could speak, Skuld turned to him, eyes brimming with tears.
"It's time," she said softly, voice wavering
Michael let out another sigh and leaned his head back against the wall, looking suddenly very tired and very old.
"I know," he said.
Adrienne was startled out of her reverie as the hangar pod lights came on, and a muffled thud announced that the doors were open. Before she could even close her mouth, a two-seat Valkyrie blasted off into the darkness, running like a bat out of hell.
"Misato!" Adrienne half-yelled, "Who was that?"
The AI's head appeared on the secondary view screen. "That was Michael."
"Was there some sort of emergency I missed?" Adrienne asked.
"Not that I know of," came the reply, "He just prepped his ship in record time, and left. He didn't even say where he was going."
"Earth." said a new voice from the doorway. Adrienne turned to see Urd leaning against the wall, for once looking completely somber, without even a trace of her usual mischieviousness.
"Why Earth?" asked Adrienne, "Why now?"
"Because there is a moment when one should be with one's family... erm, I'm not saying this well." Urd sighed, "We thought he should be there at the end..." she trailed off into silence.
Michael's eyes were tight and burning as he cleared the ship. He could feel the vibrations of the fusion turbines running at 120% max power, but at the moment he didn't really care if he burned out an engine, or even both. At eight thousand meters, the inner edge of the safe envelope, he engaged the fold drive, and vanished from knownspace.
Skuld clutched at the armrests as they re-entered normalspace at an almost insane velocity, and actually let out a little screech as they rocketed into earth's atmosphere at well above the listed safe speed. The ablative heat plating on the Valkyrie actually began to scorch as they burned through the ionosphere at a respectible multiple of the speed of sound. As they hit actual air, Michael finally levelled out the dive and popped the speedbrakes, slowing down to something approaching sane speeds. Skuld wanted to yell at him for scaring her, for being reckless.... but she couldn't. Not now.
They touched down at the Portland International Spaceport. The engines hadn't even cooled before Michael had the Cyclone broken out, unpacked, and was revving the engine, ready to take off. Skuld jumped on behind him, leaned forward and asked "Where are you going?"
"Where do you think? I'm going to say goodbye."
"NO! That is forbidden. We came to observe, but you cannot interfere. Even we cannot."
Michael's shoulders slumped, his hands falling off the handlebars. He slowly reached up and adjusted the polarity on the faceplate of his armor, making it impossible to see in. As Skuld sat there behind him, watching his shoulders shake with quiet sobs, she almost regretted being here.
A day later
Michael sat on his cyclone, the sun shining down on the hill overlooking I-205. His eyes glanced at the chronometer built into his heads-up display, watching the seconds tick by. It was time.
Far below, on the crowded freeway, he saw a truck throw on it's brakes to avoid a speeder who had just cut ahead of it. His brakes locked up, and the trailer jacknifed. Right into a gold Dodge Stratus beside it. The Stratus was shoved against the jersey barricade, compressing almost in half with the force. There was literally nothing left of the passenger compartment.
Michael's eyes squeezed tight with pain, a few tears slowly leaking down his face. "Mom... Dad..." he whispered...
The three am rain fell. Not a hard rain, but a steady pour, enough to make the figure on the street glad of the drover coat and fedora he wore. He walked slowly through the night, head tucked down, cigarette cupped in his hand to keep the worst of the rain off of it. He was obviously lost in his own thoughts, not really paying attention to where he was going, just walking. Sometimes that's all you can do, just walk it off... He didn't even notice the man standing on the corner, underneath the streetlight, until he heard the voice.
"Hey buddy, I thought I'd find you here."
Michael looked up, water dripping from the brim of his fedora, his eyes red and puffy.
"Pat. What're you doing here? You should be," Michael looked at his watch, "somewhere near Gamma Draconis right now."
"Urd told us what was happening. We made best possible speed, and you know that flanking speed for the Pandemonium is pretty damn fast. I knew you'd need a friend right now, and we're all here. I'm sorry, man. I know this is hard. C'mon, let me buy you a bottle."
"Thanks, bro. I appreciate it."
Pat lead Michael down the street, finally stopping at Kellys Olympian.
"I know you used to love this place." said Pat
"Wow. It hasn't changed much over the years."
"When you think about it, neither have we."
They walked toward the back of the pub. Michael almost stopped as he saw a booth filled with all his hard-won family. Adrienne, Steve, Will, and even PenPen were there, not talking, not laughing, just... waiting. He settled in next to Steve, and the bartender wordlessly brough him a bottle of bushmills.
Three days later
The rain had continued to fall, and the muddy earth was sticky as they lowered the twin coffins into the ground. Michael watched from the nearby hill, wrapped once again in drover and fedora. Steve, his constant companion, stood beside him silently. The tears were all cried, and now it was time to honor the dead. Steve and Michael had spent the best part of two days drunk, mourning the family that had birthed Michael and all but adopted Steve. As the last benediction was said, they both looked up as four Valkyries screamed overhead in perfect diamond formation, barely twenty feet seperation between them. The western Valk suddenly dropped out of formation and lit burners, heading into the setting sun. Tears welled up suddenly in Michael's eyes. He turned to his brother.
"Thank you."
The date was December 7th, 2023.
fin.
Author's note: I know this is depressing, but it's needed to get out for a while now. No, it's not based on fact. My parents are still very much alive and well, and I hope that they stay that way for many years to come. But this one's been rattling around my skull for at least a year, and it was finally time to get it out. I'd like to thank Adrienne, Pat, Steve, and Will for permission to use them, my best friends, as characters in my work. As always, feedback is most welcome.
-Michael, 5 Aug 02
Update, 12 Aug 11. Adrienne can kiss my ass, though I'd still like to call Pat, Will, and Steve friends, even after no contact for almost ten years. You're still on my mind, boys.
Michael walked off the bridge of the HTA-S "Pandemonium" with a weary sigh. Another sixteen hour watch, but that's what happens when your crew consists of six. Well, six and a couple hangers-on, but no one in their right mind would let Urd stand a watch. He made his way slowly back to his quarters, unlocked the door, and flopped down on the bed tiredly. Sixteen hours of making sure they didn't hit anything, that the AI didn't have the equivalent of a disc head crash, that no one decided to be stupid today and try to rob a corvette that obviously carried firepower at least equal to a destroyer. It'd actually happened twice last month, and was getting old.
That's the problem, he thought to himself, with being so far out of the normal space lanes. I've already read everything in the library twice, computer games pall after so much time, and this deep in space, there isn't even any GalacticNet broadcast to surf.
Michael picked up a book at random out of the pile beside the bed, and started to read anyway. He actually managed a whole ten pages before he fell asleep. And started to dream.
It was about four hours into Adrienne's watch when Skuld appeared out of the main viewscreen. She jumped slightly, but over the years had mostly gotten used to the goddesses' abrupt entrances. Skuld floated lightly down to the deck, and stood there for a moment, looking troubled. Turning toward Adrienne, she forced a smile to her face.
"Hi, " Skuld said, "It's been a while."
Adrienne looked deep in thought for a moment. "Four months, I think. What brings you today?"
"I need to talk to Michael, actually... Do you know where he is?" asked Skuld.
"He should be in his quarters asleep. He just stood last watch, and you know how much that bores him."
"Well, I don't want to wake him, but..." Skuld trailed off. Without a word, she walked back toward the crew compartments.
Michael was sitting up in bed, wiping the nightmare out of his eyes as the doorchime rang.
"Come in," he said blearily.
The door slid open, and Skuld stepped in. The room was dark, but she could see that it was fairly neat. Or, at least neat for a bachelor's apartment. There was only a small pile of books, and a slightly larger pile of clothes in the corner. She stopped a scant step into the room, eyes troubled. Michael crawled out of bed, took off his uniform jacket, and tossed it at the pile. Lighting a cigarette, he gestured to the room's most comfortable chair.
He took a long drag, and let it out with a sigh. But before he could speak, Skuld turned to him, eyes brimming with tears.
"It's time," she said softly, voice wavering
Michael let out another sigh and leaned his head back against the wall, looking suddenly very tired and very old.
"I know," he said.
Adrienne was startled out of her reverie as the hangar pod lights came on, and a muffled thud announced that the doors were open. Before she could even close her mouth, a two-seat Valkyrie blasted off into the darkness, running like a bat out of hell.
"Misato!" Adrienne half-yelled, "Who was that?"
The AI's head appeared on the secondary view screen. "That was Michael."
"Was there some sort of emergency I missed?" Adrienne asked.
"Not that I know of," came the reply, "He just prepped his ship in record time, and left. He didn't even say where he was going."
"Earth." said a new voice from the doorway. Adrienne turned to see Urd leaning against the wall, for once looking completely somber, without even a trace of her usual mischieviousness.
"Why Earth?" asked Adrienne, "Why now?"
"Because there is a moment when one should be with one's family... erm, I'm not saying this well." Urd sighed, "We thought he should be there at the end..." she trailed off into silence.
Michael's eyes were tight and burning as he cleared the ship. He could feel the vibrations of the fusion turbines running at 120% max power, but at the moment he didn't really care if he burned out an engine, or even both. At eight thousand meters, the inner edge of the safe envelope, he engaged the fold drive, and vanished from knownspace.
Skuld clutched at the armrests as they re-entered normalspace at an almost insane velocity, and actually let out a little screech as they rocketed into earth's atmosphere at well above the listed safe speed. The ablative heat plating on the Valkyrie actually began to scorch as they burned through the ionosphere at a respectible multiple of the speed of sound. As they hit actual air, Michael finally levelled out the dive and popped the speedbrakes, slowing down to something approaching sane speeds. Skuld wanted to yell at him for scaring her, for being reckless.... but she couldn't. Not now.
They touched down at the Portland International Spaceport. The engines hadn't even cooled before Michael had the Cyclone broken out, unpacked, and was revving the engine, ready to take off. Skuld jumped on behind him, leaned forward and asked "Where are you going?"
"Where do you think? I'm going to say goodbye."
"NO! That is forbidden. We came to observe, but you cannot interfere. Even we cannot."
Michael's shoulders slumped, his hands falling off the handlebars. He slowly reached up and adjusted the polarity on the faceplate of his armor, making it impossible to see in. As Skuld sat there behind him, watching his shoulders shake with quiet sobs, she almost regretted being here.
A day later
Michael sat on his cyclone, the sun shining down on the hill overlooking I-205. His eyes glanced at the chronometer built into his heads-up display, watching the seconds tick by. It was time.
Far below, on the crowded freeway, he saw a truck throw on it's brakes to avoid a speeder who had just cut ahead of it. His brakes locked up, and the trailer jacknifed. Right into a gold Dodge Stratus beside it. The Stratus was shoved against the jersey barricade, compressing almost in half with the force. There was literally nothing left of the passenger compartment.
Michael's eyes squeezed tight with pain, a few tears slowly leaking down his face. "Mom... Dad..." he whispered...
The three am rain fell. Not a hard rain, but a steady pour, enough to make the figure on the street glad of the drover coat and fedora he wore. He walked slowly through the night, head tucked down, cigarette cupped in his hand to keep the worst of the rain off of it. He was obviously lost in his own thoughts, not really paying attention to where he was going, just walking. Sometimes that's all you can do, just walk it off... He didn't even notice the man standing on the corner, underneath the streetlight, until he heard the voice.
"Hey buddy, I thought I'd find you here."
Michael looked up, water dripping from the brim of his fedora, his eyes red and puffy.
"Pat. What're you doing here? You should be," Michael looked at his watch, "somewhere near Gamma Draconis right now."
"Urd told us what was happening. We made best possible speed, and you know that flanking speed for the Pandemonium is pretty damn fast. I knew you'd need a friend right now, and we're all here. I'm sorry, man. I know this is hard. C'mon, let me buy you a bottle."
"Thanks, bro. I appreciate it."
Pat lead Michael down the street, finally stopping at Kellys Olympian.
"I know you used to love this place." said Pat
"Wow. It hasn't changed much over the years."
"When you think about it, neither have we."
They walked toward the back of the pub. Michael almost stopped as he saw a booth filled with all his hard-won family. Adrienne, Steve, Will, and even PenPen were there, not talking, not laughing, just... waiting. He settled in next to Steve, and the bartender wordlessly brough him a bottle of bushmills.
Three days later
The rain had continued to fall, and the muddy earth was sticky as they lowered the twin coffins into the ground. Michael watched from the nearby hill, wrapped once again in drover and fedora. Steve, his constant companion, stood beside him silently. The tears were all cried, and now it was time to honor the dead. Steve and Michael had spent the best part of two days drunk, mourning the family that had birthed Michael and all but adopted Steve. As the last benediction was said, they both looked up as four Valkyries screamed overhead in perfect diamond formation, barely twenty feet seperation between them. The western Valk suddenly dropped out of formation and lit burners, heading into the setting sun. Tears welled up suddenly in Michael's eyes. He turned to his brother.
"Thank you."
The date was December 7th, 2023.
fin.
Author's note: I know this is depressing, but it's needed to get out for a while now. No, it's not based on fact. My parents are still very much alive and well, and I hope that they stay that way for many years to come. But this one's been rattling around my skull for at least a year, and it was finally time to get it out. I'd like to thank Adrienne, Pat, Steve, and Will for permission to use them, my best friends, as characters in my work. As always, feedback is most welcome.
-Michael, 5 Aug 02
Update, 12 Aug 11. Adrienne can kiss my ass, though I'd still like to call Pat, Will, and Steve friends, even after no contact for almost ten years. You're still on my mind, boys.
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