An old friends tale for the consideration of the YC 119 New Eden Capsuleer’s Writing Contest.
Crimson Birth
“I was there for days.
By the time I managed to free myself I had eaten all the plant and animal life within reach. Even digging up the earth to find what worms I could.
It was almost too late by the time I realized that force was the only answer. No human would come to free me. The strength of my arms and my will alone would be my salvation.
The chain was thick, but there was one link where the weld had not been completed. The largest rock near me became an anvil, the second largest the hammer. When the weld finally cracked I began to pull. Two of the tendons in my right arm broke from the effort before the chain.”
“Huh.” The woman leaned back and began drying glasses with an old towel. She raised a finger. “So, if you used to work for their enemies. Why did they let you live at all? Or do you think the point was for you to die out there?”
The man looked at her with intense, almost feverish eyes. “No. The point was not death. The point was life. I had spent my whole life doing as some jumped up Sang Do little lordling told me to.
And then they came.
After the citadel fell, when our escape pod was taken, I could no longer stand it. My whole life had been one of submission and where had it brought me? As soon as the doors opened I fought.”
“Well that didn’t seem to work out to well…”
“No, they shocked me into submission and when I awoke I was on a planet. The chain around my neck my only possession, a meters worth of dirty ground my home. One of the crewmen was there. He told me that their goddess wanted me to learn something important.”
“Sounds like you certainly learned something. But what was it?”
“That the only truth is the one you are capable of creating. That intention lacking the force to implement it is worthless. That there is no good, no evil, only consequences.”
“So what now? It looks like you managed to become a cap. I’m sure that’s also a hell of a story. Why are you in this dive in the ass end of lowsec?”
“I’m looking for her. The captain. The… goddess.”
“To kill her?”
“…to thank her.”
The woman propped a foot up on the body behind the bar. Her eyes crinkled with amusement. Adjusting her glasses she leaned forwards.
“Well ain’t that some ■■■■.”
