I've been to nine planets in twelve years, and it's starting to show. Or not show, as the case may be. I got a call from my baby sister today. Of course, she's about 78 now and I'm still a sprightly 34. Due to the relative nature of time, traveling at nearly light speed around the galaxy means it only feels like twelve years to me. My parents have died and my sister has aged normally. It makes space travel especially lonely, knowing there's no one to come home to.
The connection was pretty bad. Terraforming engineers like me end up on the edge of known space and amenities are not always well established.
"Jonah? Jo- - can you - -ear me? Are - - there?"
"Hi Tawny. Yeah, I can hear you. The picture's pretty fuzzy though."
"That's - -ine. I don't - - as good as I used - -."
"You look great sis. Anyone could tell you're the younger one."
"Longer nun?"
"No! Younger... never mind. Anyway, what's up? You said it was important."
"Yes. Very im- -ant. While you were travel- to your new -- I got a mess- from Quyllur. Your la-- - -end ha- -slaughter."
"Wait, what? Has a war broken out at Quyllur? What happened?"
"War? What - - you talk- about?"
"You said something about a slaughter!"
"No, not slau- ''The line went dead. I heaved a sigh of relief. Obviously I'd missed something important but at least there wasn't a war brewing on my penultimate post. I'd left someone special behind, and I didn't want to think about her being in harm's way. Even if I'd never see her again, which I knew I wouldn't, I liked the thought of her living a long and happy life without me. I would have rather she lived a long and happy life with me, but she didn't like the idea of life on the road, or at light speed, as it were.
I had been on Sklodowska Station for a few weeks when I saw her. I almost fell over. I definitely dropped my drink. She walked into the cantina with her linkscreen in hand. She could have been Martina's sister, with her tan skin and dark hair. Her eyes were lighter though, almost like Tawny's and she was taller than Martina. It was a strange juxtaposition.
What was even stranger was the look she got on her face when she saw me. She did a double take, consulted her link screen, then walked across the cantina straight to me.
"Jonah Strider?"
"Yes..."
"I've been looking for you. I'm Ximena... Strider."
I blinked. I don't know what response she was expecting, but my complete lack of one probably wasn't what she had hoped for. She fiddled with her linkscreen awkwardly.
"I contacted your sister Tawny. She said she would tell you I was coming."
Suddenly I understood. Not "slaughter". "Martina's Daughter."
"Your mother..."
"Died. It was cancer. A few years after you left they discovered a native fungus releases a spore that is toxic to about 1% of people. It builds up in your neuro-system slowly, but after a while it will kill you. After mom died, I knew I had to leave or I'd die too."
I sat down heavily. "Martina is dead?"
Ximena looked at me with curiosity. This response was unexpected too.
"It wasn't very painful," she said quietly.
"I loved her," I matched Ximena's tone. "I asked her to come with me. I should have tried harder..."
"She wouldn't have given in. She was stubborn."
"You came all this way to tell me... that Martina is gone?"
"No. I came all this way to tell you I'm here. I have no other family. No one else. And I knew you didn't know about me. The galaxy can be a lonely place when you're on your own. I thought if you knew I existed I would be a little less alone."
The galaxy was a lonely place. She looked at me with expectation in her eyes, this daughter I'd never known.
"I don't want to be alone either. Sit down kid. Let me buy you a drink. I sure as hell need one."
Family is a strange thing, here at the edge of civilization. Some people make their crew their family, others convince loved ones to join them. I hadn't been expecting to build a family like this, but who was I to say it was wrong? Family is what you make of it, and I knew it wasn't too late for me to make one of my own.
