Five Years

The capsuleer looked over her latest Tau grade clone recording and the associated diagnostics. Her medical clones spread wide across New Eden, one or two still lingering deep in null security space. Various specialty clones enabling her to tear through the veils of mystery, others enabling her to tear through those putting themselves between her and her objectives.

A far cry from when she first undocked nearly five years ago. Back then, it was a challenge just to get to the right place at the right time. Now… well, now there was a weight. It dragged at her. Bloated and heavy with knowledge, there were times where she wished she could just forget.

Whether it was the implants or the cloning, perhaps a combination of the two, she was never quite sure. But the longer she lived as an immortal it seemed the greater the density of that knowledge, and the less human she felt.

Her dreams were not running through a forest, nor swimming a sea. No people. No places. Just raw, empty space, stars and nebulae glinting beautifully across the years, glorious in artificial color translated from spectra human eyes could never see.

Her fingers and thumbs had become the best heavy drones money could buy. Her touch, anti-matter railgun charges. Skin and bones, crystalline carballoy, her blood an exotic cocktail of repair nanites and energy cells. Intent was the hyper focused red of a target painter.

And her heart – well, now there’s a thing she never understood. How the ravening energies at her fusion core could be so… diminished… cold.. when outside her capsule. Colder with each subsequent upgrade and ever more difficult to hide from the mortals.

Her top of the line implants stripped her of the luxury of her illusions. She knew the humans sensed her increasing difference. She could see it apparent in pupil dilation and increased heart rate  Some reacting with a barely suppressed flight or flight reflex. Some with barely disguised hostility.

These days she really only felt at home aboard ship. Neurons flaring with the massive bands of information made possible only by the capsuleer cybernetics. Her perspective from space was nothing short of godlike. The tiny splashes of light denoting settlements and cities dotted across the faces of moons or planets.

And for a brief moment the capsuleer wondered about the next five years. About the humans, if she would still be noticing them then. And if she did, whether she would even care….

H

P.S H is about to turn 5. I’m not joking. Holy #$%. Five! o0

I’ve been trying to think of an idea to celebrate it, and coming up short. Competition based. There will be rewards of some description. Any ideas people?