Static

Comforting

Static

The static hissed eternally, rushing and crashing with the rise and fall of my chest. It was my turn to check the screen. So, here it was that I would take my shift. Six hours, never a peek. Never a sigh, or coloured swirl or matrix of an image. The eternal kaleidoscope span its unending haze.

 

Just as we’d hoped.

 

Equipment in the yards had largely fallen into disrepair in the 30 years since the downfall of the space city project. What hadn’t fallen to atmospheric damage or been hailed by asteroid fields had been periodically scavenged by various thugs. Any punk with a working cruiser looking to sell scrap to a decent bidder. That was what Johannes had explained, at the very least, it was his story. Truth was, I suspected that the government was still heading after us.

 

“As if they give a s**t at this stage.” He croaked in response “It was a pipe dream, let’s face it. They’re not gonna waste their time coming up here. They’ll leave us to it.”

 

Johannes, having finished idly scratching his beard, turned his head and locked his one good eye to mine, making sure I wasn’t getting panicky on him.

 

“Paul..” he started. “This is the best place for her to be. We’re jammed, and well protected. Besides, Frank’s countin’ on us. Don’t we owe him this much?”

“I know, yeah, sure..I just get angsty doing this sort of thing.”

 

Johannes chuckled. “I don’t get you man, I really don’t. There’s no way someone scared to keep a young lady safe is the kinda guy who would even THINK of making it in the yards. I think after this you should go. You’ll be more of a wreck than the base itself..”

 

 

With that, Johannes had left, leaving me on static duty. The radar to our “base” an abandoned homestead from the failed space-station city, had long since been relatively fucked anyway...but it was too useful to kick off the roof altogether. It was jammed temporarily. We waited for Frank.

 

It was soothing, calming, in its way. If you stared deep enough, longingly enough within, it could become your world, your blanket against it all. You stopped fearing the clarity, instead allowed yourself to be entranced.

 

“Hey.” A womans voice, gentle and kind enough to really shock me. I jerked back in my seat, span around.

 

“Oh, uh, h-hey. You’re up.”

 

“Sure am tough guy. So you’re meant to be keeping me safe up here huh?” Her caramel brown cascades framed her soft face and brilliant smile. “Don’t worry, I don’t bite.”

 

I let myself relax again. “Really? That’s not what I’ve heard. So..I’m Paul.”

 

“Yeah.” She replied flatly “Johannes mentioned. Looks like your view’s busted.”

 

“Right. It’s meant to be that way. We’ve jammed our radar,  so nobody will find us by a scan. They’d have to know where we are, or stumble right on us. That’s what I’m keeping watch for.”

 

“Haha, so it’s fucked if we DO see something, right?”

 

“That’s right. So, hey did you really..I heard why you’re here..”

 

She sighed: “I killed her, sure. It was...I’m not really a killer. I’m not really sure what I am, what that makes me. I just..”

She looked as though she might fall over her own words. I should have been afraid, but I saw something compassionate, altogether too human within her. There was too much warmth for the steely chill of a murderer. 

“..Paul, have you ever truly loved someone?” She blurted out.

 

I froze.

 

“Sorry, I...” She froze alongside me.

 

A flicker.

 

The view held, static subsided. A small vessel, looked like a simple scavenger model, bulged into view as the static entirely melted.

 

I plummeted a thousand stories where I sat. In the vacuum, we heard two voices, distinct but unrecognised. Not Frank...

 

“Alright, looks like we’ve locked on to something. Doesn’t look like much..you’re sure we’ve got the right place?”

 

“Positive, we’ve traced the old mans footage to the letter. Nearly crashed my ship getting through here...you’re gonna owe me when we’re done with this.”

 

“Ha, whatever. It’ll be worth it when we find Laura. We’ve just gotta get to her, I have to know what happened.”

 

“Laura? Aren’t you...”

 

“Laura...” the girl mumbled, lifelessly. I felt her steely grip on the back of my seat. “...so that a*****e finally found me. You know what? Let them in. They..deserve it.”

 

As she disappeared, I realised I’d been relieved of my pistol. I rushed to find Johannes, if only to let him know he was right. I was not a man to have left the surface.

Reviews

[alanwgraham]

I liked this Alex. Good writing. The dialogue flows along very easily and the setting is quite believable. Works well as a short story with a neat ending but would be worth expanding. Short stories are also my own favourite!
Cheers,
Alan

[Alex Ware]

Thanks Alan! It actually is part of a larger story I've not put up, I started writing something and wound up adding a part anyway :)