Water for the Dead

Dec. 14 - Splintered Rock, Al Raqis

I carefully filled my litre packs with fresh water gathered from the moisture collector. Water, more precious than gold.

It's funny how much I have settled here in the desert. The solitude has a comfortable weight to it, like a blanket that a loving parent covers you up with, when they tuck you in for the night.

With the destruction of two worlds a mere few days behind us, it is as if the universe itself has paused to take a breath.

And Sentry.

He is likely dead at this point. Crushed under the bombardment of Shadow.

I was amazed how sad I felt. I had such hopes for him. He had done wrong, yes, but I truly believed that he could have made amends. Once he had proved himself to be capable of rejoining lawful society, I would have facilitated the process for his rehabilitation.

How irritating. I must have sand in my eye.

----

The latest message came in from Ardra.

Despite some very solid leads, I had had no luck in catching her. She was a Guild Steersman and if what they say is true, they can see the future. It would explain why she seemed to be two steps ahead of me at all times.

According to the Colonel, Ardra was dedicated to a doctrine of life extension. She was also addicted to spice.

So, I had initiated a little dialogue with her a few days ago. I needed to know how my enemy thought.

Using the outdated protocol that the Alliance had used to contact her when she was in our employ, I sent her a bag of raw spice, along with a message: "Ardra, memento mori" (Ardra, remember you will die).

She received the message. If she was prescient, she probably saw it coming.

Ardra responded: "Turritopsis nutricula." This was a reference to a breed of jellyfish that once it grew to maturity and bred returned to an earlier pre-adult stage of life. For all appearances, it was immortal. It actually reversed the aging process, unlike my skin cream, despite what the manufacturer claimed.

To which I replied: "Cucullus non facit monachum." The cowl does not make the monk. (Do not trust appearances).

Ardra countered with two quotes and a sentence:

"When I see a bird that walks like a duck and swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck." - James Whitcomb Riley (1849–1916)

"Philippus aunswered, that the Macedonians wer feloes of no fyne witte in their termes but altogether grosse, clubbyshe, and rusticall, as they whiche had not the witte to calle a spade by any other name then a spade." - Nicolas Udall (1542), "Retranslation of Erasmus', Plutarch's Apophthegmata Laconica"

"You're a cop."

I smiled. She was an insane, half-human, criminal monster that I had been hunting across the 'Verse for months, but I had to admit, I was enjoying our little conversation.