The captain said nothing, and Kris soon refocussed on her surroundings and gave Toov a weak smile.
“It’s hard not to make history into mythology,” the captain said, leaning back in her chair. “And it’s hard to think you have to try to live up to a legend. I think Moana understood that, I think that was one of her great strengths.” Toov laughed. “And here I go, doing it again. Making her into something larger than life. It’s only going to get worse. Who knows, the ones who come later might even do it to us.” She waggled her eyebrows and Kris had to laugh.
“I just wish I’d figured this all out while she was still alive,” Kris said. “I never got to tell her—“ Her voice caught.
“She knew,” the captain said and gave Kris a moment. “Now, you take the rest of today, go home, do something for yourself. That’s an order, okay?” Kris nodded. “And I will see you tomorrow.”
“Thanks, captain,” Kris said, standing.
“You know,” the captain said, “I really prefer Petra.”
“I’ll try to remember that.”
“Is everything all right?” Penny’s look of concern was almost comical, but it made Kris feel sad.
“It really is,” she said, putting a hand on her daughter’s shoulder. “I just wanted to have dinner with you, spend a little time together. Is that okay with you?”
“Sure,” Penny said, nodding, confusion still on her face. “You’ve been thinking about nan?”
Kris nodded. “I’ve been remembering some things she told me. About trying not to take myself so seriously. You know, lots of people used to come to ask mum’s opinion on things. Not just the plants, anything. Like she had some kind of special wisdom or knowledge, just because she came from a place we’ll never see.”
Penny nodded. “Nan was important to a lot of people.”
“She was,” Kris said. “But she never saw it, never took advantage of their trust, their adoration. Most of the time when people asked her opinions, she’d end up telling them to trust their own instincts. She had a way of saying it that made them think she’d answered their question, of course, or they’d never go away. But she was always trying to get people to rely on their own intelligence. I never really noticed that’s what she was doing until now.”
“Nan was a great human being.”
Kris smiled. “She was. But I think it’s more important for me to remember not the greatness, but the humanity. That’s what we need—not heroes, not people who are larger than life, but people who are real. People like you and like me.”
The Voyage of the White Cloud
No-one remembers the first moment
The first deed which forced the people to think
We must leave, we must leave
Looking into the face of someone still standing on shore
Knowing that like a bird in a storm
We would be lost to time
Lost to space
Never to see one another again
* * *
No-one remembers because no-one wishes to remember
* * *
It was a deep darkness, a terrible choice
To take the bones of a people
As if they were merely a cargo
Not the legacy of an entire world
And fly into the darkness
With only a dream of one day
Being drawn by the light of a distant sun
To an island in the stars
A new Earth
Thanks for Reading
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Thanks for reading!
* * *
~Darusha
More Books
Science Fiction by M. Darusha Wehm
Beautiful Red
Children of Arkadia
Modern Love and other stories
The Voyage of the White Cloud
The Martian Job (interactive)
Retaking Elysium
* * *
Andersson Dexter novels:
Self Made
Act of Will
The Beauty of Our Weapons
Mainstream Fiction by Darusha Wehm
The Home for Wayward Parrots
* * *
Devi Jones’ Locker:
Packet Trade
Sea Change
Storm Cloud
Floating Point
About the Author
M. Darusha Wehm is the Nebula Award-nominated and Sir Julius Vogel Award winning author of the interactive fiction game The Martian Job, as well as the science fiction novels Beautiful Red, Children of Arkadia, The Voyage of the White Cloud, and the Andersson Dexter cyberpunk detective series.
Their mainstream books include the Devi Jones’ Locker YA series and the humorous coming-of-age novel The Home for Wayward Parrots. Darusha’s short fiction and poetry have appeared in many venues, including Terraform and Nature.
Originally from Canada, Darusha lives in Wellington, New Zealand after spending several years sailing the Pacific.
darusha.ca
darusha@darusha.ca