Expedition: Part 3

“Where are you? Just hold on, I'm coming,”

She tastes dirt in her mouth. Mixed with rust. It wasn't the Garden. It wasn't Mars. With a groan, she drags her hands under her, leaving long trails of blood in the earth. Her bones splinter and crack as she pushes herself up and raises her head to the sky for any hint of where she might be.

But there, above her, was It. The very thing she had been wanting with all her heart to see. She chuckled at the absurdity of it all. Here, now? Blood flooding her lungs where her own ribs betrayed her.

“What is it?” Static. Uldren feels his stomach flip as he whips his eyes to the monitor. Still nothing but audio. No location. No vitals. Just her voice. Far off, where he can't reach her. He blinks rapidly. “Katryn?...” 

"...It's beautiful, Uldren…” 

His voice catches in his throat, “Kat-”

“Promise me you'll see it one day?"

He grips the console, his fingers going white from the force, and squeezes his eyes shut, “I promise,”

She doesn't give a reply.

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Book: Of Starlight and Darkness