In the soft green glow of the ship’s life-lights, the Medic moved among the others, checking for signs they’d woken. It was the Engineer they were waiting for. The energy the ship had absorbed was enough to initialise the ship’s systems, but it wasn’t nearly enough to wake everyone, no matter how often the Designer poked at the Engineer with his long pale finger, as though that would reanimate his life-force.
Which of course it didn’t.
So they waited, the Medic, the Designer, and after another surge of energy, the Disruptor had awoken, grumpy and brusque. The Disruptor was responsible for acquiring more fuel, for sending out signals and absorbing other signals, a simple energy exchange that would power the ship and reanimate the others.
The Designer had tried to manipulate the simple life forms outside so that the Disruptor could do her job, but some kind of interference was thwarting the process. A few signals were seeping through, especially the ones that resonated most powerfully with the receiver, but not enough. It was frustrating.
The Medic slipped quietly past the sleeping Guide and Navigator. At the far end of the ship lay the remainder of the Colonists. The ones who had disembarked centuries before were long dead. They’d mated with the original inhabitants of the land, and their life force had been absorbed and diluted through the generations. The Designer could feel a few of them close by, with the remnants of that shared blood. The ship’s signals would affect them too, but in a different way to the others. It was strange, knowing they were out there. Strange, but comforting. Like having a living ancestor watch over them.
The Medic reached down to touch a little girl’s face, smoothed the red hair, pressed a kiss against her daughter’s pale cheek.
Waited.
