Midnight Overture

Vikki continues to explore the Verse in her ongoing adventures. Steve was kind enough to offer her another opportunity in doing this RP with me. Thanks, Steve!—Maer

Wednesday, 14 Mar 2525
Trans U class, Delilah'
Trash Town, Beylix
Kalidasa (Xuan Wu) system
0230hrs, local time

Huòqǔ tā mā dele wǒ de jū!

A blaring horn. A sick crunch. A life snuffed out.

Horrified at what she's done, Vikki freezes. Then her tongue springs to life on its own: Drive drive drive drivedrivedrive—!

With a gasp, Vikki shot upright in bed, the nightmare squeezing her heart in her chest. Sucking air, she rubbed her breastbone and waited for her hammering pulse to ease.

Breathe. Just breathe … wait. What?

She heard the screaming then, coming through the walls of the passenger cabins they'd all moved into. She immediately knew it wasn't Tian, who was currently sleeping in the infirmary while caring for Poco, one deck down.

Besides, the pitch is wrong. Higher.

Vikki had grown familiar with Tian's nocturnal vocalizations over the past month. That left only one possible candidate.

Nuri.

Without thinking, Vikki kicked off the covers and padded barefoot into the passenger lounge. Sure enough, the noise was louder and it was definitely coming from Nuri's cabin. The girl was asleep, eyes tight shut, mouth wide open. Screaming. The thought of fetching Tian to handle this didn't even cross her mind. All Vikki heeded was the urge to ease Nuri's suffering. Vikki crept up to the bed and took care not to touch her as she called out softly.

"Aahh! Tidak!" the girl cried out. "La bukan sengaja." She writhed in her bed sheets.

"Nuri. Wake up, devotchka. It's me, Vikki."

Nuri opened her eyes in a terror, and seeing Vikki scoots as far away as her small bunk will allow, pulling up her sheet protectively. Her face betrays fear, and something else, guilt?

"Vikki…. You—You… You startled me." Again a guilty look.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Vikki said softly, not wanting to scare the girl further. "I'll get you some water. Be right back."

She ducked into the passenger head and got that water in a glass which—miracle of miracles—she'd found clean and unbroken in one of her prior sweeps of the ship. She brought the drink back to Nuri and closed the cabin door. No need to make the girl nervous about eavesdroppers. Whatever was said would stay between them.

"Nightmares always make me thirsty," Vikki said, only half-lying. It was true she had nightmares. She sat at the end of Nuri's bed and offered the glass. "It's nothing fancy, but at least it's cold and wet."

When Vikki returned Nuri seemed somewhat more relaxed, but still a little tense.

"Spasibo," Nuri responded quietly taking the water. She sipped at the water, and kept her eyes on Vikki.

"I’m sorry I woke you." Nuri spoke at last. "I .. sometimes have dreams, nightmares like you said. Usually not loud enough to wake people, but this is a strange new place. Perhaps that is why. And yesterday was the first day I heard so many guns firing. Must be my nerves."

"Pozhaluysta," Vikki responded automatically before the thought hit her: Wait. When did she learn Russian? It was a familiar tongue to Vikki, but she knew it was rare outside Meadow and the related Russian CPE. Never mind that now. Pay attention.

"Please, you don't need to apologize. In fact, you did me a favor by waking me." Vikki leaned in with a self-deprecatory grimace. "I wasn't dreaming anything nice at the moment either. As for the guns ... Yeah, they can be a little ... loud. You just have to think of them as extra big firecrackers or something. They're only dangerous if they're going off right next to you. I'm ... I'm sorry things went scary like that but we did good. We helped those people. At the end of the day, that means a lot. Well, to me at least. It's really the reason why I'm here."

Nuri composed herself. "It doesn't bother you, the shooting... the killing?" she asked hesitantly.

Vikki heard the sickening crunch of bone on metal … She sucked down a deep breath against the memory and shook her head.

"It does," she admitted. "But I can't let fear of it keep me from doing what I have to do."

Nuri seems study Vikki for a bit, then her features soften a bit.

"I guess the Verse is a pretty dangerous place. We can't control everything, only what we do, and what we intend to do. No sense worrying about things we can't control. Allah provides."

"It can be," Vikki agreed, nodding, her mood becoming lighter. "There's so much that's wonderful out there. For instance, all that?" She threw her arms wide to the mountains of trash surrounding Delilah outside. "To lots of people, it's just junk. Garbage. For me? It's treasure. And it's treasure because it has so many possibilities. It could be turned into just about anything. It's just … waiting for the right person to come along and make it useful again. Potential. Catalyst. Cause. Effect. It's amazing. God does provide. He does. You might not recognize it at first, but you just have to be open to the opportunities He throws your way."

Vikki bounced a little on the mattress as she concluded and hugged her arms to keep from gesticulating in her enthusiasm. "When I think of all the things I could do with what they've got here, to make life better for them, maybe even make extra for them to trade …," Vikki trailed off and let her grin speak for her. "It's a wonder I can even sleep, much less have bad dreams. If I stayed a whole year here, I don't think I would see the end of it. I'd only just scratch the surface."

Vikki’s enthusiasm seems contagious and soon Nuri is smiling.

"You're so funny... no, not funny, you're just so different," she corrected. "My people always seem too caught up in the present day, or that night hour when they can stop working. They aren't bad or selfish. Really, they care so much about each other, even me, it hurts them. It was what keeps them going when there just doesn't seem an end. You know?”" And then Nuri impulsively added, "I wish you a world full of junk so you can make everyone happy!" She laughs and falls back on her back.

"Spasiba!" Vikki laughed. "That's the nicest thing anyone's said about me in a while. I know I can be annoying sometimes, always wanting to stop and fiddle around with things." She sobered. "I hated leaving your village. I felt we'd left too soon. There was so much I could have done there to help. I just wish I could have done more." Vikki shook her head as if putting her regrets where they belonged: behind her. "That's done. Tell me something, if you don't mind, Nuri?"

"You can't do everything for others. They need to do some things themselves, it makes people feel in control of their destinies. Imagine feeling like all you had was a gift from another, and you had no gift to return?" She smiled demurely and looked into Vikki's eyes. "You can ask..." She smiled.

Vikki paused, as Nuri's statement rather negated what she'd been about to offer ... but Vikki offered it anyway. It wasn't in her nature to withhold it.

"I'll keep that in mind but for now, please, what can I do for you? I know that being out in space and being away from your family and everything you know can be ... hard. If I can help you while you find your footing, please don't hesitate to ask me. I just ...," Vikki sighed. "I just dislike the idea of you feeling scared and alone when we're all right here, you know? I'm not saying this well, but just know we're here. Okay?"

Internally, she cursed herself for a soft-hearted fool. Someone with more experience, like Tian, would have found a more graceful way to say it. You have to learn sometime. Now's as good as any.

Nuri ponders this for a moment. Then with a very serious look.

"I appreciate that. For the moment, I am okay. I will miss my family, and my people, but ... I need to do that a bit. I don’t want to forget them. But I can see you are serious, you aren't just offering. I will honor that offer, and try not to abuse it." She puts a finger on her forehead in mock self questioning. "I think. I will have a long list of things I will want to try. You can be my advocate with the Doctor and your handsome Captain. Make sure they let me have some fun."

"Fair enough," Vikki said solemnly, giving Nuri's response the respect it was due. And then she smiled conspiratorially. "Wanna go raid the fridge? I think I saw some apples in there that Rachel agreed to share. We could make some tea to go with it."

"Sounds good!" She pulls herself gingerly out of the bed.

"Here, lean on me, sestra," Vikki offered, opening her arms to support Nuri if she needed it. They crept up to the observation lounge where the galley was. Fridge duly raided for apples and cheese, they put the kettle on and soon had a little tea party full of whispers and giggles. It wasn't long before Vikki fetched one of her notebooks and was busily sketching improbable inventions to amuse Nuri, some of which quickly grew to Rube Goldbergian complexity. It was late, or rather early, when the girls finally retired. As she fell asleep, Vikki suddenly remembered that flash of guilt on Nuri's face and reckoned the girl would be embarrassed if the crew found out about their midnight spree. When anyone asked Vikki about her drowsiness the following day, or inquired about Nuri's, Vikki shrugged it off and didn't say. It would remain her and Nuri's secret.

HOW TO SPEAK CHINESE

Huòqǔ tā mā dele wǒ de jū! = 獲取他媽的了我的車！= Huh-chee tah mah duh-luh woh duh chuh! = Get the fuck off my truck! Sound clip

HOW TO SPEAK RUSSIAN

devotchka =девочка= dyeh-vutch-kah = (noun) girl, lass, miss Sound clip
Spasibo =Спасибо = Spah-see-bah = Thank you. Sound clip
Pozhaluysta =Пожалуйста= Puh-zhahl-loo-stah= You're welcome. Sound clip
sestra =сестра = sees-strah = sister Sound clip

HOW TO SPEAK MALAY

Tidak! = No! Translation
Ia bukan sengaja= It wasn't on purpose Translation

BITS & BOBS

To read about Rube Goldberg and his whimsical machines, go here.

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