It was snowing. She stood at the balcony with the screen door open letting in the silent solitude of the falling snow fill the high-rise apartment. Down bellow the streets were too busy to care but up here she felt so desolate and alone she wanted to cry. She held out her hand and let the flakes land on her palm. They melted as soon as they landed. ‘So futile…’ she thought, ‘ we are all snowflakes but once we land on Rubi-ka’s conflict ridden palm we all melt away on its hot surface.’
Sam came in the room, disturbing her solitude. “Jack and Laura just left, they bid goodbye and wished you luck.” He sounded tired. He was tired from months of preparations and the anticipation of the final day.
“Remind me again why I’m leaving” she said as she closed the screen door.
“You know the company needs you out there. Doctors are in short supply and Omni-tek is losing the war.” He said it more to convince himself than anything else, a rehearsed reply, a reply she always heard from him when she asked the difficult question. “Come, tomorrow is a big day, it’s time for bed.”
Jayne couldn’t sleep; she was too nervous and too scared. She kept thinking about all the things she was going to miss, the anxiety about her brave new world was too overwhelming. She looked over at Sam and wondered if he was going to miss her too. Her slight stir made him cling tighter to her and she knew that this was a silent affirmative yes. She looked back at the clock: 3:12 am glaring in a big LCD display looked back at her. ‘Three more hours, then you’ll be in hypersleep’ she thought. Did people dream in hypersleep?
It was still snowing. “I’m going to miss that too’ she thought as she watched the shadow of the falling snow illuminated on the wall opposite the bare window; it didn’t snow on Rubi-ka.
Saying goodbye was the hardest part. She walked down the long hallway with a group of others also on their way to Rubi-ka. They walked in silence; they all shared that empty feeling of leaving everything behind. It was an uncomfortable silence but no one knew what to say to break it. They were finally greeted by a technician and were relieved of the uncomfortable silence of their company as he led them to their respective pods in the ship’s human cargo area.
The technician came up to Jayne’s pod to do the final adjustments.
“Do people dream in hypersleep?” she asked.
Taken by surprise, the technician let out a nervous laugh, “Honestly ma’am I’ve never been in hypersleep.” With those words he closed the pod, the respiratory mask silently fit over Jayne’s face and a needle injected the sweet juices of the sleeping agent into Jayne’s arm. She lost consciousness.
Jayne did have a dream, but it was a rather disappointing one. A wasp: no heroics or hidden meanings – just an annoying wasp continuously stinging the back of her neck. She was now sitting in the briefing room along with the others, rubbing the back of her head where the sore spot fro the dream was. They were several hours away from plannetfall at the Rubi-kan spaceport. The captain of the ship has gathered them all here to give final orders. Each one of them had a card with specific instructions in front of them.
“Remember, this is a clandestine operation. Each of you has a unique set of code words that will enable you to recognize your contact. This is supposed to ensure clans don’t intercept you before you reach Omni-1. The Spaceport is crawling with clan and ICC spies so be on the lookout. The company could have transported you openly, but unfortunately the port is controlled by the ICC and they explicitly stated that it’s against Omni’s contract to import more personnel onto the planet.”
Jayne was listening to the captain ramble on about the responsibilities of Omni employees. She thought she heard this speech somewhere before. Perhaps it was at her graduation ceremony from the academy. ‘Perhaps they all have it memorized and each one embellished on it in one way or another…god this itch in he back of my neck is really annoying!’ She reached out her fingers where it bothered most and felt some moisture. She removed her hand only to find blood on her fingers. The sight of it gave Jayne a slight start, she looked at the drop slowly roll towards the palm and it reminded her of that night when she let the snow melt in her hand, only this time it was blood. It made her think about the consequences of her coming here again. Were she to attend the wounded soldiers only to see them sent back out onto the battlefield to spill more blood? Or was her role to prevent more blood from being shed? These were the demons Jayne faced back on Omni-prime and they were still haunting her after two years of dormant unconsciousness. She was hoping these questions would be answered by her contact on Rubi-ka.
((OOC: ok this is my first ever RP story, it follows how Jayne Cifuentes (Farmacist - see below) came to Rubi-ka. everyone is welcme to comment in RP or OOC mode, but i would realy appreciate it if someone from Rimor followed up on this. also be on the lookout for the next chapterenjoy!)
