The Siren’s Song
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“You don’t have to come.” I was trying to sound reasonable, but it sounded petulant instead. “I’m not going far and it will be a simple walk.”
He looked at me for several seconds before finally speaking again, his voice still soft in his mind. “I am here as your bodyguard,” he said quietly. He turned his head away from the light of the stars and I could see his eyes now. They were dark green with gold flecks around the iris.
There were no whites or pupils, just colorless darkness that seemed almost alive. “I do not need to go anywhere else,” he continued after a long moment.
I didn’t say anything for another few moments. Then, slowly, my hand reached up and brushed against his shoulder. It felt cool and smooth on my skin. For some reason, hearing him speak like that made me think of the story about St. Augustine.
The one where an old man asks a young man what it means when God says ‘Love thy neighbor.’ And the youth answers: ‘Well if your neighbor is a friend, you can love him all year round. If he is a foe, then he must die.’ I couldn’t tell if it was because we were enemies right now, or if I wanted to kill him, or if he had killed someone I cared about. But I knew the feeling all too well.
“So, do you want to go?” I asked softly. My voice caught at the end and I cleared my throat to get rid of it.
After a moment of silence he responded, “No.”
I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding and stood up from my chair. “Come on,” I told him. “It’ll be fun!”
His expression didn’t change, so I tried a different tactic. “If you don’t come with me, then I won’t bring back any samples.”
“That would be unfortunate,” he admitted after a moment. He rose to his feet as well, turning to follow me. I smiled at that, though I knew he couldn’t see it.
We left the shuttle bay together and went through the main corridor into the ship proper, following the signs to the life support section. We walked in silence until we came across a pair of doors labeled with a large ‘L’ for Life Support. “This way,” I told him, pushing the door open and stepping inside.
The room was huge, easily four times larger than the one the Marines had taken us through on the first day. In fact, even compared to the other rooms aboard the ship it felt small. This place was probably more suited to housing the entire crew than to just a handful of people.
It had two rows of giant vats, each stretching over fifty meters long and ten wide, connected by pipes, tubes, and various conduits. On top of one of the vats was a control panel, which looked quite complex despite its size. At least thirty different readouts filled it with numbers and colors that I could barely distinguish.
The air smelled stale like it hadn’t been circulated for weeks. There were thick cables and wires running from vat to vat, and I could make out a dozen or so computer terminals set up around the room. The closest one was open, displaying nothing but the title screen of one of those old adventure games they used to play on computers twenty years ago. I recognized it instantly; Myst.
I took a deep breath and stepped further inside, leaving the door open behind me. “Welcome to the Heart of the Siren,” I told him with a grin as I pulled him after me.
“What does ‘Heart of the Siren’ mean?” he asked, curious as he followed me.
“You’ll find out soon enough,” I replied, walking over to one of the vats. A sign nearby listed their contents: water, algae, plankton, and something called ‘seaweed.’ That last one caught my eye immediately. “Do you know what that is?” I asked him.
“It looks like seaweed.”
“Exactly!” I grinned. “Now, you’re sure you don’t want to come?”
“Yes,” he insisted quickly.
I sighed, disappointed. “Okay. Well, maybe another time.”
He nodded and started to turn away before stopping himself. “Wait… why are you doing this?” he asked me.
“Because you need to start living your life,” I said simply.
“You don’t understand how difficult it is for me to live…”
“No. You don’t,” I cut him off. “You never did. Not really.”
“That’s not true,” he insisted, but I didn’t give him a chance to continue. “You’ve always known what I was going through,” I continued. “How many times have you told me stories about your brother?”
He hesitated. “A lot,” he answered reluctantly.
“And every single one of them had him dealing with some sort of adversity,” I pressed. “Whether it was school bullies or the fact that you couldn’t talk to people, I could always relate to you somehow. But that doesn’t mean anything to me now! It’s not the same! It’s not like I can run home and tell my parents all about you!”
“But I’m—”
“Don’t try to convince me that I’m wrong,” I interrupted him again. “It’s been three months since I left Earth and none of our conversations have gotten any easier. They still make me cry!”
“What?!” he exclaimed, looking shocked.
“It’s true,” I insisted. “I can remember exactly when the first one happened. The night before I left.”
He stared at me, stunned. Then he slowly shook his head. “I didn’t realize.”
“Neither did I until I went to sleep that night and found myself curled up in a ball, sobbing into my pillow,” I reminded him. “Why don’t you think you deserve happiness? Why don’t you deserve to live life without being afraid of what might happen tomorrow?”
His expression turned to sadness, making him look ten years older than he actually was.
I grabbed him by the wrist, holding him back. “What do you mean?”
“Just… please?” he asked, looking desperate. “I don’t know,” he finally whispered.
“Then maybe it’s time to figure it out.” I stepped closer to him. “Come with me.”
He blinked rapidly, trying to clear the tears from his eyes. “What do you mean?”
“Let’s go outside. Let’s see if this place has a garden somewhere
“Because I’ve made too many mistakes already,” he muttered.
I laughed sadly, shaking my head. “That isn’t a mistake. It’s who you are.”
“No,” he said quietly. “It’s not. It’s what I am.”
He took a step forward, reaching for me. “Please, let me go with you.”
“I’m sorry, but no,” I told him, pulling away. “It’s not fair to bring you here just to watch me get into trouble.”
***
Myst and I walked across the courtyard to the edge of the cliff, looking out over the vast ocean stretching below us. The waves were calm tonight, but there was plenty of movement beneath the surface. Fish swam around the reef while sea turtles bobbed gently along the bottom. Even farther out, dolphins frolicked in the waves.
It wasn’t quite a paradise yet, but I could imagine it getting there one day.
“Are you ready?” she asked me once we’d both settled down on the sand next to each other. She glanced over her shoulder toward the door before continuing. “This is your last chance to change your mind.”
“It won’t happen,” I assured her. “I just want to know what happens at the end of this book.”
She smiled softly as she reached out to touch my face with her hand. Her fingers lingered, brushing lightly against my skin. I closed my eyes and savored the moment. This felt so different than anything else I’d experienced. She seemed to know what I needed even though I hadn’t voiced the request aloud.
Eventually, her soft hands dropped away, and I opened my eyes again to find Myst staring into them intently.
“There will be more challenges ahead of you, I promise you that,” she warned. “But I will always be there for you when you need me. Just open your heart to love.”
“Love?” I asked, frowning. “Isn’t that… a little too soon?”
Her smile broadened and she nodded. “Oh yes.”
“Okay…” I said uncertainly, wondering how this was supposed to work. “Can we skip this part, please?”
She chuckled at my comment. “We’re not skipping anything.”
I rolled my eyes and groaned.
***
The following day, I went to visit the library where I spent a few hours poring over the books, hoping to find some sort of clue hidden within their pages. As always, nothing stood out and everything looked exactly like it should have.
Still, I kept digging through the piles of paper, searching for something that would help me understand why these dreams of mine were so important. If only I could get past the fear of the unknown. Once I got beyond that hurdle, perhaps all the pieces would come together.
The End