There's a point in your life where everything just ends.
And yes, I realize how trite that...
And yes, I realize how trite that...
Signy and the Ship Waifus
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There's a point in your life where everything just ends.
And yes, I realize how trite that sounds.
For most people, it coincides with their death. For me, it came three months after my forty-eighth birthday (as usual, a lonely occasion celebrated briefly with a few colleagues at work and quickly forgotten). It wasn't even my fault, I've seen the writing on the wall about a month ago, the Board wanted a good scapegoat, but still…
Twenty years in the company. I climbed to the lofty halls of upper management, devoted everything to my career, sacrificed my social life and… for what?
"It's been a pleasure working with you, Signy. The company won't be the same without you."
Probably because it'll go bankrupt in about a year, anyway.
I packed my stuff from the office in a depressingly small cardboard box. The possessions of Signy O'Hara - a graduation photo, a photo of my parents, university diploma, a few trinkets. I dropped it all on the back seat. The sun was setting and if I was a poet or a writer or something, I'd probably make some "clever" connection between that and the end of my professional career.
Instead, I got behind the wheel and drove. Not to my downtown apartment, but east, to Oakland. I wanted to see my parents, maybe stay with them a few days, clear my head. Play a lot of dumb video games. Then maybe think of something.
It wasn't even my fault.
I did my job, as best I could, and "best I could" was pretty god-damn well, if I say so myself! I had my flaws, I was impulsive, a workaholic, probably not terribly friendly, but I knew how to do my job!
But no, some chucklefucks had to go and elect Donald Fucking Trump for President of the Unites States because fuck you Signy, that's why.
Worst recession since 2008 later and here I am, on the second half of the Bay Bridge, driving too fast, out of a job, kicked out of a company that I spent most of my life climbing. No, "wasted" was a better word.
Twenty god-damn years. Fuck me, might as well drive of the bridge!
Wait.
No.
No no no.
Too late. The single, angry pull on the wheel, combined with driving at sixty miles per hour had predictable results - the car swerved out of my control, straight into the bridge's safety barrier.
I managed to hit the brakes. The barrier would hold, surely. I'd end up in hospital, yeah, but-
The car crashed through the barrier. Flew. I suddenly had a good view of the waters of San Francisco Bay through the front windshield. As the water approached fast, a thought occurred
"What the fuck am I doing?!"
Time seemed to slow and stop. I hung there, I'm not sure how long. Was this life flashing before my eyes? No, wait, I was stuck in the moment. Was this the afterlife? An eternity, stuck seconds before my death?
"That is a good question."
It took me a moment to realize that while the scene was frozen, I wasn't. Maybe I could get out of the car and jump out into the water? It was fairly low, by now. I was a fairly good swimmer, too! Maybe-
Wait.
There was someone in the passenger's seat. I tore my eyes away from the water and looked right - she was… my first guess was "weird cultist priestess". White robes, weird hair style, more bling than a particularly gaudy Christmas tree.
"Well, Signy O'Hara, this is quite a situation you find yourself in."
No shit!
I was a bit too dumbstruck to respond, however. I just looked out the front window, again. The car was still hanging meters above the water.
"Mhmm, are you having second thoughts about your final choice?"
It took me a while to respond "I- yes! I- I don't actually want to die, I was just angry and- and-"
"Calm down, please." she was probably making some fancy hand gestures that were supposed to look reassuring. Who was this woman? What was even going on. "I have a proposition for you. Would you like to hear it?"
My eyes were fixed on the water.
"Go on."
"The world is in peril. A darkness is gathering beneath the waves..." out of the corner of my eye, I could see her gesture at the still waves. "...and to stop it, I need agents. Ones I can provide with the resources to stop the darkness and trust them to achieve victory."
I pondered her words. For a while. A long while. It certainly didn't look like I was short on time. However, no matter how I looked at it…
"...that sounds kind of dumb."
The… priestess huffed. "Just because it sounds unlikely does not mean you can dismiss it as idiocy! Consider your situation - suspended in time and space, a passenger appearing in your car out of thin air. Does this not warrant a certain revision of what you'd consider sensible or insane?"
She kind of had a point.
"...I guess? Why me?"
A rustling of material. A shrug? I couldn't tell, my eyes still glued to the water. "Let's just say I have a way of evaluating candidates before an offer is made and what I saw of you gives me faith in your abilities."
That made sense.
...no, wait, it didn't. Still. I should ask more questions, maybe who she was, what she was expecting me to do, or what the hell was this 'darkness' of hers. But I had a bigger concern.
"Okay. Fine, I agree to your proposal, just-"
"Fine then! The contract is made!"
Huh?
My hand, still clinging onto the wheel, started to burn and glow with a white light, a strange symbol carving itself into my flesh. Maybe I'd scream or something, but about then the car started moving again, apparently having lost exactly none of its momentum and crashed into the water.
Darkness.
An oily black. Enveloping me and dragging me down. Whispering. And then…
***
Signy O'Hara woke.
Her clothes were soaking wet and she was flat on her back, lying on a polished wood deck. Seagulls squawked above, the sea breeze blew gently over her and the sun shone down. For a few seconds, she just lay there, absorbing the input, the recent memories slowly trickling in and being processed.
She shot upright, suddenly, looked around. It was a ship. A battleship, one of those old ones from the Second World War with big guns. Was she on the Iowa, somehow? But wasn't that ship in Los Angeles, so how…?
She noticed a woman sitting on the nearer turret. Blonde, twenty-ish, dressed in a dark blue Navy officer's uniform, complete with a peaked cap.
The woman waved. "Yo~!"
Hesitantly, Signy waved back. "Um, hey! ...who are you?"
"Canberra!" she introduced herself "Welcome aboard… um, well, me!"
Signy took a moment to process the response.
"...what?"
And yes, I realize how trite that sounds.
For most people, it coincides with their death. For me, it came three months after my forty-eighth birthday (as usual, a lonely occasion celebrated briefly with a few colleagues at work and quickly forgotten). It wasn't even my fault, I've seen the writing on the wall about a month ago, the Board wanted a good scapegoat, but still…
Twenty years in the company. I climbed to the lofty halls of upper management, devoted everything to my career, sacrificed my social life and… for what?
"It's been a pleasure working with you, Signy. The company won't be the same without you."
Probably because it'll go bankrupt in about a year, anyway.
I packed my stuff from the office in a depressingly small cardboard box. The possessions of Signy O'Hara - a graduation photo, a photo of my parents, university diploma, a few trinkets. I dropped it all on the back seat. The sun was setting and if I was a poet or a writer or something, I'd probably make some "clever" connection between that and the end of my professional career.
Instead, I got behind the wheel and drove. Not to my downtown apartment, but east, to Oakland. I wanted to see my parents, maybe stay with them a few days, clear my head. Play a lot of dumb video games. Then maybe think of something.
It wasn't even my fault.
I did my job, as best I could, and "best I could" was pretty god-damn well, if I say so myself! I had my flaws, I was impulsive, a workaholic, probably not terribly friendly, but I knew how to do my job!
But no, some chucklefucks had to go and elect Donald Fucking Trump for President of the Unites States because fuck you Signy, that's why.
Worst recession since 2008 later and here I am, on the second half of the Bay Bridge, driving too fast, out of a job, kicked out of a company that I spent most of my life climbing. No, "wasted" was a better word.
Twenty god-damn years. Fuck me, might as well drive of the bridge!
Wait.
No.
No no no.
Too late. The single, angry pull on the wheel, combined with driving at sixty miles per hour had predictable results - the car swerved out of my control, straight into the bridge's safety barrier.
I managed to hit the brakes. The barrier would hold, surely. I'd end up in hospital, yeah, but-
The car crashed through the barrier. Flew. I suddenly had a good view of the waters of San Francisco Bay through the front windshield. As the water approached fast, a thought occurred
"What the fuck am I doing?!"
Time seemed to slow and stop. I hung there, I'm not sure how long. Was this life flashing before my eyes? No, wait, I was stuck in the moment. Was this the afterlife? An eternity, stuck seconds before my death?
"That is a good question."
It took me a moment to realize that while the scene was frozen, I wasn't. Maybe I could get out of the car and jump out into the water? It was fairly low, by now. I was a fairly good swimmer, too! Maybe-
Wait.
There was someone in the passenger's seat. I tore my eyes away from the water and looked right - she was… my first guess was "weird cultist priestess". White robes, weird hair style, more bling than a particularly gaudy Christmas tree.
"Well, Signy O'Hara, this is quite a situation you find yourself in."
No shit!
I was a bit too dumbstruck to respond, however. I just looked out the front window, again. The car was still hanging meters above the water.
"Mhmm, are you having second thoughts about your final choice?"
It took me a while to respond "I- yes! I- I don't actually want to die, I was just angry and- and-"
"Calm down, please." she was probably making some fancy hand gestures that were supposed to look reassuring. Who was this woman? What was even going on. "I have a proposition for you. Would you like to hear it?"
My eyes were fixed on the water.
"Go on."
"The world is in peril. A darkness is gathering beneath the waves..." out of the corner of my eye, I could see her gesture at the still waves. "...and to stop it, I need agents. Ones I can provide with the resources to stop the darkness and trust them to achieve victory."
I pondered her words. For a while. A long while. It certainly didn't look like I was short on time. However, no matter how I looked at it…
"...that sounds kind of dumb."
The… priestess huffed. "Just because it sounds unlikely does not mean you can dismiss it as idiocy! Consider your situation - suspended in time and space, a passenger appearing in your car out of thin air. Does this not warrant a certain revision of what you'd consider sensible or insane?"
She kind of had a point.
"...I guess? Why me?"
A rustling of material. A shrug? I couldn't tell, my eyes still glued to the water. "Let's just say I have a way of evaluating candidates before an offer is made and what I saw of you gives me faith in your abilities."
That made sense.
...no, wait, it didn't. Still. I should ask more questions, maybe who she was, what she was expecting me to do, or what the hell was this 'darkness' of hers. But I had a bigger concern.
"Okay. Fine, I agree to your proposal, just-"
"Fine then! The contract is made!"
Huh?
My hand, still clinging onto the wheel, started to burn and glow with a white light, a strange symbol carving itself into my flesh. Maybe I'd scream or something, but about then the car started moving again, apparently having lost exactly none of its momentum and crashed into the water.
Darkness.
An oily black. Enveloping me and dragging me down. Whispering. And then…
***
Signy O'Hara woke.
Her clothes were soaking wet and she was flat on her back, lying on a polished wood deck. Seagulls squawked above, the sea breeze blew gently over her and the sun shone down. For a few seconds, she just lay there, absorbing the input, the recent memories slowly trickling in and being processed.
She shot upright, suddenly, looked around. It was a ship. A battleship, one of those old ones from the Second World War with big guns. Was she on the Iowa, somehow? But wasn't that ship in Los Angeles, so how…?
She noticed a woman sitting on the nearer turret. Blonde, twenty-ish, dressed in a dark blue Navy officer's uniform, complete with a peaked cap.
The woman waved. "Yo~!"
Hesitantly, Signy waved back. "Um, hey! ...who are you?"
"Canberra!" she introduced herself "Welcome aboard… um, well, me!"
Signy took a moment to process the response.
"...what?"