11. Non-Contact #2
"What this means for your situation," Vondra said, pulling the conversation back. "Is that we have no active communication channel with Earth. No relay, no signal path, no intermediary."
The words hit Charlie like a wall.
"I can't contact... anyone... on Earth?"
"That is correct," Vondra said.
"I can't tell my sister I'm okay..."
"No."
Charlie dropped her gaze from the screen and stared at her hands in her lap. Then her brain started to overload.
"She doesn't know where I am. She heard something happen to me and heard the crash on the phone and then nothing, and you're telling me there's no way to send her a message!?" Charlie's voice had climbed higher and higher as she spit out her rambling.
"At this time, Ms. Wickett, no."
Charlie's hands began to tremble, and Charlie started gripping the arms of the chair. She could feel the material cracking under her fingers.
"Admiral." Reyna's voice cut through the room.
"You will look into the possibility of finding a way to get a message to Charlie's sister.
" Charlie's eyes snapped up to look at Reyna.
She looked at the wall display, and her eyes were steady and uncompromising.
This was not a request. "Right, Vondra?"
The stone figure was still for a long moment. The water around her shifted with micro-currents. Then, the resonance came.
"I will look into it, Reyna."
"I have your word?" Reyna asked, her voice stoic. The water around the leader on the screen seemed to move, like waves.
"Yes, Captain," the Admiral stated, her voice clipped. But it didn't seem to tamp Reyna down. "You have my word."
"Thank you."
Charlie looked at Reyna. This woman, this captain of a spaceship that she'd met less than an hour ago, had just stared down an Admiral made of stone for her. For Katie.
Charlie was grateful for Reyna in that moment more than she'd been grateful for anything in a very long time.
"Now," Vondra said. "Regarding repatriation."
Charlie's heart lurched.
"Earth's coordinates are known. The Emberkind has the capability and navigational data to reach your planet.
Once again, I must say how fortunate you were to arrive on a vessel with both the knowledge and the resources to assist you.
Many ships in the fleet would not have known how to get to Earth and it would have taken much longer. "
"The Emberkind currently has an active mission assignment that must be completed first," Vondra continued. "Once that mission is fulfilled, Captain Solas and I will coordinate directly to ensure that all subsequent assignments for the Emberkind are routed along the path toward Earth."
Charlie looked at Reyna. Reyna gave her a small nod. We'll get you home.
Charlie sighed heavily. Actually took a deep breath and fully exhaled, shoulders relaxing, muscles in her back releasing kind of breathed. Until now, she hadn't realized that after she screamed Katie's name in the kitchen, her whole body had gone rigid.
She could go home. They could take her home.
"How long?" Charlie asked.
The question hung in the air. Charlie looked at Reyna, who looked at Vondra.
"Given the current distance between the Emberkind's position and your planet," Vondra said.
"Between the Emberkind and Earth," she specified.
"And factoring in the required diplomatic protocols for approaching a non-contact world and the transit routes available, the estimated timeline for your return is approximately six months. "
Silence.
"Six months?" Charlie's voice cracked.
"That is the current estimate. It accounts for—"
"Six MONTHS?!"
Beside her, Charlie felt Reyna shift. Not toward the screen, but toward Charlie, as though it was her part to protect Charlie from...
what, exactly? From the truth? But Charlie noticed the small movement, barely perceptible, as though Reyna had leaned in without deciding to.
Charlie realized this was news to Reyna as well.
They'd both heard the number at the same time.
And now, they were both sitting with it.
Six months. Half a year. Katie would spend half a year not knowing if her sister was even alive.
Charlie pressed her hands against her face. She sat like that for a long moment while the room held its silence around her.
"Has a full medical assessment been completed yet?" Vondra asked, her tone shifting into something that, through the Voxlink, almost sounded gentle.
"Yes, Admiral," Kess answered from Charlie's left. "We've already ensured the passenger is in good health. Formal test results will be ready and available in a few hours."
"Good to hear, Doctor," the Admiral said. "Captain, I'll begin my processes over here on my end."
"Understood, Admiral," Reyna said.
"Ms. Wickett," Vondra said, Charlie's raising her gaze to look at the display again. "I am very sorry we can't do anything more. But we will get you home."
"No, please don't be sorry," Charlie countered. "I'm sorry for my outbursts. You all are already doing so much for me. For me to even get home. For that, I thank you."
"You're welcome." Vondra turned to Reyna again. "And Reyna."
"Yes, Admiral?"
"She's your responsibility."
Reyna nodded. "Yes, Admiral."
The wall display went dark. The water, the stone, the amber eyes, all gone. Just a wall again.
Charlie again looked at her hands in her lap. She could feel the room watching her. All of them. The bear and the doctor and the tree and the sunset and the soldier and the quiet one. And the captain.
"Six months," Charlie whispered, to no one in particular.
"Six months," Reyna confirmed. Her voice was soft. "But you're not alone, Charlie."
At this, Charlie raised her eyes to Reyna. There it was again. That okay. "We've got you."
And around her, every head started to nod in agreement.
The crew filed out quietly. Selowen was the last to go, her hand resting briefly on Charlie's shoulder as she passed.
"It is a long time, that is not a lie," Selowen began, her hand holding Charlie's shoulder.
She felt the calm in Selowen's touch, and she was grateful.
"But it is not forever. Time does heal all wounds, even if it is all at once, right at the end.
" Selowen smiled down at Charlie while her hand remained where it was.
"Thank you," Charlie whispered. Selowen lifted her hand, bowed her head to Reyna, and exited the room.
Then it was just Charlie and the captain.
The office was quiet except for the quiet hum of the ship which filled the rest of the silence. That low, steady frequency that Charlie already started to think of as the Emberkind's heartbeat.