Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
I’m not a great man. I’m a glorified do-gooder with a soft spot for underdogs. I’ve made small changes and big changes. All of these have been at the orders of my God and Master Sol but they’ve all been for humanity.
When I die, a small group will mourn and a much larger group will celebrate. Ten years later I’ll be remembered fondly by some and forgotten by most. I’m ok with that. My closest friends will always remember me. They are a loyal, no I mean ridiculously loyal, group.
That’s why I needed to get them away from my funeral and death. If I gave them any chance to save me, they’d all die with me. I couldn’t stomach that idea.
“Where to next, boss?” asked Adric. He’d been on the ship for less than a day and he’d already made it twenty times more efficient and got rid of that annoying rattle in the life support.
“We need one last member of the crew to survive this.” I paused for dramatic effect and the coms bleeped. I pressed the button and a person with shoulder length purple hair appeared on the vid screens.
“Everyone,” I said. “This is Caro. They are the systems strongest telepath and precog.” They all looked from the androgynous figure on the screen and me. “Yes, they are stronger than I am. With the two of us, how could we possibly lose?”
Smiling, the ethereally attractive figure said, “Hal. You’ll have to pick me up on Eris.”
I don’t like this old friend. They spoke to me in my mind from over eighty astronomical units away.
You’ve seen what will happen if you save me. They’ll need your guidance. You’ve always been more careful and wise than me. I was buttering them up and they knew it.
Fine. I’ll do this because I know we will make a better solar system, but I don’t like it.
I know. Neither do I. Goodbye my friend. See you on the other side.
As we’d been speaking they had introduced themselves to the crew and given me coordinates to pick them up.
I must have looked as bad as I felt, for I felt Janet’s hand on my shoulder. I patted the hand and said, “I’m feeling tired. Been a long couple of days. I’ll take a nap. Travis, do you mind?”
“You must be feeling bad if you’re letting me take over.” Travis knew I was a little bit of a control freak.
Standing shakily, I headed to my room. When I’d turned the corner, Suzie walked up behind me and took my arm. “How bad is it?” she asked.
“Bad. One more episode will probably kill me.” I lied. I could have survived at least three more. I leaned on her for support.
“Why haven’t you told Janet?”
“She’ll want to use inhibiters to prevent my contact with Sol. It would save my life but I’d be utterly useless to everyone.”
“Do you really think you’d be useless?” she asked.
“I’m nothing without Sol,” I said, thinking of the boy I was before I became the Sun-Speaker, an orphaned street kid with more brains than sense. Compared to the crew I’d assembled, I was an intellectual dwarf, they didn’t need me.
We reached my room and Suzie let me down on my bunk a little harder than she should have. “You’re an idiot Hal. None of us give a damn about Sol or the messages he gives you. It’s you that we respect and…” she hesitated, trying to decide if she should say what she wanted to.
Reaching out a hand and caressing her cheek, I said what she was too proud to say, “I love you too.”
“Get some rest. We’re going to your funeral but I’d like you to stick around for a while.” She stood up and left.
Waiting until I was sure no one was going to interrupt me I changed into the official draperies of my office as Sun-Speaker and snuck down to the cargo hold. Once inside I went straight for the matter transporter and programmed my coordinates. The mathematical formulae needed to dissolve my form and reassemble it were extra tricky but I had Sol to help.
As I pressed the button, I whispered, “Goodbye, my friends.”