Quoted By:
“November.
It is a cold month, bearing a meteor-rich sky. The transit of the bright Andromedids proclaims its earliest days, while the gentle fall of the Phoenicids ushers the decline of its final week. The glut of shooting stars and streaking comets mirrors the bountiful harvest offered up by the soft, yielding earth.
Appropriately, November is also known as the month of sacrifice, when the fruit of the harvest is immolated to evade retribution from old, jealous gods. It is a tradition long relinquished by our Terran cousins. Yet we still practice it on my homeworld. During the penultimate day of the penultimate month, the broad shoulders of our red mountains would shine slightly darker – soaked with ten million thimblefuls of evaporating water. It is a reminder that sacrifice must give even when it is not demanded.
While I have not given any water this season, I have nearly given up something else. The hairpin maneuver I executed ten days ago had exceeded my acceleration tolerance by five Gees. Unsurprisingly, my circulatory system collapsed almost immediately after launch confirmation. Acute aortic dissection followed by cardiopulmonary arrest. My heartbeat was barely palpable by the time MERRYGATE rebooted her computational units and transported my acceleration couch into the medical bay.
I have few definite memories of the following week. I remember glimpses – of microsurgical manipulators and cautery units darting in and out quickly enough to merge into a uniform blur, overlaid by the holographic imprint of MERRYGATE’s hands. The pulse-whine of an articulated tissue printer and the tang of fresh culture media.
Then, recovery in my personal quarters, seeing a projected image of MIZAR-IV rotate serenely across my vision. Dark imprints of moons and planetoids against the fluffy-white curl of convective storm cells. Light tea and lighter conversation three times per cycle, as my companion interposed herself between me and my tactical readouts with a surprising degree of persistence.
“The concept of birth does not readily apply to my kind,” she whispered as I sipped something vaguely medicinal from a comfortably warm bulb. “But I was commissioned alongside the RAIN, and the RAIN was laid down in the month of November....”
- [UNSIGNED], EXECUTIVE AUDITOR, TRS NOVEMBER RAIN, AD. 2242, NOVEMBER 1st, PERSONAL JOURNAL
