Black Hole Sun

Posted on Mon Feb 27th, 2023 @ 8:48pm by Daiyu & Jonas Bailey

Mission: Home Sweet Wonderful Home
Location: Cargo Bay

"In my eyes, indisposed
In disguises no one knows
Hides the face, lies the snake
In the sun in my disgrace..."

Wayward bare feet struck a lingering gait down the cold, metal steps in slow, measured time with the melancholic melody.

"Boiling heat, summer stench
'Neath the black, the sky looks dead
Call my name through the cream
And I'll hear you scream again..."

Daiyu nearly reached the deck of the cargo bay before she heard it. The most peculiar sound blended into her song, at times clashing in discord but then harmonizing as though being unable to strike a balance. Odd rumbling of a sort that was somewhere between a bee and a hacksaw in its buzzing quality. Choosing to ignore it, Daiyu continued her haunting tune. Her volume raised a bit along with the tempo in hopes of overwhelming the hum.

"Black hole sun, won't you come
And wash away the rain?
Black hole sun, won't you come?
Won't you come? Won't you come?"

But her volume failed to drown out the humming as it went from blended harmony to percussive harmony in her ear. Rather than get mad, she halted her song and walked up to the source which turned out to be Jonas, flat on his back and deep in daydreaming reverie.

Jonas had taken to laying on the floor of the cargo bay after a mission since he'd some aboard the Echo. There was something about the cold, hard steel as it echoed the hum of the ship's engine. It helped him to deescalate, to relax. And he'd taken to humming along with the ship, completely unaware to anyone else in the bay.

Daiyu laid down beside him and did her best to emulate the tune he had been humming. The seemingly random direction was difficult to reproduce, like capturing lightning in a bottle. "What were you humming?" she asked softly.

Jonas opened his eyes but didn't roll his head to see who'd spoken. He recognized the voice. "Hey there, Daiyu. I was just humming along with the engine. You can hear it a little bit as it echoes through the deck plates. The cargo bay is the best place to listen. It's...," he paused, "...relaxing for me. So not really a song like a person's used to singing."

At first Daiyu looked skeptical, but when she laid the back of her head firmly against the deck and closed her eyes, the rhythmic humming overwhelmed nearly all else. She smiled, almost as if entranced. Then, upon a sudden, she snapped alert and rolled onto her side right into Jonas' personal space.

"What is she saying?" Daiyu asked, her lips so close to his ear they nearly brushed.

Jonas startled slightly at her voice so close to his ear. There weren't too many people that could do that, startle him, but apparently Daiyu was one of them. He let it go as he answered her question. "I'm no mechanic, but to me she's saying this." He cleared his throat and closed his eyes to allow the engine's hum to invade his mind.

"I'll fly and you don't die.
Finish the job, bring back the loot. Cargo or coin or people to boot.
Do the fightin', keep 'em safe. Crew aboard, it's time to race.
I'll fly and you don't die.
I'll fly and you don't die."

He scooted over a little before rolling his head to the side so he wouldn't be nose-to-nose with Daiyu. "What's she say to you?"

Daiyu turned silent for a long moment, almost as if she hadn't heard. Then she sang, "Stuttering, cold and damp
Steal the warm wind, tired friend
Times are gone for honest men
And sometimes far too long for snakes
In my shoes, a walking sleep
And my youth I pray to keep
Hang my head, drown my fear
'Til you all just disappear..."

Turning back to Jonas, she added, "She sounds sad."

"Yeah, she does," he said. "Just flying people and cargo around and hanging her head till we're all gone. So what can we do to try to make her happy? Might be able to find some new parts for her rather than just refurbished ones. What do you think, Daiyu?" He looked at the young girl laying on the deck plating next to him. "Any ideas on how to make her happy?"

Daiyu rolled onto her side and just stared a hole through him. While her face remained expressionless, her free hand slid onto his chest and rested atop his prominent pectoral. The look in her eyes was probing, searching for... something. "I think she lost someone. Forever. Maybe she wants to find someone again."

Jonas watched her stare at him but didn't budge. People had stared at him before. And a few times, he was sure, through a scope. But when her hand slid onto his chest and rested there...this was different. The night he'd spent with Allison was one thing, but this.... He put his hand on hers to stop it from moving around. "Now Daiyu, slow down there. You can't be more than nineteen or twenty. Wouldn't be seemly. Maybe we can help her though...help her find someone. Maybe even the one who was lost. Forever's an awful long time, ya know. That someone might be around someplace."

"She doesn't know how old she is," Daiyu replied distantly. "But she was married once. Before... before the Monastery, before the Monsters. They..." Her taciturn face contorted in a grimace. "It's hard to remember," she said with a wince. "It hurts! She doesn't want to remember!" She pried her hand away from Jonas' grip and cupped his face. "Please don't make her remember. She wants to forget." And then she kissed him with her scar-ridden mouth. "Help her forget..."

Jonas was completely taken aback by what just happened. The change in Daiyu, the kiss...no way they were talking about the ship anymore. Couldn't be. He grabbed her hands, not sure exactly what to do next. "Hey, I won't make you, or her, remember anything if you don't wanna. I'm sure she'll remember when she's ready. And we all got things we wanna forget. Hell, I got a lot of 'em. That's why I come down here now after a mission or a shoot-out or whatever. Listening to the hum of the engine, feeling the slight vibrations of the deck plating, it's calming to me. A stiff drink from a barkeep might take away the pain for a bit, but it doesn't help with the memory. Like a good kiss from a pretty woman might take away the pain for a while, but the memories are still there. This, this takes away the faces and the memories from me for a few minutes. Give it another shot, won't ya?"

A dark look came over Daiyu's face, a chilling one with a flash of menacing, soulless wrath, but departed as fast as it had appeared. "This one is sorry," she whimpered. "She remembers your tight pants. One time she remembered it and touched herself. It was sin. God hates filthy, ugly, sinners." Her voice choked with sobbing. "That's why the bad men attacked her. She deserves it. She deserves everything that happened since...since..." Tears drowned out the rest of the words she tried to form. Something about killing and death. "Why?!" Her voice peaked in a shrill cry. "Why did she do it?! It was her! Nobody but her!"

Jonas' eyes widened, afraid he was about to have to defend himself against Daiyu. But then he relaxed. "No need for her to be sorry," he said. He smiled, "I'd forgotten about the tight pants. I think I mentioned big and hairy too before flipping my dreadlocks around." He paused and loosened his grip on her hands, letting her leave them there or move them...whatever helped. "I never was much for religion or the Good Book. So I can't say anything to what you're talking about there." He winced at the shrill cry that was so close and watched her sob as the tears rolled down. Jonas was still in a place of not sure exactly what to do or say. But he gave it a shot. "Daiyu, I can't answer those questions. I wish I could, but I can't. And I don't know what happened. But I can do this." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a bandana. He was about to dry the tears off her face, but paused. "If you want. Or I can give it to you."

"Give it to me, dà nánhái (big boy)," Daiyu whispered, her voice suddenly dark and dusky. "Quánbù gěi wo'!" (Give me all of it.) And when she could not have been more forward, she grabbed his bottom lip with her teeth and let out a sultry moan.

Jonas took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Ohhh myyy." It was the same slender frame that had been laying on the deck next to him, sobbing. But she almost seemed like a different person now. Like when she'd kissed him only moments ago. The change was so fast, too. He decided to take a chance on a gut feeling. With no malice or ill-intent, he gently cupped his large hands around her face as she had done to him earlier.

"As fun as this could be, I wanna talk for a minute. I want you to know that I'd never hurt her. Or you. I just wanna keep her safe. Besides, everyone would have to be a willing participant. Not just you and I, but her also. And I'm not sure if she's ready for something like that yet."

The explanation evoked a number of reactions from Daiyu. She gave him one sidelong stare, then another from the opposite side of her face. Her hair whipped back and forth as she studied him like a crow deciding which eye to look through. The tension escalated in her face, her mouth coiling like a spring in concentration.

And then it broke. The lines in her face smoothed over, a rare expression of shrewd solemnity overtaking her. For the perhaps the first time, a knowing look overtook her dark almond eyes and the knowledge it glinted at was beyond good and evil.

"Everyone, you zaid? Ahahaha..." An odd brogue replaced Daiyu's usual faintly Mandarin accent. She canted her head as if studying an intriguing stranger. "Did ze doctor send you? You do not look ze part. Speak ze vords, zo, and I vill comply."

Jonas watched the sultry disappear. And the...what in the hell was it? He'd never heard that accent before. He wasn't sent by some doctor. And he didn't know what words needed to be spoken. And compliance wasn't really something he was looking for. For the first time since this exchange began, he sat up. The only thing he knew was that he didn't want to have to defend himself against Daiyu. "Yeah, everyone. Me, her, the sultry one, you, and anyone else. But the only doctor I know is the one on the Echo." He expected those were nowhere near what this she wanted. But it'd have to do. "Please," he said, "I just wanna keep her safe."

"So vhat you are zaying to me ees zhat you do not know vhat you are talking about," said the Voice. A condescending smirk crept over her face. "Do not make a promize zhat you cannot keep." The smirk turned solemn and grave. "Zhis one ees not vhat you zhink. No good vill be found down zhis path. Long it hass been since ze great evil but it will not zlumber foreffer. I cannot reztrain it long if you zeek to avaken vhat ees bezt forgotten."

"I'd like to think I know what I'm talking about when it comes to me," said Jonas. "But I'll admit, I don't know what I'm talking about when it comes to Daiyu. I don't know her well enough. And I didn't promise to keep her safe. I said wanted to. Learned a time ago not to make promises. So, keep her safe...maybe find some peace or tranquility or serenity along the way. But if that's the path you say not to go down, tell me. If it's getting her to talk, tell me. And what kind of great evil can be contained in such..." He paused and looked at the petite figure in front of him, forgetting the Voice for a second. "...in such a nice young woman?"

Daiyu's face took on a look of pity for the poor, dull brute. "Unfortunately you do not know ze vords, and so I vill not provide ze answers to your questions." She let out a soft, airy chuckle. "It ees so obvious you vill keeck yourself later. Bis dann."

While there was no movement anywhere on Daiyu's body, the shift inside her eyes was like day and night. She stared vacantly at Jonas, blinking slowly. "Did... did we fornicate?" she asked at length.

He didn't even get a chance to say 'see ya' to the Voice that'd carried on a conversation with him. Jonas wondered if he'd ever get another chance. A chance to learn more about Daiyu, a chance to know how to better keep her safe. Then he wondered who was really keeping who safe. He looked into her eyes as the change took place. Then he grinned at her question. "No darlin', we didn't."

Lowering her chin demurely, Daiyu asked, "Were we about to?"

Jonas lowered the tone in his voice. "I think maybe a couple of times there were some possibilities. But I said that everyone would have to be a willing participant. I might be a rough ole hired-gun, but I ain't about to do something unseemly."

"You would lie with me?" Daiyu blinked in surprise. "And you wouldn't make it hurt?" She bit her lower lip, deep in thought.

Jonas shrugged and nodded. "Right time, right place...we'd have to see how it all worked out. And," he added rather pointedly, "all of you would have to be in agreement. But I don't understand why you looked surprised."

"Look at me," said Daiyu as she herself looked away. "The only kind of man who would want me would have me for a moment and throw me away. I am... I am not pleasing to look at." A tear formed at the corner of her eye.

"Then that kind of man is a ri shao gou shi bing (sun-baked pile of dog poo) that'd do that to any woman," said Jonas. He sighed a little. "I've seen you. We all have scars of some kind. Some can be seen and others can't. But we all got 'em. Thing is, people gotta learn to look past 'em."

Daiyu smiled at Jonas for his colorful language but then frowned at the mention of scars. "What do you see when you look past mine?"

"I see somebody that likes to sing and should do more of it," said Jonas. "I see someone that can hold hold her own in a conversation. And, I'd bet, is pretty good at verbal sparring." He grinned. "I see someone that's gifted with raising plants. Whether it's vegetables or herbs or flowers, doesn't matter. And I see someone that could use a clean handkerchief." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a clean one. "Here ya go."

The handkerchief came just in time. Daiyu wept into it openly, though she kept the sound to a shrill whimper. Her chin began to quiver. "Thank you," she said with a hoarse voice. "Maybe one day we will make love. It isn't fornicating if it's love." She handed back the tear-soaked handkerchief. "I should let you get back to your humming. We both should." And then she laid down to listen to the engine again.

Jonas smiled. There weren't a lot of people that could pierce his hard exterior. Working with Alden when they were younger was a means to an end at first - getting passage around the verse to do jobs. Then they became friends and eventually blood brothers. Alden knew things about Jonas that no one else knew. His time spent with Kindra was a business arrangement where he found himself as her bodyguard, protecting her from all sorts of things. To Jonas, she eventually became like a sister. And she knew about some things he'd done in her employ that very few, if anyone, knew. He considered both of them armor-piercers.

But this little sprite of a woman...she was different. And he'd seen people on planets treat her like that; especially the bar brawl that got Alden arrested and brought Kindra back across his path. He wondered if anyone in Daiyu's life had ever taken the time to talk to her like a grown-up. Or even engage the other...people?...that he'd encountered. Granted, it was odd and at times scary, but he followed his gut like always and managed to safely plod on. Given time, he might place her in the category of the armor-piercers.

For now, he accepted the handkerchief and nodded. "Maybe one day." He laid back down beside Daiyu and let the hum of the engine fill his head and mind as he closed his eyes and began humming again.

With their humming joined, an old but favored ditty fluttered back to Daiyu. She hummed for a moment and soon began chanting the lyrics.

"This one means the most to me
Stays here for eternity
A ship that always stays the course
An anchor for my every choice
A rose that shines down from above
I signed and sealed these words in blood
I heard them once, sung in a song
It played again and we sang along..."

Stopping abruptly, Daiyu turned her head back to face Jonas. "I try to think of my scars as rose tattoos. They are viney and thorny and red like blood, but that doesn't have to be ugly. Right?"

"Right," said Jonas. "It doesn't have to be ugly at all." He opened his eyes and rolled his head to face Daiyu. "Roses are pretty flowers. The vines and thorns just remind us that we should be a little more gentle with them than others. And if they remind you of rose tattoos, why don't just call them that instead of scars?"

The question made Daiyu purse her lips in thought. "Because nobody else sees them that way," she said at length. "My body is gross. Why should I call it pretty? People will think I'm crazy..."

"Well first of all, whoever told you your body was gross never should've put that thought in your head. Second, it's your body. You call it pretty. And finally," he said, "I'll call them rose tattoos. No one else has to, I will. If that's okay with you, I mean."

Tears formed in Daiyu's eyes that no handkerchief could stop. Memories from her past life were fleeting glimpses at best, but some things were just instinctual. A hulking specimen of a man just validated her natural beauty when she found herself devoid of it.

"Yes," Daiyu whispered through her tears.

So many emotions, such raw feelings that she couldn't sort out or even identify. She had felt this way before. Things changed. She did things. She would forget. People would look at differently forever after. What would she do now?

Daiyu fell asleep. Tears spent, emotional energy depleted, Daiyu had forsaken consciousness and drifted into a deep, even breathing cycle right there on the deck next to Jonas. Her eyelids glistened from drying salinity and her scars shifted with her breathing, but a peaceful expression settled onto her face.

Jonas nodded his head as much as possible while laying on his back on the deck. He listened to Daiyu's breathing as she drifted off to sleep and then began to relax himself. Sleeping was most likely out of the question, but he would definitely need some more downtime. So he laid there. Listening to the hum of the engine.

"Yī èr sān sì wǔ liù qī..." The words carried on a lilt and a whisper from Daiyu's lips. "Wǒ de péng yǒu zài nǎ lǐ？Zài zhè lǐ..." The rhyme strained by long and drawn-out breathing was barely recognizable as a popular Chinese nursery rhyme. "Zài zhè lǐ. Wǒ de péng yǒu zài zhè lǐ..."

Jonas tilted his head to the side a little and listened to Daiyu. Singing in her sleep, he thought to himself. He wouldn't have recognized the tune even if he could've heard the whole thing. The one word he did pick up, though, was 'friends.' Everybody needed at least one. And if he could be one to Daiyu, then he was going to.