Nimbus 2056 Part 14 Take 1

Sleep was far from everyone’s minds, but eventually exhaustion beat them into submission. The broken hull of the Nimbus was the best bastion of safety they had. Personal space was a luxury none of them could afford.They filled the narrow passageways with their bodies. Huddled together for security, comfort be damned.

Gelben couldn’t take it anymore. He crept away from the group and laid on top of the ship, his eye’s awash with the billion different stars in the sky. It was the first time in his life he actually paid attention to what was above him. His focus was always the mighty comfort of money, and how to accrue the most of it. With none in his possession it made him feel insufficiently insignificant. His mind wandered back to a better time. A time when he could buy his way out of anything. Now all the money in the world couldn’t save him.

“Couldn’t sleep too, huh?” Fableton spoke from the shadows.

“Yeah, I can’t stand sleeping next to people who smell like they haven’t showered in their lives. Plus that bear tore me up, and the feel good is starting to wear off.” Gelben said not wavering his eyes from the skies.

“Do you want some company? Or should I go somewhere else to ponder my existence?” Fableton asked.

“Yeah, sure. Free country isn’t it?” Gelben replied.

“Ok, but could you give me a hand?” Fableton requested.

“Not really, but I can try.” Gelben explained trying to reveal his wounds in the darkness.

The two men struggled to synchronize their efforts. One man couldn’t stand and the other couldn’t use his hands. Finally, Gelben figured that his legs were the best thing to pull Fableton up.

“Shit that wasn’t easy.” Gelben puffed.

“Thanks man, I’ll tell the bear to bite harder next time.” Fableton answered.

Now that ordeal was behind them, they looked upon the serenity of the night scene. A thousand trees towered over the landscape stretching black shadows. The sapphire sky dotted with countless specks of opulent white.

“God it’s beautiful.” Fableton whispered.

“Why are you here?” Fableton inquired.

“That’s a deep question friend, some say that we are all part of God’s master plan.” Gelben smugly retorted.

“That’s not what I meant. What I meant was what got you on the Nimbus in the first place. I’ve listened to you explain how wealthy you are, but here we are taking budget transportation. Why did you get on this damned ship?” Fableton pressed the question harder.

“I….. Uh….. Can we talk about something else. Whoa what a beautiful sky! How many stars do you think are up there?” Gelben deflected the question.

“There is something you are not saying, or don’t want to say. It doesn’t matter anymore. Everyone you ever loved, or will love isn’t even born yet. Here, I’ll start. I bought my ticket on the Nimbus with my last pittance, after I doused myself in booze, cause I had to get to Canada for work.” Fableton wanted to talk more, but Gelben interrupted him.

“You wouldn’t believe me, but I was once the chairman of a major pharmaceutical company. That’s right! You are looking at major player in Centanden Catastrophe.The government froze all my assets and I was damn sure not going back to jail. So I pulled out what I could, wasn’t much, and got a ticket on this time traveling piece of shit.” Gelben kicked the hull of the Nimbus.

“I had friends die, of Carfentanil overdoses you asshole! Well look at you now, you got what you wanted. No Jail time!” Fableton reprimanded.

“Hey my parents died when I was young! There is only one person looking after you, and that’s you. Unless you buy loyalty.” Gelben defended himself.

“My real parents died before I even knew who I was. I was adopted by a gay couple after the genocide of Uighurs.” Fableton wiped away a tear after his words left his mouth.

“Shit, I am sorry.” Gelben consoled.

“You couldn’t have stopped the Chinese government.” Fableton explained.

“No, I meant about being raised by gays. That must of been tough. Okay sheesh I didn’t know the crash took your sense of humor. I am kidding. It was a joke.” Gelben tried to backtrack with bad commentary.

“They were the best people, I was free from want in my childhood, and never lacked support. They were proud of their son, when I got my first ‘grown up job’ as a comment curator for political forums. Damn did it pay well, but at what price? The more comments I removed or edited, the more I felt like I was squandering people’s voices. What if someone like me, deleted my real parent’s cries for help because it wasn’t politically correct? I did it for ten damn years, bouncing from blog to blog. When my dad died, I couldn’t look at myself in the mirror anymore.” Fableton whimpered through his epiphany.

“I got what I wanted and you got what you wanted too. None of that matters here.” Gelben spoke looking into the sunrise.