The Afterparty

[Nightfall]

The jumphole Bernard went through seemed to be reaching somewhere at a distant point of eternity's end. Whatever happens, who knows? Is there a future... after the Fall of an Angel? He knew his words were wrong. Not as meaning... they were wrong for the moment. His only wish is her and nothing else existed. The walls of the jumphole were closing in on him like the cold embrace of the death he was summoning instead of the Tempests and Thunderstorms for her to submerge into them willingly... He wanted to make her able to breathe under the fiery cataclysms of his passion while he would be lost in the depths of her soul giving beautifull colors to the shades of grey...

He spelled "Mariella" in his mind. He took a deep breath feeling the air fill his lungs... no Cardamine this time either... "Me" was the next word in his picture on the black background... the claustrophobic walls of the jumphole were not wisible, just the pitch-black of eternal oblivion - the nightfall - one of the possible meanings of his name. Next word that apeared was "kiss"... and he added "kill"... and the jumphole ended.

A nomad patrol started firing at him...

"Not this close, you won't!" Nightfall killed his engines and hit the burner. A nomad was picked up by the onboard computer as the closest and the black Sabre started the Dance of Death with it... a perfect position to fire a few cannonbals and quickly pulverize the fighter...

"No" Bernard thought "I may need them in the Afterlife... at least... some poor soul may need them more than I do now..." he fired the quad Nomad Cannons connecting perfectly with the nomad and making it a ball of fire and debris. He engaged the tractor...

"I need another ship" he heard Mr. Browning say...

"Useless action" he thought...

Another three similar dances and only the nomad gunboat leading the pack remained. A loop and a short burst of speed together with a slide to the right brought the Sabre behind the gunboat sitting in it's blind spot and pounding purple death into it's behind...

"Mariella" he spelled in his mind and added the words "me" and "kiss" finishing up with "kill"...

The gunboat changed into a shape of burning debris that were picked up by his tractor beam and safely stored into the cargo bay. "Nice loot for the lucky wreckhunter."

"One more night To bear this nightmare What more do I have to say
Crying for me was never worth a tear My lonely soul is only filled with fear"...
... were the words of a song...

Nightfall cruised into the jumphole to Omicron Alpha, the walls surrounding him... This was a different sensation, knowing, feeling that he is coming to the end of this journey, to a kind of resolution... it was warm and cosy in a way.

Emerging on the other side he positioned the black Sabre in the first circle around the jumphole facing it and shutting down all the systems including the life support. How much more time? Hours before he freezes to death?

A vision of Mr. Browning sinking in another Anejo at a bar... Was it from the past?
"Old boy, you are wrong... and hasty in your conclusions" said Mr. Browning...

Darkness engulfed him...

---

If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God? - from 'Nightfall' by I. Asimov
The Outcasts consider Siniestre Nube a sacred place for several reasons. Early explorers discovered a jumphole within the depths of the cloud that leads to a strange world of ringed stars and strange craft. All ships in the burrial ground are placed facing that hole to honor the Alien Spirits. - An Outcast rumor