"Nec Plura Arcana" - Printable Version

"Nec plura arcana"

Planet Denver
Glendale Residential District
6:17 p.m.

The sun had retreated behind a blanket of leaden clouds as Hester walked down an all too familiar street. A sea of commuters and passerbys that she had to swim through. Each doing their own little tasks and following their mundane schedules. Nothing had changed since she returned except herself. She used to walk along like all the others. Trusting the authorities and pretending that there were no issues plaguing this society. Ignorant. Worse even. Her father was one of those that propagated the idea and her mother had been someone which enforced it’s order. At least most of the people around her were not complicit in that. At least not actively. They just decided to live in their bubbles, ignoring the plight of others.

“What a waste…” Hester mumbled to herself, drawing her red scarf a little further up and adjusting her hood. The first droplets of rain had begun to descend. She wasn't worried about being recognised. When she escaped her old life, the authorities had made sure to at least give her a memento. The scar still graced her face. The thought of the evening caused her goosebumps. Hesitation and uncertainty had numbed her and almost caused her to be sent behind bars.

The crowd slowly dissipated as she turned a corner. Most people had began to search shelter from the rain. Further on she went, her destination being marked by a stone arch in the distance. Her life after that evening had taken an interesting turn. The person that saved her then was a the commander of the Xeno Alliance. An organisation she herself would never have thought to ever become a part of but that is how it came to be. Her mother probably suffered the most due to her decision. It does not suit a commissioner in the LPI to have a criminal as daughter. Less so one that had been on the fast track of career progression. What had followed were demotion and in the end termination. At least those were the things that reached Hester.

The news that made her world come crashing down was the one that her mother had been killed. That had been about four years ago. The flame that had driven her forwards, that made her work for the betterment of Liberty, dimmed. It left a bitter taste that the LPI had yet to arrest a suspect. Their flaunted competency was suspiciously absent. Anger rose within her as she thought about it, her steps quickening. “Nearly there.” The stone arch was now in front of her, the gate to a cemetery. “Only a couple more minutes.” She mumbled to herself.

Hester still blamed herself for it. It had led her down a hole, one that she only now started to properly crawl out of. Before her a field of graves unfolded, rows upon rows to her left and right as she moved onwards. The rain had developed into a fully fledged shower. It suited her mood. The gravel crunched beneath her boots and the occasional tree broke up the rows of graves. Some of them sporting fresh bouquets. All of this had been how she became who she is but it was time for her to finish that part.

After a couple of minutes she finally reached her destination. In front of her was a grave, the headstone not made out of a mineral but a sheet of metal. Hester closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. Engraved on the otherwise smooth surface was a name. “Leslie Anderson”, her mother’s name. “I am sorry that it took me this long to come…” Her voice trembled, all those years she had never come here. “… even if I had come earlier, I am not sure how you would have reacted. Not like it had ever been an option…”

Silence settled in once again as she just stood there, looking upon engraving. The rain caused small streams of water to run down along the edges. Slowly she made up her mind. “You know, I am truly sorry… What happened to you, it was probably my fault. There is also no way I might make amends, if there ever was. But… it is the way I want to walk. For the betterment of those that are in need of it. Those that are betrayed by the ones that should look out for them.” A faint smile crept onto her face as she produced an artificial rose from her coat. “… this… I want to leave as a parting gift.” Carefully she set it down next to the headstone before closing her eyes and letting silence reign for a couple of moments more. “… it is time I go back.”