Common Motives

Chapter 55: Scars

Servus Albus had lost track of the days long ago – he had lost track of the days that he and the Commodore had been trapped, stuck in this cave – yet, often, he found himself wondering.

How long had it been?

He could not clearly think anymore, not with this biting cold, this biting, numbing cold that threatened to shut down his command over his body, with his only anchor to cruel, cruel reality being the arms and legs of the Commodore, wrapped around his form from behind.

She had not moved for days – and he had been grateful for it, for at this point, her frame was the only thing preventing every last bit of his system from freezing over.

It was a miracle that she herself was still functioning, really – for she had scraped the flesh – metal clean off of her fingers the first day that they had discovered this cave, and in doing so, she had exposed the internal workings of her system to the harsh environment.

Prima had noticed this quickly, however – and she had torn off the bottom half of her shirt, using it to tie a makeshift tourniquet around her wrist, cutting off the appendage – which she could no longer move or use - from the rest of her body as much as she could.

Yet, this would not stop her frame from eventually freezing – it would only slow the process down – and the very concept of this lurking threat of termination threatened to, once again, re – awaken the fear that the female witchdoctor had instilled in him, to kindle it to life once more.

He had often asked the Commodore – what will become of them, of her, of him, when their firewood ran out?

They had all but completely burned down the wood from the old workstation – in fact, that was the only time she would move – to retrieve more segments from it, and still, there had been no sign of any other form of life that could possibly be wondering in such a barren wasteland.

Maybe we'll be found by the Polarian patrol, she had said, but he was now starting to think that perhaps she had miscalculated. However, he did not dare to ask, for at the moment, she was his lifeline.

He had not asked yet.

And perhaps, he began to think, now was the time.

"Commodore?"

She did not verbally respond for a short while, instead moving – very slowly, he noted – her arm to wrap tighter around his torso, her own frame pressed up against his back. Had she been human, she would have likely been shivering as well.

"Yes...Captain...?"

Even her speech, slowed and halted and labored.

"Forgive me...I am fearful."

"Of...what?"

Her response had been instantaneous this time, despite that the pace of her speech was still frighteningly slow.

And that was all it had taken – he had then revealed to her, confessed to her, all of the fears that he had harbored but not dared to tell since the day that they had stumbled upon this cave, and all of the uncertainties that had caused those fears, and the situations, the lack of details, that had caused those uncertainties – and strangely, she had listened to all of it, without cutting him off once – in fact, she had not even spoken once.

Instead, she merely seemed to absorb his every word – she took it in with what seemed to be slight interest, in fact.

And after he had finished, only when every single one of his words had been processed and comprehended within their true context and meaning, did she speak.