I had seen other ships in the area, fighting, yet amidst that chaos there were two people aboard the ship. One was an engineer, being followed and tormented by a creature of unknown origin, and the other was a child, a small girl with many similarities to the engineer. They were on opposite sides of the ship, one at the entrance and the other in the rear cargo hold. The engineer had been wandering around for a few hours before finally finding a way to dispose of the creature. The engineer would begin to look around the ship by herself, albeit very paranoid. The little girl kept sneaking around the ship, seeing the engineer on occasion and getting scared before running off. The engineer felt herself starting to slip into insanity.
“I swear I saw a kid… I swear I did…” she said while gripping her hair. “Maybe I’m just hallucinating from thirst,” as she grabbed her trusty canteen and drank from it. Right as she lowered her canteen she heard a voice.
“How did you get here?” asked the little girl, sitting on a crate while staring at the engineer. “You clearly aren’t from my homeworld.”
“Where is your homeworld?”
“Lua,” the girl said, beaming with pride.
“You’re… is this…?” The engineer looked around, more confused than before. “That isn’t possible, Lua was destroyed years ago!”
“What? No it wasn’t. It was still okay when we left,” argued the girl, crossing her arms.
The engineer shook her head and continued walking, this time back the way she came. The little girl hopped off the crate she was on and followed the engineer. They passed by a series of strange statues, they looked like poor renditions of angels. The girl seemed scared of them while the engineer was unbothered. They had a long walk back to the engineer’s ship so she figured she’d make the most of it.
“How many of you were there?”
“According to my mom, a few thousand,” the girl replied while hopping alongside the engineer.
“What happened to everyone then?”
The girl simply shrugged. “I wanna find my parents, so that’s why I’m following you.”
The engineer stopped dead in her tracks. “I’m not looking for your parents here.”
“But… no one else will.”
“That isn’t my problem.”
“Please, madam, please help me look for them.”
“I’m not staying here longer than I have to, I already dealt with one pest.”
“I am not a pest!” the girl argued.
“You’re acting like one.”
“You’re the one not helping me look for my damn parents!”
“Because there’s nobody else alive on this stupid hunk of metal!”
The girl went quiet as the engineer stood up and began walking away again. “You’re me, aren’t you…” The child’s voice was all too familiar now. She was no longer putting on an act. “I knew you’d be back.”
As the engineer began to run the ship started to collapse on itself from the inside. Fire began spreading and alarms blared. The engineer couldn’t run away this time, and she knew it. She decided to hide from the girl, hoping she’d calm down. She always was a master of hide and seek, it’s a shame that was true for this void-riddled kid. She could hear footsteps getting louder as lockers slung open and crates imploded on themselves.
“Found you…”
