Avescope Memento Mori

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Jim struggled to his feet, his head still swaying, and made his way toward the group. It was necessary, after all. Unlike on the station, where mass death was quickly handled through the airlocks, the surface was, well, grounded. No vacuum to conveniently discard undesired contagions into. Jim was so close to them that the unrelenting heat made him shed tears along with sweat. The surface-borns watched but didn’t stop him. He now saw the stone pillars, about knee-high, surrounding the pyres. Hundreds of names had been carved into them with new ones being engraved by several women as more bodies were hurled into the fires. As he studied these surface-borns, still lost in the trance, and likely with dehydration setting in, Jim noticed several of them wearing station uniforms. Their navy jackets with gold trimming were muddied and tattered but recognisable. He shook his head. Couldn’t fault them, he rationalised. Salvaging from the deceased was what everyone on the station did as well. A young woman, likely in her early twenties, approached him, holding out a canister. Her arms bore the scars of boils long since healed. Jim smiled as he took it. The water was cool and felt like it turned his tongue to ice. “Thank you,” he said as he handed it back to her. “If you drink, you help.” her words cut colder than the water and she fixed him with a snare. “There is equipment under that tree.” She pointed to the east where the pitch of night encroached. Jim fastened his uniform and wrapped a scarf around his neck to prevent anything accidentally getting onto his skin. He grabbed the legs of a nearby body. The surface-born holding the lost woman’s arms stared at Jim while they hoisted her into the pyre. Not once had he let Jim out of his sight. This was a burly man, at that. Tall and muscular with a short beard, scattered strands of white littering the black of it. When the sun neared the horizon and the light of the pyres made it difficult to find the bodies beyond the clearing, one of the older surface-borns called for the day’s end. The group, a sizeable horde of at least fifty men and women, started for the hill to the north. Jim returned to his backpack and pulled out the rolled up tent he’d packed. “Will you stay?” The same woman from before stood in front of Jim with her hands on her waist. She didn’t seem to be fond of him. “That’s the plan. Does it bother you?” <strong>Avescope</strong> | 43 “A bit.” She averted her gaze to the group now almost out of sight. “Why?” Jim sighed. He’d given this answer so many times already and was sick of the words. “I have a duty here.” The woman’s sudden and abrupt laugh startled Jim and he fumbled the tent’s poles. “You stationers and your missions and duty. What could possibly be your duty? The war is gone, only death lingers here.” “Death is why I’m here.” Jim ignored the poles and stood up. He was at least a head taller than her but that made no difference in her animosity toward him. He felt it as though he were still beside one of the pyres. ~ “You stationers and your missions and duty. What could possibly be your duty? The war is gone, only death lingers here.”~ “A bit.” She averted her gaze to the group now almost out of sight. “Why?” Jim sighed. He’d given this answer so many times already and was sick of the words. “I have a duty here.” The woman’s sudden and abrupt laugh startled Jim and he fumbled the tent’s poles. “You stationers and your missions and duty. What could possibly be your duty? The war is gone, only death lingers here.” “Death is why I’m here.” Jim ignored the poles and stood up. He was at least a head taller than her but that made no difference in her animosity toward him. He felt it as though he were still beside one of the pyres. She sized him up for a while in silence before her shoulders relaxed and her arms hung at her sides. “Death was why I came in the first place.” As much as Jim wanted to ask what on earth she meant, he refrained, letting her decide when and if she’d explain. That fire in here eyes had been replaced with balls of lead. “When are you going back up there?” She nodded to the sky. “At this rate, perhaps never.” Jim scratched the stubble on his cheeks. It had grown quickly in the week since he’d last shaven. “I didn’t think there were so many who needed to be buried. Or, as I see now, cremated.”
“That’s your duty? To bury everyone here?” She brows were furrowed but there was a hint of amusement teasing the corner of her lips. “Who gave you that assignment?” “The Admiral himself. Personally.” He smirked to himself, a fleeting expression, but the woman had caught it. “What’s so funny about that?” Her hands were on her waist again. “Nothing.” She fixed him a look with one brow raised and her lips slightly pouting. “Well, whatever you did that landed you this punishment, keep it to yourself. Or better yet, get an appeal and go home. We have enough mouths to feed.” ~ “That’s your duty? To bury everyone here?” She brows were furrowed but there was a hint of amusement teasing the corner of her lips. “Who gave you that assignment?”~ “I couldn’t even if I wanted to. And I don’t. I haven’t changed my mind about doing this. Besides, I made a promise to someone. She’d never forgive me for not trying to fulfil it.” “Some lucky lady you have at home, maybe you should return to her, lie that you did it. How will she know? And you will change your mind soon enough, I can guarantee that. Honour means nothing when you start getting sores on your skin.” One of the lost personnel. Presumed dead. Her family was one of the higher castes and they’d made a big deal about her ‘death’, plastering her hologram over every screen for a week in memorial. That was only a month before the end of the war. “My mind had already changed.” Jim took her hand in his. “This is more than a promise to one person, or some frail sense of duty.” He looked around at the silhouettes of arms and legs, weapons, and tattered clothes beating in the cool breeze blowing from the west. “I thought it was that at first, but after today, seeing all this, it’s necessary.” “I know...” her words were a whisper but they rang loud in his ears. “Don’t break your promise. Our people and theirs need you to not break your word.” Tears ran out from under the shadow, cleaning the ash from her cheeks. She turned to walk toward the hill. Jim grabbed her arm. “Wait, what’s your name?” “Sally. What’s yours, stationer?" “Jim, Admiral Jim Burke.” He shook her outstretched hand and couldn’t restrain the smile from creeping up his cheeks. Jim nodded and let her go, watching her until she disappeared into the night. She wasn’t wrong. But she’d missed one thing: if he didn’t do this, there’d be no end to the conflicts. It was technically peace-time, a conquered time. Technically. Any leader knew better than to fall into that false sense of security. What he hadn’t told her was that it was necessary to bury the dead, not because of the effects of their sheer numbers, but indeed for the sake of duty. His duty now was to prevent another war. The cemetery dome on the station had been filled enough and no child should have to look up at those grey skies. Her eyes were shrouded by her shadow and she stayed perfectly still. She must have seen men like Jim having tried this before, and they’d given up. All the while she continued despite the labour, heat, stench, and despite the plagues. He’d recognised her face the moment he saw her. <strong>Avescope</strong> | 44
Page 1: AVESCOPE Memento Mori N O V E M B E
Page 5: Editor's Note Memento Mori. Remembe
Page 8 and 9: deceased relative preferred when th
Page 11 and 12: By the time World War II began, my
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Page 16 and 17: Nightmare King Grimm (affectionatel
Page 18 and 19: Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov [Publ
Page 20 and 21: These primarily college-educated, v
Page 22 and 23: Certain populations, particularly t
Page 24 and 25: Towns which encouraged the consumpt
Page 26 and 27: Except there is the possibility tha
Page 28 and 29: Memento Mori Memento Mori. “Remem
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Page 33 and 34: to the sexing. In this particular c
Page 35 and 36: Sometimes we find things like the f
Page 39 and 40: Because it always does. But is that
Page 41 and 42: Vimy Catherine Jackson
Page 45: The shuttle landed in a clearing in
Page 50 and 51: Mama cried when I left for the army
Page 52 and 53: Mister Spider Scientist Christopher
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Avescope Memento Mori

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