Snip of all snips

Peter smiled at the attempted tradecraft, it was clever keeping an open comm line and attempting to send a signal through subspace. With a smooth motion, he closed the open channel but manipulated the screens to show nothing, he activated a recording subroutine to monitor the tapping, taking it for some code similar to the old Earth Morse they all learned at the Academy “What’s that song?” He asked innocently.

CIO

“It’s a song we teach the little kids who want to become Elders.” Jessa cleared her throat and began to sing. She wasn’t sure if either man would like it but that didn’t matter. Jessa didn’t know much about comms or comm transmissions but she did know physics or more specifically The Inverse Square Law. In her classes, she learned that comm signals did not go on forever but without friction like in an atmosphere it went on a lot longer and a lot farther before space loss occurred and the signal became undetectable. Her transmission was not going to be an X marks the spot beacon for the incoming fleet a signal. It might however be able to be picked up by the Beacon of Hope. Jessa had sent the ship into auto-pilot and distress mode when she got her armor and weapons before the promenade. To the best of her knowledge, the Union ship was trailing the Atlantis just out of sensor range. The Beacon of Hope would pick up her comm message so when the incoming fleet found the Beacon of Hope it would not be long until they found her. At least that is what Jessa hoped so she began to sing.

“Long before the life I live, Long before my time,
The Union was there and now I must give.
What and I? Who am I? Ask yourself what will I be?
Faith, trust and patience will eventually show me
So off we go seeking the truth to reveal.
Heretics dwell in the fantasy, the Union dwells in the real”

The song made her sad. It reminded her so much of home however there was time to cry later. The Union fleet might not know who or what was being sung after that but she needed to keep the comm transmission going. “What is a song you sang as a kid?” She hoped that once she got Peter singing, she could continue the S-O-S component of her tapping in the signal. Doing both was taking way too many brain bytes and she was not getting any of the tapping right as she sang. It did not occur to Jessa at all that these people would probably be able to reverse-engineer everything she was doing. So Jessa did not stop, acting as if both men next to her were clueless about science.

Jessa Novar

Peter smiled wanly “There’s a strong tradition of songs in my home country going back nearly a thousand years, at least those songs that survived the passing of time. My personal favourite is a lullaby.”

He took a breath and started the song. His voice was a surprisingly soft baritone, none of the usual gruffness. The lyrics were not translated but the song itself was somber even sad. There was something in the vibration of his voice that implied other voices followed.

Sofðu unga ástin mín.
Úti regnið grætur.
Mamma geymir gullin þín,
gamla leggi og völuskrín.
Við skulum ekki vaka um dimmar nætur.

As soon as he started singing, Jessa’s attention was captured. The tapping was long forgotten and she sat quietly listening to the alien words with rapt attention. The melody did not seem happy and upbeat but somber and slightly sad. At the same time, Jessa could imagine closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep hearing it. It spoke to her on a deeper level than Peter could probably guess. The tune was hauntingly close to some hymns they sang at the Citadel. While this was sung only by one man, she imagined a chorus singing it, with different pitches, echoing off the frescos and marble walls and filling the space. She had no idea of the words or meaning, but this was so different from the other music she had heard on the Atlantis. It was a foreign song with alien words yet vaguely reminded her of home.

He stopped singing and for a moment just looked straight ahead.

Jessa tensed and leaned forward in her chair. She had no idea why Peter stopped singing. Maybe he thought she did not like his song by the way she stared at him. Licking her lips, Jessa thought about her response. “That was a really pretty song.”
She debated about her next comment. Jessa wanted to be honest yet it felt insulting. “You said it was a lullaby only,” she paused for a second. “It sounded kinda sad. What do the words mean?”

“Some seven Earth Centuries ago, maybe thirty or so Human generations ago a man and his wife lived in the countryside, they were what was called an ‘útilegumaður.’ The only standard translation would be camper or something similar, they were people who lived outside society in caves in the mountains of Iceland. Often exiles or outlaws on the run. This song was a lullaby sung by a mother to her child before tossing the babe into a waterfall to keep it from being taken by wicked men. There is a poetic translation but I don’t know it but I can translate.” He cleared his voice “Sleep my little love, outside the rain cries. Mother keeps your treasures, old leg bones and treasure troves.” His tone turned deep and somber “We shall not wake through dark nights” He let the final words resonate.

CIO
OOC: A link for those curious Sofðu Unga Ástin Mín

OOC: Okay I loved that you added the link. It added so much to an already amazing post. ~ Kate

The words were not as melodic as the song. It was as if the tune knew the somberness of the words and conveyed; however, the more Jessa thought about the words, the more she tensed up. “The song is sad but also kinda sweet. The parents are going to do anything to protect their child even if they have to give up everything. That would be one heck of a way to be woken up though. Being tossed into a river as you and your mom swim in the dark.” Pulling her sleeves over her hands, Jessa lost interest in her message sending.

“Kinda reminds me about my mom except for the part of tossing me into a waterfall. She sent me to a school to keep me safe.” Her words ended abruptly and Jessa’s expression flickered to shocked panic. Blinking several times rapidly, Jessa searched for a way to shift the topic. No one needed to know that her mom left her at the school years ago. Left and disappeared essentially were the same thing in her mind. Calling it disappeared stopped most questions from others.

“Um Ian,” she said looking back at the man behind them. “There aren’t any waterfalls on this planet we are going to are there?” There were far easier ways to get rid of someone in this universe. Jessa gave Ian followed by Peter an exaggerated forced smile indicating her comment was rhetorical. She held it waiting for confirmation though.

Jessa Novar.

“Be not a feared” He said quoting an old play “You volunteered yourself here don’t forget” He said with an amiable smile. He put the tidbit surrounding her mother in the file of interesting things, it was a chink in her armor one that could be used to file away her guard “Where we’re going it’s a few days walk to the nearest waterfall, there are some small rivers but nothing you couldn’t wade through”

CIO

“Speaking of where we are going,” Ian stated directing Jessa’s attention forward. “We are about to land.” The planetary surface in front of Jessa was picturesque. The planet itself was largely green indicating an abundance of plant life. Blue splotches grew into lakes, rivers, and some oceans as the craft moved deeper through the atmosphere until the splotches took the form of rolling hills, trees, and a rather large civilian outpost covering several miles. The outpost was larger than a colony but smaller than an actual city.

Jessa leaned closer to the shuttle’s viewscreen as if this would allow her to see things in more detail. She was markedly quiet as she studied the landscape It was hard to hide her excitement. It was a rarity for her to visit someplace so wild and untamed. “We don’t have cities like this,” she commented not looking at either man. “Our cities are vast, sprawling, and highly technical. The only places we have like this are the re-education colonies. They are designed to be a place where one reflects on thier choices. Based on these choices, one could return to society.” Jessa’s statement was without any emotion tied to it. For her it was a fact of life. “This isn’t a re-education colony of the Federation is it?” This statement held the hint of anxiety and uneasiness as the shuttle landed softly on a landing pad at the small spaceport of the settlement.

Jessa Novar

Peter chuckled “No we don’t have re-education colonies, the closest we’d have are penal colonies and they are mostly about rehabilitation. Turning criminals away from their lives of crime to becoming members of society” He explained “We have cities as well some vast and some small, this is how it is for many systems early in their life cycle, this colony has been here less than ten years” He tapped open a comm line =^=This is USS Atlantis Shuttlecraft to Colony Outpost, We’ll be landing a few Kilometers to your south, we’re here to gather some samples and atmo readings and don’t intend to interfere with Colonial operations=^= He sent the greeting as he prepared the ship for entering the atmosphere.

CIO

“We are not going to the city,” Jessa suddenly felt a knot forming in her stomach. She had planned on trying to learn more about their society in this trip and maybe slip off if the situation presented itself. Traipsing in the woods would not meet this goal. “I had thought I would get a chance to meet people in your society. Maybe get some food that is not made from thin air? Please,” she directed her attention to Peter and Ian equally. “I promise I will be good. I won’t put on my armor or anything,” she offered touching the small disc at her neck that they had not been able to remove from her.

“There is nothing to do if we do not go to the city. If you have seen one tree you have seen they all,” she whined in a more teenage tone.

Jessa Novar.