Someone to Watch Over
Posted on Wed 24th Oct, 2018 @ 4:19pm by Elizabeth Anderson M.D.
643 words; about a 3 minute read
Mission:
Oblivion
Location: Anderson's Quarters, Riverside Village
Timeline: MD 3, late afternoon
Dr. Anderson had spent some time after returning home the previous night from dinner with Damion trying to compose a concise message to La Llorona. She didn't want to give away who she was to anyone who might come across the message, but she wanted to be sure that the woman who had contacted her knew her identigy. For all she knew, the device she'd received had been personally encoded, but without proof of that, being somewhat clever should convey her identity only to the person she wanted to know. She finally honed it to a 15-second burst about the holographic musician accepted to Aldebaran Music Academy.
The work day was finished before Elizabeth had time to implement her plan to contact the mysterious La Llorona. She took out the signaling device, staring at it a moment before inserting it in a small communication set she'd purchased on the black market, the one which didn't officially exist on Starbase 109. It was supposed to communicate on an untraceable back channel, but Elizabeth knew there was no such thing as untraceable. Insofar as such a thing could be checked, she'd run checks, but she smiled grimly, thinking that if someone did catch her, it was quite likely to be Damion.
With a low, but audible, whir, the machine came on and a small green light blinked on the device that had come her way. After a moment, the screen showed a weeping white skull. After another moment, the details of the skull filled in, becoming the sugar skull Elizabeth had seen before. Its veil appeared as mist gathering, and then the rotted black mourning dress and the skeleton within. A slow classical Spanish guitar could be heard, and the skeleton spread her arms, singing, "Ayer lloraba por verte, Llorona; y hoy lloro porque te vi. Ayer lloraba por verte, Llorona; y hoy lloro porque te vi."[1]
The song and the picture were almost mesmerizing, but after a moment, Elizabeth sent her message, wondering how long before she would hear anything from La Llorona ... or if she ever would. The message was, after all, not about herself but about another who this Llorona might consider one of her lost ones. The words of the song were juxtaposed across her thoughts about the whole situation. Now what? Turn off everything? It was no longer broadcasting her message, but the picture lured her.
The skull seemed to wink at Elizabeth. "We have assets in place to support and protect her," it said, in its Spanish-accented alto.
"Oh. Okay," she responded, startled to have a reply. "Well. That's good. So, goodbye, then?"
"Did you have more to discuss?" the weeping skeleton inquired.
Anderson's first impulse was to say no, click off, and be done with it. Her mission, if one wanted to call it that, was accomplished, and turned out to be unnecessary anyway. She took a moment to think, but really, she had no plans for going further with the La Llorona person. What was there to say?
"No, I don't think I do, at this time. I'm not ready to be involved in whatever is going on, but I thought someone should watch out for this young and talented sentient. You seemed the logical choice. I don't think I need a watcher currently," she said, and realized she really didn't. For the first time, she was in charge of her own life, and she wasn't ready to belong to someone else, in any sense, not even loyalty.
"Then farewell, good night, and good luck," La Llorona answered, her image shrinking away again to just the skull before winking out.
1) Yesterday I was crying to see you, Llorona; and today I cry because I saw you. Yesterday I was crying to see you, Llorona; and today I cry because I saw you.
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