Crone's Watch

A thump and a clang echoed down the hallway down the hallway. "Dahlia, what was that?" Margaret asked.

"I'm not sure, Margaret," the station's AI responded. "There is something attaching to the secondary habitat airlock."

"Damn it, the last replacement external sensor array just had to die six months ago!" Margaret sighed. "Well, I suppose I should go and greet whoever they are. I hope they're friendly. Even if they're not, that's not much left except food and medical supplies."

"I hope they're friendly, too," Dahlia said. "Although, I do have provisions if they are scavengers."

"That's good to know." Margaret moved through the sealed ring of the old gas mining station, passing the large floor to ceiling windows that looked out onto the now unusable recreation dome. The grass and trees had long since become desiccated and the sealing fabric hung in tatters from the uppermost struts of the dome. It clearly had become a common sight for Margaret, as she didn't even look out of the windows as she jogged through the habitat sections until she reached the airlock section. Dahlia turned on the lights.

The door to the section was open, but Margaret waited just on the other side of the opening so that if the airlock malfunctioned, or the people coming aboard were unfriendly, Dahlia could drop the hatch doors. Margaret heard the old familiar clanking of the airlock doors, grinding from disuse, since Dahlia and Margaret were the only residents of the station.

There was a hissing sound, and the airlock opened slowly. "Someone's definitely pushing it," Margaret said.

"I concur," Dahlia said. "The air coming out of it is not toxic to you, however. No pathogens that I can detect."

"That's a blessing. Wouldn't want to leave you alone because I die of some strange disease!" Margaret said.

Strange clicking sounds came from the open door, and a long, dark spindly leg appeared, then another, and another, until a spider-like being stepped into the hall. It had a fabric covering over it's mid-section that looked like silver canvas with tubing sewn into it and a strangely shaped helmet attached to accommodate it's oblong head and large yes. It had six legs, four of which they used to walk on. The upper two limbs held a rectangular box with holes on the side to fit the tips of the limbs. One side glowed with what looked like a tablet screen. The box clicked and chittered, which made the creature look up. When they saw Margaret, it clipped the box to the covering, held up it's upper limbs, and walked slowly towards the door where Margaret was standing.

"Margaret?" asked Dahlia.

"It's ok, Dahlia," she replied. "I have a feeling they're just curious, or at least, trying to signal that they aren't dangerous. I take it you can't decipher the noises from whatever the box is?"

"No, I cannot. It does not conform to any human-known alien life, at least none since the last update. That was nearly a hundred years ago, however."

Margaret sighed. "So many things out of date." She shook her head. "Well, hopefully, we can get something through to them eventually."

"Yes," said Dahlia.

While Margaret was talking, the being had stopped about three meters in front of her and pulled off the box, setting it on the floor. It pointed to the box, then it's helmet, then at Margaret, and again at the box. Margaret said, "Do you want me to talk? Is that a translator?" she asked, then also gave the sign for talk with her hands.

The alien cocked it's head downward, then folded it's legs underneath itself. It repeated the gestures again, and pushed it towards Margaret, repeating the gestures.

"I guess that's a yes," she said. "What should I talk about?"

"I don't think it matters, Margaret," Dahlia replied. "I can playback my recordings for them later if communication is established. Although, I would assume that device is probably also recording and will translate for them later."

"Yeah, that makes sense." Margaret stared at the being for a moment, thinking, then said, "I'm surprised that you're here. I've never seen an alien like you before. We've only met a few others." She sighed. "Ok, Margaret old girl, that sounds lame, even to me! Well, I suppose I should be polite and introduce myself. I'm Margaret Dunne, formerly of the Venus Gas Mining Company. This used to house other humans, but I'm the last one here. There's also Dahlia, the station's AI. Say hello, Dahlia."

"Hello," Dahlia said. "Welcome to my station."

The alien didn't move. Margaret went thoughtful again. "Well, I suppose I should tell you what happened to the station. It's basically the result of corporate downsizing, really. After it had been operating the first hundred years, Earth became uninhabitable and humans began to move on to greener pastures. At first, the station was supplying the new colonies, but slowly demand from Sol system collapsed due to new resources being found. So, the company began shutdown protocols and people left. Except for me, of course." She paused to sit down on the deck. "I hope you don't mind. I can't stand too long, these days. Then again, I'm nearly three hundred now. I think."

"Three hundred and twelve, Margaret," Dahlia corrected.

Margaret rolled her eyes. "Thank you, Dahlia." The woman sighed. "Uh, that was sarcasm, by the way. I'm not sure if you're machine would understand that."

The box chirped and clicked for a minute, surprising Margaret. The alien moved it's head in a motion that looked like surprise, too. They said something to the box, which chimed, then said, "Why.." chirp, click, "on station..." chirp, click click, "old?"

"Why is the station so old? Well, it's over four hundred years old. It was, when it was built, the most state of the art mining station humans had produced. There were thousands who lived here. Miners, engineers, transporters, along with all the support staff, shop owners, cleaning crews, medical staff-- all of it." She folded her legs under her. "It was like a big city above Venus, perpetually illuminated by our wondrous star! There were even satellite campuses from several major universities. Mostly so they could study more ways to utilize what was being mined, but there was a lot of interesting space science going on, too." Margaret smiled. "I worked in the refining suite until I retired. Then I taught at the University for a while. It made for a nice retirement project, really."

The box chirped and clicked as she talked, apparently translating what she was saying, and continued for a about a minute after she stopped talking. The alien sat quiet for a moment, moved it's head, and began clicking and chirping again. After about thirty seconds, the box said, "But why are you alone here?"

Margaret stared at the alien, then the box, then back at the alien. "That box learns fast!"

The alien talked again. "Yes," the box said. "Human language is not that complicated."

Margaret scoffed. "You should try learning German!"

"What is German?"

The woman laughed. "It's a different human language. Humanity has more than one language. I primarily speak English and sign language, and a smattering of words from a few others."

"Sign language?" they asked.

Margaret signed as she spoke. "Yes," she said. "The gestures I'm doing with my hands now is called sign or sign language. It's used for people who can't hear, or can't speak verbally, or both. It's also very useful to know during EVAs, especially when the comms in your suit breaks."

The alien patted their suit. "Understand. We have suit..." chirp, click "too."

"You have a sign language, too? That's fascinating!" Margaret smiled. "Seems we have some things in common. But why did you come into the station?"

The alien perked up and rose slightly, gesturing enthusiastically as they chirped and clicked. The box continued to translate. "We are explorers. Scientists. Learners. We saw your system and decided to investigate. Have studied your star and have small group studying first planet. Now, we are here." They paused for a moment. "Found station and was curious. Did scans, saw life form. Was curious. I volunteered."

Margaret smiled at the alien's enthusiasm. "Well, my curious friend. Do you have a name?"

"Name?"

"Yes. Like I said, my name is Margaret, and the computer's name is Dahlia. It's how we distinguish individuals."

"Ah, yes, my name is..." The alien let out a long string of chirps and clicks, but the translator couldn't render it into English.

Margaret looked thoughtful for a moment. "It seems that your name can't be translated. Maybe I can give you an human style name? What do you do? Do your people as a whole have a name?"

The alien hung its head. "I do not think the People's name will translate. We are the People. I study other sentient beings. How they behave. Language. Culture. Politics." They looked up again. "I would accept human style name."

"Interesting. Do you have a gender?"

"Gender?"

"Shit, how do I explain gender?" Margaret muttered. "Well, humans primarily have two genders, male and female, but there are also other genders and those with no gender." She shrugged. "Human biology is rather complicated, actually. I don't think I'm explaining it right, but I'm mostly a chemist, not a biologist."

The alien hissed in a staccato rhythm. "I understand. We have six primary genders, with multiple sub-genders. It is also... complicated."

"Was that a laugh? The hissing?"

"Laugh?"

"Humor. A reaction to something funny?"

The alien hissed again. "Humor. Yes. Laugh."

"Hmm..." Margaret looked up, thinking again. "How about I give you a gender neutral name, then? I know! How about Reed?"

"What does name mean?"

"Well, your legs are long and thin. They look like a plant that we call a reed, but it's also a name that's been used for humans for a long time."

The alien was silent for a long moment, then said, "That is acceptable."

"Ok, great." Margaret pulled herself up off the floor. "Would you like a tour of the station? Well, a tour of what I can, anyway. The recreation area is too damaged to go into now."

Reed pushed themselves off the floor in a fluid motion and picked up the translator, attaching it to their suit again. "Yes," they said. "I would like that."

Margaret led the way out of the airlock section into the next where the windows started. Reed stopped, stared at the desiccated trees and dead remnants of grass, putting a limb to the glass. "What happened?"

Margaret shrugged. "Just time, my friend. This station was rated for about five hundred years. It was two hundred years old when I came to live here." She paused for a moment, looking far away, then continued. "It's been another two-hundred and twelve years since then. The last of the residents left when the filters out there died and they could no longer sustain their experiments. That evacuation was about, oh, a hundred and twenty years ago."

"That is correct, Margaret," said Dahlia.

Reed stared out the window for another long moment. "Our world is full of flora. We are always sad when we see flora destroyed."

"It's sad for us, too, but I've lived in many places that had hardly any plant life at all, including cargo ships. I do miss the flora in the recreation area, but I got used to not having it. There is something similar to it that, which we'll get to later. Come on, there's plenty more to see," Margaret said, gesturing for Reed to follow.

Margaret answered Reed's questions as they traveled the habitat ring. Dahlia filled in the gaps where Margaret's memory failed her. When they reached the hydroponic gardens, Reed chittered excitedly.

"This is like home!" they exclaimed. "I am sad I cannot breath your air, but the humidity feels good on my limbs. Air on our ships can be very dry."

Margaret chuckled. "Human ships are like that, too, as you can tell. That's why this is arranged in a garden with areas to sit. A lot of humans like to sit with the plants and enjoy the humid air. I know I do from time to time."

The alien made a gesture, which, when Margaret asked, confirmed was something akin to a nod. "Do you miss Earth?" Reed asked as they approached the mess hall later.

"Hold that thought," Margaret said. "Do you-- Oh, wait, I suppose you wouldn't be able to eat our food if you can't breathe our air. Do you mind if I have food? It's been a while since I last ate."

"Please have sustenance if you require it. It will not offend me. I am curious," Reed said. "I am curious" was a common refrain during the tour.

Margaret smiled. "Oh good. Give me a minute." She went over to the food printers and tapped the screen a few times. Moving to a table that had only one chair, she sat down. Reed sat opposite her. "That should be ready in about five minutes. But to answer your question--" She got that far away look again. "No, I don't miss Earth. Most of it, when I left, was empty because of the pollution. Last I heard, the colony senate had declared it a sanctuary and historical planet and closed it off to visitors, except for scientists. I don't recommend going. You see, there was this scientist, not too long after I left, who thought he could clean the atmosphere with a chemical reaction. Unfortunately, that caused the sky to go dark and the air to be barely breathable. They've been trying to fix it ever since, and the last I'd heard before the network antennas failed was that most of Earth was covered in ice. I'm guessing it probably still is."

"That is sad," Reed said. "All that flora gone, like your dome."

Margaret nodded. "Yeah, it is. But there are a lot of really beautiful worlds colonized by humans, with plenty of flora and fauna. They take much better care of them, too. It became a sacred duty, really, after the devastation of Earth."

Reed was quiet for a moment. "We will investigate your Earth. We have technologies that may possibly help restore the atmosphere."

"That would be great. You should get in touch with the colonies, though, and ask permission first. I think there's still might even be an active station above Earth."

Reed made what Margaret and Dahlia had come to understand as a negating motion, and hung their head. "This was the only station with power we detected in the system."

"Oh," Margaret replied as the food printer chimed. She went over, took out the tray with her dinner, and brought it back to the table. Her look was far away again, and Reed just studied her as she sat down and ate. When she finished, she sat back, sipping her drink for a time, then finally said, "I think, Dahlia, we'll need to give them copies of the most current star charts we have. How far is the closest colony?"

"Four light years, at Alpha Centauri," the AI replied. "I will create a data pod for Reed."

Margaret nodded. "Thank you, Dahlia."

Reed looked at Margaret for a long time. "I thank you for the information. But, you did not answer my first question, Margaret."

"I forgot. What did you ask?"

"Why are you alone here?"

Margaret put down her drink and stood, moving to the windows to look out over the recreation area. "I suppose it's ok to tell you. It is a bit personal, but you're the first person I've talked to, besides Dahlia, since the others left. When I came here, I was alone. My family had all died in some stupid war-conflict-thing on the new colony they had all moved to. Earth's populations were migrating to the colonies, and I ended up completely on my own. I walked into the Venus Mining recruiting office and got the job here. I had nothing better to do, really." Margaret shrugged. "Then, once I was here, I met Rita. She was beautiful and smart and way out of my league, but I loved her, and by some miracle, she loved me back." She pointed at the recreation dome. "We got married a year later under one of those trees out there. It was a beautiful cherry tree that dropped little pink flower petals every year. All of our friends came. Rita was so beautiful in that dress!" Margaret took a deep breath, pausing for a moment. "My wife was a pilot. One of the best on the station. But six months after we got married, she was in a shuttle accident. They told me it was something to do with a faulty engine and she was dragged into and crushed under atmospheric pressure of Venus, but I don't really remember much after they told me that she was dead."

Reed chirped and clicked, in a sad sounding way. "You lost your mate?" the translator asked.

"Yes."

"I am sorry. I understand."

Margaret turned around, anger and other emotions on her face. "Do you?"

Reded hung their head. "Received message from homeworld ten cycles ago. One of my young and one of my mates..." They gestured in the negative. "Dead. Accident."

Margaret went over to the alien and put a hand on its body above one of the upper limbs. "I'm sorry, Reed."

"We are similar. You and I."

"Yeah," she replied with a small laugh. "I think you're right."

Reed was quiet for a long moment, and Margaret cleaned up the remnants of her dinner, putting the tray in the recycler. She came back with a coffee and sat down again. They stayed that way, both looking out the windows, in companionable silence for a time, until Reed asked, again, "Why are you alone here?"

Margaret took another deep breath. "This is my home. It's where I met and loved Rita, and where I grieved her. I don't have anyone else, and, honestly, I didn't want to leave the planet where I spread her ashes. So, when the last ship left, I hid in a storage room. They left a lot of the supplies here, since the ships had more than enough of their own. I have medical supplies and food for over three thousand people for a hundred years, so I haven't gone without. I've had Dahlia for company, and now I've met you. And soon, well..." She stared at her coffee cup.

Reed lifted their head. "Soon?"

"This station has been losing orbit for decades. The engines that kept it stabilized died not too long ago. In the next few years the station will hit Venus' atmosphere and be destroyed."

Reed stood up in surprise. The chittered and gestured wildly for a moment, the translater unable to make out what they said. When they finally slowed down, the translated said, "You will die!"

Margaret smiled, sadly. "I know. But I'll be with Rita again. I've had a long, full life, Reed. I'm ok with that."

"But. You. Alone?" Reed's speech still seemed distressed.

"I do have Dahlia," she replied. "I haven't seen another being for over a hundred years. Well, until now. Truly, Reed, I'm ok with dying alone."

Reed went quiet again. They pulled another box out of their suit, stuck one of their upper limbs into it, and spoke, faster than they'd been speaking to Margaret. The translator didn't translate what Reed was saying, but then a slightly different voice answered. "Yes... possible... agree." was all the translator picked up from the reply.

"Is it truly your wish to stay here?" asked Reed, slowing their speech for the translator. "We are capable of creating a human habitat on our ship. We could bring you to this colony." The box chirped and clicked, "...gives permission."

Margaret smiled, sadly this time. "I do truly wish to stay here, Reed. It'd kind of you to offer, though. Do thank your superior for me."

Reed gave the affirmative gesture, hanging their head, then asked, "Do you wish to send a message to the other humans? We will bring it to this colony system Dahlia has indicated on the starmap."

"Yes. I'd like that. And it would give them an introduction to you, so, hopefully, they won't be hostile." She grinned and pointed at the alien. "Humans can be unpredictable. Don't forget that!"

"We will not forget," Reed said. "I will not forget."

Margaret smiled. "Dahlia, can you give Reed a copy of your recordings from when they came aboard until now?"

"Yes, Margaret. Compiling."

[End of Recording]