Star Trek: Enterprise (General Series) Prompt 96. Numbers
Title: 2744586
Fandom: Star Trek: Enterprise
Characters: Sim (sort of)
Prompt: 96. Writer's Choice - Numbers
Word Count: 460
Rating: PG
Summary: A final journey.
Author's Notes: Spoilers for "Similitude"
Beta: MisterB
Disclaimer: I don’t own Enterprise in any way shape or form. It belongs entirely to Paramount. This is just for fun.
274. 4586.
Dark numbers stand out starkly amongst the grey. It almost seems a fitting accompaniment to grief. With a nod, the two parts of the grey are gently brought together. The shell is sealed. The number becomes a whole. 2744586. Shielding the lifeless form inside from the guilt, pain and love that surrounds him.
2744586.
Lifted forward by careful hands. Sliding along the tracks on its final mission. Sealed within the launcher, counting down the seconds to the point of no return. Trusted with a worthy task. Not to take life, but to carry a soul in death to journeys end.
With one shuddering blast the wait is over. It races along the short length of the tube. Streaks away with its cargo from the only real home he ever knew. Inertia carrying it onward towards a distant star, as Enterprise warps silently away behind.
2744586.
A number in a category for the bean counters to document. One more thing which must be accounted for when all is done. But when all is done, whether in success or failure, will anyone care about the decisions made; the rules which had to be broken? One life, for one, for billions. For all the citizens of Earth. Such a small exchange in the face of so many others.
2744586.
Moving ever forward. In the vast expanse surrounding it, creatures fight and love, are born and die. But 2744586 knows nothing of this. Such concerns belong to the living. It exists for only one purpose now. To carry its burden into eternal rest.
2744586.
Still it drifts on. A tiny presence alone in the vastness of space. Inertia carries it forward for an eternity. Ever onward to the nearing star. How long? Time has no meaning here. Inanimate objects have no need for time, and time stopped for the occupant within with his final breath. His short life lived, and lost not in vain; as so many others are.
Ultimately, speed increases; gravity’s grip takes hold over inertia. Her fingers cradle the sleek body with its precious cargo; drawing it in towards the final end.
2744586.
Heat increases around its shell. The numbers blister from the skin and are gone. No longer 2744586. Journey’s end approaches. Blackened. Scorched. Its mission almost done. Hurtling headlong into the maelstrom fury at the heart of a star. No ash or dust will survive the crushing inferno.
Its shell begins to collapse, to implode and to crumble. They will end this journey together amidst a soaring crescendo of fire and light.
A blazing trail pursues their wake. A final triumphant blaze of light to mark the end of a life worth living. One tiny star in the midst of another, which no-one is there to see…