Ready

Smiling down at the shape in the bed before the woman got ready to leave. The early morning light was filtering into the room despite the drawn curtains, highlighting the shape’s face. Round to a fault the head was leaving no impression on the pillow, seeming to hover above it rather than risk sinking.

She bends down to tie her shoes, looping each lace as she continues to watch the bed. Later lessons would tell her that this was frowned upon. The shape in the bed didn’t move though, her look having no effect at all.

Shoes tied she places a leaflet on the bed (praise the Three as One) and staggers out into the corridor, pushing the keys through the letter box. She stretches before looking along the length of the hallway. The carpet is a deep purple with churning patterns all along it. She walks from swirl to swirl, hoping over the gaps between them until she reaches the lifts at the far end and pressing the call button.

She waits.

And she waits.

And she waits a little longer yet.

*ting!* Here it is, the doors open, welcoming her inside. She jumps in, pressing the button with a toe, smile on her face. Down she goes in what feels like widening and widening circles, like a metal ball at the end of a swinging rope. *ting!* The doors pop open again to the same purple carpet.

Leaping out, she again jumps from spiral to spiral, making her way past the sleeping desk clerk and out into the early morning. The cobbles to the left were still stained with blood so she went off to the right, down towards the docks and the boat.

It’s quiet, the streets lit by the sun behind her. She hurries down the street now, passing the senate dome, and disappearing down the winding stream of a close and out onto the dockyard. The boat waits for her, its cabin already closed and locked.

Hopping across the gap and slapping the cabin door she hears a roar coming from within. She smiles and gets the ship read to set sail.