#brokenhornwrites

This blonde woman, blue eyes and all, was sitting on the red couch that bordered the circular ‘living room’ of the freight ship. Whoever crammed her into that jumpsuit clearly didn’t know her proper size that was, clearly, a size or two larger than the dull grey outfit that she wore right now. Andrea and this nameless woman stared at each other for what felt like a century, any attempt at communication was met with silence. But now, Andrea was away from the ship’s controls and the vessel soared through the star-sprinkled void of space on autopilot. Andrea pushed herself off the automatic door’s frame, the shutters closed right behind her as she stepped away. “You don’t know your name,” she said. “Do you know where you came from?”

The woman shook her head both times and spoke in a voice much softer than Andrea expected, “No.”

Andrea paused a moment, “The name New Tokyo doesn’t mean anything to you?” At least this passenger could actually talk.

“No.”

Andrea took slow, calculated steps and scratched her forehead with her free hand. “Okay,” she broke the silence. Stopping at a small shelf mounted on the wall, she pulled down a small rectangular device. It had a red button in one corner, a few arrows, and two buttons, red and green, together. With a press of the corner button, a holographic screen flickered on above the light emitter mounted on the end of the gadget.

Andrea offered it to the woman, pressing each button to show what it does. “Green is to confirm, red is to dismiss. The arrows navigate the menus,” she paused. “Maybe this will keep you busy, you might learn something new.” The blonde woman took the object, and tilted her head at it. She pressed buttons at random and the screen flashed and beeped. Her brow furrowed, staring intently at the gadget. She crossed her legs and made herself comfortable on Andrea’s couch. Andrea watched her strange passenger fiddle with the gadget, “It’s called a Holographic Encyclopedia.” She explained, “It contains every true piece of known information recorded by humanity. Names, history, food, music, books and etcetera.” Her fellow passenger, however, did not seem to pay any attention. Then she turned the gadget around and showed Andrea the neon green screen, in flashing yellow letters was the name Alice.

“My name,” Alice explained. “Okay, at least I have a name to call you by. That’s a good one,” she remarked with a small, supportive smile. Alice turned her attention back to the encyclopedia, now, scrolling through pictures and walls of text that flickered on the small holographic device. Andrea resigned with a sigh and turned towards the kitchen, a cramped five-by-five foot space. Standing on her tip toes, she reached for the highest cupboard above the stove. Just as she was reaching for the box she wanted, an explosion of music filled the air! She stumbled backward, caught by surprise and off-guard, as upbeat and catchy music Andrea knew the song anywhere, this song in particular was not only the battle theme for her college but also her high school and in both educational institutions it was played at the beginning and end of the day. Classical music was her least favorite genre and ‘Wannabe’ by the Spice Girls was probably the worst.

Three days of Wannabe would have driven any normal person insane but Alice was very far from normal. The song was not only blasting on every speaker in the ship but also on loop, somehow Alice had programmed the classical piece into everything. Andrea wasn’t sure if it was by accident or on purpose but after the first hour she no longer cared and since then had been trying to shut the damned song off. To her dismay, it was hardwired into the system and would require an expert to remove.

Over the last few hours, Andrea’s thoughts were nothing but song lyrics and her ears had since given up and instead throbbed against her brain. She pushed the ship harder once she saw Marco’s Diner in sight. Her arrival was announced because the song was, also, playing on the frequency she used to communicate. Changing frequencies, something she tried many times over the last few days, failed to work because the song would overpower her force. The only thing Andrea wanted to say to this damned classical song was goodbye.