everyone is born with a little shimmer over their shoulder. it's their soul. the more in tune with yourself you are, the larger and more solid it becomes. people can spend years meditating and accepting ones self to have a little person sitting on their shoulder whispering in their ear over a shared joke.
a young man is our protagonist. he has short brown curls and bright blue eyes. his friends are all older and like to tease him for his baby face, but it's all in good fun. they are busy skipping school one day, running around and causing mischief to old abandoned farmhouses with twinkles on their shoulders. all farming is automated now and the abandoned and crumbling homes of families long gone are all that's left to mark the humans that once spent their life in service of the dirt. people are now expected to study higher calling since they are are capable of intergalactic travel. the closest one could come to farming now was managing the facilities that mine asteroids. large one-man ships that attach to the asteroids, with hundreds of drones scurrying about to hollow out the precious materials and filter the water.
our young man was a few years off from having to decide what to do with his life but understood that his friends did not have high prospects and felt the need to follow in their footsteps. his father had died in an accident when humanity tried to send a beacon into space. humans only got about 5 min worth of proof there was other life out there before it stopped sending info. the young man felt his father had died for nothing. his mother was the personal assistant to some big wig and made sure he was provided for but never had time to connect with her son. it hurt to spend too much time with her anyways as her soul had taken on more of his father's looks as time went on.
the gang of hulagins after getting bored of helping the houses fall apart hiked to the end of the farmland and caught a bus to the next city over. they met up with the girlfriend of one of the leaders of the pack. she had a tattoo of a rose over her right eye, a stick and poke that was already bleeding together. her soul was certainly person shaped but had yet to come into any defining features. they all wanted to go out and as our protagonist was 16, two years away from legal partying age, they told him he could wait for them at her home or head back to their city.
not wanting to take the trip alone he went back to the girlfriend's home and waited. at least that was the plan. there was a sharp sting on the left side of his neck (it is the highest taboo to touch another soul even as unformed and shimmery as his was) and he felt darkness come for him as someone grabbed him and drug him down an alleyway. he tried to struggle but it was no use.
he woke up in a stasis pod. he was on a ship that much was for sure. thoughts of slave traders entered his head. he thought they were stories of ages past, meant to scare children. he didn't know they were real. the klaxton alarm makes its way through his stasis brain and he realizes why he woke up. they were in danger and he was stuck in this pod. freaking out he tries desperately to find a way to open his pod, there is a lever by his foot he manages to kick and out he tumbles into 0 grav. others are sturing and attempting the same. there is a rush to the escape pods. our protagonist due to his small size (he was assured another growth spurt was on the way at his last physical) is able to get ahead of the crowd and grab one of the few pods remaining. just in time as while he looks into the window and sees himself leaving a freighter a missile from an out-of-sight ship explodes the freighter, and knocks out his propulsion systems.
as he tries to restart the systems he sees the ship move into place. a ship like nothing he's seen before, and it moves to take the few escape pods that we're far enough from the blast to still be able to navigate. our young man assumes this was the crew that kidnapped him. he is left floating and after the new ship leaves he is glad he was deemed as worthy as scrap.
this leaves our young man alone, drifting through space, with only his soul as company. he needn't worry about food or water yet. the escape pods recycled all water waste and sustenance pellets had fed greater a man for months at a time. after several days of tinkering and trying to remember half-taught lessons from his father and school lessons he didn't want to pay attention to, he was able to get the thrusters back online.
only once he was done did he notice his soul had become much more than a shimmer, it was forming into a human shape. you could only just see through it. for he had heard a little whisper in his ear. almost a congrats, I knew you could do it. he felt a warm pride and set coordinate to earth. the warm feeling plummeted as the time to destination appeared, 10 years and 72 days.
with nothing else to do, he sat and contemplated his life. and as he did so his soul grew. it grew when he realized his mother was dealing with her grief by overworking and came to accept she never meant to abandon him but it was an effect of a single parent trying to maintain a two-income household style of living. he would have rather she been around more but he understood her reasoning.
his soul grew when he realized his friends had accepted this little kid into their group and did their best to keep him out of their more questionable activities but still made him feel included.
his soul grew silently till it was a fully formed person. a girl with thick ginger waves, a strong hooked nose, and a laugh that sparkled in his ear.
they talk about memories past and she reminds him of details half-forgotten. this comes in handy when various repairs need happening and he curses himself for not being more interested in his studies. his soul comforts him and reminds him he avoided it because he was still processing his father's death and it was okay because she remembered parts of the lessons. they talk of what he had hoped his future would bring when he was on earth and they talked about what they hoped would await them when they got back. they would get back after all. they made up stories and songs together.
it was only once the pod was getting cramped did he note that she was bigger than the standard shoulder size. he did what he could to move the side consoles to the front of the pod so they could sit side by side. it had been close to a year with only the two of them and she was nearly as big and vibrant as a grown human.
close to 6 months later the coms static to life. he has been detected by a miner. they were going to be rescued! when the docking clamps attached he let out a sob he didn't know he was holding back and his soul patted his back reassuringly. "I knew we could do it. I never stopped believing in you."
wide eyes met his as the two stepped onto the airlock. he stumbled due to the cramped conditions not allowing full use of his legs and she caught him.
"I am so sorry, I didn't realize there were two people on board. our sensors only picked up one life sign. we can see what we can do to accommodate the two of you." says the miner. he is a strong, older man, whose eyes are kind, and his soul is a woman who looked to be taking a nap on his shoulder, using his shirt collar as a pillow. our two protagonists did not correct him.
they are taken to the medical chamber and our young man is treated for malnutrition and muscle atrophy. his soul didn't register on any of the scanners. as they were being treated by a medical bot it only made note of his condition, and kept the information to itself. patient Dr confidentiality of course.
when they are done they find their way to the control room. (it wasn't hard as the habitable part of the mining ship was nothing more than sleeping quarters, a kitchen, the medical bay, and the control room. the rest of the ship was dedicated to storing the drones and minerals.) the captain asks about their story and they tell him they were nabbed and woke up nearly outside the inner Jupiter system and their ship was attacked. they managed to escape just in time. the captain is not a slow man and notes that the young woman always stays to the right of the young man, and lets him take the lead on the story, only adding bits to the tail that were important. he doesn't mention that he's never seen a soul that large but figures it's not his place to mention it. it's impolite to interact with another's soul, but figures under the circumstance it might be better to treat it as a shy easily spooked girl. at least until he was informed otherwise by the unusual pair.
the captain let them know that based on the description of the ship it seemed like he had been the first to experience the alien race that had been the scourge of earth for the last year. it started with the mars colonies. by the time earth was able to send reinforcements the colony had been destroyed and many bodies were missing. the aliens had tried to attack earth but fortunately due to the forcefields meant to vaporize incoming asteroids and meatiors the race was held at bay. all ships were now equipped with the same tech. he apologizes about the hardship they have suffered and lets them know he has been sent out for a years rotation and he is 3 months into it. however, they are welcome to send a message to earth and let family know they are safe.
the captain makes sure to set up a message and locks out the mining controls and gives them privacy to make the message after showing them how to send it. he also lets them know it they are unlikely to get a response due to the war, but they should send the message anyways. they send a video to the young man's mother to let her know they are alright. it doesn't dawn on them till later that their mother won't know who his soul is, but hopes she will understand. upon completion, they leave the command room and find the captain doing his best to make a second bed in the medical room out of storage crates and extra sheets.
the next few days are uneventful. they often their assistance to the captain, but he assures them it's a one-man job, but if they want to be useful they can clean up around the place. The captain has enough on his plate that while the habitation deck isn't dirty, there is a layer of dust and grime in the corners.
a routine is set in place. the protagonists clean and prepare the ready meals. the first night the young man nearly cried at the rehydrated mashed potatoes and meatloaf. the captain who was a man not adept at dealing with others' discomfort had made a joke that sustenance pills will do that to you. it was met with two laughs. one wet and the other like a tinkling of wind chimes. they would clean, and when the habitation deck was close to spotless they spent their days learning about the ship and its mechanics. The young man vowed to never let himself miss out on vital information again.
the first night the two tried to sleep in separate beds. the young man in the med bed and his soul to the right on the makeshift crates. it felt wrong, being apart at his most vulnerable, especially after spending a year and a half nearly in each other's lap. they pushed the beds together and spent each night wrapped in each other's embrace.
nearly 6 months into their journey a ship like the one that started this mess tried to attack the mining vessel. true to the captains word the forcefield stopped the ship from boarding, but not from causing harm to the drones on the surface of the asteroid. the captain was able to modify the drilling torpedoes to hit the enemy's ship, they were successful in destroying their target.
The group donned suits and started on repairs, the captain impressed by the duos' knowledge of the drones and ingenuity at using scrap from the alien ship to finish repairs. the rest of the trip was more or less the same. the captain navigating the last of his assigned asteroids, our protagonist duo repairing and then continuing to modify the drones for higher yields to make up for their lost brethren.
at 9 months since getting picked up, the captain lets them know the last job has been completed and it's time to return home. there are several more scuffles with enemy ships on the return trip, but fortunately, due to the modifications minimal cargo is lost. once landed the captain lets them know this will probably be the last time they see each other as his family is on the other side of the planet and this year rotation has earned him two years off. our protagonists give him a long hug. one side is wet with tears and thankful murmurs, and the other feels as though a summer breeze has wrapped around his side. enough of that the captain chides. you'll be okay from here on out. I have full faith in the both of you.
when the airlock opens there is a figure of a woman on the other side. it's the protagonist's mother. she rushes toward the group and swoops her babies in her arms. petting both their hair, happy they are alive. the soul manages to get a small how do you know out before the mother kindly shushes her. I would know my baby and his bright soul anywhere.
