End of an Era (Project Chrysalis Book 2), John Gold [ebook reader online txt] 📗

each other for a couple years, and I don’t think we’ll see each other again, so I wanted to say goodbye.”

“You…you don’t get it. She’s manipulating you and the attention you pay me. She thinks I’m supposed to just talk with everyone, all of my peers.”

“You never said anything about that,” Galboa replied with a frown, though he isn’t angry.

The loathing I’ve been holding in starts to burst out. It’s been two years since the last time I cried, and here I go again.

“It hurts, and I hate talking with other people.” Tears flow down my cheeks, the grief is bitter in my mouth, and the lump in my throat hurts. “They’re idiots, ignorant fools who hurt other people because they were hurt first. It took everything I had just to explain the simplest ideas to them. Do you have any idea how painful it was to be in that hole? To feel your weakness in the middle of the crowd? Every last one of them would be happy to boost their self-confidence by beating me up. I know I’m a kid, I know how smart I am, and that just makes it worse! They’re evil and stupid, cruel and weak. I felt like I was at home in the space port. I’d more call it home than the orphanage. I did nasty work, feeling happy because you two were there. My home is where the people I care about are. I realized that when it hit me how much I missed you and the crew. And now, Eliza has ruined everything.”

“I didn’t do anything. You made that decision yourself,” the psychologist replied, shrugging demonstratively.

So, being a psychologist means you have to be completely heartless?

“Hm,” I say, swallowing and looking around. “The last time we talked, I said how I wasn’t going to bite on your little games anymore. Neither Galboa nor Finx mean anything to me now, and that’s all thanks to you. Goodbye, Galboa; see you, Finx. I’m glad I was able to see you before leaving for the colony.” It hurts just to look at them, knowing that I’ll never see them again.

“Take care of yourself.”

Vaalsie walks me over to the aerocar, an odd grimace on his face, and sends it flying to the space port. His job is to get me to the shuttle and make sure that I reach my destination. Once that’s done, he’s no longer considered my guardian.

As we fly along the track to the space port in the aerocar, all the wonderful memories come flooding back. It was here that I learned more than I had in my whole life before. Galboa was a good teacher, and Finx was a friend, but I’m never going to make that mistake again… I’m never going to get myself in a situation where the people I care about can be used against me. Eliza is starting to disgust me. I’m never going to talk with her again. Not even in the game!

After Vaalsie gets me settled in the shuttle, he looks at me reproachfully.

“You don’t have anything to worry about, Supervisor Vaalsie. I have never told anyone about the things you get up to. It wouldn’t have done me any favors.”

“You went so long without talking, and now you’re talking like this.” Vaalsie shakes his head. “Do you actually realize that you’re being transferred to another colony?”

“Sure. I guessed so, based on the shuttle, but you’re fine. You did a wonderful job as supervisor and never once broke etiquette. The same is true of the rules, and you’re the only one who knows about your contracts.”

Vaalsie looks at me, and it’s only now that I see how haggard and old he looks. His usual bearing, the glint in his eye are gone, and all I see is an old man decommissioned to supervise an orphanage.

“Supervisor Vaalsie, you really should sign up for a rejuvenation course or, at least, some supportive care.”

“If you only knew how much that costs,” the old man laughs. “Good luck, Anji Ganet.”

“Thanks, Supervisor Vaalsie.”

I even feel bad for him. I’ve spent so many years suffering from his tricks, and only now see how difficult his life with the orphans has been. The shuttle takes off, leaving him standing there watching sadly as we gain altitude.

Goodbye, Vaalsie.

***

Eliza flew off in an aerocar with Galboa and Finx, her mind preoccupied by a number of different things. For just a short conversation, there had been quite a few unpleasantries packed into it. Galboa decided to break the silence.

“Miss Donovan, thanks for telling us about Anji’s transfer. I haven’t seen him since my recovery, and I wasn’t able to thank him. It’s been so long that even Finx had almost forgotten about him.”

“You wanted to thank him? He was only able to work in the space port thanks to you.”

“Oh, that’s nothing. After my accident,” Galboa continued, pointing at his right arm, “I was sent to a free hospital. They restored me and stuck engineering implants in my wrist, but I wasn’t earning anything. Somebody sent me money from an anonymous account, just about the same as what I would have earned in that month and a half, and that had to be Anji. I couldn’t return the money. I didn’t have any back then. I wanted to return it now, though, since it’s Anji. He remembers every debt, down to the last penny. But that’s not how it turned out. He didn’t want to listen.”

Eliza didn’t understand the situation or why Ganet was so resolute. He was a child, he’d adopted the crew as his family, and she had tried to use that against him. Ever since the conversation in the cafeteria, Anji had been more afraid for them than he was for himself. He, a child, had looked after the people around him. He’d cared for them