The universe is ever-expanding. Rich with history, culture, races, and most of all stories. trillions of trillions of living beings and the fantastic stories of their lives from beginning to end. My eyes see them all as well as the vastness of the universe that has yet to be discovered by any life and everything beyond. All of these stories, all of this space, my eyes see all and yet… I keep coming back to these three people in this small sloop of a spaceship. Why?
This former soldier, Rayvin Stardust, a good-for-nothing pirate, Wolph S. Hill, and a psychic named Twarp Disembrest have little to no meaning in the grand scheme of everything. They aren’t particularly special, they’re hardly worth anything, and they don’t even know I exist. Though they never fail to catch my attention somehow.
The first time I noticed them, they were imprisoned together in the same cell block of a prison stationed in orbit around Mars. Their cells were all lined up along the same wall in a small niche tucked away in the darkest reaches of the prison. Wolph, the pirate, began singing an old sailing song to pass the time. Twarp bored out his mind, joined in too.
“Could you two stop that?” Rayvin said to them sternly, “I’m trying to sleep.”
“Oh, sorry,” Twarp quickly apologized, “I’ll stop now.”
“I won’t!” Wolph chuckled, “You’ll have to sleep some other time, lady.”
“It’s lights out time!” Rayvin nagged, “We’re not even allowed to talk to each other. So stop it.”
“Then why are you talking?”
“I- y- because you-”
“I- you- I-” Wolph mocked her.
“Just stop talking!” she yelled.
“I don’t want to.”
There was silence for several moments.
“What do you have against singing anyway, huh lady?” Wolph asked, sitting up in his bed, "You hate fun or something?"
"Not at all," Rayvin sat up too, "But I respect the rules. They're there for a reason and it'll be better for us and society as a whole if we follow them. If possible, I'd like to encourage others to follow the rules too."
"Okay, so you hate fun."
"How is breaking the rules any fun?"
"It's fun because I get to have fun instead of being a sap. Besides, no one's keeping an eye on us right now anyway and it’s just the three of us in this little nook of the prison. Who's gonna know we’re talking?"
"He makes a good point," Twarp added, "I don’t think all the rules are worth following."
"Yeah, that's probably why you're both in here," Rayvin groaned.
"Sorry but… wouldn't that mean you're also here for the same reason?"
“Eh-”
“BAHAHAHA!” Wolph chuckled, “He’s got you there! This is a pretty heavy-duty prison too, so it must’ve been something real bad!”
“Well, you really seem to care about the rules…” Twarp sounded a bit concerned, “What did you do?”
“Hehe, yeah. I’m curious too. Tell us about your war crimes!”
“Shut up…” Rayvin muttered quietly.
“That again?” Wolph was getting frustrated, “C’mon, I told you I wanna talk! Whatever we’ve done is beyond talking anyway.”
“I told you to shut up.”
Twarp got nervous, “Oh uh, it’s ok, you don’t have to say if you don’t want. Maybe we should just leave it alone and go to slee-”
“No!” Wolph shouted, “She thinks she can act all high and mighty about the rules when we’re all in the same place right now! I want to know what she’s done that she thinks makes her better than us!”
“B-but-”
“Zip it, guy! I’m talking to the girl now!” Wolph got up and pressed his hands against the glass of his cell aggressively with an angry grin on his face, “What did you do, huh? Tell me!”
“I SAID SHUT THE HELL UP! I DON’T WANT TO THINK ABOUT IT ANYMORE!” Rayvin’s words seemed to echo in the silence that followed her anger. The two men were startled and shaken, their lips seemingly muted by the young woman’s voice. Wolph, who had previously refused to shut up, ceased speaking and lay in his bed until morning. Twarp tried to sleep, but couldn’t help thinking about what had happened.
***
The next day in the mess hall, Twarp got his food, sat down at a table, and began eating. He found himself surprised at how good it tasted and that no one was bothering him at all. In all the 2 months he had been there he had never had such a pleasant meal.
“Psst, guy,” A familiar voice whispered in his ear. He turned to look and saw it was Wolph. He’d only ever heard Wolph’s voice from his cell, so he never got a good look at him before. Wolph was tall and slender with black curly hair and a scar on his right eye. He was scary but gave off a strange sense of confidence, “What’s your name, guy?”
“Huh? It’s uh… Twarp.”
“You’ve got a weird name, guy. I’m Wolph.”
“Like the Earth animal?”
“No, like my name. Spelled with a 'Pee aightch', got it?”
“Uh… ok?”
“Say, I got a deal for you, guy. You in or out?”
“What do you mean, ‘deal’?”
“What do you think, guy?! A way out!”
“R-really?!”
“Yes, but keep it down. You’ve got something you want, I’m sure. Something you want that you can't get in here, right?”
“Of course…”
“As do I. This plan of mine is a sure thing as long as the guards don’t know about it. I just need someone who can fly a ship, and I heard you were locked up for getting yourself in a dogfight with some ‘Saints’. Is it true?”
“Yes, that’s true, but I lost.”
“That’ll have to do. We both benefit from this, and I trust you can keep it secret.”
“I can. I won’t tell a soul!”
“Good! Well, this ship has three living quarters… so you could tell one soul if there’s anyone here you’d like to bring along. I’m not telling anyone other than you, of course, I haven’t talked much to anyone else here. Just make sure whoever you pick is someone who won’t blab!”
“Got it!”
“Alright, meet me during free time, I’ll be in the bathrooms where there’s no surveillance,” Wolph proceeded to leave, but not without taking Twarp’s bread from his tray.
“H-hey!” Twarp shouted, but he was already too far away, “Ugh…”
Rayvin got her meal and looked around for a place to sit. She spots Twarp sitting alone and after a moment of consideration, chose to sit across from him. The first thing Twarp noticed about her as she sat down was her bright yellow eyes. Then her long wavy black hair, speckled with strange white spots. Almost as if he was looking at twin stars floating majestically in the deep, yet sparkly, vastness of space. It made him extremely nervous and fidgety.
“Hello,” She said with a slight smile.
“Huh? Um… hi…” he avoided making eye contact.
“Hm? Your voice sounds familiar.”
“It does?”
“Yeah, I think we’re in the same cell block together. You’re um… Twarp Disembrest, prisoner 421!”
“You know my name… AND, my prisoner number?”
“Of course, I made it an effort to remember everyone’s name and number. Is that weird?”
“Uh…” Twarp really didn’t want to tell her yes.
“Y- yes…” But he did.
Ravin only looked at him, then down at her food, “You’re probably right.”
"Not that that's a bad thing...! But it's... uh..." Twarp paused and felt awkward, “So what’s you’re… uh… the um… what are you…”
“What?”
“Th- the thing you’re called…”
“My name?”
“Y- yes.”
“Tra- uh, Rayvin Stardust, number 352.”
“What was that first part?”
“Nothing, I stuttered.”
“It’s okay, I do that too.”
“I noticed," she said with a giggle, "You weren’t stuttering this much last night.”
“Uh, well- I have trouble talking to… it’s um- I can’t- girls…”
“Ohhh, say no more, I understand. I used to have trouble talking to the men from my… uh, place… that… I’m from…”
“Where’s that?”
“I’d rather not say…”
“Ah- something to do with why you’re here?”
“Yes.”
Twarp found her to be intriguing, yet intimidating. Rayvin didn’t think too much of him, but she enjoyed his company. They continued to talk while eating their lunch until it was their free time. As they walked together out of the mess hall, Twarp stopped. He then asked her a question. At the time he thought it was strange he would ask her, but it just made sense to him for some reason.
“Say… is there… something you want?”
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