Lost Souls by Shawn Keys

Author:Shawn Keys [Keys, Shawn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: sort1
Publisher: ISBN Canada
Published: 2021-06-15T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

It was grim labor indeed that took the crew of survivors over three days to complete.

The remainder of the first day and the entire next were spent bringing the dead up to the hangar or onto the flat deck, whichever was closest. The depressing duty might have taken longer, but despite James’ warning, they all worked late into both nights, seeming desperate to be done with it. There was no joy in it. No sense of a hard day’s work done well. Only the effort done with as much respect as they could manage as they struggled to move the corpses down the narrow corridors, up the elevators and out into the open air.

The second full day was nearly as bad. They worked together to strip enough metal, sandbags or other heavy objects to weight down the bodies. It was going to be days before they left behind the other two ships. The last thing any of them wanted was to watch their fallen bobbing beside the ship, bloating in the sun and being consumed by the sea life. The labor of lugging materials up to the bodies wasn’t quite as bad. However, the task of affixing the weight to the people and saying quick prayers in their various traditions before pushing them into the ocean was extremely difficult. They had no time for full ceremonies, so they each did what they could.

It was no surprise James heard Eshaal whispering supplications to Allah. She didn’t wear any traditional head coverings, making her what he assumed was a progressive in her faith, but she spoke her funeral offerings in Arabic.

Equally of no surprise was Mahathi’s prayers in Hindi. Her smooth, flowery voice made the words sound beautiful, even if he didn’t know the meaning of them. From what he could gauge of her body language, she intended the words with sincerity even if she was not the deepest communicant in her faith.

Neither Hsu nor Su-Bin demonstrated any religious conviction. From what James knew of communist countries, such beliefs were actively discouraged except when melded with images and support of the state. In that same vein, they seemed to confine themselves to thanking the dead for their service.

James was not overly religious himself, though he had an agnostic respect for what he saw as an unknown power behind the world that he had yet to define. Whatever the true reason for their ambivalence, he appreciated their methods. They were… respectful. He respected that in turn.

Yelena used the same tactic, though he had learned in past conversations that her beliefs ran far more deliberately toward atheism. She wasn’t obnoxious about it, but as with many scientists, she wasn’t willing to believe in anything without proof. Not mocking the others for their traditions, she quietly went about giving her own thanks for the dead’s service before committing them over the side.

Allonia offered up her prayers in the Jewish tradition. Like the others, she spoke in her native tongue while not delving into deep rituals.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.