Part 45 - A Bright New Day

 

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Warning: This is adult literature.  If you’re not of a legal age to read this stuff, don’t.

 

Disclaimer: This is a work of pure fiction.  No semblance between the characters described here and real individuals -- living or dead -- is implied or intended.

 

 

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The sun loomed large before her feet, consuming half her field of view.  She turned to face the other girls and was reassured to see their faces calm and resolute.  Vicky had wondered whether they would go along with the deadly decision, but in fact, they had reached the same conclusion even before she had.  She laughed quietly to herself.  They had simply been waiting on Vicky to arrive at the answer on her own.

 

"Hold hands for this?" she asked.

 

And they did, forming a circle as they flew towards the all-consuming brightness.

 

From this distance, the sun was indescribably immense.  A dance in one of the solar flares would have been harmless to her -- enjoyable even.  But the core of the star was a different story.  The pressure in there was enough to shrink a mountain to the size of a marble.  It would destroy anything that entered it -- even her.

 

The thought of going in there scared Vicky at first, and she felt her velocity begin to sag.  But then the picture of Jared came back to her mind.  She imagined him smiling, living life, getting old, dying only in the fullness of time.  These thoughts made her happy inside, gave her new strength.  She felt herself accelerating again.

 

As she flew into the brightness that grew before her, Vicky could not have known many things.  

 

She could not have known that the leaders of the Earth, confronted with the reality of a dangerous universe, would rise to the challenge and enact a global treaty to prohibit deep space transmissions indefinitely.  

 

She could not have known that her hunch would prove correct -- that the aliens, upon receiving no signal from her module or from anything else on Earth, would simply lose track of the planet, and move on to others.

 

She could not have known that Allie, the girl from the train, would grow up to be a strong personality in her own right, inspired and emboldened by the supergirls that saved her.  

 

She could not have known that Alec, Chad and most of all, Jared would all go on to live productive lives, even learn to love again.  She could not have known, even into his old age, the sight of Venus's twinkling string of remains in the evening sky would bring a wistful but happy warmth to Jared's chest, as he thought about his own auburn-haired Goddess of Love, long gone.

 

She could not have known that her name would be taught in high school history classes around the world.  And most of all, she could not have known that nearly every high school teacher would begin these lessons with an introduction on the etymology of her name -- that "Vicky" was simply short for "Victoria", which meant, simply...

 

Victory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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