Christmas Day
Cas’shya woke up excited for the day ahead. She had a whole slew of carefully crafted Christmas plans that she was itching to unleash on the ship. But as she blearily got up, she noticed something odd. A lump of wool by her door. As she approached it, her door opened, and just outside was another piece of wool, and another further down again.
Elias, what is he up to…
Donning her red cloak, she started to follow. The ship was eerily quiet given the day it was. Eventually the trail of wool ended up at the door to a room she knew well. The simulation room. As she walked in, she was greeted by a wondrous sight. Where she would normally have expected the clear pale walls and domed ceiling, there was instead a perfect representation of an aurora.
Stood in the middle of the room was Elias, looking up at the shimmering waves as they fluttered above. Bathed in their glowing light. She gently walked up.
“It’s wonderful!” She exclaimed. Elias, pretending to notice her for the first time, looked down surprised.
“Ah, there you are. Yes, it is rather good isn’t it. And that’s not all it can do.” Picking up the small console for the simulation room, he began to key in some new data. The waves of Aurora above shifted and seemed to run in reverse.
“I had to ask for some help with this, technology is not my strongest suit after all. But reading your archives made me think about this thing that you rabbits can feel, the strings, this way you are able to sense the energy of the world around you…” He pressed a final key on the pad and the aurora stopped as if put on pause. They were a deep crimson colour and seemed quite aggressive. Cas’shya looked up, confused at the distinctly sad looking ripples, feeling as though something was not quite right with them.
“We cannot sense the strings, but we do have sensors all over the ship recording everything from people’s heartbeats to the specific temperature of a room. This represents November 30th. Four months into this journey, and people are already tense, scared and feeling quite alone and separated from the world they used to know.”
Elias went back to the pad, and the aurora started to shimmer again.
“I have mapped that data, over time, onto an Aurora, so we can see how the ship is feeling through the month of December.”
The aurora was still quite red, but in one corner it started to grow a nice golden hue, frantic and alive with energy.
“That, if you haven’t realised already, is you.” He said, pointing at the tonal shift. In its wake the aurora started to change colour bit by bit. Sometimes purple. “Purple represents frustration.” Elias commented. Cas’shya was tempted to be affronted by that, but soon areas of purple turned pink and then green. “Pink is usually associated with joy and laughter, and green, well, that is contentment.”
The aurora played on through the days, and slowly but surely the frantic gold converted the whole aurora into a deep glowing green colour, replete with pink highlights. Only one bit lingered in the red spectrum, changing much more slowly as it passed through the colour wheel: Red, orange, pink, and then slowly green as well.
Suddenly the aurora slowed and gracefully lapped and waved against a simulated night sky, much more gentle, transformed almost completely.
“And this,” said Elias, “Is the present moment. What an astounding difference don’t you think? I wonder what could have caused such a transformation of the entire ship’s mood aye.” He smiled warmly at her and gave her a cheeky wink.
Cas’shya stifled a small sob of gratitude.
“Why are you cutting onions, Elias, right now in the loveliest of moments” She smiled back at him, her eyes wet with tears.
She looked back up at the Aurora again and let it wash over her. A growing pattern of green and pink was cresting through it and seemed to be converging. Before she could realise what it was, a hand rested on her shoulder, it was Anya, her friend from engineering, and behind her were another 20-30 crew members. Orion and Jun’ip included. People she had basically spent the last 25 days torturing with her particular brand of festive spirit, all smiling warmly at her.
***
That evening, Cas’shya had the best Christmas she had enjoyed in quite a while. Her carefully laid plans were triggered and enjoyed by all, if sometimes in mock surprise, but in return they had a fantastic meal underneath the aurora, her aurora. They played music, they chatted and laughed, and they started to feel like a family for the first time.
But by far her favourite moment was seeing Elias, her new friend, come out of his shell. Donning a father Christmas suit and the fake woollen beard she had made for him, playing the role of the jolly gentleman admirably. His final parting gift, a small red scarf which he had sewn into a nicely made little collar that went around her neck perfectly. Stitched into the seam was her name, and the word Lumi.
The end of the Aurora Archives 2025
Thank you for reading, and coming on this journey with me.
To see the whole series. Click the link below. 👇
