trans_9 Writing Sample
For a long time, Elisa had dreamed about strolling in the sunshine with Goliath. She’d always been a bit of a night owl - there was a reason why she felt so comfortable on the night shift - but she loved the idea of introducing him to the other world that she inhabited. The daytime world. A world of bright blue skies and natural light rather than electrical light. She wanted to see the expression on his face when he felt the sun on his skin for the first time.
The real sun, that is. The artificial sun that currently bathed the city wasn’t the same, and, since time had no real meaning on the ship, Elisa had no way of knowing whether it was actually daytime or not. She didn’t even have a watch. She’d taken to thinking of the time that Goliath spent as stone - even if it was only six hours at a time - as the day. They’d spent the nights together in Manhattan and it was familiar, if not necessarily comforting, to assume that the same on thing was happening on Stacy.
Dreams would have to wait. Instead, Elisa had decided to return to the media library and try to learn more about the strange new world that she was inhabiting. Tucking her hair behind her ears, the former police detective put aside the book that she’d just finished.
“One down, just …” She paused, glancing around at her surroundings before sighing. “… a few thousand more to go. Great.”
She needed a break. She’d always had a tendency to work too hard and, at the moment, she had so much to wrap her head around that she’d been pushing herself more than ever. A snack might have been nice, if her memories of the unpleasant whatever it was that the ship had served for dinner hadn’t been so clear. Something else, then. Somewhere else.
Maybe the weapons lockers and the armory level? She’d found her beloved leather jacket - something that looked downright bizarre when worn with come kind of catsuit made out of vegetable matter - in the clothing room shortly after arriving, which had been a pleasant surprise, but she still felt underdressed without the familiar weight of her gun at her side. (She’d have loved a pair of jeans too, but they would have been an unnecessary luxury.)
In the absence of a better plan - or any other plan at all, which was an irritating if not necessary a new experience for an NYPD detective who had to learn to think on her feet if she was going to survive on the street - and with Goliath sound asleep, Elisa decided that there was no harm in checking it out.
“Now I just need to find the lockers,” she remarked to herself. The ship was vast in a way that surprised even a resident of New York. “Give me the back streets of Manhattan any day of the week.”
As dark and occasionally dangerous as those streets were, Elisa knew them like the back of her hand. That city - every skyscraper and apartment building and park and theatre and fountain - was her home. It had an ugly side, but she knew how to deal with it. She didn’t know how to deal with the events that she’d been thrown into.
***
Trial and error guided her through the ship and, in the end, trial and error led Elisa to the weapons lockers. Not that she was pleased with what she saw when she got there. If they were going to win this war, they’d need more than swords and semi automatics. Although she did find a nice pistol that reminded her of her old police issue firearm.
“Well, it’s a start. And we all have to start somewhere.”
She looked down at her wrist to check a watch that wasn’t there.
“Jalapena!” she exclaimed, running the hand that she’d raised through her hair. “I’m never going to get used to this.”
She wasn’t sure, but she guessed that it was nearly time for the false sunset. Which meant that it was time to get back to the city.
A lot of other things might have changed, and the city that they protected might be long gone, but Elisa would definitely be there to greet Goliath when he woke up. They’d probably never get that stroll in the sunshine, but, as long as they were together, breakfast in the mess hall would do.
The real sun, that is. The artificial sun that currently bathed the city wasn’t the same, and, since time had no real meaning on the ship, Elisa had no way of knowing whether it was actually daytime or not. She didn’t even have a watch. She’d taken to thinking of the time that Goliath spent as stone - even if it was only six hours at a time - as the day. They’d spent the nights together in Manhattan and it was familiar, if not necessarily comforting, to assume that the same on thing was happening on Stacy.
Dreams would have to wait. Instead, Elisa had decided to return to the media library and try to learn more about the strange new world that she was inhabiting. Tucking her hair behind her ears, the former police detective put aside the book that she’d just finished.
“One down, just …” She paused, glancing around at her surroundings before sighing. “… a few thousand more to go. Great.”
She needed a break. She’d always had a tendency to work too hard and, at the moment, she had so much to wrap her head around that she’d been pushing herself more than ever. A snack might have been nice, if her memories of the unpleasant whatever it was that the ship had served for dinner hadn’t been so clear. Something else, then. Somewhere else.
Maybe the weapons lockers and the armory level? She’d found her beloved leather jacket - something that looked downright bizarre when worn with come kind of catsuit made out of vegetable matter - in the clothing room shortly after arriving, which had been a pleasant surprise, but she still felt underdressed without the familiar weight of her gun at her side. (She’d have loved a pair of jeans too, but they would have been an unnecessary luxury.)
In the absence of a better plan - or any other plan at all, which was an irritating if not necessary a new experience for an NYPD detective who had to learn to think on her feet if she was going to survive on the street - and with Goliath sound asleep, Elisa decided that there was no harm in checking it out.
“Now I just need to find the lockers,” she remarked to herself. The ship was vast in a way that surprised even a resident of New York. “Give me the back streets of Manhattan any day of the week.”
As dark and occasionally dangerous as those streets were, Elisa knew them like the back of her hand. That city - every skyscraper and apartment building and park and theatre and fountain - was her home. It had an ugly side, but she knew how to deal with it. She didn’t know how to deal with the events that she’d been thrown into.
***
Trial and error guided her through the ship and, in the end, trial and error led Elisa to the weapons lockers. Not that she was pleased with what she saw when she got there. If they were going to win this war, they’d need more than swords and semi automatics. Although she did find a nice pistol that reminded her of her old police issue firearm.
“Well, it’s a start. And we all have to start somewhere.”
She looked down at her wrist to check a watch that wasn’t there.
“Jalapena!” she exclaimed, running the hand that she’d raised through her hair. “I’m never going to get used to this.”
She wasn’t sure, but she guessed that it was nearly time for the false sunset. Which meant that it was time to get back to the city.
A lot of other things might have changed, and the city that they protected might be long gone, but Elisa would definitely be there to greet Goliath when he woke up. They’d probably never get that stroll in the sunshine, but, as long as they were together, breakfast in the mess hall would do.