Leaving Eternity part I

For my wife, who dreamed it.

Eternity city was easy to get lost in. Although N65443-LS (portal class) was 1 kilometre on a side, the layout was designed to be deceiving. There were several distinct portions of town laid out roughly in quadrants, but all of the streets had bends in them and intertwined in three dimensions. It was on one of these streets in quadrant 2 that Darienne lived and spent her days.

Darienne always presented a sad and forlorn face to the city of Eternity. Many of the passengers on the ship would suffer from depression or malaise despite the efforts to break up the boredom of the trip. However, Darienne had been depressed since boarding and during some of the yearly events and celebrations when most other passengers would divert themselves and be happy.

Her best friend and neighbour, Farlene was always cheerful and would attempt to cure Darienne of her dour mood. Farlene was Darienne's mother's best friend and it had been a pleasant coincidence they had met on this transport trip. Farlene had immediately arranged for their house assignments to be arranged next to each other. She had not met her friend's daughter until this trip but was excited to have a built-in connection (no matter how distant) in the city.

Darienne would nevertheless refuse to cheer up. Through a series of conversations over the months and years, Farlene had managed to make out that Darienne had left the home planet on aboard Eternity so that she could pursue her love for a mysterious stranger. Darienne never explained if the man lived in Eternity, or if he was already ahead at the new planet waiting for her. Even if that were the case, as Falene surmised, why was Darienne so sad when she should actually be excited and happy to meet up with him when the arrived?

The captain of the ship, California, was a strong burly man who spoke slowly and decisively. Whenever he made televised announcements of Eternity's progress or of upcoming city events, Darienne did seem to lighten her mood considerably. California was known as a hands-on manager and he often met with people in Eternity, sitting on various chairmanship meetings and neighbourhood improvement projects. He was also the final executive administrator of the ship and city, meaning that he was a kind of unelected president.

He often liked to visit quadrant 2 although his staffers never quite understood why he liked to spend time in that lower-class section. Like Darienne, California was often moody and slightly depressed. Although he enjoyed himself at public events and put on a bright face, he would often sit in his captain's chair and stare at a screenvid holding the picture of a woman he had once known. Everyone assumed it was his wife or daughter although he never spoke of her.