The Butterfly Effect

Posted on Thu May 28th, 2020 @ 11:11pm by Commander Temperance Zachary

Mission: Episode 03: "Interlude"
Timeline: Day 1 at 0000

The recall orders had been issued. The crew had 24 hours to complete shore leave and return to the Vesta for departure, and Temperance fully intended to make the most of what time she had left, which was why she was now sitting on the edge of a wooden pier, feet dangling in the cold water beneath her as she savoured the feel of the warm sun beating down on her and the soft breeze across her face.

In some ways, the sheer innocence of the moment made her almost feel like she was a child again, like she was still carefree, secluded in a world vastly different from where they were now. There were many, many days in her childhood spent doing just this, sitting on the jetty with her feet in the water, talking to friends about their futures.

The life she was living now was not even a fantasy, indeed, they had much simpler needs and desires. That was, she supposed, what lack of education did to the human mind. You can never want what you never know about.

She sighed, shifting her foot and watching the rippling effects of the water. You can never want what you never know about. It was hard to believe that that one fact, those fewer than ten words were also the entire reason she would be eternally isolated from her childhood. She would never be able to return to Eldheim, or speak to those she grew up with. There would be no tearful reunions filled with hugs and talk of happy memories, no sharing in the lives of those she loved first.

Oh, she had her Aunt and Uncle. She knew that they would always be there for her, and she looked forward to a great many tearful reunions when she finally made her way back to Starbase 412, but it wasn't quite the same.

Though, in reality, that was probably a good thing. Temperance frowned as she contemplated the thought of her childhood friends trying to understand the world she lived in now. A world where you could snap your fingers and have anything you wanted, where people worked because they wanted to, not because they had to. A world where there was ready access to medical attention and pestilence was basically unheard of.

How different her life could have been if she had grown up in this world instead. Not that her childhood could in any way be considered bad. They studied hard and played hard. They did chores, helped the adults within the village and earned their keep. They learned to work as a community, to grow as a community, and because of that they forged strong bonds, bonds that she had thought would never be broken. Oh, how wrong she was. One act of fate took changed her future, in a way she had never believed may have been possible.

But how different would her life have been if they had had ready access to quality health care. Her parents would likely never have died and her path may have been very different. Of course, if she had grown up with ready access to quality health care and the other technological wonders so many took for granted today, chances would also be that her dreams at the age of fourteen would have been much more than growing up and being a wife and mother.

She moved her foot again, watching as the swirls formed around her, only this time a flicker of movement from the corner of her eye caught her attention. "Kismet," she murmured with a smile as she watched the butterfly land on the jetty next to her. She held her hand out carefully and watched as the small creature gracefully moved onto her outstretched palm before spreading it's wings slowly, displaying an incredible array of colours.

The butterfly seemed to stretch in the palm of her hand, giving her a show before it flew away gracefully. Temperance smiled, the sound of her Father's voice echoing in her mind. "Watch it Temperance, watch and remember. All it takes is one flap of a butterfly's wings to immeasurably change the world."

She watched as the butterfly arced and swooped through the air in front of her before disappearing, a small smile playing across her lips as she stood up and started walking along the jetty and onto the grassy park at the shore, admiring the feel of the grass on her bare feet and the perfumed scent of the flowers surrounding her.

Take only memories, leave only footprint, for removing even the smallest grain of sand will have an unquantified change.

In the greater universe, she was as inconsequential as the smallest grain of sand, yet her removal from her sheltered beginning brought her unquantifiable change. That, was what how her story had begun.