Rise of a Valkyrie

Part 36

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"So, Kayla," Christie said with a smile. "When can we expect you to lead one of these sessions?"

"Oh no." Kayla raised her hands defensively. "I'm not wasting my time on those kinds of texts. I mean, you girls had some great insights, but I had a peek at Plato. Thousands and thousands of pages of inane nonsense—I can't deal with that."

"Oh cool, so you'll just ride along, letting us do all the work?" Thandi asked.

"I appreciate the stuff you've dug out on the history of authoritarianism," said Kayla, "but I'm not reading about the definition of 'the good' for two hours. I have better things to do."

"It's understandable you wouldn't want to touch Plato with a stick; his work is quite impenetrable," said Christie. "But there are some rather engaging epic poems—"

Kayla waved a hand. "Ancient drivel. Completely meaningless to today's reality. People need a kick in the backside to stay focused on life's real problems."

"Pray, enlighten us," said Christie. "How did the great philosopher Kayla Barnes arrive at this epiphany?"

"Sure. I remember when I was seven, it was late afternoon on a Sunday, and I saw the shadows start to move." Kayla's voice grew detached, as her eyes fixated on the cieling.

"I looked up," she continued, "and I thought someone had plucked the sun out of the sky and had thrown it at me—it was moving so fast, coming right down on top of us. I checked some meteor stats when I was older; this one probably travelled a hundred and fifty miles in ten seconds."

Thandi inhaled sharply. "Lord have mercy."

"Because I'm a complete dumbass I thought, like, am I supposed to catch this?" Kayla chuckled. "But then it got so bright I had to look away, and the air was really hot too, like a sauna. Then it winked out, and everyone was just kind of staring up at this immense cloud."

"An airburst?" Christie asked.

"Right—it exploded probably fifteen miles up. But one guy took off running through the town screaming at everyone to get away from the windows, and—again, dumbass here—I turned to my Dad and said 'why is he so mad?' But he pushed me to the ground and got on top of me, and then all the windows just exploded. Um... then after the first big bang you could hear dozens of smaller thunderclaps, almost like being at a shooting range—they just went on and on."

"The sonic booms of the fireball," Christie explained.

"Right. Oh, and we all got sunburn too, so that was fun." Kayla stared at her fingernails for a moment. "So...you don't... matter. The universe will paste you against the rock in a heartbeat and forget you in the next. The meaning of life? Get your community through to tomorrow. If you have time to sit around reading about the timeless love of two losers, then you should probably get off your ass and do something more constructive."

There was a thoughtful silence, and Kayla noticed Rose staring at her with a suspicious expression.

"Kayla," said Christie, "I really appreciate you sharing that experience and I think you certainly have a valuable perspective. That being said, I might allow you to flesh out your thesis a little bit more before I toss out humanity's vast collection of art and philosophy."

"You are very brave," Thandi said quietly.

Kayla laughed. "No, I don't think so. I just try not to get worked up about things I can't control. I don't always succeed though. But I mean all these planets under human control—people died to colonize all of them. Landing on an uninhabited world and trying to set up civilization in the face of all the elements against you is incredibly dangerous. This is the sacrifice our worlds are built on."