The Lost Wreck of the Spero

by Nemo West

Table of Contents

Chapter 8: Home

Fireworks sparked and crackled across the sky, and the crowd on Dante’s patio cheered. The first crop of grapes grown in Etruria’s freshly cleansed atmosphere had just been harvested. That meant the winery was officially back in operation following a temporary closure during the planet’s detoxification. “Forever You” played to commemorate the occasion, and everyone shouted along with the song they all loved to hate - a cathartic reclamation of both their home and their unique local culture.

The festivities tonight delivered a hopeful sense that everything was returning to normal. New Tuscany had weathered a dangerous storm and proven resilient. Life under the bright orange Tyrrhenian sun would endure.

Things were different now, of course. After Sam, Chelle, and Triss contacted the Terra Nova corporation to report the Spero’s discovery, a full Colonial investigation had resulted in the arrest of Deak’s entire family. Their removal had provided enormous relief to a population tyrannized by exorbitant rents and constant financial bullying from the colony’s wealthiest clan.

During the investigation, the amrathyte had also been recovered, and Terra Nova had taken the rare step of doubling their legally mandated finder’s fee. In part, they’d granted this exceptional reward out of gratitude; with the termination of their salvage rights approaching in less than a year, they’d been just months away from receiving absolutely nothing from the famous lost shipwreck. However, corporations are rarely generous of their own free will, and the most significant factor behind this gesture had been public pressure following Sam, Chelle, and Triss’s appearance on a popular news program.

The distinguished anchor, Chanton Benning, had made Chelle’s favorite fantasy come true when he interviewed her about the Spero’s discovery. An armchair enthusiast of the ship’s legend, his demeanor did indeed crack with astonishment as Chelle told the tale, to her immense delight. Moreover, her account brought widespread attention to Etruria’s plight. As the story gained traction, publicity-conscious stockholders at Terra Nova realized they couldn’t simply leave their benefactors’ homeworld to be destroyed by a volcano.

The atmosphere scrubbers were installed with several months to spare, and soon New Tuscany flourished as never before. All the media attention also inspired a new wave of tourism. Old explorers and treasure hunters returned to Etruria to finally see the famous ship they’d never been able to find. Excavated from the marsh by Terra Nova but completely inoperable, the derelict freighter had been left on the outskirts of New Tuscany where it instantly became the colony’s most popular tourist attraction.

The patio at Dante’s overlooked the field where the Spero now stood, and the fireworks sparkling overhead that night occasionally revealed its silhouette. The winery had opened its cellars to supply tonight’s celebration and, after a shift helping her mother at the bar, Chelle finally scooped three wineglasses between her fingers, grabbed a bottle of chilled Vermentino, and made her way to her trio’s old booth. Sam and Triss were waiting for her between the stout brick pizza oven and the faded plastic oleander. Through the open patio doors, they could still see the fireworks, but they found it easier to hold a conversation away from the wine-lubricated hubbub of the crowd outside.

After Chelle handed out glasses and poured a generous round, everyone raised their drinks. “To the grand reopening,” she declared.

“To the legend that made it possible,” Sam replied.

“To home!” Triss added with a smile. After months of tissue regeneration around a nanoframe scaffold, she was able to hold her wineglass tonight in a fully restored hand.

The three friends then toasted and shared a long, deep drink. As they set down their glasses, a warm autumn breeze drifted in from the patio. The air carried the familiar scents of Etruria’s pollen and pastures which, on some deep, limbic level, just smelled like home.

“Well,” Chelle said as she swirled her wine, “it looks like we saved the world, guys.” Then she grinned. “How does it feel?”

Triss had already had a few glasses of wine and was drifting on a very pleasant buzz. She giggled, “I’m not going to lie. It feels pretty damn good.”

“It does, doesn’t it?” Chelle replied. “Being a hometown hero’s not so bad.”

“No, ma’am!” Triss agreed with a broad, unguarded grin. “Not bad at all.”

Sam leaned forward and cocked an eyebrow. “So, you guys are happy? Everything worked out, and we’re all good now?”

Triss planted a slightly unsteady hand on Sam’s shoulder. “Yes, we’re all good, Sammy. So, so good!”

“Well, I’m really glad to hear that,” Sam said. Then his expression shifted, and a twinge of apprehension pinched his features. “And I don’t want to spoil the moment or anything, but there’s something I need to tell you guys.”

“What is it?” Chelle asked.

Sam drew a deep breath. “I’m... going away for a while.”

Chelle and Triss glanced at each other and then back at Sam.

“What do you mean?” Triss asked. “Where are you going?”

“And why?” Chelle added.

Sam shrugged. “Well, I’ve basically spent my whole life exploring Toboso Marsh.” He swirled his wine absently. “And it taught me that... well, that’s who I am: I’m an explorer. But now that we’ve found the Spero” — his face crinkled with an apologetic frown — “there’s really nothing left on Etruria for me to do.”

Chelle cocked her head. “But I thought the whole reason you wanted to find the Spero was so that the three of us could go back to hanging out again, like we used to.”

Sam nodded. “And that’s what I thought I wanted. But now that I finally have you guys back in my life... I can see that there’s something else I want, too.” He glanced through the open patio doors at the night sky, still lit by shimmering pyrotechnic fountains. “There’s a whole galaxy full of lost places and legends out there.” An eager grin dimpled his cheek. “And I want to go explore it!”

“Wow.” Chelle hunched her brow. “Then, you’re... leaving.”

“Well, not like tomorrow or anything,” Sam replied. “But yes. I’m leaving. Next month I’m headed to a planet called Vega Delta. The first colonists there all vanished during a solar storm eighty years ago, and no one’s ever been able to figure out what happened to them. I can’t wait to dig into that legend!” Then his expression sobered. “But before I go, there’s something else I want to say to both of you.”

“What’s that?” Triss asked.

“I’m sorry,” Sam said somberly.

“You are?” Triss blinked. “For what?”

He turned to her. “Triss, I should have taken your hints a lot sooner, back when we were teenagers. You weren’t interested in me, but I wouldn’t let go of my crush and... it turned your own homeworld into a place you didn’t want to be.”

“Oh, Sam, that was far more because of Deak than you,” Triss assured.

“But part of it still was because of me. I did things that made you not want to be here, things that made you not want to be my friend anymore, and I need to take responsibility for that.” He sighed. “I’m truly sorry. From now on, please consider my crush cancelled. Having you in my life as a friend is far more important to me.”

Triss slowly nodded. “Thank you, Sam. That... really means a lot.”

He returned her nod, and then he faced Chelle. “And I need to apologize to you, too.”

Chelle balked. “Y-you do?”

He squirmed uncomfortably and struggled to admit, “I was a confused, nervous kid when you offered to share something with me, something that took me completely by surprise.” He fidgeted with his hands. “I can only imagine how much courage it took for you to make that offer, to make yourself so vulnerable; and... I’m sorry for the way I reacted.”

Sam hung his head. “I didn’t mean to be cruel, but the first thought that came to my mind was, ‘What if Triss finds out about this?’ So, I got scared and rejected you, because I was afraid Triss might reject me if I didn’t. It was stupid, and I could see in your eyes how much it hurt you.”

He wriggled his shoulders anxiously. “After it happened, I didn’t know what to do about it, how to make things right or if I even could. I could try to deflect now and say I was caught up in a toxic crush on someone else back then, or that I was dealing with all sorts of doubt and self-loathing from being a chubby kid who’s always been different from everyone else.” He shook his head. “But all that matters right now is that I hurt you, and I need to own that. I do, and I’m so, so sorry for it.” He met her eye. “All this time, I’ve really missed having you as my friend.”

Chelle’s cheeks flushed, but she couldn’t easily find words to respond this unexpected confession. She vividly recalled all the anger, shame, and seemingly bottomless depression that had followed Sam’s rejection the night she’d propositioned him, at the fragile-frantic age of eighteen. That rejection had overshadowed the past decade of her life, informing who she thought she was and how undesirable she’d believed she was.

For years afterward, she’d fantasized about what she might say to Sam at a moment like this, how she might tell him off or lash out, describing all the ways she’d carried the pain from his rejection ever since. Yet his apology revealed that he’d just been a confused teenage boy, preoccupied with his own troubles and caught off guard by her proposal. He’d never meant to inflict the pain that he had. As she wrestled with how to reply to him, she fidgeted with the base of her wineglass, shifting it like a chess-piece on the checker-patterned tabletop.

“There are a lot of things I’ve always wanted to say to you about that night,” she finally began. “But your apology just now kind of ambushes me. Suddenly being put on the spot like this, it’s not easy to think and might not remember everything I want you to hear.” Then she sighed. “Which is probably a lot like the way you must have felt when I ambushed you with my proposition all those years ago.” She let her shoulders slump and looked up at Sam. “Now, I guess I know how it feels to be caught off guard by something so heavy.”

“Then take your time,” Sam assured. “Think things over and tell me what you want me to hear when you’re ready.”

Chelle shook her head. “I think I already have, Sam. I’ve held you at arm’s length ever since that night. But to hear you tell me now that you’ve missed my friendship means I’ve been punishing you this whole time by withholding it.” Seeing him in a new light, she realized, “All those years you spent looking for the wreck of the Spero, you were really just trying to find a way to earn back the friendships you’d lost.” She gestured to Triss. “With both of us.”

He shrugged bashfully. “Well, yeah. Of course.”

Chelle nodded and sighed. “I’m sorry I never figured that out until now.”

Triss sat forward and suggested, “Maybe growing up together naturally puts people at risk of hurting each other. We care more about every little thing we do or say to each other because we know each other so well. And when things go wrong between us... it makes the wounds hurt that much more.”

“Maybe.” Chelle turned to her. “You know, I always understood that you never owed it to Sam to reciprocate his crush,” she said. “But it was easy for me to see that because I didn’t want you to reciprocate it; the two of you getting together would have gotten in the way of my own crush. I just never stopped to realize that Sam didn’t owe me anything more than you owed him.” She spread her palms. “I guess, we can’t help who we’re attracted to, or who we aren’t, and it’s not fair to take any of that personally.” She folded her hands on the table. “So, I want you both to know that I’m sorry too, sorry for getting my own feelings hurt and then punishing you two for it.”

An uncertain silence settled over the table after that. Eventually, Triss cleared her throat and tried to lighten the mood by remarking, “Well, this is a conversation I certainly wasn’t expecting to have tonight.”

“Definitely not,” Chelle agreed with a wide-eyed shake of her head.

“But you know what?” Triss picked up the bottle of Vermentino and generously topped off everyone’s glasses. “I’m really glad we’re having it.”

“So am I.” Chelle eyed Sam and risked a small, cautious grin. “Thanks for starting it.”

“And thanks for reminding us what we mean to each other,” Triss added, arching an eyebrow at Sam. “We wouldn’t be able to have this conversation right now if it wasn’t for you.” She gestured around them. “I mean, we wouldn’t even be here on Etruria if it wasn’t for you.” She pointed at Sam. “You kept believing in our friendship, and in the legend of the Spero, long after the rest of us had given up.”

Sam shrugged. “Well, all those things were worth believing in.”

Triss smiled. “I’m glad at least one of us never forgot that.”

Chelle suddenly raised her glass. “To Sam.”

“To Sam,” Triss seconded, raising her own glass.

Sam shook his head and lifted his glass: “To us!”

Chelle and Triss paused, grinned, and then agreed, “To us!” After that, the three friends savored their Vermentino.

Proceed to Chapter 9...

Copyright © 2022 by Nemo West