In the Neighborhood

I wonder how long I'll keep this foreman job before they toss me out for jamming a pencil through someone's eye. I'm glad to have steady income for a change and head things up at Regina's mining facility, but frak! I've only held this job for a few months now, but it feels like it's been an eternity. I used to be a gorram space fighter, a gunslinger, a cowboy, a gorram man of action! I needed this vacation somethin' fierce. How anybody could stand this routine grind for a living is beyond me.

But still, after Bianca left to frak knows where, I can't imagine where I would've ended up if I hadn't gone back to Regina, back to the mines. Screw it, not the first time a lady has walked out on me. I reckon I'm just not meant for the life of an average joe. A home, a steady job, a wife, and a pile of kids. Or maybe I just never really wanted any of those things to begin with.

Relieved as I was to get this time off work, just as I hopped into my ship to hit the sky, I realized I had no idea where I should go. At first, I ended up hitting a few bars on Ariel. Figured I'd meet my old contact and ask him for the news, slip him a few plats and maybe make believe I was a bounty hunter again. Apparently the poor bastard was gunned down weeks ago. Hell of a way to start a vacation. Unwilling to let my time off go to waste, I tried sending a wave to Shalimar to see what she was up to nowadays, but couldn't get a hold of her. She's probably still running cargo, everyone's got work for a carrier. So outta nowhere, somethin' possessed me to touch down on Hale's. If only to find out whether or not Seana and hers still held a grudge.

The place has changed pretty drastically. A few colonies have popped up here and there and I saw a lot of unfamiliar faces. At least Fook's was still in tact and relatively unchanged. It was good seeing most of the old Blackburne crew, though not so good when I heard the old town was burned to the ground. Word sure as hell hadn't reached Regina yet. They rebuilt Firefly's just a stone's throw away- which I got no qualms with at all.

I had planned on what I would say when I saw Lily again.. 'cause I knew she'd be there. I wasn't ready for what happened though.. She barely recognized me. Only thing she knew about me was my name. The same Lily who invited me to her house the day I met her for a bath, who I ran off with after Firefly's anniversary party. The same Lily I was in love with for those great months when I first arrived on Hale's Moon. I wasn't by any means expecting a tearful reunion or somethin', but I at least thought we were on good terms, not that we had become total strangers.

She ended up showin' me around the Moon's new settlements and whatnot, and told me a little about that whackjob Mindo and little AuroraBlue. She seemed to remember a few scattered things about our past, like Otto and Aylen and Awenasa. She even remembered Sylph, of all things.. I hadn't even thought of Sylph in months.. Whenever she remembered something, her eyes sorta flashed violet for just a moment, and it was like she had all her memories again. But only for a moment, then she'd go back to her usual self. She told me something like "can't stop the signal, Ben". I don't know what any of this means, or why she's missing bits and pieces of her memory- particularly when I was involved, but I know her memories are in there somewhere, and I feel like I have to help her. The question is where do I start?