Lost Convoy, Part XXV: State of Fear

She had taken so many flights in her life, the concept seemed to have lost all meaning. That was what she had thought, but when she'd been asked to take this one, she suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of awe, so childlike she was embarrassed to have even felt it. That wasn't who Tabitha Thrasher was, at least not to all her fans, and even those who despised her. She had been one of the most successful musical acts of her generation, and she understood that it was on this basis that she was invited to take this particular flight, and she hesitated for a moment, and it was during that moment that she found herself once again shepherded along, right onto the frigate, just as if it were another, perfectly ordinary event in her grand career.

At first, when she realized what'd happened, she was angry, stunned, and yes, embarrassed again. She felt as if she'd betrayed her fans. There was no way an entire planet could be evacuated, not unless they'd had years advance notice, and she knew that simply wasn't the case, and so, the fact was, many people would die in an instant, a fiery explosion...She paused and rethought that. Many people had died in exactly that manner already. The planet was gone. She survived. It felt wrong, and she stopped thinking about her fans, about her career, and in that moment, she absently began to sing. It wasn't even one of her own songs. Hers was a talent that had come about as a nervous habit, something to make things seem better than they really were. In the early years, when she'd become Tabitha Thrasher, she would tell herself that she was doing that same effect for her fans. And then the whole thing took on a life of its own. And what had happened to that little girl? Somehow she had returned.

Everyone onboard seemed nervous, and most of that was expressed through incessant chatter, and through some of that Tabitha found out some of the details that had washed over her in recent weeks, in recent hours. That was when she first heard about the other ship, and that's how she started thinking about something else, even someone else. And it felt good.

She began to sing a little more deliberately.