Bubbles, bubbles everywhere.
A pair of hands plunged into the soapy froth. One hand gripped a ceramic plate, the other a cleaning sponge. The hand with the sponge was moving in neat little concentric circles, carefully removing any food particles stuck to the plate. Round and round it went, swiftly and methodically, each circle slightly larger than the last. The overall effect was somewhat hypnotic.
When it was over, the two hands emerged from the foamy bath. They were wet and soapy and dripping. The plate was rinsed and then dried with a nearby towel. It was spotless, sparkling immaculately in the morning light.
The hands moved on to the next item in line. A glass cup this time, tall and round, with little white stars painted on the outside. The cup disappeared beneath the sea of bubbles and the ritual began anew. Next came a fork, then a knife, then a bowl. Each came away clean and dry. One by one, they were put away into a nearby drawer.
The hands kept moving. Kept working. They were good hands, the color of glazed copper. Feminine but not delicate, weathered but not worn. Calloused in a way that only years of fighting and hard physical training could provide. The owner of the hands was humming a chipper little tune, something she’d heard on the radio a few months back. Her hips were swaying from side to side along with the melody.
A new sound joined the humming. It was the heavy
clop, clop, clop of shoes coming down the stairs. The woman at the kitchen sink didn’t bother turning around. She didn’t stop humming, either. Eventually the footfalls came to a stop behind her.
“Someone’s in a cheerful mood this morning.”
“And why shouldn’t I be? The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and
I just finished cleaning the dishes, if you can believe that.”
“Cleaning the dishes? Why? Is the washer busted again?”
“No, no,” she reassured the man, finally turning to face him. “I just felt like it. There’s a certain satisfaction in doing it yourself now and then, don’t you think?”
He gave her a skeptical look. “Okay, now I
know something’s up. What’s really got you smiling like that?”
“Hey, you’ve known me for twenty cycles. We’ve been married half that. Can’t you tell by now?”
The man rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “The way I see it, there are two possibilities. One, it has to do with last night. More specifically, what we did last night. Or two, you’re giddy about our upcoming trip to Lake Elsie this weekend.”
The woman grinned mischievously. “So, which is it?”
“Akasha…”
“C’mon, Ivan, take a guess! You’ll only break my heart if you’re wrong.”
Ivan stood there for a few seconds and thought about it. He certainly put on a good show: crossing his arms, nodding his head, throwing in a few
hmms and
hahs for good measure. Then he said, “When in doubt, go with both.”
“See?” she winked. “You
do know me after all.”
Akasha took a sip of her morning coffee and gazed warmly at her husband. Even after all these years, Ivan was still a sight to behold. He had grown his hair long again—like it was when they first met, only not as messy. He’d given up his trademark Punish Jacket in favor of a navy blue suit. Said he needed to look more respectable now that he owned his own medical practice. His face was still youthful, his smile still disarming. The same old Ivan. A little older and wiser, perhaps, but Akasha found that she liked the changes.
“Well, I’d better get going,” said Ivan. “Can’t keep my patients waiting.”
“Hold on. They can wait five more seconds.” Akasha stooped down and kissed her husband. It was just what she needed—short and sweet, but long enough to savor the moment.
Afterwards, Ivan flashed her one of his famous lopsided grins. “You’re right. Totally worth it.”
“Now don’t forget, it’s your turn to drive Izzy to school.”
“I know, I know. Speaking of the little scamp… where is she?”
“Good question.” The Newearl moved to the foot of the stairs and looked up. There was no one to be seen or heard. She called out, “Izzy! Time for school!”
Silence.
“Izzy! Come on, let’s go!”
Silence.
In a louder, firmer voice, Akasha said, “Isabel Malloch! Get your butt down here this minute or I’m coming up there to get you!”
There was the sound of a door opening at the end of the hall. Small padded footsteps approaching. Then, finally, a young girl appeared at the top of the stairs. She had tan skin, pointed ears, and a cute button nose. Her hair and eye color were close to Ivan’s.
The girl made a face. “But Mama—”
“Don’t you ‘but Mama’ me, young lady. It’s time to go. Now come on, Papa’s waiting.”
“But
Mama, I can’t find my tablet! I’ve looked everywhere for it.”
“You mean
this tablet?” Akasha held up a flat, rectangular device. “You left it downstairs… which also means you didn’t do any studying last night.”
“Yes I did! I just… got a little distracted, and…” Realizing it was pointless to lie, Isabel gave up. Her narrow shoulders sagged. “Sorry, Mama.”
“It’s alright. But you’re studying extra tonight—no excuses. Now, for the last time, get down here.”
The girl bounded down the stairs, swiped the tablet from Akasha’s hand, then ran to the foyer to put on her shoes. Her parents followed.
“See you tonight,” Ivan said to Akasha, smiling. He opened the front door and stepped outside.
Isabel was about to join him when Akasha drew her into a tight embrace. Powerful arms coiled around the girl and lifted her clear off the ground. With her tiny face buried in her mother’s chest, Isabel was forced to endure a trio of wet kisses to the forehead. Finally she was dropped back down and released.
“Mama!” she protested, embarrassed. “I’m almost nine already. I’m too old for the huggy-kissy routine every morning.”
“Nonsense. You’re too old when I say you’re too old. Until then, you accept it with a smile and a thank you.”
“Thank you, Mama.”
“That’s a good girl. Now, go catch up with Papa.” A nudge from behind propelled her daughter through the open door. Akasha called after her, “Have a good day at school! And remember, no using Techniques in class! I don’t want your teacher calling me again.”
Akasha stood on the porch and watched them go. Father and daughter climbed into the dark blue sedan parked on the curb. They buckled their safety belts, the engine started up, and off they went. The car made a left at the corner and disappeared from sight.
Akasha didn’t go back inside right away. She took an extra minute to savor the view while drinking the last of her coffee. The brew was good, but the view was even better.
The foreground was nothing spectacular, just the typical suburban sprawl. Tightly-packed two-story houses left and right as far as the eye could see. Her green SUV was parked nearby in the driveway. It was a big brute of a vehicle, larger than they probably needed. Akasha had picked it because of the extra headroom. She was a full head taller than most people, after all.
In the distance was where the view really got good. Rising up beyond the immediate skyline, several kilometers distant, were rolling fields of green, shimmering blue lakes, and a bustling metropolis of silver and white. It was all around her, all three hundred and sixty degrees.
The interior of
Terra Nova.
It had taken Oracle a full decade to repair the massive space station. The amount of meseta and manpower required had been staggering, nearly beyond comprehension, but they had done it. They couldn’t afford not to. And when they were finished, Akasha and Ivan were among the first to move aboard. The wait list was a kilometer long, of course, so Akasha always suspected they’d been bumped up thanks to their “wartime contributions.” More specifically, saving
Ur from total destruction.
Which was how, for the past ten cycles, she and Ivan had been residents of
Terra Nova. It all felt like one big blur. Getting married, starting a family, making new lives for themselves. They were living the dream. Things were good. Life was good. Akasha was happy.
She finished her coffee and went back into the house.
* * * * * * * * *
Fifteen minutes passed. Akasha glanced at the clock.
Half an hour until I need to head out, she thought.
She was sitting at the table in the study. A holographic computer screen was being projected over the table. It was displaying the current day’s news. Not much was going on in the world, at least nothing Akasha cared about. There was political squabbling, a celebrity scandal, and the results of the latest sporting events. The same old stuff. She scrolled through the articles absentmindedly, not really paying attention to any of them.
“Mrs. Malloch.”
Akasha turned towards the voice. It was Deets, their household assistant. The green Mag-like robot hovered in the doorway, his single photoreceptor lens staring at her blankly.
“You have a visitor at the front door, Mum,” he said in his clipped, aristocratic accent.
“Not another solicitor, I hope?”
“No, Mum.”
Akasha wasn’t expecting a guest. She got up and headed to the foyer, wondering who it could possibly be. The answer was a pleasant surprise. Waiting at the front door was someone she hadn’t seen in ages, one of her oldest and dearest friends.
“Rho!”
The red-haired Caseal was beaming with joy. “Kashie! Hey!”
They threw their arms around each other—and Akasha quickly found herself unable to breathe. “Too tight! Too tight!” she wheezed.
Rho relaxed her grip. With a sheepish grin she said, “Whoops! Forgot my own strength for a second there.”
Then they pulled away and took a moment to regard each other. “You’re looking well,” said Rho. “A little older—or should I say ‘more experienced’—than the last time I saw you, but still a total babe. Hottest mom on the block, for sure.”
“Thanks. You look… the same as always.”
Her friend laughed. “That comes with being a CAST. It’s both a blessing and a curse, believe me.”
“How long has it been since your last visit? Three cycles? Four?” asked Akasha. She honestly couldn’t remember.
“Five and two months, actually.”
“That long? Wow. Hard to believe, but I guess you’re right.”
“‘Course I’m right. My internal clock is accurate down to the nanosecond, y’know!” A troubled look came over Rho. She fidgeted and twiddled her thumbs apologetically. “Kashie, I’m sorry I didn’t get around to visiting sooner. Things have been so busy back on
Ur. I’ve got a lot of responsibilities these days, and—”
“Hey. It’s okay. If it makes you feel any better, I’m sorry too. I kept meaning to call, but—”
The Caseal put up a hand. “Stop. We could play the blame game all day. Let’s just agree that we’re both sorry and we’ll do better from now on.”
“Agreed.”
That put a smile back on Rho’s face. “So what are you up to these days? Tell me the great and powerful Akasha isn’t a stay-at-home mom.”
“I run a dojo in town. Mixed martial arts, open to all ages.”
“Cute.”
“What is?”
“You train them to fight, Dr. Hubby patches them up after they get hurt fighting. You two have the perfect little racket going.”
Akasha gave her old friend a look. “It’s about self-defense, not fighting. Learning to protect yourself in dangerous situations. Besides, once they’ve mastered my lessons, they shouldn’t be getting hurt in the first place.”
“Sure, sure,” Rho responded playfully. “Whatever you have to tell yourself to sleep at night.”
The Newearl rolled her eyes. Then her smiled faded and she said, “This isn’t purely a social call, is it? You’re not just here for old times’ sake.”
Rho winced. “That obvious, huh? Catching up with you is why I wanted to come, but it’s not why I’m here. Actually, the thing is, we’ve got a big-time Darker situation and we need your help.”
The two women stared at each other. After a moment, they both burst out laughing simultaneously.
“Come on, Rho, stop kidding around. There hasn’t been a serious Darker threat in years. Not since... well, you know.”
“Okay, okay, you got me,” the Caseal snickered. “The real reason I’m here,
if you must know, is that I came to offer you a job.”
“At the
Ur Academy? You’re not serious.”
“I’m totally serious! It’s an official request from my sister. We’re in need of more instructors and, well, your name may have come up.”
“Me, rejoin the ARKS? I don’t know, I’ve been away from the military a long time.”
Since Izzy was born, she thought to herself. “And I have a life here on
Terra Nova to think about. My family is here. My students. I can’t just up and leave.”
“We can relocate your family.
Ur has plenty of great schools for Izzy, and Dr. Hubby could always move his practice. People get sick and hurt no matter where you are, right? As for your students, I can’t do much about them. But you’d have more students if you taught at the Academy, I can promise you that. Plus, you’d be working for me—and I make a pretty kick-ass boss, if I do say so myself.”
Akasha chewed her lower lip. The offer had a certain appeal, but it was a lot to ask. A lot to sacrifice. “Is this ‘request’ coming from your sister, or from the general?” she asked.
“How about ‘my sister the general’?”
“You know what I mean. Is this a personal request from a friend, or is it military business as usual?”
“Again, a little of both.”
Akasha stared straight ahead for a long time. She looked out at the grassy vista stretching into the distance. The sapphire-blue lakes. The gleaming white towers of the city. She was being asked to give it all up, to trade one home for another. Could she do it? After spending nearly a decade of her life on
Terra Nova, could she really leave it so easily?
“Let me think about it,” she said at last.
“Fine,” Rho nodded. “But don’t take too long, ‘kay? This is what retailers call a ‘limited-time offer.’ Be sure to grab it before it slips away.”
* * * * * * * * *
After Rho left, Akasha returned to the study. The Newearl gathered up her keys and purse and got ready to leave for work. She was about to head out when things took a turn for the weird.
It started with a bright flash of light, followed by a low humming noise. Both came from the direction of the kitchen. Akasha approached the doorway with trepidation, not sure what to expect. She peeked her head around the door frame to look. Inside the kitchen, hovering at a fixed point, was… well,
something. Akasha had never seen anything quite like it before. It was some kind of spatial distortion, like a bubble in the fabric of space. It looked as if reality itself was bending outward from that one spot. The distortion was oval-shaped, about two meters tall, one meter wide. There was a piercing white light at its core. It was also generating a good amount of wind. Towels, napkins, and other lightweight objects were being blown around the perimeter of the kitchen.
Akasha didn’t know what to do. How could she stop something she didn’t even understand? She gripped the door frame tighter as the fierce winds tugged at her hair and clothes.
As she continued staring, something else began to happen. The distortion started to discharge bolts of electricity at random. One bolt struck the ceiling fan. Another hit the toaster. Akasha was starting to wonder if she should get out of the house before it was too late.
That’s when things really got weird. The light at the center of the distortion expanded and Akasha realized it wasn’t a light at all. It was a hole, like a window into another world. Akasha couldn’t make out what it was, but there was definitely something there. She squinted and the image started to resolve itself. It was a person. Yes, there was definitely someone inside the distortion. Akasha rubbed her eyes since they were clearly deceiving her. But no, she wasn’t imagining it.
The person in the distortion became clearer, their features given color and form. Akasha gaped as recognition dawned. This was no stranger, no apparition. It was a familiar face, one she would have known anywhere.
It was Kira.
What’s more, the girl hadn’t aged a day in the past twenty cycles. She looked just as she had the last time Akasha saw her. But how was that possible? How was any of it possible?
Kira seemed to be saying something, and urgently, but Akasha couldn’t hear it. There was no sound coming out of her mouth.
“Kira!” Akasha shouted over the roar of the wind. “Kira, is that you?”
“…re… ger… ca… here… arn…”
“I can’t hear you, Kira! I don’t understand what you’re trying to say!”
“…isten to… sha… ou’re in… ame to… you…”
“Again, Kira! Say it again! I can almost hear you now!”
“Listen to me, Ka… in great danger… came here to warn y…”
“Danger? Who’s in danger? Are you in trouble? Tell me what’s going on!”
Kira shook her head. “
You! You’re in… ger, Kasha! I came h… warn you…”
“To warn me? Warn me about what?”
“…need to go to… Argellus Lochram System… will explain everyth…”
“I don’t understand. What’s this about?”
“…oo late now… already time to…”
“Time? Time to
what, Kira?!” Akasha shouted in desperation.
“To wake up,” the girl replied. “It’s time for you to wake up.”
Then she did.
* * * * * * * * *
Akasha bolted upright in a panic. Her forehead was covered in sweat and she was gasping hard for air. After a few seconds she had calmed down enough to get her bearings. She was in bed in her apartment on
Ur. The room was dark and still. The only sound to be heard was a faint breeze blowing in from outside.
There was no spatial distortion. No Kira. Nothing at all out of the ordinary.
A dream. It was all just… a dream…
Akasha blinked a few times in the darkness. As she sat there, her heart rate and breathing gradually returned to normal. Her mind, however, was still racing. It was filled with potent thoughts of a life not yet lived, decisions not yet made, and the urgent warning of a friend long gone.
For the sake of her sanity, there was something Akasha needed to check. She climbed out of bed, crossed the room naked, and accessed her visiphone terminal. Its screen came to life, bathing the room in shades of pale blue. Akasha scrolled through the options until she came to the one she wanted: “Current Date/Time.” A single button press brought up the relevant information. She stared at the numbers long enough to be certain.
It was the exact date it was supposed to be. Three months since her battle against Typhon.
TO BE CONTINUED
Author’s Notes:
That was a really clever way to bring her back! It's also wonderful to see Zero One and Rho back on their feet, even if the former's demotion understandably happened. Even with Zero Three's absence, I'm really happy for Rho and I'm sure it's huge for her to feel like part of the family now. What hijinks will they all get into next...?
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But none of your deaths have ever been meaningless, and I always feel it in my chest when you do have someone killed. That said, it's not that this story wasn't as bloody as the first--the amount of people lost in the assault on Orpheus and Terra Nova was staggering, and we lost some key characters during that as well. Even then, I had strong feelings that Delfoy and Colton were going to be taken from us over the course of the story, and it didn't happen, so that's good too.
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