Momentary panic froze his face in mid-chew. Frantically searching about, he grabbed the rag he used to wipe the furniture and brushed the crumbs from his lips. “Sorry, I forgot to bring napkins. Do you want me to go inside and get some?”
“No, that’s okay. I was just picking on you.”
So far, things had been going well between them. This shocked Cole, because Charlotte seemed so approachable right now. So different than the girl he thought she was just this morning.
A few more cookies vanished from the plate. The sun hung low on the horizon, slowly gathering the last orange rays of light. A cool gentle breeze in the night air carried the soft fragrance of honey from sweet alyssum. The cloak of darkness intensified, unveiling Venus and other emerging stars and galaxies.
“We should see the ISS soon. Keep your eyes kinda west-south-west. It’s going to come over at sixty-eight degrees tonight. Ninety degrees is directly overhead, so don’t look too high up.”
Charlotte turned her head to the west. Princess Charlotte. Her striking profile looked hand sculptured by God’s most talented angel.
“Is that it coming up over there?”
Charlotte Meadows was sitting in his backyard with him. She had baked him cookies. Was any of this real?
“Cole?”
“Huh, what?”
“Is that the ISS?” She lifted a finger toward the west.
He paused a moment, and said, “I don’t think so. The light is too bright.” Cole continued to watch. “See the red light? It’s just a plane.”
“Yeah, I see it now.”
No sooner had Charlotte spoken, then the dim light of the ISS appeared above the horizon. “There it is, see? It’s not as bright as Venus. It’s too early in the night for it to look like that.”
“I see it,” she said enthusiastically.
Cole stepped over to his video camera, already pointing toward the western sky, and focused in on the ISS. “The video isn’t going to be all that impressive. I’m just videoing it as evidence that we actually worked on the project.”
“Wow, I don’t know why, because it is just a light traveling across the sky, but it’s really cool!”
Cole looked away from the viewfinder. He could spare a few seconds here and there to see it with his naked eyes. “Knowing the ISS is in outer space and that there are people inside puts it in perspective. That’s why it’s so neat.”
There were four men and one woman on the ISS. The live streaming video showed two of the men, one upside down and one right side up, performing some mundane task. Cole wished there had been a way to get them to give a shout-out to him and Charlotte as they passed over.
“It’s moving so fast. It’s almost halfway across the sky.”
“Yep, about five miles a second.” Cole repositioned the camera.
Less than a minute later, the ISS continued its journey to the northeastern side of the horizon, lost among the canopy of the forest.
“If you don’t know to look for it, at first glance you might think it was a jet.” Cole moved the camera from pointing to the sky, and over at Charlotte.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Uh, I need proof that you were here for the project.”
“You can hear my voice on the video.”
“I don’t have the audio on.”
“Okay, then you need to be in the video too.”
Good point, Cole thought. He quickly stepped over behind Charlotte, put his head next to hers, and waved quickly before returning to the camera. The smell of her hair lingered.
“Did you ever see the Space Shuttle re-enter the atmosphere?” Cole asked, and then turned off his video camera and sat back in his chair.
“No, I never did. I never got to see one launch either. I watched a nighttime launch once on TV, and I wanted to see one after that. Too bad the shuttle program’s over.”
“I saw the shuttle come in at night two different times. I had to set my clock and get up, but it was worth it. It looked like it traveled faster than the ISS, but in reality, the shuttle came in at about the same speed until the atmosphere slowed it down. It glowed like a meteor and left a trail like fireworks. That was really exciting to watch. But just like the ISS, it was gone before I could even go back in and wake up my dad to come out and watch.”
Charlotte had picked up her drink and drank some. There was a low buzz coming from the laptop from the ISS audio. Cole reached over and closed the laptop.
The space station had passed. There was no reason for Charlotte to be here anymore. All the excitement of the day had led to this moment. Cole honestly didn’t know where to go from here. “I guess…I guess we’re finished with the home project. I’ll upload my video tonight to YouTube and we can show it tomorrow.” Cole looked over at the table and brushed a few cookie crumbs to the patio floor. “It was nice of you to do the project with me.”
“It was nice for you to ask me to do the project. Most guys my age hardly talk to me.”
Cole chuckled. “Well, I don’t want to sound like a jerk or anything, but you hardly ever act like you know guys our age even exist.”
Charlotte raised both hands and brought them to her forehead, hiding her face. She let out a sigh. “I know…I know…I’ve been a bad person.”
“Wait, no, that’s not what I meant,” Cole said, feeling like he was about to dig another hole he couldn’t keep from falling into. “I didn’t mean you’re a bad person. I—”
“I know what you meant, Cole. In fact, I’ve learned a lot about myself just recently. After I broke up with Brennon,” Charlotte paused and then said, “I was so upset...I took a really hard look at my life. Who I was, and where I was going? My relationship with boys have been all the same and ended all the same. Me, with my heart broken.
“My mother and I talked, and she told me that if I wanted to have better relationships with boys, then I needed to stop picking the same one over and over.”
“What do you mean?” Cole asked.
“It’s different for girls than boys, you know. Girls mature faster. And me, well my body developed earlier than most. Older guys are interested in that. The guys who call me and talk to me are one or two years older. Guys my age see that and feel like they don’t have a chance with me. I can’t blame them, because I used to mentally cross them off my list entirely. They felt like they couldn’t play in my field, and I never gave them the time of day to begin with.”
“So you didn’t know I existed until today? You’ve told me hi from time to time,” Cole said.
“Actually, I have noticed you a little more than any others in our class. I mean, your locker is right next to mine.”
Lucky me, Cole thought, feeling like it was only a matter of circumstance that she was right here right now and not because she had found him appealing in any way.
“And, when you joined the baseball team. I’ve seen you practice when I was watching Brennon. I knew you were in my science class, too. To be honest, I liked your longer hair better than the short cut you have now.”
Now he was getting somewhere! She’s talking about his looks. “So you’re telling me that you think of me more than just the locker troll who has a locker next to you?”
Charlotte winced and giggled, pushing her right elbow against his arm again. “So I’ve told you, I’ve been reconsidering my choices in life. Bad habits are still hard to break. It wasn’t until Brennon busted in on our conversation that I had a defining moment in life. I saw that I had two choices before me. I could just become a thing and spend my life trying to make boys like Brennon like me and suffering the consequences. Or, I could go for someone different. Someone with a good heart and kind spirit. There’s something about you, even from the first time I saw you, I thought was different.”
“Different because of my interest in the paranormal, aliens, and bigfoot?”
“No, I have to admit, I do think of some of those subjects are juvenile.”
Cole felt a sharp knife to the heart, b
ut the wound wasn’t deep, and he didn’t bleed much.
Charlotte said, “You’ve seemed to be a caring person. It’s just the way you treat people. I like that. And as far as your looks, I’ve always thought you had potential. At the time, not for me, but for other girls who like guys their own age. But that was my old way of thinking. I think with a little help from me—how to dress, what to say, how to act—I could turn you into a guy that girls couldn’t stop calling.”
Cole turned his head to the side. With one eyebrow raised, he asked, “So, are you saying you like me?”
Charlotte placed her hand on his thigh. “Yes, I am saying that I like you. I want us to become friends and get to know each other better. I’m looking for a new direction in life, and you’re the kind of person I’d like to start it with.”
Boldly, Cole placed his left hand on top of Charlotte’s and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Well, I’d like to give our friendship a try too.”
Charlotte took her hand back and grabbed her drink. She leaned back in her chair and looked up into the sky. “You believe in aliens.”
“Yes, you don’t?” Cole said, turning his body in her direction.
“I’m not sure what to believe. The universe is a big place. But after all the years of man on Earth, there’s no hard evidence that there’s life on other planets. Even with all the smart phones where just about everyone has a camera, there aren’t any convincing pictures of UFOs.”
“Okay, so I’ve read that there are trillions and trillions of stars in the universe and within an estimated ten trillion galaxies. The odds that there isn’t life elsewhere is practically zero. That said, I think the mound of evidence that we do have of ETs is enough to believe it’s true.”
“I read a book about a year ago, Rare Earth. One thing it talked about was that single cell and simple multicell organisms might be common on a good amount of planets. But life like we have on Earth, with sentient beings like humans, would be extremely rare. The book pointed out that even if aliens did exist, that the distances would be so far away that they’d never reach us, or us them. So, honestly, if there is intelligent life in the universe, I don’t think we’ll ever know.”
“What about interdimensional travel? Or warping space? Scientists have mathematically proven it can be done.”
“And the book talked about how the energy required to bend space would be equivalent to that of the sun. Mankind will never harness that kind of power,” Charlotte said.
“I might have to read that book. I hear what you’re saying, but I’m still keeping an open mind,” Cole said and leaned back into his chair.
“Would that be so bad?” Charlotte asked. “That even though there are trillions of planets in the universe, that Earth was the only planet with life of any kind? Earth is such a beautiful place. We’re still discovering new species of land life every day. Our oceans have hardly even been explored. Wouldn’t it be enough if we are all that there is?”
Cole thought of all the waste if the heavens above were empty of Earth-like life. Then, he thought of the fragrance of Charlotte’s hair and the warmth of her hand. “Yeah, it would be enough.”
Chapter 11
The Future
The hour was late. Zax had already turned in for the night. The mech-armor had been hooked up to the zero energy battery for well over twelve hours. Transmetal had a molecular memory. The damaged armor’s atoms realigned to their original specifications.
The grenade launcher was now fully functional, and the supply chamber full. Projectiles for the armor’s blaster was full to the top as well. The mech-armor was one heck of a battle machine. Tarik wished that the Nu-Mans could have the same amount of protection and firepower as he. A transmetal suit large enough to fit them would be huge. That much bulk wouldn’t be able to fit in the two seated jumpers like they used to escape.
Tarik and Lixa sat at the table. Lixa had made some chamomile tea and had poured Tarik a cup. They had talked for nearly two hours nonstop; probably the reason why Zax went to bed a little early. He had little to add to the conversation.
Tarik mostly spoke of his life while growing up on the base and some of the most memorable instructors. Of course, he told a lot of stories that involved Hudson.
Lixa had lived a comfortable, normal life, as the majority of Nu-Mans also enjoyed. Poverty had been eliminated by the Skinks. So had diseases and cancers. Genetic anomalies such as autism, multiple sclerosis, and ALS were conditions humans had suffered. The Nu-Mans knew nothing but good general health.
The Skinks maintained the social norm of an economy. All Nu-Mans of working age, except for mothers, who were allowed to stay home and raise children, were required to chose a profession and participate in the workforce. Skinks believed that if you didn’t work you didn’t deserve to eat. They were lenient masters but didn’t allow anyone to violate their structured guidelines.
Lixa was the daughter of Bix, who was one of the most skilled rebels on the team. Lixa shared the independent nature of her father and had trained under his guidance for a day which might come.
The day had come. That day was now.
“I can’t believe you’ve never had chamomile tea,” Lixa said. She brought the cup to her lips and drank some.
Tarik looked at the golden liquid and breathed the warm, aromatic odor. “We had tea on the base. If I’ve had chamomile before, I don’t remember. I didn’t care for the tea we had on the base. If fact, I hated it. It made me want to gag.” He took another sniff. “This, though, smells…interesting.”
“You won’t know until you try it.”
He was about to engage in a battle that might kill him and everyone else on the team. This was no time to be scared to taste a cup of tea.
Picking up the cup, he motioned it toward Lixa in a mock toast and took a sip.
“Well, what do you think?”
“It’s nothing like I expected. I like it.” He drank in a mouthful this time. “It’s earthy, flowery. It tastes medicinal, in a way. It must be good for you.”
“It’s an herbal tea made from chamomile flowers. It’s supposed to be good to settle the stomach and help make you calm and sleep better at night.”
“This is the perfect time for me to have this, then. The salmon had my stomach a little upset, and we’ll be going to bed soon.”
Lixa drank more of her tea. “Yeah. And tomorrow brings us closer to the end.”
Tarik watched the young Nu-Man drift away in her thoughts. Her father would be risking his life on this mission. It didn’t help that everyone knew the inevitable was coming. Time was the real God of the universe. Time waited for nothing. Time demanded an outcome. The universe marched to the edicts of time.
“I know just some details of the mission,” Lixa said. “I know about the time project and that the mission is to get you there and to go back in time to prevent the Skinks from discovering Earth. I don’t know how you’re supposed to do that.”
Tarik didn’t know if he should risk giving her the details. Not because he didn’t trust her. He just didn’t know if the Skinks would have a way of extracting the information if they were to capture her. With the mission so close at hand, the risks seemed minimal. “We’ve got Nu-Mans inside the base who are on our side. They’re supposed to get us in without a fight. That’s the plan, anyway. If we are discovered, we’re coming in a location that if we hit hard and fast, we should be able to get me in position.
“I’m going to be sent back to the year twenty-twenty. A few days early, hopefully, because we don’t know how accurate the machine is before the Skink probe warps into Earth’s orbit. The probe will circle the Earth for twenty-four hours and then land. It will then continue to gather data until some twelve hours. After that, the probe leaves Earth and warps back to the Skinks’ home planet.
“My job is to retrieve the data crystal with the information gathered and replace it with one that will show the Earth to be an uninhabitable planet.”
“Sounds easy enough,” Lixa
said and giggled.
Tarik shrugged. “Sounds really far-fetched when I listen to myself say it. Still, that is the plan. If I destroyed the probe, and I don’t know if I could even do that, then the Skinks would just send another. We can’t have that. Once they receive the false information, they’ll never send another probe to this solar system again.”
“It’s so strange to think about it. You know, if you actually do it. The Nu-Man history, though only a few hundred years old, will be wiped out. Like we never even existed. Everyone I’ve known. Everyone I’ve loved,” Lixa said, her eyes growing moist. “I will never be.”
Contemplating one’s mortality was one thing. Questioning eternity was quite another.
“What happens to me?” Lixa asked. “My soul? What if I’ll never be? If there is an afterlife, what happens to my soul?”
Tarik didn’t know what to believe about an afterlife. So, he pretty much didn’t waste much time contemplating it. It was obvious Lixa had faith in a higher power. He wasn’t one to trash someone’s beliefs. Especially at a time like this. Hope sometimes was as necessary as food, water, and the air they breathed.
“If there are souls, I do not believe that they are destructible.” Tarik didn’t lie. He had at least considered the possibility and shared that belief. “Your soul would find its way into another body. You would live again and, when you die, will find a rightful place in the universe.”
“But I won’t be me. How could I be? My circumstances would be all different. I wouldn’t, couldn’t be the same person. The thought scares me.” Lixa closed her eyes to help push away the pain.
“When I was old enough to understand, I was told my father was a recombinant mass of goo and my mother a petri dish. I grew up a genetic abomination. If souls exist, then I have one. The universe will afford me the same rights and privileges as anyone else. Time is just one dimension in the universe. If the universe is that kind to me, then I’m sure it would care for a soul that once existed in its time dimension.”
“That actually makes sense on some level,” Lixa said. “I just need to stop worrying about it. I had no control of when and where I was born, and I shouldn’t be worrying about where I’m going. It’s all inevitable anyway.” She took a deep breath. “And you, if you make it, you’ll get to live your life with other humans. You’ll finally fit in, be with your own kind. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
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