The Search for Cleo

by Aaron J. Ethridge

  “Are you moving toward the get slapped part of the conversation?”

  “No,” he assured her. “My mind was just wandering. What I'm trying to say is; although I know you from a personality, character, dinner and a movie, turn-offs, turn-ons kind of a way...”

  “What turn-ons do you know about?”

  “I don't need to tell you,” he pointed out. “You already know what they are.”

  “What makes you think you know what they are?”

  “I don't think,” he explained. “I know.”

  “How do you know?” she asked as a smile she was struggling to conceal slowly spread across her face.

  “Ask Rob,” he replied dismissively. “The point I'm trying to make is; I know almost nothing about your life before we picked you up.”

  “Does that matter? And, why would I ask Rob?”

  “Rob knows. And, no, it doesn't matter at all,” he said, turning his face to hers again. “I'm just curious. You never talk about your past.”

  “I talk about it all the time,” she denied.

  “When?”

  “Well...” she replied. “Cleo and I talk about it all the time.”

  “That hardly helps satiate my curiosity.”

  “I suppose that's true,” she nodded before pausing for a moment. “I tell you what, I'll satiate you if you satiate me.”

  “I'll certainly give it my best effort,” he winked.

  “What do you want to know?”

  “Let's start with family,” he replied. “I know that your father died when you were young, and that your mother passed away not long before we picked you up...”

  “So far, so right,” she interjected.

  “Do you remember your father?”

  “A little,” she nodded. “I was around five when he died, so I don't remember much. But, I have a lot of little fragments of memories of him playing with me and singing me to sleep and things like that.”

  “How did he die?”

  “He was killed in a car wreck. Had Doc been there, of course, I'm sure he'd be alive today.”

  “Missing them has to be hard on you.”

  “Yes and no,” she replied. “Death is a natural part of life. My Dad has been gone since I was a very little girl. I'm looking forward to seeing him again, but I can't say that I really miss him, because I don't know what I'm missing – if you see what I mean.”

  “I'm sure it’s different with your mother.”

  “It is,” she sighed. “We weren't just mother and daughter, we were best friends. Until a little over a year ago, it was always the two of us, hand-in-hand, facing life together. I thought I was going to die when she passed away. But, you heal. You find a way to move on.”

  “Did you have any other family?”

  “Loads,” she smiled. “Aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, I pretty much had a full complement of them all.”

  “Do you miss them?”

  “Not yet,” she replied, shaking her head. “I'm sure I will eventually, but the plain truth is that I meant to spend a year away from them all during my spiritual retreat. I felt I needed to be alone while I was searching for a purpose. I never dreamed that purpose would be saving the universe.

  “I realize...” she continued. “No, that's not true. I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around it. I should say; I'm beginning to realize that I'll never see them again in this life. I know that should make me miss them terribly, but it's hard to keep that in mind with everything we've constantly got going on. You know what I mean?”

  “I do,” he nodded. “I left... well, they weren't really friends... But, I left people behind that I didn't dislike...”

  “Like who?”

  “Bob,” Morgan replied. “He was one of the assistant managers at Taco Palace. He was alright for a kid still in high-school. Anyway, I haven't thought about him until this moment. In fact, I haven't given my previous... I guess we'll call it a life... any thought at all since Rob picked me up.”

  “What about your parents?”

  “I...” he began, before pausing to think. “I don't remember them.”

  “Did they die when you were an infant or something?”

  “I don't know,” he said, shaking his head. “I have some... flashes, I guess... of a fairly handsome man and a very beautiful woman playing with me in some kind of park. I think they were my parents, but I'm not sure.”

  “What about the rest of your family?”

  “I'm not sure I had any.”

  “Did you grow up in an orphanage?”

  “I don't know...”

  “What do you remember, Morgan?” she asked, her eyes locked on his face.

  “Not much...” he admitted. “It's funny, because I hadn't even considered it until just now – there's always so much else to think about when you're running around through time and space – but I have almost no memories of anything before Taco Palace. And, even with that, I can't remember where I was living. I have really clear memories of work – which was alright – but almost nothing else.”

  “That's bizarre, Morgan,” the blue maiden asserted. “In my experience, you have an excellent memory.”

  “Yes,” he agreed, “I do... Rob did persuade me to delete some of my memories...”

  “When?” she asked, an almost shocked tone in her voice.

  “An hour or so before we started dating,” he explained. “At the time, I thought he was doing me a favor. Now, though, I can't help but wonder if he tricked me.”

  “So,” she replied, “you don't know anything at all about your past?”

  “Basically.”

  “Well... That certainly doesn't leave me feeling satiated.”

  “Really?” Morgan said, rolling over on his side. “Well, maybe I can help you with that.”

  As he said this, he moved his face closer to hers.

  “Morgan, bro,” Robert said as he appeared at the top of the stairs. “You've been up here for, like, an hour. It's time to call it a night, man.”

  “Is it that late already?” Azure asked, sitting up as she spoke. “Thanks for letting us know, Rob.”

  “Yes!” Morgan added. “Thank you so very much, Rob! I don't know what I'd have done if I'd gotten to bed an hour late. It's not like I could have slept for an extra hour tomorrow. I mean; we've got so much nothing to do that I certainly couldn't afford to miss any of it.”

  “Goodnight, Rob,” Azure said, grabbing up her bedclothes and heading for the stairs. “Goodnight, Morgan.”

  “Why, in all the universe...” the young man began as soon as the blue maiden was gone.

  “For the last four nights,” Robert interrupted, “I've slept wrapped up in blankets completely permeated with Cleo's scent. As a result, I've had to continue to go without the pleasures of the flesh in order to keep complete and total carnal insanity at bay. Whatsoever I forgo, that also shall you forgo.”

  “That's not in the Bible, Rob,” the young man pointed out.

  “I'm not sure how you knew that,” the traveler replied. “But, you're right.”

  “It was a lucky guess.”

  “Either way,” Robert continued. “It wouldn't be fair...”

  “Life isn't fair, Rob!” Morgan asserted. “You're smarter than me. I'm taller than you. Vox is taller than me. Doc is taller than all of us. I can kiss my girlfriend without totally losing my mind. One of the basic facts of life is: things aren't fair!”

  “I was just...”

  “You were just being a total piece of...”

  “Hold on!” Robert demanded, interrupting his companion again. “Before you say anything you might regret, I want you to know that I've changed my mind. If I don't find a way to... ease the tension...”

  “Just easing the tension, baby,” Morgan interjected.

  “Ease it on someone else,” the traveler laughed. “Anyway, we have to open the release valve again. We just have to do it carefully.”

  “How?”

  “I'll show you tomorro
w afternoon.”

  After what seemed like several eternities to the young man, tomorrow afternoon finally arrived. Robert gathered Morgan, Cleo, and Azure in the saloon, while Vox and Doc were taking turns helping Celeste with the weaving.

  “As you may have noticed,” Robert began, as soon as they were all seated, “we don't have a lot of entertainment on this bird. We don't have any cards, any consoles, or so much as a single bowling alley.”

  “Some portable video games would be a good thing to add to your 'survival kit',” Morgan pointed out.

  “Noted,” the traveler nodded, before continuing. “That being the case, we're going to have to come up with our own entertainments.”

  “Are we?” Cleo asked with a tone of suspicion.

  “We are,” he asserted. “In fact, I've already come up with a game.”

  “What is it?” Morgan asked with a wide smile.

  “We don't have a lot of resources,” Robert explained, “but, we do have enough for a little healthy competition. So, Morgan and I are going to try to outdo each other at holding our breath.”

  “You mean,” the young man said with a clearly disappointed tone, “that each of us is going to try to hold our breath longer than the other?”

  “Exactly,” Robert smiled.

  “Pass,” Morgan said, shaking his head. “That's just lame, Rob. It is blindingly obvious that you put absolutely no thought into this at all. I should have known you were bluffing.”

  “Hold on...” he began.

  “I'm afraid he's right, Rob,” Azure nodded. “Holding your breath in competition is something preschool boys do.”

  “Would you let me finish?”

  “I don't see how Azure and I fit in,” Cleo asserted. “Unless we're supposed to make it more difficult by punching you both in the stomach or something.”

  “I find your lack of faith disturbing,” Robert quoted.

  “Please prove us wrong,” the young man replied, leaning back and crossing his arms.

  “If you had been paying attention, Morgan,” the traveler said, patting his hip, “you'd have noticed that I'm wearing a tranq-pistol. That's because the girls are going to help encourage us.”

  “So, what you're saying,” the young man replied, sitting up and becoming far more attentive, “is that this is basically going to be 'spin the bottle' with set partners and breath holding.”

  “Basically.”

  “I'm in!”

  “Except,” Robert continued. “It's also going to be a competition.”

  “I'm out,” Morgan sighed.

  “Why?”

  “I already see where this is going,” he explained. “You hold your breath for hours at a time, I can't hold mine for thirty seconds, so you and Cleo sit around kissing all day while Azure and I do our best to pretend not to notice. Unless, of course, I end up having to shoot you. On second thought, I'm back in.”

  “I can't hold my breath for hours,” Robert assured him. “On top of which, we'll be competing against ourselves, not each other.”

  “So,” Morgan replied, “if I break my record, Azure kisses me?”

  “Exactly.”

  “I am so in!”

  “This is just stupid, Rob,” Cleo said rolling her eyes. “All Azure and I...”

  “You'll be competing against yourselves as well,” he explained. “You'll have five seconds to blow our minds. Whenever you break your previous record, you'll get a point.”

  “How will we know that we've done that?” she asked.

  “We'll tell you!” Morgan assured her before holding his breath for a second-and-a-half. “I'm afraid that's all I can do at the moment. Meaning that I just broke my record. Azure...”

  “A few rules,” Robert interjected. “Morgan and I have to at least pass the minute mark, and we actually have to be trying. Absolutely no lying...”

  “This is the time you decide to break out 'let's tell the truth'?!”

  “If you girls go past the five second mark, it's a foul,” he continued. “Meaning, you won't get a point, no matter how well you do.”

  “Are you going to be completely honest about that, as well?” Cleo asked.

  “Mainly...” Robert replied, rotating his hand back and forth. “This is meant to be fun, not start fights.”

  “Close enough,” Azure said, biting her lower lip right at Morgan.

  “If a couple passes the ten second mark,” he continued, “they're subject to immediate tranq-ing. Without the rules, the game means nothing.”

  “This is silly, Rob,” Cleo asserted.

  “You mean you don't want to do it?”

  “I'm not saying that exactly...” she replied with a slight blush. “I just don't want Doc to find out.”

  “Trust me,” Robert said with a smile. “As a medical man, he'd approve of it completely.”

  Over the course of the next two hours, Morgan managed to go from being able to hold his breath for just under a minute to just over a minute. Azure was able to reward his efforts, racking up a number of 'points' as she did so. And, as she began to taste of cherry syrup shortly before they stopped for the day, Morgan felt that he had scored a point or two of his own. He had to admit it, Robert had managed to impress him again. He'd just found a way to turn just-over-two-weeks of drudgery into just-over-two-weeks of paradise.

  Chapter 11: Survivors

  “I don't want to play anymore, Rob,” Morgan asserted. “This game has run its course.”

  “Just one more time,” Robert replied with a smile.

  “No,” the young man said, shaking his head. “Azure and I are done. We've had enough.”

  “At first, you couldn't get enough.”

  “At first,” Morgan replied, “I was getting encouragement every other game or so. Face it, Rob, human beings can only hold their breath for so long. There's no way we can perpetually keep breaking our own records.”

  “That's why we decided to join in,” Cleo pointed out.

  “I sincerely appreciate that,” the young man said. “But, as it turns out, all humanoids have 'hold their breath' limits, and you girls reached yours days ago.”

  “I broke my record twice yesterday,” Azure replied.

  “You did,” he nodded. “But neither of us have broken one today and we've been at this for over an hour.”

  “This is the last game of the playoffs, Morgan,” Robert pointed out, “and, the score is tied. Are you going to let Azure lose without even playing the last game?”

  “We wouldn't be tied if you and Cleo hadn't cheated to even things up.”

  “We did not cheat,” the green maiden asserted.

  “We certainly didn't,” Robert agreed with a wide smile. “It's just that Cleo gets overwhelmed with unbridled desire if her lips touch mine.”

  This assertion caused her to punch him in the arm.

  “Then why did her self-control keep magically kicking in right at the nine-second mark?”

  “She doesn't like the way I kiss right after I've been tranq-ed,” the traveler lie-explained.

  Again, she struck him.

  “I wouldn't have minded,” Morgan said, “if Azure had lost her self-control a little.”

  “I did a little,” she replied defensively.

  “She absolutely did,” Cleo replied, coming to the defense of her friend.

  “Not enough for you two to keep the lead.”

  “You're the one who got tranq-ed,” she pointed out.

  “Only because Rob convinced Azure that it would be funny.”

  “Okay,” the blue maiden admitted. “That is true. But, that doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy it.”

  “If you'd have taken the time to enjoy it a little more,” Morgan replied, “we wouldn't be in these stupid playoffs.”

  “If you were better at holding your breath,” Robert said, “you and Azure would have already beaten us. It's not her fault that I got more kisses than you.”

  “You think that's the way to encourage me to try again?” />
  “Alright. How's this for encouragement? The winner gets a two-minute reward. Provided, of course, that you girls are willing.”

  They were more than willing.

  “Two minutes?” Morgan said, obviously considering the possibilities before beginning to shake his head. “No. No, I'll never make it. I'll just pass out and then you'll win.”

  “If you pass out,” Robert replied, “Azure will give you mouth-to-mouth for five minutes.”

  “Will you?” the young man asked.

  “I guess,” she replied, rolling her eyes.

  The young man took several deep breaths before holding the last for just over four minutes. Despite his lack of self-confidence, this broke his previous record, got him some encouragement, and earned Azure another point. Robert followed this example and held his breath for four-minutes-thirty-three seconds. This broke his previous record, allowing him to collect his reward and give Cleo another point. As a result, the 'great breath-holding championships' ended in a tie and Morgan forced Robert to promise that they wouldn't play that particular sport again for at least a year.

  “We need a new game,” the young man asserted moments later. “I'm getting too accustomed to daily encouragement to give it up. Unless Rob's willing to forgo the games and let us just encourage each other whenever we want.”

  “No,” Robert replied, shaking his head. “In our positions, limits are a good thing. Turning it into a game not only keeps things from going too far, it also keeps things interesting.”

  “Things are interesting, Rob. They don't need your help.”

  “Be that as it may,” the traveler said, “we don't have time for either games or encouragement, at the moment. We should reach the shipwreck in about half-an-hour, so we need to start getting ready.”

  “Get ready how?”

  “To start with,” Robert replied, “you need to grab your three-fifty-seven.”

  “Alright...” Morgan said slowly.

  “Why does he need that, Rob?” Cleo asked, eying her love suspiciously.

  “Be prepared,” he smiled.

  “Is that the only reason?” she asked.

  “Basically,” he nodded. “I mean; we need to use conventional weapons because the area where the ship crashed is subject to intermittent ion storms. In fact, that's why the ship crashed in the first place. It was an exploration vessel that was collecting data on the system. It got hit by a storm that its shields couldn't handle, its crew lost control, and it slammed into the planet.”