beyond the river of time

by Stella Samiotou Fitzsimons

  “The mystery of the universe,” Finn says. “It never gets old.”

  “It will always be a riddle unsolved,” I say.

  “Sit next to me,” he says. “Like we used to.”

  I smile and plop down on the floor beside him. He extends his arm for me to tuck my shoulder

  underneath it. He slowly pulls me down so we’re lying on our backs.

  “Yes, I remember this,” I say. “You and me counting stars.”

  He stays silent for a long while. I feel his chest rise and fall rhythmically. His hand keeps

  squeezing my arm.

  “You know,” he says finally. “I always thought you would be my first. That I would be your

  first. That we were meant to end up together. I don’t know why I didn’t tell you until it was too late.”

  “I know,” I say. “And I felt the same way since we were children even if I couldn’t explain it. I

  guess children are weird that way.”

  He laughs. “You’ve always been kind of odd,” he says.

  “You always kept me grounded.”

  “It was the only thing to do, you always had your head in the stars.”

  I turn and kiss his cheek. “If we meet again someday,” I say, “you’ll have found someone less

  odd than me. She will be beautiful, smart and sexy. Like Ella. And I will be a little bit jealous but not too much.”

  “I would have been Tobi’s father if you had let me,” he says.

  These last words of his hit their target. The dark sky above us is cut in half now separated into

  two distinct universes. One where I love Damian and one where I love Finn.

  “I need you to be his father after I go,” I say fighting back the tears.

  “Don’t talk like that,” he says. “We will find some way.”

  I don’t want to argue with him now so I change the subject. “There are two people inside me,” I

  say. “One that wants to be fair, giving and strong and that’s the one that has always wanted to be with you.”

  He glances at me and I can see he wishes I would not continue.

  “Then there’s this other Freya,” I go on, “and she’s reckless, curious, daring and loud and that

  one is drawn to Damian like a moth to a flame. In a way, she’s won. But she knows she’s not a

  complete person. If ever the two parts of me had come together, hopefully my choice would have

  made sense.”

  I don’t know for how long we stay like this in absolute silence. When Finn finally tells me we

  should go, I realize I wouldn’t mind if this moment lasted forever. Because for the first time since the crater, I have a desire to see what the future world could become.

  17

  We meet Ella at a picnic table in the plastic park. She has a white dress on with pink and yellow

  flowers. The light seems to make her hair glimmer the way the real sun does on the surface of a

  serene lake.

  Lainey appears from behind a row of fake trees and sits down next to Ella. Finn and I take the

  seats opposite them.

  “I hope you don’t mind,” Ella says. “I asked Lainey to join us. She was once my teacher. No one

  has read as many books as she has.”

  Lainey nods to me and grabs the touchpad to read Zolkon’s riddle.

  “Whatever it takes,” I say not intending it to come out so unenthused.

  Finn kicks my foot under the table.

  “I have read it many times,” Finn says. “The blush of the seasons could mean love or aging

  or…”

  “Or blood,” Lainey says barely listening.

  “Yes,” Ella says excited. “The blood comes to the surface when we blush and red veins emerge

  within the changing leaves when seasons change.”

  “Okay, time and blood,” I say. “It still means nothing.”

  “Patience, dear girl,” Lainey says with a wink.

  “Not just time and blood, but a time that has come and blood that is changing,” Finn adds.

  “Fate almost always pertains to life,” Ella says a bit worried.

  “What is it, Ella?” Finn asks.

  “I don’t like the rest of this riddle,” she answers unwilling to go on.

  Lainey puts her hand on Ella’s shoulder. “These are dark days for us all,” she says.

  “My hands are deadly hands,” I offer. “At least they were.”

  “Take your life in your hands is all it means,” Finn says and now he seems worried too.

  No one wants to continue. The riddle is not all warm and fuzzy like a nursery rhyme apparently.

  “Freya is right,” Lainey finally says. “Take your life in your deadly hands. Look at the last line.

  He repeats the idea. Her story must end.”

  “Freya must die?” Finn says angrily. “That’s all this is, just a sick riddle to tell her he wishes

  she was dead.”

  “Her story must end for it to begin,” Ella says. “That’s the whole sentence. It’s about rebirth.”

  “Does that mean like reborn in hell or heaven or as plant food or something?” Finn says

  beginning to find this whole thing tedious.

  “He risked his life to send this message,” Lainey says. “He would not do that just to taunt her, I

  should think.”

  “You haven’t met him,” I say trying to be funny. They ignore me completely.

  “The time is probably the fact that Freya’s two days are running out and the blood might have

  something to do with what they put inside her,” Lainey concludes and then stands. “You need to come

  with me. There is someone that we need to look at this and look at you.”

  When Lainey offers me her hand, I freeze a moment and just stare at it. She does not have the

  patience for me to get past my doubts about her. She reaches down, grabs my hand and pulls me away

  in a rush.

  “Lead Medical Officer Armand has not slept since your return,” Lainey explains. “He’s been

  trying to analyze your blood.”

  “My blood?” I say shocked.

  “Finn came to your room while you slept and extracted some blood,” she says.

  I turn to look at Finn stunned at the news.

  “You were sleeping so soundly,” he says. “I didn’t want to wake you.”

  I don’t know how I stayed asleep when he extracted the blood. I guess exhaustion and despair

  will do that to you.

  Lainey points at the doctor’s hair when we enter which is sticking up in one spot. The doctor

  quickly mats it down and continues his work in his lab.

  “Doc, take a break,” Lainey says. “I brought Freya.”

  They have their own Doc on Exodus. If only my Doc was here right now to aid in the

  impossible. Armand is not as elegant now as he usually appears sitting next to Eldritch during officer meetings. He is flustered, wild-eyed and wearing strange green, protective glasses.

  “We need to scan her right away,” he says. “The blood tells me nothing.”

  His words immediately deflate Finn and Ella.

  “Would you mind?” Lainey asks me as she moves her hand toward an all glass chamber nearby.

  Why not? I begin to undress and find it amusing when Finn blushes and turns away. Lainey stares

  at me like I’m an idiot. It’s one of her most common expressions.

  “Oh, no, Freya,” Armand says. “The technology is perfectly capable of seeing through your

  clothes.”

  I nod and enter the chamber wearing a thin undershirt and pants. It’s nice to know I can make

  Finn blush. I don’t mind that Ella knows it too. I will soon enough be out of their lives and they will be free of my immaturities.

  An orange light slides up and down my body, both front and back, and then su
ddenly the door

  opens. The scan took all of five seconds. Human technology is not so feeble as the Empress would

  like to believe.

  I put my shirt back on and join Ella and Finn sitting in a small break room. Lainey stays with the

  doctor in the lab. We wait.

  “My time is almost up,” I say. “Kroll and I must leave tomorrow morning.”

  They look at each other confused. “Kroll left immediately,” Finn says.

  I close my eyes and exhale. “I forget he holds no allegiance to me anymore. He wouldn’t even

  wait to make the long walk with me.”

  “Damian overrode the Empress and her mind melting tricks,” Ella says. “Kroll may be able to

  do it as well.”

  Finn takes her hand and holds it tenderly. I think this is his response to me parading around in my

  undershirt. Then, I remember, he is far more mature than I am. He might just actually like holding her hand.

  Lainey steps into the break room. “Results are in,” she says stealing a concerned glance at me.

  Doctor Armand breaks the bad news. There is nothing unusual about my blood and he sees no

  microscopic chip hidden within tissue or skin.

  “You’re clean,” he says.

  “I don’t mean to offend you, Doctor,” I say, “but am I clean or just clean to your eyes and your

  instruments?”

  He considers my words before he nods. “You are clean to our eyes,” he says. “You may indeed

  be carrying something beyond our technology to see.”

  “What if we assume she is carrying something?” Lainey asks.

  The doctor does not understand.

  Ella touches my back. “Show him the riddle, Freya.”

  I slide out my touchpad, pull up the riddle and hand it to Armand.

  He takes off his glasses and reads it quickly. “What is this?” he asks.

  “It’s a riddle that might give us a clue about her blood,” Lainey says.

  “Oh, I see,” Armand says. “Let me read it again.” This time a light seems to go off in his face.

  He finishes reading the riddle and then looks at me a long time with concern. “If these words are to be trusted and we are sure they offer a clue to your cure, then there is only one thing they could mean.”

  “Keep it simple for us, Doctor,” Finn says.

  “You want it simple?” Armand says to Finn before turning to me. “Your heart must stop, Freya.”

  “That’s not an option,” Finn says becoming hostile.

  “Why?” I say looking into the doctor’s almost loving eyes.

  “This is only an educated guess depending on the intent of this message as well as what I cannot

  find in your body,” Armand says backpedaling.

  “I believe that your guesses are usually right,” I say to encourage him.

  He looks to Lainey who nods. “The electrical current produced by your heart,” he begins, “it

  must be serving as a battery of sorts to the microscopic chip which we cannot locate.”

  “And we need to shut off the battery,” I say finishing his thought.

  “However, you need that battery to live,” Armand says.

  “If you stop the heart, Doctor Armand,” Ella says, “wouldn’t it still be a battery when you

  started it again?”

  “We’re not stopping Freya’s heart. It’s happened before. She might not survive it,” Finn yells

  but no one is really listening to Finn anymore.

  “That may be true, so we would have to induce a sudden cardiac arrest by causing an extreme

  electrical disturbance in her heart,” Armand goes on.

  “Would this blow the circuit and destroy the chip?” Lainey asks.

  “I don’t know what it will do, but the riddle suggests that it will,” Armand says. “I can bring her

  back, but there’s no guarantee the chip will be disabled. Or worse.”

  “Worse?” Finn says.

  “It could trigger the chip and it could kill her on the spot,” Armand says. “Or the cardiac arrest

  could impair her brain to some degree.”

  No one says anything. Only Finn will even look at me.

  “Sounds fun,” I say. “When do we start?”

  *

  I CHECK ON TOBI who’s sleeping peacefully in his crib with his arms stretched but barely

  able to reach the top of his head. Babies have huge heads, I think as I get dressed.

  I sneak out and walk over to Finn’s room. I’m about to open the door when I remember that Ella

  might be with him. So I knock instead. He comes to the door within seconds still dressed in his day

  clothes.

  “Can’t sleep either?” he says.

  I shake my head. “Who has time to sleep?” I say as I push him aside and walk in.

  “I’m not letting you go through with this,” Finn says as he shuts the door.

  “I’ve done some thinking,” I say. “Remember when we got inside Plantation-15 you and me?

  What did we have then that made our attempt possible?”

  “Your receptor,” he says clearly interested to see what I’m getting at.

  “What about Plantation-8? What was it that gave us the edge then?”

  “Kroll and the Dark legion,” he says. “Why are you asking me questions you know the answers

  to perfectly well?”

  “We have neither this time,” I say.

  “I’m aware of that.”

  “We can’t use the Dark Legion even if we could be certain they are still loyal down to the last

  fighter. We can’t just have them storm into the plantation. The aliens will expect that. Both times

  before we had the element of surprise in our favor. We need that again if we are to stand a chance.”

  Finn nods. “This better not just be idle talking. Do you have a way or not?”

  I smile. “Don’t get so excited. What is the one thing we know that the Empress doesn’t?”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” he says. “That you agreed to commit suicide tomorrow morning.”

  “The rebel Sliman,” I say. “They’re not that many but she doesn’t know who they are or that

  they’re in contact with us.”

  Finn considers my words. “Malzod,” he says. “We need to see him.”

  “Yes. Can you get to him tonight? This has to happen by sundown tomorrow. All of it.”

  “He’ll be taking a terrible risk and you will be in no condition, even if you survive, to join the

  fight.”

  “We’ll see about that,” I say. “Whoever is going to make a stand tomorrow, we’ll need Malzod.

  This goes beyond us. It’s about the future of human race. If the aliens start reproducing again, there will be no weaknesses left in them. No amount of resistance will ever stop them.”

  “I knew you’d come around,” he says.

  “Let’s hope I come around tomorrow after surgery,” I say.

  “Not funny, Freya,” Finn says.

  “Come on, Finn, any one of us could die tomorrow in a thousand ways. I’m just one person. Get

  over it.”

  “Wow,” Finn says smiling. “I had forgotten how mean you can be.”

  *

  THE SUN HAS NOT YET broken. Pip and I walk down to Armand’s lab hand-in-hand. Tobi

  still sleeps. I kissed him one last time before I joined Pip to take what could be my final walk among the living.

  “Is it dangerous?” Pip asks.

  “It is, but it is the only way I can stay and see you and Tobi again.”

  “It would be better if you were alive, somewhere, even if not with us.”

  “That might be better for you, Pip,” I tell her, “but I am too selfish. I want to be with you and

  Tobi forever.”

  She nods as we stop at the door. She touches my lab gow
n sadly. I pull her into my arms

  violently and hold her tight fighting back a sudden rush of emotion. “I love you, Pip. You are

  everything to me.”

  “Me too,” she says whimpering.

  “Wait for me with Tobi,” I tell her.

  I kiss her nodding head and then I disappear into the lab.

  They are all there. Commander Eldritch, Lainey, Finn, Ella and Joshua. They all possess what I

  can only describe as a gallows’ smile.

  “Good morning, my sweet girl,” Doctor Armand says smiling as if it’s my birthday. At least the

  right person is confident about this whole thing.

  His team swarms around me and leads me back into the operating room. They are all talking to

  me, but it seems their words are out of order and coming from every direction. When I am laid back I

  see Armand’s smiling face with all his big teeth. I feel the needle and then the oxygen mask descends onto my face and I enter a land of mist and marshmallow skies.

  Time races to a standstill. One second and then the next second and then I’m awake in an all

  white room. Alone. I turn my head and I see them. Daphne and Doc sitting next to each other. They

  hold each other’s hand and wait for me to join them. This can’t be good.

  My eyelids blink but I have to fight hard to open them again. I’m still in the white room, but I

  notice a few other colors. I turn to my dearly departed friends and instead find Ella asleep on Finn’s shoulder.

  “Tick,” Finn says and just smiles a long time.

  My heart is working. I enjoy his smile even though I don’t have the energy to move my lips and

  reciprocate. “Malzod,” I whisper.

  Finn comes to my bedside. Ella wakes up behind him. She waves to me and leaves us alone.

  “Tick, you’re still here,” he says.

  “Tell me,” I say trying to articulate.

  “We met. Malzod, Eldritch, Joshua and I. Out in the woods.”

  I nod my approval. “More,” I urge him.

  “It wasn’t easy but we forged a plan,” Finn continues. “Malzod said he will need to convince

  twenty rebel Sliman to work the inside. He said that new security measures on the plantation will

  mean each rebel will have to betray their identities to help us.”

  “We have to save them all,” I say but it exhausts me to form a sentence.

  Finn reaches out and takes my hand. “Just rest,” he says. “The doctor said he barely got you