by Mara Amberly
“No, I shouldn’t think so,” he said. “We can go past the Event and check in on Valtera later. Perhaps while I’m on Earth, lost in history and waiting for a date with destiny,” he said.
“That sure is a way to romanticise it,” she replied, grinning.
“Finish your sandwich and we can see what’s there.”
“So we’re no longer trusting Tom and Juliane?”
“Damn right,” Eric said. “I’m not sure about Oron and Harry, or if it was even them, but it’s best to be careful.”
“I think it was them,” Cora replied. “They didn’t have wrist bands.”
“What about Janice?” she asked. “She seemed like a pleasant and reasonable woman when I spoke to her.”
“Why are you asking me? My guess is as good as yours.”
He couldn’t be serious all the time no matter how hard he tried. Eric grinned.
“So where does that leave us?” she asked.
“In a better place than we were yesterday, and with a whole universe to explore. Ordinarily, I’d expect Viktor to want his ship back, but rather conveniently, there will be two instances of the Equinox now.”
“You shouldn’t warn him about that?” Cora asked, glancing at Eric.
“I might drop him a message, but I’ll wait until I’m out of the star system before I do it. I’m convinced that whoever was behind the Event will return or attack our people in another way. It’s only a matter of time. We could always travel far ahead and read history books. They’d hate that.”
“Well in that case then,” she agreed, smiling.
“Incidentally, I left a gift for you in your quarters. I think you’ll like it,” he said.
Cora tilted her head curiously, as she took the rest of her sandwich and sauntered off toward her quarters.
He waited for it… and waited, until there was a sudden squeal. Excitement or terror; he couldn’t tell.
A minute passed and she stormed back through the door.
“You put a venomous feline on my bed! Are you trying to tell me something?”
“I thought you might be lonely so I got you a pet,” he said. “It’s not venomous. I disabled the poison gland when I printed it. It’s mostly harmless, I promise.”
“You really did that?” she asked, laughing. “I thought you’d stolen one from Michael’s apartment.”
“I wouldn’t do that. They’re his pets and I’m his friend,” Eric replied with a smirk.
“Are you going to tell him what happened?”
“Nah I don’t think so,” Eric said. “He probably won’t notice anything different when he gets home.”
“I think I’ll get acquainted with my new friend. Let me know when we’re in the future?” she asked.
Eric nodded.
A few minutes later, Eric flew the Equinox through a rift in space-time. He’d first put some space between his ship and Valtera in case some fractures or time distortion bleed-through remained. Once he’d moved ahead in time, he turned them back around toward the planet.
He called Cora to the cockpit, and she kept a close eye on the sensors as he slowly brought the Equinox close to Valtera. The planet was still there. The disturbing disc-like portal he’d seen in his nightmare wasn’t, but something was different. The planet had gained a moon. It wasn’t a space station. It wasn’t a mistake. It was a real, honest to God moon.
“That’s new,” Eric remarked aloud. “And wrong.”
“How far into the future are we?” Cora asked. She hadn’t been in the cockpit when he’d set the coordinates.
“Twenty years. Something’s changed and I’m mighty tempted to find out what it is. Fancy a moon excursion?”
“Goodness, yes.”
Mara Amberly is a fantasy and science fiction author. In the past, she’s also written poetry, short stories and official roleplaying game content for the 7th Sea RPG.
She’s a trained journalist, editor and web developer, and she works as an author and graphic designer.
Mara’s Web Site: http://author.maraamberly.com
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