I looked back and confirmed that Crickett was still safely seated in the grass with her attention focused on her pad. I returned my own attention on the little ledge about three or four feet above my head. The ladder thankfully reached just a little higher than that. I held onto the ladder and moved it around, searching for the best footing. Oddly enough, this whole area beneath me and the ladder felt like a large flat portion of rock beneath a thin layer of mud.
I took a step onto the lowest rung of the ladder and paused to test the stability. I then took another step and another. Finally confident in the ladder’s stability, I climbed all the way up to the skinny shelf where I had once stood. With my face and chest up against the stone wall, I glanced over at the waterfall several feet to my left. I wished for shoes just then as I managed to get my footing. I wasn’t the slightest bit comfortable with how small the ledge was, but I had no other choice.
“Be careful, Vastian!” I heard Crickett holler.
“Trying,” I replied, cautiously side-stepping my way toward the waterfall.
“Do you see anything unusual up there?” she called.
“Nothing but useless rock as far as the eye can see,” I replied.
As I neared the waterfall, the ledge got a little wider, giving me a little breathing room.
“Maybe we were never meant to leave this place and go to your world,” she said.
“It’s certainly looking that way,” I replied, finally reaching the edge of the water fall where the shelf beneath my feet was the largest.
I ducked under the waterfall curtain that served to conceal the entrance to my world, enjoying the cool mist of the water tickling the back of my neck. I felt around the wall for any sort of door knob or indentation that might help me to move or open the door. I could clearly see the outline of the door which no one could have accidentally stumbled upon anyway. I only knew where to look because I’d been here before. I pushed on the door, then beat on it. Nothing happened.
“Are you okay up there?” Crickett called.
“Yeah,” I groaned, “Not finding anything useful.”
“Well, something weird is going on down here if that counts,” she said.
“What do you mean?” I quickly slid over toward the edge of the waterfall so I could catch a glimpse of her down below.
She was standing now at the edge of the pond peering up at me. She held her electronic pad in her hand and was pointing down at the screen.
“Apparently someone is watching us and they are telling me to have you come down from the ledge and take my pad so they can talk,” she said, looking down suddenly at the screen, “Oh, and they just said that they aren’t a ‘someone’. So, apparently they are listening to me as well. They just said for me to tell you they’re the same one who asked you if you wished to shut down the alarms before disengaging the door lock. It’s the same person who kindly informed you that the door would only remain open for a half hour.”
“What? That wasn’t even a person at all!” I hollered down to her, “They’re texting you right now?”
I began scanning the edge of the surrounding forest. Then the thought occurred to me that she was in a potentially dangerous position while I was up here unable to protect her. I forfeited my current task and quickly edged my way over to the top of the ladder.
“Yes, they’re insisting upon speaking with you right now,” she said, fear creeping up in her voice.
“I’m on my way down there. If someone comes out of the woods, you let me know,” I said, upset that’d I’d left her alone while I wandered off.
I quickly climbed down the ladder, then hefted the thing over my head as I made my way out of the pond. Crickett had been waiting for me at the edge of the pond, looking just as frightened as I’d already felt. I dropped the ladder onto the grass.
She held out the pad to me while I brushed off my hands on my pants. I then put my arm around her and led her away from the water. I didn’t want to risk her dropping the pad into the pond. Then I took the item she was offering me. It worried me when I saw the screen automatically change the very moment I took hold of it.
“The door will not open again until we reach the planet. You’ve been banished from the piloting crew and will never be permitted to return to that portion of the ship,” it read.
“What?” I turned to Crickett, “Are you seeing this? Is there a way to find out who is texting this to your pad?”
“The Endeavor was built with a policing AI or Artificial Intelligence to monitor and ensure that the mission is nothing short of a success. That is the ‘person’ who you are talking to,” it read.
“Someone’s spying on us!” Crickett whined as she’d watched those sentences rapidly appear, “Don’t let us get hurt, Vastian. Please save us!”
“Do I even need to type my replies?” I hollered toward the sky as I drew Crickett in closer.
“No, I can see and hear. And no, I don’t intend to harm either of you. I’m merely here to tell you that there was a reason it was so easy for you to leave and come here,” the words appeared rapidly on the screen, “The moment you hacked into the main server and didn’t back off once I booted you out, I knew that you couldn’t be trusted with access to the ship’s computers. There are no access points in the agricultural world on this side of the barrier, so it was the easiest way to ensure the security and success of the mission.”
I felt the blood suddenly drain from my face. This really was the Endeavor’s computer or AI that I was speaking to. And this meant that I fell for the bait it had dangled before me back then.
“No, you didn’t banish me! I had thirty minutes to run back through that door had I not jumped off the cliff,” I insisted.
“The moment you walked through that door, you were never crossing that threshold again. Had you turned around and changed your mind right away, you’d have found the door slammed shut and sealed securely. You were banished, Vastian, and you didn’t even realize it. The survival of humanity and this ship was at stake. Your curiosity as well as your ability to hack into the main servers posed an ongoing danger to this ship and its people. You have a choice now and it’s one you should most certainly embrace. You can live, love, and be a leader to these people when we arrive in probably two to three years, or you can be a rebel and a conspiracy theorist like Idris. One of these choices has a very enjoyable future for you and rest assured, you’ll see your family and friends again.”
I stared at the screen. I felt Crickett huddling close as she read the same words I was reading. She already knew enough about her world and mine to realize now that there wasn’t a human stalker hiding in the woods right now. I’d been truly contacted by the ship itself. On top of all that, I’d been severely punished for my iniquities.
“I love you, Vastian,” she seemed to whisper, “If all that is true, then you can still have it all. Me, my family, your family, and that weirdly-named planet.”
“It’s a promise. You already know how close we are to Kapteyn C,” those words spelled out on her pad, “It’d be nice to have an ambassador on this side of the muddy stairs when that door opens.”
“Muddy stairs?” Crickett blurted.
“Vastian was right about the placement of the door. There’s a set of hydraulic stairs buried in the pond,” it read, “The waterfall will be shut down, the door will open, and a curved set of stairs will rise up and permit the two worlds to meet for the first time. Are you with the Endeavor, or are you against it?”
I swallowed as I stared at the pad. The AI was stating that I had to live with the knowledge that I couldn’t console my parents, at least not for a couple years. They would have to live with the belief that I had died, only to celebrate later. This was going to be a tough pill to swallow, but I apparently had no choice.
“You probably already knew my answer before you asked it,” I replied aloud.
“Then I will break my connection after I delete all evidence of this conversation. I expect discretion from the both of you un
til that glorious day for all mankind.”
“What about our children?” Crickett asked, looking up toward the ceiling.
“Go ahead and tell them everything. They’ll barely be toddlers by the time they set foot on Kapteyn C. Never lie to them.”
“Children?” I turned to her.
She looked at me and grinned, “Two to three years? How long do you expect the two of us to show restraint, Vastian?”
“They’ll be the first of the generation that knew the truth from the start.”
We both looked down at the pad. Just then, the screen flickered, then it returned to her home screen. I was quite certain that there would be no evidence whatsoever of our conversation. As an IT professional, I started to ponder ways I could dig that conversation up. That’s when I remembered what got me here in the first place.
“I accept,” I whispered to her just before I kissed her.
TWENTY
Astrid had already returned home before we pulled into the gravel driveway. She was sweeping the leaves off the back porch as we pulled around and parked the vehicle nearby. I got out and quickly took to the task of untying the ladder when I noticed Astrid approaching us.
Crickett met her partway and wrapped her mother in an embrace as she began apologizing again for our indiscretion last night. As near as I could tell, her mother appeared to be in a forgiving mood as long as I’d read her expression correctly.
“What sort of adventure warranted the use of a ladder today?” Astrid asked me after she broke free from her daughter’s embrace.
I tugged the ladder from the back of the vehicle, then propped it up next to me as I turned to her, “I needed to clear some things up with… well, with the world I came from.”
“Oh, I see. Sooo the ladder… you really did fall from the sky?” she asked.
“More or less,” I chuckled as I shrugged.
“Well, you’re not going back already, are you?” she looked from me to Crickett.
“Well…” I realized just then that I didn’t really know much about my own future anymore.
Astrid might have been alright with letting me crash on her sofa for a few days or maybe a month while I figured things out, but what if I now needed a home for a couple years?
“What’s going on? What is it that you’re not telling me?” she put her hands on her hips while she seemed to examine the two of us.
“He’s not allowed to go home, Mom,” Crickett explained, “When he decided to help me yesterday, it came with a price. He just didn’t know that until today.”
I looked over at Crickett in bewilderment. Her way of explaining my situation made it sound like she and her mother owed me. She had been wise enough to make it sound like I’d been punished for doing something noble rather than for my hacking crimes.
“I don’t get it. You’re stuck here forever like all the others who came before you?” Astrid asked, “You’re being punished for rescuing my daughter and saving our people from a serial killer?”
“Not forever. The punishment’s only for two to three years. Then… well, then I get to see my parents again,” I replied, feeling a bit uncomfortable under her scrutiny, “I was wondering if I could maybe borrow your comfortable sofa a little longer than I’d planned. I’ll do my part around the house and help with the deliveries and such.”
“You’ll always be welcome here, Vastian,” Astrid brushed my worries away with a flick of her hand, “But there’ll be no more shared sleeping arrangements in my house. Is that understood?”
“Yes, certainly! Understood and thank you so much,” I said.
And just like that, her mother shook her head as she drifted back to the porch and retrieved her broom. I grabbed the ladder and quickly returned it to the metal hook on the wall inside the barn. When I turned around afterward, I almost collided with Crickett who’d been standing less than a foot away from me.
“When are you going to tell her?” she asked, her face now just inches from my own.
“Tell her what?” I asked, “About the truth of what’s going to happen in a few years?”
“No, of course not! It sounded like those details should remain a secret until the time draws near. I was referring to the truth about us,” she insisted.
“Why? Does she really need to know?” I asked, confused by such a statement.
She stepped back and examined me for a moment, “Vastian! You said that you loved me. Do you?”
“Of course I do!” I laughed, “I just wasn’t in a hurry to tell your mom about it. She’d probably not let me go on deliveries with you anymore.”
“But you have to tell her so that she’ll understand!”
“I’m confused, Crickett. Why does your mom need to know that I love you? Granted it happened a little quickly, but is there something really wrong with that?”
“Love is a family thing, Vastian. It’s family and that’s not taken lightly here. Does it mean something different where you come from?”
“Love is… well, love is a beautiful thing that has many levels of strength and depth. I love my parents and I love my friends. But I love my parents more than I love my friends. I love you and I love your family, but I most certainly love you more than I love them. That’s what love is like in my world,” I said, “Is it different here?”
She seemed to be concentrating pretty hard as she examined me, “Yes, what you refer to in your world is the difference between ‘love’ and ‘caring’ in this world. I love my mother, but I care about my friends. Both are good things, but one is an almighty and powerful bond that can never be broken. Here, love is a very absolute and eternal thing that a person will only give to one person besides his or her immediate family. It’s the greatest gift that anyone could ever give to someone.”
“Wow,” I breathed, “I guess I’m glad to see that you take love so seriously here. I have to ask, though. Do you love me as well?”
She stared at me with those giant doe eyes, then nodded, “Yes, I’m quite certain that I do. We’ve barely known each other more than a day and I can’t think of anyone I’d rather spend the rest of my life with, even if that life is being spent starting anew on an alien planet.”
I reached out and drew her into an embrace, holding her tightly to me as I pondered such an immense blessing
“So, what do we do?” I breathed into her hair.
“Tell my mom exactly how you feel.”
“And you’ll save me if she tries to stab me to death?”
She chuckled, kissing me on the neck, “It’ll be fine.”
We shared that moment for a little while longer, then we both left the barn and discovered that her mom had already gone inside. We closed up the barn and then Crickett took my hand as she led the way into the back of the house.
“Want some cold cider?” she asked as she released my hand and made her way toward the refrigerator.
“Yeah, sure,” I said, noticing just then that she was looking at me while animatedly gesturing off to the side.
I merely returned a look of confusion, then she mouthed the word ‘mom’ and pointed toward the living room. I could hear movement in the other room, so perhaps that was where her mother was. I quietly groaned, then I took a deep breath and headed toward the doorway.
“I’ll bring you a nice glass of iced cider, my love,” Crickett grinned at me as she drew a tall glass pitcher out of the refrigerator.
I realized that I was going to finally just have to do it. If they took love as seriously as Crickett had suggested, then this proclamation was going to probably cause a problem. While I’d been originally professing my love in a casual yet very honest way, I hadn’t initially realized it was such a significant act in this world. But after discovering how they viewed such a proposal and all that it implied, I remained confident and certain in my expression of love.
In the living room, I located Astrid seated on one of the sofas with an open crossword book in her lap and a blue pen perched between her teeth. She glanced up quickly
and acknowledged my presence as I entered the room, then she returned her focus back to the puzzle.
“Astrid, can I borrow a moment of your time?” I asked, cautiously taking a seat on the sofa beside her.
“Sure, what’s on your mind, Vastian?” she plucked the pen from her mouth and turned toward me.
“Please keep in mind that I’m new to this world, so I don’t know what the protocol is when it comes to… well, to things like what I’m about to say. So, I guess I’ll just say it and hope that you don’t get mad at me,” I said, finding that I was now fiddling with my fingers, “I thought you should know that I love your daughter. I love Crickett, Astrid.”
For a very long moment, she simply stared at me. It felt like thirty seconds had passed before she’d set the pen down in her lap and then scooted closer to me.
“You’d die for her? You’d give everything you own for my daughter? With the exception of your parents or siblings, you’d just as soon lose everyone else in your life except for Crickett?” she asked, “This is what you’ve come in here to swear to me?”
I nodded without a moment’s thought, “Yes, absolutely!”
Then to my complete shock, Astrid leaned in and kissed me fully and firmly on the lips. My hand was already on her shoulder with the intent to push her away, but I then recalled her kissing me somewhat inappropriately yesterday as well. Perhaps this was normal. It just didn’t feel normal as her hand cupped the back of my head while she continued the kiss. In reality, the kiss probably only lasted five seconds, but it felt much longer.
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