‘Thank you for your concern,’ she told her colleagues and the Colonel got a special hug from her.
The suit had done its job. A minute later the professors, doctors and inventors, the entire group of scientists who took care of the trainees came out of their hiding. They saw ruins, fire and six heroes, all of them in one piece. Everyone began applauding them and that episode made everything clear–the team were already ready.
‘You’ve earned a day of rest,’ the Frenchman said and asked them to take off the suits so he could put them back in their places. In the end, after all the days of exile the chosen ones had a little free time, even if that was for a single day. It was up to them to choose how to spend it, but one way or another the time would not be enough to see their closest ones. Only Mila’s situation was a bit different. The second she heard about the leave, her eyes lit up and she tried to get more information.
‘What shall we understand by a one-day leave?’ chimed in the fairer part of the research team.
‘That time starts at 7 p.m. tonight, right after dinner, when you’ll be allowed to leave the base, but I want you back here at 9 tomorrow morning. Go visit some city, get a drink or go see an acquaintance or a friend. But I want you back and available by 9 a.m., not a minute later! It’s all Professor Zanev’s orders,’ Jean-Pierre replied.
‘All right, I understood, we’ll all be back on time,’ replied the Russian blonde.
A smile broke over her face. She leapt for joy as she could visit her beloved man at his working place and surprise him. Once the Frenchman was over with delivering the regulations, everyone headed for their rooms to prepare to go outside Eisenhower. They quickly made plans to make a tour around a neighboring city where to grab a drink and chill out.
‘Guys, we’ll be off for Kaiserslautern at seven thirty. It’s not like Berlin, but that would be too far, so we’ll go somewhere close by. Are we all going to be together?’ Alan asked.
‘I’ll leave you go out on a stag party, I have other plans for the night,’ Mila said, smiling. Without losing any more time she retreated to her room to prepare for the long-awaited date with her fiancé. The others did not object, they only focused on the chance to go out.
‘Well, so what, it’ll be the five of us, let’s get ready, the clock is ticking.’
After dinner they all strode off for the city. Only the lady made an arrangement with General Müller to provide her a plane to Berlin because of the great distance, there was no time to use private carriers. Everything was set and the plane was airborne at 8 p.m., an hour later she landed in the capital. She could finally soothe the pain caused by the distance and the isolation . . .
At about twenty past ten in the evening Mila was standing outside one of the greatest hospitals in the capital city. She took out her mobile phone and called one of Stephan’s colleagues who told her where she could find his colleague. She got lucky–he was at work. He was on a night shift and had a break at the time. There was a little alley in the yard lined by a few benches onto one of which Stephan was sitting, enjoying the beautiful May weather. He was gazing at the stars, but it stuck out a mile that something was heavy on his heart. He paid no attention to anyone around him, he had isolated himself, he was so entirely engrossed in his thoughts that no one seemed to know how to help him. Those closest to him presumed that his condition had to do with the love torments that had been keeping him in a stronghold for the past five months. Was it love to describe it? Most people would hardly fathom it. He felt that part of his core essence was missing, his body was functioning, but there was no sense to it, no purpose, that was the saddest thing of all. He felt miserable without Mila. Part of his soul seemed to have left him the day he had to part with his fiancée and let her go to the air base. On the one hand, he was proud of the achievements of his better half, but on the other, he was afraid of what was to come. He was not fully aware about the duties and activities she was supposed to perform during her stay in Eisenhower. That worried him even more. He knew just a little, only the basics that had to do with the launching of the shuttle and nothing more specific as most of the details were kept in utmost secrecy.
At that moment Mila sneaked up on him soundlessly, escaping his notice. She slowly stepped up towards him from behind and suddenly, catching the moment of surprise, covered his eyes with her hands.
‘Guess who it is!’ Mila whispered in her tender voice.
At first the doctor got startled and froze for a moment because of the unexpected surprise. Seconds later he took in a deep breath and smiled.
‘In time I may not hear and see all that well, but I’ll always recognize the scent my loved one gives off,’ he turned around and pulled her in a strong, tight hug as his eyes went a little watery with joy. He held her in a close embrace for a long time. His heart was beating fast and his arms did not want to let her go. He was scared he might be robbed of her again. Once their passionate kisses and hugs cooled down, he set her free. He looked her in the eyes and started whispering to her.
‘I have no words to tell you just how happy I am to see you, my little sun! ’ He got closer to her, stroked her left cheek and kissed her full lips again. Stephan kissed her like never before, he drank in small gulps the love she offered, tenderly and carefully. Time had stopped for the two of them, at that moment all that existed were they and their love.
‘When can you take some time off so we can spend a few hours together,’ Mila asked smiling.
‘I’m at work now, I even have to go back up in a while, but I think I can come up with something and get free earlier, but why just a little? I want to spend all the time in the world with you,’ the doctor asked bewildered.
‘I’ll tell you later. For now there’s only one thing I need you to know. I’m free until tomorrow morning. So, please, make everything you can to steal some time,’ answered the Lieutenant.
‘All right, then take the apartment keys and wait for me there, I’ll do my best to come as soon as possible,’ he said and kissed her hand and her cheek, then quickly climbed up the stairs. His enthusiasm was obvious. There was finally something to breathe vitality in him, there was finally a cure to his illness. The pain that even he himself could not heal, but then his medicine came to him out of a sudden and everything around was already bathing in light.
Mila headed for his apartment, intending to make another little surprise for him. She wanted to cook something for him, to create romantic atmosphere, so that the two of them could relax. She knew the situation was not tough only for her. After it took her about an hour to get to the apartment that was relatively close by, she did the grocery shopping in the 24-hour supermarket to prepare something nice for the late dinner. While she was cooking and arranging the table, memories and moments related to that place emerged in her mind. She only remembered the nice times spent together, the times of privacy and pure love. She felt happiest in that comparatively new apartment that Stephan had recently bought for the two of them. Shortly after, Mila received a phone call from her fiancé.
‘I managed to get out of work, I’m on my way home,’ he called and hung up impatiently.
After she finished cooking and decorating the place so that it matched their romantic mood, the doorbell rang. It was him holding a bouquet of a hundred and fifty-three roses that he managed to squeeze through the door with great difficulty. Mila could hardly believe her eyes.
‘That’s for you, dear darling, a rose for each day we’ve spent apart, I love you,’ he said and handed her the flowers, helping her get them through, they were rather heavy.
Mila broke into joyful tears and hugged the man responsible for her emotions. Then they slipped into a few passionate kisses and sat down to have dinner at the decorated table.
‘I haven’t had to dine so late in quite some time, it’s more like a breakfast,’ the blonde laughed and went on. ‘I’m sorry it all happened like this, that I came to you without calling first, but I myself got surprised they gave us a leave.’
&n
bsp; ‘Nevermind, what matters is that you’re here. How long is that leave of yours, is it really until tomorrow morning?’ her loved one asked.
‘Yes, its until nine in the morning,’ Mila answered, casting a desperate look at the floor; Stephan nearly fainted when he heard those words.
‘It’s all right, the important part is that we’re here together,’ he said, looking her in the eyes and taking her hand in a firm clasp. ‘I know you have to finish what you’ve started and I’m right by your side, but, please, be careful.’
‘I will, you know me well. I have to tell you something, but you won’t like it. When I leave again we won’t be able to see each other again for an indefinite period of time. It could be a month or two, but it could be longer, so you’ll have to be strong,’ the Russian explained in a shaky voice. She grieved deeply, for she knew something could go wrong and that fear made things harder and more complicated for her. She did not want to break him mentally, he did not deserve that. It was difficult for her to adjust and to believe that their relationship was probably coming to an end. Yet, hope was still alive inside of her, maybe things were going to turn out the best way possible and they were going to have a happy life together and it did not matter much in which end of the galaxy that would happen. But sometimes fate could be truly cruel.
The news brought a lump to his throat. He had some sort of an idea what his girlfriend’s job was about and it was genuinely important.
‘I want to ask you something. Do you really have to go? Are all these missions and the exodus itself so absolutely imperative? So much money whirled around your endeavor, can’t they think of some other way to fix things so that no exodus is needed at all? Why can’t we be together? I’m aware of what’s coming and for the time being it doesn’t put the two of us together,’ he said, sharing his sorrowful angst about their mutual future.
Mila knew exactly what to tell him, but she had to pick her words wisely so she did not hurt her fiancé any further.
‘Sometimes we need to take action. I know what I can do and I can’t hide it. And since there’s something I can do to help, I’ll do it gladly. Sometimes inaction does much more damage than you can imagine. The world is nearing its twilight, but you just can’t feel it yet. The crisis is just beginning to take shape and the ghettos have already gone extremely vocal in their discontent. And I’m not talking just about poverty. How many diseases that we still don’t have a cure against have cropped up over the past year?’ Mila asked, posing the question in such a way as to explain as plausibly as possible the situation in which they found themselves in and in which they were about to sink even deeper.
‘As a doctor I can account for about forty cases of unknown deadly diseases in the past month for which we still don’t have any data. I’m not blind, you know. I can see that people are suffering and that with all these disasters, natural catastrophes and so on life is becoming unbearable. You have more insight into the matter. Tell me what could happen, I want to know,’ her fiancé said.
‘The worst. Right now it’s only the police and the military that stand between the rich and the poor. Soon the security agencies will be left with no choice but to side with the people’s demonstrations. They’re peaceful for now with rare occasions leading to escalations. Little by little it’s all going to hit the peak. Global civil wars will tear the countries apart. There will be no control over anything. There will be no institutions; the states will exist only formally, only on the map. As a result of the uprisings and wars people will turn against one other and everyone will be locked in battle for a chunk of bread. And when you put that together with the dying planet it all proves fatal for us.
‘Is this serious?’ asked the doctor.
‘Yes ! The Earth will turn into a desert. With nomadic tribes and cannibalism plaguing the globe, human kind will gradually doom itself to destruction and obliteration. The better part of the world’s population will slowly begin to die of famine and diseases. Dead bodies will by lying around lifeless with no one to bury them and that’s just the beginning. As a result of the absent medical help there will be outbreaks of deadly diseases caused by non-existent hygiene and bestial lifestyle. Not to mention the emergence of terrorists who will want to snatch away every last gallon of fuel and water, plus a potential nuclear war and its subsequent winter that will bring about famine and darkness not only to the human species but to every single inhabitant of the planet. Afterwards humans, and not only them, will be doomed to oblivion while only a handful of them will survive to continue our existence. That will be a skeleton existence with no development, as though we are unicellular organisms. That’s the very reason I’m doing what I’m doing–so that we can avoid the imminent death. Do you now understand me completely?’ the Russian said, expressing her fears for the future. A future that was certain to offer such possibilities.
‘I do and when I come to think of it, I’d do the very same thing. I never suspected we could come to such a postapocalyptic condition. It’s a sad thing to say, but maybe it’s what we’ve come to deserve,’ Stephan said and paused for a moment. ‘All I’m asking of you now is to dedicate that day to us only so we can enjoy the moment. Let’s talk only about pleasant stuff now, besides we have too little time to think of tomorrow. You’re here with me now, there’s no room for sad or secondary thoughts,’ he concluded and the two lovebirds slipped into a kiss after which they returned to their dinner.
Shortly after they finished dining they lay down on the sofa by the table to enjoy each other physically and to satisfy their carnal desires. Time flies by at a speed faster than that of light, especially when one is having a good time, and before they realized the moment to say goodbye had come. Early the next morning neither of them was in the mood for a long-winded adieu. He saw her off to a car outside their apartment building that was waiting to drive her away.
‘Stephan, my love, know that I love you whether or not we see other again . . .’
‘Dear my, I don’t want you to be sad now, don’t think of the worst, I’m with you!’ he reassured her and pulled her into his embrace, then took out a bracelet that had their names engraved on it in the form of the symbol of eternity. ‘I want you to take it with you and to keep it on while you’re away from me. Promise to marry me when you come back.’
‘I promise,’ Mila answered and that moment their parting turned into something rather excruciating. How could she make a promise when she knew that most probably she wouldn’t be able to keep it with all those variables that could affect her life. Tears flowed from her bright eyes and rolled down her cheeks like two small streams.
‘Come on, go now, or we’ll both turn on the waterworks in a moment,’ Stephan laughed, brushing away a little tear and hurried to send her away so she did not grow any sadder, although the last thing he really wanted was for her to go . . .
A final kiss and everything ended as fast as it began. His girl went away and things went back to how they were before. Half a day was not enough, nor ten, nor a hundred. There was no time in the world that could quench a thirst that deep, a thirst that had arisen from the departing love, yet that was still something. At least it was a temporary consolation to the soul . . .
While Mila was spending the leave with her fiancé, the other five team members decided to pay a visit to a regular bar to chill out and relieve the tension accumulated over the previous months. None of them felt like doing nonsense or pulling stunts, let alone plunging into alcoholic escapades, for they knew how gravely that could harm themselves and their endeavor in general. Despite their desire to have proper fun they decided not to push it too far and simply celebrate with a drink the successful end of the training and the good beginning of the mission. They went to one of the numerous bars in Kaiserslautern, sat down at one of the tables and ordered drinks which the waitress brought in no time.
‘Guys, we’re setting off on an interstellar travel tomorrow, do you realize that?’ Hiroshi broached the travel subject.
‘Hush
, someone may hear you. You don’t want everyone to know that we’re the ones who are taking off tomorrow? And, yes, I do realize it, strange as it may seem and impossible as it may look to me. The more excited I get, the more afraid I become,’ Liu answered quietly.
‘Cut the fear, guys. We go there and we die for our country, as they say, that’s the worst case scenario. Whether you think about it or not, it is what it is!’ Alan sounded a little frightening and gruff, but he was a realist and liked joking by sharing his thoughts aloud even when they concerned something bad.
‘My friends, the unknown is scaring me more and more. We’re going on an exile in the recesses of the Cosmos and we’re not doing it because we want to, but because there’s no one else to do it. That’s why I’m thinking of accepting my fate the way it is and I hope we get lucky on that mission and come back safe and sound!’ the Chinese wished not only to himself but to all of his team members.
‘Cheers, guys, let’s drink to our success and may glory be our grand prize after all this because we were chosen from among the best and now we’re even better,’ Hiroshi proclaimed, making a toast and taking a sip from his beer.
It was already 3 in the morning and after they were over with the drinks they decided to take a short walk and get a little sleep in the nearby motel so they could have some rest before tomorrow’s big day. The tension was so great they could not get a wink of sleep. They tried over and over again, but they could not fall asleep at all. What did the new day keep in store for them? Were they going to take off without a hitch, leaving the confines of our solar system successfully or were they going to experience a failure and die an inglorious death..?
The next morning, rested and ready for the challenge, our heroes decided to have one last phone call with the ones closest to them before the launch. They had not seen them for months. A short but courage-inspiring conversation would prove extremely precious to each of them. Children, families and friends–all the significant people in the lives of our astronauts had their chance to wish them luck and success. Only one of them remained as steady as a rock. The Colonel made just one phone call to a single person. He did not need more despite the fact that he had friends and acquaintances here and there. Who knows, maybe it was a matter of personal preference. The fewer emotions they experienced, the better. That is why he could not but call his mother, Maria Ivanovna.
Dawn of Hope- Exodus Page 9