Elysium Shining

by Terri Kraemer

  “I should probably avoid you then, huh?”

  “No! Oh, you poor thing.” She hugged Dylan. “You look like her, but you’re someone new. This has to be so hard for you; it’s so unfair.”

  “I don’t know. Maybe I’m still in shock.”

  “Your adrenaline will pass. You will feel like garbage soon, but when you do we’re going to get better together, you understand?”

  “Not sure that I do.”

  She pulled out of the warm embrace. “We’ll figure this out. You’ll need a home and some goal in your new life.”

  “I was studying a lot about history and archaeology in my old life. I can only imagine how different things will be now.”

  “We’ll see.”

  “I guess I’ll need a new name too.”

  The family trio looked at Dylan curiously. She suspected that this expression was going to be a common thing for a while. There was a whole society of people unaware, or unaccustomed, to Earthlings.

  She said, “Where I come from, Dylan is a boy’s name. I don’t think there’s a girl equivalent.”

  The father of the bunch said, “Is this a common thing among Earth Humans?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Do they split your names between boys and girls? We’ve met one other world that does this, and it wasn’t human.”

  “Wait, other humans? Worlds? God, I have a lot to learn, don’t I?”

  [ 03]

  As the next two days passed, Dylan learned as much as she could about her new life, and the ship that carried her there, all while contemplating a new name.

  While she did so, Dylan was ruled as being not a threat to the ship, and was allowed to wander a set number of corridors so she could practically relearn how to walk. Her legs needed the exercise after some time being bedridden, and also her new center balance needed the practice. One kind soul was all too happy to provide Dylan with a couple changes of clothes her size for her to borrow for a while. That saved her from wandering around in the medical gown, her backside exposed for the whole universe to see.

  The Marslou was manned by a hundred rotating crew members, not counting the four ensigns who were present for a field credit for their academy, nor the admiral who was visiting on this leg of the ship’s tour. Of the main hundred crew, more than seventy were Aelfs, the same as Dylan had become. About twenty were called Ginserei, with the bunny ears. A few were humans from a planet she hadn’t learned about yet. Dylan got to know numerous faces better, and identifying who was what, by passing them in the hallways, though this went faster than Dylan had expected, now that this new reality of hers had settled in. Though, she still wasn’t sure if she was dreaming or not.

  Her attention turned, finally, to the walls of the ship interior. In the rooms that she could explore Dylan saw flattened surfaces with rounded corners. The hallways had sections of wall along the far right and left sides, separated by short dividers, that curved outward. The central corridors of all three decks—as she learned to call the floors while aboard this craft—curved outward on both sides when they ran front to back. Regardless of where she was on the ship, the hallway walls used one major design. It was cream colored except for the singular gray stripe that ran through the length of the whole ship. This stripe was tall in that it started at her chin level and went down to her underbust. Along the curved walls there, too, was a golden leaf overlay painted against the dividers, but only on one side. If she had been led blind to one of these hallways before being left there alone, then she could look across the sections of wall to find that overlay. Then she would know that the bridge was in that direction, or that the residential area went the other way.

  Each day the outfits were simple and neutral in case Dylan decided to go back to being male, or in case her tastes required wearing things not found on this ship. Tong-Chang made a joke about some items Dylan could wear, but she couldn’t catch the Ginserei’s meaning.

  About two days into the trip since her awakening, it was time for the next medical exam. By this time, Dylan had learned the differences between “laeknar” and its plural form, and how “doctor” was the title reserved for the chief or teacher among several fields of study.

  “What about nurses?” she asked the Ginserei laeknar examining her eyes that moment.

  The laeknar adjusted the light being shone by his ocular device said, “That word doesn’t sound familiar to me. The closest I can think of is ‘nourish,’ and we laeknir usually handle a patient’s dietary needs without the aid of our doctor. It’s when we need their advice, or for someone with the authority to sign off on procedures and medications, that the doctor in charge is called on specifically.”

  “That more than answers my question, I guess. Ack! That light stings.”

  “Your Aelfen sensitivity is present.”

  “Sensitivity?”

  “Yes.” He put the ocular device back on its tray. “That last light operates on a low and steady wavelength so as to prevent most races from feeling blinded by mere exposure to it. Some animals react to it out of light sensitivity, as do some people who spend copious amounts of time in dark places. Aelfs, though? You lot see a quarter of a second ahead of most of us, so the light appears more intense to you than it actually is.”

  “I thought light moves the same rate for everyone.”

  “It does. It is also true that two stars hurdling away from one another can go the rest of eternity without seeing the other if they’re both moving at high speeds, which is why you only see a fraction of stars in the night sky. Aelfs like you, on the other hand, have a minor affinity for the theoretical fourth dimension when it comes to your five senses. Think of it like the drawing of a person, and that person was able to see a few millimeters off the surface of the paper. When that side of your senses comes out you’ll be peeking forward into time by one quarter of a second. I’ve heard longer might be possible, but no one has proven it.”

  “You know, with all of the crazy things I’ve seen lately, I’m going to take that with a grain of salt.”

  “A grain of salt? That must be an Earth thing.”

  “In some places it is.”

  “Well, it looks like your body is recovering from the trauma of the incident that happened a few weeks ago.”

  “A few weeks!”

  “Yes, didn’t anyone tell you? You were in a comatose state for nineteen days. Oh . . . Oh, I’m so sorry. I thought someone would have told you by now. I don’t have the full report of everything that occurred, but you were brought in here badly damaged and then nourished back to health over that time.”

  “Did I already have this body by then?”

  “Yes. I was here when you were brought in. Pictures were taken when you were initially identified by your appearance, your teeth, and your blood sample. You were a match to that other person, which is why her family was contacted and summoned to meet us here.”

  Dylan examined her hands at the thought of being a perfect copy of that girl. She turned one over and paid a mind to her fingertips.

  “Did you compare my prints to hers as well?” Dylan asked.

  “What prints are you referring to?” Their fingers were the same as any human she met, ridges and nails among other characteristics, and yet the question was an odd one.

  “Never mind. It’s probably not important.”

  “Let’s see, you are up walking around the ship each day, you’ve developed a healthy appetite in a short amount of time, nothing is deteriorating as far as we can tell, but we’ll keep monitoring you to rule that out as a possibility, and your cognitive abilities are sharper already than your senses.”

  “Great, so when do you need me to check in again?”

  “We just have one more question for you first. Have you started exploring yourself or feeling any urges?”

  “What now?”

  “I know, you’re a young woman, and your sex life isn’t the first thing you probably want to talk about, but it’s still a health matter. If you
never feel anything, ever, then we may need to advance our examinations into the area.”

  “I’m not sure if you’re doing a crappy job coming on to me, or if you’re saying I can’t ever have sex.”

  “Neither. We want to make sure everything is working properly. It’s probably too early to tell anyways.”

  “I haven’t really had the time to think about such things. Is that all I need to look out for now, is the need to touch myself?”

  “Yes, among other body functions that are normal for any person around your age. You’ve been in the body of a woman for a few weeks now, after all.”

  Dylan blushed and thought for a moment. Was she attracted to men now too, was it still towards girls, or both? Or could it be neither? More than that, how far was Dylan willing to go with anyone?

  “Do you offer any choices for birth control?” she asked.

  * * *

  “Zoi’ne,” she said to her new friends. “What do you think? You can call me Zoey if you like.” After days of listening to names around the ship or random recordings of given Aelf names, she found the one she liked most.

  Das’ithrios said, “I like it. Zoi’ne it is. I mean, as soon as you let someone know with the legal authority to recognize your new name, it will be yours to keep.”

  “Cool.” Zoey ignored the odd glances she was getting, as was now common whenever she used an Earth expression. Now if only she knew some older expressions from there for the sole purpose of playing with people. “So where are we headed, Das?”

  Tong-Chang snorted, and said, “I am heading to Cargo Hold Two to perform a daily check on the stores and inventory.”

  “Do you expect things to magically restock as we fly through space nonstop?”

  “That would be cause for concern. We have to make sure nothing new appears or vanishes that can’t be accounted for.”

  “Like Aelf girls from an uncharted planet?”

  “More or less. You were found in Matter Transference, by the way, so that greatly reduces the odds of finding that here.”

  As the others walked on, Zoey had been given pause. “You have transmats? Wait, wait, wait . . . transmats, as in teleporting matter from one place to another?”

  “You catch on quick. Fine, I guess you can come as long as you both promise not to touch anything. You do have that security clearance for the time being, and nothing too crazy or delicate is expected in Cargo Hold Two.”

  Zoi’ne wasn’t too sure how best to respond to that, or if she should even try. So the Aelfs followed the rabbit with the strangely sexy butt. Dylan was never much into butts back on Earth, as a young man, but this view as a girl was answering questions Zoi’ne never thought to ask.

  Her attention and train of thought were interrupted by the sudden sound of Das’ithrios clearing his throat. He then went on walking nonchalantly like nothing happened.

  “Somebody still likes this view, I think,” Tong-Chang chimed. She shot a glance at Das’ithrios before ducking into a room with a double sliding door.

  He said, “Huh? I wasn’t even, I mean . . .”

  Moments later they were looking at crates containing such items as blankets, jackets, and emergency food rations that had all been sealed in air-tight packages. There were reusable cups and an adequate water supply, Tong-Chang stated, to feed an entire crew and ten guests for about week.

  Another box opened to reveal strange looking rods with slits on one end and single buttons on the opposite sides.

  “We thought so,” Tong-Chang said. “These should be in the first room, not here. I’ll let the captain know that I found our missing palisticks. I have no idea how or why they ended up here, but at least we still have them.”

  Zoi’ne asked, “What are palisticks? I’m not sure if they’re microphones, glorified clubs, or fancy sex toys.”

  Tong-Chang covered her mouth one second, her cheeks puffing out. Then she threw her hands back down and her head upward in a roaring laughter. It took her a few seconds to calm down so she could answer.

  “No,” she said, “you probably don’t want this inside any of your holes.”

  Das’ithrios, who had a hand over his face, said, “That was one mental image I could have done without.”

  “The slits emit electricity meant to stun or paralyze someone when you touch them with the end of the stick. You can also charge the emission and launch it at someone, if you know what you’re doing, but then you’ll drain the power source, and also risk doing serious damage to your foe.”

  “Security personnel often carry these when protocol calls for it. All things considered, having them in an unexpected place like this is careless at best.”

  “That’s right. You should have done your semester credit here with me. He did miss one thing though,” she directed back at Zoey.

  Zoey said, “What do you mean?”

  “It’s also good for subduing ex-lovers when they annoy you.”

  Das’ithrios nodded slowly and took a few steps back, one by one. Once again, he carried on nonchalantly like nothing was said or done, but now Zoi’ne thought she knew better already.

  Rather than prodding him about it, Zoi’ne glanced away and let her eyes fall on another container in the far side of the second Cargo Hold. It appeared to be a large, black suitcase with green and yellow arrows running down either side of the handle in single vertical stripes.

  “What’s that box there?” she asked, pointing at it and tilting her head.

  “What one?” Tong-Chang said.

  “The black one with the arrows. I think this is the second time I’ve seen one of those.”

  The Ginserei swiped against her digital clipboard and flipped through a number of pages that Zoey wasn’t sure she could attempt to count at this angle.

  “I can’t seem to find anything except for a few medical supplies that call for a case like that. Those cases have serial numbers on them and are all in the Medical Bay right now. This one does not.”

  “What does that mean?” Zoey asked.

  “This shouldn’t be here. We’re a long way from any supply station or planet.”

  “I saw one on Earth.”

  “You what?” Das’ithrios and Tong-Chang both said.

  [ 04]

  Some Time Ago

  Dylan stormed out of his uncle’s house again. Going for a walk usually calmed him down, but how much longer could he last living with that asshole? Dylan was seventeen and applying for as many colleges as he could get into, as far from this place as he could flee. So far, none responded.

  There were a few places that he frequented during his walks. This time, he passed the park and reached the convenience store a quarter of a mile past that.

  As far as he could tell from the opposite side of the building there was a strange car on the other side of the store, which had collided into the wall. The store was still open. Dylan couldn’t care less about anything that moment. So he went inside to grab himself a bag of Funyuns to enjoy as his mind cleared and blood cooled down a bit.

  A few voices were shouting at one another in the distance. It sounded like two of them were using novelty toys of some kind to alter their voices. The toys were, instead, masks that covered their whole heads beneath their hoods. Whatever it was that was going on, it wasn’t his problem. Not today.

  He snapped out of his anger-fueled haze when the top rack on the aisle exploded next to him. Dylan’s ears were ringing, but that got his attention. Earth to Mr. Wilde, he thought, you have something pointed at you that tore a hole in your favorite junk food.

  One of the masked individuals shouted at him: “Get on the ground, and tell yourself we were never here!”

  The threat was still less than convincing, and yet Dylan found himself doing what any reasonable person might do when held with the unknown. He crouched and turned. However, he grabbed a few snack-sized bags of Cheetos on the way down, and then sprang back up in the other direction, towards the cold beverages.

  Dylan chucked the bags a
t the two goofs in their weird, charcoal and brown outfits. They shot at him in response and blew open two of those bags. Now they had a little more color on their costumes. He hoped this also meant some Cheetos dust found its way inside of their masks to screw with their breathing a little bit, but it wasn’t likely.

  A third costumed weirdo, who had a gaping, bleeding wound on one side, took this opportunity to try and wrestle one of the other two. From this angle, Dylan could also see inside the vehicle crashed into the corner of the shop, where a unique black case was sitting. The costumed weirdo who wasn’t preoccupied took one more shot at Dylan.

  He ducked out of the way instinctively. However, one of the glass doors of the frozen goods exploded behind him as he tried to hurry away from that spot. There was no telling yet how much, if any, glass had hit him. He was numb to the world, his heart frantic for him to get away. It took a moment longer for him to realize that he was, in fact, moving closer to the danger like some sort of idiot. Dylan refrained from kicking himself when he turned the corner and saw one of the pistol devices a few inches from his face.