“Tong-Chang and Dasos keep telling me I do that.” Zoey growled at the wooden cover hanging above the table.
Her sister giggled and wrapped an arm around her. Il’lyse leaned her head on Zoey’s shoulder, saying, “I’m glad you’re a part of this family.”
“Likewise, sister.”
“It’ll be a moment before I’m ready to go back to bed. Would you tell me about the planets of your stellar system in the meantime? I’m curious about those.”
“Sure, I can try.”
* * *
The next morning the same muffins were waiting for the girls, nowhere as stale as Zoey had expected them to be. The blueberry ones, especially, were the same as the day before. Now she wished she had some juice instead of more water. Something with raspberries would have been nice as well, but she wasn’t going to complain.
As they ate, Zoey told her sister about a dream she had involving Tong-Chang and Natt Grans, along with a machine that might have resembled the one she had seen in the basement in the Hulda’fi mansion now that she was thinking about it. With a chocolate muffin in hand, and a curious look on her face, Il’lyse hurried to the front of the stiern-boat and tampered with the radio.
“What are you doing?” Zoey said.
“I’m wondering about something,” said Il’lyse. “If the two of us can see half of a second ahead of ourselves instead of a quarter, whenever we’re close together I mean, then might it affect other things like our dreams? What if every good person that we know is working out a way to find us and bring us home? Please be all of the optimism for me, sis.”
“OK?”
Her sister worked up a fever pressing a series of buttons that Zoey did not know well at all. Zoey watched before she knew that her hands were covering the bottom half of her face in anticipation. Please work, whatever it is she is doing.
The radio static whined. Il’lyse stopped. Silence.
Blips came. Each nibble of sound was a man’s voice, like thin slices of words that had been drifting in the air until the stiern-boat’s radio caught them all. Il’lyse threw her arms in the air and screamed in excitement. She slammed a hand down on one button.
She said, “This is Il’lyse Thalassas of Elysium IX. I am on Earth with my sister. Do you copy?”
Il’lyse clasped her hands over her heart while the voice repeated its old, broken message. Zoey stood back bewildered. She had no idea what to ask regarding what was happening. She had less of an idea as to how long to wait for a response from wherever the voice was coming from. Il’lyse repeated her message after a couple of minutes, this time with tears in her voice.
They waited. A minute after their second transmission, the man’s voice picked up a third time and stopped as if interrupted. The words, if they could be called that at this point, changed; the slices of syllables and the energy behind them different from what Zoey and Il’lyse had heard before.
“They’re doing it,” Il’lyse said. “Cold, infinite beyond, they’re actually doing it.” She turned and launched herself at Zoey, grabbing her shoulders. “We’re going home. If we can reach one another this soon, then we’re going home, this time tomorrow. I don’t exactly know how, but it’s happening.”
“Home,” Zoey said.
Il’lyse let go and punched the wall. “Fuck, we’re going home!” She twisted and leaned against the structure she had hit seconds prior. Her cheeks were wet. “I guess it was nice being free while it lasted.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Zoi’ne, the conflict with the Hulda’fi is over. As soon as we enter Hoshi-Lacarta, they will arrest me. It’s not like I can fly you in and take off alone, into the unknown frontier. If you knew how to fly this thing, then maybe I could spend an eternity here on Earth, and enjoy myself to the fullest, but it would take months to learn. There’s no way around it unless we both go on the run.”
“Let’s do it then.”
“No. You have a life full of the right people at the right time. I’m not taking that from you, nor am I letting you throw that away. This is going to sound really fucking stupid after the little time we’ve known one another, or the times we argued and fought, but you are my right people at the time I needed you most. I kind of hate you for that, but I love you.”
Zoey huffed and smiled through her tears. She stepped toward her and hugged Il’lyse despite the older sister’s insistent nudity. “You were the first right person for me too,” Zoey said.
“You really are an idiot. The best kind. Don’t lose this shine of yours.”
For the second day in a row, lunch and dinner consisted of the rations in one of the green bins. Zoey examined the wrappers to see if she could find a sort of date listed on them, in case they were expired or close to it. In lyurunics that blended into the one wrapper she inspected, because of a poor choice of colors, she saw the Elftemane of 228 listed. She proceeded to ask if that was so many revolutions before the alliance or since it formed. Il’lyse laughed at her and never answered.
One of the park rangers in the green truck came by again during the afternoon. Zoey talked to the man while Il’lyse watched a distant group of ravens from the front of the stiern-boat. The kind ranger handed Zoey an index card with a recipe written in the old alphabet that she had grown up with. His wife loved to bake when she wasn’t busy working at a job that she hated, so she was more than happy to share this recipe. Zoey thanked the ranger and showed the carrot cake recipe to Il’lyse.
“Earth has such strange writing,” Il’lyse said. “Ever since Doctor Wilde wrote it on that board of his, and I asked him about it, I always thought it was weird. Too bad I can’t read it very well.”
“Wait, my father taught you how to read the alphabet?” said Zoey.
“Father?”
“Yes, him.”
“You’re kidding.”
“I kind of wish I was. How much did you learn, anyhow?”
“Enough to bring him a bag of Funyuns. So half of those letters, maybe one more besides. It’s too bad Plau’s Theory doesn’t cover writing like it does speech.”
“I had forgotten about that stupid theory.”
“Yeah, it really is rubbish, isn’t it?” Both sisters laughed.
After nightfall, when they were finished with dinner, Il’lyse activated the radio again. She tested a thin pair of knobs and exhaled hard through her mouth. Il’lyse set her hands on the base of the console and focused. Zoey knew not to disturb her, though she knew not what the focus was on.
A man’s voice hailed through the radio. He said, “This broadcast is a test. If you are able to answer, then please respond with your name and origin, or else disregard this message.”
Il’lyse repeated her message from several hours ago, once again saying, “This is Il’lyse Thalassas of Elysium IX. I am on Earth with my sister. Do you copy?”
Natt Grans was over thirty-two light-spans away from Earth a few months ago. That did not account for movement of the station or Earth’s sun over that time, but Zoey didn’t think the difference over three or four months was too great. She did, however, try and fail to do the math in her head before the man spoke again with the same message.
“Six minutes,” Il’lyse whispered. “That’s how long they would need, and they’re sending another every two. I hope this is a recording, and they have people listening for our response. I’d hate to think how many men or women are losing their voices.”
“Is that with or without communication relays?”
“With. If my theory is right, then they’ve initiated an untested protocol to send out temporary relay nodes across the frontier in order to find us or the ship that we had blew. The effort will last a week before the first node breaks apart, as per its design, or I guess that minus however hours ago that they started. I thought this protocol was still in its theoretical stages.”
“Theoretical stages?”
“The one thing that had been holding it back from being tested was travel time. We bypass the speed o
f light with the relays because they work with the same method as our delta warp drives; by tapping into imperfect wormholes the size of a pen’s tip. Getting a relay into position this way has always been far riskier because no one could figure out how to open an event horizon wide enough to fit a trashcan without causing lots of damage or leaking lethal radiation in a zone twenty times as wide. Your Earth father figured it out even though his world is far less advanced than ours. If I am right, then he is helping the Allied Peacekeepers try to find us. He is generating wormholes at calculated intervals until the temporary relay nodes start failing.”
“You said Natt Grans, though.”
“Natt Grans Beta, the second ring, stores the last relay on that side of the whole territory. It is also neutral ground for all four races of the alliance. If they want quicker response times, then that will be the best strategic spot for them to set up and broadcast this far out.”
“I’m glad you know a lot about this,” said Zoey.
“It was one of those things Dad talked about when we were younger. I mean when Dasos and I were growing up together. Damn it, now I’m starting to talk like you were there with us all along.”
Another man’s voice emerged from the radio in place of the older one. He said, “It’s good to hear your voice, Il’lyse. Bon’sinne told me you were back. Now then, let’s see about getting you and Zoi’ne home so I can meet both of my granddaughters, eh?”
“Grandpa! Yes, please help us.”
Six minutes passed before he spoke again. “We’re working on it. I never liked the idea of these wormhole things, but if they will bring you home, then I will never doubt them again for the remainder of my revolutions. Is anyone else there with you?”
“No, sir. It’s the two of us with a Hulda’fi stiern-boat. Some of the humans here know of our presence, but are staying quiet.”
More time. “I see. That presents some considerations for us on our end. Can you tell any of us where Admiral Fjorfolia is? He is due for a court martial if we can find the man and apprehend him.”
“He’s dead. Zoi’ne and I witnessed his ship explode with him on it, along with sixty other Hulda’fi. I did this, Grandpa. I’ve done a lot of things.”
“A pity he will not stand trial. You have done us all a service. From what we’ve gathered, you’ve helped billions of lives if what you say is true. Zoi’ne, was it? Can you confirm anything that has been said?”
Zoey felt the twinge of stage-fright, a spotlight illuminating her when her place was in the back. She said, “Yes, sir. It’s nice to meet you, sir. I was on the Hastig Silver until Lyssa transported me to safety. I can confirm that Chan-Yeol was on the bridge when the lights turned red and maroon. He didn’t have any means of escape like the two of us had.”
“Your voices sound a lot alike, but someone here tells me that is to be expected with the two of you. We are going to cut this conversation short so that everyone can get to work calculating your position. Are you two able to activate the anomaly on your end? What does that—?”
With a snort, Il’lyse said, “We are equipped to do that, Grandpa. I see that they scripted that question for you, and don’t you worry. It makes twice the amount of sense that it sounds.”
“Good. Well then, I understand you are able to fly the craft that you are in. That solves the issue of having to dispose of it to keep the technology out of Earth’s hands until they’re ready for it. Give us up to twelve hours. After the eleventh one, leave your radio open so we can exchange signals when we’re both ready. I will see you then.”
The sun rose on the sixteenth of July. One more day would have been Dylan’s eighteenth birthday. It dawned on Zoey that this was the week that would have had a festival going on that she wanted to see, and not for the sole reason of the celebration of her birth, but for everyone else who was born through the fifth and seventh months of the Elysium calendar.
Was there cake? Of course there had to be cake. She worked at a place that made them, and had seen the mass orders received the day before the Hulda’fi attack. She had worked there. She winced, having realized that she had been absent for two consecutive days without calling them.
“What’s the matter?” said Il’lyse.
“I think I might be fired from work when I’m home,” Zoey said. “I was supposed to work yesterday and today, as well as help out making a bunch of cupcakes for the seasonal life festival. Are you sure we can’t take off and roam the galaxy?”
“Maybe next revolution, or later after you get out of college. That’s assuming I’ll be able to take you anywhere.”
“Damn it.”
Zoey walked outside. The summer heat in the area had not come for the day yet, so she stretched and breathed, basking in the spot of Earth. It was no longer her home, but she had to do something she’d never gotten to do four months ago. She kneeled and picked up a handful of sand with her hands before letting it sifted through her fingers. In an internal whisper she said her goodbyes to the place of her old life, and to the few friends who would remain. It was time to leave it behind and let her newer life go on.
As she got up, she heard the sound of cars speeding across the dirt and dried brush. They were big and black, their windows tinted. The cars were coming her way. Zoey ran to the door when she guessed what was coming.
“Sister,” she said, “we have company, and not the good kind.”
Il’lyse said, “I’m turning on the radio now. Hopefully we can go. You can come inside and shut the door. Unless they’re stupid enough to throw rockets at us without establishing a threat, I doubt we’re in any trouble.”
“When you put it that way, let me talk to them from here. Maybe I can buy us a moment or two.”
“What? Zoi’ne, wait!”
She turned back to the cars, which had stopped on the edge of the lot where the sisters had been staying for the last couple of days. Men in tailored suits and sunglasses were exiting the vehicles, some wasting no time to draw their weapons. Two more men in military uniform appeared as well.
“Step away from the object!” said one man in a suit.
“Hello!” said Zoey. “Sorry, but we can’t really stay long.”
A uniformed man said, “Who are you?”
“I’m a universal idiot passing through. We ran into a little trouble, and will be heading home in a moment. There’s no need to worry about us.”
“How many more of you are there?”
“Here or there?”
“What?”
“I’m asking if you can clarify your question.”
The man in the more decorated uniform had a grim frown as he inhaled through his nose and stiffened. “How many more of you are on your spaceship?”
“I don’t have a spaceship?”
“We don’t have time for games. We picked up radio signals coming and going through space to this location. You are standing next to a foreign object that appears to be a ship of some kind.”
“It’s not a ship. Do you see any masts upon it?”
Zoey could not read lips, but when one man in a suit leaned in and talked to the military man in charge, she imagined the man saying “She has a point there, sir.” The man was not in the Navy, or else leadership was worse than she thought.
“Fine,” said the military man, “can you please step away from your spacecraft? We need to know your intentions here, and if you carry any biological threats to the safety of this planet.”
“We have an air purifier inside our boat,” said Zoey, “but I think my sister and I could both use a good shower. It’s been over two days since we left home to save your planet from a violent cult. Not to worry, they’re all dead now since we blew them up.”
Her words triggered every man in a suit, and the second military man, to point their weapons her way. Maybe trying to sound cheerful about that deed wasn’t the best approach that Zoey could have taken. A few of the men were shouting, some of their demands contradicting the others such as getting away from the craft vers
us getting on the ground, and again versus getting everyone else inside the vehicle to come out. How did fictional alien heroes manage these encounters?
Zoey pursed her lips and headed inside. A single gun shot off and hit the side of the entrance to no effect. She closed the door and went second seat in the front, her lips pressed inward.
When more gunshots fired, their sounds held back by the material of the craft’s construction, Zoey said, “Does this thing have an external speaker system?”
Il’lyse, who now finally wore her suit again, handed her a metallic object that was the size of a thin writing implement. Zoey pressed a sensor on the side with her thumb and said, “Stop shooting, boys, before you accidentally hit someone.”
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