by Boris Mosso
She reprimanded herself for her overthinking coldness, which she supposedly understood, and the circumstances determined them, they couldn’t separate their Commanding position neither from the Vector nor from the Systemic Council’s imposed assignment. She sighed and took another sip of the Visol, which she blamed for her temporary thoughts’ casualness.
Watching the attendees dressed so elegantly and listening to their common conversations, she felt the scene was taken out far-away from being real from normal. Upon studying her Officer’s faces, she read uncertainty and worry on them. She sensed they had their mind set in the unknown and uncertain events that were ahead, but she hoped that the dinner had helped some as well, to lower the pressure in the atmosphere.
All the officers stood up when she did, announcing the last phase of the evening then, which by tradition, would be less formal.
The virtual landscape changed, and the current time was now spread on a large stone veranda, on top of the old Lenodon’s high tower monument. Some thick stems of dry vines covered part of the walls and balconies, while other lush green tones branches, intertwined in certain parts on the ground. The reality feeling was fueled by a cold breeze, which balanced the heat generated by the virtual solar rays.
Once they were all standing, the common conversations began in small groups. Renar approached Borlan, his Vector escort’s undercover agent, pushing him discretely away through the outside screens section, barely visible amidst the beautiful and realistic virtual recreation; they had a brief and succinct conversation there.
—We can finally meet face to face… I don’t know if we’ll be able to meet soon. We’ve talked through the intercom, from which you clearly understand what I expect from you, Borlan.
—I know, Mister Renar.
—Does Officer De Bor suspect about your undercover agent position at all?
—No, Antea has no idea, sir. If you allow me, I want to take the opportunity to personally express how sorry I am for Alvian’s death; I’ll try to replace him the best way I can.
Renar stared at him first and without changing expressions, answered:
—You’ll be fine, they gave me very good references about you. Don’t forget about being the Vector’s escort only agent and that’s a real big responsibility; you’re my eyes and ears there. We need your criterion and good judgement.
—I know, Mister Renar.
—Now let’s change subjects, Lena and Koner are approaching.
All four of them sustained a brief and friendly conversation. Some minutes later, Chan, Kovolaris and Betinia, approached to show their respects and speak to Borlan.
Renar followed Lena sideways, while she appeared to ignore him completely, thanks to that, he was able to assess her fine and harmonious features which, without being youthful, expressed simplicity and honesty, as well as with her words. On one side, Dantori and Elenda were dialoguing imperceptibly. The nearness between the pilot and the STF revealed undefined complicity from some time ago up to this day, despite that, they went unnoticed during the evening.
Doctor Zenda approached the young people, grabbing Dantori smiling by the arm. All three of them began walking away then to the quarters’ exit, after bidding farewell to Lena and the others. At that time the virtual panoramic terrace disappeared, to allow Lena’s real reception room reappear.
Renar noticed that Betinia and Kovolaris cleverly disguising it, dragged Lesir from the arm towards the hatches’ section, to get him out of Lena’s quarters before the official evening’s conclusion.
Trivian looked at them conspiratorially. The old geneticist already had commented a little worried, about the disturbing encounter occurring days ago with the STF in the main dining rooms. She looked askance at Gander watching his Officers leaving, concerned. It was clear that the STF’s Captain realized the excessive drunk state of his subordinate.
Blesten immediately approached Lena, bidding farewell formally. The STF spoke quieter to Renar, but Lena was able to hear the words rightly, while she went to the quarter’s doors with the last attendees.
—Mister Renar, we haven’t seen each other for days… since the time you left me by myself while I slept.
—Yes, I’m sorry, but I didn’t want to wake you up.
—I felt disappointed when I opened my eyes and didn’t find you by my side.
—You looked tired, I mean…
—Did you look at me before you left?
—Of course, to make sure you were still asleep.
—Maybe next time you’ll be willing to swim with me?
Lena, intrigued and more surprised each time, sharpened her hearing, while Gander and Dirva bid farewell to Fromdert and the escort spaceship’s Officers. Despite that, she kept on listening to Renar’s and Blesten’s voices; she wanted to listen to such unexpected conversation’s end.
—Our rooms are at the same spot in the spaceship, Mister Renar, maybe we could walk together a little while? I need to take an after dinner walk and I won’t be able to do it in the levitator.
—Very well, a short walk will do me good. I’ll go to your cabin with you.
Lena watched them from the door sideways. The last one to bid farewell was Captain Fromdert. Displaying a stiff protocolary greeting. After a brief and intense gaze between both, he left with his Officers towards the hangars in search of his explorer. Lena saw them walk away, somewhat regretful and disappointed after concluding that nothing had improved in her relationship with Fromdert; remembering by the way, how little she had spoken with him during the journey.
Lastly, she followed Renar with her eyes, walking beside Blesten through the main hallway. Then her hatches closed.
The service droids had already finished cleaning the place. It looked like nothing had been celebrated there. With a mental order, the lights dimmed, and all her clothes detached falling on the floor.
She walked naked to the personal service room, submerging herself amidst the bubbling crystalline waters in her little pool. A droid gave her a beautiful crystal glass, placing it to her lips. After wetting them with the drowsing and Visol’s delicate taste, she closed her eyes and she decided not to think about anything during at least a couple of hours, falling asleep ten minutes later. Her droids levitated her out of the water and then after drying her body, they placed her on her gravitational bed, without her even knowing it.
15 - Lenodon at Night
The night after the comradeship dinner, Lena was about to leave the command bridge towards her private chambers.
She had already given Pranus some minor instructions and had finished reviewing the compilation report about the route mapped out during the past days. Suddenly, her gaze stopped at some side holographics, the ones that constantly showed images from different spots in the spaceship. Two dimensional screens, which someone paid attention to, oddly. However, in one of them she found Renar going into the virtual and sensorial environments’ recreation room, located in the spaceship’s upper level.
Some days ago, she coincidentally had seen him go into the same place.
She knew she couldn’t follow him to see what he did inside that huge room, considering that images from the insides weren’t reproduced to protect the occupant’s privacy.
Her curiosity was unstoppable for her desire to find out. She first looked around everywhere and then, left in the most inconspicuous way possible. Outside the command bridge, she climbed on a personal levitator. After five minutes she was climbing down exactly in front of the recreational environments room’s door, which weren’t blocked anyways, as it was the occupant’s privilege.
The impulse which took her to that place, began losing might and a series of doubts started prowling in her. Until she suddenly remembered that someone from the command bridge could be watching her standing there just then, just as she found Renar before, and besides, wondering what the spaceship’s Captain was doing there. That thought was like an electric current that pushed her into the premises’ insides.
Once insi
de, she found some walls dimly lit which looked like a basic reception room. The lights were emitted through the virtual walls themselves.
Upon walking some steps towards a narrower hallway, she could hear a beautiful melody. The sound waves came from the other side of the hallway. Her face sensed a soft and fresh breeze, also infused with familiar scents which she couldn’t identify, and perturbed her upon swamping her with provoked sensations, that expelled wistful vibrations throughout her entire body.
She walked a few steps until reaching the passage outlet, she found a big lounge there. There was an open kitchen facing the lounge to her right, where a floating table with its appropriate chairs was standing.
Somewhat bemused, she understood that the virtual and sensorial recreation belonged to an ordinary Espacian city’s skyscraper apartment. Before assuming anything else, she found some semitransparent curtains fluttering at the end of the room, which revealed an outside scenery that impressed her. Almost hypnotized when she approached towards the windows, she barely saw that someone was standing outside, leaning on a transparent railing which framed a broad balcony. Upon crossing the threshold, she understood that the huge metropolis which spread in widescreen, was Espacia’s capital city. Lenodon’s unfathomable city.
Cropped against the figure in the shadows, hundreds of buildings spread everywhere in the night horizon. The window’s small lights highlighted overwhelming towers’ sizes by millions, which showed colored mosaics flooding the city.
The scents brought by the fresh breeze enveloped her, causing dozens of memories emerging into her mind, images of another person’s past life.
The figure standing by the railing turned around instantly, finding herself in front of Renar’s surprised face.
After seeing his expression, she immediately understood that she had made a big mistake by suddenly entering in the star archeologist’s leisure moment, something extremely inappropriate and rude.
For the first time she realized she didn’t have a sustainable explanation to be there in the first place and then, entering.
Renar was the first one to speak. Lena heard him, filled with shame.
—Captain
—Renar, I’m sorry, I… I don’t know why I came in. I’ll leave immediately.
—No, please, don’t leave, I was just thinking about you.
—Really?
Lena was surprised, discerning a strange brightness in the scientist’s pupils. Something in her inner self stirred, forcing her to stay there.
Then she noticed Renar had a cup in his hand. It seemed to be a Visol drink.
—Yes… I mean. I was really looking at the city, imagining that you might be my neighbor.
—What? Your neighbor?
—I thought you could live in one of those apartments for a moment.
—That would be very hard… I have a compact apartment in Tral, a small lunar city located in the Baltar Moon’s south hemisphere. Even though I visit Lenodon and other cities in Espacia every so often. Without going any further, this view has brought me a lot of memories.
When Lena approached the railing, she found out that the balcony was at least one kilometer away from the ground which couldn’t be seen.
The summer breeze which messed up her hair a little, was fresh and filled with humidity. When looking towards the horizon, she saw the towers disappearing in the dark night sky. They looked like vertical light’s lines being swallowed by the impenetrable darkness.
One of them outstood over the others, simulating a thick intense red colored laser ray piercing the sky, until ripping the last atmospheric layer. It was the Espacian tower.
At the distance, the lit-up skyscrapers began disappearing progressively, like swallowed by a gloomy mantle which devoured the city. The clouds covered everything in a few minutes and it would begin raining.
—How is it living in Baltar?
—I’ve lived there all my life. Except when I’m not on board. Tral is a quiet city, located very far from the Fleet’s main headquarters, everything is slow over there.
I like that. I love to wear an exploration suit occasionally and go outside. I usually take strolls on foot for hours. Sometimes I get close to a crater, or I stay around there looking at the huge Ister Canyon’s mountainous cliffs… anyway.
—It’s funny, I’ve been there… The Ister Canyon was formed by a planetoid which skimmed Baltar’s surface, some two thousand million years ago… In fact, it was about to destroy it, ruining the possibility for Espacia to father us also, in the future. The canyon is humongous.
—And beautiful…
—True.
Both looked briefly at each other silently for the first time.
—Do you want to drink anything?
—A cup of Visol would be perfect… I’ve been off-duty for a while. A droid approached and Renar took the reddish color translucent Visol cup from the tray. Upon giving it to her, his fingers barely touched hers very slowly. Neither one of them appeared indifferent to that slight and surprising contact.
—Would you like to live here? I mean, in this city.
—I’m not sure I’ll get used to it, after all, I believe I’m an unrelenting small-town woman. I suppose you live in this city?
—I did, right here. In this apartment.
Lena was surprised before his disclosure and once again looked more interested inside the big room. She was stricken, imagining Renar sitting in one of the floating couches, living an ordinary day before the war feeling tenderness and sadness at the same time.
—In other words, this reenactment is real? Your apartment is like this?
—Identical. I downloaded some holographic recordings I had kept in the atmospheric recreation system, and it remained the same.
—Well, how incredible… I didn’t know you could do something like that, I’ve never worried too much about this room and its potentials.
Renar hardly looked at her, but all his attention was on her. He remembered her dressed elegantly the previous night. He also remembered how lonely she looked, even amidst so many crew members.
On the other hand, he didn’t understand what Lena was doing in the virtual and sensorial atmosphere’s reproduction room, but even so, he felt peaceful and comfortable with her there.
In the perfectly reproduced exterior, some different size transports moved about, you could even see the people inside of them. Lena understood that Renar must deeply miss his old life. She imagined the star archeologist visiting that place, trying to reproduce time after time, his distant and unreachable home.
—So, this was your apartment. Can I walk around it…?
Renar was surprised, although he answered immediately with a smile on his lips.
—Of course, you can, it’s not too big anyways.
—I think it is… I hope you don’t leave dirty clothes on the floor.
They both smiled. Renar thought it was the first time he had ever seen that look in her long and harmonious face features. A countenance that showed sadness almost all the time, when observing it closely.
They went back into the living room. Lena stopped there to look at some images which emerged from very thin holographics and were stuck to the walls. She was looking at an autumn forest in them, with faded pinkish and yellowish toned leaves covering the ground. The breeze shook the tops of the aged trees causing hundreds of those leaves detaching from it, to then descend amidst a random dance, although perfectly synchronized with the music that flooded the room.
—What a beautiful landscape. The music is also beautiful.
—It’s a very old piece, it was composed by a great musician ten thousand years ago. It’s a strings and wind instruments’ Sonata.
Then they went to the right around a hallway and through another entrance. As soon as they looked inside, the lights came on, a series of different size rocks were visible, all of them classified and neatly arranged on a set of shelves.
—And this?
—They are samples from the dif
ferent planets which I’ve been to. One for each world.
—Have you been to all those planets? But they’re more than twenty different samples.
—Yes, I’ve visited them all, because of my job.
—You must not spend too much time here.
—Although it may not appear so, I work for long periods in this place. Sitting by that desk.
—I can imagine you there.
They kept on walking through the hallway which broadened until it flowed into a quite decent size bedroom. When stopping at the entrance, the light turned on automatically. Lena was surprised at finding a very organized bedroom with one huge size bed in the middle. To the left, you could see the city lights through a large window. She took a few steps looking mischievously everywhere, and then she stopped at the foot of the bed.
—Are you this organized? Or did you program it at your convenience?
—I’m not a tidiness fanatic, but yes… the droids really do everything. They both looked at the bed and then stared at each other silently. A thrilling tension spread throughout the entire bedroom, while some distant thunders were clearly heard. They approached slowly towards each other unintentionally.
—A summer storm is apparently approaching…
—Could be, the storms are usually announced, Renar…
—Not all the time… sometimes they surprise you and there’s nothing else but get wet under the rain…
Another long silence emerged between them, while the breeze which came in through the window increased its strength, and the distance between them disappeared. It seemed like an invisible force attracted them without struggling against it at all. The seconds stretched into intangible timeless sequence of their movements, arousing to a point that the distance between their faces became almost invisible.
The magical moment was brutally interrupted by the ringing of Lena’s intercom. In front of her, a small hologram of the first Officer’s face appeared while she walked back a couple of steps away from Renar.