For One Nen

by Capri S Bard

  Darcy was dumbfounded. She couldn’t speak. She felt the color drain from her face.

  “Are you going to swim?” the young girl asked Darcy breathlessly.

  “I didn’t bring my swim suit,” Darcy said softly.

  “Run along, Aster. My friend and I will be at that table right over there. I’ll be able to see you.”

  The little girl ran back to the tall slides saying, “Alright, Daddy.”

  Darcy smiled as she watched Aster climb the stair steps to the top of the slide.

  “She reminds me so much of Jess,” Darcy said while still gazing at the girl.

  Rhys grew serious and agreed, “She reminds me of Jess every day.”

  Darcy jerked her head slightly to face Rhys.

  “So you…Jess?” she asked awkwardly.

  “We were married for almost ten years,” he said with a nervous grin.

  “Were?” Darcy asked as they walked to a table between the main pool and a wet bar.

  “Could I get you a drink?” Rhys asked leaning toward Darcy.

  “I’m fine for now,” she said after she cleared her throat.

  Rhys leaned in even more and laughed self-consciously. “I’m sorry for staring but I just can’t believe it’s you.”

  Darcy saw that he was pleased with seeing her again but she repeated her question. “You said you were married to Jess.”

  “We lost her over a year ago,” he said leaning back in his chair.

  “I’m so sorry,” Darcy said. She reached out to touch his arm. She was surprised at her ease of reaching out to someone. It had been years since she had reached out to anyone; and even longer since anyone had reached out to her.

  “It’s just Aster and me. We’ve decided to have one last hurrah before we leave,” he said.

  “Leave?” Darcy asked wide-eyed as she leaned forward.

  “We’re slotted to be on the Arcadia,” Rhys said. He moved his chair very close beside Darcy so they could hear each other better over the loud, playful noises of the crowd. “I’m letting Aster have one last swim,” he said.

  “Oh.”

  “You should co…” Rhys began but stopped. “I won’t ask you to come. But I will say it’s grand seeing you again. I wish…” again he stopped. He looked away and cleared his throat. “Getting over you was hard. Jess helped me. You know, I don’t know if I was in love with her or if I was so grateful that she helped me forget you.” He watched his daughter in the pool as he said with a smile, “She was really good at making me forget. She made me happy. I hope I made her happy. I like to think I did.” His voice trailed off as if he were talking to himself.

  Darcy silently listened to him until there was a disturbance.

  Darcy’s mother burst through the swinging doors screaming Darcy’s name.

  “Good God in heaven, what is she doing here?” Rhys said as he jumped from his chair.

  “Mother,” Darcy said in utter despair.

  Her mother’s eyes skimmed the room as she continued to scream in a stupor’s voice. It was only seconds before her eyes landed on her daughter.

  Stumbling a moment, her mother hurried her awkwardly shaped hips toward her embarrassed daughter, who was still frozen in her chair.

  “You brought me here just to see that bit of trash?” they heard the drunk woman scream.

  There was no response.

  “How could you be such a little brat?”

  Still, her screaming evoked no response.

  “Come on, you selfish little girl. We’re leaving this hell rock,” she stumbled against a table and righted herself with a snarl.

  She noticed that her daughter didn’t budge.

  “Why are you doing this to me?” her mother said with instant visible contrition.

  Darcy slowly stood to her feet and slipped her hand into Rhys’.

  “So you think this is the best you can find?” the hateful words spewed from her mother’s mouth like poison.

  Still, Darcy, nor Rhys, said a word.

  The woman’s face scrunched into a wrinkled frown as she tried to cry. “Why do you hate me?”

  “Because sometimes, like right now, you are indeed, hateful,” Darcy said evenly.

  Her mother began a diatribe of complaints; all of which Darcy had heard a million times before.

  Darcy paid her no mind but instead looked up at Rhys and asked.

  “Do I have time to get my things?”

  “Sure. I still need to get Aster out of the pool. Our shuttle leaves in forty-five minutes.”

  “All I need is five,” Darcy said with a smile. She grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him close for a quick kiss that was long overdue.

  Her mother’s whining quickly grew into an all-out screaming tantrum.

  Darcy quickly headed for the door as her mother watched her go.

  Rhys dashed toward the pool to get his daughter and the woman watched him go as well.

  Behind the pool’s wet bar a young man picked up his phone and spoke to someone.

  After a moment, two tall security guards came. They took the drunken, loud, and hateful woman by each arm and dragged her away. Darcy never saw her again.

  Sitting on the shuttle as they headed toward the Arcadia, the starship that would take them to another life hundreds of light-years away, they caught each other up on the last twenty years.

  “They let me stay on as a nurse, which wasn’t so bad,” Darcy explained. “I actually think I make a better nurse anyway. I’m pretty meticulous about setting up an O.R. and organizing comes pretty naturally, so I’m good with delegating jobs to help the hospital run smoothly.”

  Rhys smiled as he enjoyed just listening to her talk.

  “Oh no,” Darcy said. “The hospital…they don’t know that I’m not coming back.”

  Rhys laughed. “Damn girl, when you leave, you really leave.”

  Darcy smiled with a tilt of her head.

  “I became chief,” Rhys said with a kind of shy pride.

  “That’s great. I always knew that you would,” Darcy said with a pleased smile.

  “It is how I got slotted to go on the Arcadia so easily. They wanted a skilled surgeon. The right place – the right time – the right skill set sort of thing.”

  “Do you think they’ll let me go also? I didn’t really think of that,” said Darcy fearfully.

  “Yes, they will,” Rhys said plainly.

  “You can’t know that, for sure,” Darcy said with a laugh.

  “Yes, I do,” he said with a wink. “Any approved staff can take their spouse – no questions asked.”

  “But we’re not…” Darcy gasped as she realized what he was doing.

  He turned to face Darcy’s trembling body.

  “Darcy, I’ve already talked it over with Aster. She’s heard stories about you all of her life. Jess made sure of that; especially after she got sick. I think Aster already loves you…and well…I never stopped. Please marry me. Marry us and stay with us always.” His eyes shone brightly, just like when they were in school.

  “I’ve wanted nothing more for over half my life,” she said with a gasp. She held her open hand over her heart as it felt like it would burst.

  Aster was sitting in front of them but had been spying between the seats.

  “Yay,” she squealed.

  They married the next day and two days after, they were all in stasis headed toward the planet of Reen, five hundred light years away.

  297 AE

  Aboard the EGRESS

  “Does anyone need a break?” Tala asked.

  Molly shot her hand up as if she were in school. “I do,” she squeaked out her response.

  Deni pointed to a door and Molly dashed away.

  Standing for a long catlike stretch Deni scooped her hand into the dry petals and then sniffed at the aroma that lingered in her hand.

  “Thanks for letting me read. And I think it’s good for her,” Tala said.

  “She’s not the only one enjoying it. I coul
d listen to your voice every minute of my life,” Deni said with a sultry gaze. She crossed the room and leaning behind Tala she wrapped her brown arms around her lover.

  With the sound of the latch at the bathroom door, Deni kissed Tala’s hair, straightened herself, and returned to her seat.

  Tala tilted her head slightly and looked at her mate.

  She placed her hand over her heart as she kissed the air. “You are amazing,” Tala mouthed to Deni across the room. Tala knew that Deni was sharing her time at that moment with another.

  Deni was her lover but not her everything. Deni knew that Tala loved books and stories and sharing those with others. This part of Tala was just as much a need for fulfillment as having a lover, having friends, having nourishment, having air to breathe. Deni allowed the space for Tala to be complete. She just enjoyed the fact that Tala allowed her to be a part of this moment even if that meant she had to share.

  Molly sat in a soft chair and tucked her knees under her chin and said with a wide smile, “I’m ready.”

  Tala opened the book and continued.

  11 BE

  Aboard the ARCADIA, in orbit above the planet REEN

  The ship’s sensors woke the officers of the Arcadia. After checking data they were astonished to learn that the star system’s next nova could be within the next century, rather than the next millennium, which was the original calculation. They contacted the current officers from the Eden, which had arrived twenty years earlier. Immediately the officers of the Arcadia began making plans for the Eden to leave the planet along with the Arcadia.

  This plan was met with great opposition. Eden’s captain had married a Goweli. Many had married into the native population; those who dwelt in the city, those that resided in the valleys, those that lived in the mountains, and those that coexisted near the water with the Hoth.

  Darcy woke up before her stasis pod was open. Her eyes roamed about without turning her head. Quickly she gained her wits only to lose control of herself. She was deathly afraid of enclosed places. She began to scream. Her screams turned into sobs until, finally the pod opened and she saw the face of her love. Rhys grabbed her into his arms and held her as he sat on the edge of the open pod.

  “Shh!” he said close to her ear.

  “Is she alright, Daddy?” a small voice said.

  Bleary eyed, Darcy looked up and saw Aster’s face, full of concern.

  “I’m sorry,” Darcy said as she tried to regain her composure in front of the child.

  “It’s alright,” Rhys said. “Some have woken with worse symptoms. As soon as you regain your senses and your legs, I’ll need your help to oversee the rest of the waking pods.”

  Darcy tried with all her might to swing her legs out of the pod but she couldn’t.

  “It took me a little while,” Aster said. Looking to her father she added, “I can sit with her until she’s stronger.”

  Rhys didn’t readily let go of Darcy’s hand but instead leaned down and kissed her cheek. “Thanks sweetie,” he said to Aster and kissed her cheek also before hurrying away.

  “Just lie back a minute and I’ll rub your legs like daddy did mine,” Aster said.

  Darcy wasn’t pleased with the idea of lying back down in the pod but Aster was there, sitting on the edge of the pod just like Rhys had done. This eased Darcy’s racing heart.

  Aster bent one of Darcy’s legs and squeezed the muscles up and down.

  Darcy watched the young girl work with such gentle care.

  “You look so much like your mother,” said Darcy.

  “Daddy says that’s a good thing,” Aster smiled while she worked.

  “It is a very good thing,” Darcy said. “Your mother was very beautiful and kind and a good friend.”

  The little girl continued to massage without a word. After working on one leg she left it bent and began to squeeze the next. In the middle of rubbing Darcy’s leg muscles Aster stopped and looked down at Darcy to ask, “Could I call you mother?”

  “Well,” Darcy hesitated.

  “It’s alright if you don’t want me to,” Aster said quickly.

  “No, no it’s not that I don’t want you to,” Darcy began. “It’s just, could we find something other than ‘mother’. What did you call your own mother?” Darcy asked.

  “I called her mommy,” the little girl said. With a smile she added, “She was a great mommy,”

  “Well, let’s find something different like, Ma or Mum.” Darcy said.

  “I thought a mum was a flower,” said Aster.

  Darcy laughed. “Well, yes, it is a flower but some people call their mother, mum.”

  “My name is a flower. I’ve never seen one, not a real one. Mommy used to keep a picture of an aster beside my bed. I like ‘Mum.’ We could both be flowers. Aster and Mum.”

  And so it was that Darcy became a mother; not because she had had a baby, not because she was needed to offer some great mothering skill, but simply because a child had named her, and claimed her, and loved her.

  “Can you move your legs on your own at all,” Aster asked as she stood to give Darcy some room.

  “I think so,” Darcy said trying to pull her legs from the pod.

  Aster stood next to her and wrapped her arm around her waist to help steady her.

  “Good,” Aster said when Darcy was finally able to stand. “Just stand there a minute and you’ll get the feel of your legs again.”

  After only minutes, Darcy was able to walk a few steps. After that she was able to walk across the floor, and then she and Aster were ready to help others from their pods, and those in turn, helped others.

  Waking up took all day, so when the day was done and their bodies were ready to have rest, Darcy lay beside Rhys and asked, “When will people be going down to the surface.”

  “Not sure we are,” Rhys said.

  “But,” Darcy paused.

  “I know. I’ll see what I can do,” he said knowingly.

  The next few days the Arcadia was filled with rumors flying all around the ship. Rumors of when they could surface, what they’d find when they got there, stories of the travelers of the Eden, on and on by word of mouth, the gossip ran wild.

  Darcy stayed on the ship for over two months. She spent time with Aster and helped tend the sick bay when Rhys was away. He had many meetings with officers and those in high command positions, as the officials of the Arcadia and the leadership of the Eden clashed over the subject of leaving Reen.

  Finally a summit was called for officers of the Eden, the Arcadia, and the city dwellers, those in the mountains and valleys, but not those at the water’s edge that lived in harmony with the Hoth.

  Many on the Arcadia wanted to leave immediately to stay safe from the impending nova. Others could see the side of those from the Eden who had made their life on the surface of this alien planet and now were being told to leave.

  After almost two weeks of debate, the leaders of the summit came to a decision. There would be a ship built that would hold as many people as wanted to leave. This new ship would be called the ‘Egress’ and it would be built using the Eden and the Arcadia. Engineers were hired to design the ship. The one debate that was left undecided was the question of whether the Hoth should be allowed to join the Egress. Since the Hoth had no representation at the summit the question was tabled until their next scheduled meeting. In the meantime, four members at the summit were appointed liaisons to speak with the Hoth, but even reaching that decision at the summit took three days alone.

  “You wouldn’t believe some of those people,” Rhys said to Darcy the night he came back from the surface. “It is remarkable how intolerant many of those people are. I mean I’ve known people in the course of my life that were prejudiced, but here some of their leaders are out and out racists! It’s a tragedy. Anyway, I’ve been appointed to go talk to these Hoth people. They say they have gills and some live in the water. Should be interesting. The others appointed to go are two women; one they said is Goweli n
amed Brenna, and another they said is Nen, a tiny little woman named Tilly. There is also a man from the Eden named Chris.”

  Darcy’s nerves pinched as she tried to catch her breath. “My cousin,” she said softly with a smile. “I wonder if it’s my cousin.”

  “I don’t know,” Rhys said. “I think he probably is. He’s a great guy. I liked him right off.”

  Darcy grabbed her husband in a tight hug.

  “I could probably get you clearance to come with me,” Rhys said as Darcy almost squeezed the breath out of him.

  She let him go for a moment and then hugged him again.

  “Really?” Darcy said with a happy squeal. “Wow I haven’t seen Chris since we were kids, almost thirty-five years ago.”

  Rhys laughed heartily. “You mean almost ninety-five thousand, thirty-five years ago.”

  Darcy laughed also.

  “What are you guys laughing at?” Aster asked with sleeping eyes coming from her room.

  “I’m sorry honey,” Rhys said. The little girl with sprouting long legs sat on her daddy’s lap and laid her sleepy head on his shoulder.

  “My brother is on the surface and so are a bunch of my cousins,” Darcy said to Aster.

  “You mean I have an uncle,” Aster asked with a smile. “Why have you never told me this?”

  “Well there was that long sleep we had,” Darcy said with a laugh.

  “If ya’ll keep laughing none of us will get any rest tonight,” Aster said as she got up to head back to her room.

  “She said, ‘ya’ll’,” Darcy said with a laugh.

  “I taught her well, didn’t I?” Rhys said as they again laughed.

  “I’m going to bed,” Aster said. “You kids don’t stay up too long.”

  “She’s an old soul,” Darcy said.

  Only a few days later Rhys and Darcy took the short shuttle ride to the surface. They met five others at the water’s edge. Tilly, the tiny Nen, sliced the water when she shot her arrow-like body into the deep. After a few minutes she was swimming back with a drove of Hoth in her company. They stood knee deep in the water as Rhys and his company came to the water to meet them.