“All right, I’m ready for bed,” said Peter, who then looked at J and gave him a barely noticeable nod. “C’mon, guys. I think we all need a good rest for the trip tomorrow.”
Patrick left with the dishes, and Simon, Rick, and Peter stood up and left for their tents.
“Actually, I’ll stay by the fire for a little bit,” said Frank to Peter, then turned to J. “You know, to warm up for the night.”
J rubbed his forehead and sighed. Then he looked at me and asked with a smile, “Dora, want to walk with me?”
Walk?
I nodded and rose from my seat, not saying a word.
We walked a few dozen IPs away from the campground in silence until we came to an uprooted tree. It had six or seven thick roots spreading in different directions. J chose a thick horizontal root and sat down, as if it was a bench.
“Come, Dora, sit with me.” His voice was amused but mysterious at the same time.
I chose a root on the other side, a few IPs away, and sat down, masking my face under Senthien calmness and looking at him with a pretense of disinterest. He laughed quietly and lowered his gaze. Then he shook his head slightly, stood up, and sat down on the root I was sitting on.
I swallowed.
This was definitely less than one IP, and I felt like a heavy weight was pushing on my chest.
“What do you want to talk about?” With my best Senthien intonation, I clearly indicated that there was nothing to discuss. So far, it had always worked.
So far.
“Tell me,” he said.
“Tell you what?”
“The future. You see the future, don’t you?”
“No.”
He shook his head. “I saw it. The fork in the path? It was exactly as you said it would be. And my first instinct was to take the right path, as you said I would. And I would have done that, if you hadn’t warned me.”
I listened to him without saying a word.
“And on the way back, when we came to the fork again, I went and checked the right path quickly. I was just curious. And do you know what I found?”
I shook my head, not trusting my voice.
“A fresh mudslide. The path was completely gone.”
He took a short break before continuing. “I reckon if we took the path in the morning, we would have been dead. You saw the future.”
I lowered my gaze and said, “But you are still alive.”
“So?”
“So, it is not the future,” I looked back at him, trying to keep my voice calm. “It is one possible and most likely probability, depending on the current course of events. This is what Senthiens do. This is our ability.”
He leaned back a bit. “Why didn’t the Jumpers tell us about it?”
“They don’t know.”
“What about other Descendant species? Do they also have some… abilities?”
“Yes, most of them do. These were targeted DNA changes to express or inhibit certain phenotypes and characteristics. And our society is built on the diversity of our different abilities.”
“Like?”
“Each Descendant species has a role in the society. Booleans do science, Loreans develop technology, Zlathars… keep order, and Senthiens process information and—predict.”
“The future?”
“The possible future paths, yes.”
“What else have you seen?”
“What do you mean?”
He leaned in toward me, almost touching my knees with his. My breathing instantly sped up.
“Did you see yourself coming to Earth?”
I lowered my gaze. My Visions had showed me something else.
“I… didn’t know it was Earth.”
“But you saw something. What was it?”
I closed my eyes for the briefest of moments, remembering J’s touch, his hand holding mine, his kiss…
“They were… they were just predictions, J.” I looked back at him.
He leaned in closer and tilted his head. “Did you see me?”
How does he know?
I swallowed.
“You did, didn’t you?” He leaned in even closer.
I took a deep breath and held it in for a few moments.
“What did you see?” he said quietly.
I breathed out. My heart was racing, and I saw little black dots that told me I wasn’t far from losing my consciousness.
“Dora?” He was whispering. “Tell me. Please.”
My head was spinning and my thoughts were a blur.
“I… saw you,” I said, the Senthien intonation gone, my voice showing true emotions for the very first time. “I saw you, before I ported to Earth. And I didn’t know if it was the future or simply a possible prediction that might never take place.”
He was patient, trying not to push me. After a few moments of silence, he said, “So you were right, you did see me.” And he smiled, encouraging me to continue.
“No,” I said.
“No?” He was puzzled. “You didn’t see me?”
“I… I didn’t see you as I thought I would see you,” I said.
“What do you mean? How did you see me?”
I looked at him, my heart racing. “In my Vision, you were very… very close to me… and…”
There was a long break.
“And you kissed me.”
I don’t remember ever hearing my heart beating so loudly in my ears. I stopped breathing altogether.
At first, he was just astonished. But then his expression changed, and I could see resolve and a clear intention in his eyes. He knelt next to my feet, cupped my face, looked down at my lips and—kissed me.
Whatever the Human heart was meant to do in this situation, it was not what a Senthien’s body was ever supposed to experience. His lips on mine, triggering the most amazing sensation I ever felt, my mind went blank, and I lost consciousness.
Chapter 15
“You know, I’ve been told I make an impression on women, but I don’t think anyone ever fainted when I kissed her,” he said as soon as I opened my eyes. “I know it must be the IP space you’re used to, but I just like to think it was because of me.” He smiled widely.
“It is you.” My voice broke.
I looked around. “It’s… this is not my tent,” I said.
“No. It’s mine.” He smiled again and said, “Sorry, I just can’t believe it. It’s what people in black and white movies used to do!”
“Black and white movies?”
“Don’t worry, I’ll explain another time. So, you said you saw me, right? What happened after that—after I kissed you?”
“I do not know. I woke up. Every time.”
“Ah… okay… I thought… Never mind.”
I realized then that he had a specific thing in mind when asking about the rest of my Vision.
“You thought… you thought that there was… a… a continuation?” I didn’t even know how to phrase it.
“No, no, I didn’t—really!” He raised his eyebrows in defense.
I gave a burst of resonating laughter but a second later I stopped it, both of my hands pressing against my lips. I can’t believe I just did that!
He touched my hair and said, “You have a beautiful laugh. I’ve never heard you do that before.”
“I don’t think I ever have.” I was confused but also happy. I liked what it did, the laughter. I smiled at him.
He let a few moments pass.
“So… you saw me, before you came to Earth?”
“Yes.”
“And you knew it already when we met at the bonfire?”
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
I laughed again. I enjoyed it and let it last longer this time. “What was I supposed to say?” I said.
“Oh, I don’t know—something like, ‘I know we’ve never met before, but we should kiss. Soon.’”
I laughed again. When I calmed down, I said, “You know the Vision I had of you falling
down the abyss? It was a prediction. I was hoping, wanting—needing—it not to happen.” I lowered my eyes now as I thought of it, and shivered slightly from the sudden chill I felt. “And seeing you in my Vision was a prediction, too. I didn’t know if it would happen.”
“I know,” he said in a serious tone now, “and I realize it was very difficult for you to tell me any of that. It’s not the Senthien way. And I am happy you did.”
We were silent for a moment, hearing only snoring from the neighboring tents.
“Come, I’ll take you to your tent. It’s late.” He opened the door of his tent. Then he stopped and looked back. “Listen, do you mind if I tell the guys about your… future-seeing ability? Or would you like to keep it a secret, since Humans aren’t supposed to know?” His lips twisted into a crooked smile.
I had to smile back. “I think we’ve passed the Human–Descendant barrier, don’t you?”
He looked at my lips for a moment, then back at my eyes. “Yeah. Yeah, I do.”
Breakfast was awkward. Everybody was sitting in a circle, and they all talked except J and me. We were both silent. We kept looking at each other, smiling when we saw the other looking back.
For the whole time, no one really noticed it until the plates were being cleared away, and Peter looked at J and then at me, pulling his eyebrows together.
“What’s with you two? You seem… different.”
J looked at me for a moment and then smiled the most wonderful smile. I was left speechless. J turned to Peter and shrugged. “Nothing that wasn’t there yesterday. Nothing that won’t be there tomorrow.”
Peter narrowed his eyes. “Huh? Should I even try to understand that?”
“No,” J said, laughing. Then he turned to me. “Dora, do you want to join me to wash the dishes?”
I nodded and got up. I still wasn’t sure if my vocal cords were functional, and I didn’t want to try them out in front of everyone.
As soon as we moved away from the group, J looked at me sideways. Then he moved the dishes to one hand and stretched the other one toward me. “Can I hold your hand?”
I looked at his hand and back at his eyes. My heartbeat accelerated in a second, and I had a feeling like someone was holding me by my throat.
I swallowed and then shook my head. “I’m sorry… I can’t.”
“No. I am sorry. I am being too pushy. Let me know when you feel comfortable crossing the IP distance, okay?”
I nodded.
In reality, it wasn’t the IP distance. It was coming closer to him that made my heart go wild, my breathing erratic, and my thoughts a mess. And I wasn’t sure if it would ever go away.
We continued on our trek. J and I were the last in the group, several IPs behind the rest, but J made sure we didn’t lag too far.
“J, how did you all start living again after being de-frozen?”
“What do you mean?”
“I am curious: how do people rebuild the society when they have nothing? No power, no clothes, no food, no living quarters… not being where or when you thought you’d be.”
J gave a half smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
“It was difficult. Really difficult. Some people had real issues adjusting to reality. Psychologically, it was very challenging. We lost some people then…
“Also, there were several dozen people who went into cryo because they had a terminal disease. And so they died soon after we woke up… ”
There was silence for a few moments. All I heard were leaves cracking under our feet, birds chirping in the trees, and faint talking a few IPs up ahead.
“We had to pool all the knowledge from each and every one of us, figuring out how to build stuff, how to hunt, how to grow crops without any power. You would not believe it”—he smiled now—“but a lot of information came from the books people had read in their lives before the freezing. And luckily, in a lot of the fiction literature, a lot of the information was accurate. Like, one of the girls read some cheesy love-story books before the freeze, and apparently the story happened in a prehistoric time—a time before power, when people lived… well, I guess they lived like us now. Anyway, in that book, a lot of the stuff was described really well. It was really lucky that she read it, and also that she loved it enough to remember it so well.”
Without a pause, he continued.
“But some people also had direct knowledge either from their hobbies or remembering stories from their parents or grandparents. Patrick, for example, was a world-class archer. I think he was even at the last held Olympic Games.” He looked down, slowly shaking his head to remember. “I’m not sure, I need to ask him. At any rate, he knew how to make the first weapons for us.
“Frances had a jewelry shop. Not just selling the jewelry, but actually welding and making the jewelry pieces. Spoons and forks—and knives, for that matter—we have thanks to her. She did an amazing job at teaching us, although I’m sure she didn’t enjoy it as much as making jewelry.” He smiled at the thought.
“All of this hands-on knowledge was important; in fact, it was essential to a society,” J continued. “But what I think really pulled people together was Mike’s bonfire sessions. He is a real leader, although you wouldn’t think it the first time you see him.”
J was looking at the ground now, almost talking to himself. “He really showed us the incredible lottery we all won. The fact that we’d actually survived after all that had happened to Earth, and what a real adventure it was to start a new life, the way we actually wanted it, because most of us were not very happy before cryo…that’s why we all decided to freeze in the first place.” He turned to look at me with a half smile.
“So… what made you not very happy?”
His smile broadened. “Curious, aren’t you?”
“Yes. Senthiens always are.”
“Let me tell you about it some other time.”
“But I would like to hear it now.”
He moved his gaze away from me, his smile fading. He sighed and said, “It’s just… not the happiest part of my life, and I don’t want to dig out those feelings again. They’re past, that’s all.”
“Does it have to do with a woman?” I surprised myself with this question.
J looked at me, the side of his lips twitching slightly upward. “Hmm, this doesn’t sound like Senthien curiosity. It sounds more like Human curiosity.”
I looked down.
“Yes, there was a woman. Monica. She was my wife… but she is gone now.”
“I am sorry.”
I didn’t ask him for more details, but he told me anyway. “We… we froze together, but when we woke up, she wasn’t here. And it wasn’t just her. There were hundreds of other people that went cryo, but…” He shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know, something went wrong, and they were not with us anymore when we woke up.”
“It… must have been very difficult for you,” I said.
“It was, for a few years. But it’s all right now. Time heals all wounds.” He tried to smile, but his eyes were still sad.
“Do you miss her?”
“I did miss her… a lot. I loved her very much.”
There was a moment of silence again, and I wished I hadn’t brought up the subject.
“But, she is in my past,” he continued. “You are my present. And my future, if you want to be,” he said, glancing at me sideways, weighing my reaction.
My lips parted into a huge smile. I was speechless. And overwhelmed.
He mirrored me, broadening his lips to the limit, until there was almost no more space for the cheek between his lips and ears.
He made a step forward, then turned toward me and offered me his hand to take it. I looked at it for a moment, and then reached out with my own, sliding it into his rough, warm palm.
We walked, holding hands, not talking, every now and then sneaking a look at each other and smiling whenever we caught each other’s eyes.
I was happy.
And I don’t think I have eve
r been as happy as right now.
Chapter 16
In the middle of the day, we reached a wide-open space where the grass grew thick, completely covering the ground. Peter called out for a break, and we sat down in a circle. Simon handed over plates and Patrick sliced bread and dry meat. We were all hungry and ate in silence.
I was sitting next to J, and I didn’t mind the silence at all. I had all the sensual input I could wish for: his warmth, his scent, his closeness.
Rick finished first. He left his plate on the ground.
“Dora,” Rick said, still chewing his last bite, “I wanted to ask you about the News. I’ve heard several things from our Jumpers, but I can’t really make a story out of it.”
He looked at the others for approval, then looked at me and continued, “What do you know about it?”
“What would you like to hear?”
“Well, what was the News about? I’ve heard something about solar storms. Was that it?”
“Not entirely. Sometime in the early twenty-third century, scientists discovered that the magnetic poles of the Earth were destabilizing and likely to change polarity within the next two to three decades.”
“I’ve heard about that. I think it normally happens every four hundred thousand years, something like that?” said Patrick.
I quickly checked the information on my nanoprobes, then said, “Yes, about four hundred and fifty thousand, you’re right. However the polarity switch in the middle of the twenty-third century happened a lot sooner than expected. The last occurrence was only fifty thousand years ago.”
“All right. And then?” Rick’s eyes were wide open.
“So during this period, the Earth would completely lose its polarity. At some point, there would be no North or South Pole anymore.”
“So?” Rick frowned.
“So, the magnetic field protection around the Earth would not exist at that time,” said J before I could answer.
Rick’s shoulders dropped and he shook his head. “I don’t get it.”
“Me neither,” said Peter. “What was the big deal? I mean, you said yourself, the last switch, before the twenty-third century, happened fifty thousand years ago. And – mind you my memory is a bit rusty – but I think that was during the last ice age. Humans were already here. They must have survived changes in magnetic poles before.”
The Senthien (Descendants of Earth Book 1) Page 16