by J. M. Page
Lina's insides twisted, and her smile fell. "I know, but it's not so bad... and we have each other. We'll get back to Mabnoa."
He sank to the tabletop, leaning against a wrench with his legs stretched out in front of him, and heaved a heavier sigh. "Will we?"
Her frown deepened. It was one thing for Bain to agree to live here with her when he had no idea of what he was getting into, but now it seemed he was having doubts. Second thoughts.
She sat down with him, her head resting on his shoulder. "We will."
"How? The ship is destroyed."
"There's always the way I went before..."
He frowned. "You don't even know how that happened. That's hardly a reliable option."
She leaned into him, nudging his shoulder with hers. "Hey, whatever happened to 'anything is possible' Bain?"
"He found a planet far too big for him and got overwhelmed."
Lina sighed and squeezed his hand. "Throughout all of this, we've had to trust each other and blind faith and somehow those things got us here. I'm not giving up just yet and you shouldn't either. There are people back on Mabnoa who miss you."
"You're right," he said, sounding resigned. "But even if we go back, you'll have someone here that misses you. There's no denying how happy your mother was to see you again."
Lina's heart sank because she knew he was right. It was one thing to tell herself that she needed to go back for some lofty goals, for some noble cause, but knowing that it would make Mom so sad only made that choice harder. It seemed there was no way to make everyone happy. No way to appease everyone from three different species. Who'd have thought that could be such a difficult undertaking?
She snorted at that thought.
"What?" Bain asked, looking up at her burst of soft laughter with a hint of a grin.
She shrugged. "It's just crazy how we're torturing ourselves over not being able to make everyone happy."
"Well, the person I most want to make happy is you," he said, and she couldn't help but grin at the cheesiness of it.
"Same," she said.
"Then I guess all that other stuff will just have to sort itself out. Maybe we can help, but if all we ever manage to do is make each other happy, I think I'm okay with that."
"Good," said Lina with a resolute nod. "Me too."
"I don't know what kind of snacks you prefer, Bain, so I brought some of Lina's favorites," Mom said, flitting back into the lab with a plate of sweets and a mug of tea.
Bain laughed as she set the plate down, circling the offering. "I never thought I'd see a cookie as big as me. Surie would lose her mind."
"I'm not sure even Earth has enough chocolate to satisfy your sister's sweet tooth," Lina chuckled, taking a crumb of cookie for herself.
Mom pulled up a stool and set down a thimble, filling it with tea from a pipette. She sat there patiently while Lina instructed Bain on the different treats, waiting for him to have his tea, perched on the edge of her seat the whole time.
And she was fidgeting. Lina had never seen her mother look so anxious. Though it was understandable, she supposed. There was a lot that Mom didn't know about. That she could only speculate about. Surely it was driving her crazy.
So, taking a deep breath to bolster herself, she went to the edge of the workbench and sat with her legs dangling over the side. "I guess now's as good a time as any to tell you everything," she said, and Mom looked like she might just explode with anticipation. But she didn't. She sat in rapt silence as Lina told her about fixing the transporter and getting sucked in, being sent to Mabnoa where she was found by Bain and his sister, how she made friends on Mabnoa, attended their parties, fixed their things, and made a life for herself among them.
Mom still said nothing as she told her how they'd cobbled together a spaceship to come back to Earth, Bain interjecting details now and then, and the harrowing experience of being captured, only to find out their sworn enemies were not really enemies at all.
She didn't know why she did it, but Lina left out the parts about Vessa. She didn't really want to think about the other woman and she didn't want to make Mom feel inadequate in any way. She'd rather pretend that whole part had never happened. That they were able to talk to the Fibbuns and come to an understanding without that bridge.
And then they finally got to the part where they crashed on Earth and had to find their way back to the lab. Lina also hadn't mentioned her 'magic' yet, but now there didn't seem to be a way around it.
"So we, um... rode, would you say rode?" she asked, turning to Bain.
He shrugged. "Sure, why not."
"Right, so we rode the ivy around the building to find you."
Though Mom had been quiet this whole time, just soaking everything in, smiling in all the right parts, looking worried in others, now she just looked confused.
Lina sighed. "It would probably just be easier to show you." She scurried from the workbench to her network of string that crisscrossed the lab, and climbed back up to the window ledge, Mom following the whole way. Bain went to the edge of the work table, but didn't attempt to navigate her string network.
"What is this about?" Mom asked, sounding stern.
Lina just shook her head. There was no explaining it. Just demonstrating.
"...Just watch," Lina said, reaching out for the potted plant on the ledge. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, feeling the soft greenery under her fingertips, the gentle humming vibration that came from the leaves. She focused on pouring her energy into the plant, in strengthening the connection between them. And this time, she felt it. She felt the plant respond to her touch, the leaves jumping at the chance to do what she wanted. She opened her eyes and watched as the plant grew taller and bushier, turning back to Mom with a sheepish look.
Mom's mouth hung open, her eyes wide as she babbled under her breath. "What... how... did that just..."
"Apparently," Lina said carefully, "this is a gift that my species has. Bain can do it too. Probably better than me." She looked over to him, watching her from the workbench and he shook his head.
"But you... You just made that plant grow in an instant! Do you know what this could mean? The implications..."
"Mom... Mom, no," Lina said firmly. "Don't. There was a whole war started over this. The whole reason Bain's people were afraid to leave their planet... the whole reason my parents..." Her voice broke into a growl at that word. "The whole reason I was sent here was because there were those who wanted to exploit this gift. It's best if we just keep it to ourselves."
"But you could end hunger! You could save so many lives!"
Lina nodded. "But what would humans do to my kind to make that happen? They wouldn't just let us help when we felt like it. Especially not when they could so easily overpower us or capture us."
Mom's expression fell and Lina felt guilty for it, but she knew she was right. She knew there was no way for them to be benevolent without opening themselves to danger. These were the kind of tough choices their leaders had been making for generations. Probably the same kind of tough decision that was made to originally isolate Mabnoa.
"She's right," Bain said from across the room, scrambling across strings, doing his best not to look down as he focused on Lina. "My people are already fearful. They'd never open themselves up to that kind of uncertainty. And I'd never ask them to," he added, dropping down to Lina's side, slipping an arm around her waist.
Mom sighed and nodded. "Of course. Humans don't have a great reputation for being grateful. If someone gives us something, we only demand more of it, rather than appreciating what we've been given. That is quite the gift you have there though. I can't believe we never discovered it."
"I didn't really believe I could do it when the queen told me."
"The queen?" Mom asked, her eyebrows going high. "You met with a queen?"
Lina swallowed and looked over to Bain. Apparently, there were a few more details she'd left out in her quick recap of the story. She wasn't really sure how to sa
y it, but...
"The queen is my mother," Bain said, removing the dilemma altogether.
"So you're..."
"The prince," Lina said, coughing like she thought she could cover up what a big deal that was by acting like it wasn't. Mom wasn't going for it though.
"A prince? My goodness. That certainly explains the manners," she laughed, shaking her head. "My my, Lina, you've done well for yourself, haven't you? I always worried... I didn't even know if there were others like you. I had no idea if you'd ever have normal things like dating or love... Marriage and children seemed like a fanciful dream when there weren't even any prospects. But I'm so happy for you, dear. To know that you've found your people, that you've found such a nice young man... It makes me happy to know that you'll still be cared for when I'm gone."
"Mom... don't say things like that."
But the doctor shook her head, swiping at tears. "No, I mean it. Every parent wants that kind of happy future for their child and I always wished there was something I could do to make that a reality for you. You were never going to be like any other kid on Earth, but to find this kind of normalcy..." She sniffed. "I'm just thrilled for you sweetheart. And I'm so happy you're here, Bain. I'm sorry I'm such a silly old cow."
"The thing is..." Lina said, rocking on her toes, her heart growing heavier by the minute. "With Bain being the prince, and all this new information we have about their enemies... We need to find a way back." She hated even mentioning it. It felt like a betrayal to her mom. It felt like after everything they went through to get to this point, that she was just saying it didn't matter anymore and they needed to turn around. That her mom wasn't important enough for her to want to stick around. And of course that wasn't the case, but no matter how she tried to rationalize it, it still felt like she was turning her back on everything she'd ever known.
"Well of course you do!" Mom cried. "You don't think I expected you to stay here after all of this, do you?"
"Well... I mean... I fought so hard to get back to you..."
Mom grinned from ear to ear and patted her on the head with one fingertip. "And I'm so glad you did, honey. I was worried out of my mind because I didn't know if you were okay or not. But now I know. And I know you're in good hands. I wouldn't want you to give up all the wonderful things you've discovered just to keep me company! That would be awfully selfish. I'm content to know you're safe and happy," she said with a watery smile.
"Really?" Lina asked, completely baffled.
"Really," Mom said gently. "There's nothing that would make me happier."
Bain's hand came and circled around Lina's waist, squeezing her side. "Look at that, things working out."
Lina smiled at him, but it didn't last long. "We have no idea how to get back though. The ship crashed somewhere out by the fountain and Bain doesn't think that it would be a good idea to fly straight back anyway."
"Well, what about the transporter?" Mom asked.
She looked over to Bain, giving him an 'I told you so' look.
"Is it safe?" he asked.
Mom worried her bottom lip, looking over her shoulder. "I've been working on it a lot since you disappeared, trying to find out where you'd gone, if there was any way to follow you... But the problem is scale. I don't think it will work on anything much bigger than you two."
"But that's hardly an obstacle for us," Lina said, zipping across the room. The others followed, but Bain hitched a ride in Mom's palm rather than zipline across the room. For all his plant-riding bravado, he still seemed a little trepidatious about her network of strings. "The problem as I see it," Lina continued, "is that we don't have a way to dial it into a specific location." She paced around the workbench, examining the parts and pieces of the matter transporter and its clones. Mom had been hard at work, that was for sure.
Mom nodded. "That's true, but I think we might be able to figure that out with the location known. It'll take us a few days maybe, but I don't see why you two couldn't be back on Bain's home planet before the week's out."
Lina's heart felt like it would burst and wither all at once. The thought of going back to Mabnoa, of seeing Surie and Farita again, of being back in her cozy little apartment surrounded by projects, filled her with so much excitement. But the thought of leaving Mom behind, of maybe never seeing her or Earth again, put a damper on that mood.
"I guess we should get to work then," she said, knowing that was the right answer even if her heart protested meekly. Mom wanted her to go and start her own life. That's how it had been for as long as history could remember. Parents raised their kids the best they could hoping that when the time came, they'd be able to forge their own path.
But did everyone else feel so guilty about forging that path? Lina certainly did.
"Tomorrow," Mom said brightly. "For tonight, I think we should spend some time together."
There was no way Lina was going to argue with that. It sounded like exactly what she — what they all — needed.
Chapter Thirty
They spent the night laughing over food and telling stories. Bain got to hear Lina's embarrassing story about the vacuum cleaner and she learned about the time he was hiding from his mother and accidentally locked himself in the dungeon for half a day before he was found. And by the end of the night, when Mom was yawning and talking about going home for sleep and Bain was already snoozing against Lina's shoulder, Lina felt okay about leaving. She'd still miss Mom, of course, but part of life was moving on. Growing up and leaving comfortable, familiar things for scary and exciting ones.
"You've done a good job with that one," Mom said, her eyes flicking toward Bain.
"You approve then?" Lina asked, feeling his drool start to seep through the fabric on her shoulder.
"I do. But if he ever does anything to hurt you, I'll squish him," she said, smiling behind a yawn.
Lina laughed. "I don't think that will be necessary. I'm just glad you're not upset about... everything."
"What kind of mother would I be if I didn't want to see my little girl go off into the Universe to chase her dreams?"
"I guess," she said.
Mom patted her head softly. "Sleep well. We'll get to work tomorrow."
After Mom left, Lina woke Bain long enough to drag him to her bed, and there they fell asleep in each other's arms.
The repairs to the matter transporter took a few days, but with the information they had, and the new technology Lina had studied on her travels, they made quick work of the task. Mom was impressed with how much she'd learned. Lina had always been more mechanic than inventor, but now she had more of an understanding of the theories and science behind the devices she worked on. She actually felt like a contributor. And it made her think that maybe there was room for her to invent some things on Mabnoa. She already had ideas brewing.
Bain mostly tried to stay out of their way. He and Mom developed quite the rapport while Lina was hard at work, and when she needed an extra set of — tiny — hands, he came in very handy.
It was four days after they'd left the Fibbuns and crashed on Earth when Lina climbed out of the transporter and brushed her hands together. "I think... I think that's it?"
"Really?" Bain asked, jumping to his feet. "It's ready?"
"Well, there's really only one way to find out," Lina said, eyeing the machine warily. The last time she flipped it on, it sucked her in.
"You mean...?" Bain's eyes went wide. "Isn't there some way to test it first?"
"We'd need someone on the other side to confirm that things went well," Mom answered.
"There's no way for us to contact anyone on Mabnoa," Lina said. "The only option is to test it ourselves. I'll go first... If something goes wrong, Mom can fix it and you can try again."
Bain scoffed. "Are you insane? I'm not letting you go through that thing by yourself. We're going together."
"But we'll only have one chance at it. At least if something goes wrong and I'm the only one that goes through, there's still a chance for you to g
et back to Mabnoa and end the war. Your mother wouldn't listen to me if I came back alone without you."
"Well, I'm not going through that thing without you. So we go together, or not at all," he said, that firm royal tone that brooked no argument. Lina hated when he used that voice on her. It just made her want to argue more.
"He's right, honey. Maybe one shot is all you'll get. It could rip the machine apart. It's best if you do it together," Mom said.
Lina whirled on her, glaring at the traitor. "But—"
Bain's hand took hers and clenched tight. "No, Lina. No buts. We'll do it together."
She sighed, knowing she was outnumbered. There was no arguing with their emotions.
"I guess if we're torn limb from limb, it'll be together then," she grumbled.
"That's the spirit," Bain said, chuckling as he kissed her temple.
"But we're going to hope that doesn't happen," Mom said quickly, her face paler than it had been moments before. Lina felt guilty for her comment about being ripped apart. Just because Bain took it well didn't mean Mom would.
"I just wish there was some way for you to let me know you made it to the other side in one piece," she said, her voice wavering.
"I'll find a way," Lina said. "It might take some time, so don't worry too much, please."
Mom swiped at an errant tear and nodded. "Of course. I know you will. You've already done so much."
A flush rose up from Lina's toes, rushing all the way to her cheeks, making them warm and red. She shrugged. She didn't feel like she'd done all that much. She just knew she had to get back here, and so she did. Now she knew she had to go back to Mabnoa, and so she was. It was simple, but she knew if she argued that it would look like she was fishing for compliments and praise, so she kept quiet.
"No use in waiting around then, right?" Bain said, clearly anxious to get the journey over with.
"No, I suppose not," Lina said, looking back at Mom, tears gathering in her eyes now, too.
"No, no. No crying from you," Mom said, sucking back her own tears to put on a brave face. "I just know you're going to have the most wonderful adventures. You've made me so proud."