Joe flew his trusty Crown Vik to the visitor’s center, stalling out on the way there since he had grown used to the fixed clutch.
He pulled down into a parking space outside the center.
“I’m not sure what we’ll find in there,” Joe said, hopping out of the driver’s seat.
“I can handle myself,” Tammy replied.
“Yeah, that’s right – of course you can. You want a stun stick?”
The look on Tammy’s face was pure confusion.
They went inside. The front door was open and all three park rangers were standing at the front desk, cheerfully alive.
“All I’m saying is it’s not possible for a woman to know the difference,” Tom the ranger said.
“Oh, not this again,” his wife Linda replied.
“Hey, look who it is,” Zodiac said when he saw the sheriff and his deputy approaching.
“Can we help you, Joe?” Tom asked, turning to him with a smile.
Joe was a bit unnerved to see the three park rangers alive. He had had a week of getting used to the idea of their deaths. “There’s been no one here today?”
“Not that we know of,” Linda answered. “Should we be expecting someone?”
“Just keep your eye out for strangers,” Joe said. “Just in case.”
He went back out to the Crown Vik and plopped himself in the driver’s seat, wondering what to do with his newfound life.
“Can I drive?” Tammy asked.
“Sure, why not?” Joe said with a shrug.
As Tammy pulled in for the approach on the diner, she stalled the engine and the ship crashed into a lamp post.
“I am so sorry!” she cried out, holding on tightly to the steering wheel.
“It’s fine,” Joe said. “This is all fine. I’m just glad you’re okay.”
The usual waitress and line cook, Nancy and Gemini, came out to make sure everything was alright.
“Everything is back to normal,” Joe said to them with a smile and a wave.
“What’s going on with you, sir?” Tammy asked.
“I must have had a stroke or something,” Joe said with a chuckle. He shook his head. “You know what? I’m going to go see my ex. Out of the driver’s seat please.” He got up and replaced Tammy behind the wheel. He was about to start the engine when he saw something strange on the TV in the diner above the neon bar. Roy was on the screen, peering out into the room.
Without a word, Joe climbed out of the ship and made his way back into the diner, leaving Tammy dumbfounded in the Crown Vik’s cabin.
“Joe, are you out there?” Roy called.
An old-timer sitting at the counter was watching with his jaw dropped. “What the hell is this show?”
Joe approached the bar. The line of antique collectors approached him with their items.
“Can I get your advice on something?” Patricia asked.
Joe quickly glanced at the items in their hands. He pointed to each one in turn and rattled off his half-assed appraisal. “Fake, real, real, fake, fake, fake. Now get the hell out of here.”
The crowd slumped off confused. Joe didn’t really care. He turned his attention back to the TV.
“Roy, what are you doing in there?”
“Isn’t this how your gods communicate with you?” Roy asked.
“Um… you know what? Sure, why not.”
“To be honest I just sort of skimmed through the file on you guys.”
“Roy, what’s the news? What did the creators decide?”
“Oh right, well, there was another species that had also failed the test. Or they will fail the test in the future. Time isn’t always linear out here... I’m always forgetting that. Anyway, we’re going to throw them in with you guys to open up some space. No pun intended.”
“Okay,” Joe said, struggling to keep up. “So what happens to the human race?”
“Oh, you’re going to be crushed like a grape, for sure.”
“What?” Joe asked.
“You’re living on borrowed time anyway. Be happy you’re all still alive. This other species, the Shadu, they’re hell on wheels as you guys would say. Way out of your league – it’s gonna be a blood bath. The creators are excited to see how it all unfolds.”
“I thought you said they hated suffering?”
“They try to avoid it, I think is what I said. For you guys I guess they’re willing to make an exception.”
“How long do we have?” Joe asked.
“It looks like there’s about three of your earth years before they’re close enough to make first contact. It’s not going to be diplomatic though. Imagine a grizzly bear making contact with a child’s birthday party.”
Joe shook his head and left the diner.
“Where are you going?” Roy asked.
“To do what I should’ve done a long time ago.”
Joe ran out past Tammy, who stood in the parking lot scribbling something into her notebook, and hopped into his Crown Vik.
“Are we leaving?” Tammy asked.
“I am,” Joe said. “By myself. There’s a shuttle coming soon. You can take it to Gallipoli terminal then get a connection back to the outpost. You did a good job today. I think I’ll put in a good word for you.”
“Oh… thanks,” Tammy said. “… I think.”
Joe eyed his starsailor’s compass and set a course for Bolstra 5. He went to punch the warp speed button, but it was nowhere to be found.
He sighed.
He would have to take the highways.
When he arrived on Bolstra 5, after traveling for many nervous hours in which he showered, shaved, and tried his best to eat something, Joe lowered his ship outside Cassandra’s tree house.
Within seconds she had come out onto the wooden porch to see who it was.
Joe took a deep breath and got out. He waved to her from the on-ramp. She waved back and ran down the stairs.
“Joe,” she said. “What are you doing here?”
“I was stupid,” he said. “And I was wrong about everything. I just had something happen… It’s going take me a long time to explain it.”
“What is it?”
“I just experienced something incredible and then time reset itself.”
“How do you mean?”
“I mean things happened. There was an artifact we were after and… and…” he was beginning to feel light headed.
“Do you want to come in, Joe?”
There was already a mushroom risotto cooking and Cassandra gave half of it to Joe. It had been almost 24 hours since he’d eaten anything and he was starving. Between bites he told her about the artifact, their quest to destroy it, and all the memories he now had.
Everything except for his saving her from the scrapyard and their reconciliation on the Crown Vik. It didn’t seem like the proper time for that.
“That’s a lot to take in,” she said, once he had finished.
“I know,” Joe replied, leaning back on the couch.
Cassandra’s eyes widened as she stared out the window and tried to make sense of it all.
“But you don’t believe it,” Joe said.
“I didn’t say that. It’s just... the only proof you have of this is your memories, right? And you said the artifact was removed from the ruins?”
“Yep.”
“Then this could have all just been a psychotic episode.”
Joe covered his face. “But it’s not... Look, there’s something coming, Cassandra. That’s the only real proof I have. And it’s three years away and I have to warn everyone. Otherwise... it’ll be too late.”
“What are you going to tell them?”
“That there’s another species coming for us and they’re going to destroy us if we don’t band together.”
“And why did you come to me with all this?”
Joe looked in her eye. Those eyes once held so much love, but ever since he had hurt them they had become neutral.
“Because I thought you’d be th
e only one who’d believe me,” he said.
“Whatever it is... I believe that you believe it,” she replied.
“But it’s true, all of it.”
“I can feel that you feel it’s true.”
Joe nodded. The experience had been his and his alone.
He considered bringing up the earring he knew she kept, as some sort of evidence for his case. But in the end he decided against it. He didn’t want to force her to believe, not if she wasn’t ready. And not with an object that held so much meaning.
“You’re right...” Joe said, shaking his head. He got up and made the walk of shame to the door. “Thanks for the food. Sorry it took me so long to make it back here.”
“Did you come here to ask for my help?” Cassandra asked, getting up from the couch and following after him.
Joe turned and leaned against the doorway. “I’m not really sure why I came. When we got back together...”
“What’s that?” she asked, her face becoming amused.
“Nothing,” Joe said. There was no explaining this, not even to the most empathetic person he had ever met. “I guess I just wanted to know I wasn’t crazy. Now I’m not so sure.”
“Whatever it is, I think you should follow it,” Cassandra said. “I really think you should.”
“Why’s that?” Joe asked.
“To be honest, I’ve never seen you like this before, believing in something greater than yourself. Not even back in the old days. You were always so skeptical of everything and everybody. Even of me... of us.”
“I’m sorry for that,” was all Joe could say. “I was wrong. And now I’ve got a lot of work to do.”
He walked out of the house he had once lived in, down the stairs he used to descend and towards the ship he used to run away from it all. Cassandra followed him the whole way.
“Maybe this will help us,” he said finally.
“Do you mean ‘us’ as in you and me, or ‘us’ as in humankind?” Cassandra asked.
“Both,” Joe said as he climbed up onto the on-ramp. “We’re a potent mix, you and I. Or at least we used to be. Things are going to be different from now on and mankind is going to need all the potency it can get.”
“Goodbye, Joe,” Cassandra said with a smile.
He smiled back and held his hand against her cheek the way he used to. Her face was warm and Joe felt weightless.
He looked out over the landscape of Bolstra 5 one last time. It was still intact... for now.
Things could never be the same.
Joe climbed into his ship and lifted up into the stratosphere. Soon the blue sky faded to black and he flew off into the stars, leaving behind the one and only thing he ever truly cared about.
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The Star Collector Page 26